Though initially we had booked in for the ten o’clock show, we were both a little concerned about having done so on a “school night”. When you find yourself in your mid to late 40s, the idea going out so late leads to both excitement (hey, we’re not so old), and yet fear (how will we get out of bed in time for work?). I’d previously warned my close colleagues I mightn’t be able to make it to the office at the usual time of around 8.00am. Thankfully, we were able to get into the eight o’clock show, have a bite to eat afterwards, and still get on with our normal lives.
I’d mentioned to a shop-keeper in Surry Hills earlier in the afternoon I was going to see Paul Capsis that night. “He’s such a lovely guy”, he told me, adding that Paul had often brought in clothing for adjustments, saying “If it’s too hard, don’t worry about it”. I’d also seen Paul around the shopping centre in Surry Hills, and have come to know his manager over the last few years.
He’s a wonderful performer, with an amazing voice and stage presence. The last time I saw him perform was in 2010 at the launch of his CD. As then, he delivered an amazing performance, and well worth seeing, as he performed some great standards that ranged from jazz to rock. These shows are well worth seeing.
Paul Capsis
Afterwards we grabbed a bite to eat at nearby Porteño. Though I remember it fondly as Dimitri’s – the Greek plate breaking restaurant – it’s become one of the hip places of Surry Hills. Oddly enough, I don’t think I’ve ever eaten there before, and what a disappointment it is that I haven’t. Honestly, great food – beef with a beetroot salad – which I’d also recommend.
Dinner at Porteño
Overall – a great night was had, and not too bad for a couple of forty-somethings on a school night :)
Some wag had added a little graffiti to the sign at work.
“Feel like a beer?”, I said to my mate, Martin at work late in the afternoon.
The look on his face was as if I’d given him this week’s winning Lotto numbers.
We’d both had a pretty stupid and shitful day at work.
And over a couple of beers at the nearby Central Hotel, we de-stressed and had a good chat about life, the universe and everything. Well, it was mostly work we chatted about, but still…
That said, there were some bright spots in the day.
1. I went out for my favourite lunch at my favourite nearby cafe, which is always a good thing.
2. Seeing the sign outside the “Flu Vaccination Room” at work which some wag had attached some graffiti to.
Unfortunately, by the time I’d arrived (on time) for my flu shot there was already a considerable backlog of people waiting, and they’d actually ran out of the vaccine, anyway.
I had one of these shots for the first time last year, and it stood me well, so I figured there was nothing to lose from going back for another jab.
Mind you, I did spend most of winter last year in the Northern Hemisphere, so perhaps I was just in the right place in the right time?
“This is the best haloumi I’ve ever tasted”, my friend Michaela said to one of the co-owners of Yulli’s, one of my favourite local bars.
And she wasn’t bull-shitting. It was absolutely to-die-for. Not a squeak in sight!
We had just been to see a movie, and without too much persuasion on the part of either one of us, decided we should have a small bite to eat before heading home. And of course, we both love Yulli’s, with their combination of good vegetarian food, good wine list, and a warm and inviting atmosphere.
Haloumi at Yullis
The movie we had been to see was called Stone Bros.
The movie’s plot concerns Charlie and Eddie (Leon Burchill and Luke Carroll) on a road trip from Perth to Kalgoorlie.
Along the way, they smoke far too much marijuana, pick up a crazy hitch-hiker, run over a kangaroo, and experience a rather mad wedding in the middle of nowhere.
In fact there’s also a lovely scene where Mark Bin Bakar (Mary G), playing the role of Aunty Carol, sings a song – slow and sensually – about how she wants to make love to….. “a blaaaaack blaaaack maaaaaan”.
David Page from Bangarra fame also plays an important role in the film as Regina, a cross-dresser holding off having the chop because he’s “not done with (his) dick yet”. The line reminded me of a scene from another movie I saw recently, Stonewall, where a similar line was used, with the follow-up, “…and neither are you”.
The film isn’t perfect. There’s a scene about a dog that goes on far too long, and without much purpose in my view. But it’s pretty good. I laughed a fair bit, enjoyed the ride, and loved the scenery, a fair amount of which I actually recognised from my time in Western Australia back in 2004.
“The film was supposed to be called To Bourke And Bourke” (or words to that effect), one of the actors said at the screening at Fox Studios. “But the money came from Western Australia, so that’s where we filmed it”, he added.
The film got a good round of applause as it ended. Although I don’t think it’s going to be block-buster, I think it has the potential to be a reasonably successful Australian film. It’s also a significant film in terms of Indigenous culture, “It’s nnnnnottttt political”, one of the actors added with a degree of almost-relief in his work.
So after watching the film and chatting with one of the actors at the pub, we headed off to Yulli’s. A perfect Wednesday.
I learned tonight that one of the very compelling stories about the recent US presidential election was only half a story.
The way it was often portrayed was that Obama had either used grass-roots organisationsor online social networks like Facebook to mount the basis for his campaign.
I learned tonight the Obama Campaign also made 60-million “personal contacts”, mostly over the telephone, as a follow up to people joinging online groups.
Tonight Andrew and I went to see the documentary of, “First Stop Iowa” made by the Sydney-based “journalism couple”, John Barron and Rebecca Glen.
I’ve known John for several years, and Rebecca less so. I’ve known, however, both have an interest in the political process. And with a US election in the winds, they decided to travel back and forth to America to make a documentary about the election, and why, in particular, small states like Iowa are so important.
They’ve located the history of why in the 1968 assassinations of King and Kennedy, and the decision soon afterwards by the Democrats to re-organise the way in which they selected candidates for President.
What I found most surprising (and quite heartening) was the role personal contact still plays in American politics. Even though they spend hundreds of millions (billions?) of dollars on the campaign for President, it mostly still comes down to personal contact, was the essential argument of the film.
That’s why, they argued Obama, Clinton, Biden and others went to the Iowa State Fair (and why Obama took his family on the dodgem cars). And that’s why everyone online registration was followed up with a phone call.
On a more systemic level, the documentary also explained how the nomination process often comes down to a group of people in a room “swapping sides” if their candidate fails to gain a 15% quota.
Like most things these days, it could have done with a bit of a chop here and there, but mostly it was a really interesting insight into a political process that’s both similar and different to our own.
Of course, walking would be even better! It was such a beautiful day. As I walked to work, I noticed we had that wonderful “dappled” cloud in the sky. Just fantastic. Aside from work, I met with my mates at the pub, as per the usual Wednesday night.
And in further Sydney public transport news, it’s been reported today we’ll soon have six free buses which will loop the city. Fantastic news, I thought, having had experience with the CAT buses in Perth which were excellent, I thought. In case you were unaware, in Perth, all public transport in the obviously-small CBD is free, encouraging people to hop on a bus instead of catching a cab or whatever.
Let’s hope the buses run regularly, and don’t end up in groups like many Sydney buses do. This is a problem on Cleveland Street, in particular, where the are often no buses for 20 minutes and then two versions of the same route turn up together, with one of them packed to the rafters, while the other is almost empty.
Sometimes I wonder about the image to the world I project from this blog. Do I come across as some kind of cliched poof with a penchant for the campness associated with Swedish pop?
As much as I love Swedish pop music – with its associated campness – there’s lots of other Swedish music I like also.
In fact, I was chatting about it today with some colleagues. I mentioned the rather odd interesting/odd statistic that, just a few weeks ago, Max Martin had been responsible for 5 of the Top 10 songs in America. As part of the general chatter, I’d mentioned that Max Martin was actually the Swedish-born and Stokcholm-based Martin Karl Sandberg, and that he’d written songs for the likes of Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears, *NSYNC, Kelly Clarkson, Katy Perry, Pink and others.
“So why do you think the Swedes are so successful at pop music?”, was the question in response. And so I replied I thought it had a lot to do with the different cultural influences – US, UK, European – over the years which had allowed the Swedes to blend a universality/internationalism in their musical style than translated well for the modern times. I’m not sure if that’s entirely right, or that it holds much water as a theory, but it’s my theory nonetheless.
Which brings me to the perception – in Australia at least- that when it comes to Swedish music, it’s all about pop music. I LOVE POP MUSIC. The brashy, the camp, the Eurovision. I love it, due to the absolute joy in the music. But there’s also something about Swedish music that touches me in many ways. I think it’s the melancholy. Sometimes I think the Swedes compose the pop in the endless daylight of summer, and the melancholy during the long months of winter. Again, a theory which probably doesn’t hold much to scrutiny, but it’s out there anyway.
So I thought I’d post a few Youtube clips to demonstrate there’s more to Svensk pop musik than Melodifestivalen. Here’s a few of my current favourites.
carl noren – the anger
Smalfilm – Johan Borgert
Veronica Maggio, Snook, Petter – Inga problem (Remix)
Säkert – Fredrik (official video)
I hope you’ve enjoyed them.
And let’s not begin to talk about Swedish jazz, folk, classical, country music and so on. There’s a massive discussion to be had there, today’s was just about pop.
“It must be really nice to go out for lunch mid-week”, the taxi driver said to me when I told him where I was going today. “A rare treat”, I told him, as we made our way towards Becasse on Clarence Street for a Producer’s Lunch.
They’ve been doing these lunches for a while now, Chef and Owner, Justin North told us over the public address system. “Nothing too regular, but generally every 6 to 8 weeks, sometimes at the beginning of a season, sometimes at the end”, he added when trying to make some sense of how they’ve approached these lunches.
In essence, though, he explained it was all about getting some really great produce, working a meal around them, and then inviting some of the producers to come along, to meet patrons, and to talk about their produce.
Becasse Producer’s Lunch
I ended up on a table of people with an interest in coffee. I met two of the most passionate people about coffee I’ve ever met, Dion and Gavin from Single Origin Roasters. They’re based in Reservoir Street, Surry Hills and supply to restaurants around the country, including a couple of local favourites in Bird Cow Fish and The Book Kitchen. Although I can pick the difference between good and bad coffee, my knowledge of it comes nowhere near my knowledge of wine, for example. After spending lunch with these guys, I know a hell of a lot more, particularly about how coffee is graded. They also explained a little a bit about their approach to blending, which involves roasting the beans individually, and then blending, as opposed to blending first and then roasting which, apparently, lots of other people do.
Also, at our table was a bloke called Andrew from Mountain Top Coffee. “Do you know where Nimbin is?”, he asked me at one point. “Do I know where Nimbin is?”, I replied. “I’m a bloody local, born and bred”, I told him, and so for a while we “bonded” about life on the North Coast. And there was a bloke from Selector Magazine, though I didn’t really have much of a chance to chat with him.
So what was good about the lunch? First, there was the aspect of taking a mid-week break in what has, so far, been quite an interesting and exciting week at work.
But second, and most important, the food, wine and beer were excellent. Highlights for me included the locally made (Five Dock) proscuitto which was absolutely beautiful, the Coffin Bay Oysters, the Lake’s Folly Chardonnay, the prawn and mussel ravioli, and the desert. Oh, and the beer. Actually that covers just about everything. The meal, as you might imagine, was excellent.
The service was also excellent. Being at the table closest to the kitchen, it was great to be able to see what was happening behind the scenes. A better run kitchen I’ve never observed so closely before.
Anyway, they do these lunches every couple of months, and they’re $65 each. They also do a Producer’s Lunch every day at $35 which includes a glass of wine. Although Becasse seems terribly up-market these days, especially with compared to their old days in Surry Hills when Damien and I used to go there a bit, they seemed to have “kept it real”. Overall, a terrific way to spend a lunch-time on a Wednesday.
I would have gone to the pub tonight to catch up with the usual crew, but I’m a bit tired to be honest. I came home from work today and hit the couch and fell asleep.
At eight-thirty the phone rang, waking me from the couch. It was Sue calling from Melbourne for a bit of a chat. I fell asleep again until about 9.30 when Jacqui called from Melbourne.
A bit more of a sleep. And now it’s midnight and I’m wide awake. I’m pretty bloody exhausted at the moment. I’m hoping for a few days off soon just for a rest up.
Though I have another catch-up planned for tomorrow night with Mark who is back from Perth.
