I’m always here for a disposable rush from a bit of shiny trash. But if there’s a message to the first part of Taylor Mac’s sock-knocking extravaganza A 24-Decade History of Popular Music – an epic sliver of an epic slab – it’s that trash can be treasure if you’re looking at it right. Mac’s piece has previously been performed over a continuous 24 hours. Each hour is dedicated to a decade of … [Read more...]
Odd ducks and different buds
‘You must have been quite an odd duck as a boy,’ I said to Barry Humphries, as the entertainer described his unusual devotion to Berlin cabaret artists, fostered in stuffy suburban Melbourne. ‘Yes, I was,’ he replied. He gave me a look. ‘I expect you were too.’ Guilty as charged: part of my duckery was also an interest in the sauce and swoon of Weimar performance – from Cabaret to Brecht/Weill … [Read more...]