Beauty in Trouble

With only four films left to see, Beauty in Trouble is the first film from the Perth International Arts Festival 2008 that has stood out from the rest that we have seen for being rather ‘ho hum’.

Apart from the music, it was a bit like Home and Away: The Film. This was one drama that was tedious and drawn out to 110 minutes.

The best that it has going for it, is that we can say that we saw (or will have seen) all the festival films. Yes, we stayed to see the end.

A memorable scene is Evzen (Josef Abrhám) demonstrating that even nice guys have a finite limit to the amount of empathy and tolerance shown to others, especially when their generosity is assumed as a given. Perhaps ‘Beauty in Trouble II’ will be realising that Evzen is still too nice.

five artists five songs

This request was sent to me by anxiolytic.

1. List your five favourite artists
2. List your five favourite songs by those artists
3. Tag five other people to do it

I struggled with ‘favourite’ as a qualifier, as I tend to go for songs and albums, rather than artists. But I narrowed the list down by thinking of the songs that I would be happy to play over and over. In no particular order.

White Stripes
- Fell in Love With a Girl
- Icky Thump
- My Doorbell
- Conquest
- You Don’t Know What Love Is (You Just Do As You’re Told)

Led Zeppelin
- Black Dog
- Stairway To Heaven
- The Song Remains the Same
- All My Love
- Dazed and Confused

Jimi Hendrix
- Red House
- Are You Experienced
- Foxy Lady
- The Wind Cries Mary
- Purple Haze

Lee Sappho
- It’s None of My Business (What You Think about Me)
- Glad To Be Alive
- Stop Sniffin’ ‘Round My Patch
- Mister Mean
- Nobody Loves Me (Like My Old Man)

Ed Kuepper
- Real Wild Life
- Hang Jean Lee
- Yellow Dog
- The Way I Made You Feel
- If I Had A Ticket

Tagging trs80, Celeste, Teri, Anne, and Zanchey.

unreserved standing

For us, Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings was the last Perth International Arts Festival music concert.

Sharon Jones can ‘move’ and the songs together with the Dap-Kings, well you can’t but help but move too

We decided that rather than sit on the couches at the back of the dance floor that we would go and stand between the stacks. The sound was not super good here, but it was great atmosphere for dancing and watching the band up close. The only thing that spoilt it was the Paris Hilton wannabees, or princessess and pornstars [1] as Emily Maguire calls them. I had a couple push in front of me and stand right in front so that I no longer had room to sway never mind dance. They moved on eventually as the people who were dancing next to me were very indignant on my behalf and called them out and didn’t give way to them. I must admit I thought ‘unreserved standing’ was like ‘unreserved seating’, i.e. once you had your seat or standing room, it was yours until you gave it up.

The non-stop musical performance by the Dap-Kings and Sharon Jones singing and strutting was energetic, and they appeared to be able to do this with little effort. It was only very much later that the Dap-Kings started to look a bit hot in their suits. The brass section was great, trumpet and two sax (tenor and baritone).

The concert was part of the 100 Days, 100 Nights tour, and it was great to see this song performed live having seen it on YouTube. Another song that I thought was cool that I have been able to find online is Answer Me. Other tracks are on the Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings MySpace.

We didn’t stay for the After Party, there was enough crap on the dance floor to make it positively revolting if not dangerous. There was quite a queue to go into the venue, so with us going out a couple more could go in already barefoot and holding their strappy sandals. Interestingly, as we walked up St Georges Tce to catch the bus, there were a lot of young things making their way down to the Music Box. I found out later that they had come from the Future Music Festival. One of which asked for directions who had become separated from her friends and stated that she was afraid of being ‘mugged’. As H said, this is Perth not New York, and if anything similar is going to happen on St Georges Tce then it would be ‘assault’. Some were rather worse for wear (alcohol must have been cheaper at Future Music), and some carrying water bottles so that they could stay moist.

I think I’ll give festivals a miss for a while. I feel that the tickets are overpriced for what you get. Not sure about the Music Box, but other venues such as the Fremantle Arts Centre do not allow passouts, and there is a limited variety of fastfood and drinks (depending on sponsors). If you were going to an all day or weekend concert, such as the Blues ‘n’ Roots festival, you have to have a certain level of festival fitness.

[1] Princessess and Pornstars, Life Matters, ABC (25.4MB MP3, start 28:12 in)

devotion in black and white

The Tero Saarinen Company and Boston Camerata’s collaboration and production of Borrowed Light was austere but enthralling.

The inspiration for the choreography and music are drawn from the Shakers, with some of the songs transcribed from original manuscripts. The programme explains that these songs had not been performed for 150 years and until Borrowed Light, outside the Shaker community.

When one of the Boston Camerata began to sing the hairs on my arms prickled. I have never been able to comfortably listen to soprano. Fortunately, for the rest of the 70 minute performance the singers did not utilise the high soprano notes. Some of the songs were simple chanting, others were pretty, and others were almost manic and disturbing.

The Tero Saarinen Company dancers performed a number of dancing styles, but mostly it appeared to be in character with the Shaker songs. They sometimes used their costumes as props, for example, their thick brown leather looking belts were used to support and lift each other. The swirling frenzied dancing reminded me of the dervishes, or spinning tops - until they dropped using different levels to great effect.

The stage consisted of a bare dancing floor surrounded by matt black walls. Two of the walls allowed the dancers and music ensemble to climb and stand on platforms on different levels. This added to the atmosphere, particularly when there was activity on the dance floor and movement and sound enamating from the high and low platforms. The light was often on the singer or dancer, but the others were always on stage and appeared as silhouettes.

Although I didn’t listen to the words all the time, some of the songs I found uncomfortable to disturbing. Especially when danced to with such ferocity. It reminded me of the story of The Red Shoes.

I’m pleased that I chose to see the performance of Borrowed Light (programme) although I did not come away with feelings of being entertained. More that I had witnessed a special moment, the amazing result of a collaboration between singers and dancers of an historical event.

no future

Nouvelle Vague performing reinterpreted new wave and punk songs arranged by band members Marc Collin and Olivier Libaux and sung to a bossa nova, calypso or reggae beat was very very clever and a lot of fun. The uber feminine vocals, drums, keyboard and synthesiser, acoustic guitar, and the electric bass were skillfully played to create a great atmosphere for dancing and shock horror, even singing along.

‘Too Drunk to Fuck’ caused me to laugh out loud for two reasons. One, sung by two attractive French women with sensual feminine voices to a musical arrangement that was definitely not punk. Second, any reputation that Perth needs to establish because they are going to Sydney next can get fucked because any encouragement for louder crowd participation lubricated by alcohol at Beck’s Music Box is just not going to happen. Having decided that paying $7 for a beer (a Beck’s at that), $35 for a bottle of Watershed’s unwooded chardonnay was not going to do it either.

I agree with H, the vocals were ‘bright’ at the live performance. I had listened to Dance With Me prior to the performance, so was expecting softer vocals, but it was pretty cool and a huge contrast to the earlier Lords of the New Church version.

Nouvelle Vague’s web presence offers some video and audio and it was kinda fun to listen again to their rendition, and seeking out video/audio of the originals. The following list is not exclusive, but just some of the songs I remember from the night, probably because they were familiar from an earlier time

• Too Drunk To Fuck Dead Kennedys*
• God Save the Queen Sex Pistols
• Guns of Brixton The Clash*
• Love Will Tear Us Apart Joy Division*
• Dancing With Myself Billy Idol*
• Dance With Me Lords of the New Church (live)*
• In a Manner of Speaking Tuxedo Moon*
• Friday Night, Saturday Morning The Specials
• Girl You Want Devo
• Bella Lugosi’s Dead Bauhaus/Nine Inch Nails *

The pieces marked with an asterisk I have been able to find on Nouvelle Vague’s web site, MySpace, or Uber.com.

Nouvelle Vague are practised performers and thoroughly entertaining. However, I was bemused by some of the audience sitting near us that didn’t appear to understand the pun [1], recognise the contrast to the original work, or sometimes parody. To be quite honest, if you went along to listen to “the nice singing”, you could have stayed home and turned on your home entertainment system and held any conversations about “he said that”, and “she said what” by inviting your friends to your own soirée.

[1] “… new wave and bossa nova mean the same thing …” — Dorian Lynsky, The Guardian

Coopers Music Box

I think “Coopers Music Box” has a good ring to it, and they would serve beer from Coopers Brewery.

The Perth International Arts Festival outdoor venue used to be a verandah at the Perth Concert Hall overlooking the Swan River. Now it is on the Esplanade, ‘it’ being the ‘music box’ aka Beck’s Music Box serving Beck’s. Although the view of the city is not as pretty as looking over the river, the venue I think is much better - at least for the audience.

Just a few tweaks to the drinks list, and I think the venue will be perfect.

Although Coopers appear to be more into racing, it appears they sponsor other events too. C’mon, let’s have a Coopers.

murundak

As I came away from The Black Arm Band’s performance of Murundak at the Fremantle Arts Centre, I overheard people saying that the event was “awesome” and “fantastic”. Overall, it felt flat to me.

I did not go because of the folk or world music. Although my taste in music is somewhat eclectic, this is one genre that I will change stations from. My expectation was that it was a social commentary through the history of indigenous music. It was in a sense, as Rachel Maza-Long provided narration between the songs, and the screens on either side of the stage displayed what was on stage (from roving camera) and film-clips of indigenous children and family, communities, and political rallies. But for some reason this felt too well orchestrated, and I would have preferred for the music to tell the story by the performers getting up and playing and or singing their part in the story.

The evening began with the Welcome to Country. This also included a potted description of indigenous history and the meaning of ‘murundak’. Although the programme and reviews state that murundak means ‘alive’ in Woiwurrung, the indigenous woman that read the introduction said that it meant ’savage and strong’. I thought that this was a great start to what promised to be a special and powerful event.

Highlights of the evening included being able to put faces to names such as Ruby Hunter and Archie Roach, Mark Atkins’ amazing didgeridoo playing, Kutcha Edwards singing ‘Is This What We Deserve?’, and at least knowing one song (Yothu Yindi’s Treaty) led by Shellie Morris.

Reflecting on Murundak this morning, I have sought out references to The Black Arm Band, individual artists [1], and the History Wars while listening online to Murandak, Mark Atkins, and Paul Kelly. Also, thinking about what I learnt in school about indigenous life did not match my experience as a child in the Pilbara. It’s no wonder that I’m confused - still.

One of the hopes that I have for the future is that Sorry also means that history and cultural studies texts will be rewritten to include all history and cultures.

[1] The Black Arm Band: Archie Roach, Ruby Hunter (*), Bart Willoughby, Stephen Pigram, Peter Rotumah, Kutcha Edwards, Mark Atkins (Maguari Productions), Lou Bennett, Joe Geia, Emma Donovan, Dan Sultan, Ursula Yovich (Vibes Australia), Rachael Maza-Long (*), Shellie Morris, David Arden and Shane Howard. Special Guests (Perth): John Butler, Jessie Lloyd and Della Rae Morrison.

* The Black Arm Band web site also includes biographies and links to other people involved in the music and production.

a lost band in a lost town

The Band’s Visit is about an Egyptian police band that travels to Israel to play at a new Arab arts centre. For whatever reason they don’t end up in the right place, but in a remote Israeli desert town.

We were looking forward to the film just because of the trailer [1]. The trailer shows the film to be warm, light, and humorous. And it is.

There is a stark contrast between the neat light blue uniformed stiff looking members of the band and the seemingly uninterested laid back town residents. It was almost as if the airport bus delivers such unusual travellers to the town with enough regularity for the residents to be bored.

The town residents appear wary and grudingly helpful toward the band, and the band members appear constrained either by language, culture, or uncertainty of their situation. Exchanges occur developing into giving and receiving from each other personal experiences and practical assistance. These are sometimes awkward, moving, humorous, or highlight an individual character’s life.

The time line of the film is a day and a night, but in no way does the film feel rushed. I felt almost as if I slowed to desert time to be an observer of people who are lost, some of which perhaps find a little of themselves in the exchange between each other.

[1] The official web site provides a synopsis, trailer, and music.

promenade performance

Don’t Look Back was an excuse to wander around the inside of the Old Treasury Building as well as add another Perth International Arts Festival performance to our programme.

Although we were told before hand to wear walking shoes and that we will be in groups of three, I think another instruction or warning ought to have been for people that may feel claustrophobic. Although I felt excited about following the actors around the decommissioned building, now the set for the theatre, I felt a little claustrophobic in some rooms and corridors. Fortunately, H is aware of this, and I was set at ease by his simple touch on my back or reaching for my fingers.

Making your way through the space, peaking into rooms, opening and closing doors, and wondering and searching for meaning in the scenes was an intriguing way to experience the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. I know that there are many interpretations of the myth, and I have seen opera and ballet performances of Orpheus in the Underworld, but I was a little puzzled by the performance.

I didn’t realise there was a programme (PDF) available, but the performance made a lot more sense after receiving a paper copy on the completion of our journey through the building. Like Roberta Alves in Australian Stage Online, I would have liked a little more text to glue the fetchingly dark and atmospheric scenes together.

The art installations, sets, music and actors provided an atmospheric journey through small and large rooms, corridors, overlooking the main hall, and down into the basement. The wrought-iron balustrade on the stairs going down is divine, but you soon notice that it and the stairs are covered in wedding confetti. The attention to detail was incredible. For example, there is one room with a fellow guillotining names from a typed list - the names of our little group were on there!

Sharing the experience of the performance with only two other people was an interesting experience. I didn’t know whether to whisper to the others, or make my way around in silence. However, as it turned out, the three of us were keen not to miss anything so pointed out or drew back any of our group that went ahead when we thought they may have missed anything. However, we must have been taking too much time, or the next group that set off after us were making their way quickly through, as we felt that we were hurried on by their footsteps.

H said that he would like to go again and be part of the last group to go through. But we had a bit of a laugh as I said it would probably be the The Underworld putting up the chairs and turning on the lights behind him.

Scientists

You didn’t have to be in Beck’s Music Box last night to hear the Scientists, but if you wanted to see them perform an extended and reshuffled version of their Blood Red River album (and get a drink), you had to be there. They were loud.

Fortunately, we were warned by Guy whose team were doing the sound and we were given some decidamps along with the crew. [1]

I’m not familiar with the original album of six tracks compiled over East in the 80’s, but the extended version includes tracks from other albums, times, and lineups, so the show was full. However, they played the album, and then Kim Salmon announced that was the album over, ‘we can do what we like now’

The show at the Music Box as part of the Perth International Arts Festival was a Don’t Look Back Concert presented by All Tomorrow’s Parties. Bands that perform Don’t Look Back shows, including Sonic Youth (also coming to the Music Box), reform to play a specified album complete, which I thought was a pretty cool concept.

The band has consisted of various lineups over the years, but last night it was Kim Salmon, Tony Thewlis, Boris Sujdovic and Leanne Cowie. Former members James Baker and Roddy Radalj (founding members of Le Hoodoo Gurus) joined Kim Salmon on stage to play ‘Frantic Romantic’ as part of an encore.

Although I used to listen to The Scientists a long time ago [2], in pubs not on albums, I haven’t listened or seen them recently. I must admit I had a faint sense of don’t look back which was funny as the concert was billed as “Performing Blood Red River in a Don’t Look Back Concert”. Previous concerts of musicians from my teenage years have been disappointing, ranging from pathetic to wondering why I’m there. I have come to the conclusion that it is better to dig out the albums now and again for a want of nostalgia, but seek out new music to go and see.

However, the Scientists last night turned that resolution about as I really enjoyed the evening with the band that invented the word ‘grunge’ (Kim Salmon on Long Way to the Top, ABC DVD). Interestingly, since discovering The White Stripes on rathergood.com, (Fell in Love With a Girl) and other musicians featuring Punk Kittens, I can see that my music taste is heavily influenced by this earlier mix of drums and guitar of bands like the Scientists.

Unlike the The White Stripes though, Kim Salmon doesn’t appear to get it about providing freely available well produced music tasters on the internet. Most of our purchases these days are from being able to see and hear songs on the internet, and going into our favourite music shop to see if they have the title or can get it in.

However, when The Scientists started in Perth, I was more of a see them live girl at that time, and didn’t buy albums. In an unrelated conversation with H prior to the show I had a little mini-reminisce that a lot of the pubs that had bands are no longer around. We both remembered the Raffles Hotel (since refurbished ) and the Shenton Park Hotel ironically knocked down to make way for seniors’ accommodation.

The Scientists were a hard act to follow, but Rocket to Memphis warmed up the after show party and got a few people dancing. We were able to stay for the whole set before running for the bus. Silly public transport. The last bus for us is 2317 from St Georges Terrace. Grrr.

[1] H wore his, but I got absorbed in the show too much to spend a moment to insert ear plugs. I don’t feel too bad, unless that part of my hearing went years ago
[2] “Perth’s music community finally has a commentary to call its own. In an attempt to answer the king of all drunken pub conversations” (X-Press Magazine) feature length documentary Something in the Water premiered at the Astor last week.