Mitch L. Ryan on Dick Diver’s Calendar Days Book Launch w/ Bed Wettin’ Bad Boys + Ex-Colleague

Come and celebrate the release of Mitch L. Ryan’s 33 1/3 book on Dick Diver’s seminal album Calendar Days! Taking the album as a launching point into a discussion of Australian DIY music, politics, media, social history, and literature, the author will be joined by Giacomo Bianchino for a discussion. Following this, Bed Wettin’ Bad Boys and Ex-Colleague—two bands containing members discussed in the book—will perform. Calendar Days may be thirteen years old now, but the independent DIY ethos that surrounded the group are just as relevant as ever! From the back of the book: Critically acclaimed upon its 2013 release, Dick Diver's sophomore album Calendar Days poeticized the banality of daily life in melodic pop music that drew upon conversational language and local references, all sung with thick Australian accents and jangling guitars. It was a sound that would become emblematic of the micro-genre dolewave, a joking reference to a group of bands that emerged from the same scene on Australia's east coast. This book uses Calendar Days to tease out the histories of the band, the scene, and the genre of dolewave. Situating it within a broader history of Australian independent music and politics from the late 2000s to the early 2010s, it not only offers the first historical account of a recent major movement in contemporary Australian music, but it also considers the unique conditions that Australian musicians operated within during the period, from social welfare issues, to blogging networks, to ever present debates around cultural identity. Under 18s are welcome at the Petersham Bowling Club but must be accompanied by an adult at all times. No under 18s are to enter the bar area. ***** Getting to the PBC! Access to the club and main stage is via 12 stairs at the front of the venue. We are not wheelchair accessible currently but we are working on it! There is free, untimed parking on the avenue and Brighton Street and drop off/pick up is available via our driveway. The Petersham Bowling Club acknowledge the Gadigal of the Eora Nation as the traditional custodians of the land on which this show takes place and pay our respects to their Elders past and present, and emerging and extend those respects to the First Nations peoples of NSW and beyond.