Culture
Previews, reviews and interviews
A Star is Born Standing in the shadows of love
The film has something powerful to say about ‘toxic masculinity’, painting an unusually believable portrait of male energy hedged between self-determination and self-destruction.
Bob Dylan and His Band Enmore Theatre, Sydney, Sunday 19.08.18
The mystery of this evening is how he got to be this mythical – and yet so human again? It’s as if Dylan has fought his way back into being here and is saying a strange thank you to a dream that almost destroyed him.
Kazuo Imai The People’s Republic, Camperdown, Wednesday 12.06.2019
With his woolly grey hair and bow-legged gait the legendary improviser seems more like some kind of cosmic fisherman than an avant-garde musician. Perhaps in Japan this is one and the same thing?
Rock ‘n’ Roll Friends Robert Forster in Summer Hill
Backyard concerts like these come from websites like Parlour, where artists can make a deeper connection with fans – and where fans can create small community events that connect people to a beautiful moment like today.
Best Day Ever Mulga and the mural at Bondi Beach Public School
“One kid keeps asking me, ‘How does your beard grow’?” says Mulga. “He said this morning, ‘I hope your beard had a good night’s sleep.’”
Ghost Dance Marrugeku’s Le Dernier Appel at Carriageworks
You really felt these people were dancing for their lives. Or if not quite that, fighting to understand who they were – part liberation struggle, part exorcism.
Calling on Paradise Laurie Anderson at HOTA on the Gold Coast
What Laurie Anderson loves most about creating and experiencing art is the chance to feel lost, to be disembodied.
Justin Bieber: As Long as You Love Me Ghosts in the Machine
Last night I met Justin Bieber in a dream.
Don’t Blink World Press Photo exhibition 2018
When I fall asleep that night the images return. Strangely enough, I think of the face of a Japanese garbage man.
Brothers’ Nest When blood really is thicker
The Jacobsons are large men, with the heft of bulls but the contour of toddlers. They make a charismatic double act – Tweedledumb and Tweedledevious.
Still Together Lighting a fire for the Warumpi Band
Acknowledging our special history, Sammy Butcher and I talked about writing songs again. We felt we could still make a statement.
‘40,000 Years is Long, Long Time…’ Restoring Redfern’s famous mural
“One woman walking past said it was a childish work. But I think that’s irrelevant. It’s important to community as a whole.”
Blak Douglas and Uncle Roy Kennedy An Archibald finalist
Two blokes get together in a small artists’ studio, on Redfern’s Little Eveleigh Street, and yarn.
Machismo Schmismo The Presets’ on ‘HI VIZ’
Blokey electronica is, like blokey rock and blokey country, all about the balls, the balls, the balls.