the future of australian cities

am really enjoying the series this week on ABCTV 730 report.  Lays the groundwork for key debates of 2010: sustainability, aircon culture, high density vs suburban sprawl; farmers selling up to developers; the world will run out of soil in less than sixty years etc.


http://mpegmedia.abc.net.au/730report/video/podcast/r504308_2684295.wmv


Please note the only energy I have used so far this summer has been to turn on a small hand fan once for 2 hours during that 45 degree day.  No air con, no fans etc.   

i sooooo wish i could attend this

i reckon this could be the cultural thrill of the year - marianne faithfull, tim robbins etc.


Watch (10.5 MB)


sigh....

this made me laugh

http://unhappyhipsters.tumblr.com/

thought for the day

"The periphery is the centre" - Chinese proverb

thought for the day

What we want from artists is to be helped to notice what we have already seen

thought for the day

excerpt from Umberto Eco Foucault's Pendulum p.50:
You live on the surface, you sometimes seem profound, but it's only because you piece a lot of surfaces together to create the impression of depth, solidity.  That solidity would collapse if you tried to stand it up.  What others call profundity is only a tesseract, a four-dimensional cube.  You walk in one side and come out another, and you're in their universe, which can't coexist with yours.

Herman Hesse

today some words from Herman Hesse are in my mind: “Only the ideas that we really live have any value.”  and “The truth is lived, not taught.” (nor read, blogged, facebooked)...

some colourful Tote closure protests

serious wordage and email addresses to protest to in prior post, but some humour is needed today.  Kids can be so inventive.  I hope there's more of this:

And

a bit more context:

Vale the Tote, Bruce and James (and Philippa who left the building a while ago)

feeling very seedy, spent and melancholic, and squinting through sore eyes.   Last night's farewell do at the Tote was such a mix of emotions, but on the whole it was a celebration, a happy send off with style and warmth.  The Age said  there was a mix of sadness, nostalgia, anger and disbelief that the venue ( , but all I saw was a community of people who all know each other or know of each other or 'seen each other around' just being together for one last time.  And all age groups there, which made me feel comfy. On the whole people were enjoying themselves and the grand old dame that was the Tote.  It was positive, anyone who knows me knows I tend not to hug people, but even I was hugging people and getting back rubs etc.   I 'took a late lunch break' and caught ECSR play to only about 60 people at 2pm, which was a gift.  Such happy chaps.  But my favourite performance was probably the Onyas, probably because it's so rare to see Macka play relatively sober - good call putting them on earlyish. And yes his guitar strap did break and yes he held his guitar up with his beer belly.   And even through that they drove it home.   The Brisbane-based Onya's were the only non-Melbourne act in the day (oh and Johnny Casino is from Sydney but I didn't catch his set) and they imparted some real 'Brisbane style' into the proceedings. Were probably also the fastest playing band on the bill.  Another thing was that there was no musician yesterday who didn't play their very best - none of them were going to muck it up.  Even Kim Salmon's failed starts on Chinese Rocks made me remember that this was a place where musicians could experiment and yes sometimes those experiments fell flat on their faces.  But even Kim's messing up the song was so... punk (I do though wish Kim could have put a comb through his hair).   The respect for Bruce was obvious.   It was also touching to see other venue owners and staff there all enjoying themselves (and helping out with the work).


The Exotics played with a new guitarist. Last time they played (the Tote) they indicated it may be their last show because the guitarist was leaving.  But he's been replaced and the guy hit all the right notes so hopefully they'll play more often.  I'm glad they made everyone raise their glasses and thank Phillipa for creating Cobra.  I'm glad she was dancing on the bench at the time, unbeknownst the spotlight was going to be trained on her.  I'm glad that fellow went on to her afterwards about how Cobra is the most wonderful place in the world. Was.


By the night's end James looked like he was on autopilot (but he often does) and Bruce was emotional.  It was the best way to go out.


and yes, i paid a last visit to the Cobra toilet.


And the last song (click on the words to link - the 'noise' at the start is the guitarist still going off from the prior song), I was a bit nonplussed that Hoss didn't play it during their set, and then I understood why. 

Will type more and load very blurry photos when my brain stops hurting and my eyes return.  Must work now...   Yesterday is legend.

Pics are bad, but there were lots of real photographers there so I'm not worried:

 (Bruce's speech)    (James watching Bruce's speech - yeah ok, I was more interested in participating in the moment than taking photos of it......).  and here's the first of many photo's taken by Tim Chuma - of Joel (Hoss singer) crowd surfing AND keeping his beer afloat during the last song:

  


PS., don't get angry, don't get sad. turn your  anger and sadness into protest.  Some wordage and email addresses :




john.lenders@parliament.vic.gov.au   

Budgeting for live music venues

Dear John,

The Australian government recognises the importance of live music and has ''initiatives aimed at increasing participation, access and growth of live performances in Australia (Australia Council 2007-09). This acknowledged importance of live music performances in Australia has led to further initiatives at state government level which aim to increase music attendance and accessibility within the states and territories.'' ( http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Latestproducts/4172.0Feature%20Article12009)

Attendance at live music performances far outweigh those at other cultural institutions (opera, orchestras, ballet, libraries) according to the ABS. These other cultural institutions are heavily subsidised by the government. However small owner operated live music venues are businesses on the whole receive no financial assistance from the government. Indeed in Victoria they are being squeezed out of existence by onerous licensing requirements set by your government.

Given the importance of live music to the community, and given the near death of live music venues in Victoria due to your government's licensing requirements,* is your government prepared to commence the financial subsidisation of this industry?

If not, perhaps a distinction needs to be made in the legislation between small owner operated live music venues and nightclubs that play predominantly recorded music? A hands off approach might assist the financial viability of live music venues, which the Australian government recognises are important.

I look forward to your reply

Kind regards

Insert name and address

justin.madden@parliament.vic.gov.au   

Live music venues in Victoria

Dear Justin

The Australian government recognises the importance of live music and has ''initiatives aimed at increasing participation, access and growth of live performances in Australia (Australia Council 2007-09). This acknowledged importance of live music performances in Australia has led to further initiatives at state government level which aim to increase music attendance and accessibility within the states and territories. '' ( http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Latestproducts/4172.0Feature%20Article12009)

Attendance at live music performances far outweigh those at other cultural institutions (opera, orchestras, ballet, libraries) according to the ABS. These other cultural institutions are heavily subsidised by the government. However small owner operated live music venues are businesses on the whole receive no financial assistance from the government. Indeed in Victoria they are being squeezed out of existence by onerous licensing requirements set by your government.

As a result, the performance of live music may go underground, and take place in unregistered unsafe location. For example, derelict warehouses or suburban homes. The potential for injury from fire, unsafe premises and irresponsible alcohol management is high in unregulated facilities. We have seen in the media recently stories of young adults falling through rooftops in warehouse parties and the like. This is a serious urban planning issue, increasing important as density rises. The night time economy is an important contributor to Melbourne, and it's potential will be negated by venues going underground. This has been recognised elsewhere and steps were taken by governments to prevent it happening.

Secondly, live music venues are 'placemaking' to coin an urban planning phrase. They contribute to the dynamism and identity of a location. Secondly, they provide a 'third place' (Oldenburg 1999) for networking between those in creative industries.

As such, what will your department do to ensure that responsibly managed live music venues are allowed to continue to operate as businesses?

I look forward to your reply

Kind regards

insert name and address

peter.batchelor@parliament.vic.gov.au

Live music performance in Victoria

“the Arts drive innovation” (Peter Garrett 27Oct09).

Blanket legislation hurts the fringe. The fringe is important to innovation.

Dear Peter,

Congratulations on your appointment as Arts Minister.  Music performers and patrons of the Tote and other small live music venues may be typified as being ‘on the fringe’, and the maintenance of a ‘fringe’ is important to a healthily functioning society.

Stanley Cohen’s seminal 1972 study of ‘Mod and Rocker’ rebels in the United Kingdom during the 1960s - titled ‘Folk devils and moral panic’ may apply to the current Melbourne environment. It emphasised the role of broadcast media in the ‘moral panic’ that followed sensational reporting of a few incidents. The mods and rockers, who on the whole were harmless, bore the brunt of media sensationalism because their behaviours challenged social norms – they dressed differently, spoke differently, listened to different music etc. (Cohen 2002). Because they were outside the norm, they were labelled as deviants, rebels, outsiders, delinquents, subversives and the knee jerk reaction was to shut them down.

Hebdige (1979) refers to music subcultures. Instead of the term ‘subculture’, academics today describe ‘communities’ or ‘scenes’ (Hesmondhalgh 2005; Florida 2007). Straw (1991) distinguishes ‘communities’ as being stable in their composition, there is a very low degree of anonymity in them, therefore lower propensity to harm others. They are safe places. The Tote and other small live music venues are the ‘third place’ (Oldenburg 1999) where communities of creatives gather to listen to live music, share ideas and network. A lot of small entrepreneurial businesses start this way. As seen at the Tote, the change of some venue hours from 3am to 1am has harmed the ambience of the scene. It is between 1-3am, after the band has finished, that a lot of the informal networking takes place.

Some analysts associate subcultural deviance with criminal behaviour but this isn’t the case. Albert Cohen positively believes deviance may act as a safety valve within cultures, by “preventing the excessive accumulation of discontent” (Cohen 1966: 6-11). Florida (2007) too describes how tolerance of fringe niches is one of four critical factors in a healthy economy.

Freilich, (in Freilich, Raybeck, & Savishinsky 1991) believes Cohen’s theory of deviance ties closely to Merton’s (1957) theory of innovation, in which innovators reject mainstream behaviour but accept cultural goals. Similarly Cushman (1995: 91) suggests music provides an “active code of resistance and a template which [is] used for the formation of new forms of individual and collective identities.” Deviance, by challenging the dominant paradigm, appears to be a precondition of social change (whether as a creator or sign of change). That point is crucial, and is perhaps what Peter Garrett referred to in October. It is emphasised by US economist Marie Connolly (Connolly and Krueger 2005) and the United Nations Creative Economy report, which describe the niche music sector as a vital breeding ground for innovation in content industries. I hope you are able to obtain, read and understand the above references before replying to me.

A healthy society needs niche live music performance venues. The smaller, more niche, the better. These venues provide a platform for experimentation, and resultant cultural innovation. These are typically owner operated small businesses. They are completely different from the large nightclubs that primarily play recorded music for drinking and dancing. The central aim of small live music venues is … the performance of live music.

What is your colleague, the Minister for Urban Planning, doing to ensure the ongoing financial viability of such venues, that are closing because they can no longer afford the onerous licensing requirements that have been blanketed across all venues, regardless of venue type? Secondly, what steps are you taking to ensure the ongoing viability of grassroots, niche, experimental music in Victoria? Thirdly, what steps are you taking to avoid such venues becoming poker machine sheds? That will kill the creative scene, experimentation and consequent innovation. It will ruin Melbourne’s reputation for dynamic cultures, and consequently its standing as one of the world’s most liveable cities.

I look forward to your reply

Kind regards

bob.cameron@parliament.vic.gov.au    

Live music performance venues

Dear Bob

With reference to the recent prominence in the media of late night violence in the inner CBD, a knee jerk reaction has been to increase blanket regulation of entertainment venues. This means that grannies in country Victoria can’t hold a tea party in a church with a bit of piano playing for entertainment without the requirement of a licensed security guard. They are breaking the law. While this is laughable, it appears the law is being heavily mandated across Melbourne by the Liquor Licensing Commission.

The law does not distinguish between small owner operated live music venues, and the large beer barns that play recorded music. Small owner operated live music venues are generally frequented by communities of people, they tend to know each other. Because there is a lower degree of anonymity there is less likelihood for violent, damaging behavior. Small live music venues tend to be safe places. Environmental Criminologist, Dr Paul Cozens would support this argument, and your may value his expertise on this issue. He has recently completed a study on contributing factors to late night violence in an entertainment zone. I encourage you or your department to contact him.

As a consequence, these small live music venues are being financially squeezed out of existence by the heavy handed financial requirements of Liquor Licensing, as exemplified by recent news of the Tote's closure. This means that the performance of live music may move to illegal underground venues that operate outside of regulation.

Can you or a representative from your department please explain to the Minister responsible for Liquor Licensing the consequences of policing illegal venues? This may include derelict warehouses or suburban homes. That is, they will be harder to identify and monitor; damage, injury and noise complaints may increase; and this may require even more late night police resources.

Is the Minister responsible for Urban Planning committed to enforcing measures that will result in greater pressure on an already stretched police force? Or should police resources be better spent fixing an existing problem, that is, the minimisation of existing late night violence near large CBD venues?

I look forward to your response

Kind regards

insert name and address

lordmayor@melbourne.vic.gov.au    

Live music performance venues in Melbourne

Dear Robert,

I refer to the increasing media on late night violence near CBD entertainment venues in Melbourne.

It has been suggested that the offenders are blow-ins from the suburbs. Indeed Robert Doyle, perhaps in a moment of frustration, argued ''all Melbournians are heartily sick of these vicious cowards coming in and trying to take over our city, well we won't let them …. I think banning of people summarily from the city, moving them out of the city if they look like they are a danger or a problem … is a good solution.” ( http://www.theage.com.au/national/opposition-slams-street-policing-20090811-egzn.html)  He called on police to stop troublemakers from the outer suburbs travelling to the city. How these areas are regulated is important, indeed entertainment zones attract tourism, generate local small businesses and help shape the identity and vibrancy of the place.

There are three key elements to this issue. Firstly young adults from the outer suburbs invest more when they go out for a night in town, they have higher time and transport costs. So when compared with an urban resident who simply walks locally to meet friends in a nearby local venue, those from the outer suburbs may arrive with an attitude of ‘I’m going to have a big night out’.

Secondly visitors to the CBD are outside of where they are known, ‘anonymous’, and so may feel more emboldened to commit acts that they wouldn’t consider in their local community where they’d be recognised.

Thirdly Melbourne City Councillor Ken Ong noted that on a night 70,000 to 80,000 people use public transport to enter the CBD but only 1,900 use the NightRider bus service to exit it. ( http://melbourne-leader.whereilive.com.au/news/story/24-hour-train-bid-to-cut-city-violence/ ) Suburbanites out for a big night on the town may not be able to return home due to: running out of funds; missing the last train or bus; missing their car pool; or finding a shortage of taxis. So they have little choice but to wait in long taxi queues or loiter in the CBD until the first train or bus commences. Given this situation perhaps it is understandable if they become frustrated.

There appears to be two key solutions to this issue, firstly it is not a solution to exclude people from the city, but instead to enable them to leave by increasing the availability of public transport between 1am and 5am on weekends. This is when most violence occurs. The drop off points for public transport are also important, commuters will not catch a Nightrider bus if the drop off point is still a long way from home, or isolated.

Secondly a solution may be to lower the ‘cost’ (in time, effort and dollars) of a night out by giving young adults a greater incentive to stay near home, by replicating the activities the city provides to them. The Melbourne 2030 strategy identified six activity centres (CADs) in Melbourne - Box Hill, Broadmeadows, Dandenong, Footscray, Frankston and Ringwood – that are slated for development to provide the same services as the CBD. CADs are ‘activity’ centres, not just ‘business’ centres. But how can the six outer suburban activity centres attract and retain young adults wanting a night out?

They may look to facilitate the development of entertainment management zones within each of the CADs. These are specially zoned areas for late night venues and are policed and have public transport ( http://melbourne-leader.whereilive.com.au/news/story/safety-push-rejected/)

While that may be a longer term aspiration, a more urgent emphasis should be placed on encouraging businesses that provide night-time entertainment activities for young adults within the outer suburbs. If suitable venues were closer to home, young adults may prefer a local night out to the hassle of a CBD commute. If a few choose to stay local, a few more will be enticed to stay and it will grow exponentially. This has flow on effects, for example it may stimulate local businesses (restaurants, local transport, venues, tourism etc.).

Finally, and in the short term most crucially, the knee jerk reaction to blame venues, and increase licensing requirements, and heavy handed enforcement of such requirements is sending the wrong types of venues out of business. One small live music venue, the Tote, has suffered a licensing cost increase up to 300% in recent months, and hours of operation cut to 1am. As a result it has now closed. This is damaging the reputation of Melbourne as a vibrant, tolerant and dynamic community.

Do you agree with me that the issue of late night violence is more one of transport and the absence of entertainment options in the outer suburbs than one of small live music venues inciting violent behaviour? If so, what steps might be taken to address in the short term the issue of late night public transport between the CBD and outer suburbs, and longer term to develop ‘mixed use’ entertainment zones in the CADs? Would promoting such steps alleviate the pressure on small live music venues? Do you recognise that the consequences of heavy handed blanket liquor licensing enforcement across all venue types is that they will no longer be able to operate and close? They venues are safe, they are innocent and going out of business. The absence of small live music venues from Melbourne will damage the reputation it enjoys as one of the world’s most liveable cities.

I look forward to your reply

Kind regards

insert name and address

greg.barber@parliament.vic.gov.au   

Live music performance venues in Melbourne

Dear Greg

One of the foundations of a healthy community is safe local places for social interaction and sensible drinking laws.

The current Victorian liquor licensing practices do not make sense. They apply the same blanket categorization to small owner operated live music venues as ‘booze barns’, because both are open until 3am and so are deemed ‘high risk’. The high risk category appears to be based on the premise the venue sells high alcohol volumes or receives poker machine revenues. This has two consequences: (a) it forces small owner operator responsible businesses - without high alcohol/pokie revenues - to close; (b) encourages the development of large, anonymous high volume booze barns (or ‘drinking sheds’ as Charles Landry calls them); and (c) destroys opportunities for the cultivation of original local content and creative artistic expression. Blanket regulations will destroy venues whose primary purpose is to offer niche, experimental live music performances.

The Tote is not sited in the cluster of ‘high risk’ venues near King st. There have been no recorded incidents of violence at the Tote. It operates on lean profit margins, because it’s primary aim is not to sell booze, but to encourage live music performance to emerging artists, and it provides other social, community building and creative activities. It has no poker machines. I’ve seen senior citizens attend gigs there, photographer Tim Chuma can provide photos of recent activities there, including face painting for kids and community bbq’s. Yes someone has wielded a knife at the Tote, but it was to cut up the sausages and slice the BBQ buns.  The only scuffles I've seen have been when someone falls over in the moshpit, but people also fall over playing tennis and footy...

The Tote is a safe place, with a community of regulars. It is responsibly managed. It is not high risk. To put small live music venues into the high risk category is regulatory laziness. And to enforce the regulations without consideration of the differences is damaging. 17 people have lost their jobs because the Tote closes next week.

I believe the Tote owner Bruce Milne should be repaid the thousands of dollars spent on legal fees to explain this obvious point to the Liquor Licensing Commission (to date without success). Secondly, an audit of practices should be undertaken to explore how such a major discrepancy (booze barns vs. small owner operated live music venues) could be overlooked, and heavily enforced. Bruce Milne would be an obvious person to advise on such an audit from a venue owner's perspective, although he won’t own a venue after next week.

The Australian Greens believe that: 1. creative artistic expression and cultural experience are fundamental aspects of social wellbeing. 2. access to diverse, innovative artistic and cultural experiences should available to all Australians. 3. Australian artistic expression and culture should be protected and promoted. 4. creative artists play an essential role in Australian social life and should be fostered and supported.

The Australian Greens want Australian arts and culture to maintain its unique character and diverse nature through support and promotion of local content and the development of local projects for all forms of art and culture.

As a successful Greens Parliamentarian, do you support this current liquor licensing practice? Can you advise on how local communities may voice their concern that ‘booze barn’ licensing requirements threaten local live music venues? The consequences of venue closures will be that the live music scene will be forced underground and be unregulated. Any advice and help will be appreciated

I look forward to your reply

Kind regards

insert name and address

Richard.Wynne@parliament.vic.gov.au   

The night time economy in your electorate

Dear Richard

“the Arts drive innovation” (Peter Garrett 27Oct09). Blanket legislation hurts the fringe. The fringe is important to innovation.

Dear Lynne,

Music performers and patrons of the Tote and other small live music venues may be typified as being ‘on the fringe’, and the maintenance of a ‘fringe’ is important to a healthily functioning society.

Stanley Cohen’s seminal 1972 study of ‘Mod and Rocker’ rebels in the United Kingdom during the 1960s - titled ‘Folk devils and moral panic’ may apply to the current Melbourne environment. It emphasised the role of broadcast media in the ‘moral panic’ that followed sensational reporting of a few incidents. The mods and rockers, who on the whole were harmless, bore the brunt of media sensationalism because their behaviours challenged social norms – they dressed differently, spoke differently, listened to different music etc. (Cohen 2002). Because they were outside the norm, they were labelled as deviants, rebels, outsiders, delinquents, subversives and the knee jerk reaction was to shut them down.

Hebdige (1979) refers to music subcultures. Instead of the term ‘subculture’, academics today describe ‘communities’ or ‘scenes’ (Hesmondhalgh 2005; Florida 2007). Straw (1991) distinguishes ‘communities’ as being stable in their composition, there is a very low degree of anonymity in them, therefore lower propensity to harm others. They are safe places. The Tote and other small live music venues are the ‘third place’ (Oldenburg 1999) where communities of creatives gather to listen to live music, share ideas and network. A lot of small entrepreneurial businesses start this way. As seen at the Tote, the change of some venue hours from 3am to 1am has harmed the ambience of the scene. It is between 1-3am, after the band has finished, that a lot of the informal networking takes place.

Some analysts associate subcultural deviance with criminal behaviour but this isn’t the case. Albert Cohen positively believes deviance may act as a safety valve within cultures, by “preventing the excessive accumulation of discontent” (Cohen 1966: 6-11). Florida (2007) too describes how tolerance of fringe niches is one of four critical factors in a healthy economy.

Freilich, (in Freilich, Raybeck, & Savishinsky 1991) believes Cohen’s theory of deviance ties closely to Merton’s (1957) theory of innovation, in which innovators reject mainstream behaviour but accept cultural goals. Similarly Cushman (1995: 91) suggests music provides an “active code of resistance and a template which [is] used for the formation of new forms of individual and collective identities.” Deviance, by challenging the dominant paradigm, appears to be a precondition of social change (whether as a creator or sign of change). That point is crucial, and is perhaps what Peter Garrett referred to in October. It is emphasised by US economist Marie Connolly (Connolly and Krueger 2005) and the United Nations Creative Economy report, which describe the niche music sector as a vital breeding ground for innovation in content industries. I hope you are able to obtain, read and understand the above references before replying to me.

A healthy society needs niche live music performance venues. The smaller, more niche, the better. These venues provide a platform for experimentation, and resultant cultural innovation. These are typically owner operated small businesses. They are completely different from the large nightclubs that primarily play recorded music for drinking and dancing. The central aim of small live music venues is … the performance of live music.

What is your colleague, the Minister for Urban Planning, doing to ensure the ongoing financial viability of such venues, that are closing because they can no longer afford the onerous licensing requirements that have been blanketed across all venues, regardless of venue type? Secondly, what steps are you taking to ensure the ongoing viability of grassroots, niche, experimental music in Victoria? Thirdly, what steps are you taking to avoid such venues becoming poker machine sheds? That will kill the creative scene, experimentation and consequent innovation. It will ruin Melbourne’s reputation for dynamic cultures, and consequently its standing as one of the world’s most liveable cities.

I look forward to your reply

Kind regards

insert name and address

This sums up how I'm feeling right now

after hearing about the Tote's closure this morning.

Bruce Milne (owner operator of the Tote) wrote:

It’s last drinks at the Tote. This weekend.
I know it’s sudden. I didn’t plan it to be like that.
I can’t afford to keep fighting Liquor Licensing. The “high risk” conditions they have placed on the Tote’s license make it impossible to trade profitably. I can’t afford the new “high risk” fees they have imposed. I can’t afford to keep fighting them at VCAT. I can’t renegotiate a lease in this environment.
So, come into the Tote this weekend to say farewell to the sad staff and to feel the sticky carpet for the last time.
I don’t believe the Tote is a “high risk” venue, in the same category as the nightclubs that make the news for all the wrong reasons. Despite being on a rough little corner of Collingwood, the Tote has had very, very few incidents. As a local police officer once said, “The Tote’s the quietest pub in the area.”
It’s not dumb luck that the Tote has escaped serious violence. I believe the business has been run responsibly. People don’t come to the Tote to fight. They come because they have a passion for music and love to be in an historic venue that reeks of that same passion.
The Tote is (sorry, was) an important cornerstone of Melbourne’s rich and diverse music community. It’s too late to save the Tote but not too late to try and save other inner city venues that are feeling the same pressures.
I know the sudden closure affects a lot of people. Most importantly, the hard-working staff that are being forced onto the dole queue. And the bands and artists that have had their gigs pulled from under them.
Anyway, I don’t want to get maudlin (or viciously angry). The era of the Tote is over. If you love the place, come and have a beer with us this weekend.

I've had this song in my head all day:

Star Hotel - Cold Chisel

All last night we were learning
Drank our cheques by the bar
Somewhere bridges were burning
As the walls came down at the Star
Squadcars fanned the insanity
Newsteams fought through the crowd
Spent last night under custody
And the sun found me on the road


At the Star Hotel
At the Star Hotel
They better listen cause we're ringin' a bell
Ain't no deals, we got nothing to sell
Just a taste of things to come at the Star Hotel


(Here lies a local culture
Most nights were good, some were bad
Between school and a shifting future
It was most of all we had)
Those in charge are getting crazier
Gonna make those fools understand

quality reporting in Australia

an exchange on a public discussion forum caught my eye today.  An excerpt below, I've edited it to protect their pseudonyms (and yes I see the silliness in that):

Person one:

another thing that interests me is that the species of indepth, thoughtful, well-researched writerly journalism i like to link to seems to be rare in australia. is this the result of the age and smh getting gutted? or do journalism schools here not teach that kind of indepth journalism?

Person two:

it's very expensive and no one in australia is willing to pay for it.

also, in the places that do publish long pieces, there seems to be a trend of favouring analysis over reporting.

that said journals like overland, meanjin, griffith review and mags like the monthly do publish some great stuff occasionally.


Person three:
i think it's a financial issue. investigative journalist phillip knightley gave a talk when i was back at uni studying journalism on the time and cost of true investigative journalism, and how it was basically already dead or dying in australia - and this was back in 1998 or so. so i think that's just a situation that has continued to grow now that we have this constant imperative for fast news (which is about as substantial as fast food).
in america in particular, there would still be a niche for this type of journalism, and the budget to support it, even if it is a smaller budget than what it once was. i don't think that it is so much the quality of the writing that we lack in aust (although i am not sure we have too many truly poetic writers contributing to the mainstream press), but the quality of the research. and that is, as always, a financial thing. we are just too small a nation of news readers to demand it i think.

Person four:
it's historically and culturally more established than it ever was in Australia as well. from the New Yorker to the Village Voice, channels for that style of journalism have had a decent presence in the American consciousness, much as the New Statesman and the Spectator (blergh x 5000) have in the UK. the closest we've ever had was the Bulletin in its turn-of-the-century heyday, and ACP managed to gut it and turn it to unit-shifting shite in short-order.

Person five: 
It's also a result of the increasing magazine-ification of news. Things like The Week are probably the most palatable result of this unfortunate happening.

True, who in Australia is prepared to invest in indepth, quality journalism these days?

Late night CBD violence - the debate doesn't need stupidity

Fiona Scott-Norman wrote a damaging piece in today's Age on late night violence in the Melbourne CBD.  Unfortunately the Age isn't allowing the public to comment online to her article so I'll put it here.  She believes the problem is due to the selection of music played in dance venues and the solution is to blast out disco music ala. 'it's raining men' late at night.  It's not funny.  Is she mandating the control of music content by the state?  Taking her silliness further I can see her vision now: Fiona Scott-Norman, aka The State, mandates that all venues after 2am play on rotation the following (a) Weather Girls 'It's raining men' (b) John Farnham's 'You're the voice' (c) Barnesy 'Working class man' (d) Bonnie Tyler 'i need a hero'. Failure to comply will cause an immediate revocation of booze license for any venue.   Better still, why not install loudspeakers through the CBD and blast it out across the streets from 2am-6am? I'm sure the inner city residents will approve.

My response is to tell her to (a) read Farenheit 451 (b) watch the UK TV Series 'The Prisoner' and (c) get a basic briefing on market dynamics, that is if people don't like what they're getting they go elsewhere.

It's an emotionally charged issue in Melbourne at the moment and it doesn't need ignorant, muck raking, trollistic observations such as hers:

Melbourne is to drunken street violence what the Vatican City is to Catholics. Take a constitutional around our otherwise elegant CBD on any Friday or Saturday night and you'll enjoy a ringside view of young men and women in their physical prime projectile-vomiting, eye-gouging, glassing, and engaging in a vigorous spot of five-against-one kick 'em in the head while they're down.

Nor has the resolution been to send in the cops, as she claims.  It has been to force venues to hire extra security at additional cost to such venues, and the live music business in Melbourne.  Such venues are typically small owner operated businesses and have felt financial pain as a consequence.  Many now close earlier. 


The issue is one of (a) inadequate late night transport and (b) lack of entertainment opportunities in their local neighbourhoods.  And there are solutions to both - (a) better night rider services and (b) facilitate the development in the 7 central activity districts of entertainment zones / late night zones / mixed use precincts whatever the politically correct term is for them these days.  Melbourne could look to the London City Council here and here (PDF).  Or in Paris where:


French discotheques with bars can now stay open until 7am to ''help the risk of road accidents from drunk driving''.  Business leaders said on Monday the measures would liven up Paris and other French cities.  The measure seeks to harmonise closing hours for bars across France and cut down the number of party-goers who drive from one area to the next in search of a place to spend the night on the dance floor. The new rules published in the government gazette at the weekend state that any establishment that serves alcohol and has a dance floor can now stay open until seven in the morning. But last call will be at 5.30am, allowing for a one-and-half-hour ''dry period'' when no alcohol will be served. The Synhorcat trade group of bar owners described the new regulations as a ''major victory that will help reduce the risk of road accidents from drunk driving across France''.' 'This harmonisation will discourage young people from getting behind the wheel of their cars to find a bar that is open,'' said Didier Chenet, president of Synhorcat. ''It will also make Paris and other French tourist destinations more dynamic especially since they were seen cities that shut down early compared to Berlin, London or Barcelona,'' he said.

ABC TV: seven ages of rock

can telling it's the programming off season here on TV.  ABCTV on Thursday nights 8.30pm are showing a 7 part series titled 'sevens ages of rock', which purports to be ... a history of rock.  
Now such things are always contentious because there's only so much that can be packed into 6-7 hours.... but...... according to the series, rock began in the 1960s in London......
What a load of crock.  
(a) Rock began in the United States in 1955 with ROCKabilly.  
(b) they dismiss the enormous contribution of the Brill building, which only serves to emphasise their bias.  
(c) they claim British bands discovered howlin' wolf etc.... 
(d) and it didn't even mention ELVIS......
No disrespect to the Who, Rolling Stones, Clapton, who it focuses on and who are all brilliant and worthy etc etc but this series should have started in the US in 1950s if it calls itself a history of ROCK. What were they thinking???? British propaganda for the colonials perhaps?

Steve McQueen appreciation

“I believe in me. I’m a little screwed up but I’m beautiful.” -Steve McQueen (1963). Photo below left by John Dominis; middle one (c) LIFE mag); right one I forget where I got it from:

  

currently reading:

this man has been great inspiration to me

Google search results

the way Google search results are increasingly retrieving results from encyclopedia.com and 'highbeam research', both of which offer only the first paragraph of an article to which users must either $ubscribe or pay US$8 or similar to access the full story is really starting to 'disenfranchise' me.....  Have they brought in this change over Christmas quietly thinking noone (or fools like me) is working?

Lucky I can use other means to get full text free....

and, what's the name again of alternative search engines?????