Making the Most of a Melbourne Meltdown

Melbourne / Go See
en av Ali MC  /  Alister McKeich, 18. dec 2009


Photo: Dr Snafu

Authors Rimi Khan and Ali MC

While those of you in the northern hemisphere are watching the sun go down at 4pm, shivering and stumbling around in the dark as the streets get covered over with ice, the rest of us are basking in sunshine. Melbourne summers don’t last long, so better make the most of the long, lazy days and get outdoors.

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Ali MC

Spring into Spring And Do The Melbourne Thing

Melbourne / Go See
en av Ali MC  /  Alister McKeich, 22. sep 2009


Photo: Huntz

While the northern hemisphere slows down, sleeps a little longer and watches the sun sink lower into the sky (or disappear altogether), we who reside in one of the last outposts before Antarctica welcome the rising sun with the anticipation of cold blooded geckos. Well, most people that is. Others (like me) return to Melbourne with glowing suntans after 10 weeks in the Caribbean, having played truant to another miserable winter. Looks like I’ve arrived back at a very good time of the year as there are many exciting festivals and events in the lead up to summer.

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Ali MC

Koorie Culture in the Heart of Melbourne

Melbourne / Go See
en av Ali MC  /  Alister McKeich, 3. jun 2009


Photo: Roel1943---pauze

Australian popular film, television and media would often have you believe that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people only exist in the desert, remote communities or in what’s known as the ‘top end’. However, Aboriginal have lived, and continue to live, in all parts of Australia, including urban centres such as Sydney and Melbourne.

In fact, prior to British arrival in Australia in 1788, there  are believed to have been between 300 and 500 different Aboriginal ‘nations’ living on the continent. Much like Europeans, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are very different from each other, as are their cultures, languages, histories and heritage.

Melbourne is no exception. A high population of Aboriginal people live in and around Melbourne and the cultures associated with the different ‘mobs’ (tribal or language groups) from around Victoria are on display and can be experienced in many places. Aboriginal people from Melbourne (and Victoria and New South Wales in general) often refer to themselves as ‘Koories’ to distinguish themselves from the many other Aboriginal groups in Australia.

Here are some of the cultural centres in which you can learn about Aboriginal people from Victoria:

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Ali MC

Let's Go Shopping: Queen Victoria Markets

Melbourne / Go Shop
en av Ali MC  /  Alister McKeich, 17. maj 2009

I enjoy scrounging about in markets and bought some interesting trinkets in my time: Nazi-era coins in former East Berlin; a dead GI’s dogtag in Vietnam; a Hezbollah flag in Southern Lebanon; a neat leather passport holder in Burundi with a map of Africa engraved into it (if anyone ever sees one again, please contact me as I lost mine in Thailand and would dearly like another!).



To be frank, you’ll find none of the above listed items at the Queen Victoria Market. But what you will find is an abundance of delicious, colourful fresh produce, hordes of hungry shoppers, baritone voiced butchers calling out low priced cuts of meat, belting buskers both good and bad and the chance to rub shoulders with the occasional Melbourne socialite (or trip over them, as I did one Sigrid Thornton).

Here you can sample all manner of fresh fruit and vegetables, red meat, poultry, pork and seafood, pastas, cheeses, sausages, dips, wines, organics, coffee… all at very reasonable prices. Melbourne has a plethora of fantastic restaurants and I thoroughly encourage you to sample as many as possible. Many restaurant owners shop at the Victoria Market, including the guys from The Horn because of the high quality and daily freshness afforded.



The outdoor section of the market contains a range of clothing, hats, jewellery, arts and crafts and Australiana. Personally, I would shy away from any ‘Aboriginal’ artefacts sold here (didgeridoos especially) as they are mostly made in Asia. Better for you to find a local Koori community member or co-operative to purchase the ‘real deal’ from. But if stuffed kangaroos are your thing, then go right ahead, although I do also recommend a well-cooked kanga steak.



The Vic Market is open on Tuesday and Thursday (6am – 2pm), Friday (6am – 5pm), Saturday (6am – 3pm) and Sunday (9am – 4pm). During the summer there is a night market on Wednesdays which starts around 5pm and finishes around 10pm, and features live entertainment, market food and wine tasting.

The Queen Victoria Market is easy to get to – simply jump on the number 19, 57 or 59 tram up Elizabeth Street and hop off once you see the market near the top of the hill just north of the city centre. It is not hard to miss - most of the passengers will also get off. The tram driver may call out the stop name (Queen Victoria Market) but you’ll often be hard pressed to understand anything tram drivers say through their heavy accent and crackly intercom. Best just to keep an eye out the window and your nose ready to smell fresh coffee.

QUEEN VICTORIA MARKET; corner of Queen and Elizabeth Street; Melbourne CBD.

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Ali MC

So You Think You Can Dance(hall)

Melbourne / Go Night
en av Ali MC  /  Alister McKeich, 29. apr 2009

April 29 is the International Dance Day. At Momondo we totally support a day dedicated to dancing and we've decided to celebrate the day too. Therefore we’ve asked our city bloggers to come up with their favourite spots to go and dance or watch others do it. So put on your boogie shoes and let our bloggers guide you through the best dance spots in cities across the world.

Let's dance #4: Melbourne

We’ve all seen the show ‘So You Think You Can Dance’, and yes, thank you very much, I do think I can dance, especially after a few too many drinks. And there was plenty of that last night, at the monthly dancehall gig called ‘Pressure Drop’. Held upstairs at The Laundry, in Fitzroy, Pressure Drop gets going on the last Saturday of every month.

And ‘get going’ it certainly does, with the offer of free beer between 10 and 11pm. Yes, that’s right – free beer at the bar for all the early birds. So by the time midnight rocks around, pretty much everyone in the club thinks they can dance, and why wouldn’t you, with the quality reggae and dancehall DJs who feature regularly at this event spinning the latest hits direct from Jamaica and all your classic favourites.

Dancehall evolved from decades of Jamaican music: mento, ska, rocksteady, roots reggae and dub. At first, a ‘dancehall’ was simply a sound system in a yard that people would dance to, whatever the style of music. But by the early 80’s the term defined a new form of Jamaican music which reflected the change in taste and technology.

Crack cocaine and Casio keyboards supplanted stoned dub and puritanical Rasta roots for a far racier, sexually charged boom boom crack! Today’s better-known exponents of dancehall include Sean Paul, Capleton, Sizzla and Beenie Man, artists you will hear on soundsystems worldwide.

Pressure Drop usually hits its peak between midnight and 1am, with the dancefloor kicking in every direction. It’s not a huge space, and can get very hot, but of course, that’s the way everyone likes it, especially on a cold Melbourne winter’s night.

And if once a month is not enough dancehall for you, you can head back to The Laundry every Thursday to get your fix, although being a weeknight it is a little quieter (and there’s no free beer). But it is free entry (Pressure Drop being AUS$10 and if you’re travelling, well then, it being a weeknight should make no difference to you. Laundry is open seven days and hosts a variety of gigs throughout the week, including hip hop, dubstep, jungle and drum n bass, so just check local street press to see what’s on.

Other regular dancehall events include 'More Fire' (second Saturday of every month at Miss Libertine) and 'I Love Dancehall' (on random, but regular nights at First Floor in Fitzroy). For other reggae and dancehall gigs around Australia, hit ozreggae.com

So if you are in Melbourne at one of these events, and you see a bloke on the dancefloor who obviously thinks he can dance (but clearly can’t), come up and say "g’day".

Meet Bernie

What do you like about dancehall music?

The songs are playful, fun and sexy too.  The beat is impossible not to dance to: it gets everyone up on the dance floor.

Have you mastered the style of Jamaican dancehall dancing yet?

Everyone can dance to dancehall but there’s so many cool, sexy or even goofy moves being made up all the time. At dancehall nights people really let loose so there’s plenty to watch and learn!

What do you like best about Pressure Drop?

I love Pressure Drop because in one night it squeezes in lots of different DJs, MCs and vocalists. There’s always heaps of different people from around the world and they’re all there to smile, dance and party!

Go further:

Let's dance #1: Moving and shaking with Cairo's own
Let's dance #2: Swinging New York: Fancy a shag?
Let's Dance #3: Dancing down the Spree
Let's Dance #5: Dancing 'til dawn on the booze cruise
Let's dance #6: London's retro dance explosion

 

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Ali MC
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