Jamie's Espresso Bar - CONCRETE JUNGLE, HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION, PRUSSIA, DJ DEAF TOLL VS. DJ ROBOT ANNIHILATOR, DJ ALLY CAKES, DJ MIRADOR VS DJ SWEET TOOTH, DJ BASMATI KASSAR, DJ FITZ

The most anticipated and interesting gig of the weekend. A beautiful night, a carpark in the classy section of the Valley, free entry, a gorgeous date for the evening and the freedom of bringing your own drinks. A fantastic concept for a night out which prompted myself to ask how they can get away with this.

With the reggae basslines driving through all of the residences of uppity Fortitude Valley anti-live music campaigners, it was a shock to not see one visit by the boys in blue. The mood, the vibe, the feeling was very relaxing.


The setup was also unreal. On the wall was some arthouse movies being played, with the scene pictured above taken from a movie that showed 10-20 second clips of third world country living. Another film that played was a documentary about worldwide graffiti culture, which looked amazing when played on a brick wall. The mini light show near the decks was a nice finishing touch to a public, yet at the same time, private location.


Although the main reason for being at the gig was to hear some dancehall sounds, only one dancehall track was heard. With plenty of area for the punters to sit down around the small dancing area, the reggae tunes combined with the special smells that always somehow accompany reggae gigs made for a comfortable night. In between Heavyweight Champion and Concrete Jungle playing, a little bit of hiphop was slipped in for good measure and it had the girl I was with and I up on our feet for a dance. After we got our fix of dancing, I sat back down, turned around and noticed it was Eddie (lead singer) from the Butterfingers!! After working up a little courage, I went up and chatted to a member of one of my favourite bands.. Another highlight of the night..


The feature act, Concrete Jungle, begun their set and I was immediately excited to hear some tuff drum 'n bass beats. Yes, it does appear that the same MCs were there for the last two acts, but it was definitely a different sound. Having not heard reggae singing over somewhat hard drum 'n bass, I was an instant fan. Not really my date's cup of tea, I was told to get up and dance.. I haven't had such a good hard dancing session since I worked at the Godspeed rave.. Very enjoyable music which I wish to enjoy again some time later down the track.

Thanks to the organisers, artists and the proprietors of Jamie's Espresso Bar for the unique night out..

The Alley - POLYVINYL, LOVE LIES BLEEDING, CHARLEY HORSE

My band listings of who played when are gathered from the Time Off website. I think there are a few inconsistencies with the acts that actually played at The Alley. Yes, the headliners, Polyvinyl were there, but I didn't catch Love Lies Bleeding and I don't think Charley Horse were even there..
Having left my place at 9, we may have missed Love Lies Bleeding as we arrived in time to see the band playing before Polyvinyl and the main band.

The journey to the gig was an interesting one. My flatmate and I have a mutual disliking towards Black & White cabs for our own reasons. So genius flatmate decides to bring one of these along..


Vile vials filled with ammonium sulfide. These things aren't the Crazy Clark's $2 stink bomb packets, these are glass vials of pure gross. Here's some text off the box:

"Throw the glass-ball to the ground or crush it down under your foot. When it is breaking to pieces, an evil smell spreads about, but soon disappears again. Don't swallow, injurious to health."

Now why I proclaimed my flatmate as being a genius before is because he failed to follow a suggestion of mine. I had said to him that you only 'detonate' the bomb after we have made payment for the ride. "Genius" had crushed the vial 3 blocks away from our destination and the cabbie suggested that one of us on the back seat seek medical advice.


Following in the tradition of firsts, it was my first visit to The Alley. I am jealous of Milton folk who call this their 'local'. It's raw, it has pool tables, top music and a dartboard.. I think I will be heading back there soon to start a night out again. I was also impressed with the sound quality and the setup. I looked around and said that I liked the joint.

As mentioned before, the bill announced on by Time Off seemed incorrect, as the band that played before Polyvinyl were The Murders. These guys were a great curtain raiser for Polyvinyl. They played some great 'dirty' rock that I have been missing for quite sometime. The bass guitarist looking like an escaped 1770s convict (probably not his desired look) accompanied by his freaky facial expressions added to their really enjoyable set.

David or Michael, I was quite flogged by this stage of the night, the lead singer of The Murders also posed for a photo whilst Polyvinyl were setting up..


Lovely. Now the gig that my mate and I had been hanging out all week to see, Polyvinyl, kicked off. It was short, it was sweet and it satisfied my "rockin-out" urges. My mate and I were up the front for a few songs that commanded us to sing along with some cracking tunes. Ahh, the full-flavoured taste and aroma of three guitars jamming out in unison:


Here is my Polyvinyl-In-Action series of photos from the gig:




























Cheers guys for another stellar performance..

The Tivoli - THE BEAUTIFUL GIRLS

After noticing a string of acts playing at the Tivoli that I didn't get around to seeing, most namely Cog, I finally can say that I have been to the Tivoli. It also allows me to answer everyone, which previously included me (and the cab driver), when asked "Where the hell is the Tivoli?". The Tivoli - Brisbane's best kept secret (location).


I earned the rite of passage into this exclusive JJJ live at the wireless show by correctly answering a question last Sunday afternoon. However, after talking to a nearby lady, I discovered that they just gave away about 300 tickets during the day out the front of the Tivoli. 50 would-be ticket holders got lost on the way to the Tivoli, gave up and went back home.

The act was warmed up by the distinguished duo known as Jay & The Doctor, with Jason Jay Walley showing true professionalism by texting during his MC duties (also note the absence of microphone in his hands):


The crowd was adequately pumped up because everyone was being heard live around Aus on the Js. Prior to the actual live to air session, The BGs (as I will call them in this post) played a quick song with the the bass guitarist wearing what looked like to be his Aunty May's glasses:


The Beautiful Girls had begun the set with a Jack Johnson sounding track, which I didn't find too exciting as I liken listening to a Jack Johnson album to having a headbutting session with a brick wall.


Now that the nasty stuff is out of the way, The BGs are very talented musos who really feel the music that they're playing. The guitar solos by the lead singer throughout the night were amazing. The solos might have went for close on to a minute but I did not tire of them. Sheer soul music. Now enter Felipe..


Felipe is The BGs Brazillian harmonica virtuoso. The way Felipe played seemed like his parents gave him a harmonica instead of a dummy when he was a baby.. Brilliant..

Even his photo looks really 'artsy'..




Other highlights of the night included the 'spooky trees' lighting as seen in this photo, and when they performed an excerpt of a Doors song, which I think was "Hello! I love you, why don't you tell me your name".. I followed that song with a "more doors!" chant, but alas the absolutely deafening speakers drowned out my frivolous calls.





The show was rounded out with an extended version of The Wrong Side of Town, which is always a catalyst for the car radio volume being cranked up on the drive to work. I knew they did have one or two surf folk tracks, however, I came for the dark reggae-ish sounds of The Wrong Side of Town and ...and we’ll Dance On The Ashes Of What’s Left. I would have enjoyed the music a little more if I was accompanied by a lady, somebody to sway with, and a pair of comfortable shoes, however, all in all, I am glad I was a part of it..

East Brisbane Bowls Club - THE NIGHT CRASH, MOSCOW SCHOOLBOY, THE WILD, 1970s DICTATOR CHIC

I was really looking forward to seeing a gig at the East Brisbane Bowls Club as it is in the area and 4ZZZ promote most of the acts there. Arriving at around 9.30pm, the place seemed quiet from the outside, however it was an intermission before Moscow Schoolboy played. An interesting location with very cheap beer, a seemingly tight-knit community of regular punters and one of the best examples of what other venues should aim for in location amenities:



Hats off to the East Brisbane Bowls Club's (EBBC) acumen when it came to the decision of whether or not to purchase the top of the range urinal with the drip'n'spray tray optional extra. The urination landing (and the tops of my shoes) were bone dry, placing these facilities on a par with the Novotel Brisbane Conference Room facilities where there are the current day's newspaper's front pages clipped on the wall above the urinal - genius. Back to the gigs..

The sound quality at the EBBC was quite a letdown with both acts that I watched sounding more like just poor rock noise, especially the vocals.




Moscow Schoolboy were the first act that my mate and I saw, and it was OK at best. The sound setup not being favourable to any band on the night.





The band following Moscow Schoolboy was The Wild. True graduates of the school of rockin' out (and no, that was not a pisslame pun on School of Rock), these guys had the moves..


That's a fav rockin' out photo of mine, love the blurring.. The overall sound of The Wild was a definite step-up from Moscow Schoolboy however, I didn't find myself overawed by their music. I wouldn't mind hearing them again if they were a support for a fav band of mine at a place with better sound quality.

Towards the end of The Wild's set, my mate and I departed for the city to catch up with a few mates playing pool. Apologies to 1970s Dictator Chic for not stickin' around to hear them. My original wingman faded (went home in a cab) and I gained my flatmate as my new co-pilot as we taxied into an establishment that would only let students in..


I successfully gained entry into said club with my haggard student ID. Note the following:

• the chunk missing near the Queensland Rail logo
• my 17 year old good looks and charm
• the expiry date of 31 March 2004
• the colour-bleached side of my face

Said club was pretty ordinary inside, however, outside I met ein schönes deutsches Mädchen which was the prelude for a truly amazing weekend..

The good luck did not end there.. I successfully answered a seemingly difficult question on JJJ this afternoon to score tickets to the closed gig of The Beautiful Girls. Terri Psiakis (hah, I originally spelt her first name wrong but got the last name correct) played a Magic Dirt track and asked for the name of the beautiful girl who was singing - a very deft search to the Magic Dirt website revealed the answer as Adalita, which I buzzed in as quickly as possible. Expect to see photos and a write-up here of the gig that only JJJ contest winners can get into..
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Student ID card obfuscated using Gimp - GNU Image Manipulation Program - www.gimp.org - free for Linux, Windows, etc and used by various Hollywood studios in the place of Photoshop.