Rock n Roll Alt Markets November part 2

To pick up where I left off…

At the November Rock N Roll Markets at Tempe, I’d already seen a few groovy stalls, but the hot pink sign on the back of this marquee really grabbed my attention.

Atomic Jo’s sells fashion items such as lounge and bowling shirts, diner shirts, pencil skirts, belt buckles, mens & ladies t-shirts, and handbags. But also to be found are tiki mugs, dice jewellery, custom culture books, and other miscellanous products associated with the 1950’s/1960’s, trash culture, hot rods & rockabilly scenes. Even, erm, swizzle sticks?

There was a great assortment of tin boxes, ashtrays etc from the beloved but now defunct Nook Art.

But it’s the mugs that really take the cake!! Can you see  Magnum PI? And just LOADS of tiki ware.

I had a chat with the owners and they’re really cool people too. If you can’t pop into the markets you can always check out the Atomic Jo’s ebay shop.

The stalls began packing up so it was time to head inside for some beer and Rumjack action. And boy, did I get it!

I first saw the Rumjacks in action in Jan of this year at the Annandale – you may remember the Blood Sweat & Beers post, where I wrote about them: “An irish pogues/punk kind of band with killer gritty, gravelly vocals and a real driving force. I’d not seen them before, but the music was raw and infectious, and I danced my ass off”.  They played some awesome tunes, including a few Pogues covers complete with belty-voiced chick on vocals, and finished off with a Specials cover that won me over totally. I loves my ska! A lot of people had left the markets by the end, but there were still a bunch of us getting down:

You never know who you’re going to hear next (Backy Skank entertained me last time) – so it’s definitely worth coming for the music, as well as the market stalls and bargains to be had!

Address
Jets Sports Club, Holbeach Ave
Tempe, 2044

Opening Times
Third Sun of the month 11am–7pm (sometimes starting and ending a bit earlier)

The next market is on December 19th – and here’s the blurb:

Sydney Rock ‘n Roll & Alternative Market features a fabulous array of stalls: Vintage, Rock ‘n’ Roll, Burlesque, Ska and Alternative Clothing, Jewellery and Accessories, Record’s, CD’s, Collectables, Art, Comics, Candle makers, a Jumping Castle and a whole lot more. Food is available all day. Santa will also be arriving. Absolutely the best place to do your last minute Christmas shopping.

The December market also features live music from:

Pat Capocci Combo – One of the most energetic and entertaining live acts in the Rockabilly genre the Pat Capocci Combo is renowned across the country. Australian Rockabilly, wielded by the hands of Satan himself!

Mother Truckers – take you cruising down Route 66 directly towards the swamp and then head to Vegas with their stylish blend of raw rockabilly, stomping swamp and more.

Chickenstones – Stepping straight out of a sinister B grade western Chickenstones present their brand of horror country, swamp & rock ‘n roll. If you’ve lost at cards, cheated on your partner, drank like a mother, or been chased out of town they will offer you no redemption. Dance while they shoot at your feet.

Jarran Zen & the Blind Childrens Orchestra – will get your bones a rattlin’ and a jumpin’ with their own brand of hard hitting psychobilly.

Plus DJ Brian & M.C.s Wolfman Dan & the Rockabilly Rhino (Liquored Up & Lacquered Down)

Market Stalls are open from 11:00am – 4.30pm,
Music from 12.30pm – 6.00pm.

This is a FREE event!

Catch the market shuttle bus departing outside the Town Hall Hotel, Newtown every hour on the hour from 11am, or catch the 422 bus from Newtown Station, or take a 10 minute stroll from Wolli Creek or Tempe Train Stations.

See you there!

Rock n Roll Alternative Markets November

Boy, was it a busy day yesterday!! Firstly we had to stop into Kelly’s on King St for a roast dinner, then bus it to Tempe for the markets and the Rumjacks…and we ended up at the Botany View watching a punk band.

I enjoyed a refreshing alcohol and sugar free beverage whilst waiting for lunch in Kelly’s upstairs beer garden (and yes! the fringe is new):

The roast, was quite scrummy, although I could’ve done with less meat and would’ve preferred it thinly sliced. However, there is no doubt you get enough gravy and roast tates, pumpkin and carrot (and peas, but I don’t like them).

Thus fortified, we jumped on a bus to Tempe and hit the Rock n Roll markets.

The first stall I came to was personned by the lovely Safari Lee – also the name of her jewellery line! There was so much much to drool over here…skull rings and necklaces, gold and silver work, jewellery with rockabilly, punk and even steampunk motifs. She’s a local designer too, being based in the same building as Polymorph, on Enmore Road. I’ll do a separate post in the near future, but for now check out her website and see for yourself 🙂

      

Before tearing myself away, I saw that she was sharing her marquee with a friend selling secondhand gear. Well…I bought a gorgeous pair of Guess leopard slingbacks, complete with bling. Oh, they matched my outfit perfectly! And only $20 – you never know what you’ll find at the markets.

    

Moving on, I visited the stall of  Kitty Van Horne – and promptly bought the leopard military cap that the mannequin is wearing in this photo. Cool! Kitty is a burlesque and cabaret artist, with the accessories being a sideline at present – check out the Kitty Van Horne website for a sample of her performing work 🙂

There were also rack and racks galore of vintage dresses here and there; I didn’t get the name of this stall, but was most impressed with its categorising:

Next up is a great stall called Atomic Jo’s Trash Culture, and the Rumjacks gig…but that can wait for another post. Stay tuned…

The hunt for a Super Kawaii Mama

Well, I had a mission on Sunday afternoon: to search for and meet up with Candice De Ville, aka Super Kawaii Mama.

We were both going to be at the Rock ‘n Roll & Alternative Markets at Tempe – how hard could it be, right? Surely we’d both have our blogger-seeking missiles and radar set to ping? Hmm…

I’d somehow managed to miss the Rock ‘n Roll Markets, run by Barfly Promotions, last month, and this time I was determined not to. After all, so many of my friends had been to the last one and said it was amazing, with vintage and burlesque fashion stalls, Doppelganger Vintage hairstyling, cupcake stands, Deadbeat magazine stands and more.

This Saturday night I’d been up way late at a club, so was a little late in my preparations. I knew the music started around 2.30pm, and I wanted to catch at least some of it, especially Backy Skank, one of my fave aussie Ska bands. We arrived a little before 5pm, and unfortunately some of the stalls had begun closing…but many hadn’t!!  And so my hunt began…not only for Candice, but for cool threads and accessories.

Before long I saw the stall “Bexterity” and was immediately taken with these cute eyeball hairclips!

To the side of the stand my eye alighted upon 2 things…a groovy polkadot dress, and a hair/make-up artist doing make-overs. Of course, I had to snap some photos!

 

I also took some pics of the make-over…

 

Now, those amongst you who are Einsteins might be seeing something I totally missed…

But as I hadn’t yet seen Candice anywhere I continued my travels around the market precinct, buying a Deadbeat magazine here and saying hello to friends there.

A bit later we went inside and joined some more friends drinking in the TAB section. I kept my eye out, looking for that distinctive white streak in otherwise black hair…to no avail…

And then sometime after 8pm, I’d say, I went out to watch Backy Skank, who were awesome…and someone tapped me on the shoulder. CANDICE!! Super Kawaii Mama in the flesh!! Well, it was like we’d known each other for ages and we chatted excitedly, as I brought her to where my friends were and introduced everyone. Candice said she’d been at the Bexterity stand all day. “Oh no”, I said, “I must have been there when you were on your break”.

But I was wrong. Go back up the page and look at my photos again. Who is that you see, right behind my own face, in the Bexterity pics?

DOH!! Hand-forehead-staple.

Yes, Candice had been there all along and I’d taken some lovely photos of her at work, without even knowing it. How, you ask? I guess I just didn’t expect her there.  Anyway, we got a few snaps together; apologies for the poor quality (although she certainly still looks great!)

  

And so the hunt was over. Not too long after, the night was over, and I and my friends staggered out to Harrys Cafe De Wheels for a pie or chilli dog. The evening was not without further event, however.  Just after my chilli dog, I was most ignominiously humiliated when BOOM! I went down on my knees. No, I wasn’t that drunk. There was a bleeding great crack in the pavement. I should sue…

But like a brave little soldier, I picked myself up, dusted myself off, grabbed my husband’s arm and carefully caught the next taxi.