The Fetch Blog

Curated reads and events for professionals

Tag: music

How Going To Coachella Became My Annual Self-Reflection — April 18, 2013

How Going To Coachella Became My Annual Self-Reflection

/Eliza

When I first began making the mid-April pilgrimage to the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival back in 2010, I had no idea that the festival would come to have a major impact on my life. As a lover of live music, I had dreamed about going to Coachella ever since first coming across my dream line-up of bands as a wee sixteen-year-old.  So when my freshman year of college rolled around and I finally had the opportunity to go, I jumped at the chance, and never looked back.

Each year that I’ve returned to Coachella I’ve learned new things about myself. I’ve experienced lessons in life, love and friendship, not to mention extreme heat, unexpected rainstorms, group dynamics, channeling creativity, managing expectations, being prepared, and most of all, having fun.

Every time I go to Coachella, the three days of the festival seem to be concurrently the longest and shortest days of the year. I try to take a moment, each time I wait in line to enter the campsite on the Thursday evening before the festivities begin, to appreciate where I am, and the joyful rumpus that I know is about to take place. I know that before I have the chance to blink I will be strapped into an airplane seat, dirty and tired, with six to eight hours of travel ahead of me. It is during this time that I am best able to reflect on the year that has led up to this moment, and think back through my years of previous Coachellas.

I’ll leave you with a few nuggets of wisdom that I have collected over the last four years. 

When it comes to getting out of your comfort zone, don’t let yourself make excuses. Go on adventures with the people that you love. You will never regret getting to know them better, and you will learn more about yourself in the process. It may come as a surprise, but you can always learn new things about yourself, if you take the time to do so. You can never be too prepared, and you will never regret time spent appreciating art and nature.

I may go back to Coachella next year, I may not, but I will be heading to Burning Man for the first time this August so I know one thing for sure: many more adventures await me.

Eliza is the newest member of The Fetch team. Find out more about her on Twitter or her blog. 

News: Amanda Palmer’s winning TED 2013 talk — March 2, 2013

News: Amanda Palmer’s winning TED 2013 talk

/Kate Kendall/3 Comments

Amanda Palmer has pretty much become a household name in crowdfunding – she raised over $1.1 million on Kickstarter (after asking for $100,000) to launch her new album. She’s just wrapped up speaking at this year’s TED conference in California, where the talk received rave reviews. She spoke about how her experience as a statue (aka street performer) was applicable to the future of the music industry. Ultimately, it’s about how we can connect with people in a way that allows them to help you. It’s the art of asking and letting.

The talk also encapsulate our explorer ethos at The Fetch with Amanda discussing her global roaming and couch surfing experiences.

Enjoy.

Event Review – Raw: Ensemble — October 1, 2012

Event Review – Raw: Ensemble

/Beck Waite

What: RAW Brisbane: Ensemble
Where: Oh Hello!
When: 26 September 2012
Reviewed by: Steph Dooris and Andrew Watt, Brisbane Ambassadors

Somewhere between the visual art, samba dance routine and fashion shows, Steph and I looked at each other and realised: what a crazy amount of diverse talent exists in the Brisbane arts scene.

RAW Artists is an independent arts organisation originally from the United States, but last month saw their first international showcase at Oh Hello in Fortitude Valley. With RAW’s fourth showcase in Brisbane, dubbed “Ensemble” the organisation is fast solidifying itself as the hub of Brisbane’s art community.

After both attending the launch of RAW last month, Steph and I were eager to get along to the second Brisbane showcase and check out the fresh batch of artist’s work on show. Yet again we were dazzled with a slew of visual art, photography, music, fashion, dance, hair and makeup that our city’s art scene is bursting at the seams with talent.

This time around we wanted to connect with more of the attendees, and hopefully suss out some juicy information from them. As we floated through Oh Hello! mingling with the crowd, drinks in our hand, we got chatting to some interesting personalities and decided to share their opinions with you.

Nicki and Linda (exhibitor)

Thoughts so far: I’m loving tonight so far! I can’t wait for the showcases to begin. We’re very excited.
Excited about: The work by the other designers on the runway. I can really relate to how excited they will be. So far tonight has been a lot of fun.

I’ve met a lot of fun people and there were lots of fun behind the scenes. Hair and make up was really great. But we’re really just excited for the show to start.

Brad, Sonya, Emma

First time? Yes
Discovered RAW through: Zanee, my sister, is one of the design exhibitors here. She’s awesome.
Excited about: I’m quite excited to see the bands. I’ve been told that they’re quite good.
Three words for tonight: Raw, energetic, Zanee

Aicha

Discovered RAW through: My friend, Megan Lumley, has art in tonight’s exhibit and she was like ‘Come along!’ So I thought OK because I haven’t seen her art before. But it’s really amazing and I’m really excited.

Everyone’s art tonight is really cool. I’m enjoying it a lot.
Inspired by: Damien Hirst. I love the skull he did that’s covered in diamonds! I really like him and he has really controversial artwork that I think are interesting.

Alex Gee (exhibitor)

Excited about: I really enjoy the photography, actually. I think I’m just attracted to photography in general and to see good work coming out of Brisbane is always exciting.
Inspired by: The studio that I work with inspires me every day. I work for Breeder, which is a part of another company called Josephmark. We’re doing really exciting things for a lot of really exciting clients, Myspace being one of them.
Points for: All of it. It all rocks.

Lauren

Discovered RAW through: I was here to visit Kahlia Litzow, one of the artists. I’m really glad I came because I’ve been introduced to so many other amazing people as well. It’s been great.
Inspired by: It’s sort of hard to say because I’m not really involved in the arty scene. But I have been looking at a lot of burlesque stuff so I guess that’s been inspiring me.
Points for: It’s nice to have a bar where you get spirits, you can’t really do that at other art exhibitions so that’s definitely a plus.

Jose and Jacob

Thoughts so far: Jose: The art is really nice. I really like it. And all the artists are really friendly as well, so its great. Jacob: I’ve really liked the art tonight. It’s very good. Really diverse, as well.
Excited by: Jose: I like Fleur‘s work. She’s my friend’s sister. It reminds me a lot of Agnes Cecile, which is good.

Jacob: My favourite would probably have to be the landscape photography.

Three words for tonight: Jose Indie, fashion, art. Jacob: Lively, inspired, art.

Rose

Thoughts so far: I think the fashion show is definitely the most exciting part of the night. I also love all the artwork as well. I think it’s really good to get young artists out there.
Inspired by: Everything in Brisbane. Everything and anything that looks good to my eyes, which in Brisbane there is a lot.
Three words for tonight: Really fucking awesome.

Andrew and Steph attended the Ensemble showcase courtesy of RAW Brisbane. The next RAW event is on the 24 of October at Oh Hello!

Hello Kat – our Melbourne curator — August 7, 2012

Hello Kat – our Melbourne curator

/Kate Kendall

So, it’s another good week at Fetch HQ. This time we welcome an added pair of city-event loving hands in Kat Loughrey. I met Kat at a community management workshop I hosted earlier in the year and have been impressed with her enthusiasm and super-organisation skills ever since. It feels great to now collaborate together and bring you all the best of  Melbourne. Stay tuned for more from Kat, but read on to discover more below:

How did you end up where you are today?

I’ve always been a curious and inquisitive person, and its that nature of mine that set me on this journey… from getting educated in Brisbane, completing undergrad in NSW, then to Japan for three exciting years of freelance writing, travel and teaching English. Upon my return to Australia, I moved to Melbourne to complete a Masters and get a ‘serious’ job. I realised that I was immensely interested in the digital space, new technologies and the emerging content-fuelled ‘Online Communications’ field, so after stints in government and music media, I eventually landed my current job with Victoria Racing Club. Now I can professionally combine my passion for digital, communications, content curation and social media while being involved with Australia’s most well-known racing event – the Melbourne Cup Carnival – and now also with Melbourne’s established yet ever-growing industry site, The Fetch.

What makes you tick? What makes you ick?

I thrive on exploring Melbourne for new happenings and “hotspots” across the digital industry and creative/art/music scenes, attending what I can with the aim of connecting with new people (and have a good time in the process!). Good music is also a massive ‘tick’ for me, as well as simple home-cooking, wine-tasting, tweeting, Googling, editing academic research, reading non-fiction, LOLdogs, live gigs & DJs, and singing loudly in my lounge room to 90s dance music.

On the flipside, ‘icks’ include ignorance, wastefulness, decisions that don’t help the greater good of people or the environment, and inconsiderate people on public transport. Oh and bad music!

Why do you love ‘fetchin?

I’m a hardcore information junkie, so as I already source my daily fix via the internet, social media, newspapers and more, so being involved with The Fetch will give me a chance to justify my obsession.

I love to share exciting events, places and fun things to do in Melbourne with my friends/networks, so I’m stoked to have the opportunity to share this now to a wider tech savvy and engaged community. Pay it forward I say…

What things excite you about our community right now?

Melbourne is a culturally vibrant and creative city, with always something enticing happening across digital, creative, art, music or environmental scenes.

There is an increased importance placed on “networking”, and this is proven with the ever-growing number of meet-ups available and coworking hubs for the digital/tech industries popping up, that enthusiasm for learning and meeting people in a non-pretentious or office environment is really exciting. The non-judgemental space for entrepreneurs to share their ideas with others is positive and valuable for the growth of the city as well. I am thoroughly enjoying the opportunities to engage with people outside of my field and gain new skills for my career. And the more I chat with people, the more I hear that I’m not alone on this point, so that’s great! Please feel free to invite me to events, we should never stop learning.

What’s your favourite thing about your city?

I love that there’s always something to do in Melbourne… a well as plenty of free events for all ages and numerous industry meetups, it’s simply fantastic. Add to this the long-list of fabulous restaurants, bars, clubs, live music venues, art galleries and more, and you have a stellar city to live in. Plus as with all Australian cities, there are close communities within all scenes, so you can easily see familiar faces if you’re active in your passions.

I’ve lived here six years and yet still feel like I haven’t scratched the surface… I have met many great people though while exploring!

Where can we find you in Melbourne?

Riding the tram to various destinations as I continue exploring this stellar city, observing the sights and the people out of the window.

If not, then at home tip-tapping away on projects online on my lappie listening to ABCJazz… and on the weekend, possibly on the dancefloor at one of Melbs’ underground clubs critiquing the DJ’s set with fellow music-loving friends …

How can we connect with you?

You can tweet me (@KatLoughrey) or email me (kat@thefetch.org). I’d love to hear from you!

Follow @thefetchmelb and ‘like’ us on Facebook to keep up with what’s happening in Melbourne. Please feel free to touch base and introduce yourself, I look forward meeting in person at a local upcoming event. Please also send me your event listings, cool jobs and links that you think the Melbs’ The Fetch community should know about!

Kat watching what appears to be sport – how Melbourne!

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