Jemma Rix: The Random Variety

I have really missed hearing Jemma Rix sing.

I've known this, but I don't think I realised how much I missed it until Saturday night when we went to The Butterfly in Melbourne to see Jemma's cabaret show The Random Variety.

The best kind of random 

It was such a fantastic night, and so worth all the travelling (from Tamworth to Melbourne) and the lack of sleep.

Jemma's voice is so strong and beautiful, and made me even more excited (if possible) to see Wicked again. Seriously, Jemma can sing everything, as the show demonstrated over the course of an hour.

I could just say the whole night was awesome and amazing (and it was), but I had some definite highlights.

Also, she looked really pretty- as always :)

1. Jemma singing "With You" from Ghost, the musical. Such a gorgeous song and she was so in character... she looked like she was about to cry, which made me almost cry, and it's this whole thing. 
2. A mash-up of "Quiet" from Matilda the musical, and "Titanium". Wow. They actually combined so well, and it sounded fantastic. 
3. A Romeo and Juliet musical made with Rihanna songs, which I would totally pay to see. It was awesome. And also, Jemma could totally be Juliet. 
4. The song that started the show, an original song written by David Young (or DY), and ending with a medley of all sorts of songs of all genres. It was just fun, and such a high energy way to start the show.
5. Jemma also demonstrated her Japanese skills with a few Wicked lines, which always sounds funny. I've seen it on YouTube, but it was still great to hear. 
6. The random fact that Jemma did highland dancing for 8 years! Like competitions and everything! How cool is that?! 

I think they were all my most favourite bits... but every song was enjoyable and sung beautifully. She did some pop, and some show tunes... a little bit of everything, and really showed how versatile she is as an artist (wow, I've been watching The Voice too much, LOL).

And fully supported what so many Wicked fans have been saying for ages, that Jemma absolutely needs an album. Because I could listen to her voice all day. I actually told Jemma that after the show and she said she'd love to, and you never know! One day, it could happen! 

I always love seeing Jemma, because she's so sweet. We had decided that this, being her first cabaret type show, her first thing that's just her and not a character, deserved to be celebrated; so we'd gone shopping that day for the perfect gift for her. And man, did we find the perfect gift.

IT'S A WIZARD OF OZ MINIATURE TEA SET!!!! How perfect is that??

Oh, and also- the Butterfly Club itself- wow, I love that place. We will definitely going back. The atmosphere is awesome and it's so beautiful! I wish I'd taken more pictures of the interior, but I had to get a photo of this painting... just because it looks like there should be a secret door behind it.

Or maybe I just read Harry Potter too much...

Anyway, to sum up: the Butterfly Club is a very cool and beautiful place, and Jemma Rix is the greatest. The End.

Me and Jemma :)

Elphaba's dress in COME WHAT MAY

Here is Elphaba's dress from Chapter 6 of Come What May for her and Fiyero's big date in the Emerald City:

Front view

Back view

20 facts about my brother

This was a trending topic on twitter, so I thought I'd do a quick blog post on it.

1. My brother is my favourite sibling (don't tell my sisters).
2. When I was little, I don't even know if mum was already pregnant with him or not, but I wished on a star for a little brother. And then Mitch was born. I like that story. He does not.
3. One of my earliest memories is seeing him right after he was born.
4. I got my brother into Harry Potter by telling him there was a dragon in it (he was obsessed with dinosaurs and dragons at this stage). I then ended up reading the first 2 books to him. 
5. He read the Twilight books when he saw the trailer for the first movie, but he refuses to read The Hunger Games, which is weird, because those books are way better written.
6. Considering he has 3 older sisters, he knows quite a lot about chick flicks and all that type of stuff. It's funny to hear him talking about the plot of The Notebook or something, haha.
7. When he was like 3 we went camping in Oberon and my dad convinced him there was a serial killer who lived in the drains. It was hilarious. 
8. He hates when I call him my 'little brother', thinking that because he's now 17 and way taller than me, that the term no longer applies. (He's totally wrong. He's always going to be my little brother. Deal with it). 
9. He's really smart. Especially at maths and stuff.
10. He's also really good at PlayStation and all those games. Has been since he was little.
11. He's a dork. And I say that in the best possible way. Meaning he's just like my dad.
12. Mitch is the only sibling who gives me hugs occasionally. So he automatically gets sibling points.
13. He pretty much eats anything. It's an infamous story in our family of the time he drank milk and pepsi together. Even he admits it was gross.
14. He's kind of obsessed with vanilla coke and mountain dew (not together). 
15. He had the choice to go see Wicked or to go Canberra back in 2010. He chose Canberra. So he lost a few sibling points there (kidding. But I was just like 'what on earth are you thinking?!').
16. He loves Family Guy and How I met your mother (especially Barney and the whole suit thing). But he grew out of Big Bang Theory claiming it wasn't funny. At that point, I thought he'd hit his head somewhere).
17. Until lately, he claimed he had never seen any classic Disney movies or The Wizard of Oz, despite the fact we grew up in the same house. I rectified that situation. It's most likely he saw them but doesn't remember them. He's smart, but his memory is shocking. But he can quote all Family Guy scenes. 
18. When he was little, he'd watch all the Miss Universe and Miss USA type shows with us, haha. You can blame that on being the only boy with 3 sisters and a mum when my dad used to work weekends. So it was either watch them with us, or be alone. But I don't think the pretty girls hurt either, LOL
19. He practically worshipped Joey Johns when he was little. It's like the only reason he supported the Knights in the NRL. He's kind of indifferent now.
20. Every school holidays my sisters and I would break out the Barbies and spread over the house. Sometimes he'd play with us, because otherwise he'd be left out. But there were many instances we had dinosaurs co-residing with our Barbies. LOL

So my brother is kind of awesome and I love him. That's it.

Kyarna Rose

This is just a shameless blog post to plug the amazing achievement of a friend of mine.

My friend Kyarna is an extremely talented musician, and she is just releasing an EP. I'm super proud of her! The EP will be released on iTunes, as well available for physical purchase, and Ky is willing to sign them!

The physical copies are $15 (plus postage). If you want to sample her work, you can check out her soundcloud page here.

You can also find and 'Like' her on Facebook under Kyarna Rose.

Even if you don't want to buy it, have a listen!

Historical Periods of Interest

There have always been parts of history that have always drawn me in. The ones I read about- for no reason other than I can. The one that if I find a movie, or a novel based around that topic, I usually end up reading it or watching it.

I'm not sure why these draw me in, but I thought it would be nice to make a list of them and compare with everyone else. So, in no particular order, here they are:

1. The Holocaust: I know that this isn't uncommon. Who isn't interested in the biggest crime against humanity in history? And honestly, I can't think of how I came to know of The Holocaust. It's just one of those things you just know about. But I think what really made it real for me was reading The Diary of Anne Frank. I read it (after reading about it in another book, no less) when I was 13- the same age Anne was when they went into hiding. And it's weird, because I will read books and watch movies about and set in that time, but at the same time I don't want to. Because it's so awful it just depresses the hell out of me. This does extend to all of World War II and the Nazi era, but the Holocaust especially.
2. The Salem Witch Trials: Maybe its because when I was 10 and started reading Harry Potter, I also began reading everything I could find about the history of witchcraft- I was sort of taking my own History of Magic class, haha. And reading about the Salem Witch Trials... I was hooked. I've done 2 papers on it at uni, read so many novels about it, studied The Crucible twice and seen the movie like 5 times. I think what it is about this is that there was this huge hysteria about it, so many people killed and jailed, all based off the accusations of a few young girls. 
3. Henry VIII: This could be the whole six wives thing. Or maybe the accusation that Anne Boleyn was a witch- I think I found this the same time as the Salem Witch Trials. Whatever the reason, I've always been hooked on the stories of Henry the Eighth, his six wives and his kids. Which reminds me... I keep meaning to watch The Tudors but I haven't got around to it yet... 
4. Ancient Egypt: I guess this isn't a surprise. Pyramids, Pharaohs, what's not to love? Of course, the specific thing that got me hooked was the whole Tutankhamen's tomb and the curse. Who doesn't love the idea of a curse? Not that I'd want a curse on me, but the idea is fascinating. 
5. Greek Mythology: It may or not surprise you that I prefer Greek mythology over Egyptian mythology, despite my love and fascination of Ancient Egypt. And don't get me wrong, I love all mythology. But Greek mythology is just so much fun. There's love and drama and the stories are just really fun to read. I do love a good story. 
6. Joan of Arc: A young girl gets visions from God, leads an army to victory and is burned at the stake as a witch at 19. Enough said, really. There's so much about her story that draws me in.
7. The Sinking of the Titanic: Maybe this was because of the movie. I don't know. I saw it when I was like 8, and honestly I haven't watched it since. (It freaks me out. I couldn't go on a boat for months afterwards. Any movie with a big disaster or lots of deaths tend to do that). On a similar note, the sinking of the Lusitania in 1914 also gets me. Mostly because I can't understand why this happened 2 years after the Titanic sank, yet they hadn't fixed the problem which caused so many deaths the first time- lack of lifeboats. Plus, the Lusitania also has the thing of being sunk by the German U-boats, and only in 19 minutes and getting the USA into WWI and... well, it's a really interesting story. Look it up.
8. The Underground Railroad: The whole slavery thing really. We don't really have that in Australia. I mean, we had the Aborigines working as servants and having their children taken away and all kinds of awful stuff; but we didn't have the slave trade like is in the US history. But I like the story of the Underground Railroad and how it all worked. I've even taught it, and I had my best lesson when I taught the Underground Railroad. Plus, I first came to know about it through reading the Baby-sitters Club. That series taught me a lot.
9. Pocahontas: Thank you Disney. And yeah, I know the movie isn't historically accurate, but it got me interested enough to look up the real story. And isn't that the important thing? Plus, the music was written by Stephen Schwartz and gave us Colours of the Wind, so what's not to like?