My favourite sandwich in, I won’t say the world, ‘cos I have such fond memories of certain sandwiches abroad, but definitely Melbourne. Abiding by the principle of “do one thing and do it well”, Greg at La Paloma makes salad sandwiches and they are perfect. Crusty bread, tasty euro cheese, cucumber, cos lettuce, tomato, basil, a delicious drizzle of olive oil and (if you ask) fresh chilli… ain’t nothing better. And he DJs whilst assembling from a fine vinyl selection. Bless. So good.

La Paloma, 259 Albert Street, Brunswick.

I filled in on Incoming, the Australian music program on Triple R FM today. Here’s the playlist:

Wagons - Jail, It’s Hell

Dave Graney - There He Goes With His Eye Out

The Brunettes - Loopy Loopy Love

Sly Hats - I Am Ready To Fake For You

Machine Translations - You’ll Change

The Rectifiers - Blackbird (all that’s old is new again) 

The Tigers - Names & Things

Sun - Mosquito

Alex Jarvis & Friends - Sackville St

Pretty Boy Crossover - Bruises

Faux Pas - Bug In Mouth (Pikelet remix)

Destination Moon - Clear

Touch Typist - A Laughing Mouth

Nick Huggins - The Movie We Made

Barrage - Shift / Unconvinced

Actor/Model - I Dot Heart

Popolice - Middle Ground

Summer Cats - Super Computer

Tugboat - Two Summers

The Zebras - Three Minutes

The Lucksmiths - Good Light

The Lucksmiths - To Absent Votes

Mid-State Orange - Pathways

The Smallgoods - 100 Red Buttons

Kes Band - Gentle Elf

Birth Glow - Too Slow

Kiosk - Validator

Spider Vomit - No Way

Baseball - Soft Boy Factory

Love Of Diagrams - All Over The World

Always - Di-Ye-Yah

The Sun Blindness - It’s Only 3am 

I didn’t take many photos… too busy deliriously celebrating Howard’s end… how sweet it is!

Vic Simms was in fine form and brought a little bit of Vegas to the Fishnets tent. What a legend, a showman and a gentleman!

Ned Collette mastered the art of microphone sway on the festival train

Intoxica provided the suitably messy end to election night

Ross McLennan played as a trio. It was so good to hear the new songs performed live for the first time. Ross ended the set with some non sequitur drum kit trashing. Didn’t see that one coming!

Hardrive Bluegrass Band brung the genuine high lonesome hillbilly.

Little Red were the most fun for me over the weekend… and they killed it at the after party. Much joy.

Roxanne is a funny ol’ place… I like the band room but find the vibe a bit creepy, maybe it’s being so far up from street level.

Pikelet provided a fine opening set. Evelyn is so clever she makes me dizzy.

St Helens were next (sans Hannah), awesome guitar sounds but something missing.

Ned, Joe & Ben were in strapping form and brought on the strings to make for a special performance of these amazing songs from Future Suture. Nice.

Yesterday the wonderful Bachelorette played an afternoon show at the Empress. I find myself liking this comfy old venue more & more… the sound was excellent and it was a perfect sunshiney spring day… Coopers Pale tasted so good. And the Smallgoods duo, Lachie & Ben, sounded so sweet. They are doing a residency at the Edinburgh Castle in Brunswick every Thursday in November. Awesome!

Bachelorette was sublime. I can’t wait for the new album! (sometime next year).. Everything seemed perfect in her performance and much adoration was felt in the crowd. She plays her last show in Australia tonight with Patrick Wolf. Twill be sad to see her go!

Here are some better Bachelorette pics from the Patrick Wolf Melbourne show:

Kelley Stoltz: Circular Sounds (Sub Pop/Stomp)

Kelley’s new album is drop dead brilliant. This is the first single. The album comes out Feb 4. Just in time for his Australian tour!

MP3: Your Reverie

Tony Allen: Afro Disco Beat (Vampisoul)

Super funky double CD anthology of Fela Kuti consort Tony Allen’s 1970s solo stuff!

MP3: Afro Disco Beat

Sun - I’ll Be The Same (Preservation)

Sun is a collaboration between Oren Ambarchi and Chris Townend… beautiful, light-filled, experimental pop.

MP3: Mosquito

Bruce Haack - The Electric Lucifer (Omni)

Seriously freaky and amazingly mental 1969 Moog masterpiece reissued by David Thrussell on his always sensational Omni Recording Corporation. Dark electro flower power psychedelia!

MP3: Electric To Me Turn

Title opened its doors on Saturday and we’re already doing well just with passing trade - a most auspicious sign!

Ash Miles and Dave Brown are your friendly staff and I will soon be working upstairs doing promo for Fuse and mooching around behind the counter whenever I can.
I’ve finally fulfilled my lifelong geek dreams of record store clerkdom… it’s a joy to see how excited punters get when they walk in & see all the amazing music in the store… as well as arthouse dvds and loads of Sundazed vinyl… this is only the beginning, upstairs will open soon and a whole lotta stock is on its way… but drop in & say hi when you’re in the hood.

Mamma is the ultimate matriarch. Her enormous portrait presides over the dining room and Mamma herself (even more imposing in person) takes care of business on the floor. Her gnocchi are heavenly; humble perfection.

La biografia della Mamma:

Vittoria Tonin, Mamma Vittoria, was born in Cairo in 1940 to Italian parents. At the age of 14, she immigrated to Australia with her dad, settling in Melbourne ahead of her mum, sisters and grandmother.

Mamma Vittoria contributes her love of cooking and meeting people to her grandmother, Pascqualina, her mother’s mother, who taught her to cook traditional Italian food. Coming to Australia in her mid 70’s, Pascqualina lovingly did all the shopping and cooking for her family, along the way passing on many family secrets that are still used in the restaurant today.

Mamma Vittoria’s Restaurant has been a Smith Street icon for nearly 25 years and was actually built by Vittoria’s husband Fidelio, or Elio for short. Being a bricklayer, like so many Italian immigrants of the day, Elio with the help of his friends, built not only a restaurant, but what also became a Fitzroy institution.

Along the way, Mamma Vittoria’s Restaurant has played host to many rich and famous people, as shown in the many testimonials featured on this website and on the walls of the restaurant, but has always treated every customer as one of the family.

As many restaurants come and go in this quickly changing world, it’s comforting to know that Mamma Vittoria’s is likely to be around for many, many years to come, thanks to the next generation of Tonin’s following the Mamma Vittoria tradition.

Mamma Vittoria. 343 Smith St Fitzroy

Raffles makes me want to go to Singapore. There are so many good things about this place, it’s opposite the Tote for starters, owner Alan Han’s movie star looks, the history lessons on the walls, the way the explosive flavours of their Nonya sauce overwhelms your senses, the dusty spices of their Mee Goreng, the aromatic laksa, the tofu with peanut sauce, tangy pineapple & cucumber, the Mystery Lucky Prize draw… But I can never resist People’s Park. Dark glutinous sesame sauce with crunchy onion bits and sensuous rolled-up pillows of noodles. Dreamy! (and way too filling)

The Old Raffles Place. 70 Johnston St Collingwood

Wabi Sabi seems to have gone upmarket. It’s pricier (although $65 for two, including an Asahi and two pots of excellent brown rice green tea, is still pretty good value considering the excellence of the food) and less trad, more fusion. More a special occasion place. The sushi is super!

as is the Tofu Dango and Vegies (above)

Tofu, Seaweed and Carrot blended into Mouth Watering Balls, Lightly fried and served in a Seaweed Stock with Sweet Potato, Lotus Root and Seasonal Vegies (Vegan)

The Home Made Seaweed on Rice is special.

And everything about the place is just so beautiful… including the wacky art

Wabi Sabi Salon. 94 Smith St Collingwood