Though many people like to go away for long weekends, I’m far more inclined to be a home-body. It’s quiet and relaxed. And so, I’m starting the third day of the Queen’s Birthday Weekend with nothing much planned, aside from a very vague idea I’ll go for a swim, and maybe engage in some more “binge television”.
The weekend started on Friday night watching a couple of episodes of the new “Tales Of The City” on Netflix. “Tales Of The City” has been part of my life for almost thirty years. I first read/devoured the books while I was in hospital after an appendectomy. Along the way, they’ve been turned into TV shows, and now, there’s a further update.
The new series is “inspired” by the books of Armistead Maupin. Anna Madrigal is now 90 years old; after an unfulfilling marriage, Mary-Ann has returned to San Francisco; Michael has taken up with a younger man, and Dee Dee seems to be following in the semi-alcoholic footsteps of her mother. There’s also a new generation coming through, with Shawna (the daughter of Mary-Ann’s school friend, Connie Bradshaw) and others, taking on a central role.
Also on the weekend, I went to see the film, “My Big Gay Italian Wedding”, currently screening at Palace Cinemas. The film’s title is exactly what it is. There are elements of comedy and farce in the film (the film’s drag queen offers to dress up in drag to imitate one of the men’s mother who refuses to attend), and the closing scene demonstrates strongly the film’s theatrical background (I won’t give it away), but ultimately it’s a sweet love story. It’s in Italian with subtitles. I’d recommend it.
Then on Saturday night, I went to see Double J’s Tim Rogers and others perform Bohemian Nights at the nearby Giant Dwarf Theatre. The conceit for the show was that Tim was a radio presenter in a country town, doing talkback, cricket scores, with musical and interview guests. Again, I enjoyed it very much. Also, recommended.
Tim RogersGeorgia MooneyTim RogersBohemian Nights at Giant Dwarf
Yesterday was also equally social, catching up with a couple of old school friends for a roast lunch at the Duck & Olive (Sunday Roast $19.99 – very tasty), and then, where the two groups combined, a couple of beers with some newer friends at The Carrington.
So yeah, a day of doing not so much on the Queen’s Birthday Holiday, may not be such a bad thing!
Wandering up to meet my friend John at Taylor Square (we ended up having a beer at the Bentley Bar) this afternoon I couldn’t help but notice the beautiful sunlight streaming down through the trees on Albion Street.
Yes i know it hardly compares with the rainforests of Northern NSW or the outback, but it’s not bad. It’s a really beautiful time of the year in Sydney, especially with the late afternoon gentle light evident in this photograph.
Talk about four seasons in one day. What began as a fine sunny day in Sydney, had, by mid-afternoon turned into something cold and wet. Cold and wet enough to drag out the possibly fake “North Face” rain jacket I bought in Beijing a few months ago. As the rain tumbled down, I could think of nothing better than an afternoon of wine tasting at Elizabeth Bay House.
And not just any kind of wine tasting. No, it was Colonial Wine Tasting, an event at Elizabeth Bay House put on by the Historic Houses Trust.
Having been to the Colonial Spice Dinner there a couple of years ago, I was intrigued when I saw the listing in the HHT’s semi-regular events calendar. So intrigued, I invited along fellow Blogger-Twitterer etc, Tom who had come with me to the Colonial Spice Dinner in April 2009.
According to the blurb associated with the event…
Like most gentlemen of his day, Alexander Macleay kept an extensive cellar and he produced grapes at his Elizabeth Bay and Camden properties. Colonial wine expert Dr Julie McIntyre will talk about tastes and wine production in the 19th century. Includes tastings in the cellar and light food.
Tasting in the cellar at Elizabeth Bay House
The first part of the afternoon went into quite significant detail about the history of wine in Australia. For example, I learned there were cuttings on the First Fleet and that a “Wine Industry” was part of the vision for the colonial settlement of Australia. The historian, Julie went into a lot of detail locating this, both within temperance ideas about the so-called “civilising effect” of wine consumption (as opposed to other forms of alcohol), as well as lots of economic theories about free trade advanced by the likes of Adam Smith. Though, Julie did ask whether Adam Smith’s theories may have, in part, been influenced by his love of French wine in a period when wine from Portugal was given preferential trade status by Britain. While it was interesting, most of us were probably there more for the second part of the afternoon…
The second part of the afternoon was a series of tastings of Angove’s wines. The idea was to give us an idea of the style of wines which may have been enjoyed during colonial times in Australia. Naturally enough you’d expect sherry and brandy and so on, but there were also lots of varietals and blends. There were some lovely wines and some not so great also. For me, there was a bit of a buzz in re-connecting with Angove’s, since I lived for a couple of years just down the road from their winery at Renmark in South Australia. “It’s great to have a winery down the road”, I told the company representative, but noted that it tended to stink the house out during crushing season. Eek.
There was another connection from my past also, in that Alexander Macleay used to grow wine around Wagga Wagga, where I also lived for a time. It was wonderful to try to imagine how it must have been to have brought the wine all the way from Wagga in those days by bullock dray, and then to bring them to Elizabeth Bay House, all the way down those stairs.
Garage sale in the downstairs carpark
Elizabeth Bay House is a gorgeous property with terrific views. And it was great to go down into the cellar and to do some tastings. The people who spoke were also very passionate about their interests.
By the end of the afternoon, as we emerged at about 6.20pm the weather had cleared somewhat. It was no longer wet, and no longer cold. Or maybe that’s just because I chose to drink instead of spit?
The other two really cool things about the day were having a drink with my friend Graeme tonight (and meeting a visiting tourist, and having a garage sale in the basement carpark. While most people were participating in the great garage sale trail (or whatever it’s called), it’s not so easy in an apartment block. But that didn’t stop a couple of enterprising women in our block who set up a stall in the carpark downstairs. “All a bit girly for my liking”, I told one of them, a woman I used to work with, commenting on the assorted dresses they were selling, but still congratulating them on the efforts, and by maintaining apartment block security by declaring the garage sale “for residents only”.
Yesterday was such a beautiful day. It was perfect weather for a lunchtime wander around the Surry Hills Festival. There were LOTS of other people who’d come to a similar conclusion. What I experienced this year was pretty good : still very community focussed, but with broader appeal. Much improved from the years when the festival had aspirations to be a “big rock festival” with (I thought) little connection to the community itself. Here are some photographs I snapped.
Though I’m not sure of their modern day connection to Surry Hills, the horses were my favourite attraction.
Surry Hills Festival
The ice-cream queue was even longer than normal.
Though not part of the festival, I smiled when I saw this piece of street art at the nearby Shannon Reserve.
It’s another beautiful Spring day in Sydney and, once again, I’ve woken up with a bad case of the sniffles. Although I live on the first floor of my apartment block, which means I’m literally in the treetops when I wake up in the morning, the downside of this is regular annual cases of hay fever. I don’t know why but this year the hay fever’s been much worse than in previous years. In fact, I had a day off work this week, hardly able to get out of bed. Thankfully, I’m feeling much better now, though the sniffles remain.
My Tree
Although I haven’t actually made any firm plans for the weekend, aside from a fairly vague idea of wandering down the road for the Surry Hills Festival (which has just firmed up thanks to a mid-blog telephone call from The Other Andrew) that’s probably not a bad thing. In the midst of this terrible hay fever, I’ve had a reasonably busy week with a night of theatre, dinner with friends at a nearby restaurant and another work-related event that took me to the forty-first floor of Governor Macquarie Tower which enjoys spectacular views.
The dinner on Thursday night with my friend Colin (and two of his friends) was definitely a highlight of the week, as we attended one of the “closing down dinners” at RQ Restaurant, a terrific Asian restaurant on Crown Street. Although I can’t remember exactly how many courses we had (it was one of those fixed-priced degustation menus), I do remember it was an evening of great food and conversation. As they have a daughter doing the HSC at the moment, it was a great night out for John and Catherine, who had also been to the night noodle markets the previous night, which Tom from Tom’s Place also enjoyed this week (even if they had run out of red wine!).
Such was not the case last night when Colin and I went to The Ensemble Theatre for the opening night of Noelene Brown in “Glorious”, a play about the American socialite and singer, Florence Foster Jenkins. Vaguely familiar with the true-life story of Jenkins, and as a big fan of Noelene Brown, I was really curious to see this play. As noted in Wikipedia…
From her recordings, it is apparent that Jenkins had little sense of pitch and rhythm and was barely capable of sustaining a note. Her accompanist can be heard making adjustments to compensate for her tempo variations and rhythmic mistakes. Her dubious diction, especially in foreign language songs, is also noteworthy. Nonetheless, she became tremendously popular in her unconventional way. Her audiences apparently loved her for the amusement she provided rather than her musical ability. Critics often described her work in a backhanded way that may have served to pique public curiosity. Despite her patent lack of ability, Jenkins was firmly convinced of her greatness. She compared herself favourably to the renowned sopranos Frieda Hempel and Luisa Tetrazzini, and dismissed the laughter which often came from the audience during her performances as coming from her rivals consumed by “professional jealousy.” She was aware of her critics, however, saying “People may say I can’t sing, but no one can ever say I didn’t sing.”
Wikipedia
Ensemble Theatre
The most memorable part of last night’s play, along with some good one-liners, was how Noelene Brown managed to sing the entire night intentionally off-key. There was not one occasion when she actually hit a note, reminding me of my own, often disastrous attempts at singing. Very funny. Although not a hugely memorable play, it was an evening of great fun.
And it was especially fun to see a play set in the bizarre world of 1940s New York social life, as I’ve become a little bit interested in New York this week. Aside from the hay fever I’ve had, the other bug I’ve caught this week is the “travel bug”. I went to my tax agent on Monday (and Friday to sign the paperwork) and if all goes to plan, I should receive a fairly healthy return within a few weeks. With the Australian dollar so strong at the moment, I made a mental promise to myself that if the return was indeed a healthy one, I would set aside some money to travel to three places I’ve always longed to visit: Stockholm, Paris and New York.
I’ve done the “Symphony in the Domain” series on a couple of occasions previously. I also done “Tropfest” on a couple of occasions. Both events involve walking long distances, taking along a hamper of wine and food, and sitting on the grass watching distant big screens, surrounded by thousands of people in a similar situation, many of them drunken yobbos. It’s usually good fun, but to be honest, probably a little disappointing, since you feel like a total pleb. Now that I’ve done “Symphony” in the VIP tent, there ain’t no going back.
As we arrived at about 6.30pm, entering via the Hospital Road Entrance, we were greated by friendly faces giving us wrist-bands and confirming our tickets which would allow us to enter an area where the wine flowed freely and where we were given small containers of food. But this was no Neil Perry Qantas Pack, this was very nice, with my vegetarian meal offering a very tasty chick pea salad. After wining and dining, we entered the VIP area, with the only difficulty being getting up and down from seats so low to the ground, although it provided much hilarity for the young people sitting next to us.
With all of the drama of the “Domain” series out of the way we were able to truly enjoy the music. Tonight it was the Sydney Symphony Orchestra playing the works of George Gerschwin, who I hadn’t known, had died tragically young at the age of 39. I was pretty aware of Gerschwin’s work, and have a number of CDs in my collection, especially the better known works. I was unaware, however, about some of the other works performed, including a work based on Cuban rhythms and sounds, composed while he was living, briefly in Cuba. Caroline O’Connor also came on the stage to sing about a half a dozen Gerschwin’s songs, many of them very moving. This was truly an evening of musical delight, offering both substantive works as well as the more popular. The conductor, who often played piano, clearly understood the works with a great deal of depth, thus allowing him to “play around” just a little, varying the pitch and speed at which some of the works were played.
At the end of the night the orchestra, reluctantly I think, played the 1812 Overture, which is a regular part of the “Domain” series, along with fireworks and explosions. There was a real sense in the words he used the conductor loathed this work, especially in the context of an evening of Gerschwin. But the fireworks went off, the explosions occured, and this really dramatic and exciting work went ahead, being a real crowd pleaser. Unfortunately, during the performances, many of the other people in the VIP area, including people on both sides, thought instrumentation was an invitation to conversation. If they’re not singing, it’s time to chat. I guess it’s okay if you’re out to impress a new girlfriend, but I think if you’re lucky enough to be that closed to a terrific orchestra playing beautiful music, it’s best to shut up and enjoy it!
Before Mr. Justice ferguson, in the Supreme Court, two young men, John Joseph Creen, and Henry Augusta O''Brien, were charged with having, at Lismore, broken and entered the jewellery premises of Michael Phillips and stolen 12 watches, 50 bangles, and 24 rings...
I didn’t go to the pub tonight, as is my usual routine. And I won’t be going for the next couple of weeks either, since Swedish class has swapped to Wednesday night for the next few weeks. Instead, I stayed home and did some family history research.
There was a terrific documentary on television tonight about the female convicts brought to Australia on board the “Lady Juliana”.
Although one of the genealogists seemed at pains to believe her convict ancestor wasn’t anywhere near as bad as the court records suggested – yeah, right – it was a really interesting program, and it inspired me to go online and do some further research.
In particular, there’s a WONDERFUL archive of Australian newspapers online, thanks to the National LIbrary.
You put in a name, a place, a location, and you find all manner of things, including newspaper articles and advertisements.
For whatever reason, my family seems to turn up in the court records a fair bit.
I found this article about my dad’s brother which appeared in the SMH in 1928…
Before Mr. Justice ferguson, in the Supreme Court, two young men, John Joseph Creen, and Henry Augusta O’Brien, were charged with having, at Lismore, broken and entered the jewellery premises of Michael Phillips and stolen 12 watches, 50 bangles, and 24 rings. A plea of guilty was entered by O’Brien, but Green pleaded not guilty. The Crown Prosecutor stated that as O’Brien was an accomplice, and would be wanted to give evidence, the Crown prayed that no judgment be entered against him. His Honor (to O’Brien): You are released. After evidence had been heard, His Honor said the only direct evidence against Green was that of O’Brien, who was an accomplice. It was dangerous to take the evidence of an accomplice unless corrobated by some material evldence. The Jury returned a verdict of not guilty, and accused was discharged.
My dad’s other brother, Norman Leslie O’Brien also figures significantly for the circumstances surrounding his tragic death in 1935…
I’d previously seen some articles which mentioned the explosion which killed him at Cawongla, near LIsmore.
For example, the local newspaper The Northern Star reported…
Norman Leslie O’Brien (33) received fatal injuries at Cawongla yesterday morning when he was struck on the left side of the chest by a large piece of blue metal which was blown from a quarry about 75 yards away. Workmates who were close to O’Brien when he received the slow showed commendable bvravery in dragging the injured man under shelter while five more charges exploded in the quarry. O’Brien who lived at North Lismore was a motor lorry driver under contract to the Main Roads Department. He was employed to carry metal required on the road construction work in the Cawongla district where more than than 100 men, operating two shifts are engaged. O’Brien left his home at Lismore on Sunday and commenced work with the first shift early yesterday morning. When workemn ceased for breakfast about 9 o’clock six charges of explosive were placed in the quarry face. O’Brien had taken a billy to the open fire to obtain boiling water and was stooping over the fireplace when the first charge exploded. The force of the blue metal spun O’Brien round and his head struck the ground. His extensive injuries included a fractured shoulder and a fractured arm and lacerations to the face. A party of about 14 other workmen were nearby and, ignoring the possibility of being struck by a piece of flying metal went to O’Brien’s aid. William Campbell, who was standing a few feet away from O’Brien when he was struck said the injured man was picked up and taken behind the galley. The remaining shots went off in quick succession. O’Brien was still alive when he was placed in a lorry owned by the engineer-in-charge (Mr Steel) for transport to Kyogle. on the way to Kyogle, however, O’Brien died. In addition to a widow O’Brien is survived by one child. Known as “Sandy”, O’Brien was popular with the men employed in the Cawongla district, and it was stated yesterday that following the tragedy the men had held a meeting and decided to assist the widow. Instead of taking a holiday to attend O’Brien’s funeral, the men will work their usual shift. The wages earned by the 130 men, the majority of whom are employed under the Emergency Relief Scheme, will be pooled and presented to O’Brien’s wife and child. An inquest will probably be held in Kyogle on Monday.
But what I hadn’t known until tonight was what happened afterwards, and what was reported in The Sydney Morning Herald a few weeks later..
A verdict for plaintiff for £1226 against the Comissioner for Main Roads in a case in which Florence May 0'Brlen, 24, widow, of Lismore, claimed £2000 damages for the death of her husband, Norman Leslie O'Brien, who was killed on the Main Road, Board's quarry near Lismore on August 12....
A verdict for plaintiff for £1226 against the Comissioner for Main Roads in a case in which Florence May O’Brlen, 24, widow, of Lismore, claimed £2000 damages for the death of her husband, Norman Leslie O’Brien, who was killed on the Main Road, Board’s quarry near Lismore on August 12, was given at the Grafton Supreme Court last night. The damages were apportioned to the widow and the child and an amount towards the funeral expenses of £20. The Chief Justice (Sir Frederick Jordan) said that the child’s poition was to be administered on behalt of the child by the Public Trustee. Evidence for plaintiff was that O’Brien was dipping tea from a fireplace at crib-time in the quarry, when ten shots were fired without adequate warning. A shower of stone fell on the spot, a large piece killing O’Brien and a smaller piece striking a man standing beside him. Plaintiff alleged that insufficient precautions were taken to ensure the safety of the men and that. after the fatality, those precautions were instituted, which showed negligence before the accldent. The defence was that every necessary precaution was taken on the day of the accident, and that O’Brien left a safe place under the hoppers to go out Into the open at a critical time, and thus contributed to the cause of his death.
So even though I didn’t make it to my regular night at the pub, it’s been a fascinating night nonetheless, learning a little more about my extended family, thanks to the interweb.
