A Tale of Two (Australian) Cities: Melbourne

Melbourne. Australia's mecca for artists. When I meet an Aussie at a gig or show somewhere, I never bother with the "where in Australia are you from" question; 9 out of 10 times the answer will be Melbourne. Not because this is where all the musicians in Australia are miraculously born (though don't they all wish it!), but this is the city they want to be associated with. You may have been born in "Shitney" (that's Sydney to all non-residents) but if like your average Aussie jazz musician you spent a few years at VCA- Victoria College of the Arts, then you will lay claim to this gritty city as your homeland.

And for good reason. Melbourne is bad ass. A stark contrast from Sydney, the city is about an hour tram ride from Port Phillip, a bay located on the southern side of Victoria. With no beaches in immediate proximity to the heart of the city, it seems the bored relied upon their imaginations rather than surfing skills to occupy their time. This would account not only for the thriving performing arts scene, but also for the hip fashion industry and plethora of artsy cafes. There is also a passion for sports with a huge stadium home to several Australian football and rugby teams. I found some great running routes up and down the Yarra River, which cuts through the city, as well as along the shore of the aforementioned Port Phillip bay.

Home to the contemporary arts is the super modern Federation Square. Here we perused art exhibits of Aboriginal art as well as an interesting exhibition of bicycles. With several large-screen tvs and cafe seating my travel companions and I spent numerous breaks sitting, drinking cappuccinos, eating something creamy, and watching the Olympics. We also took in a performance of Philippe Gentry's Lands End at the Arts Centre. Loved the theater, which included an exhibit of the Melbourne Ballet Company's costumes. The performance, eh... not my cup of tea. It had a distinct french Cirque de Solei minus the major acrobatics feel that made me feel like I watching extremely watered down theatrical modern dance. Then again, I do tend to be a bit of snob when it comes to anything remotely close to staged dance.

I also surprisingly found myself being a bit snobbish as I listened in on a few jazz shows. I'm usually pretty open to most interpretations of jazz, but a few of the shows I heard took the use of the word "jazz" almost too liberally. I'm certainly not a jazz "big J" (as the BF likes to call it) purist. It doesn't all have to swing or employ a flat 3 or 7 for me to enjoy it, but I think out of the four or so gigs I attended, including one at Bennet's Lane, the major jazz club of Melbourne, the one that featured a singer doing standards was the most enjoyable- I could've hung at that bar listening all night. After talking with a few Melby jazzers, it seems the style of jazz they enjoy most is the more free, modal, almost atmospheric jazz. I must admit, while I would get into two or three songs out of 2 sets, the majority of what I heard was absent of an obvious set form, even melody, and the tempos and grooves were remarkably the same. The solos were often the equivalent of a Hemingway type sitting at a cafe smoking a cigarette uttering a stream of consciousness philosophy on life. Seemingly hip at first, boring and pretentious after the second paragraph, I mean chorus. While it is always fun to see where live performance will go when a set form is absent, or abandoned, and I did enjoy several of the tunes, I found myself just dying for a blues. Something that established a key center and purposely stayed in or out, creating harmony or dissonance, not vagueness.

One area that I did not embrace snobbery was in the shopping! Oh my GOSH I would have given anything to be let free with a sky high credit card limit that I didn't have to pay off! We spent our shopping days mostly out on the streets, with one day in an outlet mall. I am happy to report not a Gap, Express, or Banana Republic in site! In addition to some small jewelry, my favorite purchases were for bags by Australian designers that are unavailable right now in the states. Ah, the victory of owning something semi-exclusive! If you are into designer bags, I highly suggest checking out Nicola Cerini and Catherine Manuell for pure awesomeness in a bag.

Artistry abiding in Melbourne, even the weather could not escape! Moody as any artist I know, it would rain for 5 minutes, be sunny for the next 7, cloudy for 2, then back to sunny. These moods, just like it's inhabitants, created an almost daily ultimate beauty. Some may consider Melbourne to be home of Australia's arts, but after seeing a rainbow almost every day of my week long trip, I will always remember Melbourne as the city of rainbows.

Musical Journalist: Australia

I have this deep burning desire to become a musical journalist. I want to travel to every footpath, canal, hillside and highway of this earth, meet every personality that accompanies each terrain, and return to my NY apartment and write music about those experiences.

Australia was meant to be my guinea pig. I would travel there for 3 weeks, visiting Sydney and Melbourne, and be so inspired, returning to write tune upon tune expressing the joys (or perils) of my travels. Way easier said than done.

To begin with, Australia, or at least the cities of Sydney and Melbourne aren't remarkably different from US towns. Sydney felt like Honolulu and Melbourne felt like NY, though there were obvious differences that I'll delve into later this week.

As I look over the 10 pages of notes I took, mostly about the jazz gigs I went to, I feel a distinct yearning to return. Not so much because I want to relive my experiences there, but because I felt there was so much I missed. Being in Sydney was like having a tall glass of fresh air and sunshine. The grit in Melbourne touched base with my artistic side. I want to write music about it all, but am not sure what to write. Nothing about the places I visited was vastly different than other places I've experienced.

So instead I will focus on the feeling that I experienced while there. One tune I haven't started writing is already titled "Keep Left."

These signs appear frequently on the road to remind drivers to literally, keep to your left. This was of course novel to me in the beginning as I had kinda forgotten that Australians drive on the left side of the street. But this notion became a theme throughout my trip.

At the time I was in training for the NYC Marathon and had to squeeze in about4 runs every week. This was great as I got to see and explore many different areas that I most likely would not have otherwise. But one thing I kept forgetting was to run on the left side of the sidewalk. I habitually and with out thinking would repeatedly start off running on the right side of the path and inevitably bump into someone having to then say in my American accent, Oh excuse me, pardon me, my bad. It was a constant reminder that while I felt like I was in just another city, I most certainly was not. And as the trip progressed, I started to feel this reminder more and more aggressively.

Just about everyone I met was super nice. Clerks were friendly and friends of friends welcoming. The people I stayed with were extremely generous and kind. They all lived up to the laid back friendly idea we have of the typical Australian persona. But through subtle comments and friendly jabs I started to get the sense that there was something to proved. An almost "we're just as good" plea for attention. Which was absolutely ridiculous because never once had I ever thought anything about Australia wasn't. Nevertheless, there was a constant need to compare and conclude how, basically America drools and Australia rules. By the end of the trip I had the frustrating feeling that I hadn't been allowed to naturally form an opinion.

One example: coffee. Melbourne is known for it's incredible coffee. From what I understand, a while back there was a huge migration of Italians to the city who brought with them their fine espresso making skills. Now there is a plethora of cafes serving up lattes and cappuccinos worthy of rivaling the best Italian concoctions. As you can imagine, I was super excited to partake! But by the time I got to Brunswick Street in Melbourne, I was so sick of hearing about how much better this coffee was, especially in comparison to American coffee which is, gasp! and god forbid, filtered coffee, I had developed a negative opinion of the beverage before even trying it. It was hard to form a honest opinion as I rebelliously wanted to dislike every latte I drank.

And thus there was a constant reminder to Keep Left. In case you forgot, you're not in America, which sucks by the way, you are in Australia, home of the world's bestest cup of coffee, ever... EVER. And so a tune of aggressive melodies and clashes I shall write (while drinking a cup of filtered coffee, STARBUCKS brand just to rub it in!).

Aggressive reminders of greatness aside, I developed a fairly deep appreciation and empathy for the extremely kind and generous people that took care of me on this trip. And that will be the subject of my second Australian tune. As those experiences were a bit more personal, I'd rather let the music speak for itself.

[when can you hear these new tunes you ask? April 22! save the date! more later...]

I learned a lot from this trip. Not as much about Australia as I had hoped, but more about the nature and circumstance of traveling. Some things were very practical: always carry water and a snack as you never know when you won't be able to get food and drink. Don't rely on credit cards in a foreign country (I had nightmarish experience with my credit card, which I thought would be easier to use as opposed to converting Australian cash, resulting in my having to make an international collect call every three or so days to give verbal permission to keep the card active. I was there for 3 weeks, you do the math). Pack clothes for all weather occasions. It was winter there, but a mild one compared the current winter NYC is experiencing. I packed a bunch of blouses and light sweaters and took my pea coat. I was FREEZING the entire time! While it never dipped far below low 50s or so Fahrenheit, there were never moments of warming up as it is common to have only a space heater indoors, not central heat. The way to go was to layer long sleeve undershirts, something I did NOT bring.

I also learned that what you get out of traveling is entirely dependent on the circumstance in which you are traveling. An obvious point, but one that was hammered in hard. I regret not researching ahead. My companions frequently asked what I wanted to do to "experience Australia" and I had no ideas, figuring I could wing it. Turns out, it's hard to wing it when you can not drive in that country! I also wish I had spent the extra money to plan a few excursions that would have taken me out of the cities and suburbs.

Do I recommend the long 20 hour flight to visit a country that is not too different from our own? Absolutely. Everyone should experience other cultures no matter how minute the differences. Do I want to go back? Yes. I would love to visit the beaches of Queensland, return to Victoria and travel the Great Ocean Road, I'd even love to go to Western Australia and check out Perth.

While my August travels had their bumps, my desire to explore the world and it's people has only deepened. This was the first step, I hope, of many.

The Musical Journalist

The day started off quite cloudy this morning in Sydney.

But true to the cheerful Aussie way, the clouds have parted, showing off it's beautiful blue sky and letting in the warm sunlight that keeps this winter a mild 15C, or 59F.

This morning I was set loose at Manly Beach as Nad had various errands and appointments to attend to. I relished my freedom, roaming randomly from street to street, zig-zagging between the harbour side and the ocean side. I had no shame snapping pictures on my outdated camera of the beach and shops.

Really, this area of town is not much different from the states. It actually reminds me a lot of Honolulu, with a noticeable lack of Starbucks, Niketowns, and Cold Stone Creameries and not nearly as crowded. And clean, SO clean. And not just in the lack of trash on the streets (London wins my award for cleanest streets). But in the air. The air is so fresh! Not that Sydney is without it's share of pollution, but compared to the grime that saturates the air of NYC, this is a truly refreshing break!

Not only is the air cleaner and the views amazing, but the food so far has been incredible! I had the best fish & chips at The Bower overlooking Shelley Beach. Last night's chicken vindaloo was the perfect balance of spice! Or perhaps the grass is always greener on the other country.

But GOD! I LOVE traveling!

Once again I question my career choice. Why music? I should have been a travel guide writer, or host a show like Samantha Brown!

But perhaps there is a way to incorporate travel and composition. I would LOVE to be paid to travel to a city, embrace its culture, and write music in reflection. Hell, I'd love to be paid to write music! But seriously... could there be a future in this? Maybe with the right grant writing skills?

I think I will use this holiday to practice. I'll make it my goal to write, or at least sketch out, 2-3 tunes in reflection of my time here. We'll see what happens, and perhaps I will find a way to embrace my two loves of travel and composition.