WRITE ON: Writers' Showcase ft. Peter Doyle, Lo Carmen & Peter Head

Butchers Brew Bar is delighted to present the latest in a series of events showcasing our favourite writers, featuring readings, discussion, author insights & Q&A.

Hosted by Sydney's counter culture historian JAY KATZ, tonight's event features Peter Doyle. Lo Carmen, & Peter Head in conversation with his co-writer, MJ Cornwall.

PETER DOYLE: Small time heists. Failed robberies. Runs of bad luck. Payback. Love gone wrong. Drink, drugs &  late-night assignations. Cops doing their job well. And badly. Plausible lies, unlikely truths. Murder & misadventure.  In 'Suburban Noir ', Peter Doyle – author of 'City of Shadows' & 'Crooks Like Us' – explores the everyday crime & catastrophe that went on in the fibro & brick veneers, the backyards, bedrooms, vacant lots & pokie palaces of 1950s & 1960s suburbia. 

Extensive research into forensic archives, public records & the private papers of the late Brian Doyle (1960s detective, later assistant commissioner of police, & Peter Doyle’s uncle) also reveals important new information about two of the most infamous crimes in Australian history – the Kingsgrove Slasher case & the Graeme Thorne kidnap murder.

Peter Doyle is a novelist & non-fiction writer. He has curated major exhibitions on pulp publishing & forensic material cultures. His books include 'City of Shadows' & 'Crooks Like Us' & the novel 'The Big Whatever'. He is the recipient of two Ned Kelly Awards for his fiction, as well as a Lifetime Achievement Award. He is an Honorary Associate Professor of Media at Macquarie University, Sydney.

LO CARMEN was discovered at 16 working in a Kings Cross pizza bar & was cast in the seminal Australian film 'The Year My Voice Broke', which saw her nominated for an AFI award. But even before that, Lo had lived a bigger life than most. From being backstage at Rolling Stones concerts when she was a baby to writing her first song at eight; performing an original song onstage at nine, having a baby while barely out of her teens, forming her first band at 21, touring Europe without a manager, funds or a safety net; & all the while making music her life & her art.  In all this, Lo has been inspired by a handful of women - all icons, one way or another, of modern Australian life.

Lo Carmen weaves her own remarkable story as a critically acclaimed singer/ songwriter together with compelling portraits of the women who have influenced her life & career: bold creative visionaries, trailblazers, provocateurs, pioneers, feminists & activists, such as Renee Geyer, Chrissy Amphlett, Robyn Archer & Sallie-Anne Huckstepp, exploring the often complex lives of these fascinating women as a way of understanding her own life & choices.

A tender, joyous, messy, vibrant and wholly inspiring investigation of creativity, passion, purpose, art & music.

'A hard won account of the mess, glory & risk of making art. Lo tells her story by telling the stories of all those who've lit & tended her flame. She knows that worship is at the heart of creation. And she writes like a river.' Paul Kelly

'Loene has always been unique. Lovers Dreamers Fighters is beautifully written.' Don Walker

'There is an electricity & trueness to Loene's voice you can't fake.  It involves her passion for art & music, but also a love for outsiders who have something special to give.  Her intense humanity & feel for unexpected intimate detail goes to your core.' Mark Mordue, 'Boy on Fire'

'A little bit country, a little bit rock n roll, Loene Carmen's writing is vivid, sassy & intimate. From the studios of Nashville to the grimy bars of the Cross, 'Lovers Dreamers Fighters' is a memoir about the power of song, family & spiritual connection, but most of all a love letter to the soul-sisters who have shaped Lo's creative spirit, & Australia's cultural history, through the generations.' Kirsten Krauth, 'Almost a Mirror'

PETER HEAD in conversation with musician, cartoonist & writer MJ Cornwall, of a work in progress, 'HEADONISM', Peter's extraordinary life story. Tales of London in '67, gigs with Alan Price, Georgie Fame, Peter Green & way more.  His times working with pre Acca Dacca Bon Scott, Wendy Saddington, Robyn Archer, Jeff St John, Bo Diddley, of being stage-invaded by Billy Thorpe & Keith Moon, (true story!), playing a shopping centre residency with a pre-fame John Farnham, of the Adelaide jazz underground of the 1960s. Of his band 'Headband' doing it hard & mean on sharpie-infested Fitzroy St, St Kilda and the neon funk of the Cross in the 1970s, of dead bodies in back lanes.  Of his whole other life as art gallery curator & a thousand & one more wild tales, like to blow your mind. 

* Selected works by the authors will be on sale at the venue on the night

ADMISSION FREE BUT SPOTS ARE LIMITED - PLEASE REGISTER TO SECURE YOUR TICKET!

From 6PM MON DEC 5

🎫 LIMITED TICKETS - Strictly 18+ Only 🍻🥂🍷🥃🍸🍹🍾

Doors from 5pm.  Open to midnight.

**We are a COVID-safe venue. Entry is subject to prevailing health orders**