This cute Lisa Mitchell-type character hails from Sydney but moved to L.A to make beautiful music. When I first saw her video clip for The Show I knew she looked familiar – this girl made her musical debut with Decoder Ring. She’s very cutesy but does it in a mature way, her breathy voice acting as an ethereal force in her music. Her songs have even made it into TV shows like Greys Anatomy and Ugly Betty.

The Sundance Kids

When I came across them on Myspace I felt a bit silly because I’d heard them before and totally forgot. But some music shouldn’t go off the radar. These guys are from the Adelaide Hills in S.A. They sound almost like an American teen/rock band, but one that doesn’t represent the collective maturity of six 10 year old boys. What’s exciting is that they’re going to be playing a free show at the Brisbane Powerhouse on the 18th of October.

Gossip singer Beth Ditto has told her girlfriend Freddie that she cannot accompany her on her UK Tour in November this year.

Ditto who is believed to have been in a relationship with Freddie for the last 8 years, has said the ban is because she wants to protect the woman she loves from the onslaught of the UK Press.

“[It’s] not because I don’t think she can handle it, but because that’s my life,” reports Contactmusic.com. “Say what you want about me. Say it to my face, say it behind my back, write it on the fucking bathroom mirror, I don’t care. But do not talk about the people I love. I will lose my mind.”

Ditto made claims that The Mirror went all the way to Arkansas just to find her Dad’s phone number, she was furious and refused to allow another member of her family to be affected by her fame or the overimposing UK press.

Sucks to be famous.  I think Ditto is one of the only celebs with a firm grasp on exactly what the media is for.  She gives them what they want and then some.  Keeping their cameras off her family shouldn’t be too big a deal right?  Who wants to see what her GF looks like anyway? Seriously?  I couldn’t give a sh*t, and speak to her Dad, what for? 

Only problem is Ditto, once you say ‘No’ they get more money for their shots, she’s going to get hounded, you might have to lock her in a room.

Everyone likes to predict the future and guessing the Big Day Out lineup in September 2009 for a January 2010 event seems to be the go, so I thought I’d let you all in on what I have ‘heard’.

Paul McCartney is apparently coming to our Aussie shores in the summer, so rumour has it he’ll be gracing the stages of BDO.  Muse is a big contender after releasing their new album ‘The Resistance’.  Depeche Mode are also heavily rumoured to be coming.

Someone mentioned Metallica and Radiohead (fingers crossed).  Also got it from somewhere else that Eminem will headline???  I’ve heard Lily Allen, Mars Volta, Wolfmother, La Roux, Blur, Blink 182, AC/DC and Kasabian.

I’ve read Modest Mouse, Passion Pit, UB40, Jet, The Drones, Lisa Mitchell, Bluejuice, Karnivool and Philadelphia Grand Jury will also be here.

These bands have come from some of the best sources I can find, anyone heard anything different?

Music Festival ‘Secret Sessions’ to be held at the Numinbah Valley in QLD hinterland has been refused a council permit for the location.

The location which has been home to the festival for the last 5 years is believed to be situated too close to a low security prison and authorities fear what may happen when thousands of festival goers descend on the tranquil parklands.

Festival organisers have been selling tickets to the event for the last six months, yet according to a local councillor, they only applied for the permits three weeks ago.

The Secret Sessions website http://www.secretsessionsfestival.com/ has promised the event will not be cancelled and that they are in negotiations with the GC City Council to get into the planned venue, or to find another.  Either way the show must go on!

The Lineup for Secret Sessions includes Baby G, Erotic Dream, Hedonix, Dave Basek, Spyrallus, Chocolate Strings, Fungalicious and plenty more trance/techno/mushroom inspired noise I don’t know the names of.

Check it out.

…supported by themselves as Mariachi el Bronx, Numbers Radio and Dr El Suavo
The audio of the gig

I was concerned about seeing the Bronx in the Hifi’s terraced room. At gigs there I always find myself perched on the edge of a step, balancing drinks when people push past. Given the Bronx’s ability to whip their audience into a leaping frenzy I foresaw carnage and broken legs; potentially mine.

DJ and apparent MC, Dr El Suavo – dressed in black tie with white neck scarf and a Mexican wrestling mask didn’t ease my concern so much as give me something to focus my irritation upon, prattling on like a pompous arse between the uninspired songs he played.

Mariachi el Bronx was an intriguing unknown. My understanding of it was that the Bronx were giving life to their love of traditional mariachi music which seemed to have great potential for being an embarrassing wank or a lifeless pisstake.

The band appeared in Mexican outfits, lacking only the charro hats. Singer Matt Caughthran walked on with a Corona in hand and Mariachi el Bronx launched into it. It was absolutely mariachi, and the band was clearly enjoying it. The crowd was too.

The music was quiet enough that talking punters would have disrupted the sound, but the Bronx’s people engaged. Song titles like Cell Mates, Litigation and My Brother the Gun hint at the subject matter of the songs. Matt Caughthran expressed longing and hurt in a voice remarkably untainted by years of larynx-shredding screaming in front of a hardcore punk band. His unfailing grin at performing in front a crowd contrasted with the coolness of the rest of the group, particularly sunglassed drummer Jorma Vik.

As an experiment or as a genuine band, it worked. A crowd that came to see a hardcore punk band were swaying along to a Mariachi band with a female guitarron player.

As soon as they finished there was a mass exodus. I joined it – so the next act, Numbers Radio, remain a mystery to me. At $26 for three beers poured into plastic cups too small for them, so the last 30mls or so is poured out, not many wanted to lay down their cash to charge up in the venue.

The room refilled in time to hear Dr El Suavo describe the fans down the front as dickheads and then the Bronx made their way out gripping beers and looking like they’d been drinking steadily for the hour since we last saw them.

They tore straight in and were unidentifiable from their earlier guise. Caughthran was screaming, Jorma Vik was brutalising his drumkit and Brad Magers looked like a bass player with a collection of Lynyrd Skynyrd records rather than the moustachioed mariachi trumpeter he had been earlier.

The Bronx exuded total joy in the music and the event. They created a sense of community with the fans who braved the pit. My apprehension about the venue’s many stairs proved unfounded, the flat area in front of the stage was the perfect size for the surging pit the band whipped up. Caughthran exhorted his people to “go crazy” and “retarded” and they responded with leaping, crowd surfing and a few stage invasions that were greeted with pleasure by the band – microphones were shared.

When the crowd’s energy waned after a sloppy middle section from the band, who seemed too pissed to maintain their focus, Caughthran leapt down to join the crowd in the pit to push things along. The hands-on approach squeezed more energy from the crowd, much to the dismay of the two bouncers defending the stage. Caughthran praised them for their work but explained that “these are our good, close friends here and we want to get close to eachother.” How many bands who’ve moved beyond their loungerooms give an audience a blank cheque like that?

The crowd didn’t abuse it, just fed off the blitz of noise. Caughthran summed it up when he told the bouncers they were great, the band they were greater and the crowd that they were the greatest.

The set was just over an hour and included most of the highlights from the band’s three albums, with They Will Us All (Without Mercy) and White Tar the standouts.

That a hardcore punk band from LA could be so life affirming is remarkable – it was pure, total rocknroll. The crowd left smiling.

Peter Gabriel was the founder and lead singer of Genesis, until 1975 when he left the band to pursue a solo career.  Gabriel is known more recently for producing and promoting world music.

World music, for people who are unsure, is music from cultures other than the Western world.  World music is generally derived from Africa, Asia and Latin America, however it can and does come from anywhere.

Peter Gabriel is the driving force behind WOMAD (World of Music Arts and Dance) and has created a record label called ‘Real World Studios’ which aims to promote world music and educate the Western world.

World music encapsulates the heart of sound, listening to a noise that is as old as man does something deep within my core.  Listening to this music helped me to realise that we as a Western world are only skimming the surface of possibilities.  Perhaps we missed the point when it came to creating sound, focusing more on the superficial.

Just a thought… Listen to some of this, see what you think.

Kate Miller-Heidke wrote a hilarious new song about old flames on Facebook from quickly scrawled notes in pencil and recorded it live at the HiFi Bar.

Check it out, you’ll laugh your arse off.

Lyrics

The say everyone should have their heart broken at least once,
That is how you grow emotionally
Well I have been misused by many-many-many men
But nothing can compare to how you treated me
At times it really felt as though the pain was here to stay
And though it’s many years ago I feel it to this day

And now
You wanna be my friend on Facebook
Are you fucking kidding me?

All the memories are flooding back to me now
All the ways you stole the light from my eyes
I travelled so far just to get away from you
‘Til this morning’s friend request surprise

At times it really felt as though I’d never smile again
You narcissistic arsehole
Oh you nasty, nasty man

And now
You wanna be my friend on Facebook
Are you fucking kidding me?

I don’t wanna know what kind of cocktail you are
Or which member of the Beatles
Or which 1960s movie star

I don’t give a toss if you’re a ninja or a pirate
I’d suspect you’d be a pirate
But I don’t wanna verify it

And I don’t give a shit what your stripper name is
Or if your kitty had a litter
Look – just follow me on twitter
I don’t care about your family tree
And I certainly don’t want you poking me (again)

And so you wanna be my friend on Facebook
Oh you fucking, fucking fuck
Click, ignore

Patrick Swayze died today at the age of 57 from pancreatic cancer.

The Dirt Dancing star was diagnosed and told the cancer had spread to his liver in March 2008.  He continued to work throughout the fight to save his life and refused to take pain killers as he believed they would take the edge off his performance in ‘The Beast’, the cable tv drama series he was working on.

Swayze, a 3 time Golden Globe nominee also had a one hit wonder with “She’s like the wind” (written about his wife) for the soundtrack for the film Dirty Dancing.  He starred in Ghost and many a romantic flick.  Swayze also had a sense of humour, occasionally appearing on Saturday Night Live.

RIP

Swayze and Chris Farley as Chippendales dancers on SNL.

After Kanye West dissed Taylor Swift during her acceptance speech at the MTV Awards …. celebs are firing up…..

From Ruby Rose about 5 hours ago on Twitter

Taylor swift won best clip – kanye jumped on stage during her speech and said she didn’t deserve it – beyonce did. I am horrified.

And then about an hour later…

Fuck you kanye seriously your a c**t

From Katy Perry about 4 hours ago on Twitter

FUCK U KANYE. IT’S LIKE U STEPPED ON A KITTEN.

More from Ruby Rose about 4 hours ago

P diddy is reading off an autocue presenting an award and mentioned good rappers – when he said kanye the crowd booed..He had to stop

An hour later

Beyonce won best all over video – invited Taylor to take the stage. Everyone is crying

There’s a reason why beyonce is my hero.