Some Nights You Gotta Dance–Dixie Chicks Rock Melbourne Again

Natalie Maines – Dixie Chicks live at Rod Laver Arena 2/4/17

It was a chilly night in Melbourne town as my friend B and I set out for the Rod Laver Arena to catch the Dixie Chicks second Melbourne show on Sunday night.

Having last seen the Chicks eleven years ago I was keenly looking forward to the event, despite being somewhat fatigued by the experience of breaking in a new kitten to the house and the change to daylight saving that morning.

All my weariness dissipated as soon as I stepped into the venue and joined the sell out crowd streaming towards their seats.

We had excellent seats, second row from the front on the floor, though a bit to the side. Fortunately photos were permitted, so I managed to get heaps of good snaps from my vantage point of the Dixie Chicks in action.

Martie Maguire – Dixie Chicks live at Rod Laver Arena 2/4/17

The opening act Avalanche City, New Zealand folk singer Dave Baxter was in progress as we took our seats. As support acts go, he was pretty good, playing a pleasant set of his own songs, that included the really catchy Love, Love, Love and Inside Out, among other tunes.

As a large crew of stage hands cleared the stage , then set it up again, the big screens showed a variety of Dixie Chicks slides – trivia notes and trivia questions along with twitter quotes regarding the new POTUS, so it was around 9.00pm when The Chicks finally made it on stage to uproarious cheers from the large audience.

The set lists for all the Dixie Chicks Australian shows are similar, with a few variations for each concert. Along with all the old Chick favourites, such as Goodbye Earl, Wide Open Spaces, Lubbock or Leave It, Travellin’ Soldier etc, they performed several excellent covers.

Dixie Chicks have been avowed fans of Patty Griffin and on Sunday night they performed a total of four of her songs – Truth#2, Let Him Fly, Top Of The World and Don’t Let Me Die in Florida.

Natalie Maines also declared that she was obsessed with Beyoncé, with whom they recently played at the 2016 Country Music Awards. The song they played on that occasion was Beyoncé’s Daddy Lessons, which they have added to their current set list. It’s not a song I am familiar with having never followed, nor even listened to Beyoncé. The Chicks version of Daddy Lessons was so stunning it makes me want to check Beyoncé out.

Emily Robison - Dixie Chicks live at Rod Laver Arena 2/4/17

All the Chicks play multiple instruments – Natalie on guitar and percussion, Emily on banjo, mandolin and dobro, Martie on fiddle. They are all fine musicians.

They had a large supporting band that comprised a drummer, keyboard player, bass guitar and lead guitar. Several of them were Australian session players, but I failed to catch their names.

Throughout the concert a large screen at the back of the stage displayed various scenes relevant to the particular song being performed, hence the different backgrounds in the photos above.

A Dixie Chicks concert is really something to experience before you die. They are a dynamic group – smart and sassy with a rebellious attitude and superb musicianship. The music ranges from sweet ballads like Easy Silence to foot stompers such as White Trash Wedding and Sin Wagon.

The concert lasted for approximately two hours and encompassed about 23 songs.

They closed the night with a two song encore, singing everyone’s favourite Karaoke, the defiant Not Ready To Make Nice before ending with the hopeful Better Way, a cover of a Ben Harper song.

It was a throughly enjoyable evening out and sheer, unadulterated pleasure to see the Dixie Chicks live in concert again after such a long hiatus.

Martie Maguire & Natalie Maines – Dixie Chicks live at Rod Laver Arena 2/4/17

Set List
(not up on Setlist.com yet, so song sequence may be different)

1. The Long Way Around

2. Lubbock or Leave It

3. Truth #2 (Patty Griffin cover)

4. Easy Silence

5. Let Him Fly (Patty Griffin cover)

6. Some Days You Gotta Dance

7. Long Time Gone

8. Something In The Air (Thunderclap Newman cover)

9. Top of the World (Patty Griffin cover)

10. Goodbye Earl

11. Travelin' Soldier (Bruce Robison cover)

12. Don't Let Me Die in Florida (Patty Griffin cover)

13. Daddy Lessons (Beyoncé cover)

14. White Trash Wedding

15. Bluegrass Instrumental

16. Ready to Run

17. Mississippi (Bob Dylan cover)

18. Landslide (Fleetwood Mac cover)

19. Cowboy Take Me Away

20. Wide Open Spaces

21. Sin Wagon

Encore:

22. Not Ready to Make Nice

23. Better Way (Ben Harper cover)

Music Master–Tim O’Brien at Caravan Music Club

Tim O’Brien live at Caravan Music Club – 11/1/17

Caravan Music Club, out in the wilds of Oakleigh, on the other side of the Yarra, is a fair way from where I live. But it’s such a pleasant venue that the long trek getting there is generally worth the effort.

Such was the case last night, where we saw American master musician Tim O’Brien show off his expertise on guitar, violin and mandolin in a one man show.

Tim O’Brien last toured Australia in 2011, and I had the good fortune to see him perform at the Port Fairy Folk Festival and at the now extinct East Brunswick Club.

As well as being a whiz on various instruments, Tim also has a great singing voice, a warm tenor that suits the kind of music he favours – bluegrass, folk and gospel.

He started his show with one of his own compositions Workin’ a sort of Dylanish monologue detailing various work scenarios. Señor, a Dylan song he recorded on his wonderful Bob Dylan bluegrass tribute album Red On Blonde, followed, and provided an interesting and appropriate segue.

He changed the mood with a traditional English folk ballad Pretty Fair Lady In The Garden, then performed the comical title song from his latest record Pompadour.

Quite a few of the songs on the night were from the Pompadour album.

Tim O’Brien is touring Australia in the company of his partner, Jan Fabricious, whom he invited on stage to sing harmony in the next few songs – Wichita, I Gotta Move, What Happened To Me and Go Down To The Water.

Jan Fabricious at Caravan Music Club 11/1/17

And so the night progressed, Tim switching from guitar to fiddle to mandolin, singing or playing 22 tunes in his main set.

I was a tad disappointed he didn’t play banjo, but you can’t have everything.

Tim O’Brien live at Caravan Music Club 11/1/17

Several of the tunes were instrumental, such as traditional fiddle tunes like Ditty Boy Twang, Say Old Man and Kid On The Mountain, but the whole show was varied in terms of musical styles, making it a very enjoyable and engaging concert.

There was a good crowd in attendance, many of my vintage, who all appreciated the rare pleasure of watching Tim O”Brien play his instruments so effortlessly and with masterful skill.

Set List (stolen from the stage)

Tim O’Brien Set List for 11/1/17

Set List Translated (to the best of my ability)

1. Workin’
2. Señor
3. Pretty Fair Maid In The Garden
4. Pompadour
5. Wichita
6. I Gotta Move
7. Whatever Happened To Me
8. Go Down To the Water
9. You Were On My Mind This Morning
10. Say Old Man (fiddle tune)
11. Working On A Building
12. Ditty Boy Twang
13. Kid On The Mountain
14. Not Afraid Of Dying
15. I’m A Mess For You
16. Brother Wind
17. Jack of Diamonds (Drunkard’s Hiccups)/The Crossing
18. Nellie Kane
19. The Tulips On the Table
20. Gentle On My Mind (John Hartford cover by special request)
21. The Water Is Wise
22. Look Down That Lonesome Road

Encore

Before This Time Another Year

New Year at Flemington with Black Caviar’s Daughter

Oscietra – Black Caviar’s first foal

After the tragic end to 2016 with the death of our beloved cat, I needed cheering up, so headed out to Flemington to welcome the New Year and witness Black Caviar’s first foal, Oscietra, have her first start at the race track.

She was set to run in the first race on the program, so I caught the first train to Flemington, along with a good crowd of other racing enthusiasts. Many of course, like me, were only going to see Oscietra.

There was plenty of time to cruise out to the stalls area and a big crowd was gathered outside Oscietra’s stall to get a first look at the star mare’s daughter.

Crowd outside Oscietra’s stall – there’s even a guy wearing a Black Caviar cap

I managed to wriggle in and got several photos of the filly. The atmosphere was reminiscent of the days when Black Caviar was at the track.

Oscietra standing calmly in her stall

Oscietra took the attention calmly as if she’d seen it all before, even though it was her first day at the races.

Alas she wasn’t able to emulate her mum with a win, being outgunned by the more experienced filly Limestone, but was far from disgraced running third.

Oscietra in the mounting yard

Oscietra pinged out of the barriers and led for most of the race down the middle of the big Flemington straight, and was only overtaken by Limestone in the last 200 metres.  Miss Wahoo ran second.

Limestone overtakes Oscietra close to the finishing line.

It is probably a blessing that Oscietra didn’t win her first race, as expectations will not be as high next time round, where she has the potential to be the star act.

Limestone returns to scale

There was a larger than usual crowd in attendance for such a low key meeting, and Oscietra’s race was the feature race as far as most were concerned.

I stayed for two more races, the first of these being the  Straight Draw Handicap, run over 2000 metres. Flying Light was the starting favourite and he didn’t disappoint winning by ¾ length from Master Zephyr with Kourkam running third.

Flying Light wins the Straight Draw Handicap

Flying Light returns to scale

Race 3 was the Byron Moore Handicap, a race over 1600 metres.  The wonderfully named Crocodile Rock, a Lloyd Williams import from Ireland was the favourite, but he left it too late in his run to overtake eventual winner Gervaise who romped in at good odds.  Stone Warrior ran third.

Byron Moore Handicap finish – first three across the line – Gervaise, Crocodile Rock, Stone Warrior

Gervaise returns to scale

Crocodile Rock returns to scale

As trains were not scheduled to leave Flemington until 5.00pm, I was obliged to make the long tramp to Epsom Road to the tram stop. The journey home took about a hour, the 57 Tram being an old slow Z class vehicle that weaves its way through the north western suburbs to the city.

The autumn racing carnival kicks off in earnest in February, so there’s not long to wait for first class meetings, with various build up races occuring in January.

*********************

It is now a week since Willy’s death and we still miss him, and expect him to appear and demand attention at any moment.

Talya by contrast is a quiter, less demanding  cat, so it’s no wonder she’s now emerging from Willy’s shadow and taking over where he left off.

This morning she waited for me and occupied my lap as Willy used to do. She never got a look in when he was around. She’s asleep on my pillow as I write, another invasion of Willy’s former domain.

Talya – the Queen of the Universe

And I’m pleased to report that she has finally given up pulling her fur out, so is looking much prettier these days with her fur grown back.

As for the rest of 2017, I’m hoping for small pleasant distractions to offset the gloom of the new world order.

For a start, I have three concerts to attend in the near future, the first being Americana maestro Tim O’Brien at Caravan Music Club next week.

In February I’m going to a Bruce Springsteen concert. I have never had the pleasure of seeing him before and wouldn’t have gone had not Frontier Touring had a Boxing Day sale, where I acquired tickets at a discounted price. 

And I’m keenly looking forward to seeing the Dixie Chicks in April, from second row seats at Rod Laver Arena.

As for books, there’s nothing much that has piqued my interest so far, but I believe that Hilary Mantel’s final book in her Thomas Cromwell trilogy will be out later this year.

Cross fingers,  John Crowley’s Little, Big (25th Anniversary Edition)  may be finally published this year.  I’ve expressed this same wish every year since this blog was started, and hope not to write it again in 2018.

John Crowley also has a new book in the offing which is rumoured to be published sometime in 2017 – always something to await with pleasurable anticipation.

So Long Leonard

Leonard Cohen live at Rod Laver Arena –10 February 2009

I heard the news today that the great songwriter and poet Leonard Cohen had died, so here are my memories of the man and his music.

Ironically, two days after a misogynist ladies man won the US Presidential Election, another much gentler, more respectful, ladies man departed this earth.

The mists of  time shroud my memories of when I first heard of Leonard Cohen, but it must have been back in the late 1960s, as I remember I had  copies of his first few albums in my record collection.

He really suited our generation, or those of us who pretended to be soulful and poetic, in between the sex and drugs and rock ‘n’ roll, though in a way his lyrics expressed all that too.

I was lucky enough to see him in concert twice, first  in 1980 at the Melbourne Comedy Theatre, which I thought an hilarious venue for a singer who was known to write “songs to slit your wrists by”.

My memories of the concert are vague, but I remember being surprised at how funny he was in person, and came away from the concert with a very positive impression.

The second concert was at a considerably bigger venue, the Rod Laver Arena in 2009.

I wrote a review of the show on my blog here, so I won’t go into detail except to say it was one of the best concerts I have ever seen.

The new world will not have Leonard Cohen as one of its citizens, and will be the poorer for it, but his memory will live long with those of us who loved his songs and music all those years ago in the old, old world.

Instead of a Love Poem by Adi Sappir

The cello is a melancholy  instrument that evokes a sense of yearning and nostalgia. It is the perfect musical vehicle for introspective and thoughtful songs.

Such is the case with cellist and singer, Adi Sappir’s recently released EP, Instead of a Love Poem, her tribute to Israeli poet Yehuda Amichai.

Adi is Israeli born but makes her home in Melbourne these days and is well known as one of the local trio, The Mercurials, whom I have reviewed previously.

I must admit I had never come across the poetry of Yehuda Amichai, but have since addressed my ignorance of his work, after Adi asked me to review her EP.  He is acclaimed in both Israel and Internationally as poet of remarkable intelligence and acuity, writing about the universal themes of love, death and old age in a fresh and interesting way.

Instead of a Love Poem contains six songs set to Yehuda Amichai poems.  It is a moving celebration of his work, masterfully expressed in music, Adi’s affecting voice blending with the rich tones of her cello to create a soundscape of mournful beauty.

The added accompaniment of piano, organ and vocals enrich the listening experience, interacting perfectly with the dark sad sound of the cello and Adi’s voice.

Track Listing

1. Jerusalem
2. Take Me To The Airport
3. Air Hostess
4. God Full Of Mercy
5. Ecology of Jerusalem
6. Such As Sorrow

You can purchase a digital copy of the EP from CD Baby or buy the physical article on Adi’s webite.  The buy option is hard to see, but look for the red text link above the EP cover image.

Happy New Year 2016

First cat photo of 2016 – Talya on my computer chair 2/1/16

Talya hates having her photo taken. When you point a camera at her she invariably starts washing herself and ignores all cajolements to cooperate. So I had to be fast to get the above shot and catch her mid wash.

I spent New Year’s eve watching episodes of Wolf Hall, the highly regarded BBC TV Series based on Hilary Mantel’s novel of the same name and its sequel Bring Up The Bodies.  I was given the DVD for Christmas and was pleased to receive it as I’d given it as a present to two friends, and hadn’t bothered to acquire a copy for myself.

It certainly lived up to the critical praise that has been heaped on it.

In a word, it is stunning: the costumes, sets, and acting were all first class. The attention to detail as regards the period setting (1500 to 1535) during the time of Henry VIII is commendable. Nothing jarred as anachronous, the lighting being predominantly candlelit and sombre, setting the mood of the times.

Mark Rylance as Thomas Cromwell is superb, as is Claire Foy as Anne Boleyn and the support cast are spot on character wise.

I thought the screen version of Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell was excellent and one of the best I’ve seen. Wolf Hall is just as good.

Hopefully the long awaited third and final book of Hilary Mantel’s take on the life of Thomas Cromwell will be published this year.

So far, reading the lists of books expected to be published in 2016 have left me disappointed, with nothing much taking my fancy, and books by my favourite living authors being in the main missing from the lists.

However, dare I hope that the 10 year wait for the 25th Anniversary edition of John Crowley’s Little, Big will be over this year. Every year since I subscribed to the edition I’ve been hopeful of seeing it finally published. This year may be the one where I will finally hold it in my hands. The latest Newsletter on the edition envisages the book going to press in March 2016, May 2016 at the latest.

I have several musical treats in store early in 2016 – Gillian Welch and David Rawlings being the most highly anticipated. That’s in February.

In late March I’ve booked for a Jason Isbell concert at Melbourne Recital Centre. It’s a fabulous venue, so it will be a treat to see him there, after putting up with a stand up show at a pub venue the last time.

Eilen Jewell and her band are also expected to be touring in March  2016. Hopefully she will also play at a decent venue like Thornbury Theatre or Memo Music Hall or even the Recital Centre.

There’s only a little over a month to go before the first Group 1 of the Autumn Racing season is scheduled.

I’ve been missing going to the races, so yesterday I attended a low key meeting at Moonee Valley. The main attraction was the promising three year old filly Love Days having her third start. She’d won her first two in dominant fashion, so there was something of a hype surrounding her. I’m chary of  hyped youngsters these days as they eventually disappoint, but just in case they are the new Black Caviar, I’m always interested in seeing them in the flesh.

Love Days at Moonee Valley 2/1/16

It was pleasant being back at the track with all the pretty horses, but certainly not a day for successful punting. I had one bet on Orion in Race 2 shortly after I reached the track, but he missed out on a place, so I eschewed wasting my money on anything after that.

The majority of winners over the afternoon were long shot outsiders, and that also proved the case when Race 5, the Gold Carat was run.

Love Days was the hot favourite, but she had a torrid run, three wide for most of the race, and a clever ride by top jockey Damian Oliver resulted in 20/1 shot Rocky Boombao winning the race, lowering the colours of Love Days who couldn’t catch him and finished second.

Rocky Boombao steals a lead in the Gold Carat.

Rocky Boombao returns to scale

The most interesting race of the day was the Perth Cup at Ascot and it was won by the wonderful staying mare *Delicacy who started as the  top weight, carrying 59kg. She defied history with her win, being the first mare to win the race at that weight. She certainly has delivered on her promise of the 2015 Autumn where she won two Derbys and two Oaks and was awarded Australian Champion Three Year Old Filly of 2015.

There’s a possibility that she might contest the Australian Cup at Flemington in March. I hope so, as I’d love to see her in the flesh.

With that I wish everyone a rewarding and interesting 2016 as I hope for myself.

* Delicacy unfortunately sustained a tendon injury in the Perth Cup and has been retired. It’s a disappointing but a commendable decision by her owner. However, the consolation prize is that her younger stable mate Perfect Reflection who defeated Delicacy in the Kingston Town Classic will possibly be contesting the Australian Guineas in March at Flemington.

Summer Daze & Christmas Greetings

Ronald Searle Christmas Card

With Christmas only a few days away, here’s a post to celebrate the season and review 2015.

Despite the world in general being in tumult, my 2015 was reasonably stress free and a good year overall, with plenty of things to keep me interested and engaged.

Melbourne experienced its first heat wave of the summer earlier this week, where the temperature reached over 40°C last Saturday. You would think, considering the hype put on it by the media, that we’d never had a few days over 35°C before. They must have been scratching around for news.

As usual, I’ll be glad to have Christmas out of the way. We’ll be spending the day at my brother’s on the coast, but driving back afterwards, so the cats won’t be put out.

What bliss it is to be writing this post in Open Live Writer after clunking away on the Blogger editor for a couple of posts. Open Live Writer works well and runs smoothly in Windows 7 , thank goodness.

Highlights of 2015

There weren’t that many books that really wowed me this year, but a few stand out as keepers. I really liked Anthony Doerr’s All The Light We Cannot See, A God In Ruins by Kate Atkinson, David Mitchell’s spooky Slade House and Margaret Atwood’s very funny dystopian novel The Heart Goes Last.

I also read and enjoyed the latest Kazuo Ishiguro novel. Written in his characteristic understated prose, The Buried Giant is a haunting novel on memory and loss, set in the Dark Ages.  I purchased the US hard cover edition and I must say that it’s a beautifully designed book and enhances any bookshelf.

After reading Neal Stephenson’s new novel Seveneves, which I enjoyed enormously, I felt an urge to reread his Baroque Cycle a three volume historical novel set in the Age of Enlightenment (17th century and early 18th century). Each book in the trilogy is about 1000 pages long, so it took me a while to read, but Stephenson is such an entertaing writer it certainly wasn’t a chore. He obviously had a lot of fun writing it.

Neal Stephenson is wanton with words. He’ll use 100 words where 10 would normally serve, but he’s such a brilliant writer you go with the flow willingly. Here’s an example:

The quill swirled and lunged over the page in a slow but relentless three-steps-forward, two-steps-back sort of process, and finally came to a full stop in a tiny pool of its own ink. Then Louis Phélypéaux, first comte de Pontchartain, raised the nib; let it hover for an instant, as if gathering his forces; and hurled it backwards along the sentence, tiptoeing over i’s, slashing through t’s and x’s, nearly tripping over an umlaut, building speed and confidence while veering through a slalom course of acute and grave accents, pirouetting through cedillas and carving vicious snap-turns through circumflexes. It was like watching the world’s greatest fencing master dispatch twenty opponents with a single continuous series of manoeuvres. – page 119, The Confusion (Vol 2 of the Baroque Trilogy)

You are educated and enlightened reading Neal Stephenson, as he always takes time to explain complex ideas in simple terms and even though he uses a lot of acronyms, they are fully spelt out several times until you get used to them. He also writes action scenes that leave you on the edge of your seat and is laugh out loud funny at times.

I didn’t purchase much new music this year, just a few favourite artist CDs like Ryan Adams’ Live At Carnegie Hall and his version of Taylor Swift’s 1989, Emmylou Harris & Rodney Crowell’s Travelling Kind, Eilen Jewell’s Sundown Over Ghost Town, Servant of Love by Patty Griffin, and Something More Than Free by Jason Isbell, all of which are wonderful, though I haven’t listened to them all that much. My top pick is probably The Milk Carton Kids’ exquisite Monterey.

The discovery of the year was local Melbourne band Raised By Eagles, whose newest release Diamonds In The Bloodstream is up there with my favourites for the year.  I’ve never see them live, but hope to catch them next year whenever.

My music kicks were mostly got from the live shows I attended, all different but all enjoyable.

And of course both the Melbourne autumn and spring racing carnivals were full of interest and saw the emergence of several new stars of the turf, Cox Plate heroine Winx being the stand out.

So on that note I wish readers of this blog, whoever or wherever you are, a very merry Christmas and hope that the New Year is kindly and grants you health, wealth and good luck.

Shane Nicholson Lets Hell Break Loose at the Caravan Music Club

Shane Nicholson – Caravan Music Club – 8 August 2015

It was great to back in the wilds of Oakleigh at the Caravan Music Club, especially as one of my favourite Australian singer-songwriters was the star act.

I discovered Shane Nicholson way back in 2003 when he opened for a Kasey Chambers concert at the Palais in St Kilda, where I was so impressed by his performance that I sought out his debut solo CD It’s A Movie the next day. I still play it every so often and consider it has weathered the test of time remarkably well.

On Saturday night, Shane was launching his new album, Hell Breaks Loose, which had been released the day before. It has been widely praised by the critics – Rolling Stone Magazine gave it 4 stars – so I was really looking forward to hearing the new songs, and also picking up a copy of the CD at the concert.

The Weeping Willows (Andy Wrigglesworth and Laura Coates), who I recently witnessed opening for Iris Dement, were the support act for Shane Nicholson as well. My impression, seeing them for a second time, was that they had improved and appeared much more confident and upbeat in their performance.

They played a delightfully engaging set, many of the songs being newly composed for their forthcoming second, Pozible crowd funded, record. These included River of Gold, Travelling Man, Forgotten Flowers and Garden of Tears.

It is public knowledge that Shane Nicholson has separated from Kasey Chambers, his wife of six years. Shane claims that the new record is not a “break up” album. He admits that it is heavy in tone, but added that he liked “heavy” and that he was generally happy in his single state.

On Saturday night a number of songs from Hell Breaks Loose were played, but the majority of the 21 song set were either drawn from his earlier albums or covers of other artists.

Shane kicked off his set with new single Second Hand Man, then harked back to his collaboration with Kasey Chambers, singing Wreck & Ruin, the title track from their second joint album. That was followed by a song from Shane’s most recent solo studio recording, Bad Machines, the song being Jimmie Rodgers Was A Vampire.

The show promo advertised Shane Nicholson as appearing with a very special surprise guest.  This turned out to be Melody Pool, whom I have previously seen when she opened for the 2013 Milk Carton Kids concert at Thornbury Theatre.

She added her lovely voice to two of the covers, Stop Dragging My Heart Around, a Tom Petty penned song made famous by Stevie Nicks, and Believing from the Nashville TV Series.  She also sang lead vocals on a new song of her own, Black Dog, a bleak but powerful song about depression.

Melody Pool at Caravan Music Club -  8 August 2015

The songs from Shane’s new record sounded fantastic. He has a deft way with words and writes wonderful lyrics. Particularly moving was Single Fathers and Hermannsburg, the latter composed during a visit with his friend, Aboriginal singer songwriter, Warren H Williams in the Outback.

Towards the end of Shane’s set, he summoned The Weeping Willows to the stage, along with Melody Pool and they gathered around a single microphone to sing John Prine’s The Speed of the Sound of Loneliness.

 
The Weeping Willows, Melody Pool & Shane Nicholson

Supporting Shane through most of his set was *John Bedggood who played  tasteful fiddle and mandolin, whilst Shane stuck to guitar and occasionally tickled the piano keys.

As it has been several years since I have seen Shane Nicholson live, it was a rare pleasure to attend the concert at Caravan Music Club. It was a sell out, which must have been heart warming for Shane as I recall seeing him at the now defunct East Brunswick Club back in 2006 where only a handful of people showed up.

He has now won several music awards over the ensuing years, and has finally been recognised as one of the best singer-songwriters in Australia.

I wish him every success with Hell Breaks Loose.

SET LISTS

THE WEEPING WILLOWS SET LIST

1. Down Below
2. River of Gold
3. Forever In My Dreams
4. Falling Rain
5. Travelling Man
6. Forgotten Flowers
7. ?
8. Garden of Tears
9. Devil ?
10. ?
11. Sixteen Feet of Stone

SHANE NICHOLSON SET LIST

1. Second Hand Man
2. Wreck & Ruin
3. Jimmie Rodgers Was A Vampire
4. The Quiet Life
5. Weight of the World
6. Hell Breaks Loose
7. Monkey On A Wire
8. Home
9. Rattlin’ Bones
10. Irons & Chains
11. Single Fathers
12. Stop Dragging My Heart Around (Tom Petty)
13. Believing (Nashville TV Series)
14. Black Dog (Melody Pool)
15. Woe Is Mine
16. Once In A While
17. The Speed of the Sound of Loneliness (John Prine)
18. Flat Nail Joe

Encore

1. Hermannsburg
2. House That Never Was
3. Never Been To Spain (Waylon Jennings)

* Thanks to the anonymous commenter for supplying the name of Shane’s support musician.

Super Saturday – Melbourne Racing Autumn Carnival Finale

Fiorente contests the Group 1 Australian Cup this weekend

It’s not really the finale of Group 1 racing in Melbourne, as the Group 1 William Reid Stakes will be run on 21 March, but Flemington’s autumn carnival of racing culminates on Saturday.

Three Group 1 races are on the cards this weekend, two at Flemington and one at Warwick Farm in Sydney.  The Australian Cup and the Newmarket Handicap feature in Melbourne, and both have attracted really top notch fields and mouth watering competitions between the top runners.

In the Newmarket Handicap, a sprint over 1200 metres, we have class sprinters like Moment of Change, Samaready,  Shamexpress Lankan Rupee and Knoydart, so how do you choose between them? I’d really like Samaready to win and she does have a good chance to do so at her favoured distance of 1200 metres. Can Moment of Change keep his Group 1 winning streak intact? And who can beat Lankan Rupee, currently in top form and the winner of his last four starts. Shamexpress won the Newmarket last year as a three year old, but carries considerably more weight this year. He ran a close second to Snitzerland in the Black Caviar Lightning Stakes at his last outing and she is not running on this occasion.

The Australian Cup has the very classy Fiorente, who won the Peter Young Stakes first up a fortnight ago, up against new gun Shamus Award, who proved his class last week in the Australian Guineas.  Shamus Award has a weight advantage (54.5kg vs 59kg) and if he can assume and maintain the lead will be very hard to catch. He defeated Fiorente in the Cox Plate last year, doing just that. I doubt that he will be able to get away with it on Saturday, the other jockeys now being aware of his winning tactics.  However, fellow three year old Thunder Fantasy also backing up in this, could be a good chance also, not being all that far away in his last few races. Last year, three year olds Fiveandahalfstar and Super Cool fought out the finish with Super Cool  proving the victor on that occasion

One runner that interests me is Voleuse de Coeurs, the Irish mare who came over here for the Melbourne Cup and was bought by Australian interests to continue racing here. She won the Irish St Leger by 6 lengths, a month or so before she arrived on these shores. She’s obviously an excellent staying mare, so I’m really keen to see how she goes in the Australian Cup. As it’s run over 2000 metres, it might be a bit short for her as her wins have all been over 2600 metres.

The support card at Flemington boasts three Group 2, and two Group 3 races as well as the features, so it’s quality racing all round, though I’m not going to preview any of them here. And as mentioned previously, Living Legends Efficient and Zipping will be parading throughout the afternoon.

In Sydney at Warwick Farm, It’s A Dundeel will be kicking off his autumn campaign in the Group 1 Chipping Norton Stakes, a race over 1600 metres.  A small field of  8 runners will be competing for the prize, and include Boban who has been a tad disappointing so far this season, his stable mates Hawkspur and Moriarty and Gai Waterhouse trained three year old Order of the Sun. I’ll be cheering for the super little stallion It’s A Dundeel.

The support card at Warwick Farm is just as good, if not better than that in Melbourne, though it seems the races will be run on a slow to heavy track, after a big storm passed through Sydney the other day and showers are expected to continue into the weekend. 

The Group 3 Wiggle Stakes is one race I will endeavour to watch from Flemington.  It has my favourite mare Catkins up against Dear Demi who is resuming after a break. Catkins can handle heavy tracks and already has one win under her belt since resuming. Dear Demi  has won on heavy going, but she has never won first up.  Others in with a chance are Miss Stellabelle, Fire Up Fifi and She’s Clean

Melbourne weather continues fine, so the track at Flemington will be good.

As this is the last race meeting I will be attending for a while, I’ll try and vary my blog posts a little from now on. It’s Music Festival season, and even if I am not attending either the Port Fairy or Brunswick Music Festivals, I do have some live musical treats coming my way.

Next Wednesday I’m really looking forward to seeing Americana artist Pokey LaFarge who plays my kind of music – country blues, western swing – in his own unique style. He’s on at The Corner Hotel.

And at the end of March I have a ticket to the Rolling Stones at Rod Laver Arena. I last saw the Stones back in 1995 at the MCG on their Voodoo Lounge tour. The Rolling Stones have always been my favourite rock ‘n roll band, and even if they are somewhat elderly these days, I’m sure they’ll still pack a punch. I have a pretty good seat in the lower tier and hope to get photos of Mick & Keef et al in action.

In April I’m off to see Tift Merritt and Jason Isbell at the Northcote Social Club. Should be a great show. I’ve seen Jason Isbell twice before, but this is Tift Merritt’s first Australian tour.

Break out the Bubbly - Farewell to 2013

 
Willy looking noble

2013 was in all a pretty interesting year, with no personal disasters to mar it. It is now exactly three years since I quit work, and I find I still enjoy retirement enormously and don’t miss work at all.  There are always plenty of things to do to fill time, and even if a lot of that is spent in front of a computer, I rarely get bored.

A highlight of the year for me was witnessing Black Caviar winning two of the last races of her career, and being part of the crowd on the occasions when she was at the track. I watched Australian Story last Sunday, which featured the Black Caviar story and was thrilled and moved all over again, seeing her win her races so effortlessly. She certainly was one in a million, and it will be a long time before we see her like again.

This year I attended more race meetings than ever before, and I saw all the equine stars strutting their stuff up close – Atlantic Jewel, It’s A Dundeel, Fiorente etc, etc.  I’m looking forward to the Melbourne autumn racing season, when I will venture track wise again.

Cat stand off

In January this year we adopted Talya, the Russian Princess, so she’s been living with us for almost a year.  Both she and Willy are used to each other now, and despite Talya occasionally being aggressive to Willy, he appears to take this in his stride. They’ll never be friends, but  they are not sworn enemies either, and tolerate each other quite well. Most days when it’s cool they will sleep on the bed together, Willy on my pillow, Talya on B’s, only a few feet apart. Also Willy appears to have come to an accommodation with Monty the cat next door, as they haven’t brawled for ages, and have been observed sitting peacefully together in the front yard of the house two doors up.

Books & Music

I didn’t get to many live shows this year, but the few I did attend were all different and equally enjoyable. The discovery of the year was The Milk Carton Kids, who hopefully will return in 2014.  As I also didn’t listen to music all that much and bought very few CDs, I haven’t any particular favourites from 2013. Patty Griffin’s new CD American Kid was one of the best, as was The Milk Carton Kids’ The Ash & Clay, but nothing much else really took my fancy.

As usual I read many books, some rereads of old favourites and quite a few new books.

My best of 2013 are:

Flight Behaviour by Barbara Kingsolver – my review is here.

The Orphan Master’s Son by Adam Johnson – my review is here.

Life After Life by Kate Atkinson - Life After Life follows Ursula Todd as she lives through the turbulent events of the last century again and again. This novel is very different to her Jackson Brodie series, but an engaging and clever novel just the same.

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt – a coming of age novel, a thriller, a page turner fraught with anxiety.

We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler – my review is here.

Hild by Nicola Griffith – I finished this novel the other night, and I’m still haunted by it. It is an imaginative biography of St Hilda of Whitby, set in a turbulent seventh century Britain.  It is a remarkable novel with a remarkable heroine. Hild leaps from the page in all her  intelligent complexity. I loved this book, and can hardly wait for its sequel.

Last Friends by Jane Gardham – the third book in the Old Filth trilogy, tells the story of Filth’s rival, Terry Veneering. It was laugh out loud funny in parts, and quite as wonderful as anything Jane Gardham has written.

I just realised that my favourite novels of 2013 were all written by women, with one exception. I’m sure I did read books by male writers, but they didn’t grab me as much as the books mentioned above.

Despite the title of this post, I have no intention of breaking out any bubbly tonight. As usual we’ll be spending a quiet evening at home with the cats.

To finish, here’s a card we received from friends at Christmas and thought hilariously appropriate.

Happy New Year everyone! May your 2014 be full of delightful surprises, good health and happiness.

Rock & Soul – Liz Stringer at Basement Discs

I was pleased to be present at yet another quality performance today in store at Basement Discs, when local singer songwriter Liz Stringer delivered an affecting mini show promoting her brand new CD Warm in the Darkness.

Liz Stringer is one of the most talented music artists in Melbourne, and she ably demonstrated this today when she gave the appreciative lunchtime crowd a sampler from the new album. It’s quite different to what she has done before, being considerably more informed by rock and soul than her previous recordings, which were more  folky solo singer songwriter stuff. That’s not to say they are in any way inferior to her current CD, but she has certainly given her wonderful songs a more dynamic treatment this time round.

Liz is an excellent songwriter, her songs being articulate and emotionally moving, often melancholic, but with cutting lyrics that give sharp character portraits of the protagonists of her story songs.

I am very taken with her new CD and was instantly captivated by her new songs, particularly one called High Open Hills and also the title track.

Today she was accompanied by fellow singer songwriter Van Walker who played electric guitar and sang backing vocals.

Give Liz a listen on her My Space page and be converted.

Next Saturday 21st April is International Independent Record Store Day, and Basement Discs will be having a fabulous line up of artists playing in store and other sundry goodies. Details are here.

Just think where we’d be without the local record store and how sorely they’d be missed if they were no more.

More Soul – two diverse in store performances at Basement Discs

This week Basement Discs hosted two very different, nevertheless very talented young artists from the USA. 

The first of these was Krystle Warren (pictured above) who is touring Australia for the first time, and performed a moving and unusual short set, in store on Wednesday.  Her music is minimalist, but her voice and songs more than make up for it, her songs being masterful tales of love gained and lost, and her voice being soulful and expressive . She has been compared to Joni Mitchell in the way she she uses her voice, but I thought she sounded a bit like Joan Armatrading.

  

Today the engaging and genial Ben Sollee entertained the lunchtime crowd at Basement Discs with a charming performance, showcasing his expertise on his instrument of choice, the cello.

He hails from Kentucky and grew up in a musical family, adopting the cello when he was in high school - he fell in love with the weird sounds it can make, so he explained. He trained in classical music but was influenced by the jazz, blues and celtic music of his family. This explains his unusual approach to playing the cello, which covers all the aforementioned genres and then some.

He is also a very gifted song writer and has a pleasant singing voice - a sweet tenor.

Next up at Basement Discs is the wonderful Eilen Jewell on Friday 23rd March. I’ll be seeing her the night before at the Corner Hotel, but still wouldn’t miss her intimate in store for quids.

This Saturday, I am for the first time going to the Caravan Music Club in Oakleigh, rather a long trek for us in the north of the city, but purported to be a great venue. It should be worth the effort as Chris Hillman & Herb Pedersen are playing.  Chris Hillman is one of the pioneers of country rock, and played in such bands as The Byrds, Flying Burrito Brothers and Desert Rose.

Anticipation

Life’s pretty dull if you haven’t got anything to look forward to. I was going to say, not worth living, but then I thought of all the people in the world who really haven’t anything to look forward to, but no doubt appreciate being alive.

I count myself fortunate that I live in a free and reasonably well off society, where there are many pleasures to relish in advance.

Such is the case at present, where I am keenly anticipating both things of a musical nature and things of a literary nature, not to mention the Spring Racing Carnival.

Ryan Adams. as I have mentioned before, is my all time favourite music artist. I’ve got all his CDs and even some memorabilia ( t-shirt and poster) and have seen him perform live five times.

I must admit I have not liked some of his music, his CD Rock N Roll for instance, but in the main I’ve loved most of them.

What I am keenly anticipating is his latest musical offering Ashes & Fire, especially after listening to a couple of tracks that are freely available on the Internet.  You can listen to his first single, Lucky Now here, and watch Ryan playing an acoustic version of the title song here.  They both sound really beautiful to me; Ryan Adams is back with a vengeance.

Ashes & Fire is his first solo record since he took a break from making music after his 2009 tour. So, it has been quite a wait, but judging from what I have heard so far will be well worth it.

Strangely enough, next week I am going to a concert by the similarly named artist Bryan Adams, famous for such songs as Summer of 69 and Cuts Like A Knife.  Yes it’s pop, but I’m certain it will be very enjoyable, despite the  horrible seat I was allocated at the booking office. People have suggested that I should yell out a request for Come Pick Me Up, one of Ryan Adams’ most requested songs, seeing as how at Ryan Adams concerts in the past, rude persons in the audience were wont to yell out “Play Summer of 69!” Of course I wouldn’t do anything of the kind.

A curious coincidence between Ryan and Bryan Adams is that they have the same birthday – 5th November, 1974 and 1959 respectively.

On the book front, I’m waiting for the publication later this month of Neal Stephenson’s new monster (in size, not subject) novel Reamde, purportedly a hi tech thriller.

You have to be somewhat nerdish to be a Neal Stephenson fan, or have the patience and fortitude to read through 1000 plus pages of a novel. But Stephenson generally fills those 1000 plus pages with cool stuff, and he has a racy style of writing that has you turning the pages excitedly. He  also explains complex ideas with engaging simplicity.

I have a shelf of Neal Stephenson novels in hard cover. They’re all pretty hefty tomes, but look impressive lined up together. I’ll have to clear a 60mm space to fit Reamde in alongside.

As well as having Reamde on pre-order, I’ve also placed orders for the new Haruki Murakami novel 1Q84, apparently Murakami’s masterpiece and his take on Orwell’s 1984, due out in October, and the new Umberto Eco novel The Prague Cemetery, which is due in November.

I purchased all the above books, redeeming a gift voucher I received from my brother for my birthday. I regard it as a good haul and will have the pleasure of anticipating new exciting books for the next three or so months.

I’m also still waiting – after six years – for the publication of the 25th Anniversary edition of Little, Big by John Crowley. Whether it will be published this year is up in the air. I’m not holding my breath.

Tex Perkins & The Dark Horses

I haven’t written about music for a while, in fact I’ve neglected to mention the last few Basement in store performances, which were as usual excellent and starred Nick Charles on one instance and Tracy McNeil on the other.

Today however was a special occasion where acclaimed Australian rocker, Tex Perkins with his band The Dark Horses were showcasing songs from their latest self-titled CD at a lunchtime in-store at Basement Discs. It was well attended – quite a crowd was there to hear a fabulous half hour or so of music. I was not sure what to expect, having never really followed Tex Perkins’ musical career, which has included fronting iconic bands The Cruel Sea and The Beasts of Bourbon.

I was pleasantly surprised. The music was warm and soulful and full of rock n roll goodness. Tex has a great rock voice, somewhat ragged and gravelly but powerful, and the Dark Horses provided solid backing in the guitar and percussion, not to mention keyboard departments. Somehow all six of them managed to squeeze on to the tiny Basement stage.

It was worth braving the chancy Melbourne weather to attend.

But wait, there’s more…

Whilst I was waiting for the tram home outside the GPO, I was fortunate enough to hear a very talented young singer, performing close by. Named David Shaw, he must have been all of 15 years old, but he could sing like an angel.


He had one of those beautiful, powerful emotive voices – it reminded me of Patty Griffin –and used it to great effect. I was enormously impressed. Remember the name David Shaw, I’m sure he’ll be a star one day.

Autumn Racing Carnival 2011 – The Doncaster Mile

More Joyous

The heady excitement of first class racing continues this Saturday at Randwick with three Group One events, the feature race being the famous Doncaster Mile, which stars that other marvellous Australian mare, More Joyous. She is gunning for her 13th consecutive win on a Sydney track and her 5th win in succession for the season. The Doncaster Mile is by no means an easy race to win. She is top weight, so one or other of the lighter weighted  contenders could spoil her party. There’s the consistent Love Conquers All, Danleigh, Aloha, Triple Elegance and stable mate Pureness all in with a chance. But More Joyous being the freakish beast she is, barring extreme misfortune, should bolt in.

The AJC Australian Oaks (2400 metres) also looks a doozy of a race with AJC Derby winner Shamrocker out to make history by winning the Derby/Oaks double. If she has recovered from her gruelling win in the Derby there is a very good probability of her succeeding.  Others in contention are Victorian Oaks winner Brazilian Pulse, Pinker Pinker, 100/1  Stormqueen winner Mirjulisa Lass, Fibrillation and Crafty Irna.

The third Group One of the day is the Galaxy Stakes a sprint over 1100 metres. Last year Ortensia was the winner, though later a prohibited drug was found in her system and she was disqualified. She’s back again for a second go at it, though it looks a much harder race this time, judging by the quality of the field. Swift Alliance looks the one to beat and others like Sister Madly, Solar Charged, Avenue and News Alert are all talented sprinters and therefore in with a chance.

As well as being an excellent day for racing, it is also International Independent Record Store Day. 

 

Basement Discs  will be celebrating the occasion with a great line up of local artists performing in store throughout the day - JEFF LANG, CHARLES JENKINS, THE WOLFGRAMM SISTERS, SEAN McMAHON'S WESTERN UNION, ABBIE CARDWELL, CHRIS WILSON, SARAH CARROLL, CASH SAVAGE, THE SPOILS (DUO) and LITTLE JOHN.  They will also be having a music quiz and other such fun stuff with the likes Dave Graney and Rebecca Barnard undertaking the MC duties. 

I’ll be dropping in during the afternoon,  to snap some pictures and  take in the vibes.

Several other independent  record stores in  Melbourne will be celebrating as well, so  check  out your favourite record store tomorrow and give your support to a worthy cause.  They’d be a sad loss to the cultural landscape were they to close.