The Shambelles

A few months back I was fortunate to be invited to take some photos of one of Melbourne great band's The Shambelles. All Grrrl, all rock, all party, all fun. Don't let the word 'rock' put you off.. they aren't head banging, MOR boring, or 'over the top' crap Rock.. no, these ladies rock in a fun, 'lets dance' kind of way!  I saw them at Ya Ya's some time back and my hips were a swaying and if I could dance, I would have shimmied across to the dance floor and joined the all the others there.

The band are doing a few self described 'acoustic stylie' gigs. Their Facebook page states "Two big sets,hip shakin & shambollicness guaranteed, just not at ear splitting volume...." So I guess it's the same fun, at a lower volume! That has to be good!

The gigs are:

Saturday 25th, August at 5:00pm at The Union Hotel -109 Union Street, Brunswick.
( I will be there, so say hello!)

Sunday, September 16 at 4:30pm at The Carringbush Hotel- 228 Langridge St, Collingwood.


If you can go along, please do, cause not only will it be fun, fun, fun (till ya daddy takes the jukebox away), but you'll also be supporting local musos who just happen to be the most rockin shambollic grrls ever!

Stolen Straight from their Myspace page here is a 'who is who' in the band!

Jody Galvin - Vox
Alics "Thrip" Gate-Eastley - Bass/Vox
Monica "Monstar" Weightman - Guitar/Vox
Jules - Drums


Here are a few photos from our photo shoot a couple of months back. Tomboy Bill came along and was a huge help assisting me.

 The Band: From left to right; Alics, Jody, Jules & Monica

 All photographs copyright Matthew Schiavello 2012.

Mr Chiodo the Tailor

I have the bestest Tailor in the world. I mean that on many levels. Not only is Mr Chiodo a master at his craft, he is also an amazing human being. I blogged once before about his thoughts on how we don't make time to really talk anymore and how this has impacted upon us as a society. Oh, and yes, I know that by my saying 'my tailor', it makes me sound fancy and rich, but truth be told, because I am of 'less than average height', all my pants need to be taken up, as do the sleeves on my shirts. I bet the word 'shorty' or 'short-arse' just sprang into your thoughts! Anyway, on my last visit, Mr Chiodo kindly welcomed me back with my camera, to take some photographs of him plying his trade. Not wanting to miss this great opportunity, I quickly returned and Mr Chiodo graciously let me interrupt him in the midst of his busy workload. I did want to take some pics of him wearing a king's crown with his tools laid out before him, but he humbly declined. As I took photographs, we chatted about anything and everything, from his leaving Italy in 1966, to the importance of his tailoring 'tools', the dying art of tailoring and population of the town my own father came from! I really love chatting with Mr Chiodo! I always leave lighter of spirit and much wiser.

If you are wanting a very good and honest tailoring job done, visit him at 521 High Street Northcote!

Focused:

 
Some of the tools of the trade:

Stitching by hand:

A friend drops in, so time for espresso and a chat!

Back to work:

A man who can iron! Mrs Chiodo must love this!

A little bit closer to completion:

 

All photographs copyright matthew schiavello 2012.
All Tailoring and Modelling: Michael Chiodo

Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed and Something Blue - August 2012

Something old:

This tune by the Walkman, always gives me a buzz... yeah, it's sentiments are angry.. but we all know a rat or two! See if you don't start playing air drums to this!!! I know that I have been caught out playing along on them to this whilst on the Dandenong train!

The Walkmen- 'The Rat'



This next one is so mellow...dare I say 'languid'? This is from the Radar Brothers way back in 1996. I loved this album and am not sure why I never brought any more of this groups output.

The Radar Bros.- 'Stay'

Something new:


Angus Stone- 'Bird on the buffalo'. There is something really laid back and lovely about this tune, It reminds me of a bit of Americana, a dash of California, a dab of something widescreen and cinematic.. all mixed unhurriedly. I am also reminded of the Radar Bros 1996 eponymous debut album, a track from it is above ('stay'). What ever way you look at this, I am really enjoying this tune from Angus.

Angus Stone- 'Bird on the buffalo'


And now for something a little different, but not too different. A new tune from the Pet Shop Boys. This clip is interesting and it is great to see PSB do something more mature sounding again. Their 'mature' albums 'Behaviour' and 'Release', I still enjoy and play often. This has some very honest lyrics like:

"After being for so many years
The life and soul of the party
It's weird
I'm invisible
Whatever I
Have said and done
Doesn't matter in this chatter
And hum
I'm invisible"

Pet Shop Boys- 'Invisible'



Something borrowed:


This is a great cover of a great tune! 'Brother', originally by Matt Corby. This is done by Thundamentals, live on Triple J's 'like a version' and these guys really make this song their own. There is a language warning on this one!

Thundamentals - 'Brother'


Something blue:

You may well ask, how does Boards of Canada's tune 'roygbiv' feature under 'something 'blue'.... well  ROYGBIV is of course an acronym for the sequence of hues in a rainbow! 'Blue' of course being one of them! I love this fan made clip as well. Full of 1980's UK adverts, it is very, very cool!


Boards of Canada-'roygbiv'

Odds and Sods- August 2012

A few  photographs taken these past few weeks.


Graffiti in Northcote (03/08/12)

Shadows on a window & wall: Fitzroy (03/08/12)

Lunch at Dolcetti (02/08/12)

Street art by 'Be Free': North Fitzroy (27/07/12)

A friend helping me try out some 50th Birthday card ideas (27/07/12)

Lake Daylesford (06/07/12)

All Photographs copyright Matthew Schiavello 2012