Cirque du Soliel - Dralion - Wed 31 Dec 2008 - Hamilton Portside

The Girl says:

In November, the Bear mentioned that I had a surprise coming up sometime before the end of the year. Although I enjoy surprises, I can't stand being in suspense, so I have been hounding the Bear for some time trying to get any clues. The most I got was that the surprise would be sometime over the festive period, before the year was through.

31st December in Brisbane was an absolute stinker of a day, and I went for a shower at around 5pm to try and cool off a little. The Bear casually mentioned that I should think about getting dressed soon because we might go out. Well, we got dressed and drove out to Hamilton Portside, near the International Wharves. On the way, the Bear confirmed that this was indeed my surprise, but I still had no idea what to expect. I wondered if we were going to see a movie at the Dendy, but we drove past the Dendy without stopping.

On arrival, we walked for some time before approaching what looked like large blue and yellow circus tents. It was not until we got really close that I saw on the top of the largest tent the words "Cirque du Soleil" and I knew then what was happening.

It was like a dream come true. I had wanted to see Dralion since I heard it was coming, particularly because I feel a special affinity with dragons and I have long wanted to see the Cirque du Soleil live. I know now I will never see anything else like it.

It was a magical experience. The performers were just incredible and many times I was holding my breath, fingers clenched, hoping nothing would go wrong. There was a fantastic trampoline act, with performers flying left, right and centre with ease and grace. The music was incredible and the costumes were stunning. There was a great balancing act on large balls, a truly skilled juggler, awesome Chinese dragon dancing and acrobatics and an incredibly agile young woman balancing on one hand whilst doing all sorts of amazing contortions.

My absolute favourite part though was the aerial pas de deux, a truly romantic and heartbreakingly beautiful aerial act, just like the most lovely of ballets. It was magnificent and breathtaking.

Our seats were in the second row and you could see the muscles rippling on the performers bodies. It was a truly amazing experience and I have to say the best New Years Eve event I could imagine. What a way to end 2008.

Thank you Bear!

The Bear Says:

I first saw Cirque du Soliel on what I think was their first visit to Brisbane in the year 1999 with their show Saltimbanco. I had gone along, a little skeptical, but found a show that actually lived up to its hype; it really was like nothing I'd ever seen. When I heard Dralion was coming, and knowing the Girl's thing for dragons, I knew we had to go.

The overriding sense that you're left with from a Cirque du Soliel show is how do they do that? The flexibility of the human body gets pushed far beyond the limits of what's reasonable and right out into what's implausible. Then they do the same with what you think is possible in terms of balance, then reflexes, then timing. Unforgettable moments from Dralion include the girl in the opening act twisting her body into improbable shapes while balanced on one hand, the acrobats perfoming their act atop large balls, and later in the show, the acrobats diving through tiny hoops, a few at a time in perfect sychronisation.

The most spectacular feature was easily the trampoline act. Again, it's the timing that makes this so hard to believe. I mean, plunging down a wall and bouncing back with enough momentum to run up a vertical surface is amazing enough, but to have up to six people performing these acrobatics in close confines becomes almost terrifying.

That said, what the aerial pas de deux didn't have in showiness, it more than made up for in lyrical, romantic perfection. Truly a ballet suspended in mid air.

Glad you liked it, Girl. Happy New Year :)

Saruzu Quartet CD launch – Sat 20 December 2008 – The Old Museum

The Bear says:

We found out about this event because we're on the mailing list of (the late?) Stringmansassy, and thus we learned that the incomparable vocalist of that duo, Kacey Patrick, would be appearing at this gig. The fact that Red Chair, who manage both Stringmansassy and Saruzu Quartet, described this as "fiery flamenco-tango-jazz... the rich harmonies of Argentine tango, the wild improvisations of gypsy jazz and the fire and grace of flamenco" give us a second reason to go along, and the fact that it was being presented at the Old Museum gave us a third! We duly headed in tonight, accompanied by some picnic snacks, as advised by the promoter!

Well – the venue was nothing less than amazing. A section of the old museum had been divided off by fabric that floated down from the ceiling high, high above. Tables had been set up and decorated with flickering candles (battery powered, unfortunately, but still...) The whole vibe was mellow indeed, with a distinct cabaret flavour.

The support act was a touring Canadian solo performer, Ann Vriend, who sang and accompanied herself on the piano. Her music is sultry, quirky, and very smart. Unfortunately, the sound mix let her down a bit; music that's as lyrically intelligent as this really needs the vocals to come right out to the front. Instead, I found myself straining to make out the words a lot of the time. Definitely an exciting find though, and a back-catalogue I think we'll need to collect.

Saruzu Quartet presented a solid set in the world music tradition: lots of energetic gypsy fiddling, and irresistible Flamenco rhythms stamped out by dancer Simone Pope. A particularly memorable part of the performance was bassist Andrew Shaw pulling off a solo that I wouldn't have previously thought possible on a double bass. The real treat for me, however, was hearing Kacey Patrick's unique, magic voice in performance once again.

Tonight was so wonderful in many ways. Saruzu's music was joyful and vivacious, the venue was so perfectly atmospheric, and I really hope that Red Chair organises something like this again soon.

Pink Floyd double feature: The Wall & Dark Side of the Rainbow – Thu 18 December 2008 – Globe Theatre

The Bear says:

So, after only a week, it was back to the Globe Theatre for another musical double feature, this time by Pink Floyd. I'm not a huge Pink Floyd fan – really, the only one of their albums that I really love is their psychedelic first one, Piper at the Gates of Dawn. However, the powerful visual images in The Wall have always really appealed to me and I'd never seen it on the big screen before, so I was keen to catch this showing.

The other attraction was Dark Side of the Rainbow, which I'd heard references to for many years but never actually investigated. If you haven't investigated it either, the title refers to the practice of watching The Wizard of Oz with the sound turned off while listening to Dark Side of the Moon instead. Yes, really. Proponents of this allege amazing bits of synchronicity between the images on the screen and the sounds on the album, to the point where some people claim this to have been intentional on the part of the band.

I'm not going to repeat last week's comments on the Globe experience, except to say once again that I'm so glad that the venue exists to put on the programming that it does. I am, however, going to say that whoever first thought that The Wizard of Oz and Dark Side of the Moon somehow synch up was clearly out of his or her head. There's a lot of information (words, beats) in a 45-minute album, and it doesn't terribly surprise me that when played against a movie (any movie), Dark Side of the Moon (or any album) will contain words that match an image on the screen from time to time or beats that match a movement. To me, the most striking co-incidences were close to the end of the "experience" where there were about three "matches" in close succession during the confrontation between the Wicked Witch and Glinda. A few minutes later, there's another funny match as the scarecrow dances around like a lunatic as Pink Floyd sings "the lunatic is on the grass". But that was about it. I'm very glad to have finally seen this for myself, so I can now say from personal experience, "nothing to see here".

Brisbane City Council 4KQ Christmas Lights Tour – Tue 16 December 2008 – Western route

Western route


Some other description here

Beatles double feature: Help! & Let It Be – Wed 10 December 2008 – Globe Theatre

The Bear says:

A couple of weeks ago, I overheard a couple of my co-workers discussing what seemed to be a double-feature of zombie movies playing on the big screen sometime soon. On further enquiry, I learned that the venue was to be the Globe Theatre – no, not that one, this one right here in Brisbane. More precisely, it's in Fortitude Valley, just a couple of doors up from the train station in what used to be the Valley Twin cinema a long time ago (I seem to recall Dad taking me to see Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan here in 1982...) Since then, I think it's been a Chinatown cinema, an arthouse cinema (briefly) and even a cinema for the "raincoat brigade". Now it's a live music venue and about once a week shows a mid-week double-feature of classic, cult films.

Apparently, they've been doing this since 2005, so I was amazed that I hadn't heard of it until now. Perusing their list of coming attractions, I started kicking myself when I saw what I'd missed in 2008, but was happy to see a few upcoming features of interest. The first of these was this Beatles double feature. I was especially keen, because Let It Be was on the programme, easily the most obscure of the Beatles' films, and the only one I haven't seen multiple times. In fact, it would be easily 15 years since I've seen it, and even then on a very fuzzy VHS copy. And I've loved Help! ever since I saw it as part of a Beatles marathon at Annerley's old Boomerang Cinema. So, off to the Globe it was!

On arriving at the venue, we had to sign in (since they have a bar) and then waited in a lounge area until the cinema itself opened. It felt like stepping back in time. The lounge was outfitted with disco lights, armchairs, and black lights, and Beatles music was playing loudly to set the scene.

The cinema itself looks very much like little refurbishment has taken place since its days as the Valley Twin, and I tried not to think too much about the previous clientele of dirty old men.

When Help! started, I was very surprised at the quality of what I took to be the "print" . I had been expecting a faded, scratched copy of the film, but this was bright and razor-sharp. It was so good, in fact, that it was quickly apparent that this had to be a DVD copy played through a digital projector. That's good and bad. I mean, it's nice to see a clean, crisp image, but I think it lacks something in the atmosphere that seeing an old classic demands. I just think it adds something to the nostalgia of the event, like at a screening of Raiders of the Lost Ark at the Village Twin a few years ago where the first and third reels had taken on a strange, magenta tone...

Still, this is quibbling! Actually, I'm delighted that someone, anyone in Brisbane is putting these movies up where they belong – on the big screen.

I'm not going to comment on either film, except to say that Help! was as much fun as always, and multiple viewings haven't diminished that for me, and that Let It Be is what it is – a slice-of-life as the Beatles ceased to function as a creative entity.

For $13, well worth a trip back in time.