I had a most unusual realisation the other day.  I realised that I had grown up with British Musical Hall tradition tunes.  Now, being in my late thirties this may seem incongruous with a musical tradition that spanned the late Victorian and early Edwardian eras, a hey-day for absinthe.  But something triggered a long forgotten memory in my mind of spending a good part of the late seventies as a child watching ABC television on Sunday nights I believe, following a long-running BBC show called “The Good Old Days“.

For those post-Gen X, this was a somewhat gloriously hokey romp of a tv show (yea, camp even - Victorian Drag anyone ?) where the entire audience dressed up in period Victorian-Edwardian garb (today we might say old school Steampunk….) and sang along to old show tunes with the performers, often well known comedians and singers of the day, hamming it up on stage reliving the glory days of British vaudeville. Such was its popularity that it ran for 30 years.

That’s what people did before Torrent downloads of Joss Whedon shows and internet porn.

It must be said that with the meteoric Burlesque revival, the revival of Music Hall must surely not be far behind, or have a potential niche in these “new old times”.   And so it is with some delight that I stumbled across the Australian performing duo known as Bygone Error, who are making a mark in the Australian folk scene with their resurrected show tunes and bawdy British humour from these delightfully fruity times past.  Think of a musical ‘Are You Being Served?’ in a snazzy bowler & waistcoat and you’ve hit the vibe.

I think these chaps have potential to go wider than the folk scene - any promoters in the Fringe Festival or neo-burlesque milieu should go give them a listen now.  I can easily see them being an excellent support to the other revived lost vaudevillian arts now back in vogue - and to my mind the musical side has been the one component of these traditions largely overlooked with the exception of specialised cabaret chanteuses such as Meow Meow.  But there is so much more musically from this era, and I am glad for one that this dynamic duo are broadening the re-experience of entertainment history.

Musicians can come in two particular flavours.

There are recording artists who perform. And performers who also record. The ability to truly entertain can often be more the domain of the latter, and sometimes sadly lacking in the former. Thank god Amanda (Fucking MacKinnon) Palmer is the consummate performer.

But before I degenerate into an overt ramble on her performance last night at the Governer Hindmarsh in Adelaide, I want to pay particular praise - and raise awareness- to her “opening act”, a key member of her touring troupe, the ubiquitous Zoe Keating. One time member of cello-rock ensemble Rasputina, also ex- of psychadelic instrumentalists Tarentel, and accomplished performer in her own right, Ms Keating set the tone and musically dictated the prelude to the evening’s convivialities.

Zoe Keating and her amazing loop’n'thing’o’strings

Wielding a cello and a bank of sampling/looping pedals, she folds layer upon layer of neo-baroque sentimentality, electro-experimentalist sensibility and improvisational inspiration.  Within 10 minutes of her performance I left temporarily to go back to the merchandise desk to buy her album One Cello X 16: Natoma.  I don’t think I have done that before with any artist.

Pour one absinthe, press play on your multi-media interface of choice, and listen. Seriously.

Back to Ms Palmer, freshly resurrected and back out of hell, following her many little deaths at the hands of Neil Gaiman.

The demonically divine Ms Palmer and her cenobite minions

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With Friday the 13th fast approaching, those canny corsetiers of bohemian haute couture at Gallery Serpentine in Sydney will be holding a special Night Sale from 5pm to 9pm, with 13% of all stock, as well as a range of ‘Black Cat Specials’ providing 15 to 50% of seconds and samples.

Gallery Serpentine is located at Shop 2/112-116 Enmore Road, Enmore, NSW.

Crazier than a padded room full of inmates in Bedlam, I say.

Gallery Serpentine will also be the venue that night for the launch of The Cult of Scent - a specialist fragrance line by perfumer Jocelyn Fullerton.

Cult of Scent is a range of artisan perfumes walking between the worlds of antique and modern perfume. The creation of fragrance and preparation of the extracts is a mysterious alchemy, reflected in the dance of the essences as they weave into your skin and psyche.

Dear Absintheur - it is one thing to look splendid in your finest Gallery Serpentine custom frock coat or laced corsetry while drinking a glass of absinthe, but it is yet another thing to also carry about you the air and aroma of expensive decadence.

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Obsello Absenta 50°
Reviewed 15 Nov 2008
sans sucre

Note: This absinthe is sold internationally with two different labels, one which say ‘absinthe’ and the other which says ‘absenta’ (absinthe in Spanish). They are exactly the same product.

Aah, good old Spanish absenta… those were the days.

I remember a time, not that long ago, when Carfax and I would place an order to an online bottle shop in Spain, and sit in our respective living rooms for about two weeks clock-watching and praying that we would get a lazy customs person this time, or that they wouldn’t realise that the booze in their hand was illegal to import into Australia, or that they didn’t know what absinthe was. Just let it get through! Most of the time it did. Some of the time, however, it did not. It was the latter scenario which prompted us to investigate the prohibition on absinthe active in Australia at the time, and led to an interesting discovery… but that’s another story.

What I was getting at is that I have very fond memories of my first Spanish absinthe experiences, even though they were all oil mixes and of questionable connoisseurial value. Though I do still say that Serpis is one of my all-time favourites. It’s red, for f*cks sake.

Given the above, you can understand how excited I was when I found out that I was getting a bottle of Obsello, the first premium, distilled absinthe verte to be produced in Spain. If you are a crusty old fan of dodgy Spanish absinthe, and remember sitting by candlelight, listening to Bauhaus and waiting for the mailman to come – wait ’til you try this one.

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Ok, we have been a little quiet lately - what, with one of us in a study frenzy while the other is still catching up on life’s demands after a trip to the US.

But here, this week, in Enmore, old Sydney town, its new, its blue….

its the Blue Moon Cabaret!

(And apologies to members who received multiple emails from us on this - we had some slight technical difficulties)

There will be burlesque, magicians, music, and our fine friends at Absinthe Salon will be lubricating the evening with the finest of the green muse.

And all you can eat. All for only $45 a ticket. This Thursday, 7th June.

Buy your tickets on line now at Under The Blue Moon.

Twas my birthday last Saturday, and as my fellow administrator was off touring the St George distillery in the USA (which you will hear about in very short order), I gathered a few other equally louche friends for an afternoon of absinthe, boules and chocolate pirate cake at Obervatory Hill, Millers Point.

What else do you need?

Pics: Daniel Hatadi

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For those who are unaware - absinthe is “kind of a big deal” in America presently. Having recently become legal to import and sell la fee verte in the United States, people are falling over themselves to get their hands on a bottle, it would seem. The above photograph was taken at the St George Spirits distillery in December of last year, showing the queue of over 100+ people waiting to buy a bottle of their newly-released absinthe. Keen as mustard, I tell you.

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Watch this space.

- The Barons