fitzroyalty

I was in Sydney yesterday and today doing a course at the Macquarie Graduate School of Management. Worthwhile but not really something to blog about. Breakfast, however, deserves close scrutiny.

Breakfast today was at Industrie: South of France on Pitt St in Sydney. Not the most exciting part of the city for food and drink. Finding good food and drink in Sydney is a trial, at least from a Melbourne point of view. Industrie make a fabulous macchiato and delicious sour dough toast with a choice of spreads. I chose pear and vanilla jam, which was joyous.

Less joyous was the service. It wasn’t busy, but they took their time clearing the table I sat at and bringing me water. After ordering and eating my breakfast they ignored me. They didn’t come to clear the table or ask if I wanted another coffee. I probably would have said yes. I enjoyed the coffee and the toast but probably wouldn’t go back. Pear and vanilla jam alone does not make me feel special.

I loved the restaurant called SOS when it opened in Melbourne, and enjoyed eating there a couple of times. It got some very good reviews. Then things went wrong, and it eventually closed.

Now the venue has reopened as the 100 Mile Cafe. The theme is that all ingredients are sourced locally (within 100 miles of the Melbourne CBD). The concept is explained here.

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On Friday night I went to see Joe Strummer: The Future is Unwritten at MIFF. It was well attended, and I saw some well known Melbourne faces in the audience, including film director Ana Kokkinos and art gallery owner Helen Gory.

Director Julian Temple (documentor of the Sex Pistols in The Great Rock ‘n’ Roll Swindle and The Filth and the Fury) introduced the film and answered questions afterwards. According to Temple, Joe Strummer “hated Tony Blair not just because he was a cunt but because he was a destroyer of freedom”. Punk lives.

The film is beautifully made, with extensive use of animated versions of Strummer’s drawings and lyric sheets, lots of The Clash archival images, and also lots of general archival film. This is integrated into the story in such as way that at times you don’t know whether it is a Strummer home movie or something else. It also uses a lot of classic film sequences to illustrate themes, such as sequences from the animated Animal Farm. It’s fast, clever and amusing.

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On the first night of MIFF I went to see Scott Walker: 30th Century Man, a biographical documentary of the enigmatic musician Scott Walker. Director Stephen Kijak introduced the film and answered questions afterwards.

The film is very well made and tells a sympathetic story that does not cover much of Walker’s darker side or the reasons for his reclusiveness or slow productivity. It is also very revealing about his music and his obsessiveness and perfectionism in creating sound. His work has moved away from song and into sound – he’s now more like a performance artist in the studio and you could compare some of his music to Phillip Glass or Laurie Anderson.

Interviewees include David Bowie, Radiohead, Jarvis Cocker, Brian Eno, Damon Albarn and Johnny Marr. Kijak joked about getting Bowie to wear an ugly polo shirt in his interview segments and about his importance in getting the film made.

As usual ACMI were disorganised and the film started over 30 minutes late. The earlier session must have started late due to those arriving fashionably late. Their ticketing office is usually under staffed and the service is so slow. It’s so annoying to wait for so long when you’ve got a pass and are organised and get there on time to secure a decent seat. This rarely happens at other MIFF venues but seems common at ACMI, such as at the La Mirada Spanish film festival sessions earlier this year.

I first heard Walker through Bowie, and heard Bowie perform the Walker song “Nite Flights” in Milan during his Outside tour in 1996 (he’d recorded it on his 1993 Black Tie White Noise album).