Musicvideodrome

I feel a little sheepish about not writing  an end of year list of my favourite performances. What I am doing instead is producing a list of my five favourite music videos of 2008. Some you probably will have seen, some not. 

In no particular order:

Francis and the Lights "The Top"

This is amazingly simple and captures a great performance from the front man (I'm assuming Francis). The song doesn't do it for me, but to be able to enjoy the performance in a single shot is a rarity.

Omaha Bitch "Orgasmic Troopers"

At last. Ballet and metal. A match made in heaven. The concept doesn't really sustain itself. But its a great concept.

Justice "Stress"

I have my qualms about posting this. It is very violent, it is clearly in a moral grey area, it has been controversial. It is, however, a great piece of work technically. It generates stress in the viewer very successfully and breaks the 4th wall really amazingly, in a manner I have never seen before and am unlikely to again. Its extremely compelling.

Be warned.

Beyonce "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)"

Think what you may, this is a great clip. I don't care what you think of me for posting it. Call me what you will. I don't care about my street cred. I love this clip. Great to see editing which serves the choreography. This clip has been widely abused for being a Bob Fosse rip off - I couldn't care less. I love Fosse if there's anyone to rip off its him.

Rip him off more. Come on. Do it. I dares ya.

Beyonce - Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It) [Official Video]
Uploaded by Yannicklord

Kanye West "Flashing Lights"

Again, I don't care. Sticks and stones will break my bones... I love that of all the things in this clip to pixelate, they've gone for the lighter fluid. That'll stop those damn kids.

KANYE WEST "FLASHING LIGHTS"
Uploaded by kanyewestofficial

Gnarls Barkley "Going On"

I can't imagine a clip more unexpectedly suited to the track. Fantastic performances, choreography, art direction and concept. 

I love it. 

Gnarls Barkley - Going On
Uploaded by zegonzag

Things that I would say to a five years younger version of myself

Years ago, when I was 16 I think, I wrote a letter to myself to open when I was 21. It was a horrible experience and I would recommend it to no one. I was crazily ambitious (for all the wrong reasons) and unyielding in my opinions. 

So I've inverted the paradigm and decided to write down some things that I wish I had been told when I was younger, when I probably wouldn't have listened anyway... 

You will never know how to direct.

You will never know exactly what directing is.

A by product of the work of a director is slowly making yourself redundant. Socially and theatrically, creating an atmosphere whereby you are no longer necessary. 

Directing is lonely.

Directing is intangible. 

It is important to continue learning and to continue being a student.

Never claim to know anything, but shoulder the responsibility if not knowing is problematic. 

Work with writers, as many as you can. 

Create experiences rather than direct plays. 

Collaborate as much as possible on many things, including things non-theatrical. 

Becoming known for an aesthetic, or a kind of theatre, or a certain set of themes means that you have stopped developing and you need to throw everything away.

Those who look up to you will never critique you.

Honest critique is one of the most important things you will ever receive - seek it out, encourage it and engage with it. It is more important to invite someone who will challenge your work than someone who will give you your next job.  

Humility and social laziness are different things. Try not to be socially lazy.

Because the outcome is so intangible it is easy for a director to imply ownership of the entire piece. Try not to do that. Give credit where credit is due. Try not to need any approval. Try to have self contained goals where you are the only judge and you are only measuring yourself against yourself. 

You need to see a lot of theatre, art, music, dance, live art, performance etc. You need to understand the landscape. You need to be politically and socially informed in order for your work to sit within that landscape. Never let up.

You need to direct a lot. It's very difficult to find the opportunities to direct a lot, without directing things you don't want to direct. Therefore, workshop settings are very good. 

Work hard. You know when you are, so do it. Set parameters to work within (a number of hours per day) and stick to it. Within that you can do anything pertaining to the task at hand, workshop, research, find music, research, find visual reference material, research, or rehearse. Don't worry so much about the appearance of research, or hard work, much of the work no one will ever know about.

Listen. 

Oh, and finally: probably best to avoid this kind of thing. At all costs. 

A Little Bit of a Not Properly Formulated Rant About the Arts and Mental Health

I Was a Teenage Dirty Old Man is currently on at Gasworks as a part of the Midsumma Festival. It is a cabaret piece by Eric Kuhlmann. It was brought over from Adelaide by the Feast Festival, after only six previous performances.

It is incredibly raw. Incredibly. It is unlikely that you'll ever see something this raw again. And that rawness contains the seeds of its success and its ultimate destruction.

It begins with Eric naked (with a figure rather like that of Buddha) curled up, sitting cross legged on a small coffee table, looking rather like those garden scultptures of bald naked men curled up in a ball that were everywhere 10 or so years ago. His electronic backing music began, and his voice - scratchy, hoarse - began almost chanting taboo breaking, stream of consciousness lyrics. The byline described him as "Ian Dury meets Billy Brag in a public toilet" which seemed a good call at the beginning. As the piece unfolded, however, I was increasingly reminded of Daniel Johnston. Eric's nerves were palpable, he was visibly shaking much of the time and rarely opened his eyes at all. The room (the larger space at Gasworks) was totally unsuitable for his material. The show itself wasn't really in tourable condition yet. It suffered a lack of structure which rendered it an onslaught and somewhat exhausting, and could have used some gentle direction and or dramaturgy. I would have preferred to see a gig, rather than the uncomfortable moments of forced interaction.

The piece raised a whole host of issues (not issues it intended to raise) as I watched a performer get totally burnt, as I'm sure he is after the experience.

I have spent some time professionally working with people who have an experience of mental illness. Arts related activities undoubtedly increase participant's mental health, yet I have always struggled with the notion of these processes being staged and ticketed - with the work of Rawcus for instance, feeling that it is morally fraught (beautiful, yes. Freakshow, a bit). I think this area of community arts practice needs some serious scrutiny, professionalisation and training. 

But those ill-formed thoughts aside, it became increasingly clear throughout I Was a Teenage Dirty Old Man that Eric has a history of mental illness, he directly alluded to treatments and medications a number of times. Whilst he remained non-specific about his diagnosis, it was, by the show's end, clear to me as an audience member.

I would suggest (and this may well be contentious) that his mental health, which became such an issue for the show as a whole, should be addressed in the publicity material. It would take the edge off this being revealed throughout the process of the show and would encourage a wholly new and perhaps more forgiving audience (not more forgiving than myself neccessarily, but more forgiving than the audience I was a part of) and Gasworks is, perhaps, the place for it. They are, after all, hosting The Art of Difference Festival in March. This show could find a home in that festival or a plethora of other events supporting mental illness. 

This is very tricky territory for me to be getting into. I'm not suggesting this because he didn't belong, I'm only suggesting it because the show was clearly underdone and he was clearly incredibly uncomfortable and needed support and encouragement in order to fully realise the magnificent material. 

It saddened me greatly to see him there, already with such revelatory material and such vulnerability, with such total lack of support. 

There is a singer-song-writer & visual artist named Heidi Everett who has flourished with the right kind of gigs, support, encouragement and venues. She plays regularly supporting the Bi-Polar Bears and at Roarhouse gigs and her material and performance skills have gained depth and confidence.

I really felt like Eric Kuhlmann will never perform a show again.  

Having said that, like Daniel Johnson, Eric Kuhlmann may not want to flag his mental health as an issue, or to perform at events tailored for performers like him. It just didn't seem like he had the support or the relationships to make it possible, like Daniel Johnston is illustrated as having in the brilliant The Devil and Daniel Johnston.

Any thoughts?

Things to do when you're thirty

Every once in a while I get obsessed. I have the make up of a zealot so let's all consider ourselves lucky that I am in no way religious, new wave, politically conservative nor radically active.

For my thirtieth birthday last November I received two gifts in particular that alluded to my obsessive nature. I was given me a turntable and a first pressing of The White Album, coincidentally released exactly 10 years before I was born. My parents gave me a mixmaster. Pastry and LPs ensued.

It seems that last year I was briefly obsessed with blogging - and now in the cold, sober light of the morning I've looked over what happened here and am in amazement and wonder. You were there, and you were there.

I am humbled by what occurred when I flippantly began to publicly rant. When I reconsider the spirit in which this venture was born and the state of mind I am now in, I think I have this little pastime to thank in no small part. I was reengaged with the performance scene in a way that hasn't been the case for years. I had a voice and an opinion that seemed to be held in some regard. And the voice, at least shall continue, comrades. 

Last year during the fringe I had a wonderful, spirited, challenging, honest and generous exchange with Marcel, the director of 'There' which I had every intention of publishing as I believe in a right of reply, but the moment seems to have passed. Marcel will be the first to be invited to review my next work, and I will invite him to published it here. 

I saw a few more things at the end of last year, things which uplifted and confounded me as much as anything else last year, but again, the moment has passed.

Oh, and there was a delightful evening of Throwies.

So, there are many things I am seeing this year. There are many things I am looking forward to seeing. My own work will, at some stage, be a part of the mix.

And if there's anyone still interested out there: ta.