Super pleased to be doing my first feature at this newish gig in the CBD, Voices in the Attic.
Also featuring is Laurie May from Alice Springs, the SONNY VERONICA DUO and DJ LAPKATwho will be on the 1's and 2's to close up the night.

FREE ENTRY
8 open mic slots
5 minutes each
Open Mic registration starts at 6:30pm

LAURIE MAY is a desert rat from Alice Springs. Her work draws on experiences in poverty as well as themes of loss, change and homelessness. Politically charged and passionate Laurie takes listeners on a journey into understanding through poetry.


Tuesday June 10th. 

FERDYDUKE.
Levels 1 & 2. 239 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne. 

Liner Notes 11 coming up soon at the Melbourne Writers Festival

This year, Liner Notes, a literary cabaret in tribute to a classic album, takes a lysergic road trip with Jim Morrison to scatter the ashes of the ’60s in the Mojave Desert, as we celebrate the swaggering shamanic blues of The Doors’ L.A.Woman. Featuring special guests Missy Higgins, Andy Griffiths, Ophira Eisenberg (US), Dave Graney, Doug Johnstone (UK), Jane Caro, Luka Lesson and Josh Earl, with Emilie Zoey Baker, Sean M Whelan and Alicia Sometimes, and led by MC Michael Nolan and a kick-arse live band. So, join us for the Lizard King's swansong before he ran a warm bath in Paris for the American Dream. The Regal Ballroom, Northcote, Friday 23 August. Tickets:http://tickets.mwf.com.au/session2_mwf.asp?s=300

Side one

1. ‘Changeling’ JOSH EARL

2. ‘Love Her Madly’ ANDY GRIFFITHS

3. ‘Been Down So Long’ JANE CARO

4. ‘Cars Hiss By My Window’ EMILIE ZOEY BAKER

5. ‘L.A. Woman’ DOUG JOHNSTONE (Edinburgh)

Interval

Side two

6. ‘L’America’ OPHIRA EISENBERG (Host of the Moth StorySLAMs, USA)

7. ‘Hyacinth House’ ALICIA SOMETIMES & SEAN M WHELAN WITH THE HYACINTHIANS.

8. ‘Crawling King Snake’ GEORGE MEGALOGENIS

9. ‘The WASP (Texas Radio and the Big Beat)’ LUKA LESSON

10. ‘Riders on the Storm’ MISSY HIGGINS


If that line-up doesn’t get your mojo risin’, nothing will.



Friday 23 August 2013 at 9.00 pm
tickets here: http://tickets.mwf.com.au/session2_mwf.asp?sn=Liner+Notes

ContraVerse - new regular poetry gig in Fitzroy.

Performing tonight at a brand new monthly spoken word event called ContraVerse. Also featuring is the Paul Kidney Experience.
There's an open mic with a People's Choice Award. Ten spots only so be there at 7pm sharp if you want to participate.
63 Johnston Street, Fitzroy.
See ya there.
x

My good friend Omar Musa has produced one of the best poetry books of 2013 and tomorrow I have the great joy of DJing at his Melbourne launch for the book held as part of the March edition of Slamalamadingdong. This will be a fantastic evening. I highly recommend your attendance. You can get tickets right here. x.

Bar Stanza Episode 2

Performing at a sweet new gig tonight run by Anthony O'Sullivan in Richmond at The Owl and the Pussycat. This is only the second time it's been run. Four writers, no open mic. Very happy to be sharing a stage with three of my favourites, Michelle Dabrowski, Steve Smart and Ben Pobjie.
Here's Anthony's blurb for the show...

After a ripping first show that saw knock-out performances and many a happy punter, we are tickled to be giving more of the best in our 2nd show! Anth is knicking off to Europe after this wee shindig and Bar Stanza will be on hiatus, but the venue was pretty pleased with how we filled the space, so once MC Idiot gets back, fingers crossed we'll have ourselves a whole run of shows in late 2013! That is, so long as you cats and kittens drag yo' bums on down for this tight gig and blow the place apart again! Be there! Support! Encourage! Drink!

So who's gonna be dazzling your earbits this month?

Sean M Whelan - Sean M Whelan writes poetry, fiction and works for performance. He also collaborates extensively with musicians. His band The Interim Lovers released an album called Softly & Suddenly in October 2010, based on Lewis Carroll’s poem ‘The Hunting of the Snark’. He also currently works with electronic musician Isnod. Sean is a co-founder and producer of the successful literary cabaret Liner Notes, presented to sell out crowds to the Melbourne Writers Festival every year since 2009. His latest book of poetry is titled Tattooing the Surface of the Moon, through Small Change Press. He is currently working on his first full length play and a collection of recordings made with Isnod.

Steve Smart - Some days Steve Smart wishes he had someone to write his bio's for him. Famous people think they have it hard with the lack of privacy and the stalking, the fragile self-image too easily destroyed by tabloid mockery, but they have people to write their damn press text. So they can all shut up. Steve Smart has been doing this for a long time. The bio writing. Between writing his own bio's he also writes poems. Which often also involves writing about himself. Sometimes he makes people up to write about and this amuses him no end. When he describes himself as a cult figure, it's a nice way of saying poor and not very famous. He performed at the Sydney Opera House but that was a long time ago. He currently has 16 projects on the go. Approximately. He's really not this grumpy in person.

Michelle Dabrowski - Michelle Alina Dabrowski is a Canadian multi-disciplinary artist, poet, event curator, arts educator and community/arts development practitioner based in Melbourne Australia. From Montreal’s Blue Metropolis Festival to Melbourne’s Forum Theatre, Michelle has performed, taught and produced internationally for the past ten years. As a passionate and trail blazing entrepreneur Michelle is well known for actively engaging groups of artists to create charismatic and transformational social movements through her work in communities. She gave birth to and co-ordinated the Montreal Throw Poetry Collective (2006) and is the current Founder and Artistic Director to Slamalamadingdong; a cross disciplinary community platform and poetry slam series. Helping students find and refine their voice through the medium of creative performance Michelle has facilitated over five hundred and seventy two workshops in schools and has coached artists from all mediums supporting and leading them to a place of risk taking and performance break throughs. Her work has been featured on the Indiefeed Performance Poetry Channel and on Triple RRR’s Aural Text Radio Program. Published in 2012, Michelle’s latest collection of poetry is Curb Side Angel Spit. A live album featuring performances from her latest nationwide tour alongside Poet Joel McKerrow, can be found at www.bandcamp.com/SoleofAustralia.

Ben Pobjie - Ben Pobjie is a writer, comedian, and poet. He is best known for his weekly satirical articles on Australian current-affairs site New Matilda.
Pobjie began writing his weekly articles in early 2008. His subject matter is drawn from topical issues, and he has written humorously on issues ranging from maternity leave and the federal Budget to Catholicism, child pornography and incest. His articles are often followed by angry reader comments from those who have not realised the work is satirical. Right-wing columnists such as Miranda Devine and Andrew Bolt are often the target of his humour.
His work has also appeared in Melbourne's daily broadsheet newspaper The Age.
Pobjie is also a performance poet and comedian, performing around Melbourne. In 2008 launched a campaign to be named Australia's first poet laureate. He used to be heard regularly on Helen Razer's radio show on the ABC.


Man, these guys right good bio! Don't they just sound like awesome people? You'd totally want to meet each of them and enjoy their words all in your head....
And you can! At Bar Stanza!
Tuesday, March 5th, 7:30 for an 8:00 start, a piddling $5 entry or $1.25 per poet! You can't get a litre of petrol for $1.25! (What has that got to do with anything? Idiot).
Bar is open, room is ready, Anth is keen to dance again, the performers want your attention.
Come!
Be a cool person!
It's what you were made for!

The Owl and the Pussycat

34 Swan Street., Richmond, Victoria 3121

White Night Melbourne

This Saturday I'm pretty amped to be taking part in the White Night festival in Melbourne. This basically involves the City of Melbourne being open all night long from 7pm - 7am with all manner of artistic activities all over the shop celebrating music, film, food, writing, art and light. And mostly free as far as I can tell. I'm part of the EWF Writing Camp at the Wheeler Centre. I'll be appearing alongside some of my very favourite writers in Melbourne. We'll be performing as well as hanging around to offer advice to anybody who wants it and have a bit of a chat. I'll be performing at 9pm. Check out the full program below.

8pm —

Eric Yoshiaki Dando was born in Tokyo in 1970. He has had stories, cartoons and poems published here and there. He is best known for his cult classic counter-culture novel Snail. He is currently writing his third novel called Beautiful Useful Things.

9pm —

Sean M Whelan writes poetry, fiction and works for performance. He also collaborates extensively with musicians. His band The Interim Lovers released an album called Softly & Suddenly and his latest book of poetry is titled Tattooing the Surface of the Moon, through Small Change Press. He is currently working on his first full length play and a collection of recordings made with electronic musician Isnod.

10pm —

Briohny Doyle is an award winning Australian writer, fan-grrrl and scholar of the apocalypse. Her writing appears in the pages of Ampersand Magazine, Going Down Swinging, Overland, Cordite, Voiceworks, The Lifted Brow and as meaningful pixels all over the internet.

11pm —

Jessica Alice presents and produces ‘Spoken Word’ and ‘Women on the Line’ on 3CR 855AM community radio, and edits poetry for Voiceworks.She made her debut at the Abbotsford Convent in 2008 and won The Spinning Room’s performers place in 2010.

MIDNIGHT DOUBLE FEATURE 1 —

Laura Jean McKay is an award-winning writer best known for smearing cat food all over herself on stage. Despite this, she is published in Best Australian Stories, The Big Issue, Women of Letters and The Lifted Brow, among others. Her short story collection Holiday in Cambodia will be published by Black Inc in July 2013.

MIDNIGHT DOUBLE FEATURE 2 —

Lawrence Leung is a TV writer, comedian and director. He created two ABC1 telly shows, ‘Lawrence Leung’s Unbelievable’ and the AFI-nominated ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’. He also wrote pranks for ‘The Chaser’s War On Everything’ and toured his award-winning stand up shows nationally and overseas. He once solved a Rubik’s Cube whilst skydiving.

1am —

Tom Doig is a writer, performer, editor, moron—has been published in The Big Issue, The Lifted Brow, Sleepers Almanac and Voiceworks. His plays include Survival of the Prettiest, Hitlerhoff and Selling Ice to the Remains of the Eskimos. Mörön to Mörön: two men, two bikes, one Mongolian misadventure is his first book.

2 am —

YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU!

3am —

Luke Ryan is a freelance writer, comedian and man about town. I write short-form non-fiction with a comic edge and am currently working on my debut book, I Guess You’re Only as Sick as You Feel, a comedy memoir about having had cancer a couple of times due for release through Scribe Publications in late 2013. Work has appeared in The Vine, Smith Journal, Crikey, The Lifted Brow, Kill Your Darlings, Time Out and many others.

4 am —

YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU!

5am —

Nick Modrzewski is a writer and painter.  His work has been published in The Lifted Brow, Helmet Magazine, Six Years Later, Rabbit Poetry Journal and Voiceworks. He has written for and performed at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival as well as ‘Short and Sweet,’ and the Edinburgh and Melbourne Fringe Festivals.

6 am —

YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU!

7 am —

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

There will be coffeeeeeee! Bring a pillow or a rug if you like. Bring your writing equipment – lap top or pen and paper – and, best of all, bring your inspiring ideas that you’ve been waiting to test out way way late! Hope to see you on the night!

Big Feats - Little Feat 2013 Cabaret Fundraiser

From one Independent Theatre fundraiser into another. On Monday night, Feb 18th, I'll be one of many performers appearing at a special Cabaret fundraiser to try and raise some money for Little Feat Theatre. They have a great little performance space on St Georges Road. I've already seen some wonderful productions there and very happy to do my bit to ensure they put on many more.
Here's what they have to say about it:

Hi there, everyone and happy new year!
We are holding an exciting fundraising event for Little Feat Theatre on MONDAY February 18^th, and we’d LOVE to have your support!
It’s now been 2 years since Feat In Space (the company) began and a year of running our own venue, the Little Feat Theatre. During the past year we’ve had an exciting (and exhausting) range of events, including our first Friday play readings held every month, our own productions and some great visiting productions too.
We’ve got some wonderful plans for 2013, kicking off with a fantastic fundraising soiree party!
WHY A FUNDRAISER?
Running a theatre venue, you’ll appreciate its pretty hard to balance the books as its really a labour of love. This year we want to spread the word wider about Little Feat and hire a publicist – but first we need the money to pay them!
The soiree night will be on Monday, February 18^th at local Thornbury tapas restaurant, Perri on St Georges Road. There will be delicious tapas finger food and a variety of live entertainment for pleasure, as well as a silent auction of local businesses services and products. Put it in your diary, we’ll let you know more details soon. Tickets $50 (drinks not included but there is a full bar operating on the night).
We hope to make $2000 in total and have set up this Pozible account with an aim to make $1000 (the rest at the fundraiser event) for those who are keen to support us but can’t make it on the day. This way no donation is too small to make an enormous difference to us.