armageddonriver

Saturday night was the old school Britpunk revel that was the Buzzcocks performing at the Corner Hotel.

( If your sex mechanic's rough you're more than ready )

In all, a most excellent evening. Next up is Opeth on Wednesday, leading rather nicely into my birthday. Hopefully they'll still be playing after midnight... and hopefully Mikael Akerfeldt will give me his guitar pick as a birthday present ;)

Friday night saw me, somewhat randomly as I knew very little of the band, accompanying the lovely El to Hanzel und Gretyl's gig at Cabaret Nocturne.

( Und du bist der scheisse )

Scrapbook is being a whore, which is why I can't post the photo with Jessica. Will try again later...

Truly wish the Glitterpixie, Darclady and their confederates could have joined us for such a wonderful eve. But as ever, there shall doubtless be more where this one came from.

EDIT: Scrapbook no longer a whore, picture within the cut in the appropriate place.

Before I get onto the main posting, a couple of cute pics of Andrea and Justin from One is Warm in Winter, the Other has a Better View rehearsals.

( Fun times! )

They're finally here - the flyers for One is Warm in Winter, the Other has a Better View. You can book tickets now, too!

( Flyer )

For my One is Warm in Winter, the Other has a Better View peoples: ( Why I Love You. )

Very good weekend had over the past couple of days. After seeing my Lara off to Christchurch, I started Friday evening off with my lovely El, and hit a new Gothic event called Cobwebs with my friend Jesse, one of the people I met at Jess' Halloween do. El and I knew little of Cobwebs, save that it was something "between a bar night and a club." Turns out it was more like a bar night, really, in the back room at Softbelly on Little Bourke. Fairly reasonable space, except we had to venture out into the normal people's area every time we wanted to buy drinks. They were well-behaved, mind you, but it kinda broke the vibe.

Other than that, it was fairly nice for socialising, which was a good thing seeing as El and Jesse hadn't met before. Don't think it's somewhere we'll make into a regular haunt, though. Too quiet. Though there was pool. And I ran into Mark, of Darkness Visible video shoot fame - I see him around a fair bit these days.

( A few pics from Cobwebs )
Once we decided we wanted something a little more action-packed, Jesse recommended a club called 3-D, held at the same venue as DV8. Because of this, the lovely Jess was on the door, and it's always nice to see her. Unfortunately, that was just about the nicest thing about the club. The music was bad, the crowd was small and unappealing, and the whole experience a lesson in why we don't try new things (or non-Goth clubs, anyway). We left that one behind pretty quickly, and headed out to a Goth / Metal / burlesque club of possibly-dubious quality being held at Vedette, called Third Degree (Masonic reference for the win).

It was well worth the journey. Though we missed the burlesque aspect of the evening due to the lateness of the hour by this stage, there were nevertheless a few topless girls about - but that's beside the point. The music was good! And in the outside smoking area, no less. There's something very cool about an outside club, especially when you have the area more or less to yourself because most people are watching Darkness Visible play. We stuck with DJ Spike, a most excellent fellow who I originally met at the 69 Eyes gig, and his Metal. Such was his appreciation of my devoted presence that he played many a request for me, and even suggested that my entry should henceforth be free anywhere he was working. Woot!

One very amusing aspect of the evening was when Spike was told to tone it down because Darkness Visible were about to play. He immediately pumped up the volume, a move which I very much appreciated, and followed up with a request for Carcass that was promptly complied with. Further excellent musical choices on both our parts included Sarah Jezebel Deva's version of Nymphetamine (Cradle of Filth), plenty of Iron Maiden and Nightwish's Phantom of the Opera, which I requested for El. Dancing with her to that, and singing along to that "strange duet," was heavenly. When I requested The 69 Eyes, Spike created an impromptu electronic remix that was actually very good and danceable, of my favourite 69 Eyes song, The Chair. Love it. Also gave a rendition of Jyrki's response to a question regarding the lyrics, which are along the lines of, "Kick the chair right down under me, leave me hanging alone in misery..."

"They came from a time when I was standing on a chair changing a lightbulb, and Jussi came and kicked the chair out from under me. I was left hanging from the light fixture, and I was really miserable!"

Love Jyrki.

Met a few other interesting people, including a fellow named Adrian who I'm trying to find on Facebook, as he took some rather excellent picture of me / us.

When the hour drew late, and sleep nigh, we dropped Jesse back to his car and headed back to El's place. Crashing was had, followed by a beautifully lazy day spent watching The Mighty Boosh and perving on pictures of Jyrki69 on the sofa-bed. Aside from going down the road for breakfast, it was kinda like we didn't get up at all!

Looooooove the Boosh. I had no idea the Soup song and the Chosen One song were in the same episode. Best episode ever!

I love the Chosen One.

That evening, I still partied on, as it was Keely's birthday party at Bar 8. The party was a little late in starting, so I fucked around with pinball and Mortal Kombat for a while. When Keely arrived, festivities began, and we were soon joined by such lovely personages as Dan, Jewson, Doug, James, Jimmy, and Buffy, aka Beth, but known as Buffy to me because when we met, we spent literally hours talking Buffy, and I already had a Beth in my phone. Really nice to catch up with her, and meet her friend Lauren, who was great fun. Sweeney and Beth also showed up later, and later still, Pat and Lisa. Good times, good friends, excellent night. Any need when I end up someone's courtesan, and Dan her lesbian lover, must by definition be a good one.

( See within )
Apparently I hadn't had enough of my droogies yet, as we got together again for breakfast at Volumes today - or at least, Dan, James, Keely, Jewson and Jimmy were present, and we were joined later by Theo, though unfortunately right before I had to leave for rehearsal. Rehearsal, as ever, was an enjoyable and productive affair, in particular as I got to know one of our new castmates better, the darling Maria, who is a most interesting one indeed. As I intimated to her, further conversation is essential.

Fairly relaxing rehearsal for me too, as the first half was act 2, the only one of four that I'm not involved in.

Which bring us to now, in which I am listening to the awesomeness that is Dark Tranquillity. Metal!

From the Arch Enemy line:

Joe: "What genre would you say Opeth is?"
Lewi: "Progressive Death Metal."
Joe: "Cool. I'd call it Progressive, Organic, Grow-Your-Own Metal."


From One is Warm in Winter, the Other has a Better View rehearsals:

Sinead: "Have you done something new with your hair, Caitlin?"
Caitlin: "No..."
Adam: "I sometimes think that too, but it's just because she washes it every once in a while."

Last night Arch Enemy laid down an absolute blitzkrieg of melodic Death Metal upon Melbourne.

( Wake up the world )

And next up? The Buzzcocks at the Corner Hotel... time to get some classic Britpunk into me!

Chibi, vocalist of The Birthday Massacre, on Twilight:


"Which leads me to something else I really want to understand: TWILIGHT. I saw the movie and I am so, so sorry but I thought it was horrible. Laughably bad. Maybe this is because I'm more of a Lost-Boys-style of vampire lover. But I definitely like to get into the spirit of these sort of "fads" (god, I do sound old). Harry Potter was a huge thing, and I read those books. So I decided I would read the Twilight Series. I wanted to understand the hype.

Er, are any of you into Twilight?

Because I am three quarters done Breaking Dawn (the fourth and final book) and I mean... maybe I just don't get it. I will write more about this when I actually finish the whole thing, but... I have to say, Bella is MEAN. She's completely ungrateful and unkind and selfish and completely unlikeable. And Edward...???? Urrrgh. Again, maybe it's because I like the concept of the vampire with the leather jacket and the motorcycle, not the vampire with the beige cabled pullover and khaki pants and Volvo. If you like Twilight, and have read all the books, I would love to hear your thoughts on this. And I am going to write a full blog about this when I am done, because... I think Twilight is important, because it is so popular and women young and old are getting behind it ferociously, and I wanted so badly to understand why, and I really hoped that there was going to be some level of empowering positivity being fed to these people and I feel like there really isn't.

Team Jacob, by the way."


I think I just fell in love with her a little more ;) Especially since she's actually looking for considered opinions of people who did like it. But to her current thoughts? Much applause.

Written by Adam J A Cass (‘I Love You, Bro’, Malthouse 2009), ‘One Is Warm in Winter, The Other Has A Better View’ is a gloriously theatrical, deeply poetic large cast play about faith in all its diversity and difference, and about its place in the lives of young people in Melbourne today. Transcending politics and the highly fraught topic of religion as it relates to so many of the world’s struggles, the play moves beyond to tell a darkly funny story about the connection of faith to our ability to love and be loved.

Written for and with the Platform Youth Theatre Ensemble (gathered together for this project from members of various faith groups, as well as others with defiantly non-faith backgrounds), the story has been created over several months through wide-ranging discussions, interviews, surveys, and in workshops led by the play’s director, Caitlin Dullard.

‘One is Warm in Winter, the Other Has a Better View’ is a beautiful, profoundly moving new play which explores the core of this rich topic, and the essence of what it is to be human.

( Details )

Today I met Daniel Erlandsson, the drummer of Arch Enemy and Carcass, for the second time :) Very cool, as he is one of my absolute favourite drummers... possibly even in my top three, along with Mike Portnoy (Dream Theater) and Jeroen Simons (ex-Epica).

It was a signing session at Drumtek in Northcote, quite a groovy and expansive store that sells - you guessed it - all sorts of drumming paraphernalia.

Hung out with my friend Maria before the signing; we've met at a number of gigs, and she has the distinction of quite possibly being Daniel's biggest fan in Australia. She was, however, on her best behaviour ;) Ran into some other guys I'd met before too, though we couldn't remember exactly where - possibly Iron Maiden. Callum and... something. Callum's dad gave me a samosa, and it was good. Hopefully I'll catch up with them again at Dream Theater.

Anyway, got my copy of Rise of the Tyrant signed, as well as the free poster Drumtek supplied us all with. Daniel is extremely laid-back, but also friendly. Both of us being fairly laconic though, not a great deal of words were exchanged between us. Stuff like, "How's Australia treating you?" "Really good!" "May I take a photo with you?" "Sure!" and so forth...

Unfortunately, the photo is very out of focus. I think the camera was actually focusing on the dust on the lens. Last time I tried to take a picture with Daniel after the Carcass gig, it failed too. Third time's a charm?

( Blurry Lewi and Daniel! )

Would've been a good photo, too...

Tomorrow is the in-store with Arch Enemy / Carcass guitarist Michael Amott, then my meet 'n' greet with the whole band, then the show! Should be most excellent...

Friday night / morning I was oh-so-Gawth, last night I was oh-so-Pagan.

Headed out to the lovely Jess' Halloween party, where it turned out I knew nobody except Jess herself. Still, met some nice people to hold conversation with, and sat in the carport watching the lightning storm. Beautiful, clear view of the sky over Mernda, so we were most excellently positioned. Musical accompaniment included Iron Maiden and Alice Cooper, which certainly added to the awesome.

A while into the night, I ran into a couple of other Pagans - an occultist of similar bent to myself, a Satanist, and a neophyte who was still investigating the different paths open to her. We left the party for a bit, and headed off to do some Beltaine stuff. Interesting and powerful results, and I must say, the neophyte has some serious potential. Kinda cool to be part of a fairly dark circle, and yet still get something very much in the spirit of Beltaine. I'm definitely hoping to meet up with those people again - they were talented, especially for their age, all being younger than me.

Oh, and the theme of the party was Wicked / fractured fairytales, so I went as Prince Charming of the Evil Empire :) Will post photo if it makes it onto Jess' Facebook...

Here at LiveJournal, we never balk at an opportunity for high drama...

*snort*

So loving this song right now.

( Sonata Arctica - Deathaura )

I won a meet 'n' greet with Arch Enemy! Just a random selection, not because I was entirely awesome or anything. But still... most excellent :D

Too bad Kristen Randall has parted ways with Winds of Plague, though. She seemed cool, and I liked her contributions to The Great Stone War... ah well. Hopefully the line-up change will be for the better.

Interesting what you hear, though...

Kristen: The guys have been awesome, thanks for a great time, etc etc.

Winds of Plague: Got back from tour for ZOMG MUCH NEEDED LINE-UP CHANGE!

Hmm...

Second Soundwave line-up announcement includes Placebo... very nice. It'll be good to finally see them live. Anthrax will be there too... I'm not a huge fan, but I suppose they'll be worth seeing, as I doubt anything better will be billed against them. And that'll mean I've seen three of The Big Four Thrash Metal bands.

Also, apparently the reason for Tom Araya's non-vocal performance at the Slayer gig was due to laryngitis. Ouch.

Is it bad that when I see MPEG I read it as MPREG?

Also, ( Have some funsies )