#so my hometown has a main street right? and my great grandfather was on the first town council & was active in the community

[helenofblackthorns]

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[albiclalepsza]

This is the most lukewarm take one can have but I absolutely despise Elon Musk. The man grinds my gears with every fucking thing he does and says, but the shit he pulled now is just so fucking atrocious.

This article does a pretty good job at summarizing it.

The fucking gall it takes to look at your social media platform, a breeeding ground for the alt-right and fascists, and say that it would stop the Holocaust. Holy shit.

And Margolin gifted him with a piece of Hamas rocket that hit Kibbutz Beeri. What a fucking joke. This shit is so performative. In the middle of a genocide that Israel is commiting, they parade the torment of their own people around. If they could get away with it they would probably carry the bodies of people killed on Oct. 7 around to aid their rhetoric. Not to add that if Palestinians wanted to do the same they could send rocket pieces to every single politician that remains complicit in this situation.

The rest of the article is here:

And like, all this happened after Musk visited Auschwitz. His platform is the main place to propagate antisemitism online, and he uses arguably the place where Jews suffered the most to pretend that that's not true. And of course when the topic of concentration camps comes up the narrative focuses on Jews, wich is obviously absolutely understandable - this was a genocide aimed at erasing them, and it destroyed so much Jewish culture. But like, 3 million Jews that died were from Poland. If you add the non-Jewish Poles to that number you get 6 million people dead over the course of the war, most of them killed by the very same Nazi death machine that perpetrated the Holocaust.

Holocaust is also a Polish national tragedy. It erased almost 20% of our population. We learn about it basically before we're conscious enough to understand it. The shadow of that hangs above the country, so much destruction, so many lives and so much culture erased.

A beautiful synagogue that stood in my hometown got demolished by the Nazis, along with the whole Jewish district of the town. Pretty much all Jews from my town were taken to camps or murdered on the streets. The atrocities were so common that there are memorials pretty much everywhere. And it all happened within living memory of course.

My grandmother and her sister almost got executed by the Nazis. They both managed to avoid that thankfully and are old, alive and well (my grandma's sister just celebrated her 99th birthday in good health). Pretty much everyone in Poland has had someone in their family killed by the Nazis or who fought the Nazis 2-4 generations ago. My great grandfathers all fought against them, one lost a leg during the war. The history of the Holocaust and Nazi terror is just so completely interwoven with the general history of Poland that the two are inseparable.

And it pisses me off so much that this weasel, this mistake of a man takes it and feigns an apology, making a farce out of our biggest national tragedy.

Even worse, Polish media is very polarized about the whole situation. Half of the articles ignore the atrocious things he said to suck that billionaire's dick and lick his boots. No mention of this asshole disrespecting our history, just saying how cool it is that the guy who won capitalism appeared in Poland. Fuck them.

Thankfully some newspapers retained a semblance of integrity and called him out. My two favorite ones are these:

Krytyka Polityczna made a headline that says:

Elon Musk in Auschwitz. Photobooth for the pro-Russian antisemite.

And I love the summarizing paragraph here.

"By claiming that if social media existed back then a genocide like the one in Auschwitz wouldn't have happened Elon Musk admits that he understands the Holocaust about as well as his own social media platform - X."

Great takes guys. No notes.

[bookaddict24-7]

FIRST CHAPTER CHALLENGE!

Happy Sunday everyone!

One of the big things I’m noticing as my ARC collection gets smaller and smaller is how much harder it is to let go of these books. Before the challenge truly got going, I went through the shelves and unhauled the ARCs that I immediately knew I wasn’t even going to attempt to read. Now, I’m in the deep with books I have held on to with the wild hopes of reading them one day. 

This complication makes it harder for me because of my attachment to these books, but it also makes it a little more interesting because it forces me to question why I kept them in the first place/why I never picked them up before if I was so adamant that I would read them one day. 

“Why,” I ask myself looking at those shelves, “why do I want to read them one day and not today?” Why did I not set goals for myself to read these books sooner rather than letting them collect dust and accumulate to an overwhelming level? This is something I’m still trying to figure out while on this long journey.

Well, let��s look at the books for this week!

A gentle reminder: Just because I’ve unhauled the books in this post and in future posts, it doesn’t mean that they’re books not worth reading. They’re just not right for me. This is more of an incentive for me to free up space and give these books better homes than my basement.

Also, there might be some spoilers. If you’re interested in reading these books, tread with care.

Read my original post and how I’m going about this challenge here.

Have any of you practiced this challenge this past week?

A Semi-Definitive List of Worst Nightmares by Krystal Sutherland

Decision: Unhauled

I received this book about two summers or so ago. I started reading it then because it was a book I had requested and though I made a bit of progress into the story, I was never truly hooked. It sat on my then TBR shelf in my room for months, if not over a year, until I moved all of my ARCs downstairs. I was contemplating re-reading the first chapter, but then I asked myself why when I had already tried and failed to read it the first time around. Sometimes it’s okay to just let go of that book that haunts you.

Synopsis: 

“Ever since Esther Solar’s grandfather met Death, her entire family has been doomed to suffer one great fear in their lifetime—a fear that will eventually lead each and every one of them to their graves. Take Esther’s father, for instance: He’s an agoraphobe who hasn’t left the basement in six years. Then there’s her twin brother, Eugene, whose fear of the dark goes far beyond the things that go bump in the night. And her mother, Rosemary, is absolutely terrified of bad luck.

As for Esther, she’s managed to escape the curse…so far. She doesn’t yet have a great fear because she avoids pretty much everything. Elevators, small spaces, crowds—anything that might trigger a phobia is off-limits and is meticulously recorded in her semi-definitive list of worst nightmares. 

Esther thinks she has it all figured out, until she’s reunited with an old elementary school classmate—and first crush—Jonah Smallwood. The encounter leaves her stranded at a bus stop and swindled out of her phone, all her cash, a Fruit Roll-Up she’d been saving, and her list—not to mention her dignity. But the theft is also the beginning of an unexpected friendship between the two, one that sends the pair on a journey of self-discovery as they try to break the curse that’s consumed Esther’s family. Together they face their greatest fears, one debilitating phobia at a time, only to discover the one fear they hadn’t counted on: love.”

Mark of the Thief by Jennifer A. Nielsen

Decision: Currently Reading

My first thought when I pulled this out of my TBR jar was “Oh no,” because I knew I kept this one for a reason. Much like my intro to this post, I admit that this is one of those books I should have read a while ago. This is a “one of these days” books. The moment I started reading the first chapter, I knew I wanted to read this. One chapter turned into two, and before I knew it, I was on chapter five. 

Synopsis: 

“When Nic, a slave in the mines outside of Rome, is forced to enter a sealed cavern containing the lost treasures of Julius Caesar, he finds much more than gold and gemstones: He discovers an ancient bulla, an amulet that belonged to the great Caesar and is filled with a magic once reserved for the Gods -- magic some Romans would kill for.

Now, with the deadly power of the bulla pulsing through his veins, Nic is determined to become free. But instead, he finds himself at the center of a ruthless conspiracy to overthrow the emperor and spark the Praetor War, a battle to destroy Rome from within. Traitors and spies lurk at every turn, each more desperate than the next to use Nic's newfound powers for their own dark purposes.

In a quest to stop the rebellion, save Rome, and secure his own freedom, Nic must harness the magic within himself and defeat the empire's most powerful and savage leaders.”

Tiffany Sly Lives Here Now by Dana L. Davis

Decision: Currently Reading

I received this book last summer and I was a big fan of the cover and the story because I love the whole idea of starting over in a new city/town with a long-lost relative. My two main excuses for not picking this up since the summer are that I’ve been in my weird reading funk, AND I will admit that this book got lost in the shelves behind other books--a massive downfall to having a large book collection and limited space. Anyway, because this is a topic I’m interested in, I did enjoy the first chapter and have decided to keep going. 

Synopsis: 

“For sixteen-year-old Tiffany Sly, life hasn’t been safe or normal for a while. Losing her mom to cancer has her a little bit traumatized and now she has to leave her hometown of Chicago to live with the biological dad she’s never known.

Anthony Stone is a rich man with four other daughters—and rules for every second of the day. Tiffany tries to make the best of things, but she doesn’t fit into her new luxurious, but super-strict, home—or get along with her standoffish sister London. The only thing that makes her new life even remotely bearable is the strange boy across the street. Marcus McKinney has had his own experiences with death, and the unexpected friendship that blossoms between them is the only thing that makes her feel grounded.

But Tiffany has a secret. Another man claims he’s Tiffany’s real dad—and she only has seven days before he shows up to demand a paternity test and the truth comes out. With her life about to fall apart all over again, Tiffany finds herself discovering unexpected truths about her father, her mother and herself, and realizing that maybe family is in the bonds you make—and that life means sometimes taking risks.”

Have you read any of these three books? What were your experiences with them?

I’ll be back next week with another three picks!

Happy reading!

[fgffbfghtr]

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[thereviewsarein]

After a run through eight cities in 11 days, The Reklaws, along with Jade Eagleson and East Adelaide wrapped up the Winter’s A Beach Tour with a stop in Oshawa, ON on Thursday night.

The chilly winter air outside did nothing to slow down the pumped up all-ages audience in The Music Hall on King Street East. And from the time the doors opened and the country music fans starting coming into the building, to the end of The Reklaws encore and the last waves goodbye, this was a great representation of what the up-and-coming levels of Canadian country music can do when they get the chance.

After introductions from Jerry, Carolyn, and Pete from KX96, East Adelaide was the first act of the night to take the stage. And with a collection of songs that got the crowd going, they continued their work of introducing themselves as one to watch on the scene.

Young Hearts In Old Cars, Heaven, and a sweet cover of Shawn Mendes’ Lost In Japan did a fantastic job of pumping up the Oshawa audience. And when the band played Back On and their first radio single, You Don’t Get To Love Me to close out the set, everyone had bought in. Mike and Andrew are seasoned musicians and entertainers, and with the support of their bandmates Thursday night they reinforced our belief that East Adelaide is ready for more.

We know the boys are getting ready to do some more writing, which will lead to more recording, and they’re itching to play shows all summer long. So when you see their name on the bill, get a ticket.

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Rising country star, Jade Eagleson was next to the stage, and this young man went all in. The smalltown boy and his guitar were centre stage and ready to go, and in eight songs, he left his mark.

We first saw Jade Eagleson on stage at Boots & Hearts where he won the Emerging Artist Showcase competition in 2017, and since then he’s only been getting stronger. As an entertainer, he looks more comfortable, as a singer he’s clearly finding his voice and his strengths, and as someone who loves to be on stage playing country music, he’s a natural.

Note: We aren’t guaranteeing anything here, but don’t be surprised if we see Eagleson’s name on the CCMA nomination list for the Rising Star Award in 2019.

The highlight of Eagleson’s set came at the end with his brand new single, Count The Ways and his first release (which has racked up nearly 9 million plays on YouTube alone), Got Your Name On It. It was fantastic to see people in the crowd singing along with his songs, and we’re sure will see it again.

We also have to give a nod though to the earlier part of the set that lead us to that point. Eagleson’s cover of Jake Owen’s Down To The Honky Tonk was a hit with the Oshawa crowd, and his rendition of Shania Twain’s Any Man Of Mine was a smash and remains one of our current favourite pieces of any country music set.

Jade Eagleson Setlist, Winter’s A Beach Tour, Oshawa

🏖️ It Ain’t My Fault 🏖️ Dirt On My Boots 🏖️ Any Man Of Mine 🏖️ Still Gonna Be You 🏖️ I Don’t Drink 🏖️ Down To The Honky Tonk 🏖️ Count The Ways 🏖️ Got Your Name On It

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Before the night’s main event we got maybe the most ridiculous and hilarious countdown video in our live show memory. And as the clock ticked down from 10 minutes to zero, the buzz in the room grew and the anticipation built for The Reklaws.

As CCMA winners, Juno nominees, hometown heroes, and now, tour headliners, it’s safe to say that Jenna and Stuart are on a roll. And as they finished up the Winter’s A Beach Tour on Thursday night, there was happiness in their voices, on their faces, and in the way the duo moved around the stage. The singing siblings played through their debut album, starting with Missing You and Raised On The Radio. They sounded great, the band was tight, the show was off to a good start, but what we saw on the floor was what made it a moment.

The all-ages crowd in Oshawa was singing along from the jump. Album cuts, not yet radio chart hits we on the lips of fans and pointed back at the stage. It was the kind of thing we’re used to seeing when headliners are on stage, and it should serve sign that The Reklaws are getting to that spot.

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The singing picked up from there, getting even louder for #1 single, Feels Like That and again for the one that put them on the map, Hometown Kids. And then we got a special little something when the duo covered Shallow, with Jenna’s voice taking over and wowing the crowd. We’ve seen the video of the track (and included it in our recent Awesome Country Covers post), but seeing it live as a nice surprise.

The set wrapped with a high energy medley that took us places we didn’t expect to go before they went all-in on Long Live The Night. But before the band could get off the stage the chants for one more song started ringing through the room.

The Reklaws came back out to the bright lights, and they delivered a sweet moment of appreciation for everything that has gone right for them, recognition that real life can be hard no matter who you are (as they paid tribute to their late grandfather), and love for the audience in front of them and all of the support they’ve been receiving from country music fans across Canada. They rolled from there into an encore that started with a dedication of John Denver’s Country Roads to their grandpa and a show-ending performance of the 2019 IIHF World Junior Championship on TSN theme song, Roots.

The Reklaws owned the attention of the fans in the room on Thursday night as they celebrated a successful tour that saw them headline in London, Toronto, Kitchener, Montreal, Ottawa, Kingston, Peterborough, and finally Oshawa.

We can’t wait to see what The Reklaws have up their sleeves for their next headlining tour! 

The Reklaws Setlist, Winter’s A Beach Tour, Oshawa

🏖️ Missing You 🏖️ Raised By The Radio 🏖️ Feels Like That 🏖️ Last Call 🏖️ Old Country Soul 🏖️ Hometown Kids 🏖️ Shallow 🏖️ Wish You Were Beer 🏖️ Medley: Let’s Get It Started // Umbrella // Stacey’s Mom // Party In The U.S.A. // All These Things That I’ve Done // Bang Bang // Mr. Brightside 🏖️ Long Live The Night ENCORE 🏖️ Country Roads 🏖️ Roots

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Winter’s A Beach Tour Playlist



The Reklaws Wrap Winter’s A Beach Tour in Oshawa! After a run through eight cities in 11 days, The Reklaws, along with Jade Eagleson and East Adelaide wrapped up the Winter's A Beach Tour with a stop in Oshawa, ON on Thursday night. 1,113 more words

[joseluisbenavides]

This exhibition of new works on view Nov. 1-Dec. 4, 2017 served as a culmination of a two month artist residency at The Overlook Place, Chicago in the rapidly gentrifying neighborhood of Logan Square. Raised in Logan Square myself, this show offered many emotional and psychic loops, using gifs, experimental video, photography and installation to honor the dead, as well as the sense of loss or mourning paralleled onto the gentrification and erasure of those signs and signifiers of the neighborhood’s Latinx history and population. To ask meaningful questions of our world and my shifting sense of home, I poetically respond to our ancestors calling from the grave, sharing in a mournful investigation into our immigrant family histories.

The above installation reflects a phrase found above a cemetery entrance in Mexico photographed by Amanda Cervantes (exhibition and residency collaborator) as she searched her great-grandmother’s missing grave site. The odd phrase, translated to English as “Welcome, you and I” begged us to ask who is the “I” speaking. Do the dead speak to us? And how? Also reflected in the glass of this installation as invitation, one can also sees the entrance of the Caribe Funeral Home across the street from the gallery/residency.

luigi · R.I.P.J.G.B. {{{M1X4TH3D34D}}}

In keeping with the theme of temporal and spatial loops, the DIY album cover art for the CD-Mixtapes “R.I.P.J.G.B M1X4TH3D3AD” I also designed, features an image of the threshold of the Caribe Funeral Home where my grandfather’s wake was held in 2011. From 2010-2013 I was managing editor of the music section of Gozamos.com, a local blog dedicated to Latinx art and culture. This mixtape logs by own mourning for my grandfather as well as an archive of my own music, early attempts at mixing and dj-ing, as well as some of the music I was reviewing then. Stacked next to the the entrance of the storefront gallery, these CD jewel cases, not only encapsulate nostalgia for long lost technologies, but also reflect an ancient Mexican pyramidal triangulations found duplicated in the “papel picado” or cut paper window, “Bienvenidos Tú y Yo” installation along the storefront windows. These invitations to the outside viewer, also serve as invocations from and to our ancestors.

The exhibition also features an altarpiece installation as an offering to my grandfather. The offering features a gif, “goodbye forever goodbye” mourning the demolition of Logan Square’s iconic Mega Mall, a hub of Latino business and commerce demolished from the rapidly gentrifying neighborhood I was raised in during from 1980s-2000s. The alter also has snippets of photography I captured over the years following my grandfather’s wake. Central to these images is a photograph I took the day of his wake, in the alley of Caribe Funeral Home.

This image set of a series of odd photographs I would take, without knowing exactly their purpose, an archival and photography practice, I would later unpack. These images depict findings around my home and daily paths, speaking to life, death and spiritual imagery found in Santeria which is also concerned with ancestor worship, through subtle associations with vivid colors, flowers, mirrors, and scrap metal strewn about the neighborhood and city. Those familiar with the coded meanings and symbols in Santeria might catch these signs, as my uncle, one of my grandfather’s nephews in Mexico City, who practices santeria, might indicate. Or my high school friends from Humboldt Park indicated to me as a youth. These signifiers are secret, powerful, and codes.

These fragments and specks of light speak to the fragmentation of memory, the fragmentation of our community due to gentrification and my own, personal homage to my grandfather, an immigrant laborer and factory worker who lost several fingers in a pinball factory in Chicago before bringing his family to the US. An assortment of found objects collected on the altarpiece, including a pile of pinballs, several sections of discarded pinball machines, and a vintage “Pinball Safety Manual” produced by the same Gotlieb Factory where my grandfather lost his fingers. These fragmented mechanical parts echo those severed digits and the cyclical relationship of pinball playing to digitality, movement and and nonlinear relations embodied in non-western relations to time.

The following text was read/performed at the opening night of the exhibition.

AMANDA & LUIS PRESENT: BIENVENIDOS TÚ Y YO

http://www.dimevents.com/amandaluis-

Interview and images by: Maria Efting

Bienvenidos Tú y Yo is a new exhibit from Chicago artists Amanda Cervantes and Jose Luis Benavides featured at The Overlook Place in Logan Square. Through the use of experimental photography, both artists take a look into their Mexican family histories.

How did the collaboration between the two of you begin?

LB: Well we started working together about a year and a half ago for my thesis work at UIC. I brought Amanda in to sort of reenact and embody a character in some video work that I was doing, and since then this [collaboration] came about because we saw the residency open call [at The Overlook Place]. And we applied.

Can you tell me about the themes and ideas behind the show?

AC: We approached this project kind of by accident. We applied initially with a different proposal but then we came into this space, and we realized that it was just across the street from where Luis’ grandfather’s service was. And so it went from there. I went to Mexico right after the initial meeting, and went to my father’s hometown, and there were just these themes of returning and cycles and looking back on the dead. Those were the themes we were wrestling with when we were thinking about this project.

I know this exhibit features a lot of experimental work, like installations and gifs – is that how you normally work or is this new for you? How did that choice come about?

LB: For the gifs specifically, I have made some before. I generally work in video but not gifs particularly. And installation is new for both of us. Actually photography is kind of new for me too.

AC: The main idea surrounding using my works were text and image, and primarily image based using film scans, and that’s something I’ve been working with before, so that’s something that’s very familiar to me.We have this entire space to sort of work with the curatorial process, which was new for us.

LB: I don’t generally work with too many found objects, and neither of us had worked with the design process of the window [installation at The Overlook]. But it was just like ‘we have this space, and it has scale, so let’s push ourselves.’

I know that The Overlook is adamant about featuring queer artists, women artists, and artists of color. What does it mean to you to be featured here opposed to somewhere else?

LB: Safety for sure.

AC: Yeah. I think that there’s a little bit of pressure when you're leaving school to kind of just like jump in right away and get residencies or get in these galleries in Chicago…but sometimes you feel like they have a certain brand, and we felt like we didn't really ascribe to that brand. Like this space in particular was very open to emerging artists. Artists that have graduated from school and basically just needed a space to work and to get started. This is a place that was basically like ‘we trust you and we want to hear what you have to say’ and that was something that was very important to us.

What do you hope people take away from this exhibit after they see it?

LB. Well you can take away the CD that I made! [laughs].

AC: I want people to take away how multifaceted the Latinx community is, and how our experience shapes us. I think that everybody has a different perspective and this is the perspective we are offering. There is no right or wrong way to be Latinx.

What’s next for both of you?

AC: I’m actually planning on continuing this project. I’m going to Mexico again hopefully in the near future. Part of this work is that I’m trying to find my great grandmother and I still haven't found her yet.

LB: I’m part of a group called the Illinois Deaths in Custody Project. We kind of do a lot of work with deaths in Illinois, in prisons, in institutions. We just got a small grant to continue our research. So I’m just going to dive into that. It’s important work to me and to all of us. I think I’ll also go back to my thesis work because a lot of things were left unfinished there which is great I think. Because even thinking about the theme of this show, and always returning back to the work that you've started…you should not be scared and think ‘oh it has to be done, I had this show and it's over,’….it’s not over.

[fadingfartconnoisseur]

The Changing Face of Perth – The Underrated City of Western Australia

There’s plenty of things to do in Perth, whose injection of culinary and artistic enterprise and heritage regeneration has allowed it to shake off its ‘boring’ status and become a go-to state capital city in Australia.

It is misunderstood because it is still largely undiscovered, mainly due to the fact it is often overlooked in favour of those heading to Melbourne and Sydney to begin their Australia adventures. With big developments being only a decade in the making, Perth’s attractions don’t live up to Melbourne and Sydney and it’s OK with that.

Perth has been stirring up its own unique vibe over the past two or three years, where it has come into its own as a cool urban city escape. Yet it has not developed too much, still leaving it with a touch of the wild and adventurous that Western Australia is known for.

Australia’s ‘Sunniest City’ (so-called as it has more hours of sunshine than any other in the country) welcomed me with a little rain but that didn’t dampen the enthusiasm for what has come to be listed as one of the world’s most livable cities. You’ll quickly see in Perth that many things have granted it this accolade.

There’s a ‘Sunset Coast’ of 19 beaches including the much-loved Cottesloe and Scarborough. It boasts a ferry route to the isle getaway of Rottnest Island, home to the adorable and infamous Quokka residents. The city’s fringes delicately harbour one of world’s largest inner-city parks – the Kings Park and Botanic Garden. Perth’s neighbourhoods are constantly expanding the urban cool and artistic offering, while all the while working on ways in which to reconcile the social, spiritual, cultural and historical significance of its aboriginal heritage with its modern growth.

Perth, whose flight path from London is four hours less than that of Sydney, should be firmly on your Australia travel radar.

If it doesn’t make the cut as a city from which you can easily begin a first trip to Australia and continue east, it should certainly form the basis for your second. Here’s a guide to Perth to show you why��

Perth Regeneration & Aboriginal Reconciliation

Things to see and do in Perth City Centre

No city trip is complete without exploring its many and sometime juxtaposed neighbourhoods, which is always my highlight – the subcultures that exist within an urban spree. Locals will eagerly throw out their favourite places and things to do in Perth, of which Fremantle and Leederville top the list, and maps are readily available for individual areas that are eager to show off their eateries, boutiques and artistic murals and outlets.

The Perth Central Business District (CBD) may just be standard corporate high-rise, which looks great from the air and the opposite side of the river in its steel and glass glory, but what is woven around it marks an interesting focus on regeneration.

One of the main things to do in Perth is witness its heritage in reconstruction.

Perth’s State Buildings in particular are the former government holdings once known as the Lands, Titles and Treasury buildings. After hefty investment for regeneration of these 140 year-old icons, they were lovingly restored as repurposed spaces for public use. What could have been lost has been put to good use, with boutique hotels, restaurants, bars, cafes, independent coffee shops and retail outlets where you can shop local from chocolatiers to clothing designers.

Aside from pursuing the wine bar and shop, alongside the bar which stocks craft beers from all over Australia as well as Gin and Tonic on tap, an afternoon was best spent dining in the city famed Petition Kitchen. Here, you dine in an iconic landmark while sampling some of the best local produce from seafood to seasoned fresh vegetables.

Elizabeth Quay is a 2.6 billion dollar waterfront development project with the aim of creating a huge outdoor space to reconnect the city with Swan River. This includes a huge promenade and the development of open squares. It will complement the 400 hectare Kings Park and Botanic Garden overlooking the city, classed as one of the world’s largest inner-city gardens. Like the garden, of which two-thirds is preserved as national bush land with native trails, Elizabeth Quay marks an import step towards the reconciliation of Aboriginal native rights of the Nyungar people.

Walter from Go Cultural Tours – a descendant of several Aboriginal tribal clans of the southwest region of Western Australia – provided a first-hand Aboriginal perspective into the traditional ownership of this land. This Aboriginal tour in Perth starts with a traditional welcome of the land of the Whadjuk people and stories of ancient Nyungar life where you learn that the and the city’s major roads and highways cover old hunting grounds, lakes and sacred sites that have existed for over 50,000 years.

It’s important to remember that Perth is not as new as one might like to think.

Perth’s Trendy and Emerging Neighbourhoods

Things to see and do in Northbridge and Leederville

Northbridge, the area nestled right behind the CBD, is the more youthful, and playful area of central Perth. Not only home to Perth’s Cultural Centre, including art galleries, a state library and a theatre, but it’s unkempt streets and street-art filled laneways are filled with tasty treats and arty rendezvous spots, reminding me a lot of Melbourne.

There’s hole in the wall cafes, one of which is home to the Museum of Perth (the smallest museum in the city) and people making simple eats like toasties incredibly hip (sample the cheesy-grilled choices of Toastface Grillah for proof).

Our introduction to Perth’s evolving food scene, hip bars and latest ventures, was with local foodie, Laura Moseley. There’s diners, international foods outlets, secret bars and a mini Chinatown full of budget dumpling houses – venues we otherwise would not have found on our own or thought to have hopped between so easily. The evening ended with sampling the best ice cream in the city at Chicho Gelato.

A local who wanted to highlight the more ‘outer-boroughs’ of Perth introduced Leederville to me. The younger, design hub of Leederville thrives on the artistic regeneration of its self-proclaimed “immigrant nostalgia architecture” built upon a melting pot of Italian, Chinese, Jewish, Greek and Macedonian heritage. The graffiti is cheekier, its coffee shops filled with young minds and bohemian youth and the area still retains an offbeat ‘only we know about this place’ vibe.

What to Do in Perth With Extra Time

Aside from beach hopping, of which Cottesole and Scarborough are top choices, those with extra time to spend exploring greater Perth can chose from a number of destinations. 

Perth Hills (45 minutes east of city) is full of bush trails and national parks, and the oldest Wine Region of Western Australia known as Swan Valley is just 25 minutes from the city. There’s also the southern suburbs of Mandurah and Rockingham – coastal chill areas, the latter of which I spent two days in visiting friends and enjoying the calm of suburban life.

Fremantle – The Stylish Sister City of Perth

Things to See and Do in Fremantle

Fremantle, on-trend with mixing the charming Gold Rush era old with the bohemian attitude new, is the number one hotspot of downtown Perth and deserving of its own acclaim. 20km south from the centre of Perth on the banks of the Swan River, you’ll find a 19th Century shipping heritage neighbourhood that repurposed all its old spaces and turned into a cosmopolitan historical port city.

A great introduction to the history, culture and quirky corners of the city is with local, Rusty Creighton from Two Feet & a Heartbeat who runs an insightful tour of Fremantle. I learnt that Freo is the place where you dine in reformed dockworkers’ cottages and warehouses, sleep in boutique hotels set in former sea cargo crates and brunch, market stroll and listen to live music in heritage hideouts (the largest collection of such buildings in Western Australia).

Highlights in Fremantle include the grandfather of all markets – the 1897 Victorian-era heritage building of Fremantle Market that is the area’s vibrant Friday-Sunday social affair with over 150 stalls. Hone in on the wonderful smells of the fresh produce and flowers and buy everything from souvenirs to antiques.

There’s also the B-Shed Markets in Victoria Quay (where you leave the mainland for Rottnest Island). Here you can shop and dine is a former cargo store that’s been around for nearly 100 years.

Then there is the National Hotel, once a shop and then a bank before being turned into a hotel in 1886. After being partially destroyed by fire in 1975, it underwent significant restoration in 2013 and re-opened as a modern bar and restaurant space, retaining its hold as one of the most historically important and most loved buildings in Fremantle.

Rusty also gave us a low down on the craft beer scene which has boomed here, with pubs like Sail and Anchor and Monk Kitchen sitting opposite one another. The star of the show is undoubtedly the Little Creatures Brewery at the Fishing Boat Harbour. This ‘open’ brewery with visible cellar door has been built within a huge converted boat shed, drawing in the hop-loving crowds and locals sampling their hometown brews.

No artistic hub is complete without the staple supply of coffee houses, a varying choice of good coffee in Fremantle found neatly aligned on the aptly named ‘Cappuccino Strip’ which is on the South Terrace (from Bannister Street to Fremantle Markets).

The local order is a ‘long mac topped up’, if you really want to fit in, with coffee from Dome, Salted Board, Dark Star and Milk Belly Café cited as being some of the best. The top brunch spot is the Attic whose hip wooden interior and picture perfect menu perfectly sums up the Fremantle spirit.

Visiting Perth deconstructs your misconceptions of a city that was once under developed and a city in the shadow of others throughout Australia. Just a few days here is all you need to see it an emergent hub and a pivotal jumping base from which to explore Western Australia (WA) – one of the most untouched and pristine regions in all of Australia.

Things to Know:

Hotels and Hostels in Perth:

The Alex Hotel in Perth is a creative space right in the very heart of the city and in walking distance to the creative highlights and foodie hangouts.

There are also many hostels in Perth – in the city centre, alongside ‘backpacker resorts’ and lodges with swimming pools hostels on popular coastal areas such as Cottesloe and Scarborough Beach.

Hotels and Hostels in Fremantle:

The Hougoumont Hotel Fremantle epitomises ‘affordable luxury’ and is a boutique hotel just five minutes walk from the ‘Cappuccino Strip’ and the very centre of everything. Named after the last convict ship that transported convicts to Australia and situated on Bannister Street, where those new arrivals began a new journey.

Fremantle YHA Prison is a place of long history – a modern hostel set within the World Heritage-listed former Fremantle Prison built in the 1850’s.

Getting Around Perth and Fremantle:

A CAT bus service (visitfremantle.com.au) and 25 minutes train from Perth. Tram tour, or easy to explore by foot.

Perth Luxury Tours specialise also in small, private customised tours including inner city, Fremantle, Kings Park, Swan Valley, Pinnacles and Margaret River.

Further Information on Planning a Trip to Perth:

Visit the Western Australia tourism website and VisitPerthCity.com specifically for city exploring and Perth’s surrounding neighbourhoods and sites.

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