waaaaaah

In the two weeks I was in Melbourne I read three of these young adult books. They’re called ‘Pretties’, ‘Ugglies’ and ‘Specials’ and they’re by some guy whose last name starts with W. I want to read the last one, ‘Extras’. They’re not very good, but they’re quick reading. I am very into young adult fiction (YA for those of us in The Trade) atm, mostly because of ‘Titus Groan’.
Now I am reading this other dumb YA book called ‘City of Bones’ or ‘Bone City’ or whatever. It’s kind of crap. No Diane Wynn Jones, that’s for freakn’ sure. Also, finishing off ‘Tehanu’ the other day (go Ursula Le Guin, go!) has ruined me for anything less. Jeez, that’s some good shit. Also, has anyone read the other ‘sequels’ in the Earthsea series? I think I might.
Basically, this big binge on books (I’m also reading ‘1984’ for the first time) is the product of a trip to that giant second hand book shop in Newtown and some time in Melbourne with Galaxy. She made me buy books (well, I bought the two Buffy season 8 volumes I was missing, but didn’t go with the Angel because it was all FREAKING EXPENSIVE. No more Minotaur bookshop for me). I also went to a game shop and bought some more Cheap Ass games (NEED GAME PLAYING FRIENDS! NOW! min. 2 players for my 3-player games). And I bought a broach. And then, because I was obviously ridin’ HIGH on the crazy horse, I stopped. But the ride, while it was on, it was so good.
So now I am all about buying books. Usually I wait for The Mother to bring up a shipment or I re-read, but I can’t re-read those bastards any more. I can’t even count how many times I’ve read them, but we’re over 10. So now I’m buying the buggers.
Also, I am thinking about emusic again.
And, I haven’t bought anything for anyone for christmas except my little brother’s kids. Because I am crap. But I’m not sure anyone but me wants Chronological Classics CDs, jewelry by local artists, squids of YA fiction (actually, I’m not sure about that one – I think one of my nieces is into books. Because she is into adolescence, almost, and has turned into the nerd of the family. Finally – another nerd is born. She aims to be a chef when she grows up, so I figure that’s a win).
Anyways, I hate buying christmas presents. I’d rather make them, but the fabric shop is TOO FUCKING FAR AWAY. It makes me crazy.
And, I have injured my plantar fascia, so I am hobbling around in pain or sitting on my arse watching DVDs (Heroes is less than A1 second time through, but it fills the gap). Or reading YA fiction. Can I just say: YA was better in My Day. Which was about the 70s, apparently, as that’s when all the YA books my Ps had were published. Considering I was born in 1974, I guess they were planning ahead. Phew.
Have I mentioned the pain in my foot? Physio has hopes for me and a big dance camp in January, but I’m not so sure. It’s a lot of pain. I blame MLX. I can’t walk without pain. I can only just walk without a limp. Most days. I do the exercises, though, and I hope. I’m not sure about this getting older thing. It was better when I could just drink drive and get into pakour. Now that I am old, I am reaping the effects of my ill-spent youth. Which, actually, was mostly spent wearing docs and shaving my head. Oh, and going nuts in the university library. With the books. Because, you know, the UQ library had a fair few more books than the Sandgate High library. And you could just _borrow them out for free_!
Anyway, with that and all the disco dancing, I think I damaged myself a bit. The physio reckons fracturing something in my ankle horse riding when I was in my early 20s is responsible for a dodgy ankle today. At the time, I shrugged it off. Today, I suffer. Also, the once-fractured right wrist is also giving me trouble. So this is the lesson: breaking limbs has long term consequences. Which SUCK ARSE.
I am not coping well with the enforced home-stay. I want to go out. Into the world. I hadn’t realised just how much walking I do in my day to day life. To the train station, down hill (excruciating on the home trip). To Ashfield for groceries (returning home to empty house, home alone til the weekend, local shops CRAP for veggies, partner working full time so can’t go to shops: shitful!). To Marrickville to explore the local fabric shop. To the train station for a 2 part trip to the fabric shop in Green Square. Around Circular Quay, just to look.
Not to mention dancing.
Anyway, if I had a car, I could probably get around. But I’m relying on the bus, and it’s not so good. It’s just about driving me MAD.
A trip to Burwood yesterday to see a (terrible) film was really hard. I wanted to look in the Burwood shops and eat dumpling. No. Go straight to the cinema. Once I got there, I was in real pain. Then I had to stop off in Ashfield for our veggies. That was ok, but by then I couldn’t imagine getting home from the train station in Summer Hill. So I caught a cab. It was so frustrating and painful – ordinarily the 20minute walk to our house from Ashfield would be delight. I’d walk through the park and pick some rosemary. I’d sticky beak in people’s gardens. I’d think about things. But yesterday, it was a big piece of crap. Getting a cab felt like a failure.
The physio says riding a bike would be a bit less painful. But I have this stupid left over cold from MLX which is also making me very tired and weak. Which is probably why yesterday was so hard. But I’m also still scared of the traffic.
Fucking hell, this sucks. Injuries: be over! But the physio says we’re in for a month of work before I can dance. Which makes me cry. No christmas performance :( No social dancing at three christmas parties. Nothing.
I think I’ll buy myself another book. Or perhaps a few million more songs on emusic. I deserve them.

think of me… but in a kind way, not a revolted way

I know it’s been a long time, and I’m sorry. Faceplant is to blame.
Update:
– I have been teaching a lot, marking even more, and am now at MLX, so this may be the last update for a while.
– I have been at the telly/national conference where I had a lovely time, learnt a lot, and kind of wished I’d read some telly stuff. Learn = on.
– I have been mooching off friends for the past few days after a bit of time in a hotel. It’s been nice being a hostee in a city I used to live in only a few months ago. We are currently staying with The Squeeze’s mum in Heidelberg, and are just about to go down to St Kilda Rd and our flash hotel for the hardcore MLX weekend. They have internet there, but it’s crazy expensive, so don’t expect any updates.
– I have been having a nice time catching up with locals and staying in Brunswick (where all my friends seem to be). This meant that I did as I used to hate having done unto me: dropping in on Scotty during the day to kill half an hour because I was at loose ends and I knew he worked at home. But it was a good thing I did: who would have helped him clean his fish tank if I hadn’t been there?
– I did a very excellently fun set at funbags last Friday. It was in the St Albans church in… some suburb on the south side. It’s a FABULOUS venue – not cold or naff or echoey like normal, lame church venues. This was a gorgeous space and felt really good to DJ. It filled up with crazy-keen-to-dance dancers and I had a really good time DJing. I felt as though I’d shaken off my recent DJing craptitude (two bad jobs recently, one at SSF, one at a local gig). Let’s hope my confidence holds for this weekend and doesn’t become anxiety: worry makes me DJ craply. I feel some pressure for my MLX sets, but I think it’ll be ok.
– MLX8 is already big. More passes than every before have been sold, and if the proportions work out the same as previous years we’ll be seeing 400 through the doors at late nights. That’s kind of scary, but I think it’ll work out ok as there are two rooms. I dunno if it’ll actually reach those figures, but we’ll see. Either way, MLX is the largest social dancing event in the country and heading towards the largest of all the events. This is something I’m quite proud of, and for which I’m very proud of the other organisers. I’m also chuffed to see that our instincts about what would make a good event reflected wider interests in the community. We always set out just to run the sort of event we’d like to attend. And that’s the way it’s ended up. So it’s nice that this is the first year I’ve been able to attend MLX in its current non-profit, all social dancing incarnation as a general punter and DJ. I’m quite excited.
– It’s nice being in Melbourne, but I don’t want to live here any more. I really miss all the bike riding and bike lanes and flat roads, but I don’t miss the weather. The weather sucks arse. We arrived in the middle of that super cold spell last week, and I had to ring The Squeeze to request he bring me PJs when he came down. I had actually managed to forget a few key items in my packing last week: PJs, some sort of nice outfit for the MLX ball, more than two Tshirts for day wear, more than four Tshirts for dancing. I’m not sure what I was thinking, except that I’m suspecting I wasn’t thinking. This explains why my backpack was so light.
– I am reading Titus Groan atm, and loving it.
Ok, I have to go do some DJ prac for this weekend.
Think of me suffering in the Victorian dryness with my horrid snotty nose and exma, will you? But in a kind way, not in a revolted way.

i <3 PT

Ringing up to find out about fares for a new bus service, the lady mentioned that that service had been very popular. I like the thought of a bus being ‘very popular’. Having failed to renew my license (as in swap from Vic to NSW) three times now (it’s all my fault – failure to procure and then bring correct documents. every. single. time), I am all about PT. It will make hiring a car difficult this week in Melbourne, but still…
So yes, I’m off to Melbourne this week. A heinous weekend of exam marking behind me (hand written exams. Hand written first year exams. Save me, save me), I’m off to Melbourne for the telly conference and MLX. I’m feeling a little trashed, having combined an exchange (SSF) with the marking. I am, obviously, seriously hardcore and badass, but I am also a bit snotty and a bit tired and confused.
In a couple of hours I’m off to the university for a markers’ meeting (let’s just hope no one asks me to describe what I read in the exams – it’s all a blur to me now… well, it was kind of a blur to me then, too). Then I’m off to the airport from there. Carrying a backpack full of dance clothes (I’ll need at least two outfits a night, then at least 3 Tshirt changes per night) and a smaller bag full of DJing gear. I will be like a little tortoise. But I think the L10 will save me – from my place to Leichardt, then Leichardt to the university, then the university straight to the airport. That’s three different buses, but at least the L10 goes from Leichardt, which is near us, only 10 minutes on my normal bus first. No navigating the CBD and Central station.
I still haven’t organised accommodation for the second week of my Melbourne trip, the dancing part. Frankly, I just can’t face it right now. So I’ll figure it out later.
Ok, I have to go get it all together.
:)

round up

Enough of the random posts. Just join them all together and make one long stream of consciousness post.
Right now my stomach is feeling unsure. It began feeling unsure yesterday after I had chicken salad from the joint in Summer Hill. I wouldn’t have eaten there if it hadn’t been 4pm and I hadn’t forgotten to have lunch. I’d also walked to the hardware store (again – I freakin’ love that place) and then round the long way to the shops, mostly so I could look at the flour mill that’s up for redevelopment. I am fascinated by the fact that there’s a giant flour mill just down the street, and that it’s joined to another flour mill in Dulwich Hill by a special-duty train line. That one’s been made into flats, though. But I’m still really interested in it. It seems I’m not the only one into flour mills. There’s always someone leaning over the railing on the bridge over the railway, staring at the giant white flour mill (the one in Summer Hill). It’s a pretty good view – a long view, from a height. And it’s so freakin’ big. And you just know that the people having a stare are thinking about what they’d do with the site if they owned it. I don’t know why they’re bothering – it belongs to a gang of crows who’ve been terrorising the pigeons in that neck of the woods, and they’re not likely to cede it to a bunch of no-winged two-leggers who’d like a little light industrial inner-city living.
So yeah, my stomach feels a bit odd. I can’t decide if it’s dodgy chicken salad or anxiety. It could quite possibly be low level anxiety. This is the first day I’ve had to myself in the new house with no real jobs to do. I guess I need to go up to Ashfield to get groceries (we have none). I’d really like to get into the city to a) go to see some Art, and (more importantly), b) find that tapestry speciality place. But I’m apparently crippled by… that thing that makes it difficult to leave the house. I think I might chalk all this up to hormones, as I’ve actually been feeling quite wonderful ever since we got here. I really like traveling and I love being in a new city. I like all the walking. Plus Sydney’s fabulous weather is making me feel so good. I hadn’t realised just how draining Melbourne’s grey skies and nasty cold were until we left. I am remembering how nice it is to live in a warmer climate. But I’m not so struck on the increased humidity – I am also remembering its effects on my allergies.

It’s not so much that I’ve been shouting at innocent blokes, but more that I’ve been trying to rub my nose off my face and had trouble concentrating. It could be PMS, but I actually am pretty sure it’s allergies screwing with my mood. I’m trying not to take antihistamines as I seem to be on them every single day, but it’s not really making me feel nice.
I’m also at home because I’m waiting for tradesmen #62 000. Actually, it’s more like tradesman #9. Really. I am liking living in a house where the owner actually fixes things. The things we’ve needed fixed have been fairly inconsequential… well, except for the River of Effluent… but they’ve been fixed immediately.
1. windows painted shut? fixed (Charlie, from Greece – my favourite)
2. fence built? done (whatsit from Malta – initially my least favourite, but later one of my top 5)
3. forgotten bathtub spout? done (young fulla who’s name I can’t remember. ok)
4. garage door doesn’t close? not quite fixed, but at least a couple of blokes came to look at it (one of whom was Mal, whose parents were from Italy).
5. garage door still not closing? still not fixed (another bloke who failed to return and give me his life story, though he did provide a few interesting tips on the tensile strength of various metals).
6. sound proofing? quotes done (including…. can’t remember his name either. But he was Greek by descent and he lives in the outer suburbs but works in Marrickville. He recommends the cakes in Leichardt)
7 and 8. River of Effluent? dammed. (“Maria! Send tradesmen, please! The garden is full of effluent!” 2 young fullas of skip descent, up to their knees in human waste, giving our drains a good routing. White neighbour-cat carefully discouraged from helping)
9. Today it’s another sound proofing guy. Apparently the owner is going ahead with it (which is wonderful). He was supposed to be here between 9.30 and 10, but it’s 10.39 now. He and the garage door guy have failed to return.
Part of me is worried about all this tradesman action. I don’t want to use up all my credit now when I’ll certainly need it in the future… or will I? We have obviously moved up a rental bracket, to that wondrous place where wiring isn’t illegal and life-endangering (we have a trip switch! No plug points have caught fire! We have had electricity for at least three weeks!) and where plumbing is generally sound, barring the usual hiccups of a house that’s over 100 and recently had new pipes installed. No water mains have burst, filling our veggie patches with boiling water. No windows have broken, letting in arctic winds. And the stove works wonderfully. There are no mice (knock on wood), but I have seen one large cockroach in the house. I remembered why I actually wear thongs. After I dealt with it The Squeeze proceeded to sing ‘la cocka roacha!, la cocka roacha!’ around the house for about five minutes in a Tom Waits voice. It was entertaining, but perhaps too entertaining so close to bed time – it was difficult to sleep with the thought of Tom Waits serenading me in a Mexican cantina.
So I’m wondering if we’re tempting fate with all this tradesmen action.
This hasn’t stopped me asking if it’s ok to dig up the garden and plant zillions of herbs. Ordinarily I’d just do it, but the landlord seems pretty house-proud, so the rules are different. Our back neighbour (who lives in the back part of this federation home) is a chef, so he’s also quite keen on a herb garden/veggie patch. He is now My Friend, partly because I am still in post-move aggressive friendliness mode and will not allow otherwise. He is also the owner of aforementioned friendly white cat (Alby).
Alby is convinced he actually lives in our part of the house as well, and follows me around all day. He divides his time between sleeping in front of the front door in the sun, trying to climb into my laundry basket, romancing me with quite lovely accapella and playing in Rivers of Effluent. I am mightily allergic to cats, so there’s no physical contact, a lot of “No! Don’t go in there! Get out of there!” This has, of course, made me both the most interesting and the most appealing part of our neighbourhood.
The other day Alby was joined by Fluffy Tailed Black Cat from round the corner, and they both proceeded to play in the mulch and attempt domestic incursions. Alby failed (I think he’s a bit dumb – he’s very pretty, being white with pale blue eyes and a pink nose – but he’s not so smart. He’s also quite young), but FTBC had a little more luck. I was making the bed when a pair of large black ears was followed by a goofy black face over the other side of the bed. As I picked him up (physical contact! Aaaargh!) he let out a sort of ‘mrprrft’ purr-burp and kept up the chainsaw action as I clamped him under the armpits and hefted him outside.
I have also seen a giant orange and white tom with a mangled up face. Both Alby and I gave him a deal of distance as he marked out the new trees as his territory. We were both willing to concede him sovereignty.
On other fronts, I am working at Gleebooks doing functions (thanks Glen!). I like it a LOT. I was too late for sessional teaching this semester, but have lined up some contacts for next year. I have already DJed one set here in Sydney and am set for a blues set this Sunday. It seems there aren’t too many DJs here, which is a shame. But I’m really enjoying dancing, so I’m not sure I’m ready to DJ a whole lot. I will set limits.
Last weekend we went to Canberra for Canberrang, the Canberra lindy exchange. I bought a Tshirt and DJed one set. We stayed with an old school friend of mine and only attended two night’s worth. I think I prefer shorter events – Fri, Sat, Sun nights max. Any more is kind of too much. We went on the bus and it wasn’t too bad. It was also very cheap. On the way back it snowed and snowed and snowed and snowed. It was like Europe. With eucalypts and kangaroos. We had a good time, over all.
We have quite a few friends here in Sydney, and have already had interstate visitors. Next week we get more. And the next week The Squeeze’s matriarch arrives, so we will get our tourist on, big time. Which I’m looking forward to. I feel like the OPERA HOUSE is out there doing fun things without me every day. Then we have people coming up for SLX in September. Then my mother in October (perhaps). Then we’re down in November for MLX. Then it’s christmas, which we may spend in Melbourne, but we aren’t sure. So it’s all systems go. Sydney is apparently one of those cities people really like to visit. Partly because it rocks – there’s just so much to do. And also because the weather is nice. Which is where it pwns Melbourne.
I like Sydney, but I am a bit sad that there are so few fabric shops. I have seen two in Marrickville, and I have been given the sweet lowdown by a dress making Hollywood lindy hopper, and will get on into the city (Haymarket) to find more. Then there’s Cabramatta, but that’s miles away. At any rate, none are a short bike ride away, so it seems I will have to find new hobbies. Or rediscover old ones. I have also found a yoga studio quite near by, but it is some sort of arty made up bullshit yoga, and not straight out iyengar. I need to get on that ASAP as I miss yoga already. Also, I haven’t ridden my bike once. This means that I’m getting more exercise, but I am missing my bike. Poor blacky, stuck in the shed all day, bored and lonely. The Squeeze has been riding to work in the city and comes home with stories about having his arse kicked by the hills and making friends with other bike riders. This city is disturbingly friendly. Everyone seems so delighted that we’ve left Melbourne for Sydney – there’re lots of “How do you like it?”s and chats with strangers about cake. There are fewer conversations about the weather, but I suppose that’s because it’s so nice here there’s really nothing to say beyond “pwoar – another freakin’ beautiful day, hey?”
Alright, that’s enough blathering. I have to go…. well, not do anything, really, but I might as well think about doing something other than making internet. You know the rules: get out of bed, change out of your pajamas (or pa-yamas! if you’re Tom Waits a la cantina), leave the internet alone after a couple of hours. It is, unsurprisingly, a beautiful day, and there’re fabric shops to stalk.

go northcote go

Northcote is apparently where it’s at these days, and while I don’t really give a shit about cool factor, I am a big fat food nerd.
So while Sigiri is definitely where it’s at food-wise these days, their website… not so much.
NB If you’re a building nerd (as I am), Northcote shops on the High Street front all seem to have fully sick pressed metal ceilings. There are a couple of amazing old theaters and ballrooms on Hight Street (The Regal is my goal, once they get rid of the stupid carpet in the ballroom itself!), the Northcote Town Hall will melt your brain with its beauty and of course the Westgarth cinema rocks.
Otherwise, there’s the Northcote Social Club for live music.

let’s say no to perforations

Three interstate trips in one month. No more, thanks. Conference, christmas and a funeral. Brisvegas was interesting and I quite liked seeing it – it’s changed, I’ve changed, so it’s kind of nice that we could get together again after seven years and find that we had lots to talk about and quite liked each other.
Acclimating to mega-humidity? Tick.
Family visited, without incident? Tick.
Old mates visited. Tick.*
It is hot today, and I have cleverly booked in an appointment with the doctor for another ear inspection. It’s becoming an annual thing. Well, something I do a few times a year, actually. I have had enough of not being able to hear properly – it makes me irrationally furious, inciting Shouting, Stamping and Offensive Language. So I will have them irrigated today at 3. When the ambient temperature is about 40 degrees C. I’m hoping it will soften the wax and aid its removal.
I have plans for films to see, and I have started thinking about redoing the thesis. I have decided that it will now be known as The Book rather than The Thesis. I will start thinking about fonts immediately, as that is obviously the most important part of the process. Pav articulates my current feelings about the project quite nicely. As an ob-con type person, proof reading and editing is really the best place to site my natural abilities and interests. Serious Tidying will commence in a few hours, once this post is written, a cup of tea made, and a little clothes mending completed.
What fillums have I seen lately? Well, one of the most pleasing was Paul Verhoeven’s Starship Troopers. I hated this when it came out, but now, after a few years of Howard government, it makes a lot more sense. It’s also part of a recent spate of early 90s sci-fi fillum delightfulness, after we watched Total Recall the other night. In discussion with a fellow nerd yesterday afternoon, I realised that they’re both actually Verhoeven fillums, and that’s probably why they’re both so wonderfully specrappular. Having read this type of SF as a Young Person, first discovering the Adult part of the family bookshelves (at about the age of 11, when carefully scanning the Adult stuff for the least hint of sauciness), these two fillums really capture the mood of terrible authors like Peirs Anthony. It’s lovely, teenage stuff, and absolutely low-brain. So that’s a tick tick and a V.G. from us.
ITMFL.jpg
Last night on SBS I also stumbled over In the Mood for Love, a Kar Wai Wong film that I absolutely love. I keep hoping their relationship will end well, but it never does, no matter how many times I watch the film. I love the obvious stuff – the colours, the framing of shots, the slo-mo, the soundtrack, the almost-love-affair ness of it.
Let’s have a look at a couple of PR shots:
ITMFL2.jpg
ITMFL3.jpg
And just in case that’s not enough, here’s the trailer:

I think I might have a Thing for Tony Leung. My Thing for Maggie Cheung continues.
This new Thing is only fuelled by the immanent arrival of Ang Lee’s latest film, Lust, Caution, which I’ve heard has heaps of hot sex, which I know will be an absolute visual feast, and which I’m terribly excited about. I’m thinking about special preview sessions on Friday day. It also stars Leung, which is very nice, and Joan Chen, who I also love (you might remember me crapping on about this stuff a little while ago in this post). I have rewatched Lee’s Sense and Sensibility in preparation. Because no one does suppressed lust and caution like Austen.
The nicest part about catching this film last night was discovering it’s part of an SBS series screenings of films by the cinematographer Christopher Doyle. The worst part was realising I’d missed Hero. Dumplings is on Wednesday 23rd January. I’m not sure if the others have already been on or not, but the SBS search function on their site sucks a bit, and I can’t be bothered figuring it out. Guess I’ll have to go to the video shop. Oh wait, our video shop SUCKS, so that won’t work. Guess I’ll be the last kid on the block to get into it, and use Netflix/Quickflicks.
Additionally, I also missed the first episode of Skins, a new series by the doods who made Shameless. And that’s a big poo.
Well, think of me as I make it by PT (it’s probably too hot to ride) to the doctor this afternoon, and pray for my ear drum. Let’s say no to perforations.
*twice in a year! Dang, we’ll have nothing left to talk about next time!

why didn’t anyone tell me

tw1.jpg
Torchwood
was fun?
Sure, it’s pretty freakin’ crappy telly (everything from the acting to the script, with a few pitstops for really awful editing on the way), but it’s also highly addictive. I just watched my way through season one, and i give it a tick tick. No V.G., but I’ll be looking out for season two, and it’s even made me want to watch the new Dr Who seasons to see how the two programs work out. Btw, isn’t that the awfulest PR shot ever? Yes, fisheye lens = fun, but why would you fill the shot with a giant, brown couch straight from the nearest sharehouse, squeeze everyone into one crowded corner and fail to consider the effects of fisheye lenses on apparent shoe sizes? I know they were hoping to get the big ‘Torchwood’ wall art into the shot, but they didn’t even manage to do that properly! Argh!
tw2.jpg
I kind of like the premise – an other Earth, where there’s a big old rip in the fabric of time and space, through which stuff comes. And then gets collected. The ob-con part of me likes the idea of a ‘secret’* government agency whose sole purpose is tidying up lost stuff. I have to admit, I also like the fluid sexual preferences. Boys? Girls? Omnisexual? Whatever. It’s a nice change from the aggressive heterocentrism of Smalls.
It’s obviously a rip-off of all the best bits of Buffy and Angel, especially Angel. Immortal boss who can’t be injured, lives underground and broods a bit? Queer sex/romantic story lines? Bickering scooby gang? Slightly inappropriate romantic relationships between workmates and employees and employers? Yep. It’s also a little dodgy, ethics-wise (they characters pull all manner of dodgy stunts, and unlike House, there’s no ongoing negotiation and problematising of this behaviour). And it’s a bit crap, ‘fact’-wise. The one scene they had set in the 40s included some seriously shithouse and historically inaccurate dancing and music (The Squeeze has entertained himself uncovering the multiple historical inaccuracies, from engine types to planes), I noticed one scene suddenly shifting from dark night to afternoon (with no real explanation), and let’s not even go near the costumes. Captain Jack wearing trousers, collared shirt and braces with that ridiculous Great Coat, but no waistcoat, tie, or jacket? What a load of rot.
But I still like it. And, apparently, Spike’ll be in it in the second season. Probably snogging Cpt Jack.**
*Secret? Not when they order pizzas for ‘Torchwood’, delivered to their ‘secret’ HQ, they drive around in a seriously pimped black ‘SUV’ (that’s what they call it – the SUV) with ‘Torchwood’ written all over it, and they routinely bust in on police crime scenes saying things like ‘this case belongs to Torchwood now’. The fact that they’re also based in Cardiff, in a country I know first and foremost for its population made up of a) people I’m related to, and b) the most accomplished busybodies in the known universe, doesn’t really help convince me that this is a ‘secret’ agency.
**Though who hasn’t? Ianto has (talk about inappropriate workplace relationships – boss and employee? Boss and recently berieved employee?), the real Cpt Jack did. The Cpt Jack boss character’s supposed to be ‘bi’ (as in not actually operating within a specific orientation), but he’s yet to kiss any ladies. Come on – if he’s only into blokes, why not say so? I’m quite happy to deal with him waiting for his ‘special Doctor’, but why doesn’t he just come out already, and quit with the dithering?

west brunswick toodle-oo

So November is over. It was ok.

  • I had a birthday (that was ok)
  • I liked all the moustaches (I don’t think there’s enough facial hair in the world, and it made dance partners extra interesting)
  • we did mlx and it went well (biggest ever, zillions of interstaters and internationals, the usual reluctance on the part of Melbournites to play nice with guests)
  • we had galaxy plus a round of dancers stay with us (and that was very nice)
  • I did all my marking and got it in with plenty of time to spare
  • I got a job interview for a postdoc (argh! next week!)
  • I got a small grant to get me to the CSAA conference this week (double argh! paper not written! flights not booked! accommodation not sorted!)
  • I’ve had a few punters ringing me offering DJing gigs (I am resolute about only taking paying gigs – I’ve done enough freebies to know I never want to do one again, unless it’s for a real charity)
  • Galaxy and I met up with Mz Tartan pre-GG and the Austenauts (dang, I’m sorry I missed that! blogged with excellence here) and she was surprisingly cool, calm and collected

…and now I’m desperately trying to get my sleep pattern back to normal for the conference this week. I managed to have a relatively stress-free MLX (in fact, incredibly so), and slept at least 8 hours every night. From 8am til 4pm most days, but still, 8 fat hours of solid, dreamless sleep. Unheard of.
I’ve also met another dancer doing a phd on dance stuff, but she lives in Perth, so we’re squeezing in a natter-fest tomorrow before she flies out. She’s into sociology and anthropology and I’m not sure she’s up there with the hardcore sister action. But we’ll see. It’ll be neat just to sit and have a nice, nerdy chat.
I’m planning to meet up with the Adelaidean dancers during the conference visit this week (Wednesday). So I’ll be able to say I’ve danced in every scene in Australia. Except Launceston. That should be nice.
My paper is pretty much done – just some tidying up to do. It’s a combination of bits from these three posts, but obviously with far less detail, seeing as how I only get 20 minutes. 20 minutes kills me, especially when I want to play some music and clips of dancers to actually make clear what I’m talking about. It’s ridiculous to talk about dancing without showing any, particularly when you’re talking about gender performance in dance. In fact, it’s so ridiculous I should just show 6 clips and provide an exercise sheet to stimulate group discussion, a la tutorials past.
I’ve also noted I’m in kind of a dud session, parallel with papers I’d really like to see, and which everyone else would really like to see as well. Not a big deal, really, and just desserts for someone who fucked the programming around at the last minute (I’d missed out on another grant and cancelled on the organisers, then been offered one by someone else, so squeezed back into the program – people who pull that shit deserve to get dud sessions). But it’s parallel with an old buddy’s paper and in a session of licorice allsorts, so we’ll have trouble asking each other questions. It is in the last session of a day, but this time it’s not the last session of the last day, so I guess it’s ok.
I don’t mean this to sound like a big old bitch – I really am very lucky to be going at all, and I don’t want you to think otherwise. But the part of me that’s trying to get a job keeps saying ‘how will you pimp your fine self out if there’s no one in the audience?’ But really, it only takes one. And there’ll be plenty of afternoon teas for me to pimp myself about. I’m cringing, writing that stuff. I hate the thought of such aggressive self aggrandising, but at the end of the day, in such a competitive job market, I have to be a bit pushy.
So I’m going to experiment with performing pushiness, and pretend like I’m one of those blokes who, obliviously, introduces himself to all the Names at conferences. It’s the sort of thing chicks tend to be reluctant to do. And as a consequence, those pushy blokes get remembered, simply because the chicks have been to shy to step up.
But I’m going to focus on Names that mean something to me – you know, the Old Girls network. The ladies who do. The sorts of women academics who I admire and want to work with and be like. They’re the ladies who’ll call me on bullshit pushiness and demand some sort of fer real talk. No bullshit (unless it’s a story about my career as a stunt woman and there are Tasmanians in the room), all kick arse Sister. No pathetic arse-kissing. No sycophancy…. like I’d have the patience for that. And for sure I’d forget that it’s not cool to swear in polite company. Must remember that for the job interview, actually. Swearing = not cool.
But we’ll see. No doubt I’ll forget all these plans and end up talking shit and eating all the chocolate biscuits with the homies from UQ. Awesome.
Galaxy asked me the other day if I’d written a ‘why dance is important to cultural studies’ paper, and I haven’t. I’m not sure I really, hugely care – if you don’t dance you don’t understand why it’s important. Words won’t help convince you – you have to feel it to understand why it’s good stuff. But I do have a short list of reasons which include things like ‘class’ and ‘not needing literacy’ and ‘ethnicity’ and ‘faster than words’ and ‘freakin’ great fun!’ I’ll have a think, though. Perhaps it’ll be a paper I write when I actually have a job or a book or more than half a dozen papers. Right now I think I’d get more from a paper called ‘Why cultural studies needs dogpossum’ which is so effective it gets me lots of jobs. But I’ll work on it.

hullabaloo round up

So a couple of weekends ago we went to Hullabaloo.
Thursday
We flew in on Thursday, taking a midday flight because we’re sensible. I was really excited and had trouble sitting still on the plane. I took my laptop and headphones and copy of The Swing Era so that I could prepare for my sets over the weekend, but ended up far too excited to concentrate. The Squeeze slept the whole way. I ended up watching a dumb Hillary Swank film called the Freedom Writers which made me cry.
We arrived at about 6pm, and headed off to Chez Chez to dump our gear and change clothes. Chez’s flat is quite small, and we filled it up with a Taswegian and us and Chez. But we’re used to each other – they stay with us at MLX time each year.
From Chez’s house we went off to a pub in Cottesloe to do some dancing. But first we ate fish and chips, and I was very pleased.
Then we went up to start the dancing, but got sidetracked by a lot of old friends who needed squeezing and teasing. I was delighted to see Dust For Eyes, who taught me how to do Snake Hips dancing and snaps.
After a lot of dancing there, we moved on to the late night venue so I could set up for my first set (eek!) at 2am. The late night venue was an interesting dance studio space with hiiiigh ceilings. The sound set up was not ideal. In fact, it was pretty damn ordinary and I really struggled to make things sound good. Well, to make them sound ok.
People straggled in slowly and I was mostly playing to a very small crowd (ie 5 or 10 people) for a while, but that was ok because I just played stuff to test the limits of the sound set up and to please myself. And those 5 or 10 people.
Once the rest of the punters arrived I stepped it up a bit.
I can’t really remember how the set went, other than that I wasn’t really happy with it, but it didn’t suck. It was probably a combination of nerves and adjusting to an exchange crowd. This is what I played (title-artist-bpm-date-album-length-date/time played if it’s accurate):
I’m Comin’ Virginia- Maxine Sullivan – 110 – 1956 – A Tribute To Andy Razaf – 2:48 – 20/04/07 2:13 AM
Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off – Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong – 120 – 1957 – Ella And Louis Again [MFSL] – 4:15 – 20/04/07 2:17 AM
I’ve Got A Mind To Ramble – Alberta Hunter – 112 – 1978 – Amtrak Blues – 4:13 – 20/04/07 2:21 AM
It Takes Two to Tango – Lester Young and Oscar Peterson – 104 – 1997 – Lester Young With the Oscar Peterson Trio – 6:09
B-Sharp Boston – Duke Ellington and His Orchestra – 126 – 1949 – Duke Ellington and his Orchestra: 1949-1950 – 2:54
Jive At Five – Count Basie and His Orchestra – 147 – 1960 – The Count Basie Story (Disc 1) – 3:02 – 20/04/07 2:30 AM
Easy Does It – Big 18 – 129 – 5:14
Every Day I Have The Blues – Count Basie – 116 – 1959 – Breakfast Dance And Barbecue – 3:48
C-Jam Blues – Lincoln Centre Jazz Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis – 143 – 1999 – Live In Swing City: Swingin’ With Duke
Blues In Hoss’ Flat – Count Basie and His Orchestra – 142 – 1995 – Big Band Renaissance Disc 1 – 3:13
Good Queen Bess – Duke Ellington – 160 – 1940 – The Duke Ellington Centennial Edition: Complete RCA Victor Recordings (disc 10) – 3:00
Flying Home – Lionel Hampton and His Orchestra – 197 – 1942 – Lionel Hampton Story 2: Flying Home – 3:10 – 20/04/07 2:52 AM
Lavender Coffin – Hampton, Lionel and His Orchestra with Sonny Parker and Joe James – 134 – 1949 – Hamp: The Legendary Decca Recordings – 2:47
Cole Slaw – Jesse Stone and His Orchestra – 145 – Original Swingers: Hipsters, Zoots and Wingtips vol 2 – 2:57
Four Or Five Times – Woody Herman Orchestra – 141 – The Great Swing Bands (Disc 2) – 3:09 – 20/04/07 3:01 AM
Stomp It Off – Jimmie Lunceford and His Orchestra – 190 – 1934 – Swingsation – Jimmie Lunceford – 3:08
Savoy Blues – Kid Ory – 134 – 2002 – Golden Greats: Greatest Dixieland Jazz Disc 3 – 3:00 – 20/04/07 3:07 AM
Joshua Fit De Battle Of Jericho – Kid Ory And His Creole Jazz Band – 160 – 1946 – Kid Ory and his Creole Jazz Band 1944-46 – 3:12
Perdido Street Blues – Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra with Sidney Bechet – 148 – 1940 – Blues In Thirds 1940-41 – 3:00 – 20/04/07 3:13 AM
East St. Louis Toodle-Oo – Michael McQuaid’s Red Hot Rhythmakers – 152 – 2006 – Rhythm Of The Day – 3:21
Jungle Nights In Harlem – Charlestown Chasers – 213 – 1995 – Pleasure Mad mediumenergy – 2:48
Drinkin’ Wine, Spo-Dee-O-Dee – Hampton, Lionel and His Orchestra with Sonny Parker – 134 – 1949 – Hamp: The Legendary Decca Recordings – 3:23 – 20/04/07 3:23 AM
Till Tom Special – Lionel Hampton and His Orchestra – 158 – 1940 – Tempo And Swing – 3:23
For Dancers Only – Jimmie Lunceford and His Harlem Express – 178 – 1944 – 1944-Uncollected – 2:22
Shoutin’ Blues – Count Basie and His Orchestra – 148 – 1949 – Kansas City Powerhouse – 2:38
Turn It Over – Bus Moten and his Men – 148 – 1949 – Kansas City Blues 1944-1949 (Disc 3) – 2:38
Jump Session – Slim Gaillard and Slam Stewart – 162 – Slim & Slam, 1938-1939 – 2:35
Don’t Be That Way – Lionel Hampton and His Orchestra – 137 – 1938 – Lionel Hampton Story 1: Hot Mallets great mediumenergy 2:35
Massachusetts – Maxine Sullivan – 144 – 2006 – A Tribute To Andy Razaf – 3:18
We don’t have any photos from that night.
Friday
The next day was Friday, and The Squeeze was determined to get up in time for the tour of Fremantle. I was tired. But we bundled into the car with K (Chez was off to work – suckah!) to start our tour at the Round House. The Squeeze had heard there would be some kick boxing action to start off with, but this proved to be erroneous.
George.jpg The tour was fun. We met up with some people, saw a cannon fired, were told a few lies by whiley Perthlings (I have discovered being lied to is as good as telling lies) and moved immediately to the best cafe in the area for sustenance. By this time it was at least 2pm and we were in need of caffeine and fewd. You can see some photos from the tour here at George’s site. I’d like to say we saw more of Fremantle than a series of pubs and cafes, but that would be lying. We’ve seen Fremantle before, and we had people we needed to talk to.
KandC.jpgThen DFE, The Squeeze and I sat in a nice cafe and ate a lot (I had a FABULOUS fettucini pescatore!) and talked a whole lot of shit. After a couple of hours The Squeeze got bored and went away. Then he came back. Then we walked to a pub where we saw more dancers drinking and eating. Then we went to another pub the Little Creatures Brewery and saw more dancers. And some of us drank a whoooooole lot. And some of the rest of us caught up with lovely friends.BigRuss.jpg By this stage I had already talked so much about music and DJing I had almost grown my own pocket protector. But that part of the weekend was far from over.
After the beer had been drunk and the sun had gone down, we left that pub and went home to change our clothes nap. We accidentally missed the Friday night dance at a local pub gig. So we went straight to the after party where I had another set lined up. That’s the gig where I did that (look right). sleeping.jpg I have no excuse for my ineptitude. I thought I could DJ for blues dancers. But apparently this crew weren’t into old music. In fact, they weren’t really into much except standing on the spot, really close to their partners or make human waves with their torsos. I ordinarily like blues dancing, but this was dull. But enough of that! Let’s see the terrible set I played:
Harvard Blues – Kansas City Band – 83 – 1997 – KC After Dark – 6:50 – 21/04/07 3:36 AM
Wee Baby Blues – Big Joe Turner with Pete Johnson and Freddie Green – 79 – 1956 – The Boss Of The Blues – 7:18 – 21/04/07 3:43 AM
Hear Me Talking To Ya? – Ella Fitzgerald – 98 – 1963 – These Are The Blues – 3:02 – 21/04/07 3:46 AM
Back Water Blues – Dinah Washington with Belford Hendricks’ Orchestra – 71 – 1957 – Ultimate Dinah Washington – 4:58
I Want A Little Sugar In My Bowl – Nina Simone – 65 – 1967 – Released – 2:33 – 60 – 21/04/07 3:54 AM
I’m Gonna Take What He’s Got – Etta James – 57 – 1967 – The Best Of Etta James – 2:35 – 21/04/07 3:56 AM
Son Of A Preacher Man – Aretha Franklin – 77 – Greatest Hits – Disc 1 – 3:16
When I’ve Been Drinkin’ – Jimmy Witherspoon – 71 – 1998 – Jazz Me Blues: the Best of Jimmy Witherspoon – 3:38 – 21/04/07 4:03 AM
Slow Down Baby – Walter Brown with Jay McShann and His Kycee Stompers – 73 – 1949 – Kansas City Blues 1944-1949 (Disc 3) – 2:56
Hamp’s Salty Blues – Lionel Hampton and His Quartet – 86 – 1946 – Lionel Hampton Story 3: Hey! Ba-Ba-Re-Bop – 3:10 – 21/04/07 4:09 AM
Minnie The Moocher – Cab Calloway – 97 – 1994 – Are You Hep To The Jive? – 3:16 – 21/04/07 4:13 AM
St. James Infirmary – Henry “Red” Allen – 98 – 1991 – World on a String – Legendary 1957 Sessions – 3:45 – 21/04/07 4:16 AM
Reckless Blues – Velma Middleton with Louis Armstrong and the All Stars – 88 – The Complete Decca Studio Recordings of Louis Armstrong and the All Stars (disc 06) – 2:30
Willow Weep For Me – Louis Armstrong – 90 – 1957 – Ella And Louis Again [MFSL] – 4:21
Rocks In My Bed – Ella Fitzgerald – 68 – 1956 – Ella Fitzgerald Day Dream: Best Of The Duke Ellington Songbook – 3:59 – 21/04/07 4:27 AM
Amtrak Blues – Alberta Hunter – 95 – 1978 – Amtrak Blues – 3:23
Resolution Blues – Dinah Washington – 65 – 22 Original Classics – 3:14 – 21/04/07 4:34 AM
It Takes Two to Tango – Lester Young and Oscar Peterson – 104 – 1997 – Lester Young With the Oscar Peterson Trio – 6:09 – 21/04/07 4:37 AM
Smooth Sailing – Ella Fitzgerald – 118 – 2000 – Ken Burns Jazz: Ella Fitzgerald – 3:07 – 21/04/07 4:40 AM
Happy Go Lucky Local (Night Train) – Oscar Peterson – 103 – 1962 – Night Train – 4:52 – 21/04/07 4:45 AM
Easy Does It – Big 18 – 129 – 5:14 – 21/04/07 4:50 AM
B-Sharp Boston – Duke Ellington and His Orchestra – 126 – 1949 – Duke Ellington and his Orchestra: 1949-1950 – 2:54
Jump Ditty! – Joe Carroll and The Ray Bryant Quintet – 134 – Red Kat Swing 1 – 2:53
The Deacon – Count Basie – 110 – 1959 – Breakfast Dance And Barbecue – 5:52 – 21/04/07 5:02 AM
It was round about “Minnie the Moocher” that things were at their lowest. I had trouble getting the feel of the room (I’d actually been told I’d be playing an hour later than I ended up starting, so I hadn’t had a chance to be in the room and get a feel for things) and those kids – I don’t really think they were ready for blues dancing just then. So I took the energy up with some “St James Infirmary” (though I should have gone straight to the Louis Armstrong), but it didn’t help. Finally, things picked up at “Willow Weep for Me”, and I decided to ooze into a bit of groovy lindy hop, then up the bpm ladder til the room was working again. It immediately improved numbers on the floor.
I tried some lower tempo stuff with Dinah again a bit later (because I felt I should play a blues set if I was booked for it), but that crashed. So I recovered with dirty Lester Young action.
And fled Mt DJ after “The Deacon”.
Not my finest hour (and a half), and if you take a look at the set list of the DJ before me (lovely Jason from Perth), you’ll see there were some double-ups.
In fact, there were quite a few repeats over the weekend – “Savoy Blues” was played by every single DJ on Thursday night up til me. If I’d been dancing more and talking less at the dance I’d have noticed.
So, thank god that set was over.
We went home after that – The Squeeze was tired and so was I.
Saturday
dance.jpg The next day we slept til 1 or 3pm. I forget which. We went and bought some fewd for dinner and drove and saw some sites. Then we went home and got ready for the dance, which was fun. I really liked the band at the dance, and had some fun dances with fun people. Trev won the Jack and Jill and I heard some good DJing action. Then we went to the after party. First we tried to organise a trip to eat nice Chinese fewd, but we failed. So we just went on to the after party, which was at the better two-room venue.
Some of us went in a team battle. At the time I was really regreting entering, and I didn’t really have a good time at all. But in retrospect (ie, after watching the clip), it wasn’t so bad. I was in Team Brunswick (named for Chez’ shirt) – you can even hear me answering Trev at the beginning. We were ok. The best bit (in my mind) was where we (entirely by coincidence) did a ‘waterfall’ of swingouts to just the right bit in “Flying Home”. I’m not a big fan of team battles (sorry Trev), and I’ve never seen one go really well or really inspire me. The secret to a good lindy battle is actually dancing lindy. But mostly people do dumb stuff, which I’m not all that interested in. Because I am a boring straighty-one-eighty stooge.
After that was all over, things got fun. There was a band (I think – or was that the night before? I can’t remember). There was a lot of dancing fun, and I did another set (my best of the weekend, I think). Here’s the set list (title – artist – bpm – date – album – time/date stamp (minus 2hours because I was working with Melbourne time, not Perth time):
Blues In Hoss’ Flat – Count Basie and His Orchestra – 142 – 1995 – Big Band Renaissance Disc 1 – 3:13 – 22/04/07 4:19 AM
C-Jam Blues – Lincoln Centre Jazz Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis – 143 – 1999 – Live In Swing City: Swingin’ With Duke – 3:33 – 2/05/07 1:15 PM
Sent For You Yesterday (And Here You Come Today) – Count Basie and His Orchestra – 172 – 1952 – Complete Clef/Verve Count Basie Fifties Studio Recordings (Disc 2) – 3:13 – 22/04/07 4:26 AM
Back Room Romp – Duke Ellington and his Orchestra – 151 – 2000 – Ken Burns Jazz: Duke Ellington – 2:49 – 22/04/07 4:29 AM
A Viper’s Moan – Willie Bryant And His Orchestra – 153 – Willie Bryant 1935-1936 – 3:25 – 24/04/07 4:31 AM
Good Queen Bess – Duke Ellington – 160 – 1940 – The Duke Ellington Centennial Edition: Complete RCA Victor Recordings (disc 10) – 3:00 – 22/04/07 4:35 AM
Stomp It Off – Jimmie Lunceford and His Orchestra – 190 – 1934 – Swingsation – Jimmie Lunceford – 3:08 – 22/04/07 4:38 AM
Four Or Five Times – Jimmie Lunceford and His Orchestra – 140 – 1935 – Swingsation – Jimmie Lunceford – 3:07 – 22/04/07 4:41 AM
Turn It Over – Bus Moten and his Men – 148 – 1949 – Kansas City Blues 1944-1949 (Disc 3) – 2:38 – 24/04/07 4:34 AM
Easy Does It – Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra – 155 – 1939 – Yes, Indeed! – 3:15 – 22/04/07 4:47 AM
Apollo Jump – Lucky Millinder – 143 – Apollo Jump – 3:26
Krum Elbow Blues – Mora’s Modern Swingtet – 162 – 2004 – 20th Century Closet – 2:45
Blues My Naughty Sweetie – Sidney Bechet – 140 – 1951 – The Blue Note Years – 5:43 – 22/04/07 4:59 AM
Joshua Fit De Battle Of Jericho – Kid Ory And His Creole Jazz Band – 160 – 1946 – Kid Ory and his Creole Jazz Band 1944-46 – 3:12 – 22/04/07 5:02 AM
East St. Louis Toodle-Oo – Michael McQuaid’s Red Hot Rhythmakers – 152 – 2006 – Rhythm Of The Day – 3:21
Jungle Nights In Harlem – Charlestown Chasers – 213 – 1995 – Pleasure Mad – 2:48 – 22/04/07 5:09 AM
Lavender Coffin – Hampton, Lionel and His Orchestra with Sonny Parker and Joe James – 134 – 1949 – Hamp: The Legendary Decca Recordings – 2:47
Cole Slaw – Jesse Stone and His Orchestra – 145 – Original Swingers: Hipsters, Zoots and Wingtips vol 2 – 2:57 – 22/04/07 5:14 AM
Shoutin’ Blues – Count Basie and His Orchestra – 148 – 1949 – Kansas City Powerhouse – 2:38 – 22/04/07 5:17 AM
For Dancers Only – Jimmie Lunceford and His Harlem Express – 178 – 1944 – 1944-Uncollected – 2:22 – 22/04/07 5:19 AM
Just Kiddin’ Around – Artie Shaw and His Orchestra – 159 – 1941 – Self Portrait (Disc 3) – 3:21
Don’t Be That Way – Lionel Hampton and His Orchestra – 137 – 1938 – Lionel Hampton Story 1: Hot Mallets – 2:35
Chicken Shack Boogie – Lionel Hampton and His Sextet – 124 – 1949 – Hamp: The Legendary Decca Recordings – 3:16 – 22/04/07 5:29 AM
Hey Now, Hey Now – Cab Calloway – 121 – 1994 – Are You Hep To The Jive? – 2:56 – 22/04/07 5:32 AM
Effervescent Blues – Mora’s Modern Swingtet – 122 – 2004 – 20th Century Closet – 3:07
B-Sharp Boston – Duke Ellington and His Orchestra – 126 – 1949 – Duke Ellington and his Orchestra: 1949-1950 – 2:54 – 22/04/07 5:38 AM
Massachusetts – Maxine Sullivan – 144 – 2006 – A Tribute To Andy Razaf – 3:18 – 22/04/07 5:41 AM
Splanky – Count Basie – 157 – 1966 – Live at the Sands – 3:52 – 22/04/07 5:45 AM
Hallelujah, I Love Her So – Count Basie – 145 – 1959 – Breakfast Dance And Barbecue – 2:36 – 22/04/07 5:47 AM
King Porter Stomp – Kansas City Band – 170 – 1997 – KC After Dark – 4:38 – 22/04/07 5:52 AM
Till Tom Special – Lionel Hampton and His Orchestra – 158 – 1940 – Tempo And Swing – 3:23 – 22/04/07 5:55 AM
Shout, Sister, Shout – Lucky Millinder – 140 – Apollo Jump – good medium tempo dancing 2:44 – 22/04/07 5:58 AM
Le Jazz Hot – Jimmie Lunceford and his Orchestra – 144 – 1939 – Lunceford Special 1939-40 – 2:41 – 22/04/07 6:01 AM
My Baby Just Cares For Me – Nina Simone – 120 – The Great Nina Simone – 3:38 – 22/04/07 6:05 AM
Bli-Blip – Lincoln Centre Jazz Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis – 134 – 1999 – Live In Swing City: Swingin’ With Duke – 3:16 – 22/04/07 6:08 AM
I started a bit earlier than expected because Russ had technical troubles and I had to take over. After the first three songs he gave up and introduced me. I was really happy with those first three songs – I had the room on fire. It’s a pity Russ had to interrupt to introduce me, as we lost quite a few people then. But them’s the breaks. I should probably have continued with hi-fi action to keep the room, but now I’ve learnt something useful.
I actually consciously chose to play a fair proportion of hi-fi because we’d heard a lot of old scratch so far that weekend. I wanted to change the vibe a bit and catch people’s attention. It worked well, and I found that a useful thing to remember through my set. This was my first real late-late night set at a hardcore lindy exchange and I learnt a lot. I discovered that you need to change the energy in the room a bit to keep people dancing – from slow to fast to hi-fi to scratchy – and change more regularly than I normally would. The most important thing I learnt was that if you give people a chance to remember how tired they are when they’re dancing at 2:30am (take two hours from those time stamps) they sit down and then they go home. So you have to keep the tempos above 120, or the energy levels nice and high.
Round about “Effervescent Blues” I let the tempos get lower and noticed a distinct drop in the room’s energy. So I did a bit of stunt work with Maxine Sullivan. That version of “Massachusetts” is really swinging and energising. It’s pretty hi-fi and hitting on the groove barrier, but it feels like fun. The band she’s working with are so freaking good, you just want to dance.
From there I decided we needed more hi-fi action to wake people up. So I used some old favourite action – “Splanky” is a real swinger favourite, and that version is nicely uptempo and upenergy – and hi-fi. But it doesn’t feel too crazy – people also think of “Splanky” as being slower, as many of the most popular versions are about 130bpm. That’s the advantage of different versions of favourites – you can exploit people’s expectations. By this stage I had the room really cooking, but I wanted to get the tempos much higher. Thing is, the dancers were actually a bit tired (it was 3:45am) so I gave them a bit of break with the hi-fi favourite “Hallelujah” (not my favourite song, but very effective and live which always feels good). Then I chucked it up with “King Porter Stomp”, another hi-fi (but sounds old school) live song. It’s a longish song, so I had to drop it down from there.
From there I went with an oldie but a goodie – “Til Tom Special” is upenergy, but it creeps up on you. It starts with a more mellow feeling, but builds. So I could get the kids who were sitting down (but ready to dance) up on the floor. Then another very safe favourite.
And I decided to change things again completely with Nina Simone at 4:00am. Hi-fi, super favourite, nice easy tempo. And I had 100% strike rate – everyone in the room dancing (which was about 30 or 40 people? I’m not sure). From here I was to hand over to the closing DJ, so I couldn’t do much more than close up with a fun favourite. I really could have gone on a bit longer, I think, and had just begun to hit another wave of inspiration – “Blip Blip” could have gotten us to other, more interesting places – but that was the end of my set.
Then I wanted to dance and dance and dance and dance. The Squeeze was long gone by then – he was tired and had gone home to bed. But I was feeling all energised by a successful set, and thought I was the dancing queen. So I had some dances, proved – despite all that thinking – that I wasn’t the dancing queen. And then I was taken home.
To Deb and Glen’s home, where seven of us had toasted sandwiches and hot chocolate at about 6am. The Squeeze turned up with Chez who’d dropped home to pick up cheese (really), and he impressed people with his fleecy pajamas. Then Glen, Trev and I had a really lovely, nerdy music talk.
Then we went home as the sun came up and went to BED!
Some more things I’ve learnt about DJing at exchanges:
– the stuff that’s old and boring at home isn’t necessarily old and boring somewhere else. People at exchanges are from all over, and you can’t be sure of what’s cool in their home town (though it helps to know who there local DJs are and what they play). So songs like “Lavender Coffin”, which I’m really sick of was new to the Perthlings. And “Cole Slaw”, which is newish (ie new for new dancers and the groover crowd, old for people like me who learnt with old school teachers) for Melbourne is old for Perth.
– Perth DJs play a lot of scratch, so hi-fi was novel there. I had to be careful what I played, though – stuff that Melbourne kids would adore, Perthlings (especially Perthlings who’d been around for awhile) wouldn’t like.
– The Squeeze reckons exchanges are the place to play safe favourites, because dancers are dancing with strangers and want each dance to be good. But I reckon it’s also a place to experiment with more challenging stuff because you tend to have a more experienced crowd. Really, though, it’s a combination of both, and depends on what time you play (that time slot was a really choice set), where you’re playing, what the crowd is like and how the room feels.
– Having workshops affects how late people stay and how much energy they have. Workshosp can often leave people feeling trashed about their dancing, so ‘safe’ songs can be nice.
– Hullabaloo wasn’t like MLX – it was a bit smaller and had more new dancers. At MLX you can really play the most hardcore stuff, because you have the most hardcore music. But Hullabaloo is a more mixed crowd. Having said that, Hullabaloo has a crowd of older dancers with more sophisticated taste – there’s little they haven’t heard and they want to be pushed.
Overall, I was happy with my sets in an okish way, but I don’t think I pushed any envelopes and have certainly done better sets in the past. But it was lovely to DJ in a new town, far, far away from the bullshit politics of Melbourne. It was especially nice to be DJing in a town where set times and numbers weren’t determined by whether or not you’re in with the ‘cool crowd’ or best friends with the organisers. I was just one DJ in many, and I had to prove myself on the night – no pre-existing rep to protect or prove.
Sunday
On Sunday we got up at 3pm, and then looked for some food. It was hard because the shops are all closed in Perth on Sunday. People have been telling me that this is ‘cute’ and ‘nice’ and gives workers a break. I say it’s BULLSHIT. We saw some more sites. Some by accident.
But after a bit we got some stuff. We made dinner for the crew and spent some time getting ready for the ball. I’m not a big fan of balls generally – I don’t like the dressing up or the big, echoey barns they’re held in. I like a more intimate venue and casual vibe for hardcore dancing. I’d also made a particularly crappy dress, which didn’t help. But there was free food, I did more talking and that was nice.
After that we went to the late night party, which was at the first venue. There was some sort of DJ mix up and the music wasn’t good for lindy – apparently the DJ’d been booked for a blues set, and was determined to play that no matter what. Which didn’t make the mixed crowd happy (who were predominantly lindy hoppers).
Later I was asked to fill in at the end of the night with some stuff, so I ended up DJing some lindy then blues as the lindy crowd had pretty much gone home by then. It was an ok set, a bit dull, really. Kind of the ‘greatest hits’ of 2004/2005. The first lindy bit (up until “Smooth Sailing”, then I swapped with a buddy, then we swapped back and I closed the night) was good, but it was really too late by then to catch the lindy crowd.
But here’s what I played:
Every Day I Have The Blues – Count Basie – 116 – 1959 – Breakfast Dance And Barbecue – 3:48 – 23/04/07 6:28 AM
Lavender Coffin – Hampton, Lionel and His Orchestra with Sonny Parker and Joe James – 134 – 1949 – Hamp: The Legendary Decca Recordings – 2:47 – 23/04/07 6:31 AM
Solid as a Rock – Count Basie and His Orchestra with The Deep River Boys – 140 – Count Basie and His Orchestra 1950-1951 – 3:03 – 23/04/07 6:34 AM
Everybody Eats When They Come To My House – Cab Calloway – 151 – 1994 – Are You Hep To The Jive? – 2:46 – 23/04/07 6:36 AM
Oomph Fa Fa – Jonathan Stout And His Campus Five – 129 – 2003 – Jammin’ the Blues – 3:35 – 23/04/07 6:40 AM
Jump Ditty! – Joe Carroll and The Ray Bryant Quintet – 134 – Red Kat Swing 1 – 2:53 – 23/04/07 6:43 AM
Smooth Sailing – Ella Fitzgerald – 118 – 2000 – Ken Burns Jazz: Ella Fitzgerald – 3:07
Get Back Temptation – Ollabelle – 80 – 2004 – Ollabelle – 2:49
Heartattack and Vine – Tom Waits – 90 – 1980 – Heartattack and Vine – 4:50 – 23/04/07 7:10 AM
Son Of A Preacher Man – Aretha Franklin – 77 – Greatest Hits – Disc 1 – 3:16 – 23/04/07 7:13 AM
My Chile – Jay McShann Trio – 145 – Hootie – 3:20 – 23/04/07 7:16 AM
Organ Grinder’s Swing – Jimmy Smith – 168 – 1996 – Talkin’ Verve – 2:15 – 23/04/07 7:19 AM
My Handy Man Ain’t Handy No More – Alberta Hunter – 76 – 1978 – Amtrak Blues – 3:49
Reckless Blues – Velma Middleton with Louis Armstrong and the All Stars – 88 – The Complete Decca Studio Recordings of Louis Armstrong and the All Stars (disc 06) – 2:30
Do I Move You – Nina Simone – 53 – 1967 – Released – 2:46
I Never Loved A Man – Aretha Franklin – 90 – Greatest Hits – Disc 1 – 2:51
Dead End Street – Lou Rawls – 75 – Best Of Lou Rawls – 3:33
Please Please Please – James Brown – 74 – 1991 – Sex Machine – 2:45
When The Lights Go Out – Jimmy Witherspoon – 100 – 1998 – Jazz Me Blues: the Best of Jimmy Witherspoon – 3:00 – 80 – groovy blues – 25/04/07 7:22 PM
Slow Down Baby – Walter Brown with Jay McShann and His Kycee Stompers – 73 – 1949 – Kansas City Blues 1944-1949 (Disc 3) – 2:56 80 – 25/04/07 7:25 PM
I Feel Like Layin In Another Woman’s Husband’s Arms – Blu Lu Barker – 89 – 1946 – Don’t You Feel My Leg: Apollo’s Lady Blues Singers – 2:56 – 25/04/07 7:28 PM
How Long, How Long Blues – Ella Fitzgerald – 80 – 1963 – These Are The Blues – 4:00 – 25/04/07 7:32 PM
Willow Weep For Me – Louis Armstrong – 90 – 1957 – Ella And Louis Again [MFSL] – 4:21 – 25/04/07 7:37 PM
Amtrak Blues – Alberta Hunter – 95 – 1978 – Amtrak Blues – 3:23 – 25/04/07 7:40 PM
Back Water Blues – Dinah Washington with Belford Hendricks’ Orchestra – 71 – 1957 – Ultimate Dinah Washington – 4:58 – 25/04/07 7:55 PM
I’m not sure what happened to the date stamp there – it was all on the morning of the 23rd/ late night of the 22nd, but the times are accurate if you minus 2 hours for Melbourne/Perth time differences.
I don’t have much to say about this set as it was uninspiring to DJ and is kind of dull to think about (though it was very popular on the night – which just goes to show, considering it’s almost the same as the other blues set I did that weekend – that timing is everything). That Ella blues album? Don’t bother with it – Ella can’t sing the blues. It’s a nice album to listen to, but lacks emotional veracity.
I went home from here a bit tired and over it.
Monday:
We got up at about 12 to go to the picnic in the park, which was nice. They had GREEN GRASS!
That night we went to the final dance, and I have to say, I was kind of over the whole thing by then. It was fun, but I was bored and tired and actually more interested in interesting conversations that lasted longer than three minutes. I did hear some sweet DJing though (Trev and Glenn esp, with nice work by Russ).
It ended, then there were two rival after parties at people’s houses. The teenagers’ party blues party and the nanna party lindy party. I decided I wanted to go to a party where some lights were on, decent conversation was likely and the room didn’t smell like heavy petting (yes, I had to say it – blues dancers stink, and not in a healthy exercise sweat way). That was fun. From there we went to the blues party to close up, and it was exactly as expected. The Squeeze was very disappointed – he was looking for the party where people were drinking and laughing and doing stunts. So we watched other people rub up against each other very slowly dance and went home to bed.
The next day we had a 1pm flight which we caught quite happily, then flew back to Melbourne to our beds.
Overall, it was really really nice to catch up with interstate friends and hang out. I think I prefer the day time stuff to the night time stuff, but I do like the late nights more than the evenings – there you just put on your comfortable hardcore dancing clothes and dance and dance and dance. I will get a bit fitter for next time so I can go harder and I will get hardcore with vitamins – the first day home I had a cold which had no doubt been brewing the last few days.
It was great to get a chance to talk nerdy DJ talk with other DJs, and I do love catching up with friends.