Graeme Watson

Heartbeats

2010-12-28T09:31:00.006+08:00

'Heartbeats' or 'Les amours imaginaires' is the second film from French-Canadian Director and Actor Xavier Dolan. His first film was 'I Killed My Mother'.

At a bohemian dinner party, friends Francis (Dolan), who is gay and Marie (Monia Chokri), who is straight meet the very gorgeous blond Adonis, Nicolas - whose sexuality is a mystery. The two friends both preen and primp themselves to gain the attention of Nicolas, and the more they hang out with him the greater their desire for him grows. The desire however is not solely a sexual wanting, both Francis and Marie seek love. As the jealousy between Francis and Marie grows, the handsome Nicolas seems unaware of their competing desires or his own beauty and it's effect.

The characters in the film are in their early 20's (but look more like their early 30's), and they search desperately for deeper meanings through art, poetry and intellectual pursuits. Yet, their relationships don't have any deeper meaning, they're like pebbles skipping across the top of a lake, unable to penetrate each others exteriors.

'Heartbeats' is a beautiful looking film, filled with scenic backdrops, fashion and good looking people. The Director often utilises slow motion as we follow characters down the street, allowing us to gaze upon their beauty. While this is an effective technique for highlighting the superficiality of the characters approach - it also makes the film drawn out and pedestrian in it's pace.

A series of vox-pops of unrelated characters talking about relationships is used to split the three acts of the film, a heavy handed approach that is structurally effective - but lacking originality. The music in the film is a great selection including The Knife, Fever Ray, Bach and an Italian version of 'Bang Bang'; yet most of this music has been used very effectively in other film and high profile television programs. Fracois Orzon used 'Bang Bang' in one of his short films and Bach's Cello Suite is central to the 'Noel' episode of The West Wing'.

Ultamitely 'Heartbeats' is good looking but shallow and unsatisfying, a lot like it's characters' experience.

'Heartbeats' is showing at the Sommerville Auditorium at UWA as part of the Perth International Arts Festival film season.

Five

2010-12-11T18:59:00.004+08:00

Small Bars are popping up everywhere and the Town of Vincent area has more than anywhere else. On Friday the latest small bar, FIVE on Beaufort Street opened.

One of the things I love about working at RTRFM is it's very easy to know when it's officially the end of the working day. At 5pm the 'Drivetime' program comes on and the 'Drivetime' theme (also known as the 'Theme to the Professionals') starts, and within 60 seconds our office can go from busy to empty. It's like a giant factory horn. Drawing inspiration from CI5's Bodie and Doyle in a 70's chase scene - it's amazing how fast people can move.

So Alexa Woldan, Adam Trainer, Sinead Swords and I headed down the street to check out Mount Lawley's latest addition. 'Homegrown' presenter Chris Wheeldon joined us there. FIVE is in the old pool hall, next to Lawley's Bakery and two doors down from another small bar, Clarences. I was thinking a trip down Beaufort Street through Malt, Defectors, Clarences, Five, The Queens, Must and that bar no-one remembers the name of - that's next to Must - could be quite a night out.

FIVE's actually been open for a week or so, but on Friday morning they recieved their liqour license, so we were among it's first customers to have an alcoholic drink. I broke from habbit and had a vodka, lime and soda.

It's was pretty cool, the staff are really friendly, and the crowd was mainly over 30's office types, which seemed strange because there aren't a lot of offices on Beaufort Street. Maybe if we return next Friday night it will be filled with Beaufo Hipsters. There are big Chesterfield sofas and it's pretty big, so much so, it might have to be officially classified as a 'medium' bar. The back has giant sky-lights that let the sun in, and there is a pool table.

I felt that something was missing at FIVE though, something that makes it individual and special, that 'stand out from the crowd' factor. As we walked away we asked ourselves if we'd be returning soon, and realised, that FIVE had nothing that the other two closer bars to our didn't have, except the pool table. Maybe if I learned how to play pool....

Art Galore

2010-12-10T08:29:00.003+08:00

On Wednesday night I headed out to the opening of the New Edition Bookshop on William Street. It's in the space that used to be Arcane Books many years ago and it's great to see a quality bookshop back in Northbridge. The opening was a little crowded, reminiscent of events at The Butcher's Shop - spilling out over the pavement.

Around the corner at the Central Institute of Technology was the Graduate Exhibition of Visual Art and Craft, Jewellery and Object Design. Spread over a massive eight gallery spaces there was mountains of work. Some of my favourites were Dragana Andjelic's mixed media of stitching and paint on fabric, Emma Louise Danks 'Stags' which was three mounted animal heads made of rope was brilliant, Elizabeth Marpole's knitted suits and balaclavas were intriguing.

My absolute favourite was Jill Travers untitled works, brightly coloured sculptures made of match sticks, wool, toy soldiers, paint and bondcrete. Traver's works were spread around different galleries and I was attracted to every single one. I was surprised when I looked through the catalogue and saw they were all by the same artist.

My friend Perrina Bozanich is graduating this year and had a great piece 'Corpus Corporis' - that featured three cloth headless cloth figures. I was tempted to buy it, but the conversation about why we now had three headless men in our lounge room brought me back to practicality. I wish I had a massive house with heaps of vacant white space for art.

There was heaps of people of RTRFM people at the opening, Sinead Swords, Ryan Sandilands, and Anetta Nevin - who has updated her Facebook profile picture to include a humourous way of standing in front of Emma Louise Dank's 'Stags'.

Blue Room Awards

2010-12-06T21:33:00.002+08:00

Tonight Mr L and I went to the Blue Room Awards. This year I one of the judges, so I've seen nearly every production at the Blue Room this year.

The awards were hosted by Damon Lockwood and Sam Longley, who are always mountains of fun, and hilariously re-enacted three of the productions from the season. Damon and Sam hadn't seen the shows though so their re-enactments were based solely on the description in the program. Some of them they got incredibly close to the production - which was a little spooky.

Don't ask me who won what, it's all a blur. Choosing the winners with my fellow judges was really hard, there was so much great work.

Afterwards we went and had dinner at the great little Korean resturant in Pier Street and had dumplings and Bibimbap.

King India

2010-12-06T16:52:00.003+08:00

Last night Mr L and I went to dinner at the King India restaurant in Armadale. I'm not sure how long this restaurant has been open, it's the first time we'd noticed it.

Situated between the Grand Cinema and Hans Palace, at one end it's a stylish Indian restaurant with table cloths and glasses, but at the other end it's a charcoal chicken outfit that also sells hamburgers.

We chose the classier end of the establishment and ordered a host of dishes, the half tandoori chicken was delicious as an entrée, we also sampled the Aloo Tikki, a spicy mashed potato ball, that was more like a disc than a ball, and swamped in a yogurt sauce. It was tasty but I'm always suspicious of cuisine that can't be seen. We'd ordered some Vegetable Pakora but the waitress came back and told us that they'd run out, which was surprising since there were only two other people in the restaurant. I guess the other couple ate them all.

For the Main Course we had some Saffron Rice, a great Potato Naan and Vegetable Jalfrezi, the highlight though was the Goan Fish Masala that was soft and succulent. At first the size of the main course looked really small, but the bowls were deceiving - there was more than enough.

The staff seemed to be under a bit of pressure to keep up with the three quarter empty restaurant and the CD of Indian tunes kept getting stuck until eventually they turned it off, this was however providing quite a bit of entertainment.

I give the King India 5/10

Whippersnappers

2010-12-05T14:24:00.003+08:00

Whippersnappers was on at The Bakery last night. This is RTRFM's newest fund raising event and a whole bunch of breakout bands from 2010 played to support the station.

The night kicked off with Fat Jackal who won the 2009 My Big Gig competition, second on the bill was 17 year old Georgi Kay - whose performance was mesmerising. Georgi's tune 'Breakfast in Bedlam' won the WAM Song of the Year competition and it was great to see it performed live. Sonpsilo Circus brought some psychedelic sounds to the party, before the awesome Caballeros hit the stage with their manic rock preaching. Finally Split Seconds closed off the evening. This band are so good - if you haven't seen them yet don't hold back, check them out.

Sean Pollard from Split Seconds is joining James Hall on 'Breakfast with Barr' tomorrow morning for a new segment about cricket and and maybe a little about Daryl Braithwaite. We've called the segment 'Howzat'. That reminds me, at 'Good Evening' the other Stephen Curry made jokes about Daryl Braithwaite... poor Daryl.

My cider obsession is continuing.

Friday at The Scotsman

2010-12-04T15:32:00.003+08:00

Alexa, Jo, Adam and I went to The Flying Scotsman after work on Friday. We'd spent the afternoon walking around the neighborhood delivering notification letters for RTRFM's Seriously Sound System fund raiser concert - a good hour and half of walking.

Nick Sweepah, Taylor Coventry and James Thorne were there, Michelle Snowden was there too.

I read a Twitter post from someone recently that said 'Perth, are you over your cider obsession yet', I must be late to the party because I had my first glass of cider two weeks ago and seem to be forming a great love.

Good Evening

2010-12-04T15:16:00.002+08:00

Shaun Micallef and Stephen Curry bring the classic sketches of Peter Cook and Dudley Moore back to life in their new show. Paul and I rushed to the opening night at His Majesties Theatre from the WA Aids Awards and made it with just minutes to spare.

I'd never seen any of this material before, but like a lot of comedy from the 50's and 60's it has really clever word play, so much that some of the jokes are missed by some of the audience - or you realise them five minutes later. It reminded me of comedy like Tony Hancock or The Goons.

After the show we grabbed a coffee at The King Street cafe, they had great chips cooked in goose fat - a little decadent but tasty. The waitress tried really hard to give us someone else's coffee order, but we weren't having it.

WA Aids Awards

2010-12-04T14:56:00.002+08:00

On Wednesday night Paul Van Leishout and I went to World Aids Day Celebration and Reflection at the AIDS Memorial in Robertson Park.

RTRFM was given an award for our coverage of HIV/AIDS in 'Morning Magazine' and on 'All Things Queer'. In my acceptance speech I spoke about the role of community broadcasting in ensuring that topics that don't get enough coverage in mainstream media are highlighted.

It's a worrying though that we've stopped talking about HIV, and there have been a lot of studies recently showing people are having more unsafe sex and increasing more people are being diagnosed as HIV positive.

It's great to see 'All Things Queer' winning awards, the show only started in February and this is the team's second award - they picked up a Pride WA Glammy award too.

Tim Brown from Connections Nightclub was given an award for individual achievement, which is so incredibly deserved for his awesome community work and generosity.

Back to Life

2010-12-04T14:41:00.003+08:00

Well I haven't blogged this year, I've been way to busy running one of Perth's largest community radio stations.

My time as General Manager at RTRFM is coming towards it's end, I finish up on January 21st 2011. So it seemed like a good time to bring my personal blog back to life. So I've given the blog and quick make over, tidied up the side bars and fired things up again.

Snooze Button

2009-11-08T13:27:00.002+08:00

Angie Hart - There's a light that never goes out - Eat My Shadow (Bonus Disc Version)
I've been a fan of Angie Hart all the way through her career from Frente, to Splendid and Holidays on Ice, and now her solo stuff. She's doen a ton of covers over that time from New Order to The Pet Shop Boys to Graham Nash and many others. this orchestral take on The Smiths 'There's a Light that Never Goes Out' is luscious.

The Red Tree - Ziah
Steve Poltz - Moon River - Live at the Fly by Night Club June 17th 2009
I first saw Steve Poltz earlier this year when he supported Bob Evans, he returned a few months later on his own tour with Gregory Page. They recorded his show at The Fly By Night and you were able to buy the CD at the end of the night.

The Tigers - The Tinsel Stage - Death from Above

Jordi James - Bigger Fish
Jordi James can now be found out the front of local band King George. There's song 'Entertainment Tonight' has been getting a bit of airplay of RTRfm recently. This tracks is from the Next Big Thing Competition compilation.

The Chemist - Stars
Charlotte Gainsbourg - IRM
Charlotte Gainsbourg's new album in produced and co-written by Beck, this track, if translated into englisdh would be 'MRI'

Portishead - The Rip - Third
The Soft Pack - Answer to Yourself
The Big Pink - Too Young To love - A Brief History of Love
Baby Monster - Ultra Violence and Beethoven
Soundlab -Snarl - Black Fish Project
Public Enemy - Bring the Noise - It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
Kurt Vile - Hunchback - Childish Prodigy
Warsaw - Transmission - The Complete Recordings
Warsaw changed their name and became Joy Division, these early recordings have recently been released.

Joensuu 1685 - I'm on Fire
This german band do a really noisy cover of the Bruce Springsteen song.

Suede - Stay Together (edit)
We seem to have forgotten Suede in the history of brit-pop, there were massive but all we seem to remember are Blur vs Oasis.

Fuck Buttons - Cross Bow
Silverfish - On the Motorway - Cockeye

Groove Armada - Warsaw - Black Light
Nick Littlemore from Pnau and Empire of the Sun teams up with Groove Armada for this first track from their forthcoming LP. It's a much denser and industrial sound than you usually here from Groove Armada.

Ku-Ling Bros feat Will Scarlet and Day One - The Calm Before - Here Come the Astronauts
Craig Armstrong - Morning Breaks - Piano Works

Radarmaker - Arm vs Fiery Antenna - Aristocracy and the Horse

Saint Etienne - London Belongs to Me - Fox Base Beta
They recently released a remastered version of their debut album 'Fox Base Alpha', simulteneously they've put out a new remixed version of the LP, all totally reworked by Richard X called 'Fox Base Beta'

Field Music - Measure
Here's the first track from the reformed Field Music, who've spent the last few years in different camps making music as The Week That Was and The School of Language.

Beaverloop - Bad Acid Jazz - Who Cares Wins
North Atlantic Oscillation - Cell Count - Grappling Hooks
Darren Sylvester - That's a Nice Haircut - Darren Sylvester
Cold Cave - Life Magazine - Love Comes Close
I first discovered this band from Canada when fellow 'Snooze Button' presenter Andrew Sinclair began playing them. Can't wait for their album to come out.

Camera Obscura - French Navy (Jim Noir Remix)
I love this alternate version of this tune, it's down, drawn out and dreamy.

Faith in Plastics - Hate to Say It - The Artic Market
Mr Scruff - Kalimba (Radio Edit)
The Spongetones - She Goes Out with Everybody

Snooze Button

2009-10-21T20:00:00.003+08:00

Here's my playlist from 'Snooze Button' this morning. You can listen to the show online here.

Maxence Cyrin - Smokebelch II - Modern Rhapsodies
Later inb the show I played a bracket of tracks to celebrate 20 years of Warp records, so to kick things off I started with a gentle somewhat classical version of Sabres of Paradise's 'Smokebelch II' - Maxence Cyrin makes piano versions of well know electronic and indie rock tunes, check out his MySpace page.

Tim Buckley - Sally Go Round the Roses - Morning Glory, The Tim Buckley Anthology
Most people know Tim Buckley as Jeff Buckley's Dad, or for his haunting and often covered tune 'Song to the Siren'. I bought this anthology a few years ago when we were based in Singapore, 'Sally Go Round the Roses' was originally by The Jaynets but Buckley's version is remarkably different.

Woodpigeon - Home as a romantacised concept where everyone loves you always and forever - Songbook
Woodpigeon are from Calgary, Canada and this is off their 2006 debut album. They have some interesting songtitles.

Memory Trees - Treeship - Seek Magic (bonus disc version)
Harvey Rae who presents 'Drivetime' on Thursday afternoons has been playing this band a fair bit, especially their catchy single 'Bicycle'. They hail from New Jersey, U.S.A. Thy have released their debut album 'Seek Magic', some copies come with a bonus disc with this epic 22 minute instrumental track. Check out their MySpace page.

Saint Etienne - 4:35 in the Morning (Talkin Blues Mix by Kid Loco) - Jesus Life for Children Under 12 Inches
I didn't say anything on air but I played this track at 4:35 in the morning and it is 4:35 long.

The Middle East - Blood
Steve Parkin - Blonde on Blonde

Blind Melon - No Rain (The Ripped Away Version) - The Best of Blind Melon
Elliot Smith - Waltz #2 XO - XO
It was the aniversary of these two rockers deaths. The laternate version of 'No Rain' is quite dark and forboding.

alecducak - Scrabbleman
The Silent World - Neue Auftrage Aus Berlin
I recently judged some heats and the final of the WA part of the National Campus Bands Competition. Both of these bands made it through to the final.

Lambchop - Up with the People (Zero 7 Remix)

Etienne Daho - Le Premier Jour
This track first appeared as 'Ready or Not' on Saint Etienne lead singer Sarah Cracknell's debut solo album. Here it is covered in french by frequent Saint Etienne collaborator Etienne Daho.

Liza Minelli - Rent - Results
Liza Minelli was playing at The Riverside Theatre that night so I chose a track off her 1988 album that was produced by The Pet Shop Boys. Often The Pet Shop Boys songs sound better when sung by other people. They certainly have a strong track record in writing songs for women.

Ride - Seagull - Nowhere
The Very Best featuring M.I.A. - Raindance - Warm Heart of Africa
Farley and Bovell - Reggae Train

Born Ruffians - Milkman / To Cure a Weakling Child - Warp 20 Revisted
Aphex Twin - Icct Hedral (Phillip Glass Orchestration) - Donkey Rhubarb EP
Sabres of Paradise - Smokebelch II (David Holmes Remix)
It's 20 years since WARP Records was founded, I remember when I was living in Newtown Sydney in 1995 suddenly WARP records were everywhere. They've just released a series of compilations to celebrate their 20th anniversary. Here Born Ruffians take on Aphex Twin. Secondly I played a rare track from Aphex Twin, Phillip Glass's orchestrated version of 'Icct Hedral' and finished off with the massive 15 minute version of 'Smokebelch II'.

Death Cab for Cutie - World Shut Your Mouth - Causes II
Finally I played Death Cab for Cutie taking on Julian Cope's best known song, this cover is quite uninspired a carbon copy of the original.

Snooze Button

2009-10-08T00:38:00.000+08:00

The Jesus and Mary Chain featuring Hope Sandoval - Sometimes Always
Hope Sandoval is best known as the leas singer of Mazzy Star, he voice is sultry and lucious, here she teams up with The Jesus and Mary Chain for this lazy piece of perfect pop.

Valgier Sigurdsson - Equilibrium is Restored - Ekvilibrium
Valgier Sigurdsson is best known for his behind the scenes work with Bjork, his own album though is an experimental and challenging mix of sounds.

The Curse of Company - Homecoming
I turned on RAGE early one morning to discover this band, it features members of Dappled Cities, Gerling, Expatirate, Mr Bungle and theredsunband.

The Novacaines - Like a Sunday Morning - Ragdoll
Hope Sandover and the Warm Intentions - Blue Bird - Through the Devil Softly

Split Seconds - Paperboy
This tracks being getting a fair amount of airplay on RTR in recent weeks, everytime we play it there are emails to the studio or phone calls asking what it is? Can't wait to hear more from local band Split Seconds.

Craig McElhinney - Bananamilk - Broken

Nick Lowe - I trained her to love me - At My Age
I discovered Nick Lowe's more recent work last year and know I'm really excited about his upcoming visit to WA with Ry Cooder.

Ryan Adams - Lost and Found - Pax AM 1
Ryan Adams performance at Metropolis Fremantle is probably the best show I've seen this year. He announced that he was giving up recording but it has only lasted a few months. For the last few weeks he's been released digital downloads through his website. Seven new songs so far.

Modest Mouse - Florida - We were dead before the ship even sank

Cloud Control - Gold Canary
This band from the Blue Mountains has slowly been putting out great songs, I can't wait until they have a whole album.

William Orbit - They Live in the Sky - Hello Waveforms
Steve Reich - Music for 18 Musicians (Coldcut) - Reich Remixed

Thom York - Feeling Pulled Apart by Horses
The Radiohead frontman has just put out an EP of new tunes similar in style to his previous solo work.

Cocteau Twins - Tishbite - Milk and Kisses
Depeche Mode - Peace- Sounds of the Universe
Franz Ferdinand - No You Girls (Vince Clark Remix)
The Morning Night - City - Decide What You Want
Turnstyle - Novak's Plan - Seasides
Munk - Disco Clown
Layo and Bushwacka -Low Life - Low Life
Saint Etienne - Like a Motorway (Chemical Brothers Remix) - Casino Classics

Vampire Weekend - Horchata
First track from their softmore album released online.

Labi Siffre - Give me just a little more line
You might recognise this tune from Fatboys Slim's track 'This Old Pair of Jeans' which is on his Greatest Hits collection. Labi Siffre was also sampled by Eminem for 'My Name Is'.

Friendly Fires - Jump in the Pool

The Redskins - Keep on Keeping On
This 1986 track on London Records is so danceable.

Snooze Button Play List

2009-09-14T19:26:00.002+08:00

Well after six weeks of training I completed my first shift on air at RTRFM. Like all new trainees I started on the early morning program 'Snooze Button' which airs from 4am to 6am. Being my first time on radio , I put a lot of thought into the music I chose - wanting to get a good mix of indie, local and the unexpected. When you own thousands of CD's its really hard to narrow it down to 30 tunes.

‘Finally Found A Reason’ – Art Garfunkel
This is the first record I ever owned, I won the LP 'Fate for the Breakfast' when I was about 5 years old by singing a song on the radio. I wasn't two impressed with Art Garfunkel when I first got it, for years I didn't know who he was, but he was mine. My brother had Sherbet, my sister had ABBA, I had solo Garfunkel.

‘Happiness’ – Jonsi and Alex
Jón Þór Birgisson is the lead singer of Icelandic band Sigur Ros and this musical side project is with his boyfriend Alex Somers. I chose this track mainly because it's 9 minutes long and it gave me time to settle into the studio.

‘I am a Child’ – Buffalo Springfield
This 1968 track from Buffalo Springfield was penned by Neil Young and is just gorgeous. I first came across it on a FSUK mix album by Bentley Rhythm Ace.

‘Rugla’ – Ammina
Another off-shoot of Sigur Ros, this icelandic quartet is lucious.

‘Death Cloud’ – Cloud Control
I first heard this band from The Blue Mountains early one morning on RAGE, they've only released a short EP and this song is only available on vinyl or digital download. I went to see them earlier this year when they supported Josh pyke but we were late and totally missed their set.

Seraphyn – Curtis Maldoon
Something a little but rare and interesting, this track was recorded in the late 60's, but it wasn't a hit. Decades later the neice of one of the members sang the verse in a session for producer William Orbit - the recording was included in a box of demos sent to Madonna and she used it to create the tune 'Ray of Light' - which went on to sell millions. Apparently one of the writers of the original track was working in a laundry when they finally tracked him down to give him a royalty check in the millions.

The Parachute Failure – Apricot Rail
This local band is at the forefront of a wave of instrumental Perth bands, I've played their album so much in the last few months.

Confusion is Nothing New – Beachwood Sparks
I bought this CD back in 1991, it's great californian pop.

The Internationale – The Malkies
When I was 13 I went to see folky punk rockers Roaring Jack play at the Sandringham Hotel in Nwetown, Sydney. Obviously at 13 I was very underage, but the bar was so crowded nobody would have noticed. Years later when I lived in Sydney we would reguarly go and see frontman Alistair Hullet perform at different pubs around town. Alistairs now living in Glasgow and his new band is The Malkies, but they've rerecorded some classic Roaring Jacks like The Internationale.

While You Wait for The Others – Grizzly Bear feat Michal MacDonald
I started listening to Grizzly Bear after Ryan Sandilands kept enthusing about them on 'Out to Lunch', they've recently recorded a new version of the third single from their album with former Doobie Brother Michael MacDonald.

Let Your Hand Be Your Guide – The Ghost Hotel
This song from local band The Ghost Hotel is so catchy, one listen and you'll be hooked.

‘Mirrored Beginning’ – The Horrors
‘Who Can Say’ – The Horrors
The album 'Primary Colours' has been on high rotation in my car, I just got their first album too.

‘Rescue’ – Black Cab
‘Coffin Scratch’ – St Helens
Two great bands from Melbourne, I've really been getting into rough and murky sounds lately.

‘Death Disco Dancer’ – O.Children
This is a new band from the UK, they sound a bit like Bloc Party and elements of The Cure. The lead singer is about 7 foot tall, so they look impressive in photos. This has been my tune of the week.

King of the World – Angelfish
One of the rarest CD's I own, it took me ages to find a copy of this album, I bought this in Hong Kong. Years later I found a second copy in a op-shop and gave it to my friend Jai who is a massive Garbage fan. Angelfish is the band Shirley Manson was in before Garbage. It's not available on itunes so it's still a fairly rare album.

Smoke Stacks – Genghis
Blue Sky – Mach Pelican
The Less Trusted Pain Remover – Jebediah
A block of local music, I saw Genghis play at the Rocket Room recently and they were great. Mach Pelican is a band I saw play live heaps of times, but always as a support act for someone else, we used to joke that all their songs were the same just with different intros.

Jebediah are one of my favourite bands, I have no idea how many times I've seen them play. When I was in Hong Kong I got sent a copy of their second album in the mail and I was so excited to have a little bit of Perth music to cherish. I can't wait to see them at Mojo's on Wednesday!

Bullet Boy (vox) – Robert Del Naja
Splitting the Atom – Massive Attack
Massive Attack, I've been a lover of them since the beginning, they lost me during the 100th window period, and teased us with that one new track on the Greatest Hits album, now their back and they are timeless. When we play this on the radio people call up and ask about it.

Matiere Grasse Conte Matiere Grise – MC Solar
Rap just sound awesome in French, and bloody terrible with an Aussie accent.

Lovely Day – Bill Withers
I first came across Bill Withers when I was in London in 1988, his track was remixed by Ben Liedebrand and was in a TV commercial, it was the number one song and on the radio every five minutes.

You Came Out – We Have Band
This is a new band from the UK, they do a great cover of The Pet Shop Boys 'West End Girls'

Entertainment Tonight – King George
This young band from Fremantle are pretty impressive.

Orange Crush (instrumental) – REM
Wake Up Boo! – The Boo Radleys
A real trick in radio is working out when to play the last song of the hour, so that it ends bang on the hour when the news begins. I did the maths the night before - it's never been my strong point. I chose an instrumental song to be second last so I could bring the final track o=in over the top. Litening to the track wind down in one ear, and cueing the news in the other was like watching a car crash in slow motion, it worked out perfectly but my heart was beating fast. This is the perfect get out of bed song, I've since learned it used to be a favourite of UK broadcaster Chris Evans.

National Campus Band Competiton

2009-09-13T20:25:00.002+08:00

Last week I judged a heat of The National Campus Band competition and on Saturday night I was invited back to judge The State Final. Seven bands, four songs each, 20 minutes maximum on stage.

There was a such a range of different types of music, and while some had great stage presence, others scored high for their originality or musicianship, showing that it really takes a lot to be the whole package.

The winners were The Brow Horn Orchestra, a 7 piece band with trumpets and rapping MC's - somewhere between Madness, The Cat Empire and Eminem. THe Brow have been around for about a year and we're really tight. The runner up was a band called Alecducak - and although they've only played a handful of gigs there was something really interesting happening in this band, a strange combination of sounds, instuments and arrangements - definatley a band to check out - very Radiohead influsenced.

Condor Park Tower

2009-07-25T00:51:00.001+08:00

Went to the opening of the street art in Condor Park Tower, totally amazing, will write more later.

Indigenous Art Awards

2009-07-24T00:49:00.001+08:00

Mr L and I went to the Indigenous Art Awards at the Art Gallery of Western Australia, impressive ceremony and the art was just amazing. It's on for the enxt three months and definately worth taking a look at.

Afterwards we went shopping in the city, bought DVD's in JB Hi-Fi and new clothes in Myers. Had dinner in an Italian resteraunt, which was OK.

Don't Swallow

2009-07-23T00:46:00.000+08:00

Went to John Robertson's one man show 'Don't Swallow; when your holding your head above an ocean filled with shit', it was very funny, I had tears in my eyes. It's on for the next three weeks.

The drinks afterwards were great, didn't get home until after midnight.

Jazz in July

2009-07-18T00:44:00.002+08:00

Jass in July at The Ellington was totally sold out, a great fundraiser for RTRFM. I was so impressed with The Ellington as a venue, so classy.

I wasn't really in the headspace for jazz, so I spent most of the night outside on the pavement welcoming and greeting people, it was cold and rainy but it was fun hanging out.

Scraps

2009-07-14T00:42:00.001+08:00

Went down to Little Creatures where Ilsa Bennion and Darren Hutchinson are having a showing of their Scraps Exhibition, saw Ilsa this time, which was fun.

Afterwards met Mr L and we had fish and chips and Ice-cream.

Get Your Shorts On

2009-07-09T00:38:00.002+08:00

I think this years 'Get Your Shorts On' was the best I've been to yet, the films were great and for once, I hadn't seen most of them, 'Tinglewood' got the most amazing screams out of the audience. Ian Booth had trouble with the microphone, it could have been a classic comedy.

Afterwards at The Scotsman there was Zak Hilditch, Alison James, Pauline and Antony Webb, Edith and Alex Von Hoffman, Pierce Davison and Liz Hoffman, Glen Adams and Liz Sideris, Ethan Marrell, Daniel Balint. It was a lot of fun. Upstairs caught up with Jo Hos and Robyn Kershaw.

Aftwerwards Jo and I went across to the RTRFM studios to say hi to Shannon who was presenting the punk rock show 'Burn the Airwaves'.

Blue Room Launch + Animation at 399

2009-07-08T00:35:00.003+08:00

Went to launch of The Blue Room theatre's new season, each Producer got 3 minutes to talk to the major arts journalists. Afterwards there were drinks and then the launch were scenses of some productions were performed. It was an impressive event. I met Michelle Roberts and saw James Berlyn for the first time in more than a decade.

Afterward went to drinks with Animators at Bar 399, saw Gareth Lockett and Kerry Jean Watson, Anomie, Liz Kearney and Pierce Davison, Liz thought a guy standing outside the bar might be english actor Kris Marshall - but he wasn't.

Adventures of Power

2009-07-03T00:33:00.002+08:00

I missed the opening of the Revelation International Film Festival, cause I chose to go to Simon and Garfunkel. Tonight we had a special RTRFM Screening, lots of people turned up and we had some special VIP drinks before hand.

Amok at The Butcher's Shop

2009-07-02T21:09:00.000+08:00

Dropped by The Butcher's Shop earlier to see the new exhibition from Amok

Simon and Garfunkel

2009-07-02T00:29:00.002+08:00

Had an absoloutly once in a lifetime evening, saw Simon and Garfunkel at the Burswood Dome.

My first record was Art Garfunkel's 'Fate for Breakfast', I won in a radio competion. I probably wasn't too impressed with it at the time, but I've grown to love it. I still have it and during the show each of them did a little solo sety and Garfunkel sang 'Bright Eyes'. When I got home I downloaded my favourite songs on itunes.

These guys were true performers, absolute masters of capturing an audiences attention. They had eveyone dancing in the ailes at the end with 'Cecilia'.