australian rozie

I am a latecomer to the magic of Stevie Nicks. In the 1990s, I despised Fleetwood Mac – they represented the opposite of everything I liked about music eg. electronic, repetitive beats, with no guitars or real drums. Obviously, things have changed, I don’t do raves any more and Fleetwood Mac still sell albums 30+ years later. They were featured on Glee introducing them to a new young audience (who will probably download their albums)! In the 80s, I really liked Stevie’s solo track, Stand Back (much later on I found out it was inspired by Prince’s Little Red Corvette and he performed on the song). Other than that I didn’t have much time for these rock legends. Anyway, it’s true what they say about the more you hear a song, even if you hate it, you get used to it and then you start to like it! So constantly hearing Stevie Nicks over the last 20 years finally got into my brain. Then I started working with Ms JHair and she really got me into Stevie in the workplace (I still manage to be the office music Nazi).

Anyway, about the concert. Dave Stewart was her special guest, I guess no-one really knew any of his new stuff, as the audience was pretty stiff during his performance. When the band did some Eurythmics tracks (Here Comes the Rain again, Missionary Man…), it just didn’t feel the same without Annie Lennox.

An annoucement before Stevie came on stage asked the audience not to take photos or videos of the performance (ala Bjork). But really, no – I want a momento. Sorry Stevie.

Stevie Nicks appeared right on schedule at 9pm. She was actually much better vocally than I thought she was going to be. The concert went for two hours, which I consider very good value nowadays (Janet didn’t even last an hour and a half). Stevie told us from the start that it was NOT a “greatest hits” show and she was going to play her new stuff (whether you wanted to hear it or not). I can appreciate that she would want to plug her new album, after all, she said she worked really hard on it and was immensely proud of it. Luckily, I had acquired the new album a couple of weeks ago to familiarise myself with In Your Dreams. My favourite tracks of the night were Stand Back (the opening track), Dreams, Rhiannon, Moonlight (A Vampire’s Dream), Landslide & Edge of Seventeen. You can see the entire tracklist here. I enjoyed her anecdotes from her career and explanations of her new songs. She kept making jokes about being “old” – good to see a diva who can joke about herself. I was concerned when she needed a helper guy to make sure she didn’t fall over when she wanted to bend down and shake the audience’s hand during the finale. I also saw on Facebook, that PAdam got to touch her hand! Overall, a pretty awesome concert! As Tricky Dicky Wilkins said at the Arias, she is the queen of rock n roll!

Dave Stewart

Stevie Nicks

Australian Rozie

Here are some tracks I played at Rob’s 40th birthday party. I was using Mark’s CD decks, not vinyl or scratch live (which I prefer). Had a few technical difficulties with MP3s on disc and I didn’t bring enough music. It seems that I now do only one DJ gig per year (I’m very exclusive ha ha), so book in for 2011 now .

Anyway – a fun time was had by all, great to catch with lots of old friends and drop some 80s glory. Mark played some nice house and disco tunes too.

In no particular order and not a complete list:
Come Back and Stay – Paul Young
Girls on Film – Duran Duran
Pull up to the Bumper – Grace Jones
Heaven is a Place on Earth – Belinda Carlisle
Mad World – Tears for Fears
Let’s Go Crazy – Prince
1999 – Prince
What have you done for me lately – Janet Jackson
Loose Fit – Happy Mondays
Blue Monday – New Order
Loaded – Primal Scream
Naughty Girl – Beyonce
SexyBack – Justin Timberlake
Bulletproof – La Roux
All Night Long (All Night) – Lionel Richie
Hung Up – Madonna
Music – Madonna
Vogue – Madonna
Holiday – Madonna
Dress You Up – Madonna
Cherish – Madonna
Suburbia – Pet Shop Boys
Don’t Stop ’til You Get Enough – Michael Jackson
Somebody’s Watching Me – Rockwell (feat. Michael Jackson)
Got to be Real – Cheryl Lynn
I’m Coming Out – Diana Ross
Can’t get you out of my head – Kylie
Send Me an Angel – Real Life
and sorry I didn’t have any P!nk @#$%

Oh and Happy 40th Rob!

Congratulations to Patrick & Yvette on their wedding in San Fran. When I first met Patrick HAF, he was already a famous underground DJ in the Sydney rave scene of the early 90s. Dave even treasured a few of his mix tapes, until they disintegrated. By the late 90s we had become friends and I was no longer a dj groupie I was sad when he moved to the states, but was very happy that he met Yvette in San Fran and fell in lurve I’m really sorry that we couldn’t attend the celebrations, but I just had to see Rob Hood

Robert Hood, Sydney, Australia

For our niche circle of Detroit techno fandom, it was great to see Robert Hood finally come to Sydney again after many years and a cancellation a couple of years ago. The last time he was here, was 1992 with legendary Underground Resistance at a rave called Flight 303 which I think was held at the former Graffiti Hall of Fame. Unfortunately, I missed that gig as I was busy promoting my own rave which was on the next night. I remember getting a call at Disco City records (who were selling our tickets) asking for all of Underground Resistance’s names on the door of my party! I don’t think they turned up. I wish I could find a decent link about Disco City record store in Sydney this is the only thing I could find that name checks Disco City Records. Anyway back to the gig, Disconnected Presents 002: Robert Hood. I am so out of the scene, I didn’t even know or care who the promoter was and/or who the supports were, I just wanted to see Rob Hood. At least we didn’t do the true trainspotter thing and turn up 5 minutes before his set. The “new” venue was the former Empire/Palladium/Les Girls in Kings Cross – we have been to many, many great parties there, but haven’t been in there for about 10 years! So what can I say about Robert Hood’s set… he played a solid, hard, techno set, just what I expected, wanted and got. After about 2 hours he started to drop some more melodic, funky tracks but by then my steam had run out. I think everyone had a good time, especially the guy in the open shirt who kept gyrating near Ames, Mel & I. We lasted until almost 4am which is a recent record for me! Ms Melody kindly gave us a lift home. Dave made me some toast while we watched the start of the USA vs Ghana World Cup match before crashing out until lunch time on Sunday. Am I/I am too old for this $hit???

Robert Hood Sat. 26th June @ Plantation, Kings Cross, Sydney 2010

We celebrated Honka Princess’ birthday at Sailors Thai at Ivy on Friday night. We had the $45 three course special menu which included a drink. The food was very nice, I walked on the wild side and sampled some spicy food, but I found it weird how the staff said that the dishes should be shared even though it was a set menu of which you had a choice of about 3 things. I chose a deep-fried prawn entree, duck for the main meal and black sticky rice dessert. Once again this month, I forgot my camera, so there’s not much documenting of this dinner. Maybe Honka Princess will upload some pics, but she hasn’t shared her photos from her European summer vacation from last year yet! The Ivy is really beautiful, I love the fit out, the furniture and design but I felt somewhat out of place there; not young, beautiful or rich enough perhaps. After traipsing around a couple of the jam-packed upstairs bars, we finally settled back on the street level at Ash St Cellar, where it was less crazy. On our way down the lift, I quipped that we should go back to Surry Hills where we belong They were playing some great music from 80s funk to Jay-Z at Ash Street Cellar. A staff member told me that that “the boss” chooses the music and there are many different music channels throughout the venue. Our group enjoyed some nice beverages such as port and mulled wine (yes, we’re getting old), while I had my regular make sure it’s soy hot chocolate

Josie in Ash St Cellar

I’ve been meaning to write this review for a while. What can I say? George Michael totally lived up to expectations. The concert was advertised to start at 7:30pm – very early for a Friday night with typical Sydney peak hour traffic. Even George was held up by the traffic getting to the Sydney Football Stadium. Times like this I’m glad I live in walking distance of Moore Park. I sat with my dear friend from school Matt and his party posse. George performed with his band and back up singers for 2 hours (with a 20 minute intermission featuring a countdown shot clock on the big screen). He did every song I wanted to hear: I’m Your Man, Faith, Careless Whisper, Too Funky, One More Try, Father Figure, Fastlove, Amazing and the finale Freedom 90. So glad he didn’t do Wake Me Up Before you Go Go – I’m sure he is as over that song as I am. He looked pretty happy to be there and his devoted crowd were loving him back, singing along to every song. I was 100% satisfied at the end of the concert – it was worth every cent. I like George so much I was willing to pay more to be closer to the front – I think tickets went up to $1000 but no-one I knew was insane enough to spend that much money on him. I heard that he has been having an extended holiday in Sydney – so maybe I will still see him walking down the street. Sure he’s a bit older and little bit tubbier, but he can still sing and dance – just like the good old days Great concert – 5 stars!

You may be wondering why I’m blogging about AC/DC. I don’t even like heavy metal! Well, seeing the hundreds of fans on the train over the last few days has inspired me to write about the legendary band Acca Dacca! When I was in Year 8 or 9, I was “in love” with a boy named Ethan, he used to do BMX bike tricks and he liked AC/DC. I think that we were even “going together” for a week (or maybe that was my imagination). He did let me borrow some of his AC/DC cassette tapes, I duly played them on my Walkman and pretended to enjoy them. Anyway, more than 20 years later, they are still as popular as ever, with 3 generations of fans (so it seemed on the trains) and they’ve been following me around all year. They arrived in NZ while I was on holidays there and now they are in Sydney. Anyway, if you’re a fan, I’m sure you have relived the glory days in the past week at the concerts in Olympic Park. And I’d really like to thank them for a writing a song about me too Whole Lotta Rosie!

I’m going to see George Michael in concert next week. I’m very excited! I saw a photo of him leaving Catalina Restaurant in Sydney a couple of days ago. It would be awesome if I happened to see him on the street. Maybe if I hung out at gay bars (again), I would. I have loved his work since Wham, George was on the top of my list of singers I must see in concert before I die! Obviously, I’ve already crossed out a lot off this list already! I’m going to assume he’ll be at Mardi Gras this year.

I have been a long time fan of Aimee Mann, so when her first ever tour of Australia was announced, I had to be there. You may be familiar with the film Magnolia, in which Aimee Mann contributed much of the soundtrack. Dave doesn’t really get into my favourite female singer/songwriters much, so I went with my Aunty instead.
Aimee was supported by Ben Lee. I like him. I’m not ashamed. Most people I know hate him but I think he writes some cool songs. Anyway, it was great to see him live for the first time as well. You can also download for free some of his Noise Addict stuff if you like.
When Aimee Mann came on stage there was rapturous applause (I guess some of these people had waited more than 10 years to see her). She writes great, deep & meaningful, sometimes witty and sarcastic lyrics, see Wise Up. Her voice is fantastic too. My aunty said, “very pure”. I knew the majority of the songs she sang, and I bought her latest album, @#%&*! Smilers at the show. My favourite songs that she sang were: Wise Up, Save Me, Red Vines, Thirty One Today and her one big hit from the 80s when she was in Til Tuesday, Voices Carry.

Well, here are my comments on the terrible tragedy that is the premature death of Michael Jackson. I used to love him so much in the 80s! So much! Off the Wall, Thriller and Bad were on heavy rotation in my bedroom. He really was an integral part of my childhood and teenage years, fuelling my obsession with pop and dance music.

Some of my 80s memories of MJ are:

Getting Thriller for Christmas 1983.
Buying a Michael Jackson showbag at the Royal Easter Show! I can’t remember everything it contained, but I still have the little MJ address book. A quick eBay search found MJ tattoos were in the showbag.
Buying MJ badges when I went on holidays to Canada in 1984.
My cousin working for Pepsi when they sponsored the Bad Tour and getting lots of posters for the concert.
Seeing him in concert twice at Parramatta Stadium in 1987 for his Bad Tour. I’ll blog about this separately later.

I always had a soft spot for him after all this time. I still have a penchant for wearing the Bad Tour T-shirt every now and then. Every time one of his crazy antics were reported on the news, I would stop and listen. About 6 months ago, I watched a doco called Michael Jackson: What Really Happened which kind of gave me the heebie jeebies about him. The ironic thing was that someone said they hoped that when MJ died he would be remembered for his music and not being a child molester. Well, it looks like he has according to all the tributes coming in.

Do you know how many times a Michael Jackson song has saved a party? When no-one is dancing at a wedding, nightclub or whatever, all you need to do is play one of his many dance floor fillers and the next thing you know everyone’s going off. It works for me!

Where was I when I heard the news? Standing in my kitchen with the Today Show on. I think I stood there with my mouth open for 60 seconds. Luckily the Today Show kept going on and on about it for another two hours in case it wasn’t clear. It wasn’t until I came home that night and watched the 6pm news that it really hit me. Seeing the reaction of the media and people around the world really showed the enormity of the event. And yes, I’ll admit it, I shed a tear for the King of Pop, Michael Jackson.

Beat It

Originally uploaded by Australian Rozie