Locals worth a visit

Happy to say I've finally managed to catch up on a couple of newish local Ballarat venues after months of well meaning intentions.

Firstly the Red Brick Gallery (on the last day of Jessica Bellman's show). Nice gallery & good art, congrats to owners Steph Wallace & Marcia King, hope it goes well.

Secondly the Babushka Bar, where local artist & musician Garth Horsfield has taken over & enhanced this intimate watering hole (formerly the Saloon Bar), to provide a venue for art, alternative music and performance. Congratulations to Garth, here's hoping the venue has a bright future.

Quietly into the Night

A bit of local music history will be made at the Karova Lounge later this month. After a career spanning 10 years Ballarat band Epicure are playing their last ever gig, concluding their "Quietly into the Night" tour on May 29. Demand for tickets has been so huge a second show has been added.

For more on the band see epicuretheband.com, their Myspace page and entry on Wikipedia. For gig tickets and details see the Karova Lounge website.

The Party leads us on ...

One of the delights of op shopping are the unusual things you sometimes turn up, like this 1970s vinyl album by the Military Band of the Chinese People's Liberation Army "The Party Leads us on to Victory", found at the Sebas Salvos in the early 2000s.



I don't think I've seen a more happy and determined bunch of people. Check out the track listing on the back cover to see the titles that inspire this level of excitement!

"A Night at the Opera"

"Queen - the Unseen Archive" is currently on at the Ballarat Art Gallery, which has prompted me to go through my stuff and bring out these old treasures from my adolescence.


1975 Queen "A Night at the Opera" 12 inch vinyl LP (bought secondhand in 1977)


1976 Queen "A Night at the Opera" glam belt buckle (by Pacific Mfg. thrifted around 1980).

The Saloon Bar

Thanks to a tip-off from the delightful Julie of BVS, discovered the new Saloon Bar (59 Humffray St Nth) last Sunday arvo. Nestled between shops across the road from the Ballarat Leagues Club, this little venue has boutique beers, tapas, a touch of retro (old armchairs/couches) and live music a couple of nights a week. We took our drinks in the shady & secluded beer garden out back.


Mobile phone pics of the beer garden, wish I'd taken some shots of the inside.

Update: Feb 15, 2011. Driving past last week I noticed the Saloon Bar has closed, however a sign in the window said "Babushka, Bar Cafe Lounge Gallery" will be opening there soon (see also their Facebook page). I'll be interested to see what they do with the place.

Bing Crosby vs Immaculata

After discovering Ballarat's own Goth/electro/pop band Immaculata was playing Saturday (11pm) at the Peter Lalor (thanks to Sophie's Ramblings), Ms C62 and I ended up just staying home watching "High Society" on cable. Went out to the Thai Pavilion earlier, but got sucked in by the movie when we came home. No disrespect to Immaculata, my loungeroom was just too cozy (& I was too slack) on a cold night after a nice meal. None-the-less, I'm happy to see RATSTOCK is running regular events for live bands in Ballarat, for coming events see their facebook page.


Left: Bing (pic from RAIN), Right: Garth (from Immaculata's MySpace page)