Glenturret Burns Night
Sydney Opera House
January 25, 2020
Sydney, Australia
Reimagining a traditional Sottish gathering and weaving in indigenous Australian components is an exercise that demands a delicate balance, let alone when it comes to honouring the memory of the Ayrshire-born Scottish poet …
What’s Sumatra with You? East Forged
As I travel this earthround, more often than not on more exotic territory, I find myself reminded of Abraham Lincoln musing that if what I am proffered is supposed to be coffee, I’d rather have tea and if it is supposed …
Henry Darger
Prestel Publishing
“Outsider art” is an interesting term as it can pertain to art outside the confines of the well-trodden path of mainstream art and autodidactic artists that add another enriching facet dimension to the culturally sanctioned world of art as well as a …
Yves Zurstrassen – Free
Mercator Fonds
A name like Yves Zurstrassen, at least the correct pronunciation might not roll easily off your Anglo-Saxon tongue and it might be an artist that has not crossed your path so far.
I have to admit that I was …
Otto Dix – The Evil Eye
Prestel Publishing
Ah, Weimar!
An intriguing period that specifically in the Rhineland region has spawned artistic conglomerates that revolutionised what art was thought to be. Having started out with producing straight forward portraits, evolving via flirts with Dadaism and …
Fire Fight Australia
ANZ Stadium
Sydney, Australia
February 16, 2020
It has been thirty-five years since the eponymous Live Aid festival was organised by Bob Geldorf to raise funds for relief of the ongoing Ethiopian famine – the impressive array of artists that participated made …
Thus Let Us Drink Beer - Sauce Brewing Co
Now, not sure if what originally start as a microbrewery in the inner-west of Sydney can still be classified as such, as it has evolved to one of the more prominent representatives of the local craft beer scene. …
Stiff Little Fingers
Metro Theatre
Sydney, Australia
February 21, 2020
There is a chance that I need to revisit The Clash’s early oeuvre, however, in my humble opinion Stiff Little Finger’s “Inflammable Material” is, as far as an early, snotty political punk record is …
Aesthetic Theory
Think Art
Dieter Mersch
Posthumously having seen the light of day, Theodor Adornos take on what underpins the principles of art is much more than what the title suggests and it not only focusses on the core subject but expands on exploring the …
Thus Let Us Drink Beer – Ballistic Beer
What a time to be alive – especially if you are a hop aficionado and based on terra australis. The array of quality craft beer breweries popping up and channelling their alchemy in delicious brews seems to be never …
Ben Quilty
Penguin Random House
Winner of the Archibald Prize, activist artist Ben Quilt has had quite a few of solo exhibitions, which I have been lucky enough to witness in different Australian state museums. No matter if it is his latter compelling art informing by …
Sleaford Mods
Metro Theatre
Sydney, Australia
March 4, 2020
Sleaford Mods have come a long way. What should have never worked out on paper, turned out to become a phenomenon with an avid army of loyal followers.
Blame it on the arcane pop …
Thus Let Us Drink Beer - Holgate Brewhouse
Sometimes it takes a bit longer to come across what eventually proves to be a stalwart of the Australian craft beer brewing scene and one wonders how one could have possibly been so ignorant. Case in point: Holgate Brewhouse. …
Rare Bird Publications special:
Mutations: Twenty Years Embedded in Hardcore Punk
Sam McPheeters
Rare Bird Publications
Sam McPheeters first entered my life via Born Against during my formative years as a juvenile delinquent and left an indelible mark, which continued with his other emissions …
Water of Life – Kavalan Vinho Barrique and Daneson Toothpicks
We have shed light on Kavalan and their excellent emission from various angles over the last years and I have yet to come across a dram from this unique and by now accolade decorated Taiwanese distillery that …
The Darkness
Enmore Theatre
Sydney, Australia
March 13, 2020
It has been a few moons since I first saw The Darkness incarnate in a live environment, which was in the UK shortly after they landed their hit album ”Permission to land” and which saw their …
Thus Let Us Drink Beer – Exit Brewing
The endless saga…just when I thought I had my favourite Australian IPA go-tos firmly established, a brewery pops up that disrupts it all:
Enter Exit Brewing, which shall be the focal point of this instalment, a brewery that …
Water of Life – Meticulousness and Attention to Detail
The AMC series Breaking Bad has chronicled the exploits of Walter White, a high school chemistry teacher turned drug lord who with meticulous attention to detail perfectioned an ingenious recipe for ultrapure methamphetamine. Now, I am not saying that …
Whisky
Eddie Ludlow
DK Australia
Eddie Ludlow’s mission consists not only of preaching to the converted and expanding their horizons but getting non-believers turned on to whisky – the man likes bringing people together over a dram and genuinely, passionately lives breathes, eats and sleeps …
Caspar David Friedrich: Nature and the Self
Yale University Press
Classifying Caspar David Friedrich’s oeuvre and paintings as “atmospheric” would be an understatement par excellence. The way CDF channelled his alchemy and the intricacy with which he outlined figures lost on musings on the need to …
