Time Out Melbourne magazine this month

While I feel slightly sheepish announcing with a burst of mariachi-style trumpets that Mexican Melbourne is the new zeitgeist, undeniably that fever is all around us. And at least I wouldn’t stoop so low as to try and coin a phrase. You know – like El Bourne. Or Mel-ico. Melbean? No way.

I feel confident that this issue we’ve profiled every flavour of saucy new Mexican eatery in the city, but if you’d rather die than sample a premium tequila, Good Beer Week may be more your style. Celebrating craft beer, it’s a great insight into what Victorian brewers are cooking up.

Another major event to hit Melbourne in May is Next Wave: a festival of young, modern art that’s always at the cutting edge. We talked to artistic director Emily Sexton about what to expect.

And for an abrupt change of tone, check out our beginners’ guide to fetish, in which we venture into the murkier depths of desire in Melbourne’s secret clubs. If you’re not dying to go to Melbourne Rope Dojo after looking at the pictures, there’s something really wrong with you.

Jenny Valentish Editor

The Hook
Samantha Lane on a lifelong love of AFL + Cherry Rock 2012

'Bourne Identity
Staggers Jeans were at the centre of the Sharpies subculture

The Time Out Interview
Nicki Minaj is part freak, part superhero, part comedian, and 100 percent good value.

North versus South Smackdown
Who's got the best picnic spots in which to lay your lover?

Good Beer Week
Our favourite UK invention. Let the laneways run amber!

Next Wave
The Sothern Hemisphere's most important art festival returns

Mexican Melbourne
View the city through the brightly coloured prism of Mexicano culture, from food to tequila joints and shops

The Beginners' Guide to Fetish
Grab your gimp mask: we're going out

Around Town - Make some Mother's Day memories + wheelchair access to Melbourne + Ascot Vale + Pleasure Salon

Art - Is letting a virus loose really a good idea? + Try your hand at craft

Comedy - Kevin Smith on life beyond Jay and Silent Bob + Geraldine Quinn

Film - Iron Sky + The Avengers + on set in Torquay with Blinder + Human Rights Film Festival

Food & Drink - What have baristas voted the best coffee joints in Melbourne? + Pei Modern + Bill's Bar + Soul Seoul

Kids - Escape to Peligro Island is a ripping choose-your-own-adventure yarn

Museums - Ancient Wonders of Mesopotamia: art and beer united

Music - The Temper Trap + Chet Faker + NKOTBSB + Abbie Cardwell

Nightlife - The advance of Red Bennies

Performing Arts - The Magic Flute mired in controversy! + The Seizure + Persona + The Heretic

Queer - Drag king Rocco D'Amore

Time In - Julia Zemiro's Eurovision rocks

Travel - Hawaii + Vivid Sydney + A weekend at Crown Towers

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