Rebecca O'Malley

Josh Pyke and Bob Evans are great friends. Their relationship shows classic signs of brotherly love: they make jokes at each other’s expense, but they’re the first to step in when the other is in the firing line. Beyond that, they’re creative partners, drinking buddies and touring companions. Each is a successful musician in his own right. Bob Evans is the folk-infused solo project of Keith Mitchell, frontman and rhythm guitarist of Perth alternative rock outfit Jebediah. Josh Pyke is one of Australia’s most adored singer-songwriters, admired for his wistful lyrics, sparky melodies and infectious harmonies. Each has won a string of ARIAs. Ten years have passed since Pyke and Evans toured together for An Evening with Josh Pyke and Bob Evans. Naturally, the time had come to get the band back together for Another Evening with Josh Pyke and Bob Evans. They’ll take to the stage of Melbourne’s Corner Hotel as a double act, performing each other’s songs in a two and a half hour “spectacular”. Guys, what does the other find most irritating about you? Josh Pyke: I reckon it’s my number crunching. Years ago when we first started gigging and I was trying to figure out whether the tour would work, Bob said to me “less thinking, more drinking”. I know he finds it annoying when I act professional. Bob’s very anti-professional. Bob Evans: To be honest, I don’t really have any faults. I guess being a bit away with the fairies and probably my inability to answer questions in a straightforward

Every year, Melbourne Music Week explores the undercurrent of Melbourne's vibrant local music scene in some of the city's most forgotten corners. This year, the festival hub is the State Library of Victoria for the nine-day festival (November 11-19). For more action this month, check out our November highlights.

This review was originally published in December 2016 and since has been updated to reflect any changes in operation. In an ode to the Emerald Isle and the "stately, plump Buck Mulligan" of James Joyce's Ulysses, Northcote's boutique bookshop and bar represent the glorious union of Irish whiskey and literature. By day, Buck Mulligan's is a bookshop and café. Shelves are lined with 500 books, featuring modern and classic reads from Irish authors: Joyce, Wilde, Paul Muldoon, Edna O'Brien and Flann O'Brien, to name only a few. The library currently showcases the best of Irish fiction, plays and poetry, but will soon feature works from local writers and publishers.  At its helm, the bar stocks an extensive range of Irish whiskeys, accompanied by a selection from Scotland, America, Australia and Japan. The team hope to be able to claim the largest selection of Irish whiskies in Melbourne. Buck Mulligan's has another trick up its sleeve — Irish coffee, with iced versions available on warmer days.  The short menu draws its inspiration from traditional Irish fare and all produce is locally and ethically sourced. Pair your whiskey with quality Irish staples, including black pudding, smoked salmon, pork pies and ploughman's platters for a taste of Celtic nostalgia.

Meet Morgan Hipworth, Melbourne's Doughnut Prince. The high school student has been in the doughnut business for two years, and already supplies his sugary creations to thirteen cafes and restaurants around Melbourne including Stagger Lee's, Second Home and Kitty Burns. The high school student launched Bistro Morgan as a week-long doughnut pop-up in mid-2016 where he sold 10,000 doughnuts over eight days. Following the success of the pop-up, Bistro Morgan has set up permanent residence at the same Windsor location. In addition to crowd favourites like the Golden Gaytime, salted caramel and popcorn and white chocolate and raspberry flavours there will be weekly experimental doughnuts and matching milkshakes.

Jude Ng spends his days behind a sewing machine. Hour after hour, he lovingly crafts clothing from locally sourced natural fabrics, pausing only to chat to the gentle stream of customers that browse the rails of his Johnston Street boutique, Jude.   According to Ng, handmade fashion is making a resurgence in Melbourne. “We’re part of a new group of designers working to bring back locally focused ethical fashion and manufacturing techniques,” he says. “We’re trying to put some soul back into fashion.”  “People are getting sick and tired of the mainstream. They want something that no one else has, items that are unique,” Ng continues. “We’re very personal in the way that we treat our customers – we know everyone by their first name, something which I think makes us very special.”  As customers browse in the bright retail space, they can also watch Ng working on his creations in the open plan studio in the back. “My designs are inspired by my background in fine art but I’m also influenced by Japanese cutting and asymmetry,” he says. It’s easy to notice this in his work: his clothes are typically gender neutral and are designed to be layered in interesting ways. “We use artisan techniques – old school tailoring and dressmaking – in combination with contemporary shapes.”  Ng combines natural fabrics such as Italian wool, viscose, silk and linen in his designs. These textiles are hand dyed, painted, frayed, embroidered or appliquéd, ensuring every piece tells its own story.

With gusto, we returned to the Meredith Supernatural Amphitheatre for another round of music and magic. Making tracks through Meredith Supernatural Amphitheatre early on Saturday morning, it became clear that very little had changed. Sure, The Meredith Eye looked a little smaller than usual, but the regular fittings were all ready and present. True to form, the One and Only Stage reigned supreme over the untimely clashes of other festivals and the Pink Flamingo tent was gearing up to keep us well-watered throughout. This year’s line-up was typically spectacular and inclusive, showcasing a melting pot of gender, genre and decade, as well as sizeable slots for local artists. Of course, there were the classic set-backs: we’d waited 45 minutes for breakfast at Hungry Jacks and crucial party supplies had been forgotten in the heat of our departure. Phone signal was a distant memory, the air was painfully muggy and we’d hardly slept, but none of that mattered. With excited anticipation, it was time to get stuck into Golden Plains XI. Melbourne five-piece Ausmuteants kicked things off with a bratty, angst fuelled punk rock set on Saturday afternoon, closely followed by Margaret Glaspy’s dulcet melodies, gritty vocals and low-fi guitar rhythms (insider tip: she’s one to keep an eye on). Kurt Vile carried us into sunset mode, delivering a much anticipated but seemingly lacking solo performance. Without the support of his backing band, the Violators, Vile failed to leave a lasting hook

Tails will be wagging at Sugar Mountain this year. As if the alternative music and arts festival wasn't already pulling out all the stops with a cracking line-up, sensory restaurant and swag of art installations, the canine-loving team is now welcoming four-legged friends to the inaugural Sugar Mountain x Vision 2016 Dog Show on Friday January 20. Yes, a dog show the day before a music festival: what a time to be alive. Prizes will be awarded across six categories: Waggiest Tail, Best Trick, Best in Show, Cutest Pup, RuPaws Drag Race (dogs in drag) and Fancy Dress (Bowie, Kylie, Prince and Warhol).  Heated hounds will perform on Friday evening (the night before Sugar Mountain), between 6–9.30pm at MPavillion (Queen Victoria Gardens). A team of Sugar Mountain artists, personalities and dog lovers will be on the judging panel. Dog Haus DJs kick off the evening soundtrack and drinks will be provided by Sugar Mountain and Sample Brew.  Entry is free for humans, but there's a $10 entry fee for competing pups, which will be donated to Guide Dogs Victoria. Dogs are invited to enter as many categories as the prefer and all participating pups will receive a human-sized Dog Show t-shirt.  Check out the full Sugar Mountain line-up. Melbourne is a haven for our four legged friends. Check out our guide to our dog-friendly city, including cafes, pubs, off-leash areas and weekend getaways. Or are cats more your thing? Take a trip to Melbourne's cat cafe.

Last weekend (December 9-11), Melbourne rekindled its annual love affair with Meredith Music Festival. We’ve been seeing each other for 26 years now and the romance is still as strong as ever. The relationship works because the terms are simple: we look after each other, dickhead behaviour is banned and the single stage means clashes don’t exist. The foolproof formula works every time. Twelve and a half thousand revellers descend upon the Meredith Supernatural Amphitheatre to embrace a world of music, love and magic, where Pink Flamingos and fairy lights replace phone signal and battered couches stand in for swirly office chairs. For many, pulling into the Meredith Supernatural Amphitheatre in the early hours of Friday morning feels like coming home. Hello again, Aunty! As ever, the musical line-up was packed with local favourites and genre-spanning international acts. Peaches’s Saturday headline slot saw her inauguration into the Meredith canon of unforgettable live performances. A troupe of bondage-clad backing dancers supported the electro-punk performance artist as she delivered a sexually charged, beautifully smutty and filthy set. ‘Dick in the Air’ came from inside a huge inflatable condom, which made waves into the crowd before launching Peaches back onto her stage. At one point, her dancers wore vagina costumes and Peaches donned a nude leotard, delivering messages of sexual liberation. Too soon, she launched into her closing number, ‘Fuck The Pain Away’, which sent h

It pays to wander down to the southern banks of the Yarra River this summer, because what you'll find is the Lillet Secret Garden Pop-Up Bar. The pop-up will take over the lawn of The Common Man on South Wharf, opening the gate in its white picket fence from Mon Dec 19 until Tue Feb 28 in 2017. This is where you can spend an balmy evening  overlooking the city skyline and the Yarra while you play petanque and neck summery vermouth cocktails. The venue will be dressed to the nines in classic garden party style, with AstroTurf and floral decorations, and drinks will be served from Lillet's vintage wooden drinks cart. Guests can enjoy fruity Lillet cocktails for $10 (or $36 per jug) as well as food specials from the Common Man kitchen.  Happily, entry is free, but you'll have to be over 18 to get amongst the action from noon until late every day. Take things al fresco with our favourite spots for outdoor drinking and dining in Melbourne.

In September, Bistro Morgan hosted a doughnut pop-up in Windsor stocked with 10,000 deep-fried, iced ad filled pastry rings. They sold every last one over the eight day period, leaving Melburnians to fall into a sweet and satisfying sugar coma. Following the success of the pop-up, Bistro Morgan's doughnuts and milkshakes are getting a permanent home at the same site on High Street, Windsor. The Bistro Morgan formula won't change: those Golden Gaytime, salted caramel and popcorn, and white chocolate and raspberry rounds will be in pride of place, alongside a selection of new and exciting flavours and weekly specials with matching milkshakes. Feeling skint? That's no barrier to a sugar high because they're giving away free doughnuts on Mon, Dec 19 from 2-4pm to celebrate this crazy milestone for the highschool baker. Morgan Hipworth, Melbourne's Doughnut Prince, has been in the doughnut game for two years. At the tender age of 15, he juggles school work with a wildly successful doughnut business (which takes up at least 50 hours per week) and supplies his sugary creations to thirteen cafes and restaurants around Melbourne (including Stagger Lee's, Second Home and Kitty Burns). He already has 1,500 doughnut flavours in his sugary portfolio.  So what is it that makes a good doughnut? According to Morgan, it's "it’s all about good eggs, good butter and not skimping on the ingredients. Instead of giving them half a Kit Kat I’ll give them a full one. It’s all about making it taste b

A world away from the lockout laws of a certain other Australian city, Melbourne's 24-hour party scene continues to thrive. Chapel Street's infamous party hub, Revolver, is gearing up to smash its own record for the longest DJ set ever played on its decks. DJ Patrick Topping will lay down a 10-hour set when he makes an appearance at Thick as Thieves' Summer Series event, surpassing the previous record of 8.5 hours (broken by Topping in 2015). Topping performs as part of Revolver's Summer Series and crowds can expect a mix of genres and styles. He will perform his 10-hour set on Sunday, November 27 from 7pm, as well as at Strawberry Fields festival this weekend.   Stay out past your bedtime this weekend and check out our ultimate guide to pulling an all-nighter in Melbourne.

A drive-in cinema on a rooftop. How completely and utterly Melbourne.  The Backlot Rooftop Drive-In is the newest face on Melbourne's alternative cinema scene. This rooftop-outdoor cinema hybrid hopes to combine the romance and nostalgia of the '50s drive-in with incredible city views. The season lands at 90 Waterfront Way, Docklands (atop the Harbour Town precinct) and will feature new releases set upon two state-of-the-art televisions. Each field will have enough space to comfortably host 65 vehicles. Cars will be able to tune their radios into restricted FM transmitters, while those who seek the full alfresco experience can watch from the intimate 'blue-deck' area and listen through headphones provided.  It wouldn't be a cinema without delicious treats, so the Backlot team has rounded up a whole host of classic snacking options, including popcorn and choc tops.  Backlot opens on Boxing Day. Films are yet to be announced, so watch this space, movie-lovers. Does Melbourne need another alternative pop-up cinema? Check out some other options for outdoor cinemas.

Yesterday, Melbourne endured a clammy, 38 degree day (in fact, it was the hottest day since March). So far, so Melbourne. But what followed was a combination of extreme pollen levels and a thunderstorm – a pairing that saw a city-wide surge in asthma attacks and breathing issues.  Hospitals were overflowing with patients all reporting the same symptoms: shortness of breath, tightness of the chest, coughing and wheezing. Many hospitals and pharmacies claim to have run out of Ventolin puffers. Ambulance Victoria emergency operations general manager, Mick Stephenson, told the ABC that there were 2,000 calls to 000 in the five-hour window between 6-11pm – a sevenfold increase.  So what is 'Thunderstorm Asthma' and why was Melbourne under fire? Under normal circumstances, grass pollen is too large to enter the airways of the lungs; typically, it will linger in the nostrils and trigger bouts of sneezing and sniffling. When a thunderstorm hits, pollen particles absorb moisture and fracture into tiny particles. When inhaled, these extra-tiny particles can trigger an asthmatic reaction in those who typically suffer an allergy to grass pollen.  Air quality across Melbourne has since improved, but health professionals advise that hay fever and asthma sufferers keep blue puffers and antihistamines handy.  Via The Age.  Had enough of Melbourne's ridiculous weather? You could always hibernate with our guide to the best indoor (rainy day) activities in Melbourne.

ACMI will host Wallace & Gromit and Friends: The Magic of Aardman as its Winter Masterpieces exhibition in 2017. Aardman is one of the most successful animation studios in the world, best known for ‘claymation’ (clay animation) films, Wallace & Gromit, Chicken Run, Creature Comforts and Shaun the Sheep. To celebrate the studio’s 40th year, ACMI will dedicate its downstairs gallery space to Aardman’s beloved craft and characters, charting the creative and technical process from idea generation to final production stages. Photograph: Supplied   In total, the exhibition will host 350 objects, including sketchbooks, concept drawings, storyboards, puppets, props and original artworks. The gallery also welcomes over 50 set pieces, including Wallace’s Cracking Contraptions, Gromit’s beloved vegetable garden, the flying machine from Chicken Run and the ship from The Pirates! A Band of Misfits, which stands at an impressive five meters. Another exciting addition will be artworks from Aardman’s upcoming feature, Early Man, which is due for release in 2018. ACMI will present a series of film screenings, talks, workshops and education programs alongside the exhibition. Aardman’s beloved characters have burrowed deep into our hearts, inspiring a burst of nostalgia at every opportunity. Characters are loved by people of all ages, showing depth of personality and humour. As such, the exhibition is suitable for visitors of any age. Wallace & Gromit and Friends: The Magic of Aardman opens a

Put your money where your mouth is and have a drink (guilt-free) in support of refugees and asylum seekers. Do More Than Drink, the hospitality focused social-initiative from Scarf, returns for its second year to raise money and awareness for refugees, asylum seekers and migrants. This year, Scarf has partnered with 32 Melbourne bars, including Double Happiness, The Rum Diary Bar, Lucky Coq and Belleville, an increase on last year's 26.  So how does it all work? Head down to any of the participating bars between November 27 and December 4. Throw a couple of dollars in the donation jar and enjoy a delicious beverage, guilt-free. Over the final weekend of the campaign, participating bars will donate $1 for every drink sold. Last year, Do More Than Drink raised $17,000 for refugees and asylum seekers.  Money raised will offer training, mentoring and employment to young refugees, migrants and asylum seekers. Eight bars will offer a special mentorship program to ensure Scarf graduates have the confidence and experience to enter the industry.  Participating bars donating on Friday December 2:Gerald's BarThe LincolnSmalls Neighbourhood WinePixel AlleyLily BlacksDouble HappinessCarwyn CellarsMesa VerdeThe Rum DiaryHalf MoonEau De VieSun Moth Canteen & BarJoe TaylorTwo Birds BrewingStarward Whisky DistilleryKelvinSection 8  Participating bars donating on Saturday December 3:MarkovGreen ParkBellevilleMr Wow's EmporiumRobert Burns HotelNew Gold MountainThe Rooks ReturnSaint UrbanHats an

Thanks to nurturing green thumbs and perfect weather conditions, a sea of puya flowers have burst into an exotic turquoise bloom at the Blue Mountains Botanic Garden, a rare event that takes place every seven years. The flowers are known as ‘sapphire towers’ and are closely related to the pineapple. Puya are native to the Chilean Andes and grow at a height of 3,000 meters above sea level. Their flowers attract all sorts of insects and birdlife, including honeyeaters, red wattlebirds and eastern spinebills, a definite draw for bird lovers across New South Wales. But, while the display is vibrant and beautiful, an air of tragedy lingers over it: the puya die shortly after their flowers fade. It is expected that the flowers will sit pretty until mid-January 2017.  The puya flowers can be seen at the Lower Rock Garden at the Blue Mountains Botanic Garden, Bells Line of Road, Mount Tomah, 2758. Opening hours: Mon-Fri 9am-5.30pm; Sat-Sun 9.30am-5.30pm. Photograph: Supplied  

Fitzroy's street art and graffiti management studio, Juddy Roller, has brought six of Melbourne's most respected artists together for a brand new project. The most northern wall of Fry's Storage on Cecil Street, Fitzroy, now displays the handiwork of Rone (who recently rounded off his own solo exhibition at Fitzroy's Star Lyric Theatre building) and Adnate, who recently took a swipe at the entirely unauthorised Banksy exhibition at Federation Square. Street artists Sofles, Dvate, Cam Scale and Jason Parker have also contributed to the mural. Although quite distinct in their style, all artists were given the same brief: to create a portrait based image. It's interesting to see how each artist has interpreted this brief, considering their difference in style.  The display has the backing of Yarra City Council and the Department of Justice, with curation from the folks at Juddy Roller. Painting began on Wednesday November 2 and finished up on Tuesday November 8. See more of the mammoth new mural below: Still hungry for a street art fix? Check out the huge Banksy exhibition at The Paddock in Federation Square.