High spirits

One thing about that Crown and Anchor … just can’t seem to stay away from the the place. Shows like this keep dragging me in there. Last night we saw part of the nucleus/collective that contains Crazy Spirit (above) and Dawn of Humans tear the place asunder, and it was one of the best shows I’ve seen in a looong time.

Crazy Spirit ruled with their raw, hi-speed, Italian HC/Germs flavoured punk madness and Dawn of Humans didn’t disappoint my expectations … a (molotov) cocktail of unsettling performance art, noise and nerve-shattering hardcore … to be honest, I haven’t the words to give justice to what we’d witnessed, but I will say, it was definitely unique. And kind of scary.

Do check up on this: I’ll put more up later on, including the one shot of DoH that kind of worked.

The Wasteland

Just when you thought Kilburn couldn’t get any more scenic …

TØRSÖ

TØRSÖ at Animal House, 19th April 2015

Feminist, vegan straight-edgers TØRSÖ (comprising ex-members of Punch and Holy) took the doors right off Animal Haus the other night. However, they seemed like decent folks, so they probably put them back on afterwards. Seriously though, they were brilliant. Race Machine and Grimalkin were also nuts, as always.

I love how the dude on the left looks like he just realised butter is better than margarine.

More photos HERE.

The kids are alright.

It’s International Record Store Day, hoooray! So to coincide, I thought I’d review my latest purchase … nevermind that I picked it up a good few weeks ago, better late than never. and all that.

So. Port Adelaide’s markets sometimes yield bitchin’ results … whilst most of the record bins are haunted by your parent’s tastes, a good (and persistent) dig can be worth your while. For example, I ended a search lasting almost a decade for a copy of Nancy and Lee: I’d been hunting that since living in Melbourne a looong time ago, and I found it in Port Adelaide (without even having stepped in Porthole)! Daaamn. Not to mention, it only cost me $6, and I’ve hammered that one, a lot. But a little while back, I come across this …

I had no idea it existed and wasn’t totally sure if was even real … but it felt real. Smelled real. It tasted real. And it is … indeed … real. Scary, but real. With recent events revolving around the Cosby universe held firmly in mind, something about this just doesn’t feel quite right. But that is now, and this was then so, let’s keep these things separate.

Firstly, one thing that really caught my eye was Bill’s face … it just leaps out of the cover at you with it’s sharp focus, in contrast to his cohort of fuzzy tykes loitering on the steps of that brownstone. Hey, you live here? Wanna get inside? WELL, FIRST YOU GOTTA BREAK THROUGH THIS CORDON OF OUT OF FOCUS CHILDREN. But breathe easy champ, they’ve been hanging out with Bill Cosby and he’s doing his darndest to keep them clean, so they’re most likely not ripped on pills, or jonesing for a fix and going straight for your wallet and jugular vein.

Where was I? Ohh right, the face … so this is clearly before Photoshop. The art director has clucked his tongue over Bill’s expression and had the designer slap a substitute mug over it and that could’ve taken ages with one of those old repro cameras. But all that aside, if you’re gonna replace the face, pick one that has the same light angles.

Please. People like me notice these things.

This cost me $8, but I’ve seen it on eBay for about $50. BARGAIN. And the look of disappoinment on the face of the girl who sold it to me was so priceless, I didn’t even feel the need to haggle.

So onto the LP itself … where to start? It is what you would expect really, Bill Cosby: talking. To kids. About drugs. And it is indeed educational, for example, I’ve learned what Proud Mary is from people that were kids over 40 years ago. I also now know what uppers and downers are, and through the creative techniques of the producers, I now understand the effects of them (uppers; music goes fast. Downers; music goes slow … doye). This album out-funks the Mar Keys (many people have referred to it as being “jazzy” but, not being an expert, I can still see the differences between jazz and funk), is dreadfully hilarious (uninentionally, I assume) and may just come in handy for when Rosa gets older and we need to have The Talk. This is gonna save me some time. Nice. In summation tho, this isn’t dinner music, nor party music although, it might go over at a party, like gimmick records tend to do. And while it may have altruistic intentions, it is just that … a gimmick record. Good for a quick, cheap laugh before heading into more serious party territory like Gary Glitter, Herbie Hancock or Deicide.

PLD#4: Suburbia

Suburbs of Adelaide through my favourite camera of all time, the Minolta SRT101.

Photo Lucky Dip#3

Street artist, Adelaide CBD

Dudes with guitars, Mauerpark Flöhmarkt, Berlin

Crises precipitate change

Sorry kids, no Photo Lucky Dip this week. Rather, you get Crisis Alert at the Metro Hotel, 12th February 2015: lucky you!

OMG: HEAPS MORE

SPRAYPAINT THE WALLS

ORDER55

TREAS

ETAM CRU

ASKEW ONE

LINZ

DON

KAB101

SMUG

As promised, we got ourselves back down into the Port to check out the works underway for Wonderwalls. Hey, here’s a tip for gigs like this: get there early. Hipsters usually sleep til late and tend to collectivise when awake, so to not only beat the heat and the crowd, get your ass out of bed at a decent hour. Unless, of course, you want to suffer sidestream beard rash, routinely apologise for scuffing boat slippers, spend the day advising the kids that they should stitch or patch the holes in their jeans so they don’t get bigger and cluck your tongue at brake-free custom bicycles (“Soo dangerous, tsk tsk ..”).

Oh … before you get your vintage singlets in a twist, I’m just kidding, really.

The finished ETAM CRU piece is simply breathtaking and Seb Humphrey’s work was shaping up to be typically awesome. Never heard of SMUG before but damn, can that guy paint. The stuff we managed to see was all great, and hopefully it may kick off something bigger and more widespread across the Port, because that place needs some decorating.

(As for the post title, while it may be a little too literal for some, it actually refers to a Black Flag song from their piece de resistance, Damaged)

Build a bridge …

… and GET OVER IT.

Taken whilst wandering about the Port at the Wonderwalls festival.

Ahhh … three Port Adelaide photo posts in a row.

Port Adelaide, taken from out front of the lighthouse while looking after the pushers.

So it seems I’m really only posting photos at the moment, probably something to do with the swathe of shots from our trip to Germany (and our stopover in Dubai) in December. I will do more drawings and stuff, I will … promise. Just not this week or anything … dude, I have three jobs and a family, stop being so demanding.

Back in town three weeks now … over the jetlag … back at work. Alright. And not only are Crisis Alert playing soon with Manhunt and Race Machine, and Deltron 3030 are coming to Adelaide for the first time (and playing the Gov), but J. Mascis is doing a solo show in two weeks! How is that NOT grounds for excitement? I ask you!