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December gig guide – get yer bums out

Summer’s here. Get yer bums out. Matric exams are done, and although the last week or two of work is dragging on, the time to jol is now, before the Christmas family obligations drag you to the salad bar.

Music

Salty songstresses The Fishwives bring their blues-tinged chords and funk-fringed beats
back to Cape Town to sing their poetry and like sirens dash us against their rock. The
musically promiscuous trio of Lizzie Gaisford and Celery Burger on various strings and
keys with Strato Copteros on drums have been swimming around Eshowe in KZN with
Dave Starke, who joins them on this jaunt down south. They also have actress Karli Heine
joining the front row. You can be seduced by The Fishwives proper at the Alma Cafe in
Rosebank tonight, 29 November if you grab your R190 ticket fast fast and you can order
dinner if you get there before 7pm. Dave will also be playing, making it the Hyacinth Wild
when he does (Ja we don’t quite understand how this all works either – it’s a bit like
polyandry – but it’ll all become clear when you’re there, we’re sure).

If you miss them at the Alma, you can head down south and catch them in their more
fitting seaweed-soaked environment at the Soetwater Environmental Centre (near the
Slangkop lighthouse on the far side of Kommetjie) on Sunday 1 December. Again, they’ll
also morph into the Hyacinth Wild with Dave Stark but there’ll also be another band, The
Misty Cliffs
, who are Nick Turner on guitar and vocals, Nick Catto on bass and vocals, and
Matt Catto on drums and … vocals. It’s a family friendly gig starting at 3pm, with tickets at
R200. You can book on Quicket .

Then on Thursday 12 December, The Fishwives sirens Lizzie and Celery play solo gigs at The Commons in Muizenberg. The gig(s) start at 8pm and tickets are R150 on Quicket. The Commons is on the beachfront at that formerly scuzzy longboarding corner of the peninsula.

The band from Buffalo, New York, who wrote the hit single Iris, will be playing Kirstenbosch
Gardens
on Wednesday 4 December at 7pm. We always find it a bit weird to have rock,
and even alternative bands, playing among the plants, but even the Pixies went down well
under the stars, so the Goo Goo Dolls, who sound like they wrote the soundtrack to every
90s teen TV series ever, will surely be all good. Just Jinger (oof! that spelling) will be
warming up the crowd (should we ever forgive Ard Matthews for completely stuffing up the
SA anthem?). Eeenyway, the JJ’s strum their strings at 7pm and the Goo Goos get going
about an hour and a quarter later. Tickets aren’t cheap at around R1,000 on Webtickets,
but you can take your own picnic.

For arguably better music, which is not only more culturally pertinent but much, much
cheaper (like, free of charge), there’s Zoë Modiga drawing from the human experience,
identity and storytelling, to create a distinct, evolving African sound which you can hear at
the Silo Concert on Friday 6 December. If you haven’t heard of Zoë Modiga, perhaps you’ve heard of some of the musicians she’s played with, such as Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Johnny Clegg,
Abigail Kubeka, Thandiswa Mazwai, Simphiwe Dana, Madala Kunene, Louis Maholo,
Tshepo Tshola, and Wynton Marsalis. If you haven’t heard any of those, you should move
to Australia. Zoë plays from 7pm to 8pm there by the silos at the V&A Waterfront.

If Zoë Modiga is not your taste (soz) and you don’t have the cash for the Goo Goo Dolls,
you can spend R290 and shuffle to Watershed at the Biscuit Mill on Wednesday 4
December. Tickets on Quicket.

There’s also the Springbok Nude Girls and Hardwicke Circus playing at the Brass Bell on
Saturday 30 November at 5pm with tickets going for R250. Back in the day there was
always a band at the Bell on a Saturday afternoon and there’d always be a reprobate
falling off the wall into the ocean and a snoek braai and wine at someone’s commune in
the evening. If you were there back in the 90s you’ll remember Falling Mirror seemed to be
the house band when one of them managed to get the chemist to come around. Now you
have a shot of reliving a bit of that. We’re sure SNG will still rock. They’re Gen X ballies
after all.

Theatre

For lovers of things more cerebral, there’s the Live Art weekend billed as UNinhabitable
SPACES
at the Baxter’s Masambe Theatre, running from 5 to 7 December (don’t ask us
why the caps). Curated by the sincere and wonderful performance artist Carin Bester,
there’s five performances by different artists, including Karli Heine who’s also fronting for
the Fishwives this weekend (see under Music). Heine brings her show Die Potplant which
got good reviews at Woordfees earlier this year. Also putting on work is Joy Oosthuizen
and Lynette du Plessis with Plastic Not So Fantastic, Lungile Lallie and Liyema Speelman
with the art film I’m Trying to Not Kill Myself, Mmatumisang Motsisi and Tiffani Kayler
Dlamini with Above:Below, and Oupa Sibeko with a work the title of which is too long to
reproduce in full here. Tickets are going for between R100 and R150 and you can check
what is playing when and do the bookings on Webtickets.

For something completely different on the Baxter’s big Pam Golding stage, there’s Joltyd –
Through the Ages of Music,
which is a real festive season song and dance featuring the
likes of Loukman Adams. Expect razzmatazz and glitter and flashy lights and flashy
costumes and sing-a-longs and allround upbeat vaaibs. It runs right through January with
shows at 8pm and matinees at 2pm. Tickets range from R180 to R220 and you can buy
them on Webtickets.

There’s also Schalk Bezuidenhout’s Krismis Bonanza at the Baxter Studio, running from 3
– 21 December. Expect Schalkie as the elf wif a snor who brings you presents in the form
of other comedians/actors/singers/performers. You can undo the wrapping by buying a
ticket for R250 on Webtickets.

Of course it wouldn’t be December in Cape Town without Marc Lottering having his month-
long show at the Baxter. This time he’s with Alfred Adrian to bring out the laughs. On in the
concert hall until January with tickets at R250 from Webtickets . Shows are at 7pm with
3pm matinees.

At Theatre Arts in Observatory (cnr Milton and Wesley Streets), you should watch the
State of the Ape Address which is an acclaimed adaptation of Franz Kafka’s A Report to
the Academy
, which has received positive reviews from around Europe, where it has
toured. It is directed by Stanley Mambo, with Taddja Tawonga Nkhonjera playing the ape
Red Peter who was civilised and in addressing us, shows up our own barbarism and lack
of empathy for each other and all other species. Playing from 8 – 10 December at 8pm
except for the first one on the Sunday at 6pm.

Festivals

We do like Obs. The architecture of the houses reminds us of parts of Grahamstown when
it was good, and the main road is pretty much a permanent party. It also has great
community spirit and the people who live there are young or young-at-heart. For this
reason we will grudgingly put aside our well-watered dislike of AfrikaBurn and punt
Streetopia which is taking place on the main drag this Saturday, 30 November. There’ll be
drumming and dancing and various neo-hippie activities taking place in the street by
people who do AfrikaBurn and we’re sure if you smoke enough weed and/or drink enough
beer it’ll be a lot of fun.