Peng!33 is pretty much my favourite Iron & Wine song and I am re-reading (for bookclub) One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel Garcia Marquez – one of the finest, most delightfully strange books I have ever read.

It appears that Peng!33 borrows it’s lines from One Hundred Years.

“Incredible things are happening in this world, magical things are happening in this world… across the river are all kinds of magical instruments, while we’re still living here like donkeys/monkeys”

I didn’t even have to Google.

It’s as if there really are magical instruments across the river!

Sufjan Stevens was quite indescribable. It was absurd and beautiful, moving and joyful. He played for close on 2hrs, much of it was from his most recent The Age of Adz.

Points of interest:

• Impossible Soul goes for just over 25 minutes and he played the whole thing, and it was gobsmackingly amazing.
• The Age of Adz trumps the evening for being my favourite, I found it extremely moving, although I never have had that experience listening to it recorded – it was quite strange
• Vesuvius – awesome retro graphics
• Sufjan at one stage had two boxing kangaroos on his head and a whole lot of other strange stuff

I can’t say I knew quite what to expect, and I’m jolly well glad I didn’t put a box around it as I’m apt to do. Sufjan is pure genius.

The Set List for Sufjan at the State Theatre Melbourne Jan 31st 2011

1. Seven Swans
2. Too Much
3. Age of Adz
4. Heirloom
5. I Walked
6. All For Myself
7. Vesuvius
8. Now That I’m Older
9. Get Real Get Right
10. Futile Devices
11. Impossible Soul
12. Concerning the UFO Sighting Near Highland, Illinois
13. John Wayne Gacy, Jr.
14. Chicago

And we are going to see him.

!

My ultimate Sufjan gig would include the following songs (regardless of whether they ‘go’ together)

• From the Mouth of Gabriel – All Delighted People
• John Wayne Gacy Jnr. – Come On Feel the Illinoise
• The Predatory Wasp of the Palisaides is out to get us! – Come On Feel the Illinoise
• Casimir Pulaski Day – Come On Feel the Illinoise
• Chicago – Come On Feel the Illinoise
• The Dress Looks Nice On You – Seven Swans
• To Be Alone With You – Seven Swans
• He Woke Me Up Again – Seven Swans
• The Transfiguration – Seven Swans
• A Good Man is Hard to Find – Seven Swans
• Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing – Songs for Christmas
• Sister Winter – Songs for Christmas
• Star of Wonder – Songs for Christmas
• Holy, Holy, Holy – Songs for Christmas
• Futile Devices – The Age of Adz
• No Man’s Land – The Avalanche
• Romulus – Greetings from Michigan
• For the Widows in Paradise, For the Fatherless in Ypsilanti – Greetings from Michigan

So… mostly all of Seven Swans (really) and although ‘A Sun Came’ is not bad at all and A Winner Needs A Wand is pretty decent it’s not the best of the best. I haven’t listened to The Age of Adz quite enough yet to fully make up my mind.

I really think that Sister Winter and He Woke Me Up Again come in on top of my list.

What’s on yours?

Run like a race for family
When you hear like you’re alone
The rusted gears of morning
To faceless busy phones
We gladly run in circles
But the shape we meant to make is gone

Love is a tired symphony
To hum when you’re awake
Love is a crying baby
Mama warned you not to shake
Love is the best sensation
Hiding in the lion’s mane

So I’ll clear the road, the gravel
And the thorn-bush in your path
That burns a scented oil
That I’ll drip into your bath
The water’s there to warm you
And the earth is warmer
When you laugh

Love is a scene I render
When you catch me wide awake
Love’s a dream you enter
Though I shake and shake and shake you
Love is the best endeavor
Waiting in the lion’s mane

Iron & Wine

image via Ffffound!

So… I have now experienced the so called Music Festival. Call me backwards but I’m not a huge gigs person, don’t get me wrong – I enjoy music very much, I just prefer to be sitting. Last week I wandered off to Josh Pyke – which was super excellent except for 4hrs in a stinking hot room with nowhere to sit. (I am remarkably unfit it appears) what is more peculiar is that my lovely mother managed to someone score a ticket off someone who had broken their toe and she came home in raptures. I think it’s the beard. At least Dad has one. It was a truly excellent little set by Mr. Pyke at the classic Rubys in Belgrave – the home of affordable music goodness.

The Big Day Out is something else. I am lamenting a little now that we didn’t hold out and get Laneway tickets – as it’s much more my type of music (think Mumford and Sons – which, thank you very much came in at no.1!) but Geoff told me that I had to experience something of the likes of BDO and so he got us tickets. And I am glad of the experience (How very Gen Y of me). To put things in perspective, the BDO is about 10hrs worth of gigs. We intelligently caught the train and bought plenty of water and food. I got a rather interesting hat from Kmart so I wouldn’t fry – I say interesting because before I even got to use it it wound up drenched in hot-dog water and had to be washed didn’t come out quite as dandy as it started – but that is another story (and it wasn’t super dandy to start with). We scored remarkably good weather – warm but not stinking and fairly overcast/beautiful for the entireity.

We kicked off the event with a wander to the Public Opinion Afro Orchestra and then caught up with Ana, Blair, Marita and co. Checked out some Blue Juice and lamentably didn’t stay as we though Lisa Mitchell would be more worth seeing (Just go buy the CD instead) I mean really, who would miss out on guys in yellow jumpsuits! Then off to Tame Impala – who suddenly got popular (oh yeh, that’s right – someone told me about this good obscure little band but that was 3 years ago) – try a 14 year old with a shirt off – no just put it back on, you’re all ribs and your long hair reminds me of Hanson – well, props to them because they put on a good show. Then for some reason we went to see Dizzie Rascal – here’s where my day hit its’ low. I would possibly be okay with the music if I didn’t have over excited drunk girls invading my personal space and jumping to making the ground shake (I’m picturing a few of you laughing at me right now: ‘oh that’s so Bec’) but he did go for an hour – the ground shaking bit was kinda cool but no thanks – I at least had Marita to share disparaging looks. We off and up decided to check out Passion Pit but the crowds were so insane that it was a sneaky backtrack to sitting and the shade for The Decemberists – glory on all parts! Then back to standing for Mars Volta who don’t know when to end songs or make the last one sound any different from the one before. However our fixed location made for excellent spots for the following: Lily Allen (Who wore an Australian flag and looked a bit like an old woman in her kitchen in a kaftan with a cigarette – I think that’s what she was going for) she was however most excellent, then Powderfinger which allowed for some marvelous old school singalongs (And I possibly enjoy this most of all – knowing the music fairly well does help) and then Muse.

Muse were excellent. Like truly excellent.

And then a prick of a guy pushed forward in between me and Ana and obscured my vision. Apparently Ana punched him and I strategically put my elbow where he would be jumping into it. We should’ve been meaner.

The benefit of this was that I was so angry at this guy that I forgot about how sore my feet were for a good 20 minutes. Getting out was slightly insane, Geoff sourced a magic shortcut and we bypassed several hundred people and were home before midnight (not a bad effort when you live out near the end of a train line).

Despite the apparent whingyness of this post, I did enjoy myself mostly. Would I go again? Perhaps if I loved the line up, otherwise no.

I slept til 12pm the next day.

The gig was a Christmas present from Geoff. Emiliana was one of our first conversations.

For Christmas Geoff bought me From Sometimes which is a conceptual book of postcards. I am inspired to find a mechanism to write down small things.

I truly love the new Imogen Heap CD Ellipse. Here is a youtube clip of ‘Wait it Out‘, do listen.

I found this cartoon tonight.

And this page of quotes – quite fascinating – about spirituality and God. People’s questions.

Be more honest.