Dispatched from Australia, STUART LYNCH reports on Melbourne’s live music scene.

FIRSTLY, apologies to Washington for completely missing the opening set. I can unfortunately offer no plausible excuses, but will of course endeavour to get to a show in the not too distant future.

And so we were left with the somewhat nautical double bill of The Boat People and Seabellies, on the Melbourne leg of their East Coast ‘Home Sweet Home’ tour, after playing a bunch of gigs… you guessed it, overseas. Ahem.

Musician Warwick Blair discusses the Indian traditions behind his latest electronic work, Stars, with BRANNAVAN GNANALINGAM.

Tokushima City, Japan
December 18 | Reviewed by Renee Liang

THIS IS ONE musical which needs no introduction to those of us from a certain age group. Even if you haven’t been lucky enough to see a live production, it’s a fair bet that anyone will be able to hum snatches of Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber’s score, or at the very least knows the storyline.

JOAN FLEMING studied poetry in Wellington and now lives in Golden Bay. Her poems have appeared in Sport, Hue & Cry, Turbine, Moving Worlds and Takahe. She says, “‘Theory of Light’ is sort of a farewell poem. It’s about the light we give out being reflected back to us; it’s about the things we carry, and what we let go.”

San Francisco Bathhouse
December 18 | Reviewed by Brannavan Gnanalingam

I SAW a jet-lagged John Darnielle and Peter Hughes play in 2005 to twenty people in Bodega. He seemed genuinely surprised that that many people even came back then, he asked in his laconic, self-deprecating style, “does anyone in the crowd own any of my albums?” One person put up his hand and said he owned two. Another said he had borrowed his album from library. Three years later it was the complete opposite, as the nearly full San Fran Bathhouse crowd pleaded for songs off him, giving him the rapturous applauses reserved for idols, as a relaxed Darnielle joked and threw himself around for his final performance of the year. But he played much harder than he did that time, a quite remarkable performance from a remarkable performer. He admitted that 2008 was a tough year, and when he closed his main set with ‘This Year’ and belted “I am going to make it through this year if it kills me”, it was as cathartic for Darnielle as it was celebratory for the audience.

San Francisco Bathhouse
December 15 | Reviewed by Brannavan Gnanalingam

IT’S NOT that often that a band gets sworn at by the crowd at full voice, unless they were about to be lynched. The crowd’s demands for “fuck fuck fuck” wasn’t a misguided attempt at seduction, it was pleading for the Toronto four-piece to re-live their crazed electronic-cum-indie music. Of course, they’re mainly known for their infamous name, and renowned for being made scapegoats by the Conservative Canadian government, but it’s their musical prowess that was the most vivid detail after their Wellington show. Their control of improvisation made a mockery of their professed lack of rehearsal, as the four cavorted with textures and rhythms. The drummer astonished with his metronomic drumming, punctuated by fills that were as loud as a petulant kid trying to get attention. And the music was delivered with a fury that made you want to dance while stand dumbfounded at their control.

In 2008, CRAIG CLIFF attempted to write one million words... *awkward silence* His poetry has most recently appeared in Trout, Turbine and Blackmail Press, and his fiction in Best New Zealand Fiction Volume 5.

Dispatched from Australia, STUART LYNCH reports on Melbourne’s live music scene.

THE EMPRESS HOTEL in North Fitzroy has a fierce reputation for its support of the local scene, and is famous as one of the original promoters of live music in the area. Such standing predictably attracted all manner of trendies and musos to this showcase of three underground acts with steadily growing acclaim of their own.

“Toronto’s evil super group”, Holy Fuck, prey on Auckland and Wellington this December. The band’s founding member, Graham Walsh, chats with BRANNAVAN GNANALINGAM.

Gryphon Theatre
December 9-12 | Reviewed by Kate Blackhurst

THE FIVE playlets that comprise Summer Shorts all rely heavily on the power of dialogue and the ‘reveal’ (the aha moment). It is hard to pull this off in a short space of time, as there are limited foundations to be laid, and some of the plays work better than others. Due to some slick scene changes however, the pieces fit together well and the momentum is maintained.

Downstage Theatre
December 8-18 | Reviewed by Kate Blackhurst

JENNIFER Ward-Lealand is practically New Zealand singing royalty. From her stunning entrance in a sparkling black dress with plunging neckline, she rules the stage. She remarks that ‘At the touch of love, everyone becomes a poet’ and she goes on to sing a selection of songs that tell stories. The songwriters include George Harrison, Irving Berlin, Rodgers and Hart, Stephen Sondheim, John Lennon, Jacques Brel, and Burt Bacharach. She picks sultry numbers that suit her alto voice, which reverberates around the auditorium almost without her moving her lips.

BATS Theatre
STAB Season | Reviewed by Helen Sims

Heat is a play rooted in friction, passion and conflict, set in a cold and eerie climate. Yet it is also beautiful and lyrical, as well as intensely physical. This play of contrasts gripped me for its entire length.

Edited by Rebecca Priestley;
Simon Nathan and Mary Varnham
Awa Press, $48/$25 | Reviewed by Andy Palmer

REBECCA PRIESTLEY’s recent publication Atoms, Dinosaurs & DNA was a history of New Zealand science and scientists ostensibly for the younger reader. The Awa Book of New Zealand Science came out about the same time and is a companion piece ostensibly for the older reader. Although it’s fair to say that both would be enjoyed by anyone with an interest in science, regardless of age.

Luke Buda’s second solo album, Vesuvius, finds the Phoenix Foundation member in high, idiosyncratic form. He talks about his sophomore effort to BRANNAVAN GNANALINGAM.

By Amy Brown
VUP, NZ$25 | Reviewed by Tom Fitzsimons

FULL DISCLOSURE: Amy Brown took Victoria University’s MA in Creative Writing the same year that I did. She is also a past Lumière books editor and the website’s current creative writing editor.

Regardless of all of that, here she comes with an altogether impressive and distinctive debut collection of poems. Always supremely polished whenever I’ve heard them aloud, Brown’s poems seem even more measured and certain now they’re gathered together on the page.

ALEXANDRA FRASER lives in Grey Lynn. After some years teaching science she now has a part-time job in a doctor’s office, which leaves her time to write. She is fortunate this year in being accepted into the NZSA mentor programme.

BRANNAVAN GNANALINGAM trawls the local music calendar to bring us the month’s best gigs. This December: The Ruby Suns w/ The Conjurors and Street Beat, The Bats, Collapsing Cities w/ Naked & Famous and Body Corporate, 24 Hour Movie Marathon, Holy Fuck!, The Mountain Goats, Peter and the Test Tube Babies, Rhythm and Vines.