sonic youth
Last night I saw Sonic Youth at the Palace in St Kilda. They were not exactly what I expected but I definitely enjoyed the show. It was more Joy Division meets Eno than the guitar onslaught I thought...
View ArticleThe Church
I have been a casual fan of The Church for a long time, but until last Saturday night had never seen them play. They concluded a brief electric Australian Tour at the National Theatre in St Kilda....
View Articletake a bite of Peaches
I titled this story by paraphrasing from the dialogue in David Lynch‘s film Wild at Heart. I’m sure Peaches would approve. She does encourage audience members to take pictures of her crotch. I went to...
View Articlenew local sites for Richmond and St Kilda
In my ongoing project to develop local news sites for inner Melbourne suburbs, I have recently launched two new sites: Richmond and St Kilda. The Richmond site is small at present, with a five year...
View Article10 local news sites in inner city Melbourne
During 2009 I have been building what I think is now the largest collaborative blogging project in Australia. I’m really excited to have published a series of 10 local news sites for inner city...
View Articledinner at Sapore on Fitzroy St, St Kilda
I recently had dinner with Tomatom publisher Ed to discuss how we could use social media to rule the world. We ate at Sapore on Fitzroy St, St Kilda which, as far as I can see, has previously only been...
View Articlehow your Melbourne blog would benefit from location data
I have been publishing 10 local news sites for inner city Melbourne for several months now. The local news sites aggregate posts from over 300 contributing sites, collectively syndicate over 5000 posts...
View Articlevolunteer roles available for local news site editors and publishers
As I reported recently, the 10 Melbourne local news sites I have established are all now receiving regular contributions from diverse sources. Each site receives sufficient content to be considered a...
View Articlea review of Melbourne local government websites
In recent months I’ve written critiques of a series of different websites, including traders’ associations, local guides and more local guides. This post will examine and compare the 8 local government...
View Articlemy first day in Melbourne
I was telling this story to a friend recently and she liked it, so I’ll share it with you. Before I permanently gave up the idea of being an academic, I was still writing papers and one happened to be...
View ArticleInkerman St colour
This (former?) Telstra building on Inkerman St has been beautifully painted for a community art project. … This post was first published on Fitzroyalty. © Brian Ward.
View Articlesouthside lunchings 8
I’m sitting at a window table in a Chapel St cafe looking out onto the street. Two male hipsters, engrossed with their phones, walk towards each other. They collide, but not head on; it’s more like a...
View Articlesouthside lunchings 10
This is the low rent edition. You know how sometimes you are stuck doing stuff you don’t want to do and all you can think about is hot chips? Or you are out somewhere and want lunch, only to find you...
View Articlesouthside lunchings 11
It’s been a while since my last southside lunchings post. I’ve been mostly revisiting favourites in the area, but I’ve also tried some other places along Chapel St. Last week I had an excellent chicky...
View Articlewhat do you do when you get food poisoning from a restaurant?
Last Sunday night I cooked dinner for myself at home. On Monday morning I felt fine, ate my usual breakfast of juice, coffee and toast and went to work still feeling fine. I had lunch at a cafe in St...
View Articlesouthside lunchings 12
A new Thai restaurant, The Thai on Chapel, opened on Chapel St in Windsor (next door to Fat Helen’s secondhand shop) last week. They make a dish I’ve never had before, fried bread with pandan custard,...
View Articlevintage
Three paste-ups based on vintage photos around the intersection of Chapel St and Dandenong Rd on the boundary of Windsor and St Kilda. … This post was first published on Fitzroyalty. © Brian Ward.
View Articlesouthside lunchings – best of
My time working southside is coming to an end and I’ve been revisiting favourites in my final days. These are the places that I enjoyed the most over the past six months. The best coffee on Chapel St...
View Articlesocial media mob rule and the Astor cinema building public relations war
This post is about the circumstances that resulted in a school buying, then unexpectedly selling, a cinema building within a few years, with the sale apparently driven primarily by negative public...
View Articlethe Astor cinema in St Kilda will close in 2015
I woke yesterday to notice a couple of tweets suggesting that the Astor Cinema would close next year. I’m not surprised. The cinema business has evidently been unviable for many years, even given the...
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