I went to a really nice event on the weekend, it was a gig at the Evelyn Hotel in Fitzroy, with all the proceeds going to the ASRC and it was really good! I did this thing I’d been doing quite a bit lately which is film parts of the sets, and upload to my youtube channel of assorted gigs around Melbourne (correct: shows that my friend play)
What was really cool was during Cool Sounds, my friend Rex (who i’d met in a group job interview at the Melbourne Recital Centre, we didn’t get the job) was doing the projections, and they were really cool! It was an assortment of all the music videos that they’d previously filmed, and it was cool standing next to Rex to see all of the videos that him and Dainis had filmed, and it was great to see projections documented
Unfortunately I outwardly got involved in one of the sets by vaping. but that’s another story for another time
i went to castlemaine this easter weekend, well this good friday, and as a blatant casual, for the country lifestyle, and this faux country lifestyle filled with city living people sick and tired of city living, i still found it as enjoyable as the last time i went to castlemaine as a blatant casual
the similarities between this time and the previous time are pretty present — both times i went to a gig, at the royal theatre castlemaine, both times i stayed a modest walk away from the town, both times i went to the garfield water wheel, a former water wheel now pyramid-style monument, both times i went to some sort of used goods market (last time, castlemaine bazaar, this time, wesley hill market) and both times we listened to great musicin the drive
only the faces and the names had changed, and also i took the train up, but that in itself reminded me greatly of the time i went to gisborne/macedon for my friends 21st (the only other time i’d taken this train, i hadn’t remembered) and sophy’s dad was to pick me up at macedon, at least i thought, but i was meaning to say i would give him notice when i was at gisborne to be picked up at macedon, which on a train route lacking in much reception, was met with not the most favourable response.
anyway, it’s cool that in our isolated experiences when we visit old coutnry towns, and places, the reoccurence of our experience, whichever way we choose to consume it, really enunciates our understanding of that town in a sense, its probably not th ebest that this occurs, in this particular way, but alas.
last week, it was angel olsen week, angel olsen week is a musician from Asheville, TN, and she played 5 shows in victoria, 4 of them being at the same venue, the tote, an iconic venue that, just in 2010 was in fear of being closed down, flash forward to last week, where renowned artist angel olsen plays 4 solo shows that sell out costing $51 each, crazy
anyway, as someone who can no longer viably count the amount of times they have been to this iconic, unique and rather brutal venue, I must say this angel olsen week at the tote, in which i was present each night, seeing her play three of those nights, it really pushed my ties with the venue, i know too much about it and it’s nothing peculiarities, the upstairs bandroom sucks to see bands but has the best toilets in the house, the pool table is so very forgiving to any interested parties, and when angel olsen is playing a solo show at the tote, hush, and deal with the low levels and ignore the white noise of the ever present air conditioner.
it made me realise that when the tote does close, it without a doubt will garner the same nostalgic value that i commit to other things i miss that are now closed, as symbolically i have said plenty of times to people, including my friend anth, that when you leave australia, the two things that you won’t be able to find, are bisquits that are as delectable as shapes with the same level of crunch, and then a venue that is quite like the tote.
something about this grunginess i guess, miss u kurt c0ba1n xxxoOX
Directors Statement: Some of the most thoroughly enjoyable Australian films I’ve watched are coming of age Australian films from the 80s, and it’s great because there is many of them. One of my favourite films is The Big Steal, and as a film that was filmed in Melbourne, it really helped to drive my obsession with a media forms filming locations. One of the most noticeable filming locations that I was able to make sense of immediately was the location of the car park, though it took a bit of time, as the Coles in the shot is now a Vintage Cellars (still Coles Myer owned). I’d like to explore the change that has been occurring directly in this area and the other film locations if possible to see if there is a relationship between the forces connecting those that occupied this space in the past and in the present. There’s also something to be understood or considered about a space being immortalised in a film, now that this location at this point in time, in this case 1989, can be conceptualised and visualised now forever.
My conception of this documentary is really reliant on a few things, and I feel also at the moment it can be swayed in a variety of ways and directions depending on how I personally get directed, but I think the crux of it at the moment is that I myself have this peculiar fascination with a movies/tv shows’ filming locations, and a film I had this quite strongly with recently was the 1989 Nadia Tass directed film, The Big Steal. In the film, the one tangible film location that I’ve been able to over the past year indulge my understanding of after watching the film has been the Car Park where the three main characters work, located in Melbourne, in Chinatown called the Golden Circle Car Park, also with a Lonsdale St entrance.
Immediately after watching the film, I had to do double takes on my conception of the film and the car park and the current state of the car parks ground floor, as when walking past I could see this office on the left (which we know now to be the asian grocery store that has just recently opened), without seeing an office style building on the right side of the entrance, which had me confused as I had recalled the Car Park occupying the right side. While I know now that this was all the product of redevelopment and demolition, I felt it quite amusing how I tried to reconcile this all.
As such there are a few such factors I think that come into play for the interview situation here –
Past – trying to get in contact with those involved with the film, to see if they have any engagement with the space these days, maybe whether they know about the asian supermarket that has opened – I believe there needs to be something more here but at the moment I’m currently still trying to work it out.
Present – i guess the asian grocery does get involved here, but I’m thinking like a slightly past present wherein I am just indulging in my obsession, and the market has not yet open, this probably embodies a blank void – I think I want to capture my understanding of the place at the point in time that I first was trying to make sense of it, after watching the film for the first time, and prior to the existence of the super market.
Present/Future – I believe that in terms of this dilapitated car parking space, the bulk of this space’s future is envellopped in the existence of the grocery store, and I think it would be thoroughly interesting to hear from maybe the manager and/or maybe the person who works there, to gauge what their plans for the space in the future is whether there is any thought of expansion, or perhaps whether the space occupies the Mechanics Garage space that is portrayed in the film. Finally, it will be very interesting to try to ascertain whether, in a reverse way, anyone involved with the grocery store has any understanding of this cryptic 1989 film and this being a filming location for the film.
At the moment I think I would like the interviews to be showered with footage of the areas being covered, in the form of voiceovers. and I guess this bodes to an extent for the shooting style as well, as I want it to kind of be an exploration of this change and how change is to an extent unwavering and discordant with how we want things to stay. Not to say I don’t welcome the existence of this Asian Grocery, but I think that there are circumstances
going to my old high schools house singing competition today, something i’ve been getting progressively excited for and i didn’t realise how potent the link was to memory, where its something i would’ve done every week basically for four years of school, variant forms of massed singing and it really baffled me this morning when i realised i DID in fact remember every single word of this one performance and most likely every other one and also every high school
which i reckon is really peculiar, that i have such entrenched long term memory for my melbourne high school massed singing songs, because i don’t really hold too much else about my old school to me, but i really have such a deep memory of these old songs
I’m really looking forward to it and I’m keen to report back on what I thought – jeez it was pretty good, got to speak to a few former teachers, and while there are some that i still keep in contact and know me i think its funny meeting the ones that you didn’t keep in contact and remember fondly – who you’d be totally irrational to be annoyed that they didn’t remember you, a huge school, constantly changing students, teaching hundreds of students a year, but years after this dude has to remember you? so peculiar
so sorry to hear that George Ezra was the artist behind this song
it’s kind of interesting if we get interested by something that we previously weren’t that keen on, we start to like try find out so much about that particular thing, to the extent that we learn so much more than we previously did in a sense. I’ve been watching the amy winehouse doco for uni and ever since, like while i knew that she was at the very least talented, I didn’t realised just how talented she was, and how much i’d enjoy her music, to the point where now i’m kind of looking into her history in a little more depth, trying to find out about how deep her connection with Peter Doherty was, and like today I’m going to go to the Jewish Museum so that I can see her exhibition to learn a bit more about her
something i always really enjoy about exhibitions is the selection of videos and i’m quite excited as to whether they are present, and maybe long
i might leave now and maybe edit this later to report back, or leave as is
unfortunately it doesn’t seem like essendon is very interested in my contribution, but anyway today what is kind of the topic of my mind is my current search and deliberating for how i’m going to consume 4 hrs on the radio in less than two weeks time, and i feel like this mindmapping and planning process more or less is similar to any sort of writers room or something, i’m playlisting, working out my cd collection, assessing my music files and just doing lots of research by listening to lots of cd’s
recently i’ve been trying to work out whether i commit any time to like working out how my radio voice should sound also, but i think i’ve decided i don’t really need to, that said i’m going to head in in about 3 hours to do a little practice, hoping to build a solid amount of stuff around the usb i currently have, and maybe get some new music soon, might actually hit up the library and raid their cd’s or something
i like to think i’m doing all the right things right now in the lead up to this radio show, making sure i know what i want to play, getting a list of cool stuff and all that, but also i’m kind of so nervous i’m not nervous??
the triple r building as a space is something i’ve slowly over the years become to learn about, it’s such a welcoming place once you’re involved, with such a good performance space, first thing i saw there being in 2013, when animal collective played a dj set, it’s just so good there
the worlds memory identity and neighbourhoods really are intriguing in terms of how they resonate for music festivals
like every year for the last few years, like maybe almost several years ive been to the same place for approximately thrre to four days two a year, going meredith or the meredith supernatural amphitheatre for Meredith Music Festival and Golden Plains Music Festival – both of which are an unmistakably exquisite time , but also at this point for me and for all of my friends they are such a known entity, our memories link the place with beautiful and cherished moments but it also fully blurs that almost every facet of each years incarnation of the festival ends up amalgamating into one cluster of moments more or less, where one’s memory is foggy, which acts played which year, whether they saw this act or that act, where they camped, the food, it all becomes murky, regardless of whether or not there are exterior factors that push this
i also feel like i definitely can understand more, what defines space and place, in fact my friend liam and i discussed this regarding meredith, as in meredith as a space, is a country town that occasionally houses, twice a year, a music festival, and the meredith supernatural amphitheatre is a space in the sense it is where the festival takes place
but as a place, the meredith supernatural amphitheatre provides the experience and togetherness that people cherish so much at festivals, and i think in saying this i am understanding the crux of space/place? i’m curious though, maybe it’s the other way around
I was seeing it unravelling as I was slowly venturing back to uni yesterday, back from having a nap at the NGV, and literally unravelling as they were unpacking the press conference they just held to announce a strategic partnership between RMIT and Essendon Football Club
Getting involved in a social media context with the Essendon Football Club is something I’ve desired to do for quite a while now, as I’ve felt it quite fascinating all the content that has been produced in the last few years. Something particular interesting in my relationship with the Essendon social media team was that in the midst of all the AFL Teams and their response to the plebiscite last year, I had noticed Carlton’s lukewarm message and decided to look into whether Essendon had made any statements or had previously made anything, and I think there’s a lot of discourse to be had RE: Memory Identity and Neighbourhoods with our own interpersonal connection and bond with our own football team, and I was so frustrated at the time had yet been made, and it’s not that I expect the football institution as a whole to reflect all the world views I have, I felt that it was so thoroughly important for them to stand on the clear side demanding a “YES” vote to steer the country in the realm of equality (s l o w l y) that I posted on the Essendon FC timeline questioning them as to why it hadn’t yet been done. It was especially interesting becauseone of Essendon’s coterie groups, the Purple Bombers is an LGBT coterie group and I’m not sure if this is completely rare but it was definitely moderately an occurrence that doesn’t happen with most teams in the league, so it was so confusing as to why there wasn’t a fully passionate statement.
Anyway, that was a bit of a tangent, I’m currently waiting for my train home, at Richmond station formulating my application to get involved with the club, as well as type this wall post as I prepare to have an enjoyable long weekend, lets hope I come out the other side swinging
At the time of writing, unfortunately there wasn’t enough time to squeeze mine and someone else’s presentations into the class, so I feel like this reflective post, currently at the time of writing without feedback within the discussion thread that I was tasked to make that showed my photos, this reflective post might begin being more of a reflection of what I felt my photos looked like and also what the photos, the way I’ve described them in the post could have established in their descriptions.
Right now I’ve just realised I probably will benefit quite significantly from a description and explanation of the photos that ties more with what was tasked in the oral presentation in the class, might do that right now, the power of the edit.
Having done that, and now receiving a bit of engagement (two posts) it seems pretty cool that this is how my presentation has turned out kind of, the fact that people can take time to form a post and consider their critiques or contributions to their understandings of the photos that I’ve compiled is kind of pretty cool cos it’s like now I can also take my time to reengage with the photos and their considerations in my replies to the post, not that I was asked to reply to these comments but I felt like it would kind of be necessary to do so considering
People have touched on particularly the contrast of two big brands, Luna Park, and Coles. Coles provides very immediate needs to people on a quite frequent basis, whereas these days, especially at this age, Luna Park is kind of a landmark but also a bit of an afterthought, there’s another one in Sydney, and both of them elicit these conceptions via their façade, but it was interesting to hear from members of the class who seemed to understand this but also see eye to eye on the conception of it being an afterthought?
It was cool to be able to engage with Krista’s post as well, as the other person who wasn’t able to present today, and the way it contrasts with the kind of unorthodox assemble of my photos I think it kind of makes me feel like I should’ve maybe tried to link it all together a bit more, but I think also one of my favourite words is the word “dichotomy” and maybe I was subconciously just searching for that feel
I think If I had my time again I would have tried to maybe thinking more thoroughly about my assemble of photos as a collective whole, rather than just a here and there thought. I feel as if this may have spurned myself just thinking about different dichotomous scenarios. Also the way the photos are, though i’m not sure exactly how I would have done this. I think like it would’ve maybe worked better to say mind map what I thought of the three words that I was prompted to consider, but also maybe this could’ve been detrimental as it would have slightly lost the touch and go improvisation impulses of it all.
