Hot Spots: three steps to fashionable music success

Monday 6 September 2010, 4:31 PM
By Hot Spots Team | Posted in Events

What’s that weird look on your face? We saw it. You were squinting! Without getting ahead of ourselves, it seems safe to suggest that spring is actually here. And we have exactly two things on our minds right now.

First, the memory of Melbourne Spring Fashion Week  still looms large in our wardrobes. Second, we’re rather excited about today’s launch of the first ever Melbourne Music program. We’ve decided to combine these obsessions to bring you a fashion-focused guide to the Melbourne Music program.

The Bedroom Philosopher: dressing for the 86 tram.

Having just finished his Songs From The 86 Tram national album tour, Justin Heazlewood (aka the Bedroom Philosopher) is getting ready to play some sets on ‘actual trams’ during Melbourne Music as part of the Live On The Tracks series. How should you dress for the shows?

Based on the YouTube hit ‘Northcote (So Hungover)’, filmed on the 86 (Bourke Street) tram, we guess he’d tell you to wear something that’s ‘all about anger and fashion.’ Be careful in those skinny pants, though. Justin had to go to hospital the other day.

‘It’s these new jeans man. I just couldn’t get my wallet out.’

Fashion forward buskers 

Working in Melbourne’s great outdoors adds a degree of difficulty to any task - especially when it comes to your outfit. How do buskers decide what wear? How do they choose between a plastic poncho or head-to-toe silver paint?

Melbourne’s buskers will come together during Melbourne Music to battle it out for the title of Best Busker in the Street Change concert at City Square. For once they’ll have a covered stage, so they can leave the poncho at home. 

We’re not sure who will be entering this event, but, just in case, we would like to nominate  jazz busker group Milestones for the ‘Melbourne’s Best Reservoir Dogs Look-Alike’ Street Change award.

Serge Gainsbourg style tips

Screening at ACMI for Melbourne Music, Je t’aime: The Filmic Lives of Gainsbourg and Birkin is a series of films celebrating the work of French music icon Serge Gainsbourg – and his famous love. The late Frenchman was a brooding pin-up for classic elegance in men’s fashion, and the tailored leather jacket was one of his wardrobe staples.

For the Gainsbourg look, we recommend a visit to Swedish fashion house and creative collective Acne, based in Melbourne’s GPO. 

Visit www.melbmusic.com to view the full Melbourne Music program.

Hot Spots: The Play Team

Tuesday 31 August 2010, 4:42 PM
By Hot Spots Team | Posted in Events

Craft Victoria’s annual Craft Cubed Festival (or, to the mathematically inclined, ‘Craft To The Power Of Three Festival’) wraps up with a closing party at 31 Flinders Lane this Saturday. The festival’s theme of ‘Childhood’ will by no means prevent Joe Pascoe and his team from breaking out the champers we’ve come to expect at such soirees.

Between now and then, though, there’s a far less grown-up Craft Cubed event that you shouldn’t miss.

The brainchild of Ben Landau and Alex Desebrock, The Play Team is a series of workshops for grown ups at Birrarung Marr’s (usually) kids-only art space, Art Play.

Ben and Alex know that, buried deep beneath our worries about tax returns, car insurance and the interest payments we can avoid through credit debt transfers, lies a crazy child who just wants to ride a cardboard box down the stairs. So they’re inviting us to come and make some toys with them on 1, 2 and 3 September.

You: ‘Toys? What are they?’

Ben: ‘Remember building a box cubby to keep the dragons out? How many ways can you make a giraffe? Remember everything a cardboard tube can be?!’

Don’t deny it, you totally remember. Book yourself a spot on the Play Team. At $5 a pop, each session will cost you a week’s pocket money. Ask your mum for a loan though, ‘cos all the other kids are going.

The Play Team, 1, 2 and 3 September, 5.30pm to 7pm. Book here.

Hot Spots: hook turns with Bus Projects

Thursday 19 August 2010, 11:39 AM
By Hot Spots Team | Posted in Places

Melbourne’s myriad laneways are home to an industrious network of artist-run and independent art spaces, promising all manner of brain fodder and creative inspiration should you venture in their direction.

Hot Spots caught up with Drew Pettifer from Bus Projects  to find out what makes this gallery’s wheels go round (and round).

What makes Bus different from other artist-run initiatives (ARIs) and independent art spaces?

Bus Projects focuses on the exhibition of sound and spatial art, which certainly distinguishes it from other ARIs and independent art spaces. 

We are still open to all forms of contemporary art production, particularly if it is experimental or adventurous, but sound and spatial art is our main focus.  Our mission is ultimately to get more art by more young and emerging artists seen by more people more often.

What kind of artists have you had on your roster in the past?

Bus has shown a broad range of different artists during the past nine and a bit years. Artists such as Chris Bond, Helen Johnson, Tai Snaith and Viv Miller have all acknowledged the significant role Bus played in the development of their artistic careers. 

We’ve had some great sound performances at the gallery too, by artists such as Marco Fusinato, Phil Samartzis and Rod Cooper. 

Bus closed its Little Lonsdale gallery doors in March.  Is Bus now going to move into a real bus?

That’s certainly part of the plan…We had planned to launch a mobile art space on a bus earlier in the year, but had problems with the roadworthiness of the vehicle we had in mind.  I think our ideal situation is to have both a permanent gallery space and a bus which we use as a mobile project space.  Hopefully, in the coming months, one or both of these spaces will become a reality.

Is there a stronger focus on off-site projects? 

We’re interested in satellite projects and project spaces and engaging artists and audiences in new ways.  Until we have a new space of our own we will certainly continue functioning as a kind of roaming gallery – we’ll certainly be sticking around for a while longer.

Keep an eye on the Bus Projects website for details of coming projects. Some big things are in the wings, we hear.

www.busprojects.com.au

Hot Spots: handmade for you

Friday 13 August 2010, 2:42 PM
By Hot Spots Team | Posted in People

You don’t need an international boarding pass to come by that hand-crafted woven ikat backpack or custom-fit pair of selvedge denim jeans. Melbourne is abundant with crafty artisans who know how to use their hands and keep their production local.

Here are a few of our favourite city-dwelling artisans.

J.S. Roberts: Handmade Footwear and Leather Goods

Fancy yourself a gentleman dandy or lady about town? Well, then, you’re going to need the shoes to match that devil-may-care swagger. James Roberts is just the man to shod you, hand-crafting bespoke footwear from his perch in manly haven Captains of Industry.  

Pony Bikes

If you don’t think bikes come under the artisanal umbrella, then you haven’t been to Pony Bikes. No-nonsense lady owner Sasha custom-builds small masterpieces for you to ride atop, as well as offering repair, paint, powdercoat, and restoration services. Visit her West Melbourne workshop for consultations and general hang-outs.

AD Jewellery

Master gold and silversmith Michaela Bruton has turned her hand to jewellery-making with a selection of earthen-inspired crystal necklaces and rings. She forges these gems from her studio in West Melbourne, and they are available exclusively for sale at Alice Euphemia.  

COUNTER at Craft Victoria

Craft Victoria’s retail hub COUNTER is the mothership of all things handmade and local. With everything from hand-moulded ceramics to hand-knitted egg cosies, it’s the perfect place to find a unique gift that special someone (or yourself, if you’ve been good).

Image credit: Elizabeth from Primoeza