TINA 2015

This Is Not Art (TINA) and The National Young Writers Festival are always on the October long weekend, usually with loads of other amazing entertainment. Everything that appealed to us was on the Saturday this year so we strapped ourselves in for a full and exciting day.

 

I headed to the first session at The Gun Club, ironically called Love is All You Need. Last year I experienced The Gun Club, as it is known, for the first time. It is really called The United Services Club, and is a gorgeous old terrace on Watt Street, filled with war and gun memorabilia. So not my thing, yet I am somehow very much drawn to the place...in an ironic way.

 

The panel were great with differing opinions on love and sex. 2 females and a male, some cynical, some romantic, all pretty funny too. The Male writer, a romantic poet, spoke about hearing an Arabic version of Romeo and Juliet when he was 5 and it really affected him, so his decision is to never write anything after a trauma so as not to affect any of his readers similarly. The Romance writer spoke about that community and how supportive it is and also about sex and romance and how erotic romance is not about getting off but part of the character's journey. The cynic wrote about her own experiences and has no restraint with her stories almost always ending in sex. To her romance and sex are codependent. Her stories are funny, awkward, and messy because they are real. The male preferred ambiguity and subtleness and prefers to hint at sex. He says just talking to someone can be sexy (oh I so agree) and to use your imagination, as sexy is random, and he does write with an audience in mind. Whereas the cynic writes what she wants, gives everything away and is as honest as humanly possible about her experiences, often to the detriment of those involved. Her theory is if she writes about the really awful stuff others will not feel alone.

 

I caught up with A, L, and L at the stunning Staple Manor also in Watt Street for Big Issues: Press Freedom, Whistleblowing, and National Security. This featured Paul Farrell interviewing Freya Newman about exposing Abbott's daughter and becoming the hunted instead. What a remarkable woman, and a Librarian too! How awful it must have been for her during this time but what a coup. There was much discussion on how to protect sources and how bad the law is in light of such exposure.

 

Then back to The Gun Club for Out of Canberra: The Politics Panel. This was a sheer delight, an amusing look at politics today with Tom Ballard, James Arvanitakis, and Sam Dastyari. Tom and James pressed Sam for Labor Information, and riffed on all the changes in the past five years and the 'disposable' Prime Minister situation. Totally informative and fascinating, and very funny too.

 

After a lovely lunch at the new East End Hub, and a look at some of the exhibitions at The Lock Up we headed to The Royal Exchange for a few sessions.

First up When The Internet Fails You and then Weird Science. When The Internet Fails You was an insightful and frightening look into bullying on The Net, mostly aimed towards women, the panel spoke of their experiences and how they handled it. Weird Science was a great all female panel riffing on the great things happening in the science world today.

 

J joined us for our final session back at The Gun Club, It's All In The Family. This was an interesting panel with a range of writers who write about family and how much information they share, what their family thinks or even if they know. Some were very full on with what they write, whilst others were a little more restrained. It was funny and intriguing and helpful to anyone who might want to start memoirs and unsure what to write about or how to approach their subject.

We then had a wander down the mall and had a look at some more exhibits before having dinner at The Crown and Anchor and then ended the evening following HoboTechno's Nomadic Projections around the streets for a while.

TINA is always a great weekend out and we look forward to what 2016 has to offer.

 

PETER LEWIS, CARTOONIST

The Library was lucky to host a talk and demonstration, in late March, by Peter Lewis, cartoonist for our local paper, The Newcastle Herald.

Peter gave an interesting and informative talk to the large audience.

He started with a caricature of Bob Hawke; swiftly and simply produced, Hawkie, now hangs in my office. 

He spoke about the politicians he loved to use and why. Hawke and Keating were in power when he started and they became his best friends. He joked he can do a lot with Abbott’s ears. But he loved drawing Julia Gillard the most. He met her about three years ago and when she found out he was a cartoonist she joked about her nose and he told her she was his favourite.

He showed a picture of the meeting with him and Julia and the Newcastle Herald staff, he sadly pointed out that many of them no longer work there due to cuts. And it looked like more were to come.

Peter then had a great slideshow of various cartoons published, and not published, from the past few years. He explained nuances of each cartoon, some had more depth than others. He said sometimes cartoons are pulled at the last moment, as they are deemed too political or risk litigation. He said Orica was the gift that kept on giving, and also the fig trees.

 Peter had really sound political knowledge and was sensitive about difficult issues. He felt a cartoon was important as it could say things easier and better than words. But it is something that is consumed in seconds but takes a good 1.5 hours to draw. He further explained that the smart politicians know the cartoons can actually help them, but mostly he felt politicians were like seagulls fighting over a hot chip.

He also spoke about his dog at great length who is often featured in the cartoons as a witness or a counter point as if he were you in the cartoon. The dog was based on his own dog as a puppy, Romeo, who has since passed. People come up to him about the dog all the time, they love him and get upset if he is not in the cartoon. Sometimes, it is not right to include the dog in a piece though.

Peter finished the talk by drawing the portrait of an audience member, and it was outstanding. As he drew he encouraged questions and talk as he loves to talk while he is drawing people.

Peter was trained in fine arts and explained that cartooning, especially caricatures, goes against the grain for a classically trained artist, but it is fun. He likes that he gets to reinvent himself daily, but that needs flexibility and a sense of humour, which he definitely had. He likes to interest and amuse people and he hopes that comes out in his cartoons. 

Everybody takes humour for granted, but it is much more difficult than it look. He is interested in how humour works and how do you make it funny for everyone. He prefers to use brush and ink rather than pens. Peter has done this all his life, but given more restructuring was happening at the Herald, may not be around for much longer. We all hoped this wasn’t the case.  

Julia in Newcastle

I was lucky enough to be in the audience for Julia Gillard at City Hall at the beginning of the month. Lucky in that our friend A had scored our tickets when they sold out in something amazing like 15 mins! And lucky because she was our first female Prime Minister and a rather remarkable woman. 

I got to City Hall and was first in line, which gave us excellent seats when the doors opened. The enthusiastic audience ranged in ages but over half were female.

 

Rosemarie Milsom introduced the former PM to thunderous applause, it was thrilling to be in the audience. And from that moment for about an hour, Julia Gillard shone. Enhanced greatly by the extraordinary Rosemarie, Julia answered questions and told stories with grace, humour, and intelligence. This should not be surprising, but I guess I was surprised at how graceful, warm, funny, and charismatic she was. Much more than expected.

I cannot remember everything she spoke about, and I remember being so entranced I barely tweeted anything. I could have sat and listened to her all night.

 

She spoke at length about the period before she took over from Kevin and of course the night Kevin took over from her. It's hard to know what is spin and what is not with politicians, but I guess there are some things we'll never know. But I could tell she felt conflicted over the man and the course of action taken from all aspects.

 

She spoke about her family and the impact of her being PM had on them, especially given the treatment she got.

And I guess this is what stayed with me most about her talk, was her mistreatment, the thing that bothered me the most about when she was in power. The double standards, the misogyny, the bullshit. She said it mostly rolled off her and she tried to take no notice of it, but there were times it was hard to ignore. When she was in large briefings with big business and the only woman for example, it appears - as we know - feminism still has a long way to go.

 

She spoke about her famous misogyny speech and how she had no idea the impact of it and how powerful it was. A few close to her at the time mumbled to her they wouldn't want to be in Abbott's shoes at that moment. And it wasn't until she returned to her office that she found messages and realised how well it had been taken. She said she can be in another country that might only know about kangaroos and koalas in terms of Australia, but they would also know about her speech, and that was pleasing.

 

My favourite line was "criticism only hurts from people you respect." This was in direct response to the extreme sexism she was treated to during her time in office.

She also took time to acknowledge Joanne McCarthy, who was in the audience, and spoke about her harrowing decision to go ahead with the Royal Commission, as she wanted those affected to go through the least amount of pain.

 

She spoke about her passion of education, meeting President Obama, her family, and her work now she is out of office. All were presented with openness, and great humour. She was funny!

 

The evening ended with questions, and one was an offer to come and be Lord Mayor, no doubt she would be pleased Nuatali Nelmes taking on that role.

At the end of the day, she was not a perfect PM, but are there any perfect politicians? But she got a huge amount of policy through in a trying government and has come out the other end as a respectable and decent human. I think the history books will be kind to her and deservingly so.

MIDNIGHT OIL: Teenage memories and political yearnings

I recently chanced upon the filmclips to US Forces and Power and The Passion back to back. I had not seen the clips in years and oh how they took me back. 

US Forces was my first experience with Midnight Oil, I was 12 and it was definitely a life changing moment for me as a not quite teen, politically and musically.

 

 

Watching the clip again I know I would have not really grasped exactly what it was about but it struck me hard, that I remember.

 

Firstly it was the music, I would have most certainly heard it before I saw it. That clear guitar riff had me hooked, as all clear guitar riffs have since, and the easily sung chorus and great melody.

 

Then there was that chanty, spoken word sort of section - it had, and still does have power and pull.

 

But the filmclip, set with the Lake Munmorah power station (I believe) and the backdrop transfixed me, or moreso the gorgeousness of drummer Rob Hirst, and the charisma and crazy dancing of one Peter Garrett. He was my new hero.  A tall, bald, kinda scary dude who danced in the most shocking but fabulous way. I still incorporate Garrett dance moves to this day - it gets looks, it creates space, and I simply don't care.

 

The lyric that intrigued me the most: "L Ron Hubbard won't save your life!" I pondered that for hours on end, Who was L Ron Hubbard, Why did my life need saving, and Why wouldn't he do it?

 

Scientology wasn't the thing it is now back then, funny huh?

 

This led to Power and The Passion, a staccato pop/rock tune that again had me transfixed, more crazy dancing with this band seemingly dumped in an obscure (to me at the time) backdrop and going about the business of playing the song regardless. Again Garrett moved with this Fuck Off stare that freaked out my sweet little mind, but I continued to watch as he literally danced to the bouncing beat of Rob Hirst's drum. I was definitely intrigued and a friend of Dad's taped me a copy of 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 or 10-1 as everyone called it. I played that tape till it broke, every single song a gem. No one I knew - at that time - knew of or liked Midnight Oil. Story of my life, to be repeated over for many years until I found my flock! 

 

  

The screamy lyric of Only The Strong, "When I'm locked in my room" sung to me in most certainly a way it was not intended.

 

After the one, two punch of Side 2 with US Forces and Power and the Passion, my other favourite tracks were Short Memory and Tin Legs and Tin Mines. I eventually replaced the broken tape with a vinyl copy. 

And then Red Sails in the Sunset was released. I had to have it and asked my grandparents for it for my 14th birthday! And they came up with the goods, I was very impressed. Imagine that, what must they have thought when they purchased that vinyl with the depiction of Sydney Harbour after a nuclear attack? Bless them, they bought it anyway. I loved this album with my very being, I was understanding the politics they represented more and was horrified about Nuclear War. I remember getting very angry about such things, and couldn't understand why everyone didn't see the sense in Nuclear Disarmament and so forth. 

 

LOL, Peter Garrett made me a lefty!! Flash Forward to now, you have no idea the disappointment I feel in his political career...the less said the better...

Back to Red Sails in the Sunset. I remember clear as day the first time I played the album at home on my little turntable. I had heard it before at my grandparents, but had to keep it quiet etc and the experience was not so great. I loved the album but knew I had to play it loud to get it. So back home from our Christmas holiday (I am a Christmas baby, born on Boxing Day) I was home alone, put the vinyl on the turntable, lay on my bed and turned it up loud!! I remember the turntable under my front window, the lilac bedspread on my bed, the pale lace curtains that let me see the outside world without it seeing me (I was an odd little creature, we all are at 14 I think), my desk and books, the amazing built in cupboards in that room with my comfy old lounge chair, saved from when the family lounge got replaced, and my small collection of beloved vinyl.

 

From the first few beats of When the Generals Talk, the experience was loud, cranky and fantastic. Listening to both 10-1 and Red Sails today as I type this, they are great but lack the impact felt as a young 12-14 year old, suppose you can never really relive those first experiences. Back then I would have definitely rated Red Sails over 10-1, today I would reverse it. Red Sails wasn't as well received as 10-1 by the critics and as an adult I can see why. It's still a great album, 10-1 just seems to have lasted the ravages of time better. 

 

I remember I had left my room halfway through side 2 and came back as Harrisburg started, and for those that don't know it starts with some weird deep breathing like sounds, I was certain something was in my room, the music started and those breaths were seemingly drowned out, I stood there hair standing up on end, thinking a ghoul was in my closet or outside the window. As the song continued I realised it was part of the song, and relieved collapsed back onto my bed.

 

Besides Generals, which does grab you, stand outs then and still today, my favourites are Kosciusko and Jimmy Sharman's Boxers.

 

Finally, to complete this tale of Midnight Oil, I played the third album in what I call The Classic Oils Trilogy, Diesel and Dust. Yes there are albums and EPs before and Albums since, but to me this trio are the essence of the Oils. Of course, I collected the entire catalogue on vinyl or CD, and love it all, though newer albums don't really appeal as much as the older stuff.

 

Diesel and Dust is the most celebrated of all Midnight Oil albums, it has won the most awards, was released at their peak and recently named in a book called, 100 Best Australian Albums, it was named No. 1! Whilst 10-1 still remains my favourite, this is their masterpiece, no doubt about it.

It came on the back of their touring the outback with Indigenous bands including The Warumpi Band, and the songs were mostly about reconciliation and packed a punch.

 

Beds are Burning is the song that caught the attention of the world, and became an anthem for the suffering of our Indigenous culture and peoples. 

 

The lyrics were powerful, beats rhythmic, and songs generally anthemic, you can see why it is so loved. I was old enough to get and appreciate every single second of this remarkable album when it was released. Listening to it now, my feelings are much the same, maybe heightened when you listen to an album that is as fresh and sadly relevant now as it was some 25 years ago. 

 

My favourite tracks were (and still are) Dreamworld, Sometimes, and Put Down that Weapon. Garrett never sounded better, the band sharp and tight. What I would have given to have seen them live at that very moment...

 

 

But alas I didn't, in fact I didn't see them live until well into the 90s. I am unsure why, quite possibly no one I knew really shared my love of Midnight oil. Anyway they played a multiple bill with a range of other Aussie bands at Newcastle Entertainment Centre, I think a tour for the drought? I cannot remember. What I do remember was their performance, burnt deeply into my memory.

It was a short but electrifying set, I danced up a frenzy, hands flailing a la Garrett and creating a very special space for myself on the dance floor. I know I was totally in my own world of extreme exhilaration to finally see this magnificent band and the songs moved me almost to tears. Live music is a powerful thing, get the timing right, with the right songs and the right emotions and it can send you into a trance that not experienced is difficult to truly understand or embrace....and of course explain. I am sure my sister can fill you in on her extreme embarrassment at my odd behaviour!

 

A few years later the same sister accompanied me to see Midnight Oil in full flight on the 20,000 Watt RSL Tour at Newcastle Workers Club (or whatever is was called in 1997/8). A proper concert and to support the Greatest Hits album of the same name, this was again brilliant. I remember they had a chocolate wheel with all the songs on and spun it to see what they would play next. I cannot remember what songs or even what order, but I can tell you they sounded better than their albums and their stage presence was out of this world. Garrett did not fail to impress with his movements, politics and incredible charisma.

 

It's funny to reminisce about something that is not that big a part of your life as it was over 20 years ago. I still love them and even moreso what they stood and still stand for. Midnight oil shaped my teenage years (along with many other things and of course other music) and began my political interest and my appreciation of humanity, animals and our world and that I think it a remarkable thing. And as disappointing as politics is at the moment, and Garrett himself has been, just think back to what he has achieved in his life thus far. Truly his idea for The Oils to wear Sorry tracksuits at the Olympic Games Closing Ceremony is one of the most brilliant displays of activism and deserved of sainthood alone. And the music stands up and represents a true Australia, the good and the bad, and it's been a blast going back and thinking of the musical inspiration Midnight Oil achieved for me.