Death to Your Dreams Returns!

The show I performed last year with the mime set at the Melbourne Fringe Festival is being performed again on Saturday 8th April. Death to Your Dreams was my first attempt at collaborating with a band to put on a full length show and I was very proud of what we achieved. So I'm very pleased to get the opportunity to put it on again.
Death To Your Dreams explores the waking dream of love with spoken word, music and visuals.
The show is being presented as part of the Emerging Writer's Festival, a fantastic event spanning three days from April 7 - 9th.
We'll be performing on the Saturday night at the Spanish Club, 59-61 Johnston St, Fitzroy as part of an event called Scrabble - the best in wordplay. It's a fantastic lineup of artists which also includes Joelistics (TZU), Grand Salvo, Tom Keily - Australian Team Poetry Slam Champion, Little G, Ben Pobje, Justin Heazlewood plus the launch of Voiceworks #64 Outskirts!

one day

One day I’ll learn how to breathe underwater

and plunging to the bottom of the bay won’t be such a problem

and I’ll linger down there,

because it’s dark and simple,

just like me.

And I’ll shake the hands of murdered drug dealers with bad judgment and cement feet

and their water logged smiles will tell me that they know something I don’t,

that maybe being dead is funny

and then I’ll know

that if being dead is funny,

then being alive

must be fucking hilarious.

Performing live at Federation Square on ABC Radio

This Sunday morning, 26 March, from 11:30 to 12 I'll be performing live on ABC radio 774 in Federation Square on the Sunday Show hosted by Helen Razer. I'll be participating in a poetry slam head to head with Ben Pobjie. Ben has performed at Babble quite a few times and happens to be very good. The broadcast is part of the Commonwealth Games program and is the ABC's attempt at providing some alternative 'games' to the other games. If you're in the city Sunday morning look out for the mobile broadcast unit on the upper plaza level of Federation Square called the G-Spot. Or if you're still in bed at 11:30 on Sunday morning you can simply tune the clock radio to 774am and listen along from the comfort of your own bed. If you're not from Melbourne you can also stream it live on the internet at http://abc.net.au/melbourne

Lou Barlow at Northcote Social Club

pics by sean m whelan

Saw Lou Barlow perform at Northcote Social Club on Thursday night.
Lou has been something of a indie rock god to me ever since the release of Sebadoh's Bakesale in 1994. Bakesale is one of those albums that i return so fondly to over and over again. A time machine that doesn't bite back.
When Sebadoh toured Australia on the back of that album I was witness to what was not only one of the worst gigs I've ever seen, it was also one of the best.
Lou was acting strangely all night. He kept stopping songs halfway through and appeared to be arguing with the other band members. At one point he broke his guitar somehow and it eventually culminated with him walking off stage in a temper. The gig was over, the lights were up and the house music was turned on when suddenly Lou returned to the stage alone with guitar in hand. He then proceeded to apologise profusely for his antics and followed up by playing the most hearbreakingly beautiful acoustic set for the next hour and a half! All my favourite Sebadoh songs, it was truly stunning.
Funnily enough he mentioned this infamous gig on stage, he joked about turning on the radio the next day and hearing a Melbourne DJ talk about what a 'jerk' Lou Barlow is!
This was one of many warm and quite funny anecdotes during the evening, nice punctuation to a great set of mostly current material embellished by guitar loops and occasional use of an Eno'ish sounding synthesizer.
He didn't let me down too by breaking out a few Sebadoh songs including possibly my favourite, 'Skull'.

Trying to Write

Writing a poem about writing poetry,
Is like a snake trying to bite its own arse.
Oh.
I just ate my own arse.

Go! Team live at the Prince of Wales!

pics by sean m whelan

It doesn't get much better than this. The Go! Team played last Tuesday night at the Prince of Wales and they blew the roof off! When they came out to Australia for the first time last year and played at the Corner Hotel, I thought they were amazing but this time they were even better. Such incredible energy from the band and a devoted crowd made it a very special evening indeed. Gig of the year, so far!

aliciasometimes.dot.hellyeah

One of the most amazing poets in the universe, alicia sometimes, finally has her own website. Here she is pictured above rowing down the Yarra one gorgeous afternoon, with another one of Melbourne's finest Klare Lanson enjoying the ride. Notice the t-shirt? I think they're available to buy at the website. I wonder what that word is concealed beneath her hand? Does is start with F? Just go to the website already! And discover the wonderful world of the wonderful alicia sometimes.

www.aliciasometimes.com

MC Babble this Wed night!

Babble & Awakenings proudly present!
MC BABBLE
A night of spoken-word, a-cappella & beat box performance by hip-hop 
artists featuring Macromantics(Syd), Raceles (Curse Ov Dialect), Elf 
Tranzporter & Izzy(Combat Wombat) The Purple Duck, Julez & 
Ivens(Awakenings Crew), Litigate, Discourse, Pisces, Requiem and many 
more...  Live sets from: Ivens & Macromantics(Syd) plus DJ Bizzly 
Graddums...  
Wednesday 11th January
Bar Open, 317 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy.
$5 entry.
8:30 pm start.

This will be a fantastic show!

teardrops in the garden

Here's another view of the studio at Varuna through the garden.
After a heavy rain storm I came out to see big round drops of rain clinging to the leaf of a plant like tears on the cheeks of a silent film starlet.
The weather is so passionate in the Blue Mountains. From deep fog, to bursting rays of sunshine to lush tropical-like rain fall.

The Studio in the Garden

This is the studio in the garden of Varuna where I spent most of my time. It was set a little way from the house which suited me fine. My bedroom however was in the main house where I would try and quietly tiptoe into late at night when I was finished writing or watching Deadwood on my computer or I was done staring at my screen for the second straight hour. The strange thing about the studio was there was no blind in the window so late at night I would just be staring out into the darkness of the garden. They had a sensor security light installed on the house which would light up when approaching the main house. But sometimes in the middle of the night the light would go on for no good reason leading my fervent imagination to visions of intruders in the garden!

Varuna House

So here's Varuna, The Writer's House nestled in the hills of Katoomba in the Blue Mountains. It's an incredibly gorgeous place where I was lucky enough to spend three weeks in November working on my writing courtesy of a fellowship I applied for. The house used to belong to Australian writer Eleanor Dark (1901-1985) and was given as a gift for the use of Australian writers by her son Michael Dark in honour of his parents. It's like a monastery for writers where you are never disturbed and left completely alone to write as much as you can, or to think about writing as much as you like, I was to discover that it's all part of the process.

Tocumwal Dog

Tocumal continued...

all pics by sean m whelan

Tocumwal

The Murray River and the big, big sky of the border town of Tocumwal. Three and a half hours from Melbourne.

I'm back!

Yes, I'm back on the saddle of Blog. (That sounds strangely rude or kinky somehow.) Anybody who reads this blog regularly, or used to, has probably well and truly gotten sick of checking here for updates, but you know, that's life. I'm sure you managed to fill the gap with the two or three million other blogs out there.
In my defence a large part of my hiatus can be explained by the fact that for the first three weeks of November I was away from my computer and good internet access. I was in the heavenly Blue Mountains, or more precisely Katoomba at the writer's house Varuna. Varuna is a writer's retreat that used to belong to the Australian writer Eleanor Dark. I was lucky enough to receive a fellowship to work on my writing there for three weeks. For the first week I totally panicked and wondered how on earth I had got there in the first place. Then after a moment of illumination in the shower, things got a lot easier and I managed to have both a very productive and relaxing time. I drove all the way up which is a pretty long way from Melbourne but I do love a good road trip and took a few photos along the way, one of which is the painted cow above taken in Shepparton. Cows really do it for me, so I just had to stop and take this pic. More pics to come!

Reading Tonight!

Ridiculously late notice but yes I'm giving a reading tonight.
For those that aren't completely legless from Melbourne Cup frivolities come on down to The Spinning Room, upstairs at ET's Bar, 211 Hight St, Prahran. 8pm for an 8:30 start.
And if you completely lost your shirt today, don't worry because it's FREE entry! Also open mic, raffle and door prize.
Be great to see you there.

Death To Your Dreams: in pictures and words.

pics by Em and M.


Where do I start in trying to describe the evening which was the debut of the show Death to Your Dreams?
I am still stunned by how incredibly well the show went and I'd like to send out a warm and sincere THANK YOU to everybody that came along on the night and witnessed the collaboration between myself and the amazing band that is the mime set comprising of Sam Wareing, Andrew Watson, Chris Chapple and Justin Avery. I'd also like to thank Ai Yamamoto for her amazing work with visuals on the night, some of which you can see in these pictures.
We all put a lot of work into the show but none of us really knew if it would work or not in front of a live audience. Somehow though all the planets aligned on this magical evening and I felt this incredible atmosphere in the room even before we started. It was a late start due to various factors beyond our control, to anybody who had to leave before the show commenced I do apologise, there was nothing we could do but rest assured you will get another chance.
That's right, due to the overwhelming success of its debut, Death to Your Dreams will be returning shortly! Dates and venues are yet to be confirmed but it will definitely be announced right here as soon as we know.
The other good news is that the show was digitally and multi-track recorded.
We have big plans for the show which myself and the mime set will be discussing and formulating soon.
Keep an eye on this space for more details.

Death to Your Dreams - in pictures.

pics by Chris Amor.
Above: Justin Avery, Sean M Whelan.
Middle: Justin Avery, Sean M Whelan, Andrew Watson and Chris Chapple.
Below: Justin Avery, Sean M Whelan and Sam Wareing.

Death to Your Dreams - a spoken word & musical collaboration

This year as part of the Melbourne Fringe Festival I will be performing in a show called Death To Your Dreams, written by myself and a fantastic Melbourne band by the name of The Mime Set. Below is the press release for the show, this will give some idea of what to expect.

*****************************************************

Sean M. Whelan & the mime set
Presents
Death To Your Dreams

Hear the waking dream of love in conversation with spoken word, music and visuals. This collaboration, between poet Sean M. Whelan and Lynch-ian musicians The Mime Set melds lush soundscapes, lyrics and imagery to the words of one of Melbourne's finest poets. After creating a Mutual Admiration Society, Sean M. Whelan and the mime set performed together in April 2005 and decided to use Fringe as an opportunity to further explore the correspondences between Sean’s surreal romantic poetry and the mime set’s textured, emotional music. Death To Your Dreams, named after a mime set song, is an unabashedly romantic collaboration, capturing the reverberations between words spoken and sung, poetic metre and musical rhythm, performance and the melodic promise of poetry.

"Whelan dances back and forth in multiple perspectives, switching fluidly from experiencing to observing, from self to other, from ordinary to absurd, magically traversing all barriers in between.” Cordite Poetry Review.


“the mime set craft their songs carefully, and it shows… [with] a spirit that will find its way quietly into your hearts and minds.” Losing Today (UK)

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For those in Melbourne it will be great to see you at the show. It's on Sunday Oct 9th at Bar Open on Brunswick Street, Fitzroy, 9:30pm and it's free entry.
For those not in Melbourne, plans are in motion to record a CD of this collaboration. Watch this space for more details.

my train station

Dennis, in graff form.