Words on: The Friday Night

You know you’ve discovered a special niche event when you end up at some shifty, back alley joint that describes itself as a “spanish NITE club”. This is where Bun & Toast ventured to this Friday night when attending the 2nd JINGLE JANGLE event - a night of retro beats and reminiscent tunes. The actual gig was held in an awkward back room, which was dimly lit and decorated with disco lights and jugs of sangria distributed amongst wooden tables littered with hip n’ trendy folk. The music made us feel as if we were alone dancing to our crackly records, only it was that much more special because everyone else was jiving along with us. A splendid evening! It was topped off by a run in with a live-action domestic violence scene on the streets where we witnessed the police trying to break up some magnificent, melodramatic drunken break-up. Not to mention, we also slipped in a little off-the-track snooping when we snuck into the Hilton hotel’s 26th floor and watched the little people of Sydney moseying about in their lit-up framed windows suspended within tall sky-scrapers.

From the 26th floor (or from any floor, really) the world is quite literally your playground.

Words on: Penguin Plays Rough

Bun & Toast ventured to the mysterious cranny of a space nestled above a convenience store in Newtown - where the Penguin Plays Rough nights are held. This night is all about independent writers, listening and sitting cross legged on hardwood floors. Anyone and everyone is encouraged to read their pieces. We heard an eclectic mix of bizarre short stories, film noir spoofs and delicious to hear prose & poetry. Topped off by an ambience that makes even the loudest feel quiet and secretive (fairy lights draped like old cobwebs, a single red velvet armchair spotlighted by a lamp in the corner, behind doors: piles of books & old suitcases) - this was an off the radar night not to be missed! We shall return next month!

"I’d rather play jenga with a 9/11 victim!"