Last Dinosaurs

The band’s sold out appearance was a great opportunity for the supporting local band “Last Dinosaurs” to showcase a number of tracks from their upcoming debut LP “In A Million Years” (out March 2nd). I was really impressed with their sound which I liken a bit to popular Northern Irish indie band “Two Door Cinema Club”.

Genuinely chuffed to have the opportunity to play to such a large audience in their home town, the lads from Last Dinosaurs were received well as they made their way through tracks like “Hawaii”, “Saturn” and the one I really like, “Zoom” (below).

Foster the People

Audience warmed up? Check. Packed house? Check. One of 2011′s best live bands in the house? CHECK!

With an impressive level of pulsating energy that began with the first note and didn’t let up until the house lights came on, “Foster the People’s” lead, Mark Foster (vocals/synth/guitar), along with regular band members Mark Pontius (drums) and Cubbie Fink (bass/synth), and touring members Sean Cimino (guitar) and Isom Innis (synths/percussion) rocked the Tivoli to its core with a full compliment of hits from their top selling debut album “Torches”.

Highlights for me? Well I certainly wasn’t the only one blown away by the performance of tracks like “Waste”, “I Would Do Anything For You” and the thumping percussion of “Miss You”. The encore, however, was the real kicker starting with a fantastic cover of Weezer’s “Say It Ain’t So”, followed by an extended version of “Warrant” and, as was expected, rounded off with the hit that made a name for the band in 2011 “Pumped Up Kicks”.

Dripping with sweat I exited the “Tiv” with a wave of happy music fans stoked that I’m “two for two” with concerts so far in 2012. I’m sure you don’t need my referral, but if “Foster the People” are ambling through your city, town or village in 2012, buy tickets! Don’t hesitate, just DO IT!

Had tonight’s energetic, sweaty, loud, pumping performance by British rockers “The Kooks“ been on a mere 2-3 days ago, I’d be altering my selection of 2011′s best concert right about now. Instead, the bar has well and truly been raised on all-comers to Brisbane in 2012 on only day TWO of the year!

Maybe I’m still on a “Kooks” high after only walking in the door from the concert a matter of minutes ago, but the fact that I have run in, tuned iTunes into the band’s latest new release “Junk of the Heart” and sat down excitedly to type this out… has to mean something… right?

I actually feel sorry for all those BrisVegans who were moaning on Twitter this afternoon about the fact that they missed out on tickets to tonight’s The Kooks show cause they really did miss out on something special.

I’ll quit banging on and just let the playlist and a few pics tell the story for me.

1. Is It Me
2. Always Where
3. Sofa Song
4. Down to the Market
5. Rosie
6. She Moves In Her Own Way
7. Sway
8. Runaway
9. Eskimo Kiss
10. If Only
11. Seaside
12. Tick of Time
13. See the Sun
14. How Do You Like That
15. Mr Nice Guy
16. Ooh La
17. Shine On
18. Do You Wanna?
19. Saboteur
20. Junk of the Heart
21. Naive

Highlights for me? The simple acoustic awesomeness of “Tick of Time” and without doubt my number one anthem for the band “Sway”. There’s a reason why it’s one of my absolute favourite songs of all time!

If this quick quasi-review hasn’t done anything to encourage you to get out and see these boys the next time they slide through your town, then either you’re not a fan of outstanding talent, or I simply haven’t done my job here.

Like I mentioned earlier, the bar has been set pretty high for me now. I have a sneaking suspicion that the next band I’m checking out in a couple of weeks “Foster the People” may have a red hot go at the title, but we’ll just have to wait and see!

To leave you this evening, however, in a weird twist of fate, I leave you with “The Kooks” covering the song that really got “Foster the People” noticed – “Pumped Up Kicks”. This awesome performance was recorded a couple of months ago for BBC’s Radio 1 Live Lounge. Enjoy.

A regular attendee at the “Pecha Kucha” events in Vancouver over the past few years, I’ve become a bit of a fan of the concept and was understandably pumped to check out what kind of creativity is bubbling under the surface in ol’ BrisVegas!

“So what is Pecha Kucha?” I hear you ask? Well let me explain…

Now held periodically in over 450 cities worldwide, Pecha Kucha is essentially an opportunity for speakers from all sorts of creative industries and indeed other walks of life, to engage an audience with something they are passionate about via 20 slides, with each slide appearing for a mere 20 seconds (20×20 concept). Put another way, speakers have 400 seconds (6min 40sec) to entertain, inform, captivate and inspire.

While there were a number of excellent speakers participating in tonight’s event, I just want to touch on a few of the speakers who I personally found to be quite interesting with what they are dabbling in now, or have been in recent times.

I’m doing this for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I believe these creative types deserve some recognition, no matter how big or small, for their efforts.

Secondly, I know my regular Vancouver “PKN” date, @kat_drex, is probably interested to know what kind of content was on show this evening, so this is as much for her as it is for anyone else. Missed you tonight Kat!

MADE IN THE NOW – Jean Tucker

Having been a fan of the “Made in the Now (MITN)” crew for a good few months, it was great to see a familiar, Brisbane-based concept take the stage early on in the evening. An online t-shirt design and printing business with a difference, MITN release a single, unique design every 24 hours in “response to a news story happening at that moment” somewhere in the world.

The shirts are designed daily by local, talented designers, and are only printed upon receipt of orders, thereby eliminating waste of material and the use of cheap labour. Nice one! I love the concept and have been really impressed by some of the new designs that have emerged of late (every day at 2pm Brisbane (AEST) time).

Check out the full catalogue of archived designs on the MITN website now at www.madeinthenow.com and iPhone users can grab the nifty MITN iPhone app here.

ARKHEFIELD – Andrew Gutteridge

Have you ever wondered exactly what’s going on down there at the very east corner of Brisbane’s South Bank Parklands where the old replica Queenslander style houses from “Expo88″ days used to stand? I have, and tonight, as luck would have it, I found out.

On hand to tell us all about South Bank’s “River Quay” development was Andrew Gutteridge, the Director of leading Queensland architectural firm, Arkhefield.

With a series of impressive sunset shots of the development cycling on the big screen behind him, Andrew explained the idea behind the precinct design, from the joining of South Bank’s arbour and promenade walkways to create an ideal meeting place “The Kiss”, the creation of a River Green and beach allowing the public to get their feet wet in the Brisbane River, (affectionately nicknamed by the firm as “Cuddle Cove”), and the stunning series of amphitheatre-like restaurant spaces highlighted by “a progression of abstracted vernacular roofs”.

All that in just over 6 minutes – impressive!

All told, “River Quay” looks like it’ll become quite the place to see and be seen when it is completed in the next few weeks. For more information and images, check out the information page on the Arkhefield website.

PHOTODANE.COM – Dane Beesley

The set up for this one is easy, and of particular interest to me. Top Brisbane live music photographer Dane Beesley has a new book out now titled “Splitting the Seconds: A Photographer’s Journal”:

Splitting the Seconds is Dane Beesley’s account of ten years behind the camera, behind the scenes of Australian rock. With cheeky and endearing cartoon sketches and hasty diary scribbles, take a peek at the sweaty, boozy life of the rock photographer as he moves from gig to portrait to band shoot, from Nick Cave to Evan Dando to the The Dandy Wharhols. Dirty and beautiful, Splitting the Seconds bottles a decade in Australian rock.

For his 20 slides of fame, Dane took us through some of his favourite shots from his career as a cover and feature photographer for publications such as “Timeoff”, “Rolling Stone” and “Scene”, working with artists such as “You Am I”, “Little Birdy” and “Nick Cave”.

Take a look at Dane’s portfolio of work on his website which you can find at www.photodane.com.

I MAKE. YOU WEAR IT. – Rachel Burke

Here I was thinking that my photography “project365″ was a tough challenge requiring a heck of a lot (more than I ever first imagined) of motivation and discipline to accomplish… and then tonight along comes the pint-sized fashion dynamo Rachel Burke.

Rachel’s 365 mission? To design and create a dress, a wearable piece of art, from scratch every single day for an entire year (April 29th 2011 till April 29th 2012) with the ultimate goal of raising $10,000 along the way for the Starlight Children’s Foundation, a charity that “has brightened the lives of seriously ill and hospitalised children, and their families, throughout Australia.”

Rachel shared with us on the big screen some of her amazing designs and creations thus far, and invited us all to follow her daily journey via her online website/creative journal at www.imakeyouwearit.com.

For the record, I kicked in $50 towards Rachel’s more-than-worthy charity this evening and encourage any of you who find some inspiration in her challenge to do the same. You can make a secure donation via her “Everyday Hero” sponsorship page here.

ASHCAN – Zachary Smith-Cameron

Rounding off the night of creative thinkers, doers and speakers was a team of passionate comic book animators, led by Zachary Smith-Cameron, who have set out on a quest to connect and showcase a wealth of talented “Queensland-based comic artists and writers, giving them the opportunity to have their work published for free in a print medium.”

It’s always great to see a brilliant, admirable, simple idea come together and produce something that benefits many, and that’s exactly what has happened with “Ashcan Comics”.

Right now, Ashcan is published every 4-6 months, but Zachary and his colleagues suggested that with increasing exposure, the quantity and quality of illustrators and writers submitting work is such that more regular publications and a push into other Australian states are strategies being considered.

More information on this fantastic Brisbane start-up can be found on the Ashcan website – www.ashcan.com.au.

If Pecha Kucha is something you’ve neither encountered, nor heard of before, I strongly urge you to check out the official website to see if an event is being held in your local area in 2012, and if so, get along and check it out. I amost guarantee you’ll be pleasantly surprised, if not blown away, by some of the creative projects going on in your own “back yard”.

For more information on Brisbane events, visit www.pechakuchabrisbane.org.

Currently on a tour taking them right across Australia playing and promoting their debut album “Moonfire”, the Sydney lads stopped into Brisbane to play two nights (last night and tonight) to sell-out crowds.

With their distinctive indie-rock style punctuated by perfect choral harmonies, I’m sure I’m not the only one that has, and will, suggest that they have a bit of a “Mumford & Sons” (the band they supported on a tour through Australia in 2010) sound about them. This can be heard through one of their breakout hits from 2010, a cover of Crowded House’s “Fall At Your Feet” – a rendition that gained them the number 5 position in Triple J’s coveted Hottest 100, 2010.

Tonight, it was Boy & Bear’s chance to impress me for the first time in a live capacity and they certainly didn’t disappoint. Covering a good selection of tracks from both their first EP “With Emperor Antarctica” and their current debut offering “Moonfire” (please help me out in the comments section below if you have a full set list for the night), for me the band really shone on their performances of “Lordy May”, “Rabbit Song”, “Part Time Believer” and of course “Fall at Your Feet”. There’s little doubt that this group of muso’s are going to feature heavily in the next round of ARIA awards…

Below is a great introductory video shot during this year’s “Splendour” festival that will help you get to know the band a little better, followed by a selection of shots from tonight’s gig.

New Sounds – The Paper Kites

Without question, the most satisfying concerts are the ones where you walk out thoroughly entertained by not only the main headlining act, but also by a band that you’ve never seen nor heard of before. Tonight was another one of those fortunate nights where I was personally exposed for the first time to the awesome talents of a young band from Melbourne called “The Paper Kites”.

Another fantastic graduate of Triple J’s “Unearthed” initiative, “The Paper Kites” have no doubt been around the traps over the past 12 months, but it’s a bit harder to latch onto new talent when you’re living overseas for a good chunk of the year.

Below is a neat clip for their song “Featherstone” followed by a couple of photos from their opening set this evening.

At the time of writing this, short of having seen these guys tonight, I still know very little about them. I do know, however, that I will be at “The Beetle Bar” on February 11 next year when they return to Brisbane on their first headlining tour. Good stuff!

Affectionately known as the “Ekka” (shortened form of the original name “Brisbane Exhibition”), the agricultural show is Queensland’s largest and most popular event with over 600,000+ people making their way down to the RNA Showgrounds in Bowen Hills over 10 days to get amongst the fun which includes agricultural displays, woodchopping competitions, animal parades, equestrian events and the ever-popular “sideshow alley” bursting at the seams with rides for all ages.

While I don’t think I’ll make the trip inside the gates this year, I did pop down onto Bowen Bridge Road after work this evening, from where you can get a pretty good view of sideshow alley and catch a glimpse of the nightly fireworks display. Here’s just a few of the images I captured:

The 2011 Ekka runs for another 4 days, finishing on Saturday night, and includes the always popular “People’s Day”, a Queensland Public Holiday, this coming Wednesday.

Since that time he has rocketed to the top of the Australian Album charts on three occasions with 3 album releases and he’ll be looking to do the same in 2011 with the drop of his forthcoming album “Blue Sky Blue”. Tonight was our opportunity to get a sneak peek at a handful of tracks that should appear on this new offering, by joining a few hundred other fans in the intimate confines of Brisbane’s beautiful “Old Museum” Concert Hall.

Opening with “Silver Cloud” from his 2008 album “Summer at Eureka”, Pete and his band completed a fantastic set that combined a great list of his most popular tracks and a selection of new tracks leaving me to think “Blue Sky Blue” is going to be nothing short of awesome (no surprises there really). There were some minor tuning issues, members of Pete’s family heckling him from the crowd and plenty of fun banter between the band and the appreciative crowd – all factors that contributed to a really fun “rehearsal amongst family and friends” kind of vibe.

I managed to lay my eyes on the set list at the end of the performance before another fan ran off with it, but it looked something like the following. Pete himself said he didn’t stick to the list during the performance so it’s probably not 100% accurate, but it’ll give you an idea of what was played:

1. Silver Cloud
2. Bail Me Out
3. Sugar
4. Blue Sky Blue
5. Fall Your Way
6. Class A
7. Let You Go
8. Always A Winner
9. LED
10. Opportunity
11. You Pick Me Up
12. Better Days
13. Feeler
14. Saving Grace
15. Miss Cold
16. Please
17. Lines
18. So Beautiful

Pete’s last few songs of the encore he completed solo including the aptly named track “So Beautiful” which he finished on. I managed to whip out the ol’ iPhone and with the help of the “8mm” application, caught the final three minutes of the show.

Blue Sky Blue Release Date

Pete Murray’s 4th studio album “Blue Sky Blue” produced by Tom Rothrock (Foo Fighters, Badly Drawn Boy, James Blunt) is due for release this coming September. The first single from this album, “Always a Winner” has already hit radio and the interwebs, however, and you can check out the action-packed video below featuring none other than the legendary “Gary Sweet” (probably won’t mean anything to non-Aussies) as the storyline villain.

The World Press Photo 11 exhibition, presented by Canon and TNT, is showing at the Brisbane Powerhouse from now until Sunday the 26th June, 2011. The free exhibition features a selection of winning shots from the prestigious 2010 competition which received a record 108,059 entries from 5,691 professional photographers from 125 countries.

After having done so myself today, I can highly recommend spending an hour or two perusing the selection of inspiring shots from around the world, spread throughout one of Brisbane’s most spectacular multi-arts venues. A word of warning though, it’s probably not quite the family outing to take your young kids to. A good few of the powerful images, especially those on display in the Turbine Hall, are somewhat graphical in nature and are quite confronting for adults, let alone children.

Grab one of the limited free car parking spaces at Brisbane’s Powerhouse and check out the World Press Photo 11 exhibition between 9am-5pm on Mon-Fri, and 10am-4pm on the weekends.

As a taster, here’s some of the winning images you can expect to see in large format at the exhibition.

In front of a packed house the boys from Perth put on an energetic show drawing on tracks (see full setlist below) from their past albums “Day One”, “Universes” and their current self-titled offering “Birds of Tokyo”. They seemed to really feed off the atmosphere in the room with the Tivoli being revealed by lead singer “Kenny”, as one of their favourite rooms to play to (I never know whether to believe bands when they say things like that).

Highlights for me? The high voltage opening track “White Witch”, the impromptu rendition of “Happy Birthday” sung by the crowd to guitarist Adam Spark’s, tracks like “Broken Bones”, whatever the “EP track” it was they pulled out from left field (if you have any idea what it was please leave a note in the comments section below), “Wild at Heart” (see video below) and two of my absolute favourite songs from Birds of Tokyo “Plans” & “Silhouettic” which rounded off the night beautifully.

Somehow I managed to completely forget to take my camera with me, so what you see above and below I managed to capture with my iPhone 4. Less than ideal, but better than nothing.

On a final note, I need to point out that it’s become painfully clear that you just can’t afford to buy two tickets to concerts like this in Australia. I could have bought 2-3 tickets to a far more popular and internationally renown band in Vancouver for the same price it cost me for one ticket in Brisbane. Ridiculous!

Therefore, a big cheers to my friend Mel (@melchecker) and her sister Leonie for letting me hang with them for the night saving me from “Nigel” status for the night.

After nearly 3 weeks of unrelenting rainfall across the state of Queensland which has seen a number of small towns ripped apart, sometimes repeatedly, by walls of water sweeping through their communities, the surge of water has made its way through the various river systems to the capital in the State’s south east. Hundreds of stranded people have required rescuing and the Queensland Emergency Services have so far been outstanding in their efforts which are continuing around the clock.

To put things into perspective, the flood affected area state-wide is the equivalent of France and Germany combined, or for the Yanks out there, two times the size of Texas. An estimated 19,700 residential properties are expected to experience flooding across their entire property either already, or over the week ahead.

Brisbane Braces Itself

The Brisbane River, the snaking body of water responsible for Brisbane’s “The River City” tag, has swelled beyond its banks on the way to a record level of 5.5 metres expected sometime early tomorrow morning. Many of the Riverside attractions in the heart of the city including the State Library, the Gallery of Modern Art, South Bank, Suncorp Stadium, Queensland Tennis Centre and the Eagle Street Pier have been consumed by flood waters and even iconic establishments like the unfortunately named “Drift” restaurant (formerly “Oxley’s”) have been completely washed away and destroyed.

Once affectionately referred to as “BrisVegas” and now “BrisVenice”, the city has, not surprisingly, experienced floods like this before. In 1974, some 40 years ago, “14 people lost their lives, mostly by drowning, in the suburbs of Yeronga, Newmarket, St Lucia, and the city of Ipswich upriver and to the West. The total damage in Brisbane and the surrounding areas was estimated at over AU$200 million (1974 values).” (Source: Wikipedia).

It has already been estimated that the current natural disaster will indeed eclipse the 1974 occurrence which is a frightening prospect for all affected Brisbane residents, especially those who witnessed and endured the last nightmare.

So far the death toll across the State officially stands at 12 with many more people (51 as I type this) missing throughout Queensland, especially in hard hit remote towns in areas like the Lockyer Valley (west of Brisbane). With stories circulating suggesting that there are many people who have suffered the horror of witnessing their neighbours being swept away by the floods, there is no doubt that this heartbreaking number of persons lost will rise as the floodwaters abate.

For those of you interested in keeping up to date with the latest in this developing tragedy here are a few decent resources:

• ABC News 24 Live Stream
• The Courier Mail Online
• Map Visage River Level Map

How Canadians Can Help

As a Brisbane boy who is struggling with the inability to help his fellow Aussie from thousand of miles away in Canada, it would be remiss of me not to at least mention how we Canucks can help. While Queenslanders are a tough and resilient mob, there is no doubt that the State is going to take a multi-billion dollar hit as a result of this natural disaster, and sadly there are going to be countless families left with nothing once the flood waters subside.

For more details, visit the Queensland Government Flood Relief Fund information page.

Vancouver’s Opportunity to Make A Difference

I feel like Vancouver has a golden opportunity to make a difference with Australia Day only a couple of weeks away. I think it would be awesome if a reputable and prominent bar/restaurant/club would put on a charity event on January 26th (Australia Day) with the bulk of the proceeds collected from things such as door cover charge, raffles, donation buckets etc donated to the “Premiers Disaster Relief Appeal” (see above).

With a history of charitable activity and a swag of super popular establishments throughout Vancouver, I was thinking that perhaps “The Donnelly Group” would perhaps be the perfect candidates for this effort. With pubs and clubs in their stable including “The Academic”, “Cinema”, “The Lamplighter”, “Library Square”, “Republic” & “The New Oxford” I think there’s a real opportunity for a HUGE Australia Day event that could benefit the people that need help the most throughout Queensland.

I have no contacts within the group, but would be happy and eager to talk to anyone who does. If you think you can help me get the ball rolling on the idea, send me a message or contact me on Twitter (@masey).

Finally, if enough people Tweet about this post and share it with their friends, hopefully we can at the very least increase the awareness of what is going on in Queensland right now. There is a selection of share buttons below to help you out with making this happen!

Thanks!

Redcliffe doesn’t exactly present a good opportunity for the best swimming or waves in close proximity to Brisbane, but it’s a great family spot if you don’t have time to head another 30 minutes further north to the Sunshine Coast.

Setting up camp on a nice piece of sand set amongst a number of families also making use of the great weather and spending some time on the beach, Carms soaked her pasty white, northern hemisphere, post-winter coat/skin with some good ol’ Aussie sun rays while I investigated the surrounding areas with my camera.

We spent a good couple of hours by the water and up at Settlement Cove Lagoon where I got some swim time in, before heading back to the cafe strip where we ordered a couple of burgers at the legendary Hog’s Breath Cafe. Carms was so impressed with her Chicken Burger that she’s going as far to suggest that it’s the best chicken burger she’s had anywhere in the world… ever!

Returning home again, we piled into the car with Mum and Dad and headed out for a bit of a scenic drive around Brisbane taking us to the stunning sandstone buildings of the University of Queensland and finally delivering us at the top of Mount Coot-tha, probably the most visited lookout in the Brisbane area. From here you are afforded 180 degree views of Brisbane City and surrounding suburbs that nestle in amongst the winding Brisbane River. We took some photos, got stuck into some ice cream cones and generally did our best to fit in with the abundant number of tourists that milled around us.

Heading back home, we sat down to some drinks (rum, wine, sherry) on the back patio sharing a few stories as the sun went down. Somehow Carmen managed to coax some interesting yarns about my childhood out of Mum and Dad, although I suspect she didn’t have to try too hard.

The story telling was followed by a fantastic roast dinner (thanks Mum!), followed by a spirited game of Pictionary in which Carms and I had a good win over Mum and Dad. Something tells me there’s going to be a rematch of some sorts in the near future. Stay tuned…