You're strong

FIRST LOOK!!!! Oh man I hope they get this right. PLEASE get it right!

x x x

 - Brooke

R.I.P Aaliyah

I can't believe it's been 10 years since her death.

I couldn't let this day go without comment.

R.I.P. Aaliyah - you beautiful, talented soul

x x x x

Brooke

blergh

I had a feeling this week there was something not right in the universe. Last night I read on twitter that yesterday was the final day that Mercury was in retrograde. I feel like today I was experiencing the hangover from that too. It's been a tough  sucky week for sure.

I'm ready for a new week to begin but first I have one more day of work tomorrow before a rest on Sunday. At least I have babysitting to look forward to tomorrow night. That is sure to relax and reduce the feeling of blergh that seems to have enveloped me and taken over this week. 

It hasn't helped that football is in Western Australia and I have to watch it on the TV tonight rather than experience it live like I'm used to. I don't know how I feel about the home & away season finishing next week and finals beginning. I'm excited about finals football but I don't think I'm ready for it to be over come October. 

I'm sidetracking now and I think if I keep typing it's just going to turn into more of a mess of a post. I usually like to stay positive on this blog but today it has all been about the blergh.

This will pass - a bit of Jay Z always helps (must be played extremely LOUD)

Love love

 - Brooke

Feeling blergh too? Read this post by Gala Darling on 100 things to do when you're upset (the sad trombone list). I'm going to do this one:

"Sing. Loudly. Badly. Off-key..."

Amy, I

Simply because music this good needs to be shared.

Happy Wednesday!

x x x x 

 - Brooke

A little trip down memory lane

Today I re-organised my bedroom. 

My mum managed to get some bedside tables and a dresser for free from her work and since I had a day off it seemed a perfect chance to fill the drawers and make these new pieces of furniture feel more me.

As I was cleaning out the drawers of my old bedside table I stumbled upon a collection of mine that has been growing for years now - ticket stubs from gigs and concerts I've been to. I found tickets from as early as 2004, tickets from shows I'd forgotten about and tickets from shows that were so amazing I can still remember crazy details about them. I also found a bunch of old set-lists that I've been fortunate to collect from some of these shows too.

After the pain of organising my bedroom this was a nice little trip down memory lane. My instagram feed was taking a beating today because as soon as I found something that was fun I took a photo and posted it.

This is why I've been collecting these ticket stubs all these years - so that I have something tangible to remind myself years down the track how I lived through my 20's.

Smiles & love

 - Brooke

The right kind of weekend

It's always a fun night when spent with nieces and nephews. Especially when they are as cute as this.

How was you weekend?

 - Brooke

Scenes from Splendour in the Grass

Music festivals make me happy. I'm not going to pretend to be one of those people who go to experience the atmosphere or to go hang out with my friends for a weekend (though its a fun part of it). I'm not there to spend hundreds of dollars drinking alcohol in the bars or to sit around in one of the "experimental art" areas. 

I'm there for the music - to see and experience the bands and songs that I listen to day to day in my life. I will gladly forgo food and water to stand around for hours in the front of a crowd so that I can see and feel without distraction while some of my most favourite bands in the world perform in front of me. 

Splendour in the Grass gave me the ability to finally see Kanye West live, I got to go back to being 15 by seeing Jebediah, I got to dance to Architecture in Helsinki and The Vaccines and Kele, I had Jarvis Cocker blind me with a flashlight and camera, I got to see the Kaiser Chiefs again (LOVE) and I got to see some of Coldplays new songs performed live before so many other people in the world. 

It was an exhausting weekend but I would do it all again.

Smiles

 - Brooke

Hate to say I told you so

The Hives are one super band. 

They performed at Splendour in the Grass and while I've seen them maybe 3 or 4 times before this show I never tire of their onstage antics. They have a cockiness and swagger that would normally annoy me but they are so unapologetic it's addictive. 

Plus they have the songs and talent to back up the talk.

Enjoy this really old video from when they performed on the Dave Letterman show.

Love love

 - Brooke

P.S With all the craziness in the world I just want to send out my love and thoughts to anyone impacted by any of the riots in the UK. I know there's a lot of anger and confusion and I don't even want to pretend to understand any of it so I'm just sending love and thoughts to any friends in the UK. Stay safe

Every Teardrop is a Waterfall

Last weekend (or was it two weekends ago) I attended the Splendour in the Grass music festival in Woodford Queensland. Coldplay headlined the final night and it was a beautifully epic final performance of the weekend.

I don't think there is many words to describe exactly how perfect their set was. We were treated to a lot of old songs as well as a few new new songs from their forthcoming album. 

These photos aren't traditionally right when looking at concert photography but there was something magical about how these turned out. I used my point & shoot Canon and I've realised over the past few shows I've been to that I am in desperate need to upgrade again as it's far too slow for low light situations.  

I'll have some more photos from the festival in another post. I just loved these ones so much I felt they deserved their own post. 

Just for good measure and to get your week started right here's the video for their latest single "Every Teardrop is a Waterfall"

Happy smiles

 - Brooke

A new development

Just as I was beginning to think our Hawaii holiday was almost completely organised, a little spanner is thrown into the mix with the announcement of a tour by the much loved Jack's Mannequin. They are playing in San Francisco the night after my sister Crystals birthday and I think there is no better way to celebrate and enjoy our holiday quite like a quick 1 night stop in San Francisco. I mean it's only a 5 hour flight from Hawaii.

I tried to buy pre-sale tickets today but since I'm not American and can't get tickets posted out I can't buy them yet. I have to wait until Sunday (Monday afternoon for me) to buy tickets from Ticketmaster (which usually means extra fees *blergh*)

I will be booking flights and locking in accommodation on Monday at the Hotel Vertigo (which is a 7 minute walk to the venue) *potentially - I may find something else between now and Monday*. 

Either way I think this was a nice way to start my weekend. I looked up flights and have adjusted our Hawaii stuff so that the 1 night fits in nicely without costing too much extra. I'm so excited that we've added this to our trip - it wouldn't feel like an American holiday without seeing them (this will be the 4th time I'll have seen Andrew McMahon in the USA). 

Did I mention they're touring because they're releasing a new album on the 4th of October? Here's the first single - it's beautiful (which is to be expected).

You can pre-order the new album from the website www.jacksmannequin.com . Tour dates can also be found on their site - I suggest VERY strongly if they are visiting a town/city near you that you should go see them. 

Cool cool,

Brooke

P.S I write about Andrew/Jack's Mannequin SO much on this blog that I feel like I should make a label for post related to him/them. 

Nervous photo taking

On Tuesday night I headed into Melbourne to a nice little venue called Billboards to photograph Kele Okereke (aka the lead singer of Bloc Party) (!!!!!). I was feeling really great and excited about it until about 2 minutes before he walked onstage - I started to get REALLY nervous. I was about to photograph KELE FROM BLOC PARTY - Bloc Party, the band who's music has been a massive part of my life for so long.

I've photographed a whole bunch of bands I love before and never made myself nervous, not like this. There is something about being in the presence of Kele that I found really daunting. I've seen him live before quite a few times so I couldn't even use the "I've never seem him before and I'm so excited/nervous". 

When he walked onstage I had to stop my hands from shaking and just get myself into that "zone". He was a really easy person to photograph live - he's expressive, impressive, beautiful and mesmerising. 

*See what I mean about BEAUTIFUL*

I'll link to the rest of the photos when the gallery becomes live on thedwarf.com.au but until then I just needed to share these couple of photos from the night. I'm pretty proud of how the gallery turned out.

**** EDIT ***** The gallery is up on thedwarf.com.au CLICK HERE to check out the other photos

After the gig as I was going to pay for my car parking I took a massive tumble down a stair (only 1) and I now have a HUGE bruise on my leg (I'll get proper pics and share soon - it's gross), 2 bruised knees and a sore ankle. I haven't fallen that badly for SO long and when it happened I was so mad/embarrassed that I wanted to crawl into a hole. 

Tomorrow night I'm off to the Kaiser Chiefs sideshow. I'm extremely excited about this. I'll be back with my report on Splendour in the Grass (didn't I mention that I went to this amazing music festival last weekend?) and the couple of other shows I've been to this week. All in all it's been a busy, fun time.

Happy, tired smiles

 - Brooke