still flyin'

I've just had two of the best days one could have in small town Brisbane. And the reason? Those crazy San Franciscan reggae cats called Still Flyin' came to town - all 15 of them or something - and played three of the best shows ever!

First up: Ithaca Pool show on Friday afternoon. Pool shows are the best ever, because it means you can swim and splash and eat delicious ice blocks and listen to bands all at the same time. Sadly, I forgot my swimmers so I couldn't dive in, but I did partake in the last two activities. The Bell Divers supported, and were in fine, fine form. Clinton's Edwyn Collins vocal style sounds better each time, and the songs, with their sometimes strange overtones, perfectly complemented the late afternoon breezes. Meanwhile, my comrade-in-pop, Cat, was helping me suss out who was in the Still Flyin' touring band - we managed to find out members of Ladybug Transistor, The Aislers Set, #poundsign# and The Mosquitoes were in our midst, as well as ex-Architecture in Helsinki kids and our favourite Lucksmith, Mark Monnone. Yeah!

So the Still Flyin' pool show was great fun, featuring big Brisbane bats to scare our tourists, a boogie board that split in half, and a horn section on the diving blocks:

About two songs before the end, Sean the singer dived into the pool and left the musical duties to everyone else. I was so jealous of the swimming by that stage.

Second show: midnight show at The Troubadour. Cat and I tried to kill time by watching Dan Deacon, which sounded like a poor man's electro Andrew WK, as well as some other shite Brisbane shite that was a bad avant-garde Modest Mouse rip-off. Trust me, it was shite. Anyway, Still Flyin' brought the party like no other, and I danced like I haven't danced in months. It's so much more energetic live than on record, which is saying something because the "Time Wrinkle" EJ crtainly gets me dancing around my room. The crowd clambered on stage for the final song, too, and it was one big jamm like no other.

Afterwards, I spoke to Yoshi and told him it was so exciting for me to see a member of the Aislers Set play, and he gave me some badges he had in his bag! Yeah!

Third show: Laneway festival. This sold out a few weeks ago, and I decided ages ago I wasn't going to go because I only wanted to see SF and The Brunettes (sorry guys, Clap Your Hands Say Bland and fkn Goyte just ain't my thing). Anyway, after the Troubadour show, Gary Olson from Ladybug (who Cat and I were both REALLY excited to see in the touring band!) and Yoshi said they'd try to get me a ticket, and it all worked out!! Best guys ever!! The show wasn't as crazy fun as the Troubadour show the night before, but I think the crowd who hadn't heard them all got dancing and had a whole stack of fun. It all got a bit sweaty, though, as evidenced by the photos, but then again, it was a relatively cooler afternoon in The Zoo, which is renowned for being a stinking hot humidity den in the height of summer.


Afterwards, I was really excited when I was talking to Becky and found out she played in #poundsign#, who I absolutely LOVE, and she helped me write some more lyrics for my car's theme song, the Coldplay rap. Yeah! They were all just the nicest bunch of people I could possibly meet, and now I really want to go to San Francisco! But really, special thanks go to Gary Olson for helping me get into Laneway, and who I get to see play again supporting Jens Lekman in Sydney next weekend. Yeah!!

The pace doesn't slow this week, either: Jens Lekman on Wednesday night AND next Saturday in Sydney (thanks work!), and Beirut on Thursday night. Here's to fun shows to go to!!