MELBOURNE 2015

It's taken me a while to get this blog on my trip to Melbourne up, I've been busy.

 

Melbourne...I adore it, it's my favourite place to holiday in Australia. It is my touchstone, if I don't get there at least once a year I feel lost. I love it's cosmopolitan and European ways, it's stunning architecture, it's extreme cultural happenings, the trams, the cafes and restaurants, and it's laid back lifestyle. If I didn't love to travel there so much, I'd probably live there.

 

Usually I stay in a little private apartment on Collins Street, but this time I couldn't as the owners had sold it, so I turned to air bnb for something new and I found a little gem on Manchester Lane, right in the heart of my favourite part of the city, off Collins Street, and right near Degreaves Street and Flinders Station.

  

My friend C came with me for the first few days and we were excited to find the apartment exactly as it had been online. Phew!

 

This trip was to see The David Bowie Is exhibit at the ACMI, something I had waited a whole year to see and it was superb. Additionally there were other Bowie things to do whilst there.

 

Other highlights were The Lion King, John Safran in conversation with Jon Ronson, Catherine the Great exhibit at the NGV, Backstage Tour at the Melbourne Arts Centre, The Damage and the Needle done at the Butterfly Club, and Madame Brussels.

 

Also at the ACMI was the fabulous Orry-Kelly exhibit and I saw the documentary film based on his life. Orry-Kelly was a famous costume designer in Hollywood, who came from Kiama but is little known here in Australia. He had a remarkable career with many ups and downs. Three Academy Awards - for An American in Paris, Les Girls, and Some Like it Hot. Some Like it Hot is one of my all time favourite films, so to see the costumes he designed for Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis was a thrill, let alone the Oscars. There was so much to find out about this interesting man, in the exhibit and in the film, but the most confounding was his first relationship in Hollywood was with Cary Grant (when he was still Archie Leach). This part of Cary is not new to me, I am a fan, but I prefer to stick to the fantasy man-about-town suave Cary, lol! Of course hearing how Cary abandoned Orry and only contacted him when he heard Orry was writing his memoirs was a little shattering to my fantasy.

I caught up with my wonderful friend M, and we had a day out in the Yarra Valley, lunching at Healesville, and heading to the Tarrwarra Vineyards via a stunning rainforest. The vineyard had a very sleek and modern Museum of Art and specialises in Modern Art. We checked out the Pierre Huyghe exhibition which featured installations, videos etc and was amazing.

I also 'discovered' the Hellenic Museum on William Street, a museum dedicated to Greek artefacts, on loans form the Benaki Museum in Athens. It's a ten year exhibit, commencing in 2014 and is changed over regularly. It was full of the most beautiful pieces, all of them incredibly old and with amazing stories attached.

I also caught up with other friends, B, L, and S while I was there.

 

This trip I visited a few Melbourne institutions I had never been to. On our first night C and I had dinner at the Young and Jackson pub, a great meal and we visited the stunning Chloe in the upstairs bar. S and I had morning tea at the amazing Hopetoun Tea Room. And I finally visited The Athenaeum Theatre, not the library, but I will get there some day.

As always the food was to die for. Perk Up Bugers on Degreaves was easily the best burger I have ever eaten, their sweet potato fries perfection too. Ferdyduke, a rooftop bar, served funky sliders, I had a pork one called the Little Lebowski. Directly across from my hotel was Maccaroni Trattoria Italiana, and they made the best, authentic pizzas. Il Pom on Fed Square had great Italian and cocktails, Taxi at the Transport Lounge, also on Fed Square - great snack food and drinks and a place at the window to watch the passing parade. I rediscovered the Thai on Flinders in a little arcade, the best I think I've ever had. And we found an authentic French Creperie, Roule Galette, in Scott Alley. An average looking cafe with an ambivalent French waiter, french radio station playing, and amazing food.

 

Of course I visited some of my favourite places, 333 Collins Street, The Royal Exhibition Building and Carlton Gardens, Hill of Content Bookshop, Minotaur Books, Dr Seuss Gallery, Cathedral Arcade, State Library of Vic, Federation Square, both the Ian Potter Centre and the National Gallery of Victoria, and St Kilda.

The weather was all over the shop while I was there - which is so Melbourne, but mostly overcast and cool, but the day C and I headed to St Kilda was a stunner. We walked and walked, checked out the markets, shopped, and an amazing tapas lunch at Big Mouth...and of course, indulged in cakes!

And some random photography:

RONSON AND SAFRAN

My favourite author at the moment is Jon Ronson. I've followed him on Twitter for ages, and read pieces online here and there. I read his Lost At Sea some months back and was sold.

 

He is a journalist and writes non-fiction about unusual and odd topics, extremists, paranormal and new age units in the military, psychopaths, cults, beliefs, and so on.

 

Jon writes with a mix of investigative journalism and adds himself into the story with wry wit. He is a pleasure to read, the subject matter strange and unique, and more often than not laugh out loud funny.

 

So when I realised he would be part of the Melbourne FODI and Writers Festival when I was there, I knew I had to get tickets. When I found out he was being interviewed by John Safran, safely the Australian equivalent of Ronson, and someone I have admired for a long time, well I got those tickets post haste! The cherry on top of what I knew would be a great evening was it would be held in the Athenaeum Library Theatre.

 

It was a cold and rainy Melbourne night when we lined up in the theatre foyer with hundreds of others. The foyer was nothing that special, though it did feel like you had stepped into another time. This picture above us had us intrigued as to what the ladies did. Were they ushers, part of a religious sect, wives of club members, it kept us company while we waited.

 

The tickets were all GA, so once the doors opened it was every man for themselves, and we found great seats in the middle a few rows back from the stage. Pretty much the seats I'd have picked if given the chance.

 

Inside the theatre was lush and glorious, like all the old theatres of that era.

Finally Jon and John arrived on stage. They were obviously friends, I mean, how could they not, such an obvious pairing, with mutual respect. Safran was contained, he let Ronson do his thing, asking questions from time to time and keeping things flowing and on track.

 

The session was based on his latest books, So You've Been Publicly Shamed, which I had read. This is about the obsessive trolling of people who make mistakes online to the extent of ruining their lives. Often these people have said something stupid or offensive and possibly need to have a finger pointed at them, but not to the extent they have experienced. We've all been there, and it feels awful, but usually within a day someone else has taken over! The people he interviews and talks about in his book, have had it far worse, depression, suicidal, loss of vocation, family, friends. And the vitriol they experience online far worse than anything they originally said.

 

One of the main subjects in his book, and this talk, was Justine Sacco - the chick who made a racist/aids comment before boarding her flight to Africa. By the time she got there the entire Twitter World were gazing at her stupidity and some being very nasty and she lost her job. She says she wrote it ironically, and you can actually see that. It was poorly put together - this is the thing with 140 characters - and she probably shouldn't have bothered, but she certainly didn't deserve the backlash, especially on such a large scale.

 

Here is a little clip of his his recent Ted Talk which is the same subject. 

 

http://www.ted.com/talks/jon_ronson_what_happens_when_online_shaming_spirals_out_of_control?share=1fb8ed6fe1

 

He spoke about a few other things, including my most favourite of his stories, Frank. Which was made into a movie with Maggie Gyllenhaul and Michael Fassbender. When Ronson was younger he joined a band, even though he could barely play the keyboard. Frank was the lead singer, and not his real name and he wore a plastic head on stage and round and about. It was a cult band, and the most fascinating story. So I loved hearing little tidbits about that.

 

Ronson himself is a fascinating guy, quirky and anxious, but a regular dude you could have a beer with. I loved being in his presence. Safran was the perfect companion/interview. They held us, the audience, in the palm of their hands.