AUSTRALIA TOUR - MELBOURNE, SYDNEY, BRISBANE - August 29th >> September 8th

I'm heading to Australia next week! I'll be doing a whole bunch of events at the Melbourne Writers Festival and at the Brisbane Writers Festival. In between, I'm visiting Sydney and participating in a panel discussion at the University of Sydney. 

MELBOURNE WRITERS FESTIVAL - Thursday 29 August to Sunday 1st September

Friday 30 August  02.00 pm - 5.00 pm  MASTERCLASS: WRITING ABOUT MUSIC  The Wheeler Centre - Boardroom

More info Saturday 31 August  10.00 am  THE MUSIC SHOW  Iwaki Auditorium "Join Andrew Ford, Presenter of ABC Radio National's The Music Show as he broadcasts live from the Melbourne Writers Festival. Hear conversations and performances from: music historian Simon Reynolds; publisher Nicholas Spice; author and pianist Anna Goldsworthy; Torres Strait Island singer-songwriter Seaman Dan; music producer Karl Neuenfeldt; and author Andrea Goldsmith". More info Saturday 31 August 01.00 pm ART + POP NGV Theatrette at Ian Potter Centre:NGV Australia "Rock culture has always had a profound ambivalence about its potential for art-ification. Often it's the seemingly most arty figures in the music's history who have been the most conflicted about this issue, fearing the terminal gentrification of a music originally considered the opposite of high culture. Simon Reynolds looks at the history of this ambivalence, as voiced by musicians like John Lennon, Malcolm McLaren, John Lydon, and Sonic Youth, and by critics such as Lester Bangs, and explores how this has changed in recent years with the emergence of 'curator rock' and 'concept music'. Introduced by Penny Modra".  More info Sunday 1 September 11.30 am DIY MUSIC CULTURE NGV Theatrette at Ian Potter Centre:NGV Australia "Music writers Simon Reynolds and Chris Ruen explore the punk ethos of do-it-yourself and explore the ways people have seized the means of production to open new frontiers. Analogue or digital, DIY is back on the cultural agenda: find out where its taking us next. chaired by Jon Tjhia". More info    Sunday 1 September  04.00 pm  RETROMANIA ACMI Cinema 1  "Music historian Simon Reynolds asks: is pop music's addiction to its own past killing innovation, and if it is, how can music it get its mojo working? Can we regain a hunger for risk, originality and adventure? Chaired by Ben Birchall." More info SYDNEY -  Monday 2 September to Wednesday 3 September Tuesday 3 September 6.00pm - 7.30pm IMPERFECT PITCH: MUSIC WRITING IN THE 21ST CENTURY Presented by Faber Academy  and the United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney   Law School Foyer, New Law School, Eastern Avenue, The University of Sydney Free and open to all (with registration requested) "Writing about music was never a route to riches, but the digital era has made it an even tougher livelihood. Yet there are more public spaces for music discourse than ever, thanks to webzines, blogs, message boards, and other online forums. At the same time, analogue forms of music criticism are also thriving: specialist and small-run print magazines proliferate, while we're living through a golden age for serious books about music, from weighty macro-narratives mapping eras and genres to micro-studies that focus on individual albums or even single songs. What to make of this paradoxical situation where it’s never been easier to voice your opinion about music, but never harder to make a career out of it?  Join author Simon Reynolds, critic Anwyn Crawford, journalist Craig Mathieson and cultural historian Rebecca Sheehan for a discussion about the past, present and future of music writing." More info  BRISBANE  WRITERS FESTIVAL- Thursday 5th September to Sunday 8th September Friday 6 September 2–5PM   CULTURE VULTURE (music writing masterclass / workshop) Bank of Queensland Heritage Collections Learning Room, SLQ more info   Friday 6 September 8–11PM JUVENILIA Maiwar Green,State Library of Queensland "‘Juvenilia’ (stories we wrote as teenagers) set featuring Kevin Kwan, Clementine Ford, Scott Westerfeld, Justine Larbalestier, Kimberley Freeman (Kim Wilkins), Stuart MacBride and Benjamin Law reading work they scribbled in their youth. A special ‘Juvenilia’ deejay set by Simon Reynolds will wrap up the night." more info Saturday 7th September 5:30–6:30PM MAGPIES AND CULTURE VULTURES Queensland Terrace, State Library of Queensland "Simon Reynolds has chronicled electronic dance music, postpunk and rock. James Griffin is a songwriter, radio producer and critic. They talk to Simon Groth about why we write about art and culture". more info Sunday 8th September TOP TEN MOMENTS IN 20TH CENTURY MUSIC 10–11AM Title Books & Music, 133 Grey St, South Brisbane "Simon Reynolds muses on his top ten most influential moments in 20th Century popular music".  more info