Moira Finucane and Her Legendary Burlesque with Martin Martini and The Bone Palace Orchestra

Published in Beat magazine (2006)

Martin Martini and band

With his long black curly hair bulging out the sides of his bowler hat and raggedy op-shop suit, Martin Martini looks like he could be the MC for an arty circus performed by feral cats; which, in many ways, isn’t at all far from the truth.   Self-described as “junkyard funkbluescircusjazzgypsy music”, Mr. Martini and The Bone Palace Orchestra perform a dazzling set of original tunes that sound plucked right out of the Bohemian quarters of 1930’s Berlin. The wind instruments and drums bop bop bop along to Martini’s piano and vocal, with the whimsical fiddle in between (played by the seductive Xani Colac – evocative in the true bohemian style quintessential to cabaret

The songs themselves are catchy: some are farcical – about beautiful woman riding bikes in Fitzroy – and others are just plain beautiful, worthy of high-rotation air-time, and maybe replacing that other Martin (Chris) behind a piano as the provider of poignant sing-alongs after you’ve just been dumped.

Moira Finucane

In between songs, we are graced by the graceless presence of Moira Finuane and her ignominiously brilliant burlesque.

Her abject characters have a palpable tendency to repulse; and I do mean palpable – the front row are given table-cloths to protect themselves from the Dairy Queen in Miora’s final act. She is offensive and ghastly, but hilarious to watch; her general manner, dress and especially facial expressions are so meticulously manipulated to generate maximum disgust from the audience, and I for one applaud loudly for it.

After two ‘pretty’ girls sitting in front on me left during one of Miora’s performances, Martin – sincerely concerned – asks them “offended?”, and with barely a glance given as a response from either girl, I think the performance could be seen as great success. Then Martin jumps behind the keys, the drums rut-a-tut and we’re away again into the boppy rag-doll entertainment of the cabaret ensemble – and everybody’s happy.