Slapdash brain junk

Slapdash Song Night! 2014 finale show is in a little less than two weeks away.

To date, I have written nothing.

But in the lead-up, this song is in my head for no reason, with no relevance:

And I may have lost an entire day last weekend here:

But I’ve at least listened to our COVER ME, BRO! for the show and vaguely (as usual) think I should be able to do something with it…

Oh, and by the way – our theme is “finales”. I’d totally do this if all the folks were in town…

Have your doubts about how this next show of Slapdash is gonna go down? Me too. But I always do. And somehow it all gets done and we have a freakin’ ball. It’s a monthly miracle! Catch it here…

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November = LadyNerd month

Marie Curie – picture from hollowverse.com

While every day should be LadyNerd Day, I would like to nominate November as LadyNerd Appreciation Month. And not just because it’s my birthday. I did a bit of internetting and found a few others to help me make a go of what could be called LadyNerdvember. Catchy.

If you’ve seen LadyNerd, you’ll know that I’m born on the same day as Marie Curie (1867) – discoverer of radioactivity and two new elements, two-time Nobel Prize winner, and the only person to date to win Nobels in two separate categories.

Madame Curie and I share a cake on November 7 with physicist Lise Meitner (1878) – one in a trio of scientists who discovered nuclear fission (whose story is cited as a notorious case of sexism that resulted in a Nobel snub – up there with Rosalind Franklin).

On November 7, the three of us blow out candles alongside current-day computer scientist Barbara Liskov who – among many other achievements, laid the groundwork for programming languages such as Java – was one of the first people in the US to earn a PhD in computer science (and the first woman to do so). Like Marie Curie, and though nearly 80 years had passed, Liskov was rejected by a university (graduate school at Princeton, no less) because she was female. Not that this stopped either of them.

November is also the birth month of another one featured in LadyNerd: Hedy Lamarr. Touted then (and now) as the most beautiful woman in the world, this glamorous actress of Hollywood’s golden era also happened to be co-inventor of frequency hopping. It was conceived in the hope that it might help the allies’ war efforts via radio-guided weaponry, but ultimately wound up in our mobile phones and wi-fi. November 9, 2014, would have been her 100th birthday.

No LadyNerdy list of mine is complete without a local representative, and here’s a current-day kicker: Australian-American Nobel laureate Elizabeth Blackburn, born November 26 in Hobart. A biological researcher, Blackburn discovered the enzyme telomerase, associated with telomeres – chromosome endings. Blackburn has investigated this enzyme in relation to stress, cancer, ageing and infection. (And, coincidentally, I just read that the first clear biological evidence of a mind-body connection involves telomeres {biologist I clearly am not, but this is cool}).

Back to LadyNerdvember! (catchy!)

American women’s rights activist and pioneer, Elizabeth Cady Stanton was born on November 12, 1815. She wrote and lectured on women’s rights and led the campaign to get women the right to vote. She also advocated for women’s right to divorce and, perhaps unsurprisingly, omitted “obey” from her marital vows. (It’s also rumoured that Tina Fey named her Mean Girls heroine Cady after both her college friend and suffragette Stanton.)

Finally, let’s look to the skies – Jerrie Mock, born November 22, was the first woman to fly solo around the world. The mum of three took off 27 years after Amelia Earhart went missing attempting the same thing. After 29 days, 21 stops, and about 37,000km, Mock landed back in Ohio in 1964. She said: “Nobody was going to tell me I couldn’t do it because I was a woman.”

Look, they probably did. But she was too busy being awesome to notice.

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Songwriting tips from a clueless enthusiast

This is an unpublished piece but it includes what are hopefully helpful ideas in listicle form.

I have been songwriting since I was a teenager. This does not make me qualified. But it does mean I’ve been thinking about it for a long time.

Oh, how I loved my songs back then – back when they were inspired by darkness, unrequited affection, or a sweeping landscape. It was all esoteric lyrics and even less tangible melodies. It was cathartic to sit and play the five-octave, light-touch Yamaha I had since I was 8, singing the lyrics that I’d written – or even rewritten once or twice – that only would make sense to me. At least half the time, nobody knew what Cobain/Vedder/Buckley was on about – why should my lyrics be any different? It’s about the music, man…

My creative writing training at uni did little to change my inclination – it was all about stream-of-consciousness, word association, found pieces, hypertext, fragmented sentences all in lowercase… In retrospect, it was all about the steps before writing something… worth reading.

I loved my songs dearly, but I knew deep in my core that they were not fit for public consumption. Songwriting was my secret hobby. Deep, dark, broody, precious, a little bit sexy, and empirically terrible. But there was part of me that wanted to believe – so, so badly – that people would like them and that it was only my fear standing in the way of these tunes seeing the light of day. Oh goshdarnit, if only I could get out of my own magnificent way!

Then Edinburgh 2012 happened (a story for another day, I promise) and at one of my lower/est moments, I realised that if songwriting was still something I wanted to try, then fuck it – now’s the time.

I wrote songs about the festival in question. I wrote songs based on stories I’d heard. I started digging through scraps of lyrics and actually piecing them together. I wrote a couple of snippets, and one complete number, for Keira Daley Vs the 90s. In that show, I also blew the dust off a song I wrote at 15 – which remains one of the most fun things in the world to perform because it is so, so unbelievably bad. When the band was kicking along, and the beats and chords were thrashing out in a way that’s better than I had in my head all those years ago, there was part of me that was vindicated. The part of me – that’s still 15 – thinks it’s fucking awesome.

Since then, there’s been the Slapdash Song Night! monthly songwriting challenge – this means regular assignments with accompanying deadlines. And I’ve also aired some of my other recent songs at the show. So there’s been a mix of last-minute rush-jobs, well-considered extended pieces, and a few things in between. Most of it has been on the comedic end of the spectrum, but some hasn’t. The reactions have been varied, as have the genres. And the inspiration has been forced to arrive time and time again because the show won’t wait until your most amazing idea strolls into town.

How does all this crap help you write songs? What are my tips? How do you structure a song? What are chord progressions? What makes a good melody or a crap one? What’s a hook? Is an earworm the sign of a good song or an irritating one?

There are places to go for music theory and legit songwriting techniques (if you recommend any, please write a comment below). This is not that place. Everyone who’s worked with me knows I’m the musical equivalent of dyslexic – the written representation (which I have been looking at for decades now) does not sink in. That said, I’ve got a lot better at writing basic charts. And at beatboxing rhythms to musicians.

But here are the things I have learned about songwriting as 1) a private, self-indulgent songwriter; 2) a once-a-month, assigned-a-topic-and-a-deadline, come-hell-or-high-water songwriter; 3) as a performer of my songs and others’; and 4) as an audient of many things, from jazz and soul to music theatre and cabaret, via rock and/or roll.

Ten things I’ve learned about songwriting

Listen to everything… but music. If you love music, I’m sure you’ve already listened to heaps of it. So switch off the tunes and start listening to other things – internal and external. You never know where the inspiration might come from.
Listen to your environment. Right now, I have a half-written song based on the sound of my best friend’s shower – two years ago, when I was staying at her place for a few days, I noticed there was a riff formed by the sounds of the water hitting the handrail. That riff stayed with me until I found a song for it – this year. The sound of my skateboard rolling down a concrete path that I remember from when I was a kid is another one I want to use. If a tune comes to mind, record it on your phone and label the file so you know WTF it is in six months’ time – I have a file category of recordings specifically for this.
Listen to people. I wrote a whole song about insomnia based on one friend’s account of trying to work through it using all these tactics various health professionals had given her. Sometimes people say one line that has a great rhythm or that swirls around in your head – sometimes the line is something you say or think. There’s a reason this line sticks out to you and there’s a good chance it’ll hook you in a song too. Write or record it on your phone and label it. Write lists too – sometimes this is a fast-track to getting a song down.
Feelings are great – use them wisely. You need a story and a hook more than ever if you want to write something strongly emotional. Find something relatable or else nobody cares. Use your feelings in someone else’s story, for example. Or take some time and then make fun of yourself. Get specific, get epic, get ambitious. Use your emotions as a gateway to empathy or understanding or insight that someone else might find helpful or entertaining. Make that the song.
Be kind to the vocalist – whether it’s you or someone else, be considerate of what is humanly possible, what is humanly repeatable, and humanly listenable. This is my totally unqualified and un-asked-for note to all contemporary music theatre composers. Not all of us have the luxury to let our whole lives revolve around hitting one insane note or singing one insane song every night. Your muse might be Idina, but your medium is more likely to be a mere mortal. Music can be beautiful, challenging and complex without being a hellscape nightmare to perform (or listen to). Workshop your stuff and make it fun for us all. While I’m on it, keep this in mind for all instruments involved. Know what’s possible and know the limits – both of these help you create.
When you do listen to music, listen to what the other instruments are doing, not just the vocals – I’ve long been obsessed with listening this way because it brings me so much joy. And as a songwriter, I believe it’s a way to emotionally manipulate your listeners on a less conscious level. For example, the cello in a Sondheim might do something like this – it’ll hang around in the middle, subtly keeping the vocals buoyant and the high strings grounded. Then it’ll be exposed solo for an exquisite bar and followed by a line from the singer that will be important and deeply moving. Your eyes will well up and you think it’s all about “being alive”, but I hazard a (totally unqualified) guess that IT WAS THE CELLO PLAYING YOU ALL ALONG. This is not limited to music theatre or classical stuff – check out what the bass is doing in a Chili Peppers song – you may think you’re grooving to the beat (and of course you are) but still, Flea owns that shit.
It can be easier to write words first, music second, but don’t be afraid if a tune finds you first. It just might take a bit longer to find a home. Sing it into that recorder, baby. As for lyrics, embrace assonance as well as rhyme. Why? It gives you something fun to do/strive for mid-line (because great rhyme isn’t enough of a challenge).
Find someone properly skilled who can help you realise your ideas. I suck at playing my compositional instrument (I play piano like a drummer – I happen to sing like one too, not that that’ll stop me), so I feel very, very lucky to have musicians who are willing to work with me to bring my occasionally insane, occasionally vague, but mostly overly ambitious ideas to life. That said, the clearer and more detailed you can be – even if you have to write it down in words/metaphors/YouTube clips – the easier it is to stitch the patchwork together.
Fuck key changes – there are other ways to build drama. About 90% of those standard pop ones where nothing else changes feel unnecessary or lazy to me. The song I wrote that got the biggest, most positive response this year had a tonne of just variations on one chord (not that I recommend that as a songwriting technique by any means). My instrumental ability is quite limited, which means I have to get creative with fewer colours. Which leads me to my final point…
Inaccurate rip-offs can become songs in themselves. One of my ‘virtues’ as a songwriter has been my terrible musicianship. My approximation in picking apart other people’s chords and chord progressions by ear means that I’m already a degree away from a straight-up cover. Then all I need to do is change it a bit more and, suddenly, it’s gone from cover to pastiche/parody. Inaccurately add another element by someone else and you’ll go from mash-up to mish-mash to, eventually, something else altogether. Whaddya know?

In the end, like anything else, do what works. If you have a beginning, middle and end, and you enjoy playing it, you’ve got a song. And even if it’s just for you on your tinny, 5-octave Yamaha from 1989, that’s something worth having.

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Deadlines = Lifelines

“The show doesn’t go on because it’s ready – it goes on because it’s 11.30.”
– Lorne Michaels, via Tina Fey in Bossypants

How do you become excellent as an artist? Is it about freedom to fail? Is it about pure, reflective practice or constant feedback? Is it about trying new things regularly or doing the same things over and over again?

I went “solo” at the start of 2011. I put that in quotes because, though it’s me standing centrestage without castmates, a Greek chorus or a can-can kickline, what I do is hardly a solo effort. Even if you do absolutely every bit of your show yourself, you still need an audience. I daresay, there’s no such thing as solo if you are a performer (after all, we cannot be expected to fill that chasm-like approval hole all by ourselves).

Still, in the sense that I started creating my own shows to perform in, at almost the three-year mark as solo performer I realised I’d created just two shows. And only one of these “had legs”, as they say: LadyNerd (the other, Keira Daley Vs The 90s, had too many legs to tour).

Once you’ve (I’ve) done the one show for a while, you (I) get comfortable at it and, sometimes, less good (crap) at other things.

I started Slapdash Song Night! at Sydney Fringe 2013 to highlight acts at the festival because I saw a gap in what was on offer – while many other festivals around the world had these kinds of community-building events, Sydney Fringe did not. And I thought it would be fun. It was fun for sure, though I only started to feel vaguely comfortable with it in week 4 – aka, closing night. Then it was done.

After that, I went off to perform LadyNerd at Melbourne Fringe. It was the latest in a string of festivals where I’d observed other artists continually bringing new work to the stage – people with back-catalogues of shows and songs and appearances and videos.

The key to excellence, as I observed, was pushing yourself to do more, try new things, take risks, and practice and create on a regular basis – with regular and immediate feedback. There’s the 10,000 hours of practice theory – or, if not 10,000 hours exactly, the equivalent value of doing intense, focused, regular work.

There was also the matter of show fitness – conditioning your mind and body to perform. This is hard when you go eight months a year not performing. You get gun-shy and out of shape. One season a year was not going to cut it. If I wanted to improve, the key, as I saw it, was to increase my creative output.

But how – I asked myself – could I be prolific when LadyNerd took so long to write, arrange, workshop, prototype, and, finally, premiere? A meticulous, steadily-paced creative process was good for a debut show – particularly one about tenacity, ingenuity, and scientific inquiry. But that didn’t solve my output puzzle.

What if there was a show designed to force me to create stuff regularly whether I felt like it or not?

I thought about all the times anybody ever asked me for a favour. If they said “if you get a chance” or “no rush” or “anytime is fine” or “it’s no big deal”, it’s almost guaranteed I’d either forget to do it (or take fricken forever). If they said, “deadline’s tomorrow!”, I’d almost certainly turn it around in time.

Like many people, I have always left everything to the last minute – from school assignments to packing for a trip. I like sprinting for the bus – it’s a (mild, nerdy) way to live on the edge. If I miss the bus, I also kind of enjoy fist-shaking at it like an old man in long johns carrying a pitchfork.

Every kind of job I’ve ever done – from performance to publishing – has involved deadlines. There is no “maybe we can take a day longer”. There is no “we’ll ask for an extension”. Instead, the overarching premise is: At this specified time, this thing must happen.

How do you get stuff done? Deadlines. How do you get more stuff done? More deadlines. In performer terms, this equals: Put on more shows. Be less precious. Do more. Think less. Scare yourself repeatedly. Get people to watch you do all of these things.

Enter: Slapdash Song Night! (pursued by a bear… pointing to its watch)

The version of Slapdash I debuted at Sydney Fringe 2013 had a snappy ethos, which came from people asking me what cabaret is: “Singy-sing, talky-talk, drinky-drink – the rest is up to you,” I’d say. The format was guests having a chat and a sing. The audience (oh alright – and me) having a drink. That’s it.

So, what if I could weave my own creative deadlines into that simple format through regular segments? While each show featured different guests, there would be a through-line of my ongoing work – covers, originals, songwriting battles. I challenged my long-time collaborator Pete Lead to write a song each month in “competition” with me. I enlisted musos, guests, regulars and crew. I found a free venue that was available regularly each month. And the experiment began.

As a result, I’ve written and performed about ten new original songs this year, plus an additional ten obscure covers (most of which were like writing new songs in themselves). I’ve written jokes, opening spiels, sketches, and characters, all to varying degrees of success (there’s been some major suckage but a few specks of gold too). Then there’s been the task of shaping a new show every month – from conceiving the theme to selecting (and/or hassling) the guests, the questions and the closing singalong. And through it all, thinking on my feet, responding on the fly, addressing an audience as a “soloist”. For some shows, I’ve had ideas for material and songs raring to go. But mostly I’ve had nothing until the week/day/night before.

The other aspect of my experiment was to increase my online output. This is where I really did fall down – the podcast releases are way behind schedule. But I’ve formed a strategy and, starting February 2015, the Slapdash Song Night! podcast will be fortnightly. And there’s an exciting side-project of mini-episodes en route.

But, overall, have I been pushed? Often. Have I improved? Possibly – I feel more confident, at least. Have I created and performed more stuff in 2014 than the three previous years combined? Undoubtedly.

Why? Because, each month, my “11.30” rolled round. Ready or not (venue or not, even), the show went on.

So, for now, I call that mission accomplished*.

*so let's celebrate on November 23

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On the rise of the nerd

I wrote this piece for Tech Digest back in the lead-up to Edinburgh Fringe 2012. They asked me to talk about why nerddom is important to me – and why, perhaps, it should be important to more people!

I discovered my nerdy identity – or ‘nerdentity’, if you will – at a very young age.

I was five years old when my big sister brought home a mangled aquamarine coloured box with the word “Tempest” on it. It was adorned with screenshots of games – the only one I remember clearly is Pong, though it may or may not have been called “Bat ‘n’ Ball” for copyright reasons.

This is my earliest recollection of a computer.

Somehow, I worked out how to hook it all up, tune the TV to it (an old wooden box CRT – yes, I’m a child of the ’80s), and get it running. Thus began my reputation as “person who knows how to make the gadgets work” (which is a somewhat less shiny title than “engineer”, “programmer”, or “techspert” – I am just a stage performer after all).

The Tempest was already old for its time – this was Atari’s heyday – but it was pretty amazing to me. You press a button on a stick attached to a wire, attached to a dusty slab of a console, attached to a behemoth of a TV, and you can make things happen on the screen half a metre away. Incredible!

Fast forward to the early ’90s. We had an Amiga 500. I shouldn’t really say “we” though because I was the only one who used it (imagine a household now where only the 10-year-old uses the family PC…). Needless to say, it was a beautiful, exotic device at the time. Of course, it involved the somewhat less beautiful task of swapping floppy discs every time you wanted Willie Beamish to “Take backpack”. But I loved it all the same.

Nowadays, we expect computers to be there at every turn, doing our bidding. It’s hard to imagine life without mobile phones, let alone life without so much as a calculator. Strangely enough, in 1842 Ada Lovelace knew this is how things would go down before the first computer was even built. After learning of Charles Babbage’s purely theoretical Analytical Engine, Ada felt mathematically inspired enough by the idea to write it an algorithm – a nerdy kind of love letter to a phenomenon she’d never live to experience.

This is what nerds do best – they embrace ideas.

History’s greatest nerds have committed wholeheartedly to theories that others often overlook or dismiss. Had Marie Curie followed the pack, she’d never have discovered the true nature of radioactivity. Okay, so she also mightn’t have been poisoned to death by radiation, but sometimes you have to take the bad with the good.

Meanwhile, Florence Nightingale’s obsession with hygiene cut the death rate of wounded soldiers almost by half using two powerful tools – meticulous medical records and a little thing we call hygiene. Washing hands saves lives, who knew? I’d quite like a Florence Nightingale hologram next to the sinks in every public toilet, complete with pie charts (which she invented), explaining why a clean hand is better than a gross one. I’d probably go to high-five her every time, but my hand would sweep through and hit my own hand in the mirror.

And, damn it, why shouldn’t we high-five ourselves? In an image-obsessed world, rife with inane pop cultural phenomena (not to say it’s all bad, of course – there’s some amazing TV around) nerds are the people restoring the balance. Nerds are the ones who reflect and redirect. Nerds make discoveries, they cure diseases and solve problems. They investigate, question, and research until the job is done. In other words, nerds do stuff.

“Nerd” is not a dirty word. If you are a nerd, you should wear it as a badge of honour considering your predecessors. And if you’re not… isn’t it time you joined us?

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Slapdash moves house

It’s not the sort of thing you expect to happen when you go to work. Sure, maybe your job is in itself unpredictable – maybe it’s someone’s birthday and you’ll have mudcake, maybe shit will hit the fan in accounts, maybe you’ll get sacked for reading blogs on the company dime. But one thing you probably wouldn’t think you’d see is that you’d arrive to find your workplace was closed. Y’know, just… closed. Like this:

Except there was no function at that point in time (apparently it was the night before) – the lights were NOT on and, surprise, nobody was home. And nobody thought to tell us, even though our poster was out front on the chalkboard titled “ON THIS WEEKEND”. But, you know, “sorry”.

So we made some very quick manoeuvres and let people know online and with that one remaining poster…

The very kind people at The Roxbury Hotel let us in out of the proverbial cold, and the show – SLAPTOBERFEST – went on. Because even though it’s a silly show full of silly songs and all for fun and entertainment, we take our commitment to our work creating silliness seriously. The show must go on, and go on it did, and go on it will, so freakin’ help me.

As it turns out, the room upstairs at The Roxbury has a far more suitable set-up for our purposes. So we’re staying there.

The explanation for our now-former venue being closed? They were tired and they forgot. Or maybe they mean “forgot”. Who can say?

Our first official show at The Roxbury is our HALLOWEEN SPECIAL on October 26 at 7.30pm. We’ve got Cruello de Vil, Mark Simpson, Jim Fishwick, and a big ol’ green monster (who’s not the Hulk, FYI).

You should come. It’s gonna be SPOOKSLAPULAR.

Home and Away stars: Where are they now?

This was a monster-sized slideshow I wrote for The Fix in 2014. It was a big research project because I’m far from a Home and Away expert – phew! Fun though.

Sure there’s been Hollywood break-outs Chris Hemsworth, Melissa George, and Ryan Kwanten, and a slew of others who have sustained acting careers. But not all Home And Away alumni hit the big (or even medium) time. So where are they now? We delve into the corners of the internet – even as far as LinkedIn – to find out…

Nicolle Dickson

THEN
Let’s start with the big hitters. One of the original crew, Nicolle played beloved Summer Bay icon, the relentless rebel Bobby Simpson. She earned a Logie for her portrayal and apparently received a tonne of extra fan mail every time she punched someone on the show.

NOW
Nicolle was on All Saints and, most recently, Australian Celebrity Survivor, where she was the fourth last eliminated. And, er, here she is at Channel Seven’s 50th birthday in 2006. Hmm. Maybe this would be more exciting if she told us all to “Rack off!”

Alex Papps

THEN
Frank was the first character to appear on Home And Away, back in its 1988 pilot, and the first foster kid taken in by Pippa and Tom. And he won a Logie in the show’s first year.

NOW
Alex has worked steadily in Aussie TV, but can currently be spotted on Play School alongside his Home And Away TV ex Roo, Justine Clarke.

Sharyn Hodgson

THEN
Another of the Fletchers’ foster children in 1988 pilot, Sharyn played troubled teen (but weren’t they all?) Carly Morris, who later married soldier Ben (Julian McMahon). In true soap spirit, she also played her even more troublesome twin sister Samantha. A regular until 1991, Carly occasionally reappeared in Summer Bay until 2002.

NOW
Now 43, Sharyn stepped away from the spotlight to have a family, and apparently lives somewhere down the NSW coast (so there’s still a hint of Summer Bay in her life). But in 2008, Sharyn returned briefly for Kate Ritchie’s departure from the show (pictured).

Adam Willits

THEN
Adam played Steven Matheson – fostered by the Fletchers after he was orphaned. Stevo was no stranger to forbidden love, having an affair with an older lady, then one of his students, then with Curtis’ girlfriend Selina. But in this clip, he gets shut down… We suggest he eat a burger. Just saying.

NOW
40-year-old Adam has said he works “office jobs” in the insurance industry – pictured here with Alex Papps (Frank), Kate Ritchie (Sally), Craig Thompson (Martin), Les Hill (Blake) and Peter Vroom (Lance). “I’ve sort of been famous four or five times in my life,” he says. “I’ve had good stints… It’s a good security blanket to see it on TV. If it was not there, I think a little piece of me would die.”

Tempany Deckert

THEN
Tempany played Selina Roberts, Summer Bay’s own grunger tramp with a heart of gold. She ditched Curtis for teacher Steve (not her first romance with a teacher, btw) – only to (spoiler alert) leave Steve at the altar. She also found a baby on a beach once and decided that, rather than a bizarre occurrence, it was fate.

NOW
Far from a real-life Selena, 34-year-old Tempany is now a children’s and young adults’ author, having penned 18 published novels, as well as plays and screenplays.

Tristan Bancks

THEN
Tristan played bad boy teen heartthrob Tug O’Neale was a streetwise tough kid always keen for a fight – pretty brave for a guy called Tug. In fact, Tristan said at the time the name was “the worst part about the job”. Fair call. That and the ‘90s undercut maybe?

NOW
Tristan, 37, is a children’s author. Sound familiar? Turns out he also co-wrote a book, it’s yr life, with fellow Home And Away castmate-slash-author Tempany Deckert. He’s also written cool-sounding titles like Galactic Adventures: First Kids In Space. Nothing like child stardom to keep your inner-child alive.

Nic Testoni

THEN
Hunky Nic played all-round good guy and branded ‘dreamboat fisherman’ Travis Nash, so popular that he won a Logie. Travis’ romance with Rebecca Fisher (Belinda Emmett) was a Summer Bay success story, leading to a beach wedding and the two of them sailing off into the sunset.

NOW
Nic is now on the other side of the camera as a filmmaker, and won an award for his film Mr. Patterns.

Kristy Wright

THEN
Kristy’s character Chloe Richards had a tough time of it and turned to drugs, naturally dealt to her by the school secretary (played by Kimberley Joseph). In a similar vein, Chloe is raped on the beach only to be counselled by her assailant, Brad Cooper (Bruce Samazan) – with whom she also has a relationship. And other wholesome plotlines until Chloe (spoiler alert) dies.

NOW
Now 33, back in 2005 Kristy scored the role of Motée in Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge Of The Sith – a loyal handmaiden who tended to Padmé Amidala (Natalie Portman) during her secret pregnancy. Maybe Chloe’s next ghostly appearance on Home And Away could bring this new look to Summer Bay.

Bruce Samazan

THEN
Bruce played dastardly Brad Cooper on Home And Away, but he was also the only actor to have played regular roles in all of the “Big Three” Aussie soaps the ‘90s, with credits on E Street and Neighbours to his name. So why wouldn’t he release a hip-hop single that is everything terrible about the era?

NOW
Today Bruce, 41, works in real estate marketing on the Sunshine Coast. In this headshot, found on career networking site LinkedIn, he’s channelling Arrested Development’s Michael Bluth – but presumably with better properties than Sudden Valley.

Check out all the slideshow images at The Fix

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Weekly Slapdash kicks off!

We’re doing Sydney Fringe 2014, staging Slapdash Song Night! every Sunday in September! All tix $5 at the door. Giddiup!

ANNOUNCING (some of) OUR GUESTS!
Alice Fraser
Blake Erickson
the cast of GLORY DAYS
Holly Summers-Clarke
Inês
Jim Fishwick
Lady Sings it Better
the cast of POINT AND SHOOT
Pontus Aleryd
Steven Kreamer
and more to come!

So many shows, how do you pick? Try this delicious tasting plate of music, cabaret, musical comedy, and more from all over Sydney Fringe (and beyond… mostly beyond). Cut loose with your host, Keira Daley (LadyNerd, [title of show]), for some toe-tapping, head-bopping, rollicking variety night mayhem. Warning: Dangerously catchy.

It’s Sunday night and the atmosphere is ripe for musical mischief. Get your week off to the right start with cool covers, hilarious originals, and fun, fast-fire chats.

From comedy to cabaret, musical theatre to acoustic duo and more, we have it all. It’s the place to discover new gems, experience new styles, and enjoy familiar favourites all over again.

Slapdash Song Night! is THE place for artists and punters to meet and mix under the motto: “singy-sing, talky-talk, drinky-drink” – the true spirit of cabaret!

Slapdash fun times ahoy!

7pm March 2nd is our second monthly Slapdash Song Night! live show and podcast.

To mark the 86th Annual Academy Awards, occurring the day after the show, the theme for this month is “At the movies”.

Come down to The Record Crate (upstairs at 34 Glebe Point Rd, Glebe) and meet your very own guests:

– the Sydney premiere cast of Squabbalogic Independent Music Theatre‘s The Drowsy Chaperone
– banjo-wielding musical comedian Alice Fraser
– the cast of improvised musical wonder, BLANK the Musical
– cabaret singer-songwriter Courtney Powell

Regular (it’s been one show so far, but still…) segments continue:

– SONGWRITING BATTLE – Keira Vs Pete, Round 2
– COVER ME, BRO! wherein somebody will cover Nancy Vandal’s Ray Martin Has A Shed Full Of Giant Robotic Killer Wasps as per audience request in show #1.

Still $5! Still first Sunday of the month! Still SLAPDASH!