Do you know what a beeline is?

Make one to Caringbah Bizzos Club in southern Sydney for this line-up:

Webcam update

Hmm,I forgot that I said I'd do this now and again.
Incredibly detailed and informative update:

Discretion sometimes the better part of valour

And in breaking news, the Stooges just cancelled their October 1 show in Sarajevo following Muslim fundamentalist violence at a gay festival.

Snooze and you loose

The first "Ed Kuepper Live" disc from the Prince Melon Bootleg Series has sold out and it won't be long before Volumes Two and Three go the same way. Procure for 10 bucks plus modest postage from the Prince Melon myspace. Read a review of Volume One here with Two and Three live at the same place in a day or two.

One to diarise

The HHMNs haven't finished their album yet but the Passengers have, after some stalled progress. This will be an excellent night of acoustic pop by the supports and punkish powerpop by the headliners.

Wall becomes Dyke?

Phil Spector's re-trial for murder begins on October 29, LA time.



Now tell me doesn't look like he should be in this list of 25 Men Who Look Like Old Lesbians.

Deathpunk comes in many forms

Turbonegra are an all-girl Turbonegro tribute band from San Francisco. Here's some footage from their current German tour.

Genius in iTunes explained

In case you were wondering how the new Genius feature scans your current iTunes song and suggests a playlist from your library, the folks at geekculture have it all worked out. Click to enlarge:

Buggered if I'm letting Ringo Starr near my iMac.

Skanks, bad html and crappy bands

Does social marketing dominate your life? Do you crave a time when life was simpler, less hectic and less-connected (although still full of crappy bands)? Watch.

Penny in Japan and Europe

If you're in the area, you might want to drop by Melbourne's sultry feedback queen Penny Ikinger's shows in Tokyo next month.


Penny's playing solo and accompanied by a local outfit on the final show.

If that's inconvenient, there's always France and Spain where she'll be gigging with Vinz and Dimi from Dimi Dero Inc under the moniker Penelope Inc. More on that leg of the trip and full details of the Tokyo shows here.

Tear It Up

There's a lot of Cramps stuff on YouTube. But this one comes up first in the list, and rightly so.


This is them at the peak of their powers, live in 1980, doing "Tear It Up" for the "URGH- A Music War" movie. Still sadly unavailable on DVD, and probably never will be.
They were my favorite for so long, and I never had another favorite like them. Enjoy.

Unavoidable sport

Remember in school, when you absolutely had to do sport every week? Some things were cool, but often those sessions were just a wet muddy hour running round a paddock. Well, the late September football finals are kind of like that if you live in Melbourne. After sitting out the Olympics, the Grand Final is inescapable. I guess it's some sort of penance inflicted for an enduring lack of team spirit and rah-rah-rah. Anyway, if you have to watch, you may as well do it somewhere worthwhile:

SAT SEPT 27 FROM NOON – 11PM
HOSTED BY SPENCER P. JONES
GAME LIVE ON THE BIG SCREEN
PRIZES, COMPETITIONS, GIVEAWAYS
HALF TIME ENTERTAINMENT
AFTER MATCH ENTERTANMENT

Sadly, I think that's fully booked now. Other options- well, a bit later in the day, idGAFF will be it's usual oasis of excellence:

Or there's a soul night on over at the new look- well, under new management, anyway- Birmingham Hotel in Smith St:

But that's about it, I think.

Lost Beatle profiled on Aussie TV

This Friday Australian broadcaster SBS is screening a doco on Stu Sutcliffe, the original Beatles bassist who left the fledgling band to become a visual artist and died of a brain aneuyrism in 1962.

You might know the story from the Backbeat movie of about a decade ago. No doubt it'll dish a bit of dirt on the Fab Four's Hamburg days. Details here.

Johnny Glutton and why some can't believe it's not butter

This in just this morning from the UK Press Association:

Former Sex Pistols singer John Lydon is now advertising butter - in stark contrast to his punk rock days when he proclaimed: "I am an antichrist, I am an anarchist."

Decked out in an English gentleman-style tweed outfit, Lydon - whose used the stage name Johnny Rotten - features in adverts for Country Life butter which will hit screens in October.

As part of his first television advertising campaign, Lydon gallivants around various British locations as he tries to decide why he thinks Country Life butter is his favourite brand.

The advert concludes, "It's not about Great Britain, it's about great butter", and will first be screened during the ITV Pride of Britain Awards next month.

Despite the British tabloid press' vehement sensationalism, Rotten always came across as a patriot - despite not having lived in the UK for 30 years. Who cares what he's advertising - although this snap from the Daily Mail's report of the Pistols' warm-up on a US talkshow earlier this week shows John's been grazing in a good paddock.



Of course the paper has tagged him 'Johnny Glutton'.

Re-visiting the Visitors legacy

If you detect a degree of enthusiasm behind this plug for the CD re-issue of the 1978 recordings by Radio Birdman spin-off the Visitors you'd be correct and it's not because I had some minimal involvement behind the scenes.

The original Visitors existed for just a dozen shows in Sydney in 1978-79 but their songs (and a new line-up) live on. If you haven't heard their music, think the Doors meeting Birdman with a one-guitar-and-keys configuration giving extra space. The full review is here and pop over to Citadel if you want to score a copy.

Hall of Lame again

Hot off the wires an hour ago, AP reports:

Run-D.M.C. could "Walk This Way" into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

The 1980s rap act, along with Metallica and the Stooges, are among the nine nominees for next year's hall of fame class, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation announced Monday.

The other nominees are guitarist Jeff Beck, singer Wanda Jackson, Little Anthony and the Imperials, War, Bobby Womack, and disco and R&B group Chic.

Chic? Should we feign surprise? The R & R Hall of Fame is anything but.

Melbourne Sharpies

Here's an interesting bit of YouTubage Aussie youth culture detritus that Ken Shimamoto twigged me to. This is from a 1974 student film by Skyhooks bassist Greg Macainsh called "Melbourne Sharpies". It was shot at a Melbourne Cricket Ground concert by Billy Thorpe & The Aztecs and Lobby Loyde & The Coloured Balls, the latter their band-of-choice.

If you're too young to remember or from outside Australia, sharpies (or sharps) were territorial street gangs who ruled various pieces of suburban turf from the late '60s through to the late '80s. The Celibate Rifles' song "Paddo Sharps" recalls them well.

Part Clockwork Orange, part precursors to punk, the most prominent took no shit - and god help you if you were a youngster that wandered into the wrong milk bar or pinball parlour.

That's the Coloured Balls' "GOD" playing as the soundtrack, by the way. There's a website devoted to the Australian sharpies here if you're interested.

Thankfully, most of the sharpies grew up. Most became parking inspectors, lawyers or merchant bankers.

Powetrane on college radio

Speaking of Powertrane (head back a few posts), they did a live-to-air at a Dearborn, Michigan, college radio station WHFR-FM last weekend and you can download it in MP3 format here.

One for the Birdman fans

The venue will be Mojo Music, in Sydney. Bring your own refreshments (Frank drinks Coopers.) And yes, it's well worth seeing this one, recorded by the Pip-less line-up that toured Europe.

Two albums from 1977-78 will be the best thing you'll hear in 2008

Just posted a review at the Bar of the new Sonic's Rendezvous Band 1977 live double CD "The Second Chance". In part it says:

If you lived outside of earshot of the molten aural glow of their amps in the late-'70s, or simply hadn't stumbled across a copy of their double A-sided, monstrously great mindfuck of a single, "City Slang", (until the bootleggers got into the act and actually did us a favour), chances are you'd read more about than you'd heard of this well-credentialled quartet. Which just added to the mystery, even if the sound of illegal documents like the "Strikes Like Lightning" LP sucked a large furball.

It's on Easy Action and it's a vital, fiery 2CD set, a leftover from the box set. It follows on the heels of "Live, Masonic Temple", another live show from 1978 issued by Robert Matheu on his Rock-a-Rama label. Both of these - and almost anything else issued under the band's name, save a couple of shoddy bootlegs - is essential listening. Read full reviews here, follow the links therein to buy. You won't regret it.

Don't wanna go out?

Then get to bed early on Saturday night, but not before catching Steve Lucas on SBS' Rockwiz at 9.20- just after Iron Chef.

The punk rock Beau Brummell - he's not quite Dorian Gray- has been in fine form lately and this should be top entertainment, especially if you are still recuperating from Sixfthick. Steve's also playing in the Pure Pop courtyard on Sunday at 6.00pm.

Jimi Hendrix died 38 years ago today

Hard to believe it's been that long.

Storied history lesson from Detroit vets

I-94 Bar staffer Clark Paull spotted a nice Powertrane piece in the Detroit Metro Times tonight. MC5/Stooges chronicler Brett Callwood sat Scott Morgan and Robert Gillespie down and talked about their histories and that of their current band. Read it here.

Witch Hats get high

Well, the Witch Hats survived their recent US tour, with many tales to tell, and are among a bunch of acts playing for free at the Northcote Social Club (and other places) on Sunday, as part of the High Vibes festival. I don't usually have a lot of time for Northcote, but this may be worth it.
The full list:

The Barons of Tang, Clinkerfield, Witch Hats, Tic Toc Tokyo, The Lucksmiths, Jess McAvoy, Wellyn, Sal Kimber, Princess One Point Five, The Band Who Knew Too Much, Seagull, Pablo Discobar, Johnnie & the Johnnie Johnnies, Symbiosis, Ned Collette Band, Fireside Bellows, Marcelle & the Blow Waves, The Ukeladies, Country Burnout, Redfish Bluegrass, King Marong, April Maze,Eva Popov Band, djak, Dj KLMNOP , Dj Aurora, Jordie Lane & Band, Bass Bin Laden, Mista Savona & Rootbound System, Drumheller, ii, NKABOM – Asanti Dance Theatre, ARCapella & the Keytones Choir, Kinematic, Sol Nation, The Night Sky, Amalgama, The Woohoo Revue, The Moonhops, Tzigas, Rapskallion, Flap!, The Melbourne Beat Carpel, The Renovators, Candice Monique & The Optics, The Sure Shot Hunters, Chelsea Drugstore, Richard Lightbulb Fishwyck, Jane Dust, Major Chord, Kylie Auldist w/ Lance Ferguson, Tobias Cummings, Laura Jean and The Eden Land Band, Guy Blackman, The Russian Roulettes, Kids With Guns For Hands, The Sonic Manipulator, The Sinking Ship, Great Men, Voluptuous Torpor, The Wishing Well, Michael Fein, Live@Subs, Rob Draper, Fred Leduc, Oliver Jones, Jord Allen, The Ralph & Rockstar show, Jessica Paige, Stu Harcourt & Sarah Carnegie, DJ Jack, Shaun Kirk, Nicola Watson, Pete Olsen, The Jayden, Damien Van De Geer, Chris Cavill, Jess Hieser, Benson Campain, Ben Smith, Dan Cassey, Victor Tang, Brother Tony, Son Corners, Elm Street

And no, I don't know who half of that lot are either. Playing times and full details here.
Just watch out for fire twirlers- I'm sure High St. will be full of them. Oh, and when I say "free" I mean "entry to venues is by donation".

Hound Hoss Hicks

I dropped into the Hound last weekend, for the first time in a while. This stuff  all seems very long ago now- so far, nothing there has changed, although i see they are now seeking planning permission to put some fuck off big advertising billboards on the St Kilda Rd facade. Anyway, I've managed to miss all the recent sporadic appeareance by HOSS, who are playing there on Friday night. Which would be great, except that I'm probably going to miss them again as it clashes with Sixfthick's farewell show at the filthy Roxanne Parlour:
Medical advice is that their livers have recovered sufficiently from last year's trip for them to take another crack at the unsuspecting French & Germans. The show is being filmed for JTV, apparently, though what possessed those dullards to show an interest in the Hicks is anyone's guess.

A weekend and a half

Well, that was a weekend and a half. 15 goddam bands in 2 days. Late nights, a few beers, and a lot of fun.
There are some pics and words of the Visitors here  if you need background - for all the reformation/reissue angle,  there was not one minute of their set that felt gratuitous or nostalgic.  Maybe it's because they have been dormant for so long, but they brought real freshness to a solid set, which took in about everything I could have hoped for:

Despite ripping off/paying homage to his "Minister of Defence" tag for my "Minister of Offence" role with GOD many years ago, I've never seen Mark Sisto perform before. He was excellent- in great voice, punchy, sly and very funny too. Pip Hoyle and Deniz Tek didn't disappoint the Birdman tragics in the crowd either, though having said that I'd reckon that you could enjoy these guys for the class act they are, without any knowledge or experience of their past activities. CD details are here if you are interested.
It was a bit of a struggle getting my arse into Flip Out for the 3.00pm kick-off the next day, but I made it and I'm glad. In the past festivals have been a bit "meh" for me- they all seem to go on too long, have too much dead time, may involve standing round in a field, or a combination of all three. This thing really hit the spot though. Highlights were the Pink Fits bruising, high-energy set, the return of the Stabs, US legend MOTO's deranged guitar riffery/perversion and ECSR's killer closing set. There were old friends and new friends, there was "Creature From The Black Lagoon" on the big screen, there was beer, there was the promised free CD- all good. 

Iggy and the City

Dunno who should be more insulted but the comments are priceless.

Beasts box in pipeline

Thanks to reader Dermott Kelly who twigged me to an email from Australian label
Inertia announcing their entry to Wikipedia and mentioning a spin-off label, Provenance. Provenance intends "to reissue and export important, classic and rare Australian and New Zealand music...Provenance's first release is a limited edition boxset that reissues the first three Beasts of Bourbon albums".

One schooner of new coming right up, Dermott.

Bob not letting Mould grow on his story

Ex-Husker Du driving force Bob Mould is penning his autobiography, according to a release on PR Newswire. It’ll be written with Nirvana chronicler Michael Azzerad.

Mould is famously known as a solo artist in his own right and a champion of gay rights, and in recent years he’s been shifting into dance music. Less high profile is his post-Husker Du career fork as a creative director for pro wrestling. Who would have thought WCW was scripted? Guess that beats wrestling with one’s emotions.

How the jams very nearly weren't kicked out

Engineer Bruce Botnick reveals that the historic recording of the MC5's "Kick Out The Jams" very nearly didn't happen thanks to an accident with the the tape machine on the eve of the gigs:

"All of a sudden, we felt the truck bounce and then we heard a crunch. The 8-track fell over backward, six feet down and hit the ground. It was the only machine we had. Wally and I got down from the truck, stood the machine up, turned it on and it worked perfectly. It was a 3M 8-track — one of the great M-79s. They don't make machines like that anymore.”

Read more in Mix magazine online here.

"Anyway You Want It" - Magic Christian

Magic Christian is the name of the band and ex-Flamin' Groovies member Cyril Jordan is the instigator. They've been around a while but recently inducted Blondie drummer Clem Burke into the ranks and released their second album which is attracting positive attention. Here's a clip of them at Maxwell's in Hoboken, NJ, last week covering the Dave Clark Five. That's Wilson rocking out on guitar at stage right.


Addendum: I mistakenly pegged Cyril as Chris Wilson in earlier post, mea cupla.

Stooge is a goat by Russian standards

The Stooges are playing their second-ever gig in Moscow and apparently the Russian media think Iggy carries on like a "goat", according to a concert preview. I think it's meant as a positive. Lucky he's not from Georgia.

Bong guitar

As well as being a member of the Raunch Hands and the man behind his own band Edison Rocket Train, New Yorker Mike Edison was once editor of High Times, so what other use is he going to find for a guitar besides this:

Clash for Chaos

The Times Online is promising a two-part serialsation of the formation of the Clash here. Excuse my cynicism but what don’t we already know and why would it be explosive? The Brit music press did all the exposing back in the day and we've read (and seen) all sorts of DVDs and books since then.

Pistols will fire

Old farts they might be and they're definitely in it for the money, but the Sex Pistols are still a damn fine band, as Julien Temple's new DVD will show. I missed this show by a matter of days. Watch the trailer:

What will the new iPod look like?

It might be viewable here.

Flip Out

Now, ordinarily, this show, at the Espy on Friday night, would be head and shoulders above the rest:

The Visitors were one of a clutch of bands (see also- the Hitmen, the Other Side, Comrades of War, New Christs and New Race) formed from the debris of Radio Birdman on their return from Europe in 1978. They played a dozen or so shows, recorded an album, released an EP's worth of it, and then disbanded. The album eventually emerged years later, and is now being reissued, on Citadel Records, to mark their reunion. I never saw them, and am really looking forward to this. I mean, it's not often you get to see legends play. Vocalist Mark Sisto's role as Birdman's "Minister for Defence" led to me being christened "Minister for Offence" during my time roadieing for GOD. And, it's free, yet. Make the most of it.

But even that looks like being relegated to warm up status, because on Saturday the first (of many, hopefully) Flip Out Festival hits the Corner Hotel.

A solid attempt to get a decent festival going in Melbourne, without the big bucks and sponsorship. There is so much going on here, in addition to the music. The first 200 people through the door will receive a free 18 track Aarght Records/Stained Circles sampler. There's a record fair 2 – 6pm, a rooftop BBQ will run from 5 – 8pm, and the Gimme Shelter and Primitive DJ’s will be playing tunes in the front bar.

PERFORMANCE TIMES - OVER 2 STAGES:
3.00 SUPER WILD HORSES
3.45 THE UV RACE
4.30 THE STRAIGHT ARROWS (SYD)
5.15 THE FROWNING CLOUDS
6.00 THE PINK FITS (SYD)
6.45 DEAD FARMERS (SYD)
7.30 KNIFE FIGHT (NZ)
8.15 THE STABS
9.00 KING AUTOMATIC (FRANCE)
9.45 DEAF WISH
10.30 M.O.T.O (USA)
11.15 BEACHES
12.00 EDDY CURRENT SUPPRESSION RING

And if that isn't enough for you, the Straight Arrows are using Flip Out to kick off a tour to launch their new single, and you can go and see them again on Sunday at Bar Open in Fitzroy.

That starts around 8.00pm, with the Arrows on at 11-ish.

Monday morning is far away as I write this, but I suspect it won't be a pleasant awakening.

MC5 contract for the UK show that never was can be yours

Australian collectables store Vicious Sloth is touting a genuine MC5 contract for a cancelled 1972 UK show on eBay, under the letterhead of one of their former booking agencies Gemini. Notable for Australian rock trivia buffs is the naming of Barry Earl as one of the principals of Gemini. Click to enlarge.
Interestingly, he's billed as a "former convict and exponent of the didgeridoo" in what's undoubtedly an attempt at humour by his English colleagues. With friends calling you an ex-con, who needs enemies?
Anyway, back on our shores, the late Barry Earl was the svengali behind the infamous "Lethal Weapons" compilation that attempted to catch a ride on the back of Australian punk rock by including the likes of Teenage Radio Stars, The Boys Next Door (later the Birthday Party), JAB and The Survivors. Aztec Music recently re-issued it and TJ Honeysuckle wrote a background interview piece for the I-94 Bar here.

It was attracting no bids at $49.99 last time I looked tonight so it'll be interesting to see if it goes off or is re-listed. If the link at the top of this post stops working, use the search feature on eBay.

What sort of Gig Pig are you?

I'm sure I saw a few of these people last weekend. Click to enlarge. More cartoons here.