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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.

I must say that it was very difficult to draw upon the resources of ‘will’ power to get out of bed this morning, at 5.30am!!  Cold, dark, and the promise of a very Wintry week ahead of us!  Yet 90 minutes later, as I looked out of the radio studio windows and the view of the skyline of Sunbury, the early morning sunshine created a beautiful warm aspect to the morning – it may not have been so warm outside, despite the  early sun, but certainly the aspect of it, brightened and awakened the day in a very pleasant manner.  Earlier, as I walked up the ramp to the external door,  I was greeted by two ‘very chatty’ magpies sitting on the balcony of the ramp  – now these birds, and others, are fed every Sunday morning, by the two presenters, who follow me on air at 9am!  Obviously, the magpies have not yet learnt to read the clock,  because when my car arrives, they seem to assume that ‘feeding time’ has arrived!!  Mind you, they do realize very quickly that I am the ‘wrong’ human, and not the hand that feeds them, and their greeting is short lived, and with a loud squawk of annoyance, shall we say, and a flutter of wings, they take off, and leave this sole human to his own company. Of course, the local rabbit population don’t even attempt to greet me – well they do, by scattering in all directions upon my arrival in the area each morning! It’s ‘nice’ to be so popular!!!

One of the pieces of music I play each Sunday morning always comes from the vast collection of compositions attributed to the ‘four seasons’, and with today being the first Sunday in Winter, so began 3 months of compositions specifically written for that time of year. As I note year, much of the ‘winter’ music has been written in the Northern Hemisphere, and as a consequence, winter is so often associated with Christmas. The music of winter is therefore quite regularly related to the Christian aspects of the Christmas story, as well as snow, etc  – not the kind of  Winter, we here in the south would be experiencing in December! Be that as it may, I always begin my Winter ‘four seasons’ selections with a piece of music written by the relatively unknown English composer, Harold Darke [lived from 1888 to 1976] simply called ‘In the Bleak Mid Winter’ and which deals with the birth of Christ. Were it not for the words that form part of this composition [and on my recording, is  performed by the Choir and Orchestra of Claire College, Cambridge under the direction of John Rutter who was responsible for some of the music & hymns at the recent Royal wedding in the UK], and you simply took the title and music at face value, this particular piece is a perfect introduction to my ‘seasonal’ music.

After another lengthy walk this morning, which I achieved reasonably early in view of the forbidding weather forecast for later in the day [which in fact did not arrive until this evening], the rest of my Sunday was without major commitment, and subsequently saw quite a bit of time spent on the family history project [ and perhaps even more time spent  ‘recovering’ from two strenuous weekend walks!].

Carlton Football team update  – Round 11 of the 2011 AFL season this weekend – the Blues travelled over to Adelaide to play a late Sunday afternoon game   against Port Adelaide, a team struggling to win games in 2011. There was no ‘free to air’ coverage of this game, I think the first time this year, we have not been televised for all to see. My son, James was watching the game at one of the local pubs on ‘pay TV’, and tried to encourage me to join him, halfway through the match. However, at that point, I was halfway through cooking an evening meal for Susie & myself, and to be honest, at that stage, simply did not feel like venturing out again tonight [those decisions were always spur of the moment ones, when I was younger, but  those days have passed!!]. So for me, it was a radio broadcast tonight – which for the first half, did not seem to be going too well for the Blues, but as the quarter by quarter time scores indicate below, the Carlton team really turned up the heat, and went onto a powerful win. I would make the comment later, to James, that if Carlton were able to put together 4 quarters of the way they played today in the 2^nd half, they would be unbeatable. I guess I was suggesting that the first half of football was a poor effort by Carlton, but James disagreed. He would write on Face Book that  ‘I believe they did produce four good quarters on Sunday. I know that the scoreboard doesn’t show it, but Port really threw it up to Carlton in the first half. But Carlton kept fighting, and in the end Port couldn’t keep up the pressure.  I think it was perhaps one of Carlton’s best four quarter performances and while the opposition was a poor side,  they did probably play some of the best footy they have all year. That was my observation anyway!!’   Well now, who am I to argue with my son, who has developed into an even more fanatic Carlton supporter then his father was all those years ago, and as a former player, he can no doubt see more in their performances than I do [that’s my diplomatic response in any case]. The final scores were as follows:

Carlton Blues:          3.3.21          5.7.37            9.11.65              FINAL:  16.15.111

Port Adelaide:          4.2.26          6.4.40            7.7.49                Final:        7.7.49

Meanwhile, from Paris, we learnt that Rafael Nadal overnight, won his 6^th French Open title when he defeated [again] Roger Federer over 4 sets – 7/5,7/6,5/7, 6/1 – looks like it was pretty tight up until the end of the 3^rd set, when it might have seemed that Roger was making a comeback, but at that stage, Nadal must have really turned only picked up the result via the radio.  Top seed Nadal – who was also champion in 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 and  2010 – took his overall Paris record to 45 wins against just one defeat. His victory also means he can hold on to his world No.1 spot.  It was the 25-year-old Spaniard’s 17th win over Federer in 25 meetings and fourth in a Roland Garros final.  But unlike their 2008 clash, when Federer managed to win just four games in the most one-sided final in 30 years, Nadal was made to work harder for his sixth Paris title.
On Saturday night, we saw the result I liked –  the Chinese girl who lost the Australian Open final in January to Kim Clysters, scored a victory in the Women’s Final. As the following commentary from Roland-Garros explains:- ‘When Li Na stopped playing tennis in 2002 to study journalism she perhaps never envisaged that she would one day be making headlines all over the world. This afternoon the 29-year-old did just that, becoming the first Chinese player in history to win a Grand Slam singles title when she dispatched defending champion Francesca Schiavone 6-4, 7-6(0) in the French Open final. The 29-year-old from Wuhan hung up her racquet temporarily because she was languishing around the no.120 mark in the world rankings and wanted a back-up plan in case her tennis didn’t pan out. She enrolled on a journalism course and spent two years away from the tour. Nine years on she is the 2011 French Open champion and describes the victory as a “dream come true”.’

A couple of Aussie wins today in various parts of the world – locally in Adelaide, the Socceroos had a 3-0 win of the New Zealand ‘All Whites’ soccer team in a ‘friendly’ match [though no sporting contest between Australia and New Zealand would normally be regarded as normal!!]. This game was a lead up match to this coming Tuesday night’s match at Melbourne, where Australia will be playing another ‘so-called friendly’ against Croatia, one of the team’s we came up against in last year’s World Cup first round of matches.  While in motor cycle racing, well a wonderful win to Australia’s Casey Stoner who scored his 3^rd MotoGP win of the season [out of 5 races] when he won the Catalunya MotoGP today [a course in a region of Spain]. He finished more than 2 seconds ahead of defending world champion, Jorge Lorenzo, who now leads the Australia in the overall championship ladder for 2011, by just 7 points. Stoner is in great form at present. He was the 2007 World Champion.

A very pleasant evening, last night, at the Melbourne Recital Centre [MRC] listening to my quartet of girls and their string instruments, probably only spoilt by the fact that I was feeling very tired – perhaps tonight would have been a better night for one of next week’s jazz concerts. Must admit that most of tonight’s music was not quite lively enough to get one up and dancing in the aisles!!  Nevertheless, I did enjoy the program, the details of which I referred to yesterday. The one point of ‘interest’ happened at the beginning of James Ledger’s composition ‘Processions’, when just before the girls came back on stage to play his work, James popped up from the audience onto the stage, where he proceeded to give a brief explanation of the music, and the background to it. That was fine, however  –  and I’ve noticed this before at the MRC –  the onstage microphone he tried to use, didn’t work, nor did the replacement that was quickly brought out for him! A rather poor state of affairs I thought, for a major entertainment venue!  Anyway, he spoke without a working mic, luckily his voice was just loud enough to carry throughout the auditorium, although I’m sure there would have been many present who experienced some difficulties in clearly hearing his explanations

In his own words, James Ledger [born 1966] describes his composition ‘Processions’ as follows:-   “The piece is in three continuous sections, or processions, that run continuously after a short introduction. The first procession is energetic and jubilant music that reflects the optimistic instances of migration, such as the case of my maternal grandparents. They emigrated from England after the second world war when Australia attracted them with the chance of a new and better life. The second procession reflects the darker side of human displacement. Here, there is uncertainty and perhaps numbness that comes from separation or leaving home. There is a sense of loss and isolation against a trudging motion that is captured in this procession. The whole work was written against the backdrop of two devastating earthquakes that struck the city of Christchurch, New Zealand, and then Japan.  The third movement is a funeral procession, in which the instruments glissando slowly downward, representing a sigh or expression of grief”.  [James Ledger, 2011]

So there you have it, just like the story told by an author in print, much if not all of classical [and no doubt other genres] music has been written and originally composed with some series of events or storyline in mind. I guess the principal difference with music is, that you generally need the composer to actually reveal what his music is all about  – I mean, having read the little piece above ‘before’ hearing the music, one was able to gain a much more appreciative understanding and/or enjoyment of the music as it went along. That’s how this ‘amateur’ music lover sees it in any case, I mean without the composer’s explanation, how could we possibly have a clue what the music was trying to say?  Having said all that, I now realize that I have just one more planned concert to attend with the Australian String Quartet – in September, and appropriately titles ‘Sunset’, as I’ve already decided not to renew my subscription to their concerts in 2012, but will instead, allocate those funds to another group or artist, try something different! Maybe a whole year of jazz next time!!

I had another rather expensive activity to undertake this morning – to be fitted out, and purchase a new pair of glasses!  Now these are mainly for long distance driving, viewing at concerts, sporting events, etc, all of which, I have over recent experienced some difficulty with clear views, etc. It has been manageable,  but obviously needed to be remedied. The final cost just came along as a bit of a shock, as I don’t recall the glasses I purchased two years ago [for reading in artificial light, etc] being quite as expensive. Anyway, to get over that shock,  and it being a beautiful morning, I decided it was the right day to go for a lengthy walk, an activity that because of evening commitments, and poor weather etc, has been a little neglected over recent months. Probably went further than I should have, but as it was to be my only real exercise for the day, was pleased I made the effort. Unusually, I had Susie home for a large part of the weekend [during the day anyway], and surprisingly, she was here to join me for the two evening meals [which yours truly cooked of course!].  Meanwhile, I spent the balance of my Saturday, partially as the ‘housemaid’ I seem to become at times [washing, ironing, cooking], and later on, time spent working on the family history, and watching a bit of football, mmmmm, perhaps more than I should have, but I did surprisingly feel like relaxing, not my strongest point!!

Tonight is Concert No. 2 for the year, by the Australian String Quartet [ASQ], as part of the group’s  2011 Season, to which I have my regular ticket. While in some ways on a Friday night, I’d prefer to be heading home and as early as possible, not so this day, where from work later this afternoon, I will drive into the CBD, and across the Yarra River, to find my pricey ‘little’ carpark in the Arts Centre complex. I say ‘pricey’ because while there are probably cheaper car parks in the area, the convenience and ready access to most of the concerts I attend, is I think generally superior!

Now, I have been a subscriber to the ASQ concerts since 2006, but I’ve decided that this will be my last year, will either allocate the cost to other areas, or simply may not be able to afford such ‘outings; after retirement.  By coincidence, the makeup of the ASQ, as it has been since 2006, is changing at the end of this year, with two of the girls leaving, so it is probably an appropriate to make a change myself. In mentioning that, there was a brief article in one of the papers earlier this year which commented on the change of the group –  headed ‘The Australian String Quartet may soon be Australian in name only after embarking on an international hunt for new musicians’, it made reference to the fact in searching for two new members, and despite the view that there are many fantastic musicians in Australia,  auditions for replacements would not be limited to Australians.  As cellist, Rachel Johnston argued, ‘the international standard of the quartet was more important than whether the players came from Australia’. Personally, I find that attitude a little disappointing, but MS Johnston points out that ‘It’s a matter of finding a musician who has the technical mastery and the artistic mastery that we need, and also they need to fit with the group and you can’t restrict your pool when you’re looking for that’.  Fair enough I suppose, but it almost sounds as though she has given up on finding Australian replacements for violinist, Sophie Rowell, and violist, Sally Boud before the search has started!  Meanwhile, the report noted that the addition of two new musicians will mean the quartet will soon have had 18 members since its establishment 25 years ago.  The current line-up was formed following the controversial resignation of all the players in 2006. At the time, the resignations were said to be because of the conservative musical direction being imposed by the ASQ board.  While the appointment of four attractive young females by the board was met with some cynicism from the orchestra literati, the success of the group has proven otherwise.  “We have bookings for 2013 already and other people in Europe are booking even further in advance,” the ASQ’s other remaining member, the second violinist, Anne Horton said.  The current members of the ASQ have warned the audition process would not be limited to rigorous testing of the incumbents’ musical abilities.  “We feel like, after travelling together for such a long time, we’ve become a family and it’s almost like you’re hiring someone and adopting them as your family,” Ms Boud said.  “The musical side is kind of taken for granted, but they won’t make it if they don’t have a sense of humour.  “Actually, we might audition them with jokes.”

Tonight’s program features four compositions – Schubert’s String Quartet No. 10; Dvorak’s  ‘Cypresses’; Dvorak’s String Quartet No. 12, and a world premier apparently of a composition by James Ledger [a composer  from Western Australia] which he called ‘Processions’.  It was inspired, according to the composer,  by the concept of migration and its three movements explored the emotions of optimism, uncertainty and grief.   I must keep those ideas in mind as I listen to the music tonight, and see if I am similarly inspired!!!

On a slightly different passion,  my football team don’t play until Sunday afternoon this weekend, over in Adelaide, and it doesn’t appear as though I will even see the game on TV – the only coverage is on the pay TV channel. Perhaps I should at that time, travel into the city again, for the official opening free concert of the Melbourne International Jazz Festival – I actually have tickets for two jazz concerts next week, so with meetings on three other nights, and a radio show to do on Tuesday night, it seems that I am going to be ‘out’ on 7 of the next 9 evenings!!!  And this is supposed to be the time of my life when I start relaxing!!

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

Another cold morning, followed by another beautiful sunny day in this part of the world, though a little envious of the reports of warm days coming out of English via an ‘old’ penfriend or two!!  Make the most of it friends, I’m sure it won’t last!!

A small attendance at tonight’s radio Committee meeting, but nevertheless [with a quorum just managed], it was a useful session, and good to see Station Manager, Mike, back on deck again with plenty of enthusiasm, after two serious bouts of illness. It was during this meeting, that I revealed my plans [subject to approval] to revise my ‘program’ schedule in the near future, more about that later, and while the opportunity to do so, has arisen a little earlier than I had planned, I’m feeling quite enthusiastic about the changes.

Received in the mail today, a beautiful little CD from a Melbourne singer, Marilla Homes, who appeared on one of my Sunday afternoon shows almost three  years ago.  This was her ‘debut’ album, to be formally released at a pub in an inner Melbourne suburb this weekend  – would love to put in an appearance, but these days, I’m not so keen on turning up to a ‘pub’ on my own – don’t mind doing that at a formal concert [as I will be doing tomorrow night], but that is a different concept. Anyway, I drifted off to sleep tonight, listening to that album – absolutely glorious singing, some wonderful versions of songs like ‘Nature boy’, ‘Black Coffee’ [a song that Marilla sang  live for me, when she came to the radio] and ‘Ever the Winds’. A beautiful album, quite pleased to have made an early purchase of it!  Meanwhile earlier today, I picked up a recording of the wedding service of William & Kate – my particular interest was the music and hymns that formed a part of that service, some of which I will be able to incorporate into my Sunday morning program.

Susie was actually home tonight – not that I saw much of her, apart from a couple of brief conversations through a door. After the initial greetings upon one or other of us arriving home, my dear girl disappears to her room, and rarely ventures out to wherever I am before I retire for the night! A little disappointing at times, but at present, don’t want to push the issue, happy for her to communicate at her own pace, when she is ready and/or wants to.

Actually, the first two days of Winter  – expected to be fine and sunny 19 degrees – after frost and fog, and an almost ‘freezing’ start to the morning. That’s exactly how it feels right now, just before 6am, as I prepare for a brief visit to the radio station to join Ron for a few minutes [I hear he is already on air ‘warming’ up the studio ] to talk about the local football results, etc. In fact, it’s so cold this morning, not even the two cats seem keen to move from their basket pouch in the laundry, usually they are in a rush to get out the door!!!  Welcome to Winter, Victoria, while up in Queensland  friends are celebrating ‘their’ morning with an outdoor breakfast barbeque I believe  –  ohhh well, I think I still prefer to be down here, in view of some of the disastrous weather that northern  state experienced over the summer. I like my weather to be a little more moderate in nature!!!

A major portion of today’s media is concentrated on two things – the growing uproar and anger over the revelations about the mistreatment associated with the livestock export trade, and more Australian military deaths in Afghanistan. One of our soldiers was killed a week ago, and now yesterday, came the announcement of two more deaths – one as a result of a helicopter crash, and the second, shot by an Afghan soldier that the Australian was on guard duty with. needless to say, the military are hunting that betrayer down, even our Prime Minister is calling for a determined effort to track the traitor down, who is apparently now been lauded as a hero by the Taliban and their supporters. Of course, an incident of this nature is going to make the Australian soldiers somewhat wary of those forces they are supposedly fighting alongside of.  Now while this is a terrible and tragic occurence, I have to wonder about another aspect of this ‘war’ in Afghhanistan – almost on a weekly basis now, we hear reports of American [usually] troops firing on residential areas anmd the subsequent loss of lives of women and children, innocent civilians who happened to be in the wrong place [or were used as ‘fodder’ by the Taliban,. etc, operating out of such populated places]. I’m disappointed that not more shock and outrage is revealed out here when those kind of socalled ‘incidents’ occur  – yes, the loss of the Australian soldier is tragic, but he was doing a job where the risk of death and injury is an everyday likelihood. The many civilian deaths that seem to be occurring all too regularly lately as a consequence of ‘allied’ military action, are not part of those people’s chosen role – they just happen to have been born in the wrong country, which sadly has been under some form of invasion condition for decades now.

Anyway, it’s late at night, and this is a subject which deserves far more attention and comment than my tired mind is able to devote to at this time. Be that as it may, there is growing discontent here in Australia at our continued presence in Afghanistan, and that opposition becomers more and more vocal, with each succeeding report of the death of one of our soldiers. It is a difficult debate, with in many respects, good arguments on both sides, again, not to be gone into on this occasion, but when one’s mind is fresh and clearer of the direction I want to direct my comments towards.

Meanwhile, expecting Susan home tomorrow night, she turned up this evening – but not for long, gone again in 20 minutes, back after another 20 minutes, and then gone again, probably for the night, soon after. I was quite pleased to see her back home,  but it was not to last!@!

Meanwhile, I shall return on another day, in these pages >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>