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.

Ballarat Heritage Weekend, 2010

Unfortunately I'm not in town this weekend, so I'll be missing out on the annual Ballarat Heritage Weekend. Looks like there's lots worth seeing (much of it free), checkout the website for more info.

Nb. I also see Circa Vintage Clothing are amongst the exhibitors this year.

WWII Vintage

As it was ANZAC Day last weekend I've dragged out what is most likely my oldest complete vintage outfit, a (68yo) WWII Australian 2nd AIF Army uniform. Put together from various thrifted sources about a decade ago, everything dates to the period except the hat and boots, which are later but virtually identical to the wartime ones. It's rare to find vintage WWII items like these cheaply nowadays.


WWII Australian Army Winter SD uniform:
- 1942 Wool Tunic & 1966 Army Slouch Hat [Op Shops]
- 1942 Wool Trousers, P-37 webb belt and gaiters [Disposal Stores]
- WWII badges, buttons and 1958 hobnail army boots [Secondhand shops]
Note: Boots were originally tan coloured, but have been blackened by someone since.

Clowns, hideous clowns

Old kitsch decorative art can be fun, but one thing I draw the line at is clowns. Case in point, these old prints at seen at the Wendouree Salvos recently *shudder*.



My thoughts on clowns as decoration is neatly summed up in this YouTube clip from "Poltergeist".

"Visit Ballarat, the City Beautiful"

In the 1990s the PTC released a series of 8 reproduction vintage Victorian Railways travel posters from the 1920s & 30s. I was commuting daily to Melbourne at the time and they featured prominently in the Ballarat and Spencer Street railway stations. In the early 2000s I tracked down a signed limited edition of the Ballarat poster, which now hangs on my wall at home.

Interestingly the original 1929 "Visit Ballarat" poster was painted by Percy Trompf, who had his training at the Ballarat Technical Art School, and went on to be a very successful commercial artist and art teacher.

The modern reproductions were done by Melbourne illustrator Fay Plamka in 1993, a founding member of Illustrators Australia, and now a well known Melbourne Court artist for the ABC and 7 Network. Here's the entire set from recent auctions on ebay:

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!

Golden Era Vintage

The 1930s-1950s is considered the Golden Era of classic 20th Century style, and I unexpectedly obtained my own piece of it from Ruby Rouge last weekend, an original 40s/50s men's double breasted jacket. I've seen complete Golden Era suits recently ranging from $250 (2 piece @ Lost & Found) to $550 (3 piece @ Circa) so I thought $30 was a pretty good deal for an original jacket (pictured above with vintage shirt, modern vintage style tie and pocket square, the jacket is in great condition for a 60+ year old garment). For more original suits of the period see The Houndstooth Kid's vintage (US) menswear blog.

Also picked up a few more vintage style ties ($1-2 ea), including a wonderfully gaudy brown and orange paisley number from the Brace Bargain Browser.

Left: A late 60s look, the paisley tie with my recently thrifted 70s dress shirt.