ZAPPA could be the perfect documentary for people who don’t like Frank Zappa’s music. That’s because it’s the first time a filmmaker has been granted unlimited access to all the archive footage in Zappa’s vault.  The result is an all-encompassing documentary about his turbulent life – from his appearance in front of a US Senate…

THE excavation of an Anglo-Saxon ship from a field in Suffolk in 1939 doesn’t sound like popcorn-chewing material, but The Dig is an enchanting film that slowly draws you in. It’s based on the true story of the excavation of large burial mounds on a rural estate belonging to Edith Pretty (Carey Mulligan), an ailing…

EVER get the feeling someone’s staring at you? You might if you take a stroll through Britannia Reserve in Leederville, where weird faces on tree trunks peer downwards. But don’t worry, it’s just a quirky art installation by local artists Diana Kelly and Tricia Stedman. Using pieces of bark, grass and natural materials, their plaster…

PERTH comedian Matt Storer pokes fun at mystical gurus in his one-man Fringe show A Cult For You. Featuring clever jokes and the odd satirical song, the show squeezes the life of a cult leader into an hysterical one-hour performance. “Having come from a religious background, I’ve always been fascinated by supernatural beliefs, particularly really…

OLD Customs House in Fremantle will be shrouded in myth and legend when Existence Theatre perform their atmospheric production The Witch and the Goat. Couched in eerie sounds and mysterious video projections, the ensemble cast will perform an allegorical tale about humankind’s deepest fears, which often manifest themselves as mythical beings and monsters. “The Witch…

WHEN Bon Scott tragically died in 1980, did anyone think AC/DC would still be head banging 40 years later? Tragedy reared its head again in 2017 when band co-founder Malcolm Young, Angus’s brother, died from dementia. It followed in the wake of long-time bassist Cliff Williams retiring and singer Brian Johnson leaving because he was…

 TWO special exhibitions showcasing Aboriginal culture are some of the highlights at the new WA Museum Boola Bardip. The award-winning Songlines: Tracking the Seven Sisters is the culmination of more than five years of collaboration between Aboriginal communities and the National Museum of Australia. It has the world’s highest resolution six-metre-wide travelling dome, where visitors…

FRIED peanut butter and banana sandwiches at the ready. Perth’s Elviszacc (aka Domenic Zaccaria) is preparing for his biggest show yet – Elvis: Aloha Hawaii Concert at the Astor Theatre next Saturday. Zaccaria says it’s the first time the King’s ground-breaking 1973 Hawaii concert – the first entertainment special to be broadcast live via satellite…

PERTH artist Olga Cironis gives a voice to the “other” Australians in her poignant new sound installation Forest of Voices. For the exhibition, Cironis recorded intimate stories of love and loss from people in diverse communities across Australia, amassing 64 hours of recordings. She merged them into an immersive and slightly lyrical collage, in which…

OF all the left-field creative projects to come out of the Perth lockdown, a Radiohead big band seems one of the most outré. The seminal English rock group are renowned for their melancholic, introspective songs while most of us associate big bands with brash, up-beat dance numbers. But Jessica Herbert, founder of the The Amnesiacs…