Cafe #6: Ruby's Cafe

Date: Monday, 12 February 2007, 2.30pm
Location: corner Elgin and Drummond Streets, Carlton
Coffee: $2.50 - latte, good

Ruby's has a comforting greasy spoon sort of feel, with red brick floor and black-and-red board tables - nothing trendy or pretentious. But it does have a blue two-seater couch at the back, which I, indeed, have taken over

I have just come out of Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man. It is a very good film. Cohen's deep, deep voice is mesmerising and he has a wisdom that is self-aware, brilliant, beautiful, funny but not arrogant. I quess that is what 30 years of fame and studying under a Zen master does to one with natural genius. The live performances - apparently they were part of the 2005 Sydney Festival and performed in the opera house, which, I might add, I now feel stupid not knowing about - were mostly fantastic.

Performers such as Rufus and Martha Wainwright, Jarvis Cocker, Beth Orton and Antony (who's that?) take their singing (and their Leonard Cohen songs) very seriously. Possibly too seriously, but I suppose that is what makes them top singers. It was disconcerting to watch some of the performers sing in close-up, as their mannerisms and intensity were distracting and even a bit hypnotic. I would love to listen to the CD so I can experience the songs without the distraction of performance. It was, of course, great to hear Martha W. I adore her voice, though even the big screen couldn't really capture it - that loudness, that fullness. Rufus, one of whose CDs I own thanks to Paul D, turned out be a bit camp, which put me off a bit for some reason. I like the big orchestral sound of his album and didn't expect him to be so effeminately earnest.

What struck me most, though, was what a load of geeks the performers all were! I loved that they dressed funny - either by concerted choice or lack of fashion sense, how awkward or jarring or...wrong their movements were sometimes - either because the movement was felt rather than put on or because it was put on rather than felt. But they were true artists.

Nick Cave came across as particularly normal, which I didn't expect.

All in all, the movie was carefully put together, with a cabaret/dusky beat atmosphere. The performers, filmmakers, everyone, did a great justice to Cohen.

Yesterday was a full day. E threw a party on Saturday night for her birthday and I hung on with D and a couple of his bandmates til nearly the end, even after E retired to bed. I was woken up on Sunday morning at 9.30 by a phone call from T, who was soon to stop by for a quick visit on his way home from Geelong. We went to an Italian cafe on Lygon Street for coffee and Coke, then to Brunetti's for pastry and sandwich. I had a lovely fig-jam-filled pastry dusted with crumbled pistachios.

After T left, I went to see a sharehouse in South Yarra. It is a truly lovely little flat - all polished floor boards and white walls. It is very narrow and small but the two inhabitants, one boy and one girl, were genuine and lovely, without pretentions, whom I felt very at ease with. They are looking for a friend as well as a housemate. The nearest train station, Hawksburn, is on the Clayton campus line and South Yarra is on the tram line to Balaclava and St Kilda. I can see myself living in that flat.

Upon leaving South Yarra I hopped a train to the St Kilda festival. It was huge - in area and people, with three music stages, BMX and wakeboard competitions. Food, stalls, bars. There was a disconcerting wind blowing dead grass and sand into my eyes, food, hair, face. I ate grass-blown mint chocolate chip ice-cream while trying unsuccessfully to find a protected spot and feeling most unpleasant. Still, I felt I should explore the festival more. I had a bit of a wade at the beach, listened to a few songs by a unique and inspiring band of electrified violin, viola and cello, making all kinds of cool percussive and eerie and electronic sounds. The band's, FourPlay, website say their 'repertoire includes covers of diverse artists such as the Beastie Boys, Jeff Buckley, Depeche Mode, Charles Mingus, Radiohead and The Strokes, and their own originals, inspired by wide array of diverse music such as rock, dub, folk, gypsy, klezmer, electronica, post-rock, jazz and improv.'

In the evening I saw another sharehouse, the one in E Brunswick (yes, I did show up), which was inhabited by four girls, all students - three studying education, one in science. It was a huge house, with two full bathrooms and a large courtyard. The girls seemed quite young and fluffy, but laidback, easygoing, social. It would also be a good place to live - particularly because I'd feel comfortable having people over - often and whenever - which I hadn't felt in any other sharehouse interview. However, East Brunswick is quite far away from Clayton. Tomorrow I'll do the journey and see what it's like. Meanwhile I have other houses to visit.

It is back to being hot and sunny. I'm a vague bit burnt from yesterday. Last night D and M cooked an Indian feast - homemade kofta balls and naan, tandoori chicken, rice and pappadums. Lovely. We ate at around 11.00pm. E and I had a serious mess to clean up afterwards, which put E in a grumpy mood, muttering about why couldn't the boys clean up as they went along. The mess disappeared fairly quickly with two of us working through it.

I have written for a long time, so will go home to read. There's no one else in the cafe - so it is obvious how long I have been perched on this couch.