www.manx.com.au

Palais Theatre,
St Kilda
Sat Nov 28

I first experienced Ry Cooder in a brief clip on a 1970’s ABC TV show called GTK. Here was this guy playing slide guitar like nothing I’d ever heard before and in the background everyone clapping along singing “Alimony, Alimony”. I had to know more.
The next day I went and bought ‘Into the Purple Valley’ and then anything else I could get my hands on with his name on it. A few years/months/weeks later (sorry it’s all a blur now), I managed to get a ticket to his Melbourne concert at the Dallas Brooks Hall (1978?). Before he came on, I initially became disappointed when I realised there was no sign of any backing band on stage, simply an array of accoustic guitars and mandolins. However I was not to be let down. Once he came out, he ably proved what a master he was with each of the instruments and although not the show I had expected, I went home fulfilled.

I’ve followed every collaboration and move he has made since. Some I’ve liked, some I haven’t.
The last album I was trully enthralled with wasn’t even his! Produced by Ry, The Mavis Staples album “We’ll never Turn Back” to me is in the classic 1970’s Ry Cooder style. Sparse bluesy gospel numbers with big drums and bass and that lovely electric slide guitar sound that can only be Ry Cooder.
With this in mind, I have been eagerly awaiting the show since it was first announced that the band would only comprise of Ry, his son Joachim on drums and the added bonus of Nick Lowe on bass. No accordians, no Cuban bossa novas, no east meets west weirdo stringed instruments, just a basic trio of very talented musicians. I was not disappointed. From the moment they leisurely strolled onto the stage, an air of expectation of greatness engulfed the crowd.
Easing into a “Fool Who Knows” followed by the early standards “Fool for a Cigarette” and an unbelievable “Vigilante Man”, the scene had been set for the rest of the evening. Despite plucking songs from across a thirty year recording period, each one seemed to flow even if they were all more representative of the early 70s albums. Highlights for me were the previously mentioned “Vigilante Man”, “Little Sister”, “How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live” and Nick Lowe’s “What’s So Funny About Peace Love and Understanding”

Paul Cashmere at undercover.com.au has a great review and covered all the nitty gritty details of what, when etc. Read it! I can only agree that it was a great show and should not be missed.

Two points to make:

No-one plays guitar like Ry Cooder.

Nick Lowe is a champion song-writer when it comes to the three minute pop song.

Richard Clapton: Palms/Crown Casino/Melbourne 18/10/2009

1977 seems a long time ago. Thinking about the music of the period, most people come up with ‘Saturday Night Fever Soundtrack’, Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Rumours’ or even ‘Never Mind The Bollocks its the Sex Pistols’. It was an era of mixed tastes, some of which have not stood the test of time.

Here in Australia, Richard Clapton released his fourth album, ‘GoodBye Tiger’ which was immediately embraced as his best so far. It also was one of the few albums to define Australian music and culture at the time. Despite a fair proportion of the album having apparently been written whilst in Europe during winter, Clapton portrayed typical images of Australian summer romances at the beach particularly in songs like “Deep Water” and “Lucky Country”.

It’s now 2009 and for the first time Richard Clapton has decided to play live the entire “GoodBye Tiger” album at special shows in Sydney and Melbourne.

I haven’t seen Richard Clapton live since the 1980s and I was very keen to relive the satisfaction and enjoyment which I remembered fondly. Just like the album, Richard has endured the test of time. The long black locks, black t-shirt and jeans, the nervous but enduring smile are all familiar. So too is the music.
Hitting the stage with “Lucky Country” and following the album’s track listing, Clapton manages to move easily between the slower songs like the title ‘Goodbye Tiger’; the sing along anthem, “Deep Water”, the rarely played hard hitting, “Back on The Edge Again”, before slowing down for the two final tracks, ‘Hiding From The Light’ and ‘Amsterdam’.
After a brief intermission we were treated to the rest of the Richard Clapton experience including all the hits from his vast array of albums. Highlights were ‘Blue Bay Blues’, ‘Stepping Across the Line’, ‘Capricorn Dancer’, ‘The Best Years Of Our Lives’ and the finale piece de resistances ‘Girls On The Avenue’ and “I am an Island’. An unexpected final encore of the Stones’ ‘Dead Flowers’ and I’ve walked away a very happy man.

Richard Clapton is not “back”, he’s never been away.
Australia’s timeless classic album, without a doubt: ‘Goodbye Tiger’.

Tex Perkins’ homage to the ‘Man In Black’ is an evening for every-one,  not just Johny Cash fans.

We got all the songs Johnny made famous, a history lesson, and the biography of the man himself without all the flashy drama of the recent ‘Walk The Line’ movie.

What I liked most is it’s authenticity to the music more than the legend. The band is superb but subtle.  Tex takes us on the life journey providing enough commentary to be informative but not judgmental nor schmaltzy.  Each song is treated with reverence to the original recording.  Sure the twangy signature guitar riff is there, but so is the slap bass and drum accompaniment which also give it the true Johnny Cash sound.  The raw vocals highlight how much Tex can sound like Mr Cash without the use of technology and emphasises the personal strength of songs like ‘Sunday Morning Coming Down’, ‘Hey Porter’ and ‘Folsom Prison’. The highlight for me was the haunting version of ‘Bird On A Wire’ taken from his later recordings. The fun songs also added spice to the night including ‘Get Rhythm’, ‘Boy Named Sue’ and a fantastic version of  ’Cocaine Blues’.

My father was a huge Johnny Cash fan and the night took on a very personal and nostalgic turn for my brother and I.  We both concluded that both Johnny Cash and Dad would be pleased with Tex’s performance and that the legacy of the ‘Man In Black’ lives on ……

Steve Harrison sadly passed away last night. The singer, musician, song-writer, producer and more importantly family man who was admired by all lost his battle with cancer.
One of the original Uncanny X-Men, Steve played bass and co wrote a number of early hits including “I’m The One” from the first “Salive One” EP.
He continued to work with Brian in a number of projects including the “Atomic Dining Club”, Brian’s solo albums and more recently, supervised the live sound production of “Countdown - The Musical” earlier this year.
Anyone who was lucky enough to know Steve will be greatly saddened at the news. A great man who loved his music almost as much as his family.

http://www.myspace.com/mightythong

Prince Of Wales Bandroom, St Kilda 15/4/2009 (review)

Blues Traveler have a long and varied history showing up in all kinds of places including 1994’s Woodstock, support act to the Rolling Stones, The Late Show (David Letterman’s favourite band)  and even in an episode of Roseanne. 

Tonight was also to be a night of variety with their setlist not only drawing from their latest album ‘North Hollywood Shootout’, but also earlier hits including “But Anyway”, “Run Around” and “Hook”. Throw in a cover of Cheap Trick’s “I Want You to Want me” and a blistering version of “The Devil Went down to Georgia” and you’ve got most genres covered.

Whilst sometimes drifiting off into ‘jam’ land and perhaps a tad bit excessive, the small but dedicated crowd was nonetheless greatly impressed and appreciative.

Prince Of Wales Bandroom St Kilda 15/04/2009

Chris Wilson gets better every time I see him.
Tonight’s perfomance as support to Blues Traveler was no exception. A great, no frills, solid blues set showed the small but astute crowd why he is the Australian king of the harp.
Blues Traveler was certainly impressed enough to invite him to jam along during the second song of their set. Here again he proved to be a solid challenger to the master.

Palais Theatre St Kilda, 30 March 2009 (Review)

I’ve never been a big Counting Crows fan. Not sure why, I just haven’t been exposed to or heard enough of them to make up my mind. Sure I’ve heard the hits, “Mr Jones” and “Round Here” but I didn’t know what to expect. I must have been the minority as the crowd was certainly well versed in their repertoire. This was certainly a gathering of the faithful and based on comments around me a very high percentage had already been to the previous concert on Friday night.

The band hit the stage around 9:30 and right from the start, the energy from lead singer/songwriter, Adam Duritz, was infectious. With the beginning of each song, the crowd would leap to their feet in approval and join in. Even the more obscure songs brought sighs of gratitude from members of the audience who had obviously attached their own special meaning to the lyrics. I think this is the key to Counting Crows success. The quality of the songwriting has obviously impacted the lives of many and the opportunity to see and hear the band play them live brings on an extra special meaning.

Setlist included: ‘Angels Of the Silences’, ‘Rain King’, ‘Holiday in Spain’, ‘Hanging Round’, ‘Sullivan Street’, ‘Miami’. Disappointment of the night was the exclusion of ‘Mr Jones’. No ‘Big Yellow Taxi’ either but this has never seemed to fit the Counting Crows style.

I’ve come away from the concert with a whole new appreciation of the band and Adam Duritz in particular. Not sure I’m a total convert, but I’ll certainly seek out their CDs for another listen.

Melbourne - Formula 1 Grand Prix Finale.

I love The Who. I loved it even more when I just strolled into the concert after the Grand Prix race had finished without a ticket.

Pete Townsend, the grumpiest man in the world, despite calling Australia a ’shithole’, is still one of the most fascinating guitarists to watch on stage. Bald, grey and unshaven, if you met him in the street you’d probably slip him a few dollars to help him on his way. But once he straps on his guitar, the arm starts winding around and around and the sound builds and builds into a chainsaw crescendo, you know you are experiencing one of rock’s great moments.

After the race, the Who hit the stage with their standard opener, ‘I Can’t Explain’ and those new to the Who experience were mesmerised from the first riff. Daltrey was in fine form with his microphone twirling antics and Ringo’s son, Zak bringing the wall of drums alive.
Pino Palladino on Bass, Simon Townsend on guitar and keyboardist John Bundrick rounded out the sound and helped fill the void that the the racing cars had left an hour earlier.

This was probably a much different crowd for the Who with the majority being under the usual 40+ age bracket and calls to ’smash your guitar’ could even be heard on stage. Townsend commented that ‘we used to smash our gear so that we didn’t have to do an encore. Now If I smash it, I won’t be able to do what I’m about to do …. play more songs’. I’m not sure the fans saw it that way as he seemed to have quite an array of instruments. Must be what happens in your old age … you get a bit stingy.

The song list was a standard Who show with only ‘Fragments’ and ‘Tea and Theatre’ from the more recent album, ‘Endless Wire’, being added since I saw them last in 2004.
Highlight of the night was ‘My Generation’ which just rocked with so much power and passion. Further highlights included the CSI revived hits, ‘ Who Are You’, ‘Won’t Get Foolded Again’ and ‘Baba O’Riley’.
‘Behind Blue Eyes’ was the “sing-along” after a brief wave of bewilderment for the younger crowd members who suddenly realised that the Limp Bizkit version wasn’t the original. Roger’s voice croaked a bit in the cool night air, but nonetheless he soldiered on.

A Who concert is what a true rock concert should be: Loud guitars, bright lights, a soaring voice, over the top posing, elongated song endings, guitar feedback, not too many special effects and lots of loud crashing drums.

Full list:

I Cant Explain

The Seeker

Anyway Anyhow Anywhere

Fragments

Who Are You

Behind Blue Eyes

Baba O’Riley

5.15

Love Reign O’er Me

You Better You Bet

My Generation

Won’t Get Fooled Again

Encore:

The Kids Are Alright

Substitute

Pinball Wizard/Amazing Journey/Sparks/See Me Feel Me

Tea And Theatre

Who Interview SMH

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Palais Theatre, Melbourne March 11, 2009

“Play a happy song!” was a comment I heard from the audience.
Fact is most of Chris Isaak’s repertoire is to do with crying, lying, blue and bad, bad things. Yet from the moment the band starts up, it’s anything but a sad affair.
With the hits mixed in with the new songs from “Mr Lucky” it was a night of fun and not to be taken too seriously. Set list included: Somebody’s Crying, Let Me Down Easy, Speak Of The Devil, Wicked Game, Only The Lonely, You Don’t Cry Like I Do, Want You To Want Me (Cheap Trick cover), Blue Hotel, Bad Bad Thing, Love Me Tender, San Francisco Nights, Notice The Ring.

Some people want to put Chris Isaak into a category as a ‘retro-rocker’ or the next ‘Roy Orbison’ or the ‘Young Elvis’. Fact is he is in a category all by himself: Mr Showman.
Bottom line: If you wanted Bob Dylan or Leonard Cohen to sing a moving eulogy at your funeral to be immortalised forever, it might be a better idea to get Chris Isaak to play at the wake.

Palais 5th March 2009

Jackson Browne is here to promote his new album and use the tour as a warm up for his upcoming US Summer Blockbuster tour.

“Time The Conqueror” is a good album as per most of his outputs, but alas some of the crowd (40+ age group) now seem to only be happy at a greatest hits show. Tonight we got both. Over two and half hours of music spread over two sets mixing old and new material.
Perhaps we were lucky to have the special family perfomance for his son who lives in Australia was present.
From the new album, ‘Time The Conqueror’, a fantastic ‘Drums Of War’, ‘Live Nude Cabaret’, ‘Just Say Yeah’, ‘Off to Wonderland’, ‘Going down to Cuba’ and others were interspersed with ‘Doctor My Eyes’, ‘About My Imagination’, ‘Boulevard’ , ‘The Pretender’, ‘The Barricades Of Heaven’, ‘Culver Moon’ , ‘Lives in The Balance’ and many more. Those who came for the big hits weren’t disappointed with ‘Running On Empty’ and ‘The Load Out/Stay’

Mark Goldenberg on guitar has a hard task living up to previous standards. Those of us spoiled by David Lindley were not disappointed.

A very good concert and another ‘great’ I can tick off my list.

Slum Dog Millionaire: This will win. Great Picture. Good story in an unsual setting.
Benjamin Button: Should win for actors, but a long, long film.
Grand Torino: A great movie but Clint doesn’t seem to feature at the Oscars.
The Wrestler: Mickey Rourke to take the crown.

MOVIES
(No Particular Order)

BEST	WORST
BANK JOB, THE	BIG STAN
BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOUR DEAD	CACTUS
BE KIND REWIND	DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL, THE
BURN AFTER READING	DRILLBIT TAYLOR
I AM LEGEND	LOVE GURU, THE
IN BRUGES	MAMMA MIA!
IRON MAN	MAX PAYNE
MONGOL	RUN FATBOY RUN
SHINE A LIGHT	SEX AND THE CITY
TROPIC THUNDER	ZOMBIE STRIPPERS

The re-make of the 1951 movie, “The Day The Earth Stood Still” is a shocker.
Keanu Reeves has made some duds, and this is up there with worst of them. No, it’s not just his fault. The makers have tampered with the original script by changing to an environmental theme rather than the original anti-violence stance. Also “modernising” it has utilised today’s special effects to make it just like all the others.
Enough said. Keep away from this movie. I’m sure it will put the environmental cause back 10 years. See the original!

Wayne Brady/Making Sh*t Up.
Palms: Crown Casino, Melbourne 18th December 2008

The beloved star of “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” and “Don’t Forget the Lyrics” finally bought his Las Vegas show to Australia. The bubbly, instantaneous personality we have come to know from our TV screens was suddenly here in front of us, proving that a full ensemble including Drew, Colin and Ryan were not needed to put on a good show and have us in fits of laughter.  

The bulk of the show is based around Brady’s unique ability to improvise any given combination of situations and characters in a muscial genre of the audience’s choice. He is sharp, quick, well informed and easily adapts to the local culture no matter how foreign it may seem at the time. (”Ben Cousins??”).

Audience participation is a must in this type of show and those who were quick to jump at the chance to share the stage were not only crucial to setting the scene but also fresh fodder for his quick wit and our amusement.

As mentioned he is without the usual troupe from TV, but ably assisted on stage by Jonathan Magnum and well backed by a small group of first class musicians, singers/dancers.

The only possible drawback was the large musical content particularly towards the end of the show. Wayne Brady is cursed with many talents and his ability to sing is up there with the best of them. Underneath all this hilarious attention seeking improv/comedy is a frustrated singer wanting to be taken seriously. The audience was polite and got into the swing of the songs from his CD and in particular his final James Brown number, but it wasn’t what they came for.  

Not many people can hold their own with Robin Williams in the improv game, but Wayne Brady is certainly a master of the art as well.

Comedy Theatre, Melbourne
Nov 13 2008

I first saw the Rocky Horror Show at the HSV7 tele-theatre in Fitzroy, some time in the mid 70s and I can’t remember if it was Max Phipps or Reg Livermore in the Frank-n-furter role.
I do remember vividly what an impact it had on me in my late teens.
What was not to like?
1) The music was basic, sounded like re-works of old 50s/ 60s standards and played by a live and loud guitar based band.
2) The plot borrowed from the 60s/70s sci-fi/horror movies.
3) The previous stage musicals I’d seen were Jesus Christ Superstar and Godspell
4) The cast was full of half naked women in stilettos, fishnet stockings and very little else.
This was also before drink-driving blitzes, .05 and booze buses so we’d had a few beers and driven straight to the theatre ready to have a good time.

This now brings us to 2008 and we’ve paid top dollar for tickets, been dropped off at a respectable theatre by a designated driver; lingerie catalogs contain more explicit images than the cast costumes; the band is regulated by a device that cuts out if it gets too loud and the place is full of grey and bald heads who’ve bought their mums along for a night out. Aahh! Welcome to another nostalgic evening.

I think for the same reason that I never liked the movie version, the current live performance left me wanting more. For me, it has lost all of it’s rawness and is no longer the “Shock” or excitement that it was when I was younger. Did I enjoy it? Yes I did but it made me realise that this was not the 70’s and that I’ve moved on.

Stevie Wonder: Rod Laver Arena - Melbourne 20/10/2008

Yet another evevning with a legend in Melbourne.

Pros:

Stevie Can Sing like no-one else. He has an unbelievable range and quality to his voice that makes him unique.

Stevie’s musicianship on both keyboard and harmonica cannot be faulted.

The band was superb in particular the drummer.

Song writing skills : A+

Stevie’s daughter, Aisha Morris, is a tremendous singer.

Cons:

Long instrumentals can be a bit boring especially when it means all the big hits get rolled up into a brief medley finale

I can do without the Obama fan club sermon

Stevie loves gimmicks/gizmos - 15 minutes of keyboards via a vocoder/voice box only to be joined by both guitarists with the same effect. (Even Joe Walsh restricts this to ONE standard song)

Does he really need 3 percussion players, 3 sometimes 4 keyboard players, two guitarists, 4 singers and a brass section? (The longest song of the night was the band intros)

Conclusion:
I’m glad I saw him. He really is an impressive talent. The band was great. Some excellent musicians but sometimes excessive.

Next?:
I couldn’t help but wonder why he’s never done an “unplugged” album. Strip away all the technology and gimmicks leaving Stevie on piano, a double bass player and a drummer. That would be pretty darn good!

I’m just back from a brief stay in Cairns (FNQ). This included the obligatory trip out to the Great Barrier Reef and a quick stop on Green Island for the morning to go snorkelling. Now I’ve been snorkelling before in Fiji and thoroughly enjoyed it, but it was with a some-what “been there, done that” attitude that I adjusted the mask and swam out from the tropical beach.
Very quickly I found myself in the presence of a wide variety of fish, initially all very small and colourful as if I’d jumped into some-ones aqaurium.
As I got out a bit further over the reef sections, I could see even more pinks, blues, greens and reds darting between the coral and the plant life all relatively unconcerned about my presence. Now these were larger fish and not just the one or two but small schools of 8-12 at a time.
Snorkelling is a very deceptive pastime. After about 30 minutes I stuck my head up to look around and found myself about 75 metres from the beach, just on the outer perimeter as designated by the safety buoy. No problems, I’ll just swim back in and have another look around as I go.
Once again I passed the coral and it’s colourful inhabitants and just as I was about to rejoin the sandy beach, I spied something much larger than I had previously encountered swimming in the same direction less than a couple of metres below me.
Instantly I held my breath as I recognised the familiar dorsal fin and gills of the shark family. Uh-Oh! Now this wasn’t the huge Hollywood relative but at around 1.5-2m in length, it was enough for me to stop in my tracks. I watched as it thankfully took no interest in me and swam off along the shore in relatively shallow water. I then swam the remaining few metres to the beach.
I sat and thought about the preceeding few moments and came to the conclusion that after the initial shock realisation of what I was witnessing, I wasn’t terrified. This was mainly because of it’s size and the fact that it behaved exactly the same as all the other fish I had witnessed; merely going about’s it’s business unperturbed by the boat full of curious visitors swimming about. I may have had a different view had it been larger.
As it turns out, it appears to have been a black tip reef shark which are fairly common and relatively harmless. Just goes to show you what a bad-reputation can do for you.