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· Puff 'n' Stuff
Everything that's happening in Adelaide this fortnight.
· Industry
The latest from the music industry.
· Puffio
Theatre news.
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Dance and electronica news.
· Metal
Updates from the wide world of metal.
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Puff 'n' Stuff.
So that was 2005? Good freakin' riddance, says Puff. Can't get shot of these 12 months soon enough, frankly. Let us stretch out on the clean, unsullied sheets of 2006 rather than this year's fetid, unwashed bedding - a powerful metaphor about the fresh promise of the new year, although maybe you launder more often than Puff. Issues of personal hygiene aside, this is the last issue of dB Magazine for the year but we'll be back bright of eye and bushy of tail in the new year: specifically on Wed 11 Jan (after dragging our weary behinds back into the office on Mon 2 Jan).
However, there's plenty - PLENTY - going on between now and
then. Like the Brillig/Leigh StarDust Christmas Spectacular
at the Grace Emily, complete with a special available-only-at-the-gig
split CD with a seasonal song from each. The show's on Fri 23
Dec, with the Brer Mouse Trio filling out the bill. It's also
the first Brillig gig since bassist Denni Meredith's appendix
exploded (hopefully in a fireball that took out an entire city
block) and led to a few gig cancellations, but now that he's
(presumably) part robot, everything should be fine...
Then again, the end of the year is often also a time of contemplation and change - as in the case of The Great Unwashed, who've decided to use it as a spur to... ahem, split up after eight years. They'll be ringing down the curtain at Finn MacCool's on Fri 23 Dec with a whole mess of guests as all nine present and former members get on stage to see the band off.
The Hot Lies have had such a freakin' big year that they're
determined not to let it end: they're squeezing in yet another
gig for 2005, with In Fiction and Move To Strike at the Enigma
Bar on Tues 27 Dec.
Crying Blue Rhetoric weren't about to wait until 2006 to launch their CD - no sir! They're doing so with around 27 hours to spare, at the Jade Monkey on Fri 30 Dec.
Stuff From Puff: Who knew there was enough public demand to
justify a House Of Pain reunion? Not Puff, that's for damn sure
- but it sounds like the rap/rock folks who brought us hits
like Jump Around and presumably something else are contemplating
getting back together, according to our pal The Internet...
Speaking of reformations and the reformationing arts,
former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr will rejoin his old bass-wielding
bandmate Andy Rourke for a gig at the Rourke-organised 'Manchester
Versus Cancer' charity show in late January. A host of other
Mancunian legends are also confirmed, including Doves, Badly
Drawn Boy and New Order... And while we're
talking reformations and so forth, post-punk legends The Television
Personalities are about to release their first album in 11 years,
now that frontman/songwriter Dan Treacy is at liberty after
serving time for (alleged) burglary. 'My Dark Places' is set
for release in late-Feb in the UK... Speaking of all
things outlaw-related, Young Buck escaped jail time after it
transpired that the weapon he was holding at the 2004 Vibe awards
(where his posse G-Unit allegedly incited a melee) was not a
knife, but a fork. He copped a plea for the lesser charge of
assault with a chance to produce bodily injury and will serve
80 hours of community service instead. Meanwhile, the chap which
he turned out not to have stabbed - Jimmy James Johnson - is
currently serving a year in jail after pleading guilty to assaulting
Dr Dre. Oh, those rappers... Usher has put
his Scientology where his mouth is, along with Tom Cruise and
Katie Holmes: the trio pledged millions to the New York Rescue
Workers Detoxification Project, a non-scientific but pro-Scientologic
process which will supposedly get rid of the toxins they were
exposed to on September 11 (and, presumably, scare off ghosts
and space aliens too). The key, apparently, is jogging, saunas
and loads of Niacin, all of which are part of Puff's Scientologically-complete
breakfast. That a bunch of wealthy Scientologists throw money
at people to do crazy, ineffective things on the basis of their
beliefs is no great surprise, but Puff's monocle fell in the
soup when it was announced that the City of New York will be
putting public money towards the project too. On the other hand,
on the off-chance that Premier Mike Rann's reading this Puff
would like to make known that dB Magazine houses a special rock
that keeps tigers away and we might just be willing to part
with it - if the price is right... Meanwhile a horde
of concerned Britney Spears fans have created a website - www.divorcekevin.com
- to convince the pop star that marrying her former backup dancer
who abandoned his pregnant actress wife was perhaps not a good
idea. Puff says "shame, The Internet - let these two lovebirds
work things out in peace." Or, you know, do something useful...
Like 50 Foot Wave are doing, for example: the most recent and
most rockingest band for Kristin Hersh (yes, as in Your Ghost,
and as in lead singer/guitarist/songwriter for Throwing Muses)
are getting their Christmas gifts out early via a free five-track
CD-EP, which you can get either at throwingmusic.com and/or
50footwave.com (then again, Hersh is just totally ripping off
No Through Road's idea: the entire 'Lo-Fi Sandwich' album is
available entirely free from nothroughroad.com, if you fancy
getting more au fait with the 'Road before Big Day Out).
Blow it out yer brass! Those ska-tastic Melbournians Area 7 are popping back for a show at Fowler's Live on Fri 6 Jan.
How many singer-songwriters does it take to change a lightbulb?
Three, if by "change a lightbulb" you meant "play at the Grace
Emily on Tues 27 Dec". Oh, and also if the singer-songwriters
in question were Ben Fletcher, Chris Altmann and Jed Kurtzel
(who respectively front The Devoted Few, The Vandas and The
Mess Hall). Sorry, Puff didn't really think that joke through.
Puff doesn't want to accuse Wendy Icon, Cry Murder, Later That Night, December In Ruins and Prevail of not knowing how to read a calendar, but Mon 26 Dec is a day too late to hold an all-ages Metal Christmas show; although it would be the perfect occasion for Metal Proclamation Day. Just throwing that out there. In any case, it starts at 5pm.
You can try all you want, Kyri, Heather Frahn, Jess Lewis and
Tristain Louth Robins, but you're still not going to be able
to Escape From Christmas not matter how so-named your show at
the Lizard Lounge on Fri 23 Dec might be. Besides which, you're
giving out prizes to people on the night, which seems dangerously
akin to presents to Puff. Couldn't you at least make them chocolate
eggs or something, Lewis, just to throw people off?
All year long the Governor Hindmarsh has been holding its regular Local Anesthetic showcases in the front bar, and from this simmering cauldron of talent they've ladled out the meatiest chunks and will be serving them up on the main stage on Thurs 22 Dec: enjoy a musical feast of The Fraud Millionaires, Poetikool Justice, 200 Motels (until recently known as The Kim Roberts Band), Swayback and Fire! Santrosa Fire!
By the time you read this there will be significantly fewer
Big Day Out tickets available than have ever been available
at a comparable time. Maybe they'll have already sold out. Maybe
you'll have one for Christmas (which, judging by the amount
of thoughtful parents that Puff's seen coming into the dB Magazine
office to buy them for their kiddies, seems a fair possibility).
In any case, there's a new addition to the lineup: Mr Henry
Rollins (or, as Puff insists on continually referring to him,
Mad Dirty Hank). He'll be joining (deep, deep breath) The White
Stripes, Iggy & The Stooges, Franz Ferdinand, Kings Of Leon,
The Mars Volta, Soulwax, The Magic Numbers, 2ManyDJs, Gerling,
The Living End, Dei Hamo, Magic Dirt, Cut Copy, End Of Fashion,
Faker, The Grates, Youth Group, Wolf & Cub, Mudvayne, Vitalic,
The Go! Team, The Subways, M.I.A, Mylo, Sleater-Kinney, DJ James
Murphy, The Greenhornes, Shihad, Wolfmother, Kid Kenobi & MC
Shureshock, The Hilltop Hoods, Cog, The Beasts Of Bourbon, Sonicanimation,
Sarah Blasko, DJ Ajax, DJ Jason Midro, Airbourne, The Presets,
Bit By Bats, The Hot Lies, Stolen Youth, Sumi, Mindfield, No
Through Road, Wendy Icon, My Sister The Cop, Little Ice Age,
Foreshore, DJ Brendan and DJ Beckylove at the Wayville Showgrounds
on Fri 3 Feb, and hopefully you'll be there too. Assuming you've
gotten a ticket. Or that you're on your way to getting one right
now, before it all sells out. dB Magazine has operators waiting
for your call.
Ex-Adelaide boy Charles Jenkins has a new solo album out entitled 'The City Gates', and to celebrate he's popping over to the Grace Emily to play some tunes from it (and, presumably, the odd Ice Cream Hands song and, being a hometown crowd, maybe even some Mad Turks - hey, Puff can dream...). Anyway, that's what he'll be doing on Wed 26 Dec, with Krista Polvere.
So, made yer plans for New Year's Eve 2005 yet? Of course you
haven't: you've been waiting for Puff to do it for you, you
lazy, lazy reader. Luckily Puff is a creature made entirely
of goodness and delicious, chocolatey pudding, and will therefore
oblige. You're going to go to Crank!'s NYE spectacular at the
Crown & Anchor with DJs Ian Bell and Tr!p, since they'll be
sassing it up on the decks for you... Or you could go
to the Governor Hindmarsh for their huge Latino spectacular,
with Brazza and Salson live plus DJs, dancers and more over
two rooms, which might be good... then again,
there's the annual Necromancy New Year's Evil gothic/industrial/darkwave
event at Enigma Bar with DJs Empusa, Azureus and Pandemic, plus
DJ Mayhem getting all old-school metal downstairs... Of
course, it's also hard to go past the Wheatsheaf Hotel's good-time
pairing of The Dolls and Thunderbox Carbunkle & The Lonely Cosmonauts,
of course... And hold on, there's also the
Seven Deadly Sins costume party at Lizard Lounge, with Kyri,
Sven, Fire! Santarosa, Fire! and Uberstomp getting all rockin'
on yer ass... or how about the Revolution indie spectacular
at Fowler's Live, with DJs playing all the hippest tunes until
the wee hours... And The Bleeding Hearts
will be converting the Prince Albert Hotel into the Bushwood
Country Club, although Puff's not entirely sure what that entails
- but they will be rocking the house, and there will be DJs
on board to boot... Actually, then again, you might want
to catch The Hiptones at Fad Bar & Gallery... or
there's Swampfest at the Squatter's Arms from 3pm, with an all-rock
lineup of The Creeps, The Molting Vultures, Red Rascal, Fiendish
Cavendish, The Meer, Peterhead, Slingshot Dragster and, they
threaten, more... or you could enjoy Sky City's attempt
to capture every era of music in the 20th century, with assistance
from The Original New Romantics, the Greg Meyer Quintet, Chad
Romero's Cabernet Cabaret, Caliente and Take 5... or
you might be seduced by Shenanigans' promise of their 'Nothin'
on New Years Eve Party', which Puff assumes means that either
the place will be empty, or everyone will be nude. Or possibly
neither. In any case, Puff's giving up: you've got yer options,
now makes yer choice.
The Whats really like Adelaide - or, at least, they really enjoy the drive down here from Queensland. After all, there's got to be some logical reason why they're coming back for a show at the Jade Monkey on Fri 6 Jan.
Well, that's about it for Puff, who hopes that you're also looking
forward to the many surprises in store for 2006 (but here's
a hint: you should probably robot-proof your doors if you haven't
already, and those in coastal regions or in high elevations
may want to move somewhere flatter and further inland - or how
about underground?). In any case, party like it's 2005, raise
a glass to the coming months and try not to succumb to that
dread feeling of impending doom - and, especially if you live
in the aforementioned locales, it'd be particularly pertinent
to...
Get Out Of The House!
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