Magic Rob Universe is Awesome

The Canberra music scene is varied, cross-genre and free of scene hangers-on. No-one epitomises this better than Magic Rob Universe. Nowhere else in Australia would a band playing psychedelic prog rock inspired by fantasy and science fiction establish such a following and success.

Canberra music audiences aren't posers looking to be part of a scene (these types head to Sydney every weekend). They appreciate good music across all genres and embrace the unexpected - if it is quality.

Local musicians playing for the love of music have a variety of venues which embrace live local original tunes. This kind of environment nurtures musos who are willing to push the boundaries of creativity. And thus, Magic Rob Universe is born.

Lake Burley Griffin Cycle Loop Is Awesome

Canberra is a great place for bicycling. With separated bike paths covering most of the main routes and lanes on others, even inexperienced riders can enjoy it. The jewel in the recreational crown is the Burley Griffin loop which is split into 3 parts: the West, Central and East basins.

Start out with the low traffic and hidden East basin, a 9km route taking you through Kingston Foreshore, the Jerrabomberra wetlands and past Duntroon. There is still an on-road section to navigate here, but through the rest of the ride you can enjoy an open flat ride where the only intrusions are from livestock and occasional bike riders. The Jerrabomberra wetlands portion of this ride is great fun and its proximity to the coffee strips of Manuka and Kingston makes it an ideal start/finish to a greater ride. Make a detour to the Old Bus Depot Markets if you are here on a Sunday.

The central basin 4km loop takes you past the architectural delights of the Parliamentary triangle and the natural beauty of Commonwealth park. Be wary of pedestrians on this loop, tourists congregate on the Parliamentary triangle side and near Regatta point. If you travel near peak hour, you will also find the substantial portion of Canberrans who cycle to work and pass through here. But just cruise slow and enjoy the scenery. If you time it right the Carillon will play you some tunes while you pass. Take a side trip into one of the national institutions here, the National Gallery comes highly recommended.

The west basin is a wilder 16km loop that takes you out most of the way to Stromlo to really stretch your legs. There are even a few hills on the route that will have you gasping for air - both as you climb and as you enjoy the view at the top. The North side of this route starts by testing your legs up a short sharp climb past the National Museum before settling into the pretty space between Black Mountain and the lake itself. You'll pass the National Arboretum (well worth a side trip but beware of the hills) and add couple of other rises to disturb your rhythm. The National Zoo & Aquarium is another easy sidetrip before you cross the Scrivener Dam where you can appreciate the engineering that went into making the lake and thus this ride possible. You'll then pass through the glorious forests that give you shelter from the sun and make this ride something special. The ride tames down from here, passing the yacht club and other incursions into the wild of the west. The cobblestones outside the Nara peace park are as close as Canberra gets to Paris-Roubaix but the glimpse of pagodas makes for a nice finish to the ride.

Even if you don't like cycling, you'll like the Lake Burley Griffin loop.

How to follow the loops: Take one of these, or just follow the lake and keep going!

Enlighten is Awesome

Enlighten started life 3 years ago as a daggy excuse to put on a bunch of geriatric ex-rock stars and attract grey nomads. It was exclusive event, fencing out parts of the public lakeside space. And it flopped badly, with only a couple of thousand interstate visitors.

Since then, it has been completely reborn.

It has now become a mostly free (ticketed to some larger items) festival based around the parliamentary triangle's fantastic architecture. With 3 stages of free, local live music and other performers as well as roving entertainment, Enlighten has broken free of its ignominious beginning. Plus, the architectural projections are freaking sweet!

On the first weekend a chilly wind cut down the crowd to the brave and/or stupid, but by the end word had spread and the triangle was buzzing. It is rare to find an event which truly appeals to all ages, but the crowd encompassed geriatrics, hipsters, families and everyone in between.

The music matched this, with jazz in the NLA, indie bands at Walt & Mazz, gypsy folk at the NGA, more indie bands (or performance hairdressers) at a pop-up in the centre or an Aboriginal showcase by the portrait gallery. The roving performers were another highlight - I want to ride one of those pedal powered glowfish round the lake one day!

Unfortunately the entertainment did seem to stop by 10pm. But it was great while it lasted!

When? Annually in March

How Awesome? 9 out of 10

Canberra has Awesome Media : The Riot Act

A city's media landscape reflects the qualities of its people. In Canberra, the only local dead-tree newspaper is the Canberra Times, which is under the Fairfax umbrella and is pretty much just a rebranded Sydney Morning Herald. It isn't actively horrible like a News Limited paper, but just irrelevant to the city. In most smaller cities like Canberra, that would be all.

But Canberra isn't like most cities. With a young technology literate populace and none of the historical inertia that clogs innovation Canberra wanted something better. So Johnboy started the Riot Act. 

The Riot Act is a hyperlocal news source founded in 2000 that encompasses comment from locals on basically anything that is relevant to them. Like a proto-Reddit but more heavily moderated, professional and with relevant stories instead of cat pictures. It has grown from a local start-up to a similar audience share as established newspaper based websites. 

This makes it a great source for information on what has happened and is going to happen around town. A user compiled whats on guide each weekend covers much that is awesome. Somehow the culture hasn't yet spread to the other capitals, so the Riot Act local media mentality remains peculiar to Canberra. Local celebrities and politicians lurk in the comments section, given equal weight to Joe from the street. Such a democratic institution in the home of Australia's democracy - beautiful in its own way. 

The Riot Act is a Canberra media icon and should be your 2nd source (after this blog of course) for local news. 

Just ignore the comments on any story related to cycling...

Canberra Is Awesome and You Are Here

The You Are Here Festival was pretty much the inspiration for this blog. So much awesome, so little time. But what is it?

You Are Here is an experimental multi-arts festival that has taken place in March each year since its inception in 2011. But this isn't your Grandma's art full of dull landscape paintings by dead guys. You Are Here takes most definitions of art and throws them into a cannon. The cannon is then loaded with rocket fuel and fired directly at the Easter Bunny. Why? Because it can.

A few examples of the crazy and inexplicably brilliant things You Are Here did this year were:

• Combining poker and competitive eating while exposing the similarities between them
• A live mixtape with 8 Canberra bands each playing a single song
• Turning a Civic laneway into a Christmas party in March complete with battling Santas and a high school beep test
• Recutting 20s silent films and adding a live soundtrack to turn them into something entirely different
• Combining manicures with audio theatre works
• More experimental theatre than you can shake a stick at in abandoned shopfronts, pubs, bus interchanges and carparks

With over 110 different events happening through 10 days, on the few nights I didn't go out to You Are Here, I felt that I had missed out. Being a young and experimental festival, You Are Here is still developing. Like much of Canberra's awesome it is not slick and shiny, but more importantly intriguing and challenging.

With theatre, dance, static installations, zines, poetry, video clips, talks and more live music than you can shake a stick at there is something for everyone at You Are Here. In fact if you can't find something interesting in You Are Here, you should probably stop reading this blog. Go do some burnouts or something.

Unfortunately, you have just missed You Are Here for this year. But the festival puts lots of highlights on their Vimeo channel so head over there, get a feel for it and book it in for next year. I'll cover You Are Here in more specifics in the lead-up to next year's festival.

When: Annually in March

How Awesome?: It goes up to 11

Canberra Is Awesome : About this blog

Canberra is awesome.

This may be the first time that sentence has been uttered, based on the reputation Canberra has throughout Australia. Canberra-bashing is even in the Oxford National Dictionary.

But like a metaphorical ugly duckling, Canberra is blossoming into a freaking awesome swan. The rest of the country don't see it happening, but over the past 10 years Canberra has been evolving an underground cultural scene that can compete with anywhere else. Canberra is no longer just the home of fireworks, porn and the public service, but instead arts festivals, poetry slams and original music. .

However, this change hasn't been noticed by most Canberrans. Most residents will look at you like someone with a speech disorder for mentioning You Are Here. Despite arguably the best hyperlocal alternative media outlets of any Australian city and a Fairfax local paper, the general populace is still ignorant of the great stuff that is on their doorstep. Ex-pats from other cities believe the reputation and don't dig deep enough to find the gold. Locals eventually parrot the "Canberra is boring" line, becoming self-fulfilling prophecies.

Canberra Is Awesome's mission is to change that. To show Canberra and the world all the great things going on in the nation's capital.