Having recently discovered The Puppini Sisters, I cannot keep my mouth shut any longer: they are officially the coolest thing since ice.

The Sisters are a three-piece vocal group from the UK who are at the forefront of the Vintage Revival currently sweeping the country (and fast catching on here). Marcella, Kate and Steph give a 20s-30s-40s treatment to many well-known tracks, beautiful renditions of standards such asMr. Sandman and Bei Mir Bist Du Schon to simply incredible re-imaginings of songs like Crazy In Love, Wuthering Heights, Heart of Glass and, my personal favourite, Walk Like An Egyptian. Their most recent album, The Rise and Fall of Ruby Woo (a reference to a MAC Cosmetics lipstick favoured by the gals… and Robert Smith of The Cure, if you can believe their Wiki entry) also includes several original compositions which are equally stunning and showcase their close-harmony style to great effect.

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 Max Dupain, Doll’s Head & Goat Skull. Silver gelatin photograph, c.1935

The National Gallery of Australia is currently hosting an incredible exhibition of Australian Surrealist works from the Agapitos/Wilson collection, offering the chance to view some of the country’s most outstanding yet rarely exhibited pieces of 20th century art from the likes of Dupain, Gleeson, Nolan and Klippel. 

As exhibition curator Elena Taylor tells us via the NGA website “The story of Surrealism in Australia has until recently remained largely unknown. It was only in 1993 with the National Gallery of Australia’s exhibition Surrealism: revolution by night that the extent of Surrealist practice in this country was revealed. That seminal exhibition led the Sydney collectors James Agapitos, OAM, and Ray Wilson, OAM, to focus their energies towards collecting Australian Surrealist art. Assembled with intellect and passion, their collection became the largest and most important repository of Australian Surrealist art in private hands.”

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On the heels of much media coverage with regard to alcohol abuse and binge drinking, Perth Now - part of the News Corporation stable, has reported that some Western Australian bars are undergoing a self-regulatory move to prohibit binge drinking of straight spirits.

HOTELS are banning shots of liquor in a bid to ease alcohol-fuelled violence.

Straight nips of spirits like vodka, tequila or absinthe have been removed from sale in various Perth venues because they have been irresponsibly misused.

Health Minister Jim McGinty supports the measure.

He said the Government would consider supporting submissions to the Director of Liquor Licensing to force venues with a history of violence to stop serving shots of liquor.

Mr McGinty said the Government would also consider supporting possible legislation.

Now, the absinthe snob in me says that any move to shift the consumption of absinthe away from flaming shots to more genteel methods of consumption where a decent absinthe might be appreciated is a good move in the right direction.

However, the libertarian in me objects to the manner of its execution, which is bordering on a neo-prohibitionist attitude by a state government.

“Franz, du dummkopf- ve told you not to burn ze absinth!”

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“A young zombie named Otto appears on a remote highway. He has no idea where he came from or where he is going. After hitching a ride to Berlin and nesting in an abandoned amusement park, he begins to explore the city. Soon he is discovered by underground filmmaker Medea Yarn, who begins to make a documentary about him with the support of her girlfriend, Hella Bent, and her brother Adolf, who operates the camera. Meanwhile, Medea is trying to finish “Up with Dead People,” the epic political-porno-zombie movie that she has been working on for years. She convinces its star, Fritz Fritze, to allow the vulnerable Otto to stay in his guest bedroom. When Otto discovers that there is a wallet in his back pocket that contains information about his past, before he was dead, he begins to remember a few details, including memories of his ex-boyfriend, Rudolf. He arranges to meet him at the schoolyard where they met, with devastating results.”

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It’s Adelaide Fringe Festival time again, and there is a bevvy of burlesque, cabaret, theatre and performance guaranteed to keep you out every night of the week over the next month.

Absinthe.com.au hopes to bring you some reviews of particular performances and performers that we get along to see, and tell you a little bit more about particular artists that we think are helping drive the culture that makes worthy artistic pontificating over a glass of absinthe or two all the more enjoyable.

Some highly mentionable performers we think you should try to get along to see if you are in the ol’ City of (Empty) Churches.

What could be nicer than A Dinner Date With Lorelei & Sarina? Sarina Del Fuego and Lorelei Lee will be putting on a sexy and intimate cabaret performance at Sarah’s Cafe, 12 Leigh Street, Adelaide over three nights. What more can you say about the dynamic 1920’s duo who have entertained at both the famed Edinburgh Festival and the Sony Play Station launch party? I’m looking forward to hopefully catching up with the girls while they are in town and bringing a bit more of microscope to the blossoming world of Australian burlesque for our readers.

Another event to highlight - which has already sold out - is A Burlesque Cocktail by Adelaide’s own A Wink and A Smile Burlesque at the La Boheme Bar. A combo of striptease, cabaret and vaudeville, if you can beg, buy or borrow a ticket you are one of the lucky few. Lets see if divine intervention drops one in my lap….

An anticipated cabaret spectacle is The Very Best of Empress Stah, described as Erotic Circus meets Live Art meets Neo-burlesque, complete with chandelier swinging, blood-drinking, drag and mime. Now there’s one to take your mother to. Performances will be in the Garden of Unearthly Delights.

If the choice is too damn dazzling, why not check out one of the “review” nights. You have the choice of:

The Butterfly Club, which presents a pick of the shows highlighting the who’s who of Australian and overseas cabaret performers. Performances to be held at the North Adelaide Community Centre.

Your other variety pack pick is the Fringe Club Cabaret which will present a tantalising mix of vaudeville, burlesque, beauty and quirk. With a dizzying array of dates to choose from it there is little chance of missing out. Performances will be held at the Higher Ground Inc (Theatre), 5-19 Light Square, Adelaide.

Last, but not least, I must mention the sexy & sultry songstress that is Meow Meow, who will be performing her famous Beyond Glamour: The Absinthe Tour. To be staged in the Bosco Theatre in the Garden of Unearthly Delights, her reportoire could take us from 1930’s Shanghai to Weimar Germany and back via Belle Epoque France. Love, death & sex are branded like a painful blister in each individual note of the melodies in her sirenic call. Be warned - the barriers between performer and audience are blurred. Perhaps you are her long lost love? Maybe you are the cad who spurned her devotions? Get in the mood and fortify yourself with a good French Verte beforehand I say!

My friends, the world of the Adelaide Fringe Festival 2008 is indeed your tantalising aphrodisiacal oyster - shuck it and see.

One of your admins here at absinthe.com.au has recently had the pleasure of tasting the very first batch of hand-made chocolate absinthe truffles from a certain purveyor of fine absinthes. Without giving too much away let’s just say that there are several varieties of truffle using two types of absinthe and… they are very good. Very, very good. In fact, I want more of them immediately.

We will keep you posted.

Mmm… chocolate.

Lemercier ‘Abisinthe’ 45%

Lemercier Freres, Fougerolles, France

Reviewed: 10 February 2008

With/without sugar? 1 cube

Any absintheur familiar with other online absinthe review sites will be aware that, overall, the Lemercier 45% has not received the best of appraisals. Mind you, this is not to say that it has had bad reviews as such. Rather, it seems other reviewers have focussed on perceived short-comings of the 45%, most notably it’s colour and middling flavour profile. While your humble taster at absinthe.com.au cannot discount these observations, it remains that this absinthe is well made and quite obviously the product of a knowledgable hand. This is not, by any means, a bad absinthe. It’s just, well… a little bit yellow.

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We like plugging Australian artists here at absinthe.com.au, even ones that have found a degree of success already.

One such individual of note is Ben Templesmith. Never heard of him?

Well, he is probably most recently known as the illustrative genius behind the vampiric graphic novel, 30 Days of Night, that has recently been transformed into a major motion picture. Not bad for a Curtin University design grad who is just ticking into his early thirties, eh?

As the one of the biggest artistic exports from down under to make his mark on the US comic and graphic novel scene, his unique sense of the gothic and individual style has seen him work on the illustrated installments for Star Wars, Army of Darkness, Silent Hill and Buffy: The Vampire Slayer.

But maybe the one I like best, as an absintheur, is his wonderfully named Wormwood - Gentleman Corpse.

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