From working for the City of Melbourne part time, to designing three independent theatre shows, to assisting in the Operations Management of a company, and being a freelance theatre tech; life in generally finding a way to fill itself up.

So… Why the post today you may ask?! Well this moring, my flights were booked and paid for. I am returning to the United Kingdom (this time with a proper visa), to work with Natural Event as their Operations Manager on their music festival season, for just shy of 4 months. We are working on some amazing festivals including Glastonbury, RockNess, Sunrise Celebration, T In The Park, Secret Garden Party, Kendell Calling, Camp Bestival, Standon Calling, Bestival and more. I would run through the lineups, but it will only make you jealous, just Google one or two of the festivals, and you will see how dismal the Australian festival circuit is.

I thought I might take the opportunity to fill you in on some of the stuff I have been doing whilst back in the wonderful Melbourne town.

Shortly after my return from overseas, I was lucky enough to be offered a job with the City of Melbourne as the Technical Support Officer at two of their youth arts centres, ArtPlay and Signal. My role encompasses managing the lighting, sound, audio visual and computer based elements of the venues, as well as assisting the operations team in putting on and supporting workshops, performances, forums and the like. It is an amazing job, and I work with some amazing people, in two very unique and stunning venues. Please follow the links and join up to their eNewsletter, and if you know someone (or are someone) between the ages of 4-22, come down and get involved, as there are some great opportunities on offer.

I recently finished up designing the lighting for a show by Martia Fox called Waterproof, performed at the Melbourne City Baths. It was an amazing experience, if not a nerve racking one, trying not to electrocute the 5 person cast, as after all, I was placing electrical items in and around the pool. The work was based on an exploration of the subconscious and included a great soundscape by Liam Barton. I wanted to try and create a number of spaces in and around the pool by isolating the lighting to those areas, and using colour to shape the flow of lighting throughout the work. The finished product was an amazing success, click here for more images. My thanks to all involved, especially Director/Performer Marita Fox, and my lighting operator Ryan Heath.

Previous to this work, I designed the lighting for a work by Four Larks Theatre Company, called The Fate of Franklin. This work included original musical accompaniment and a very large cast. It was performed in a warehouse (secret location) in Northcote, and enjoyed an almost sold out season. The show was based upon letters written by Lady Franklin, and her husbands fatal voyage to try and find the north west passage. The show flicked between Lady Franklin’s battle to find out what had happened, and the men struggling to survive in the Antarctic. My lighting design played with this transition, by using a range of different fixtures, including painted incandescent bulbs and fluorescent tubes. The design was very successful in supporting the performers to tell the tale and take the audience on a journey. My thanks to Chloe Greaves, who was not only my lighting operator, but a great collaborator on the lighting design.

Late last year, I was contacted by the Black Lung Theatre and Whaling Firm (great name or what?) to collaborate on a show (Called Glasoon) they were producing in an old shop front in Brunswick. They are quite renowned for being very out there with their shows, so I immediately jumped at the opportunity. Many an evening was spent in the space, drilling lights into the ceiling and wiring them to beams and screwing them into the floor. The finished product was a grungy show, that packed a punch and was guaranteed to offend at least a few in the audience. I also operated the show, and learnt most of the dialogue by heart. I can safely say that it was one of the most enjoyable shows I have ever designed, as I became one of the Black Lung family. Thanks to Thomas and all the Black Lung Crew. For more information and images click here.

Apart from Theatre Lighting Design, I have been involved with a number of very random and very entertaining things… Such as:

Doing promotion work for Ice Break (Real Coffee, Ice Cold)

Driving a float in the Moomba Parade

Playing with fireworks and New Years Eve in the City

Working on weird sculptures for Melbourne International Arts Festival

Having fun with Sonic the Hedgehog at St Kilda Festival

And taking the dog for a walk

So I flee the Australia winter for the English Summer, not a great improvement in temperature, but it’s still called summer, so I’ll hold onto that idea. I guess I want to give you all the opportunity to stay signed up to my updates, or run without ever looking back, you can change your subscription status at geordiebarker.com/follow. I will be posting my adventures to amazing festivals and hopefully get to sneak in a quick trip to Europe at the end, we shall soon see. I like the documentation process, and love getting news and feedback from home, so please comment as much as you like, and tell me what you want to see, or hear. SynFM have asked if I would be their worldwide festival reporter, and ring in occassionally with updates on festivals and reviews. I’m very much into this idea, so stay tuned!

Until next time, stay safe!

Geordie

]]> http://geordiebarker.com/archives/959/feed 1 http://geordiebarker.com/archives/226 http://geordiebarker.com/archives/226#comments Mon, 07 Jul 2008 16:58:49 +0000 Geordie http://geordiebarker.com/?p=226 From The Age… dated June 26 2007…

“Smorgon heir puts money into green service stations” “At a tiny service station in High Street, Prahran, under the brand name Conservo, Mr Edwards and his business partners will start selling E10 (unleaded petrol blended with 10 per cent ethanol), B20 (diesel blended with 20 per cent biodiesel) and B100 (100 per cent biodiesel) to the public. E10 is suitable for use in all petrol vehicles and both the B20 and the B100 can be used in standard diesel engines. The fuels all have claimed lower carbon emissions than standard petrol and diesel.”

I drove across to Prahran today to get a haircut. For me, a normal trip to Prahran would be via public transport, as that side of town is congested, busy and has little parking. But i remembered this morning that my car, a 1994 Toyota 4Runner (3.2lt 4 cylinder diesel) was low on petrol, so i made the decision to drive and select one of the two diesel fuels on offer at Conservo. The two fuels on offer were B20 (20% bio diesel, and 80% petrol diesel) which i have used before, and B100 (100% bio diesel) which i had planned to try this morning and ‘bite the bullet’ so to speak.

My car had previously run quite well on B20, and had cured ‘Jack’ (my car) of an idling problem that previously required constant adjustment of the choke. I believe the reason it cured the car of this problem was due to its thinner liquid content. Now for those of you who are unfamiliar with this new service station, it is an entirely new concept, and the coming together of some great people, a few businessman, a few environmentalists, a marketing manager and a lawyer. Who would have thought? The service station is owned by the Victor Smorgan Groups biofuel company Energetix, and incorporates the selling of biofuels with an environmental ideas shop, an organic cafe, carshare facilities, and a car park (for increase revenue).

I had done a great deal of research on bio fuels, sourcing information from both sides of the debate. Currently there are three main service stations offering a complete package of biofuel options. See here for more information. Once immersed in biofuel information, i soon found out that both sides of this complex debate have their extreme activists and critics. I spoke to a generator hire company owner who essentially told me that i was a “f**kwit” if i chose to put that “f**king c**p” in my car engine. I also spoke to a bio fuel producer, who currently runs his car on homemade biodiesel and claims that cars were really designed for use with biofuels, but that there was a conspiracy run by a few rich men who owned oil companies. The amount of information available on the internet is vast and most of it is reliable. There are forum and homepage sites for most states and territories in Australia. A simple Google search will open up the information floodgates!

From Conservo Homepage (today) July 8th 2008…

“The Conservo pilot at 118 High St, Prahran was a resounding success. We are now on the lookout for a new, long term, site.”

Thats right, i turn up at Conservo, feeling all warm and fuzzy inside to think that my car can run virtually carbon neutral for a week or so, and am confronted with a barren, stripped petrol station for lease. No cafe, no petrol pumps, no rain water tanks, no carshare spots, no carpark, no organic snacks, no biofuel, and no conservo. Now my detective skills tell me that that message on the conservo website was placed there as long ago as June 29th (thank you google caching), but what i want to know is…

What went wrong?

Its all thanks to my beautiful new Nikon D80 Digital SLR, purchased off a great aussie site called Discount Digital Photographics, www.d-d-photographics.com.au

I am now meeting with them, to co-ordinate the evening, the launch, the visual and audible aspects. I am so amazingly excited about the idea of working with such a virgin space, and with people at their peak, and to create a first impression on the people who enter the space. I have the opportunity to draw them into the space, to keep them coming back, to get them interested in the space, conversing with the space.

This is why I do this crazy unsustainable work, because it gets my blood pumping, my mind working and I get a rush. Who needs drugs, when you have art.

Now there is one thing that is very dangerous about getting your photo taken in front of something… Every tourist in a two mile radius then wants you to take their photo with their family… Elle and I were stuck there for a good few minutes as tourists mobbed us and robbed us of our kindness! We eventually were able to move on, and headed towards St James Palace, which turned out to be the better looker. We took a few photos of the guards that aren’t allowed to move (complete with loaded automatic rifles i might add) and headed out across St James’s Park towards 10 Downing Street. It was a fair hike and we were stuck behind a garbage truck for a significant period of the way… But the ducks were pretty. We saw the Horse Guards and the Cabinet War Rooms, as well as the Foreign and Commonwealth offices. Whilst we were standing at the back entrance to 10 Downing Street, Tony Blair arrived. Now I would say the Prime Minister, BUT he resigned yesterday. He arrived, walked inside, and then a minute or two later as Gab and I were walking down the street, he left again, complete with bulletproof Jaguar, Convoy motorcycles, and four fully armed guards in a very very nice looking Range Rover. I got it on film, and will post it to YouTube, see www.youtube.com/geordieb1

…

I woke up late and got hooked on a certain website on the net called LinkedIn… Essentially it’s a Professional Facebook, where you put your job history on it and it becomes a kind of online resume/job sharing and finding service. Find below, an extract of what i wrote for the union, as a kind of review for it…

“We have all heard of online communities such as MySpace, and Facebook and MSN Spaces etc etc etc , and there are more popping up each day. The Internet is becoming a hub of information sharing and community. It all really began with chat rooms, which are less prominent these days due to the large number of predators, stalkers and general weirdos online. All the chatting has moved to Blogs, and Friend networks. There are literally thousands of sites where people can upload information about themselves, their friends,, and their interests and hates. Now i have embraced this sharing and loved finding old classmates online on such communities as MySpace and Facebook, people I wouldn’t really seek out to communicate with, but people who i enjoy an occasional, “What are you up to?” with. I can admit that I have many accounts with many online communities and web sites (MySpace, Facebook, Flickr, Blogger, YouTube etc.) but i have come across an interesting one out of the many.

The site is named “LinkedIn” and is the MySpace of the business world. It doesn’t feature blond scantly clad girls or Arnie style half naked men trying to message you and get you to view their pictures. This online community is built around professional networking, jobs and recommendations. Okay, here is how it works…

You sign up on their website (www.linkedin.com) and enter your main information, contact details and such. You then enter your experience, current job, interests, education and ambitions. You then add your colleagues, who can comment on your jobs, recommend you and be one of your “connections”. You choose an industry you want to be included in and give yourself a profession. You can then search for people you have worked with, old classmates, and network with others in your industry. There is a job listings section, and you are able to chat to people about their work and their company.

I joined this site two days ago and have been busy adding my past jobs and filling up my profile with information. I am liking it so far, and have found a few people who i have worked with or know, for example a lecturer from VCA, and a classmate from Drama School. I am still figuring out the buttons and the main concept. I will report back with my findings as i go along, and i encourage people to join me in this weird and wacky experience. I am wondering though, could this be the new way that we find jobs in our industry (Arts)?”

After writing that and also replying to some emails and such (i’m just trying to make it sound like i did something), Elle woke up and the plan was that she was going to show me around, do Buckingham Palace and such… But, she didn’t have enough time before work, so we went to the local coffee shop and chatted about what she wanted to do with her life and ended up getting all excited about how she could make Photography into a career, but, she needs more skills and needs to buckle down and get cracking. I explained what i knew about tax and ABNs and such, and she really lit up to it. We were there for a while and eventually she had to get her eyebrows plucked… Thank god i ain’t a woman, because that looked very painful! I then walked her to work, via home, so she could “change her shirt” which turned into a 35 minute stop over, resulting in her being late to work… (She does take over an hour in the bathroom! She is worse than me…)

I had a Jack Daniels and coke, which was very nice after all this beer i have been drinking. Elle then convinced me to have a half pint of Guinness, which I have never tried before… It tasted exactly like she said it would (Drinkers of Guinness advised to not read past here…) Beer, with a Soy Sauce aftertaste… If she hadn’t told me about the aftertaste, I probably would have enjoyed it, but with every sip came the thought and it tasted quite foul! I ended up having dinner at the pub, because the food is nice. I had Fish and Chips, something I faintly remember being credited to the English, so maybe it was another Authentic Meal???

I left Elle at work and walked home. I watched some TV and then collected her from the street corner after her shift. Tomorrow we are being tourist like and seeing the sights, i also hope to see a show, and maybe convince Elle to take a day off work!

His knowledge is amazing, its almost like he makes it up, but every fact is backed up and when i checked a few, he was very correct. We made our way back towards Hanwell, (the suburb where we are staying). We took the bus instead of the train, which is cheaper but takes longer. I enjoy it more, despite my like of train, because you can see the people and the shops pass you by. You also get a better idea of where you are, and that is a big deal around here, as all the train lines operate in a direction on the compass, Northeast, Southwest… It gets very confusing and i often find myself staring at the tube map making sure i am going the right way.

We got back to Hanwell and back to the house. I checked my email and Reg complained about the BBC website not working. We then went down to the local pub “The Dolphin” which isn’t exactly the closest local, but is the best. The closest one was involved in one of the biggest drug hauls in London recently and doesn’t invite people with open arms. The pub is very interesting. The drinking culture over here is amazing, people simply pop by the pub for a beer on the way home, regardless of if they are meeting someone, or want to have a chat, or play darts, or avoid the wife; its what they do, and the bar manager knows them all by name and greets them upon their arrival. The pub is quite typical, similar to my uncle Phill’s pub, a nice place to relax with a few tables, and a separate eating area, a few gambling machines and a few TVs. Reg and I arrived and I avoided the Fosters and got a Stella.

Fosters is amazingly popular over here, which i find very interesting. Fosters and Neighbors, two things that typical Australians couldn’t give a toss about are Australian icons over here. The Stella was quite good and soon enough Elle’s Mum arrived and we ordered. I ordered the Bangers and Mash, to sample the true English cuisine. It was very good and the mash was particularly nice. Elle was at her other job (Internet Chatsite Monitor) so it was just us three, we went through about three rounds of drinks and then Reg retired home. Janice and I stayed on for a bit and then followed, waving goodbye to the bartender as we went.

This is the kind of London experience i want. I dont want to go home and for people to ask me how London was, and whether i saw Bucking Huge Palace and Big Ben and the Tower Bridge. I want them to ask me how i liked it, in regards to the people and the culture, i mean after all these people are responsible for the creation of our country… We came from this culture, and bizarrely enough, i find only slight similarities. I will see the main sights, but the cultural experiences are what i really want.

I received and email from the Union, which wasn’t good. We aren’t getting any funding from Melbourne Uni next year, so we have a bit of a campaign ahead of us. The email also stated that the Prez has gone awal! Not good, and i am feeling quite bad that i am over here, but never mind, i will be back and plan to hit the ground running! I showered and did my washing which i desperately needed to do, and sat on the net all arvo. Elle woke up and we chatted about her work and boss and no life as we know it. Reg rang and organized to come and pick me up. We walked down to the Dolphin Hotel, where we met Elle’s mum, and had dinner and a few drinks! I had sausages and mash, a traditional English meal! We then returned home and watched some TV, before bed!

I promise i will see some sights tomorrow, im just so into this relaxing thing! I have had very little sleep, no thanks to the sun coming up at 4am each morning! London is pretty and busy, not like home, but similar!

I got my ticket and checked in my bags and headed to find a toilet and a shop to buy Elle a duty free present. I found both and brought a carton of cigarettes for Elle and Reg (her Dad). I was quite bored as i had got there early, only to find out easyjet dont have allocated seating. The flight was at capacity, a majority of which was taken up by hung over English boys on their way home after a stag weekend in Prague. I really did feel for the flight attendants. The flight was okay, i honestly couldn’t tell you how long it was, i simply don’t know. We were late in departure and that made us a late arrival. The airport terminal was very nice and modern. I took a rail train style thing to the “UK Border” and waited in the significantly shorted Non-EU Passport line. I was checked through with no problems, and made my way to collect my bags. My bag was already there waiting, going around in an endless circle. I grabbed it, cut off my cable ties, and messaged Elle. There was no reply, so i braved it and called her. She had thought i was arriving in the evening. She gave me directions that probably cost me the world and i headed out for the Stansted express train. It took 45 minutes and i slept for most of it.

I arrived at Liverpool Street Station and took the Central Line to Ealing Broadway. There i met Reg, Elles father. He took me to the local on the way home and we had a Becks. He then showed me the main street and we boarded a bus, using my newly acquired oyster card, and headed for home. Elle was up when we got back, and we spent the next 4 hours catching up on everything and chatting in general. I am going to bludge in front of the TV tonight and look at what i want to do tomorrow, tomorrow. I am exhausted as you can probably tell by my writing style and abrupt wording. London is quite nice, i think i will like it here!

Till tomorrow!

Geordie

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I will update this very soon, but for the moment you are all going to have to imagine how beautiful and fun Prague is.

Much love!

GB