Photos from the Great Gatsby Party

Last night we went to a Great Gatsby themed party at the Victoria Room. We had a great time - excellent people watching. And with gimlets and champagne all night, who can complain? ;)

Here's the album with the rest of our photos from the dapper evening.

Great Gatsby Party

Opera on Sydney Harbour

Last night we went to Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour's La Traviata. The whole production was outdoors at the Fleet Steps in the Royal Botanic Gardens, with the stage floating in the harbour, and the Sydney Opera House and the Harbour Bridge in the background.

La Traviata might not be a favourite opera, and an outdoor production could be distracting at times (ferries rumbling by periodically, etc). However, the performance was good, and it was quite something to see an opera in that setting.

The 9-metre chandelier suspended from a crane above the floating stage.

Photo time during intermission.

Nighttime on Sydney Harbour - 15-second exposure.

Here's a timelapse video of opening night.

Wild Flag

Matthew, Jon, Adrian and I saw the Portland band Wild Flag last night, and it was a great show. I was towards the front on Carrie's side, and I danced like a silly person.

Opera

The other night Matthew and I saw Lakmé - our first opera at the Sydney Opera House!

I didn't realize that the Sydney Opera House actually houses several venues: Concert Hall, Opera Theatre, Drama Theatre, Playhouse, and The Studio. The Opera Theatre is actually not very big - it seats 1,507, which is smaller than the Brown Theater at the Wortham Center in Houston. However, the Concert Hall is the Sydney Opera House's largest venue; it seats 2,679.

So, we were slightly surprised that the Opera Theatre wasn't larger. I was also surprised that much of the indoors of the Opera House is concrete, too. I didn't expect the inside to have a somewhat impersonal 1970s feel. (Some staircases have red carpet, while others are bare concrete.)

As for the opera itself, it was wonderful, and we both really enjoyed it. Lakmé is by French composer Léo Delibes, and premiered in 1883. Here is some more background info from NPR Music's World of Opera.

Finally, here is Dame Joan Sutherland performing the famous "Bell Song" from Act Two.

Hello 90s, Goodbye Hearing

The other night we saw Helmet at the Manning Bar at Sydney Uni. The opening band was Pangaea, a 90s punk/metal band from Brisbane, whose members went on to other Aussie bands Wolfmother and Regurgitator. The drummer, Dave Atkins, was a manimal behind the kit. In some ways, I actually preferred Pangaea's set over Helmet.

Anyway, the Helmet lineup is now Page Hamilton, the only original member, and a bunch of other (younger) guys. He happened to mention he is 51, and I would not have guessed. Overall, they were alright, I think M liked the show better than I did, but it was still fun.

Luckily, we were up in the back, behind the board, and nowhere near the pit. Ahhh 90s, with your sweaty angry boys slamming into each other, how I do not miss you. Instead, I was behind a pleasant Asian guy, who was kinda short like me, and occasionally threw up ASL I Love You signs, instead of horns. ;)

Matt White on the matte white

Matthew is teaching himself guitar, and our lovely friend Mark recently loaned Matthew his matte white Joan Jett signature Gibson guitar.

Australia Day

January 26 was Australia Day, Australia's national holiday, which commemorates the First Fleet's arrival in Sydney in 1788. We went over to our friends the Swartzes' for a BBQ, then went to the Australia Day festival in The Rocks, where we saw the bands The Hungry Kids of Hungary and Cloud Control.

Here's a short video I took of some famous opera house and the Aussie band Cloud Control.

Birthday Concert and Another Dinner

For Matthew's birthday, I got him tickets to a Philip Glass concert, who was in town as part of the Sydney Festival. The concert was last night, and first we went out to dinner at Est. Restaurant, which is has an elegant dining room.

When we first sat down, they offered us glasses of champagne from a Dom Pérignon-branded trolley(!), but we resisted. As we had to get to the concert, we didn't have time to do the tasting menu, so we ordered à la carte, and had a few wines by the glass. It was an excellent meal -- nothing that was simply amazing, but all quite refined and good overall.

To start, we shared:
Sashimi of tuna and Queensland scallops, lime, dashi, hazelnut, radish and white sesame oil.
Grilled white scallops, pork cheek bacon, king mushroom, tarragon and sweet corn salsa.

Our main dishes were:
Roasted, boned squab pigeon with cherries, almond cream, hazelnut picada and pan juices.
With a glass of 2008 Descendientes de José Palacios Pétalos (Bierzo, Spain; Mencia).
Juniper crusted saddle of venison with black cherries, beetroot, cocoa soil and semolina potato gnocchi.
With a glass of 2007 Pierre Amadieu Gigondas 'Romane Machotte' (Rhône Valley; Grenache/Shiraz/Mourvèdre).

Finally for dessert, we shared:
Valrhona chocolate delice with black cherries, sesame and cocoa nib ice cream.

We finished just in time to walk over to the concert hall and get into our seats without being too rushed. It was pretty exciting seeing Philip Glass again! The concert was about 1.5 hours of his various pieces on solo piano, and it was great.

The last piece was one that he collaborated on with poet Allen Ginsberg, and Glass said he hasn't been able to perform it much since Ginsberg passed away. But luckily, a special guest who was also in town for the Sydney Festival, would help him out, and out came John Malkovich to read the poem while Glass played! It was a wonderful surprise, and a great ending to a brilliant evening.

Saturday Night

Last night, our Saturday night started off with a quick take-away dinner before we caught the train into the city to go to the Sydney Festival First Night free outdoor concert with Emmylou Harris. The concert was nice;  the music was not super rockin, but it was still fun.

It was hot and humid during the day, but the by the time we were sitting at the concert, the night was really pleasant. The fruit bats were out - it's still pretty novel for us to be sitting outdoors in a metropolitan city with bats flying overhead.

M's co-worker from California is in town, and after the concert, he invited us to join him back at the bar of his hotel for a drink. The 5-star hotel, just opposite the Opera House, is closing for renovations soon, and the clubby hotel bar is selling the last of its impressive spirits collection. Ralph had a glass of 1970 Macallan Scotch, M had a glass of 1970 Calvados, and I had a glass of 1969 Armagnac. All were terribly expensive, and impressively smooth.

It's funny where life can take you. We started out the evening eating a $10 meal on a bench, and ended the evening drinking amazing spirits older than we are!

Ziggy Show

Last night we went to Ziggy, a David Bowie tribute show with a live band and four different performers singing Bowie songs. It was a lot of fun! Their renditions of Under Pressure and Fame were especially good. I can't decide which was my favorite Bowie - they all put a different spin on it.

The State Theatre, which was very pretty inside, were serious about no photos allowed, so I don't have any pics from the show. However, I got dressed up for the event, so here's a pic of my outfit!

Photos from 15 October

I'm a little late posting pics from the show we went to at The Basement on Friday, 15 October - Mulatu Astatke with the Black Jesus Experience. I didn't get many pics, but it was a really fun show.

Considered the father of Ethio-jazz, check out Mulatu Astatke's music on the Ethiopiques compliations and the soundtrack of Jim Jarmusch's 2005 movie Broken Flowers.

The rest of the photos can be seen here.

Weekend Update

Last Friday we went out for drinks and dinner with Matthew’s supervisor, Jon, his partner Allison, and her friend Dave. Afterwards, we went to a karaoke place, Ding Dong Dang, which is similar to the ones in Japan, where you rent a private karaoke room and only have to embarrass yourself in front of your friends, not the whole bar! Originally we’d signed up for only 2 hours, but then Jon kept extending the room rental, so we ended up staying out doing karaoke until 3 am! It was a lot of fun. Some of the biggest hits for everyone to sing along to were a little surprising – who knew 4 Non Blondes and Foreigner were such crowd-pleasers? Of course, maybe that had to do with the red wine…

On Saturday, poor Matthew had to go work (he’s started his Wednesday to Saturday work schedule), but he said he enjoyed working on Saturday, as it’s quiet in the office, and he can get a lot of work done. Saturday night, we went with our friends the Swartzes to see a Japanese band called Zeni Geva. I don’t even know how to describe them, sort of noise metal band, but that isn’t even right. Even if metal isn’t my thing, I could appreciate what good musicians they are, and seeing them live was amazing. BTW, the drummer looked like he could be a science teacher - just a regular guy with a mustache, gold-wire rim glasses, a tshirt and Dad jeans. But then he started wailing on the drums and doing this lady-yodel, it was fascinating.

Yesterday (Sunday), we had a lazy day, did a little shopping and then went out to dinner at Mu Mu Grill in Crows Nest, a suburb north of Sydney. Getting there was a bit of a challenge (Sydney Bus System - curse you for being confusing!), but once we were there, it was a nice dinner. Their thing is all grass-fed beef, buying direct from the farmers, etc. We both enjoyed our steaks, and the nice red wine we’d brought, 2008 Henschke Henry’s Seven (yay, BYO).

Oh, by the way, most of the wine here is screw cap, even nice $40 bottles. I heard from a friend that something like 80% of wine in Australia is drunk within 24 hours of purchase. No idea if that's true, but apparently there isn't a lot of cellaring here.

Today (Monday), we had breakfast at café called Citrus, where I got French toast with berries and peaches and a scoop of ice cream on top – delicious! Tonight we’re going out to dinner with some new friends to a local place which has a nice back patio. The weather is warming up; it's really starting to feel like Spring here.

Weekend update

Matthew and I had a nice weekend. On Friday night, we went to Bloodwood, a wine bar/restaurant in our neighborhood. They were really busy, so we gave them our mobile number and then wandered down King Street, browsing the shop windows. We stopped for a drink at a cute café/bar called BuzzBar, where Matthew had a ruby Manhattan (a ruby uses port instead of sweet vermouth) and I had a glass of rosé, and then the restaurant called to say our table was ready!

Dinner was delicious. They serve small plates, so the waiter suggested about 3 dishes for 2 people. So we had chicken wings, the charcuterie plate, and garlic prawns. Everything was so good, especially the sauce on the prawns - I don’t know what all was in it, but it was quite good.

On Saturday, we went to the University of Sydney (aka Sydney Uni) to check out their gym. It’s close to our apartment, and the public can join, so we went to take a look. It was fine – not amazing, but certainly not bad - a pretty standard gym, plus the people at the front desk were really friendly, and the membership rates aren’t too bad.

Afterwards we walked to the Broadway Shopping Centre to pick up a few more things for the apartment, and got some lunch to go (take away), which we took to Victoria Park and had a nice picnic. We saw the Victoria Park Pool, which is run by the City of Sydney and looked very nice.

Saturday night, we went to our new friend Rob’s birthday dinner at Izote Mexican Restaurant. The Mexican food was actually pretty good. It’s expensive - it’s more "cuisine" here - so I don’t think we’ll find good, cheap Mexican food like we were used to, but oh well. The company at dinner was great; everyone was really friendly. And man, can they drink! Our table went through something like 8 bottles of wine.

Oh that’s another thing to get used to here – a lot of restaurants have BYO licenses, where you can bring your own wine to dinner. Some places it's free, others charge a small corkage fee, but it's usually less than $5 per person. The very fancy restaurants don't usually allow BYO, but a lot of places do, so that's nice. But, we're not in the habit yet of bringing wine whenever we go out, so we were the only people at dinner that didn't bring wine – oops!

After dinner, we went with our friends Jennifer and Mark to go see a rock show at the Annandale Hotel, apparently an institution in the local music scene. We saw an Aussie band called The Mess Hall, and tickets were $25 each! Anyway, the show was okay - a 2-piece band with guitar and drums - pretty rocky, some songs were pretty good, others just okay, but it was fun to see our first show in Australia. Also, thankfully bars here are smoke-free, as in Portland!

This morning (Sunday) we had breakfast at the Deus Café, which is a very interesting place. Deus Ex Machina is a place that takes old motorcycles and bicycles and fixes them up to resell them. They also sell clothing and have a café next door, which isn’t just coffee and pastries, it’s a full-on menu, and the food was really good. I had crepes with lemon custard and strawberries and a side of bacon, and M had poached eggs and toast with a side of salmon.

Another thing to get used to is that some restaurants increase their prices on the weekends by about 10%. Sometimes that’s only a few dollars more, which isn’t a huge deal, but it’s just odd to us, since that we don’t have that surcharge in the States. Also, bacon here is a little different. It seems it's just cured, not smoked. Also there are two different cuts, sometimes it's long strips like in the U.S., which has one name (rasher) and sometimes it's oval-shaped, which has another name (short cut bacon?).

This afternoon we went to the Art Gallery of New South Wales, which had a free showing of Michelangelo Antonioni's 1966 movie "Blow Up." Then we came back to Newtown (our neighborhood) and had dinner at a place called Moo Gourmet Burgers. Our burgers were really good, definitely the best we’ve had so far in Oz. Oh, and generally burgers here are served with lettuce, tomato and a slice of beetroot. Oddly, the beet just comes standard on burgers, no idea why.