FCT #11: the phoenix

Ah, The Phoenix. A genuine Canberra institution. And as Slim points out, one of the few places in town that hasn't benefited from the smoking ban. But the stench of 16 years worth of beer and bad plumbing isn't enough to keep the Canberrans away. 

I have so many memories of The Phoeno, all embalmed in teenage nostalgia. Oh how we drank! Oh how we danced! Oh how we loved (a good drama)! It must have been a baby of a venue back then but I have no memory of its birth. It's one of those places that seems always to have been there.

I've been back regularly since my return to the Can and not much has changed. In fact I'd be willing to bet that some of the regulars are still regular, just slightly more weatherbeaten. Last night was a special return though - my first real Phoenix gig and the first gig I've ever braved on my own. A Favourite Canberra Thing coupled with a Favourite Clairey Thing - bravery! I've always wanted to sidle into a show on my own. Hang back with a beer in hand and feel at home, alone among the masses. Many male friends do it regularly, so what's the big deal? Why is it so intimidating? Last night I gave intimidation a swift kick in the nuts and got on with it.

How could I not? 

Mikelangelo was playing. And I luuuuurrrrrrve Mikelangelo. A man who, in his own words, sings like a nightingale and moves like a bull.  

So in I sidled.

Boys in three piece suits, girls with feathers in their hair, great hair, knee-hi's, trucker caps and tight tees. Oldies, newies. Cool kids, middle-aged dorks. A guy with a remarkably high pot belly, and a bottle of milk, who later engaged in the strangest dancing I've seen in a long time. Not many people noticeably on their own, but one or two boys perhaps.

The gig was awesome. The cabaret-western-surf genre bending just worked. The cowboy shirts were pure polyester. The band were consummate professionals. Saint Clare was stunning and sequined and got into some amazing go go dancing. Mikel gave me (and okay, half the rest of the audience) the eye. Swoon.

It was a damn fine night.