Hip hop fans in Brisbane might be interested in tuning in to my radio show on 4ZZZ FM this Monday morning around 7:30am. I’ll be talking with the Gold Coast based duo Choose Mics, who are launching their debut full length album Beggars Can’t Be Choosers at the Step Inn in the Valley this coming Friday night as part of what will be a big night for fans of hip-hop/rap/urban ...
Riptides reforming for a one off show. Ground-breaking Brisbane band The Riptides, who played an influential role in the post-punk independent music scene in Brisbane and Australia, are reforming for a one-off show at 4pm on Sunday 18 April at the University of Queensland’s Great Court. It’s happening as part of the University’s centenary celebrations. The band was formed in the late 1970s by students at the University, crystallising as ...
The latest inquest into the death of Mulrunji Doomadgee in police custody on Palm Island – now well over five years ago - has concluded. Once again Mulrunji’s family and the wider community will wait for findings to be published – just as they still await the publication of the report by the Crime and Misconduct Commission (CMC) in the flaws in the Police investigation into the death. The ...
The Brisbane Powerhouse is currently hosting the Festival of Tibet through until the end of this weekend. It is the second such occasion, with the first being organised at the time of the most recent violent crackdown by Chinese government authorities in Tibet. The Festival features a lot of Tibetan music, art and other cultural and spiritual activities. There are a range of workshops covering some of these areas, as ...
This week on my regular shift on 4ZZZ FM, (Brisbane’s independent music and news radio station), I interviewed Ember Swift, an interesting Canadian-born musician and advocate for activism. She recently made her fourth appearance at the Woodford Folk Festival, and is playing her final Australian show this weekend on Saturday night (Jan 23) at The Troubador in the Valley Mall. Her style of music has been labelled as ‘folktronic’, ...
Yesterday on my weekly shift on 4ZZZ, I did an extended phone interview with Queensland Liberal Senator, Brett Mason. He talks about the CPRS and the climate change issue, the upcoming election with new Liberal leader Tony Abbott and where things are at with proposed changes to the Youth Allowance. You can listen to or download the interview by going to this link. Brett lives in the inner-city ...
This week on my regular Thursday morning stint on independent community radio station, 4ZZZ-FM, I’ll be interviewing Graham Perrett, the member for the southern Brisbane based seat of Moreton. Apart from being a relatively new MP from the Queensland seat with the highest proportion of residents born overseas, Graham is also a published author, with his first novel, The Twelth Fish, being released last year with the help of ...
When I finished my time in the Senate last year, I started doing a weekly shift on 4ZZZ-FM, Brisbane’s groundbreaking community radio station. One of the main reasons I decided to have a go at this – even though it involves the horror of rising at around 5 o’clock every Thursday morning - was as a way to get back in touch with Brisbane’s local music scene. It ...
There are a couple of interesting events being held next week in Brisbane. On Tuesday night at the Uni of Qld, two films about children: The first is called “Child in Charge” on the lives of child-headed families - children who have raised their siblings in post-genocide Rwanda. Director Kym Rolle will also be there to speak about the film. The second film is called “Invisible Children: The Rescue” This film is about ...
The online video of Susan Boyle’s singing performance of the reality TV show “Britains Got Talent” has reportedly set online viewing records. In a little over a week after being posted on YouTube, the video has been viewed more than 30 million times, and “according to Visible Measures, which tracks videos from YouTube, MySpace and other video-sharing sites, Boyle's audition has generated 66.3 million views.” (figures which are bound ...
Regular readers will know that since last July I have been doing a weekly shift on Brisbane’s original community radio station 4ZZZ (102.1 FM). It’s something I did very frequently throughout the 1980s, and apart from the occasional hardship of getting out of bed in time to start at 6am every Thursday, it’s been a great way to get back in touch with the enormous range of fabulous ...
I wrote in June about a screening of a film called Hope - the story of Amal Basry, an Iraqi woman who was one of the few survivors of the sinking of the SIEV-X refugee boat. The film is being shown again in Brisbane at 6.30pm on Saturday 6th December – Human Rights Day – at the Metro Arts cinema, 109 Edward St in the city. I’ll be speaking before ...
A commenter brings news confirming the rumours (including Paul Kelly being the support act) that Leonard Cohen will tour Australia early next year, after a 24 year break. This site lists five ‘day on the green’ concerts in various regional areas in January/February – although it also states “the tour will include a series of indoor concerts” in addition, which means more dates in some capital cities. ...
Leonard Cohen fans (I’m sure there are some of you out there) would know that the living legend is currently embarked on a world tour - his first extended run of live performances for many years. So far this has meant a heap of shows in Canada and Europe. But I heard a reasonably strong indication today that Leonard will be heading to Australia in early 2009, with Paul ...
The Greenfest being held at Brisbane’s Southbank over this weekend has been getting a lot of media coverage around town. Organiser Colman Ridge has obviously pulled out all stops (and a lot of his own money too by the look of it) to try to make the event a success and help encourage people to improve their awareness and actions about how to live in a more environmentally sustainable ...
I had an offer today to provide the opportunity for 5 readers of this blog to win a double pass to a performance of a new play called The Modern International Dead, which is about to start a season at the SBW Stables Theatre in Sydney's Kings Cross. This was rather unusual, as I’ve never had an offer like this in the four years I've been blogging. But ...
I am not overly fond of parochialism, but there is undoubtedly a lot to recommend about the cultural treasures within the soon to unfold Brisbane Festival – not least the free opening event of The Black Arm Band – free at the Riverstage in the Botanic Gardens. There are not stars here, the ‘star’ is the music and the stories it tells, the stories of Aboriginal Australians.
I went to a CD launch today at the Powerhouse down by New Farm Park. The band was called the Danger Bunnies, a local group of 11 and 12 year old girls (plus a newly added boy) who’ve been playing for a couple of years. It was the first live gig I’d been to in a while – an all ages show, not surprisingly. The CD is their ...
As most readers would be aware, I have a bit more spare time at the moment than I’ve had for many a year, so I am trying to take the chance to do a few fun things that I have let slide. One of those things is having a go at doing a weekly shift on local community radio station 4ZZZ. I used to do this through the 1980s, ...
A documentary film about a survivor of the SIEV-X tragedy is being screened around Australia for a couple weeks as part of Refugee Week, starting June 19th. The film is called Hope. I'm sure it was done and the title chosen before Barack Obama burst on the scene, but in any case, hope is a universal theme and this sometimes tragic story is a reminder is just how ...
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Every Monday morning during my radio show on community radio 4ZzZ FM, I chat with Peter Black, a constitutional lawyer, follower of social and political issues and obsessive user of social media. I don’t normally put links to those chats on this blog, but given that our talk this morning was all about the federal election, I thought it was worth putting a link to it on this occasion. You can have a listen to it by clicking on this link.
(0)Given I am now running as a Greens candidate, I suppose it is no surprise that I am indicating my agreement with a comment that Bob Brown made today. But I would also say that it isn’t any secret that I haven’t agreed with every public comment that Bob has made, and I would agree with the following comment about the schoolyard level nonsense regarding another possible leaders debate even if it had been made by Steve Fielding:
“What we’re seeing now between the two leaders is an absolute farce and people everywhere are rolling their eyes at Tony Abbott and Julia Gillard not having the maturity to get together to agree to the series of debates which would have enlightened the electorate,“It is a joke and a sad reflection on the optic and image driven nature of political media coverage in Australia. A couple of weeks ago, there was a three way debate at the National Press Club on important ICT issues such as internet filtering, broadband and wider communications policy. More... (6)
A couple of years ago I wrote a blog post about mountaintop mining in the USA. All mining has some impact, but the sheer destructiveness of this type of mining is astonishing – and that’s before you take into account the greenhouse impact of the coal. This article in the New York Times details the potential impact of a similar project in West Virginia. The significance of this proposal is that there is the possibility it may be stopped, or seriously curtailed, by the Obama administration, which would be a signal of a positive shift on this issue.
(2)Following are links to a couple of recent radio interviews I’ve done, plus an online one
More... (1)As I noted in my previous post, this week’s Newspoll saw the Greens register 16% support – the highest that party has ever achieved, comparable to the Democrats best Newspoll result of 17% back in 1990. History suggests it is unlikely that this peak will be maintained right through to election day (or even the next Newspoll) but it is part of a continuing trend of solid Greens results. I’ve written a piece expanding on this, and how the party might approach the challenges ahead, at The Drum/Unleashed on the ABC’s site – which you can read by clicking on this link.
(0)Contention over Queensland’s Wild Rivers legislation has been bubbling along for quite a while now. Unfortunately, as with many issues which become polarised, each “side” is focused on defending their position, which has meant that some important underlying issues are not getting the attention they deserve. I’ve just had a piece on this topic published at The Drum on the ABC’s website. It’s fairly long, so they published it in two parts – the first part is at this link and the second part is at this one. I should emphasise that the article reflects my personal views, and is not a formal view of the Greens, nor of ANTaR Queensland, who I am also involved with.
(18)Hip hop fans in Brisbane might be interested in tuning in to my radio show on 4ZZZ FM this Monday morning around 7:30am. I’ll be talking with the Gold Coast based duo Choose Mics, who are launching their debut full length album Beggars Can’t Be Choosers at the Step Inn in the Valley this coming Friday night as part of what will be a big night for fans of hip-hop/rap/urban sounds, with Brisbane’s The Optimen also launching their second album “The Out of Money Experience” as part of the same event. Even though there is a steady stream of musical offerings in Brisbane, a double album launch of this magnitude doesn’t come along every day of the week, so I’ll dedicate a half hour or so to exploring not just the words and sounds of Choose Mics, but getting a broader overview from them of the hip hop related scenes locally and nationally.
More... (2)Disclaimer: The inclusion of a blog or website in this list should not be taken as an endorsement of its contents by me.
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