Birthday Shenanigans!
So on wednesday, Brett and I did half days at work, packed the car, and headed to Castlemaine for a midweek romantic birthday get away with the added bonus of being able to see Cat Power in a nice small venue with only a few hundred other people.
We stayed at The Empyre which was very very fancy, and lovely, although the bed was too soft! It had a pillow top mattress that you sunk into so much, that when you tried to turn over, you had to roll upwards! Nuts. Good breakfast though, and the fancy antique furniture was ace. Recommend.
Before I continue my castlemaine tale, for my birthday Brett got me a digital camera! and he gave it to me early so i could embarrass him by trying to photograph nearly every second of cat powers performance. haha.
So anyhow, after getting all dolled up in tiny skirt and sexy boots, and ironing Brett's shirt, we went off to have dinner at Saff's Cafe. We arrived at about 7:18. We wait to be seated, wait, wait. grab waitress, ask to be seated. She takes us outside and promises to bring menus. Cue crickets. We move to a table more visable. wait wait. I get up and go and ask for menus. peruse menu, decide on order. wait wait. it's now 7.40. See waitress, ask to order, get drinks, get water as well and have the table we are sitting at cleared. She takes our order ungraciously. wait wait wait wait wait. At 8pm, after watching the waitress serve drinks to people that walked in 5 mins previously, we decide to leave. Brett tells the waitress we had just waited 40 mins and that it wasn't good enough, she starts to say sorry (tonally she was NOT saying sorry at all)and then mid sentence she turns her back on us, and starts fiddling with her computer! Let's just say, I think both Brett and I will be writing a letter of complaint to the owner today. Dreadful service. Non existent service, actually.
So then we went down to the Criterion hotel Which was excellent. The place was empty, which was a shame, but the food was fantastic. I had roasted chicken breast with an eggplant Sambal, and it was fantastic. Brett had Barramundi or something, some kind of fishy thing, which i don't eat. Nice staff there too. very big contrast between the two places.
Cat Power was wonderful. It was really bizarre seeing her perform again after 5 years, because she is completely different on stage. Last time i saw her, she was all over the place, and i loved her for it. She sang and danced and cried, and stopped and started and it was magnificent because she was so trusting of the audience. I kind of feel like we ruined part of her with our bad review of her shows back then. This time round she didn't play the piano or pick up a guitar once. She just sang. She sure can sing though! I didn't really get the whole jazzy blues thing she's been doing for the last 2 albums until seeing her do it live. A lot of people have been criticising her new version of Metal Heart as well, but watching her sing it was spectacular. She was so involved in the song, and it was so clearly such and important song to her. I came close to tears.*
I took lots of blurry shots, some of which i will post later tonight when I get home from work. I also discovered Jim White was from melbourne which I didn't know, and i may dare myself to write to him and ask him to play drums for me one day. He's so fabulous. If there was ever a drummer who's beats I have become completely enamoured with, it's his.
The next day, Brett gave me some earrings and an artwork wallet that i had seen and pointed out to him, and a really great card to complete my birthday pressie list!
Then we drove to Daylesford and I dragged him around gift shops and antique stores for an hour or 2, pointing out everything i liked (dining room tables - i really want a nice mahogany dining table, but a scuffed one, not a pristine one) and old enamel baby baths (for water lillies!) and i also bought an art print of Léon Bakst which I love and Brett doesn't love.
Since I have a new camera, I will post pictures of all these things later.
PS: 43 days, 1 hour and 11 minutes until we got to America!!
*I recently found myself with tears streaming down my face when Stars played at the East Brunswick Club. They played Personal and I wept through it. It was totally embarrassing.
We stayed at The Empyre which was very very fancy, and lovely, although the bed was too soft! It had a pillow top mattress that you sunk into so much, that when you tried to turn over, you had to roll upwards! Nuts. Good breakfast though, and the fancy antique furniture was ace. Recommend.
Before I continue my castlemaine tale, for my birthday Brett got me a digital camera! and he gave it to me early so i could embarrass him by trying to photograph nearly every second of cat powers performance. haha.
So anyhow, after getting all dolled up in tiny skirt and sexy boots, and ironing Brett's shirt, we went off to have dinner at Saff's Cafe. We arrived at about 7:18. We wait to be seated, wait, wait. grab waitress, ask to be seated. She takes us outside and promises to bring menus. Cue crickets. We move to a table more visable. wait wait. I get up and go and ask for menus. peruse menu, decide on order. wait wait. it's now 7.40. See waitress, ask to order, get drinks, get water as well and have the table we are sitting at cleared. She takes our order ungraciously. wait wait wait wait wait. At 8pm, after watching the waitress serve drinks to people that walked in 5 mins previously, we decide to leave. Brett tells the waitress we had just waited 40 mins and that it wasn't good enough, she starts to say sorry (tonally she was NOT saying sorry at all)and then mid sentence she turns her back on us, and starts fiddling with her computer! Let's just say, I think both Brett and I will be writing a letter of complaint to the owner today. Dreadful service. Non existent service, actually.
So then we went down to the Criterion hotel Which was excellent. The place was empty, which was a shame, but the food was fantastic. I had roasted chicken breast with an eggplant Sambal, and it was fantastic. Brett had Barramundi or something, some kind of fishy thing, which i don't eat. Nice staff there too. very big contrast between the two places.
Cat Power was wonderful. It was really bizarre seeing her perform again after 5 years, because she is completely different on stage. Last time i saw her, she was all over the place, and i loved her for it. She sang and danced and cried, and stopped and started and it was magnificent because she was so trusting of the audience. I kind of feel like we ruined part of her with our bad review of her shows back then. This time round she didn't play the piano or pick up a guitar once. She just sang. She sure can sing though! I didn't really get the whole jazzy blues thing she's been doing for the last 2 albums until seeing her do it live. A lot of people have been criticising her new version of Metal Heart as well, but watching her sing it was spectacular. She was so involved in the song, and it was so clearly such and important song to her. I came close to tears.*
I took lots of blurry shots, some of which i will post later tonight when I get home from work. I also discovered Jim White was from melbourne which I didn't know, and i may dare myself to write to him and ask him to play drums for me one day. He's so fabulous. If there was ever a drummer who's beats I have become completely enamoured with, it's his.
The next day, Brett gave me some earrings and an artwork wallet that i had seen and pointed out to him, and a really great card to complete my birthday pressie list!
Then we drove to Daylesford and I dragged him around gift shops and antique stores for an hour or 2, pointing out everything i liked (dining room tables - i really want a nice mahogany dining table, but a scuffed one, not a pristine one) and old enamel baby baths (for water lillies!) and i also bought an art print of Léon Bakst which I love and Brett doesn't love.
Since I have a new camera, I will post pictures of all these things later.
PS: 43 days, 1 hour and 11 minutes until we got to America!!
*I recently found myself with tears streaming down my face when Stars played at the East Brunswick Club. They played Personal and I wept through it. It was totally embarrassing.