Neil Gaiman in Melbourne 2011
In December 2011, Neil Gaiman spoke at the Wheeler Centre in Melbourne about his career. The Wheeler Centre website says:
Gaiman’s conversation is lively and wide-ranging; he moves quickly from describing why he feels like a fraud to discussing why he’s not published in mainland China (and how a sneezing panda named Chu might change that). When Bastow asks him if he’s bothered by the effect genre prejudices may have on whether all of his work is read or not, he says that beginning as a comic writer, “every single possible prejudice that can be levelled at an area of the arts is levelled at you.”
For the full Wheeler Centre blurb, follow this link.
Neil Gaiman and Amanda Palmer in Melbourne
On 16 December 2011, Neil Gaiman appeared at the Anaethium Theatre in Melbourne as part of a series of author talks run by The Wheeler Centre. This talk was recorded and is avaible for viewing online or downloading as audio and/or video.
Ninja gigs
Amanda Palmer sang the Ukele Anthem at the Anaethium Theatre event during the interval
Shortly after this event, there was another ninja event in Melbourne. Sadly I didn’t get to that as, by the time I heard about it, I would have only had an hour or so to get into the city catching a train. Bloody Metro.
31 December 2011, New Year Eve Trash Masquerade
The New Year’s Eve masquerade featured cabaret style entertainment, full on for nearly 6 hours. It wasn’t over-crowded, which was my biggest concern. The sound needed work, but that’s a venue issue. The show was definitely MA rated, some of the humour not entirely tasteful, but overall a really good evening. I think Amanda and Neil performed for about 2 hours out of the 6.
Neil read his Megafauna Australia Day poem with shadow puppets including drop bears and the like:
Amanda performed songs from the Dresden Dolls and Amanda’s personal repertoire. Amanda turned Friday, an iconic song from 2011, into a much more political, powerful song.
Other performers included the Jane Austen Argument, the Bedroom Philosopher, Meow Meow and more. I’ve never been to an event like it, although Higher Ground in Adelaide aspired to that kind of quality entertainment, it never quite got there.
The Bedroom Philosopher sang, among other things, Northcote (so hungover): the YouTube comments version. I can’t find the NYE version on YouTube but here’s the original clip and here’s the YouTube Comments version, like the version played on the night .
I don’t think I need to say anything about Meow Meow, the Australian comic cabaret artist who won the Edinburgh Festival. Meow Meow was in fine form, although I have to say that her singing was fantastic, and I would have liked to hear her sing without the comedic interruptions.
Neil Gaiman wished everyone a happy New Year before the night was out.
Tuesday 3 January 2012
The Jane Austen Argument performed at the Evelyn Hotel to raise money for their tour with the Dresden Dolls. Amanda Palmer put in a guest appearance, passing around a hat – well, a box really – to raise money to replace Tom’s ukele after she broke it, and to help raise money for the tour. This was a more laid back event that the NYE party, in a smaller, more informal venue with people just chilling. Here the JAA play my favourite song of theirs, The End of the World. The sound picks up someone’s breathing I think, but you can get a feel for the song.
Sunday 8 January 2012
The Dresden Dolls played live in Melbourne, fronted by the Bedroom Philospher’s full group and the Jane Austen Argument. This was a great concert in an interesting venue, and the first ever real concert DMF’s minion has ever attended. I’ll educate him yet!
