DIY Wotz on Guide for the weekend of 8 August 2008

One for the road (literally). Saturday Arvo Olympic Jazz at the Folkus Room, Serbian Club in Mawson. 2pm – 5pm today with The Joe Lloyd Quartet. http://www.thefolkus.org.au/index.htm

Just in from hosting a sizzling night down at the Merry Muse with the Crooked Fiddle Band and Mr Fibby, with a very welcome walk-up set from Mr Matty Ellis. The newly polished dance floor at the Polo got an absolute sanding down.

The Crooked Fiddle Band and Mr Fibby will be on again tomorrow night (Saturday 9 August) at the Phoenix. Not sure of the time, but I’d be getting there early as the joint will be packed if their last showing at that venue is anything to go by.

Some very amateur-ish vision (the flash on my camera bites) of tonight is here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ovhrprod

And I left the Merry Muse precinct just as the Rat Pack were gearing up (no pun intended) for their Rat Olympics. The Olympic flame was in a home-made BBQ stationed on the front of one of the guy’s bikes. I do hope they’re not wearing anything that’s too flammable — could get very messy! A very strong smell of kero in the air…

For the ladies:

Canberra’s biggest bra fit SALE

9th – 17th August
Fitzroy Pavilion

From 9am to 6pm every day in the Fitzroy Pavilion you can choose from over 200,000 bras in every size. With Bras starting from $5 and Briefs from $4 this will be Canberra’s biggest bra fit…

Culturazi informs that there will be a Rat ‘Lympics over the weekend put on by the infamous and marvellous Rat Patrol.

Let the modified cycling mayhem commence.

I’ve also got:

— Something for the punks on 9 August at ANU

— Musical Madness at Filthy McFaddens on Tuesday.

From Facebook:

— Cheese retro night tonight at Transit.

fnaah, you can contact garry from the greenroom at info@greenroomcanberra.com. Tell him Jason sent ya.

That 8-way camera production system thingie sounds awfully cool. (I know this sounds weird and narcissistic, but I’ve always wanted to watch my fingers on guitar-neck cam.)

What are the chances of getting a band in there before hours to record some promotional material? jonboy, could you pass on my contact details to the greenroom?

And poisonivy posted the following:

In a history-making battle of swing, this Friday 8 August the Albert Hall will be the scene for a Battle of the Big Bands between two of Canberra’s favourite big bands – Blamey Street Big Band and Spectrum Big Band.

The Battle of the Bands was a feature of the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem, New York, at the height of the swing era and the Savoy played host to famous ‘battles’ between Count Basie’s band and the house orchestra led by Chick Webb. This weekend the excitement of the jazz era is recreated in Canberra.

The Battle of the Big Bands is one of the events being held during Canberräng —Canberra’s Festival of Swing (Thursday 7 to Sunday 10 August 2008). The weekend draws together swing dancers from all over Australia and profiles some of Canberra’s best big bands and small group swing and blues bands.

HIGHLIGHTS

Thursday 7 August – Top of the Town at Tilleys – DJs at Tilley’s Devine Café, 8-11pm (free)
Friday 8 August – Battle of the Big Bands at Albert Hall, 8.00pm–midnight ($40 at the door)

Saturday 9 August
Swing dancers take over the Chess Pit in Garema Place, 11.30am–12.30pm
Jazz at Lake George Winery with Limelight, 2.30–4.30pm ($20 on arrival)
Cotton Club Dinner Dance – Black Mountain Jazz Band and swing dancing performances ($30 after 9pm, dinner sold out)

Sunday 10 August
Swingers dance en masse at the Kingston Old Bus Depot Markets, 11.30am–12.30pm
The Sideshow Marquee at the Canberra Yacht Club with the Leisa Keen Trio and performances, 2.00–5.00pm ($20 on arrival)
Chris Mawer Band – a night of blues to wind down at the Old Canberra Inn, 6.00–9.30pm (free)

A full program of events can be viewed at http://www.canberrang.org.
Phone 0402 466 440 or email: canberrang@jumptown.org for more information.

Canberräng 2008 is organised by Jumptown Swing http://www.jumptown.org

Raiders V Panthers 2pm Kick off Sunday 10th August, Bruce Stadium. Should be a cracker of a game with the Raiders just outside the top 8 and the Panthers just inside with one extra competition point.

The following in from Bam Bam on behalf of the Green Room:

We are half way though installing our new 8 way camera production system – should be up and running in the next few weeks, so the band dvd’s can have 8 camera angles instead of the one.. We even have guitar neck & kick drum cam.. very excited – new toys

 

Happy weekending..

7/08/08

Guitar Hero – Aerosmith!!

Come on down and unleash your inner rock stardom!!

 

Any one can have a go at any skill level. Win your round, advance to the next level and win Peado’s (Greenroom Cash!) along the way to spend on whatever you like at the bar..

 

Doors 7pm, comp starts at 8pm, 18+, FREE ENTRY, 2-4-1 jagerbombs till 8pm.. HELL YEAH!

 

8/08/08

Melodyssey

Melodyssey, like most bands have had their ups and downs. The recording of their sophomore effort The Two Windows saw the band on an all time high, both creatively and personally. But as sure as the tide will ebb, it must again flow.

 

The band recruited Forrester Savell (Karnivool, The Butterfly Effect, Mammal & Dead Letter Circus) to produce, engineer and mix the record. And once again, the group holed up in Modern Music studios in their hometown of Brisbane. Shortly after recording was complete and the final mixes had arrived, the guys set about the seemingly normal task of releasing the record. What was to follow was nearly a 2 year battle to let the record see the light of day.

 

Since their inception in 2000, Melodyssey like many of their counterparts have seen the music industry change dramatically. Their 2002 self-titled ep release saw the band release independently on the mgm label to minor local success. Though it was their debut long-player Distance & Regret (2003) (Modern Music/ SonyBmg) that saw the band reach a national audience via tours with Cog, The Butterfly Effect and their own headlining shows, plus a stint on the jjj network with their single Aquqplane.

 

&.So it was after The Two Windows sessions that Melodyssey was optimistic about taking their music to the next level with a modest record deal. What they found was a market so cautious and scared into submission by illegal downloads and a downturn in market profits that the offers didnt come at all. The band finally made the decision to go it alone once again, just to get the record out.

 

Private financiers, family, friends and a major banking firm later, the band are finally ready to let The Two Windows free. Mgm are once again locked in to distribute the record nationally and it looks as though things are on the up again as the band prepares its campaign for the rest of the year. To coincide with the release of the record on July 12, the band are putting together plans for a series of small runs both locally and interstate, as well as the launching of their first single to national radio in June.

 

Supported by Sydney’s KINDRED and Local’s MOH VAN WAH..

 

Doors 8pm, 18+, pre $10+bf, $15 at the door….

 

9/08/08

The Gin Club

The Gin Club are a musical collective based in Brisbane, Australia who perform an eclectic mix of rock, pop, folk, blues, country, psych, prog, slowcore, and everything in between. Since their formation in 2003 they have toured Australia, travelled abroad to the U.S, Canada and New Zealand, and played with acts as diverse as Paul Kelly, The Drones, Tim Rogers, Iron & Wine, Lambchop, Midlake, Band of Horses and Laura Veirs, and released three albums to critical acclaim.

 

Their most recent release is Junk, an ambitious double album featuring 26 original songs by 7 singer/songwriters. A sprawling, ambitious affair, Junk covers a breathtaking amount of musical ground, from rousing gospel rocknroll rave ups, to mariachi revenge fantasies to string-laden death ballads. However despite the number of songwriters, influences and styles, Junk has a strikingly cohesive and distinctively Australian feel, in both words and music.

 

The Clubs members originally came from a group of regular participants at an open mic night held at a Brisbane inner-city pub.. The groups core members – Ben Salter, Ola Karlsson, Bridget Lewis, Conor Macdonald, Brad Pickersgill, Scotty Regan, and Adrian Stoyles – bonded over a love of each others material, as well as a mutual love of the classics such as The Band, You Am I, Neil Young, Crowded House, Bob Dylan, The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, and of more contemporary artists such as Will Oldham, Radiohead, and Spiritualized. They soon began performing together regularly at Brisbane venues such as The Troubadour and Rics.

 

The Gin Club feature a constantly shifting line up, both in the studio and when performing live. On stage the band can feature anywhere from 2 to 9 members playing various combinations of acoustic and electric guitars, organ, piano, cello, banjo, mandolin, saxophone and drums. The core songwriting group that met at the open mic night has since been augmented by multi-instrumentalists and songwriters Dan Mansfield and Angus Agars with Matthew Schneider contributing on drums. All except Schneider feature on Junk.

 

Since forming in 2003, The Club have toured extensively throughout Australia, performing at the Big Day Out, East Coast Blues & Roots, Splendour in the Grass, Gympie Music Muster, Cockatoo Island and Yagubi Festivals, as well as travelling to Canada to participate in Canadian Music Week, and touring New Zealand. In May 2008 they performed at the 2008 Musexpo Conference in Los Angeles, California and drew rapturous acclaim. They are planning a UK/European tour for late 2008.

 

But for now, The Gin Club will be dropping into the Greenroom with The Julian Abrahams Band and Sydney’s Katie Elder – both of which you will be able to find on Myspace..

 

Doors 8pm, 18+, $15

 

14/08/08

Guitar Hero – Aerosmith

Come on down and unleash your inner rock stardom!!

 

Any one can have a go at any skill level. Win your round, advance to the next level and win Peado’s (Greenroom Cash!) along the way to spend on whatever you like at the bar..

 

Doors 7pm, comp starts at 8pm, 18+, FREE ENTRY, 2-4-1 jagerbombs till 8pm.. HELL YEAH!

 

15/08/08

Realized

Realized hail from the northern Japanese city of Sapporo. Based around the famed venue, Klub Counter Action, the Sapporo HC scene has been thriving since the mid 80s producing bands such as Face of Change, Spitfire & Knucklehead. While taking their cues from the traditions of hardcore and crust, Realized go way beyond the usually limited strictures of these genres. Their arrangements are densely layered, precisely executed and frequently build towards epic crescendos. Despite possessing a brutal set of lungs, vocalist Fuji has a distinctly feminine, Iggy/Bowie-esque presence that provides them with an engaging focal point. Realized has supported the likes of The Locust and Insect Warfare in recent years. WeEmptyRooms & Broke Me Records, the team that brought you Birushanah, Palm & Ryokuchi, are proud to announce their forthcoming Australian tour. To commemorate, WeEmptyRooms will release a limited edition cassette of their long out-of-print second album. Their new album is out now through SMD.

 

Realized are joined by Dad They Broke Me, Inappropriate Tough Guy Behaviour and Assassins..

 

18+, 8pm, $15 @ door..

 

16/08/08

Black Creek

On the muddy banks of the Weston Creek delta stand three men. Three men with three and only three things on their mind: wine, women and song.

 

These three men are Brent “Bosman” Wijnberg, “Thunderguns” Jack McGrath and Nathaniel “The Creature” O’Rourke.”

 

These men are Black Creek and they are a bunch of dicks…

 

In support are Newcastle’s HEAD OF STATE & LIGHT NOISE..

 

Doors 8pm, 18+, $10, 2-4-1 jagerbombs till 9!!