Tag Archives: Cabaret

Island Vibe 2010 – Massive Second Line-up Announcement

  Island Vibe 2010
3 Days: Friday 29th, Saturday 30th & Sunday 31st October
Home Beach, Point Lookout, North Stradbroke Island (Minjerribah)
www.islandvibe.com.au

Massive Second Line-up Announcement, featuring:

King Kapisi (NZ)
Mista Savona
Bunna Lawrie
+ Ali Baba feat. Greg Sheehan, Mr Percival, Spacifix, Saritah, The Nomad, Cheap Fakes, Raz Bin Sam and The Lion I Band, Bobby Alu, Erther, Resteteser, Juddah, The Flumes, Anarchist Duck, One Rude Ape feat. Sunny Dread and DJ Catkid.

 PLUS cabaret and burlesque performances from:
Tiger Lil, La Viola Vixen, Miss BB le Buff, Ruby Grapefruit, Hoopla Clique, YoYoBanG, Tweet, Little Miss Rampage, Toulouse Mime, Hu La La!, Talitha, Mali de Goey and Percy Valentine
 
They join the already announced: Ladi 6 (NZ), Groundation (US), Paula Fuga (Hawaii), Opiuo, Darky Roots, Kooii, Rhythm Hunters, Impossible Odds, Paua, Djambouki, 20,000 Leagues, Rhythm Collision Sound, De La Haye, DJ Mustaphaa, Andy Dub and Landsoaken
 
+ More to still be announced
 
Following on from the first line-up announcement earlier this month, now comes the mega second announcement – and it’s huge!
  Continue reading Island Vibe 2010 – Massive Second Line-up Announcement

World’s Funniest Island @ Cockatoo Island, Sydney Harbour 16-17 October 2010

******* World’s Funniest Island has been cancelled due to a drop off in sponsorship. ******

World’s Funniest Island is a very special comedy event staged over one weekend on Cockatoo Island in the middle of Sydney Harbour and brings together over 180 acclaimed Australian and International comedy artists.

International talent includes Police Academy legend Michael Winslow, the return of the hit show Allah Made Me Funny, five-time Emmy Award nominee Will Durst and six hilarious stand-out new US comics. Also joining the lineup is the incredible comic mind-reading Philip Escoffey from London in ‘Six Impossible Things Before Dinner’.

Aussie headliners include The Umbilical Brothers, Wil Anderson, the world premiere of viral hit sensation Beached Az Bro Live, Lady Julia Morris, Fiona O’Loughlin, Heath “Chopper” Franklin, Axis of Awesome, Tom Ballard, Tom Gleeson, Mikey Robbins and Claire Hooper.

One ticket includes the short ferry rides to and from the Island and as many shows as you can pack into 12 hours each day. The 16 venues on the spectacular heritage listed island include a bomb shelter, tunnels, and a former prison.

The festival will pack in everything from top comics, sketch shows, comedy burlesque and cabaret to the best of campus comedy, plus music, art, booze, food, camping out and spectacular harbour views to calm you down in amidst all the mayhem.

Come along for one day of chuckles, spend two in stitches or if you’re feeling like a hilarious island getaway is just what you need, camp out for 3 nights on prime Sydney Harbour waterfront!

“Events like World’s Funniest Island are what set Sydney apart as an events destination, it a major event that makes the most of Cockaoo Island and attracts both Sydneysiders and visitors. World’s Funniest Island is bound to become the preeminent comedy event in Australia” John Montgomery, General Manager Events, Events NSW

Where: Cockatoo Island, Sydney Harbour
When: 16-17 October 2010

John Waters – Brel @ Playhouse Theatre, 25th June 2010 [Live Review]

Review: Lana Harris

  The piano player starts up, an accordion bursts in, and by osmosis of memory into reality, the room is filled with a cloud of collective audience thoughts of France. Personal artistic journeys for one, a package holiday with Eiffel tower earrings for another, access to the iconic baguettes and berets for those who haven’t been. This is the invocative power of Jacques Brel, a Belgian musician and artist who created his songs in the language of love. Never heard of him? He is mostly known in the English speaking world through his songs which have been translated and interpreted, but performers of these works include Frank Sinatra and The Dresden Dolls among many others. John Waters’ memories of Brel and his works start from a hitchhiking experience in France where Waters overheard a street musician playing a song whose passion captivated him. The song was Brel’s.

Since that time Waters has embellished the original experience by seeing Brel perform live, and Waters now tours his own shows of Brel’s works. He performs them “as often as I can” and they are brought to Brisbane tonight as part of QPAC’s week long cabaret festival.

A broad selection of musicians have been gathered to help Waters convey the magic of Brel. The singer performs with an accordionist, pianist, percussionist, saxophonist and two guitarists, some of whom jump to other instruments as the songs necessitate. Waters moves like a marionette to their sounds, arms extended, hands waving, rake thin grey suit legs twisting and flicking at the mercy of his tapping, rolling, springing feet, French phrases spilling indiscriminately from his lips. He performs the first song with no introduction, using humorous gestures to convey that the song, in part at least, is about wine and women. Fortunately for those of us who do not speak French, the rest of the songs are introduced by Waters’ summary and interpretation of their lyrics. Waters, who has a background in acting as well as song (most recently, he was part of the TV movie UnderBelly: The Golden Mile) delivers these synopses alternatively in humorous, dramatic and irreverent ways, and the stories become as much a part of the show as the music is.

The first tale we hear is about a man, losing his virginity. In the army. In the Mobile Military Brothel. Waiting in line for the occasion, he listens as his commander yells out ‘Next!’ at irregular intervals until, shuffling forward naked except for a towel, his first foray into the carnal world is anointed with a case of venereal disease. “Looking back, the man sees his place in the world ‘Next!’, as one of the endless line of the following and the followed ‘Next!’, never to be number one.” It’s not easy to tell how much of the poetry is in the song, and how much comes from Waters’ skilled translation. The song and sounds that follow are more light and jaunty than seem fitting given the tale told beforehand. The next tale speaks of love, not new love but old love, the love between people who know all of each other’s tricks, how the games are played and how they end, and yet still retain play and passion “knowing its okay to grow old, but not to grow up”.
This tale is told with musical worship, all minor scales and melancholic yearning chords, complemented by the French verbs and accents falling from Waters’ lips.


Advertisement


Even death was covered in the wide ranging themes: one tale started with a dead man reflecting on his life as he lay awaiting his funeral, another focused on the concept of the last meal, a last life experience, a last drink and love and irreverent yell at God and the bourgeois – Waters finished this performance by giving the finger to the crowd. While the songs themes were not always clearly linked to the sounds which accompanied them, it was interesting to note the format of the songs did not swing from verse to chorus and back again, but ebbed and flowed without a strong pattern
except for a swelling of sounds and emotions at the appropriate places in the often emotional tales. This was most evident in a song which Waters described as “Renoir on acid” – imagine a painter on drugs transforming the colours into words and rhymes. The music was a maelstrom, starting with a funny waltz introduction before invoking rich brass sounds, becoming forceful and frantic and building to a raucous, drunken finish as Waters hurtled his voice into the crowd.

Waters performing Brel was mind expanding. Experiencing songs without the burden of lyrics but with a poetic description of the intent was a unique experience which allowed both the beauty of the tales and panache and verve of the music to be appreciated separately. This was enhanced within the jazz styled form of following the story with the music rather than constraining it with choruses. Waters combined the best of his acting and voice talents to present an intriguing, amusing and enjoyable evening of cabaret.


HOMONEUROTIC CABARET @ Judith Wright Centre, 5 June 2009

homoneurotic cabaret    Judith Wright Centre and Chris Maver Productions present
HOMONEUROTIC CABARET

The comedy, colour, glitz and glamour of Queensland’s gay community and its stories will be celebrated in the world premiere of Homoneurotic Cabaret at Judith Wright Centre on Friday 5 June 2009.

Green Room Award winner Jacob Diefenbach joins an all-star Brisbane cast in Homoneurotic, which will “thoroughly entertain” audiences, says producer Chris Maver (The Fruit Tingle Cabaret, In The Pink).

“Homoneurotic is a great night out at the theatre; it’s entertaining, thought-provoking, subversive and full of comedy, controversy, colour, glitter and glamour,” Chris said.
Continue reading HOMONEUROTIC CABARET @ Judith Wright Centre, 5 June 2009

Fresh music for a cooler planet at Greenfest!

Greenfest Music CD
Greenfest – free green festival of emerging music and community action.

Australia’s largest free green festival happens at South Bank, Brisbane 10-12 October 2008.

Jam packed with 100% original Australian emerging musicians, the Greenfest Music Festival is all about giving great new talent a go.  The free music festival includes a line up of the hottest promising local musicians of all genres including:

  • Golden Sound & The Outfit
  • Skipping Girl Vinegar
  • The Red Paintings 
  • Very Unique Existence
  • Andi & George
  • Botanics
  • Jason Lowe
  • Rogerthat
  • Ngairee Joseph
  • Shannon Marshall

…and many more listed at http://www.greenfest.com.au/music_festival

The music will be over two stages on the hour; Green Heart Stage and Good Vibes for you Stage on:

Friday 10 October from 4pm to 10pm
Saturday 11 October from 10am to 10pm
Sunday 12 October from 10am to 5pm

For full schedule of performances at the Greenfest Music Festival, visit http://www.greenfest.com.au/music_festival

All of the musicians have given in some way, to help Greenfest get off the ground in its first year. All sessions are free, so come and support great new artists whilst expressing your love of mother earth!

For more information on all the Greenfest acts visit www.greenfest.com.au
Continue reading Fresh music for a cooler planet at Greenfest!

The Odyssey 2007 Xmas Cabaret Freakshow – The Globe, Fortitude Valley – December 15 2007

Monster Zoku Onsomb

Review by Lisa Lamb

The Odyssey Xmas Cabaret Freakshow is one of the highlights of the year, held annually with three stages of music, theatre, art, dance, film, animation, comedy, puppetry, experimental noise, digital media, fire, mask, magik and soul. Combining the best of local talent with international performers such as Tiger Lil (*The Happy Sideshow* & Machine Gun Fellatio).

All part of an evil plan devised by Daniel Endicott of Odyssey Productions to unleash the world’s most daredevil entertainers on the seedy underbelly of this city starring the cream of Brisbane Burlesque including Miss Bertie, Miss Kitty Conquest, La Viola Vixen, Lena Marlene, The Gamble Sisters, Miss Mindi, Peppa Minx and Tony Campbell in all his tap dancing glory

Kafka played the foyer stage with their unique blend of jazz and funk.
The Blood Poets were a great opening band on the main stage with their catchy pop, rock and dance tunes, just the name alone is enough to keep you interested. Delivering a tight set with an unexpected appearance by burlesque performer Lady Vee as an added bonus!
Continue reading The Odyssey 2007 Xmas Cabaret Freakshow – The Globe, Fortitude Valley – December 15 2007