Hannah Fox joins David and Sue to talk about Melbourne’s newest festival which sadly did not

Taking the place of the Melbourne International Arts Festival and White Night Melbourne, RISING is a major cultural event for the Asia Pacific Region created by a diverse team of local, national and international artists and curators. There is a call-out for even more ideas and participants, with grants available. Seize the opportunity!! Roll on 26 May – 6 June 2021.

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What else is there to do in Virus Lock-down but binge?
Listeners share their favourite TV and streaming shows, a bit of food and drink and, for Request Hour, favourite LGBTIQA+ songs.

But lock-down won’t last forever.
Hannah Fox phones in to tell all about Rising, a new festival in Melbourne that was supposed to start this year but is now looking ahead to May 26 to June 6, 2021. We will be there!

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It’s MIFF 68½, the strange number pointing to strange times and a very different film festival in 2020. Artistic Director Al Cossar talks about the planning going on to deliver the festival into film fans’ homes from 6 to 23 August since going to the cinema isn’t going to happen this year.

In this podcast, find out where the plans are at and what more you can look forward to.

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The Midsumma Extravaganza is on 1 Feb at Hamer Hall and you can get tickets from the Arts Centre Melbourne Website. Don’t miss out as it was a sellout in 2019!

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And here’s what you need to know about the festival: For our fifth anniversary year, Gaytimes – Australia’s queer music and arts festival – returns February 14-16 2020. Over two nights and three full days, Gaytimes will feature our most epic lineup yet across multiple stages. Gaytimes will also feature performers, visual arts, yoga, talks, workshops, fun and games, camping, glamping, cocktail bars, speciality coffee, food trucks and much more. Best of all, Gaytimes is BYO. Gaytimes will be moving to a new home for 2020. After four years at Lake Mountain Alpine Resort in Marysville, Gaytimes is coming down the mountain and relocating to Gembrook. Nestled amongst lush tall trees, Gaytimes will boast multiple outdoor and indoor stages, flat spacious camp grounds, permanent toilets and free hot showers. Our new forest home Gilwell Park is just as magical but promises to be warmer, more spacious and closer to Melbourne — located at the foothills of the Dandenongs — just 1 hour 15 minutes drive away.

The post INTERVIEW: Nefertiti La Negra on Gaytimes 2020 – 14-16 Feb in Gembrook, Victoria #ListenNOW appeared first on Driving You Mad, Driving You Crazy.

And here’s some further info about the show from their website:

Frank Hampster was a witness at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. He is also a comedian.

In 2016 he wrote the first installment of what has become a four-part series. Only the first two shows could be performed in Melbourne with George Pell in court and potential interference with the legal process. With Pell’s conviction comes the lifting of this restriction. Cardinal Sins: Pell in a Cell is a challenging, heartwarming, emotional comedy in which Frank shares his experience of growing up in Ballarat as a Catholic boy at the worst possible time and suffering because of it.

Unable to be performed in Victoria since 2017, Cardinal Sins is in its fourth year – critically acclaimed, award-nominated, this is a show not to be missed if you are interested in human stories told with honesty and humour, promoting love and hope. Frank vowed to kiss Julia Gillard’s feet for setting up the Royal Commission if he ever saw her. True to his promise, he was the chap who did kiss her feet after Pell’s conviction!

Warning: Contains strong coarse language, some infrequent/low pressure audience interaction, potentially triggering content or themes, including Violence, Self Harm or Suicide, Sexual Assault or Abuse, Emotional Abuse, Sexual Harassment, Misogyny, Sexual References, Mental Health

The post INTERVIEW: Frank Hampster on his Fringe Show “Cardinal Sins: Pell in a Cell” #ListenNow appeared first on Driving You Mad, Driving You Crazy.

And here’s some further info about the show from their website:

From the creators of the smash hit ‘Elixir’ (winner of Best Circus and Physical Theatre award at Adelaide Fringe 2018).

Welcome to ‘Railed’, a western-themed circus spectacular, combining the trademark physical talents, finely chiselled bodies and hilarious comic timing of the Head First Acrobats.

Prepare yourself for when bare chested circus meets bare knuckle bar fights. A racy, heart-stopping display of the finest acrobatics by the most ridiculous storytellers in the circus.

Leave your expectations at home, come to the wrong side of the tracks, and let the HFA boys steal your hearts.

The post INTERVIEW: Thomas and Cal from Head First Acrobats on their Fringe Show “Railed” – ON TONIGHT #ListenNow appeared first on Driving You Mad, Driving You Crazy.

And here’s some further info about the show from their website:

Inspired by the French Quarter – Welcome to SOCIETY. Influenced by the city of New Orleans and the best party on earth, its Mardi Gras; in the past these types of infamous festivities were hosted by secret societies competing to uphold the most lavish party in their quarter. Blending Cajun party culture, French exuberance, Creole voodoo, masquerade and breath-taking acrobatics. Society serves up an extroverted lighting design and unique styled soundtrack featuring live and original nawlins party tunes from dirty south hiphop, to the big easy jumping jazz numbers. An all alluring, all-encompasing onslaught on the senses, nothing is off limits in this indulgent Circus Cabaret.

An opulent Adults Only evening inspired by the French Quarter of New Orleans, the ever elusive Circus Society now invite Melbourne audiences to their electric and flamboyant parade. Proudly presented by After Dark Theatre and performed in the Wonderland Spiegeltent and Fringe Hub -ETU Ballroom.

The post INTERVIEW: Francesco Minniti & Kara Ciezki on their upcoming Fringe Show “Society” #ListenNow appeared first on Driving You Mad, Driving You Crazy.

Here’s the film’s description from the MIFF website so watch out for at a cinema near you in the coming months:

Josephine Mackerras’s SXSW Grand Jury Prize winner is an intimate story of one woman’s empowerment that also destigmatises common ideas about sex work. 

Alice (Emilie Piponnier) has what seems like a perfect life in Paris with her husband, François and their young son, Jules. When François disappears, Alice discovers he’s been leading a double life, leaving her in a precarious financial position. Increasingly desperate as the bills pile up and she’s threatened with eviction, Alice finds freedom and purpose as a high-class escort.

Australian filmmaker Mackerras has crafted an understated and unadorned debut, striking for its lack of melodrama and unsensationalised representation of sex work. Piponnier rivets as a woman who has always done what’s expected of her suddenly pushed to do what she never imagined she would have to. Alice’s transformation is revolutionary – defying patriarchy’s suffocating constraints and raising complex ethical questions without ever moralising on them.

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