Al's Music Rant @ Melbourne International Comedy Festival 2012

So you may have noticed the drop in activity around here lately, that's for one very simple reason. It's Comedy Festival time, and once again, your titular host is taking to the stage to transform this seriously-minded critical music blog, into a hilarious hour of musical-based hilarity by borrowing the same name.

The result is Al's Music Rant: The Difficult 2nd Album and for those of you who follow this humble writer's extra-curricular activities, a lot of this wash might seem redundant. But as it stands, I'm heading into the second (and final) week of the show, and figure my faithful blog readers shouldn't miss out on the action. The key thing is, if you haven't already, you should pick a date, book some tix for the show and come on down and have a good old laugh. 

The remaining dates are:

Tues April 17th - Sun April 22nd. 

(No Mondays. 5.15pm Sundays)

6.15pm The Evatt Room, Trades Hall

Corner of Lygon St & Victoria St

Tickets available through: 

Comedy Festival website

 or Ticketmaster online | Ph: 1300 660 013

...aaaaaaaaaaaaand we're back

Two weeks. Ouch. Boy am I shite at updating my loyal fans (and capitalising on new ones). The more astute among you have probably already realised why this is. Two words: Comedy Festival.

Aside from a busy and dare I say successful season - actually yeah, it was successful and here's the proof - there was all those other brilliant shows to see and experience.

Aside from the scads of brilliantly funny shows from the likes of Sam Simmons, Tom Ballard, Steve Sheehan, Maria Bamford and Bo Burnham, here are some other MICF highlights - in no particular order or detail.

*Scatalogical humour with Paul Foot at a Hungry Jack's at 4am

*Secret Santoni Cabaretoni at The Tuxedo Cat

*Good friend/medical practitioner/living partner Dr. Professor Neal Portenza getting a special mention in the Golden Gibbo nominations.

*Dr. Brown's Clown Classes: tough, revealing and rewarding.

*Reggie Watts murdering the HiFi bar

*single-handedly starting a crowd singalong of Come On Eileen on the final night of Festival Club prior to Dave Callan's DJ set.

There's probably many more besides, but most importantly are all the wonderful people who came out and supported Al's Music Rant. If you were there, I thank you, I had brilliant audiences every night - no matter the size - and without a good audience, there is no point. Your laughter, support (and ticket revenue) are what keeps it all ticking along. So here's to the next show...

Now it's time to bring some life back to the pages that inspired the show to begin with.

The A/V Room

Remember that little collection of music video posts a while back?

No? ...really? it was quite memorable, got a lot of feedback about that one. I have a real love/hate relationship with music videos, as detailed by the lil' sorta-manifesto accompanying the original post. But collating the best videos scattered across the internet for my own nefarious purposes was a lot of fun. Plus in the intervening weeks there's been some more that have actually tickled my fancy, of course there's a million more that I hated, but let's stick to the good stuff shall we?

Twinkle Twinkle (Update)

Thought it was time to check in with a quick update/ego-stroking session.

As you probably know by now, Al's Music Rant has been playing as part of the 2011 Melbourne International Comedy Festival. What you might not know is that there seem to be quite a few people (besides myself) who will tell you that it's a musical-come-comedy extravaganza well worth your clams and your lung power.

The Pun seemed to enjoy the show. Immensely. In particular commenting on its evolution from these humble pages to a live show. They call it a 'blistering success' with 'seemingly limitless inventiveness.' Lovely. But I particulary being noted that I rock, and to be saluted. As do you The Pun, as do you.

Culture zine The Enthusiast were a little slow on the uptake - here's the short and Tweet of it.
But now the full review by the wonderful Mel Campbell is up online. She calls it "Intelligent" and "highly entertaining" saying "Newstead's eye for the absurd marries perfectly with his shrewd ear for genre cliches." How many MICF shows can you say feature a wedding between body parts? Boom. Recommendation.

Then there's the Herald Sun's David Swift, who kindly gave my blog abilities a gentle rubbing in his four-star review of the show. His favourite bit? many. My favourite bit? "his mash-ups of black lyrics on white power chords were masterful" 

Read the full review here

Speaking of said mash-ups, I woke up at an ungodly-hour to perform said song and have a chat on triple j Brekkie with the wonderful Tom & Alex. It was an absolute ball, coveting the usually hip triple j listeners' tastes with references to Ke$ha, Rogue Traders and even the theme from The Neverending Story. If you didn't catch the madness live, you can always stream or download the podcast over at the boy's page (or direct link here); or proving that radio is clearly NOT a visual medium, here's the song in YouTubage

Finally, some love from comedy blogger I Like Your Shtick who is charting a wonderfully written course through this year's MICF. The nicities didn't stop with Al's Music Rant, but also towards the show I directed, Patrick Miller's Archibald Wheeler Whets The Whistle.

Which brings us to the point where I tell you that tickets are going quickly for both Al's Music Rant and Archie, so get in quick. 

Bookings available here:

Al's Music Rant | TryBooking

Archibald Wheeler Whets The Whistle | Ticketmaster

If you've already seen the shows, there's a few things you can do (aside from coming down again), you can tell all your friends how much you liked it, or check out some more great comedy with my MICF Picks.

There's plenty of amazing, talented stuff out there, you've just gotta have a bit of a dig, not too dissimilar to the music world, no?

Al's Music Rant | My MICF Recommendations

(EDIT: as it turns out Al's Music Rant got a lovely write-up thanks to the excellent comedy blog I Like Your Schtick - go and 'ave a read!)
In case you missd it, here's the first part of the epic Big Scary Interview, with Part 2 just around the corner, and I'll see you at their sold-out show tonight. But onto the goods.

Now a quick disclaimer, if you haven't booked tickets for Al's Music Rant. 

Then do the right thing here

Patrick Miller - Archibald Wheeler Whets The Whistle

Springing from the mind of one Patrick Miller (of fame) and the original ambitious idea of a “one-man VigilantelopePajama Men (Pajama Man?)” – Archibald Wheeler Whets The Whistle is a ten-plus-character-driven-narrative-comedy all performed by Pat. There’s songs, there’s mosquitos, there's legal gags, there's even more non-legal gags, there's Kosta; and more than a hint of comic brilliance. Oh, and did I mention that it’s humbly Directed by yours truly?

Opens Thurs31 Mar -10 April||Tix here: http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2011/season/shows/patrick-miller-archibald-wheeler-whets-the-whistle

The Biggest, Scariest Interview Yet (Part 1/2)

Before we get down to business. Don't forget that Al's Music Rant opens at the Comedy Festival this Wed 30th March. Bookings available at the Comedy Festival website or directly through TryBooking here.

So, here it is, the big reveal. An epic two part interview with Big Scary, so buckle up, this is as in-depth as they get.

I Heard The News Today, Oh Boy

Getting very close to performing the show on that poster there, but still somehow I've managed time to keep my musical senses sharp. In fact, I recently got a full preview (through legit means) of the latest albums from Wild Beasts, TV On The Radio and Architecture In Helsinki (previously featured here and here); and can safely say that they are wonderful additions all to this year's record collection. But onto the headlines...

• Rejoice! Bon Iver - the man more commonly known as Justin Vernon - will be releasing his HUGELY anticipated follow-up to For Emma, Forever Ago sometime in June. There's talk of children's choirs and new collaborations, and even some track titles (via FasterLouder)
• Speaking of long-awaited sophomore records, Friendly Fires are scheduled to deliver album no. 2 Pala in May. In the meantime, you can get a first taste with this radio rip of Live Those Days Tonight on YouTube.  (via triple j) 
• In the wake of Japan's devastation, large parts of the music community have done what they can to conribute. Including The Morning Benders who have released a remix EP entitled Japan Echo with all proceeds going towards the Earthquake Relief Fund. More details here (via Pretty Much Amazing)
• Radiohead's The King of Limbs gets a physical release tomorrow, and to celebrate they're giving away a free newspaper at selected retail stores. More details can be found at their website, but to save you searching - it'll be available gratis from Polyester Records in the city. (via TheUniversalSigh)
• Tyler, The Creator (whose killer video for Yonkers was spotlighted previously here) has confirmed the tracklist and artwork for his debut Goblin. It's not your average hip-hop sleeve that's for sure, but then Tyler isn't your average hip-hop star. (via One Thirty BPM)
• Finally, the live comedy version of this very blog will be opening this Wed 30th March at Eurotrash, as part of the 2011 Melbourne International Comedy Festival. Still plenty of tickets available, but do make sure you book your tickets here: Try Booking Event | Al's Music Rant .

Also you can check out an interview I did for for 'Living In The Land of Oz' for the digital radio station, 979fm, available to stream or download from their website.

And another reminder that I also directed Patrick Miller's Archibald Wheeler Whets The Whistle (yeah, I'm a renaissance man - deal with it). He opens on Thursday and ticketsa are available from the Comedy Festival website.

And stay tuned, because there's still an epic interview that'll be appearing very very soon. Need a hint? Let's just say it's someone I've had a lot of fun interviewing before. Watch this space.

The Three P's: Promo, Promo, Promo

See that? It's my sexy, new, official poster for Al's Music Rant at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival 2011. Nice eh? Big shoutout to the one-and-only Linden Duck for that one. Well, new poster and new post means tickets are available right now!

Click here to go to the official festival event page:

Al's Music Rant | Melbourne International Comedy Festival 2011

A shortcut to skip the promo and get some tickets:

Try Booking Event | Al's Music Rant 

Al's Music Rant at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival 2011

Ok, we've got a lil' bit o' this and a lil' bit o' that today. But first things first IMMA EAT YOUR BRAINS, THEN I START ROCKIN' GOLD TEETH AND FANGS, Argggh, curse you Nicki Minaj!

Sorry about that, so, first things first, Al's Music Rant - the hour-long comedy show based on this very blog which debuted as part of the Melbourne Fringe Festival, will be playing as part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival 2011. Which means that come March 30th, you'll be able to see the show that critics called "a brilliant masterclass in music appreciation" (thanking you kindly, Mr. Flaherty, or should that be Mr. Flattery!); it also means you'll start seeing little Leunig logos all over my mug. But let's cut to the chase.

Fame For Quarter of an Hour.

Hello fellow readers,

we interrupt the proceedings in 2010's Honourable Mentions to bring you this important gig update. 

I will be performing a fifteen minute set of Al's Music Rant as part of Dr. Watson's Comedy Soul Lounge.

You can find details here or for those of you that have sworn off Facebook after seeing The Social Network, information also available through Bella Union.

Basically it's 8pm Trades Hall. There'll be trivia, soul music, drinks and gags. 

I shall be providing some/all of these facilities. Depending on your definitions.

Thank you for your time dear blog faithful.

See you at Trades.