+ PHOTOGRAPHY: BACKYARD OASIS - THE SWIMMING POOL IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 1945-1982 (EXHIBITION)

The "swimming pool", nothing says summer like going for a delightful swim on a stinking hot day at a person's place who is lucky enough to have a backyard pool and who quickly becomes your best friend when the weather is hot and the days are long. So what better way to celebrate the great tradition of backyard swimming pools than an exhibition and that's exactly what the "Palm Springs Museum" has done with the opening of Backyard Oasis: The Swimming Pool in Souther California 1945-1982. Backyard Oasis showcases a series of photographs of pools in Southern Califronia from the past 30+ decades. The exhibition depicts a wide and varied range of images, from Tony Alva skating a pool to 1950's architecture and numerous private residences. The photographs illustrate the role that the ubiquitous swimming pool has played, and continues to play in California culture.

So if you're in the area make sure you head on down to the Palm Springs Museum to have a first hand look at Backyard Oasis: The Swimming Pool in Souther California 1945-1982. Alternatively click through to check out a selection of photographs from the exhibition after the jump.

+ WHERE ARE YOU BENNY? (THE "AH WHAT THE HELL, IT'S CHRISTMAS" EDITION)

As we near the festive season many of you may have noticed that things have been a little quiet around The Benjamins of late. Well I'm here to reassure you that everything is still OK and I'm still kicking on. My extremely busy schedule over the past couple of months has unfortunately prevented me from putting a great deal of time into the blog. However with some time off over the Christmas season, you readers should see a whole lot more content on the site as I endeavour to clear my way through a monstrous backlog of posts. I'm even hoping to bring back everyone's favourite weekly series, Throwback Thursday.

It's also with this little announcement that I thought I'd take the opportunity to wish all you readers a very merry festive season! May all your bellies be full of delicious food and may you all get some awesome presents from Santa. At this special time of the year also take some time to think about those less fortunate than us and remember that Christmas isn't all about the presents and material possessions, for you it may be about celebrating the birth of Christ or simply spending some quality time with your loved ones, appreciating the smaller things in life and being thankful for making it through another year. Most importantly enjoy yourself and be safe if you are travelling over the Christmas/New Year period. So it's onward and upward to better things and in the words of the great Dennis Franz "ah what the hell, it's Christmaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaasss!"

Love
Benjamin

+ EVENT: SNEAKER FREAKER SWAP MEET/FLEA MARKET - OCTOBER 16 AT SOUTH YARRA MARKETS

If you live in Melbourne or will be visiting that neck of the woods this weekend make sure you head on down to the South Yarra markets because the world's number 1 sneaker magazine Sneaker Freaker is putting on another massive swap meet/flea market. There is guaranteed to be plenty of dope sneakers, vintage apparel, toys, bikes and a whole lot more so make sure you bring your cheque book (Although you should probably bring cash, because I can't guarantee you'll be able to pay for items with cheques). The swap meet is on this Sunday 16 October and starts at 10:00am and runs until 5:00pm so there's plenty of time for you to puruse the wears on offer. This is sure to be a huge event and as Sneaker Freaker themselves put it "Always a massive day out, make sure you don't miss out!" If you went to know more information you can check out the full event flyer after the jump or head on over to the Sneaker Freaker website.

+ EVENT: LORD FINESSE (DJ SET) - THE OLD EXCHANGE | SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 24

Great news everyone! Legendary funky man of "Diggin' in the crates" (D.I.T.C.) crew, Lord Finesse is returning to Adelaide for an outdoor show at The Old Exchange on September 24 with support from DJ Sheep, Nick Arks and Nixon. I'm sure I don't need to tell you all how much of a legend Finesse is, with a CV that would make even the most seasoned hip-hop musicians weep. For those of you that still need convincing Finesse is the triple threat, producer, MC and DJ and a true hip-hop icon. He has produced tracks for the who's who of hip-hop including "Suicidal Thoughts" from The Notorious B.I.G.'s debut album "Ready to Die", the majority of the late Big L's debut album "Lifestylez Ov Da Poor & Dangerous" and "The Message" taken from Dr Dre's seminal solo album "2001". As previously mentioned he founded the legendary D.I.T.C. crew who's members include Buckwild, Showbiz, A.G., Fat Joe, Diamond D and Big L. Finesse also provided the vocal sample that DJ/musician Fatboy Slim used for his 1998 hit single The Rockafeller Skank. (Yes, that track and that line "Right about now, the funk soul brother").

+ WHERE ARE YOU BENNY? (THE "HOLD ONTO YOUR BUTTS" EDITION)

As many of you may have noticed, things have been pretty quiet around The Benjamins over the past two weeks. This was due to a number of reasons, mainly me being very busy working on other stuff and not having too much spare time to post stuff. All the avid readers of the blog would have also noticed that there wasn't even a Throwback Thursday issue posted last week (cue the shock, horror and outrage). I really should have posted a warning sooner to let each and every one of you know that things would be a little quiet and that Throwback Thursday was going on a one week hiatus, but as they say "it's better late than never". So it's with this announcement that I bring the news that things will be returning to normal from...... now. There will be a lot more posts over the next few days as I endeavour to clear the backlog and you'll all be happy to know this will include the 11th installment of Throwback Thursday which will appear sometime today. So in the words of the great Samuel L. Jackson "hold onto your butts" because things are about to get wild around here.

Love
Benjamin

+ EVENT: PLUS ONE 2ND BIRTHDAY - OLIVERS ARMY | EAST END VILLAINS | TEA

If you hang out with me on the weekend you'll know that I've been known to frequent the Ed Castle. If you're in the know you'll already know they host a night of bands, DJ's and general tomfoolery every Saturday night called "Plus One". Well there's a bit of a special one coming up on Saturday May 21. Special I hear you ask, why so? Well Barossa lads and good friends Ryan and Todd Oliver AKA Olivers Army are heading overseas and this well be their very last Adelaide show before they jet off. Not to mention that Plus One will be celebrating it's 2nd birthday, East End Villains will be headlining the night, TEA will also be playing, there's DJ's in the front bar, drink specials all night long (cue the Lionel Richie) and I'll also be there, so you can come and say hello. So come along, hear some awesome live music, have a couple of frothy's and enjoy my company. Full details, flyer and a taste of the bands playing on the night after the jump.