The Metro Male Voice Choir gave a stirring concert yesterday in Maitland, South Australia, as part of their commitment to country town performances. They are Adelaide based,yet make many trips annually to rural centres - marvellous when you consider that S.A. is the size of France and Germany together (!)
A bunch of us drove the hour's journey up to Maitland, where the local committee put on a nice afternoon tea to complement the singing, conducted by soon-to-retire musical director Don Noblett
Monday, July 27, 2009
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Rewritable DVDs - the Awful Truth
Aargh!! I recorded the whole two hours of our five-weeks-to-go concert rehearsal in the church hall at W., and put 'em on DVD. Do I really grimace and twitch like that on the higher notes? Ye gods. Winning my place back from the singing dog must have gone to my head - or larynx.
It is still early days, thank goodness, as far as the stagecraft goes. Our group of a dozen souls is doing a cabaret-theme wrap-around of the varied song content (not just songs from the musical Cabaret) interspersed with some connecting comic sketches. Thanks, Gwenda, chief scriptwriter.
My favourite number in our looming show is Angela's solo Maria Elena in her native Spanish. (Tuyo es mi corazon / Oh sol de mi querer ... ). And with male voice I like it very much as sung by Helmut Lotti, posted on YouTube. Go hear. http://youtube.com/user/aa2bb3
It is still early days, thank goodness, as far as the stagecraft goes. Our group of a dozen souls is doing a cabaret-theme wrap-around of the varied song content (not just songs from the musical Cabaret) interspersed with some connecting comic sketches. Thanks, Gwenda, chief scriptwriter.
My favourite number in our looming show is Angela's solo Maria Elena in her native Spanish. (Tuyo es mi corazon / Oh sol de mi querer ... ). And with male voice I like it very much as sung by Helmut Lotti, posted on YouTube. Go hear. http://youtube.com/user/aa2bb3
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Quizzical Ronnie Corbett autobio
Last night at the Bowling Club the local Uniting Church held its annual Quiz Night. Our team, give or take a couple of players off the field and a substitute, were last year's winners and we looked to repeat the triumph. Sadly, not to be. We came second by a squeak. I maintain that this was due to dodgy adjudication and scoreboard chicanery. But how can you tell that to the reverend? The desserts table made up somewhat for the humiliation. This is the true meaning of just desserts.
I finished reading the autobiography, entitled High Hopes, of the famously diminutive - and hard working - Scots comedian Ronnie Corbett (b.1930) who was brought up in Edinburgh.
The description of a 1930s Edinburgh childhood is a fine social document in itself. His father was a master baker, and a very good amateur golfer. From him the young Corbett seems to have acquired a lifelong fine-food appreciation, and cooking skills, plus a love of the game of golf. He knew by early high school - during WWII - that his vocation was the world of theatre and he held that vision for years as an aspiring performer from the age of 16. He was soon drawn to the comedic side of theatre, turning his small stature (5'1") to an advantage as the "wee clown".
What strikes the reader is the sheer tenacity of Corbett, moving to London on his own, learning every part of his trade through the 1940s and '50s, working at anything to keep body and soul together. Eventually steady work was forthcoming; club entertainment with Danny La Rue, summer seasons of pantomime. Small film parts started to come along (You're Only Young Twice, 1952), and, in 1957, Rockets Galore ("... a sort of sequel to Whisky Galore") in which he played a Hebridean fisherman alongside stalwarts such as Duncan McRae and Jamieson Clark, and Gordon Jackson - all three of whom your blogger is delighted to have met. In 1951 I took part in an hour-long broadcast from Glasgow's Festival of Britain Exhibition: Jamieson Clark interviewed another schoolboy and me on our responses to the exhibits in the Kelvin Hall. Such is my miniscule showbusiness fame, along with one cast list billing alongside the great Stanley Baxter, in the BBC's Radio Times for a play on Children's Hour. Ronnie Corbett and Stanley Baxter had many appearances together, on stage and on television.
But of course what we all recall best is Corbett with the other Ronnie, the late Ronnie Barker, in their 16-year association as The Two Ronnies, 1971 - 1986. In 1977 the pair got their respective O.B.E. awards from H.M. the Queen. The book tells us that the alphabetical rules for presentation were slightly bent so that they received their gongs as a duo.
The index lists Ronnie Corbett's seven films almost as an aside to his hundreds of live shows and TV appearances: the last film was the 1997 Fierce Creatures which John Cleese wrote but which was not a critical success. Corbett gives very good technical insights into the particular difficulties of the film, and just why it didn't "work". He knows his stuff. He's a even bigger namedropper than me, perhaps because he really has met 'em all, and worked with many. The index has over 500 names! Corbett speaks with humanity and gentleness of nearly everyone, even when remarking on foibles. An exception is his uncompromising mention of the American movie actor George C. Scott ... remember? - the guy who played the title role as (WWII General) Patton. Scott was one of a Celebrity and Golf Pro bunch who were to play a televised golf tournament at Gleneagles. He became so unpleasantly drunk, loud and boorish that the organisers shipped him off home.
A happier incident was when, one season in Bristol, the theatre manager knocked on Ronnie's door. "I've had a call from Cary Grant's secretary to say he's booked seats for tonight, and can he come backstage afterwards?" That's the kind of message you would enjoy. Cary Grant - real name Archie Leach, a Bristol home-town boy - told RC he'd enjoyed the show and they went out for a meal. As one does.
There's plenty more of considerable interest in this plainly written tale. Ghost-written, I think, and none the worse for that. I believe it was compiled from many taped interviews with Oliver Pritchett. The book was first published in 2000 when Ronnie Corbett was 70, still accepting performing engagements, and praise be, at the time of this blog he is still with us.
In his profession here was a giant spanning an epoch, from vaudeville, seaside pantomime and club shows, to the signature small screen monologue: stand-up comedy while seated in an armchair. Big statistic: in its heyday The Two Ronnies routinely attracted a weekly viewing audience in the U.K. of seventeen million, and nineteen million for the Christmas specials. Wow. Bless you.
I finished reading the autobiography, entitled High Hopes, of the famously diminutive - and hard working - Scots comedian Ronnie Corbett (b.1930) who was brought up in Edinburgh.
The description of a 1930s Edinburgh childhood is a fine social document in itself. His father was a master baker, and a very good amateur golfer. From him the young Corbett seems to have acquired a lifelong fine-food appreciation, and cooking skills, plus a love of the game of golf. He knew by early high school - during WWII - that his vocation was the world of theatre and he held that vision for years as an aspiring performer from the age of 16. He was soon drawn to the comedic side of theatre, turning his small stature (5'1") to an advantage as the "wee clown".
What strikes the reader is the sheer tenacity of Corbett, moving to London on his own, learning every part of his trade through the 1940s and '50s, working at anything to keep body and soul together. Eventually steady work was forthcoming; club entertainment with Danny La Rue, summer seasons of pantomime. Small film parts started to come along (You're Only Young Twice, 1952), and, in 1957, Rockets Galore ("... a sort of sequel to Whisky Galore") in which he played a Hebridean fisherman alongside stalwarts such as Duncan McRae and Jamieson Clark, and Gordon Jackson - all three of whom your blogger is delighted to have met. In 1951 I took part in an hour-long broadcast from Glasgow's Festival of Britain Exhibition: Jamieson Clark interviewed another schoolboy and me on our responses to the exhibits in the Kelvin Hall. Such is my miniscule showbusiness fame, along with one cast list billing alongside the great Stanley Baxter, in the BBC's Radio Times for a play on Children's Hour. Ronnie Corbett and Stanley Baxter had many appearances together, on stage and on television.
But of course what we all recall best is Corbett with the other Ronnie, the late Ronnie Barker, in their 16-year association as The Two Ronnies, 1971 - 1986. In 1977 the pair got their respective O.B.E. awards from H.M. the Queen. The book tells us that the alphabetical rules for presentation were slightly bent so that they received their gongs as a duo.
The index lists Ronnie Corbett's seven films almost as an aside to his hundreds of live shows and TV appearances: the last film was the 1997 Fierce Creatures which John Cleese wrote but which was not a critical success. Corbett gives very good technical insights into the particular difficulties of the film, and just why it didn't "work". He knows his stuff. He's a even bigger namedropper than me, perhaps because he really has met 'em all, and worked with many. The index has over 500 names! Corbett speaks with humanity and gentleness of nearly everyone, even when remarking on foibles. An exception is his uncompromising mention of the American movie actor George C. Scott ... remember? - the guy who played the title role as (WWII General) Patton. Scott was one of a Celebrity and Golf Pro bunch who were to play a televised golf tournament at Gleneagles. He became so unpleasantly drunk, loud and boorish that the organisers shipped him off home.
A happier incident was when, one season in Bristol, the theatre manager knocked on Ronnie's door. "I've had a call from Cary Grant's secretary to say he's booked seats for tonight, and can he come backstage afterwards?" That's the kind of message you would enjoy. Cary Grant - real name Archie Leach, a Bristol home-town boy - told RC he'd enjoyed the show and they went out for a meal. As one does.
There's plenty more of considerable interest in this plainly written tale. Ghost-written, I think, and none the worse for that. I believe it was compiled from many taped interviews with Oliver Pritchett. The book was first published in 2000 when Ronnie Corbett was 70, still accepting performing engagements, and praise be, at the time of this blog he is still with us.
In his profession here was a giant spanning an epoch, from vaudeville, seaside pantomime and club shows, to the signature small screen monologue: stand-up comedy while seated in an armchair. Big statistic: in its heyday The Two Ronnies routinely attracted a weekly viewing audience in the U.K. of seventeen million, and nineteen million for the Christmas specials. Wow. Bless you.
Friday, July 17, 2009
House by the Huon River
Ten days since the last post? Where does it go?
Today I have a sell contract on my rental property in Huonville, a 40 minute commute south of Hobart. I am sad to sell it, but it is a question of scrambling to try to put my finances back in some kind of order. Among other matters, I know I will not see more than a few cents in the dollar recovered from investment-lending I made to a person who petitioned for and was granted bankruptcy this month - owing in total 6.8 million dollars to many unfortunate people, such as me. He now lists his occupation as "consultant". As a bankrupt he cannot hold directorships for a period of three years. He appears able to manoeuvre round such hurdles quite adroitly.
Happier note. Our choir's tenor Don survived his 85th birthday skydive. The plane broke down and the event was called off.
Today I have a sell contract on my rental property in Huonville, a 40 minute commute south of Hobart. I am sad to sell it, but it is a question of scrambling to try to put my finances back in some kind of order. Among other matters, I know I will not see more than a few cents in the dollar recovered from investment-lending I made to a person who petitioned for and was granted bankruptcy this month - owing in total 6.8 million dollars to many unfortunate people, such as me. He now lists his occupation as "consultant". As a bankrupt he cannot hold directorships for a period of three years. He appears able to manoeuvre round such hurdles quite adroitly.
Happier note. Our choir's tenor Don survived his 85th birthday skydive. The plane broke down and the event was called off.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Flaherty's Beach
Further down the Spencer Gulf coast from Parsons Beach - do I put in the apostrophe? ... nah - is Flahertys Beach, another long remote stretch of seawrack, sand and shell. There's a single gravel road for access. no difficulty there, and even a handy visitors' carpark.
Today is Tuesday which means it's the song-group practice day. Wish they'd let me call it a choir. Anyhow, about every second week after the practice I drive over to the Flahertys Beach carpark and set off either north towards Hardwicke Bay or south towards Point Turton and walk on the beach for a half hour to maybe an hour. For me this is welcome and much needed exercise, especially since seven months ago I damaged my right foot and it is not quite 100% back to A1 at Lloyds. That means, it is still playing up. Stuffed. Buggered.
So that's Flahertys Beach. Not a tall ship in sight today.
However I took along the little JVC hybrid GZ-MG630 camcorder that I got with Fly Buy points. Slowly I am getting the hang of some things it does. When all else fails I read the destructions. More later. Talk soon.
P.S. The singing dog was a no-show at the song practice (there are two concerts scheduled for August) so I keep my job! Yay.
Today is Tuesday which means it's the song-group practice day. Wish they'd let me call it a choir. Anyhow, about every second week after the practice I drive over to the Flahertys Beach carpark and set off either north towards Hardwicke Bay or south towards Point Turton and walk on the beach for a half hour to maybe an hour. For me this is welcome and much needed exercise, especially since seven months ago I damaged my right foot and it is not quite 100% back to A1 at Lloyds. That means, it is still playing up. Stuffed. Buggered.
So that's Flahertys Beach. Not a tall ship in sight today.
However I took along the little JVC hybrid GZ-MG630 camcorder that I got with Fly Buy points. Slowly I am getting the hang of some things it does. When all else fails I read the destructions. More later. Talk soon.
P.S. The singing dog was a no-show at the song practice (there are two concerts scheduled for August) so I keep my job! Yay.
Friday, July 3, 2009
Huonville or bust
Personal diary. Well, that's what this is, isn't it? Today I put on the market the house I have had for over six years in Huonville, Tasmania. It has been tenanted for nearly all that time. But it is an income-negative asset, and repair and maintenance costs have been more than an investor (or landlord) wants. We shall see if a sale claws back some of the losses.
If you don't know, Huonville (and the lovely Huon Valley) is about 40 minutes south of Hobart.
If you don't know, Huonville (and the lovely Huon Valley) is about 40 minutes south of Hobart.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Sing for health enhancement
Nice one! Gwenda sent an email to say she'd seen one of those you-beaut TV shows on health and lifestyle, and it offered expert evidence to the effect that people (dogs and cockatoos too??)who sing ARE likely to enjoy better health than those who refrain from singing. Nobody says you have to sing WELL :) But we knew that. Singing is a joyful expression of ... well, joy.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Parsons Beach and Melaleuca Court at Minlaton
So now it's July. Wow. Here in Australia that's the start of a new tax year, but enough of depression-inducing things.
My blog is currently called Tall Ships and Tall Tales. Today you get a tall tale - even if it is true.
Mind you, I still travelled to Parsons Beach on the Spencer Gulf shore of the Yorke Peninsula - thanks for the ride in your midnight blue station wagon, Gwenda - a beach with five kilometres of little-visited scenic solitude: a beach from which you could have watched the windjammers coming to or going from Port Victoria not far north on the same coast, of which I wrote some notes during June.
And why the trip to Parsons Beach? Aha! A home there, one of a small cluster of year-round homes in the tiny community, is where our singing group rehearses on the morning of our monthly concert at Melaleuca Court, performed for the residents of that nursing home in the charming inland town Minlaton. Minlaton - or Minlacowie - was named for the old aboriginal sweetwater wells, which can still be seen.
Glad to say that today's concert went O.K., the audience was appreciative and the six piece brass section and the dozen singers were fed cakes and tea or coffee afterwards. A satisfying start to the new tax year :) Wendy even played the piano and sang to accompany her dog Sam who rendered Singing in the Rain, with some competition from the cockatoo in a corner of the residents' lounge who was singing How Much is That Doggy in the Window. My main concern now is that this dog might oust the newest member of the group ... me. A small compensation is that the bird was already offered the job but turned it down.
My blog is currently called Tall Ships and Tall Tales. Today you get a tall tale - even if it is true.
Mind you, I still travelled to Parsons Beach on the Spencer Gulf shore of the Yorke Peninsula - thanks for the ride in your midnight blue station wagon, Gwenda - a beach with five kilometres of little-visited scenic solitude: a beach from which you could have watched the windjammers coming to or going from Port Victoria not far north on the same coast, of which I wrote some notes during June.
And why the trip to Parsons Beach? Aha! A home there, one of a small cluster of year-round homes in the tiny community, is where our singing group rehearses on the morning of our monthly concert at Melaleuca Court, performed for the residents of that nursing home in the charming inland town Minlaton. Minlaton - or Minlacowie - was named for the old aboriginal sweetwater wells, which can still be seen.
Glad to say that today's concert went O.K., the audience was appreciative and the six piece brass section and the dozen singers were fed cakes and tea or coffee afterwards. A satisfying start to the new tax year :) Wendy even played the piano and sang to accompany her dog Sam who rendered Singing in the Rain, with some competition from the cockatoo in a corner of the residents' lounge who was singing How Much is That Doggy in the Window. My main concern now is that this dog might oust the newest member of the group ... me. A small compensation is that the bird was already offered the job but turned it down.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Port Julia and Port Vincent streets names for the ketches
Hi. I got back on Saturday from my usual couple of days or three each month in Adelaide which is a three hour drive away. Each time I make the journey I like to stop for a break in one or other of the pretty enroute places, usually on the coast so I can enjoy a sea view up close; even a beach walk or a stroll out on a historic jetty such as Ardrossan's where I chatted yesterday with a couple of squidders - that's guys catching squid!
But I also enjoyed a first-time look at Port Julia - no "town" now, only holiday homes and the historic Red Shed by the jetty, previously an active warehousing and loading centre for the grain brokers, up until 1968 when Port Julia ceased to be a port. Then I drove by the picturesque gravel road down the coast to Port Vincent. The main road these days runs some way inland. I realised that both places name streets in tribute to the ketch trade; Lady Doris, Adonis, Esther, Osprey .. and so on. See my list further down on this page.
While in the city I caught up with some new movies - not a subject for this blog right now, though one, the AFI Award winning Samson and Delilah (dir. Warwick Thornton) is set in a fictionalised remote aboriginal community and then in Alice Springs, and therefore about as far from a sea and ships setting as is possible to get!
But wait - a slim connection comes from the on-special DVD of an audiobook I bought at the ABC Shop. Philip Pullman's The Subtle Knife is the second book of his fantasy trilogy His Dark Materials. The first book, Northern Lights, was filmed handsomely as The Golden Compass, but alas with no guarantee of a sequel. These matters are driven by box office. Anyway, having listened to the CDs on the drive home (oh, I'd read the book, and I liked the BBC4 dramatised condensation of the story) I was moved to have another look at The Golden Compass from my DVD shelf. This was far better than doing serious chores after being away for three days.
I noticed more than before just how visually attractive are the sailing vessel scenes in this movie - the ships on screen are composites of real ones plus computer generated elements such as paddle wheels. And I took in, at this viewing, the end-credit to "captain and crew of the schooner Noorderlicht (Northern Lights)". If I'm not mistaken, the other ship in the film, that of Lord Faa the "Gyptian"(gypsy) leader, is based on a Thames barge design, and thus we might claim a smidge of resonance with good old Captain Cook's Endeavour. O.K., I'm pushing my luck. 'Nuff said for now.
But I also enjoyed a first-time look at Port Julia - no "town" now, only holiday homes and the historic Red Shed by the jetty, previously an active warehousing and loading centre for the grain brokers, up until 1968 when Port Julia ceased to be a port. Then I drove by the picturesque gravel road down the coast to Port Vincent. The main road these days runs some way inland. I realised that both places name streets in tribute to the ketch trade; Lady Doris, Adonis, Esther, Osprey .. and so on. See my list further down on this page.
While in the city I caught up with some new movies - not a subject for this blog right now, though one, the AFI Award winning Samson and Delilah (dir. Warwick Thornton) is set in a fictionalised remote aboriginal community and then in Alice Springs, and therefore about as far from a sea and ships setting as is possible to get!
But wait - a slim connection comes from the on-special DVD of an audiobook I bought at the ABC Shop. Philip Pullman's The Subtle Knife is the second book of his fantasy trilogy His Dark Materials. The first book, Northern Lights, was filmed handsomely as The Golden Compass, but alas with no guarantee of a sequel. These matters are driven by box office. Anyway, having listened to the CDs on the drive home (oh, I'd read the book, and I liked the BBC4 dramatised condensation of the story) I was moved to have another look at The Golden Compass from my DVD shelf. This was far better than doing serious chores after being away for three days.
I noticed more than before just how visually attractive are the sailing vessel scenes in this movie - the ships on screen are composites of real ones plus computer generated elements such as paddle wheels. And I took in, at this viewing, the end-credit to "captain and crew of the schooner Noorderlicht (Northern Lights)". If I'm not mistaken, the other ship in the film, that of Lord Faa the "Gyptian"(gypsy) leader, is based on a Thames barge design, and thus we might claim a smidge of resonance with good old Captain Cook's Endeavour. O.K., I'm pushing my luck. 'Nuff said for now.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Names of some ketch trade vessels in South Australia
In 1955 Don Lucas started his apprenticeship in sailmaking. There were then 20 vessels left in the ketch trade fleet (not all of them were actually ketches - that is, main mast for'rad, mizzen mast aft) but oldtimers remembered when there had been about 80. They plied the waters from Kangaroo Island - at 100 miles long, Australia second largest after Tasmania - to the two gulfs which split the South Austalian land mass, Gulf Saint Vincent and Spencer Gulf. Grain was loaded from jetties or from bullock drays on beaches, and lightered to waiting windjammers ten times the tonnage of the ketches, until the last such voyage by big square-riggers (Pamir and Passat were the final two) from Port Victoria in 1949, bound for the other side of the world
Don Lucas is one of a dozen interviewees in Gerry Kerr's 75 minute film The Trading Ketches of South Australia.
Today one ketch alone survives as a working vessel - much restored and re-modelled as a multipurpose ship for school student education, charter, adventure trips, shark and whale and dolphin watching, diving expeditions. She's the Falie, bought by the S.A. State government to be restored for the 1986 150 year anniversary of the State's proclamation, and key to the local historical re-enactments of 1986. Ever since then, Falie has earned her keep as a handsome and versatile ship, noted by Chris Frizell as the largest of the fleet - even when the fleet numbered more than one(!) The Nelsebee and Annie Watt survive at Port Adelaide but are in rather poor condition and await the will and resources to allow restoration. Reliance is said to be "falling apart" and her remains are somewhere up the River Murray.
Another ship is well-preserved and at Warnambool in Victoria. Is it the Reginald M? Darn! I'll need to watch the DVD again, but I just lent it to a friend. Need to get back on that one.
Here are names of ketch trade ships spoken about in Gerry Kerr's film:
Adonis, Amphibious (now THERE'S a name for a ship), Annie Watt, Capella, Crest of the Wave, Esther, Evalita, Falie, Free Selector, Gerard, Hawk, Hawthorn, Heatherbell, Hecla, Lady Doris, Leillateah, Lurline, Karatta, Mary, Morara, Nelcebee, Osprey, Reginald M, Reliance, Storm Bird, Tickera, Victor.
Don Lucas is one of a dozen interviewees in Gerry Kerr's 75 minute film The Trading Ketches of South Australia.
Today one ketch alone survives as a working vessel - much restored and re-modelled as a multipurpose ship for school student education, charter, adventure trips, shark and whale and dolphin watching, diving expeditions. She's the Falie, bought by the S.A. State government to be restored for the 1986 150 year anniversary of the State's proclamation, and key to the local historical re-enactments of 1986. Ever since then, Falie has earned her keep as a handsome and versatile ship, noted by Chris Frizell as the largest of the fleet - even when the fleet numbered more than one(!) The Nelsebee and Annie Watt survive at Port Adelaide but are in rather poor condition and await the will and resources to allow restoration. Reliance is said to be "falling apart" and her remains are somewhere up the River Murray.
Another ship is well-preserved and at Warnambool in Victoria. Is it the Reginald M? Darn! I'll need to watch the DVD again, but I just lent it to a friend. Need to get back on that one.
Here are names of ketch trade ships spoken about in Gerry Kerr's film:
Adonis, Amphibious (now THERE'S a name for a ship), Annie Watt, Capella, Crest of the Wave, Esther, Evalita, Falie, Free Selector, Gerard, Hawk, Hawthorn, Heatherbell, Hecla, Lady Doris, Leillateah, Lurline, Karatta, Mary, Morara, Nelcebee, Osprey, Reginald M, Reliance, Storm Bird, Tickera, Victor.
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