A brigade of bum shorts and nipple singlets greet you at the gate. Hoards of face-chewers are cheering and dancing to Jay-Z tracks playing between sets, completely oblivious to the big names about to grace the stage. As the sun goes down and the chilly night air hits, the punters begin to further undress; tying their singlets around their waists, imitating a bizarre 90s trend. The portaloos fill with girls re-applying their heavy eye makeup and excessive bronzer, sharing obscene tales about their day and duck-facing to document the adventure. Meanwhile, international guests perform to shallow crowds, urging them to applaud. No, you have not accidentally entered some eerie alternate universe music festival, this is Summadayze.

This years Festival Of The Sun saw itself through with brilliant weather and plenty of crowd pleasers. Held at the Sundowner Tourist Park at Port Macquarie’s Breakwall Beach, the festival stage was about 50m from the shoreline and the ground full of sand – genius construction as feet on this terrain are able to dance wilder and stand stronger through performances.

Saturday started out much like the night before ended for many punters; hectic. By that I mean at 9:45 when I woke up one of the poles of my (brand new) tent had broken due to stress from the wind, one of our campsites gazebos had also broken under stress and the other one had just uplifted and flown away. Needless to say I spent the first part of my morning trying to fix my tent and putting extra pegs anywhere I could to help support it. With the wind also came dust, and lots of it. Everything uncovered was quickly coated with a thin layer of the orange substance making for some haggard looking morning after campers.

Homebake 2012 was one of the most pleasant and courteous festival experiences I have ever had. Strange to describe it as courteous, sure, but crowd atmosphere is a big thing for me and this 'Global Edition' of Homebake held exactly that for its punters. Perhaps because the smaller turnout meant more grass area (suits me) or that the crowd seemed older... either way, the 'Global' aspect was definitely upheld by the fact that every single world cuisine was available, as well as of course the fact that from-the-other-side-of-the-globe Blondie was headlining; much of the assumed reason for an older crowd.

Another year and another fantastic lineup for the Meredith Music Festival, with Friday night alone boasting acts such as Spiritualized, Four Tet, Omar Souleyman and Grimes! But those were just the international acts with Tame Impala, Sunnyboys, Pond and Brous rounding out the local talent.

After the party, there's the after party.

Yes folks...Fest-Mas has gone. The Fest has left the building...vamoosed...pissed-off with the "bird" firmly flipped into the air, and aren’t you sad little "Vegemites" (especially those of you who missed the festering fest of all fests)?

Getting a music conference right is never an easy thing. There needs to be a balance between keeping things interesting for both musicians and the industry, a variety of panels to make it worth everyone's while - as well as being unique for the market - great networking opportunities and, naturally, the showcasing of some amazing music along the way. Oh and a good lunch never does anyone any harm.

The short film that won the 2012 Bondi Short Film Festival "The Maker".

The 12th annual Bondi Film Festival took place at Bondi Pavilion on Saturday. The brainchild of Francis Coady, It is an annual event in which documentary makers from around the country are invited to submit their works to the panel to win a prize worth more than $10,000. With more than 200 submissions, the best fourteen are picked for screening.

This morning was a strange one. After a Hurricane, a journey to India that seemed to go on for days and a first day more epic than most, last night was my first in a proper bed in a good week. With the very fact I was in India still failing to sink in, it was a good ten minutes after waking up before I realised where I was, why I was here and possibly even who I was. Putting it simply: it was hard to believe this was only my second day in India.

Sigur Rós. Beck. Ben Folds. Cake. Silversun Pickups. And they were just my picks! With a line up like this, how could anyone even consider missing the 2012 Harvest Festival? The Brisbane leg of the tour was held at the Botanic Gardens, which provided to perfect backdrop for the festival. But due to the severe storms the day before it was well after the advertised time of 11am when the gates finally opened.

Harvest Festival may only be in its second year, but it has well and truly established itself as a world class event. Last year we tentatively made our way to the brand new festival at Parramatta Park, lured in by its unbelievably dreamy line up which included the likes of Portishead, The Flaming Lips and The National. The live music was extraordinary, the grounds spacious and the crowds anything but obnoxious. This year, Harvest once again delivered.