Uptown Jazz Wednesdays

My friends,Stacey & Caroline or as we like to call ourselve-Las Chicas del Musica Jazz- have taken to frequenting the Uptown Jazz bar on Brunswick St, Fitzroy to see a bebop band called Bop Stretch.
It also means we indulge in too much alcohol and have way too good a time. Oh, life is so difficult at times...

Uptown Jazz.. have yourself a boppin' good night

Boogie Nights and Drinks On Fire

The Monday morning after a splendid weekend- I didn't stop for anything!

Started the weekend having dinner with Stacey at her tres fabulous new studio apartment in Richmond. After a sumptuous dinner of atlantic salmon,mash and asparagus washed down with a bottle of sauv blanc, we frocked up and taxied it over to Tiki Lounge & Bar on Swan St, Richmond.  We were treated like royality all evening by the hosts,Dianne & David. The delectable barman,Sasha,made us fabulous drinks all night that didn't disappoint.

We started the night with a Zombie. No messing around. After a bottle of wine, it was time for drinks on fire!

Stacey & MM with the fab-a-licious classic Zombies

Good golly Miss Hollie! She was driving so only had a beer. The Zombie would have rendered her 'the walking dead' and a definite loss of license!

Caroline joined us shortly after and didn't take much convincing to order a Zombie. Sasha words her up on the history of this stupendous drink...

Some drinks even come with Di popping out the top!

Ch Ch Ch Ch Ch Ch Ch Ch- Cherry Bomb!  A Negroni after that and we are done!

The following night, a shindig was held at the Collingwood warehouse as a get together to wish Bags and Vix well on their trip to Japan which is happening this Thursday. A good gathering and good times were had...

Bags spinning the platters on the wheels of steel

Stacey with a Mai Tai getting on down with Pat

Vix and Bags boogalooing the night away

Dean and Simon get rock 'n' roll on your ass

Stace and Muzz are either dancing or chanting Hare Krishna

Big Q, Fi Fi and Andreas

Hollie on the floor with the 5 Seeds..

With the weekend all done with, I now have to head home after the unavoidable Monday to complete chores that didn't get a look at all weekend. Such is life....

El Centro De La Semana

Wearing red
Feeling flirty
Listening to Pavement's Crooked Rain,Crooked Rain
Tango starts again
Getting my hair done tonight

It's a good day.

An Early Christmas Present and Other Things

Was woken up by a text message from my friend,Gayle yesterday morning advising me that our friend,Cathryn had gone into early labor. Cathryn's wish last week of 'just wanting to get it out now' came true.

At 2.21pm yesterday afternoon, Ned William Shelley was born. I will see them today.

MM is an aunty again.

Congrats Cathryn and Steve. Another welcome addition to our group.

Friday night was a HUGE night for MM... started off at Stacey's with a classic Martini before heading to the work Christmas do to soak up the bar tab and scoff some mini food down. Once I did that, I high tailed it over to the Bella Bar at Trades Hall for the annual Merry Twistmas shindig which was big fun. I missed the Greasy Hawaiians but the DJed music was fantastic anyway. After that ended, we went to a party at my old place in Collingwood for more beer and boogie-ing. I was pretty smashed at the point and sat down for a wee kip on the sofa. At around 3.30am, my friend Andreas dropped me off in the city where I got on the night rider bus back to Newport. I got the driver to drop me off at the station to get my bike only to find it gone! Thanks to the fucktard that has stolen my means of transport at a time when I cannot afford to buy another one. I only hope my contents insurance covers this once I get a police report. I hope the little c*nt who took my bike chokes on his own vomit and dies a horrible death. Or was hit by a truck whilst cycling off on my stolen cycle.

Saturday was a write off. I got to bed at around 5am (the birds were tweeting as I crawled under the covers).
I think I surfaced at around midday and relocated to the couch where I didn't move for an hour. My hunger got the better of me so I made a humongous pot of spaghetti putanesca and chowed down on that for the afternoon whilst watching Larry Clark's Wassup Rockers. Slow story but great punk music soundtrack.
Saturday night I glued myself together to go to Northcote Social Club to see the Lime Spiders who were actually pretty bloody good. I had only a coke and water- there was no way I was imbibing that night!

Yesterday after sitting around in my jim jams most of the day watching Gidget movies on channel Go, I got dressed and met up with Stacey and Holly for some vietnamese food and a girly catch up. I was home by about 8.45. Sarah sat on her laptop chatting to guys on Oasis Active and I watched a couple of episodes of Weeds followed by Sex and the City.

Here we are again. This week is going to be one of madness with Christmas and us packing and moving. I guess we just have to roll with it. I'll just channel my inner Joan and coast through it with peace and cocktails.

That'll do it.

El Miercoles

Today provided me with;

• Winning the office trivia of a $50 Myer Voucher
• Being nominated by my manager for being 'customer focused' and winning another voucher worth $20
• Getting the house we applied for on Monday
• A box of Haigh's berry chocs from the luvverly Bob
• Two divine coffees from Brother Baba Budan
• My iPod which 'died' yesterday miraculously started working again.

When I get out of here tonight, I'm off to tango to hopefully get some good dancing in and catch up with my tango gals. Tomorrow, I have a day off to piss fart around before glamming up and heading to The Forum to see the amazing Royal Crown Revue- woo hoooooo!
Watch this space for gig revue and quite possibly photos-depending on how they turn out. I can at least put up one's of Miss Stacey and I looking muy guapa. (copy,paste,put into spanish translation tool).

After wanting to do draino shots, I'm glad the sunshine's coming through. I'm a lucky lady.

Thanks life...

Merry Twistmas!

Just got the email with the invitation attached for this year's 'Merry Twistmas' party that is thrown annually by Minister Anna - founder and dance instructor extrodinaire of Anna's Go Go Academy. Such a fun,well organised events and always well attended. We also have our work Christmas party on the same night so my plan is to first go to said work do, scull as many free drinks as I can slam down my gullet (along with a bunch of finger food) and then hot foot it over to Trades Hall at around 8.30. The Bella Bar is usually open till around 3am if memory serves so hopefully we will still be strolling,razzle dazzling and ponying till then!


As Anna herself says "good times!!!"

MoVember -Milonguita Style

Bob growing for the cause and me with my faux mo at Brother Baba Budan

MM chanelling Salvador Dali

The real Sal Dal

My first faux mo-The Casanova.

The Mexican Bandito Mo. "Hey Meester, can I buy your seester"?

In the name of men's health and good fun, I got into the spirit of MoVember.. I managed to raise $250 from fake moustache sales and gold coin donations for casual dress day.
Variety is the spice of life -as the old adage says- so I had a couple of 'tash changes throughout the day. I even went down to my favorite coffee shop with my friend,Bob (with a real tasharooni) and got some froth on my mo. One guy walked in to get his coffee fix, looked at me,smiled and said "Niiice!"

If a gal like me can get attention with a hairy upper lip, maybe there's hope for me after all.

Friday.. I'm In Love...

I'm wearing a moustache today. I look ridiculous but I don't care. I have encouraged our business unit to support Movember and I am backing it to the hilt. We went out and bought a heap of fake moustaches from the $2 shop and I'm selling them off for $3 a pop. Mixed reaction to it but a few people have got into the spirit of it. I think it's fun and hope more awareness is raised as well as funds for this very worthy cause. Speak up, menfolk,if you feel any sort of twinge that isn't right or if you are sad and confused. It's okay to do so. I'm wearing a moustache for you. Tonight is our fortnightly gathering of the 'girls who do cocktails and dinner'. One of us is newly single as of a week ago so we are now the 'single girls who do drinks and dinner'. We normally go to a different bar for drinks but she's still feeling out of it so we're going to her place. I'll make dinner and she'll mix the Old Fashioned's. Accompanied with bossa nova tunes on the record player (yes-vinyl people- for those under the age of 20- ask your mum and dad what they are)and good company, it should be a great night. My friend,Steve is starting a night at the Exford tonight and if I feel okay, I may drop in. He has sterling taste in music and it would be good to go out for a boogie. Tomorrow-the Hello Sailor vintage fair is happening at the Grace Darling hotel in Collingwood so I want to head down there to hopefully snaffle a few vintage goodies. I need a bit of jewellery and new belts. I am not allowed to buy any more shoes. I am on a self imposed shoe ban. I seriously own about 40 pairs including 7 pairs of tango shoes! Which is quite modest compared to a few tangueras I know. "Seven pairs? I mock you with your paltry amount of tango shoes!!" I'm wondering if my amiga Sabrina will need to add on a shoe wing to her new house in Maroubra that her and her novio recently purchased. So here we are again - fin de la semana-the weekend. Rest up,enjoy,eat,drink,love,dance,sleep and be safe.

La Fiesta de Hispanica

Las chicas con paella... The Uruguayan and The Aussie get up close and personal after snarfing an alfajore Sarah and Mags pose for a shot after food and sangria Sarah and Amanda snarfing yet more alfajores Sarah,Amanda and those alfajores... by god they are good. Booty shakin' action on stage The Johnston Street crowd at dusk

A Link To The World...

How special do I feel? I checked my gmail email last week and received an email with the subject 'Compliments on your blog'. I opened it to find the following email; Hi Milonguita, I just found your blog today. I have a project I am working on for a tango site, http://tangotix.com/. As one of our promotional tools we are planning to create a comical quiz about tango called something like "How big of a tango fan are you?". We are still working on the title... The style of your blog, and the way you write matches the style we are going for. I have been searching through A LOT of tango blogs, and they are all very lovely and some of them are written beautifully with a lot of detail and elegant prose, but for us, we would rather go for something catchy and funny to hold our quiz taker's attention. The way you write in your blog makes me think that you would be the perfect ally. We would like to find someone creative like you to write the quiz for us, and we could supply the graphics. We would definitely be able to give you credit on our website, and a link to your site from the quiz page, or even get you a discount to a Tango Show in B's A's. Feel free to let us know what you would be interested in. Let me know if you are at all interested in this fun little project. Hope the weather in nice in Melbourne! Lucy Ooh err! Colour me happy! I've been blogging on and off since 2004 more or less to entertain myself. I have received some compliments on my writings but sometimes you feel as if it's for naught. To be asked to write a quiz in my style is a great honour and a nice little ego massage for the Milonguita. I responded to her email with a resounding yes and have scrawled a few ideas which I will email back to her today. It doesn't mean cash (the offer of a free show is lovely but it would be better if it came with return flights to LA and BA) but the recognition of my blog is rather nice. Makes you feel your words are worth something. If you go here you can see my link! Call me Miles Davis and Louis Armstrong because this girl's blowing her own trumpet...

About Last Night...

I love Lloyd Cole. I do. His music is the cheese to my macaroni. If I was still of child bearing age and hadn't had my lady bits removed a year ago, I'd have his babies.

Yes Lloyd, I'm Ready To Be Heart Broken

Lloyd Cole tonight- finally!

He's playing at the Thornbury Theatre which I've heard is lovely. It's also giving me the opportunity to catch up with my friend,Tanya whom I literally haven't seen in ages. We have much to catch up on as well.

Checked Lloyd's weblog and he's posted his setlist for this evening-bless. No support act-complete Lloyd. All killer and no filler.

Here's his setlist for this evening's aural sex;

1.29

2.Tower of Song

3.Rattlesnakes

4.If I were a song

5. Pay for it

6. My Other life

7. Don't Look Back

8. Woman at a Bar

9.Butterfly

10 Late Night Early Town

11. Morning is Broken

12.Old Enough to Know Better

13. That Boy

14. Why I love Country Music

15. No Blue Skies

Interval

16.Are Your Ready to Be Heartbroken

17.Like Lovers Do

18. What's Wrong with this Picture

19. Cut Me Down

20. Broken Record

21.Trigger Happy

22. Music in a Foreign Language

23. Chinese Translation

24.Brand New Friend

25. No More Love Songs

26. Please Don't Tell me How he Story Ends

27.Lost Weekend

28. The Young Idealists

29. Perfect Skin

30. Unhappy Song

31. 2CV *

32. Undressed

Bring it on.

* This song title has been a mystery to me for 25 years. A 2cv is a model of Citroen and is short for 'deux chevaux vapeur' which is French for 'two steam horses'.

I only found this out today! Forgive my lack of car knowledge.

A Little Buenos Aires On A Saturday Night

"Buy me what I want or you lose an eye!" Eugenio y Fernando with la torta de cumpleanos Cake and sparklers La Milonguita con un copa de vino Malbec.. muy bien!

Sarah y Eugenio

My housemate, Sarah has just begun dating a man from Uruguay. It was his birthday on Saturday and he kindly invited us both to his birthday shindig which was held at El Gaucho Argentinean grill on Nicholson St, Nth Carlton. It was nice to be surrounded by Argentinos and South Americans in general again.

Sooo good to eat parrilla again! My bife de chorizo wasn't as good as I hoped it would be as it wasn't cooked 'a punto' (medium rare). I did try something that I didn't when I was in B's A's and that was the offal platter. It wasn't too bad but I found I couldn't eat that much of it and also tried the famous morcilla (blood sausage) which is actually quite tasty!

I was meant to meet up with other people at Yah Yah's in Collingwood to see The Shimmys final gig but I was having such a good time at El Gaucho, I sent a text and cancelled. The group of people were all so friendly and I was enjoying the conversation and natural warmth of the people there. I'll definatly go back there to try other cuts of meat and throw back a few more glasses of that fabulous Malbec...

Angelique Houtkamp-She's Baaaack!!

Oh yes! The queen of tattoo fabulous will be at Outre Gallery this weekend showcasing her new collection and book 'Tattoo Mystique'. I can't wait to see if I can meet her and get a pic of her looking at my tattoo that is HER design- I hope she loves it as much as I do-although I don't feel that is possible.