Tim Trainor spends every waking moment finding out what's all the gay rage in Perth right now. Events, culture and random bits and pieces from Perth, Australia.
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Viewing posts tagged ‘entertainment’
July 13
Revisited: The Ellington
Apologies are once again in order for my sparatic updates. What can I say, I’m a very busy woman. Two weekends ago after my visit to Andaluz, my review posse stopped in for the Late Night Groove Series at the Ellington Jazz Club (web). We prebooked a table, and it ended up being an awesome closer to the evening.
I’ve previously written about The Ellington for Soho Nights (fb), their queer friendly evening. This time around though it was a different crowd, a different ’scene’. While Soho Nights is suave and relaxed, the Saturday Late Night Groove Series is energetic bop in your chair action. The atmosphere is rich, and in my lubricated state I could feel each and every person in the room tapping their feet or nodding their head in unison. One guy was enjoying things a little too much… and had to be escorted out of the premises. Hah.
As a side note, the next Soho Nights is this Tuesday 14 July !.
I don’t know too much about jazz so I can’t really give an analytical commentary on the entertainment, but even if you’re musically sceptical you will still enjoy the the grooves, funk and beats at the Ellington on a Saturday night, plus the artists are fun and engaging on stage.. Basically, I loved it.
So book a table. Now. Yes, Now. The late night series sits at 11.30pm, and you will be left out in the cold if you don’t pre-book a table.
July 5
Recap: Horse Meat Disco
On Friday night a slice of iconic London nightlife penetrated the walls of Connections and gave Perth a small taste of Horse Meat Disco. Jim Stanton and James Hillard from the original HMD club night are currently touring Australia, and to support their local appearance were a handful of Perth’s finest electronic acts along with a homage catwalk show involving our prominent drag performers.
The headlining set was just amazing, not just for the sheer funk of it all, but for bringing some much needed new music into Connections. It was also for this reason the night didn’t attract a typical Connections crowd. I spied ‘resident’ attendees of Shape and Republic, plus a crop of random others who I’m assuming discovered HMD from the posters plastered all over Northbridge.
Admittedly the crowd was somewhat sparse, but those who stuck around until the early hours were really getting into their nu-disco. I guess nobody appreciates your favourite type of music as much as you do, and I really love nu-disco, so it was shame the venue wasn’t packed out as it should have been. I point my spiteful index finger at you all and curse that you really missed out on some awesome tunes.
The catwalk show was a big gloating segment to show off some fun costumes, but seemed like a throwaway item. Actually, it agitated me that this 10 minute performance piece became the focal point for the entire evening. So much so that most of the models and ticketholders left when it finished, and before the Horse Meat Disco DJs had even played. A red flag also needs to be raised for that 1 metre x 1 metre ‘media only’ area at the end of the catwalk. How pretentious. Although, it did give my friendly arch nemesis Feminem Hygiene a good vantage point for demanding the photographers test their cameras on her… for 20 minutes. As a side note, Fem and I are back on speaking terms.
So, the conclusory comment for this event is ‘you really missed out’. The sound Horse Meat Disco brought won’t be replicated in Perth for a while yet. Connections have a number of disco nights coming soon, but I’m sceptical. From previous experience ‘disco’ to Perth gay venues means bastardised house music. It’s not the same thing. Lo and behold when I got in my car at the end of the night Triple J’s ‘The Club’ program were talking about how nu-disco is the latest fad in dance music. If it’s the latest overseas right now, it will be the latest in Perth in 12 months time.
I didn’t lug my SLR to Connections, and I didn’t try my luck with the media only area, but I did grab some nice photos of the catwalk show. See them all behind the cut:
July 2
Review: Dreamland Karaoke
I get an annoyed twinge in my cheekbone when gay bois spend endless weekends at The Court, and at the height of their 2am drunkennes, complain about the sorry state of Perth’s nightlife. To find a new way to enjoy yourself you often have to move beyond the bounds of your usual weekend ritual. What better way to utterly destroy your Court comfort zone than with a bit of public karaoke?
Dreamland is on the corner of William and Brisbane in Northbridge, and you can find it by the seizure inducing lights outside. To clarify, this ain’t no Singstar - this is the real deal; singing to a room of strangers with no backing vocals. There’s also two prerequisites: 1. a group of awesome and adventurous friends, and 2. plenty of alcohol. I went along with a pack from my day job, and had a voice straningly good time.
The cheese factor is all part of the enjoyment, right from the dodgy mafia looking guy who greets you, to the disco balls, balloons and lame karaoke videos. From what I remember, I belted out Natalie Imbruglia’s ‘Torn’ and the best karaoke song of all time; ‘A whole new world’ from Disney’s Aladdin. My performances were helped by three backing vocalists: a house white, a vodka and coke and a jagerbomb. Even if you’re not totally trashed, singing in front of a room of 50 odd people is quite an experience, and once you get over your initial nerves it’s a lot of fun.
Round up a group of friends and book a table ahead of time. For $30 you get the equivalent of 3 drinks, a Chinese buffet, and however many songs you can fill request tickets in for. Drinks thereon are relatively cheap. For the cost of a night’s entertainment plus food plus drink, it’s quite a bargain. Recommended!
June 10
Interview: Voix de la Ville
Voix de la Ville is a new cabaret evening for new and established performance artists to showcase their work. Premiering on 28 June at The Castle, the show encapsulates a range of live acts, music and performance pieces. To explore the concept I shot some questions towards the mastermind and mistress behind Voix de la Ville, Ash Baroque.
What can show-goers expect from Voix de la Ville?
The night will be a variety type show with burlesque, drag, cabaret and some spoken word. There will also be installation.
A lot of discussion on the event’s promo page has been about the myths of drag performance. What is ‘real drag’ all about?
DRAG is short for “dressed as girl”. This is from the shakespearean times when women were not allowd to act on stage. Everybody always has an opinion. Voix de la Ville is a proposal of ideas, by individual artists, taking you on a journey through their exploration of performance.
It’s seems like 3 minute pop performances are being pumped out like a commercial product in Perth’s gay venues - how do you break away from this mould?
To escape this mould, a performer must simply use their intellect. A friend recently said to me that the youth should focus on entrenching themselves in history by refrencing the past. Leave the pop songs for the likes of our elders, as they will be touched by richness and experience. I say you can pull off anything as long as you have conviction.
June 10
New bar nights for June / July
You can tell winter is coming; a whole crop of new bar nights and events in Perth are making their debut (or return) over the next two months. Here’s some suggestions for your diary:
Gay friendly: Love Sundays (fb) starts this weekend at Luxe Bar as a weekly Sunday sesh. Putting aside my little huff at their resident faux DJ, the evening will be worth checking out. When it was first promoted on Facebook we all assumed it was a gay event, but after reading their very self indulgent press release I’m going to have to downgrade it to ‘gay friendly’. Public Relations 101: List the performers before you name the venue owner and PR director in a media release! No offence, but the public don’t give a rats who owns Luxe and who does their PR.
Gals only: Cocktails and Girls (fb) is a new quarterly event for lesbians and their friends starting 18 June at… Luxe Bar! (is the gay community getting a bulk discount there?). Described as ‘a place where you can relax to some funky tunes and talk with your friends over a beautifully made cocktail’. $1 from each ticket goes to the Breast Cancer Foundation WA.
Everyone: Cabaret night Voix de la Ville (fb) premieres on 28 June at The Castle. The evening is a platform for new and established performance artists of all varieties to showcase their work. You can expect musical, drag, magicians, clowns, burlesque and more. More details in my interview with Ash Baroque.
Guys and gals: After taking a few years sabbatical, Fruits in Suits (fb) returns to Perth on 2 July. It’s a relaxed sundowner affair for gay professionals, and yes women are welcome too. To be regularly hosted at Bar 138 on Barrack Street, and is a fundraiser for Pride WA.
June 8
Interview: Alaska
This week the Australian premiere of Alaska opens at the Blue Room theatre (Northbridge Cultural Quarter). It’s a contemporary play originating from England that explores racism in everyday society. In the lead up to the Alaska performance season, I had a Q and A session with one of the play’s cast members, Jeffrey Jay Fowler.
As an icebreaker, what can you tell us about Alaska?
Alaska is half comic, half dark. British racism and British humour at the same time. It focuses on a 24 year old university drop out working in a cinema. Though the play is largely touted as being about racism there’s a lot of other elements at play. Middle class guilt, the sexual attitudes of generation Y, religious righteousness and chain smoking all get their moment for analysis as well.
Your character is described as a seething racist. How do you prepare yourself to portray those traits in what is supposed to be a politically correct world?
‘Supposed to be’ is a pretty important part of that question. I don’t think the world is politically correct. Any weekend I go out I hear racist shouts across the streets of Perth. A lot of the people I meet in every day life will admit to being racist with just a little suggestion of the topic being ok. The play explores that too; the subtle racism ingrained in the way we view the world around us.
Preparing for this character isn’t too different from preparing for any other. I’ve played a nymphomaniac fairy god, a child stealing under taker, a 15 year old paraplegic surfer and the idea of thought itself. There’s always a huge gap between who I am and who I am playing. The director, Michelle Sowden, has a very different way of working character than any I have previously experienced. She has a very free way of creating, requiring a lot of actor impulse.
June 8
Horse Meat Disco in Perth
Horse Meat Disco was very briefly mentioned in this month’s Out In Perth, but because I’m not constrained to monthly deadlines I can give you the full details now. Woo! So what’s all this business about? HMD is all for disco music - Italo, dub disco, electrofunk etc, and started as a regular club night in London six years ago. Originally aimed to adapt the trendsetting alternative parties of New York for the London crowd, it has expanded to become involved in the fashion scene, creating it’s own little fashionista melting pot. Now it’s coming to Perth.
Two of the founding members of Horse Meat Disco, James Hillard and Jim Stanton (all four founders are pictured above) will be playing at Connections on Friday 3 July from 10pm. Support acts are local electro artists Brash and Sassy, along with Petrosex (most known for gigs at Shape Bar and SEXY) plus other guests.
Horse Meat Disco describes itself as “the queer party for everyone: homos and heteros, club kids, bears, fashionistas, naturists, guerilla drag queens and ladies who munch”. Perth is their first stop in the Australian arm of the tour, and they’re being supported by Modular, so this event should get a fair amount of attention. Likewise tickets cost more than a regular Connections night: $25 + BF. For the price you’re also promised a “catwalk extravaganza”. Here’s a taste of the music:
Presale Tickets Available from Connections, heatseeker.com.au, Planet Video, 78 Records and Mills Records.
Props to Will and Jack on this post.
June 4
Perth media bits
If you picked up Xpress or Drum Media today you would have seen RTRfm’s new station lineup for 2009/10. Very disappointing that ‘Open Closet’, the community radio’s gay and lesbian music and current affairs program has been shafted. It’s completely gone with no replacement. The changes coincide with the station getting a new General Manager - email Graeme Watson to tell him it should stay.
Today The West Australian properly launched their new competitor against Xpress and Drum Media: “The Wire Magazine“. Oh boy does it stink! You get to read everything that was in our free street press weeks ago, and pay the cost of a newspaper to do it.
The copy reeks of middle aged journos desperately trying to reach out for Gen Y, and is littered with embarrassing statements like “hey wire heads” and the Art Gallery’s Art Bar being described as “painfully cool”. To top it off, the opinion page is about how John Farnham is now ‘uncool’. Who cares!
The West really didn’t think this through: Gen Y don’t buy newspapers, and The Wire Magazine has no street cred. Avoid it.
June Out in Perth is on the streets this weekend.
May 14
Fun distractions
It’s so easy to laugh at other people’s pain when they’re all the way on the other side of the internet. That’s why I read the Ask Bossy blog. It’s the only decent thing on New Limited’s website. Take for example, I caught my boyfriend looking at she-males on the net… should we still get married? Ahhh….. for sure!
I heard strange noises coming from our study so I pushed opened the door and saw my fiance half naked getting himself off while looking at a porn site named: SheMales-YUM!
The fact some one put the effort into adding “YUM” to the title of that website brings it to a whole new level of funny. Don’t place any bets on that wedding, folks. Be sure to check out the equally entertaining I caught my boyfriend approaching men for sex… what should I do?. Do we really need to spell it out for you, hun?
A few newspapers have piped up that after Home and Away featured a lackluster lesbian kiss Neighbours is ‘copying’ them and doing their own homogametic pash. Problem is, Neighbours have already done the lesbian kiss plot line - twice already! Although, they’ve introduced a new element - this time it’s a lesbian asian person! For more info check out the website InterracialLesboKiss-YUM!
And to be my usual ranty self isn’t this a whole lot of double standard? When are we going to see hot, sexy, family friendly man-on-man pashing during crappy Aussie primetime soap operas? I want to see Harold get down daddy/son style with a barely 18 euro twink he met through manhunt by using a fake photo. Now that is actually real life.
Here is a previous lesbian kiss on Neighbours. I imagine deep within the Channel 10 studios there’s a whole vault full of unused gay kiss scenes that never went to air.
HEY! I can’t be all over Perth all at once so if there is something cool you think would fit in on the blog please email it to me. Doesn’t have to be gay 
May 11
Daylight savings debate continues
Court owner Bree Maddox is in today’s West Australian, again, to express her views on daylight savings. It’s safe to say she’s the new centrefold model for the ‘no’ vote.
Along with a humongous action shot of her pouring a beer (except no beer is actually coming out of the tap), Bree repeats what she said in the last daylight savings article, minus the outbursts telling people to get a life. There are, however, a few additional comments which seem to address the issues I raised in my last post:
Bree’s argument is no longer that “people go out to clubs later”, it is now that “most people don’t want to eat their dinner until it’s dark”. I previously commented that daylight savings would actually help increase The Court’s alfresco dining crowd. Perth is a west coast city - sunsets are a defining feature of living on a western coast and daylight savings will help change the way people see late afternoon and evening dining.
Bree also previously said she doesn’t feel safe walking in the mornings if it’s dark, to which I highlighted she has a membership to the Next Generation gym across the road from her apartment. The new article states:
From a personal point of view, [Bree] said daylight saving meant she could not walk her dog in the morning because it was too dark and unsafe
The new addition is the mention of her dog. I do need to point out Bree that I’ve seen you take your dog out to The Court a couple of times after dark. It may be tucked away in a purse like Paris Hilton, but you’re still taking the dog out while it’s dark. Just sayin’.
Bree’s partner Malcom Day does feel differently about daylight savings:
“If I didn’t own [The Court], I’d probably vote Yes but because our first priority is business, I’ll be voting No, unfortunately,” he said.
However, Mr Day said daylight saving would be beneficial for his other business, Adultshop.com.
I’m not going to imply anything here, but I totally invite you to read between the lines of those two quotes.
As I said previously, I encourage everyone who wants to add hours to their summer social lives, have more time to do things outdoors and bring Perth alongside the rest of the world to put in the effort to vote, and vote YES on daylight savings THIS SATURDAY!!!
May 2
tupperware with val
She’s conquered the world of drag performance, the world of proper nourishment, and her alter ego has created a Perth floristry empire. Now Val Nourished is on her way to becoming Australia’s number one Tupperware lady.
If you want to earn a little on the side, get a group of friends together for a Tupperware party with none other than Val Nourished as your sultry storage solution demonstrator! Val tells me the Host rewards for holding your own party are fantastic and well worth your while.
If you think that you’d love a fun and frivolous gathering surrounded by friends, Tupperware and a ‘real’ woman, shoot Val an email with your details. The lady is in high demand, so contact ASAP.
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