a place of music.

On the Tuesday, the computer said go to Rics, stay out late and enjoy every minute of it. I did as the computer said.

Grassroots Street Orchestra (herein referred to as GSO because that is a whole lot easier to say and makes me think of a SO when I say it) and Mister Laneous & The Family-Yah (herein referred to as Mr Laneous) played a late Tuesday night gig this past Tuesday and even though I stayed out way past my bed time (am not a uni student any more) as the show started a little bit later than they tend to it was worth every bit of it.

I had seen part of a set by Mr Laneous a couple of weeks ago when they were playing a Sunday afternoon slot at Rics and I had liked what I had heard for sure. This time I got to see a whole set and it was like I am tempted to say a spoonful of sweet chilli philly, though it was a more grittier feel than that. One thing I did make a special note in my diary of was this song which I will call Going Crazy/Crazy for You, which was a pretty sweet duet affair with Mr Laneous and Georgia Potter. Really wish now that I had taken more photos of them but I was a bit slack and I made up for it with photos of GSO.

The Family Yeah

GSO.
I remember the first time I saw an “ad” for a GSO gig in a Time Off and thinking that sounds like a pretty cool band and I should get up and go to the gig. For some reason I didn’t. I wish I had now because between then and when I first saw GSO live in January, I have missed a lot of opportunities. That is life though and as much as I wish I could go back and start things over I can’t so I move forward.

GSO was raw music, words, reason. It was not really about a band playing to an audience, it was a much more fluid environment with the band feeding off the energy of the crowd and the crowd absorbing every word, note and arm waving of GSO.

Side note: Something else I have come to realise in the last week about local acts over national acts and even more so over international acts is that whilst the sound of a local act may not be as polished or the stage show as an international, I think given the option nine times out of ten now I would pick seeing a local act as they live in the same city as you. They have to deal with the same politics, events, landscape as you and it is through the music that they express how they see it. I rarely accept friend requests on myspace from bands that are not local. I have so many ideas to develop and enrich the local music scene (in fact I have a notebook full) and one day I hope I am able to get at least some of them up off the ground.

Back to GSO. Apart from having total respect for how Surya wraps his tongue around those words, it is just the right music for life at the moment.
GSO Crowd
steve
Surya

Gig Gallery

no misery

Life is about arriving home from The Farm on a Sunday sometime round 8:30 and going, hey you know Georgia Potter and Banawarun are playing at Rics tonight and there is nothing stopping me from going. So of course off I went, I packed a bag, grabbed the keys and I was off.

I really need to start writing these posts down on paper when I get home or the morning after to see if I can get more of the words and feelings out of my head instead of sitting here looking at a computer screen trying to figure out how I want to describe something which seems to happen more often than I want it to.

Back to Rics though. It was a delightful close to the weekend. It wasn’t packed to the rafters but it was quite pleasantly full. Just that right number of people. You know how you sort of forget how much you enjoy a band as for whatever reason? Or you forget just how great their music is? Or you forget just how much emotion is in the music? That was Sunday night. Or do you ever think about what it would have been like back in the day, watching those now big artists of the 70’s doing the bar scene? Sitting there thinking to yourself that you are watching something special and that one day, hopefully sooner rather than later that more people in the world will know too? I like those gigs. Gigs where the guitar is just right, the lyrics have meaning and everything clicks together? Or acts that even when sick still have a stage presence that holds the attention of everyone in the crowd or acts that look genuinely pleased and happy to be on stage.

Sunday was one of those nights. Banawurun & Georgia Potter both were delightful. I can not recommend enough clicking those links and listening to them on myspace.

In a dream world I floated out of Rics, although in the real world it was a whole lot more like one foot after another slowly, thinking more about not stumbling/tripping over something rather than the magical music.

This is possibly my favourite image of the night, it was also the first photo I took. It was nearing the end of Georgia’s set and I had spent a lot of time looking at the reflection on the door. Wanting to do something different I took a photo.
reflection

Banawurun.
Troy
Trev

Georgia Potter.
Geo
georgia
The geo gang

Gig Gallery