"Oh wow.... but... fuck you"

Where The Dirty Hipsters Are...

Karen O, Monster Children, Urban Outfitters... it seems all the cool kids are frothing at the mouth over Where the Wild Things Are...

They certainly were when I was in LA... you couldn't turn a corner without a billboard glaring at you with oh-so-cute monster eyes.

And yes, I am totally on board with this Hipster phenomenon. My notorious hatred of children is being tested... I want to borrow someone else's child and dress them in jumpsuit and crown. If February wasn't so unbearably warm, I would make an adult sized version of the costume for Playground Weekender.

Alas, until December 3rd, I must be content with truly awesome pisstakes, and engage in that classic hipster dialogue of self-denial of status....

Lust for Life

Song of the week: Lust for Life by Girls...
It's summery, San-Franciscan Sixties pop with devilish lyrical content. Oh so wrong, but oh so right.

Oh I Wish I Had A Boyfriend
I Wish I Had A Loving Man In My Life
I Wish I Had A Father
And Maybe Then I Woulda Turned Out Right
But Now I'm Just Crazy I'm Totally Mad
Yeah I'm Just Crazy I'm Fucked In The Head
And Maybe If I Really Tried With All Of My Heart
Then I Could Make A Brand New Start In Love With You

Oh I Wish I Had A Sun Tan
I Wish I Had A Pizza And A Bottle Of Wine
I Wish I Had A Beach House
Then We Could Make A Big Fire Every Night
Instead I'm Just Crazy I'm
Totally Mad
Yeah I'm Just Crazy, I'm Fucked In The Head

And Maybe If I Really Tried With All Of My Heart
Then I Could Make A Brand New Start In Love With You

Girls Who Play Guitars

Here's a tip. If you're feeling a little stressed out by life, and hanging for Friday, maybe don't listen to Maximo Park for hours on end.

You won't feel so sunny...

Maybe don't watch Freddie and Effy episodes either... It's a Brit-pop culture cocktail for not so happy times...

Thanks cyber/bear Gods...

Ed Droste and I have a date for January. It's a platonic date. That's alright. He can serenade me... I'll keep an eye out for sexy Argentinian men we can oggle together and lament that it's such a long way to South America...

boy and bear

It's days like today which are living evidence of perfection. Ok, so the weather was at times rotten, but you can't have everything.

Sunday started slowly with a gentle amble to Newtown Festival, where we ate our way through the festival, and retired to a friends' courtyard for sangria. To a soundtrack of Gotye, we relaxed in the humidity discussing the merits of Britney Spears lip-syncing being front page news. Our sleepy idyll was interrupted when an insane German friend of friend burst into the house wielding a knife in one hand slashing the air with a cake in the other, imploring us to join her in dessert, simultaneously swearing at us in a combination of German and English....

Deciding that it was a case of "I don't want what she's having", we passed up the chocolate fudge and marijuana rippled cake pleading the need to drive as justification for our passing up sweet treats.

Escaping her slightly psychotic clutches, we found a quieter spot in Surry Hills. Over gin and tonic, I swapped A and T for Lisa and we popped across to Low 302 for some Sunday evening music.

Low 302 is a brilliant little venue- devoid of pretension, but still in the heart of Crown St. It was quite an amazing feeling to have bar staff actually smile genuinely at you as you enter and order drinks. And with a food and cocktail menu to match this vibe, the venue is certainly a winner.

However everything that had passed throughout the day was eclipsed by the band we saw. Up and coming Sydney group Boy and Bear performed an acoustic set complete with utterly spine-tingling harmonies and guitar interplay.

My oft-maligned verbosity lacks the necessary adjectives to provide sufficient description of this band. They are, quite simply, superb.


The standout moment was most certainly an acoustic re-interpretation of the buzz single which has the indie music world rhapsodic, Mexican Mavis.

An extended stripped-back introduction is almost unrecognisable, with the first few minutes of the song featuring perfect vocal harmony delicately balanced over the bare bones and chordal progressions of the original melody.

Finally, after a tense beginning, we are delivered the track we have come to know and love by virtue of its adoption and high rotation on Triple J.

Quite seriously, this band is incredible. They are delightfully charming and interactive with the audience, making us feel included rather than extraneous observers.

I am torn in advocating everyone see them, as I would almost like to keep them as my own little secret. In just weeks, it will be impossible to see them in a delightful wine bar with twenty other like minded folk...

So, I am resigning myself to join the masses, and follow their gigs across Sydney in order to get the maximum possible fix of Boy and Bear. They are my musical therapy...

www.myspace.com/boyandbearmusic

www.triplejunearthed.com/boyandbear


PS.
Just putting a little bear-themed request into the cyberspace atmosphere...
Please, please pretty please can we be successful in booking Grizzly Bear tickets tomorrow... Grizzly Bear, Middle East, Becks Bar.

Please cyberspace gods? Here is an offering.. of a bear...

gratuitous video i find compelling...

I somehow doubt this will appeal to anyone at all. It makes me smile. Borrowed from The Scare twitter feed. Ta lads.


Stay tuned for more gratuitous postings which I shall attach in my own whimsical time.

Dear Sydney Morning Herald,

Look, I know Grizzly Bear aren't exactly indie these days.

I GET that they are the Kings of Leon of 2009. I understand this. Good for Ed Droste. He deserves it the delightfully talented little poppet.

I am fully aware that it is going to be an absolute online dogfight to get tickets to their three shows on Monday. In particular, their show with the Middle East at Becks Bar.

I am gearing up and gathering the necessary strength to participate in said dogfight.

Therefore, I really don't need you listing the Grizzlies as one of the Top 6 attractions of Sydney Festival in Saturday's Spectrum liftout.

That's just rude.

Furthermore, please stop alerting people to the likelihood of it being a rapid sell out. We all know that by 9.05am they will be gone.

Stop rubbing it in.

Yours Sincerely,
Abby.

It's all about me (and a bit of Kiss Reid).

We like little internet quizzes. They keep up our quota regularity, and they're awesome, as everyone loves to talk about themselves. I can write this, and you don't have to read it, but that's ok, as for five minutes, I was entirely self indulgent.

Oh, and I tag L.

What are the last three things I purchased?
1- Pepsi Max (maximum taste, no sugar… also on special for cheaper satisfaction of caffeinated dietary requirements).
2- cucumbers and organic baba-ganouj- my final meal! Truly…
3- The Scare’s Ooozevoodoo album- it’s quite good. Totally not my type, but you know, expanding boundaries and whatnot.

What are the last three songs you downloaded?
Well I bought The Scare from itunes? So that? And some Bridezilla? I was very disappointed. It offended my principle that ‘any music with a violin/viola in it is awesome’. Why would you do that?

What were the last three places you visited?
1- the gym! For weights and cardio induced death with D! She clearly hates me.
2- Paradise Beach, Avalon. My favourite place to do readings… it almost makes law tolerable.
3- I’m going to list somewhere not chronologically correct, but more interesting: Mexico! A month ago. It was amazing. Go to Mexico. Get fat on tortillas (they are really fatty! Hurtful truth).

What are your three favorite movies?
1-The Mighty Ducks trilogy (ok three movies). It takes me back to my childhood.

2- Cool Runnings (see above for justification). Most exciting moment of late: seeing the original bobsled used in the movie in a museum in Calgary, Canada. Oh, and then seeing the track used in the movie, and quoting “feel the rhythm, feel the ride…”
3- I kind of loved (500) Days of Summer. Mind you, I only saw it for The Smiths references and art deco Los Angeles architecture, so I was always going to be satisfied.

What are your three favorite possessions?
1- my ipod touch- all the functions of an iphone, but not a phone. Therefore not a wanker device.
2- my viola. I love it to bits, even though the bridge is broken and it needs restringing. It’s been with me for so long…
3- my little car which gets me everywhere in Sydney I could ever need to go, costs nothing to fill and gets about 600km a tank. I love you jellybean car.

What three things can you not live without?
1- Um, well practically: food. Ha no, um tomatoes, garlic, onion and chilli. The founding ingredients for any dish I cook.
2- Gin. Good gin. With lime, and plenty of ice. And no, this doesn’t make me an alcoholic.
3- Music. My ipod/computer/stereo/radio tend to be blaring whenever I am home. All at the same time. It’s a cacophony of tuneful joy.

What would be your three wishes?
1- a passionate love affair.. yeah truly. A destructive, painful, awful, beautiful romance which inspires poetry, hateful lyrics and stories dripping with regret, painted with rose coloured glasses and retrospect.
2- a job which makes me excited to wake up every morning.
3- to sing on stage, in front of an audience with an amazing band (I have a shortlist of favourites). Singing in my house just won’t suffice anymore.

What are three things you haven't done yet?
1- My masters degree.
2- Lived in Melbourne (soon soon!)
3- Lived in a hovel in Shoreditch (also soon soon. Hovel is indeed necessary).

What are your three favorite dishes?
1- Any combination of chilli, garlic, onion, tomato and a some bacon for good measure.
2- Carb-tastic spaghetti. Mmm…. Fat!
3- Any Mexican interpretation of pork dishes. They get pig… Swine Flu was Babe’s revenge.

What three celebrities do you want to hang out with the most?
1- umm so he’s not really a celebrity, but I have an unhealthy desire to get to know Kiss Reid, lead singer of The Scare. See them live, then try and argue with me. Kiss, if you see this, send off an email and all? Yeah- I recognise my profile picture is ugly, but it’s a bacon and pork shaped into a pig. As if that’s not awesome?

As if that isn't amazing? Dare to defy me... go on...

2- Russell Brand. We’d have all kinds of vegetarian, non substance based fun. It would be the opposite of my fun with Kiss, but perhaps more fun? I don’t know. Hey Kiss- PROVE ME WRONG!
3- I suppose Noel Fielding? Mainly so he and Russell can kiss, and I can watch. Is this wrong? Oh for sure. I don’t freaking care. I don’t think anyone is going to disagree with me after they’ve seen The Big Fat Quiz of the Year 2006 (youtube it).

Raper capes are genius.

Name three things that freak you out...
1- lateness. I despise lateness. If I am not ten minutes early, I am late. Terrible.
2- Midgets. If you know me, you know my fear of midgets.
3- Beetroot. The devil food. It’s pink. Food is not pink. It stains and taints everything it touches. It also turns my hair pink. Which does tend to happen when your hair is white.

Name three unusual things you are good at.
1- Being on time. Always.
2- Getting in trouble at airport customs. I am always the subject of 'random' searches. Stripsearches in Singapore, bomb searches in London, confiscations at the Mexican border and private life searches flying into San Francisco.
3- Naming pets. I wanted to name my ex-boyfriend's kitten Darcy after the Austen character, as he was a little prim and stand-offish, yet eventually loving. He also had black and white markings which looked like a tuxedo. They named him Dodge. Ugh. I succeeded in naming the other kitten Bailey. Brilliant, as the ex is Irish, and the cat was the colour of the drink. My skills shine.

What are three things that you are coveting?
1- A ticket to Grizzly Bear at Becks Bar for Sydney Festival. Truly covetworthy I predict. Ebay is going to go MENTAL on Monday at about 9.05am.
2- A sexy electric violin. Yes please, thanks.
3- A plane ticket back to LA. I really kind of love LA. It’s dirty and gritty and superficial and horrid. Yet isolating and compelling. It’s an enigma I wish to get to understand.

tuesday Velvet Underground

Here she comes, you better watch your step

She's going to break your heart in two, it's true It's not hard to realize
Just look into her false colored eyes
She builds you up to just put you down, what a clown
'Cause everybody knows (She's a femme fatale)
The things she does to please (She's a femme fatale)
She's just a little tease (She's a femme fatale)

See the way she walks
Hear the way she talks
You're put down in her book
You're number 37, have a look
She's going to smile to make you frown, what a clown

Little boy, she's from the street
Before you start, you're already beat
She's gonna play you for a fool, yes it's true
'Cause everybody knows (She's a femme fatale)
The things she does to please (She's a femme fatale)
She's just a little tease (She's a femme fatale)
See the way she walks Hear the way she talks

Nico with John Cale on viola... musical perfection