TWiSK #357

Unanimous vote for Live Music Precinct
Parklets: Go or stay debate
Trash Pop Butterflies @ Theatre Works
The Whitlams country style @ Memo
Win Circus Royale tix
Podcast preview of TWiSK in arts, music and community
Listen Now (17 mins)

Distant Shores @ Carlisle Street Art Space
Until Friday 12 May, Monday to Friday, 8.30 am – 5 pm. 
Distant Shores is an exhibition combining documentary photography, family photographs and written testimony to tell the story of the migrant experience.
Co-produced by Melbourne-based photographic artist Morganna Magee and curator Anna Monea.
Launch event Thursday 23 March, 6 pm – 8 pm
Info 
99A Carlisle St
Wheelchair accessible, accessible toilet
Bum Glue Club @ St Kilda writers group
Tuesday 21 March, 6.45-10pm
“We just glue our bums to the seat, and write.”
All welcome. You don’t have to be a professional writer – you just need to get stuff done.
No wifi, no phones, no talking, no distractions. “
Bookings (by $5-20 donation) 
Top floor, 106 Barkly Street, St Kilda
Trash Pop Butterflies, Dance Dance Paradise @ Theatre Works
Wednesday 22 March – Saturday 1 April, 7.30 pm
Part theatre, contemporary dance, and Riot Grrrl fanzine come to life, this riotous, high-energy performance is a celebration of eco-feminist rebellion. $35 / $20
Tix

John Smith (UK) + Nigel Wearne @ George Lane
Wednesday 22 March, 7:00 PM 11:00 PM
With his honey-on-gravel voice and mesmerising fingerstyle guitar, John Smith has built a reputation as one of the UK’s finest guitarists and songwriters.
Tix

FOJAM presents – Carole King: Hits & Rarities@ Memo
Wednesday 22 March & Thursday 23 March, 7 pm
A classy ensemble featuring Harry James Angus (former frontman and founder of The Cat Empire), Emily Lubitz (Tinpan Orange), Jem Cassar-Daley, Esther Edquist (Sweet Whirl), Freeds and emerging star Jemma Cher. $70/$35
Tix

Melbourne International Comedy Festival The Gala @ Palais
Wednesday 22 March
Sold out months ago!

Jungle Shimmy @ Library
Thursday 23 March, 11 am – 11.30 am
Suitable for ages 3 – 6 years.
Dance your way around the world with this incredible music, dance, and puppet adventure! Free
Bookings required
St Kilda Bike Kitchen Fix-A-Flat Class @ St Kilda Library
Thursday 23 March, 6.30 pm – 7.30 pm
St Kilda Bike Kitchen presents their Fix-A-Flat Class.
Learn how to patch a tube. Free
Info and bookings

Shaun Kirk @ George Lane
Thursday 23 March 2, 7 pm – 11 pm
“Award winning blues/soul troubadour Shaun Kirk is a born entertainer.”
Tix
Elwood Toy Library pop up @ St Kilda Library
Friday 24 March, 11.30 am
Learn more about local toy libraries at theses fortnightly pop up session after Baby Rhyme (10 am) and Tiny Tots (11 am).
More dates and info
Hijinks and low-lows @ Sisters in Crime
Friday 24 March, 6.30 pm (dinner) 8.00 pm (show)
Crime doesn’t always have to be bloody and gory, as new books by Elizabeth Coleman, Kerryn Mayne, and Ilsa Evans prove.
Crime can make us laugh as well as gasp.
Also hear Anne M. Carson read from her new book, The Detective’s Chair: Prose Poems about Fictional Detectives (Liquid Amber).
Bookings 
The Rising Sun Hotel, 2 Raglan Street, South Melbourne.
No wheelchair access

Delsinki @ George Lane
Friday 24 March, 7 pm – 11 pm
Melbourne singer/songwriter Delsinki now with his solo Album ‘City / Country’.
Tix

The Whitlams Black Stump Band @ Memo
Saturday 25 March, 7 pm
Tim Freedman’s alt-country project The Whitlams Black Stump Band reconstructing the best of The Whitlams’s repertoire with a smattering of new songs and classic Americana from Kris Kirtstofferson to Neil Young.
With guests Felicity Urquhart & Josh Cunningham. $65/$55
Tix
Bag O’ Nails @ St Kilda Sports Club
Saturday 25 March, 8 pm
Free

Michael Mosley @ Palais
Saturday 25 March, 7.30 pm
Dr. Michael Mosley takes you on a journey accross that most miraculous, complex, and sometimes beautiful organism, that is your body. $76
Tix
2XU Triathlon Series Race 6 @ St Kilda
Sunday 26 March, 6.30 am – 12.30 pm
Catani Gardens and beach, St Kilda, Bay Trail, beach pathways and on road
Info
Laneway Market @ Space2b
Sunday 26 March, 10 am – 3 pm
Celebrate cultural diversity week with another fantastic market in the colourful laneway at Space2b.
There will be a range of multicultural makers, designers and artists and perhaps even you.
144 Chapel St
Let Us Entertain You Tour @ St Kilda Cemetery
Sunday 26 March, 2 pm
Hear about the raconteur Melancthon Burton Spurr, who started as a lawyer then became a noted entertainer, writer and performer of recitations.
Other entertainers buried in St Kilda include soprano Gertrude Johnson, painter and singer Elizabeth Testar, French soprano Madame Fanny Simonsen (who died at home in Carlisle Street in 1896), Victorine Pett and theatre manager John Washington Smith.
Tour researched and conducted by Claire Barton and Geoffrey Paterson. $15 includes afternoon tea
Bookings required. Email info@foskc.org or ring 0451 831 102
Meet at Dandenong Road Gates at 1.45 pm

The Good, The Bad & The Lonely – Triple Album Launch @ Memo
Sunday 26 March, 2 pm
This triple album launch will be a celebration of Country, Roots and Americana music.
With Matt Joe Gow, Duncan Phillips, Stefanie Duzel & others
$40 / $30
Tix
Josephine Vains (cello) & John O’Donnell (piano) @ All Saints’ Church
Sunday 26 March, 3 pm
Two talented musicians return for a program of cello sonatas:
Ludwig van Beethoven, Sonata for Pianoforte & Violoncello No. 1 in F major, Opus 5, No. 1
Johannes Brahms, Sonata for Pianoforte & Violoncello No. 1 in E minor, Opus 38
Tickets at the door $25/$20 students free
Trybooking

Don’t miss

Not Finished With You Yet @ Alex Theatre on Fitzroy Street
Until Sunday 2 April
“It’s saucy, funny, and deeply entertaining from start to finish. It’s not afraid to be outrageous or risqué …
Well scripted, and wonderfully performed, it’s the musical to see!”
Weekend Notes Review
Part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival
A new musical with a powerhouse cast headed by real-life partners Christie Whelan Browne and Rohan Browne.
Tickets from $66 (previews) $71
Tix and info 
1/135 Fitzroy St
Wheelchair access, accessible toilet
Wolf Play @ Red Stitch
Until Sunday 2 April
South Korean playwright, Hansol Jung’s Wolf Play looks at the broken adoption of a little boy who is plucked from South Korea and moved to one American home, then shunted to another. In this internet-era custody battle, Jung draws upon the ancient, underappreciated performing art of puppetry to playfully explore a lone wolf desperately seeking his ‘pack’. $69 – $20
Tix 
Rear 2 Chapel Street, St Kilda East
Wheelchair access, limited accessible seating
The Women’s Show #18 @ Vivienne Anderson Gallery
Until Saturday 22 April
vivienandersongallery.com
284–290 St Kilda Road
Tuesday to Friday 1 1am — 5 pm, Saturday 12 pm — 4 pm

Next week, next month

Circus Royale @ St Kilda Triangle
Friday 31 March – Sunday 30 April, various times including
This family friendly, ultra-high energy show will appeal to audiences of all ages.
With Cassie Millard on the Swinging Trapeze, star performer on Australia’s Got Talent Olivia Barker with her contortion skills, Olivia Chircop up on the aerial net, and Columbian daredevil Lion Brothers on the high-wire, wheel of steel and inside the motorcycle globe of death. $55/$35
Bookings
Join the circus with TWiSK
TWiSK has two double passes for opening night Friday 31 March 7.30 pm.
Enter the draw by e-mailing with the subject Circus Royale
Entries close Wednesday 23 March, winners contacted Thursday 24 March

Vale Renée Geyer: Memorial / Musical Celebration @ National Theatre
Tuesday 4 April, 6.30 pm
TV & radio presenter, Richard Wilkins will MC the second half of the evening with a musical celebration from Paul Kelly, Russell Morris, Kevin Borich, Deborah Conway, Ross Wilson, Rebecca Bernard, Renée’s house band, plus other special guests performing in her honour. $69
Tix 
20 Carlisle St, St Kilda
Wheelchair access, accessible toilet
Elvis Costello & The Imposters @ Palais
Thursday 13 April, 8 pm
People are still talking about the 1978 tour. No doubt it will be a little more subdued but worthy of some time travelling.
www.palaistheatre.com.au
Abbie Chatfield – The Trauma Dump Tour @ Palais
Friday 28 April, 8 pm
Apparently, Abbie is never shy of over-sharing. $79
www.palaistheatre.com.au

Pride awarded again @ Premier’s Design Awards
The Pride Centre designers, Brearley Architects + Urbanists (BAU) / Grant Amon Architects (GAA) / WSP / Peter Felicetti, have received the Award of the Year 2022 in the Victorian Premier’s Design Awards.
Full story
Another ‘local’ finalist was Port Melbourne Secondary College.
Read more 
Monthly walks and talks for carers @ Pathways for Carers
28 March, 9.45 am for 10 am
The Pathways for Carers is a council program that invites local carers to attend free monthly walking events. Free
info
simone.jamieson@portphillip.vic.gov.au
Hang Vo set to be President @ ACOSS
Sacred Heart CEO Hang Vo is set to become honorary president of the national advocacy group Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS).
Recently appointed CEO of Sacred Heart Mission and former CEO of Whitelion Youth, Hang has previously served as Vice-President of ACOSS and holds Director positions with the Victorian Pride Centre and Respect Victoria
Hang, arrived in Australia as part of the Vietnamese refugee ‘boat people’, is the first queer person of colour to be President of ACOSS.
Read more
Hope in the ‘hood wins award @ Housing First, Launch Housing and Women’s Hospital
Housing First’s Homes of Hope in Elwood is in the running for a national award.
Late last year, the development received the UDIA Victoria Affordable Development Award for it’s conversion of a dilapidated rooming house into three up to date social housing developments.
The $9.5m development provides a world-first facility with 36 specifically designed transitional care studios for homeless mothers and their new-borns, in conjunction with the Royal Women’s Hospital. Additionally, it has redeveloped a historic mansion that was used as a rooming house into a beautiful facility with up-to-date features for 25 women with disabilities.
A complex project in a very sensitive area, Homes for Hope was recognised by the judges as providing a highly specific response to a group of homeless new mothers and infants, possibly the group most in need of care in our society.
Read more
Chagall is next flagship exhibition @ Jew Mu
The Jewish Museum has announced that their next flagship exhibition will celebrate remarkable story of international master, Marc Chagall.
The exhibits opens in June.
CHAGALL offers a symbolic nod to the Jewish Museum’s first largescale exhibition in 1995 Chagall and the Bible.
Info
Taste local diversity
Council has created a diversity dining map to encourage locals to sample the flavours of our multicultural communities and share the important role that food plays in preserving traditions.
Check out their map
Enter to win (council promo)
Snap and share a photo of your favourite food spot to Instagram using #SouthsideFlavours and #CulturalDiversityWeekfrom 11 March to 9 April 2023 and you’ll be in with a chance to win a meal.

Unanimous support for Live Music Precinct
Next step is community consultation

Council has moved a step closer to St Kilda having Victoria’s first Live Music Precinct (LMP) and will start community consultation this month following a unanimous vote by councillors.
Council hopes the St Kilda LMP with streamline the way venues can get approval and residents can resolve concerns.
It doesn’t make substantial changes to live music regulation, compliance or planning controls, but will reduce the number agencies involved and give all parties a one-stop ‘concierge’ in Council.
The precinct includes Fitzroy Street, parts of Acland and Barkly Streets, plus foreshore public spaces.
Assuming a positive consultation, the changes require State government approval and is unlikely to come effect until at least 2025.
Palace Foreshore activation divides local businesses
Council approved a controversial proposal from Publica Pty Ltd (co-produced with Live Nation Australasia who manage the Palais) to use the triangle car park as a live music venue for two periods in 23/24.
A similar but smaller program in November / December 2022 (including King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard pictured above) closed the triangle car park for 44 days.
The 23/24 proposal will occupy the carpark for over 80 days and potentially host 22 shows, with extensive carpark closures in October 23 and March 24.
Loss of parking a disaster
Council heard passionate submissions from prominent foreshore traders opposing the plan.
Stokehouse general manager Hugh van Handell told Council that the previous Palace Foreshore activation was a ‘disaster’ for foreshore traders in 2022. He said the loss of carparking was substantial with 44 days of lost parking for just five live events.
In a strident submission, Mr van Handell challenged the credibility of the promoter and questioned the Council’s ability to hold the promoter accountable.
Mary Stuart, Luna Park CEO also told council that her operations were significantly disadvantaged by loss of bus parking during the activation, especially for school end of year events.
She feared the new program would have negative impact on their successful Halloween program and Easter school holidays.
But Acland and Fitzroy traders happy
Traders groups from both Acland and Fitzroy Street also fronted Council about the plan, but to voice their support. They reported increased trading and a positive atmosphere supported by the events.
Promoters did not attend
There were a number of ‘raised eyebrows’ when it was revealed that the promoter would not attend the Council meeting because they were in New Zealand.

Parklets: Should they go or should they stay?

Council rejected calls to substantially scale back parklets in small shopping strips, including Armstrong Street, Middle Park.
The debate amongst councillors was heartfelt and represented a wide diversity of opinion.
Cr Sirakoff told council she had surveyed local business and found much support for reducing the parklets.
Meanwhile, another Lake Ward councillor and 10 year veteran of Council, Cr Bond gave passionate testimonial that the parklets were probably his proudest achievement on Council.
He reported on his own experiences of a vibrant Blessingston Street parklet.
(Hear what he said at our podcast).TWiSK analysis
Veteran observers of councils will not be surprised that parking can ignite passions.
Some people look at the St Kilda Triangle and see entertainment potential, others see vital parking.
The same goes for parklets – that’s parking spaces converted to other uses – hospitality people see them as a boon, some retailers see a block to customers.
Born out of necessity in COVID crisis times, parklets have given hospitality business much more than a carpark ever could. But shop keepers are not convinced, they want the park-and-go convenience for customers.
Finding the necessary compromise between these two very valid needs and wants is never easy.Greg Day
Happy to chat anytime 0418 345 829
Content suggestions and community questions are always welcome.
gday@archives.gdaystkilda.com.au
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