Every time I pay a visit to Brisbane, I invariably ask myself the question “should I return to live here?”
Having grown up in Lismore, and having family here, Brisbane was a fairly obvious choice for me for university during the 1980s.
The first three years I spent in Brisbane (1984-1986) were memorable. During the first year, my mum became quite ill, and later died, and so I spent most of that year travelling back and forwards between Brisbane and Lismore. During the second and third years I began to spend more time in Brisbane, made some life-long friendships, and (of course) there was the life changing experience of attending university.
During the fouth year, when I worked at Coles New World (Sunnybank, Fairfield and then night-packing at Toowoong), life was also memorable. But it was also the year where I began to wonder about my future. Working at Coles was never really “my thing”, and so after about eight or nine months I quit my job, and was briefly unemployed.
At the beginning of 1988, I saw a job advertised to work at 2WEB, Bourke, and after taking some advice, applied for it, obtained the job, and moved away. Though I’ve maintained links with Brisbane through family and work ever since, I’ve never really thought seriously about returning. But as I begin to think about the rest of my life, and in particular, my retirement years, I do wonder from time to time if my latter years will be in Sydney, or back home in either Lismore or Brisbane.
As I went for a morning walk around the city this week, these thoughts have gone through my mind. As well, as wondering what my life would have been like had I not chose to go for that job in Bourke. Would I still be living in Brisbane, doing something quite different with my life? There’s no answer to these questions, of course. But nice to contemplate.
Colin and I went to see the play, “Bent” tonight at Belvoir Street.
Colin had seen a production at the National Theatre (he thinks) in London many years ago, and I had a vague recollection of seeing the movie which featured Clive Owen, Ian McKellen and Mick Jagger amongst others also.
The story concerns two men who are in the concentration camp at Dachau, a concentration camp which both Colin and I had also – separately – visited. The character of Max, played by Radek Jonak is from a reasonably wealthy family, though estranged from them because he’s gay. Imprisoned at Dachau, he becomes friends with Horst, played by Sam Haft. as they work on a “chain gang” moving rocks. The moving of the rocks served no other purpose, by the way, than to drive the participants insane.
Although they’re both gay, Max declares himself Jewish because he is told in the concentration camps, the Gays were lower on the social scale than the Jews. Max and Horst subsequently fall in love, and there are some wonderfully touching scenes between them, even though they can’t physically look or touch each other. Beyond that, saying anything else would be a plot spoiler for anyone going to see the play.
I can safely say, however, there were moments when we both laughed, and moments when we were both on the verge of tears. Dealing with Nazism, and the way in which the Nazis attempted to debase the human condition, there are also many confronting themes and images. It’s not a night of light theatre. That said, we both came away having enjoyed the experience so much. Mostly because it is about the triumph of the human spirit.
The gay holocaust memorial in Green Park, Sydney.
It’s a really good play. And the production is really good also. For just a brief moment near the beginning of the play, we were both concerned the production seemed a bit amateurish, as the caricatured Nazi officers were a little over the top. There’s also a bit of gratuitous – though not unpleasant – nudity near the beginning of the play. But the strength of the play and the performances by the lead actors came through. The actors who played Max and Horst were both very, very good.
Muslim, Christian, Jew at Pitt Street Uniting Church
It’s Sunday night and I’ve just returned from a reasonably interesting evening at the Pitt Street Uniting Church.
I saw the sign a couple of weeks ago advertising an evening featuring a Christian, a Muslim and a Jew, talking about issues of diversity and belief and quickly jotted it in my diary as an interesting Sunday night excursion.
I’ve never been to a Uniting Church before. Well, actually as a child I used to go to Sunday School at a Presbyterian Church (with my cousins), but never as an adult. The venue was actually a former Congretational Church, one of the three churches (along with Methodist and Presbyterian) which formed the Uniting Church. On entering I noticed the lack of traditional iconography (I’m a Catholic, after all) but did notice patchwork quilts and other symbols noting the notion of a church made up of diversity. There wasn’t a crucifix in sight, the alter was hardly visible and the organ was replaced by a piano. The congregation consisted of mostly older people and (clearly, at question time) people with a commitment to those values of diversity, including a couple of transexuals.
The evening consisted of three people involved in the Goodness & Kindness Project (a Christian, a Muslim and a Jew) talking about their experiences of life and belief, and how they related those issues to people in primary schools, high schools and in the broader community, though it was their interest in primary schools that was strongest, because they believe it’s between the ages of 9 and 12 that you can have the most effect.
They, and a team, have travelled all over the countryside speaking to 25,000 people (85% primary school, 14% secondary school, 1% adult) about shared values.
Although they conceded their points of difference (especially on the issue of Israel/Palestine), they were most interested in their points of commonality. They emphasised, for example, the commonality of Bible stories, including Jonah and the Whale and Moses crossing the Red Sea. I was also surprised to hear about how Islam recognises Jesus and the Mother of Christ, Mary, in its teaching. I also learned that, except on one day each year, Jewish people do not use the name or word God. In fact, the word is unpronouncable in the Torah, leaving our vowels. They also, for example, spoke about their trepidation, sometimes, in going into “faith schools”. The Jewish man, for example, spoke of the fear he felt the first time he went into a Muslim school (he wears traditiona clothing, bit hat, beard etc_, though now goes into those schools as a “regular face”
The Christian man spoke the least, the Jew spoke a little more, but mostly it was the Muslim man who spoke the most, reflecting I guess, the underlying interests of the audience to know more about Islam. Audience members raised issues such as the lack of female representation (they DO have women doing the program) and the lack of involvement of other religious traditions such as Buddhism (there’s a common interest in these three religions which believe in just one God) which challenged the notion of what they are doing, but mostly people were supportive of this initiative.
Overall it was an interesting evening, though not earth shattering. My favourite moment, however, was when the Jewish man spoke of going to the World Trade Centre, and upon seeing some graffiti which said “death to all Muslims” came to a conclusion. He said, at that point he realised the world could go in two directions, one of division or one of unity. Upon making this realisation he said he made a promise to God to work for unity. A very touching moment that led to a round of applause.
If you want to know more, here’s a link to a program about them, as featured on ABC TV.
I caught up with some friends tonight for a drink at Bar Cleveland. They’re living in Canberra now, but come back to Sydney fairly regularly. And tonight was a “special occasion” as their daughter has recently turned eighteen.
After dinner at a nearby favourite restaurant, The Dhaba they decided to pop across the road for her first “legal” drink. Along the way, we popped into a nearby Indian supermarket for “some supplies” to take back to Canberra. “We’re in Canberra now”, she explained when they asked about her absence.
Across the road at Bar Cleveland, it was “tumble weed territory”, as the bar was literally empty when we arrived.
Bar Cleveland, Surry Hills
Of course, you could blame the “recession” but I guessing it was the weather that kept people at home. We had a good bucketing of rain earlier tonight. Although there have been days here and there of general wetness, this was a good bucking of “Sydney rain”. The type of rain where it comes down heavily for a short period of time. The type of rain that actually makes Sydney a “wetter place than Melbourne”. In Melbourne, they have more days of precipitation than in Sydney, but when it rains here, it really rains.
When the rain came down I had actually been in another pub, The Strawberry Hills, with a colleague. We had gone there for a quick “birthday drink”, as she had been in Melbourne last weekend and therefore unable to attend my birthday drinks at The Beresford. After a couple of beers, we had a couple of cheap cocktails which were very tasty, indeed.
In the midst of all this bar talk, and pleasant catchings up with people, it was a reasonably interesting and productive day at work. Not much else to report…
Instead of using the recycling bins, they’ve been leaving discreet piles of old magazines in the laneway. I assume they’re hoping someone might find them interesting and take them away.
Personally, I thought it looked like a rather boring pile. Nothing inspiring there. Nothing like my collection of The Face, for example.
Discarded Magazines
I used to be a great magazine reader, but now, thanks to the interweb, a lot of what I used to enjoy about magazines have been replaced with more instant gratification online. If I want showbiz gossip, music news or whatever, it’s there at the drop of a hat. I don’t need to wait a month anymore. So yeah, these magazines looked drab, IMHO.
I only noticed them because I went for a bit of a mid-evening walk.
It’s bloody warm tonight. 26 degrees at the moment and it’s almost 11 o’clock.
Still, it was a beautiful day. I had a meeting this morning at the Opera House, where the weather was almost balmy. I had a work-related lunch which also involved getting out of the office. And then tonight, I decided it was time for an evening stroll.
Meanwhile, I’m lovin’ this video clip a mate just Twittered about…
There’s something wonderfully re-assuring about a middle-aged drag queen in a purple wig – think Dame Edna – seeking to represent Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest.
In the midst of all the young things of Swedish pop these days who sing only in English, it was great to see someone who broke the mould.
Not that it’s all that odd to see drag queens in Melodifestivalen or Eurovision, these days. In fact, it almost seems compulsory to have one.
Interestingly, compared to last week when there was only one Swedish language song, which I grumbled about, this week there were quite a few Swedish language songs this week, including Babsan, which I think is a good thing.
Elisabeth Andreassen
To win Eurovision, it’s pretty obvious they really need to sing in English these days, but I reckon it’s pretty cool if they could sing in Swedish for the domestic finals. Same for the other countries too.
And besides, singing in English is not without its risks. There was a song this week, for example, “My Heart Is Refusing Me” which I thought had a title which sounded like something Swedish which had been put through Google Translate. It’s like that line from ABBA’s “Fernando” when they sing, “Since many years I haven’t seen a rifle in your hand”. In Swedish it makes perfect sense to say “sedan många år” (since many years), though it fails terribly in English.
The Moniker sings Oh My God
The same with ‘Like Suicide” by Christian Waltz. I quite like his work, but you just know you’re going nowhere at Eurovision when you title your song, “Like Suicide”.
Speaking of song titles, there was a repeat this week of a title from last week. Last week, “Oh My God” was a bright, happy pop song by by Le Kid. This week, “Oh My God” by The Moniker was something out of this world with Mika-like vocals, and a guy singing the song who looked like Phil Collins in a Hare Krishan outfit.
I thought the songs, overall, were better this week than last. Despite the dodgy title, “My Heart Is Refusing Me” was probably my favourite from this week, though I also liked Brolle, the uber schlager-campness of Elisabeth Andreassen (who has competed for both Sweden and Norway on many occasions) and the schlager-pop stylings of Elektrisk.
Speaking of electricity, the chemistry between the hosts seems to have improved also. Last week, they were very stiff. This week, they were much better.
Overall, I’m feeling more confident about Melodifestivalen this week then I was at a similar point last week.
While I am sure Brisbane is very nice, getting old where you now live will be so much easier. Close to St Vincents, (no don’t laugh. The day will come when that is important), you know the transport system, it is your work base and a place where you have many friends.
While I am sure Brisbane is very nice, getting old where you now live will be so much easier. Close to St Vincents, (no don’t laugh. The day will come when that is important), you know the transport system, it is your work base and a place where you have many friends.