No winter blues.

Hmm, after last week's blowout, pickings are kinda slim this week. But not to worry.
Hobart's Native Cats are at the Birmy, with their buddies the always-excellent Super Wild Horses and the always-unpredictable UV Race.

Not sure what that costs, but it'd be worth a look. And you can pick up a copy of the Cats new album at the show, too.
Otherwise, you can catch up on your Tim Burton big screen experiences, at ACMI.They are having a retrospective of all his movies in conjunction with that exhibition that's on there right now. I actually saw "Pee Wee's Big Adventure" at a cinema once, for some unknown reason.

Don't call it a festival, don't call it half-cocked.

But it's not just about the Tote here in Melbourne.
Look at this- the Birmingham's second birthday, a bunch of strange noisy Brisbane stuff at the Gertrude Contemporary Art Space under the "Psycho Subtropics" banner, and the Community Cup have all aligned.this week.
This means that there are thirty five bands playing, over two days, at three unrelated events, for a grand total of $5.00- which is what it will cost you to get into the Cup. With a game of football thrown in, too.
Here, I've put them in alphabetical order to make it easy for you, with a note of who's on where:

Abject Leader GCAS
Alex Cuffe GCAS
Baptism Of Uzi Birmy
Big Smoke Birmy
Chaos Kids Birmy
Chloe Cogle GCAS
Cured Pink GCAS
Danni Zuvela GCAS
Dead Farmers Birmy
Dick Diver Birmy
Dozers Birmy
Gerald Keaney GCAS
Greasers Birmy
Grizzly Jim Lawrie Band Birmy
In Tongues Birmy
Joel Stern GCAS
Keggin Birmy
Little Freddie & the Pops Community Cup
Madonna Birmy
Nick Barker & the Reptiles Community Cup
Ross Manning GCAS
Sarah Byrne GCAS
Scale Free Network GCAS
Scraps GCAS
Ship's Piano Birmy
Sky Needle GCAS
Swamplords GCAS
Teen Archer Birmy
The Black Hill Five Birmy
The Blackeyed Susans Community Cup
The Living End Community Cup
The Priory Dolls Birmy
The Stabs Birmy
This War Birmy
Wil Wagner & the Smith St. Orchestra Birmy

And here are the relevant artworks/handbills/scrawl for each one, too:



I've gotta say, things like this make combing the fine print of street press listings kinda redundant.

Hack hack hack.

Hmm, sorry about that brief break in transmission. Let's pile a load of stuff into this one, shall we?

If you missed AC/DC playing at Airline Stadium in Melbourne last week, then this tribute show at the Old Bar may be some small (very small) compensation:

I understand one of the Oldie's owners is celebrating his beard's 21st birthday, or something of that nature, on Friday night, too. Whatever- he's a guy who has been known to drink gin & Red Bull at times, so, y'know, approach with caution.

Then remember to set the alarm early-ish so you can get a good spot on the grass at this:

Playing times:
12.30-1.00: The Brutals
1.20-1.50: The Orbweavers
2.10-2.40: Grace Before Meals (Syd)
3.00-3.30: East Brunswick All Girls Choir
3.50-4.20: Denim Owl
4.40-5.10: Teeth & Tongue
5.30-6.10: Ned Collette & Wirewalker
6.30-7.10: Crow (Syd)
7.30-8.00: Alphabethead (NZ)
8.30-9.00: The Rebelles
9.20-10.00: Dave McCormack & The Polaroids

Last year's show was one of the best gigs of the year. Remember- BYO but no glass, don't forget the sunscreen, and only a complete arsehole would quibble about paying that entry "donation".

If you find the thought of being out doors in the evening a bit scary, you can leave early and head to the Birmy for this:

I have not seen this Taco Leg mob, but am very keen to.

Then a change of pace on Sunday:

Singer/songwriter LOENE CARMEN’s spectacular fourth album It Walks Like Love, released December last year, will receive a belated Melbourne album launch on Sunday 21st February at the Toff In Town. Carmen will perform with her live band and co-conspirators, young punks Brock Fitzgerald and Sam Pearton from The Scare on guitar and drums respectively and right hand man, bass player Sam Worrad, from garage rockers Holy Soul.

At some stage I also need to find time to check out the chinos at Chadstone. But you don't need to worry about that.

YISYISYIS

I believe that I am somehow contractually obliged to mention this show, at the Birmy tomorrow night, where the kind people from YIS will be giving away limited copies of a new CD. You can listen to one of the tracks here.
I can't see what all the fuss is about, really.

A handy guide.

There seem to be a few bands around town at the moment with vaguely similar names. It's not as bad as the great wave of Wolf/Hand/Bird acts of a while back, but regardless, here's a handy guide, to make sure you don't end up at Pony when you should be at the Birmy.

Wasted Truth are an awesome noisy two piece.
Truth From Facts are an awesome noisy trio, with an album due soon.

Mother and Father are the first act signed to new Melbourne label Z-Man Records.
Mother and Child do not have a record deal. Nor, it seems, a MySpace page.

Useless Children are a fine noisy bunch of youngsters, with a six-track EP out.

Brain Children are Mikey Young and Max Kohane, and they have an EP out too, on Aarght! Records. It looks like this:

Not to be confused with Baby Brain , by the way.

I can't find much info on Racing Daphne or Scott and Charlene's Wedding, but here are some pics that turned up in image search:

Make of that what you will.

No pun, no fun.

Hmm, where to start?

On Friday night there is a special night on at the Tote:

A collective of bands are getting together for a series of gigs to raise funds for an operation for local musician Michael ‘Boof’ Hughes from the band Edward. Boof was in a near fatal car accident two years ago at age nineteen, which has left him permanently paralysed from the chest down. To raise money for cutting edge spinal treatment in India, the first in a series of benefit shows will be held at the Tote.

Which will be followed up toot sweet on Saturday when Sixfthick and Digger & the Pussycats do a two-backed beast of a single launch, with support from Little Athletics and Kretch.
Saturday is a bit problematic, actually- as well as the aforementioned, Dolly Rocker Movement are also doing a launch, just up the road at the Birmingham.



But I think overall I want to see the awesome Beaches launching their self-titled debut album over at the NSC:

I've had a copy for a couple of weeks now and have been playing it constantly. It's another excellent Mistletone Records release, a solid if somewhat late entrant for album of the year in my book.