Posted by Penny Cropper on September 1, 2010
On at the Old Fitzroy Theatre until September 11, The Schelling Point is the story of John F Kennedy, Stanley Kubrick, Frank Sinatra, Peter Sellers, Dr Strangelove and the Cuban missile crisis. With lots of drinking. And singing and jazz hands and a burlesque singer. Capisce? No, fair enough. But go and see it before it finishes; it's well worth your time and includes some awesome performances from Jonathan Elsom, Jamie McGregor and Marshall Napier, among others.
Directed by Sarah Goodes, this production is the world premier of Ron Elisha's funny and often unsettling play, and gives a hilarious look into the lives of some of history's most powerful men and their attempts to control the unpredictable. It's basically a play about six drunk men and one unpredictable woman (in the form of Miss Lauren La Rouge, the aforementioned burlesque singer) and it's a lot of fun.
Tickets through Tamarama Rock Surfers (we recommend the Old Fitzroy's usual beer, laksa and show deal, plus there are cheap Tuesday night tickets on offer).
the schelling point, old fitzroy theatre, tamarama rock surfers, play, ron elisha, sarah goodes
Posted by Asha Katz on September 1, 2010
East London’s Pure Evil Gallery exemplifies contemporary art’s evolution from the revolution of 60s Pop Art. Against one of the city’s edgiest and most fashionable backdrops the space houses the bold statements of street artists from all over the world, bringing together the political, controversial and romantic.
The work of Austrian street artist, Nychos will grace the walls this September. Pen this date in your diary to avoid regrets: Thursday 16th September.
And don't forget to head down this Thursday for the First Thursdays private view.
Pure Evil Gallery is at 108 Leonard Street, East London EC2A 4XS Ph. 020 7729 2866.
pure evil gallery, nychos
Posted by Audrey Lee on August 31, 2010
Inspired by the once-popular swanky bars from the 90s, the folks at Peer Group recently launched a new bar on the Darlinghurst, Sydney block. LO-FI, also home to an innovative gallery space, LO-FI Collective is a six-month initiative showcasing the best of Australia’s prolific creatives on a weekly basis. Local artists will also be joined by a few of their international counterparts.
The event highlights include featured works by one of Sydney’s most influential street artist Numskull; Japanese photographer, editor and creative director of CexWork Yasumasa Yonehara, and Sydney photographer and Kluster studio mate, Yimmy Yayo.More...
lo-fi collective, peer group, numskull, cexwork, yasumasa yonehara, yimmy yayo
Posted by Audrey Lee on August 31, 2010
With two acclaimed albums in their respective release bags, Sydney’s Richard In Your Mind and Melbourne’s Pikelet are no strangers to contemporary psychedelic sounds. So, it stands to reason that they would eventually tour-team up. This September the bands are embarking on a co-headline East Coast tour. Together they will prove too (two?) much of a great thing isn’t such a bad thing after all.
After four years on the Sydney scene and counting, Richard In Your Mind recently stepped the epic psychedelic stuff up a notch with the released of their sophomore album, My Volcano. Sharing the tour spotlight, Evelyn Morris aka Pikelet will showcase material from her second album, Stem which also redefines the boundaries of conventional music.
Tour dates:
Friday 17th September – The National Hotel, Geelong, VIC
Saturday 18th September – Curtin Bandroom, Melbourne, VIC
Friday 24th September – ANU Bar, Canberra, ACT
Saturday 25th September – Gaelic Club, Sydney, NSW
Sunday 26th September – Gearins Hotel, Katoomba, NSW
Thursday 30th September – Spotted Cow, Toowoomba, QLD
Friday 1st October – The Coolangatta Hotel, Gold Coast, QLD
Saturday 2nd October – The Clubhouse, Brisbane, QLD
Tickets are available for purchase on the Moshtix website (except Canberra) or at the door unless sold out.
richard in your mind, pikelet, my volcano, stem, evelyn moris
Posted by Audrey Lee on August 27, 2010
Last week we took a breather from the daily grind for a much-needed creative boost at the Museum of Contemporary Art Spring season preview, an annual spring event featuring talents from around the globe. This year, MCA will be hosting three eye-opening exhibitions. Here’s how the calendar is shaping up:
As we previously announced, Primavera makes its 19th comeback, ensuring the work of new young artists from across the country can be seen by an audience. Seven exciting talents have been taken under the wing of this year’s Guest Curator, Katie Dyer. Through a diverse and an inventive approach in the form of painting, sculpture, photography and performance, the works explore themes such as social relationship, natural environment and the re-interpretation of past precedents. Happening now to 21st November.
Levels 1 and 2 of the gallery feature series of works including Alasdair McLuckie’s The highest mountain peaks, right before dawn, Agatha Gothe-Snape’s Wrong Solo and Akira Akira’s Spillberg (black) No. 1.More...
museum of contemporary art, mca, primavera, agatha gothe-snape, akira akira, alasdair mcluckie, catherine rogers, lauren berkowitz, joni taylor, runa islam
Posted by Audrey Lee on August 27, 2010
After a successful sell-out show, King For a Day Melbourne artist Meggs is wasting no time moving on to yet another esoteric installation. Based on the song of the same name by Alexisonfire, Sons of Privilege contains a series of artworks largely inspired by the lyric, ‘We don’t want to be slaves to the sons of privilege’. According to organisers, the collection is an exploration of personal freedoms and liberties, blind patriotism and political provocation.
Sons of Privilege opens to the public tonight at 6pm.
LO-FI Collective is at 383 Bourke St, Darlinghurst, Sydney.
king for a day, meggs, alexisonfire, sons of privilege, lo-fi collective
Posted by Audrey Lee on August 25, 2010
Here’s what’s been on high-rotation in the Kluster offices as of late: six synth-alternative pop gems from Mushu’s self-titled second EP. Hailing from Sydney, the quintet humbly cited Bob Dylan and Neil Young as their musical muses. Mushu create a lush and charismatic alternative sound with harmonies, reverb, synths and subtle distortion falling perfectly in place.
The first serving off the EP is ‘Neap Tide’, its graceful acoustic intro slowly builds to a synchronized harmony, accompanied by the catchy highs and lows of distorted guitars. The soothing voice of lead vocalist, Simone Macarounas really shine through in ‘Carousel’, while Soldiers’ adopts a different style with snare drums making it a satiating track to close.
Already hotly tipped, the band is polishing their good name to shine. Currently on an acoustic tour of the US and Canada, there is an LP in pre-production and heaps of shows to follow suit.
mushu, self-titled ep, neap tide, carousel, soldiers
Posted by KB on August 25, 2010
After a recent time-out for a bit of cosmetic surgery, Surry Hills’ Cru54 reopened last week, showing off a brand new interior at a night of cocktails, tapas and Spanish festivities.
Guests were greeted with the more polished and modern decor, complimented by Spanish artworks of deep red and orange. We also got the chance to taste the new menu, the result of changes in the kitchen as owner Catherine Andreo assumes the role of Executive Chef.
Along with tapas options (like the pictured Spanish-style anchovy on citrus tomato and avocado salsa toast), there are now additional ways to share your food, with tablas of cheeses or cured meats (try the 40-month-aged jamon iberico) and raciones of meatballs in spicy tomato sauce or classic seafood paella.
We thoroughly recommend checking out the new cocktail list too.
Cru54 can be found at 54 Foveaux Street, Surry Hills. Ph: 9281 1054
cru54, surry hills, restaurants, tapas
Posted by kluster on August 24, 2010
Things have gotten dull, predictable, so normal these days. Sun rises, sun sets. Winter comes, spring follows. When did it all become so static?
Enter Madame Claude, the brothel-cum-bar and self-proclaimed ‘bar for common people’ with a difference. The difference is things here have been turned upside down here. Literally. Inspired by Twin Peaks, Madame Claude is designed to look like the inside of your art school friend’s small creative-district studio apartment - the one who had a penchant for classic literature and card games and was always able to make a fake flower jammed into the neck of an old medicine jar somehow look so super now - if you were to enter said apartment all Lionel Richie-esque, dancing on the ceiling. That’s where all the good stuff is here, stuck to the roof. Tables, chairs, rugs, bookstands and even the letterbox, they’re all up there.
It’s the attention to detail that makes Madame Claude, the brainchild of three French expats, especially muse-worthy. The ceiling-stuck items appear perfectly placed with pre-thought. The classics are book marked as if placed down mid-read, a deck of cards sits atop a table, dealt out and waiting to be played.More...
madame claude, twin peaks, lionel richie-esque, berlin, deutschland
Posted by kluster on August 24, 2010
Kids: they never cease to amaze me with all the marvellous things they’re getting up to these days. Yesterday, my morning started with the polished news presenter-esque sounds of 11-year-old film reviewing and Emmy-Award-winning Jackson Murphy weighing up the pros and cons of Phillip Noyce’s latest action blockbuster, Salt. The day before, I spent hours poring over the archives of 14-year-old Tavi Gevinson’s The Style Rookie, seeking further fashion inspiration, of course.
So it was with great interest that I ventured down to the Wharf Theatre to take in the Sydney Theatre Company and Australian Theatre for Young People’s co-production of Tusk Tusk last Wednesday night, eager to see what a trio of young Australian actors could bring to 22 year-old English writer, Polly Stenham’s (That Face) latest stage offering. The result, I am pleased to report, is a series of polished, powerful, emotionally driven performances. It’s reassuring to know that the future of Australian theatre is in safe hands.More...
jackson murphy, phillip noyce, tavi gevinson, sydney theatre company and australian theatre for young people, tusk tusk, polly stenham
Posted by kluster on August 24, 2010
Last September we ventured down to Allen & Unwin’s Sydney headquarters for the announcement of the 2009 Australian Vogel Literary Award. Much to our surprise, two burgeoning writers were declared joint winners of the illustrious prize – Lisa Lang for her Utopian Man manuscript and Kristel Thornell for Night Street. Yes, literature is still alive and kicking (hard) in Australia.
A few weeks ago we spied a copy of Lang’s winning manuscript – converted as it was to novel form – atop a pile of books awaiting eyes. We unhesitatingly selected it for visual consumption post haste, interested as we were to find out what exactly it was about this particular offering that set it apart from the 200 other entries received for last year’s award.
Utopian Man, set in 19th Century Melbourne, fictionalises the life story of Melbourne entrepreneur, Edward Cole and the successes and failures that surrounded the world-renowned Coles Book Arcade. It’s a deftly written, humanistic tale of grand ideas and courageous vision. Lang is no stranger to Cole’s ambitions, having previously penned the non-fiction work E W Cole: Chasing the Rainbow (2007), and in this her newest offering she skilfully interweaves this terrific true story with presumedly fictional accounts of life behind the Coles family’s closed front doors. The resulting novel is deserving of the prestigious award bestowed on Lang late last year.
Utopia Man is published by Allen & Unwin.
allen & unwin, australian vogel literary award, utopian man, lisa lang, night street, kristel thornell, coles book arcade, e r cole: chasing the rainbow
Posted by Petra Zlatevska on August 24, 2010
The darling of the Prenzlauerberg coffee scene, Bonanza Coffee Heroes pays the ultimate homage to the humble flat white. Buying a decent cup of coffee is like a game of Russian roulette in this country (and city) but Bonanza owners Kiduk Reus and Yumi Choi are leading a major caffeine coup to overthrow the rule of the drip coffee filter. More espresso bar than café, Bonanza offers only seven styles of coffee (ranging in price from €1.70 for an espresso to €3.30 for a doppio), with the flat white taking pride of place. There are also freshly baked goodies such as New York cheesecake or Oma’s berry cake. So seriously do the owners take their coffee that adorning the wall is a manifesto of sorts explaining the process from bean to cup. According to Choi, “coffee is like wine”. The coffee beans – sourced from Ethiopia, Sumatra and Brazil- take centre stage.
As though in a twenty-first-century apothecary’s lab, almost all of the Bonanza floorspace is occupied by the roasting and grinding machines, large vats of beans and a bean roasting quality chart. Produced with a Synesso Cyncra - the Rolls Royce of coffee machines - the coffee here is excellent, perhaps not surprisingly given there are only three of these machines on the continent. The interior design is minimalist chic with unpainted walls, vintage furniture pieces and light bulbs dangling from their cables. In its prime position on the creative pilgrim’s route from Mauerpark to Kastanienallee, Bonanza Coffee Heroes will delight Aussies in dire need of a flat white fix and will ensure that devotees from all over the world are never far from a quality cuppa.
Bonanza Coffee Heroes
Oderberger Straße 35
10435 Berlin Germany
Mon – Fri 8:30am – 7pm and Sat & Sun 10am – 7pm
Transport: Train U2 Eberswalder Straße; Tram M1 Eberswalder Straße or M10
Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn-Sportpark
preziauerberg, bonanza coffee heroes, kiduk reus, yumi choi, synesso cyncra