Festival of New Spiritual Music
As an antidote to our materialistic end-of-millennium, several venues have come together to present a week of contemporary music that reflects spiritual introspection and celebration. Participants include Arvo Pärt, Giya Kancheli, Joep Franssens, Toby Twining, Erkki-Sven Tuur, Gavin Bryars, Tan Dun, Kevin Volans, Peteris Vasks, Loop Guru and a troop of Mongolian throat singers.
Cowboy Junkies
The stealth with which Margo Timmins’ voice envelopes the senses and emotions of her audience can be almost frightening, precisely because she’s so humble and unassuming. The hypnotic chanteuse and her brother Michael bring their Cowboy Junkies on a ‘Winter Waltz’ tour back to New York to promote their eighth album, ‘Rarities, B-Sides and Slow Sad Waltzes’. This album mixes up some driving folk-rock with some of the haunting etherea that made ‘Caution Horses’ and ‘The Trinity Sessions’ such compelling work. And if the audience is blessed, she’ll reprise such classics as ‘Misguided Angel’, ‘Sun Comes Up, It’s Tuesday Morning’ and the Cowboy Junkies’ otherworldly cover of ‘Sweet Jane’.
Rugby League: Sydney Roosters v Northern Eagles
November 16, 2008 
The Roosters have snared the spectacular Craig Wing for the season and, if their captain Brad Fittler fires up, they will go a long way before they choke as usual. The Eagles are the result of a forced merger between North Sydney and Manly in the off-season – a merger not without irony, as Manly began life as a breakaway club from North Sydney many decades ago. So far, the Eagles have opened their season by trampling over mighty Newcastle and may prove to be the superclub everyone feared.
Freedy Johnson at Whelans
Rolling Stone magazine named him ‘Songwriter of the Year’ in 1994 and compared his talent to that of Bob Dylan, Neil Young and Elvis Costello. He is Freedy Johnson and he has toured with Counting Crows, The Wallflowers and many more. And his last gig in Whelans was a complete sellout. With an album to promote, ‘Blue Days Black Nights’, Freedy obviously thought it was time to revisit the Emerald Isle. He plays Whelans again as part of wider tour, which takes in the Roisin Dubh in Galway, as well.
University Festivals
November 1, 2008
Filed under Uncategorized
Tags: domestic, festivals, fun, university
Workshy layabouts the world over will be glad to know that for much of the year the energy of Japanese students is focused on the festival season rather than on their books. This is a chance for Tokyo’s many universities to show what they can do, and themes range from the praiseworthy to the downright bizarre. Highlights include Tokyo University of Foreign Studies’ series of foreign plays in their original languages, Keio University’s Mita Festival featuring stalls, wrestling and a beauty contest, and Tokyo University of Fisheries’ tuna-slicing event, carried out by students.
Joseph Beuys: Drawings After the Codices Madrid of Leonardo Da Vinci
Joseph Beuys is back in fashion on New York’s streets, now that the fashion world has declared that ‘grey is the new black’. Grey felt and fur (together with fat, which isn’t yet back in fashion) were among Beuys’s preferred materials. The German artist, who died in 1986, was among the leading art radicals of the Fluxus movement of the late ’60s and early ’70s. ‘Drawings After the Codices Madrid’ is a series of 1974 sketches by Beuys inspired by the Da Vinci notebooks recovered in the ’60s and which Beuys saw as symbolising the marriage of science and art – and an opportunity to extend the reach of art beyond the elite.
Loboc Church
October 30, 2008
Filed under Uncategorized
Tags: church, international, loboc, photos, trip
L’Entracte
As you’d expect from the location steps away from the grands magasins, this café draws a mix of visiting nationalities during the day, replaced after hours by a more Gallic crowd of couples deep in conversation. Make for the first floor, and if you’re lucky, you’ll arrive as one of the tables by the huge front window becomes vacant – an unbeatable viewpoint across to the Palais Garnier, especially romantic despite its grime, as the blue Paris evening darkens. Inside, four fans connected to a pulley wheel rotate idly above a plush décor of wood panelling, velveteen seats and wine memorabilia – wine posters, maps of wine-producing regions and polished table-tops made from wine casks. Prices are par for the course; you can also eat snacks at all hours.
Violent Femmes
Imagine The Velvet Underground playing rockabilly and you’ll have some idea of the quirky delights of Gordon Gano’s Violent Femmes. Veering from the party pop of ‘Blister in the Sun’ to the scary vision of ‘Country Death Song’, the Femmes never failed to bring a giddy smile to the lips of warped rock fans. Fifteen years since their inception, their witty gems leave younger anoraks for dead, as new album ‘Freak Magnet’ proves. Who else could make a chorus like ‘What’s for breakfast? What’s for lunch? What’s for dinner? Captain Crunch’ sound existential?
Amsterdam Dance Event
Schmooze by day and party by night during this annual music conference concerned with all things dance. Felix Mauritis is the location for daytime convention activities and workshops, where over 800 delegates will discuss the business of boogie. During the evening, such places as the Melkweg and Paradiso will host DJs from around the world, representative of every imaginable sub-genre, from gabber to drum’n'bass and trip hop.
