If you were wondering why our previous installment of 'Most Anticipated Album Releases of 2012' didn't feature any local acts... there was a reason for that. We have debated, deliberated and pulled many strands of hair in wishing that more could be included in the list. However, the following native heroes made the cut... in no particular order:

Many of you will probably have heard of this project by now, and it is certainly a remarkable proposition; Rewiggled: A Tribute to the Wiggles gathers together twenty of Australia’s most popular artists from the last ten years and has each of them tackle a song from the catalogue of the world’s most popular children’s group.

Attending a Finn brothers tribute concert guarantees a number of things. Firstly you are going to know all the songs; all killer, no filler. Secondly, your mum is either going to be jealous, or sitting next to you. And finally, you’re going to leave feeling quite patriotic in a Crowded-House-were-pretty-much-Australian kind of way.

In 1990, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds released a song that within 11 years was voted one of the Top 30 Best Australian Songs of the previous 75 years. That song was The Ship Song. Now, Sydney Opera House has married this iconic song with the world’s most famous building to celebrate the artists, architecture and interiors that together make Sydney Opera House intrinsic to Australia’s cultural fabric. The Ship Song can be viewed here www.theshipsongproject.com

The enduring legacy and massive appeal of Tim and Neil Finn was celebrated with two smash hit albums; 2005’s She Will Have Her Way, and 2010’s He Will Have His Way. Now it’s time for the boys and girls to play together on They Will Have Their Way: The Songs of Tim & Neil Finn National Tour this November.

If Lady Gaga makes you gag and you find the bells and whistles that fembot artists Britney, Pink, Christina, et al. employ leave you with a bad taste in your mouth, then LIVE may be the thing for you. Part of Sydney Festival, the event promises an intimate video study into the art of performing.

Sydney Festival continued rolling out the hits last night as the anticipated LIVE video installation opened up at the Lower Town Hall. We'll have some contributors heading along to the installation over the weekend who will fill you in properly, but let me just say that it's a fabulous feature of the festival.

Upon the arrival of the new decade,
patrons of the Lorne Falls Festival were left scalded by the sun’s
rays and soaked through and through by one of the most treacherous storms
the event has ever seen. Nonetheless, most of the 15,000 or so attendees
were delightfully content with the whole three days.