TRAVEL DIARY

A weblog regularly updated by Jodi Rose.

  

VIEWING ALL POSTS FOR: SEPTEMBER 2006

Saturday, September 30, 2006

1:46 PM
Posted by jodi rose

here at the octapod
mash-up of festival events
beach 40% art 10% radio 25% food 25%
go figure
wild array of guests on my first nywf tin program last night, from the politics of blogging, to experimental music and writing, and finally a disco in the studio.
taking myself out into the sunshine for a short walk to find the experimental writing masterclass.
intermittent festival anxiety - ohmigod I have to do everything - offset by complete lethargy oh hey great some friends in the sun with ginger beer.
zine foisted on me by someone I was at art school with on our way back from the gorgeous ocean baths; mixing recipes for the live radio feed with hostess duties coming up sunday night; there may be dancing tonight. you never can tell....

Thursday, September 28, 2006

3:59 PM
Posted by jodi rose

a fresh pot of early grey tea
chewy multigrain toast with fancy french cherry jam
walk through a number of parks home from abc

revisited the judith wright paintings at grant pirrie gallery
'in praise of darkness: conversations with the father'

something endlessly intriguing about them, very dark red and black
abstract, textural, acrylic on paper, large scale with a single red shape.
they draw you into this world of fragility, darkness, vulnerability and leave you wondering about all the unspoken fragments of communication. gorgeous. thinking about painting a lot lately.
not something I've done since high school, which is very liberating. start making marks on paper one day soon. have a clear corner of my room, all ready for some messy colour and texture action.

now I've survived attempting to kill myself on a prawn cracker - it was accidental, they don't usually have REAL prawn, despite the name - and having to get shots of adrenaline and hydrocortisone, life seems all the more beautiful and precious. Adrenaline isn't a drug experience I'd recommend, caffeine jitters x 10, lying in bed pulse racing, heart skittery and weird jumpy twitching all over my face. Nice. Lovely Helen talked me through the experience, initial reaction and how the treatment works, all these things to learn about the physiology of allergy. At least I'm taking it seriously again, was getting a bit lax.

not sure if I'm taking life more or less seriously, or if it would be a good thing either way. balance seems to be the key. some things are worth worrying about, others just loom at you then fade naturally.
completely ignoring major life decisions, not enough information.
people keep asking; where are you going, are you staying? I don't know. It depends. All correspondence will be entered into.
Starting to feel a vague shape for the next 6 months, drawn towards gardening. yes, it's an urge I have never felt before, but suddenly have an inexplicable need for green things in my proximity. Well, quite explainable I guess - wanting to put down roots - but really noticing how much difference a few trees and flowers make to a street. Now, where to start digging one of my own............

Thursday, September 28, 2006

2:59 PM
Posted by jodi rose

feeling starved of alternative culture, music and media art?
here's some gigs, films and events in a range of places to get you away from the reality tv, off the computer and out into the world. have fun!!

SYDNEY

MU-MESON ARCHIVES

Friday 29th September
From the Avant Garde to the Electronic: Music from the fringes
Rare 1966 documentary on John Cage jazz and experimentation New Tempo. Rare clips of the Theramin from 1930's to present day featuring Japans Yoko Onishi and Russia's Messa Chups. Interviews with Robert Moog and a look behind the scenes of a synthesiser museum. The way of the future is analogue. Mu-Meson Archives $10 doors 7.30pm for 8pm start with light supper

Monday 2nd October
Invasion of the Star Creatures (1963)
A pair of comical soldiers (Robert Ball and Frankie Ray) investigate a mysterious crater in an atomic detonation area and discover several beautiful alien vixens (Dolores Reed and Gloria Victor) who plan to conquer the world using an army of vegetable monsters. Yes sounds preposterous and it is so don't miss it. 16mm Due to Public Holiday we are screening at the Mu-Meson Archives 7.30pm Donation

Mu-Meson Archives at Crn Parramatta Rd & Trafalgar St Annandale at the end of King Furniture building up the steel staircase.

MELBOURNE

Melbourne Filmoteca: Latin American, Spanish & Portuguese Film Group
presents....

AMAZON DOCUMENTARIES

Thursday 28 September 7.30pm
ACMI - Federation Square

THE SHAMAN'S APPRENTICE (Miranda Smith, Surinam/USA, 2001, 53mins)
+ BETWEEN MIDNIGHT & THE ROOSTER'S CROW (Nadja Drost, Canada/Ecuador,
2005, 66mins)

Spanish with English subtitles (both films)
Admission 18+ (unclassified)
SHAMAN'S screens at 7.30. MIDNIGHT at 8.30

Two fascinating documentaries about the struggles for today's Amazon.

Set in Surinam, The Shaman's Apprentice looks at one man's quest to
preserve the ancient wisdom of the Amazon. For more than twenty years ethnobotanist Mark Plotkin has studied the relationship between
indigenous people and plants that heal. In the Amazon it is the
shaman - a tribe's doctor and spiritual leader - who preserves the
knowledge of the whole tribe. But the shaman is also the most
endangered species of the Amazon. Without an apprentice, when a
shaman dies they their knowledge goes with them. It is these shamans
that Mark seeks out, hoping to save their precious knowledge.

From Ecuador, Between Midnight & The Rooster's Crow examines the
fight to preserve Amazonian land and its people in the face of
powerful oil-companies who have laid waste to a fragile environment
that is a critical to all life on Earth.

MELBOURNE (2)

crazy sweet shows aka Shit loads of brutally nice shit

on sunday the 1st of october at horse bazaar:

dj double decker (aka rod cooper) - double gramophone/contact
mics /LP's. using handmade stylus' and incorporating soundeffects, pop music and sandpaper, cooper re-invents the wheels of steel with a steampunk's ears.

greg kingston (hobart) - guitar, toys, vocals and sean baxter -
drumkit, junk. two drunks meet on a park bench, necking their longies from brown paper bags, whilst meditating on the nature of communicative action.

anthony pateras and robin fox - electronics
"Far from the lifeless plague of spacebartronica, they execute an
electrified real-time homage to some of their favorite obsessions:
breakneck pacing, vocal hysterics, blistering textures, bodily
functions and dysfunctions."

djs janette howard and nina

where: horse bazaar, 397 little lonsdale street
start: 7pm
door: $5

Later That night...

Buckets at Spanish Club @10pm
(with lotsa other Adrock projects including Legends of Motorsport, to keep the tassie theme going)

Oct 3rd:

The Melbourne Fringe Festival inconjunction with the Make it up Club proudly presents 2 nights of improvised music, running on 2 consecutive Tuesdays - the 3rd and the 10th of October.

Gary Butler (Wollongong) - guitar, toys and noise with Dave Brown - bass guitar
Greg Kingston (Hobart) - guitar, toys, vocals with Carolyn Connors - ukelele & voice and Clayton Thomas (Sydney) - double bass
Woodwind ensemble featuring: Kate Neal - recorder, Martin Mackerras - clarinet, Belinda Woods - flute, Tim Pledger - saxophone and Phillip
Greenlief (USA) - saxophone
Rod Cooper - handmade sound sculptures, Mark Harwood - "the shudder" and Natasha Anderson - contrabass recorder
Armyish - Marcus Griffin, Justin Fuller and Emile Zile - evil kid's keyboard drone with vocals and visuals
Visuals: Emile Zile

DJ: It's Is

Oct 10th:
Anthony Pateras - piano, Lucas Abela (Sydney) - glass noise and Max Kohane (Agents of Abhorrence) - drumkit
Passenger of Shit - laptop, vocals, Xian - desktop, vocals and Sean Baxter - drumkit
Errki Veltheim - viola and Anthea Caddy - cello
Robin Fox - electonics, Adam Simmons - saxophone, James Wilkinson - trombone, Mat Sanders (Damaged/Terrorust) - drumkit, James Ludbrook (Damaged/Terrorust) - vocals

Y35.3 - Sasha Margolis and Mark Skelton - Synths on input, pedals, Am radio, violin, consumer advice cassettes, pint glasses, voice

Visuals: iCandy

DJ: Nina

Where: Upstairs @ Bar Open, 317 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy
Start: 8:30pm
Cost: $10 & $8 concession.

SYDNEY (2)

CYCLIC DEFROST GIGS

Thursday Oct 5 at Bar Broadway, a night of global microgenres and
blogosphere music from Ghislain Poirier (Canada), DJ Gorky (Brazil),
Nick Catchdubs (Fader mag NYC), and Lemon Red.

Sunday Oct 8 at Phoenix Bar, dubstep pioneer and thinker Kode9 plays
his only Sydney show. Just $10 at the door supported by Sydney
dubstep legend Moving Ninja who was recently interviewed in Cyclic
Defrost. Maybe you caught Kode9 when he played at Frigid back in 2002 - if you didn't then you need to catch him - he is the man behind the Hyperdub label (www.hyperdub.com). He is also writing a book on
metaphors of war and infection in sonics.

Friday Oct 13 at Club Kooky, Montreal-based producer Deadbeat plays
his only Sydney show. Deadbeat has always been a Frigid favourite
making warm rich dub techno on the Rhythm & Sound and Pole tip.
Deadbeat has been working with Monolake designing new software and
also collaborates with others under various pseudonyms including
Crackhaus. (rather rare) Sub Bass Snarl set as support. $10 at the door.

BERLIN

BLAST THEORY

Blast Theory will premiere their new work, Day Of The Figurines this September as part of the Trampoline Festival in Berlin.
Date: 28th September 2006 to 22nd October 2006.

Location: Hebbel Am Ufer, Hallesches, Ufer 32,10963 Berlin, Germany

Day Of The Figurines is part board game, part secret society. The game is set in a fictional town that is littered, dark and underpinned with steady decay.

It lasts for 24 days beginning from Thursday 28th September. Each day represents an hour in the life of a small English town that shifts from the mundane to the cataclysmic: Scandinavian metallists play a gig at the Locarno that goes horribly wrong as Middle Eastern troops invade the town from the west.

How you respond to these events and to each other creates and sustains a community during the course of the 24 hours of the town.

From the Gasometer to Product Barn, the Canal to the Rat Research Institute, up to 1,000 players roam the streets, defining yourselves through your interactions.

The centrepiece of the game is a model town housed in the foyer of HAU2 in Berlin. Each of the 1,000 players is represented by a small plastic figurine which is moved by hand every hour for the duration of the game.

To play, players are invited to create a figurine to enter the town: to name it and answer questions about its past. Thereafter participation in the game is via SMS on your mobile phone.

You can join in at any time during the game by visiting HAU2 at the Hebbel Am Ufer.

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

10:12 PM
Posted by jodi rose

-------------------------------------------------
live_feed :: A Recipe for Radio
SUN 1 OCT :: 10:35-12:05 UTC
-------------------------------------------------

Live Remix from Electrofringe Festival, Newcastle, Australia and on
The Night Air, ABC Radio National 8.30 - 10.00 PM SUN OCT 1

On October the 1st as part of the Electrofringe Festival in Newcastle
ABC radio's programme The Night Air will be going live for The Night
Share with a celebration of remixing and sharing on air across Australia,
online and with live audiences in Newcastle and participation from around the world.

As part of The Night Share the live_feed will be cooking up a recipe
for radio, celebrating the recipe as a way of sharing, you are invited to share your recipes,
mix ingredients and help cook up a storm in the radio kitchen.

We are collecting ingredients now for this sonic cook off and we need
you to share a recipe for radio with us.
What are the recipe's that people have shared with you?
Share them with us - Tell us the story.

Or maybe you have some ingredients looking for a recipe...

foodradio_network will be cooking up the stories and ingredients you share on the The Night Share

There are recipes that go generations unchanged
and some we improvise with every time.

Do you cook by the carefully measured tablespoon
or is a pinch or a handful or a splash more your style?

However you cook, we think everything tastes better shared...
So use your imagination, maybe you have recipes for success, recipies for disaster, recipes for potato pancakes ... turn your phone into a
microphone and call in now to the sonic snackline and share a recipe,
a tasty tale or contribute a sonic ingredient from your fridge stove
or pantry...

Call in to the sonic snackline on +61 2 80033221 (local call sydney)
or skype us at 'livefeed' and share your recipes

go to the live_feed website at http://hybridradio.org/livefeed
for details of other ways to contribute and upload files and
how to join in live on the night.

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

10:08 PM
Posted by jodi rose

campari apple and mango drink of the evening
shared a satay noodle with lisa
listening to melange of hawaiian, thai, classic and jazz fm - although had to flip over from the 'ironic shostakovich' piece. heard some fantastic polish jazz the other day, from a cd called 'best of Polish jazz 2005'.

up at 6.30 am for a walk, then started the day in court - an innocent bystander, really officer... well, ok passenger. entertaining stories from my friend's lawyer about the misinterpretations that can arise from the solicity privilege confidentiality understanding; like the client who confessed during an unrelated matter to having got away with a murder... luckily they were charged before it became too messy.

speaking of which, the changes to australian citizenship are out of this world, I don't think I would pass that test. then again, have been unaustralian for years - if the current govt is the measure. notice most of the entertainers invited to perform for the troops at xmas have declined to go in protest at the war in iraq, despite little johnny saying it's 'not political'. aha. just like the new id card 'isn't compulsory'.

ah well, back to the bubble of art, radio and wandering round the city in conversation with friends. much more satisfying.

Sunday, September 24, 2006

9:44 PM
Posted by jodi rose

Lining up guests for the NYWF show on TiN radio.
The brightest, hottest writing talent australia has to offer... stand by!

Really getting into being back in my old neighbourhood. Best local cafes in the world, more trips to the beach and harbour in two weeks than over the past two years, and three of my closest overseas friends suddenly appear in sydney completely independently. Something definitely going on here.

Visit Lizzie, Mike and the boys in their mushroom house, a tiny hidden country corner of Bondi, blow bubbles and talk trucks with Max, negotiate 20c dinner with Mike, talk old times, mutual friends and new adventures with Lizzie. We have a date traversing old haunts in darlinghurst tomorrow, rediscovering the city together.

Lunch at circular quay with lisa and her parents & family friends mary and terry today, stories of horses and football, dubai to christmas island. Struggle home through the spooky hot wind, precursor to hurricanes or just the bushfires now ringing sydney. It's going to be a crazy nightmare summer; we're in the mid 30's already in early spring.

traumatic stars last week, the world gone awry with various disasters in extended circle of friends making one wonder about the possibility of life ever really working out. Have to keep dreaming it up, I guess.

Moving furniture working for me this week - completely new room with all this extra space. Mum used to do it late at night; I'd wake to stumble through new pathways in the lounge room. Living in a world out of whack, everyday life slightly disorienting if not downright strange - much easier just to rearrange the deckchairs. so to speak.

Thinking of financial future and stability in a whole new light. Can't keep relying on incredible generosity and goodwill of friends during these ridiculous times. Maybe it would be good to stay for a while. Even found a fanastic sounding job to apply for - although worried I may have made myself completely unemployable. still, give it a go.

Being here is making me reassess that urge to keep moving, particularly to the other side of the world. maybe life is alright.

Saturday, September 16, 2006

10:42 PM
Posted by jodi rose

It's been a social week. Amazing how much more fun life is when you make the effort to connect with people. Had a long meandering phone conversation with the always inspiring Sue. Remembering that once you've got the basics covered, how much you enjoy yourself is a matter of choice. Even without any money - why does the cash flow gap always happen when I get home? return to earth, lisa says - managing to have an amazing time. Sunshine and ocean helps - had my first swim in the sea for almost a year today, at clovelly with philippa and friends after meeting sole and ben's new baby, only six days old. Gorgeous. Lush brunch in john's rambling country style house on the beach - ducks in the backyard (and for a while in the bath), many lovely people to talk with and lots of kids running around, smoked salmon mini bagels with capers and dill, champagne, freshly squeezed orange juice (I helped with that on industrial juicer), music from kids playing drums and hannah playing chopin preludes on the grand piano, relaxing and delicious. The baby has the longest fingers and incredibly calm.

Relocated up to connies balcony and watched the lorikeets puff on liquid amber, then scenic drive around bondi and walked from the gap to doyles for fish and chips. On certain days Sydney is spectacular.

Art and culture everywhere, from underland (great music, not sure how the movement related at all) to emily wise (beautiful shapes, fun interaction and poetic navigation metaphors) and florence broadhurst. Definitely see 'Unfolding Florence' if you get the chance, story of a wildly creative and original woman who reinvented herself from small town queensland to high society sydney and london. Beautiful animation techniques from early photos, and great documentary style.

Living in an art installation, eclectic colourful clothes strewn across the room, piles of important papers mingling with fliers and junk mail. One more day of down time then it's go go go all the way to next year.

'This is not art' coming up, with national young writers festival radio program in newcastle, bloggers bbq, and the night air live program.
More fun than you can poke a stick at!!

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

12:42 PM
Posted by jodi rose

congratulations to sole and ben, welcome to the world harpo!! xx

cafe ella how I love you. comfy lounge chair, living room space I want to move into forever, and unexpected bonus free wifi by the window. rockn.

strange week of acclimatisation to the familiar. constant rain tinging everything with a soothing torrential melancholy.

flight home from brisbane in some kind of altered state, the night lights along eastern seaboard blinking messages from other worlds, educational radio program with author of how to series 'how to make people like you in 90 seconds or less'; 'how to connect in business in 90 seconds or less'; and my personal favourite 'how to make someone love you forever in 90 minutes or less'. there you go can't wait to read them. apparently wisdom culled from many different sources, not just his experience. persuasion, trust, making sense and moving people seemed to be key. hey, might as well use those propaganda techniques for good. not evil. or is that what people always imagine they're doing nicholasboothman.com must check it out. enthusiasm, curiosity and empathy all sound fine to me, and can attest to their effectiveness.

intrigued by carmen electra's offering to the world on a friday night stroll through kmart with lisa (yes it's a high glamour lifestyle here)
carmen has made a DVD 'fit to strip' with a series of dance, chair and pole routines. Hmmm, just going to keep working on building creative muscle and brain elasticity, I think. Walking more and thinking about yoga now and then. research has shown that visualising yourself doing exercise has the same muscular effect as actually doing it, so am testing that theory. Think it was university of southern california, and you know how reputable they are, always coming up with studies showing that coffee makes you smarter and chocolate is good for you.

Did have a fabulously glamorous night out for lisa's film premiere last week, Last Train to Freo, 'a taut psychological thriller' (quote in the movie listing) which really captured that sense of being trapped in a train with a maniac - excruciating and compelling, with a twist. see it.

Tomorrow night my lovely cousin Kimmy is taking me to the Underland premiere, Sydney Dance Co. music by Nick Cave, costumes by some flash designer - the Akira ones last time were gorgeous. Looking forward to a night out, after week of very quiet evenings in, looking at my view of centrepoint, watching the rain and whatever trash is on tv or dvd. Cooking again which is grounding, and back in my old room but the familiarity is comforting and horrifying at the same time.

Monday, September 4, 2006

11:03 AM
Posted by jodi rose

raw space brisbane
shout out for the free wifi and great coffee

although terrible disco music playing right now - bring back the scissor sisters! the art isn't bad either, big prints composited from film images.

'push up' is starting to get me with the groove - not even 11am and dancing. secret dance activism in brisvegas.

flying out tonight for sydney, and stopping for oh at least 3 weeks.
longest anywhere in a while. then newcastle for national young writers festival and electrofringe, where I'm talking on a panel or two, playing with sophea and andrew in their food radio workshop and hosting an evening radio chat show for the writers festival - my first daily live radio. can't wait, very exciting. maybe a new career... one day

after this global symphony is up and out in the world.
getting closer every day, working on networks behind the scenes.

today is the final meeting with brisbane city council and the green bridge for the details of the permanent installation, first ever in the world anywhere live sound feed permanently on a bridge.

time in brisbane has been fairly quiet, spent the weekend working and reading, watching the scrub turkeys fight for territory in the back yard. love their child raising arrangement - the male builds a mound of dead leaves and stuff for the eggs to live in, goes out wandering in the bardon hills to find a mate for life, then when she lays the eggs and takes off for a while, he looks after them, monitors the temp and conditions of the mound until they hatch. Not sure who brings them up then, but sounds like a fine set-up to me. Scrub turkeys, very cute.

Dreaming of a linen cupboard to call my own.