The Day The Music Jived

The gentle thudding drums of “Run Through The Jungle” by Creedence Clearwater came on the stereo.  My mother softly hummed the song to my daughter as she gently bounced the little girl on her lap.

“Do you know I would sing this to your aunty when she was a little baby?” whispered my mother to her fifth granddaughter.

“And Neil Diamond,” she lifted her head and said to me.

After a while, she asked “Do you know I saw Johnny O’Keefe when I was 16?”

“Really?  What was it like?”

The Day The Music Jived in Brisbane

And then she told me of an amazing rock ‘n’ roll concert one night in little ol’ Brisbane Town in 1958.  Called “The Big Show”, it featured some of biggest names in rock including Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis and Johnny O’Keefe, all on stage at the hallowed Cloudland ball room.

“I was 16, as I said,” she started.  “The thing with it being at Cloudland … it was a ball room and the people at Cloudland, they didn’t like you bopping around.  You could jive in one corner, in a roped off corner.

“The thing is, the floor was sprung.  You could feel it moving under you!  It was so frustrating, you wanted to get up and dance, but you really weren’t allowed,” she sighed.

This classic rock ‘n’ roll bill was staged at Cloudland as the old Brisbane Stadium was gone, and Festival Hall wasn’t up and going yet.

The big star on that February night was Buddy Holly, the crooner was Paul Anka (“Put Your Head On My Shoulder”), and the rocker was Jerry Lee Lewis.  But before they hit the stage, there was Johnny O’Keefe.

Johnny O'Keefe: in his pink suit?

“JOK was the Australian lead up act,” she recalled.  “He was just a support act.  But he just erupted onto the stage, in this pink lamé suit.

“He was lying on the ground, wriggling and screaming.  Total full-on berserk.  And everyone loved him!  The crowd didn’t want to let him go.

“You got what you expected with the others.  With him, it was totally unexpected.

“’The Wild One’ was his song.  And he was wild.

“I think it was Jodie Sands who came on after him.  It was a total let down after JOK,” she grinned.

With a soft voice and small smile, my mother then talked more of the memories she had of Cloudland.

“I remember I went to a Lifesavers Ball there.  It was alcohol free.

“Each club had a display set up into the alcoves off the side of the ball room.

“The ball was about which surf club showed the most ingenuity to get their alcohol into the ball room.

“My date’s club, North Caloundra, did it by hiding the alcohol in the middle of their surf reel,” she laughed.

My mother cried the day she heard that Cloudland had been demolished.  I distinctly remember the ABC news bulletin announcing its destruction, and my mother’s little cry of anguish.

I know she never forgave the Country Party for this destruction of a place that was a part of her life.  For so many Queenslanders of her generation, the loss of Cloudland was a personal loss.

A news bulletin, a song on the stereo can spark off a memory.  But these small vignettes, these remembered events, are more than just an individual’s recollections.

They are the stories and happenings that belong to all of us, the things that help explain who we are and what made us.  They need to be recalled and shared.

For me, I have found that a part of our history can be found in the songs sung by a grandmother to her grand daughter.

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Can We Fix ABC Kids? Yes We Can-Do.

The Federal public sector must be a-quiver with trepidation at the prospect of an Abbott government.

Imagine the urban planners and environmental protection officers in Canberra who would be tremulous at what may await them on Monday 16 September.

And at the ABC, I’m sure that children’s television programmers would be fearing the hot breathe of the axeman on their necks.

According to LNP philosophy, ABC TV kiddie programmers are probably socialists who have made heroes out of idle public servants.

Picture, if you will, that Campbell Newman and Jarrod Bleijie are sent into the ABC kids department to deal with the Labor-leaning children’s characters that have been created in that unionist hotbed.

Stop standing around and posing. Increase your productivity, Sam.

Even Fireman Sam would not be safe.  Granted, Fireman Sam is constantly rescuing people, putting out fires, which is a core public sector function.  But most of the time he is simply waiting around the fire station.

His non-fire extinguishment time can surely be put to better use, and he should take on functions of public sector workers who have been made redundant.

And what about the people who waste precious public resources by being rescued when simply lost on a walk or their cat is stuck on a roof?  Surely story lines should be included whereas they are made to pay for these services?

Just how Postman Pat has survived all these years is a mystery.  For years he has been simply walking around, delivering mail and talking to people and fixing their problems.  That is way outside his core responsibilities.  Not untypical of a union dominated public sector culture that we can’t afford anymore.

The first thing Campbell and Jarrod would do is put up his job for competitive tender.  Postman Pat can get his sh*t together and tender for his own job.  Let’s see if he can spend time finding kids’ lost toys then.

Class size is clearly not a problem in "Timmy Time"

One new show from the same people who did “Wallace and Grommet” is “Timmy Time”.  This show is about a group of young animals who are educated by an owl and a pelican.

But there are fewer than twelve students in this class room.  To have two teachers is grossly overservicing these education clients.  Is this show a ploy sponsored by the Teachers Union to promote higher teacher numbers?

Liberal hard heads would be unsure about Thomas the Tank Engine.  Are the railways of Sodor a wasteful inefficient public sector enterprise?  Or have they already been privatised, and the Fat Controller has been battling a culture of overemployment and entitlement as he reforms the railway?

Sir Topham Hat shows admirable managerial qualities, but surely he doesn’t need such a large capital investment.  How many engines are needed to deliver their core business?  Just whose side is he on?

Well may you look happy, Bob.  You're safe.

But the Libs cleaning out the children television characters would want Bob The Builder to be the new face of the ABC.

Here is a small businessman who takes on all manner of jobs, and is sensibly flexible with the hours he works.  He doesn’t employ an unnecessarily large workforce, but makes do with just the one worker, Wendy.

Most of his work is done an array of obviously happy machines.  It is clear Bob looks after them very well, and they don’t need the presence of an interfering “third party” union to take care of their welfare.

In fact, the new LNP heads of ABC children’s television could contract out Bob The Builder.  He would make a great front man for new promotional campaigns by chambers of commerce or the mining industry.

So if you are concerned about what is being taught your children by these left-leaning, union influenced suite of children’s television characters, fear not.

Tony Abbot PM must surely be talking to Campbell Newman and Jarrod Bleijie about who can bring some balance into children’s television.  Hmm, what’s Michael Caltabiano doing these days…

Why Stop At Two? Here's Why.

THERE'S a little lady in pink and purple now living in our house.  In fact, she seems to have brought a sea of pink clothes with her.

Rebecca Jean Whiting. born 20 February 2013.

Our daughter, Rebecca Jean, child number two, was born less than two weeks ago.  Her eyes, beautiful almond-shaped eyes like her mother’s, now gaze about our house, focusing on the lights and shapes around her.

Any parent can go into gooey rapture about their wondrous new child.  What I have written above will suffice for this cloying sentiment.  I want to tell you that I understand why parents often stop at two.

Many of our friends and family have said “that’s it” after the second arrival.  Child number two seems to initiate a state of parental physical exhaustion and zombyfying tiredness. 

Working parents have to summon up all their energy and organisational capacities to meet the demands of two vampiric young humans.

With one child, one parent can look after the other parent: bring food, cups of tea, and the like.

With two children, the other parent must ensure the older child is fed, not standing on the coffee table trying to reach the phone, nor playing with the scissors they found in the bottom draw in the kitchen.  All whilst child number two is squawking for more liquid sustenance.

And child number two usually arrives when the first is in their Terrible Twos.  Or Tantrum-atic Twos.

The Moore kids and the Whiting kids.  Ten kids between two households.

Last night, I treated my family for our first meal out since we became four.  After eating one mouthful, Guy found it more interesting to sit under the table and bang on the table leg with the chopsticks.

When I sat him up at the table again, he started howling that he wanted to go home.  I nearly obliged him when he took his hollering to the front door of the restaurant, clutching at the door handles.

The Prime Parental Unit once again saved the day, providing succour to the Two Year Old Bellower by playing Maisy Mouse on the iPhone.

So two children under three is challenging, enough to make you put up your hand and say “enough”.   And if you can get through this stage, you have the professional skills and abilities to do most any job.

But the diamonds of pure enchantment with your children are scattered throughout your house each day.

Guy now hugs me fiercely and whispers “I love you too, Daddy."  To have the new-born blinking at you, with her mother’s gorgeous eyes, is a reward that will make you endure anything. Anything.

In fact, it’s enough to make you want to do all again.  Let's not give away the pink outfits.  Just in case ...

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Winning Wines at Symphony Hill

Driving into Symphony Hill Wines, your eyes are drawn to the long, clean, elegant lines of their winery.  The wines, too, show a careful and elegant construction that makes them some of Queensland’s best wines.

Thinking seafood? Here is a close friend for it

You can sense Ewen Macpherson’s mind at work here.  The owner and Managing Director is a former computer scientist.  The aura of Symphony Hill Wines suggests studied preparation and systems planning.

Ewen is slim, spectacled, and self-depreciating.  But as a small stream of workers come and quietly get instructions, it is clear he leads with a deft, firm touch.

Still, it is also clear that this computer science graduate operates on gut instinct. Ewen simply launched his family into the wine business when his “gambler’s urge was at its maximum,” he laughs.

As a Queenslander, Ewen was convinced that the Granite Belt was a huge winemaking opportunity.  The Macphersons bought the first 40-acre property on that gut feeling, enchanted by the way the house sat on the block and its views.

As he said, he lucked out that it was right. But then he tested the soil, and studied the climate, and found his instinct was spot on.

That gambler’s urge must have been heightened by Symphony Hill’s first bash at a wine show.  “Our first wine won top gold at the Royal Sydney and we thought ‘wow, that’s very easy’” grinned Ewen.

Symphony Hill Granite Belt wine

Symphony Hill is creating an impressive portfolio of wins, and Ewen says he is aiming to produce some of Australia’s best wine.

Visit Symphony Hill Wines at the Granite Belt

Their Verdelho has made it onto a top 100 Australian wines list.  “It is just sensational,” marvelled Ewen, “a beautiful explosion of flavours, a great acid factor, and a finish that makes you salivate.”

The 2008 Reserve Shiraz is a candidate for the Great Queensland Shiraz, and is also listed amongst the top 100 wines in Australia.

But the 2009 Reserve Petit Verdot he describes as a “big purple monster.”

In recent times the Petit Verdot got 3 trophies at the New England Wine Show, including Champion Wine of Show.

After the screwcaps go back on, Ewen takes us to see the view of the house block that first entranced him.  Clearly, a man who has found his patch of heaven.

Red the full article at winegroover.com

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Explaining The Social Contract (Via Abraham Lincoln and Mexican Drug Cartels)

REMEMBER signing the social contract?  ‘Course not: the rest of society has signed you up for this contract, on your behalf.

At a time when people are signing multiple contracts for cars and iPhones, not to mention huge cavernous houses, this unstated and assumed contract about how we are governed is probably the most important of all.

If you didn’t waste your partying years by studying political philosophy at uni (nerd disclaimer: I did), let me briefly rattle this explanation by you.

The social contract is the hypothetical agreement between the ruled and their rulers, defining the rights and duties of each of us, says the Encyclopedia Britannica.

That’s right: you didn’t sign up for it, but you have an expectation that it is in place.  It is one of the great assumed foundations of our society, like driving on the left hand side of the road or expecting to see Test cricket on TV during summer.

The Social Contract & Lack of Vampires

Elect me, and I will rid you of vampires. And slavery.

In this social contract, we allow politicians to rule and make decisions, in return for looking after us.

For making sure that brigands and vampires don’t roam the streets at night (nerd disclaimer: just watched Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter*), we don’t exercise violence to replace the pollies we don't like.

By the way, you’ve consented to give up a few freedoms in return for this social order and security.  For instance, you do not have the freedom of choice or expression to screech abuse at the police and lob beer cans at them.

If you do exercise your free will in this futile manner, you will be deftly manhandled into the back of a police car and driven away.  And no-one will give you any sympathy whatsoever.

In fact, the rest of us will breathe a sigh of relief to see your pale upturned face through the rear window of a police car as it speeds away.

They do the social contract in different ways in different parts of the world.  In a part of the Mexican state of Michoacan, the narcotic trafficking Los Caballeros Templarios essentially are the law and order of the place.

The Mexican Army, trying to reclaim Michoacan.

Many of the people have consented because, well, they do a better job than the government in keeping the peace and generating jobs ...

In Australia, there’s a part of our social contract, I think, that is also a bit different to other parts of the world.

One.  If our politicians make sure we are employed or cashed up, we allow them some self-enrichment.

Two.  We allow them to make laws for us, but the pollies have to be accessible to us.  We have the right to go into the office of our local member and call him a bloody idiot. (Brian Hayes, I’m talking about you).

And this is the crux of this post.  Our social contract is fraying because these two conventions are being breached.

Lobbyists, Mining Leases and the Social Contract

The news that Eddie Obeid and Ian MacDonald allegedly looked after each other really well and abnormally enriched themselves has infuriated many working class voters.

The news that cashed up lobbyists can get to see Queensland Ministers – all the time and any time, it seems – has steamed up Queensland voters.  You try and get to a Minister to complain about job cuts: you will be waiting a long time.

The breaches of these conventions don’t signal the end of the great Australian social contract.  Australians don’t resort to violence to enforce the social contract, apart from brief flurries such as the Eureka Stockade and the Kelly Outbreak.

And I’m not advocating turning to Mexican cartels as an alternate source of security and employment.  We have mining multinationals that can fulfil that role.

But if the pollies aren’t keeping their end of the social contract, this great unspoken bargain, they can’t expect us to co-operate when it comes to things like belt-tightening and job cuts.

*Footnote*  I had foolishly high expectations of the movie Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter.  I had enjoyed the book, and allowed some “suspension of disbelief”, because it stuck to basic historical accuracies, apart from the assumption that the Confederate South was run by vampires (there’s an odd social contract for you).  But the film just waved good bye to historical veracity.  I mean, making Lincoln’s best friend a black slave he had freed?  And Joshua Speed, an anti-slavery hero in real life, but a vampire collaborator in the movie?  And Mrs Lincoln, somewhat hysterical in real life, personally leading to the battlefield a slave "underground railroad" train loaded down with silver?  I quite like vampire movies and adore Lincoln biographies, but this was a lesson for me never to mix the two again.  I will watch Abraham Lincoln Vs Zombies just to confirm this judgement.

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