Are you bound by a frozen tundra here in the norther hemisphere, like we, the people of Drag City's, ivory bunker? Then you'll be glad to know there are those of us with the foresight to switch hemispheres this time of year - it's just that kind of preparedness amongst other things that makes your heroes (and ours) so damn likeable! What we're getting at here is, there's virtually a Drag City carnival happening down under all month long! Things kicked off last night with Sir Richard Bishop heading up Sydney Fest's American Primitive series (sorry Rick, we're still figuring out this time zone thing!), but Australia's heavy dose of DC virtuosos continues on from Tuesday, January 19th, when Joanna Newsom pops off her first of a three date swing in Melbourne, Australia (and then kicks it to Japan!). Local hero Mick Turner opens up, naturally, to fiercely (in a laid back kinda way!) display his guitarisms for the hometown punters. Elsewhere, Meg Baird takes a turn wowing with her folk stylings in Melbourne and Sydney. Needless to say, it's all causing some major FOMO in our igloo - and that's without even mentioning David Grubbs' Pacific rim action touring Japan this week, or The Silence's Tokyo blast later in the month! January is a mother for those within range - the rest of us will just have to wait it out!

JOANNA NEWSOM:

1/19/16 Hamer Hall Melbourne Australia w/ Mick Turner
1/21/16 Sydney Opera House Sydney New South Wales Australia
1/23/16 Concert Hall, QPAC Brisbane Australia
1/26/16 Osaka Club Osaka Japan
1/27/16 Christ Shinagawa Church Gloria Chapel Tokyo Japan
1/28/16 Christ Shinagawa Church Gloria Chapel Tokyo Japan

MEG BAIRD:

1/22/16 Northcote Social Club Melbourne Victoria Australia
1/24/16 St. Stephen's Church Sydney Australia Sydney Festival

DAVID GRUBBS:

1/18/16 K.D Japon Nagoya Japan
1/22/16 Musicasa Tokyo Japan
1/23/16 Kichimu Tokyo Japan (Performance + Records Ruin in the Landscape public talk)

THE SILENCE:

1/31/16 UFO CLUB Tokyo Japan