Winter has arrived exactly on time in Sydney, with cold, wet and rainy conditions for much of the day. Although things cleared up later in the day, I still spent much of the day inside watching television, listening to radio, listening to music, and watching internet stuff. With that background, here’s one of my all time favourite Youtube clips, featuring Frida from ABBA’s first ever television appearance. In 1967, she was married, had two children, and sang on a small-scale in the town of Eskilstuna about 90 minutes from Stockholm. It’s a very sweet clip.
Admit it, you have to say “Mr Crackles” sounds like a pretty dodgy name for somewhere to buy food. “Mr Crackles” sounds too much like “Mr Bubbles” who was an (in)famous paedophile in Australia, especially since it’s located on Sydney’s Oxford Street.
In contrast, I’d heard very good things about “Mr Crackles” on Oxford Street, Sydney but had never consumed anything from there.
It was not the greatest crackling I’ve ever had, but pretty good after a couple of beers.
The audience reaction to Dianne Reeves at the Sydney Opera House was tremendous. My friend Colin noted that he’d never seen such a reaction to a performer there. “Does she know that Sydney audiences don’t do this?”, he whispered in my ear, as people got to their feet just before intermission.
I first saw her during last year’s Sydney Festival. At the time I thought it was one of the best shows I’d ever seen in my life. Her vocal range was terrific. As much as her upper range could soar, almost piercing your ears, her lower range could literally cause the theatre floor to vibrate.
Likewise, her musical range was also fairly broad. Of course there were a number of standards such as “Twelfth Of Never” and “You Go To My Head” (which almost made me cry) and I guess even Leonard Cohen’s “Suzanne” could now be declared a classic. But in explaining that throughout history jazz musicians have always “jazzified” the contemporary songs of their day, she led into a number by Joan Armatrading. There was also a number by Peter Gabriel and Chris, a work colleague who was there, observed there was also a refrain from a Joni Mitchell song, though he couldn’t recall which. In fact, there were several times when I could also pick up recurrent themes from popular songs but, long before I could identify them, the musicians had moved on. As I wandered home I was on a total high, humming her final tune most of the way there.
Last night’s show was quite different. A tribute to the work of Sarah Vaughn with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Although I’m not an expert on orchestral music, I’ve sometimes felt the SSO tends to overplay “popular music”, although it could be a characteristic of the acoustics of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Thus, there were occasions last night when I felt this concert failed to live up to the show I saw eighteen months ago.
However, there were some incredibly amazing moments. The highlights for me were her performances of “Embraceable You” (which showcased her magnificent vocal range), “Misty” (loook… at…me………) and “Send In The Clowns” (wildly dramatic and with a totally unexpected musical thematic variation). There were also a couple of pieces I don’t know the names of, combing the orchestra and her style of scat-singing gorgeosly in a wild celebratory orchestral jazz style. One in particular, combined the percusiveness of the scat-style with hand-clapping by the orchestra in a joyous, dramatic moment. It was for me, THE highlight of the night.
In some ways, last night’s show wasn’t as mind-blowing for me as her performance eighteen months ago. I thought it was a little more “staged”, a little less spontaneous, a little more scripted, and maybe lacking some of the surprise of the State Theatre show last summer. But I still loved the show, and I can’t wait for her to come back again.
Visiting the Wilsons River in Lismore, my hometown in Northern NSW, always stirs up a mix of emotions.
I remember a time in my childhood when the river was a true hub of activity, alive with people actually swimming in it, especially down at Simes Bridge – the one that links Lismore and North Lismore. Kids my age would fearlessly leap off that bridge, a thrill that seems incredibly reckless now, but back then, it was just part of our summer. You’d also see swimmers near the Ballina Street Bridge boat ramp.
And it wasn’t just swimming; I have clear recollections of water-skiers gliding across the surface, and the unique charm of the floating restaurant. Now, apart from the occasional boat, the river feels strangely empty.
That vibrant connection stands in stark contrast to the “complex relationship” Lismore now has with the Wilson’s River, a consequence of the massive and catastrophic floods of recent years – 2022 being particularly devastating, as I’ve written about previously.
It’s funny, growing up, we always called it the Richmond River. The name changed at some point, a detail I’ve read about a few times, but the exact reason escapes me now. Anyway, it’s the Wilsons River that now flows through Lismore today, meeting Leicester Creek. That confluence, that joining of the two waterways, is a significant factor in our ongoing flooding challenges.
The old NORCO factory, as viewed from the boat ramp on the Wilsons River
I also remember a time when you could simply walk down to the river from either side. Now, in many areas, that’s impossible due to overgrown trees or other obstructions.
The extensive planting of bamboo along the banks created a physical barrier, and the river began to feel increasingly cut off from Lismore. The construction of the Berlin Wall-like levee bank only reinforced that separation, creating a tangible distance.
The walking path near the Wilsons River at Lismore, with the Berlin Wall-like levee bank.
It’s a far cry from the past, when houses actually lined the riverbank, homes to families, often those with fewer resources or from the local Aboriginal community. The floods washed most of that history away, and even the riverside RSL Club is now gone. There was so much life happening down there once.
Now, a ride along the river reveals that nice park, a spot where people can picnic and enjoy the quiet atmosphere. You see dog walkers and people using the path. It’s a lovely area, but it’s one of the few places left where you can truly get close to the river in Lismore.
After the all the floods, and with increased mobility – you can easily go for a swim at the beach or the pool, not in the river – people aren’t as inclined to head down to the river any more.
The only time people look closely at the river, these days, is when they’re driving over the bridge to see how far up the floods waters have come. Or to park their car in one of the riverside carparks, such as nearby the rowing club.
But despite the trauma, despite the flooding, it remains a beautiful river in my eyes.
The Wilsons River at Lismore, as viewed from the Ballina Street Bridge
Lismore was built where it is because of things like the timber and dairy industry. But even before European settlement, I’ve read Aboriginal people lived close to the river, except when it flooded, and they would relocate to higher ground. As many of the houses of North and South Lismore, the divide between those living on one side of the river and those living right up on the hill will increase, with fewer and fewer people less likely to have any daily contact with the river.
Hey, guess what? Tina Arena has been spotted eating meatballs at IKEA at Rhodes in Sydney. Although I’ve always been a fan of Tina, I’m even more so now since the meatballs there are actually quite good. Not as good as they are in Sweden, and not as good as the frozen ones you can take home with you, but still reasonably tasty. I wonder if she asked for extra lingonberry (like I do) and I wonder if she also also had the lingonberry softdrink they have that always froths too much? And I wonder if she might have picked up some Kalles Kaviar to take home with her?
I’m also left wondering: did she go just for the meatballs? Or was she there for another reason? Is she leaving the UK/France behind and moving to Sydney, thus buying some flatpack furniture? How many Billy book-cases did she buy?
You see, that’s the problem with newspapers these days: there’s not enough depth in their reporting. These are important questions I want to know the answers to. “The Daily Telegraph”, these days, lacks the level of investigative reporting we once had under Col Allen, wouldn’t you agree?
File photograph, the kind of meatballs Tina Arena may have eaten at IKEA
There was a time – maybe five to ten years ago – when I would devour the weekend newspapers. There was always “news” in the weekend papers. You would always learn something from the weekend papers. Sometimes I would line up at the service station or at the newsagency at Taylor Square as the papers came hot off the presses.
But what did I learn today from the newspapers today? Oh yeah, apparently the NSW Labor Party faces certain defeat at the next state election. Wow, that’s a shock. I never expected that. It’s no wonder the first part of the weekend papers I read, these days, is the travel section. And then I go to the “analysis” section of the paper to hopefully make some sense of the news I’ve read throughout the week.
From time to time, I still refer to myself a “news junkie”. I want to know what’s going on in the world. I have an avid interest in the detail of modern public life. But I just don’t rely on newspapers for that detail in the way I used to. Instead, I turn to them for analysis. Unfortunately, with a few notable exceptions, a lot of the “analysis” is nothing more than fairly predictable, partisan commentary.
Abandoned Jeans
And today, it was a case of reading the papers at my local Chinese restaurant as I enjoyed a late lunch. Although I dealt with a couple of calls early in the day, I had a good sleep in today until about lunchtime. Partly it was because I felt like it, and partly it because I needed it, since I ended up having a bit of an unexpected late night.
A late night which saw me wandering through Surry Hills in the early hours of the morning, and discovering someone who had left behind both their jeans and their backpack. I hope they didn’t come to any harm. More likely there was a bit of over-indulgence in what’s become a lengthy Halloween “celebration” in Sydney.
What’s with all the Halloween costumes? They were out last night, and they were out again tonight. This Halloween thing seems to have happened fairly rapidly in Australia. It was a kids thing a couple of years ago, and now it seems it’s an adult thing too. And it’s STILL not Halloween proper.
I noticed it tonight because, once again, unexpectedly, I ended up out on the town. A mate was up from Canberra and he asked if I felt like a drink, so naturally enough we went out for a drink and a dance. We were surrounded by people wearing Halloween costumes.
It was a welcome aside, nonetheless, from an otherwise inactive, boring Saturday night which, until then, had been highlighted only by a trip to Coles. That’s my usual Saturday night routine these days…
Allsang pa Skansen - the national Swedish sing-a-long program - during Europride.
So I went online this morning looking for ferry tickets from Stockholm to Tallin, based on the advice given to me in my dream yesterday by that nice Norwegian travel agent. I am sure he was right about the ferry being very nice and romantic and all that, and the woman at the youth hostel today told me something similar, but they were both wrong about one thing: the price.
As with other internal European flights, I’ve found it’s much better, cheaper and faster to fly than to sit on some dreary ferry or train for hours on end. I’ve realised at this point in my life that I’m someone who much prefers the destination and experience to the journey and the travel.
So I’m flying to Tallin next Wednesday morning and I’ve booked into – what seems on the internet – a reasonably modern and clean hostel. I’ve only booked three days at this stage, just in case it turns out to be terrible, or I get bored senseless.
That gives me about a week to squeeze everything in. And for most of that week, that means seeing some great Swedish music.
A case in point was going to Allsang pa Skansen again tonight. I went a couple of weeks ago for the rehearsal, but didn’t stay for the main show.
I arrived at about 5.30 and watched the remainder of the rehearsal, which included BWO, Bodies without Organs, performing “Lay Your Love On Me” which was terrific.
I then grabbed a beer and something to eat. I settled on a Swedish favourite, a meat ball and potato dish, along with a light beer. At half the price of a standard beer, and at 2.2% alcohol, I’ve found it’s been more than enough for me as I’ve travelled around Sweden.
But while getting the food, I saw another Swedish culinary creation which I couldn’t help but marvel at: chicken with nachos. I mean, last night I ate at a Thai restaurant where they had the chop-stick option (they don’t have chop-sticks in Thailand to the best of my knowledge), and it was pretty lame Pad Thai, with a Swedish salad on the side. And then I saw this bizzare combination tonight of a BBQ chicken drumstick (skin removed) on a plate with corn chips, guacomole and sour-cream. I think there’s an opening for an Australian celebrity chef on television here.
Bjorn Ulvaeus has Mamma Mia, Linda Ulvaeus has Steel Magnolias.
People fishing in the heart of Stockholm.
Grona Lund, Stockholm
Martin Rolinski from BWO rehearses at Allsang pa Skansen
Light beer and meatballs at Skansen.
Allsang pa Skansen – the national Swedish sing-a-long program – in rehearsal.
Allsang pa Skansen – the national Swedish sing-a-long program.
Martin Rolinski and BWO perform at Allsang pa Skansen
Allsang pa Skansen – the national Swedish sing-a-long program – during Europride.
BWO perform at Allsang pa Skansen
BWO perform at Allsang pa Skansen
Dagens Nyheter – Daily News, the Swedish newspaper.
By the time I finished my meal, the show was about ready to begin. Well, the pre-show warm up, which is about thirty minutes long before the program goes live to air.
As I’ve previously mentioned, the premise for the show is community singing. And it occurred to me that in a largely secular society, this is probably the modern manifestation of what used to occur in churches. Though instead they sing popular Swedish songs of the last fifty or sixty’years. There was one tonight about a “Flicka fran Smaland” (girl from Smaland, a beautiful region of Sweden), that probably has as much cultural currency in Sweden as, for example, “The Road To Gundagai”.
Tonight, however, also had a Europride theme. There were drag queens, comedy sketches with a gay-theme, and BWO who have written the theme song for Europride, “Bells Of Freedom”. As a song, I think it’s pretty lame, and not up to the usual standard. I’m pleased they also did another song for the tv show, and then one just for the audience at Skansen.
And what an audience it was. Thousands and thousands of people. Most of them incredibly tall. The third tallest nation on earth, after Norway and Holland, apparently. And most with children on their shoulders, making it a little hard for me to see sometimes. And if it wasn’t the kids on dad’s shoulders, it was a bunch of poofs with rainbow flags :)
I was really pleased to see BWO live. They have great fun songs and the crowd really loved them. Martin Rolinski, the lead singer, is also surprisingly good looking. He was always a bit blonde and bland for my taste, but then I saw him in real life. and was quite impressed. The woman in the band also looks like a real hoot, and you see more of her personality live on stage than you do in the clips. Alexander Bard is… well… Alexander Bard.
Allsang is a really great show and I wish we had something like this in Australia. Of course, our TV execs would turn it into a reality show of some sort, and you’d have SMS voting and all the associated crap. I think it’s a bit like Countdown was for us back in the 70s, something a bit daggy, but also a bit fun the whole family could enjoy together.
Anyhoo I better get some sleep as Europride starts in force tomorrow. Tomorrow night, I’m seeing ABBA cover band, Arrival. I’m told they’re the best ABBA cover band going.
