The Brag

Growing up in Chi-Town, I was exposed to lots of different kinds of music,” Jamie 3:26 tells me. “In my house there’d be jazz playing, then some blues, and then someone else would get home and start spinning some deep soul. Ever since I was a kid, I knew that that was the real education.”

Posted: June 6th, 2012 under Brag 465 (June 4), Feature Music, Music, Music - Interview, New.
Tags: 3:26, Benjamin Cooper, Boom Boom, Daniel Lupica, interview, Jamie, Music, Review, The Paradise Lost Crew

On a wall next to the spot where Tunisian street vendor Mohammed Bouazizi committed suicide in December 2010 – sparking the Tunisian revolution and in turn the Arab Spring – are written lyrics from Bob Marley’s ‘Get Up, Stand Up.’ In fact, you can find the image and words of Marley anywhere around the world where class struggles and revolution still exist – as Kevin Macdonald found when he was shooting his Academy Award-winner The Last King Of Scotland, in Uganda.

Posted: June 5th, 2012 under Arts, Arts - Interview, Arts Feature, Brag 465 (June 4), Sydney Film Festival 2012.
Tags: Arts, Dee Jefferson, Documentaries, Film, interview, Marley, Review, SFF, Sydney Film Festival, Third World Superstar

Fergus Linehan (Vivid LIVE)

Fergus’ eye – and ear – for a good thing saw him blaze a trail through Sydney in his five years at the helm of Sydney Festival, before taking up a permanent post as Head of Contemporary Music at Sydney Opera House – including curating Vivid LIVE. Which makes his first choice potentially biased – but still definitely on the money.

Posted: June 5th, 2012 under Arts, Brag 464 (May 28), Film Reviews, Sydney Film Festival 2012.
Tags: Barnaby Southcombe, Fergus Linehan, Film, I Anna, Kevin MacDonald, Marina Abramovic: The Artist Is Present, Matthew Akers, Paolo & Vittorio Taviani, Recommended, Review, SFF, Shut Up And Play The Hits, Sydney Film Festival, Vivid Live, Will Lovelace & Dylan Southern

Although it’s his first feature at the helm, Get The Gringo director Adrian Grunberg’s impressive resume includes a number of collaborations with Mel Gibson, including a gig as first assistant director on his 2006 Mayan epic Apocalypto. So naturally, when Gibson approached Grunberg with an idea for a screenplay and an offer to co-write and direct it with him, he was happy to oblige. Like many who have worked with Gibson (with notable recent exceptions), Grunberg speaks highly of the man.

Posted: May 29th, 2012 under Arts, Arts - Interview, Arts Feature, Brag 464 (May 28), Film Reviews.
Tags: Adrian Grunberg, Arts, Arts Feature, Film, Get The Gringo, interview, Mel Bibson, Review, Rob Newcombe

Justin Hawkins has a few new habits – moustache-twirling, yoga, a raw diet, sobriety. It’s probably the yoga rather than the moustache that gives the formerly weedy frontman the power to execute a perfect handstand composedly on the drum riser for a full minute while brother Dan shreds out front, but a combination of all of the above sees him in better form than ever both as a singer and guitarist. No junk no soul, goes the old adage, but no heroin goes an awfully long way towards reminding any doubters that Hawkins is much more than a glam clown with killer pipes, but also a technically and theatrically brilliant player.

Posted: May 23rd, 2012 under Brag 462 (May 14), Live Reviews, Music.
Tags: Caitlin Welsh, Live Music, Music, Review, The Darkness, UNSW Roundhouse