Watched Tarantino’s newie Kill Bill yesterday – highly stylised coloured choreographed piece of work. Fun to the last limb being hacked off (and there were many). Warning: not suggested to those who can’t stand the sight of spraying blood and cheesy costumes.
There’s only one area of my life that makes me feel frustrated: and that’s retail (whore) work. It’s really boring. I’m completely uninterested in it. But it’s financing a trip to West America & Mexico, not to mention my weekends, so I do it. Tips on how to be a good customer -
(1) If the assistant says hello, smile back and say hello – Don’t just ignore her/him. So what if they’re just doing it because they have to? It’s still rude to treat them like they’re not even worth a simple response. (This has got to be the one that annoys me the most.)
(2) If it’s a boutique, don’t put the items back on the rack – give them back to the assistant. You’re unlikely to put it on the right rack, right order and on the hanger right.
(3) If the assistant helps you out (e.g. spends 45 minutes with you as you debate between the salmon, hot pink or peach coloured shirt and in the end you decide to go away and “think about it”) have the decency to thank you. One of the nicest things is when someone asks what my name is and then uses it.
(4) Don’t say things like “well you have to say that, don’t you?” when they compliment the clothes/store/you. Maybe they do just have to say it – but usually they mean what they say.
(5) Don’t enter the store 10 minutes before they close. Some people disagree with this, but you wouldn’t enter a restaurant 30 minutes before they close would you? People have to pack up (tidy store/ count money etc.) before they leave, and they can’t do this if you’re in the store. Sales assistants have lives too you know.
Now I’m currently a student and working part time as a retail assistant. Sometimes I detect a defensiveness from full-timers in retail (I got this from hospitality too), like retail isn’t something worth being in full time. I have to admit I hate it – but I don’t know what the future holds for me. I may end up being a 30 year old arts graduate still stuck in retail.
And I’m not going to be a snob and say “I’m too good for that.” If that is the way life flows – so be it.
@ Moore Park: This year’s Livid saw a marked improvement from last year (dust, lines and average lineup) and for the ticket price you’d expect it. Most of the kids were bucked out by the hefty $112 and perhaps explains why the mosh pit aggression was markedly absent. Or perhaps it was the cold keeping everyone cooled down.
Some of the more interesting acts -
Little Birdy’s Katy makes as much of an enigmatic lead as her brother (Luke Steele of The Sleepy Jacksons). Her impossibly high pitched voice, reminiscent of Frente, winds and meanders from out a rumbling dark underbelly of guitars.
Rocket Science gave another energetic, eccentric performance but could elicit little more than some enthusiastic applause from the crowd. Never mind, Lara and I were dancing!
Peabody delivers some freshness to the posturing genre of punk with some genuine anguish and anger. The three piece featured on the FBi stage (new community radio station dedicated to Sydney music, arts and culture) which managed to deliver some real gems, such as Hermitude, Holy Soul and Sarah Blasko, in a low-key fashion.
Also featuring on this stage was sex-god SPOD, who, in a perfect piece of timing was playing at the same time as American version Har Mar Superstar on the Triple J Bigtop. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately) SPOD wasn’t inclined to get down to his underpants like his counterpart.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs and the Black Rebel Motorcycle Club were the ideal support acts for the festival’s draw card: The White Stripes – who did not disappoint. They obliged with their most popular songs The Seven Nation Army and In The Cold Cold Night, with Mr White in a pair of tight pants that left little to the imagination.
However the most entertaining acts were The Roots, followed closely by Jurassic 5. The last act of the festival, they not only astounded with their musical ability but knew how to entertain the crowd with some booty-shaking covers of Beyonce and Nelly.
Written for OzMusicProject
@ Hopetoun: The Red Riders are exciting. I’ll try not to descend into dolloping spoonfuls of gushing hyperbole, but I do want to say that for a band who only have a demo and haven’t been around for all that long, they certainly live up to all the little whisperings of their name that have been going around. A four piece, the Red Riders strength comes from the lovely sliding tension they create between vocals and guitars. At any one time they’ll be 1-3 guitars and 1-3 vocalists, and each part playfully frenetically teasing one another via perfectly timed solos, harmonies and echoing.
Every song is a winner and assuredly carves out the stake this band is claiming on the Australian music scene. They’re not showy, they’re not flashy – they’re just damn good with getting on with the job of making some solid, quality rock. Their vocals are confident with a delivery that shifts between drawling cool and explosive edginess. The guitar and drum work also concise and varied.
It was after this that local scene stalwart Tom Morgan stepped on board. Previously of Smudge, Tom Morgan can recently be seen in Sydney supergroup The Givegoods. Any other night I may have been seduced by the “adorable dag who just wants to be loved but women elude me” role that Morgan seems to flourish in. But after being wound up by the act before, the unassuming performance by Morgan (singing to a chord strumming guitar) left me wanting more. As a solo act Morgan just doesn’t seem to have the quiet sincerity of David Lane or catchy pop tunes of Alex Lloyd.
Tonight was the EP launch for The Treetops’ Lionheart. And they did what they do best: rock of the melodic kind, exploring the whimsical and dipping into the nostalgic. The harmonizing of the Beach Boys paired with the quirkiness of the Flaming Lips makes for an interesting sound from these Melbourne boys. Of particular note were the fantastically catchy guitar riffs that often borrow from the sung melody, at times taking over the mike as lead singer. Occasionally they shift gears with a wall of guitar noise, but rarely stray from their gentle, lyrical melodies that dance with restrained yearning and happy dreaming. Their light on-stage banter almost made up for time wasted thanks to tuning mistakes and a broken guitar string, and unfortunately no encore, but nevertheless an enjoyable performance.
(Can I just say again that I think the Red Riders are fantastic?)
