songs of sydney and melbourne

I did a show the other night in Melbourne. It was oranized by the melbourne Fringe and it was a simple idea that really worked. People were asked to sing a song about Melbourne . The venue was the basement of the North Melbourne Town Hall and in the end there were 21 performers. Everybody got up and sang one song.
It was free to get. I think its great when arts funded events have an idea that focusses people on working players. They can have the fresh, different venues to present things ain and the pr reach and all the organizational resources to move along a night like that. It was also great because all the musicians came from the many slightly different cliques of the Melbourne scene , and so did the audience. All this social networking / engineering has led to people seeking out more of the same . People spiral and dig down deeper into their own interests. Interests which seem to stop at a particular time and place. It was good to see everybody in the room together being exposed to different things. Like when you hear something by accident on the radio. When music is public rather than all interior and precious. Its great when something busts out and has the juice to get to lots of strangers.
Here was the line up...
Amaya Laucirica
Biddy Connor
Crystal Thomas
Dave Graney
Desperately Not Yoko
Digger and the Pussycats
Emily Ulman
Hamish MacLeod
Hugh McGinley
James McCann
Jensen Tjhung (Deaf Wish)
Jon Michell (Mum Smokes)
Jordie Lane
Laura Jean
Matt Walker
Ned Collette
Phil Gionfriddo (Jacky Winter)
Richard Fyshwick s.n. (Legends of Motorsport)
Shane Pullen
Sianna Lee
The Bowerbirds
The Swindlers


It had a compere, James Young, who had the difficult job of inevitably trampling over everybodies sensibilities. He did the heavy lifting. It was a sensitive crowd like I said and the room was unforgivingly uncomfortable. ( I mean unfamiliar) to all.
With so many performers, the room had a good crowd in it anyway. I had a great time . I have as many prejudices as the next
musician and I enjoy them so some of the acts weren’t any where near any of “my thing” but I dug the whole rough ride. I did a song very early on. “oakleigh Bowie Blues’. Until the Swindlers and the incredible Matt Walker I played the only rude flattened five / discordant notes in the room.
I applaud any sort of government involvement in popular and especially unpopular music. Good on the fringe for digging in.

Earlier in the year I had also had the opportunity to sing some songs at an event that was a part of Brian Enos "Luminous " festival. A very distant part I guess. Heres what the Creative Sydney people said....

"Hear the likes of Old Man River, Spod, Sui Zhen, Loene Carmen and members of Dappled Cities, Bridezilla, RedSunBand, Tom Ugly along with special guests Simon Day (Ratcat) and Dave Graney reinterpreting old-school hits and indie classics, all backed by a supergroup of a house band featuring Lindsay McDougall (Triple J, Frenzal Rhomb), Cec Condon (The Mess Hall), Sam Worrad (The Holy Soul) and Cameron Bruce (Waikiki, The Beautiful Girls).
The night will open with a set by three generations of Sydney performers all from the one family - Holiday Sidewinder (Bridezilla), her mother Loene Carmen and grandfather Peter Head - performing some of Peter’s classic songs about Sydney such as “King of the Cross” (about Abe Saffron) and “William St Blues”.

It was a very warm event to be invited to be a part of. I was the only Melbourne person. An happy accident I think. A generous and warm Sydney invitation . I really enjoyed seeing Loene carmen performing with her father and her daughter , all of them taking the mic to sing a couple of songs in turn. Simon Day always makes me wonder why he isn't more active musically. One of the dappled City fellows did Eric Bogles "the band played waltzing matilda" to this hall full of up for it 20 somethings. I thought he was mad. They quite liked it, but I always misjudge the current generations sentimentality about WW1. They've been brought up with it as a semi religuous holiday every year.
The band was brilliantly in touch with all the material. it was a much bigger room and the sound was reverberating around the cavernous rooms. Agai, it was great to be shoved into contact and touch with so many people whose names I had only seen written down. Seeing them cope with being exposed to new material and trying different things on with a different band and a room full of partying young adults was wild.

I got up eventually and did my “sydney” songs, "hindu gods of love " by the Lipstick Killers and "smith and wesson blues" by radio Birdman. Two iconic Sydney acts. We drew the end of “Smith and wesson blues” out three or four times longer than the actual song. We couldn’t stop the crescendoes. Well we could have but once you start that stuff, its hard to stop. You don’t wanna. I also did my own "bodysnatcher blues" as its a one note boogie and I thought the band might dig it. The boogie. Its one thing you can have and eat as well.

Competition and ambition are great in music. Its dull if everybodys nice all the time. Still, musicians always have more in common than they care to admit, good times, comrades!