On entering the intimate, atmospherically lit confines of The Promethean for a tribute to blues, jazz, rock, experimental and all-round song-writing legend Tom Waits, one had to wonder just what to expect.

When covering the work of such a monumental and imposing figure, there’s always the risk that someone, somewhere will find your attempt somehow lacking. He’s been around too long, swum in too many musical styles, taken on too many personalities and told too many different stories through songs, spoken word poems, tall tales and industrial instrumentation to be definitively summed up.

The best tribute shows for anyone of Waits’ calibre must try to approach the spirit and emotional resonance of their material while avoiding pure imitation. Covering artists should inhabit chosen songs while still bringing something of themselves to the performance. With New Coat Of Paint, singer Alison Coppe and pianist Aaron Nash have produced a show that offers style, enthusiasm and sex appeal without ever delivering the kind of knock-out visceral or emotional punch that Waits himself managed to pull off so frequently.

Opening with a suitably loose, jazzy introduction by Nash, this five piece group launched into the night’s namesake song. It was clear from the start that musicianship wasn’t going to be a problem: the playing was smooth, precise and confidant. It strode (rather than swaggered) out from the stage while Coppe worked her central position with a sultry, self-aware and, at times, charmingly awkward performance. Both she and her vocal abilities, too, are undeniably beautiful. However, moving on through Down in the Hole, a more guttural number prominently featured as theme song for The Wire and then Jockey Full Of Bourbon, another tune from Waits’ 80s period, it began to seem as though perhaps there wasn’t enough range in either vocals or performance to provide the full experience of these songs.

It wasn’t a matter of female vocals being unable to accomplish the bourbon soaked, smoked-meat sound of the originals, as many women (including the wonderful Madeleine Peyroux) have given excellent renditions of Waits classics. Rather, it was the development of a meaningful connection with these songs that didn’t always make the mark.

As the night continued, it seemed the best performed tunes were those somewhat tongue in cheek numbers that better suited Coppe’s bouncy manner and sometimes rambling banter. Jazzy numbers like Nighthawks at the Diner became even more so – if that’s possible – at the hands of her and Nash, who also work on a project called The Jazz-Hop Experiment doing jazz covers of hip-hop songs. The value of this was evident on Step Right Up, which already possesses a rap-like vibe along with lashings of humour and suited Coppe’s stage presence well. A wonderfully done rendition of the Waits/Streisand duet I Never Talk To Strangers featured drummer David Mazzarelli on the male lines and, again, worked perfectly with the playful feel of this performance.

It was the renditions of more rough-and-tumble bar room stomps, along with the heart-rending melancholy of Waits’ many late-night ballads that, for me, let the show down somewhat. There was a certain lack of rhythm and by-the-numbers element to some of the former, with Coppe and the band failing to fully let-loose. Meanwhile, on standard Waits “bawlers” like Drunk on the Moon and Martha, it seemed as though Coppe did not fully inhabit the songs: did not tap in to the raw, desperately personal emotion at their heart. Combined with sometimes forced-sounding banter and song introductions, it seemed too much like we were being told someone else’s well-known stories, rather than hearing them anew.

Nevertheless, as I said before, this is one undeniably talented group, both musically and vocally. The packed room of obvious Tom Waits fans certainly left happy and there was much to like in this performance. It’s just that at times, all you want is a little bit of dirt.

Upon entering the Idolize Spiegeltent’s ornate confines for the first of two My Friend the Chocolate Cake shows in Adelaide’s Garden of Unearthly Delights, I was struck by the tent dome’s blue and green stain glass panels filtering light down onto the stage. They were suitably calming, organic colours for a band whose entire being seems defined by a natural easiness.

Begun in 1989 as a side project of David Bridie and Helen Mountfort’s work with the world music flavoured ensemble Not Drowning Waving, My Friend the Chocolate Cake was apparently named after a song by electronic Sydney band Ya Ya Corralle. In the words of somebody unfamiliar with The Cake’s work, the name apparently sounds like a middle aged female comedian’s show about why she doesn’t need a husband (it was my girlfriend who said this, by the way). But for those who know and love them, it’s merely another part of their whimsical charm. That being said, it’s also given rise to what must be one of the more well known (and necessary) acronyms in Australian music, MFTCC.

The band has a gentle, laid back presence that reflects their underlying ethos. Formed as an off-shoot, MFTCC continues to be something band members come back to in between other interests and commitments, notwithstanding the fact it has arguably overshadowed both Not Drowning Waving and David Bridie’s solo career in terms of popular recognition. Bridie has said that such intermittency is one reason the group remains together now after more than two decades. Regular hiatuses seem to have ensured MFTCC remain energetic and passionate when they do perform and record together, as on last year’s ‘Fiasco’ – their most recent album and subject of the current tour.

There’s a feeling of coming home when you settle in for a Cake show, a combination of their warm melodies, lyrics that swing between hopeful idealism and bittersweet melancholy, along with the aforementioned semi-regularity of their appearances. They began with only Bridie’s keyboard and vocals, Mountfort’s cello and violinist Xani Kolac (who sometimes fills in for band regular Hope Csutoros on live tours) for the slow, sad movements of new song The Centre Cannot Hold, which laments our need for wisdom now “more than ever”. Joined by Dean Addison on double bass for a long, winding instrumental piece and then guitarist Andrew Richardson and drummer Greg Patten for the full-band sound of long hot summers with Sirens, MFTCC effortlessly proceeded through a selection of songs that sounded like old favorites no matter when they were written or recorded.

The idea of returning home got an explicit airing in two stand outs from the new album, Request and 25 Stations – a song about trains featuring some great melodic onomatopoeia. Meanwhile, the call of adventure far across the sea was the subject of long-standing favorite Nanny’s Farewell. There were some funky grooves on Foreigner, plenty of moving instrumentals (including The Romp, which must be the most well known non-lyrical song in Australia) and even a reference to fast bowler Curtly Ambrose and Sri Lanka as the heroic underdogs of international cricket on Great Expectations.

Closing on sing-along classic I’ve Got a Plan, whose subject happens to be a long journey up South Australia’s Oodnadatta track, MFTCC brought us full circle. Cake fans already know, but seeing them live is a reminder of just how much skill, heart and passion this band brings to their “ageless and eternally devoted” audience.

Amy Bodossian has been called one of Australia’s top female performance poets. She’s also someone with an incredibly vast array of expressive personae. Indeed, one of her most out-there alter egos, Graaahm, was a guest at last years Falls Music and Arts Festival Village.

Bodossian has certainly earned the recognition that’s come her way. She has co-written, produced and performed in numerous Fringe and Comedy festival productions over the last ten years (including the sold-out Phlegm Fatale at last year’s Cabaret Festival) and has been awarded the prestigious Green Room Award for excellence in cabaret, dance, drama, musical theatre and opera. In 2008 she won the SA Young Women’s Writer’s Award and has also self published a collection of illustrated poetry.And that’s before mention of her musical talents, performing with 20s jazz-styled Big Bobo Band and then “electro-pop surrealist” duo The Bad Father, which saw her close an episode of Spicks and Specks to around 1.4 million viewers.

Her current show is designed as an exhibition of the performer’s own eccentric and off-kilter personality, taking the form of a song, dance and performance driven trip through numerous unheimlich life events, conjoining the everyday with the downright unusual and deliberately confronting – Amy’s stage presence is a combination of soothing welcomes and awkward stares designed to place viewers outside their social comfort zones.

Upon entering the upstairs stage area, suitably jaunty swing jazz played through speakers while a pink feather boa hung suggestively from an easel in the corner. We all sat down at square dining tables as the lights dimmed and two finely dresed men ascended the stage behind drums and keboard. The Ambassadors Hotel is not her usual venue, preferring to play more specialist cabaret spots like Tuxedo Cat. She told me afterwards that some elements of this set-up hadn’t gelled properly with the show. Certainly this second night’s small attendance numbers weren’t helped by the somewhat formal seating arrangements, which tended to discourage audience interaction. The show opened with an impromptu live art session, an invitation to sketch the night’s star on our table’s white paper coverings, textas provided. I’m not sure if anybody did, although it took me a few moments to realise what the bit was. Amy said afterwards that dragging in some more intimate couches might have improved things.

Nevertheless, I thought the general feel of the place was appropriate. Its large chandeliers and sense of fading grandeur went nicely with the jazz chanteuse elements of Amy’s show. There was also talk of some technical and sound issues, although none were noticeable to me.

At this point I must confess that certain types of confessional spoken word poetry are not entirely my cup of tea (neither is tea, for that matter. I’ll have coffee – good, hot, black coffee). They too often feel forced, overflowing with hackneyed self-pity and overdone emotional punchlines.

Let me say that Amy Bodossian’s talents are far too great and varied to allow such a production. Amy, for the most part, surpasses such confessional cliches with her more complex, multi-facted take on classic tropes like the socially and sexually repressed housewife, the often shallow and fleetting search for modern love, or that old chestnut – some women’s supposedley unyielding desire to “change” manifestly horrible men with whom they’re in love

My earlier self-indulgent reference to Agent Dale Cooper is not entirely tangential, either. Amy’s sensibility has much in common with that of Twin Peaks creator David Lynch (though he obviously takes it to more horrifying lengths), with its off-beat humour, jazzy soundtrack and exploration of suburban domesticity’s strange and sometimes dark underside. Her musical and poetic ability have a wonderfully bohemian, conversational edge, with observations of “sushi rolls and suits” walking past or “the sun clocking on for his morning shift” giving the impression of a female Tom Waits – the same jazzy blues, the same unpredictable blend of cynical humour and melancholy romance.

Yet it still feels as if the full range of her talents are somewhat constrained by a battle-of-the-sexes bawdiness that verges into the obvious. A case in point was her song about it being “easier to be a man”. Her gender-bending impression of a self-described and self-delusional chick-magnet, complete with blokey accent and obscene gestures, was hilariously spot on and suitably cringe inducing. But would anyone watching be challenged or confronted by this caricature? It’s been written of Amy’s work that she “empowers the women and illuminates the men”, but I fear the ones who might benefit from such basic cultural satire probably won’t be in her audience. Those who were simply laughed at a well executed, amusing impersonation of what they already consider a ridiculous male identity-type.

Still, there’s much to like and be charmed by in this vaudevillian combination of song, dance, confession and satire. Just don’t try and win a staring contest with the woman on stage. You will not succeed.

This début exhibition from local artists Izzy, Ellen and Daniel aims to create eye-catching and intriguing pieces from the re-used and recycled materials of our resource hungry modern world.

Displayed in the small but inviting confines of Bliss Organic café, there is much here to be fascinated by. The first piece to strike me on entering was a large world map comprised entirely of different coloured Adelaide metro tickets and displayed against rustic corrugated iron. With continents shaped in multi-trip red and oceans coloured by standard blue tickets, the effect was bold and simple. Placement underneath the air-conditioner on this balmy night did nothing to diminish its appeal, either. (On a side note, the provision of chilled wine and cider for this opening was most welcome). There must be something about the evidence of our travels that appeals, because it came to light in subsequent conversations with friends that many others are in the habit of collecting used public transport passes, too.

Take note: donations of these and other potentially useful materials are most welcome for potential follow up pieces.

In the adjacent corner, above previously mentioned wine and cider, were three alcohol-themed images constructed from assorted bottle lids. They took some time and effort to aquire but, apparently, the variously branded and coloured caps were found without any debacherous consumption increase. The portraits of Coopers beer and pint glass (got to love home-state parochialism), spritzy cocktail and pouring wine bottle would certainly make appealing decoration for one of Adelaide’s many watering holes, especially with their rich wooden frames and distinct colouring. These might not be pieces to hang quietly in one’s living room.

Among the charming clutter of Bliss Cafe, it was sometimes hard to pick out the smaller artwork from surrounding flyers, noticeboards and organic coffee blends. A selection of four seasonal masks hanging unobtrusively on the wall were a nice touch, though. Styled after masquerade ball attire coloured according to summer, autumn, winter and spring, I learnt they were constructed entirely out of layered junk mail. There’s something to be said for the kind of Papier-mâché craft endeavors our primary school years were filled with, if beauty and flair can be found in even the most stereotypically common suburban annoyance, a letterbox overflowing with gaudy catalogues.

By far the most popular set piece on display was a medium sized dolls house, which had a continuous stream of intrigued visitors, both young and old alike, kneeling down to peer within. In keeping with this exhibition’s theme, contents of the house bathroom, bedrooms, kitchen and lounge were created from a variety of used materials, including electrical board stove tops, a battery lamp and playing card roof. The intricacy of the design was amazingly impressive and it was fascinating to look over each individual room, trying to spot what unexpected item had been given a second life.

Izzy, the driving force behind this effort, told me her only theme was a desire to re-use objects that would otherwise be forgotten. It’s a particularly relevant one in our society, which is increasingly seen as too fast-moving and disposable. There is also an undeniable current of environmental concern in the recycled use of such distinctly urban and cosmopolitan objects as bus tickets, bottle caps and double A batteries. Whatever your exact take, (re)incarnations provides a delightfully quirky collection of expressive pieces.

They’re on display during Bliss café opening hours, so pop in for a coffee and some local art until March 18. More info at http://blissorganiccafe.com.au/

Having filled the Rob Roy Hotel for two sold-out performances and a third by popular demand at last year’s fringe, local harmonica guru and Dylan-aficionado John Hastwell (aka Aussie Bob) returns for another run of tribute shows at Nexus Cabaret.

After thoroughly enjoying those 2011 gigs, which took their costume and set list cues from the gypsy rock and iconic white face paint of Dylan’s mid-70s Rolling Thunder Revue tour, I was keen to find out how Aussie Bob and his band The Rolling Downunder Revue might approach their material this time around. The group was smaller, going from a seven to five-piece with drummer Jason Sifis, Darren Hedley on bass, guitarist Caitlyn Lesiuk and violinist Kim Perry alongside Hastwell up-front and in-character. This talented group manage to capture the sound and spirit of Dylan’s songs with deceptive ease. There is excellent musicianship behind each well-known beat and melody, including some great auto wah bass work on the fire and brimstone gospel track Slow Train, a lovely violin solo on Love Minus Zero and suitably mysterious, apocalyptic versions of both One More Cup of Coffee and All Along the Watchtower.

Not to mention Aussie Bob himself. Hastwell describes his musical loves and influence as a contest between Jimi Hendrix, Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan and The Rolling Stones to see who could affect him most deeply – that Dylan won is clear in the way he channels this century’s most enigmatic singer-songwriter with such admirable precision. Both this and his previous tribute shows have managed to imitate and celebrate (through costumes, arrangements and showmanship) while avoiding cliché.

However, there were some downsides. Hastwell said the idea for this show, as its title suggests, was to offer a “songbook” type overview of Dylan’s career, in contrast to the more narrow period focus of his 2011 gigs. Certainly a good idea, in terms of not covering too much of the same material twice. But scheduled at only sixty minutes, A Back Pages Ramble is around half the length of those shows, which were split into two separate sets. There isn’t really enough time here for paying homage equally to all of Dylan’s five decade career. One nice touch to help with this was a long instrumental medley, which mingled the melodies of several well known Dylan tracks while showcasing Hastwell’s excellent guitar and harmonica work. But even this piece dealt only with the first half of Dylan’s output. Of the medley plus eleven songs performed, none were dated later than 1979. Additionally, the smallish opening night crowd’s less than spectacular applause stamina resulted in no encore (surprising, given this group’s previous sell-out shows), which prevented a longer performance and perhaps more varied song inclusions.

The change of venues from a lively pub setting at the Rob Roy to Nexus Cabaret’s darker, more intimate environment definitely works for the idea of a songbook tribute, but the show’s length and song choices somewhat undermine that promise. This may, however, be the minor nagging of an over-thinking Dylan fan-boy. Because what most people will take away from a Rolling Downunder Revue show is new appreciation for the strength and influential power of Bob’s songs.

Aussie Bob’s last Fringe show is on Saturday March 17. You can also watch a short video montage of A Back Pages Ramble at his YouTube channel.

]]> http://buzzcuts.org.au/2012/03/a-back-pages-ramble-aussie-bob-pays-homage-to-50-years-of-bob-dylan/feed/ 0 http://buzzcuts.org.au/2012/02/the-garden-of-unearthly-delights-opening-night/ http://buzzcuts.org.au/2012/02/the-garden-of-unearthly-delights-opening-night/#comments Mon, 20 Feb 2012 12:41:27 +0000 http://expressmedia.org.au/buzzcut/?p=670 Rundle Park, East Terrace, Adelaide.
THURSDAY 16 FEB 2012

What people like most about Adelaide’s festival season, they say, is that it makes the city come alive. For a month or so of late summer between February and March, streets, pubs, clubs, and other venues all around town are engulfed with a spirit of fun, frivolity and creative expression. People wander out on a balmy evening and expect to see, hear, and experience something new. In other words, they escape their everyday routine to go searching for adventure.

Not to get all geeky or anything, but it was Russian literary critic Mikhail Bakhtin who coined the phrase “carnivalesque” to describe a mode of expression that subverts and liberates the social, cultural and/or personal status quo through humour and chaos. Or, as the kids would say these days, “randomness”. In my humble and perhaps over-educated opinion, the perfectly named Garden of Unearthly Delights (from the painting by fantastical Dutch artist Hieronymus Bosch) has become our own little piece of Bakhtin’s philosophy: both the literal and symbolic heart of this city-wide carnival we call “Mad March”.

Arriving at the Garden’s shining entrance on this, its 10^th anniversary season opening night, I was greeted by a line-up stretching almost to North Terrace. But there was no cause for concern. As the gates swung open at 9PM, the massive crowd poured quickly into the ambient magic of Rundle Park, transformed once more into a welcoming bohemian wonder land.

The unearthly delights seem to be always expanding, with new performance spaces, greater mingling areas, more amusements, rides and sideshows appearing each year. In 2012, there will be 103 different shows performed in 11 venues. Since last season The Garden has also picked up the inaugural ArtsHub Critics Choice Award for contribution to the Australian arts scene by an individual, organisation or business as “one of the most innovative and dynamic festival precincts in Australia.” Combined with reasonable bar prices, double the number of gourmet food stalls and many, many fairy lights, there’s really no reason not to make this your festival hub and meeting place until March 18. Every other person you know in Adelaide will be there at some point, so why fight it?

The opening night focus was a line-up of free performances on the centrally placed main stage. A retro sounding DJ set (complete with loud yellow shirt and 3D glasses) from local novelty act & “world of organs” founder Mr Barry Morgan seemed to get people on the dance lawns moving. Next up was the difficult to classify Melbourne five-piece Flap! With elements of gypsy jazz, carnie vaudeville and barn stomping country fiddle, the one constant was their dance-ready energy that fit perfectly with the night’s festive atmosphere. Finally, sharply dressed UK six-piece The Magnets brought a touch of tongue in cheek fun to proceedings with their a capella renditions of classic pop songs like Bon Jovi’s Livin’ on a Prayer.

On top of an impressively loud and colourful fire works display, this garden party was a great kick start for the coming month of carnivalesque adventures throughout Adelaide. And of course you can keep up to date with reviews of what’s on, right here at the Buzzcuts website. So get amongst it and liberate your world, at least for a little while. Mikhail Bakhtin would be proud.

View more information at the link below.

http://www.gardenofunearthlydelights.com.au/