Happy Ausmusic Month
Whether you’re attempting to grow a moustache or still trying to get the Halloween makeup off your face, November is the time to celebrate all things Australian music. The folks at Triple J are again running Ausmusic Month to help you all get into the spirit.
For those not familiar with the concept, November is the month the national youth radio station up the level on highlighting the talent of Aussie music. There are more live tours than you can point a stick at including the highly anticipated Nick Cave tribute tour. The radio side will every day highlight new unsigned acts while also enjoying live broadcasts from The Living End, Sparkadia and Architecture in Helsinki.
On the TV side, ABC2 will host performances from The Jezabels, Stonefield, Drapht and Birds of Tokyo. There will also be plenty of special guest Australian musicians hosting everyone’s favourite music show Rage.
If you haven’t discovered the joy of streaming Triple J on the net, now is the perfect time to get on board. Gather all your non-Australian housemates, friends and colleagues and educate them on the joy of Australian music.
Sydney brings the Festival Spirit
The Sydney Festival has launched the schedule for the 2012 program in January and it is jam packed. The festival, running since 1977, has cemented itself as one of Australia’s premiere cultural events with a mix of free and ticketed events including music, dance and theatre.
From tiny venues through to Hyde Park bang in the middle of the city, Sydney will enjoy three weeks of entertainment and performances from international and local acts. The festival kicks off with the popular ‘First night’ celebrations. One of the highlights will be DJ Norman Jay who is lugging his famous double decker bus from London’s Notting Hill to perform a mammoth eight hour set of those good time tunes he is famous for.
Another highlight will be PJ Harvey fresh from accepting her Mercury Award. Her shows at the State Theatre will be one of the must have festival tickets.
For any of you lucky readers who will be in Sydney next January: A) We hate you B) Get amongst the festival spirit.
Kings of whinging
The big news out of Australia this week was of course the QANTAS saga. We won’t try to explain the whole crisis in one paragraph but we do feel for passengers who were affected by the action and left stranded across the world. One such passenger affected was Kings of Leon drummer Nathan Followill.
The band, due out in Australia for the start of their national tour, were meant to fly Qantas from South Africa. Due to the grounding of planes around the world they had to take another airline going through Dubai to Sydney, adding about 10 hours to the trip.
Followill tweeted his anger at the airline saying: ‘Dear QANTAS you suck. Thanks for f**king up my trip to Oz. 24 hours in the air. That’s how much I love Oz.’
Oh dear, let us get this straight. Unlike others who were stranded in airport lounges or dodgy hotels for days you were able to get on the first available flight without major disruptions to your tour? Not to mention flying 1st Class the whole way?
FYI Kings of Leon; 24 hours travel time to Australia is pretty standard for all of us cramped up in economy class while snoozing on the plastic benches of random airports. But seriously thank you; your traumatic experience really brought home the reality of what happened and how it affected normal people…