Return to the Cell Block

Another year, another visit from the Jackson family, another Christmas in Canberra. This can only mean one thing- it's time for Cell Block 69's 12th Annual LAST SHOW EVER. For those of you who may not remember, Cell Block 69 is a college band from the Australian National University who reunite every year for one show around Christmas. Laurel's friend Robbie invited us last year, and we had an absolute blast. He had neglected to inform us that it was an 80's costume thing. Tthis time we made sure we fit right in.

 

Canberra has some epic weather. On the drive in we saw this gigantic cloud reflecting the sunset. How beautiful is that?

This guy was pretty incredible. He was the opening act, and he was a one man band. He sang while playing guitar and the drums AT THE SAME TIME. No idea how he did it. He's apparently a Canberra institution, and has been playing bars and clubs for years. Keep on rocking, buddy.

Greg thrashing some air leg guitar. Thanks for the photobomb, random dude.

We met up with Robbie. He made that shirt. We also have a new theory on Cell Block 69. It seemed that most everyone in costume knew Robbie. Everyone who was not in costume did not. It is entirely possible that it's not actually part of the concert to show up in 80's attire, but that Robbie just decided one year that it should be and has told everyone to dress up. As the years have gone by, more and more people have seen his friends dressing up and have started doing it themselves. Dude has charisma.

The band! Cell Block's gimmick is that they wrote every major song of the 80's, but for one reason or another the bands that we know and love stole the songs from them. Here they are performing "Girls on Film," which Duran Duran released while Cell Block was still cruising the Mediterranean with Italian models. Bastards.

Laurel enjoying a night out and some sister time with Olivia.

Oh, yeah, at one point one of the girls rocked a pole. I think it was to a Van Halen's "Jump."

Keep on rocking, guys, keep on rocking. Sorry we can't be there next year. We were impressed how many of their songs were different from last year. When do they find the time to rehearse!?

Moving on to something totally different. A couple weeks ago, Olivia found a recipe for a beetroot chocolate cake. Sounds weird, right? It also seemed pretty Aussie since beetroot goes on a lot here, so we decided to give it a go. Also, it's gluten free (a key factor for Olivia) which is what prompted the initial search. Here's Olivia modeling the key ingredient.

Now, beetroot turns everything it touches red, so it's important to protect yourself from having stained hands for the next week. Here's Laurel demonstrating proper beetroot protection.

Shredding a beetroot is a far more involved process then you would think. Sadly, the cling-wrap glove was not sufficing so Laurel had to switch to the heavy-duty rubber cleaning gloves. Take that beetroot!

In true Otey fashion, we started taking pictures at the beginning and then promptly forgot about the camera for the rest of the time. We don't actually have a picture of the finished product (spoiler alert- it looked like a cake), but it was surprisingly good. Highly recommend it. Seriously, go make one.