she do da mash/she do da monster mash

I am singing this weekend in front of a festival-size crowd for the first time. I’m in the chill zone at Monster Mash – a 45 minute set ending with a strip to tiny shorts and halter, more-or-less ironic self-flagellation with blood-soaked cat, and a bit of stagediving… leading up to the finale in fuck-off big boots and khaki chocolate-soldier jacket.

Should be a hoot ;)

the Original Cynics emerge (more or less) fully formed

So, it happened last night, in front of a small, eccentrically-dressed crowd, upstairs at the Friend In Hand. It was a private party, Vee Malnar’s birthday bash – an annual event on the boho calendar, at which she and all her crazy friends (yours truly included) get on the mic and/or their instruments for a few numbers. I know Vee through Justin, who plays in her band.

So we did our four numbers, and I think I can modestly say we were the buzz of the night (woohoo!), and somewhere in the middle I introduced the duo of myself and Justin as two of the Original Cynics, a loose collective of artists across many fields who together believe in, well, very little other than the importance of certain freedoms. “My name is Jaqi Loveday Pascoe and this is Mr Justin Credible…”

Thing is, I didn’t actually consult with any of my various collaborators before naming them as a collective. Hope they all still want to collaborate. Hope they like their name.

The original Cynics were a philosophical movement in ancient Greece, lasting from about the time of Socrates right into the 5th century CE and influencing the early Christians. Around 350BCE they were led by Crates of Thebes, and soon also by his wife, Hipparchia of Maroneia. (Yes, I’ve blogged about them before, when announcing the renaming of my Kombi.) These were seriously cool people, with grandly sensible beliefs. Look ‘em up in Wikipedia via the links above. And then let me know below if you are happy to consider yourself – or would like to be considered – One of Us. Bear in mind, of course, that we aren’t simply blind followers of an archaic philosophical dictum: I chose the name because a) I like the confusion of meanings around the term ‘cynic’, b) I love the pun on original sin, a primitive and dangerous doctrine that should be subverted whenever possible, and c) I share with the Cynics (and, I think, most of my friends) scepticism, honesty, a contempt for wealth and its wilful ignorances, and a good Greek respect for rational inquiry. And, it was said, “they make a cult of shamelessness, not as being beneath modesty, but as superior to it…”

post gig post

After a small but highly satisfactory opening (as they say), we are tweakin’. Following the brilliant suggestion of one of our chat participants, the absence of a confirmed special guest next week shall be resolved as now listed in the entry below. And following the equally inspired judgment of my broadly esteemed guitarist Eug, the chat will come first.

Those who really want to say something and refrain until the very end of the night will be roundly chastised.

ZenSiren and Friends at the Hotel Hollywood Wednesdays thru November

Dear friends

I\’m delighted to announce a residency at the Hotel Hollywood starting this Wednesday and running every Wednesday in November. The first one is hot, so I do hope you can make it. We\’ll have special guests both musical and discursive – open conversations will be held on several of the twistiest topics of the moment. Some of the guests confirmed at this point are listed below. Other details are still being finalised; as they come to hand I\’ll put them up here.

PLEASE NOTE TIMETABLE CHANGES SINCE ORIGINAL PUBLICATION!

Musically, Eug and I will for the first time play our full current repertoire, launching a couple of gorgeous new songs you may not have heard (and you know they just keep getting bigger). I\’ll also be joined onstage for short interludes by some of my other favourite musical collaborators, including Aria-award-winning Justin Brandis and scintillating piano-boy Phil \”it\’s a verb\” Roberts. There\’ll be moments of madness, the sound of magic, a dash of glamour, plenty of food for thought, and a rockin\’ good time for all.

As of week 2 the talk starts 8pm, followed at about 9 by an hour or so of lusciously apocalyptic music.

Oh, and it\’s free :)

1 Nov – Girlie Night: what is a woman?
*Margaret Mayhew is an activist, performer and academic currently doing a PhD in gender studies at Sydney Uni. She\’s heaps of fun.
*Joanna Nichol is the Inclusion Officer for Sydney City Council. She suspended a PhD on disability issues at Oxford to take the job, and keeps threatening to go back.
*Harry Stevens transitioned to womanhood in his early sixties, changing his name to Kate and living as a woman for three years. He has recently transitioned back to manhood and looks back on the whole process as a journey.

8 Nov – Open Mike Gripe Night: what\’s your most pressing issue?
Got a gripe, a favourite rant or a lyrical lament you wanna let loose? Tonight\’s the night; saddle up and let fly, or come and watch the fun. Featuring performance poets and, I suspect, the really mad.

15 Nov – Good Faith Night: better ways
Greens Senator Kerry Nettle is an activist and a parliamentarian in one extraordinary package. Our conversation is likely to range from what makes the Greens different to how to keep the faith in dark times and how to make change happen around you.

22 Nov – Power Night: harm minimisation
Clare Pascoe is one of Australia\’s most distinguished clergy abuse activists, working to change church procedures in response to abuse claims and observing the phenomenon across different faiths and denominations to draw some fascinating conclusions about people, culture, context, faith and power.

29 Nov – Media Night: the new media ownership laws.
Trevor Davies, editor of the South Sydney Herald and longtime activist, Labor stalwart and South Sydney shitstirrer, will talk to us about the new cross media ownership laws, the changes to our information landscape they are likely to cause, and what to do about it.

siren singing tomorrow

don’t smoke in bed

Originally uploaded by Illuminata.

It’s rather slack of me not to have mentioned here (though I did send out some text messages) that Eugene and I have a gig tomorrow

Sunday afternoon, 5pm
at the Surry Hills Excelsior
64 Foveaux St
with two other excellent acts, both sassy lyrics-based guitar post-rock like us
Itu and Luke Escombe.
Entry is free.

We’re on first, so come for an afternoon beer and eight or nine of our most beautiful songs.

Okay, the wrap-up

goddess_p039

Originally uploaded by Martinism.

The second Goddess Project night sold out. The damn stoner video guy didn’t make it (he shot the first night, which was somewhat rawer and to an intimate audience) but there were several cameras in the packed second-night crowd and some of the results have cornered a couple of tags on Flickr. Look here and if only 12 show up (glitch, i think) then look here as well. Financially, we (ahem) pretty much broke even. Another night would’ve been good, but that’s what we tried for originally, and the next week was already booked. Sound quality of the video, meh. But we’ve got documentation and it’ll serve up some good clips and stills.

Then, as you all no doubt saw in yer inboxes, there was the Vic on the Park open mic night, a festive occasion in the hands of the redoubtable Mike Cook. Our two nights – the two Tuesdays after the two Wednesdays of TGP, if you follow – were the Christmas party and the last open mic night for the year, so they were both rockin’. Have a look here at Redeeming Features for our first (to my knowledge, at least) online review.

And so, with modelling work tailing off in a week or so, Drew preparing for a weekend elsewhere (oh, lord, I’m so indiscreet), and Eug holding an entirely justifiable but not always easy distance, I’m off to a nunnery for a couple of weeks. Just kidding. Let’s see, I’m halfway thru 4 loads of washing, I’ve tidied the dressing room (whew), and I’m planning a scarily comprehensive new filing system. I promised myself I’d never blog about housework, but this is psychic overhaul. Now begins the time of the December/January projects – breaking the back, so to speak, of Voting For Democracy, creating the ZenSiren website with Drew, mastering the VotP live recording with Phil Snow and Eug, and by February somewhere releasing the demo EP at the website launch.

Plus I need to swim most days, stretch every day, and keep singing. Hell, I’ve gotta start thinking about Christmas. Damn, I haven’t got time for lovers.

Guess I’ll make it how I can. ;)

(Hot shot, by the way, Martinism…*smirk*)

ZenSiren thanks Devi

ZenSiren

Originally uploaded by Illuminata.

The Goddess was watching over us last night… Alina was gorgeous; that smoky seductive voice with its undertones of innocence sailed thru the set; the red dress glowed and so did she. Mel was in incomparable voice; my god(dess) that woman can sing. And Sleepy Cherry’s songs are glorious.
And yours truly didn’t disgrace herself either. People seemed charmed by the monologues and moved by the songs; all the onstage costume changes worked and I remembered my lines.

Now we just need enough stamps on wrists to break even…

the goddess project

the goddess project #1

Originally uploaded by Illuminata.

yes, it’s time i told you about my next show…

Alina, Liss and I (in the guise of ZenSiren) will be performing sets of our own songs – interspersed with dance, ritual, spoken word and a certain amount of divine mayhem – at Bar Me, in Kings Cross, on the last two Wednesdays in November.

Expect some surprises and tell your friends; this ain’t your ordinary pub gig…

To see more photos, click on this one and search my flickr site with the tag ‘goddess project’. To see more of the work of our wonderful photographer, Lisa Hogben, follow the link from goddess project #2. To view the press release, read on…

MEDIA RELEASE UPDATED 15/11/05

the grand tafe showdown – may 18, bar broadway

despite being called Music – Performance, there is no compulsory public gig in this course, though organising your own is encouraged. so being the mature-age narcissists that we are, james and i went up to bar broadway and did just that. only our cabaret show is a skimpy half-hour long, so then we had to make sure there were enough other performers to turn it into a full night, which was surprisingly difficult. i mean considering it’s a performance course, i wouldn’t have been surprised if they’d come pouring out of the woodwork once someone had done the ‘hard bit’ of booking the actual gig. but we had to go round to each class and coax and wheedle, forgodsake. no-one’s ‘ready’ yet – either that or they’re actually with bands that perform regularly and wouldn’t go near anything as potentially naff as a tafe showcase. still, we dragged out enough to get quite a night happening – and, thanks to sam (god bless his little red knickers), it’s also going to be filmed.