As I sit in my office here in Sydney I am AGAIN saddened by the fact that another icon Australia music venue is closing its doors.

But this one holds even more sentimental value than most as the Tote, on the corner of Johnston and Wellington Streets in Collingwood, was not only my old local but a venue that gave me some of my first gigs when I started playing music, it was the venue that hosted the very last Best Of The Brat, I went to two very rock’n'roll wedding receptions at, we had one my best mate Marcus’s 21st there so our bands could play and I saw some of the best and formative gigs there, from the Powder Monkeys and The Hellacopters to The White Stripes, Andre Williams and JET.

This venue to me was as iconic as CBGBS and sadly like CBGBS, all amazing things must come to an end.

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Well it IS Christmas… it’s only fitting that we start giving away gifts. But we’re not just handing these babies out, you gotta work for them!

Here’s what we have on offer this month:

• 5 double passes to Broken Embraces – the new Pedro Almodóvar flick.
  Just tell us your favourite track off another soundtrack. More details here.
• The chance to be the exclusive Paul Dempsey reviewer and photographer for Yen Magazine in Melbourne and Hobart.
  Yen and The In Sound will fly you to his shows, put you up, let you meet the lanky heartbreaker himself, and  get you home to write up your review safe and sound. Enter here.
• Bid on the original Rolf Harris Christmas In The Sun acrylic paintings on eBay – all proceeds are going to The Smith Family, but the artwork is priceless!

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ARIA and J Award nominated Paul Dempsey (or P Diddy as I now affectionately call him – not to his face though, he might not like it and he’s much taller than me. I hope he doesn’t read this post) recently performed an exclusive gig for triple j at The Troubadour in Brissy with one of my new fav bands Kid Sam.

Unfortunately I wasn’t at this special show and when I saw this performance of  Ramona Was A Waitress I wished I was even more!

Paul just finished a national tour but it seems he just can’t get enough of life on the road so he’s off again like a travelling wilbury. This time he’s a one man band, performing songs from Everything Is True solo stylz. Maybe it will be like this?

Or maybe not.

Thank God for the ABC and thank God for Triple J.

They continue to represent Australian music with knowledge and class. The Paul Kelly Tribute “Before Too Long”  in Melbourne on Friday and Saturday evening is testament to that.

A stellar line up of Australian artists assembled for the evening, hand picked by Richard Kingsmill and music director (and Even leader) Ash Naylor. John Butler, The Herd’s Ozi Batler, Missy Higgins, Bob Evans, Claire Bowditch, Adalita, Megan Washington, Paul Dempsey, Dan Sultan, Katy Steele, The Panic’s Jae Laffer and Dan Kelly made up the vocalists for the evening with Ash and Augie March the amazing backing band. With artists and and a band such as this you know you’re in for a night of magic.

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Last week we had the fabuloso Paul Dempsey in the office to come play for us at our Head of HR Jo Perkin’s farewell.

After some really lovely speeches from key people Jo worked with at EMI over her ten years, we presented her with a plaque containing a framed lyrics sheet of her favourite song by her favourite artist Paul Dempsey Take Us To Your Leader as a token of appreciation from EMI past and present…and then Paul Dempsey himself arrived to sing for us Jo’s favourite song Take Us To Your Leader.

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And the video premieres keep rolling in…

We’re happy to now present you the much anticipated Fast Friends from Mr Paul Dempsey – an ode to awkward social situations and those curious people who just seem to light up a room with mindnumbingly dull yet engrossing conversation. Don’t you just hate them!?

For your further listening pleasure, Paul Dempsey’s recent Brisbane Troubadour show will be broadcast as a triple j Live At The Wireless tonight at 9pm (repeated on Sunday November 15 at 5pm). Keep tuned to the triple j podcasts and j tv on November 9 (9pm, ABC2) or November 13 (11.25pm, ABC1) for the live footage.

Right now, we’re in the midst of AusMusic Month on triple j, which means there are many more gems like this and the Paul Kelly Tribute coming up!

Ahhhh, album artwork… a special kind of magic happens when an inspired graphic designer or photographer meets an incredible musician.

There were no surprises when Empire of the Sun was nominated for a Best Album Artwork ARIA this year – & we bet ya they’ll be taking home all the pointy silver awards this year! The man behind the artwork is Dave Homer of Debaser, and from Nov 6 the brand new Mart Gallery in Surry Hills will be exhibiting a collection of works interpreting some of his favourite album covers of all time.

In fact, Mart Gallery will be a pretty good place to find where music meets art over the upcoming months… It was opened specifically to exhibit artists & photographs who specialise in music art.

Through December & January Tony Mott & Sophie Howarth will have some of the most iconic photographs from Big Day Out’s gone by. Soon after, our good mate and talented music-photographer Daniel Boud (he took our mug shots on the Contact page), and music design buffs “We Buy Your Kids” who are responsible for Paul Dempsey’s artwork will also feature.

Follow Mart Gallery on Twitter or check out their Tumblr at www.martgallery.tumblr.com.
And for more of the music-slash-artwork-cleverness, check out the awesome music artwork blog www.sleevage.com.

Thanks to billbertles for creating this great dittie – Jamaica’s unbelievably fast Usain Bolt setting a new 200m world record (19.19s!) at the 2009 World Athletic Championships in Berlin, to a highly appropriate soundtrack!

Click on the screenshot to watch the vid in full – Usain makes seriously Fast Friends with the championships mascot too!

The proud owners of the greatly sought-after (and totally sold out) Homebake tickets must be feeling just that much more smug today with the second announcement of artists for the bill.

Joining the musical merriment at The Domain on the second announcement are Paul Dempsey and The Scare, along with notables Bridezilla, Red Riders, Gin Wigmore and more. These kids will be joining our boys JET, Tim Finn, and The Middle East.

Great line up for the festival that I daresay has the best food stalls as well.