Two landmark figures in the history of jazz visited Melbourne recently as guests of the Wheeler Centre and the Melbourne International Jazz Festival. Jean-Hervé Peron and Tony Conrad both spoke at community radio station 3RRR’s Performance Space. The events received rave reviews from observers, particularly the interview with krautrock pioneer and professional eccentric Jean-Hervé Peron, so even though we weren’t able to film the…

Singer/songwriter/ad man, Ben Birchall

Okay, I’ll admit it. I dance with the devil. He’s good looking, he pays for the drinks and he’s got the best record collection.

I’m a musician and I work in advertising.

But I’m on a dancefloor that’s fast filling as a new generation of musicians struggle to cope with a changing media landscape.

Advertising has always used music to…

Promotional image from The Cockatoos

Victorian Opera is staging an uniquely Australian opera, The Cockatoos, based on a Patrick White short story.

Sung in English, the opera looks at a relationship in crisis as Olive and her husband Mick haven’t spoken for years communicating only by notes, until a stray cockatoo breaks their standoff. Librettist Sarah Carradine based her work on one of…