After The Storm.

As of May '07, 'After The Storm' is trying out their fourth member, guitarist/clarinettist/keyboardist Michael. We regret to inform our friends that as of June 13th, 'Sticks' Cooper, our drummer, decided to move on to focus on her own music and cover band. In January 2007, new recruit bass player Finnie B joined 'After The Storm' and has been doing great things ever since. Aaralyn and Sticks worked on their original rock, folk and pop-ish songs from Dec '05 to June '07, doing various gigs around the place, joined by Finnie B since Feb '07. Aaralyn continues to work on original songs with 'After The Storm'. The first 'After The Storm' demo was recorded on 'Stick's' two track analog recorder in Feb '07 through low quality mics (hence they are not the greatest recordings in the world). 'After The Storm' plan to record their first professional album later this year. The first four-piece gig with Michael, the newest member, was on June 13th, '07. Michael is coming up with great, sometimes amazing lead parts. We are currently seeking a new, versatile drummer.

After the Storm on YouTube

Aaralyn - lead singer/guitarist - was formerly a solo artist (who wanted to be in a band!!!) doing gigs (originals and covers) for a few years with various musicians and writing with them also. Her 7-track debut demo EP named 'Calls From The Inside' has been played on PBS radio in Melbourne since about June 2006, as well as the first print run of them selling out before they were even manufactured!

Finnie B - bass player - was previously part of Wiley, a covers trio of two guitarists, one bassist, where he performed at various pubs and private functions, also recording a four track demo. He's done open mic jamming and in '06 Christmas Carols at a party playing along with a clarinet, keyboard and sax.

Michael - guitarist/clarinettist/keyboardist - born of nobility of the magnanimous A (sorry, MySpace rules don't allow us to use last names) family name, his erudition at Eton and oxford University prepared him for a position as professor of music at his alma mater, and choir master at Westminster Abbey. When involuntarily inflicted with a malaise he went into a state of ennui, and in reprieval became a magni nominous umbra. Forfeiting his status as professor emeritus, he joined a group by the name of 'After The Storm', and since then has been content in menial recognition and general obscurity.
'After The Storm' plans to record an album of the work they have done together, having completed over 12 good songs for it thus far.
You can now listen to the basic demo's 'After The Storm' recorded in Feb this year on this MySpace page, or go to Aaralyn's pre-band music to hear some snapshots from Aaralyn's debut EP 'Calls From The Inside'. Hopefully you'll like! ;)
Anyway, hope you have a good day, all, and we hope to see you at our gigs sometime soon! :)

Good wishes,
Aaralyn, Finnie B and Michael - 'After The Storm'

My Imaginary Heart

My Imaginary Heart is the solo project of emerging Melbourne musician Fi Caskie. She plays acoustic guitar and sings original folk tunes influenced by memory, space, time and dream. Original folk from the depths of the cavern that holds the hearty beast that pummels the insides out…

Dale Bridge

Singer/songwriter ex BiPolar Bear singer, 3CR Roominations Announcer,
Singer in Bands and Theatre Performer.

Dale Bridge on YouTube

Eddy Burger is a Northcote writer of humorous and experimental fiction, poetry, performance poetry, plays, and works that combine art with text. His work has been published in many journals, including Sleepers Almanac, Going Down Swinging, Meanjin, Unusual Work, The Recessive Type and Cordite. A chapbook of his poetry was recently published by the Melbourne Poets Union, entitled Funny & Strange. He has featured at numerous spoken-word events over the last 12 years. He was winner of the 1999 Melbourne Fringe Festival Spoken-word Award.

Eddy Burger on YouTube

Wendy Butler

Bio-to come…

Wendy Butler on YouTube

Karla Dondio

is a writer, spoken word artist and musician who has performed at the Overload Poetry Festival, the Monsalvat Song and Poetry Festival and venues throughout Melbourne. She has even taken to the city streets busking her wares. She has amused, and not amused, many with her lamentations on love but her love affair with words and music will never abate.

Group 120

is a collective of young Australian Hip Hop artists who live on or nearby the Flemington housing Estate. The group is a multicultural mix of Asian, European and African Australians. We meet every Thursday at the base of one of the high rises to practice our MC-ing, and run Hip Hop workshops for local youth. One of our aims is to emphasise the side of hip hop that focuses on tolerance towards other cultures and genders. We are an Aussie hip hop group, not just an imitation of the American scene.

Group 120 on YouTube

INITIALLY NO .

Bio: Initially NO's first instrument was the vacuum cleaner pipe, but she's since leant to buzz her lips into a trumpet which she calls Horney. Horney recently celebrated it's 21st birthday by playing to the fish on St.Kilda peir. Wasn't able to catch any of them though.
Initially NO also plays guitar and sings and is a visual artist with lots of T-shirt designs on the net and a book: Percipience published with Amazon.

LADY LASH & DJ MZ RIZK

LADY LASH
www.myspace.com/officialladylash
www.myspace.com/ladylashdjmzrizk

Lady Lash & MzRizk Bio:
After a year long hiatus, some soul searching and evolving musically Lady Lash & MzRizk are ready to tear things up at a venue near you!!! Lady Lash has been working hard and has been building her repertoire to include Funk, Soul, Hip Hop and RnB! Their live sets should not be missed! Skitzo provides most of the beats and MzRizk provides all necessary samples and scratches on the 1s and 2s. Illskillz also provides sounds for Lady Lash and MzRizk. If you haven't seen this duo live... do it... these sisters are showing the brothers how it's done! In 2006 they met at Push Over on the Push IT! stage where they both performed. After swapping myspace pages, Lash got in touch with Rizk and the rest will be history... After a number of stellar performances Lady Lash joined group Funk In Public and started exploring different sounds - Funk, Soul, Blues and RnB. With new material on board and a heap of new songs... Lady Lash & MzRizk are now showcasing Lady Lash's original material for her upcoming Hyper Color Dreams E.P! This duo are the ones to watch out for in 2009!

'REBETISSA'- Anthea Sidiropoulos

Melbourne born diverse singer/songwriter Anthea Sidiropoulos is predominately a self taught musician. She did however have a small stint in studying voice at Melba Conservatorium, and Composition and Arranging at the Eastern Hill Conservatorium under Maestro Joe Paparone.

With a career spanning 20yrs (and a hiatus of 7 as a cancer survivor) Anthea continues to be invited to major festivals and events, singing nationally and internationally. Most recent includes the 20th Anniversary of Ethnic broadcasting Multicultural festival, and as 'Aphrodite' in the music theatre play 'Night Breakfast' (LaMama Carlton courthouse) to reviews of 'a strong performance' - The Australian Stage. Anthea's songwriting credits include (finalist) Antipodes Song festival, (semifinalist-MusOZ) 'Daybreak', The 'Find Your Light' cancer survivor 'Macs' project, City of Melbourne's The Pink Room project, Saloni M - who are the real barbarians? and Songs for Life - a partner program between Dementia Australia and Alzeimers Victoria with an emphasis on documenting story-telling of migrants through song.

In 2003 Anthea wrote and performed her one-woman show 'Anthea's Diary' at Melbourne's Fringe Festival, in which she won a nomination for best performance. A year later she performed it at Melbourne's Antipodes Festival. That same year, Anthea was invited by story-teller and acclaimed Author Arnold Zable to include her songs on the recording of a musical companion for his book 'The Fig Tree' - the CD won best folk release for 2004. Anthea's work as a human rights and peace activist saw her flown by the United Nations to Cyprus, Turkey and Greece to perform at the UN festivals. In August 2007 Anthea was awarded 'Ambassador of Peace' by UNESCO for her work in the community, and 'Artist of the Month' for December by The Boite (Vic).

Anthea is currently in rehearsal for her story-telling-through-song appearance, at the Art Centre on the Hamer Hall Foyer stage - a pre-show appetizer to the Eleftheria Arvanitaki concert on 24th May- and the up and coming 'Tribute to the Women of Rebetika' show scheduled for July 5th at Melbourne Town Hall. In the meantime, Anthea launches her new band with dancers from gypsy/bellydance troupe Zabelle, to present music of Greek/Aussie folk blues as 'REBETISSA' - an ageless celebration of womanhood for Roarhouse on June 24th at the Esplanade Hotel.

For more information please check

www.anthea.com.au

www.shivanamusic.org

Stuart Reedy

Some time, early in 1965, my parents had unprotected sex and approximately 9 months later I was born. At least that's what they tell me. Sometimes I paint. I like writing prose and songs. Some people say I sound like Nick Cave. Once this hippy said I sounded like Jim Morrison. He was stoned at the time. I was stoned too, so I believed him. Most people just say I sound like shit, especially when I sit bolt upright in the morning and start singing in falsetto, 'good morning, good morning - good luck to you this morning.'
Sometimes I perform at Roar House or busk or do open mic's or do other gigs that my audiophobic friend calls 'not even semi professional' gigs. I mainly perform dirges and political - yes, 'political - (oooh naughty naughty; sedition, interrogated without a lawyer, pre-emptive strike// 'I love a sunburnt country, a land increasing pain' ) songs'.
My guitar is an oldish washburn that my mate (who can play anything - he could play a g string hanging from a line eight stories up in a blizzard if he was going to get paid for it) told me to buy. Unfortunately I can't play 'anything'. Some people say it sounds like a banjo or mandolin. Once a hippy said it sounded middle eastern. He was stoned at the time. I was stoned too, so I believed him.
Most people just say it sounds like shit. Especially when I sit bolt upright in the morning  and start plucking, 'good morning, good morning - good luck to you this morning.'
When I was twelve I had a dog with a skin disease. Even with expensive psychotherapy, we couldn't cure the dog so my parents decided I needed professional, intensive hypnosis to stop my worrying. It worked. To this day, I am oblivious to scratching flea-bitten dogs. But I do have a recurring dream that I am humping a telegraph pole in the western suburbs.
I'm not mad yet but I am looking for a quiet place to be alone with my thoughts. I hear they have some nice rooms at the Alfred - cheap rent, nice padded wallpaper too. If I wasn't humiliated in the shower room as an adolescent I'd probably perform nude. In fact, it's probably because I was humiliated that I think about it so much. As I said, sometimes I pant, I mean, paint. I sold my first acrylic for a hand job and a couple of panadol. This painting, 'World On A String' has one of the best verses I've ever written in a song. I don't have the painting in front of me but from memory the verse is something like this. 'Now it seems we sanction torture, Who sanctions it, well, no one; yeah that's what we tell ya, And we tell ya that it's all been caught on camera, But you see an iceberg tip when there's more under water - Hooded muslims tied to live wires, Intimidated by dogs and sexually abused, Now your t.v. debates if torture is necessary. Instead of how to rid this crime from humanity.' As I said, this is one of the best verses I've ever written, so if you don't like it, I can't imagine you'd like my other lyrics either.

The Blazin' Hussies

Take two saucy chicks, add a drop each of jazz and disco, a bit of bollywood, and a good dose of cabaret. Now set fire to the lot and serve with a twist of quirk, a splash of sexy, several shakes, 1.5 gigglesand a shimmy or two to taste.

Toni Abbott;

I have been performing in one form or another my entire life. I have twelve years of gymnastics behind me and many years of Jazz, Classical, Modern ballet and theatre training. I have always loved fire and discovered the art of fire dancing at an early age. I spin single and double staff, poi, foxtail, fire ropes and fire hoola hoops, and performed with many an exotic fire toy including; fire fans, gloves, fingers, skipping rope, wings, parasol, eating torches and geometric shapes. With my background in theatre and dance my flavour of performance is a fusion of many different styles, most recently including latin and burlesque. I have performed with many different troupes of fire performers and dancers over the past ten years and have led workshops in the creative and performing arts throughout Australia and Internationally. Over the years I have been involved in all aspects of performance production including designing and making costumes and jewellery, choreography, make-up and hair design.

Tjoni Johansen;

After over fifteen years of theatrical involvement mainly behind the scenes, Eccentrix founder Tjoni took to the stage five years ago after falling in love with the art of spinning fire. She'd been warned as a child about playing with matches, so she initially set fire to both ends of a broomstick instead…(Kids don't try this at home…or if you do, um, give it to someone else to hold / blame...) Since that momentous occasion, and the fiery obsession that sprouted from it, Tjoni has performed many Eccentrix shows as a soloist and with several other fire troupes including Fireworks dance and Cirque Mystique, at various corporate events, functions, and festivals, around Australia including at Crown Casino, Park Hyatt, Sofitel, Phoenix @ Hamilton Island, Busker's Festival, Federation Square and Docklands. She has also taught fire twirling and elements of dance at various festivals including Croc Fest and Confest and at Underbelly dance in Melbourne. Presently Tjoni's focus is on combining fire twirling with various dance styles, especially African, funk and belly dancing, and on exploring elements of movement and art as a tool for healing, self empowerment and spiritual growth. She also continues to nurture and be nurtured by her business of nine years as a costume designer and creator.

The Blazin' Hussies on YouTube

The Watermelon Man

TISTISM (The Incredible Fakes)

Formerly TISTISM (This Is Serious TISM), Friggin in the Riggin have played the PBS Festival of Song Competition at the Corner Hotel, although the judges were baffled at how to rate the spoken word aspect, we got away selling each judge one of our spoken word cd singles "KFC is a Mutha*&%$#" which has had airplay in Radio Mau- Nau Châlons-en-Champagne France, Love Underground Visionary Revolution California, and A-Info Radio Project New York 2006 just to name a few international spots. Friggin in the Riggin has also played several shows with the wild fire, snake charming and magic cabaret act Secret Cabaret at the Wesley Anne, Fringe 2004. Pounding city shanties mulled with melody and spoken word, Friggin in the Riggin are the unfabulous four, with hedonist lining acts, and feats of fetish. Lots of outspoken word and muse-ick, so don't be afraid to give us the clap, all we need is love.

Alana Hunt - violin, Sofia Chapman - piano accordion, Indra Buraczewska - double bass

Driven by Alana's wild violin, chased by accordion and double bass, Vardos enchant with their theatrical and lively interpretations of traditional Hungarian and Romanian music. Formed in Perth in 1993, Vardos is now Melbourne based, regularly making trips to Eastern Europe to study with folk and Roma (gypsy) musicians.

This stunning trio has serenaded audiences around Australia, and have also toured to New Caledonia, New Zealand, Switzerland and Hungary. Vardos had successful shows at the Famous Spiegeltent in the Edinburgh Fringe and Edinburgh International Book Festival in 2003 and 2004, where they appeared on Scottish television and the BBC News, and were nominated for the 2003 BBC Radio3 World Music Awards. The trio has recently showcased in the U.S.

"With stagecraft that is equal parts formation dancing, martial arts and Keystone Cops, the violin-accordion-double bass trio play with formidable panache... Vardos don't hold back. They give the tumbling, compound-time dances and slow airs... both barrels and not a few of Hunt's bow hairs." ****
(The Herald, Edinburgh 2004)

Vardos made a cameo appearance on the popular series "Seachange", and featured in "Painted Lady", a film about artist Vali Myers, shown on SBS. The band recorded a Transylvanian-inspired version of Kylie Minogue's "I should be lucky" for the compilation CD "This is the Place for a Song" which was nominated for an Aria award for Best World Music Album in 2005.

The first Vardos CD was recorded in Budapest, Hungary in 1999, and their second CD, "Entertaining Countess Dracula" and third "Wild Side of the Village" were launched at the Melbourne Festival Spiegeltent in 2002 and 2006 respectively.

"Alana Hunt's soaring violin, Indra Buraczewska's slapped double bass and Sofia Chapman's supple accordion combine on a collection of 17 Hungarian and Romanian tunes and songs that show us that their frequent visits to Eastern Europe have made them a truly exciting band.

Mandy has healed since her last performance "wish I was bleeding" and is back on stage standing without aids banging on about other perverbial pains, be it the environment, bad jobs and a general milaise of the life around her. Mandy Vuk has made films, video clips, tap danced and sang on stage, cleaned phone boxes thru uni, knows how to make a chair and now chooses to stand up and demand your attention. This story teller reckons she's got something to say......