My thanks to Sandra Thibodeaux for publishing one of my poems, A Better World, on her poetry blog. Sandra, from Darwin, is touring Australia as a kind of Peripatetic Ambassador for Poetry in her role as Poet-in-Residence for Australian Poetry. I met her at one of the series of workshops she’s conducting around Australia (see “disturbing my poem”). She’s documenting her work (+ a few of the poets she’s met) on her blog. Another Adelaidean featured is the ever sensitive and honest poet Rachael Mead. There’ll be more added as Sandra continues her roadshow!

I’ve just had great fun with ccMixter’s Beach blanket secret mixter project. Participants were invited to produce something with a summer theme in secret collaboration with another artist somewhere on the planet. I was fortuitously allocated Clarence Simpson (I think he’s from Arkansas.) I chose his beautiful but simple guitar arpeggio C minor and wrote a memoir of my Australian summers of childhood at West Beach then blended them with coastal sound FX and a basic chorus. I was pretty pleased with the result – and judging by the feedback a lot of other people appreciated it. I was concerned that a US audience might not “get” the Aussie idioms & references but no one’s complained. I guess it’s like poetry – if you’re honest and very specific it often touches a universal chord…

Thanks to everyone who came along to our amazing Max-Mo gig at Higher Ground on Friday night. A great reunion with Amelia, fresh back from the Netherlands. If you weren’t there, as well as live versions of the tracks on our MySpace page, we did new material as well: Mike Ladd’s Ghost of Don Dunstan, Boomer Beach and Control Room and my The Thoughts of Charlie Sheen and Your Horrorscope. Great percussion layering by Andy Mills and some fantastic improvisational interplay between Derek Pascoe (sax) and Steve Matters (trombone) was the icing on the cake. After the show I got to chat to two of my favourite Adelaide poets Jules Leigh Koch & Aidan Coleman. Jules was kind enough to give me a copy of his marvellous Language of Rain collection (published by Rob Scott’s Bookends). Being a new dad, Aidan hasn’t seen much live poetry lately (although he’s also about to give birth to a poetry-baby courtesy of his publisher Brandl & Schlesinger.)
A wonderful time was had by all. See you next time.

If you want to see a brilliant show at the Adelaide Cabaret Festival (Tuxedo Cat, June 16-18) you’re too late.
Amy Bodossian is a seductive girl with a mucus problem. Actually after the first song we don’t get any more phlegm but we do get a brilliant performer playing multiple roles. Is it poetry, performance or song? (Yes to all three.) Her main preoccupation is relationships and the roles that women play e.g. Dream Lover, The Virgin and the Whore, Deep Fried Love, The Dishes Song but there is also Clowny (an unhappy puppet who works in a factory). I especially liked her taking the piss out of the arrogant macho male in I’m the one you want. Was it a Greek accent? Dozen matter…
Obviously Amy has a giant ego, yet she’s also constantly self-deprecating as when she introduces You’re the One: “a poem, fresh, bloody from the womb. A very, very new one. Well not AS new as I pretend it is, but new. New enough.” There are universal moments from childhood. Moments which turn from uncomfortable to poignant in an instant. Paul Buckley who wrote many of the songs plays clarinet, piano and guitar accompaniment brilliantly.
Amy doesn’t play by the rules or fit neatly into any genre. She has a beautiful voice with an amazing range. She can go from confronting to heart-rending in a heartbeat.
She’s great.
If she’s ever playing again somewhere – see her.

PS: There are clips of her on Youtube and MySpace. You’ll find them.

PPS: Thanks to Amelia Walker for inviting us.

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I’m really looking forward to our next Max-Mo gig. Amelia’s back and we’ve all been rehearsing new material. Should be a great night. Hope to see some of you there.
(The photo’s taken from Ray Jalil’s video of our last show. Thanks, Ray.)
When: 6pm to 8pm Friday July 1
Where: Higher Ground, north end of Light Square, Adelaide.
Admission: Free!

Sneak preview