Author: jkirkby8712

Another restless Saturday night, broken sleep, and an early rising, to get into the radio studio at 6.20 am. I was happy with this morning’s selection of music, which included an instrumental [wind orchestra] version of Carl Orff’s ‘Carmina  Burana’. That is a piece of music which is used in countless commercials and cinematic battle scenes, and for many, one of choral music’s most recognisable choral works. Yet strangely, it’s triumph is befouled by dark secrets. As one writer put it, the metaphor of a composer selling his soul to the devil could easily apply to Carl Orff who found fame and fortune through his support of the Nazi regime.

The question often asked of this work is whether the impact of Carmina Burana is tainted by it’s Nazi seal of approval.  Be that as it may, it remains a powerful piece of music, especially as played this morning, by a wind & brass orchestra, which was entirely instrumental in concept, with the vocal music fully incorporated into the band itself. I was thinking that at some stage, I should play the vocal version, although looking at the description of the composition, and it’s original sub-title ‘Profane songs for singers…etc’, it might not perhaps be an appropriate piece of music to play at 8am on a Sunday morning!! The band music notes describe it in the following manner.   ‘Orff derived the inspiration and texts for his score from the anthology of songs and poems written in medieval Latin, German and French by goliards, vagrant scholars, vagabond poets, and wandering monks of seven hundred years ago. Containing approximately two hundred songs and poems, both sacred and secular, the manuscript ranged in style and content from earthly simplicity to sophisticated symbolism, from religious contemplation to unabashed worldliness. The texts are frank avowals of the earthly pleasures: eating, drinking, gambling, love-making; the beauty of life and glorious springtime. Orff exhilarates us with throbbing rhythms and battering-ram tunes, and moves us with chaste tenderness and heartfelt simplicity’.  Of course, there is substantially more that could be said on this subject, but as with my comments this morning, I think I will leave it at that, simply pointing out that this music has it’s own special story and background attached to it.

I think I spent a part of this Sunday catching up on some neglected writings, and preparing a couple of other musical programs scheduled for the beginning of the week.  I heard from Jodie, late morning, wondering if I was going to the football today – thinking she was going to suggest doing so,  I prepared in my mind a last minute change of plans for the rest of the day, but in fact, she wanted to come over and watch the game on TV with Dad  – well, there was an ulterior motive, and that was to do some work on Susie’s computer, while she was still up in Bendigo! Apparently Jodie’s PC was still out of action!  Anyway, not really in the mood for a sudden drive to the city, I was quite happy with that arrangement. Although ironically, about 30 minutes later, James rang me  – was I interested in getting a lift  to the football, he was driving into the city, although he had other plans after the match, so would not be returning. He was likely to be meeting friends at the stadium, so I didn’t feel too guilty in declining his offer, having already made the commitment to Jodie.

So that was my afternoon/early evening entertainment – had the company of Jodie, who was on the computer until the football started, while soon thereafter, her mother turned up, also wishing to make use of Susie’s computer whilst it’s owner was missing!! All of a sudden my house had become popular! And while  I was generally quite happy to see James’ ‘neglected’ dog [which because of his constant absences from home for work, study & social life, he is now referring to ‘his’ dog as the ‘family’ dog as a means of excusing his initial commitment to the poor animal], one does still not trust as been completely house trained, so a constant watch on the animal needs to be maintained. Named after one of Carlton’s star footballers,  ‘Murphy’ is an extremely friendly dog which craves company and attention, not a pet which can be easily ignored. My only problem with it’s being here today was that it completely stressed out Susie’s two cats during the afternoon, to the point where I could not get them into the house tonight [even though Murphy had gone by then], barely wanted to come in to eat!  Susie would not be impressed!

As for the football match,  it was a slow start by the Blues this afternoon, but once they found their game, the team looked unbeatable for most of the afternoon. It was a pity that a big lead at three quarter time was whittled away to some degree by the combination of a more determined effort by Sydney, and a bit if tiring coming into the Carlton movement around the field. Nevertheless it was a promising display, and might go part of the way to silencing many of the critics who didn’t consider Carlton a worthy challenger for this year’s top couple of teams [Geelong and Collingwood]. Back into 3^rd place after today’s match, and if we keep winning, we will stay in that position, or better! It has been many years since Carlton have had so many wins just after the halfway stage of the season –  9 wins, 2 losses, and a draw!!

Carlton Blues:                 4.2.26            7.4.46           13.8.86          FINAL:   15.10.100

Sydney Swans:                3.1.19            4.3.27             4.4.28           Final:      10.6.66

Brother Robert, and his wife Evelyn flew out today [I thin k] for Japan – heading for Hokkaido, where they have planned a bike trip!  They are not returning to Sydney until the 3^rd July, but I’m not sure if the entire fortnight will be devoted to cycling [knowing Robert, most of it will be!]. Apparently, they are part of a small group of just five cyclists [including the organiser, an Australian who is quite passionate about Japan].  I’m not sure whether Robert was serious [or joking] when he commented that ‘Evelyn is looking forward to the climbs!’ – certainly, he is used to plenty of hill and mountain climbs with his various bike cycling excursions over recent years, but I’m not sure that Evelyn has had the same opportunity to be so trained!!

Anyway, the guy organising the trip wrote a bit of a personal reflection of the after-affects of Japan’s recent earthquake and tsunami – he wrote an earlier piece a couple of weeks afterwards, and since then, he provided another report that brings out the personal perspective of the locals on that national tragedy. Robert sent me a copy of that, and I think it is worth including in these pages. The writer is John Morell, and as can be seen, he is indeed quite sincere in his feelings for the country and it’s people.

‘Shichigahama is a small port town near the city of Sendai and like every town and valley on this coast, it was partially destroyed during the earthquake and subsequent tsunami.   I was in Shichigahama to deliver hand written cards with messages from my son and his school friends at Durrumbul school in Mullumbimby, northern NSW. The cards were intended to raise the spirits of local children. I found myself in this particular town due to an introduction from Omura Susumu.

Omura san is an employee of the Miyagi prefectural government, of which Sendai is the capital. I talked to Omura san by phone before coming to Sendai and asked him about what parts of Miyagi were damaged. After a short silence he quietly replied. “Every part of Miyagi was damaged.”   Omura San works in the education division and I met him in his office on the 16^th floor of the government building. He was here when the earthquake struck.  “It was big. We knew it was big as we get a lot of earthquakes. It was like being in a washing machine, you know, the full cycle. It seemed to last as long too! At the end it was like the spin cycle, just getting thrown around with an intensity that is hard to believe even now” he said when I talked to him in his office in May.

Miyagi’s coast is a melange of small coastal inlets and alluvial valleys, backed by steep wooded mountains. If you were going to design a coast for maximum impact from a Tsunami, then this would be it.  I asked Omura San about the immediate aftermath of the earthquake and weather they knew instinctively that there would be a tsunami.   “Of course, yes of course we knew there had to be. Well, we went out to help. No one knew what had happened, yet it seems it is just over the hill, you know towards the coast. We drove along with difficulty because the roads had been badly damaged, and the earthquake had bought down many power lines. Well we came around a corner and it, well, it was total destruction. Just nothing there.” He told me.

“A friend of mine, his wife is from Akita and she was in Ishinomaki, she was trying to leave the town and came to an intersection. She could see the wave coming. She didn’t know the way, you know, because she wasn’t from this town. The wave was coming from behind and a little to her right, but she turned right anyway and just around the corner the road went uphill and she survived. Other people behind her made the other choice and turned left, away from the wave. They did not make it. I asked her why she turned right. She said she didn’t know but felt compelled to go that way. In another town there was a traffic jam and no one could get out. They were all engulfed by the tsunami.”

 

It was only a little over two months ago that this part of Japan became world famous. On an early spring afternoon, on the 11^th March, at 3:22 pm in the afternoon, the world literally collapsed under their feet. Two of the massive plates that hold us above the heat of the earth’s magma layer gave way just of the coast, resulting in a magnitude 9 earthquake, the fourth  biggest ever recorded. More significantly though, it occurred only about ten kilometres beneath the surface. It was this shallowness that gave rise to this extraordinarily destructive tsunami.  The crunching and grinding of these massive plates, on an unimaginable scale spewed forth a body of water of mighty proportions. Great mountains of black water were sent from this devil’s cauldron to surge over the coastal valleys of northern Honshu.

In the coastal villages, school teachers were finishing off their lessons. In the small towns and valleys the day was coming to an end and people were getting ready to go home, to their dinners, their comfy chairs and their loved ones.   After the earthquake many people immediately tried to flee, even before the town sirens started screaming. In some towns, it was only minutes before they were engulfed by the wave. Many of the nearly 25,000 dead and missing were elderly. According to Omura San, they didn’t have a chance. “Many of them simply sat in their chairs, too old and frail to move. They would have known it was coming, not just because of the earthquake, but because as it approached it was roaring, like a train coming at you. They died in the wave. Some that were mobile, they went back to get, oh, money, you know, silly things that don’t matter in life and death situations. Many people died going back for trivial things.” He said.

At this point I think about the kids, and I asked him about the school children, hoping against hope and better judgement that they all made it. Being a father of two young children, I wanted them all to survive, to be happily walking with smiling faces to their new schools while their towns were rebuilt.  “In one town, 200 students, all the students, in one school died.” Omura San told me.  “Nine teachers also died in that school. One survived and he tried to help the others. But you know, he kept asking himself, why me? Why did I survive” Omura san added and then paused.  “He committed suicide two weeks later.” He finished.  As I drove through the utter devastation on the coastal fringe of Shichigahama the next day, I looked at the nearby ocean through distrustful eyes.  My university studies in coastal geomorphology told me that this was a once in a lifetime event that had, over millions of years, occurred frequently and had shaped the world we live in. Lands rise, lands fall and the restless oceans driven by massive tectonic forces surge and abate.  Now I was experiencing a quiet disconnect between the rational and the emotional, between reassuring scientific knowledge and an ocean that appeared to have a malignant intent as it harmlessly lapped and gurgled on the broken foreshore.

Nakatsugawa san is the head of the Shichigahama town school department. Unlike Australia, school administration devolves from prefectural governments to local town councils.  There are three junior schools in this town and Nakatsugawa san promised to have the cards translated and given out to students in those schools.  “There were one hundred people killed just here in this small town.” He said. “We lost one student.” He added.

The tsunami has drawn a new border that snakes along the east coast of Tohoku. A border determined by nature not man. On one side lies total destruction, on the other, the shattered lives of the survivors and those whose fate has been spared due to dumb luck, timing and geography.  In some small towns, where the tsunami has left villages intact, there is a new menace. Simply put, northern Tohoku has dropped up to a metre in elevation in some places. What this means is that in certain villages, the tide gurgles up through road grates and quietly slips into lounge rooms, garages and street scapes. Twice a day these people can’t use the water taps or toilets. Whole towns who thought they escaped relatively unharmed must be rebuilt on higher ground. The once fertile rice paddies are now soaked in salt, with a mixture of rotting fish and the detritus of human existence strewn about over them. As summer approaches this fetid mixture is starting to make itself known.

As I look down at the harbour in Shichigahama,  I see fishermen and divers scouring the harbour for rubbish and possibly bodies. An overturned boat still drifts just of the wrecked fishing co-op buildings. On a hill overlooking the harbour I meet Watanabe Tetsuyo, 71. He is standing with a carpenter, making repairs to his house.  “See that car” he says, pointing to a crumpled wreck next to us. “It was in my front room.” He then points to the house just metres away, “My neighbours there, they died in the tsunami. They were old, maybe in their seventies.” The house has a huge gash out of the front, as if a back hoe eviserated it.   This hill is only about 100 metres from the water line but it is about 25 metres above sea level, with a steep incline leading down to the harbour. Everything between Watanabe San’s shattered house and the harbour has been destroyed. Only concrete foundations remain to give some silent testimony to what lay before this huge wave. Debris litters the site and at the front of one concrete slab, a collection of cherished soft toys has been lined up, a quiet reminder of the loss of family life that once held sway in this small village.  “It was like, what do you say, ‘kuroi akuma’. It was black, the head of the wave as it came in, this is what we call it. Do you know what kuroi akuma means?” asked Nakastugawa san back at the town office. I didn’t but resolved to look it up.

It is hard to estimate the monetary cost of rebuilding in the devastated area of northern Japan, but recent estimates put it at 285 billion, the costliest disaster ever, and this does not take into account the personal and emotional cost of such a massive dislocation. The event is now officially called the “Higashi Nihon Daishinsai” which translates to the “Great Disaster of Eastern Japan”. It will take at least ten years to rebuild and recover. Already, only three months after the event the world has moved on.  I was nearly finished talking to Nakatsugawa san. The journey of the cards was almost over. I wanted to report back to the Durrumbul community and others on the situation here and asked if it was OK to take pictures. I had a sense of not compromising the dignity of a town and nation in mourning.  “Yes. Yes. yes. Take pictures, lots of pictures, tell everybody tell the world. We still need help.” Replied Nakatsugawa san. He then gave the national symbol for money, the thumb and forefinger rubbing together.  “The cards are great and much appreciated but you know, I have to be frank, we need money as well.”

His parting words to me were “Don’t forget us.” After I left Sendai and the destruction behind me I grabbed my dictionary and looked up the phrase “Kuroi Akuma”. There were a few choices, but the most obvious, is “Black Devil”. This is what the wave, the unimaginable surge of black water was to the people on the coastal fringe of Tohoku.  I vowed to myself that I would not forget’.

Certainly, a story worth telling, worth remembering, and as I noted a few weeks ago, in presenting another observation from an English school teacher working in Japan, it is great to be able to read an eye witness account about such an event, that is not swallowed in journalistic jargon and procedures, but material ‘straight’ from the heart and soul of to ‘story teller’.

Unusually for a weekend, I had a meeting to attend this afternoon – the annual ‘Business Plan’ discussion and consideration by the Radio Station Committee, a planned 4 hour session which was actually over within that time. Our basic  aim was to assess the success or otherwise of the objectives set for the station last year, and establish our set plans and objectives for the coming new financial year. With just one committee member missing, and a brief delay due to the President needing to deal with an unwelcome serial complainant to the premises prior to the start, it proved to be a very fruitful and cooperative session. We all realise that there are so many things that we would like to achieve for the station, but must accept the fact, that as volunteers there are limits to our resources, be that time, abilities or financial contribution. Change is occurring – many people expect change to happen quickly, but more often than not, they are the people, sitting in the background doing little other than complain, while a small nucleus of the organisation, as in all community organisations does most of the work. It was estimated, that of our total membership, less than 10% actually contribute outside of their basic 2 hours a week appearance on air.  It would be helpful to have at least another 10 active members at the station – on the above percentage figure, that means we need to find another 100 members!!  Anyway, despite that, progress is been made in many areas, and our station is a considerably more community orientated station than when I came there 6 years ago. And that is primarily and outcome of the committees of the past couple of years, and the leadership associated with those committees. At present, my volunteer organisation is a promising environment in which to work.

Although I again spent most of the evening, working on my family history tasks,  found the house a little lonely tonight, probably something I need to get used to!

Too many nights out in a row, all of last week, and another three in a row this week, two radio nights and a genealogy meeting – kept this writer away from the keyboard!! So just a quick wrap up of some local happenings to bring us up to date………………

Monday, 13 June   –   this day was a Public holiday in Victoria, ostensibly to celebrate the Queen’s birthday, back in April!! As I do at this time each year, I rather half-heartedly scan the columns of  the Honours listings in the newspaper, to see if my name has somehow appeared there, but once again, no sign of anything!!  [I’m not serious of course!].

On more serious matters,  a great win overnight by Casey Stoner in the British MotoGP, raced in atrocious weather conditions, I really wonder how those guys can possibly stay on their bikes at the speeds they travel – well, a number of them didn’t actually, including the championship leader, which meant that Stoner’s win [his 4^th win in a row from 6 races] took him to the top of the overall leader’s board.  Our Aussie motor cyclists is really in top form at the present stage. Meanwhile, the Australian F1 driver is also having a pretty good season, though obviously not to the degree he would like it. In the Canadian F1 Grand Prix overnight [also completed in rain drenched conditions], or early this morning really, Mark Webber managed to finish in 3^rd position, behind his Red Bull teammate, Sebastian Vettel [2^nd] and the winner, Jenson Button [first win of the season after passing Vettel in the last lap].  Webber is currently 3^rd in the F1 standings on 94 points behind Vettel [161] and Button [101] while Britain’s Lewis Hamilton is in 4^th position on 85 points. For the rest of the season, it is going to take some drastic results for Mark Webber to overtake the leader!

Meanwhile, I began a new radio program tonight – wasn’t really planning on doing a late night show until closer to the end of the year, but when the vacant spot came up, thought the opportunity might not arise again for a while, so did a bit of a swap, left my Sunday afternoons free [relinguishing that time spot], and will finish up the Tuesday evening ‘Showtime’ spot as soon as there is someone else to go in there], but at the moment, I am creating for myself the commitment of four days in a row on air, in various capacities!  My choice of course, no complaints, but I will be glad to eventually finish up the Tuesday show. As for tonight’s new show ‘Bill’s Smorgasbord of Music and Entertainment’, well simply that, a broad mix of folk, jazz, soul, blues, country, world, maybe a bit of show music eventually, and a bit of comedy with some cultural audio at times. It’s a 3 hour shift from 9pm until midnight, so Tuesday mornings are going to be a little difficult for a while! Mind you, that three hours disappears very quickly, especially when you are enjoying what you are doing, as I always do, on air!!

Tuesday, 14 June –  back to the radio tonight for another Showtime segment, but admittedly, looking forward to finishing up been on air during this time slot [6-8pm] – I don’t think it’s a very good listening time of the day, and actually feel occasionally, that the effort and preparation put into those programs is not always worth it, for what I perceive to be a small audience. Hence my desire to move back to the late night time slot [on Monday nights]

I’m not sure if I have mentioned this before,  but this year, my town, Sunbury, is celebrating it’s 175^th anniversary, since the first settlers arrived in this district from Melbourne, 40 kilometres to the southeast.  While there is some doubt in the minds of some, that the local municipal council [City of Hume] of which Sunbury is but a small part, is really putting a great deal of effort into organising events [in response to that, there are various local individuals and organisations ‘doing their own thing’], the Council is at least making some attempt to promote the occasions through it’s publications and publicity machines. Sunbury is home to many unique and historically significant places to visit and explore, such as the oldest homestead in Victoria, the Home of the Ashes [per test cricket between England band Australia], and award-winning wineries. In fact, it’s claimed we can boast being the closest wine region to Melbourne, while the town is one of the oldest ‘villages’ in Victoria. One aspect of the ‘celebrations’ this year is the ‘Faces of Sunbury’ awards.  From early times, communities have rewarded community leaders for excellence, achievement and outstanding service. In recognition of the 175 year anniversary of the founding of Sunbury, the Faces of Sunbury Awards have been established.  These awards will recognise the service of individuals in Sunbury [over that 175 years period] who have made a significant contribution to the community. The nominee may be anyone from a doctor who has spent time treating Sunbury children, a social worker supporting local families, a football star inspiring junior players, a business owner employing local staff, or a whole range of activities undertaking by a person volunteering within the community.  A recognition ceremony will be held in December in Sunbury to announce the 175 Faces of Sunbury and to formally congratulate and applaud the people who make Sunbury great.  It is the people of Sunbury, meanwhile who are invited to nominate those ‘Faces’. I have to admit that it was suggested to me recently that I should be nominated for one of those spots, however hopefully I think I made it clear that I could never consider myself anywhere near the category of some of the contributions that other people have made to this community over the years –  yes, I’ve being involved in a number of areas since coming to the town in 1983, including participation on school councils, church committees, junior sporting organisations, the family history society, and of course the radio station, amongst other things, but I have always adopted a low key approach to those things, preferring to work in the background as much as possible, and not really pushing myself to the forefront. And I would prefer it stayed that way.  Meanwhile, it is going to be interesting to see just which names come ‘out of the bag’ of eventual nominations – there are already many in the community who virtually ‘pick themselves’ on the basis of some enormous to the community and it’ s needs.

Wednesday, 15 June –  another bitterly cold day in Melbourne, which no doubt a few people off travelling to our work organisation’s General Meeting today. Unfortunately, amongst those who did attend, were included the two normal troublemakers which I’m sure the majority of those present would have been quite happy not to have seen [we continue to have a couple of those types at the radio station, so these things are not unique to one or other organisation].  In today’s case, Bob and Janet might have been better off, for their own respect [of others towards them] staying at home!!  But then, that is not their agenda!

Went to another meeting tonight, which never has any of those kind of ‘problems’ –  a general meeting of the Sunbury Family History Society  –  and another interesting night, with a good attendance for a ‘freezing’ June night! I generally don’t enjoy sitting around listening to other people’s stories of their private genealogy research, tires me out very quickly. However tonight was an exception, with a couple of detailed descriptions from members as to how they go about the recording processes of their research – very similar to my own actually, but a few new little interesting insights which I found useful.

Wandering off into a completely different direction – the other day, in the monthly Accounting magazine ‘In The Black’, I noticed the heading ‘What’s a carbon credit?’, and while such an explanation has probably being spelt out on numerous occasions, I don’t think I have ever really got my head around it, generally not been technically or scientifically minded! So I read this explanation, to try and see if the whole subject was a bit clearer! Part of a larger article in the June edition titled ‘Africa shares the credit’ by Jocelyn Newmarch.

“A carbon credit represents one tonne of carbon dioxide. Industrial processes which rely on fossil fuels emit large amounts of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. The idea of the UN’s Clean Development Mechanism is that these emissions can be offset elsewhere in the world by sponsoring projects which remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere [carbon sinks] or by pioneering new technology which emits less greenhouse gas than the regular technology. The difference between the emissions from these two technologies is awarded to the cleaner project in the form of carbon credits. In the case of carbon sinks [e.g. tree planting projects for airline passengers – ?], the amount of carbon sequestered is used to calculate the number of carbon credits which are awarded to the project.

The carbon credits are awarded every year that the project is operational and they can be kept by the project developer or trader, or they can be traded. Because they have a monetary value, determined by the markets, they represent an additional revenue stream which creates the incentive to develop cleaner technology. It is a way of financing sustainable development. Credits are freely tradeable and will continue to be so after 2012, so new customers will still be able to buy them. What is being dismantled is the international treaty [Kyoto Protocol] which governs the registration of the credits, not the trade itself. While some companies only buy carbon credits to offset their own emissions, as a spot trade, other companies prefer to take some of the investment risk in developing a project in order to receive some of the carbon credits once the project is up and running.  Carbon credits reward clean design and use, and the credits awarded to a project ….can be sold without detracting from the project”.

So do I now understand all about carbon credits?  Perhaps it’s a bit like the infinity of space – one can understand the broad concepts, but the comprehension of such enormity [in this case, measuring the carbon credit] is not always that easy to achieve!!

Thursday, 16 June – I was glad of an evening when I didn’t have to go ‘anywhere’, didn’t even stop at a shop, just straight home, locked the doors, prepared myself a meal, and spent 4/5 hours working on a family history chart [at the expense of catching up on this week’s ‘blogs’!!].

I notice that one of the GETUP’s organisations latest projects relates to the question of same sex marriage and associated issues. I’m afraid they won’t really encourage me as an active campaigner in that area. While I have no concerns about same sex relationships,  I feel I must draw the line as such a partnership being called a marriage!  Conservative and perhaps pro-religious background influencing that view most likely, but I don’t step back from that idea. The following is the general gist of the GETUP message, from the viewpoint of one proponent of the cause, obviously with a vested interest in getting changes.  As this person suggests, the changes will come – I can see that, even if I don’t agree with the need in some circumstances – but the one phrase below, that really irritated me was ‘Mummies are you going to be engaged for ever?’  –  not mum and dad but ‘mummies’.  That is not the interpretation of marriage I’ve been brought up to believe in, and accept, with all it’s faults and bad examples. However, read on, for that half of this ‘mummy’ partnership’s views:-

“We know our politicians have been hearing from those who oppose equality, so it’s important we get in their ear and remind them that the majority of Australians do support removing discrimination from our laws. In fact, just last week I read a poll saying 75% of Australians believe marriage equality will happen. But it won’t happen by itself – we have to fight for it.  Whether it’s in my church community, at work or among friends, people often change their minds on this issue. And over time, the nation’s mind is changing, with the majority of Australians now supporting marriage equality.
I’m frequently asked why marriage is important to me. Here’s why: my youngest son Dylan often asks us “Mummies are you going to be engaged forever? Why don’t you get married?” It has been hard trying to explain that our government won’t let us get married; he doesn’t understand why everyone else can become a family legally and we can’t.  People will continue to say we are different, who we love and how we live is wrong and we are not a family. But I believe that until the government legally recognises that same-sex couples are no different to heterosexual couples and should have the same and equal rights in every area in life including marriage, this discrimination will never end.   Our son Matthew puts it best: “The government are like teachers, they need to set a good example for everyone else. If they don’t accept us as a family then other people won’t either.”   Please join me in contacting our local politicians and asking them to support marriage equality, using GetUp’s website” – yes, I’ll support some aspects of that call, the equal financial and social service provisions, but will oppose it been called a marriage!

Friday, 17 June –  this week’s online edition of the ‘National Seniors’’ magazine had an interesting poser of a question for readers. With the current high Australian dollar value, and the fact that consumers are becoming more dollar- savvy, we have seen online purchases soar over the past few years. Consumers report they can save hundreds of dollars per purchase by simply buying online at Australian or international companies’ websites, but businesses say they are reeling from lost income and may have to close their doors. Whilst some seniors are open to using the internet to buy online, others are cautious. The question asked was:- Do you support online shopping so that consumers get to keep more money in their pocket?  Or, do you think it’s destroying Australian businesses?

  My only real response to that was that there certainly appears to be savings through the online purchases, although my only experience has been in respect to books, and that is something my daughter does quite regularly, I’ve just followed suit on a couple of occasions, or at her behest. My reservations tend to be the security aspect of disclosing credit card details etc online, and on the odd occasions that I have thought of placing such an order, that concern has generally stopped me from doing so. As to the concept of  ‘destroying Australian business’, well I think that the answer to that question can only be determined over an extensive time period, and the general view of many respondees to the question, was that those businesses concerned about the issue should ‘go with the times’ and join in, expanding their operations to provide for that avenue of sales. I guess that’s not easy or even practical in some cases, but it is certainly one way in which retailers for eg, can respond.

Meanwhile, my football team, Carlton, comes up against the Sydney Swans again this Sunday afternoon, this time, at Edihad Stadium, here in Melbourne. Up until about today, it had been my intention to go, but in the absence of any similar suggestions by family members that they were going this week [apart from James, who seems to have found a new bunch of supporter friends to go with],  I will probably have changed my mind by the weekend, and with a TV coverage available this weekend, think I might vegetate at home on Sunday@!! I see we have three players added to the squad, including one of my long term favoured players, Ryan Houlahan whom I don’t think has been in the senior team since last year.  In this week’s online ‘Blues Report’, Carlton captain, Chris Judd had a few words of advice and inspiration to team and supporters.  He wrote:-
“Earning the right to play finals two years in a row provides a real platform for Carlton going forward. In 2010 we finished in a similar position to 2009, however we did it with a much younger team and I genuinely believe there are some exciting times ahead. The whole group is now getting a real hunger for achieving something together. We want to be the best possible players we can be so we’re the best possible team we can be. We want Carlton supporters to have a similar attitude, the desire to achieve to be the best possible supporters you can be. We want a huge membership team supporting the club as we strive to achieve something special together, 50,000 members and beyond.   For my career to be fulfilled I need a premiership at Carlton. That’s what we’re all working towards and we want you to be involved.   The Carlton Football Club is at a stage where we’re ready to achieve again and I know the players are really hungry for that. It will take a lot of hard work. [As Members]  together we can achieve, on and off the ground. However to succeed we must have no passengers.  Chris Judd, Captain  Member #1824383”.  I suppose, that after many years [almost thirty] as a Member, I am probably now in the category he calls a ‘passenger’ –  however, I won’t let that concern me. I’ve given five decades of support to the team since I came down to Melbourne – these days, I only get to a game a few times a year  due to time, other commitments,  travel and expense, after being a weekly member and attendee for 6 months a year, every year. I’m rather pleased, that eldest son James, has taken over with the kind of enthusiastic support I once displayed and still have in spirit, and even Jodie gets along to a game on those occasions that work and other social commitments allow her to do so! Anyway, looking forward to Sunday’s game, whether witnessed in person or via the TV!

On a different aspect of personal passion, my regular monthly copy of ‘Limelight Magazine’ is promoting a super edition for July –  “No genuine opera buff should be without it!” says soprano Emma Matthews of Limelight‘s annual Opera Issue, now on newsstands. Limelight is proud to present 130 pages of unadulterated operatic bliss.   Inside, soprano Renee Fleming reveals her greatest role; conductor Simone Young pens a diary about her complete Ring Cycle in Hamburg; and director Bruce Beresford tells how Peter Grimes made him an opera nut. To celebrate this special bumper issue, Limelight has assembled an online-exclusive tour of the Great Opera Houses of the World: the history, the architecture, the music and the tickets we  all wish we had for upcoming productions. Other than The Big Four – Covent Garden, La Scala, The Met and Vienna Staatsoper – who else made the cut?  Opera critic Sarah Noble revisits her definitive list of Ten Great Operas (you probably haven’t heard) with some new insights. In the July magazine, Sarah selects the must-have new opera recordings.  Well after that promotion, and thinking this was a special edition, I actually a copy this evening, where I discovered that it was in fact the July edition, just put out a week or so earlier than usual! Hopefully, if I can make the time, some interesting reading ahead of yours truly this coming few weeks!

In the meantime, with all the political talk about climate change, attention to the environment, etc, I note that my professional body, CPA Australia [Certified Public Accountants] are ensuring their industry is not seen to be dragging their heels on that subject.  From CPA, we learn that   ‘The changes in sustainability and environmental accounting in 2011 mean accounting firms must develop knowledge of legislative changes to counsel clients about the potential business impact. There are two ways an accounting firm can improve its environmental services: by developing internal skills and by partnering with external suppliers.  Video interviews on the subject are available free to members, and for a small charge to non-members, on the CPA Australia website. A complimentary excerpt of the ‘Role of the accounting profession’ is available to everybody’.  .  In some ways, I’m a little glad that I’m getting out of the accounting profession – I guess one should be excited about new accounting procedures and the need to meet the challenges of things like environmental concerns, but I don’t really mind leaving those ‘challenges’ to the new generations of accountants coming through, in fact after this year, I don’t really want a great deal to do with the accounting profession!  However, that option may not be completely obliterated, time will tell.

As with last night, I spent the bulk of this evening at home, and working on the family history. While at present, the early years  consists of names only with very little other information and/or confirmation, we have managed to trace the family line back to 1475, or if you like, 19 generations! Unfortunately, that is beyond the normal limit of possibilities  – you need to be a direct descendant of royalty, etc, of a famous character in history in order to discover anything about one’s earlier ancestral history. Or have the privilege of your ‘research’ being funded through such TV programs as ‘Who Do You Think You Are’!!  Needless to say, I continue to find it a fascinating ‘spare time’ occupation!

You know, I expected Susan home tonight, although by the time it became quite dark and late, I was becoming a little concerned about her being out on the highway in the current poor weather.  However, my ‘innocent’ message to her eventually, as to whether I could expect her home tonight, was greeted with the reminder that she told me on this occasion she would not be back until next week!!!  Ohh well, I was sure she said Friday, but I was not going to argue the point, was mainly relieved she was not out on the roads!!!  Presumably, there is a bit of social life developing up in Bendigo to warrant a weekend stopover! That left your writer with the weekend to himself, although in reality, it’s not much different when Susie is in Sunbury, as I don’t see that much of her.  At least the accommodation up in Bendigo is getting some value out of the cost of rental.

 

 

A good walk late this morning, took advantage of the weather while it was fine, with showers predicted later on!

Didn’t realise anyone in the family was going to the football today, then too late, realised James was there!  An early afternoon start to the game caught  me out, so now, with no free to air TV coverage, I have to depend on the radio broadcast again!  Interesting ‘message’ from James to his ‘team’  –  “Dear blueboys, please do not lose to a shit team today, coz I will be there watching and I want to see a good performance. Kind regards James”.

Away from the football briefly –  the regular Friday ‘Liberal Fact’ that came through the other day – well, there was nothing new in the facts being presented –  ‘Since Labor came to office in 2007 –  electricity costs have risen by 51%; gas is up by 30%; water is up by 46%; health costs have increased by 20%; education costs have increased by 24%; and rents are up by 20%. If Labor introduces a carbon tax, living costs will just get tougher for Australian families, with power bills up by 25%, price of petrol up by 6 ½ cents per litre, and the average price of a trolley of groceries will increase by 5%.  Now, I don’t doubt all those predicted or actual increases, though I query the extent of increases in some cases, as stated by the Liberals. Be that as it may, it’s obvious in the normal course of time, inflationary costs, etc, that we would have expected increases over the past four years in most of those items, regardless of who was in charge of the economy.  But I suppose the Liberals will continue under Tony Abbott with this ‘attack mode, and negative approach’ such as the introduction to the above little fact finding report   –  ‘Julia Gillard and Bob Brown may have the support of celebrities and noisy interest groups [eg, GETUP] for their proposed carbon tax. But they have forgotten the ordinary Australian families struggling with rising living costs’. I must say I’m looking for a new direction from the Liberals, but alas, while Mr Abbott stays in charge, I can’t see that happening!

Carlton Blues [4^th on the ladder] versus Brisbane Lions [15^th on the ladder] – the result should not be in doubt!!!  It was 1.10pm, when the game began, and Bill settled to listen to the radio broadcast, not really interested in visiting the local pub to watch the Foxtel telecast on my lonesome!!  Let’s have a look at the quarter by quarter scores, as we go along:-  which, thankfully, indicate the correct difference between the current standard of the two teams. It would have been nice to have been at the ground to see a result like that!!

Carlton Blues:      4.4.28     8.8.56    14.9.93    FINAL:   19.10.124

Brisbane Lions:    2.3.15     3.5.23      4.8.32     Final:        9.9.63

I shall return>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Tonight, I watched the final episode of the mini series that has been screened on the ABC here, over the past month –  ‘The Kennedys’, which has generally being described as the ‘controversial US television miniseries. I gather it was given that tag because it faced criticism in the US because of supposed historical inaccuracies, which without knowing any more detail, I imagine related to the ‘personal’ side of the Kennedy rather than political aspects. I understand that the original broadcaster in the US, the History Channel,  dumped  the mini series,  perhaps due to family pressure, though at what point of the Series,  I don’t know.

Originally, I’d not intended to watch it myself, though not for any of those reasons, but I sat down the first week, and when Susie, who was going out that night, suggested she would like to see it, I decided to start taping the show. And kept doing so  – Susie hasn’t watched any of the Series yet, so now she can look at it in one sitting [no doubt in the early hours of the morning, one night!!].

I actually quite enjoyed the Series – it certainly brought back some memories, limited as they are, of that era in American politics. And like many at the time, I can clearly recall where I was when John Fitzgerald Kennedy was assassinated –   it was a Saturday morning, I think, and I was just about to go down from my bedroom for some breakfast. At that point, I was in Year 11 at the local high school, my second last year of secondary education. As usual, I had my radio on, and the first reports came through from the US that JFK had been shot. I imagine Dad was at work, I can’t recall, but Mum was home. In America, it was the afternoon of the 22 November, while in Ballarat [Australia] it was the morning of the 23^rd.  The news would have had some extra poignancy about it for my mother – less than 48 hours beforehand, her father [my Grandfather Knuckey] had died suddenly from a heart attack, suffered on his beloved bowling green, the date, the 21^st November. So I really had two reasons to recall that month and year in particular. Twelve months, in my final months at high school, I was part of a public speaking contest [in which I think I was placed 3^rd or 4^th] –  my speech was based on the ‘Inaugural Speech’ of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, when he assumed the role of  President on his initial election.

Anyway, this mini-series, be it controversial or not,  starred Greg Kinnear as John F Kennedy, Katie Holmes as Jackie Kennedy, Tom Wilkinson as patriarch Joe Kennedy Jnr and Barry Pepper as Bobby Kennedy, and it basically related the epic story of an epic family that lived and loved what was always a very public life through a series of personal triumphs and tragedies.  It clearly showed the very dominant role that Joe Sen. played in the life of his family, and the loyalty displayed towards him by sons Jack and Bobby. I’m not sure where Edward was in all of this, I didn’t really notice much reference to him in the series, and I suppose that was because his political influence became more relevant after his two brothers had been killed. Not sure on that point.. 

I found the production particularly interested in the way it traced the major international political events of the time, such as Kennedy’s handling as a statesman and world  leader, through crises like the Bay of Pigs, civil rights, the Berlin wall and the Cuban Missile Crisis. Other viewers were probably more interested in the more personal issues, such as the relationships between the two brothers and their wives, or the affairs with women like Marilyn Monroe, etc, that are generally attributed to JFK. Certainly, some interesting ‘aspects’ were placed on things like that, such as the depiction of Monroe’s total obsession with the President to the degree that she believed he had agreed to marry her!! That’s in the film  – I obviously have no idea of the accuracy or otherwise of those type of storylines that occurred in the series. As the New York Times, at the time of the controversery put it  –  “In chronicling the presidency of John F. Kennedy, it compresses time, consolidates characters and invents dialogue for moments never recorded by history’s pen.” Which has  resulted in more press and interest in the series, , and on a  personal level for myself, fits in with my love of a good historical novel, with a mix of fiction and fact.  Nevertheless,  I certainly enjoyed the acting, in particular of Kennedy’s father, Joe Sen., and the two brothers, and Katie Holmes as Jackie Kennedy, one could so often imagine she was the woman herself, as far as looks were concerned.

I finished off tonight, watching Australia’s Casey Stoner try and win his 4th MotoGP of the season out of six races.

 

Another very pleasant concert last night, although for the main act – the Ron Carter Trio –  I felt extremely sleepy throughout the performance, at times almost battling to remain awake despite enjoying the music. I guess the culmination of 5 nights out in a row, and the fact that tonight’s jazz was of a different style to Monday night – more moody, contemplative, with just the bass, guitar and piano playing a series of late night style jazz. Earlier, it had been great to hear Katie Noonan singing some songs from her next album, due out in August. She was accompanied by guitar & saxophone, again, fairly low key music – her style on stage is so natural and relaxed, she obviously feels comfortable and is not worried putting on airs or sophistication, just comers over the way she is  –   that began right from the beginning when Katie walks on stage and addresses the packed Melbourne Recital Centre [MRC] audience with a simple ‘Goodaye’  [Slim Dusty style!!]. Gotta love her!

Meanwhile my seat – probably the best I’ve had in that place, front row level, up in the balcony area, where the beauty of the decor of this building really becomes more obvious from up top. Whilst there last night, I felt that I really had to find a show on here that the ‘girls’ would be interested in coming to, so that I could show-off my MRC to them!!  Incidentally, the Ron Carter Trio – all American Blacks – were quite a conservative looking trio, dressed in black suits and ties, and very little conversation between them [that was obvious] and with the audience. Ron Carter himself [as he told us this was ‘his band’] spoke every now & then to the audience – he was obviously suffering from a very heavy cold, which he mentioned on a few occasions [as an apology for his voice I guess], and the night was probably as bit more of an ordeal for him than usual, and may have meant the concert was a little shorter than normal – I’m not sure, but it did finish a little earlier than I’d anticipated, although I still reached home at the predicted 11.30 pm.. I liked the comment Ron Carter made on a couple of occasions  –  thank you for allowing us to share your living room’.

Now my tiredness must have been for real! Went to bed shortly after midnight, just before Susie returned home from ‘somewhere’, and next woke at 9.20 am this morning!!  Nine hours sleep, that is close to a record uninterrupted sleep for this writer, don’t recall that happening for a long time! With no commitments, I should have stayed there, but usually once I’m awake, I prefer to get up and about, feel as though I am wasting the day otherwise.  It is a long weekend in Victoria over the next few days  – officially, the Monday holiday is for the Queen’s Birthday, which I think is actually back in April! Oddly enough, I recall seeing on the news today, reference to Prince Phillip celebrating his 90^th birthday in the past day or so!

A brisk walk this morning – of the shortage variety, but I felt better for having made the effort, and done it. The rest of the day at home, not so active, a bit of cooking, program planning, etc, especially for my new show next Monday evening.  Strangely, on the basis of the last couple of weeks, Susie was home most of the day, and this evening – in ways, I prefer her to go out on Saturday nights, the night that I traditionally would love a good sleep but never get one – when Susie is home, that seems to be worsened, because every door that is opened or shut, until she goes to bed at 3am, wakes me up, and I find it very difficult to get back to sleep. This night would be no different, and I don’t think I got much sleep in the last couple of hours before the 5.30 am alarm

Despite the likelihood of a poor sleep afterwards, tonight, I simply felt too tired to be bothered even reading –sat and watched a close AFL game. Geelong vs Hawthorn, which saw a narrow win to the AFL’s undefeated team [Geelong]. That loss to the Hawks gave Carlton the opportunity to grab and retain 3^rd spot on the ladder – if we keep winning!!! I notice we don’t play Hawthorn until August!

Readers will have gathered by now that I enjoy, amongst other things, a bit of jazz!! So with the Melbourne International Jazz Festival on this week, I was determined to get to at least two concerts this year – number 2 is tonight  – featuring the Ron Carter Trio from the USA, with Carter being a highly recognised jazz bassists Performing with a pianist [Mulgrew Miller] and a guitarist [Russell Malone], it is Carters first visit to Australia, because, as indicated in the promo material, he is described as one of the most influential, prolific and original bassists in jazz and brings his elegant and compelling mastery of the bass to Australia for the first time. In a career spanning over six decades, he has appeared on over 2,500 albums and collaborated with many of the icons of music, including James Brown, B.B.King, Aretha Franklin, Dexter Gordon, Stan Getz, Chet Baker and Bill Evans.

Now I have to be honest, and confess that my choice in going to this particular performance was not totally motivated by the lead act   – preceding the Ron Carter Trio, we have one of  my current favourite Australian  female vocalists onstage, in the form of Katie Noonan. She is performing with a duo known  as Elixir – Sac Hurran on saxophone, and Stephen Magnusson on guitar.  Ron Carter collaborated with Katie Noonan on her 2008 release, ‘Blackbird: The Music of Lennon & McCartney

Yes, I am looking forward to this night’s musical entertainment.

In the meantime, my ‘feeling’ that all was not right with my car tyres bore fruit today – during the morning, took the car up to a nearby ‘tyre’ service centre, where it was discovered that both rear tyres had punctures of various degrees, of the slow leaking variety which slowly creep up upon you over a period of time.  Because of my ‘paranoa’ as some might unkindly describe it, I had been checking these tyres regularly, and had become concerned at the developing pattern where air always seemed to be required, and today’s little ‘garage’ visit confirmed the reason.  Now I have to wonder why this is happening – four punctures in rear tyres over the past six months, tyres that are generally in good condition, and each with a small nail or tack inserted into the exterior tyre wall. There are some rather ‘troublesome’ individuals who live on this estate where I work, and the thought often occurs that my tyres are been ‘sabotaged’, not because they are on my car, but simply for ‘something to do’ by young people with nothing better to occupy their minds. But maybe not, perhaps it’s all just a bad run of coincidental events!  Let’s hope I have no more troublesome problems with tyres!

Speaking of cars, I noticed yesterday [on Face Book] that son James, was having trouble with his car again – heading off to another day’s school placement, as part of his teacher training, and his car wouldn’t start, again. I offered him any financial assistance to get the problem fixed, adding, tongue in cheek, that he must be due for another big win at poker. I was surprised with his response that he’d not played competitive poker for a couple of months, obviously with studies taking priority [which I was pleased to hear], but I notice from later comments, that this weekend, might see a return to that ‘hobby’!! In the meantime, he seemed to think the car problem was the fuel pump!! He doesn’t have much luck with cars, although admittedly, I think he drives his cars a lot ‘harder’ than his father ever did!  In retrospect, looking back, I think that in my younger days, and depending on second hand cars, etc, I probably faced the same quantity of car break downs and other problems in my time!!

Meanwhile, on the football front, I notice that Carlton’s  missing ruckman for the past twelve months [following a serious injury suffered last year] is finally considered ready to return to the Blues’ senior team in this Sunday’s match against the Brisbane Lions. The other bit of news from the Club, that will please my eldest son, James, is that the player whom James has named his dog after, Marc Murphy  has resigned with the Club for a further three years, following some doubt that he might wish to go elsewhere. The Club spokesman said yesterday that  “We are delighted that Marc has committed to continuing his career with Carlton. He is an outstanding young man and has shown continued improvement in his five years at the Club,” said Steven Icke, General Manager Football Operations.   “He had an immediate impact at Carlton from his first game and this year in particular, he has displayed the form that has cemented him as an elite midfielder in the AFL. We know he will continue to improve and enjoy a long and sensational career at Carlton,” Icke added.  Murphy has re-signed for a further three years ensuring he will be a Carlton player until at least the end of 2014.  “I enjoy being a part of Carlton and believe it is a fantastic time to be at the Club. We have a great group and I am keen to see through the work that we have started,” Murphy said. “We have the best facilities at Visy Park and sensational support staff that ensure we continue to improve. Importantly I am keen to be a part of Carlton’s 17th premiership,” Murphy added.  Murphy was Carlton’s first selection, number one overall, in the 2005 NAB AFL National Draft and won the Carlton and the AFLPA best first year player in 2006. He has played 112 games since making his debut in round 1, 2006.  Murphy was runner-up in Carlton’s Best & Fairest, the John Nicholls Medal in 2008 and 2009 and was third last season

From football, to politics, briefly, the Independent Federal member, Bob Katter, who was one of the three elected independent members following last year’s Federal Election who delayed the result for a couple of weeks whilst the decided which Party to support [Katter eventuated decided to side with the Coalition in opposition to his two associates, whose choice re-elected the ALP government] has now added more controversy to his already controversial political life, by deciding to form a new political party [presumably at present with him as leader].  As one commentary I read described the man  –  ‘Some describe him as a good country bloke who is passionate about Australia; others say he is downright mad.  Whether you support him or not, Queensland MP Bob Katter is making his mark on the political scene by lodging registration papers for a new political party called the Australian Party.  Katter plans to focus on winning seats in the upcoming Queensland election, due in early 2012, before contesting the next federal poll’.  Perhaps he feels that he himself, has more chance of re-election if he is a part of a political body, because after the ‘shambles’ that many consider was the outcome created by the independents in the last election, there has been a growing mood in the community that independent candidates may not be so easily accepted as a local member in future elections. Anyway, I notice that Bob will be appearing on the Q & A Panel [on ABC TV] next Monday night – pity, I will miss that, in lieu of my plans to commence a new radio show that night!! However, I’m sure I will get to see it at some stage!

Finally for now, I was ‘touched’ yesterday by words on a card which a friend sent to me –  they included “Music played from the heart is a gift that touches the heart and soul of the receiver, bringing joy, peace and comfort to the receiver.  Again, many thanks Bill, for the many hours of music and variety that has helped me make it through a few bad times and not so healthy times, but still trying to smile, and of course, always listening”.

The week after next,  is Refugee Week [June 18-25],  and refugees, are a topic that I have referred to on many occasions over recent years, and a problem which continues to disturb this writer. There is much I have said, and will continue to say,  but for the present time, I will just note the recent joint statement by a number of concerned organisations –  where policy makers are urged to focus not on the question of how to ‘stop the boats’, but on how to ensure that refugees in the Asia-Pacific region can receive effective protection, and to place emphasise on developing a regional framework to protect people fleeing persecution. There is too much political concentration on stopping  the boats, and not making them available for people to get on – I would like to see far more concern and humanity expressed towards t6he reasons these people feel the need to get onto to the boats in the first place – they are still there at the intended point of departure!  The Government [and Opposition] policies of ‘stopping the boats’ have all but forgotten the real victims in all this.  More later, on another day!

 

 

An interesting evening, tonight –  a regular members’ meeting of the radio station, but tonight, combined with a ‘Community Consultation’ session. Under the guidelines of the licensing arrangements for the radio station’s continued operation,  we are now required as part of that agreement, to hold a number of community consultation meetings throughout the year, basically to assess whether the station is providing the kind of programming that our community expects to see, or hear! I was optimistic that we would see a good turn up of representatives from the broad local community, others of us were not so hopeful!

As it turned out, the ‘pessimists’ were on the right track – four separate people from the community [all of whom were actual sponsors] turned up to the meeting to put their views, together with a good crowd of actual station members. It was of course noted that the usual small group of members who simply do their two hours a week on air and then are seldom heard of or seen for the rest of the week or month [unless they have a complaint to voice]  were not present, those who submitted apologies excepted. Mind you, this organisation is no different to any other community organisation – there will always be the element who do a lot of the work, those who willingly help when asked, and a third group who do little else beyond paying their fees – I guess the latter fact, at least makes their membership a certain degree of ‘value’ to the organisation in question.

Anyway, the absentees missed a very useful night, despite the poor participation by those out in our listening community, and as a community radio station, we had gone part of the way to meeting our annual obligation, having widely advertised the event. As noted in a piece of information distributed prior to the meeting, and read out tonight again, with regard to listener feedback to this point in time  –  ‘3NRG has received very little feedback from the community relative to programming with the exception of some resistance to the volume of the Country Music genre and some resistance to foreign language programming. Since 3NRG attempts to represent the widest community interest, this feedback has not been seen by 3NRG as sufficiently widespread or sustained to warrant change to the program mix’.  That advice went further to say that   ‘In the past 3NRG has developed its programming simply around that material which presenters joining the station wished to present. Apart from holding explicit lyrics to after 10pm no censorship or controls have been applied by 3NRG in any timeslot in the past.  As a general rule a strong balance of Australian content is preferred and where available local material is sourced. Music in a number of genres dominates the programming currently although 3NRG encourages, talk back, current affair or magazine style programs’.

 The aim of the consultation sessions was to try and identify whether a significant portion of the community perceive any elements of weakness in the programming mix currently offered, and the opportunity to have a say on that was given to a number of sources, including the listeners, members and sponsors, specialist community groups, and the general community at large. Obviously, on the basis of tonight’s turn out [of non-members at least] it was difficult to really point to any conclusions, no point in trying to assert the community at large is happy with all we are doing, or alternatively, nobody really cares anyway on the basis of four interested persons – with a vested interest as sponsors – coming to the discussions. However, the process will be repeated, and hopefully, over a period of time, a much more substantial picture of the ‘community’ view will become evident. As I said earlier, it was still a useful exercise, with many of the members present able to raise issues, etc, in a totally non-confrontational environment.

The outcome of this and future meetings is that  3NRG will be happy to review its programming where a significant portion of the community have identified, and communicated a weakness in the current programming.  However, we must, in future consultation with the community at large, be in a position to offer potential solutions by providing alternative content or strong suggestions for it. Once a solution has been identified as viable 3NRG will commit to implementation of the programming change within a specified time frame. Obviously, if the community is ‘insisting’ on the kinds of programming which the station doesn’t have the resources to carry out, we will be looking to that community to assist with the provision of those resources, including ‘more volunteers’ as presenters and/or members with the station!   Hopefully for future meetings, the weather will be a little kinder – tonight in Sunbury was the kind of wintry evening, when unless you were desperate to be a part of something, the temptation to stay out of the weather was a big motivating factor in people staying away tonight!  That point, one must concede!!

The announcement by the Prime Minister that there is a total ban on the export of livestock to Indonesian abattoirs, while good news for those campaigning for such actions following last week’s public revelations of the atrocious manner in which many of the Australian exports are slaughtered in Indonesia, is obviously not going to be received with such delight by the cattle industry in Australia, and that is perfectly understandable. I think the ban is for a period of 6 months at this stage, at which time it will be reconsidered in the light of any changes which have or have not been made to the methods used at Indonesian abattoirs.

However, the following is the manner in which in the GET UP organisation responded to the decision, though the implication that this organisation was totally responsible for the implementation of the ban is a little over the top – the national reaction was far more widespread than just their efforts. Nevertheless, the success, in terms of their short campaign should be recognised. The email letter read as follows.

“This morning Prime Minister Gillard announced an immediate suspension of live exports to Indonesia. To every single one of the 236,000 Australians who have been part of this campaign: congratulations!  Last week, many of us across the nation were shocked to see footage recorded by the courageous team at Animals Australia in Indonesian abattoirs. So when Animals Australia and the RSPCA invited GetUp members to join the campaign, together we responded with the fastest growing campaign in GetUp history.  Over 230,000 of us joined the petition to Julia Gillard and the Agriculture Minister in just one week. Not only that, but together we chipped in over $300,000 for rapid response TV and radio ads calling on the Prime Minister to end the cruel practice!
Our friends at Animals Australia and the RSPCA have poured their hearts into this campaign. They have stood witness first hand to animal cruelty that most of us can barely stand to watch on a TV screen. The credit for today’s sucess belongs very much to them. But it also belongs to every single person who made this people-powered campaign such a force over the last week. Today’s announcement marks a radical improvement on the Government’s stance from just days ago. There can be no doubt that by creating a huge, hard-hitting advertising campaign and one of the largest petitions in Australian history, every single person involved in this campaign helped shift the Government from a quick political fix to a serious response.

Sadly, there is no guarantee that there isn’t horrific animal cruelty happening right now in other countries because of the live export trade. That’s why it’s important to forward this email to your friends and family and ask them to sign the petition to end live exports too. This isn’t the end of our efforts to stop the cruel practice of live exports to Indonesia. Over the coming months we’ll continue to work closely with Animals Australia and the RSPCA to carefully scrutinise the Government’s commitment, and ensure that never again are Australian taxes allowed to fund such callous animal cruelty in these slaughterhouses”.

But, not surprisingly, the ban has earned the ire of Australian farmers and exporters, and also Indonesia itself.  According to one Queensland rural mayor, the ban will send many beef producers to the wall. Speaking from Boulia in Queensland’s central west, Rick Britton says the ban will have a devastating effect on cattle producers in northern Australia. “We’ve just come out of a 10-year drought where people were financially strapped trying to keep their core breeders alive,”  “Now this, on top of that, will send people to the wall and I’m talking about family-operated businesses that are going to go broke.”  Mr Britton said Indonesia would simply shop elsewhere to meet its needs and Australian producers would pay the price.  The  view of others is that  it will take Indonesia a long time to improve its abattoirs, because of the poor standard of much of their infrastructure, so our government needs to get over there and help Indonesia do the right thing and improve the killing conditions.”

As for Indonesia’s ‘concern’, it seems to be based on claims of discrimination, rather than any real demonstrated concern for the problem itself.  Its deputy agriculture minister Bayu Krisnamurthi told reporters in Jakarta that  “We hope that this is not mainly a special policy for Indonesia.  If only applied to Indonesia, this is discriminative and we will submit (a complaint) to the WTO (World Trade Organisation). “There are several other countries importing from Australia facing the same (animal welfare) situation”.  That is no doubt very true, and if the government and the industry are going to try and clean up the slaughtering processes, I agree that it should not be restricted to just Indonesia, and other recipient nations of Australia’s cattle must receive the same scrutiny.

Today’s ‘Weekly Times’ rural newspaper, in advance of the news of the total ban reaching it’s editors,  is arguing that such a ban, will cause serious damage and needlessly hurt ‘all’ Australian livestock producers, with livestock exports estimated at a worth of  $1 billion to the Australian economy. Their concern seems to be that such a ban is going to affect other livestock exports – eg, with $105 million worth of valuable dairy animals exported to China to boost that nation’s milk production. A spokesman for Dairy Australia noted that ‘They are not exported for slaughter, they’re valuable animals exported for breeding’. Obviously, that side of the market needs to be taken into account, but I think those kind of arguments are really a ‘red herring’, diverting attention away from the central issue which has led to the ban –  the documented animal abuse of Australian cattle specifically sent to Indonesian abattoirs for consumption in that nation, and the manner in which many of those animals are treated, and virtually tortured in the process of slaughtering them for the Indonesian market.  I imagine there is no easy long term solution to the problem, but at least on this occasion, our government has recognised the national response to the issue.  Strange, how this was not even a news item ten days, and yet the industry has probably being aware of the problem for over a decade!

Meanwhile, on more mundane matters, it was a day of meetings for your writer – on the work front, a General Meeting of the membership, which on an extremely cold wet and miserable day in Melbourne, barely attracted a quorum! Unfortunately for those who did come, and our ‘CEO’ in particular, those small numbers had to include the two proverbial trouble makers, who inevitably turn up to such meetings, seemingly with the aim of creating as much ‘meeting mayhem’ as they can. It is because of people like that in our organisation, that I am not going to be very sad about leaving in a few months. With some relief, I missed the ‘most vocal’ part of the meeting, involving those two individuals, as I needed to depart to organise some lunch for all present. As my boss noted afterwards, I ‘picked’ the right moment to get out, and made sure upon my return, that I had other things to occupy my time which ‘prevented’ my need to return to the sound of heated exchanges, etc.  Tonight, a much more pleasant environment was spent at the committee meeting of the local Family History Society, and while that meeting went about 30 minutes longer than I really wanted it do, it was a worthwhile extension of business discussion in a friendly and warm atmosphere! Unfortunately, on stepping outside at the meeting con clusion, the weather that created us was far from pleasant, as cold wind swept rain shrouded the street where our various cars were parked. No standing around chatting at that point of the night!!

 

Disturbing news late morning – yet another Australian digger [soldier] has been killed in Afghanistan overnight – he is the 27^th Australian to die, being shot last night during a raid on an enemy weapons cache, It was just yesterday that the bodies of the 25^th and 26^th soldiers were returned home to Melbourne. As of this morning, the name of the latest casualty of the Afghan conflict had not been released.

In the meantime here in Victoria, I think they described today as the coldest day of the year so far, and in Melbourne, I believe the temperature didn’t get beyond 8 degrees centigrade!  It certainly felt that way, all day!!!

I was interested to note some of my son’s comments about his current post graduate teaching studies. Have never been sure whether he would stick at this new direction in his life, but so far, despite his attentions wandering off regularly in other directions, he seems to be coping quite well, and this week is apparently having his first period of ‘placement’ in a school location, as a part of his course, and was feeling quite confident about that, according to his remarks. Like many students in his circumstances, particularly at the adult level, he is finding the combination of full time study and part time employment, in his word ‘draining’, so with that in mind, I hope he can stay with it!

Australia played a ‘friendly’ soccer match against Croatia tonight – I had planned to listen to the radio broadcast after my ‘radio show’ this evening, but had forgotten about it – until I received a text message while I was on air from Susie – actually for a change, telling me where she was –  at the soccer!!!  I responded with the hope that I trusted she would be warm enough, on what was now a freezing Tuesday night, until she reminded that the game was being played in Edihad Stadium, which has an enclosed retractable roof!  Anyway, I was rather envious that I was not there myself, but pleased for Susan, who was having the experience of her first international soccer match.  I think she has played a bit of indoor soccer over the past couple of years with her friends here in Sunbury, but it was only during the World Cup last year that I  discovered she had an interest in the fortunes of the Socceroos in that event.  I guess the only downside of tonight’s game – while described as a great game of football, nevertheless ended up in a 0-0 draw!!! As Susie said later, it would have been good to see some goals kicked. Apparently the highlight of the night [or lowlight, from the view of the police and stadium officials] were the number of flares that were lit and thrown amongst the crowd during the match – mostly I believe, from the Croatian side of the crowd sector!

While all this was going on, I was at the radio station for two hours which included a special little segment where I featured some songs from a just released debut album of a Melbourne soprano, whom I had welcomed as a guest on one of my shows nearly three years ago now. While her emphasise at the time was on classical singing, this album featured a mix of  traditional folk songs together with a touch of the jazz and blues flavour. I might get back to Marilla [that was her name] at a later stage, but that 30 minute spell of the program, was the highlight of my night!!

Quiet day at the office, alone for most of it, and I must admit that the warmth of the office [contrasting sharply with the outside temperature] left this writer feeling rather tired, and in some wishing he was able to return straight home this evening. However, other events called!

This evening, another trip into the city – this time to the Melbourne Town Hall, for the first of two concerts associated with the Melbourne International Jazz Festival which is currently in progress. I’m developing quite a likeness for this genre of music, just wish I had been as interested about 40 years ago, and had been part of a group of jazz enthusiasts!!  In my current group of friends and connections, jazz does not figure high on their musical priorities, which is the pity – at present, any such ventures I go to, have be on my lonesome. Although, I must admit that sitting there tonight, listening to the music, my thoughts were wishing I was sharing that music with someone else [although of course, being the money miser that I am, that would probably mean, twice the cost!!].

Nevertheless, irrespective of all those thoughts, tonight’s jazz concert was a beauty, although it started about 25 minutes late – perhaps jazz concert goers are used to that, as there were still streams of people coming in to their seats, some 20 minutes after the advertised starting time!!! As it eventuated, perhaps that was by design, as there was no interval, which actually pleased me, because it was looking like a very late night at one stage there, despite the great music. And who was the artist? Last year, I was privileged to see 80 year old Ahmad Jamal, tonight another legend of jazz – also 80 years old, ‘Sonny’ Rollins, born in New York back in 1930, a classic jazz saxophonist and composer, and described by many in the industry as the ‘master of modern jazz’. Rollins is credited with having a major influence on countless artists over almost eight decades of music. Not all of his life has been perfect over those decades, but he has survived, and today, continues with a dedication to live performances. The response of tonight’s crowd was indicative of an appreciation of that kind of dedication . The long term enthusiasts in the audience [and I don’t include myself in that category, being a fairly recent convert as a lover of jazz] gave the man a rousing reception, and that rapture with his performances and persona continued throughout the night. As one New York writer said of  Sonny Rollins, it’s rare that he is not  “playing somewhere in the world, pursuing the combination of emotion, memory, thought, and aesthetic design with a command that allows him to achieve spontaneous grandiloquence.” Another critic, Stanley Crouch wrote that: – “Over and over, decade after decade, from the late seventies through the eighties and nineties, there he is, Sonny Rollins, the saxophone colossus, playing somewhere in the world, some afternoon or some eight o’clock somewhere, pursuing the combination of emotion, memory, thought, and aesthetic design with a command that allows him to achieve spontaneous grandiloquence. With its brass body, its pearl-button keys, its mouthpiece, and its cane reed, the horn becomes the vessel for the epic of Rollins’ talent and the undimmed power and lore of his jazz ancestors.”

I love the music of the tenor saxophone, although at times, I found the volume almost piercingly too loud, but that was probably just my age showing out!!, but nevertheless, his playing of the instrument was infectious, as were those on stage with him – Peter Beinstein [on guitar], Bob Cranshaw [bass], Kobie Watkins [drums – what a sensational solo piece partway through the show, loved that part], and Sammy Figueroa [on percussion, basically bongoes as I called them, and he also, had his own spectacular solo time during the night, as did the guitarist and bass player. Now I have never seen Sonny Rollins perform before, even on film, that I can remember, so his initial appearance on stage was quite a ‘surprise’, almost doubled over, presumably with an ageing back condition, and apart from odd moments when he seemed to straighten up, he played the saxophone in that slightly bent over stance, and more shuffled around the stage – initial impression by some might have been of an ‘old drunk’ stumbling onto the stage, but what a sensational ‘stumbling’ performance he turned on for the capacity Melbourne Town Hall crowd.

Sonny Rollins

It was eventually a pensive drive home, not really in a hurry, as all of my Monday nights from hereon in are going to be late ones, with a new radio show. Listened to the closing stages of the ABC’s Q & A Program, simulcast on the radio, sounded as though it had been quite an interesting night with much discussion about the Israeli/Palestine situation. But I’m also going to miss that program on a Monday night, one of the sacrifices of wanting to do a late night show! When that program finished, I went searching for some music to see me through the balance of the drive. Susie not home when I got  there, though she returned as I was about to go to bed. At least got a brief greeting in!! Thankfully, the bad weather had held off tonight, and although it was quite chilly, the rain stayed away, so my walk back to the car after the concert was done in relative comfort.