Local goodness brought to by Ruth O’Brian

Oh haiiii, it’s me again, back with some juicy details about some of Canberra’s most delicious upcoming gigs and events.
BTW, have I mentioned before how much I love this city? I was born and raised in Canberra, have actually never lived outside this place for more than a month. I have travelled a little bit though and, despite it’s harsh winters and sometimes ridiculous drivers (so spoilt here with our roads!) compared to many places as a pretty stunning and cushy place to live.
Not to mention the arts and music culture! As a teenager, some of my friends used to complain that there was nothing to do here, and, if I’m honest, living in Tuggeranong without a licence can leave you feeling up isolation creek without a paddle.
But, on the whole, there’s actually a shiteload happening. Like, all the the time. Here are a few examples of such things!

I Have No Enemies

The wonderfully prolific, Christopher Samuel Carroll, has a new show happening between 1-11 March at the Ralph Wilson Theatre at Gorman Arts Centre. I Have No Enemies is “an original post-dramatic play about surveillance, data collection, and how we make sense of our place in the digital world”. I Have No Enemies is a production of Christopher’s theatre company Bare Witness, which is based at Belco Arts. And if you’d like to bare witness (arf-arf) to this undoubtedly expressive and highly topical piece, head to ainslieandgorman.com.au to purchase your tickets!

Glitoris and Fresh Out Fair Day

On Saturday, 11 March at 4:30pm, Glitoris are playing at Glebe Park as part of the Fresh Out Fair Day! The band have just finished recording their sophomore album and will be playing some new tunes from said record. If you like your music punk rock, part political, and part tongue-in-cheek fronted by four amazing forces of nature – Kevin 007, Malcom, Mickey and Andrew – you best get ya ass to this gig.
Fresh Out runs from 11am-5pm and is the biggest LGBTQIA+ event on the Canberra calendar. All welcome, head to freshout.au for all the details!

Australian Dance Party’s Culture Cruise

If you’re keen on getting to know Canberra from a slightly different perspective, you should probably know about, and subsequently go to, Australian Dance Party’s Culture Cruise. This is an experience you will need to set aside a good part of the day for (as it goes for four hours) but is a fantastic combination of art and performance meets city tour.
Starting at the National Museum of Australia, participants will be taken across the lake by boat and do a tour of some of Canberra’s most beloved and iconic institutions. There’ll be food and refreshments throughout and I have no doubt you’ll leave the cruise a more enriched person.
Happening every Saturday throughout March, the Culture Cruise is a fantastic way to get to know the rich tapestry of art, buildings, history, and people that make Canberra/Ngunnawal Country what it is. For all the info go to australiandance.party/culturecruise

Enlighten

Of course, Enlighten is happening very soon too. From 3-13 March, many of our contemporary music favourites will be gracing the Enlighten program with their sweet tunes. Acts include nonbinarycode, Muesli, Lucy Sugerman, Archie, smartcasual, Eden Plenty, The Devine Devilled, Lucy Ridge & The Derby Widows + many more!
For information about the specifics of each of these acts, head to enlightencanberra.com Enlighten really is an event that every age group to get involved with and it’s always a favourite on the Canberra calendar.

Lastly but not leastly, there’s always a vast line-up of things happening at Smith’s Alternative. One in particular I’d like to draw you attention to is the Smith’s Varietal #192! That’s right, there’s been 191 of these variety shows on the wonderful Smith’s stage, and acts of all, well, varieties, have taken part.
The one-hundred-and-ninety-second instalment is on Wednesday, 22 March and will be hosted by Mel Kordek. Performing in the show will be Lumi Ricardi – poetry, Jacinta and Marlene – storytelling, Adam Fenech – flute, Anthony Irving – piano, Alaric – song, The Vest Brothers – songs, Evan Buckley – songs, and Mossgirl – songs. Starts at 9:30pm and should wrap up about 11:30pm. Get along if you can!

That’s it from me! Oh, if you wanna come say hi and meet face-to-face, I’ll be at The Basement from 7pm on Saturday, 4 March for Burntout Bookings’ Grrls to the Front gig! My new business, Upbeat CBR will have a stall there for this International Women’s Day event and I’ll be available to chat about all things BMA and Upbeat!
If you’d like to know more about Upbeat CBR go to www.upbeatcbr.com. And to find out more about the Grrls to the Front event, head to thebasementcanberra.oztix.com.au
See you in a month from now!