Viewing posts tagged ‘reviews’

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.

Out and about Tags: alternative nights, bars, entertainment, jazz, live music, local artists, music, reviews

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:

Read the rest of this entry »

Out and about Tags: alternative nights, connections, entertainment, events, fashion, music, nightlife, reviews

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!

Out and about Tags: entertainment, food, karaoke, nightlife, northbridge, reviews

June 15

Review: Love Sundays

Sunday was the launch of Love Sundays (fb), a new Sunday session held on Sundays. Sunday. I couldn’t be bothered coming up with a decent introductory sentence. The night is held at Luxe Bar and guns for a glamourous and luxurious atmosphere with gay friendly crowds. Luxe is already pretty posh like that, so the venue choice was only natural.

Perth has a strange curse hovering over Thursday and Sunday bar nights. With the exception of ZOO Sundays, gay events outside of the regular Wednesday and Saturday mould often meet a premature death… Anyone remember ‘Loop’? The ‘Trick’ nights mysteriously never returned either. I can’t predict how successful Love Sundays will be, but the launch night attracted a very respectably sized crowd.

Anyone familiar with Luxe will already know the drill: swanky, low lit velvet seating areas, plunky lounge music and pricey cocktails. It’s all absolute wank, of course, but it’s nice to get dressed up every now and then and pretend you’re a western suburb snob. You should be prepared for a $5 cover charge, which in my annoyance was not advertised anywhere until I reached the front door.

The ‘Love Sunday cocktail’ has been renamed as ‘Love Custard’, which the host James Kay told me had every gay pun intended. He’d be right if guys cum tasted like raspberries. Sadly, it does not. The cocktail however I found pretty nice, but it’s very milky, more of a drink to finish off the night rather than start it. I received mixed feedback about James’ Love Custard, really depends if you’re a fan of milky drinks and raspberries.

The guest vocalist who played early in the night was an absolute wonder - I only caught her first name, Natasha. Definitely an act to bring back in following weeks. The live aspect really made the atmosphere much more vibrant. After her set the regular vocal house music began, and the night felt like it was slipping back into stock standard mode again.

Focus group: (wrap up from the attending reviewers)

I received so many mixed responses from my friends I’m not actually going to post them in this review. Some, particularly the ones who had never been to Luxe before, loved it. Others found the night much of the same old. I do think you should save up at least the $5 cover charge and see for yourself. It’s quite nice for the occasional semi-extravagant night out with friends, but drinks are very expensive, so unless you’re bleeding money attending every week may be a bit much.

Update: There’s a fair amount of gossip making circles about some trouble later on during the night. Apparently the regular Luxe crowd showed up and were very unhappy their venue had been hijacked by gays without prior announcement. Sounds like it ended with staff yelling at patrons and vice versa. Details as they come into the newsroom.

Out and about Tags: alternative nights, bars, nightlife, reviews, the scene

June 7

Review: Harry’s Bar

Harry’s Bar (web | fb | tw) found me on twitter before I found it. It’s located on Francis Street in Northbridge and has only been open for just over a month, but has already gained quite a solid following. I dropped by with my reviewing associate on a Friday night. The crowd is mainly mid 20s to mid 30s. Dress is smart casual, so everyone was looking a little extra flash.

The draw of this place is it’s atmosphere and imported drinks - mainly Tiger Beer. The venue owners seem to have a very strong liking of Tiger as they’ve named their outdoor area the ‘Tiger inspired laneway’ (pictured). Actually, the laneway was my favourite part as it gives you good break area from the noise and music inside.

On a Friday night at least, it’s a very relaxed affair. Francis is one of the quieter streets in Northbridge and most of the dickheads turn off onto Aberdeen (that’s where The Deen and Shed are, of course) so Harry’s Bar almost feels like an isolated oasis in the middle of town. That’s not to say it’s quiet though. Bar staff were friendly, although I found drink prices a little above average. The venue also closes at midnight, so Harry’s should be one of your early stops in a night out. They do food, but I haven’t had a chance to test this out yet.

Focus group: (wrap up from the attending reviewers)

Tim: Very relaxing and genuine venue, it’s everything that Tiger Lils tries but fails to be. Would highly recommend for drinks with friends.

David: City drinking in a great atmosphere (questionable Saturday band…) without the pretentious crowd.

Out and about Tags: bars, northbridge, reviews

May 17

гомосексуалиста времени

I thought I would do a Eurovision post because I know of a lot of Eurovision parties happening around Perth tonight. The final was very entertaining: while the musical performances were less camp than last year, I was still glued to my set. I can’t even imagine the amount of money Russia pumped into production - the visual styling and stage design blew my mind.

Unfortunately there’s saddening news: Gay rights protesters who arranged a rally to coincide with the media attention that Eurovision brings were quickly arrested and whisked away by riot police. In fact, they arranged 1000 riot police to break up demonstration. In the mean time an anti-gay protest elsewhere in the city was given a permit to go ahead (although some of these protesters were arrested as well). Stuck in the middle Eurovision had to ignore the entire thing was happening.

But back to the competition: my favourite performances were Greece (super, super gay), Russia (very powerful), Armenia (awesome visuals), Sweden (super freaky opera singer) and Germany (for some reason they were represented by an American gay guy and Dita Von Teese! What!). Not to be forgetting Slovenia putting up a protest during the result announcements! Pure gold.

And my absolute favourite part… the host - what a hottie! If there are any guys in Perth who look like Ivan Urgant please contact me asap. Ahh Ivan… one day you will be mine!

Random Tags: censorship, freedom of speech, gay news, gay rights, music, reviews

April 17

Glamfest 2009 Launch

Glamfest, Perth’s dedicated gay and lesbian film festival, is off and running at Astor Cinemas in Mount Lawley and continues over the coming weekend. Launch night (Wednesday) had a great turnout - I turned up 10 minutes late and all of the canapes had already disappeared, but hey, there was plenty of sparkling to go around.

My photo doesn’t do the welcoming function justice. Opening the festival was ‘Were the world mine‘, a cheesy mish-mash of high school musical meets Shakespeare meets homosexual intercourse. Parts of the movie are very loosely based around ‘A Midsummer Nights Dream’, where our gay teenage main character creates a potion to send anyone into idle-love with the first person they lay eyes on. Of course he uses it on the hot jock he has a boner for.

The cheese factor of this movie is more of a delightful quirk than a deterrent. There’s even a disney-esque Fairy Gaymother who acts as cupid to the ridiculously hot lovers. Unfortunately the ending is terribly predictable as the plot completely crumbles away into a 5 minute wrap-up. I would have expected a pack of homophobic sporty jocks who had been drugged into having sex with each other to be having a few more psychological issues than they did on screen. Either way the ending is definitely not a deal breaker - watch this movie.

Noteworthy events and things coming up:

• Glamfest continues, plenty of tickets still available - stay tuned for reviews
• This Saturday and Sunday - Buddha’s birthday festival which includes an international vegetarian food festival. Supreme Court Gardens (I’ll be there).
• 23 April - Kiss my Camera at the WA Museum
• Anzac Friday 24 April - “Women in Uniform” at Connections
• Anzac Sunday 26 April - Woofclub 4, for the dirty ones
• May 1 - The Dark Room at PICA

Out and about Tags: entertainment, gay cinema, gay community, reviews

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