Last Monday, I joined a bunch of farmers out at the Royal Easter Show in Homebush for a special ‘country comes to town’ edition of the much loved ABC TV show Q & A. I was lucky enough to have my question selected and share it with y’all here: Troy stands up for country The …
I travelled to the Leard Forest Blockade in between Gunnedah and Narrabri fully intent on getting arrested. 82 people, including a 92 year-old war veteran, had been charged a few weeks previously after they occupied the Maules Creek Coal Mine inside the state forest and hindered the operation. The protectors were defending, among other things, …
How do you make city slickers realise that what happens in the country has a direct impact on them? With a whopping 80% of NSW now covered by mining licences and applications, you’d think they’d be awake to the fact that their food and water supplies are under threat. But they seem to be in …
Last night I had the pleasure of being the guest speaker at Woollahra Council’s citizenship ceremony where we were treated with those great Aussie classics, lamingtons and pies. Mayor Toni Zeltzer, who taught me Biology at school, wore her ceremonial chains and gave each new citizen a native plant as a memento of the momentous …
About three and a half hours north west of Sydney you’ll come across a little town called Kandos. Nestled beneath the escarpments of the Great Dividing Range with the spectacular Wollemi National park as its backdrop, this classic country town was created back in 1915 to provide housing for workers at the newly commissioned cement …
When I was a teen babe grommet I used to keep my surfboard in a grotty old basement under a block of flats at the back of Sir Thomas Mitchell Rd in Bondi. I also stashed an old record player there with a small collection of vinyl including the classic psychadelic rock album ‘Cheap Thrills’. …
At 6pm each night, members and visitors of the North Bondi RSL Club are encouraged to stand, face the Eternal Flame and remember those who died in battle. The ‘Rissole’ is a club like any other except for the gala view from its balcony out across the iconic bay and the exceptional trattoria below. Constantly …
For a night of pure camp swathed exclusively in leopard skin print, you can’t go past Little Ones Theatre production of Charles Busch’s ‘Psycho Beach Party’. This crazy theatrical extravaganza takes its cues from the 1959 classic ‘Gidget’ and amplifies them til your head nigh on spins with references to Neitzsche and Luaus and every …
Time to bust out my old Obama dress created by my San Franciscan friend Cynthia Lloyd. We strutted the two models out after the great man’s ’08 win and raised a glass to his first term at that most spectacular of bars ‘Top of the Mark’ on Nobb Hill. It was the crowning moment of …
Caught the wonderful exhibition of photographs of Old Paris by Eugene Atget at the Art Gallery of NSW and am inspired to start examining the details of my own suburb in more detail. Atget’s love of old door handles and hidden cracks and crevices captured a slice of Paris that doesn’t exist today. His glass …
It was writer/curator Kevin Murray’s idea to stage a hypothetical at the Powerhouse Museum. I’d never hosted one before but I had facilitated Dfactory there every month for three years so the powers that be knew that I could handle a panel. I’m used to dealing with around four or so people at one time …
I’m about to put together a little doco I made on the campaign trail during the 2012 local council elections starting on the day the Clover Moore Independent Team had their publicity photos taken and rolling right through until our triumphant victory on September 8. I was in the exciting position of number 6 on …
Annabelle Gaspar is a dark horse. Not only is she an awesome DJ who can keep folk dancing like demons til dawn, she’s also an incredible photographer. Her current focus is underwater photography and she has donated a really powerful work of art to the silent auction that we are holding as part of our …
Before Marie Bashir became the first female Governor of New South Wales I knew her simply as my best friend’s Mum. Alex Shehadie and I were bosom buddies at Sydney Girls High School and her mother always gave me a warm welcome whenever I went over to visit. She still greets me warmly whenever I …
Sydney is one of the most gorgeous cities in the world but its not without its problems. For the past eight years our Lord Mayor Clover Moore has been doing an amazing job bringing our city up to speed with other major cities like New York, Paris and London. Foremost on her mind has been …
I had a spontaneous catch up with an old friend the other day and as these random connections can sometimes be, it was simply spiffy! We went down to the harbour’s edge to Bird and Bear, a cafe and coconut outlet on Elizabeth Bay wharf, where we each ordered a freshly shucked coconut (amazing to …
MUDGEE MINING Busy helping to organise an event in Mudgee in opposition to a $3,200/head Mining Industry Conference. Seven local community action groups including our own Running Stream Water Users Association have banded together to mount a rally/conference/dinner/bus tour next Tuesday and Wednesday. Inspired by the razzle dazzle of Mardi Gras I’ve made my own …
It’s amazing what you can do with an ipad! Last Saturday’s Mardi Gras broadcast was presented by the unflappable Mark Trevorrow and myself with the help of a autocue operator using his ipad. He was scrolling down the text with his finger all night! The intro was a particularly interesting adventure in improvisation given that …
Sunday night sees the return of Big Nelly to the cabaret stage after an absence of over a decade. Drawn back into the spotlight after several years of persuasion by my darling friend Mark Trevorrow (AKA Bob Downe, pictured) , I will sing an old favorite from the Patsy Cline songbook (no, not the one featured …
Shot by the cast of two in a day for your consideration, this inaugural short film by Naughty Tent Productions has been free wheeling its way into people’s hearts all over the place, most recently scooping the Audience Choice award at the Queer Fruits Film Festival in Lismore. Following on from the Honorable Mention at …
Back in the 30s the gangsters of Kings Cross used to slash each others body parts with cut throat razors until Roslyn street run with blood, or so the legend goes. Later it was known as the home of ‘Baron’s’, an infamous dive where you could go for that final night-cap long after everywhere else …
Back in the olden days when I was a reporter on the ABC’s weekly arts show ‘Review’ I worked with a fabulous producer called Paige Livingstone. Together we humped our blueys all over Australia in search of exciting arts stories that veered off the beaten track onto all sorts of rugged bush tracks. I lost …
Whilst pounding the pavements of Wellington on a recent window shopping spree, my eye caught sight of a gorgeous little red merino wool dress on an old fashioned mannequin in a quaint shopfront on the corner of Willis St and Te Aru. Upon venturing in to Good Score, I noticed that all the labels had …
Our experience of Hobart’s hottest new wine bar/restaurant was so overwhelmingly wonderful earlier this year that we put it at the top of our ‘to-do’ list when we ventured south last week. We were devastated to discover, however, that the incomparable Garagistes is closed for annual holidays until October 11! Pining for it has prompted …
Popped in to Monstrosity Gallery last night to deliver two art works by The Stoked for the exhibition ‘Fur’. The show, which opens tonight, is a group exhibition by “some of Sydney’s most dynamic and talented contemporary artists” responding to the theme of fur. Curated by West, who has a particular penchant for fur herself, …