Sydney? Festival!

The Sydney Festival has started! Woo, in principle.

Personally, on the opening night, I was... Off having a (delightful) dinner in Eastwood. But then, when the dinner was finished, I scooted off to the city, to catch as much of the festivities as I could. I got there only a bit before 10, so naturally, as much as I could was not much. Still, I really love the whole Streets Full Of People Wandering Around Being Festive thing. Streets Full Of People Wandering Around Being Festive is one thing about which I really can't be cynical.

Naturally I was trying to get into the Domain to see Grace Jones, about whom I know precisely nothing, but it was full by the time I got there. Still, wandering around Macquarie Street and Martin Place I stumbled upon the Pyrophone Juggernaut. Which, as that picture may indicate, was pretty awesome. They played a short, 20 minuteish set, which I ended up seeing twice. I'm torn between saying "Because it was that good!" and admitting that I probably wouldn't've stayed for the second performance if I had realised that I actually came in right at the start of the first. Anyway, it was good enough that, after 15 minutes of it, I hung around to see some more.

Of course, when I say it was that good, it's worth keeping in mind that I really have a thing for fire. Which I find odd, because this seems to be a relatively new thing. I didn't play with fire much as a kid, I still have trouble lighting matches... I found Wheeler annoying. I suspect it goes back to playing Dungeons and Dragons in 2nd year, when I started playing with the candles that our DM had spread all over the table. But even then, it was actually more the wax that I enjoyed playing with. Oh, and burning my hair to make that delightfully horrible smell.

Okay, so maybe I don't really have such a fondness for fire. In which case Pyrophone Juggernaut must've been good on their actual, non-spectacle-based merits! Oh, as for what it actually was... Well, basically they played music, while flinging a whole lot of fire around. I gather the idea was that some of the music was made by blowing fire up huge pipes. Unfortunately, that sound was mostly drowned out by excellent percussion, with the steel drums and the pipey things and the whatnot. Still, the pyrophone looked snazzy, and occasionally produced some nice warm blasts of heat.

The music itself was very... Well, we all know how annoying this term is, but I'm just going to say it, the music was very world-musicy. Which, along with the spectacle, the presentation, the atmosphere, and my mood at the time, rubbed me exactly the right way. But here's the best thing about the whole event: While walking to the bus stop at the end of their last performance, I thought "I really want to hear more music like that now." So I went to my iPod and started playing some Dead Can Dance. I hadn't heard Dead Can Dance for ages. I have a heap of their music, but somehow it all got itself a 0 star rating, and so rarely came up in Party Shuffle. And you know what? It's damn good. Like, really good. Like, I really really like it. I mean, again I was in perfectly the right mood for it just then, but still.

Oh, and of course, listening to Dead Can Dance got me thinking "I should watch Baraka again." Baraka, in case you sadly haven't seen it, is an awesome Koyanisqatsi-like film. I can never quite decide which of those two films I prefer, but I can decide that I really love them both a lot. A few pieces of music in Baraka are by Dead Can Dance, hence the connection. In related news, turns out Ron Fricke is making a sequel to Baraka, about which I'm pretty dang excited.

So I was thinking about Baraka... And that got me thinking about Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri. You see, much of the footage for the Secret Project movies in Alpha Centauri comes from Baraka. So I played that a bit yesterday. Instead of watching Baraka. Anyway, it was awesome. I don't know if they're making a sequel to that.

Tomorrow, I see Bill Callahan at the Famous Spiegeltent. Will he also be awesome? Only time will tell! About 21 hours of time!

(Special Bonus Condensed Version Of Above Post!!!:

Pyrophone Juggernaut: Awesome.
Dead Can Dance: Awesome.
Baraka: Awesome.
Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri: Awesome.
Bill Callahan at the Famous Spiegeltent: Awesome?