Howdy everyone and happy new year.

It is a hectic time here at Robot HQ. In November & December I made an action packed trip to Japan to check out the Moon Eyes Custom Show in Yokohama and to get a top up of Japanese rockabilly. Japan was just coming into winter and was freeeeeezing. The Moon Eyes show was amazing, more on that later.

Just one day after arriving back in Brisbane in the middle of a heat wave, I was hosting the Rockabilly Xmas Party with Pat Capocci and friends, what a blast that was. December has been busy working with rockin’ bands from all around Oz who are planning their shows for next year, so you can expect a-thrill-a-month of live rockabilly in Brisbane from now until GreazeFest.

The GreazeFest is just seven months away (Jul 31 to Aug 2) and this year will be the tenth anniversary of your favourite kustom weekend, so we have some exciting plans to help you celebrate.

Let’s get into the latest Roundup:

+ Swing vs Rockabilly Jan 17
+ Twilight Hot Rod Show Jan 25
+ Rockabilly Xmas Party Pix
+ Out of The Valley CD Launch Feb 21
+ Rockabilly Rules in Japan OK
+ GreazeFest Is Go
+ News from the Street

Sat Jan 17 ~ Rockabilly vs Swing

The first gig for 2009 will be the Rockabilly vs Swing night, coming up on Saturday January 17 at The Troubadour.

Melbourne’s gangster swing act Frankie Wants Out is skipping M-Town and heading up to Brisbane to launch their debut album ‘Prohibition’. Frankie Wants Out is a nine piece swing band playing original, red hot tunes guaranteed to make you jump about the room, regardless of whether you’re in a rocking pub or a classy lounge like the Trouby. Forming in September 2005, Frankie Wants Out is heavily influenced by the music of the New York dance halls of the 20’s and 30’s but with a modern impact from acts such as Royal Crown Revue and Big Bad Voodoo Daddy.

Rockabilly fans can expect just as much energy from the intergalactic Men Into Space and the hot rod rockin’ Ten Fours, starring their new bass player 'The Reverend T. Bone'.  You can get all this entertainment, plus rockin’ tunes from DJ Lori Lee, served to you on a platter for just $15.

Rockabilly vs Swing
Frankie Wants Out, Men Into Space, The Ten Fours, DJ Lori Lee
Saturday January 17, 2009
The Troubadour, Brunswick St Mall, Fortitude Valley
$15, over 18s only, tickets at the door

Watch Frankie Wants Out video at www.robot.com.au

Sun Jan 25 ~ Twilight Hot Rod Show

Also coming up in January is the second annual Twilight Hot Rod Show, being held on Sunday January 25, over the Australia Day Weekend.

The Twilight Hot Rod Show runs from 3pm to 9pm. The show is designed for you to check out the hot rods and great music in the cool of the afternoon, under the fig trees next to the river at Souths Leagues Club at West End (home of the GreazeFest).

All kustom kulture vehicles are welcome and if you own a rusty or shiny FX, FJ, FB, EK, FC, FE, EJ or EH Holden, (don’t forget the Valiants and Aussie built Fords and Chryslers) the Australia Day weekend is the time to dust it off and acknowledge our Aussie motoring heritage. 

Performing at the Twilight Hot Rod Show will be Warren Earl & The Atomic Rockers; Doug Wilshire & The Tailspinners plus the return of The Spring Hillbillies. 

The Twilight Hot Rod Show is designed for all types of weather. The live music will be held in the downstairs bar at Souths Leagues Club. There’ll be a barbeque sizzling in the courtyard and cold beers served at the bar. The venue will be opened up from front to back and cars will be on display both on the river side and the oval side of Souths. There’ll also be market stalls, so bring a spare lobster for some cool merch.

Driver entrants are $10, patrons are $12 and under 16s are free.

Please note that under-18s are welcome, but they’ll need a parent or guardian with them to enter the licensed clubhouse.

Twilight Hot Rod Show
Sunday January 25 ~ 3pm to 9pm
Warren Earl & The Atomic Rockers,
Doug Wilshire & The Tailspinners,
The Spring Hillbillies.
Drivers $10, patrons $12, under 16s free
www.robot.com.au/twilight.htm

Out of The Valley CD Launch 

Sydney Rockers Return on Feb 21

The venue for the Rockabilly Xmas Party was a hit with the audience for many reasons. Some like the large timber dance floor, some like the parking and ease of access, some the cheap beer prices and the indoor-outdoor effect.

Whatever your reason, make sure you come along to the next gig at the club, which happens to be called ‘Out of the Valley’, the title of the new joint effort cd between the Pat Capocci Combo and Danny & The Cosmic Tremors.

The idea behind the ‘Out of the Valley’ cd was pretty simple. They all play in each other’s bands, so all the boys headed to Preston Studios in Melbourne to record a duel cd with both bands. The cd also features special guests Ezzy Lee on piano and Dave Cantrell on steel and the recording was produced by the legendary Graeme Thomas.

Both bands are touring the country to launch the cd and your chance to catch them in Brisbane is February 21 at the Holland Park Bowls Club, Abbotsleigh St, Holland Park. Start time is early – 7.30pm to be precise – as the music has to wrap up by 11.30pm due to the residential location.

The night will be a three set affair by – one lead by Pat, one lead by Danny and one lead by Ezzy.  It is set to be a full tilt night of top notch rockabilly. Tickets will be limited to 150 to keep within the capacity of the venue and they’ll be on sale shortly.

Check the photos of Pat, Danny and friends at the Xmas Party here: www.robot.com.au

Out of The Valley CD Launch
Pat Capocci Combo | Danny & The Cosmic Tremors | Ezzy Lee
Holland Park Bowls Club
February 21, 7.30pm – 11.30pm
Tickets on sale soon.

Rockabilly Rules in Japan OK
 

Lori Lee checks out the Moon Eyes Hot Rod Show and the rockabilly haunts in Japan....

In 2007 I made my first visit to Japan and was totally blown away by the people and their countless range of sub-cultures. Of course the rockabilly scene is of particular interest both to me (and you).

The Japanese cats are into the same music as we are and they have many ways of expressing their love of rockabilly and all things vintage Americana. If you didn’t catch last year’s review, please read my Cool Cats Rock Tokyo blog here www.robot.com.au/Japan_Rockabilly.htm to come up to speed.

All I wanted after that visit was get back to Japan as soon as possible to witness their kustom auto scene.

Even though I’d like to, I don’t know the Japanese language, my vocab had grown from six words last year to about eight this year. Each day I was determined to learn a new word or two, but it simply didn’t work out that way. That’s what makes the trip an adventure, the challenge of getting through each day without speaking any English. Pocket translation guides are of some help, but it makes communicating slow and complicated, when everything in Japan is fast paced. Surprisingly the rockabilly dudes in clubs and shops speak very little English, other than obvious words such as ‘Elvis’. Even though we tap into the same 1950s culture, not being able to talk about it felt very weird. You can imagine me trying to explain to a Japanese rocker, my name is Lori Lee (rory-ree) & I come from a rockabilly festival in Australia called GreazeFest (glee-say-fust).
 
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Read the full story on the Robot web site, complete with photos, movies and links: www.robot.com.au/Japan_Rockabilly_2008.htm

GreazeFest Gets Set

With the arrival of the new year means that GreazeFest is a little over six months away (yikes!!). This may seem like a while, but believe me it will fly past quickly.
 

This year marks the tenth anniversary of the GreazeFest Kustom Kulture Festival and we are thrilled to ackowledge this milestone.  

The dates for 2009 are:

- Friday July 31 
- Saturday August 1
- Sunday August 2

There’ll also be a big pre-party on Thursday July 30, so may I suggest putting in an early request for Friday and Monday off work?!

Venue: The location for GreazeFest 2009 will be Souths Leagues Club and Davies Park at West End.

Where to stay: There are details of various accommodation options close to the GreazeFest site here www.greazefest.com/accomm.htm so you can easily book your accommodation. You could also nap yourself some cheap flights, as the airlines are keen for your business this year.

Performers: If you are in a band, now is the time to submit your application for GreazeFest 2009. The form on the web site is open 24/7. www.greazefest.com/bands.htm 

If you have played GreazeFest before, or applied and missed out, please reapply, it will only take you five minutes.

Vendors, stall applications will be accepted shortly, please keep an eye on the Roundup, or the GreazeFest web site.

Suggestions: Greazers, if you have a favourite band you’d like to see at GreazeFest, or an idea to improve the festival, please email me. All input from GreazeFest patrons, positive or negative, is always welcome.

Cars'n'bikes: The Hot Rod Show for GreazeFest 2009 will be held at Davies Park, Jane Street, West End. The rough guide to GreazeFest states the show is open to pre-1970 iron, including hot rods, kustoms, daily drivers, rats, led sleds, stockers, vintage bikes, bobbers, lowrider cycles and all types of fins and chrome. If you need more of an insight into what cars are welcome, just check out the pix on the GreazeFest web site.

If you have any GreazeFest queries, drop me a line, or check out the FAQ on the web site. I’ll be back in touch with more news as the pages on the calendar flip by.

www.greazefest.com.au 

News From The Street

Rockabilly Radio – 94.7FM Coral Coast Community Radio in Bundaberg has a new rockabilly show put together by Spud, who is fanatical about rockabilly music. He lines up all sorts of rockin’ tunes from local Aussie stuff to the US and Euro billy tunes too. The show is on Monday nights from 6pm to 8pm and the station now streams on the web, you can find it here: www.coralcoastradio.net.au

Honor Lulu – in Fortitude Valley is up for sale. For details contact Lolly at Honor Lulu, at www.myspace.com/honorlulu

Wes Pudsey & The Sonic Aces – in their own words have ‘got their asses into gear’ and released recordings from Tail Records in Sweden from 9 years ago. "The European Sessions" is available now from their web page for just $15: www.sonicaces.com

The Stray Cats - I hope you all have your tickets for either of the Stray Cats concerts in Brisbane. It's been a long time between drinks for any visit to Australia, but I'm sure these cats will still blow the roof off the venue. Anyone know who is supporting...? 

TCB Magazine - have released issue 'Lucky 7' and it's available on their web site here: www.tcbmagazine.com.au . By the way, set aside Sunday March 1 for the upcoming TCB Party at The Broadway Hotel in Woolloongabba.  More details in the next Roundup.
 

Robot Gig Calendar:
 
Sat Jan 17 - Rockabilly vs Swing | The Troubadour
Sun Jan 25 - Twilight Hot Rod Show | Souths
Sat Feb 21 - Out of the Valley cd Launch | Holland Park Bowls Club
Sat Mar 14 - Rocket to Memphis cd launch | The Troubadour
Sat May 2 - The Vaudevillains cd launch | The Step Inn
Fri Jul 31 - Sun Aug 2 - GreazeFest Kustom Kulture Festival 10th Anniversary

That's the Roundup for this issue.

Make sure you read the full Japan blog and watch the youtube movie, I've put it there for your enjoyment: www.robot.com.au/Japan_Rockabilly_2008.htm

See y'all real soon.
  

Lori Lee o-[*_*]-o
www.robot.com.au | www.greazefest.com

The Robot Roundup is a free e-newsletter from Lori Lee for all GreazeFest and Roundup subscribers. If you no longer wish to receive this email, use the let us know link below. If you want to share this information with your pals simply use the forward to a friend option at the end of this message. If you want to publish any of this information, you must first seek permission from Robot International.