SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER REVIEW

Books

We All Shine On: John, Yoko and Me by Elliot Mintz

This is one of the best memoirs I have ever read. It took me a while to finish as I didn't want it to end. Elliot Mintz was a young late night DJ in LA when he interviewed Yoko Ono and this set him on a trajectory to become very close friends with John and Yoko. He was one of their closest confidants, and they spent most of their time with him. The book starts at the end, where Yoko has tasked him with archiving John's things after his death. Elliot is in the bowels of The Dakota, surrounded by memorabilia, and describing what he can see.

That night I dreamed the most vivid dream that I was in that basement looking through old suitcases and boxes and coming across amazing things like instruments, Sgt Peppers costume and so forth. This book was so amazing, and had so much intimate detail. He was there during most of the New York period, including Lennon's lost weekend. This is such a remarkable book, often quite funny, but in retrospect, also quite melancholy. It is a great record of this important time in their lives and history. I cannot recommend it enough!

When the Going was Good by Graydon Carter 

This was such a fun read. I read Vanity Fair during the Graydon years, thanks to a friend who would lend me her copies of the magazine way way back. So to read about behind the scenes was a riot. Graydon writes about his early years and how he stumbled into magazines. Working with some of the best people, amazing writers and at a time when money seemingly grew on trees, this is such a wild ride. No wonder the VF has struggled ever since he left. Whilst nowhere near as good or well written as Griffin Dunne's memoir, it is a companion of sorts.

Uptown Girl: a memoir by Christie Brinkley with Sarah Toland

This was just a fun Autobiography. Christie was always a cut above the rest and had some intellect. It goes deep into her life, the modelling and the acting. Also her turbulent times with men.

We All Solve Murders by Richard Osman

A new (possibly start of a new series) novel from Mr Osman. It has a lovely range of new characters. It also has had mixed reviews, but I really loved it. A private security officer, Amy, is looking after a famous writer and things go terribly wrong, and Amy needs to bring in her ex-cop father-in-law, Steve to help her. Steve would rather stay at home with the paper and the tele. But he is pulled in and they end up on an around the world chase. I suspect Osman is hoping for another series, unsure, but I would read the next one!

The Met Gala: iconic moments of fashion from the World's most exclusive event

Photography book with essays about various looks from The Met Gala, which has been going much longer than you would imagine.

The Labyrinth by Amanda Lohrey

I loved this gem of a novel. Erica, buys a small coastal shack, to be closer to her son in gaol. We are unsure what has happened, but this book is perfectly crafted, all our questions are answers in due time. Erica decides she would like an authentic labyrinth. A chance encounter delivers her a young stone mason, who may or may not be on the run. Amanda Lohrey brings that subtle sense of isolation to this novel that Tassie authors always seem to have.

This book is as much about the landscape and surrounds than it is the marvellously crafted characters and stories. It has a warmth and yet chill energy about it. I was very impressed but this one.

Late City by Robert Olen Butler

Sam is in hospital at the end of his life, and what a life it was. He commences a conversation with god and they go through his life and what changes he has seen in those 100 years. This sounds like it could be quite sappy but Butler is a superb storyteller, and I was thoroughly engaged. 

Film

The Salt Path

I struggled with this, I had read the book, and the film stays true to the book. The acting was fine, the scenery lovely, but it felt boring. But I watched the film not long after the controversy of the book and the author, so that probably played into it.

The Thursday Murder Club

OK, this was nowhere near as good as the book, but nowhere near as bad as critics would have you think. The casting was spot on, but much like the book, there is a lot of set up. If they do the next book I suspect it will be better. Still totally worth watching.

Television

LOL: Last One laughing UK

This is hands down, one of the funniest shows I have seen. 10 comedians are placed into a house/large room for 6 hours. This is broken into 6 X 30 minute episodes. They are to try and make the others laugh BUT cannot even smirk themselves.  They do comic showcases, and try little bits. Absolutely hilarious to watch on both counts, the fact they are very funny and then watching the comedians try and not laugh.

Hosted by Jimmy Carr and Roisin Conaty, it starred Bob Mortimer, Lou Sanders, Sara Pascoe, Rob Beckett, Judi Love, Daisy May Cooper, Harrier Kemsley, Richard Ayoade, Joe Lycett and Joe Wilkinson. Stand outs were Wilkinson, Cooper, Ayoade, and Mortimer.

Baskets

We had been watching this entire series for a few months. Headed by Zach Galifianakis playing very different twin brothers, Chip and Dale Baskets. A dark comedy/drama, it plays it for laughs, with darkness and drama interwoven and one of the best TV series out there. It is about 10 years old now but hasn't aged a bit.

It starts with Chip in Paris, learning to be a clown, but he fails miserably and end up back home in Bakersfield as a rodeo clown. He meets an insurance agent, Martha, who despite his poor treatment of her, becomes his best friend. Martha is played perfectly by the very dry and subtle Martha Kelly, she is absolutely brilliant. Not long into the first series, Chip ends up at home with his mother, Christine. Christine (Played so impeccably by Louie Anderson, a man in drag, playing a woman) is one of the most layered and perfect characters in TV history. Dale, Chip's twin, is a shonky, loud, and annoying dean and founder of a local adult education college.

We follow the Basket family, and friends over 4 seasons, with each season expanding and twisting and turning. Every time you think you understand what this show is about, it morphs into something slightly different. This helps the show build and build. You come to love the characters, especially Christine - Anderson won an Emmy for his beautiful portrayal of her.

Baskets reminds me a lot of Somebody, Somewhere. It is one of the best shows you have never seen, and really worth your time.

Documentaries

It Started With a Stale Sandwich

Great doco about the 50 year history of the Kalder Project. John Kalder, a Hungarian-Australian entrepreneur met with Christo in New York in 1968. It covers a lot of the projects he funded and inspired in Australia over the years, that commenced with Jean-Claude and Christo wrapping Little Bay in Sydney. This includes Marina Abramovic's In Residence in 2015 which I took part it.

Conan O'Brien: The Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize for Humor

A great overview of Conan's life with a fabulous show included Letterman, Will Ferrell, Stephen Colbert, Adam Sandler, and many more performing funny pieces and songs to Conan and the audience.

Summer of Soul

A wonderful music doco by Questlove, covering the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival. This was held at the same time as Woodstock, but much lesser known. Performing at the festival were Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, The 5th Dimension, Sly and the Family Stone, and Gladys Knight, amongst many others. This had plenty of footage and interviews and is a funky time. Highly recommended.

Lilith Fair: building a mystery

I loved this so much, the entire history and ups and downs of Lilith Fair, the 90s all-female music festival, founded by the great Sarah McLachlan. In its short history, it showcased women like Sarah, Sheryl Crow, Indigo Girls, Tracy Chapman, Jewell, and many more. Featuring footage of the concerts, back-stage chatter and some eye-opening press conferences. What a shame, it has disappeared.

Richard Ayoade in conversation with David Letterman

Letterman recently discovered Ayoade and wanted to interview him. Ayoade was flown into the US for part of The Atlantic Festival. The conversation was filmed and can be found on Youtube. It is wonderful, with Ayoade doing what he does best and Dave being totally pulled into his force. He is rarely interviewed and Dave is the best, it is totally worth watching.

FRAN LEBOWITZ: the ultimate New Yorker

Fran Lebowitz is one of a kind. She is the ultimate New Yorker. She is sharp and witty. She is an International Treasure. The New York Times called her the modern day Dorothy Parker, and as a fan of both I concur.

I first came across Fran many decades ago when I was introduced to Vanity Fair by my friend Nolene. She was seemingly always in it, in photos at some cool event or writing an article or essay. Her satire drew me in. She began as a writer, writing columns for many cool NY publications. People loved her, she loved writing and authors, becoming friendly with many great writers like James Baldwin and Toni Morrison. But in the mid 90s she developed writers block and nothing since, but this morphed into the interview and talking circuit, which I think she is far more entertaining. And she knows it!

When I saw she was doing a spoken tour and performing at the Opera House, I had to go. I convinced Andrew to go on the back of she pushes boundaries - his favourite thing - and then gave him heaps of clips, immediate fan of course!

So we were excited about seeing Fran, and a little intimidated as we had second row seats. But Fran didn't seem like someone to pick on the audience. And she wasn't.

Now, I do not have a single photo, she famously is a bit of a luddite so I didn't want to upset her by trying to take photos and midway she did say to someone - don't point that thing at me and waggled her finger, it was kind of funny, but I wouldn't have wanted to be on the end of that!

The show was simple, 90+ minutes of Fran talking about stuff, and answering questions. The first 30 minutes was an in conversation with the wonderful Louise Adler. Louise, publishing doyen, and sadly the director of the Adelaide Writers' Week who stood down after the debacle earlier this year. She was the perfect partner for this early part of the show.

She stuck mostly to biographical questions. So we got to listen to Fran talk about her childhood and family - challenging and a little but naughty. Also about her schooling, often expelled and ending up in New York at an early age. A lover of literature and reading, she told a great story about accompanying Toni Morrison and others to Stockholm in 1993 when Toni won the Nobel Peace Prize for Literature. 

Louise bid her farewell, and left Fran to move to a podium, DIRECTLY IN FRONT OF US!!!!!! There she had an ipad (which she used hilariously and in her curmudgeonly way) that had questions the audience had sent via QR code.

We had a perfect view of her and her body language and facial expressions. Fran uses her hands in a really interesting way, wringing them, and pointing her finger to emphasise certain points. She also shakes them to almost extract a particular point. It is difficult to describe, but when you see her talking live next, observe! She also continually adjusted her glasses, unsure if that was a thing or just a problem on the night.

It would be amiss of me not to describe her outfit before continuing too. She is such a fashion critic, about what people should and shouldn't wear. She is in her jeans phase, good solid denim, with legs folded up as she is short, worn with brown cowboy boots, a plaid shirt and a jacket. She makes it work and it suits her fine.

Now this section of answering questions she really shone. She was definitely enjoying herself with Louise, but she really came into her own here. In fact, she was meant to spend about an hour on this but went well and truly over time, which we loved.  There was a lot of questions about politics and Trump, which she gleefully answered. She has famously said the only good thing to come of Trump being president is it got him out of New York. Prior to that she always said everyone in New York hated him, especially those in real estate, which she added, imagine having the lowest of the low - real estate - thinking poorly of you! She calls him many things, but basically she says he is dumb.

She answered all the questions with wit and that dry, sardonic tongue. She also added on thoughts she wanted to pass on. One was younger people coming and asking her questions about their life, and her general response is I don't care what you do, why should I care? And this is Fran, unfiltered and incredibly sure of her own thoughts, even if they may seem a little out of step with the general trends. She is her own person, and has always been. She also has a wonderful, clipped, lyrical way of speaking.

She ended the evening with a great anecdote, walking through Washington Square Park one evening recently alone and a larger threatening looking man was walking towards her and she was worried, then some mice ran by and she jumped, he commented fiercely, don't worry about mouses. Now, she had no moment to think, and simply responded, Mice! He was excuse me? She said strongly and vehemently, the plural of mouse is mice! Grammar matters people!!!

And that is pure Fran. It is difficult to try and replicate her comments and commentary. It was great. But her wit is so singular to try would be ridiculous.

We loved the evening, and were in fits of laughter or nodding wildly with her words and ideals. We did notice some people leaving in that last 40 minutes or so, which we found rude and churlish, she didn't seem to care. It was a lot of the US and politics, but that is the focus of the world right now, hearing from someone right in the middle of it all was exactly what we needed.

We both went away, loving her even more than we already did!

This is how close we were:

Here is the trailer for the series she did with Martin Scorsese, Pretend it's a City!

I actually have a copy, but yet to watch it, I am saving it for a special occasion!
But it will give you a little piece of Fran!

Pretend it's a City

SPLIT ENZ: will protect and prevail

I last saw Split Enz about 20 years ago on their first reunion tour. Whilst I was a long-time fan, I never saw them before that, as I was too young.  It was at the old entertainment centre in Sydney and we had great seats on the floor and it was a great concert.

I came to know Split Enz like many others via Countdown as a child. Their bright colours and face painted and quirkiness drew me in, as it did for many other artists in the mid to late 70s. 

And then Neil joined the band, and they went from indie to super stars. Now I loved Tim, the weird and strange came from him, he was the quirk behind the quirky. But Neil had a smooth voice and wrote these pure pop songs. My love for them grew, and then it was the End of the Enz, and from there Crowded House grew.

Whilst I have always loved Neil, I have had a love-hate thing with Tim. I was not impressed when he joined Crowded House on their third album. Stick to your solo albums Tim, I thought. I did like his solo stuff, Escapade being a highlight. But there is no doubt about siblings performing together is pretty special.

So, to this new tour, I was happy to have fond memories from 20 years ago but my partner, Andrew, had never seen them, so I got us tickets. Which was harder than you would think. I really wasn't sure what to expect, I knew Neil would be fine, but they are both getting on and Tim never had a great voice or a strong voice to start with.

Cut to Monday 18 May and we had just arrived in Sydney, checked into our hotel, dumped our bags, and headed to Darling Harbour. They are playing the new entertainment centre, formerly called the ICC now embarrassingly called the Tik Tok Arena or Tik Tok Entertainment Centre...what is this? A venue for 12 year olds!?!

Silliness aside, we took to our seats, towards the back of the second tier. My vertigo set in, so it took a few minutes to breathe through that. The view of the stage wasn't too bad, but we were hardly close.

The support act were National Treasures, Vika and Linda Bull. Sisters, again with siblings singing together, with the most spectacular voices. They gave us a phenomenal 30-40 minute show, singing a range of new and old. They were excited to be supporting childhood heroes!

It wasn't long until the main act appeared. There was that usual anticipation that I love at a gig, those moments before the commencement! And someone covered in a red satin type sheet came out, rustled around and floated off stage. Next up a much larger sheet, this time Orange came out. I was filming it when a bunch of idiots arrived late and blocked my view and the reveal of the band under the sheet. 

The crowd went wild and they launched straight into Shark Attack!!!

They sounded so good! I cannot begin to explain how good. Their sound was big and full. Vocally they sounded terrific, even Tim! Musically they were on fire. I have been to a LOT of concerts, and it is rare to go to a bad one. But occasionally you see a gig that is next level, and they are less common and more difficult to explain why. I think it is when the energy, the sound, the music, the musicality, the vibe all mix together in equal parts and you get a feeling that is different to how you would usually feel at a great gig, better than a great gig.

They went from Shark Attack straight into History Never Repeats. At the end of that we looked at each other and were like wow, just wow!

And then there was their usual artistic flair. Great set design, great visuals on the screen, even how they put themselves up on the large screens for those (us) in the far seats to see was incorporated into the design in a really cool way. They wore quirky suits, designed and made as always by Noel and his wife.

Split Enz these days are the Finn brothers on guitars and vocals, the gorgeous Noel Crombie on percussion and occasional drums (and spoons - always spoons!), Eddie Raynor on keyboards, and 2 newbies in the rhythm section, Matt Eccles on drums, and James Milne on bass.

And they kept pumping it out, keeping up that opening sound and vibe for the entire concert!!! The entire concert!!!

They were loud and poppy, punk and quirky. It was hit after hit after hit. I have never heard those songs sound as good as they did at this gig. They sounded better than the album tracks.

Everyone played and sounded brilliant too. Neil's voice was, well, Neil's voice...perfection. Tim commanded the stage with years of understanding and musicality, the ultimate frontman. He sounded amazing too. He did mess up some lines on, ironically, My Mistake, so they did a restart. And by the time he took to their most difficult song, I Hope I Never, his voice did sound, understandably, strained, but that gave the song that bittersweet edge.

Highlights for me were Shark Attack (the essence of who they are), Dirty Creature, Message to my Girl (undoubtably the most perfect pop song ever written), Six Months in a Leaky Boat with the lovely extended piano opening, I See Red, and ending with Strait Old Line.

We just didn't want it to end. It didn't matter we were toward the back, the sound came straight to us, and we were close enough to see they were enjoying themselves as much, maybe more, as the audience.

This was easily a Top Ten concert.



Setlist

1. Shark Attack

2. History Never Repeats

3. Poor Boy

4. Nobody Takes Me Seriously

5. Give It A Whirl

6. Dirty Creature

7. Time For A Change

8. One Step Ahead

9. Missing Person

10. Message To My Girl

11. Double Happy

12. Stuff and Nonsense

13. Matinee Idyll

14. My Mistake

15. Hard Act To Follow

16. Pioneer

17. Six Months in a Leaky Boat

18. I Got You

19. I See Red

Encore

20. Spellbound

21. I Hope I Never

22. Strait Old Line

NEWCASTLE WRITERS FESTIVAL 2026

Newcastle Writers Festival 2026

I have been attending the festival since the very first one and it is always one of my favourite weekends of the year.

The week for us commences on opening night.

Friday - opening night

Opening night was one of the best I have been to - bar Miriam Margolyes, nothing could top that!

The evening was at Town Hall and commenced with the usual important speeches. Especially this year, after so much drama around other writer's festivals especially Adelaide, the importance of Newcastle, staying strong and not being bullied into changing programs was pronounced!

Rosemarie is so gallant and steadfast, her impeccable journalism shone through, and Newcastle stood tall and proud under her brilliant vision.

The guests for this opening night were Kathy Lette and Yumi Stynes, who danced their way on to the stage to Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves, and things hotted up!

Hilarious, vivacious, intelligent, and saucy in the best possible way, they had the audience in the palms of their hands.

Kathy Lette is a bloody National Treasure.

She spoke about her new book, her life, her love of Australia, and everything women!

If Puberty Blue was all she has done, it would be enough. She is one of the most amazing cheerleaders for all women, and her feminism and eternal sunshine has always impressed me. It was just wonderful to be in her presence and laugh and nod along. The men with me agreed too!

I also love Yumi who did amazingly well - as you would expect - as her interviewer. I love Yumi, her style and her feminism. Her books are so very important for young girls and young women - I am always suggesting them at work.

After having us in fits of laughter they danced off the stage to We Are Family, encouraging us all to join in, because by that point in the evening we all did feel like family.

A great opening night sets the tone for the weekend, and we all knew we had a great weekend ahead of us. 

Saturday 

We headed in for a 10am start.

Andrew listened to David Day talk about his biography on Bob Hawke while I saw Robbie Arnott in conversation with the fabulous Michael Williams.

I've read all Robbie's books and just adore his atmospheric writing. He was the loveliest guy and very quietly spoken. He talked about how he writes, which is when he can and usually in chaos, which is interesting given what he comes up with. He doesn't see himself as a historical novelist, but he does use history as a stepping stone or background. He had the audience captivated and held everyone in the palm of his hand. My friends and I were swooning as we left.

Next up we both went to see Randa Abdel-Fattah in conversation with Maeve Marsden. It was a really frank and amazing season. Randa was fierce and intelligent and eloquent. I wouldn't have expected any less. It was lovely to see an author that I've been suggesting to teens for a good decade. If you have teens who are curious about the world and the people in it, her teen novels are truly excellent. And whilst I know she was on the program before the ridiculous controversy, it was a great power move to have her there. It was important for us to hear her talk.

We then had a break and escaped the wind to Foghorn for lunch. Food is important at a festival, it keeps you going on these long days.

After lunch we had a session on censorship with a prestigious panel of A C Grayling, Antoinette Lattouf and Josh Bornstein and facilitator, Peter Greste. It was a whooping conversation of unjustness, cancel culture, and the state of the world. Marvellous!

The following panel was even more intense panel called the Unfree World. With Josh Bornstein hosting this time, the panel was Randa, Evelyn Araluen, and Cheng Lei. Evelyn wrote one of my favourite books of the past few years, Drop Bear. It is a must read. Cheng was imprisoned in China for just over 3 years. She was such a gentle soul, I cannot imagine her behind bars. I am very keen to read her book. This panel left us speechless. What a bunch of amazing women. Powerful!!

We took in Korean chicken for dinner before heading for our final session.

The Mushroom Tapes with Helen Garner, Chloe Hooper, and Sarah Krasnostein with Michael Williams. Now I worship Helen as everyone knows but I also adore Sarah and Chloe. To have them all in a room together was superb, a real treat. I loved the way the younger women looked at Helen when she spoke, with so much love and admiration. And they were a hoot together. You would love to be a fly on the wall during their conversations. I am not really a fan of true crime, especially murder, and I didn't really follow the trial, it is their writing that engages me.

As always a great but tiring day. We both went home very satisfied. Andrew summed up the day by saying listening to these amazing and intelligent women gave him hope for the future. These are the type of women who we should have in power. He was so impressed with all the women, their diversity and multi- culturalism is exactly what we need right now and they need to replace stupid old white men. He's my number 1 for a reason.

Sunday

Day 3 of Newcastle Writer's Festival did not disappoint. I was solo today but there was no shortage of lovely friends to catch up with.

I started the day catching part of a children's session. The author was Maxine Beneba Clarke. I've loved her since I read her amazing autobiography many years ago. Maxine is a fiction and essay writer, poet and illustrator for adults and children.

My lovely friend and colleague Emma was able to introduce me to Maxine prior and we had a lovely chat. And she's just gorgeous. I stayed for part of her workshop and got some great ideas for storytime. She read We Know A Place, her beautiful children's book about a magical book shop. Listening to her read and express thoughts, and show drawings, be cheeky, ask questions, and invite the children into her world was a true gift.

My first proper session the day was Siang Lu talking about Ghost Cities, which won the Miles Franklin award last year after 200 publisher rejections over 9 years! I'm 1/3 through the book and it's really intriguing and funny. Moving between modern and ancient China is 2 storylines where I am unsure where he is headed, but I am curious! Siang was quite elusive in the interview with a dry sense of humour and a real sense of self. It added to the elusiveness of the book.

My next session was a curiosity. Is Tik Tok helping or harming the book industry? So, I'm sooo not a fan of influencers, tik tok and book tok and I did have preconceived ideas but went in genuinely willing to listen. It was so not my demographic and I could feel my IQ dropping. The panel of seemingly nice people didn't really address the question. My short answer would be it's not helping or harming the book industry. I'm always happy when people are reading. I don't have to like what they're reading.

My session before lunch was much more suitable. Poetry and Publics. Keri Glastonbury interviewed Maxine, Evelyn Araluen, and David Stavenger about their poetry and the subject matter of the poems. It was a fabulous session and I was in awe at the beauty they produce. Each poet had a different style and wrote about different subject matter, but they were all so powerful and fascinating. I am so glad I returned to reading and listening to poetry a few years back.

After a lovely lunch in the sun I headed to The Con for my 2 final sessions.
Jan Fran and Antoinette Lattouf did their thing in a festival version of their podcast, We Used to be Journos. These gals! I just want to hang and chat with them. They did a funny slide show about their lives and how they intersected, which was funny and informative. The spoke about journalism and politics and the poor state they are both in, showcasing how they are approaching both these days, a new model. They took Questions and answered them well, it was such a fun session.

Finally, I saw the great Heather Rose in conversation with Jacinta Parsons about her new book, which I haven't read yet but sounds terrific. It was a deep dive into craft and how she pulls a book together. Amazing! She found an interesting historic story about Tasmania where she lives and writes, and once diving into the research, she found out how this story actually interwoven with her own family and life. The book is on my to read list, and I cannot wait.

It has taken me a while to write this review up, I have been busy.

In the time since the festival we have found out our lovely leader, Rosemarie Milsom is moving on from the Newcastle Writers Festival to take over Adelaide Readers Festival. How amazing! I think there is sadness that Rosemarie, someone I am proud to call a friend, will not be leading our beautiful homegrown festival anymore. But she has set up this festival beautifully for whoever is lucky enough to take it over. But I feel a wave of support behind her here in Newcastle for her to take over the festival in Adelaide. Her tenacity and intellect will prove her a sound leader to rebuild that festival. So I also feel incredibly proud. And she will still be living here in Newcastle, and will actually be able to attend NWF for the first time, which I know she wanted to do desperately. Enjoy the beast she created, so now she can.

I wish Rosemarie all the very best and cannot wait to see what she does!

I know it will be outstanding!