Sufjan Stevens’ music must be seen as well as heard. @MissSophieMac said I’d be blown away and I was. He had a 10 piece orchestra on stage at times including two drum kits, four keyboards (maybe more), assorted guitars, a two-man brass section and two female backing vocalists who danced all night. They played mostly new music from The Age of Adz after a beautiful supporting show from one of their own: DM Stith.

It was full-on creativity surrounding the brilliant music with images, video, dance, costume, glitter, smoke and lighting. They are truly star people. The highlights for me were probably Vesuvius and the final song of the encore, the really wonderful Chicago.

Part of the way through he revealed that he was Steiner-schooled and I doubt that this came as a surprise to anyone who was revelling in his genius. It was an amazing show and a really memorable experience.

Thanks Jemima.

From a new exhibition at Gaffa www.gaffa.com.au

I was taking a visitor around Sydney today and we went to one of my favourite galleries. They had a new exhibition by glass artists. Sometimes I should not walk into exhibitions like this. I just could not control myself. Who knows where I will put it!

Making this burnt out my old Bamix. Even if the recipe destructions say you must beat over heat for 4-5 minutes and then for a further 5-6 minutes away from heat, this still doesn’t over-ride the Bamix manufacturer’s destructions that you must not use it continuously for over 5 minutes. If you do, the magic smoke comes out and it is impossible to get it back in (thanks @greengecko29).

I bought my niece Alexis an illustrated copy of Peter and Wendy for her birthday and will give it to her tonight. I’ve written an abridged version of this inside the book for her:

In 2006, I visited the house where J.M. Barrie wrote Peter and Wendy (image above). I was trying to borrow a dagger once owned by T. E. Lawrence that was given to Kathleen Scott who was a sculptor. Her son, Wayland Hilton Young, second Baron Kennett owned the dagger and the house and had known Barrie when he was a small boy. He told me that Barrie had looked after Kathleen and Wayland’s older brother Peter in the house after the death of their father Captain Robert Falcon Scott in the Antarctic. Baron Kennett told me that Barrie had written Peter and Wendy in the house and as I looked out towards their backyard I could almost see fairies buzzing about in their trees.

Baron Kennet didn’t lend me the dagger for an exhibition in Australia as he thought it was too far away. My visit to the house and the stories I heard there I will never forget.

I mentioned buying two issues of Rouleur yesterday. I read more today and fell in love with this magazine. 

It is probably the best magazine I’ve bought in ages. I must have been hiding under a rock for the last several years while most of the first 20 issues became collectors’ items. The features, images, typography, paper and layout are magnificent. This issue has a beautiful feature on cycling photographer Bernard Thompson. 

I was out a lot today. Well, not as much as the Australian cricket team, but a lot nevertheless. 

I started back at the gym. It has been closed for the last two weeks so the weights can have a rest. As someone once said, all gyms are gay, but some are yet to admit it. As soon as I went in to the change room to put my things in a locker I was confronted by a naked man who seemed to be waiting for a comment from me about how well hung he is. I didn’t, it was too early for that. 

After that I just wandered around at the shops, first in the city and then in Newtown and Annandale. I did find a cover for my baby BBQ, but he still doesn’t have a gas bottle as there seems to have been a run on them recently. The city seemed full of shoppers, so who knows why the retailers are complaining about people shopping online. In some parts you could not move. I tried to get some foods at Broadway after walking back to my car from the city, but it was so full I drove into the carpark and straight out again.

I’m a magazine addict and purchased three today: the November 2010 issue of Wallpaper; and issues nineteen and twenty of Rouleur, a very stylish quarterly cycling magazine. Rouleur is a truly beautiful magazine. I love the layout, images and content. Wallpaper had a feature on the top 20 reasons to be in Australia and a very cute young man on the cover (Ben Waddell from The Men’s Division). The “reasons” were an odd mix: cosmetics containers (of course); designer tables; sandwiches, a bar, vintage bike hire and dessert degustation from Melbin; Tasmanian things (four in all); some fairly dull-looking clothes(!); jewellery (sadly, not designed by Ian Thorpe); modernist furniture; beers (of course); the Chrysler Valiant VG (oh FFS!); urban art projets; a Sidknee hair salon; wearehunted.com (at last a real reason!); and a fashion designer (zzzzzzzzz).

So @katejf has done it again and found me another out for this 12 day blog challenge. Here is my world travels map. Doesn’t look that exciting does it? There are a lot of repeat visits represented here too. Maybe I need to get out more.

create your own visited country map 

And here is my USA map. DC is in there but you can hardly see it. Lots of repeat visits here too and I’m heading back to Hawaii in mid-2011 for a holiday for about my squillionth time. I love it and would live there tomorrow if someone offered me a job there.

create your own personalized map of the USA