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Hello! Annie here. This post is a little collection of things we’ve been up to, listening to and watching. If you’re into vintage style or music, there’s a good chance you’ll find something of interest, and we’re up for a chat if you have any comments!

TV: If you’re staying in THIS SUNDAY NIGHT July 26th (and you’re in Australia) you might like to catch some top telly on ABC TV at 8:30pm. Inspector George Gently is a police show set in North East England in the 1960s, with all the vintage style, Geordie charm and historical issues you’d expect from such a setting, as well as timeless drama and heart. Series 7 has just aired, and so it’s back to series 3 this week, but the jumping about doesn’t matter that much as each episode stands up on its own anyway, aye pet.


Music: I was chuffed a few years ago when I found this video of my favourite Beatles song being performed by my favourite contemporary musicians, Miles Kane and Alex Turner. As The Last Shadow Puppets, they’ve masterfully covered a lot of 1960s songs and composed plenty of originals influenced by sixties styles. Their 2008 original album, The Age of the Understatement, has a great sound. Speaking of covers, I recently discovered that The Beatles covered a lot of songs themselves, especially on their first few albums. It’s nice how songs go around and around. What’s your favourite Beatles song? Do you have a favourite cover of a Beatles song? Do you have a favourite cover version performed by The Beatles? A friend told me that his favourite Beatles song was a B-side, You Know My Name Look Up The Number, which was quite a revelation. We’d love to know your picks.


Photography: As you might’ve seen in our blogsite header, we have new photos. When our friends, Dallas and Simon, heard we were looking for a 1960s-style setting, they generously invited us to use their lounge room and kitchen nook. THANKS Dallas and Simon! The photos were taken by Kelli Morris Photography. We highly recommend Kelli if you need group, portrait or wedding photos. She gets a good bunch of shots in a short space of time, gently directs you, and makes the whole thing a light-hearted adventure …as you’ll see in our next post!

 

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This Sunday June 14th brings what I expect will be our most fabulous gig to date. We’re performing at The Bobby Dazzler Market‘s British Invasion Special! It’s a party, in a market, in a pub! We’re on at 12 noon, followed by mod bands The Sons Of Mod and The Pollydevlins.

There’ll be stalls packed with vintage clothing, vinyl records, accessories, furniture and art. There’ll be go-go dancers. There’ll be tarot readings. There’ll be food and drinks. There could well be scooters. There’ll be designers of vintage-style clothing AND there’s even a competition you can enter at the event page to have a dress or flares made especially for you!

It’s at The Provincial Hotel in Fitzroy, 12noon-6pm. Entry is free. Come.

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This Friday May 29th, we’ll be returning to The Thornbury Local!

We’ve recently augmented our British 60s repertoire by crossing the Atlantic and going back into the 50s, so we’ll be going a little bit Americano for this gig, with songs like Moon River, Blue Moon and Fever, as well as our own original love songs. It’s going to be rather romantic. Here’s our take on Chet Baker’s My Funny Valentine:

We’ll perform 2 sets, 9:30-11pm. The kitchen is open 6pm-midnight, the drinks are impressive, and entry is free.

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We’re performing at Bendigo Easter Festival on Saturday April 4th! It will be our second year performing at the festival, which is set along Bendigo Creek in lush Rosalind Park. You’ll find us in Lansell Gardens, which sit at the corner of Pall Mall and Williamson Street. Earlybirds can catch us 11:20am-midday, and afternooners 4:10-5pm.

In between, 2-4pm, you’ll be well-timed to see the Awakening Of The Dragon. This annual ceremony includes dragon dancing, lion dancing, drummers and martial arts demonstrations. It closes with the spectacle of the 100,000 firecrackers to ensure that Sun Loong (the longest imperial dragon in the world) is awoken. That takes place a 7-minute walk away in the Dai Gum San Precinct of Golden Dragon Museum. We hope to see you there! In the meantime, here’s a glimpse of the festival and of the Bendigo Chinese community’s over-100-year involvement:

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We’re performing at Kensington Market this Sunday March 15th, 1-3pm. This month, the market moves into the recently-restored Kensington Town Hall. Join us and peruse the breads, cakes, candles, cards, ceramics, clothes, coffee, cushions, jewellery, lamps, origami, paintings, preserves, skin care products, soaps, spices, terrariums and toys, all hand made and home made by local artisans. Entry is free.

We’ll be debuting our latest 1960s cover, Love Of The Loved, which was written by Lennon & McCartney and made famous by Cilla Black in 1963:

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We’ve been selected to perform at Yackandandah Folk Festival on the weekend of Friday March 20th – Sunday 22nd! Festival tickets can be purchased from the festival website, and range from $35 to $95. The early bird discounts finish on February 28th, so get in quick if you can! The festival’s performer line-up features over forty acts, presenting very varied interpretations of folk. There’ll be acapella, Americana, Appalachian mountain music, bluegrass, Celtic, comedy, country, 50s/60s/70s covers, gypsy, honky-tonk, jazz, poetic lyricism, and pop! We’re looking forward to seeing Alanna & Alicia’s sets, and to being entertained by so many other accomplished acts. Yackandandah is in North East Victoria, between Wangaratta and Wodonga. To quote Yackandandah township’s website: It all begins with the descent from the surrounding tree-covered hills of the Stanley State Forest, past the avenue of English trees, across the historic stone bridge with its sparking creek …Here you’ll find the township of Yackandandah. As for accomodation, if you’d like options other than camping, and you find that Yackandandah is booked out, try Beechworth. It’s only a 20-minute drive South West of the festival, and has its own attractions. Our performances will be held at:
– 11:30am Saturday 21st at the Public Hall
– 1:30pm Saturday 21st at Yack Station, and
– 10:30am Sunday 22nd at Grace’s Place

It would be fab to see you there!

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THIS FRIDAY February 20th we’re returning to The Thornbury Local! We’ll perform 2 sets, mixing our romantic vintage-pop originals with hits made famous by Lulu, Sandie Shaw, Petula Clark, The Beatles, Gerry & The Pacemakers, The Troggs, The Kinks and many more 60s British greats! We’re on 9:30-11pm. Entry is free, and the kitchen is open 6pm-midnight.

In the meantime, here’s our first video! It’s a live performance of our original song, If You.

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Here’s a gig for the early birds – We’re performing at Yarraville Festival on Sunday February 15th at 10am! We’ll be on the ‘Times Square’ stage, which is next to Yarraville train station. Entry is free. We’ll be playing a taut 30-minute set, so make sure you don’t sleep in and miss us (and we’ll do the same). The Yarraville Festival website has a programme, map and many more details.

You’ll then have the rest of the day to take in live music on three different stages OR wander around the seventy-five market stalls OR exchange your harvest bounty at the community gardens swap meet OR be entertained by the dog parade, flying trapeze, teddy bears’ picnic, face painting, magicians and clowns OR …sit in the cafes drinking and eating. Ahhh.

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We’re proud to be presenting a night of romance, fine musicianship and original song writing in the intimate back room of Some Velvet Morning in Clifton Hill this Wednesday January 14th! Alanna & Alicia perform at 8pm, followed by us at 9pm. Entry is free.

Alanna & Alicia are twin sisters with sweet and unusual sibling harmonies and wry, observant lyrics. Singer/song writer, Jen Hawley, will complement them with jazz and world music flavours and exquisite guitar playing. As a trio, they charm audiences with their chemistry, warmth and fun. Here’s Alanna & Alicia performing Double Trouble!