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tertjournal of wollongong university

tertblifehlfc] WOLLONGONG EDITION

CONTENTSNEWS 1Don’s Party - the new unibar: thumbs up? 10Forests under threat- Shau Teo looks at Badja on NSW 11South Coast

WOLLONGONG 14Green light for Tullimbah Estate 26Body Percussion - Dancing with Rythm 30

ARTS 36Tango Across the Continents - interview with David Francis 50Levity, Light, Space and Time 52

CAMPUS CULTURE 67VOX POPS - would you spend the rest of your life here? 68

STAFF

Dan Morgan

DESIGN

Serena Armstrong

ARTS

Ariane Lewis

EDITOR

Julian Deville

PHOTO

Tim Cahill

ADS

CONTRIBUTORSDion Warrick, Waratah, Duncan Wallace, Sunirmalya Symonm, Andrew Stanton, Nick Southall, Ben Robinson, John Riddell, Max Powers, Chris Portelli, Michael Organ, Myfanwy McDonald, Sally Millar, Benjamin Millar, Maryellen McLeod, Mr E Mann, Megan Levy, Guillame Lee, Sarah Eliza Le Breton, Insomnomaniac, Elizabeth Hughes, Keith Hinde, James Hill, Carol Herben, Peter Hand, Dominkia Grossy, Art Fargunkle, Elizabeth Every, Scott East, Olivia Duval, Josh Dubrau, Craig Davison, Mithra Cox , Annaleise Constable, Sol Combe, Ben Coleman, Rev. Cheesus Crust (Church Of Latter Day Paste). Braydon Byers, Corey Bocking, Luke Butterworth, Inga Bergersen, James Beach, Nadia Barlow, Curtis E Bear, Chris Anthanum, Daniel Andreallo, Amanda Aiken, Elisa Acrioni, 38-r4=9.5Thanks to... Pat, Bart and Jeff for their patience and fo r being there all the time, no matter what.

CONTACTBy phone: 02 4221 4203 By email:tert.editor@ src.uow.edu.au web: src.uow.edu.au By fax: 02 42214233

By snail mail:TertangalaC/- UOW Students’ Association Northfields Avenue W ollongong 2522

By your body: walk into the m edia office, buildling 11 at the SRC on campus.

DISCLAIMERThe opinions expressed in the Tertangala are those of the contributors and correspondents and do not necessarily reflect those of the editor, staff, the Tertangala, the printer, the Students Representative Council o f the University of Wollongong, or your cat. Thankyou and sweet dreams.

PRINTERWeston Print

EDITORIALThe idea of a community is becoming irrelevant in an age that prides itself on globalised cultures and economies. As the community looses its place in the broader scheme of society and civilisation, so does the vestige of identity and heritage of place. A community is founded on common ideas of people who structure, develop and nurture it. When you remove the very essence of “community” and replace it with a global society (increasingly structured with corporate ideas), you remove also the people; their identity and their culture.

This third edition of Tertangala explores the nature o f community and its place in Wollongong. It looks briefly at the crossing of identity in the northern suburbs, compared to southern and central, as well as the future of the city in terms of economic and environmental sustainability. What Wollongong means to its tertiary students reflects our growing sense of place within it. This issue of Tertangala widely encompasses Wollongong to include northern suburbs and southern (as far south as Albion Park).

Wollongong means many things to many different people. For those in council it’s strictly the Wollongong Local Government Area, whereas for others it’s the Escarpment, the sea and everything else in between. What defines Wollongong in a cultural sense is open to interpretations and revolves around heritage, working class ethos and artistic endeavours. Its culture is its environment - in both a literal sense (Escarpment, beaches) and an abstract sense (what familiarises us in being a part of Wollongong, what is Wollongong as opposed to what isn’t).

A common trend of globalising culture and economies is developing natural resources in the name of corporate profit and “progress”. Wollongong has in no way been a stranger to this characteristic with Sandon Point, Dendrobrium, and Tullimbah Estate debates firing up community activism versus corporate politics. In every one of these arguments corporate interests compete against community interest, and it would seem, are edging them out in favour with some local politicians. The consequences of such decisions will be defined by time and felt by future generations.One of the most impeding issue affecting the viability of Wollongong’s resources is the recent BHPBilliton merger. This merger reflects how decisive the globalisation of resources and economics is, and how the future of one company can so easily be decided by its shareholders, as opposed to the workers who evolve it and keep it alive.

Geographically, Wollongong is particularly inspiring and overwhelming. The nature of this place corresponds poetically with its traditional owners who have named places according to spiritual and ancestral understanding. As white person’s settlement challenges their harmonious relationship with this land, it is appropriate for us to respect their historical and cultural knowledge. Indeed, the coexistence of black and white Australians is a mark of our maturity as a nation and on a local level must be achieved with dignity and respect.

As this edition explores all of the aforementioned issues, and then some, it will hopefully give you a chance to question what this place means to you, and why. It’s a busy edition and will see the Tert off for a couple of months as it takes a hiatus until August. The various tales and adages of Wollongong surely inspire its character, and further the poetry of its people.

Ariane Lewis Media Officer XXVIIIIth SRC

tertjournal of wollongong university

CORPORATE PROFITS Kill WORKERS RIGHTS.

By NICK SOUTHALL

B H P Port K em bla p lan t shut dow n fo r th ree days w hen thousands o f w orkers p ro tested against ind iv idual con trac t p lans. O n M ay 22, 23 and 24 B H P w orkers w ent on strike o v e r p lans to force p ro tec tive serv ices w orkers on to ind iv idual contracts. P icket lines

w ere set up in response to B H P p lans to sack 50 p ro tec tiv e serv ices w orkers and fo rce the rem ain in g on to in d iv id u a l con trac ts w ith an ou tside con trac to r, S erco , slash ing th e ir w ages by 20 to 40 p e r cent.

Workers expressed determination to take whatever action necessary to stop Serco’s plan to introduce individual contracts at the

plant, at a series of mass meetings. They see the move as a blueprint to be used later by BHP with the contracting out of hundreds of maintenance jobs. BHP is bound by industrial agreements aimed at protecting steelworkers’ wages and conditions. In order to circumvent these agreements, BHP’s corporate strategy is to contract out work and get another company to do the dirty work.

The steelworkers went back to work on May 25, after the NSW Industrial Relations Commission instructed BHP to delay the individual contract plans, pending extensive negotiations between BHP and the unions. Though the Commission’s recommendations have stalled the momentum being built up by BHP on individual contracts at Port Kembla, their long-term intentions remain clear.

Over the last decade the steelworks workforce has been slashed from around 25000 to 6000 in the name of efficiency and productivity. BHP Port Kembla’s manager, Lance Hockridge, (famous for closing the steelworks at Newcastle), claims the continuing attack on jobs and conditions of steelworkers is all about “excellence”. In reality, however, it seems to be about saving BHP money and boosting corporate profits.

BHP has underestimated the resolve of the steelworkers on this issue. The company has already introduced individual contracts in the Pilbara, Western Australia and there are fresh memories of the mass retrenchments that accompanied the closure of BHP's Newcastle plant in 1999. Indeed the Port Kembla workers are extremely concerned about their futures. Their display of unity, determination and collective power, combined with the solidarity of other workers

CONTINUED ON PAGE 5Workers strike a t S teelers stadium , M ay 23

TERTANGALA 1

LETTERSA dictum which typifies sleazy journalism is “never let the facts get in the way o f a good story” . Good journalists however, especially those in the business o f investigative journalism , do check their facts before they go to print. That way they and their publishers retain their credibility - and their integrity.

Your ‘story’ about the K ids’ Uni playground (The Playground that UniCentre built and tore dow n... and built again... all in six months, Tertangala Edition 1) is so completely riddled with errors that it is hard to know which ones to correct.

L et’s summarise.

You state that at the end of last year (in the absence of a KU manager who had supposedly resigned) I personally selected playground equipm ent which, some few months later, had to be replaced. At the cost o f “tens of thousands of dollars!”

Fact 1:The first upgrade of the K id’s Uni (Out o f School Hours) playground took place in Novem ber 1999 not “last year” as you state. The gap between projects was not “less than six m onths”.

Fact 2:K id ’s Uni was not between M angers at the time of the initial project (ie: N ovem ber 1999) and as such, I did not “personally take over and order the equipm ent”.

Fact 3:We took the advice o f the current KU m anager to further the upgrade o f the Out o f School Hours playground some 12 months after the initial project. One of the issues was certainly noncompliance o f a ch ildren’s ‘fort’ with new National Safety Standards which had only then been released. To make it compliant, the fort simply had to be lowered

Another piece o f equipment, a swing, is not being re-installed. Instead, better use is being made of available space to

provide for activities such as vegetable gardens and activity play space. The cost o f this project is $5,080. The cost o f the swing, the only loss in the process, was less than a hundred dollars.The cost is not “tens o f thousands o f dollars” , nor were the initial funds waisted. We are not waiting for demolition crews; the project is finished and successfully operating.

A bout the only thing that you got right in this article was that funds to being this project cam e from a highly successful fundraising activity run by staff and parents o f Kids Uni. It seems clear that the only real purpose of the article was political.

Nigel Pennington.M ay 23

As requested by M r Pennington, the Editor retracts the article, The P layground the Uni centre built and tore down again all in six m onths. I would like to bring it to the attention o f both the UniCentre and readers of the Tertangala the author o f the article is a U niC entre Board member. It is therefore interesting that an elected student representative on the board would deliberately seek to defam e the organisation o f which they act as a director.

Divided we fallI ’m not sure what the point of this vox pops was, or maybe I just missed the point, but I have to say that I was somewhat offended and embarrassed by the question, “What do you think of Creative Arts and Engineering students?”

Now, as a Master of Journalism student, I belong in neither of the aforementioned faculties, but still took offense at the question, which in my opinion, serves only to fuel stereotypes and ultimately create prejudice on the campus.

Maybe the question was intended as a joke, or just asked to add a little colour to the paper, but why ask students for an opinion of students from two unrelated faculties? Surely at the end of the day we are all just

students from the same campus regardless what we choose to study?

Ean JohnstonJune 5.

Dear Ean,The Tertangala was in no way aiming to offend students (Creative Arts, Engineering or any other) with the question you refer to from Edition Two Vox Pops. It was asked primarily to initiate a response regarding the stereotypes that actually exist around students in those two faculties. Indeed, there are many generalisations coexisting between students in all faculties on campus, and as an on-campus publication it is, I think, the Tert’s role to cover these perceptions and express them.I can see how you would take offense to the question, and indeed, how students from those particular faculties would as well. For this I apologise, however, I strongly believe the Tert should be able to canvass the perceived image and representation of students on campus and play into the hands of the generalisations in a comical fashion.

INSDE NEWS:

4 T oxic T am pons

5 W h at w ill B ecom e o f th e M P 3 Ju n k ies?

8 P acific Y outh C au cu s on the E n viron m en t

10 Big Brother: Who’s Watching

10 a lo o k at the N ew U ni Bar.

11 Forests under Threat

12 Sport

2 TERTANGALA

T-shirts-R-usP*

u n s F tk C ixBy JOSH DUBRAU

The last golden days of autumn are drifting slowly by. This is one of the nicest times of the year; perfect weather to sit outside with a coffee watching the passing T-shirts.

T-shirts say a lot about people, especially in this age of cross marketing and self­advertising. From a single T-shirt it is possible to learn any or all of the following: where people shop, what brands they buy, and (most importantly) how much money they spend.

A young woman walks past, ponytail bouncing, lips curving into a sneer as she notices me staring at her chest. “Spoilt brat” shimmers in diamantes across very well fitted hot-pink polyester. This is easily the fifth such shirt I ’ve seen go by in the last hour; they seem to be real stayers in the market considering that they’ve been around a few seasons already.

The “placement print bold statement” shirt has infiltrated the canon of modem young women with a thoroughness rivalling the Spices’ platform- heeled Girl Power of the late 90’s.

These are shirts that really make a statement about the wearer. A T-shirt with an amusing quote such as “Beer - helping ugly people have sex since 1861” is just a funny T-shirt, e s p e c i a l l y the first time you see it, whereas it is very difficult to look at a T-shirt that reads “Bitch” w i t h o u t relating the concept back in some way to the body that fills it.

There must be some way to get at what people are thinking when they don these particular items in the morning and smirk at themselves in the mirror.

I imagine the possibilities for meaningful dialogue:

“So, is your T-shirt some kind of post-modern self­

reflexive ironic statement, or are you actually a just a bitch?”

“Fuck off!”Or “What kind of bitch

are you then? - Is it the confident and powerful women revelling in flexing her muscles to get what she rightfully deserves, or more the kind ofw om an-as-possession -o f- phallocentric-society bitch that hardcore gangsta rappers like to degrade and humiliate in their lyrics?”

“Fuck off!”The complexities

surrounding the intentions and interpretation of that previously innocent garment, the “Womens’ fitted Tee” are manifold and obviously difficult to navigate.

Post-feminism advocates a return to those areas of ourselves which we previously pretended to ignore out of duty to the sisterhood. We now wear our T-shirts proudly, nipples thrusting forward (in a non-phallic way) into the unknown. We laugh out loud. We celebrate our bodies with high heels and lipstick. We are beautiful, sexually liberated goddesses and damn any man to hell who doesn’t agree.

Then why is it that I ’ve never seen any woman above a size 14 (incidentally the median size of Australian women), or an unattractive woman wearing a cute tight

T-shirt that says SLUT?

B e c a u s e whether she has post- f e m i n i s t s y mp a t h i e s or not, I don’t believe any w o m a n wants to hear men jeering

at her, or giving comments like “You, a slut? I wouldn’t root you even if every other chick on the planet had AIDS, ya dog!”

You don’t think it would happen? I’ve seen it too many times to believe it wouldn’t. The kind of guys that drive around with “No Fat Chicks” stickers on their rear windows aren’t going to draw the

line at a little lighthearted badinage for fear of hurting someone’s feelings.Especially if she’s a dog.

According to the tenets of post-feminism we are entitled to reclaim and subvert negative words, just like gay men did with “p o o f’ or “faggot”. But what post feminism doesn’t account for is the fact that this self- empowering ploy generally goes right over the heads of the enemy. Your average man on the street is not going to look at a “sexy babe” T-shirt and think “Oh, fantastic, a message about a young woman’s sexual confidence and ability to interpret an epithet previously seen as demeaning according to her own rules.”

He will be more likely to think “PHWOOOAAAR”. Even more likely is that he will think it with the brain in his trousers, as opposed to the one in his skull. In all fairness though, any message is apt to get a little confused when it is printed on a size eight shirt-stretched across a pair of 12DD breasts.

In our “equal” society, there seems to be an anomaly whereby men are free to desire sexually liberated uninhibited women and at the same time remove the shame attached to these desires by punishing women with derogatory terms. Flip through the first five pages of

any porn catalogue and the same message keeps coming up: Wet horny sluts want you hard — rammed up their wet right now. (Insert objectand orifice of your choice.)

“Slut” is going to be a very tough word to reclaim - it implies the idea of a sexually insatiable and desperate woman taking as many partners as she can get. It doesn’t imply a sexually sought after woman freely sharing her body with enjoyment. To me the two things are very, very different. Subverting the word “faggot” supposedly made it hurt less to be called that if you were queer - it didn’t make being gay into something different. I ’m not sure if I like the idea of being a “slut” and it being “OK” if the meaning of the concept doesn’t change, which isn’t likely to happen in the near future.

If women really wanted to reclaim words or images which have been used in hurtful ways against them, why not T-shirts printed proudly with “FAT” or “OLDER” or “SAGGY BREASTED MOTHER OF THREE CHILDREN”?

In itself, the T-shirt is a very dubious way of sending a message. It is visually very prominent, but can be easily ignored by the observer. While many women might happily wear a printed T-shirt, very few of them would turn

to a stranger at the bus-stop and say, “Hi, I ’m a diva/ fo x /b itch /slu t/b ab e /sp o ilt brat. It’s nice to meet you.” Wearing the T-shirt is actually disempowering the message because there is no real interaction involved. The spectator’s opinions, or to justify their position.

Similarly, consider how most women might react if a stranger walked up, took a look at their T-shirt and said “Hello, Slut.” I would imagine a tongue lashing at best, at worst a broken nose. If it’s okay to wear these shirts, but not okay to talk about what they might mean, then their message is reduced to mere sexual provocation, and that provocation is not necessarily defined according to the wearer’s own terms.

Basically, the only thing wearing a tight T-shirt with a message does is make people stare at your tits. And if it didn’t work to stop uranium mining at Jabiluka, it’s not going to change deeply entrenched views of the socially and sexually liberated woman in Australian society.

But not every one of these shirts bears a potentially harmful message, people will say. How about “gorgeous”, “cute”, “honey” and “sweetheart”? Fine, those can

CONTINUED OVER PAGE

Your average man on the street is not going to look at a “sexy babe” T-shirt and think “Oh, fantastic, a message about a young woman’s sexual confidence and ability to interpret an epithet previously seen as demeaning according to her own rules.”

TERTANGALA 3

all be seen as positive terms. They are little compliments

•we give to ourselves for being who we are. There is, however, a flipside. Do women really want these trite adjectives used to sum up their personalities?

Because if you want to be gorgeous, you can’t really exclude certain people from concurring with the statement. It’s not really fair to wear a “honey” shirt and then denounce your local grocer as a pervy sleazebag because he called you “love’ or “darl”, something he’s probably been fondly calling his wife for the last thirty years.

Another serious problem with the T-shirt as political statement is that you can’t manufacture post-feminism. These T-shirts are the end link in a long chain. The tight(ish) placement print T-shirt first became huge in the 70’s. Think the original “Foxy” framed by Farrah Fawcett- Majors’ wispy blonde hair.

They dropped out for a while in the 80’s under huge pressure from Day-glo “Hello” and “Choose life” shirts big enough to stage a circus in but by the early 90’s they were back. Indie kids raided wardrobes, op-shops and dumpsters in the quest for the funniest T-shirt of

their angst-ridden generation. But in the post Nevermind years, when Indie had been consumed by the cross- subcultural vortex, everyone wanted an amusing T-shirt, including those who found op-shopping a little grubby (even though it was now cool).

So in the new millennium we have large franchise operations making T-shirts that look like the ones you had to hunt for eight years ago on a massive scale.

These T-shirts were already for sale last year, and even the year before in the more up-scale chains like Grace Bros, and General Pants.

This year they’ve filtered down as far as Supre which throws up a whole new set of parameters. Supre sizes range from about XXS ( a small size 8) to L (a small size 12) for most of their garments. Prices are low enough to cater to an extremely young, yet independent clientele, for example the 14 year old who gets a decent bit of pocket- money or has a part-time job.

Is a 14 year old girl, possibly still a virgin, wearing a “SLUT” T-shirt really making a playful, ironic statement about her own uninhibited sexuality?

Is a pre-pubescent 12 year

old wearing “I ’m lost, please take me home” doing much for either her own self esteem or ' her developing adult personality, not to mention her safety?

These t-shirts are not there because the fashion industry has suddenly developed a conscience, wanting to repair past damage by raising female confidence through encouraging us to celebrate our own best attributes.

They are there because they sell.

Even the one that says “Fashion Victim”

Toxic Tampons:By DOMINIKA GROSSY

It all began when a friend forwarded an email about dioxin and asbestos in tampons. I was shocked. It had nothing to do with toxic shock syndrome (TSS). No I lie: it had everything to do with that kind of shock. As I’m not one to passively absorb information (and dioxins) I took it a little further and tried to find more information. The search took me to the most unlikely place - a site called Urban Legends. Turns out this email has been doing the rounds for over two years (since November 1998) all over the globe. So I sigh a sigh of relief.

All too soon. _ The email was a hoax: there is no asbestos in tampons. For all the things the tampon industry can be accused of, putting asbestos in tampons to make us bleed more (and therefore use more of their product) is not one of them.

But what shall I start with? The long history of sexual repression the tampon industry has helped foster? The rise in TSS cases (that more than once proved fatal) that corresponds precisely to the time the tampon industry began using synthetic materials in their products? That dioxin is a carcinogen, released into the environment by the paper industry, but never mind the exposure to that, because you get a better fix of potential cancer every time you have a period... yeah that’s where I’ll start! (have you figured out I’m an environmentalist yet?)

Though there may not be asbestos in tampons (only in the walls of really old buildings) there is doubt as to

other things the email said. The bit that had (real) references to (real) research carried out by (real) scientists. Not the bit that referred to an article in Essence magazine (that was never published, and not because it was pulled, just because it was never written). That dioxin stuff. What is this dioxin stuff I ’ve mentioned several times already and I’m only into my third paragraph? What’s this dioxin stuff that other sources (with the exception of the Tampax website) verify is in tampons, and that this dioxin stuff is dangerous?

“Dioxin is the common name used to refer to the chemical 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorod -ibenzo-p-dioxin or TCDD. In addition to dioxin itself there are other compounds, such as the polychlorinated dibenzodioxins (PCDDs), polychlorinateddibenzofurans (PCDFs) and some polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), that have similar structures and activity as dioxin. These are often commonly referred to as dioxin-like compound^dioxins’(htlp://www.niehs.nih.gov/ oc/factsheets/dioxin.htm)

“Why are dioxins of concern? People are constantly exposed to dioxins through ingestion of dioxins that are present at low levels as environmental contaminants in food. Although they are at low levels in food, some dioxins are very slowly removed from the body and therefore they accumulate in our fat tissue. In laboratory animals, dioxins are highly toxic, cause cancer, and alter reproductive, developmental and immune function.”

(h t tp : / /www.niehs . n ih . gov/oc /factsheets/dioxin.htm)

Think of yourselves as particularly liberated (they like to let you think you’re free but don’t let the illusion fool you) laboratory animals. Think of massive multinational companies as the crazy scientists subjecting us all to various compounds to see how much of each we can take in before realising that our immune systems aren’t really fucked up... they’re just nonexistent now (how can something that doesn’t exist be fucked up?!) it hasn’t happened yet, but they’re getting there, and not slowly.

from synthetic fibres and bleached with chlorine. We are fortunate to be living in one of them. I’ll refrain from mentioning brand names (even though Tampax are probably filing a law suit against me by now) because nobody is paying me to, but I ’ll give you a hint: cotton grows on a plant. Pads are a little better because they’re not in direct contact with your vaginal wall. There are a whole heap of other alternatives, but I am yet to find a supplier of any of these products in Australia. But they’re out there!

The tampon industry has decided that women would like a more absorbent product. Even if that product is likely to slowly kill us. They have us convinced that we prefer something that is more absorbent, whiter (that means more hygenic right?) and is more likely to give us TSS. Hence the arrival of tampons made from synthetic fibres back in 1980. And the accompanying wave of toxic shock syndrome: 38 women died. Many more came down with serious illness.

People (in lab coats who have degrees that don’t get funding from Tampax) have figured out that there really isn’t that much dioxin in tampons that are made from synthetic fibres. They have also found what little dioxin is present in tampons is significant nonetheless, because of that whole inability-to-breakdown- and-rem ove-from -the-body-once- inside aspect of dioxins. The danger of the tiny amount of dioxin present in tampons, is that before your reproductive days are over, you’ve accumulated a significant amount of dioxins through repeated contact (think five days of every month, for 40 years).

There are countries that have alternatives to tampons made

Getting a degree won’t better equip you for the bullshit you’ll be fed on a whole bunch of levels for the rest of your life. They don’t teach you the important stuff. They only teach you whatever is required for you to be a wage slave in the very near future. Learn how to filter all the stuff that comes at you and notice the important things. Don’t figure everything is all right. Your parents won’t take care of everything because they’re likely to be watching television and absorbing lies themselves. Or major omissions of truth. Whichever way you choose to look at it. Take care of you.

also, check these out for yourselves: http://urbanlegends.about.com /science/urbanlegendslibrar/ weekly aal 11898.htm?pid=2733 &cob=homehttp://critpa.org/-tracy / v i 11 age. htm 1

4 TERTANGALA

What will become of the MP3 junkiesP

By SARAH ELIZA Le BRETON

The horror, the horror (Brando voice over here) - Napster is denying access to some MP3 files. The selection is rapidly getting smaller as the company starts to comply with a recent US Federal Court injunction requiring Napster to block copyrighted music from the server. What will become of the 60 million devote followers that Napster has created? Will we be forced to buy our music once more?

Many would argue this is the way things should be, amongst those voices are rockers Metallica and rapper Dr Dre. Ted Nugent conveyed in an interview with CNN that “Anybody that believes they can get any product from an entrepreneur or the creator of artistic products for free is either stoned, drunk or brain- dead or just stupid”.

The phenomenon which is Napster, has highlighted one of the problems that law is facing in light of the advent of cyberspace - how do we regulate a place that really isn't a place? Arguably, the

most important issue that Napster raises is how do we protect intellectual property in an environment which has a culture based on free use? The net basks in its ability to share information and maintain the anonymity of its users - the perfect breeding ground for copyright infringement.

Napster has implicationsbeyond the music industry though. All artists arepotentially at risk of losing their right to profit, this includes filmmakers, journalists, web designers and many more.

So what is this thing they call Napster?

Napster is a softwarecompany that makes thatcombines chat features and a music player allowing users to share their MP3 libraries with each other. It aims to make downloading and accessing MP3 files a user-friendly task. Essentially, Napster acts as a link between each user who provides access to music files online - no files are actually hosted on the Napster server.

What are the features of Napster?

• A chat program which allows users to chat with each other according to music genre preference.

• The site also contains an audio player, which allows you to listen to MP3 files.

• A tracking program that allows users to create libraries of their favourite MP3 files that can be accessed each time a user connects to the Napster server.

Who is this Fanning character?

Shaun Fanning is the mastermind behind the concept that has changed the world. Fanning single handedly forced record labels to re-formulate their business plans and made lawyers re-question their prior understanding of the law.

He accomplished this at the age of 19 during his freshman year at Northeastern University. Fanning is fast becoming a household name, a cyber celebrity as well known as any sports star or pop star. He has appeared on the cover of Fortune, Business Week and Time Magazine. The annual income of the net prince is a high five figured salary, he drives a custom made Mazda RX7 and resides in a frugal apartment in Silicone Valley.

Oh, and yes ladies he has a girlfriend who remains an enigma.

What kind of name is “Napster” for a company anyway? The word is the childhood nickname of Fanning which he acquired for apparently having nappy hair. Weird - though definitely a catchy cry.

Currently it is a matter of watching and waiting to see if Napster will disappear into MP3 history. In the meantime, MP3 junkies can score their melodic medicine at the alternate sites to Napster listed below.

Australia’s very own Napster

A recent decision of the Victorian Supreme Court revealed that Australia too has been producing intellectual property evaders. His name is Adam Hinkley, a 17 year old from Melbourne who decided to construct a file transfer program after becoming despondent with losing program downloads as Internet connections dropped out. The result was a crafty

little program that permitted file transfer at a rate 30-40% faster than by the traditional hyper transfer protocol.

In the lead up to the hearing software pirates waited with baited breath eagerly awaiting the decision. Hinkley represented himself at the hearing and ended up losing his intellectual property rights to the program to his employer.

Napster & Hinkley legal web sites

To read more about the Hinkley decision or the judgments in the Napster case go to:

♦www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/ disp.pl/au/cases/vic/VSC/2001 /

91 .html?query=%7e+hinkely

♦http://www.findlaw.com/ napster/index. html

“Anybody that believes they can get any product from an entrepreneur or the creator of artistic products for free is either stoned, drunk or brain-dead or just stupid” - Ted Nugent

Alternatives to NapsterAimster Gnutella

|fep ://www.aimstcr.coin/ http://ffnutella.weiio.corn/

FreeNethttp://rreenet.sourceforge.net/

Corporate Greed vs. Community Need (con tinued fro m pa g e 1)who refused to scab, has now forced BHP back to the negotiating table.

Following the IRC’s decision Australian Metal Workers Union (AMWU) state organiser Wayne Phillips made it clear unions would not rule out further industrial action if BHP, or any contractor they appointed, persisted with plans to force workers onto individual contracts. “Individual contracts will not be tolerated in Wollongong”, he said.

During April, the steelworkers also held a 24-hour stoppage to protest against the merger of BHP with the Billiton corporation. The merger of these two giant multinational corporations will create the largest mining company in the world and one of the world’s largest resource producers. The $57 billion mining company is now bigger than many of the countries it mines - like Mozambique.

BHP and Billiton share similar roots. BHP has a long history of exploiting and oppressing workers and communities, much of it based on stealing and poisoning aboriginal land

both in Australia and in countries like Papua New Guinea. While BHP is supposed to be the “big Australian”, today its operations and shareholders are in fact global. While Billiton was originally a Dutch firm profiting from apartheid slave labour, it was sold to the South African based mining giant Glencor in 1994. When the Mandela Government imposed restrictions to prevent the flight of capital out of South Africa in 1997 transferred all of its assets to Billiton, which was then listed on the London Stock Exchange. Billiton, like BHP, opposes collective bargaining and has a hardline commitment to frustrating, excluding or breaking unions that seek to represent its employees.

The Billiton BHP merger will mark a new stage in the domination of global capital in Australia. It will create a huge multinational, intent on making even bigger profits globally. In response to the merger news a united front of trade unions attempted to gather sufficient support to block the merger, using their members own staff shareholding, as well as approaching institutional investors. Workers with their savings in superannuation were also asked

to lobby their industry funds to vote against the deal.

Yet, the small shareholders were faced with the scenario of having to accept the merger terms as dictated by management. The managers were very keen, with BHP CEO Paul Anderson understood to have made $20 million personally through the sale. Days before deciding the merger at the BHP extraordinary general meeting, the majority of shareholders had rubber stamped the deal. The shareholders who control BHP are other large corporations. So while 1,500 of BHP’s267.000 shareholders attended the meeting on April 18, BHP executives already knew the result before it began.

Workers from as far as central Queensland, Port Pirie, Pilbara and Port Kembla rallied outside the BHP shareholder meeting in Melbourne on May 18. The protest swelled to5.000 as construction workers downed tools and marched to the Melbourne Concert Hall, waving placards such as ‘executive greed strangling community need’. The following day the Australian Financial Review explained; “It is

obvious that corporate democracy is not democratic at all because there is no opposition and no alternative strategies.”

In the corporate world decisions are made at the top of high rise office blocks that tower over the streets dwarfing all below. It is a dangerously distorted perspective, inflating the ego of company directors who have the power to decide whether whole communities are shut down and families torn apart. Humanity does not figure on a corporate balance sheet.

The BHP-Billiton merger process clearly demonstrates that multi­national corporations are not democratic institutions that can be reformed, rather they are undemocratic bodies based on exploitation and oppression. The decisions of these corporations reflect the unequal and irrational distribution of power and wealth. They revolve around the self- interested pursuit of profit, producing goods for sale as opposed to human need.

TERTANGALA 5

From St.Mary’s to Oxford St: George Pell’s place in Sydney.

By JAMES BEACH.

George Pell, amid much debate and protest, has been appointed the Archbishop of Sydney, and thus, has become head of the Catholic Church in Australia. He is, having been particularly notorious as Archbishop of Melbourne, no stranger to controversy. WhileArchbishop of Melbourne, he called focus to himself and the church by making numerous statements about the ‘grave depravity’ of homosexuality, opposition to access to IVF treatment for women (sparking a national debate and action by the Howard government), and opposition to the ordination of women priests (he was misquoted in likening such to the ordaining of potatoes) - to list but a few of the issues Pell has vigorously debated. While it is probable that few Catholic Archbishops would offer much of substantial different on these issues, Pell seems to capture headlines, through both his ability to work the media, and his willingness to preach through such avenues. The controversies during his period as Melbourne’s chief Bishop came to a head when a number of Catholics approached Pell to receive Holy Communion wearing rainbow sashes in support of Lesbian and Gay rights and were refused the sacrament by Pell. Not all of these people were ,in fact, of homosexual orientation, suggesting that the refusal had more to do with the power and authority of the Church than it’s position on sexuality. Pell, for his part, objected to the use of the sacrament for political purposes. Most of the protestors have indicated that their action was not taken lightly and to be refused communion (for some, the first time they had not received the sacrament) was a painful and traumatic

experience.

As it has been chronicled by a number of columnists, Sydney has not been a city bereft of moralising nor of Christians taking to a social or political platform in an effort to ‘spread the w ord’, as it were. After the exploits of the Rev. Fred Nile and wife Elaine, it could be said that Sydney has reached a state of fatigue with regards to religious interference into political matters. Comments referring to the Mardi Gras as a ‘death m arch’ from these have, perhaps, reached their limit. Pell is, it would seem, more considered in his approach. He has indeed been at pains, in the weeks since his appointment, to emphasise that he bears ‘no ill-will' toward the gay community. And while he has describedhomosexuality as ‘anintrinsic moral ev il’ and ‘a worse health hazard than smoking’, he places him self quite deliberately as ‘the Pope’s man ’ - conveying the responsibility for what still amount to his own views to Rome, and thence to the apparent word of God. Out of such placement Pell quite effectively casts him self as martyr to the faith. It is, however, precisely because he does agree with church doctrine - strict adherence to doctrine, in fact, being one of his particular preoccupations - that he has been appointed to the post of Archbishop and Cardinal (and thus, a vote for the next Pope). John Paul II has made it a particular concern to promote and support more conservative factions of the church, in order to ensure his own legacy of conservatism is carried forward.

Despite what might be a described as a conservative perspective, it would be erroneous to describe Pell as behind the times. On the contrary, Pell is the perhaps the embodiment of

the postmodern priesthood (if such exists) with his own public relations company. This Bishop’s pulpit is the press, the newsmedia, interviews with all and sundry and a statement for every issue. For one so critical of the mores of contemporary society, it is something of a blessed mystery that Pell is an unashamed media flirt. Just as John Paul II has been the Catholic Church’s greatest ever headline-maker, and has influenced world politics to a surprising degree in an era where the church's influence grows - at least in first world nations - lesser by the hour, Pell has been among Australia’s greatest celebrity bishops. When, in living memory, has the installation of the Archbishop of Sydney caused such a ruckus?

This very public style, and his upholding of the conservative doctrine o f the Catholic Church that some would prefer not to dwell upon, are not the only things which draw criticism from those within church circles. As head of the Victorian church, he drew a great deal of criticism for

interfering with the Catholic education system, especially when it came to altering the curriculum (going to the unpalatable extreme of citing certain texts, once taught from, as blasphemous). As in all things, the Melbourne and Sydney Archdiosces are noted for a history of rivalry and so the idea of imposing a Melbourne Archbishop upon the Sydney Church has not been welcome to some - especially such a noted conservative being appointed to an Archdioscise, withtraditionally a more liberal outlook. MelbourneCatholics remain divided over Pell’s performance. Attendance boomed in M elbourne, but in the suburbs declined, and it could be argued that a church once united under an ambiguous umbrella of faith, has become more divided over particulars.

Pell will certainly ignite the passions of Sydney’s most vigilant and determined followers of doctrine. To those who loosely term themselves Catholics (the ambivalent, the lapsed) he may prove

George Pell somewhat alienating. What he will certainly do is end the uncertainty or silence of the church in terms of its more controversial positions. And perhaps after all the heated debate one must expect, we may find some significant outcomes for Women, Lesbian or Gay sectors of the church and general community will be reached (especially should a more progressive Pater be installed following the surely imminent departure of John Paul II). At any rate, one expects the Mardi Gras will have no shortage of subject matter for floats in a period where perhaps it has been running short of statements to make. Howard provided some momentum with his refusals to support the event and with regard to IVF. Now begins the era of the Arch Bishop. St M ary’s, after all, is but a stone’s throw from Oxford St.

t - ■ | : . ‘ CIn protest of George VV. Bush's energy policies and lack of emphasis on efficiency, conservation and alternative fuels, there will be a voluntary rolling blackout on June 21 at 7pm - 10pm (this will roll it across the planet).. Its a

simple protest and a symbolic act.I #■ E x *

Turn out your lights from 7pm -10pm on June 21. Unplug whatever you can unplug in your house. Light a candle to the moojA make love, tell ghost stories, do something instead of S watch inq television, have^fun in theJdank^ meditate. Let as many people as possible know about from family, friends, workmate to government representatives and environmental contacts. Let them know we want global education, participation and funding in conservation, efficiency and alternative fuel efforts- and an end to over exploitation and misuse of the earth's

111 resources.

6 TERTANGALA

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TERTANGALA 7

Pacific Youth Caucus on the Environment

Participants at the Global Youth Service Day gala dinner.

By ANDREW STANTON

Four full days, 60 saturated hours, numerous workshops, myriad smiles, an album of songs and three declarations later, the Pacific Youth Caucus on the Environment closed on Saturday April 21sl. The event marked an important milestone for the 23 participants from 12 Pacific Island nations as it was the inaugural conference of their recently formed Pacific Youth Environment Network (PYEN). It also represented the first ever opportunity for environmental activists in South Pacific to network and remind each other of the support they have to offer. In short, it was a huge success.

Nauru, Niue, New Zealand, Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Kiribati, and Cook Islands were some of the countries in attendance. All delegates were between the ages of 18-25 and active in environmental or youth matters in their respective countries. Youthrepresentatives were from a variety of different sectors, including government, non­government, church,university, health, community and youth groups.

During the Caucus, delegates discussed a plethora of issues affecting all the islands such as climate change, indigenous knowledge and culturalidentity, and wastemanagement to more specific problems like the invasion of the Giant African Snail in Samoa.

As well as proving that the Pacific is not simply the idyllic picture postcard impression most of us have of the islands, the delegates demonstrated that young people are important stakeholders in decisions made aboutenvironmental issues.

“ We, the Pacific Youth Environment Network, have gathered on this day at Wollongong, Australia, to affirm our collective responsibilities to restore and protect our cultures and our

environments.

We urge the United Nations system and the countries that are to gather at the World Summit for the Environment to honour our concerns and to respect our rights to our intellectual and cultural heritage and to our lands and resources.

We reiterate our commitment to sustainable development and oppose current models of development being pursued by multinational corporations, industrialised Nations and our own governments that are proving detrimental to Pacific eco-systems and Pacific cultures.

We assert that the Pacific is not a place where “island paradises” are waiting to be exploited by the world’s industrialised and wealthy Nations nor are they “empty frontiers” available for the dumping of nuclear waste, genetically modifiedorganisms, and all forms of industrial pollutants. “

Excerpt from the Wollongong Declaration, adopted on the 21st of April 2001

Personal account from Andrew Stanton:

We only had five days together so we didn’t waste any time at all. Most nights we were up until past midnight caucusing or drafting position statements. We began our proceedings on the afternoon of the 17th and formally opened with Dr Sharman Stone, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for the Environment the following day. Dr Stone was on her way to Samoa, to meet with other regional governments to discuss progress on the establishment of a South Pacific Whale Sanctuary. We later drafted a letter of support to the meeting, which was apparently received during a difficult period in negotiations. The delegate from Tonga read out the statement, and with this encouragement, the meeting

proceeded with new renewed purpose.

The first day we received a number of presentations, including one by therepresentative for the South Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) on their education and trainingprogramme. Next was Professor John Merson, from the ABC Science Unit. He spoke about severalcommunity based initiatives for resource conservation and waste management in Fiji. Profesor Beder talked broadly about the meaning of ‘sustainability’ in relation to ‘equity’ that was followed by a group discussion addressing individual interpretations of ‘sustainability’ and strategies for achieving it. This was mostly based on case studies and individual experience. Delegate from PNG, Raymond Unasi, spoke about five fold sustainability, in other words the need to approach this aim with consideration for social, political, economic, ecological and spiritual factors.

The following days were spent reviewing the United Nations EnvironmentProgramme Pacific State of the Environment report and drafting suggestions and recommendations for a youth version SoE. We also workshopped wastemanagement and resource conservation issues, questions of resource ownership, development, povertyreduction and partnerships.

The rest of our time was spent revising our network structure, Strategy and Action plan, as well as producing position statements for Rio + 10 (next years Earth Summit in South Africa).

During these discussions, the urgency of environmental problems in the islands became apparent. Climate Change and Sea Level Rise were identified as the most pressing issues for many islands, specifically Kiribati, Cook Islands and Tuvalu. These countries are predicted to submerge completely within 50 to 100 hundred years (see article on Climate Change for more info).

Other issues included inappropriate development, particularly of the type pursued by institutions like the IMF and World Bank. Papua New Guinea has endured increasing instability as a result of the restructuring programsenforced on their country by these bodies. This is largely a result of the need to pay back the loan given them for the disastrous World Bank sponsored Ok Tedi mine. Seems that the only winners in this one were the OTML mining consortiums including BHP and Metal Mining Canada. Australian researchers are currently trying to work out why hundreds of people have since died downstream of the mine on the Fly River.

Fittingly, the PYCE was closed on Global Youth

Service Day. That night we joined with environmental delegates from 14 different Asian countries who were taking part in the concurrent Young Environmental Envoys Programme. Two local volunteers, Kristy Adams from Surf Life Saving and Rachel McBeath involved in respite care were awarded for their voluntary contributions to the community.

All up it was a great experience. Despite being a very diverse group, culturally and professionally we got on like a house on fire. Our enthusiasm was nothing less than impressive. I was told on a number of occasions that in most islands it is unthinkable to work past three or four in the afternoon. Maybe as a result of the sense of urgency regarding environmental problems, we worked four 15-hour days in a row! Although exhausted by the end of the week we were all satisfied with what we had achieved.

Our network, the Pacific Youth Environment Network, is now four times bigger than it was this time last year! There is already talk of another caucus in 12-24 months time and we have achieved a truly international profile previously only a handful of people knew about us. We are also likely to be able to facilitate financial and technical support for the domestic projects of the network members.

8 TERTANGALA

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By SOL COMBE

Society revolves around watching what others are doing, and either replicating their actions, or doing the complete opposite. The only way one learns in life is to watch, this starts from childhood and continues through your whole life. Early childhood development is modeled on the parental role of the parent(s), and later through life it revolves around that of peers. At all times there is always someone that is watching or aware of the actions that you perform.

The existing age of technology has brought about new methods of viewing the actions of others and concepts of life. On the internet there are newsgroups, chat programs, informative web-sites, and methods of reading and looking at actions of others. Although nobody freely admits it, the majority of people online have been involved in an ‘ICQ’ (www.icq.com) or ‘IRC’ (www.mirc.co.uk) chat session. Both programs allow users to login anonymously and speak to people of the same, or opposite sex, about situations and actions that they would not normally speak about. Some people are addicted to chatting to strangers around the world, and this has developed into a psychological condition known as ‘Internet Addiction Disorder’. There are pages setup for help on this issue (http:// chatting.about.com/internet/chatting/ cs/chataddiction/) that discuss ways of helping those addicted to chatting online. Technology has provided multiple means of methods for people to look and learn from others in society.

Another form of learning on-line is through watching. The internet is a ‘voyeuristic’ paradise for those that seek information, and like to watch. Big Brother has recently made headlines through various forms of media. Channel Ten, Southern Star Productions and Village Roadshow Entertainment (who own Triple M radio), have formed a strategic partnership to produce the show. Updates of what the participants are doing and talking about, is the aim of the production. On the web­site (constantly updated at www. www.bigbrother.com.au) is an option for subscribers to pay for continuous monitoring through updates and web

cameras. What people most want to see is the participants talking about juicy issues, fighting, and of course see the action from the camera’s inside the shared bedrooms.

The concept of the Big Brother idea goes back five-six years Sweden. Not only have Sweden given Australia SAAB, VOLVO, ERICSSON, and IKEA, they now give us the Big Brother concept. In the Australian Big Brother there are 12 participants that started the show, every week one person gets voted off. The idea of living in a share house environment with strangers is meant to produce entertaining viewing.

A quick summation of events thus far are that there seems to have been long winded discussions about life and sex, and anything else that comes to mind. But nothing ever seems to happen. There are no ‘bitch fights’, punch ups, sex on the cameras, or watching peoples bad habits. The only things that seem to happen are these participants pretending to act out situations. On the official website, there is an article about Blair taking to a new puppy dog in the house, as he misses his own dogs back home. There is a whole page discussing this issue about a new dog. There are lots of use(ful/less) information aspects on the site, as well as details on how viewers of the show can pay 55 cents to phone a 1900 number to vote a certain house member off. If people like to watch naked couples, they should visit such sites as (www.voyeurweb.com) and (www.voyeurdorm.com) as the Big Brother site is not the type of site the media portrays it to be. It discusses horoscopes and birthdays of the participants, not what the majority of viewers want to see: tits and ass.

Housemates that don’t get along with the group, or are just too outspoken, are usually voted off first. At the end of the competition one house member will win $250,000 for the privilege of having millions of Australians pry into their lives for the whole two-three month period. The winner will receive their '15 minutes of fame’, in the tabloids and weekly magazines, and if they have “personality” they may even stay in the news for several weeks. But like Survivor in the US, the first winner of the show received US$1 Million.

But can anyone remember his name now? Or the winner of the second show that was taped in Australia ? Once the mystical qualities fade through lack of coverage, so do people’s attention.

In Australia radio announcer and former TV personality Andrew Denton devised a similar program about two years ago, dubbed The House from Hell. He changed the rules slightly, so that all participants had to stay in the house through the whole period to receive the money. He played tricks such as taking away all the furniture, most cutlery except knives, and changed the rules of the game so the participants hated one another. None fell in love/lust with each other. The house was entertaining, like watching an Aussie share house situation. At one point Denton took away all food leaving the occupants with nothing but kidney beans for two days. Again the highlights of the show revolved around the fighting amongst the participants, as they were from different social stratums, such as a lesbian, a stripper, a ‘westy’ guy, a older family man, that ensured the mix was diverse.

Although I have not watched too many Australian episodes of Big Brother, I have watched one of the final episodes in Sweden last year. We stayed up till midnight to watch the X rated version of the show. All that it involved is some dark room sheet movements between two participants that had us in the room

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guessing as to the positions and who was doing what to the other. The other night I watched a Tate’ night 930pm episode that involved Big Brother participants sitting on the couch talking about what parts of sex they like and don’t like. It was incredibly forced, and would have been juicer with a case of beer and bottle of Bourbon in the room.

Life will go on for all involved in the show. The question is what is it supposed to be teaching us? Will there be psychological damage to those participants that have had their lives and actions torn apart? Will there be a post Big Brother depression sites for watchers and voters? Will Peter and Christina eventually do it off the screen when they are alone? Will there be Big Brother 2?

Big Brother is a part of society that symbolises voyeur aspects which lead us in life, needing to know what others are doing. This television show hasn’t changed society in as a dramatic way as popular media says it has. The need to look at strangers performing their role in society is always there and is as natural as people watching you drink coffee. The internet provides options in attaining a voyeuristic aspect on society, whether looking at other people’s websites, or speaking to people in chat rooms. Big Brother has not taught society anything new, it is just this time there are a multiple of corporations involved in the shows promotion and profit sharing.

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TERTANGALA 9

Climate Change and Sea level Rise

A PCYE report

Don’s PartyA look at the new unibar

By ANDREW STANTON

For many Pacific Islanders, climate change and sea level rise are not unproven forecasts or worrying scientific theories to be debated by experts and politicians. These phenomena have daily consequences for the way people live their lives. Tawati Uati, delegate from Kiribati to the recent Pacific Youth Caucus on the Environment (PYCE) in Wollongong, explained how villagers are forced daily to adjust to rising tides.

“Every day the tides come up under some houses in the villages. My people have to move their cooking equipment inland just to eat. We are afraid our island is disappearing,” said Tawati.

Other effects include:• Increased storm and

cyclone events with increased severity

• Coastal erosion and subsequent reduction in landmass

• Increased salinity of fresh water and soils

• Coral bleaching and loss of biodiversity

In the wake of increasing global concern about climate change and global warming, and the difficulty in arriving at international measures to reduce greenhouse emissions, there has never been a greater need for action at all levels to alleviate symptoms like those reported by Tawati.

Climate change was a priority issue identified by the Pacific Youth Environment Network (PYEN) during the PYCE, as they called for increased action regarding a conclusive global climate change agreement:

“We the Pacific Youth Environment Network call for a binding, long-term agreement amongst the International community to mitigate the detrimental effects of climate change upon our region.

We hope that this document will incorporate specific protocols that address greenhouse gas emissions and the other causes of climate change.

We call for immediate global action!

The recent withdrawal of the USA from the Kyoto protocol makes the need for action more urgent.

The Pacific region is particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change, with the islands of the Pacific already suffering from the rising sea levels, increased incidents of severe weather events, and the disruption of agriculture, marine industries and eco-tourism.

The health and well being of our people is dependent upon the health of our environment.”

The failure by the global community to act on the issue of climate change was seen by many delegates as a violation of their human rights, particularly for those small atoll countries like Kiribati, Tuvalu and Cook Islands. If sea level rise does indeed claim these islands, they will lose not only their land but also their heritage and cultural identity.

“We don’t want to see these people become refugees in their own world because some big bully decided that the economy is more important than the lives of the people,” Nacanieli Cakacaka,, delegate from Fiji, said.

The PYEN used the opportunity created by the PYCE, the inaugural meeting of the network, to produce several position statements relating to environmental issues in the pacific. The Wollongong Declaration and a Climate Change Declaration will be used as inputs to the Rio + 10 process, to be read out at next years Earth Summit in Johannasburg in South Africa.

Climate change is not only a concern for the small island developing states of the Pacific, but also Australia and New Zealand. A CSIRO commissioned report released recently, states that on average, temperatures in Australia will rise by six degrees by 2070. The report also identifies some of the likely impacts this will have on Australian climate and ecology. Predicted effects include increases in mosquito born diseases like malaria, and a general decrease in rainfall and moisture. For more info see http://www.csiro.au/

by CHRIS PORTELLI

The new Unibar has been summed up by one of the more insane members on campus as being “hightech neo dumbness”, aimed purely to awe people with its flashy, contemporary design, but not actually satisfying students needs. Is it just that, a yuppie look for a yuppie generation? Or does it actually cater for more of a diverse crowd? Ultimately the decision is up to you. Each of us has our own tastes, likes and dislikes, so naturally some may love the new Unibar, while others may despise it. That’s why everyone should take a look for them selves.

The old Unibar has been described as being dim, dark, smaller, crowded and having more of a pub atmosphere. The new Unibar, on the other hand, allows for more sunlight in the day, has adequate lighting at night, is more open and spacious, and also acts as an extended cafeteria during the day and more like a club at night. It immediately attracts more of a crowd. Somehow the $3million worth of steel, wood, glass and plastic which has been moulded together to build this place, helps it look like a desirable. Don Beale, University Of Wollongong entertainment bar manager says that the new Unibar is successful because it can facilitate more students, both

in the daytime and at night.During the daytime the

Unibar becomes just another place to hang out, although it is more interesting to be there rather than the cafeteria, games room, duck pond lawn and definitely more interesting than the library. It’s a place to hang with friends, a place to eat, a place to play, as there are pool tables there and also a place to study. Of course for those who love to drink, it’s a place to do that as well. You lucky people. The brilliant thing is that you can do most at the same time. So next time you have to cram for a test or have a major assignment due, just come to the Unibar and drink the nerves away. Sounds like a study plan to me.

The night life has a different atmosphere. Its success depends on what the individual is into. For those who like the techno and dance style of music you probably won’t get it at the Unibar, at least on a Thursday night anyway. It does have a stage and Don Beale plans to use it...all the time. The chance that the band will be ‘famous’ is possible but unlikely most weeks, which is a good thing because it gives local up and coming bands a good chance.

The music varies from night to night and from week to week. Don’t forget your

student ID card on Thursday nights however, otherwise you’ll be slugged with a $5 entry fee. There is also a bus that travels between the unibar and Wollongong City via some campuses which starts at 11:30.

The end of semester party will be a good innauguration into the Unibar. It will be held on Thursday 28th June with Superhiest and Sick Puppies headlining. Word of warning though, apparently there is a loooooooooooong line up for drinks. To make it worse the line travels right through, which seperates one part of the Unibar from the other. Beale says the first few weeks of opening are being closely monitored, to see what improvements are necessary. So if the long line up is still occuring don’t fear, it will be dealt with quickly and efficiently.

No matter whether you think it’s good or not is your own business. The University should be thanked though as it has shown the students it is thinking about their needs. If you do like the place then good on you. If you have a problem with it, however, don’t just whine to your friends, write to either the Tertangala or speak to Don Beale whom you can find in the entertainment office on the ground floor of building 11, or at the unibar serving. He’ll make it all better.

Don Beale (left) and Gerard Sutton at the official Unibar opening; May 24.

10 TERTANGALA

Forests under threatBy SHAU TEO,

SRC Environment Officer

BADJABadja State Forest, east o f Cooma

NSW, is still under the threat of being clearfelled and woodchipped by the Carr government. This forest represents the largest old growth forests in NSW and is a refuge for numerous threatened species. Siltation of water supply/ catchments of local townships will be another consequence of logging here.

Our athletic Bob Carr has pulled a gold medal winning back-flip, Promising to protect N SW ’s old growth forests, whilst Forestry M inister Kim Yeadon is directing State Forests to log a pristine old growth wilderness. Our trustworthy Premier has also ignored his 1995 promise to end export woodchipping by the year 2000.

W hat can you do? For directions to the Fort Badja

Blockade com e see me in the SRC(There are also directions in the enviro petition box in the SRC Founge), there are also petitions to sign here, also give Bobby a ring and tellhim to take some medication for his amnesia.

BIOMASSThe Biom ass industry another

threat to our precious forests. Biomass energy aims to use forest “w aste” as a fuel resourcefor electricity generation. The problem lies in the question o f what is defined as waste? It doesn’t take a scientist to understand that the natural process o f dead wood, leaves and other decom posing organic m atter plays an integral part in returning nutrients to the soils in an ecosystem , and is essential for the maintenance, survival and vitality o f an ecosystem and wildlife within it. There is no such thing as forest waste.

The logging industry classifies the following as waste:

-Any trees that are not suitable

for sawlogs (too big or small).-W rong species to make tim ber

out o f undergrowth rem oved to promote the growth o f sawlogs whole trees being used for woodchips.

Recently the federal governm ent passed a two per cent renewable energy legislation whichallows native forests to be burned for electricity. Furtherm ore it is prom oting native forests as a renewable resource in a desperate attempt to meet greenhouse emission reduction obligations. The forestry and biom ass industry argue that burning wood instead of charcoal is a cleaner, greener method o f electricity production that will lower our greenhouse gas This is a ridiculous illusion that em misions would look good on paper but in reality would not mean shit: carbon levels aremeasured in respect to emissions from coal not from wood. Therefore, if wood can replace coal, the forest industry, the biomass industry, the woodchipping industry and the governm ent can all have a tea party. The fact is that these wood fired power stations would produce five times as much carbon dioxide in com parison to coal fired pow er stations.

Last year three wood fired power stations were proposed by the Forest Products Association for the areas of Grafton, Bulahdelah and M oruya, each o f them set to consume 280 000 tonnes o f wood per year. How can this be promoted as a sustainable energy alternative? W here is the long-term economic viabillity?

With a steadily diminishing woodchipping industry (suffering from overseas competition), biomass energy opens up a whole new market for woodchips. The current woodchipping legislation allows 500,000 tonnes for export annually. With the sharp increase in demand for wood “w aste” to feed biomass power stations, an increase in native woodchip production could be up to one million tonnes.

W hat we need to beware o f is which electricity suppliers are supporting the burning o f biomass from unsustainable sources such as our forests.

Some electricity retailers not buying biomass include:

-Australian Inland energy (solar future).

-Citypower (Ecopower- Hydro)

-Integral Energy (Business Green Power)

Retailers who are buying biomass:

-NorthPower

-Great Southern Energy

-AGL Green Energy

-Advance Energy Australia

-Clean Green Energy Company.

-Pacific Power

For more information or form letters you can send to your electricity retailer, come see Catherine Blakely or myself in the SRC. For a more comprehensive update, visit the Colong Foundation website on

www.colongwildemess.org.au/buming.html

If you want to get to Badja and have no transport contact

-Sydney Wilderness Society on (02) 9282 9553 or email Annie Coleman

amc02@uow.edu.au

-The Badja Hotline 0407 496 019

-SEFAon 9878 3509

-Andrew Wong 6249 6491 or 0429 471 029

TERTANGAFA 11

66 EVEN A JOURNEY OF A THOUSAND MILES BEGINS WITH A SINGLE

STEP... our journey was 100km”.

This is a story of four courageous young men in their quest to raise money for the needy and to give back to the community for the greater good.

Ben Robinson, Grant Lechner, Sam Wade and Danny Prendergast all UOW students entered the Oxfam Trailwalker 100km challenge, a fund raising event for Community Aid Abroad. Each team must raise $1000 for entry and all funds go to charity. The UOW team would like to thank University of Wollongong, the UOW Alumni Association, North Gong Hotel, Weerona College, Heidi Turner, family and friends for helping them get to the starting line.

The boy’s physical preparation was planned, however their busy schedule of study, work and social life only allowed a one off 10km run that took Ben and Sam over a week to recover from. Consequently, the rest of the team thought they would just wait for the race, figuring they were pretty fit and could handle 100km anyway...

Just like uni students every thing was left to the last minute, all the equipment was purchased the day before the event, all the shopping was done in haste as Danny had already made plans to check out the new uni bar. The group questioned Danny’s decision to go out the night before the event asking: “ Are you sure you will get enough sleep?” He replied “I have been training for this event for 22 years, don't worry boys I’ve got it covered”. This response tippified the groups attitude of Will give it a go, Never say die attitude.

The group woke at 5.00am on May 25th, to travel to Sydney for an 8.00am registration. Danny got the least sleep and looked the worst off, Sam was up all night focussing on indoor sports with his girlfriend. Grant had insomnia and Ben the captain of the team got a total of five hours sleep. Heidi, the solo support team member, was out to the early hours so you can imagine the conversation in the car trip was riveting. Big thanks from the team go to Hiedi for giving the team support.

This is their inspiring story, and it is best described in the words of the team’s captain Ben Robinson:

It was only after we were registered and we were lined up in the marshalling area listening to the inspiring words o f experience from Pat Farmer (ultra marathon champion) that I realised this is it! My mind was suddenly flooded with questions. What i f we didn't make it? What i f we got injured along the way? More importantly, how would our team gel? Hell, these three other guys knew me, but hardly knew each other. One thing I was sure o f though was we all had a spirit fo r adventure in common, that glint in the eye, and with the spice o f competition thrown in we were in fo r a good time... Farmer s words beckoned... your hardest step has already been taken and that was saying yes to this grueling event! All you have to do now is put one foo t in front o f the other...So we hit play on our portable stereo and the Chemical Brothers took us away on our journey.It is a funny thing when you throw four people together fo r a gruelling physical and mental challenge. It is like being drunk: barriers are broken down and you say things you would otherwise keep to yourself and do things you otherwise wouldn’t (eg: at about 70kms into the race I

spent two hours working out ways I could cause grievous bodily harm to my teammates and other competitors with our portable stereo. Or at about 55kms when we worked out a way o f urinating while walking to save time).On a positive note when the music was silent our conversations kept us going. We spoke about love, money, passion, motivations and what junk foods we were going to eat when we got back.We did encounter some minor injuries along the way:> Blisters as big as 50cent coins.> Twisted ankley Corked ca lf muscles.Other groups had to helicopter out competitors due to hypothermia; broken bones... we were lucky. Along the way we found ourselves having to just keep walking to keep warm.We worked out we had 40km o f night navigation when we arrived in at lunchtime on the Saturday, we had 45minutes sleep after 56km. We had to walk the hardest half o f the walk in the dark with nothing but head torches and reflective tape to lead us through single-track rocky terrain, with cliff faces and rivers.We finally made it to checkpoint the

finish line. To achieve great things you need to set goals: small one first to reach the greatest ones, and we had just accomplished a great achievement.When looking fo r sponsorship people asked us why? We simply replied WHY NOT!. We are all so much more capable than we think we are, sometimes it takes an event like this to remind ourselves.Big deal we walked lOOkms what does it mean now? It means I got to spend time getting fit with tree other top blokes in some beautiful

bush surrounds and we also raised money fo r charity.The Oxfam Trailwalker is a worldwide event that is held annually in Sydney. It is a great experience can '1 wait to do it next year, thanks Grant Lechner, Sam Wade and Danny Prendergast fo r making this journey with me such an experience.

The UOW team raised $1150 for Community Aid Abroad and in the process completed the race in 28hours 58minutes. The winners of the event were the Gurkha Mounterneering Team in approximatley 14 hours. Details of the race are available at www.caa.org.au/trailwalker

To describe what these four young men accomplished by completing the event I will steal a quote from Pat Farmer.

“Oxfam Trailwalker is the greatest race on the face of the earth. It is life challenging. I have competed in events across the world but have never felt the sense of accomplishment and camaraderie I did with winning Trailwalker in 1997. This event is about community, about family, about doing your best but taking care of each other and working together to accomplish dreams”

Pat Farmer, World Ultra Marathon Champion.

These four men from UOW have done something that most people only dream of, not only did they complete the 100km walk but in the process were able to met a challenge and overcome many obstacles, by making a commitment to themselves that nothing would stop them short of success.

Ben Robinson / Corey Bocking

12 TERTANGALA

Shenanigans trophy backhome

By LIZ EVERY

On April 27th, 28th and 29th members of the University of Wollongong Ski club ran Shenanigans. For those of you who know what it’s all about but missed it, you’ll be sorry, and for those that were there, your probably still recovering.

We opened on Friday night with a barbeque at the Animal Park in Nowra where we stayed and drank some of the ten cases of beer that were provided to us by Carlton United Breweries. A bit of a turn on the dance floor and some time inviting in the travellers from Wollongong, Sydney, UNSW, Napean, Newcastle, RMIT and Macquarie Universities and then we were off to the pub for a brew and some more dancing. Back home on the courtesy bus singing up a storm (to the delight of the driver I ’m sure) and we were back at camp lighting fires and generally running amuck.

We all woke up bright and early on Saturday morning, or at least we all woke up on Saturday: some w eren’t so bright and some not so early and some not even in the morning, but we were all there.

The competition got underway by about 10am and we had a possum, school girl, superman, hula girl, a chip box, fairy, Elvis, a tractor tyre inner tube and a couple of great Aussie red necks on the boards strutting their stuff for the panel o f judges and onlookers alike. The promise o f 250 points for an invert saw everyone throwing themselves head first into the water and getting as upside down as possible. Casualties for the day totalled one dislocated shoulder for our esteemed leader who was rushed off to Nowra hospital to have it put back in, and a few minor headaches.

A few hours in the tent totalling up the scores and figuring out who won what of our many prizes donated by SDS, Redback, CUB, wing Wetsuits and Trojan water sports, and we were onto the presentations before dinner. Everyone who boarded got a prize as did most o f the people who didn 't (for the drunken things they’d done or for the outstanding effort they had put in on behalf of shenanigans). Wollongong finally won the team prize after three attempts and the Shenanigans Trophy broom is back in its rightful place.

THE ULTIMATE GAMES IN WOLLONGONG

By COREY BOCKING

On the May 28th and 29th Wollongong University played host to the Eastern conference Ultimate Frisbee Championships.

Ultimate Frisbee is a team sport played on a rectangular field much like American football with two scoring or end zones. The game could be described as a cross between American football and netball with a Frisbee or disk instead of a ball. The aim of the game is to catch the Frisbee/ disk in the opponent’s end zone to score

a point.

Wollongong University finished a gallant 4th with University New South Wales defeating Sydney Uni in an exciting grand Final. The coveted spirit award went to Australian National University. If you are interested in having a go at ultimate Frisbee or would like to check it out, the Wollongong University Ultimate Frisbee Club practices on Wednesday lunch time and Friday at 4pm on the Oval next to the Recreation Centre. New and old players are more than welcome.

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TERTANGALA 13

wollongong

The con tin u in g debate concerning th e

Old Roman Catholic Cem etery a t th e

eastern end o f Crown Street in

W ollongong w ill no t cease u n til a fe w

o f th e facts concerning th is m a tte r are

clarified.

The land came firs t in to use in 1833

and rem ained so u n til 1860 and fro m

then on o n ly occasionally u n til 1914.

Known to the Pioneers as the Sandhill

cem eteries, th e y consisted o f th e Roman

Catholic Burial Ground w hich stretched south fro m Crown St to Burelli St. W hen

Burelli St continued east to th e shore,

the Church o f England Burial G round ran

south fro m Burelli St tow ards S tew art St.

(see fig u re 1)

From 1900 the Roman Catholic Cem etery was rarely used and was

abandoned in 1914 a fte r the fina l buria l. Due to lack o f care it became ove rgrow n

w ith briar bush and coastal grasses.

M any com pla in ts w ere received by

W o llongong M unic ipa l Council w ith the

South Coast Times and th e lllaw arra

M e rcu ry o ve rflo w in g in th e ir ed ito ria ls

and le tte rs to th e ed ito r.

The ground on th e w estern border o f

Psitestsfftt®T“ Buri*t Giut

Roman Catholic and Protestant Burial Grounds c l 840 FIGURE 1

th e cem etery on w h ich th e show ground

was established was o rig in a lly a reserve.

D uring th e 1880s the f irs t show ground

pavilion was bu ilt.

For over 40 years th e tw o existed

peacefully u n til 1916 w hen th e

Show ground T rust began to pu t o u t

feelers to take over th e cem etery. This

lasted u n til 1933 w hen th e m unicipa l

council to o k over to obta in co n tro l o f the

cem etery w ith the idea to tu rn it in to a

rest park or children's p layground. The

a m o u n t o f le tters fro m the council to the

M in is te r o f Land to the Parish Priest o f St

Francis Xavier, w ho still had the m ain say

in th e co n tro l o f the cem etery, fills tw o

th ic k files.

D uring the 1940s and up u n til the

1960s the governm en t b ro u g h t in laws

to tu rn a lo t o f disused cem eteries, w hich

had become eyesores and usually in or

near th e centres o f tow ns, in to rest parks.

A ll, i f n o t m ost o f these rest parks still

exist. Some rem ind the v is ito r o f having

been a cem etery, others barely, if n o t a t

all. The sp irit o f preserving a nyth ing to

do w ith ou r pioneers and heritage d id n 't

awake u n til the late 1960s. H eritage,

fa m ily h is to ry groups and h istorical

societies began to flou rish and as a result

state and federal governm ents began to

issue grants fo r various projects. This

snowballed w ith the 1988 B icentennia l

year g iv ing a large boost to all and

TERTANGALA 15

sundry invo lv ing and still a ttra c tin g m any

thousands o f people.

Persistence by the W o llongong

M unic ipa l Council ( la te r W o llongong C ity

Council) fo r 36 years to the various

FIGURE 2

M in is te rs o f Land, and pressure fro m the

m in is te r on th e Catholic Church resulted

in th e Old Roman Catholic Cemetery,

Crown Street, W o llongong A ct 56 o f

1969. This act is fu ndam en ta l in the

w ho le debate, resolving th a t W o llongong

C ity Council become trustees over lots

93 and 94, th a t the Showground T rust

obta ined lo t 95 and th a t lo t 113, a slice

fro m lo t 93, was reserved fo r a bus te rm in a l, (see fig u re 2)

D uring the construction o f the

W o llo ng o n g E n te rta in m en t Centre in

1995 and 1996, W o llongong C ity Council

engaged an archaeologist to carry o u t an

extensive dig on lo t 95 on ly, to evaluate

th e num ber and position o f graves. 16

graves w ere discovered in to ta l w h ich

w ere possibly in th e w ay o f the new

e n te rta in m e n t centre. The firs t in te n tio n

was to rem ove the remains and relocate

them in a n o th e r p o rtio n o f th e cem etery

some m onths la te r ,b u t m od ifica tions to

th e E n te rta in m e n t Centre due to a lack o f

fu n d ing resulted in the graves rem ain ing

exactly w here th e y were. Through th is

action seven bodies are now located

under th e eastern d rivew ay to th e s ta ff

and v is ito rs car park and de livery bay. A

fu r th e r nine bodies are located ju s t south

o f th is d rivew ay, (see figu re 3)

A t a public m eeting in 1996 the Council

displayed a model o f the A ndrew Lysaght

Park to be renamed Foreshore Plaza to

com m em ora te as m any people by name

buried there . Headstones salvaged fro m

th e 1970 w all w ou ld be displayed in th is garden type m em oria l.

W hen the E n te rta in m en t Centre

suffered a sho rtfa ll in fu n d ing th is

m em oria l was scrapped w ith o u t any

announcem ent to th e public. W h a t we

g o t instead was a steel w a ll w ith names

a n d a c o u p le o f m ounted headstones. 143 names o rig in a lly taken fro m the buria l

reg iste r w ere th o ro u g h ly checked fo r inclusion. D uring a seven m o n th rsearch

period carried o u t by th e lllaw arra Fam ily

H is to ry Group, a num ber o f burials w ere

discovered w hich had never been o ffic ia lly

registered. Once these w ere ve rified w ith

th e Society o f A ustra lian Genealogists,

th e y w ere ad m itte d num ber o f know n

burials now am ounts to a bou t 200 w ith

m ore burials o f unknow n q u a n tity never

to be ve rified . The new m em oria l was

unveiled on Decem ber 18 1998.

W ith th e recent deve lopm ent

applica tions th e old cem etery has come

back in to th e news.

The main proposal is to establish a

res tau ran t and m icro b rew ery on the raised te rrace on part o f lo t 93. This land

and lo t 94 are s till held by W o llo ng o n g City Council as Trustees. The extension

o f th e res tau ran t o n to th e raised terrace w ill measure 24x13 metres.

The m icro b rew ery proposed to be

located in th is extension, due to

E n te rta in m e n t Centre f lo o r n o t being

able to carry the load, consists o f tw o lo ts o f fo u r vats, each va t w e igh ing fo u r

tonnes each.

These developm ents are co n tra ry to the

1969 A ct. F irs tly , th e terrace is a lready a

breach o f th a t act, w h ich states:

T ha t land shall be m ainta ined by

th e Council as a rest park and,

n o tw ith s ta n d in g

a n y th ing in any A ct, bu t subject to th e provisions o f th is A ct, th e Council

shall n o t use th a t land o r p e rm it i t to be used fo r any o th e r purpose

A ny fu r th e r developm ents are illegal

according to th is A c t and should n o t proceed.

F u rthe rm ore the A c t also stipu lates

th a t: The Council o rS how ground Trustees

o r any person o r body o f persons shall

take care n o t to unearth o r d is tu rb the

rem ains o f any person w h o is buried in th e lands described in th e First, Second

and Th ird Schedule to th is Act.

This is o f l i t t le consola tion to the

descendants o f those buried under the

drivew ay. The burials under th e terrace

area to o k place in th e (th e n ) m ain body o f th e cem etery during th e 1850s and 1860s

The pawns o f th is saga are the poor

souls whose rem ains are buried under

A n d re w Lysaght Park/Foreshore Plaza.

I agree th a t th e Roman Catholic

Cem etery has been fo r a valuable piece

o f real estate fo r a long tim e and

always w ill be, ad jo in ing th e W o llo ng o n g

Sportsground Trust's W o llo ng o n g

E n te rta in m e n t Centre and W IN Stadium .

The so called 'progressives' w ou ld like

to see lo t 93 utilised to its fu lle s t

e xte n t, bu t the A ct p roh ib its th is, despite

m any people m a in ta in ing th a t 'th e

cem etery issue was resolved w hen the

E n te rta in m e n t Centre was b u ilt'. This is

n o t tru e . The issue was never settled. Lot

95, w h ich became o ffic ia lly pa rt o f the

Show ground T rust in 1969, was th e on ly p o rtio n o f th e cem etery ever investigated

in 1 9 9 5 -1 9 9 6 .

Besides the above deve lopm ent applica tions a n o ther one invo lv ing the

cem etery again has been issued. This tim e

th e Sportsground T rust w a n t to build a

n o rth e rn grandstand. H ow ever, to ob ta in

accred ita tion fo r W IN Stadium in o rder

to hold a certa in num ber o f spectators, a

corner piece a t the eastern end has to be added. U n fo rtu n a te ly a small p o rtio n o f

th is section w ill overhang part o f lo t

94 w here th e steel w all m em oria l is

s ituated. This is acceptable, bu t w h a t is n o t is th e position ing o f th ree pylons to

support th a t section. Again the A c t w ill

be breached.

It is a ludicirous s itua tion . The

W o llo ng o n g A ct 56 o f 1969 had n o t been adhered to w hen the deve lopm ent o f the

E n te rta in m e n t Centre was undertaken

Portions o f lots 94 and 95 showing grave sites.FIGURE 3

and now w ith the proposed m icro

brew ery and the no rthern grandstand it

is again being ignored.

W h y does the G overnm ent o f th is state set abou t creating laws and Acts if

th e y are b la ta n tly ignored and breached w ith o u t any comeback?

Carol Herben

16 TERTANGALA

Wollongong City Council, Working for us?

By Scott East

In April the Wollongong City Council Youth Advisory Committee was launched. The committee will see 20 young people representing the youth of Wollongong. Committee member Scott East explains why it is important for young people to become involved in the decision making process.

Quite often it is very easy for a council to avoid its responsibility in meeting the needs of the community. This is particularly visible amongst minority groups, with specific needs, such as young people, who are often forgotten when issues of decision making are involved.

The importance for a stable and accessible model of consultation with these sub­groups has been identified over the past few years. Wollongong City Council has recently put in place the mechanisms to ensure that council actively consults with Young people. As you maybe aware, this has taken the form of a Youth Advisory Committee. Set up as a standard formal committee under the Local Government Act, it will provide young people with an

avenue to comment upon Council planning. It also provides council with a way to consult with young people, acting as a formal committee that other departments can refer plans to.

In this way the committee is a very proactive strategy. When young people can participate within the decision making process, empowering them especially around issues which affect them directly such as entertainment, security, public space, the planning becomes so much more effective. It has been proven many times that when young people aren’t consulted with regarding the implantation of services, < they don’t use them. This can be due to practical reasons like lack of adequate transport to the area or simply not feeling ownership because they have been ignored in the planning. As all community divisions realise this, considering the impact on young people becomes internalised in the decision making process.

So, hopefully by now I ’ve sold you on the necessity of ensuring young people are consulted with regarding issues of community concern. (Of course being a young person that often feels isolated

by government processes you needed no convincing!) How, in real terms will this committee achieve these grand aims of raising awareness about young people’s needs and wants?

There have been two notable public youth forums held in Wollongong over the past four years. The most recent was You(th) Speak in December 2000. You(th) Speak looked at issues revolving around the CBD; entertainment, transport, safety and participation. From You(th) Speak and the Youth and Public Space forum in 1998, it was noted that different groups of young people felt very different about areas around the CBD, with some groups identifying certain areas as particularly safe, while others identified the same area as particularly unsafe. And so any future plans for those areas must take the needs of both groups into account.

In my opinion it is vital that when representing young people the diversity among this demographic is maintained. Young people identify with many youth sub-cultures and maintain very different socio-economic situations. It is vital that the diversity of young people views are heard.

It is also imperative that when council consults with young people it is done in a culturally appropriate way. The committee is looking at how it can make its processes more youth orientated, and is committed to finding ways to consult with a greater number of young people in the Wollongong local government area.

The committee this year will be focusing on achieving some of the objectives of last years You(th) Speak forum. By identifying key targets within each area, and achieving them, while ensuring young people are consulted with, we can ensure positive changes for young people in Wollongong and for the community as a whole.

[what] Wollongong City Council Youth Advisory Committee[where] meets at Wollongong City Council and Wollongong Youth Centre bi-monthly [contact] Vanessa Ford, Wollongong Youth Services 42265969

Cr. Violet Pocock, Cr. Carolyn Griffiths and Lord M ayor Cr. George Harrison at the YAC launch

TERTANGALA 17

5 Days in July

On July 9 the various combatants in the ongoing Sandon Point residential development dispute will be gathered in a small room in the NSW Land and Environment Court, located directly opposite Parliament House, Sydney.

At 10am the judge will sit down and look out upon a sea of black suits and strained smiling faces. In one corner will be camped the Stockland team - comprising an aged $5000 per day QC, assisting lawyer, the young company development manager, and assorted consultants and hangers-on, all employed by the Sydney-based development and land speculation conglomerate Stockland Trust. Ex-Liberal NSW Premier Nick Greiner is Deputy Chairman of the group.

Their case? - Stockland immediately be allowed to proceed with a 428 lot, $100million residential development at Sandon Point, and that no environmental or heritage constraints of sufficient worth exist either to stop their proposal, or cause it to be altered.

On the other side will sit Wollongong City Council, and the local community, defending the action.

The young hot-shot barrister engaged by Council - Andrew Pickles - will undoubtedly be excited by the case before him, and especially the prospect of having

to do battle with a learned QC.

However, some of the Council officers seated behind him will feel ill at ease with the situation, surrounded by members of the local community who, over the previous 15 years, have been fighting passionately to preserve the open space, environmental and cultural heritage values of the Sandon Point site.

Many of the locals regard Council as the enemy.

Heated exchanges have taken place over the years, and hundreds of letters have been forwarded between community and Council, as part of the ongoing Sandon Point saga. It traces its origins back to at least 1987, when an attempt was made to install huge coal bins and a Japanese funded golf course on the site.

Council is seen to be squarely on the side of the developers, motivated by the likelihood of a substantial increase in rate revenue via the emplacement of as many residential properties on the site as is possible.

This process of wall-to-wall houses is facilitated by the State government’s policy of “Urban Consolidation” - a policy which is being inappropriately applied to the Sandon Point site and is used by Council as a defence for over-development. The community can therefore expect no assistance from the State government in their fight.

It is surprising that it should all come to this. That in July 2001, Council is not only forced to publicly fight the developers in court, but also to engage members of the local community (whom they distrust so deeply) as ‘expert witnesses’ in defence of Aboriginal and European heritage on the site.

How the worm has turned!

Tent Embassy & Picket

The Sandon Point development process is complex, long-running, and contentious. At stake is millions of dollars of profit for the shareholders of BHP and Stockland; On the other hand the local community, in their fight for heritage and the environment, has everything to lose.

The Illawarra Mercury has been running strongly with the story over the last six months. With particular interest was the rowdy council meeting of February 19. The first resumed meeting of 2001 saw members of the community and Aboriginal elder Uncle Ted “Guboo” Thomas takeover the council chamber.

Regular feature articles have appeared, alongside news items and letters to the editor. In February this year, Stockland employed a PR consultant (Janine Cullen, wife of former Mercury editor Peter Cullen), realising how necessary it was to generate “good news” stories. Indeed there was a lot of material on offer within the Mercury and

18 TERTANGALA

on local television towards the end of 2000 (coinciding with the erection of the Kuradji Aboriginal Tent Embassy).

Since the various development applications were submitted between July-October 2000, the Lord Mayor and ALP councillors have made numerous statements on the subject, with a majority being in support. Likewise, bureaucrats such as the omnipotent Council General Manager Rod Oxley have pointed out to the public that development of Sandon Point was a “fait accompli”.

This comment caused some concern in the local community at the time, as Council had yet to vote on the matter.

The Lord Mayor and the land speculators have at times called the area “an industrial wasteland”, suggesting that residential development is the only option available for the site if the public wishes to see it “restored” and made available for their use. The fact that such a “restoration” would involve widespread use of concrete, gabion baskets, roadways and car parks in areas of wetlands and creeks is not seen by these proponents as in any way contradictory.

Many in the community walk or cycle over the site on a regular basis. They paddle in the rock pools, and enjoy the spectacular surfing conditions without ever thinking that they are in an industrial wasteland. Thoughts along the lines of “natural wonderland” are more common, and statements such as “another beautiful day in paradise” frequently ring out.

At the end of February the community spirit saw a picket line was established at Hill Street It remains in place and is staffed 24 hours a day. The Picket and the Aboriginal Tent Embassy have both become a focus for the battle to save Sandon Point. They have brought people together from throughout the district, helped to reinforce a real sense of community over this issue, and fuelled debate on the true meaning of Reconciliation.

the councillors.

At the State level there have been meetings between Minister Andrew Refshauge and the South Coast Labor Council over a ban they placed on the site. It is also highly likely that the Sydney office has given “advice” to the local ALP councillors in regards to this matter, perhaps along the lines of “pull your head in folks, and listen to what the community is saying. Otherwise you may stuff it up for all of us!” As a result the Lord Mayor has been publicly supportive of Aboriginal heritage issues on the site in recent months.

The same cannot be said with regards to European heritage. On this subject Council and the NSW Heritage Office have been decidedly reticent in regards to taking up the cause. The fact that the incredibly rich European heritage of the site (rural, industrial, communal) reinforces the long­standing Aboriginal heritage and offers opportunities for tourist-based employment opportunities, seems to have been missed by those in power. The talk of a tourist coal mine at Bulli, just 2 kilometres to the west of Sandon Point, is an issue which should be considered in the current debate. Yet the Heritage Office refuses to meet with the local community.

Arthur Chesterfield-Evans, a Democrat member of the NSW Legislative Council has raised the issue of Sandon Point in parliament and spoke in support at a public rally in February. Likewise Green MLC Lee Rhiannon has come out on the side of the community, in public and parliament.

On the local level, Active Community Team councillor Dave Martin has been supporting

the campaign in recent times, following on years of support from Cr. Kerrie Christian, who is now stifled from entering the debate due to the Local Government Association’s pecuniary interest laws. As a result, Illawarra’s northern suburbs are faced with the idiotic situation of seeing the local councillor, who holds a great deal of relevant and specific knowledge on the issue, unable to represent her constituency due to vagaries in the law.

Big Brother is NOT Watching You!

The issue at Sandon Point is the fight to save a precious piece of coastal open space land with recognised environmental and cultural heritage values. Of equal significance is the effort to make accountable Wollongong City Council and the various state government departments such as DUAP (Department of Urban Affairs & Planning), NP&WS (National Parks & Wildlife Service - Aboriginal heritage, flora and fauna), DLWC (Department of Land & Water Conservation - flooding and riparian corridors) and the NSW Heritage Office.

This battle involves ensuring they follow the spirit and detail of the various environmental, heritage and planning laws under which they operate. These laws and regulations have been hard fought for over the years. They now exist as our only real defence against the ravages of land speculators, environmental vandals, and destroyers of cultural heritage.

Unfortunately the government departments are weak, spineless and too much in the Yes Minister! mode. They have real problems dealing with community stakeholders in developmental issues, and even question

Lord Mayor Harrison at one point told members of the Hill Street picket line that he “loves this paddock”, yet any real evidence of this love is yet to be manifest. He also promised that creek setbacks of 30-50 metres would be implemented.

The Thirroul branch of the ALP in February 2001 came close to passing a motion of no confidence in their Wollongong City Council colleagues over the issue, with the motion going down 8-7, with 10 abstentions. This tight vote was perhaps a serious warning to

'Kuradji Aboriginal Tent Embassy, Macauleys Beach

TERTANGALA 19

their right to participate at the negotiation table. They are naturally secretive and slow to act. Government has not really provided any assistance of substance to date, apart from supporting delays to the commencement of work.

Is this a positive? Indeed it is, but the community wants substantial outcomes, not merely delays to the inevitable gross over development which is still on the books.

The ambivalent role of government agencies was revealed recently by a senior member of DUAP at a public meeting in May. He pointed out, in clear political-speak, that various environmental studies needed to be hurried along in order to satisfy the artificial deadline imposed on the community and Council by the NSW Land and Environment Court, at the urging of Stockland.

Certain members of the public were outraged at the prospect of developers being able to threaten the community and government in this manner, and of government seemingly being accepting of such intimidation.

Due process must be followed. Environmental studies must be carried out with a timeframe based on the issues involved, not according to some arbitrary court date!

Bye Bye Big Australian!

And what role does the Big Australian - BHP - have to play in this soap opera?

Well, until quite recently, BHP owned the land now being developed by Stockland, and there is talk that they still have a stake in the development. Stockland will most

likely purchase more land off the them in the vicinity of the old Bulli coal mine site, adjacent to Sandon Point.

As we are all aware, BHP is pulling out of coal mining and steel making. It is abandoning places like Newcastle and Wollongong. As part of this pull-out it is also selling off the farm - disposing of large sections of environmentaly sensitive Escarpment and coastal land to real estate agents and speculators.

Calls for the formerly “Big Australian” to give the land back to the community have fallen on deaf ears, as the Anderson Z brigade do all in their power to maximise shareholder dividends. As a result the whole community is a loser.

Even our wonderful Lord Mayor George Harrison has asked BHP to give the land back. Good idea - he is not known as “George of the Jungle” for nothing. However, even George is more than likely to be ignored in this instance.

Business gathered its forces to launch a new attack on the protestors. In May the Illawarra Business Chamber issued a statement which declared that the Sandon Point fight was “damaging the city” and “threatening Wollongong’s future prosperity.”

Back to the Future - Apocalypse Now!

So what does the future hold for ‘development opportunities’ /‘environmental treasures’ such as Sandon Point, and places like it?

The picture is pretty bleak, I am afraid.

If big business and the monied end of town win (again?) we will see:

Z Wall to wall housing - big big houses on little little blocks.

Z Concrete roads and rock lined drains enroaching on natural creeks and wetlands.

Z Pollution, red algae, and sewerage overflow in the surf off Sandon Point, with a general increase in nutrient levels - look out boardriders!

Z A natural wetland and wildlife habitat turned into an artificial ‘flood mitigation’ device.Traffic chaos as more and more cars are squeezed onto local roads that were never meant to take such a load.

Z An Aboriginal burial ground and cultural heritage site surrounded by two-storey dwellings and concrete pavement.

Z Frogs, birds, lizards and other native fauna replaced by cats, dogs, horses and their owners - many of whom will be looking for jobs in an area where no job exist.

Z European heritage relics and sites destroyed.

On the positive (?) side: a few individuals will have million dollar views. Council will have an improved rate base. Talk of “cultural heritage values” and other twaddle will no longer worry the sleepless nights of the land speculators and real estate agents. The payoffs will be pocketed. The favours repaid, and everything will be “sweet.” Those armchair radicals who believe that crass development is inevitable, and that all development is good development, will be happy.

Where is the “innovation” in the City of Innovation? What of ecotourism, job generation and ecologically sustainable development principles? There is no evidence of any of this at Sandon Point.

Politicians will talk of “win - win”, but the community will feel dudded. Some will mourn silently for the lost opportunities and the destruction of nature. Others will fight on. And they will always remember...

[Thanks to Black Magic Woman, ART and Teletubby for input]

[what] Sandon Pt vs. Stockland [when] July 9[where] Windeyer Chambers, Level 4, 225 Macquarie Street, Sydney [who] the community, general public and anyone else interested in this issue.

20 TERTANGALA

K U R A b J l

THE CALM BEFORE THE STORM

By Waratah*

The peace of the blue waters shimmering under the sun, golden sands underfoot, the sacred fire burning eternally - this is Kuradji. Here we stand, drawing strength from the sacred fire, feeling the energy of the Great Spirit, the spirit of harmony between the land and her people.

We share the dreaming as the sun rises over the ocean. We remember our past and look forward to the future and the challenges it will bring. The rhythm of the waves rising and falling, breaking on the shores resonates through us. We, the living, celebrate our ancestors who went before us and dedicate our lives to bringing about a truly peaceful future for our children and the generations to come. That is why we are here.

Kuradji means “wise man”. This is the name of the land we stand on. The creek flowing through the land is Buguna, the wise woman. At night we can see the stars reflected in her still waters - a truly beautiful sight. In the stillness of the night, the silence broken only by the waves breaking on the shore, the spirit of the peace touches our innermost being.

This, our priceless heritage, is under threat. Our freedom to live in our own way on our own land was taken from us by force. Here we must make a stand.

Two hundred years ago, a mob of foreign boat people who called themselves Englishmen, came to our shores. Some were dressed from the neck to the feet in clothes that looked most uncomfortable. These fellas turned out to be the bosses, the captains of the boats. They gave orders to the other people; there was no consultation, they just barked their orders like angry dogs.

To us, this was a very strange way of doing things. The Englishmen were split into two mobs - one mob which gave orders, and the other mob which took orders, carrying them out even when they were quite silly.

Later we learnt the English society was based on class privilege, where the “upper” class thought they were superior to the “lower” class and bossed them around. The “lower” class were made to do the work of the “upper” class, and came to be known as the “working class”. What a weird mob!

We did not want to have anything to do with this mob. We just wished they would go away and leave us in peace. “Yallah” means “get lost”, “go away”.

Some of those Englishmen who came

to our shores were greedy for land. When our warriors fought to defend, the invaders retaliated by sending out shooting parties. They killed so many of our people, men, women and children, that the ground was wet with blood. Even today, two hundred years later, there are white fellas who go on “boong shoots”, who are still around, and the racism, by which they tried to justify these crimes, still hangs around like a bad smell.

The greed for the land, and the lust for money that goes with it, has never stopped. Neither have the genocide and incremental theft of our land. Genocide takes many forms, as is clear from the International Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide, signed in 1949.

Dispossessed of our land, we became part of the “working class”. The people who originally formed the working class in Europe had also been dispossessed of their lands, centuries earlier. Some were brought here in chains, against their will; some had come here in the hope of finding a new life. They were not told about the horrible massacres of our people.

They worked in the mines, the factories and the fields, making other people rich while they struggled to make a living. Striking miners were shot dead as the greed of the wealthy knew no bounds and the clouds of the last Great Depression were hovering on the horizon.

History has a way of repeating itself. The lessons of the last Depression have been forgotten by those with their hands on the levers of government. Greed has grown like a cancer. Some people are hell bent on making money as if there was no tomorrow. They are so blinded by dollar signs; they cannot see what they are doing to the very environment that their children will inherit.

Throughout the recent history of the Illawarra area there have been occasions when we stood together, blackfella with whitefella against the rich fella, in union picket lines, in the struggle for recognition of Aboriginal rights, and none in the struggle to save Kuradji, also known as “Sandon Point”.

Through unity comes strength. Now is the time for us to prepare to stand together to save the land and environment we cherish, for ourselves, our children and future generations to come.

*(Rosemarie Gillespie)

A message of peace

We? the peace <oving custodians of today and

t be inheritor* of tomorrow - yo ung and o(d- cad for a healthier

wo rid with clean air and water. This Message Stick

unifies us Tn working tow ard* a rebirth of

spiritual values, Tn harmony w ith Mother Barth and Indigenous People of M l Nations.

Be oj>tTtoTstTc and see the good in everyone and everything? reiMeiMher

beautiful experiences of yo ur past, anticipate even More wonderful tTiMes of your future, and enjoy the quality

of each now Moment as the latest, greatest, best tTiwe in the history of our

universe? knowing that everything is constantly

Tim*>roving and the best is yet to coiMe*

Guboo Jed Thomas Aboriginal Elder of Yuin

nation? Australia.

TERTANGALA 21

City of Greater WollongongBy 38^4=9.5.

I was not particularly inspired to discover that the coat of arms for the ‘City of Greater Wollongong’ is a four panel shield featuring: some boats, a wave and obligatory board rider (thus attempting to anchor the roots of the city council’s authority in young, though less than stable, soil)

- as I sit here writing this, I’m forced to concede that I must move on prematurely. I ’ve already been interrupted once before by the police for sitting on a kerbside scribbling into a notepad around here in the early hours, on Kembla St. I’m only one empty shop and one empty driveway away from my house, but they would probably stop me even if I was on my front step, so I’d best not linger...

Something - actually there’s no need to be so soulsearching and enigmatic - apathy, boredom and idle curiosity caused me to leave the security of my home this early April morning to go spending at the circleQ. The reason I find this oddly stupid, is not the fact that it is late/early, nor that it is cold. lam-4am is the most pleasant time to be awake, and wandering about in the cold weather merely affords me with the opportunity to wear out some of my more stylish (but unusable in warmer weather) clothing.

No, the reason that, in retrospect, (always in retrospect, the things that really matter) I think it was foolish to venture out, was the fact that it is late on the night of a Sunday preceding a public holiday, and the circleQ is fatally close to the heart of brutal yobdom within the City of Greater Wollongong.

Unimposing me in my silly military jacket seemed a prime target for drunken meataxe fuckwits with some leftover energy from their frustrated/failed attempts to locate physical release in a (legally, morally and socially acceptable) sexual encounter.

So I was nervous walking up there

on account of the football fuckheads (or ‘ruggerbuggers’, as one astute Englishman has taught me to refer to them). As it happens this journey, though full of ruggerbuggers, was relatively uneventful, thus showing me up for the ignorant, paranoid bigot that I am. The crowd of 200 or so sport and alcohol fans living it up in the intersection of Market and Keira streets, throwing shit at cars and screaming like apes, behaved in an utterly gentlemanly manner toward me. In fact, it was the streets in between my house and that intersection that were the least hospitable, as numerous carslave dickheads with ethnic aspirations made their presence known with the eternally amusing ‘hey faggot!’ from the windows of their mobile security blankets...

As I say, four panels: Boats, a wave, more boats by the look of it (difficult to tell by the street light; the shield is some kinda wire, and the icons cast shadows of themselves that neatly confuse the image) and a little mess that I will assume for now is a device for gathering coal.

That’s it? Surely such a progressive city council as Greater Wollongong should be reflected in a more cosmopolitan manner? Unfortunately, the shadows rendered greater elucidation impossible, so I vow to return.

Well, upon daylit inspection that shield seems very dubious indeed.

In one fell sweep the logo designers are not only acknowledging, but also endorsing, several acts of lawlessness that not only show a disrespect for social cohesion, but also disrespect for the local environment AND in this same shield the council also manages to absolve itself and the Wollongong citizenry of all responsibility.

Take the picture with the boats: (I was wrong; there’s only one scene with boats, though the lighthouse does appear twice in the shield. The fourth picture (previously thought to contain boats) merely features an uninspired mock cityscape, which includes the lighthouse

but EXCLUDES the smokestacks, which, from most locales in Greater Wollongong, are far more prominent). The boat scene features an oversized anchor, obviously far too big for any of the ships pictured, lying on the bottom of the harbour. Discarded? I think we can assume safely enough that this is, as I say, recognition, and

therefore, by default, acceptance/endorsement of reckless and wanton pollution, maritime littering.

Moving on: in the wave scene, not only is there a board rider, but also a large un-leashed dog. Here again, council approved disregard for local laws, social etiquette, and environmental conscientiousness.

So far we have littering, antisocial and environmentally irresponsible behaviour, plus utter denial of Wollongong’s primary liability (medically and cosmetically), namely those outdoor climate controllers, the Port Kembla smoke stacks.

All of this is implicit in the coat of arms, and therefor symbolically accepted as a defining feature of the City of Greater Wollongong.

But there’s more. At the very centre of the coat of arms we have a lion at the intersection of a cross, a cross whose points all display a star. This lion is obviously at least a reference to NSW, if not England (I’m pretty sure the cross with stars and a lion is the NSW flag, but even if not, the lion is definitely England). The point of including these symbols is obvious: at the centre of all Wollongong does and is lies the knowledge that we are merely subjects of a higher authority. We have no autonomy, no absolute control, and therefore no real responsibility. ‘We didn’t know it was happening’ when we allowed that giant anchor to rust into the ocean floor; ‘it wasn’t our place to ask questions’ when those smokestacks coat everyone in toxic silt; ‘We were only following orders’ when that fucking huge dog, having left a series of surreptitious shits in the sand, terrorised a group of children and then dug up the dune rehabilitation area (or if not ‘only following orders’, ‘too busy surfing’ at least). We are but a part of the bigger unit. We defer authority I to that lion (whoever thatis supposed to be), j We surf and we like boats, but don’t ask us 1 to maintain vigilance over the water quality. Officially, we’re pretty ignorant about the j inner complexities of this socioeconomic j organism of which we are a part, but, hey, isn’t our lighthouse pretty? Go on, have another look (it needs two to do it justice).

Well, here’s my suggested replacement: a I row of industrial smokestacks, a car full of I the above described wish-we-were-wogs (all nicely rendered and simplified to a lifelike : two dimensional state), some more smoke 1 stacks in a different layout, and, to attain that : hipwiththekids/youtharethelifeblood cred of I the great wave on the old shield, maybe a line J of twentysomethings outside the DSS.

Better keep the lion though. After all, we are but a small part of the Empire.

22 TERTANGALA

Wanna be a Wollongong Rockstar?By Craig Davison

“So you want to be a Rock and Roll star” is no longer a slogan, nor a cliche; it’s a joke. Let’s face it - the rock band is a dinosaur. Those considering the formation of one should ask themselves a few questions. Why do I want to form a band? What kind of band, and what will it achieve? Some deluded souls, who can’t be named here for legal reasons, are under the misapprehension that music offers them wealth, fame, power and sex. There is money to be made, but alas not by musicians.

What did the local band do when they won lotto? Nothing. They kept playing until the money ran out. You may achieve a modest living playing in a cover band at some pub packed with roughnecks who’ll want to hear Sweet Home Alabama one more time before getting onto their imitation Harleys pissed out of their brains, or you may try to eke out a living playing in a tribute band. These are the saddest of the sad. Grown men and women prepared to go to the final lengths of humiliation, dressing up as KISS, or the Beatles or ABBA. These people deserve every cent they earn, as they’ll eventually need it to pay for their therapy.

The future seems to lie in the clinical assembly of gorgeous clean looking young people, with de rigueur body piercings that aren’t too threatening, wtth expensive management behind them. Think Spice Girls and Backdoor Boys. Get rid of the guitar and take some dance lessons, as dancing about in formation with those cute little microphones stuck to your face seems to appeal to the seven year old target audience. You can by-pass the human side altogether by creating an animated virtual band, as Hampton the Hampster (sic) has, in which case your demographic drops to about three and a half years of age.

You may want try a more modern approach, like Rap or Hip Hop. This may sound promising, and it’s certainly been taking the world by storm, but it seems incongruous when listening to white boys in the heart of Wollongong, with back to front baseball caps, utter lines like:

Yo Homey, where da udder mucker,The big bag chucker, Everybody calls you the all day sucker.

And so on, with endless bloody rhyming couplets, triplets and internal rhymes. There was too

much doggerel in the world before Rap - now it’s become dangerous. Forget the Ozone layer and the Greenhouse Effect - entire ecosystems are about to collapse under the sheer weight of bad poetry and lousy song lyrics.

If you still harbour the desire to form a band, consider a suitable name. Will it be THE INSERT NOUN HERE, like The The, or something weird and esoteric from a gothic novel or horror film? Try to find names that are no longer in use but sound a bit familiar, but beware: you may discover that a patron who’s paid $10 to see Pink Phloid could become slightly irate upon finding four teenage boys from Bellambi learning to tune up on stage.

Song writing is another skill you may want to master, (unless you decide upon the Girl/Boy Band scenario, in which case your manager will buy your songs direct from a second rate Stock Aiken Waterman clone). Most songs consist of at least three chords, but I’m one of the old school that still uses four: D, G, E and A.There is no such thing as theft in music. Many songs have the same or similar tunes, like Superfreak, Der Kommisar and Can’t Touch This, (which has recently resurfaced as WASSUUP, by yet another animated band) so it’s for the lawyers to decide who came up with the riff first. Sampling has made copyright virtually irrelevant, so steal any tune you think you can get away with.

No one will listen to the lyrics, and your PA will probably be so crappy that they’ll be inaudible. All the same, try to rhyme the last word of lines two and four. Remember, people will sing along to the most inane lyrics - Ricki Martin’s World Cup song consisted of three words that all meant go, and it sold a truckload.

A few final words. If you form a band just for fun, stop when it isn’t. If on the other hand you make it big, know when to quit. You don’t want to become a pathetic bunch of white haired old dudes touring the globe playing the same old songs. Look at the Rolling Stones. What a sad bunch of buffoons. Never involve yourself with reunions either, as rockers rarely age gracefully, and you’ll probably sound worse than you did at that first practice back in the garage. For more information consult my pending publication, Advice to those about to form a rock band, particularly the chapter entitled, “Don’t”.

An hour's south of Sydney

By Megan Levy

I s a t on a t r a i n in the London underground, surrounded by a m ult i t ude of commuters crammed i n t o a congested compartment. As the l i n e took us away from the hub of the c i t y , the crowd dwindled and I found mysel f s i t t i n g a c r o s s from a ch ara c te r so game as to break the unspoken code of s i l e n c e of the underground to ask me my name. On h e a r in g my accent, he pressed f u r th e r , a s k i n g a q u e s t i o n posed to so many t r a v e l l e r s : “So where are you f r o m ?” The answer of “W o l l o n g o n g” was met with an u n re spo ns i ve , q u i z z i c a l exp re s s io n . I thought about t h i s quest ion c o n s i d e r a b l y , before e v e n tu a l l y l o c a t i n g i t “about an hour south of S y d n ey .”

I t was not u n t i l I attempted to a cqua in t someone u n f a m i l i a r with the t e r r a i n of Wol longong that I began to ponder my o r i ­g in s . A l th ough t h i s was not quite as s i g n i f i c a n t as one of those t ea ry , “I - c a n ’ t - b e l i e v e - I ’m-sitting-across-from-my-long-lost- h a l f - s i s t e r ’ s husband” moments rem ini scent of Mike Munro’ s This isV ourL ife , the f e e l i n g was none­th e le s s s o b e r in g . The concept of ‘community’ seems so a r b i ­t r ary in an age of lo ng d i s t a n c e phone c a l l s , s a t e l l i t e t r a n s ­m is s i on s and Hotmail account s . The demarcat ion between commu­n i t i e s i s no l o ng er so c l e a r cut and h e a r t f e l t when d i s t a n c e i s not such an i n h i b i t i n g f a c t o r . The sense of b e lo n g in g to a community, at the r i s k of sound­ing se n t im e n ta l , was not f u l l y r e a l i s e d u n t i l I l e f t W o l l o n ­gong. Or, in a more recent context, s p a r i n g no thought for s e n t i m e n t a l i t i e s now, u n t i l THE MIGHTY HAWKS brought home the coveted N a t i o n a l B a s k e t b a l l League trophy!

There’ s no th in g l i k e the d i s ­play of a b i t o f sweat, sinewy s treng th and t r a d i t i o n a l s p o r t ­ing r i v a l r y to rouse a f e e l i n g of community s p i r i t . What s t a r t e d as a seeming ly o r d i n a r y autumnal day in Wo l lo ng on g was q u i c k l y t ransformed i n t o one of monumen­ta l s i gn i f i c an ce when the I L l a - warra Hawks defeated the Towns­v i l l e C r o c o d i l e s 97-94 to sea l the NBL Championship v i c t o r y , the f i r s t in t h e i r 22 year a s s o ­c i a t i o n with the tournament.

One of the most s i g n i f i c a n t aspec ts of the v i c t o r y was the atmosphere w i t h i n the Wo l longong Enterta inment Centre, where 2000 fans congr ega ted to watch the game on a g i a n t TV screen assem­bled e s p e c i a l l y f o r the game. I was ‘ f o r c e d ’ to drag mysel f there to w i t n e s s such an event, a l l in the purposes of re sear ch, of cour se . As an unseasoned b a s ­k e t b a l l imposter ( on ly hav ing attended one home game a l l season ) , I was unprepared fo r the scene I w i tnes sed : an a l l i ­ance of s e v e r a l thousand ch ee r ­i ng s p e c t a t o r s donned in red and white garb, a l l rehearsed in the

a p p r o p r i a t e ch an t s .T - s h i r t s , h a t s and p l a c a r d s bore e x p r e s s i o n s of enco u r age ­ment, p a s s i o n and ent hus ia sm, with s e v e r a l s i g n s p r o c l a i m i n g the now f a m i l i a r s l o g a n bandied around media c i r c l e s of “Our Town, Our Team, Our T r o p h y . ”

In the bathrooms j u s t p r i o r to the game, I overheard one woman making a comment to her f r i e n d , which went someth ing a l o n g the l i n e s of “ i f o n l y we had won two more games. Then we would have had the f inal game h e r e . ” T h i s s tatement of i n c l u d i n g o n e s e l f in the team ex pre s sed the extent to which many people f e l t a sense of b e l o n g in g and connec t io n with each o th er through the common i n t e r e s t of a grand final berth. E i t h e r th a t , or the woman m is t a k e n l y b e l i e v e d h e r s e l f to be the e le ve n th member of the Hawks t r a i n on squad. I ’m yet to reach a d e c i s i o n .

Back in the a u d i t o r iu m , and the Hawks’ a p t l y named mascot “Tomma Hawk” was d o in g i t s p a r t to encourage the crowd. T h i s t a s k was f u l f i l l e d more s u c c e s s f u l l y by a second, a p p a r e n t l y s e l f - appointed mascot who took i t upon h i m s e l f to s i n g l e handedly enthuse the audience by s p r i n t ­in g f r a n t i c a l l y a l o n g the f r o n t of the s t a g e , red wig on h i s head, a flag f l u t t e r i n g madly in h i s wake.

In the f inal s t a g e s of the game as the lead see-sawed between the o p p o s in g s i d e s , the atmo­sphere at the S a n d p i t was e l e c ­t r i c . And as the Hawks p u l l e d away and t h e i r v i c t o r y was even­t u a l l y s e a l e d , the crowd erupted with emot ion. I found m yse l f s t a n d i n g on my se a t , y e l l i n g n o n s e n s i c a l chee rs at the sc reen in a vo i ce I d id not know I cou ld muster. Such are the a n t i c s of madmen. I even turned to hug the person s i t t i n g next to me... to find i t was none o th er than my l o n g - l o s t - h a l f - s i s t e r ’ s - h u s - band. T h i s was e l a t i o n . T h i s was b e lo n g in g . T h i s was community as i t i s not o f t e n f e l t .

Whi le these emot ions of b e l o n g ­i ng were s h o r t l i v e d , and p e r ­haps somewhat s u p e r f i c i a l ( I can hear some people s a y i n g , “a f t e r a l l , i t ’ s j u s t a game”), I find m yse l f r e spo nd in g wi th the words “Who c a r e s ? I t f e l t good. And i t cemented W o l l o n g o n g ’ s a l r e a d y bu rgeon ing p l a c e on the s p o r t ­i n g map.”

So next t ime I find m yse l f s i t ­t i n g a c r o s s from Mike Munro on an o th e rw i se abandoned t r a i n compartment in London, t h e r e ’ l l be no need f o r him to ask me where W o l l ongon g i s , because he w i l l know th a t i t i s where the Hawks h a i l from. In a l l l i k e ­l i n e s s , h e ’ l l ask me what ever happened to the Sydney K in g s . To which I ’ l l r e p l y “Oh, t h e y ’ re s t i l l there up in Sydney...which i s about an hours d r i v e north of W o l l o n g o n g . ”

TERTANGALA 23

I city o f innovation takes a look down

memory lane

By James Hill.

The year is 1947. In China Mao Tse Tung’s victorious Red Army is ending its Long March by driving Chiang Kai Chek’s Kuo Min Tang into the island of Taiwan and the wilderness of the Golden Triangle Standing Armies occupy the destroyed nations led to defeat by the militarist regimes of Fascist Italy, Nazi Germany and Imperialist Japan while an unrepentant Vatican arranges the escape of war criminals from behind the soon to fall Iron Curtain.

In the Illawarra the lesson has been learned: Get Big or Get Out. Wartime industrialisation has bred a manufacturing base finally giving Australians a real taste of their Industrial Revolution heritage. Heroic times for the birth of the Steel City of Wollongong. Steel for the future built upon the premature death of four local councils, swept away with their interfering democracy to facilitate big industry via the first super- council amalgamation. Giving the Illawarra Wollongong City Council, future plaything of pervert Lord Mayors and playground of blind-ego super­councillors strangely equal to four of their predecessors. The mindless worship of the Big, a manifestation of the evil, the military/industrial complex victorious General and future President Eisenhower would soon warn the world to beware.

The reward for returned servicemen used to more sudden ends would be the slow and lingering deaths dealt by the poisonous filth of dark satanic mills and black pits. The Big Australia BHP well on its way to getting bigger with a big city in its pocket to match.

The generation which won a world war had no trouble building their own homes in the face of a post-war housing shortage. But what of the third generation in the third millennium where the Steel City cannot afford to house its workforce or guarantee their jobs? The grandchildren of the people enticed to migrate with their skills and labour to get BHP bigger and provide the domestic market for their steel products have been left behind. Why?

The year is 1987. A millionaire property development executive, key-note speaker at an International Year Of Shelter For the Homeless meeting promoting the then Hawke Labor government’s Greenstreets programme provides the answer.

Three hours of video propaganda predicting the present Shell Cove development with its small blocks, narrow roads and house walls used as boundary fences prompted the frustrated question from the floor of the Wollongong Town Hall meeting, “ I ’m not interested in the $5,000 a block Greenstreets saving, why can’t I just get a bank loan and build my own corrugated iron house?”

Why not indeed, in the steel city use the locally developed, world beating Illawarra innovation of Colorbond Steel sheeting, to produce housing and at the same time bolster the jobs of those local workers who made the product?

Miltonbrooks Developments executive Neville Fredericks, ironically, currently embroiled with bankers the Illawarra Mutual Building Society in the controversial New Urbanism Proposal at Tullimbah estate in Albion Park, provided the answer.

“I live in a corrugated iron house’ said Mr Fredericks “but I did not need a mortgage loan”. He explained further, “our company has 110 standard (steel-free) brick-veneer houses on our company books, all built on loans and we cannot introduce innovation more than 5-10% at time for fear of ‘leaving the market behind’”. . Banks are not interested in being left with obsolete housing which they cannot sell. The Town Hall questioner was told that that if he needed a mortgage loan a brick-veneer is all he could get.

In 2001 the steel city is known as the city of innovation, super-council with super-councillors. One for every fifteen thousand residents, served by super-business chambers and not one steel home in sight.

Nicolo Machiavelli in his book ‘ The Prince’ had this advice for the City Of Innovation struggling to redefine itself in the face of declining steel fortunes: How difficult it is to introduce anew order of things, there is only lukewarm support from those who might benefit from the new (steel houses perhaps?) and outright antagonism from those (bankers and developers?) who profit from the old (brick-veneer houses?).

The 1947 vintage Wollongong City amalgamated Super-Council seeks a Big ‘Industry’ to replace its declining industrial base. An industrial base driven out of business with little comprehension from the service sector dominated business chambers that it is their policy of low wages and “Big’ $400/week banker/ developer mortgages which is destroying demand for Steel city products and the livelihood of its employees. But there is nothing new in blind greed. The workers who produce the wealth of the nation are destroyed like the goose of the old fable which laid the golden egg killed by the ignoramuses who made it lay till it died.

The Illawarra developed innovation of “Colorbond’ is licensed for production in the growth regions of Asia where all the jobs and profits are found. Will they embrace the architect designed steel homes of Australian Glenn Murcott available only to millionaires in his own country? Why not?

The property development industry which has

subverted governments all over the free world by funding the election of corrupt politicians at all levels is jostling to become the big industry which justifies the continuing siper-couneif status of the 1947 vintage Wollongong City Council. Look for the signs of their influence, one super councillor with an ego to match is quoted in the local newspaper as finding the residential development of reclaimed industrial land to be an exciting prospect.

Is there a chance that declining industry might fund it s own housing for employees as was sensibly done elsewhere in the past? Will residents reclaim the human scale of the pre-’47 councils, build their own sensible, sustainable and affordable housing thereby denying the corrupt banking/ housing industry their monopoly speculator profits?

Will they be supported by a manufacturing industry that has not turned its back on its own domestic market? Or by the new community banks?

The innovative ‘New Urbanism’ experiment at Tullimbah is set to fail like its poorly located predecessor sandwiched between standard houses far from services in the equivalent backblocks of the Gold Coast.

Miltonbrook Developments and their Tullimbah partners IMB might easily fail, their innovations getting too far ahead of the market the have done so much to destroy by making it too expensive and providing no sustainable employment for local residents.

But beware, there is a profitable innovation which will sustain the property development industry with no regard to local residents at all.

Imported from the Olympic City the globalisation of the Real- estate market with million dollar harbourside and coastal homes being sold to rich foreigners.

So do not build a microbrewery over the graves of bankers and developers just yet, they will still be able to justify their undemocratic super­council and their pet super-councillors with their super, globalised property development industry.

If manufacturers and workers leave it will make no difference to them at all.

Wollongong, City of Property Developers. What an attraction for those rich overseas tourists and the servants are so cheap it’s almost like robbery.

24 TERTANGALA

Wollongong - the city under the grey smoke.

By Amanda Akien

At Sydney airport a visitor catches a taxi. “Where ya going?” the taxi driver asks lifting a suitcase into the boot. ‘W ollongong’ the unsuspecting tourist replies. The driver nervously laughs and says “ahh, that place, under the grey smoke.” The taxi quickly disappears into the distance and the tourist wonders what lies ahead.

Under the grey smoke is Wollongong. It is a place th a t nearly everybody has an opinion about. Some consider it a city; others consider it a town. There are those who hate the place and others who love it. And then there are those who simply can’t make up their mind. However, most admit tha t there is something unique about Wollongong.

When the taxi driver descends from the escarpm ent he passes the large sign: ‘Wollongong, City of Diversity.’ It is at this point the driver asks the visitor exactly where he wants to go- “Gwynneville, Port Kembla, Fairy Meadow, Kieraville?” The visitor looks confused not realising that, for some strange reason, hardly anyone lives in Wollongong. Those people who live in North or West Wollongong in abundant houses or high rise units with the coastal and industrial views live in Wollongong. The others, well, they live outside.

The people who love Wollongong see it as a happy and friendly tourist town with second-to-none sandy beaches and successful sports teams. Some consider it to be one of the most beautiful spots in Australia. One such believer was Frank Arkell, a Lord Mayor from 1974 until 1991. Frank Arkell was known as ‘Mr Wollongong’ and achieved a great deal of positive publicity for the city and almost restored W ollongong’s reputation with the phrase ‘wonderful W ollongong’. Arkell was W ollongong’s goodwill ambassador right up until he was brutally m urdered in 1998.

The city was shocked by the horrific murder. There had been a rum our tha t he was involved in a paedophile ring. Arkell was found with a ro tary pin shoved into his eyes and several tie pins stabbed into his cheeks. Prior to Arkell’s m urder, a gay m an called David O’ Hearn, had been found bashed to death at his home in Albion Park Rail. His severed head was placed in his sink and used to write the words SATAN on his living room wall. Both m urders did not do m uch to redesign the city that Arkell had tried so hard to reinvent. From that day on the grey smoke became even thicker and the area of Wollongong became even more cloudy. Once again the city’s identity was tarn ished and its reputation was unlikely to recover.

W ollongong is not the only city in the world too loose its identity. Steel cities around the globe over the last two decades have given up their cultural attachm ents to the m anufacturing industry in a desperate a ttem pt to recast them selves as tourist spots.

In the past m uch has been done to try and give the city a new identity.

W ollongong, in desperate search for a culture, constantly tries to reinvent itself with festivals. Established in 1977 the Festival of W ollongong tried to prom ote the city.

Viva la gong was a m uch-publicised festival held over the last two years, bu t undernea th the face pain t and smiles it did little to reinvent its culture and identity.

Wollongong, like Sydney’s little half- b ro ther, is often negatively portrayed by the Sydney p rin t media. Features on paedophilia, crime, heavy industry, pollution, domestic violence, legionnaires outbreaks and floods have been w ritten about at length. The dam aging m edia coverage has worsened W ollongong’s image.

If W ollongong’s nam e was to change its image would too. Former ed itor of the Illawarra Mercury, Peter Cullen, wrote in July 1987 tha t tourism would only re tu rn to Wollongong ‘if we banish into exile tha t ugly word W ollongong.’ He wrote th a t there was “the degree of sham e, which accompanies the nam e of W ollongong.”

Over the years people did try to change the nam e of Wollongong. In 1984 Harold Hanson, chair of the Leisure and Tourist Association announced tha t the city should try to change its nam e to Illawarra. He believed this would aid tourist prom otion and wipe out the image of heavy industry. Such a suggestion faced controversy. The nam e Wollongong was never changed. It probably never will.

The problem with W ollongong is tha t it has an obsession to forget the past. The city seems to suffer from am nesia and such a condition is not easily cured. Glenn Barkley, who works in the Creative Arts departm en t at the University of W ollongong, explains tha t “ People (in W ollongong) don’t rem em ber p roperly .” Some believe th a t if Wollongong referred to its past m ore it would be less likely to repeat its disasters. It is a m atter of personal opinion.

The fu ture of W ollongong is uncertain. Does the city need a new nam e or does it need to deal with its past before it can move into the future? Who knows? Maybe a w onderful W ollongong does exist u n der the smoke. If only th a t grey smoke would somehow blow away.

BEAUTY IN STRANGE PLACESBy Elisa Arcioni

Wollongong is a place made up of many places, all with their own beauty - night time over a massive industrial site brings patterns of light, clouds of steam and fingers of flame extending into a multi-coloured sky; its perfume less pungent than apocalyptic times of the past, yet retaining elements of sulphur, shiny black particles. An escarpment with visions of green carpeting slopes and cliffs as yet untouched by urban development but choked by lantana. Beaches with the classic roll and thunder of waves, unimpeded by the efforts of those with egos like King John, and element as relentless as the drone of traffic as Wollongong careers towards expansion in number and size.

These classic elements of the city around us are obvious. What I'd like to do is take you on a tour of my beautiful places, specific in space and time, treasures found through a life here, moments of solace and exploration. Simple pleasures available to all with an open mind for beauty in simplicity.

THE ROCK POOL, NORTH WOLLONGONG, FULL MOONFloating in liquid indigo, free of weight and worries. The only visible parts of the world are a white orb moving lazily across the field of vision, turning as you turn in the salty water, wandering aimlessly through the irregularly-shaped pool. Small movement of the ocean barely noticeable, unless the king tides have arrived. A slight brushing against your leg? Small fish, nothing dangerous.

WOLLAMAI POINT OR HOOKA POINT, LAKE ILLAWARRA, ANYTIMEAgain, water, but a terrestrial perspective. Any time of day or night, any weather. The body of the lake extending south. Each moment a new lake, ever<hanging yet keeping to its borders - slowly changing with the inevitable changes of watercourses. Place of reflection when others are absent. Always beautiful but always poignant - a sense of loss and memory surrounds - not a place for the emotional unless the emotions want to be released.

EUCALYPTNEAR DISUSED FOUNTAIN, BOTANICAL GARDENS, CLEAR WEATHER.Lie beneath the tree, looking up. Patterns of branches and leaves, sun and light, a smile is unavoidable. Birds settling into their accustomed places once they are accustomed to YOU being there. The sense of smell is ignited - warm eucalyptus, soft grass beneath your body. Avoid the area during peak traffic times to uni - it's on the course from the carpark to North fields Avenue (unless you’re unconcerned about onlookers).

THE CHAPEL, MTKEIRA SCOUT CAMP, DAWN OR DUSKReligious you need not be, spiritual? Maybe a pre­requisite to enjoy the place. The moist logs acting as pews lie in some order of parallel lines, slightly haphazard but facing the pulpit. Avoid the strict sitting arrangement, sit on the earth, face the trees rather than the speaker’s appointed place. It inevitably reminds me of St Francis o f Assisi - the first modern environmentalist, so in touch with the flora and fauna surrounding him - what a shame he became but a statue within the staid structures of the Catholic Church...let the drips of the temperate rainforest take your mind to other places and times, imagine the fairy-tale creatures emerging form the pale light.

PORT KEMBLA BREAKWATER, DUSKBegin by looking towards land - witness the tragedy of the destruction of wetlands, beaches, woodlands and all with the development of the cancerous industry once so vital for employment and the survival of Wollongong. Turn to face the open ocean, broken only by the five islands and occasional tanker. Contrast is what strikes me, the futile attempt at "breaking" the water of the ocean, the minute size of the industry in comparison to the never-ending horizon of water. Calm? Seemingly, until the force of the waves is felt and seen on the concrete boulders forming the breakwater. Just wait, it says, for the lands and seas to reclaim what has been taken. Time will be the healer once we’re gone.

TERTANGALA 25

P a r k , p r o f i t a n d p r o g r e s s

The struggle to save Tullimbah

By Megan Levy

It’s Saturday afternoon, a time usually reserved for taking the dog for a leisurely walk, or relaxing in front of an endless broadcast of sports programs on television. Instead, on this sunny Autumn day, a gathering of 150 or so Albion Park residents have opted for an afternoon of TAG in the park ... although this is far from your typical rendition of hide and seek.

The Tullimbah Action Group (TAG) is an organisation of concerned residents who have formed to oppose Shellharbour City Council’s proposed development of the Tullimbah Village Estate on land just West of Albion Park. This proposal, a joint application between Miltonbrook and the IMB, is for an 895-lot stage development, before a second application is made for further lot development. The development is based on new urbanism principles, with features including medium density housing and rear laneways. If passed, the first lot is expected to be completed in 10-12 years. It is envisioned that the Tullimbah Estate will contain such facilities as a shopping centre, a church and a school.

The main opposition to the development has been from the coalition of TAG members. In a public meeting on Saturday 19th March in the aptly named Mood Park, TAG members and other concerned residents gathered to voice their opposition to the development and to raise several pertinent issues they believe council have failed to address. TAG suggested at the meeting that the Tullimbah development contradicted many of Shellharbour City Council’s own plans, specifically Council’s vision statement which focuses on building “a sustainable city: communities living in harmony, balancing nature’s beauty with quality rural and urban environments.”

One issue raised was the potential traffic problem that would be created by extra cars in an area with an already problematic traffic situation. TAG argue an extra 620 cars per hour would be added if the development was approved, an increase which existing infrastructure would be unable to cope with. Further, TAG claim that Council plans do not propose an improvement to Albion Park’s roads in an effort to remedy this situation.

Concern was also voiced surrounding the potential crime problem accompanying rear laneways that would be built in the Estate. In light of NSW Police emphasising that rear laneways do not meet safety prevention guidelines, TAG questioned how the council could ignore the crime prevention breaches inherent in their proposal.

TAG also argues the Tullimbah development

was essentially a city development unsuited to a rural area such as Albion Park.The proposed area for development contains endangered plants such as Illawarra Lowlands Grassy Woodland, and without further environmental assessment the threat to other endangered species would never be known.

The meeting in Mood Park was essentially called to deliver information to the community and alert people of TAG’S concerns. Julie Scott Craig, a member of the Marylands Rate Payers Association in Western Australia, addressed the crowd having fought a similar development in her own town which was actually approved by council and implemented. She painted a bleak picture of the impending development, asking the community to look 25 years into the future and envision large houses on small blocks with no open spaces, and a general atmosphere of claustrophobia. She compared it to'Legoland,’ stating “They build walls around these places. They’re like little kingdoms.” Ms Craig even suggested the downfall of the Court government in Western Australia was in part predicated on the fact that the government did not listen to the community’s concerns.

Councillor Philip Reid roused the crowd with his passionate criticisms of the development, proclaiming “New Urbanism - what a croc!” He indicated that he and Councillor Tom Hawker would be opposing the application, and urged members of the community to contact other council members and voice their concerns. TAG members urged people to demand the vote be delayed until these questions and inconsistencies had been addressed.

Despite these expressions of dissatisfaction, the motion to accept the development application was won 7-5 in a vote during a meeting of Shellharbour City Council on May 22nd. This decision was reached after two hours of debate in which nine residents of

Albion Park spoke of the issues concerning traffic, crime and the environment. The development was put on hold, however, by a recision motion moved by Cr Tom Hawker, making the council unable to officially issue the approval. This means that at the next council meeting the recision motion will be debated, and if defeated an issue of approval will be given for the development to be implemented. At least one councillor would have to change their vote for the application to be defeated.

Given that TAG has already thrown its full weight behind hindering the development of the Tullimbah Village Estate (bar resorting to extremist measures), it appears the Tullimbah Estate development is destined for council approval.The recision motion merely prolongs the situation and is a last ditch effort at delaying a proposal that a majority of councillors have already indicated they approve of. In a situation such as this, how can Councillors, meant to be representing the interests of the community, so blatantly ignore the will of those residents who will be most affected by the development?

Development in the Albion Park area in the last 15-20 years has already seen the modest boundaries of this township extended, with residential development running rampant over farmland and even touching the mountains in the direction of Jamberoo. The current trend of traffic congestion, and a series of crime witnessed in the area, is testimony to the fact that Albion Park is already experiencing significant problems, which will only be compounded by further development. One has to pose the question: is this balancing nature’s beauty with quality rural and urban environments? Is this community living in harmony? When residents are forced to stick posters up on telegraph poles and call public meetings of concern, it is clear that discordance rather than harmony is the feeling of the day. In an area of increasing urbanisation, further development threatens to take the ‘Park’ out of Albion Park .... and then where would residents be left to play tag on a sunny Saturday afternoon?

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26 TERTANGALA

I llawarrior born and bred - from the park to the gong

Interview with Percy’s Bookshop owner Elizabeth Percy

By Ariane Lewis.

Walking into Percy’s bookshop is an amazing experience. For the newcomer its striking to see the books towering over them and offering a world o f humanities, poetry, politics, sport and arts. For the regular customer it is the familiar smell o f old books and the peer around the comer to see who is working today. You walk in and are overwhelmed by the history o f the place: its time and its presence is all but a story in itself.

Elizabeth Perry, owner of Percy’s Books opened her second hand bookshop nine years ago. Situated in downtown Wollongong on the lower east end o f Crown St, it really is a walk into history.

“It’s very important for us to know who we are and where we come from,” she explains, “If we don’t know these things we become bereft of ourselves. It is like the Aboriginal situation, until we acknowledge what w e’ve done to the Aborigines we will never come of age as a culture, or as a people.

“It’s everything. It goes back to as long as people were writing and having ideas. Hopefully you’ll find some of them in here.”

Everything from the appearance o f this place to the very books that occupy it has a sense o f age about it. An interesting comparison in a globalised world that sees the market driven by a corporate mantra that seeks to put the dollar before everything. Bookshops in general today no doubt profit from the written word, but such a practice is becoming more and more corporatised.

“Without sounding too arrogant, I think those other bookshops are very commercial, middle of the road, and quite sterile. They don’t offer anything this place offers which is what makes Percy’s so different.

“There are no database here, unlike other shops. There is a sense of knowing where things are though. Modem bookshops loose it, they tend to miss it totally. You can get the latest edition of a Margaret Attwood, which is an excellent book no doubt, and it will be nice and all. However, you will not be surprised, you will never be surprised, and surprises are nice.”

Percy’s Books does so some cataloguing though. Its web site has been successful selling books overseas with an on line catalogue.

“There are 4500 books catalogued on the net and it’s just like a mail order service. American’s find our books quite desirable because the dollar is so weak and everything is half price - so at least somebody is benefiting from the Australia dollar.”

Percy's is a step out of town for some as they come into a world not touched by the

strains of everyday life. An environment rich in literature, life, philosophy and prose it offers a retreat back to the source of words, of writing and of course publishing. For Elizabeth it is in an “organised chaos” which characterises her way of things, and it would be different if the shop was owned by someone else.

“If someone like me was not running the place, it simply wouldn’t be the same. It would be organised. They would toss out all the things that were doubtful and hadn’t sold in the last year. I ’ve got things that are still here since I opened. Obviously from a business point of view it’s not very efficient, but it’s nice

“Someone said there was a Percy’s books in Fremantle, which was organised, neat and in rows and sterile. My shop is none of that. It is important not to be sterile. The general chaos bothers me a lot, but it’s just not big enough for the amount of books. You spill out onto the floor and you can’t find things and its frustrating. My weakness is about finding things and not throwing things away. You just don’t know who is going to want what when.”

It works though: Percy’s works because it is unorganised and you can spend hours on end searching for books, for insight, for lives even, of once were writers who leave but a legacy in a bookshop like Percy’s. Open late at night it tends to have a terrific uniqueness about it which sees Wollongong’s more interesting characters come past and leave their fingerprints on the pages of Percy’s books.

[what] Percy’s Books [where]57B Crown Street,Wollongong[when] seven days, 11 am -11 pm[contact] 42269966em ail: perevsbk@,bi gpond. net, auw eb:www.ozemail.com.au/~pereysbooks

Albion Park - rolling green hills surrounded by dairy farms, piss bolting through the bush on my B M X with no helmet and home made jumps.

Dad worked at the bowlo, and us kids went to the blue light disco in the RSL every Friday night. It was always the 'catholic cunts' against the 'public pooftas' when none of us even knew what those words meant but we knew they were 'bad'. Growing up in Albion Park was simplistic, spending a lot of time outdoors with our slip n slide constructed by my dad, playing footy and going bushwalking. It had a small country town feeling with the Albion Park show every year, the bonfire held in winter and fireworks we watched from our back porch for the Queens Birthday because we didn't have enough money to go.

Everything in Albion Park was about family. It was a town of young families so the focus was on the school fete, footy teams and other activities involving families. The Albion Park football club was central to the social activity of the town, holding BBQ's and watching my brother play. I was always allowed to participate in training where I could outrun the other boys but when it came to the weekend I was always on the sideline in my netball skirt, football jersey and pom poms with my older sister dancing around and yelling to 'spread out'.

On Sundays we would go to church and then off to watch the Steelers which was a big deal, even up until I was ten we would pretend I was under four years old so I could get in for free. In Albion Park everyone's kids were grubby and the public pool was the centre of the town.

M y favourite beach was always Austinmer, because w e w o u ld g o fo r d a y tripsand havea picnic. Whenever I went to Austinmer as a child it was always hot, so when I moved in there as a 17 year old I was shocked by the chilliness of the whole town. It was very quiet and to get to my house you had to go through what my uncle called affectionately'the green tunnel' which was an archway of trees that shielded any sunlight for about 500 metres. It was nice to be so close to nature, but unsettling to have no one around my age and I didn't know my neighbours names. There was a very different feel in Austinmer, and everyone had money. I became best friends with the video store and realised that Austinmer lacked any defining characteristic. It was a mixed crowd with one thing in common - moula, bread, dosh, cash. I was an outsider in Austinmer, struggling to make change for the bus. Everything up North cost a littld more and the Stanwell Tops pub had a different higher price for blow ins and a set price for the locals. Austi lacked a sense of community for me and I decided to move on.

I moved on to North Wol longong, once again near the beach. When I was a child the beach was a treat and I began to re-appreciate it on Bourke Street. As a house of six young adults we would make ' family' trips to the beach for a swim, a beer, some chips...whatever. North Gong is a lively place to live especially in comparison to Austi. There is a definite community, beginning with my housemates and extending to all their friends. Living on Bourke Street is a culture, the North Gong Pub is a home away from home for us and once again I am surrounded by people who are as poor as myself, so a video night is never out of the question. North Wol l ongong is great because it encompasses uni, shopping, drinking and plenty of space to run around like an idiot on the beach. I think that North gong is the happy medium geographically and for me personally. Just like Albion Park, in North Gong my heart is wrenched out and sliced up every time I see a development site ruining my town, my community, my happiness, and my home.

Annaleise Constable

TERTANGALA 27

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28 TERTANGALA

X HOPE WE HAVEN'T CAUGHT YOU AT A DADt im e , put I'mSURE YOU'RE EXCITED TO SEE US ANYWAY

X JUST GOT OUT OF THE SHOWER ACTUALLY, AND IF X WAS EXCITED TO SEE YOU, |T WOULD PE MORE LIKE THIS.

K E 'R E LOOKING FOR LUQANO SlX-KlLLER AND HIS CHAIR RUSTllN PANDITS. HAVE ----------------------------------YOU SEEN T H E M , i c t a mam r-cr JVlAriN(JAA? BLIMEY SMOKE, LET A MAN GET

‘ J DRESSED, I 'M GETTING FROSTNlP ONME PITS OVER ERE. LET ME GRAP MY

JACKET AND WE'LL TALK OUTSIDE.

A S X WAS SAYING, WE'RE AFTER LUQANO SlX-klLLER AND HIS PANDITS FOR REPEATED THEFT OF MY AUTOMATED, GERIATRIC CHAIRS. K E NEED TO TRACK THE CHAIRS DOWN PEFORE THEY FAIL IN THE HANDS OF MY COMPETITORS.HEAVEN HELP US IF THEYPECOME THE ROY ROGERS ROCKERS, OR WORSE STILL THE NOPALONG CASSIDY COUCHES.

DON'T WORRY SMOKE, FROM WHAT X HEARD SIX-KILLER ANP HlS PANDITS SKIPPED TOWN ON THE GRAND FUNK RAILROAD AND HAVEN'T BEEN SEEN FOR TWO WEEKS. X DON T KNOW WHERE YOOR CHAIRS ARE, DOT REST ASSURED THEY WON'T PE APLE TO PE USED AS ELECTRICITY HASN'T PEEN INVENTED YET.

KELL AT LEAST ONE OF OUR MINDS ARE AT EASE. K ITH THE CHAIRS OUT OF THE WAY, WE CAN START TO RELAX...

THAT PLOODY SKETCH ARTIST AGAIN/ GOING CHEAP ON THE PACKGROONDS AND MAKING ME LOOK LIKE BRIAN GENNEHY.

TERTANGALA 29

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By Josh Dubrau

Every body can dance. Every heart has rhythm.

Move over Capoeira! For people who like to letthe world know they’re here for people wholike to feel the earth move under their feet forpeople who like to release some stress in an uplifting, creative way - BODY PERCUSSION has come to Wollongong.

Body percussion is a contemporary fusion of music and movement using only the body to create a variety o f sounds and rhythms. In essence the body becomes an animate instrum ent, the playing of which can be combined with expressive dance, according to the whims o f the player - YOU!

Although evolving in Australia only in the last few years, body percussion draws on dance culture as diverse as flamenco, Polynesian and South African gumboot dancing. It goes back even further than that - humans began using the body as a percussive instrument when they discovered the handclap, long before the first musical instruments were invented.

The leading force behind body percussion in Australia is Greg Sheehan, who has been working on his own personal system for ten years, and has been a drummer for 30! Greg has been responsible for getting a lot of people interested in body percussion , and teaches extensive workshops across the nation.

Recently I saw one of G reg’s students/ colleagues, Annalise Friend in a solo performance at the Oxford Tavern. The impact o f just one person making choreographed noise with their body has to be seen and heard to be believed.

Annalise is also part of a talented floating w om en’s collective, pulse, which recently used body percussion for a performance in the bodies

2001 contemporary choreography showcase in Newtown. This shows the extent to which body percussion has been assimilated into current Australian dance.

Body percussion is user friendly - the rhythms and movements can be as simple, or as complex, as the individual wishes. It is possible to begin having fun straight away, with basic cross rhythms, but the potential is limitless. Annalise has been working on incorporating narrative themes into her work; there is even the possibility o f percussive dialogue between characters: dance, music and drama all informing each other within the space o f the individual body.

The primary focus, though, isn’t creating artistic showpieces. For male or female, body percussion is a fantastic opportunity to explore the potential

of the body in an energetic, empowering way. It is a fun thing to learn in a group environment because of the sheer strength of sound. It is also a fun thing to practice in the comfort and privacy of your own loungeroom, with just the cat looking on.

Body percussion is a welcome addition to the other alternative movement forms currently popular in Australia. Dancing does not have to be about endless hours spent striving for perfect technique, and rigorous self-punishment for the smallest “mistakes” . Dancing should be uplifting, ecstatic and above all enjoyable.

If this sounds like what you’ve been waiting for, here is some information about exciting upcoming events. Annalise, in conjunction with local drumming legend Manthy Loucantaris of M achine Translations, is beginning a new series o f body percussion/ energy dance classes. The first hour and a half will be led by Manthy and focuses on hand drumming, vocal percussion and body percussion.

Annalise leads the second half of the class, concentrating on body percussion and energy dance, a rhythm based, free form movement method involving the exploration of themes or focussing on various parts of the body. Both classes are suitable for all ages and fitness levels and participants are welcome to attend either one or both parts of the class.

[what] Body Percussion[where] Thirroul Railway Institute[when] every Tuesday night at 6 pm[cost] $12/10 for drum OR dance, $20/16 forboth.An up front discount is offered for the entire eight week course- $80/65 for the one class, $140/120 for both.[contact] Annalise on 4268 3974.

30 TERTANGALA

Meditation - the uni\)ersaf connectorBy Sunirmayla Symonm

Star Wars described it as the ‘force’ - a mystical energy that flowed through life, empowering those that understood it with seemingly supernatural powers. This knowledge has been secretly and mysteriously passed down through the ages by way of sometimes quite weird little ‘Jedi masters’ such as the diminutive elf-like creature, Yoda.

What George Lucas voices in the Star Wars movies is the growing acceptance of a universal common sense approach to the spiritual. For thousands of years, hum anity’s entrance to the spiritual has been through the often-tyrannical gates of organised religions. Frequently the mix of religion, politics, money and fear stirred a dastardly concoction designed to control the masses to the benefit of the upper echelons of both church and state.

What Yoda has taught us is that there is a universal theme to spirituality. Seemingly disparate religions with irreconcilable disparities are now being seen at their nucleus as being amazingly similar. W hether Hindu, Christian, Muslim, Sufi, Native American or Aborigine - the core spiritual beliefs are very similar. We all do possess an eternal soul that connects us to each other. “The kingdom of heaven is within you” Christ said and there would not be another prophet or saint from any other religion who hasn’t said something similar. W hat the ‘force’ has shown us is that this ‘heaven’ is available to all of us.

This common sense approach is taking the mystery out of spirituality. Most people simply no longer believe that they will go to hell if they stop taking the weekly sojourn off to the local church. There is a realisation that the ‘force’ is a part of all of our lives, and rather than being scared into following a religious doctrine because of what will happen if we don’t, many are looking at the ‘force’ as a way of deepening one’s own life experience. The enlightened in our society are now looking at gaining their spiritual authority not so much from a scripture but from their own personal experience.

The ‘force’ shows us that the most magnificent thing about our world is all its answers are held within even the tiniest of things - a candle flame, a raindrop, a grain of sand - each a glorious window to the infinite ‘force’. And at the forefront of what we might call a ‘personal spirituality’ is the practise of meditation, perhaps the clearest method we have of peering through that window.

Still shrouded with a little ambiguity, it is taking time for meditation to gain a universal acceptance. Most people simply do not have time to sit for 15 minutes ‘doing nothing’ every day. It is a strange predicament we find ourselves - the fastest paced, the most stressed, the most anxious society that has ever been - and most of us convinced that our time is so

critical that the things we have to do are more important than our ‘being’. It seems that many o f us are caught by things in our life - believing they will make us happy - rather than our state o f mind.

Yoda would tell us that we have to ‘unlearn all the things we have learned to truly flow with the force’ or Jesus told us to ‘become again as little children to enter the kingdom of heaven’. Many people’s ‘personal spirituality’ is now informing them that heaven and hell are not places, but spaces within their own consciousness. It is becoming more and more obvious to the masses that the state of mind they view the world through is much more important than what they perceive to be the stark realities of the world. This is a vast paradigm shift for most, but those that meditate are seeing the profound benefits o f elevating their ‘state of being’ or consciousness.

The Sri Chinmoy M editation Society here at the university, offer many free classes in meditation, and base their philosophy on an holistic approach. Sri Chinmoy, an Indian spiritual master who now leads weekly meditation sessions at the UN and who has been lauded by everyone from M ikhail Gorbachev to M other Theresa, sees his athletics, music, artwork, poetry or writings all as expressions of his meditation. The ‘force’, according to Sri Chinmoy, is an unseen energy that flows through every atom connecting everything to the universe, and should be manifested in every heart-beat of our lives.

A m editation exercise to try ;Find yourself a place in nature that

inspires you and you w on’t be disturbed. A forest or a beach is ideal. Take a moment to close your eyes and to focus on your breath.

Gently slow down the rate of your breathing, taking longer, slower, deeper breaths. Try and be aware of just your breath. When you are comfortable gently half-open your eyes and focus on one tiny section of the scene in front of you. Imagine it is an opening to the feeling of the scene and use your incoming breath to breathe that feeling into your heart. Try this for some time (perhaps three-five minutes) - if other thoughts distract you just allow them to pass on by without giving them any attention. This should be a very relaxed, comfortable state. After some time, try and imagine that even though you are focused on that tiny point that gradually the opening to the feeling is expanding to everything in front o f you. Try not to change your gaze but just be aware that you are allowing the feeling of everything to flow into your heart. Begin to become aware that this feeling is nothing other than the ‘force’ and what you are actually doing is expanding your sense o f self into the scene in front o f you.

As you continue this process, keep your gaze, but now allow the ‘force’ to flow into you from your left and right sides. After a few minutes expand this feeling to allow the ‘force’ to flow into you from behind as well. You might like to feel that your breath is flowing in and out o f your heart in all 360 degrees. You might imagine, that as you are breathing in - what you are actually doing is breathing in the breath of the universe, and as you breathe out, you are contemplating that expansion.

W henever you are ready to finish, just gently allow your sense of self to focus back to you, take a few deep breaths and relax.

The idea of this exercise is to connect to the ‘force’ and begin to experience its empowering nature.

[what] free weekly class on Monday nights [where] Bldg 40, Rml25 [when] 8pm

also a sunrise meditation (30 minutes prior to sunrise) at Wollongong lighthouse.

[contact] phone: 4227 4177, emailuowmeditation@ bigfoot.com or check their website at www.meditate.fathweb.com

TERTANGALA 31

By John Riddell

It was a brisk, sunny Sunday afternoon. The birds were chirping, engines purring and sub-woofers thumping on yet another car lover’s congregation at the South Beach lighthouse. My mission - to boldly go where no hick has gone before to get the low- down on what happens on these weekly car enthusiast meetings. I was armed with my portable voice recorder, happy-snap camera and a box of tomato salsa shapes for police bribe material (God bless the munchies) to get me out of any tight squeezes that I may encounter with the boys in blue.

Anyway, I started off my mission by walking up to a nice looking group of people who seemed to be having a good time. They kindly obliged in having me interview them, as well as showing me their car sound systems, playing their music and giving me some helpful pointers on my overall presentation. This group were really friendly and extremely welcoming to say the least (refer to photo).

I then made my way closer and closer to the lighthouse, where most of the action was. I had a look around and soon interviewed some locals who quickly refused to have their photo taken or have their answers recorded. An interesting point, though, is when a local told me that some of the Wollongong crowd were once not too friendly with people known as outsiders. Coming from places as far away as Canberra, outsiders were frequently causing a general ruckus, sleazing on the local women and doing heaps of donuts around town. It was due to these actions that a little friction was caused between the locals and outsiders. It is fortunately a thing of the past now, with most of them just wanting to relax with friends and to steer clear of any trouble. This, as you may have guessed, is a good notion as there were many outsiders there that day and the last thing anyone wanted was to be invloved in some kind of territorial cliff-hanging car duel (especially as traction fodder).

their finely tuned machines. Exhilarating would be one way of describing the drive, very fast would be another (especially when my trusty driver broke the sound barrier). Of course, for all you policemen and conservative old biddies, I am bending the truth a little here - - he wasn’t really going that fast, so you can all breathe easy and relax again (as he actually broke Mach3).

After the ride with my new buddies, I decided to search for some feminine perspective to even things out a little bit. The four girls I interviewed gave me some interesting insights about lapper culture. They told me that days such as this have a certain history in Wollongong, and that it just wouldn’t be a Sunday if these kind of activities didn’t happen. Along with many of the other folk I interviewed, the girls said days like today are for friends to get together and chat, have lunch, relax by the sea, meet new people, maybe go out on the town if somethin’s goin’ on’ and go for a friendly, if a little loud, drive in their cars.

Put bluntly, I suppose the moral to this story is that it is good to see people doing what they enjoy, and my disposition on this sub­culture of Wollongong has certainly changed somewhat because of this. Having said this it does not mean I ’m going go out and buy a hotted-up Celica, wear copious amounts of Adidas attire and listen to any Anastacia remixes. I think we should just leave that to the people who live this way, and let them do so on their own accord.

I soon came across a group of Holden lovers from around the traps. These guys were a barrel of laughs and their utes were so souped-up that I ’m sure one must obtain a license of some kind in order to touch them (the utes, that is). They inquired if I was actually from the uni, in which I showed them my I.D. card to solve any doubts. Being that I wasn’t coming the raw prawn with them, they answered my questions

This guy gave me the best advice all day. “Hang on”, he said. even gave me a ride in one of

32 TERTANGALA

Young people showcase I Mollongong to the world.

So my mission was completed with time to spare. It was then I knew I had to interview a policeman, whom I could bribe into giving me a lift home with my Salsa shapes so I could tape Big Brother. I tried to do this,

but unfortunately for me Tomato Salsa wasn’t Constable Rickards favourite, resulting in a long walk home for me. I guess next time I ’ll have to bring the Smoked Ham flavour instead.

Smoked Bacon: These guys would not let me in their car by the hairs on their chinny-chin-chin.

Interview with George (third from left).

- W hat are your hobbies? “Soccer and g irls’

-Would you call yourself a car enthusiast? “No, cars are not m y passion .”

-W hat is your passion?“G ir ls ”

-Do you own a car?“Yes, I own tw o.”

-What do you like doing?“Going out, shopping, cruising”.

-Is a day like today, would you think, vital to Wollongong’s identity as a whole?

“I t’s just expected now, it wouldn ’t be like Sunday if this stuff didn’t happen.”

- Would you call yourself a car enthusiast?“I love cars”.

-Do you have a boyfriend?‘Now you’re pushing you luck, little man”.

BySally Millar

Running for just over a year, this web site looks at the culture of Wollongong ‘s young people. It includes activities, events and community groups and aims to provide information to a wide audience. It identifies the need for an online youth forum and connects young people of different interests, cultures and locations.Designed by Danielle Berger, second year Computer Science/ Creative Arts student, Gong-On began as a Young Achievers project. Working with students in Year 11, Gong-On was created to teach students about teamwork and business skills. Danielle and Lakshan De Silva have continued maintenance of the site and it was recently the official site o f Youth Week.The page is aesthetically pleasing and relatively user friendly with a straightforward side bar of links and menu links on each individual page. The easiest way to explore Gong-On is to have a look through each separate heading, but if you are searching for something specific the descriptions in the menu are simple and straightforward.

Features of Gong-On include: FEATURED IN THE GONG: This section highlights specific events happening in the Illawarra. It is currently slightly outdated - having not been updated since April’s Youth Week. However, it would have been a very comprehensive explanation of events with details about who, what, when, why, how of a vast array of activities from around the area. It contains an easy to read timetable and more detailed descriptions in sub­links.COMMUNITY: This link contains a calendar of upcoming events in all areas of interest in the Illawarra. It covers a month in detail and upcoming events in the next few months briefly. This is a great page to check out what is coming up around the place from music and art to film and sports. ENTERTAINMENT: Comprehensive split up of areas including music, movies, videos and “stuff to do” around Wollongong. Currently it contains a short and sweet movie review, preview of a future movie, a Craig David CD review and youth center information and calendar. SPORT AND FITNESS: Contents include the final tables of local teams, Wollongong Wolves, St George/ Illawarra Dragons and Wollongong Hawks. This area could really use some expanding so think about supporting the community or just having a say and send in some sport articles!!BUSINESS & MONEY: Great links contained in the section. A must for anyone putting together a CV or

seeking jobs in the big and scary world of adulthood. The advice is straight forward and relatively simple and there are some great tips that could give you that little advantage that you need to stay competitive. EDUCATION: Links to onlinetutoring, cyber essays, notes and helpful sites make this link a valuable resource to add to your favourites folder. This section also contains a “featured school” section, with Figtree High school the feature of the moment. This contains a brief biography and strange facts and stories from one the students there. Probably a good read for any ex-students (although not being one made the jokes a bit hard to understand). Tips about exam preparation and stress management are well worth a read as well. TRADE ON: This section is great. You can buy, sell or request objects such as bikes, boats, fridges, cars and surfboards. It is all done through email and privacy is respected. Once a buyer is located and the seller agrees to a price, they are then given the purchaser’s email. Then it’s as easy as arranging a payment and delivery. Pictures and details provide more information and make this more interactive than a newspaper advertisement.COMPETITIONS: This sectioncontains competitions run by the web site and other competitions around Wollongong.

Gong-On is a great information source, a place to express youth ideas and concepts, and a way of keeping up with what is happening around the ‘Gong. A volunteer effort entirely, Gong-On welcomes extra help, time, or talent from people interested in keeping the site up and running. Submissions of articles, stories, poetry, links to other sites, items to trade, original artworks, photographs and events to advertise in the calendar are welcome. Rules controlling what will be used are governed by their non-denominational, non-politically biased and non-racist standings. Controversial material may still be accepted as long as it’s not offensive to certain groups.Send any submissions, ideas or question to

Gong-On is a valuable resource. It has huge potential to grow into something magnificent.

[what] Gong-On information web site[where] http:// www.gong-on.net www.gong-on.net [contact]technical@gong-on.net

Linda (far right)

TERTANGALA 33

fy in b t C ta M - .

Class Art reviewWollongong City GalleryMay 11-20By Art Fargunkle

Class Art is an exhibition curated from the highlights of the creative endeavours produced by last year’s graduating Year 12 HSC Art students from the region. Hopefully you have seen it by now; otherwise you should smack yourself silly and not make the same mistake again next year.

Walking through the foyer of the Wollongong City Gallery, your eye is pulled in by a density and darkness to your left. You realise you are standing in the shadow of Charles Blackman’s The Lovers (1961), a deft work that is an example of the commanding combination of intrigue, imagination, stylisation, and personal expression that the young artists featured in the exhibition may some day aspire to. The technical perfection of this work is not something one can expect of the Class Art pieces, but its insight and effect are feasibly graspable.

Hunched over a desk at the door to the feature gallery, Ben Burbank’s (Shoalhaven High) Nikki the Metal Student encapsulates where these

Joanna Wetton, untitled 2000 conte crayon and oil paint

emerging artists are at in this crazy little thing called life. A found metal sculpture is portraying the feelings associated with performance anxiety in a HSC maths exam, the knowledge that your work is being assessed for pre-determined answers learnt by rote that are correct and static rather than creative or interesting. The mechanised drone syndrome is one that many students will relate to, and Burbank expresses this with precision composition. The Board of Studies crest on the exam template is still enough to make your skin crawl.

Inside the gallery, the first thing that captures your eye is the wealth of colour splashed profusely throughout the exhibition. Joann Wetton’s (Bulli High) Untitled is a series of four conte crayon and oil paint canvases. The first section is a close up of a hand holding a television remote, bathed in blue/indigo radiation beamed down the tube. The next three pictures frame a face, with the screen reflected in dilated pupils. The face is in turn held, drawn taught, and squashed. The heavy head and eyes, along with the boredom expressed but the unwillingness to withdraw, are a neat reflective commentary on the hypnotic capability of television (or as their usage becomes increasingly passive, computers).Fragments by Melanie Mulquiney

(Chevalier College) is a photographic series detailing her grandfather’s hands. Melanie catches his actions occupied by a pastime he is evidently fond of, working in a garden. The first photo reflects the active use of his hands, while in the second they are offered to the camera. Heavily riven with lines that trap the earth, these crevices tell many stories of a life deeply lived. The next photo shows these hands with fresh life, the fourth shows the thinning of the old, while the last reflects the role of the old man in the creation of the new. The series as a whole reflects the importance of intergenerational relationships, the new life that emerges through old. A deep respect is evident in the work and appears to be reflected in the final product.

Under the Gazebo by Melanie Bulfin (Bowral High) is about relationships of a non-blood nature, catching the spirit of friendship in a seven foot cylindrical work. Layered skin tones and deep dark blues capture the uncertainty of these high school friends in a sea on which they support one another and keep each other afloat, while the cylindrical shape reflects the circularity of this relationship, the mutual reinforcement. The parasol that they shelter beneath is the relative safety of school and established friendship circles. The storm of the end of Year 12 threatens these girls, but their optimistic expressions seem to suggest that they will weather this together.

Helise Heggen’s (Wollongong High School of the Performing Arts) Vessels and Vestments is a mixed media series of composite bodies. Nine panels are created with deep earthy tones, and the approach of mixing drawing and collage catches the confusion and contradiction of physical expectation and becoming, with images of the ideal crashing with more realistic representation. Three Studies of the Woman by Gail McMahon (Nowra High) is thematically similar to Heggen’s work, using oil sticks to create three large panels in which the violence performed upon a woman in trying to fit into all the expectations placed upon her is caught by the abstract composite which results.

Jodi Quintal (Kanahooka High) and Lee Arkapaw (Bowral High) explore issues of female representation, this time via the photographic image. Perceptions of Beauty and Masquerade of Hidden Truths each consider the concept of beauty, whether in relation to art or society. The fragmented figure, the dissection of a women into her concomitant body parts and the reassemblance of the ‘perfect figure’ (in Arkapaw’s work this means being buried under layers of paint that hide the soul), is shown as a construct that is impossible to meet.

The title of Ben Pfeiffer’s (Smith’s Hill High) The Broken Image: Eating Disorders In Males is evident of the subject matter caught by the work. Four painted chipboard panels hang from one another, a jigsaw in which it is obvious to the viewer that the parts produce a normal whole. The story is different for the subject though, and the

chains stop him from seeing that, they don’t allow his eyes to see what we do. Autoritratto (Self-Portrait) by Christian Oliver (Nowra High) is a mixed media work that explores the same issue, but from within. A portrait of a journey through anorexia nervosa, it is an emulation of Francis Bacon’s quest to “regurgitate the depths of the psyche onto the canvas”. Divided into boxes and neat sections, some with doors some without, its surface displays control and order, yet inside chaos, conflict and confusion reign. It is a remarkably personal work that pulses with pain and torment, despite the false veneer.

Relief comes in the form of I Want To Take You Higher by Gemma Walsh (St Marys). The vibrant colours and textures of its chosen mixed media and the continuity of form are very redolent of the joyous Chris Ofili, but Walsh gets by without the elephant dung. Taking her cue from American poster artist Victor Moscuso by “turning colour up high”, Walsh draws upon icons, colours, shades, patterns and textures of the 60s and 70s. Vinyl albums, mini mirror balls, denim and corduroy are all surrounded by hippy culture phrases and psychedelic swirls, with the music of the era represented with Beatles photos and a funky cut-and-paste disco dude.

Jonothon Andrew Marsh (Illawarra Christian School) made a more political use of colour, deftly mixing humour and social commentary. With the mixed media Cans, Society, Art? Marsh pays homage to graffiti art. He sees the art practice as a vital mix of self- expression and public space reclamation, for the greater good of all. The ability of institutionally validated space to call something art, and the way art outside this space is resisted, is cleverly shown in a series of scenes in the same work, divided into sections like a dolls house. Each section has a strong visual impact that reflects its subject succinctly, with a hilarious take on Jackson Pollock with the “Blue Cans” section hanging coruscating blue aerosol cans pole-like across a drip-paint background.

Bryde Abbout’s (Shoalhaven High) A Woman’s Work Is Never Done (Three Generations) captures the way in which most woman continue to be viewed, and how untouched by the sexual revolution all but the most privileged of middle class women actually seem to have been.

Assembled out of found domestic objects, three generations of women are seen wholly in terms of cooking and cleaning implements, as though that is all they exist to do. Grandma grins grimly, long since resigned to her fate. The mother and daughter look particularly unhappy, trapped in this body that does not allow them to escape the private sphere.

Bodie O’Dell’s (Lake Illawarra High) My Tortured Soul - Ode To Bacon is, unsurprisingly, very Baconesque. It too is about entrapment, but of a more psychological nature. The classic straight-backed calm and collected portrait pose is subverted by the rendering of the facial features. The undulating folds in the skin suggest a premature accumulation of tragedy, an aging inside that cannot be hidden by youthful shine and a bit lip. it is another take on the self-portrait, an examination of identity that takes in more than the superficial surface.

Mageda Mendes (Warrawong High) offers Over the Fence, a vibrant painting that captures the encroachment of industry into her everyday life. The unchosen impact of the steelworks upon her daily vista ‘over the fence’ is reflected in the fiery sky above the heavily shadowed steelworks, and the parasitic lights that

the steelworks have been built upon the back of are staging their own minor protest, creating rather than destroying life. Yet the diagonal strip of the top of the fence that divides these two worlds has the feel of a guillotine, the soulless metal bearing down on the rich life below to snuff it out.

Rowan Conroy (Illawarra Senior College) explores similar territory with Port Diptyche, but in terms of reusing space and reclamation, consuming the unconsumable and attaining the off- limit. He captures in paint two citizens of this community using aspects of industry to their own ends. In this case a dreary monochromatic coal train, symbol of environmental rape, industrial domination, and spatial colonisation, is being thoughtfully and selflessly transformed into a colour-packed and imaginative public art forum, a chance for a personal statement to be read. Chronic pollution and blatant environmental vandalism by BHP and heavy industry darkens the beauty of the natural sky, juxtaposed with the artistic beautification of an ugly surface by the graffiti artist. When societal standards and concerns are so fucked up that this minor act is so threatening to those socially retarded whores in control of talk-back radio and tabloids, while heavy industry continues to spew filth and muck into the lungs and diets

of children unchecked, you just don’t know whether to laugh or cry. Thankfully, the clever and concise message of a work such as Conroy’s can show us where art can subvert these narratives.

Just as this issue of the Tert explores issues of community and identity, this exhibition shows just how contested and complex these issues are, especially to the youth of today. Identity of self, and of the

social body in our local community, is a crucial

Calia Caiazzo, ‘Destrution Breeds Creation’ 2000, oil on acrylic, plastic tube, confectionary, fabric, ply.

shines ever on like radioactive glow- x ,worms feeding off the pollution. As l eI" e"L °L ? ° J "° „ S. 'our eyes drift down to the foreground,we witness the boldly coloured proud and resilient bearing of fruit from tomato plants and grape vines, their tendrils waving defiantly in the face of industry. The ethnic community that

The manner of their exploration is particularly sophisticated and bodes very well for future art practice in our region.

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H-Block 101 SS5* NATIONAL 6 PACKBurning With the FOOT IN THE DOOR ClYsTimes

HEAVY ’’’’ #

track on this double CD. To punk fans out there, H-Block’s addition has been a welcome change to the incessant sounds of PJ Harvey and Radiohead that have been dominating the ABC’s beloved airspace. After seeing H-Block 101 several times last year, I was surprisingly unimpressed with their performance - admittedly this was more than likely the result of excessive alcohol consumption, knowing all too well that my clarity was intensely impaired. Thankfully, on hearing this album my misconception of the Melbourne band’s ability to produce good-quality music has been replaced with renewed respect.

If you haven’t heard H-Block’s previous releases, and on hearing this album have a seemingly uncontrollable urge to slash and shrink your jeans, put a safety pin through your ear and rip the sleeves off your jumper, don’t be alarmed. It happens to all of us. Obviously, it is the intense memory of old-school Brit Punk that gives you the impression that you have been transported back to the late seventies. Their’s is a sound reminiscent of the good old days of the Sex Pistols, the Buzzcocks and the Ramones - throw in a bit of Brass and the occasional echo of a harmonica and you have H-Block 101.

With a band that takes its name from a maximum-security prison facility, their rebellious sound embraces the chaos of the punk movement and attacks the audience with the unapologetic brashness of a disgruntled inmate. The songs are short, but not without purpose - complete with loud political bitching that is skilfully worked into catchy chants that can be easily regurgitated by excitable young fans at gigs. In their succinct manner, with a mature grasp of social and political issues that is often lacking in this genre, H-Block have breathed new life into the angst that birthed the punk movement all those years ago.

This album tells you its time punk has turned full circle, arriving back at its origins but with a few modifications. These include musicians that actually possess some form of skill and the inclusion of ska and reggae influences that are becoming increasingly popular in today’s broad definition of Punk Rock.

Adding to defined lyrics, H-Block 101 have included (for those overly interested in the message the band hopes to convey) a small explanation of the meaning of their songs, and this is printed beneath the lyrics inside the sleeve.

The album is definitely worth a listen, especially if you have the urge to release some long pent-up anger with the powers that be - a must for the politically conscious punk.

Inga Bergersen

The National Foot In The Door Compilation Volume Four.

The premise of these compilations is simple, direct, and admirable: Gather

a substantial cross-section of unsigned and largely unheard bands from across the country, then package them according to state (NSW, Vic. etc) and genre - AC, Country, Rock, Indie, quirky, Dance/electronica, Pop or Heavy Rock - as a way of promoting and supporting fresh talent trying to break into the music industry. Understandably, such a positive initiative has widespread support from various groups, plus streetpress and commercial sponsorship (from Play-doh to Jack Daniels).

So it is with some disappointment I discovered their ‘media sampler’, featuring ‘12 songs which give a good overview of the talent featured on the wider compilation’ is mostly shit. I suppose it is a good scale of the national music industry - almost entirely crap, with one, or if you’re really fucking lucky, maybe two decent bands, but I still can’t help but feel that the brains behind this outfit have got it all ass-about backwards.

As I said, the music itself is mostly shit - the ‘heavy’ music banally typical of the genre, the ‘quirky’ just begging to be shat on as gimmick rather than art, and just about every other genre getting far too generic. And there, perhaps, is the crux of the Foot in the Door people’s fuck up. They’re seeking to discover and promote new music, yet in order to package and promote (and probably locate in the first place) this music, they stick it all into pigeonholes. And not just any pigeonholes; these particular pigeonholes, such as ‘indie’ and ‘heavy rock’ (no mention of ‘metal’ at all), house pigeons that died ten years ago, or got senile and disappeared.The selected music reflects this. These outdated genres are brimming with outdated, truly generic bands, singing the sort of songs that a computer could generate at random.

The only glimmers of ‘new music’ here are in the dance pop/electronica category, and they probably only sound as positive as they do because they’re surrounded by crap. Candyce, a 15 yr old girl who amarosies in a manner all decent folk will find vomitous, does at least prove herself capable of understanding and possibly even developing her chosen genre with This Is Not A Sex Song (sample lyric: ‘violence, sex and nudity, that’s what you get on t.v.... your mamma’s gonna like it... this is not a sex song’).

Three Track Mind, with their song Space Vixens again stand out by virtue of the lack of quality around them. A thick, all-electronic song that thumps like some of My Life with the Thrill- Kill Kult’s more interesting work, this group may actually be worth checking out. It’s difficult to tell whether they are hindered or advantaged by inclusion in this compost of stillborns.

For those of you interested in these sort of

projects for the principles behind them, this one’ll be out mid-June; 126 songs from 114 bands means you may even find something good in there. Just don’t count on it.

38+4=9.5.

Machine Translations Bad Shapes

Do yourself a favour. Before you listen to the latest release from Machine Translations go and buy yourself a really

good pair of headphones. They will introduce you to a friendly, exclusive little challenging world of joy. If you’re content to listen to Bad Shapes in your car, in the kitchen, on the radio, or anywhere without the latest Bose speakers then you’ll find a well-constructed piece of work that throws hints of acoustic folk with the friendly laid back singing of J. Walker.

Buy the headphones and you’ll enter a much stranger aural space in which strong, traditional songwriting collides with computer loops and samples whilst rough transistor- sounding vocals vie with super-yummy synthed, pedalled, distorted electronic sounds. Still don’t understand? Try listening to the third track Walt Must Die. You’ll understand even less but then that’s the whole point with Machine Translations - they present material that would be normal enough if only they wouldn’t let it near those damn machines, then it gets warped, stretched, shrunk, twisted and alienised.

You might have already heard the first track Poor Circle since Triple J have picked it up and given it some rotation. Maybe they’ve done so because they want people to feel good for a change. The song is chock full of chord progressions that hook you in and leave you smiling for days. The pop elements mean you’ll be humming along, whilst the lyrics are crystal clear and perfect for singing along to in the car. There are some blues-inspired guitar licks and the fattest of fat bass.

Rule Bound is a casual acoustic number, with our Mr Walker soliloquising his way through with the addition of some of his mermaid and mermen friends “sha-la-la-ing” their way along with it all. A similar approach is taken in Sit in the Sun but it becomes more refined with rarefied percussion, the ever-graceful cello (Gemma Clare) making its way in and finding a viola wanting to join the conversation.

The vaudeville Tinsel Town introduces cabaret to pop music and benefits from the talents of Guy Freer (saxophone), Kevin White (percussion), Kazuaki Nakahara (banjo! - told you it was vaudeville!), the walking double bass fingers of Jonathan Nix, and the Pulp Fiction sleazy bad guy guitar of Elmo Reed. A challengingly original and unique track.

Entering the 21st century once more is The World is Sick. Strings, samples, and innuendo abound. A freaky piece that is unsettling but one suspects its all a little too accurate. This is Machine Translations throwing everything at you then taking it all away to present a sparse little number that allows its sentiment to achingly enter the psyche. And did I mention computers could well be taking over the world?

Take a step back to retro-synth sounds with Hateful + Stray, the repetitive sounds driving you into the whirlpool world of confusion. Spin, sway, and then realise there’s no way out of this song and you’ll be caught in a rut of shameless popdom. Feels like you mightn’t get away? It’s

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okay - headphones off and reality will eventually invade your mind again.

River of Darkness is a must for those addicted to Will Oldham, although even Dylan gets a slight peak in. Gentle acoustic and strings makes it a lullaby worthy track and perfect for threatening that the album is coming to an end. But then Arabesque enters and all the cobwebs are blown off this planet. Marianthe Loucataris and Matt Bowler go to town with the percussion and it is brilliantly insane. Middle Eastern, circus, harems, the Eastern Block, Coltrane jazz, traces of flamenco and so many cool drums, strings, and no words! Passion abounds and there’s energy enough in this to make the entire album electric. Did I say no words? The piece collapses with a pissed off “shut the door” and it’s time for the kids to pack up their toys.

Repetition again with Winter Coat but a completely different effect sees the return of Poor Circles pop elements with American influences abounding. It’s the closing track and brings the album full circle along a journey that gives and takes, never settling down to a particular style. If you can handle feeling this disorientated you might just like this album. Have another listen so that you can hear the stuff you didn’t hear the first time. Keep pressing repeat until you’ve worked it out or driven yourself crazy in the process.

Serena Armstrong

Lifehouse No Name Face

The only sure thing about these guys that it is impeccably difficult to find a flaw in their music. They aren’t

exactly fantastic, but this is one of those albums where you can listen from start to finish, kick back and chill out and say “That was alright.”

To give some perspective, Jason Wade (the lead singer) has a slight Rob Thomas (Matchbox 20) feel to him. He has the same rough and raw vocal ability which comes across very smooth. Lifehouse are a lot mellower than a lot of other rock bands that they would fit into the same genre as, but their quality of music by no means suffers from this. In fact if anything it actually benefits in that they sound almost soothing.

The band, comprising Jason Wade (vocals/ guitar), Sergio Andrade (bass) and Diff (drums), not only have a good sound, but also have meaningful songs. For those who actually listen to the lyrics these are definitely worth paying attention to. Most of them (though not all) are a love song of some sort, being played as a rock ballad.

The main songs of mention (if any can be singled out as being better than the others) are the two opening tracks Hanging By A Moment and Sick Cycle Carousel, as well as the songs Cling And Clatter and Breathing.

There isn’t really any way of describing how the songs actually are. Everything is just good. The guitar playing isn’t anything fresh, but it is at least consistently played well. The drumming and other musical interventions are also of the same consistency. Everything seems to work well for the band. But it’s because of this very reason that they may not pick up in popularity and exposure as quickly as many other bands. They aren’t utterly mind-blowingly fantastic, but they are not at all anywhere near being bad. If they had to be categorised on a physical scale of balladic quality they would be sitting just above a very happy medium.

Braydon Byers.

Roughly formed in 1989 this band has traveled many paths and have picked up talent and fresh ideas all along the way. Ultimately a rock & roll band, You Am I have poured forth a new uprising of masterful effort with their fifth album, Dress Me Slowly.

This album is ultimately an example of paradoxical behavior. It is new, well ripened and progressive yet draws back upon experience and history to form a solid foundation from which to branch forth. It contains Tim Rogers’ distinctive lyrics and vocals that bring forward all the old You Am I songs a listener has experienced into the present moment in a strange time loop of old and new.

It is music to kick along to and think about, with strong rock one minute and softer ballads the next. It has hard edges yet soft tones interwoven. Gorgeous and curious lyrics, uplifting guitars and well balanced percussion combine seamlessly in each and every song.

Opening song Judge Roy sets the scene with twangy riffs that seem to sing along with the vocals, energy and gusto. The single, much loved by radio, Get Up carries on this bout of energetic musical concoction with thumping drums and bass guitar providing a solid foundation. Excited chorus “ Get Up! Get Up!” makes you want to do just that, and maybe a bit of jumping around too.

Then the scene begins to change. Beautiful Girl develops a softer subject matter and style and starkly contrasts the first songs. Diversity throughout the album prevents repetition and boredom.

Released single, Damage is a definit highlight. Unearthly drums, soft style wailing guitars, heart wrenching vocal and backing by classical strings give the song uniquely mournful layers an< depth. Interesting lyrics such as “I fe for you like a dog from a tree” mak< the song that little bit stranger and evei more ‘You Am l-ish’.

Satisfied is definitely a mind-catche You know, one of those songs you can shake off for days because of its catch’ tune. Sounding strangely country-esq i places, it is certainly, as far as min catchers go, splendid.

To compensate for this invasion of your mind, Bring Some Sun Back demands nothing but playful banter. Humorously woeful echoing backup singing makes it easy to smile and forgive those lads for any encroachment upon your musical- mental canvas.

Other songs on the album continue in the manner of strong hard rock with the wailing guitars of Doug Sahm, softer rock in Watcha Doin’ To Me, and so on with the juxtaposition until the jittery lead guitars of End O’ The Line sign off.

throughout the album in a similar manner as those who witness something horrible. You want to pull away because you don’t know what effects it will have on you, but all the same you feel foreordained to figuring out what it all means.

But can you? I mean ... “You won’t go out with a drunk on the road, Or use your fork to search for the toast”, who can ever fully understand the strange workings of the You Am I mind?

If a picture paints a thousand word then a You Am I song plays a millio words. A You Am I album is therefor incomprehensibly infinite. You Am I ca never, and will never be boxed. Ho' can you box up the entire spectrum life, emotion and experience? How coul you ever try to?

Here is where the paradox lays. You An I have managed to pack it up for our eas consumption. A neat little package of 1: songs. Yet they themselves can neve be boxed up into any single category But really, why would we want to? Loo what comes of letting them roam frei and unfettered.

Sally Millar

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Dreamgirl and The Motorist 8-Track Demos

The name Dreamgirl and The Motorist has been appearing quite a lot of late

within these pages and not without good reason -there simply isn’t anything around like it at the moment. Who is Dreamgirl and The Motorist? Primarily it is the vision of local girl Carolyn M. Chism who wrote, played, arranged and recorded the 13 songs on this album between 1996 - 2000 with long gaps in between (her words not mine) and “a little help from her friends”.

The title “atmospheric dream pop” has been used to describe this music and I’m quite happy to use it as well. Stylistically this sits somewhere between the Cure, Cocteau Twins, and maybe My Bloody Valentine (minus the feedback). Out of curiosity I would have liked to have seen a list of what instruments were used on the album. There are some excellent sounds which at times are hard to distinguish amongst the layered blend; the instrumental first track The Long Road contains what sounds like a harmonica, acoustic guitar, and some kind of a keyboard (I think) that could just as easily be an effect laden vocal line. I’m blown away that this is a demo as I think it has a maturity about it that takes some bands at least three or four albums to achieve.

Carolyn’s vocals barely raises above a whisper throughout the CD. This adds to the sad, beautiful fragility of the music. My favourite tracks would have to be A Candle Dripping Secrets Caught on the Wall (if not for the title alone reminiscent of David Sylvian), Masquerade which has grown to be a bit of a live favourite, and Regent Cinema an ode to our local cinema (I too have sat and wondered how the hell they change all those bloody globes). Dreamgirl and The Motorist has grown into a live band since the recording of this album and I’ve heard whisperings of a new recording in the works; if this CD is a demo then this can only be a good thing. I’m not too sure if this recording is available in the shops as yet, your best bet is to keep your eyes open for any gigs and make inquiries at the show.

Rev. Cheesus Crust (Church Of Latter Day Paste).

Weezer The Green Album.

Kerrang magazine have already named it ‘album of the summer’ (well, it’s nice to know it’s summer

somewhere at the moment), and what do you get from Weezer after five years or so of silence, for your $30? Less than a minute per dollar, for starters. The CD clocks in at 28:36 (that’s across ten songs). Quantity aside, the actual quality is unhappily dubious. After a few listens, the third Weezer album does have a certain charm, and if it were any other, straighter band, they’d possibly be able to pass it off as ‘good’ (or maybe ‘adequate’). But this is Weezer, the genius behind the Blue Album and Pinkerton, and yes, we expect more than ‘good’.

This latest instalment possesses little to none of the glorious Pixiesish guitar chaos of Pinkerton. Virtually no feedback, and tight and

polished to the point of sounding like it’s played by robots. Rivers Cuomo’s characteristic vocals are also consistently hidden by the excessive production and often superfluous backing vox. A shame when such a distinctive voice had become one of the joys of listening to the band in the first place. After the joyous rampage (silly screams, baffling nursery-rhyme guitar lines drenched in buzz, etc) of infectious songs that was their last album, this is glaringly sedate. More than half these songs are basically Blink 182 without as much melody and half the speed, and the opening track ‘don’t let go’ sounds like Weezer-covers-Ash.

Maybe that’s a little harsh, but it is such a disappointment that a band who are capable of such exceptional quality are running with the pack here. Even the lyrics are less than inspired. The man who wrote the brilliant El Scorcho is now singing ‘can’t you see/ you’re just me/ turn the pages of my mind’ and similar pseudo-introspective garblings. After a few of these dodgy bits raise their malformed heads, it is easy to let them snowball and get pissed off with everything about this album. Such as, for instance, the fact the CD booklet is two pages (front cover, back cover and a big photo of the band inside), but there are a few if not shining then at least noteworthy moments too. Glorious Day and Crab feature some interesting use of multiple vocals, and then there is the mock- spooky Hash Pipe with its accelerated Jaws riff and gorgeous little falsetto wails from Rivers.

Overall, this album is reasonably interesting, and easily holds its own amongst the rest of this sort of thing around at the moment. However, it hardly possesses enough talent or energy to lick Pinkerton’s sneakers.

After enduring five years of ‘Weezer has broken up’ rumours, to be rescued by this is hardly satisfying. Weezer are alive, and back, but only just.

38-4=9.5.

Rammstein Mutter

The most talked about band whose name has been on everybody’s lips since they set fire to everything in sight

at this year’s BDO. Are Rammstein merely pyromaniacs or great musicians? A little bit of both actually. Nobody had heard about these guys until Nine Inch Nails’ main-man Trent Reznor felt they would be suitable for the soundtrack to David Lynch’s Lost Highway. They got noticed again when Triple J picked up on their cover of the Depeche Mode classic Stripped (the only song I’ve ever heard them sing in English) from their Sehnsucht album, which also included single Du Hast.

When I encountered the band at this time I found them a little (surprisingly!) cheesy. Their approach is simple and you’ve heard it before, take some metal style guitar riffing, precise rhythms and a dab of sampling and keyboards and hey presto! The Rammstein sound. The thing that does set these guys apart is the vocals. The German language can sound pretty sinister as it is, but when sung all loud and growly it’s down right spooky. The language barrier doesn’t seem to pose a problem for Australian audiences (all songs are sung in German).

Enough rambling; the new album Mutter. Less

cheese this time around, the blend of sounds is more effectual. The cyber-punk goth/industrial community seems to have adopted Rammstein as it’s own and this seems to cater for them. We get the swirly false security of cinematic styled strings in first song Mein Herz Brennt for about 30 seconds before the guitars blow the speakers apart. The guitars are huge, bigger than before, and come close to a (Psalm 69 period) Ministry like intensity at times. There are the big anthem like songs which nod towards Metallica, the drop everything and play acoustic approach which Marilyn Manson has used so well, atmospheric female backing vocals ...an improvement on the last outing, full of guitar hooks, a soundtrack for the pissed off. Buy now to avoid missing out on your free Rammstein poster. It is hilarious, the sort of thing to stick on the toilet door to amuse guests.

Rev. Cheesus Crust

Sounds Like Sunset Saturdays

Sounds Like Sunset sound like sunset. It’s true. That part of the day when you can breathe in, slow

down, watch the colours clash and change and feel the evening chills tickle your skin. Sounds Like Sunset sound nothing like sunset. They are noisy, downbeat, noisy and, urn, downbeat. Sounds Like Sunset sound like Sounds Like Sunset. They have a very distinct sound that sounds most like themselves. Sounds Like Sunset sound nothing like Sounds Like Sunset. A variety of approaches are used, a variety of tangents explored, and a variety of sounds produced.

So which is it? Well all really. There is a sense of both familiarity and freshness with this debut album. Their low-key pop and jagged angulation over crusty fuzz is simultaneously harmonious and discordant. Musically they are distant cousins of 78 Saab, but more compositionally left-field - a 78 Volkswagon perhaps.

Each Time You Smile opens the album with a clever, if derivative, chord progression, straight from the Gaslight Radio school of aural infection - they certainly can’t be accused of not doing their pop homework. Wrestled With Yourself is a creeping low-slung saunter, Someone Special is almost pretty but a bit dorky, Babysteps is a scribbly instrumental piece. Unfair carries on in a pop sort of way but with that uber-distorted guitar sound back to rip up the carpet some. Ditto Inflight Movies with its rampant messiness and disinterest in cleaning up after itself, after overdriven guitars and tampered pedals are used to create swirling blizzards of sonic snow. Squeaky Clean clears the air for a bit of halfway mark synthetic shenanigans, before we Start Again slowly. Sing Forever throws a blanket over itself, sounding like its coming to us from a few floors away. It drones along in a very un-lush manner, a groove not so much abstract as substract. The Intergalactic Space Program is a daft a capella sort of thing. Not one to dwell on. It’s So Cold Where You Sleep is one however, a textually rich polished gem that stands out from its roughly hewn surrounds. The vocals sound a tad reedy, but that somehow seems appropriate. Cold Shoulders is a train back to noiseville, a town they really seem loathe to leave for long. Here they began and here they shall rest, ashes to ashes and all

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that guff. Having traveled away from home but knowing where their heart and roots were bound, knowing they could never really say goodbye forever, they return, get a bit noisy, lay down, then sleep. It is the end of another Saturday, and who knows what tomorrow may bring?

Mr E. Mann

Fear Factory Digimortal

For Fear Factory Fans, April 23 represented the end of a long three year wait with the release of the

new album, Digimortal. Since 1998’s Obselete, the heavy metal community has been waiting to see what direction the self-proclaimed ‘Future of Metal’ would take. Fear Factory continue the theme of ‘Man vs Machine’ (which on this album turns toward cloning), distinguishing them from more mindless bands. The new album is a return to the solid punchy sound of 1995’s Demanufacture as confirmed by Burton C. Bell (vocalist) in a recent interview. Digimortal features the crunching, grinding guitars and incredible industrial effects for which Fear Factory is so well-known. However, it does also appear to be more melody-driven than Obselete, getting back to the crisp, clean Demanufacture sound, and the lyrics are intelligent, questioning the direction in which mankind is heading and the relationship between humanity and technology.

Featuring the line-up of Burton C. Bell on vocals, Dino Cazares on lead guitar, Christian Olde Wilbers on bass guitar and Raymond Herrera on (triple-kick!) drums, one notable feature of Digimortal is the collaboration on Back the Fuck Up with B-Real from Cypress Hill. This is not one of those weak rap-metal tracks poured out so remorselessly by such bands as Limp Bizkit and Linkin Park, but it is expected that Fear Factory fans will be apprehensive about this track - no need to worry, it’s a cracker. The FF sound is certainly not lost and the mix works really well.

One thing you will notice quite quickly is that most of the tracks run for only three or four minutes, which is a big decrease from Obselete where most tracks went for approximately five minutes, and epics such as Resurrection and Securitron went for about six minutes.

The first single, Linchpin, features Burton’s ‘dry lung’ vocals in the verses and his soaring voice opens up in the chorus, backed up by a brutally strong guitar riff. Each track on this album keeps you in awe of this band that seems to keep on improving, especially the title- track and other stand outs including Invisible Wounds, Damaged and Acres of Skin.

Even better news is that Fear Factory may be touring Australia later in the year, something we have been looking forward to since their Big Day Out performances in years past. It seems our fate as die-hard music fans that we will buy the album as soon as it is released and then Road Runner will put out a Digipak later on with bonus tracks (and I can tell you that the bonus tracks are also brilliant), but we can live with that. This album is a must for all FF fans.

Ben Coleman

Gilli Moon Temperamental Angel

Gilli Moon is an Australian born LA based self-taught singer, songwriter and musician. Temperamental

Angel is her second album and is the debut offering from her recently formed record label Warrior Girl. If Tori Amos or Kate Bush is your type of ear candy then you will find solace in the melodic harmony that is Gilli Moon.

Temperamental Angel is full of songs that tap raw emotion. The lyrics question love, hate, sensuality and self-empowerment. The first song Communication resembles prose and explores how we relate to people in our lives through different personas, doing so with an indigenous overtone.

A criticism of this album is that the tracks are not sufficiently distinct. Mid way through the album, they begin to merge into one long song that discusses the same issues repeatedly (mainly love turned sour). The repetition is irritating and makes it challenging to appreciate the talent of the artist. The use of indigenous music on this album is fantastic however and gives the tracks an edge. Temperamental Angel is classified as progressive rock/pop yet I would contend this is an album that has real mainstream pop potential.

Sarah Eliza Le Breton

Thursday Full Collapse

Thursday rule and Full Collapse has been in and around my stereo ever since I got it. From the well-executed

atmospheric intro (with its counterpart outro that bookends the album) it became apparent that I was in for an experience that is totally my thing. The album begins for real with the second track Understanding in a Car Crash which contains a guitar riff that rocked with unprecedented force and in an astonished state I remarked “Great Caesar’s ghost!” .

The vocalist at first struck me as being a little too ‘pretty’ but I got used to it after a few minutes, and this is also balanced throughout the album with angsty screamed backing vocals. The next track was amazingly even better with some fine octave chords and overlaid vocals that are constructed as delicately as a house of cards. First Class. Believe me I have heard music like this before and Thursday do it better than most; throughout the entire album it is in a state of flux, nothing sounds quite the same and it never gets boring, but it retains the concept of the album expertly. At times I lost count of the amount of changes within a song. Track four ‘Autobiography of a Nation’ has a nice bridge with pianos and vocals dueling and showcasing Thursday’s appealing songwriting.

The album incorporates distorted, sometimes discordant rock riffs with jangly fingerpicking stuff, flowing ultrarhythmic basslines, reverberated vocals and sample sounding passages, and vacant moments of drums and bass guitar. Some songs are more upbeat than others, adding commendable variety, but Thursday have perfected their style and manage to (narrowly) avoid sounding overproduced. They sound like a heavier version of Sunny Day Real Estate, but better, the singer sounds

a little like the guy out of Piebald but more serious, and although the bass and drums are really outstanding the drums are awesome from a helicopterish snare to the rain of crash cymbals.

The lyrics sound okay with the music but don’t always make sense by themselves and border on the weird. Apart from that they are vaguely poetic, a little esoteric but nevertheless interesting, “And we watch our lives bleed out through our hands/That’s how it was on the first day/We saw Paris in Flames”. I got the feeling some of the desperate screams are a bit forced(?) but maybe Thursday are just an emotionally fragile group of guys.

In any case I am still waiting for the point where this album stops getting better every time I hear it.

Keith Hinde

Shock Records Thirteenth Anniversary Collection

The compilation album is a curious beast. On one hand, it may contain a relatively high proportion of tunes you really dig. Invariably however, there will be a few tracks you regard as official duds, destined to be skipped over or programmed out. The ultimate compilation has always seemed outside the realm of possibility for a label to release, an untenable pipe dream. Until now that is. To celebrate their 13th year releasing the finest that pop and rock music with a twist has to offer, Shock Records have released an epic three disc set of some of the most important moments indie music has thrown at us.

Disc One opens rather fittingly with godparents of indie-guitar (or at least the mad great uncles) the Pixies. Their delightful Debaser shows how music can go from the Beach Boys to Nirvana with only one step between, while next up the perfectly paced snarl of distorted girl pop/ rock that is Veruca Salt’s Seether delivers sugar, spice, and things not-so-nice. The mixed emotions and sunny melancholia of Buffalo Tom’s Summer then turns into the urban tales of You Am I’s sparkle and quick-step Soldiers, while down on the bayou all is well with RL Burnside’s It’s Bad You Know. Its sparse blues groove and harmonica licks nicely set up The Dirty Three and their amazing performance in Indian Love Song. Electrifying and earthy, the freewheelin’ streetscape whirling just builds up and up without release. The juicy bounce of Screamfeeder’s Dart sits nicely with the persuasive percussive lead and exploding chorus of Fur’s Jimmy Rogers', the tambourine- timed pure retro-pop of Even’s Stop & Go Man keeps the local acts flying high along with the tasteless but fun TISM and the anaemic techno beat of Greg The Stop Sign. Ripe appear with their swirling neo-psychedelica, only to be blown away by those masters of layered guitar noise Swervedriver. Their mesmerising Rave Down sees jagged hook piled on jagged hook, as too does Big Heavy Stuff’s crunchy bile blitz in Big Mouth. Glide’s picture perfect Why You Asking is sweet, breezy, low-key yet lovable stuff. British wonderkids Primal Scream get oh so smooth and sultry with Loaded, before the mindless pop of Jazz Butcher smashes the 70s into the 90s like kids playing with Matchbox cars. Love Corporation deliver a synth driven

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Palatial, its insistent beat carrying us through to the end of the album. All this and you’re barely a third of the way through.

The next two albums are similarly diverse and beautifully crafted, making seamless party albums that maintain quality alongside quantity. Disc Two pits the Breeders and their all-time classic Cannonball up against Bis’s trash-blip Eurodisco, and the inimitable Lush and Belly. Slotting inbetween are ethereal dance music pioneers St. Etienne, Cocteau Twins, and the Underground Lovers. Songwriters of the calibre of Ed Kuepper, Ani Difranco and Kristen Hersh also appear, and all of the sudden it is Disc Two that you can’t stop playing. The only thing that can get it out of the disc tray? Yep, that’s right. Disc Three.

This disc is home to the noisier and more adrenalin-fuelled end of the spectrum, with Frenzal Rhomb, Pennywise and Millencolin taking up home alongside Sepultura, Supersuckers and Cosmic Psychos. The seconds half is where it really shines though, with Magic Dirt’s ultra-cool Ice and PJ Harvey’s banshee performance of Sheelanagig only a few tracks away from the “one night stand under stoned persuasion” of Sebadoh’s awesome Rebound and Superchunk’s super enough Hyper Enough. But wait, as Tim Shaw would demand, there’s more. But that is for you to discover.

Each disc of this collection has a loose focus, but the difficulty in keeping to it is a sign of the breadth of talent Shock has brought to our shores, or found in our own backyard. The first disc leans toward the indie-pop anthem, those songs that have that indefinable ‘something’ that lifts them to instant classic status. Disc two is the laid-back album, showcasing Shock’s love affair with experimental mood pieces. Disc Three is the throw-yourself-around the room noisy side, the rock with thought.

Taken together, these discs highlight the crucial role Shock have played (and continue to excel at) in giving non-mainstream music a chance to find a loving home. Imagine a musical landscape without any of these songs and all of a sudden you will feel like giving the Shock collective a big sloppy thankyou kiss.

Mr E. Mann

Electric Frankenstein Annie ’s Grave

The evolution of punk seems to be a never-ending phenomenon. As for the current definition, all a band

should possess to be classified as punk is a fast beat and a style which sparks such a reaction that it could possibly cause teenagers to jump around like chooks without heads. If Homebake and the Big Day Out are anything to go by, this doesn’t take much.

When I was faced with the “interesting” artwork on this CD (which fittingly accompanied the name) I was a little skeptical of what I was about to experience - half expecting my eardrums to be assaulted by ad-libbed screams of terror and deep throaty grumbles reminiscent of a Mary Shelly production. On first impressions alone I would not have even imagined that this album possessed anything even remotely alluding to the punk genre, opting for something more along the lines of quirky new-age electronica... but I suppose it is punk, and indeed it’s not half

bad.The vocals are a little lower and somewhat

more hoarse than today’s punk would dictate as the norm, placing an emphasis on the rock influences that infiltrate their sound.

The music tends to be quick and repetitive, with some melodic and inspiring rock-style lead guitar. The vocal range is quite unimaginative, and remains that way for the entire album, possessing elements that are somewhat like early Pennywise and Bad Religion. Despite what it says on the cover, their sound seems more Rock than Punk, leaving this offering refreshingly different to most of the myriad Australian newcomers emerging due to the overpricing of imported CDs - the Aussie Dollar can, I suppose, be a God-send for Aussie music... In fact, they have quite a diverse range of influences that creep out of their album in the same way one might expect Annie to creep from her grave, and I have been hard pressed to liken them to a short list of bands.

Basically, their sound is unique. Electric Frankenstein have managed to successfully blend classic Aussie Rock in with Californian early-to-mid 90s punk to generate a product that, when put together, sounds quite good. The album is relatively easy on the ears, and with the exception of Takin’ You Down (which for all intents and purposes did nothing for me), Annie’s Grave is quite a decent album.

My main criticism of this album, however shallow it may seem, lies in the image that is generated by the name... I mean honestly, what were they thinking???

Inga Bergersen

Dido No Angel

For those of you who have heard of Dido, you definitely know good music. As for those of you who haven’t,

prepare to be enlightened. Her main career highlight to date (without at all taking anything away from everything else she’s accomplished) has most definitely been when Eminem sampled her song Thank You as a backing to Stan, which features on his Marshall Mathers LP. As a follow-up to this, Eminem’s video clip for Stan also featured Dido herself acting as the abused, pregnant girlfriend who ends up drowning while tied up in the boot of a car. If this doesn’t ring any bells then I’m guessing that for the past year or so you have been living on the moon, with your eyes shut and your fingers in your ears, while hiding in a cave with you back turned.

But I digress. To name just a few of her other accomplishments, Dido has sung on two other albums of her brother’s band Faithless, her song Thank You featured in the closing credits of the movie Sliding Doors and her song Here With Me was chosen as the theme song to the TV hit Roswell High. If this still isn’t ringing any bells then you have been missing out on something of a phenomenon.

To describe Dido in relation to anyone else would almost be an insult to her talent, but there is, however, a faint similarity between her and The Cranberries. Both are vocally based around the one particular female artist, and both are lyrically focused on the tension, conflicts and emotions that arise from affection and relationships. Where at various points of time

throughout their songs they also indulge in particular whims.

Her two smash hits Thank You and Here With Me, as with most of her songs, are very slow and sound almost melancholic, yet also have a positively charged message throughout the song. Here With Me is almost an appeal or a search for someone to love, whereas the other big success Thank You is more about the appreciation of actually having someone to love.

Other songs that can be discovered on No Angel which are worth keeping an ear out for include the bizarre melodic tune Honestly Ok, which is about suffering self-disgust. There’s also the slightly more upbeat, bouncy bonus track Take My Hand, which is an abstract expression of affection. But then most of what Dido sings is a little obscure and shows deep complexion of the mind.

All in all, anyone who likes to sit back, relax and chill out with some very fine tunes filling the air around will find this album a keeper.

Braydon Byers

FUgG A rt Brut

Here it is! A new batch of catchy as all fuck new boot scootin’ hot to trot tunes from FUgG. Following hot on the

heels of previous releases Drucked and Altar Ego is FUgG’s first full-length CD A rt Brut.

It is immediately apparent how much FUgG have developed as musicians and songwriters, the new songs being more dynamic and varied in sound to their previous releases, whilst retaining the catchiness that originally made them so appealing. If anything they are catchier than before.

The mix of influences is wide and varied, but they fall in the same vein of music as bands like The Damned, Devo and maybe a touch of The Dandy Warhols.

The CD kicks off with an excerpt from a radio interview in which former guitarist Adam poses the question “Who was the reviewer in the latest edition of Bulb who quoted FUgG as being crap?” before kicking into the bombastic Aren’t The Artschool? a tune about urn...Art school?

Guitarists Grant and Noah whilst having different styles of playing (check out Grant’s acoustic Intermission (Sea Song)- is this the real Grant?) complement each other well: at times it sounds like a musical game of cat and mouse is taking place.

Additional backing vocals courtesy of Carolyn La La Roach, Oompah and Loompah Hardpants (where do they find these people?), Chris Mitchell and Belinda Deane are used to great effect in Lost a Friend and I Really Like You A Lot.

Ronny now features as the main vocalist and handles the job more than capably (even singing in Dutch on Lami’s Theme) and has developed a rather distinct vocal style which is most certainly his own. Grant takes over on the anti-Olympic anthem Olympanzee and live favourite I ’m Psyched Tonight, Mike (Good to see some older songs making it onto the album).

With so many great tunes on one great album I’m hard pressed to find any highlight songs because they are all great. In fact, I have a new favourite with each listen which I think is

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the sign of a great album. Lost a Friend and its inherent catchiness definitely has airplay written all over it along with Figowitz Is Dead and maybe Rush Job.

A few surprises lay in store along the way, which I won’t spoil. Check it out for yourself, it’s a whole lot of fun and keep an eye out for any live shows - they have to be seen to be believed.

Insomnomaniac

Michael Franti & Spearhead Stay Human

Michael Franti is one pissed off dude. He is also one well happy dude. A weird idea for

an album, showing more than one emotion at a time. But that is what is going down and it works pretty nicely.

Stay Human is on one level a concept album, but put together in a way that allows a whole host of lyrical and musical excursions. It is structured as though it is a pirate radio show dedicated to free speech, the links are between the songs being dropped rather than solely in lyrical content. Recurrent themes do crop up, but these make for cohesion rather than dead- horses and the flogging thereof.

Franti shows us more of his moves as a free-stylin’ wordsmith, returning a socially provocative and passionate conscience to West Coast rhymin’. Rather than the inane narcissistic posturing and preening of poseur par excellence Eminem, Franti’s baritone booms out with the fire and sense of social ill that has stayed burning since he and Rono Tse released the landmark Hypocrisy Is The Greatest Luxury as The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy. Although the sample-fest freaky industrial-jazz breakdown has mellowed into a warm organic smoothness, the rappin’ from-the-hip drilling social responsibility into the listener still has a home.

Stay Human picks up from a lot of the ideas and organic grooves of the 1994 Spearhead debut Home.The title track is a prime example, a soulful disco-groove underpinning an entreatment that we remain ourselves, that we stay freaky. Rock The Nation asks that we do just that, a mechanised trip to hip-hop circa Grandmaster Flash, with Franti’s call to hit back delivered in a twisted tongue-ballet skipping across potent words. Echoes of Public Enemy shout out in some old skool politiking, with classic black music roots in the funkiest, most soulful traditions. Sometimes reminds that the personal is also political, that ‘victim’ status does not exonerate the individual.The radio segments punctuating these tracks get you thinking too, with an all-too-feasible scary conversation with Governor Franklin Shane (Woody Harrelson in ultimate redneck mode), on the racial and socio-cultural skewing of the death penalty.

Do Ya Love opens with a sultry sexy sax, more Marvin Gaye than Chuck D. Franti may get cranky, but the man’s gotta’ love sometimes too baby. Soulshine is again about feeling freaky and free, daring to unchain yourself, freeing your soul so you can consider your place in the machine. Every Single Soul is soulful in both respects, a reflective interlude that switches tempo throughout. The piano and flute of Thank You give way to neo-disco beats, and a word to the power of music to let you be you, with

props out to the musical heroes that showed Franti the way. Speaking O f Tongues is sparse, hollow but hot, molten rhyming and broken beats setting up house halfway between Tricky and Alex Lloyd. It is an album highlight, along with the sentiments of album closer Skin O The Drum - “the harder they hit us the louder we become, kinda like the skin on the drum”.

Where coldness and blunt noggin bopping were the old mode, the Spearhead banner allows Franti to be human, to mix the love with the pain. The warmth of texture and lyricism is musically uplifting, but never lets you off the hook. You are still brought back to reality and the responsibility to notice injustices and consider them, at the same time as considering your own life and possible complicity. A wonderful melding of politics and love, Stay Human could have been a victim of its own emotional stew but turns out a remarkable musical treat.

Mr E. Mann

Reach The Sky Friends, Lies and the End o f the World

This is a hideous album. Reach The Sky play generic hardcore with ridiculous singy

vocals that do not suit their music. If I was forced to listen to this music for an extended period I am sure I would lapse into a coma. With due consideration to the fact that this is one of the easiest genres of music to write songs for, there is no excuse for the atrocious melodies that Reach The Sky crank out.

These guys are so bad that I can’t really think of that many bands to compare them to, but I know they are from Boston and are friends with the (superior) bands Dropkick Murphys and Blood for Blood. Maybe they sound like Raised Fist with more singing.... who cares! Once again there is no excuse for the lack of lyrics. It is like reviewing half an album, but I’m sure they ain’t Dostoevsky, from the interviews I have read with these guys in hardcore zines they sing about friendship and other familiar hardcore ground, so I doubt it would instigate any life changing philosophical thought.

So if you enjoy standardised formulaic hardcore music, with alternating driving distorted riffs and chug-chug riffs, topped off with inane crooning, get in touch with me because I will probably give it to you. Otherwise avoid at all costs.

Keith Hinde

Frenzal Rhomb Shut Your Mouth

Yet another release from the Sydney-based punk act Frenzal Rhomb that is guaranteed to get you up

and thrashing around the house, knocking over furniture and breaking ornaments along the way. This album is best played loud with every intention of offending your parents and elderly neighbours so that they will get out of the house - possibly even the neighbourhood!

The opener, Everything’s F*cked, should ensure that you achieve your goal within the smallest timeframe possible. It’s this type of loud attitude that echoes unresolved teen rebellion crossed with a slowly maturing sense of social

injustice. I never thought I’d say it, but Frenzal are growing up.

With their latest offering, whilst still self- reflective at the core, and quite sarcastically personal at times, their lyrics have matured to include some slightly more poignant societal statements that come with a near-death wake-up call. Along with improvements in the content, their messages have been cleverly (or simply, I’m not entirely sure which) phrased into simple terminology that is easily digestible to larger audiences.

Increasingly popular with the younger listeners, Frenzal deserve praise for their persistence in playing all-ages shows. During these gigs, and listening to their albums, it is easy to see why their music is so popular with teens. Full of chants that have become anthems to the frustrated teenager, Shut Your Mouth again contributes to the list of verses that one can sing back to their parents during heated arguments (“I love love love love love love f*cking up”). Blend these with some inventive guitar work and it is easy to understand why Frenzal Rhomb have risen to fame. Thankfully, Frenzal’s sound is still up-beat and fun, contrasting with the exaggerated complaints that are incessant in their songs, making the music uplifting rather than dour and overly angry.

This album wouldn’t be complete without a punkified sample of an old pop song, and in this case UB-40 get the honour with the inclusion of “I can’t help falling in love with you” in the middle of the particularly anarchistic Don’t Let the Bastards Keep You Down. Jay’s exaggerated Aussie accent is one of their trademarks, and adds to the amusement of the pop song’s inclusion. The tendency to include pop samples has been going since their early days, with one of my favourites being a reworking of Depeche Mode’s Just Can’t Get Enough in which the signature guitar riff remains the same, but the lyrics have been changed to “How can I f*ck the system when I just can’t get it up”.

Overall, Shut Your Mouth is consistently good punk from one of Australia’s premiere punk acts - but if swearing offends you, perhaps you shouldn’t venture here.

Inga Bergersen

I C F l iS S O fN J S sSSIMEK. MrtmW&K.

KRS-1 Sneak Attack

Let’s role-play for a minute. Opening your eyes, you see a bedroom with all the amenities. Music posters

enliven dull walls. Your computer/stereo rests beside a window so that only the whirr of outside air fills in quiet gaps between hip-hop tracks pumping from the speakers. Bobbing your head, feeling Saturday afternoon’s vibe - your father sneaks through the door into your midst. “We have to talk,” he says. Another lecture on life. But what seems different about this talk? Maybe how amazingly he meters his sentences to the beat. And though overly familiar with the meaning itself, being unfamiliar with a lecture over hip-hop intrigues you. Glad he sneaked in, eh?

This defines Sneak Attack, the newest album from self declared hip-hop deity KRS-1. One could call him a god, seeing that he has remained indelible for nearly 20 years as a hip- hop philosopher in a business where mediocre artists last for half the time. But my explanation

42 TERTANGALA

is superfluous, since he boasts about his endurance in every song. And when bragging about “doing it longer” doesn’t overshadow, it equals half the lyrical content of each song, making for a homogenous album. And thus, listening to Sneak Attack more than twice makes KRS’s usually sharp lyrics sound, well, as hackneyed and dull as your father’s lecture.

Making up for the unexcitable lyrics are the beats. And credit to KRS. He’s the producer of six songs, with others by Kenny Parker and Domingo from Yosumi Entertainment. All tracks sound so fresh ’n’ clean, representative more of an upscale studio that houses computers equipped with 160 megs of RAM, 50 gig hard drives, and 64 meg sound cards; touching on how changes in technology change hip-hop as well.

But as we change through life, KRS-1’s messages will not vary from those he preached when he started in 1981. Unified, they compose a beacon by which we should live - know thyself, question authority, free yourself through education but remember where you’re from. Don’t take my word though, it’s implied in the song titles: Doth Thou Know, The Mind, Hip-Hop Knowledge, What Kinda World, Get Your Self Up, Krush Them to name a few. The least an artist who thrives on money given by fans can do is provide sound advice to them. So listen to Sneak Attack Wke you should your father’s talks, since the album (like lectures) will only benefit.

Dion Warrick

Various Artists The Gift: Soundtrack

Yee! Ha! This album smells like swampland and moonshine and that’s just the artwork. This here is the

soundtrack to the movie The Gift, haven’t got around to seeing it yet that girl Blanchett, that Canoe guy some sort of a Sixth Sense in the south. Sounds good to me and that’s just the movie. Okay, okay, the music, the music, why am I saying everything twice?

I use to hate country music as a kid. Why? Because it was uncool, my dad liked it and there was no such thing as music outside of metal. Nick Cave showed me the error of my ways, leading me to listen to such country bad­asses as Johhny Cash and Lee Hazelwood. Sadly neither Johnny or Nick are on this disc (I mean c”mon man how obvious a choice is The Birthday Party’s Swampland). Alright so I’m over zealous fan so kill me, but I like this soundtrack. One thing I learned about county was that it wasn’t as cut and dry as dead dogs. Truck driving and leaving cheating wives. No there was quite a sinister undertone, murder and such and some just damn depressing stuff. Quite a variety of sounds here the sparse acoustic Furnace From Lullaby by Neko Case and Great Divide - Willie Nelson - as well as a fave of mine Wastin’ T im e - Wylon Jennings.

It’s official folks the good Rev. Crust is going to hell, I just cant seem to stop laughing hysterically every time I hear Loretta Lynn and that is really evil. She’s got two tracks including Mama Why, a conversation between mama and son as to why daddy had to die and her replying that he aint’ cornin’ back but that they could both go to hell. Loretta has such a sweet voice which is why I think it is so funny.

Everybody Wants To Go To Heaven makes

the bold statement that everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die. Yeah, you tell em’ sister. My much beloved Lee Hazelwood makes a brilliant contribution with Trouble Is a Lonesome Town. Country guys have a bit of a rep as boozers. Well don’t be fooled old Lee here has seen more Smack, Crack and Wacky Backy than Port Kembla. This guy is the Monster Magnet or Hawkwind of Country. His shitty sounding janggly gee-tar is backed by the sound of a dripping tap and a mournful sounding harmonica, I love it and this guy’s stuff isn’t that easy to find so this is a real treat. Other inclusions are The Souvenirs who are a bit ordinary and Merl Haggard who is a bit extraordinary (even if his song If I Could Only Fly does make me want to kill myself). This would probably appeal to those who like country, perhaps those who really, really, really (three times!) liked the movie, and those adventurous or curious enough to hear a bit of country (although I’d prefer swamp for these particular selections). This is what it is and is nice to hear a soundtrack that isn’t an inappropriate mix of the “whose popular at the time” variety.

Rev.Cheesus Crust (Church Of Latter Day Paste)

Y'outhGroup. Youth Group Urban & Eastern

leads in nicely to My Soul Takes Flight and showcases the intermingling guitars that are a feature of Youth Group. Only just breaks the three minute mark which is a pity because it is time to let the guitars free to roam and play.

A welcome change, Eight is an instrumental exploration which achieves a slow, haggard tone and throws in some sweet production ideas. The track merges smoothly into Negative Hearing which is pop with yuppie bashing.

I Don’t Care is break-up, drink-up music with some decent pedals. The pop formula works well in Instant Charmer which describes the music possibly more accurately than the subject matter. Spry Griever is a change in tone and pace with a soothing slowness and arching guitar lines that build glass castles in midair achieving a sound and a complexity that I could hear a lot more of. It also lasts almost three times as long as some of the other songs which just goes to prove I was right when I said they’d get better if they took longer. Song for Eric is another slow number but with catchier hooks.

Urban & Eastern really is quite a decent album, just don’t listen too closely because it’s still on the young side. The formula is safe and radio-friendly but it wouldn’t hurt to let the songs off the leash.

Serena Armstrong

I hate to love, or is that love to hate, this album. Youth Group have perfected the driving pop

style that originated in England and has been effectively adopted by Australian bands who impart their own Australiana watermark on the style. So if you like You Am I but want a bit more grunt, or have been thinking Shihad’s stadium- driven pop-rock antics are not a bad thing then you’ll find a mighty impressive disc here. The problem is that they threaten to get a bit too good at it so while you’re getting into all the riffs, bass, and drums you might wake up and suddenly realise that original-flavoured bubble gum isn’t the best thing, or at least the only thing, in this world.

Blue Leaves, Red Dust is a promising start and develops changes in dynamic and texture more than many of the other songs. The gentle start slowly unfolds to bear a chorus that fills out and provides kiddie moshing material that packs a power punch.

The excellent lead guitar sound on Happiness’ Border becomes tiring far too quickly and whilst likeable is irritating when the repetition becomes obvious. Applicance, Compliance is bublegum pop that follows the formula but does so effectively. The lyrics are clear and the production is so good that they are never hidden even when the guitars are invading from solo territory into the verse.

When Guilty enters it cements the claim that here is a “concept” album. Note the use of the singular. The playing is tight and the solos do the band credit but didn’t I hear this earlier? At less than three minutes it doesn’t give the band much space to explore the material. It could be that they’ll give a good live performance and let the songs breathe a bit more.

The pace slows a little with Booth Street which has a strong chorus. The subject matter is boy-girl relationship orientated and sung with the faintest tint of heartache making it rather seductive. The “intermission” piece Eric Sleeps

Lyla-Jayne Feme Sole

What a voice! This lady can belt it out with the best of them. The style of music is a bit of an acquired taste, but

even if it isn’t really “you”, Lyla-Jayne’s amazing vocal talent should be enough to win you over. She’s been quoted as being reminiscent of vocal veterans Anastacia and Macy Gray, says Daniela Djuric from A&R Warner/Chappel Music. This is the band’s first release, which shows just hovV talented Lyfa-Jane is for her voice, so well trained for her first time in the industry.

Some of the songs on this EP to note areLiving Free, where she really expresses hertrue vocal talent. Mirror Ball is funkier with heavier beats. The third song on the album is a sneaky little fake song, it only lasts for a few seconds. But the band covers for that by saying it’s an “interlude”, called The Final Say. After this comes Bitter Sweet Love. Then there’s An Astral Affair, which could easily be the second best song on the album, with a variation of different sounds. And finally, the last track on the album is called Inspiration. Which is exactly what Lyla-Jayne evokes. She’s just got such a great voice you can’t help getting swept up in her tunes, whether you like them or not. With Lyla-Jayne being an Australian band it shouldn’t be hard to catch them performing at a live gig, so even if the CD doesn’t take your fancy, you’ll still be able to see the band performing at some venue or another.

Braydon Byers ’

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JiP sKathy September Kathy September

This is an eclectic EP. The words behind the songs are shallow, and if anything detract from the incredible

talent that is Kathy September. Her voice is a unique and rich blend of husky tones with a sultry vibrato.

This EP contains five tracks. Each expounds tales of love, broken relationships, redemption and affirmative action. Guilty Roses is first up, a rock-based ballad that crones of the feeble attempts that people make to gain forgiveness. Hole is an upbeat dance track, which strongly resembles the Cher song, Do You Believe in Life After Love. Overall, this EP is a unique blend of r ‘n’ b tainted with blues tones and the power of rock. Kathy September is an emerging artist who has traveled extensively having been born in Europe, raised in Canada and currently residing in Australia.

The cover of this EP is deceptive as it makes Kathy look like a lost member of Salt ‘n’ Pepa yet this is not the genre of her music at all. This EP gives credence to the statement you can’t judge a book by its cover. Fans of Morcheeba, Alanis Morissette and Cher will bask in the lullabies of Kathy September.

Sarah Eliza Le Breton

Sekiden Love Songs For Robots

Sekiden: sexy, exciting,kinky, immature, dorky, effervescent nerds. Two eps

old, and Sekiden have already perfected their own corner of the musical world, their niche being a perfect line in NAP - Nerdy Atari Pop. Here they are again, with six neat love songs for robots.

He sings in a sort of faux-Brit way, but sometimes forgets to, she has a Nico style semi-androgony thing happening. They both jump around a lot, but you can’t see that on the ep. Nascent songs about Alexander (as in Graham Bell), love, Walter’s Woman (love), or a Big Crush (love) sit over bar chords on permanent distortion, synths on permanent go-go and drums mechanically keeping things rolling. Girl Buttons pegs the tempo back a notch, and is the sort of template they may want to work with come album-time. With only two songs lasting more than three minutes, we’re not talking ideas outstaying their welcome, merely whetting the appetite for more.

It’s bubbly, sugary stuff, it will rot your brain from the inside out, but it’s worth it and at least you’ll go out with a smile. Cute cover too.

Mr E. Mann

Chakradiva Divine

Ignore theShiva-resembling “muse”, created by

the duo Chakradiva, on the single’s cover. Forget the K-Mart, b-boy outfits they shamelessly don for pop-edge, no matter how contrived. Even leave aside the eastern sound they boast to possess (their synthesised sitar sounds strangely like an electric bagpipe in their catchy jingle Divine). These guys have appealing voices that flow over their dance-pop with the same grace for which groups like Savage Garden have become famous (but without Garden’s sappy drag). The house-cum-2-step Stickshift remix and Smash’n’Grab’s “Grazing in the Gras” trance remix hint at Chakradiva’s knowledge of dance music (Smash’n’Grab resembles Donna Summer’s I Feel Love, the first trance song ever). This single Divine may not place the two producers among music gods, but possibly among pop stars.

Dion Warrick

Millencotin No Cigar

Featuring three tracks, this latest release constitutes another radio

friendly output from Swedish light-weight melodic pop-punk band Millencolin.

The opener No Cigar is slower and more melodic than previous releases, yet still retains some classic Millencolin hooky punch.Their harmonic dual vocals remain unchanged.Black Eye Loses No Cigars has

(debatable) energy, but is somewhat saved by its layered guitar tracks. Buzzer - taken from their earlier release Life on a Plate (1995)-

is much faster, somewhat reminiscent of Strung Out, with an urgency and passion that is much more effective, although the extension detracts from the original’s integrity. However, overall it’s a decline from earlier releases.

(But on the upside video clips and live footage are also included).

Luke Butterworth

Mmmpttu) '/Am iimnpstar Hampton the Hampster Thank God I ’m a Country Boy.

What can you say about this one? Chipmunk Punk has evolved to become Techno-Hampster C’n’W. I didn’t like the original version, by John Denver if memory serves me right, and this isn’t any improvement. However, the single also has two remixes of “The Hampsterdance Song” produced by the Boomtang Boys and a bonus Hampsterdance video clip. Hampton the Hampster (sic) even has a website. Some passages of tolerable techno dance music ensue, but those Hampsters keep chirping in, literally, this time yodeling elements of Whistle Stop”by Roger Miller. Another in the long and glorious tradition of ‘novelty’ songs - ask mum and dad if they have a copy of Disco Duck up in attic. Definitely for the very young at heart.

Craig Davison

ym On Incr t lL Size Does Matter

c J l A first unsheathing

iiiir i r i i f l f if i i r f i r r H i and play of 0 n ’ ln c ’s Size Does Matterreveals the song title’s meaning. But ifthe sizeable breakbeat you’ll hear, thatBig-Beat techno predecessors mastereda decade ago, fails to unveil meaning, thesampled vocal eliminates all guessing, “Ilike the beat, and the size does matter”repeatedly fuck your ears with this On,Inc. helium-tainted vocal by chantingout loud. The degree to which youstimulate yourself without the music willexceed any pleasure On, Inc. can claim toprovide, using the Propellarheads’ typicalreverberating bassline, Fatboy Slim’sfunk-looping effect, and the ChemicalBrothers’ tech-guitar distortion. Thoughbonus track P a r a n o i a finds the groove,it does little to create climax. In musicsize does not matter, contrary to whatOn, Inc. believes. It’s how you use it.

Dion Warrick

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Alm ost Famous Director: Cam­eron Crowe Starring: Patrick Fugit, Kate Hudson, Billy Crudup 123 mins.

Yes, I do see the irony here - a writer who loves music is

writing about a film about a writer who loves music. This excellent film by Cameron Crowe (Singles, Say Anything) is a story which has very strong connections with the writer/director’s own adolescence. Almost Famous is about the coming of age of 15-year-old Will (Pat Fugit), who is a dedicated fan to many of the seminal bands of the early seventies (the period in which the movie is set).

In the film, Will’s exceptional writing talents for a local magazine land him an article for Rolling Stone, in which he has to interview up-and- coming rockers Stillwater on their 1973 national tour. On this eye opening journey, Will discovers the many highs (interpret that how you will) and lows of the 70s rock scene, and before too long finds himself in the inner circle of the band. Due to making friends with the group, particularly the guitar player Russell Hammond (Billy Crudup), Will loses his objectivity towards Stillwater and therefore has trouble in deciding whether to write the truth about them or to just make them “look cool”. With other issues in Will’s life, including his protective mother (Frances McDormand) and his love for ‘Band Aid’ Penny Lane (Kate Hudson), he learns an important life lesson which successfully concludes the film (Ha ha - I’m not telling, you have to go and see it).

Having been nominated at the Oscars this year for Best Picture, Almost Famous captures the essence of a crucial time in rock and roll history with the use of a well written script, an interesting plot and funny stoner/muso humour (eg the wasted bass player saying in the middle of a band argument “I’m starvin’, man. Let’s just go out and find some barbecue”). The film also includes a killer soundtrack including tracks from The Who, Led Zeppelin and Stillwater’s hit Fever Dog which is a phenomenal example of the genre of music that is played throughout the film.

The characters portrayed in this film are spot on. Jason Lee, as the band’s vocalist, plays a superb role of the stereotypical 70s lead singer who is in it for the babes and glamorous image. Other notable performances include McDormand as Will’s mum and Noah Taylor as Stillwater’s hilarious tobacco-stained manager.

There is no doubt that Cameron Crowe is a talented writer/director and Almost Famous is an example of this. Bordering on two hours in length, this film shows great detail on the

m m & r n s m im m m w

specifics and integrates the 70s music scene in with the story successfully. This makes for an entertaining motion picture that almost any music, film or writing fan should put on their must see list if they haven’t already seen it. For those of you who felt a little ripped off with Jerry Maguire, Crowe definitely makes up for it with this cracker of a film.

John Riddell.

MissCongeniality Directed by Donald Petrie Starring: Sandra Bullock, Michael Caine 110 mins.

Miss Congeniality is a fun story of a police officer who goes under cover as a competitor in the Miss United

States of America contest. Far from a beauty pageant girl, Miss New Jersey, played by Sandra Bullock is transformed from the clumsy and messy yet tough police officer into a beautiful contender for the sparkling crown. Once overlooked by her sleazy superior, a convincing performance by Benjamin Bratt, the Miss United States of America competition sparks an attraction between the two, adding a hint of romance to this story of heroism. Michael Caine successfully portrayed his character - a gay pageant agent tormented by his past errors in the pageant world - his role bringing more life to the film.

Although this is a funny, quirky film, and the idea is original, this film doesn’t have much substance, and the portrayal of the relationships between the girls in the pageant seemed unrealistic. Although there was one not so nice contestant, most of the girls were friendly, helpful competitors, the opposite to the usual stereotype of beauty pageants. The bitchiness behind closed doors in the scenes in the dressing rooms during the stages of the competition were not exaggerated enough, however, the insight into the dressing and preparation for the contest was interesting.

If you’re in for some light entertainment, then this is the movie for you: it’s funny and original, with a happy ending. If you want something more mentally stimulating and through provoking, however, it would not be highly recommended. Overall, this is a decent film; although it is not the sort of movie that wins Oscars, it is a light romantic comedy that it is both original and funny.

Nadia Barlow

Head Over Heels Directed by Mark Waters Starring: Freddie Prinze Jr, Monica Potter, Sarah O’Hare 86 mins.

Painfully, horribly soon, Head Over Heels will slink its way into our theatres. This movie, should you choose to see it, will be a waste of every hard-earned dollar you put into buying the ticket. It stars no one in particular (Freddy Prince Jr. and Sarah O’Hare are the only names I remember) and is an insult to women, Australians, and romantics everywhere, not necessarily in that order. It about a young woman who moves in with four models, who want to set her up with the good looking guy who lives across the street. The plot is beyond lame (not to mention horrendously predictable) the dialogue is crap, and everyone seems lost and embarrassed to be in this film. God knows who Head Over Heels is aimed at— there’s too much soppy love story for it to be a good perv for guys, and if any woman can sit through it with getting the urge to throw something at the screen, I’ll be greatly surprised. My verdict? 3 out of 10.

Olivia Duval

Charlie’s Angels Director: Joseph McGinty Nichol Starring: Drew Barrymore, Cameron Diaz, Lucy Liu 90 mins.

I confess - 1 was ini­tially hesitant to go and see Charlie’s Angels.

This was due to the movie having the word ‘Angel’ in its title, and with other films of this nature including Evil Angels, City o f Angels and Paul Hogan’s Almost an Angel, I felt a little dubious on the subject. It wasn’t until one of my friends said to me “You get to see Cameron Diaz naked”, which resulted in me shooting straight out the door with the speed of a bullet train to buy the tickets. Unfortunately, Cameron Diaz did not get naked in the film and worse still, Drew Barrymore was in it.

As we all probably know by now, Charlie’s Angels is an action flick which is designed to be easy on the brain whilst delivering some action scenes for our entertainment. On a certain level it does accomplish this, with the crime-fighting Angels (Drew Barrymore, Cameron Diaz and Lucy Liu) jumping, kicking and somersaulting through some fast and lively action sequences throughout the film. However, rather than saving the world as we might expect, all of these shenanigans are in aid of saving Charlie (their boss) from the clutches of an evil, double- crossing supervillain (a really bad Jon Bon Jovi look-a-like) who is out to kill him. The reason? Our supervillain is hell-bent on the revenge of his father’s murder, supposedly committed by Charlie during the Vietnam War.

Much of the film associates itself with the traditional aspects of the action genre, depicting totally unrealistic events, Formula-1 car chases and covert assignments that can only be accomplished if the person attempting them

TERTANGALA 45

is wearing a figure-hugging bodysuit. A few supporting roles give us some enjoyable comic relief, in particular Bosley (Bill Murray) and Chad (the mouse-licking Tom Green).

Charlie’s Angels is a fun action flick - no more, no less. Yes, one might say it succeeds in because it is Hollywood blockbuster material with stars-a- plenty and sticks to the traditional crowd pleasing formula. There is no point in going to see this movie if you are in for a seriously written piece of drama. Charlie’s Angels is a 90 minute ride of thrills, spills and hot chicks in bikinis.

The Exorcist (Directors Cut) Directed by William Friedkin Starring: Chris MacNeil, Max von Sydow,Linda Blair

There’s a pretty good chance you may have heard of this little flick,

as it seems to be regarded as a bit of a film classic. Originally released in 1973 we now see the arrival of the film in its obligatory “Director’s Cut”, which is a strange sort of name to give these versions as they are invariably twice as long as before.

Mention The Exorcist around any of the geriatrics my parent’s age and they come over all “oh no how scary”. So is it? Well that sort of depends. When you think about film in 1973 the Italians were making some damn cool killer zombie flicks, but Hollywood was a long way from its high water mark in terms of producing action in the bodily fluid spurting, 360 degree neck twisting, rampant self immolation department. Imagine a cinescape pre ironic horror self-referentiality, pre Chucky, pre Jason, pre Freddy, even pre Bruce Willis. Not such a scary place. Along comes a 12 year old lass dropping a lovely list of four-letter words, putting a crucifix to very novel uses and showing folks the lovely view from her rather high window. Probably scary.

Opening with a rather overlong passage that showed us the Devil first appeared in the Middle East (of course), we are taken to Washington to see just how perfect and bourgeois life is for the MacNeils before his imminent arrival there. What the link was, and how he ended up there - or why they didn’t simply use his rather obvious Republican Party connection - is left unexplained. So the lassy gets increasingly obnoxious, her mum takes her to specialists, she undergoes all sorts of yukky medical scans, and finally the answer is crystal clear: dose her up on Ritalin!

So anyways, a sad and mumbling priest (Max von Sydow) comes along. He’s been questioning his faith, mum just died, one week until retirement, avenging his murdered wife, paired up with a crazy sidekick, has to prove he’s innocent even though nobody believes him, urn, only has 24 hours to get the money back, you know the drill. He is just in time as the lass is getting way messed up, spewing copious amounts of Luciferian bile, all possessed and the like and it’s exorcism time. So that priest from Iran at the start pops in to do the deed, with our mumbler helping out. I won’t give away the ending, but let’s just say I wanna be picked on God’s team in that game of footy on Judgement Day.

Flow is a bit of an issue over this length, but there are some neat scenes. The very original spider-walk method of getting down the stairs

John Riddell

by young Regan stands out as do a few other possessed tricks. The role of Regan launched Linda Blair into the higher echelons of “where are they now?” trivia, and also marked the last decent flick for ages by Friedken (who at the time was fresh off the nifty The French Connection). It has dated a bit (film stock colour included), but has an excellent off-kilter musical track, great tension through sound, plenty decent FX and the odd moment of true, albeit damp, horror. Can’t wait until some network exec picks up the idea and we see the launch of “House of Horrors”, in which contestants are purposely possessed, the last one alive at the end of the series walking off with a cool million.

Traffic Directed by Steven Soderbergh Staring: Michael Douglas, Benicio Del Toro 147 mins.

Traffic is a remarkable film, presenting a realistic

portrayal of the ongoing battle against drug trafficking from Mexico to the United States of America. Director Steven Soderbergh successfully combines three stories, two languages and paradoxical film work to achieve a frightening picture of drug culture, showing the impossible cycle that it encompasses.

Traffic stars Michael Douglas, Catherine Zeta- Jones, Benicio Del Toro and Dennis Quaid. It is set on location in San Diego and Los Angeles, California; Nogales and Las Cruces, Mexico; El Paso, Texas; Cincinnati and Columbus, Ohio; and Washington, DC. The combination of three separate stories shows just how extensive the drug war in America is, and the frightening fact that there are no ‘clear cut’ good guys in this film, offers a sense of hopelessness that is seen throughout Traffic.

This film shows objectively that drug problems reaches all areas of society, from sheltered rich teenagers in private schools to ordinary people struggling and doing all they can to survive in Mexico. Traffic also emphasises a need for law reform and alternative solutions for drug problems, and the consequential issues that follow.

Traffic bombards the audience with impossible themes in a film that almost seems more like a documentary than a ‘movie’. The inclusion of Spanish in most of the scenes set in Mexico and the technical effects of the camera work give Traffic a quality that increases the audience’s perception of the reality of the stories and situations in the film. In fact, a large amount of non-professional actors were used in Traffic, and many of their scenes were improvised - Soderberg rarely had to shoot a scene more than three times. Also, Several United States politicians appeared as themselves.

Throughout Traffic, the tone of the colours in the scenes varies, depending on the location and the characters. The scenes shot in Mexico have a yellow/orange tinge, while the scenes set on the East Coast have a more cold, monochromic look. These effects trick the audience into thinking that this makes the camera work in Traffic seem almost amateur­

like; however, deliberate details like this are what make the film so interesting and unique.

With a few uncredited stars thrown in (Salma Hayek and Benjamin Bratt) the acting in Traffic is excellent. Another contribution to the reality of the film is that the characterisation and presence of each actor is astounding. With no clear-cut ‘goodies’ or ‘baddies’, or answers written in black and white, Traffic is a film which opens many doors to discussion and debate; a piece that is both entertaining and educational.

Nadia Barlow

The Monkey’s Mask Director: Samantha Lang Starring: Kelly McGillis, Susie Porter, Marton Csokas, Deborah Mailman 90 mins.

“No evidence jus t a smell o f sex and violence”

Lang has gracefully transformed the poetry- novel of Dorothy Porter into a complex piece of cinema which itself defies classification. Power, infatuation, sex and death exude from the screen aided by the sultry yet deceptive performance of Kelly McGillis whose character Diana forms the centerpiece of a murder mystery. Many of you will recall McGillis’s days as vixen to Maverick in Top Gun.

The script is unique. It actively questions the intelligentsia, academia, the concept of poetry, and the people behind the words. A confronting film constructed using genre mixing and multi-dimensional characters. Lang takes an interesting approach to cinematography employing widescreen shots to frame bleak images of Sydney’s grimier landscape. A particular focus is placed on ethnic casting as part of the misenscene.

The plot revolves around the murder of a University student and the subsequent investigation requested by her parents and conducted by a private detective named Jill (Susie Porter). As the investigation unravels the secrets within the leading characters smolder, eventually being exposed rather starkly. However, the exposure does not end there.

The Monkey’s Mask is rated R (18+), and if forced to classify this film then the term “soft lesbian porn” would be apt. Yes, there are many nude scenes used to depict the relationship that is forged between Jill, the hard street savvy PI, and Diana the seductress of the poetry underworld. Sex is a very big part of The Monkey’s Mask. Every aspect of the script relates to it in one way or the other, the clues, the murder, the suspects it - all comes back to sex. You are left wondering who has not sleep with whom, and if they are yet to, when they will -surely it has to happen.

At the end, what emerges is an interesting although not compelling film, which explores an interesting range of characters amidst a weaker story line. Those who are familiar with the text of Porter will be satisfied by the adaptation, those who are not will leave the cinema perplexed and with a scarlet glow. One point of advice - The Monkey’s Mask is better left alone on a first date or on a mum accompanied afternoon at the movies.

Sarah Eliza Le Breton

Mr E. Mann

46 TERTANGALA

Hell’s Kitchen Chris Niles Pan $18.50

This is one of those books that you keep reading even though you know you probably shouldn’t. It is fun and easy to read lightweight fluff,

with all the sustenance of eating, well, a paperback book. But every now and then you should probably take a break from obscure Czech literature or Haiku poetry and dive into a schlocky tale that doesn’t hurt your head. In which case this ain’t such a bad book after all.

The story follows four main characters and an assorted host of New York loonies and odd-bods. Cyrus has too much time, money, and loneliness on his hands. His somewhat anti-social actions are a prime example of the dangers of taking self-help books as philosophical treatises, and it is around his consequent change of life that the story loosely circles. Attractive LondonerTye, endearing faux- Irish writer Quinn, and Midwestern mother Marion Neidermeyer form the other main entry points into the story. Although they are all at quite different points in their life it is obvious that they are getting closer to each other page by page.

The story opens and closes with Cyrus and it is his actions that are the ground zero sucking the rest in. He is a figure in the Justified Sinner tradition, part of a literary lineage from James Hogg through to Dostoevsky, although now appearing with a less serious entry. The detached way in which he carries out his grisly performances and the New York locale have more than a hint of American Psycho, but this story is not nearly as biting or intense as those of Brett Easton Ellis, nor is Cyrus fleshed out as chillingly as Patrick Bateman.

The story unfolds in an accessible, easy to read, chatty sort of way. The cris-crossing of the stories moves from lengthy passages to shorter snippets as the characters and their stories get closer. A cool observational humour often takes the easy way yet is still beguiling enough to keep the story fresh. Incidental characters are drawn in nicely, from the funky though scary Irish grandmother Molly to the frazzled lesbian news reporter Catrina. Their inclusion helps capture life in a megalopolis crisply, helping the less normal aspects of the story stick.

Overall this is a pretty good book with lots of movement and wit, just don’t expect much in the way of brain extension. It is a good lying- on-the-beach sort of story, and you can read it through or pick it up and put it down as you please. Chris Niles has obviously got a pretty good eye for detail and as an outsider living in Manhattan, she has caught the place nicely.

Mr E. Mann

Ghost Nation: Imagined Space and Australian Visual Culture 1901-1939 Laurie Duggan QUP $22.95

| Ghost Nation, written by i Laurie Duggan, is a cultural

history based on early twentieth century Australian art that has, as consciously as possible, taken into account the circumstances of its own production. Rather than a linear chronology of events, Duggan has woven a complex web of metaphors, conflicting accounts and associations under five major themes, providing a fractured understanding of ‘early modernism’ in Australia. The book is made up of five parts: ‘A Floating World’; ‘Economics of Scale’; ‘Techno-Pastoral’; ‘Heavenly Cities/ Earthly Cities’; ‘Heavenly Cities/Earthly Cities’ and; ‘On the Frontier’.

The first part, ‘A Floating World’, introduces some of the themes: the place of the city; the creation of visual (and spatial) value in a formerly colonial territory; trans-historical imaginings of space; ‘natural’ space; accustomed (or homely) space as an inversion of otherness; and the threat to that space posed by modernism.

‘Economics of Scale’ is largely concerned with the creation of model (often miniature) worlds. Duggan examines the work of Sydney Long, May Gibbs, and Norman Lindsay, continuing with a discussion on the problems associated with ‘transplanted’ mythologies in more recent Australian art.

‘Techno-Pastoral’ examines urban space as reflected in the work of the early Australian modernist painters and photographers. It considers the city as a site of contention in the ongoing debates about nationhood from the early Federation period through to the early 1930s. The introduction of a related theme - the construction of space through light - seeks to cut across some of the distinctions between the national landscapists and the ‘moderns’.

‘Heavenly Cities/Earthly Cities’ observes the attempts of town-planners to build cities to fit a national agenda. It interrogates that agenda, noting the ever-present divide between preconceptions and local spaces, and observing the discrepancies which always appear when scale is translated from a planner’s model to the building site.

‘On the Frontier’ looks at the objectification of space taking place in the 1930s, both at the domestic level, through home science and at the level of tourism where advances in photo-journalism, transport and communications led to a new discovery of Australia’s ‘Centre’. It examines those unstable notions of Aboriginality which consider Aboriginal art as a design prototype for the

modern age yet relegate the original artefacts to the anthropological museum. It looks at the space of the collection and the changing nature of art exhibition in the twenties and thirties, concluding with an investigation of Sydney’s 1938 sesquicentenary celebrations as a spatial (and historical) reconstruction of the city and the nation.

Space is a fundamental motif of Duggan’s book that implicates the space of history as a contested domain, haunted by the voices of a past ‘ghost nation’, scrabbled across a board of constructed and deconstructed history. It is a refreshing historical account that, whilst examining the power relations between ‘different’ historical voices, does not employ a simplistic metaphor of centre and periphery to explain such complexities, that exist in a web of power where the ‘viewing subject’ is simultaneously the centre, periphery, and even both, all at the same time.

Asterix and the Actress Albert Uderzo Orion $24.95

It’s been five long, empty years since Albert Uderzo’s last new Asterix instalment.

In that time one has had to resort to re-reading one of the 300 million published copies of the (admittedly extensive) back catalogue in order to get a fix (spot the delightful pun?). So it’s just as well Asterix and the Actress is finally here, and that it is mostly up to scratch.

As those au fait with the Asterix saga will know, the year is 50 BC and Gaul is entirely occupied by the Romans, except, of course, one small seaside village. Our wily hero Asterix and his lug of a pal Obelix return from their usual sport of boar catching and Roman pounding to find the village deserted. They had forgotten it was their (shared) birthday, and the village have prepared a surprise. Visiting the village are their respective Mummies Sarsparilla and Vanilla, who are quickly in the business of recruiting a nice wife for the boys. Meanwhile in Condatum their shickered fathers are thrown in prison under orders of Prefect Bogus Genius, related to the matter of a stolen sword and helmet.

This cues the entry of Latraviata as the actress in the title, sent to the village in the guise of Panacea, a way spunky Gaulish lass first encountered in the excellent Asterix and the Legionary. Obelix has always had a bit of a thing for Panacea, and it doesn’t take long for the imposter to take advantage of this, and to also get the moves going on Asterix to leave him in a woozy love daze (not helped by his walloping from Obelix).This walloping is a result of their biggest falling out since Asterix and the Banquet, and his state is compounded when he gets into that special Gummy Bear juice, but the plight of their father’s brings the guys back to earth.

Meanwhile, there is a major split in the Roman ranks, with Julius Ceaser keen to crush the legionnaires who have broken rank to join Pompey’s traitorous uprising. As usual, there is a vague historical veracity to the context of the story, if not the story itself.

The real Panacea and her buff squeeze Tragicomix join the story, and the pace picks up

Daniel Andreallo

TERTANGALA 47

with a lot more shouting and menhir tossing. Roman’s get their butts kicked, cheeks get kissed, and a feast is had. Dogmatix (the dog) turns up with a surprise of his own, and equilibrium is again restored.

Women are given more active roles than usual, if not entirely progressive. The illustration is first rate, and the story mostly gels. Although not quite up there with Asterix and Cleopatra or Asterix and the Great Divide, this latest instalment warms up as it goes along, and ends in the usual flurry of fun.

Benjamix Millarix

PETERCAREY

True History o f the Kelly Gang Peter Carey QUP $18.95

TRUf H ISTORY

.K E11¥ Gang

True History o f the Kelly Gang is set in the years between 1855-1880, centred around, of course, Kelly Country. This is the

High Country taking in the ranges above Beechworth, Wangaratta, Glenrowan, and Benalla in Victoria. It is around these places because it can never stay still, like Kelly himself the narrative is forever on the move.

Apart from the wonderfully oblique Bliss, the darkly humorous The Tax Inspector, and the twisted exoticism of his short stories, Carey’s work tends to be set in a recent but turbulent past. This enables his stories and characters to naively introduce multiple subtexts, to draw attention to the social history upon which the present has been built, deftly tracing some of the self-perpetuating injustices and persecutions faced by his characters which remain today. True History is set in a similar period to Oscar and Lucinda, but explores facets of Australia both similar and tangential to those with which it worked.

Written in the style of Ned Kelly’s famous Jerilderie letter, True History is told as a letter from a father to his unmet daughter, a legacy of his life in his own words. Kelly is quite clear, before his death, that the events he writes of are all a drama of sorts, running to a script of his own devise. The irony of this belief is the feeling of fate the reader picks up, the inevitability that an honest and selfless Kelly would be unjustly criminalised by the traps (police) who would never leave his family be, trumping up false charges at whim to leave Ned and Dan Kelly with no choice but to follow the path they did.

Tracing his life from childhood through his apprenticeship alongside the infamous bushranger Harry Power to his blazing demise, the saddest aspect to stand out is just how young Ned actually was through all this. Too trusting and honest, he is shown to be a tragic hero, a victim of greed, betrayal and cowardice. The corruption and abuse of power by the police and wealthy squatters are juxtaposed with the altruism and community spirit amongst the poverty-stricken Irish-Australian community. Kelly’s notoriety is shown not to have developed through bravado or cruelty, but a strong sense of justice and generosity of spirit.

Carey complicates the Kelly story taught in school, the naughty bushranger who chooses to steal and be bad and gets his just desserts. But he does so without romanticising either. The reality of class warfare and English colonialism

(over the Irish, the ‘blacks’, and, as Kelly identifies, Australians) are all drawn in as background to the situation in which Kelly was inevitably put. Kelly differentiates between the Australians who “knew full well the terror of the unyeilding law the historic memory of UNFAIRNESS were in their blood...” and the wealthy squatters who hung onto the Motherland’s apron strings.

Such is Carey’s writing talent and research thoroughness that it is not long before the reader forgets that they are not actually reading Kelly’s own words, that they are not ‘truly’ seeing colonial Australia as he saw it. The idiom is thoroughly maintained, with surprising results. The lack of punctuation, the grammatical ruggedness and the paucity of extended vocabulary are both a constraint upon Carey’s writing and a realm of possibility to be richly mined. By limiting the technical possibilities of language, by writing in a manner deeply at odds with the fluidity and command of deep descriptive prose so apparent in his other work, Carey develops a voice that grows poetic in its cadence and soon flows with an eloquence of its own. By limiting the ways in which things can be described or explained, he strips bare the stark beauty of the Australian landscape, escaping the floridness of those who could only see Australian through a pastoralist English prism.

Although a work of ‘fiction’ the interesting thing to consider is how this work is really as definitive as any account of Kelly’s history purporting to be History with a capital H. Its framing as a fictional novel is really the only thing that sets it apart from any other secondary material on Kelly.

Carey is obviously aware of this, and plays with it beautifully. The result is a book that once picked up sucks you right in until the very last page, at which point you figure you might just read that last bit again - the bit that started on page one.

Max Powers

Hell has Harbourwwm <>nm> ftu,-1mi ^lux! df*v t» tfe- <tfH< < V IG

Richard Beasley MacMillan $26.00

Studies suggest that law students are both more altruistic and more concerned with

achievement than their peers. You can believe that or not (maybe some of us are more concerned with one than with the other).

But this book is about a lawyer, and the tension between principles and ambition. Beasley’s main character, Hugh, is an associate at the biggest, most prestigious law firm in Sydney, with all the perks and the lifestyle to match. However he is becoming increasingly aware that his ‘success’ has led him far away from his ideals. He hates the people he works with, he hates the work he does, and he hates the role he finds himself playing. Hugh really, really does have good intentions, and principles, but betrays them daily.

It’s said that the inverted pentacle is the symbol of the Devil because it represents the human spirit subordinated by the four material elements, and this is what has happened to

Hugh. He is not really in control of his life. Lucky for him, a crisis occurs: the firm asks him to do something really sleazy and Hugh is forced to choose what he wants for himself, what kind of a person he wants to be. He finds in the end that his choice is an easy one.

Hell has Harbour Views is a study of the malaise that infects you if you aren’t true to yourself, and in a small way it’s about the miracles that can happen when you take back control of your life. Beasley is a very dry, blokey storyteller who strikes a good balance between feeling and humour. There are also lashings of cynicism. The partners at the law firm are caricatures of moral bankruptcy in various shades of evil and ugliness, and Hugh’s revenge against them is quite fabulous. Some might find the point about the excess and self- delusion of corporate lawyers a bit laboured. But then, some may think lawyer-bashing can’t be overdone. Whether you think lawyers are evil or not, the fable at the heart of this story is entertainingly retold here, timely and relevant as ever.

Maryellen McLeod

Living On The Edge: Our Personal Antarctic Story Yvonne Claypole HarperCollins

Think of something cold, multiply it by something even colder, then add some ice and you won’t even begin to be anywhere near

what husband Jim and wife Yvonne have endured. Reading this book will make your skin goose bump with imagined cold and your heater will become more appreciated.

This story traverses the planning, executing, and recovery stages of a couple’s expedition to Antarctica. Hardships, cold, frost bite, beauty, danger, excitement, loneliness, boredom, darkness, nature, and the harshest climate in the world.

Styled in an all true account from Yvonne Claypole’s perspectives, an intimate relationship between reader and writer is established. This book gives an interesting view of a frozen landscape, the unrelenting power of nature and the warmth of human friendships and families.

It covers the period of hard and long planning to spend thirteen months spent in a tiny hut in Cape Denison. It addresses Claypole’s horrifying and saddening discovery of breast cancer. There is also a discussion of the relationships and support from so many areas of life that were necessary to help achieve dreams and to set up educational systems for primary schools in Antarctica.

The main focus is on the actual journey to and from Antarctica and the 13 months spent exploring and living in the severe climate of the continent. Winds gusting up to 210 km/h and temperatures dropping to below -40C make survival an ultimate focus.

Why did they do it? Because they wanted the adventure. It may seem mad, and it sure does when you read what they had to endure, but it is also heartwarming to hear about their survival and the reaching of life long dreams. Beautiful descriptions and photographs make some images almost tangible, whilst terrifying accounts show the unrelenting powerlessness

48 TERTANGALA

they face in submitting to nature.The ultimate summary of the story is contained

in the lines, “Our journey had not been easy - there’d been plenty of trials and challenges along the way. We’d learned to live life at a simpler level but with a far greater intensity.”

This is a must read for anyone who has an interest in the Antarctic setting as it provides perspectives that go unchallenged by television documentaries on the subject and explores humanity, challenges, and dreams come true.

Sally Millar

■m». c‘w. *3

HANDY HINTS

Yates Mini Guides to the Garden Jackie French and Allen Gilbert Harper Collins $16.95

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.HERBS ■to' ttishoTO garden

There’s a pretty good chance that if you are reading this, you are a student. Ergo you are most likely to be either living in a house with a mummy and/or daddy, renting a house or unit with other students, or a mature age student with your own family. If you fall into the first category, it may be worth asking mummy or daddy if it is okay to take to their lawn with a hoe. If you fall into the renting category,I take no responsibility for you taking said hoe to the space outside your door - this is particularly so for those who do so despite living on a second floor. Third category folk may already know half this stuff, but as an introductory series for anyone not so sure how to turn their black thumb green, or who have no thumbs yet (in theALl-fcS I • a ■ .gardening sense, although

there is a section for gardeners with disabilities) these new edition guides look pretty top-shelf.

Handy Hints for the Home Garden fits a lot of easy to follow info into a tight space. It ensures that even the least intuitive reader has enough directions at hand to get the most out of their own particular attempts at cultivating homegrown delights. The savvy reader can pick up some well heeded advice on the latest in haute jardin. Hot: soil, plants, vegetables, herbs, bulbs, trees, fruit, house plants with glossy leaves. Not: pests, diseases, weeds, rakes that bop you on the nose when you step on them, killer tomatoes.

As the title suggests, hints abound. Highlights include a section on seaside gardens and appropriate life therein; what NOT to put in your compost bin; how to be a lazy gardener (the insider trading word here friends is ‘mulch’); how to get mulberry stains out (by rubbing them with mulberries); keeping pests away with strong smelling herbs (it confuses them), and sending slugs and snails to a beer-fuelled exoskeleton heaven.

Interesting facts are there too, like Asparagus being the only vegetable which has separate

TREES & SHRUBS

male and female plants, not being able to get jiggy with themselves like most of the other garden deviants. Do beware, it gets a bit saucy in this section with diagrams on resorting to ‘hand pollination’ when there are no bees around and other kinky vegie porn suggestions not suitable for the kiddies.

Herbs for the Home Garden picks the tone up out of the gutter and back into the garden bed. As long as you remember that the term herb ‘is more of a connotation than a definition’ you should avoid embarrassment. It gives a quick but handy rundown on how best to prepare your bed and then grow a whole host of herbs. Again, mulching is the buzzword. This installment is very thorough, covering just about every ‘erb you could imagine growing, using a foolproof alphabetical format. Each has a rundown on best methods of propagation and harvesting, with recipes for culinary or medicinal uses. If there is only one herb that interests you, then all you need to know is that it needs fertile, moist, well-drained soil, full sun or semi-shade, and a very tall fence to avoid nosy neighbours.

Organic Gardening tells you a lot about what it is and the different types, and the importance of healthy soil, but is a bit short on the nitty- gritty. It repeatedly tells you what you have to do, like ‘companion planting’, but not how to actually do it and which plants to grow together. It is a good background briefing on organic growing concepts, but not as thorough as you might like if you are passionate about becoming involved

Tree and Shrubs is about trees and shrubs. Considering you are probably unlikely to be living in the same house at the end of the year, you are probably less interested in planting an avocado tree or the like just so someone else can take advantage of it when it finally gets around to bearing. For those whose roots are a bit deeper, it is, once again, a good introduction, and would work well as a sort of reference guide when you are thinking about updating. Thoroughly organised into native, exotic, and special purpose categories, it is definitely pro­tree.

All in all, these guides are actually pretty good for the beginner or even more advanced enthusiast. There is a bit of repetition and cross-over between the books, so it might be worth starting with one or two.Handy Hints is probably the best place to start, unless you have a strong interest in one area over another. They are not exhaustive by any means, but that is also appropriate in that they won’t intimidate you; if they do, perhaps gardening is not really for you and you should stick to watching the telly.

one sinks in an effort to fall in love.” And boy do the characters sink, scheme, hope and blunder their way about in this novel. It really is a very fitting description.

As Long As She Needs Me is a modern satirical love story. It revolves around characters who face and fear loneliness, surrounded by an ever mocking world of other people’s weddings and the publishing industry.

The most interesting part of this novel is the characters(the story line is nothing new but the characters makes up for that). Dawn is the head of a publishing firm, aptly described as “a cracked figurehead, an empress without clothes, to be mended and swaddled daily” and Oscar, her personal assistant, is the person left to do the mending and swaddling.

Oscar is the most interesting of the characters, the catalyst to situations. He is so sad and wretched by loneliness that the reader can’t help feeling pity for him.

When Oscar meets Lauren, a journalist who writes a wedding column, his life is changed forever. “In the companionable spirit of refugees marooned together they learned each other names and occupations amidst an emergency distribution of drinks”.

Other smaller characters in the office and in the publishing industry are colourful and effective in moving the story line along smoothly, although it is possibly a bit too cliche.

Predictability is rife throughout this book but the cute humor in descriptions and conversations make it a light hearted and enjoyable read. Dry humor in lines such as “... accepted the dessert menu that he presented with enough saccharine fanfare to be the dessert itself” are reminiscent of the Douglas Adam’s style in the Hitchhiker series.

This book is an easy read. A lighthearted, humorous yet moving story about love and life in the modern world. A recommended read if you’re looking for something easy with an uncomplicated structure and spoon fed themes and issues.

Sally Millar

Chris Anthanum

A s Loxii, as

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TERTANGALA 49

Tango Across the ContinentsD avid F ran cis’ latest novel A gapanthus Tango was released this yea r by 4 th Estate. I t’s the f ir s t novel fo r the A ustralian born, LA based law yer an d like the au th or the characters in the book jou rn ey between A ustralia an d the States. The Tertangala catches up with D avid Francis a t the Sydney W riters’ F estiva l 2001.

Little of what I encountered today with David Francis was in line with what I expected. I had anticipated the former international sportsman to look out of place at the Sydney Writers’ festival, but perhaps the only thing out of place is the fact that he seems so unaware of how swiftly his first novel, Agapanthus Tango, has brought him to the attention of Australia’s literati. Unheard of before the recent publication of Agapanthus Tango, Francis is a LA based lawyer, born and raised in Victoria. After a stint with a prestigious Melbourne law firm he began travelling the world as a showjumping horserider, before settling in LA full-time to practice law. And now, at 42, long out of uni he’s turned his hand to writing.“I studied some literature, and politics but not a whole lot. I have always been fascinated by language and books, always read a lot, but at that time I was really into this jumping horses thing, which is kind of odd. It took me overseas, however, and I competed and travelled a lot.” Agapanthus Tango is utterly amazing, especially for a first novel. The emotional tale of the main character, Day, and his attempts to understand and relate to the world after having run away at the age of twelve from a father that left his wife strapped to a bed until she died, is written with such subtlety and clean intelligence that few critics have deigned to pick fault with it at all. Said Deborah Adelaide in the Sydney Morning Herald: “such beautiful writing I read it all in one go.” That beautiful writing is absorbing enough in its own right; combined with the quietly fascinating stories and themes explored by Francis in Agapanthus Tango it develops a potency that raises this novel far above the standard festival fare.“I used to visit my old and blind grandmother when I was in law school. She had a very interesting childhood. She had no short-term memory but a really intense long-term memory and the stories really resonated with me. I thought ‘one day I’m gonna write about that lady’”.The descriptions of Day’s mother’s journey from Europe to rural Australia by ship to start a home with her recent bridegroom, along with the descriptions of the desolate remoteness of that home, far out in the bush during the 1930s and 1940s while her family remained in Europe, are all to some degree taken from the stories given to Francis by his grandmother. But Day’s mother is only one element of this novel. There are two major stories in Agapanthus Tango, which also serve to donate a structure as the narrative alternates between them.“I live in a rough area of Hollywood. Near me is the Hollywood memorial cemetery, which is overgrown and sort of weird. I'd go and sit there and I saw a memory of a woman strapped to a bed, and a girl on a horse riding along the beach. From those two memories the story just unfolded.”These two fictitious ‘memories’ closely

correspond with the two narrative strands within Agapanthus Tango. The first, during the 1930s, reveals D ay’s early childhood, watching his mother slowly die before running away, and eventually leads us to the beginning of the second. The second, introduced by that image of the girl riding along the beach, plots D ay’s later development in the 1950s as a young man trying to develop a relationship with his world.The depth and understanding with which Day is written has led many people, even some of Francis’ friends, to read Day as directly autobiographical, but Francis himself feels this is a somewhat incomplete understanding of Day’s genesis:“There’s a bit of me in there, sure. It follows some of my life - I left Australia under kind of weird circumstances, and I’ve been in America and I’ve been back to Australia. I don’t think it’s that autobiographical. I see me in him, but I see me in Callie too. That tough, ambitious part of me. There’s the sensitive, emotional, kind person, and the .ambitious, competitive, Callie- type creature.”The duality of sensitive emotion, embodied by Day, and tough ambition as personified by the girl he loves, Callie (who may or may not love him), is also a pretty succinct summation of the tone and language of Francis’ writing style as a whole.“The Times Literary Supplement inLondon called it ‘boiled-down mid­west American prose’, in a good way.”

However positive that comment may be, such appraisals of David Francis’ writing sell it too short. His lyrically, intuitive style is far more emotionally connected than ‘boiled-down prose’; it’s more reserved and controlled inexpressing that emotion than is typical for a novel of this nature. Francis is to some degree aware of the confusion over just what sort of writing he has managed to produce. His is, as he sees it, “a fresh voice. An Australian voice. Despite the book being written

overseas I think there’s a very Australian sensibility about it. I would like to think it is an original voice.”Without resorting to extremes or avant- experimentation, Francis has indeed developed a distinctly original voice. His care with word choice, which he says is “totally intuitive”, and his ability and willingness to let a story tell itself without making his own presence felt, reveal a mind that obviously appreciated what literature he has studied (predominantly poets, not prose writers). Yet his approach to the writing process is almost antithetic to the concept of a consciously theorised discipline. Agapanthus Tango was not prestructured at all. Francis says himself that he had no idea where it was going, writing the stories in a linear fashion as they unfolded, determining what was appropriate in both plot and language by feel.“I stayed totally in the scene I was in. If I get my ego out of the way and come with some sort of humility around it (the writing process) and just let it go ... it’s kind of a cool creative process.” Through his substantial writing faculties, this organic approach to the act of writing not only confounds the expectation of uneven, shambolic results, it also produces art of a smooth, innately human character that would be intensely difficult to achieve via more clinical, theorised attempts. Having only started writing five years ago, apparently at the behest of an unidentified inner urge, David Francis has used a refreshing approach to produce a book that will certainly remain significant and powerful, for both its story and its voice, well into the future. And the best news about this exciting new author: he’s already started his next novel.

Thirtyeightdividedbyfourequalsninepointfive.

50 TERTANGALA

Authority and Influence: Australian Literary Criticism 1950-2000.Edited by Delys Bird, Robert Dixon, Christopher Lee UQP $30.00

“Three distinguished scholars present a unique selection of key documents in Australian literary criticism from the second half of the twentieth century.” So goes the blurb. And present is about ail they do. Between the professor, associate professor and senior lecturer, all we really get from the editors is a truncation of these ‘key documents’ and an introductory overview of their context. This introduction seems to be considered almost more important than the work it introduces, as claimed by the cover blurb: “the editors’ comprehensive introduction will spark new debates in Australian literary criticism”.

The actual essays included are for the most part informative and engaging, and many are also not easily obtained in their originally published form, but the selection process is left as something of a mystery, as is the overall purpose of the collection, aside from sparking ‘new debates in Australian literary criticism’. Oh, wait, that was the intro. To be fair, the intro is impressively exhaustive and comprehensive, but the lack of individual introductions or connecting commentary in between the essays demands often exasperating revision of both the intro and previously read essays. This failure to clarify precisely why these essays is not necessarily as unsettling as the four time periods and seven or so ‘recurring thematic subheadings to identify continuities and mark genuine innovations’. The chosen ‘thematic subheadings’ give some indication of the editors’ fields of concern with Australian literary criticism, and include:Towards a professional criticism; Looking abroad; A national literary studies?; Arguing the canon; Literary criticism and literary history; theory into practice; Race, class, gender, ethnicity; but aside from the sweepingly general ‘literary criticism and literary history’ they can hardly claim to be comprehensive.

The time periods of this book do nothing to clarify its intent either, beyond indicating what it has chosen to ignore. 1950s-2000, for example. Is the middle of the century truly a turning point within Australian literary criticism? Or was 1950 chosen purely for the symmetry? Likewise, why are the 50s and 60s lumped together, but the 70s, 80s and 90s all get separate sections? Were the 50s perhaps before the editors’ time, and therefor deemed less significant?

Of course, this is all speculation, as we are told so little with regard to intent and motivation here. Still, it must be admitted that this book does give an enticing education of modern Australian literary criticism, and yes, the combination of so many often rare papers collected in one place should be of great value to anyone interested in this topic. The main warning that should go along with this collection is the one common to all books of criticism produced by those amongst the Australian literati: beware of where it’s coming from. Just cause you can’t always spot any hidden agenda does not prove there isn’t one.

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TERTANGALA 51

Benjamin Millar talks with visual artist Terrance Henningsen and composer Serena Vashti Armstrong to find out about their recent collaboration and foray into the

realm of interdisciplinarity.The idea of collaboration between visual artists and musical composers has a long history. Typically, the relationship tends to be one of antecedence and translation, whereby a composer attempts to ‘translate’ art into music, or vice- versa. A recent collaboration between visual artist Terrance Henningsen and music composer Serena Vashti Armstrong took a refreshing approach to such a relationship. The two produced their works concurrently, working with dynamic and dialogic principals. Armstrong’s resulting musical work was premiered on May 31 to coincide with the opening of Henningsen’s exhibition. The musical and visual series are both entitled Levity, revealing the strong connection between their creation. Discussing the exhibition and their works, Henningsen and Armstrong pinpoint a number of positive aspects to such a collaboration.“We got together and started talking about ideas of light, ideas of unity - how a work shows its unity, but is also made up of a lot of different elements’’ Henningsen explains.“Because we talked about the pieces before I actually made them, I was aware that some sort of collision between the two was going to happen. In talking about how music and vision gel, I was clarifying ideas about what the images would achieve with regard to floatiness, indefinability, which is how we were talking about the music - defying space, being immediate and powerful. I think knowing there was going to be a musical element to the exhibit was quite crucial.’’The resulting artworks are each formed from a series of wooden blocks, joined together as a large rectangle. Each block is distinct in the subtle shifts in shading that have been applied, and the result is a series of works that are highly complex yet maintain an illusion of aesthetic simplicity. Henningsen didn’t want Armstrong to write music about the images, but to work with the same basic ideas, the idea of a rigorous set of parameters and of something happening. This is reflected in Armstrong’s approach.“I chose the flute and a high pitch because Levity

is partly about the sky and lightness,” She says. “The intertextuality is made apparent in a lot of ways, even through the title. It’s tagging a link, a connection, showing that these works inform each other. When I devised this piece, I wanted to make six distinct parts, each with its own separate character. That was my way of telling the audience to look at these six painting on the wall; they’re all the same and they’re all different, look how much difference a slight change means.”This approach sets up a dynamic tension, whereby the music and the artworks reflect similar themes and concepts, but do not directly mirror each other in the sense that one ‘sounds' how the other ‘looks’. This was a deliberate decision so as to create a space

between the two works within which the viewer and listener was forced to

make imaginative connections, and recognise the vital differences.The requirement to work within a strict set of parameters was in some ways actually a liberating experience, whereby superfluousness is entirely stripped back to the point where only what is essential remains. Armstrong found that despite working with another artist, and linking her approach with another work, the music has not escaped her own imprint. “My own creative voice comes through quite strongly, it’s still Serena’s music, it doesn’t escape from that. The moment I hear it I know it’s mine, even though I’ve worked within these strict parameters. I took away control over the pitch material, so that it was dictated by the crossword pattern that was imbedded in each of the images. Once that was done, the challenge became to show the diversity still possible.”These parameters were set by the perfect symmetry of crossword puzzles, and the contrasting tones they use. The refinement and stark reductionism of the puzzles appealed to Henningsen for a number of reasons.“This work is a reaction against that general tendency in contemporary culture towards shock, rather than a subtle set of surprises that come through focused awareness,” explains Henningsen. “It means that people really do have to look, the differences aren’t going to just jump out. This is about actually being in the place and looking, the purpose was to make something which was intriguing and enigmatic, so that the more you looked the more enigmatic it got, the more complex it got.”Similarly, Armstrong’s piece allows an extra dimension in musical composition to be explored, taking advantage of techniques that efface transparency. Both works play with the duality between illusion and physicality, whereby

the works create a space, yet are composed of physical material. The tension spoken of between the works therefore exists within them.“You have the illusion of a piece of music, of musical notes hanging out there in the air intangibly” explains Armstrong. “They’re just an idea, particularly with the flute thought of as being light, pretty, airy and delicate. Then you’ve got this performer, standing in front of the works. So you’re aware of the works, aware of the performer, aware of the flute, aware of the stand and the music. And then you’ve got those other sounds too, the sounds of the pads on the keys, the sounds of her breathe, it is not coming out of nowhere. A piece of music isn’t just a piece of music it is also a performance.”Although the works clearly stand on their own, the special relationship they share operates on many levels. An interesting feature of the relationship is the suggestion that they indelibly mark one another, even when not in immediate proximity. Says Armstrong:“It would be nice to think that the paintings somehow absorb what happens at the performance. There’s a long tradition of artists who talk about performances at opening nights as seances, that they evoke energy. This performance links these works together in a way that is really special to me as an artist. It gives the works history, and this sense of history is so important. It’s like the archaeology of meaning behind it and becomes a story attached to the image.”The echoes that resonate in the image have a corollary, in that when you heard Levity you could not help but see Levity. By opening the visual exhibition with the musical introduction the two brought to a head their special connection, and the audience were able to bring their interpretation of each work to bear on the other. The result was a much richer understanding of what was happening with each work, almost like a special commentary. The success of this collaboration should serve as a spark to any creative soul interested in the possibilities opened up when so many layers of meaning can be applied in such a special manner.

52 TERTANGALA

BottledMusic Arts Theatre Entertainment (MATE) Theatre South May 18, 2001

Economic rationalism. It has such a caring, sharing ring to it don’t you think? Makes you go all warm and gooey just thinking about it, almost as sexy as Peter Reith in a jacuzzi. As long as capitalist dogma holds us captive to its soggy dreams, it is a concept that is going to touch us all in some way. This is particularly so for a region such as The Illawarra, built on manufacturing and its concomitant industries - especially pubs. It is just such a situation that “Bottled Dreams” explores.The performance begins with a musical

introduction, two electric guitars in a live rendition of a theme song of sorts. The story then opens with the four central characters barricaded in the Port Royal Hotel, Port Kembla. The brewery that owns the building has decided upon a major development for the site, and for some strange reason manager Phil, barmaid Deb (nee Craig), bouncer/ cleaner/odd-job man Jim, and barfly Jack don’t think the new plans are likely to involve them. Phil’s grandfather and

f father both ran the bar before him, and having grown up with the hotel his life story is inextricably bound with the bar.

This premise is energetically illustrated by a series of flashbacks, told by way of filling in a reporter who finds her way into the standoff. The characters each have special recollections they share with the audience this way, with an ensemble cast performing in a variety of roles as part of these flashbacks. The sozzled Scotsman Happy the Clown, the sodden newspaper boy and the ill-fated Karaoke Kid all make arresting cameos.We begin to understand the investment

these characters have in the pub, and each other. In some way they have been there for each other at a time when nobody else has been. Their loyalties are built upon trust and honesty. We see how it is the minutiae of life that matters,

Dreamsthe seemingly small events that touch us in some way that cannot be bought or replaced. When the ultra-sleazy brewery rep George tries to talk Phil out of the pub, he cannot understand why there is so much feeling over what is in his opinion a smelly, shabby dive.

But we all have a smelly, shabby dive in us, and that is where this play touches the audience. Through a mix of humour, passion, bitter-sweetness and conviction the story rings true. It is not always subtle but it is certainly effective. The staging

is simple but appropriate with only a few props (other than beer) needed to set the scene. The performances are strong, particularly those of Bruce Polonis as Phil and David Ball as Deb, and belie the circumstances of the production. A large number of those involved had never acted or been involved in staging a play before this production, a work-for-the- dole program developed by Wollongong City Employment Training. The nerves that must have been felt early on were soon lost in the flow of the performance, and when the cast returned for the crowd’s enthusiastic applause they were beaming and buzzing with their achievement. As they should have been. The simple maxim Phil delivered at the end to ‘stick up for what you want’ despite it being an old-fashioned notion is the line that sums up the message of the play, and is the one that stays with you.

Curtis E Bear

TERTANGALA 53

Lyric Theatre, Star CityIt is one of the most famous ever

musicals. The original featured some of the greatest stars of the time, most notably Gene Kelly. The theme song is a classic. I am talking, of course, about “Singin’ in the Rain” which is currently in season at the Lyric Theatre, Star City in Sydney.

Starring Todd McKenney in Kelly’s character and Jackie Love in the part made famous by Jean Hagen, “Singin’ in the Rain” is a thoroughly enjoyable show. The costumes are incredible, the colour and lights are breathtaking and each character portrays their role with great style and enthusiasm.

The story is by now well known. McKenney plays a famous movie star during Hollywood’s transition from silent films to the ‘talkies’ (at times somewhat difficult shift). A chance encounter with a stage actress (Rachel Beck) leads McKenney’s character to fall in love with her and their relationship must stand the turbulence posed by the new ‘talking’ films and the workings of Mckenney’s cunning, but ultimately harmless, leading lady, played beautifully by Jackie Love. Just as important as the plot, however, is the atmosphere and feeling created by the show, which is a very good interpretation of the original, helped no end by the characters.

McKenney (The Boy from Oz) gives a wonderful singing and dancing performance, captivating the audience from start to finish, but it is Wayne Scott Kermond as McKenney’s singing, dancing, joking sidekick who steals the show with his humour and wit. Love, as the tall, leggy blonde, does an excellent

job in the difficult Hagen role, expertly delivering the high, helium-voice. Rachel Beck, as a young aspiring stage actress, plays McKenney’s love interest and does very well to fill the role originally portrayed by Debbie Reynolds.

The famous ‘Singin’ in the Rain’ scene is wonderful to watch and McKenney handles himself admirably well; no small feat for such a role. This scene is performed once again at the end where the entire cast joins in, all wearing yellow raincoats and splashing water onto the orchestra in front of the stage!

It is quite an accomplishment when a show can manage to keep an audience smiling for almost three hours but David Atkins’ version of “Singin’ in the Rain” achieves this. The original story is left uncluttered and each of the characters leaves their mark on the performance in their own way. The acoustics are excellent in the Lyric Theatre, which is especially important for being able to pick up the intricacies in the tap-dancing routines. The show is bright and funny and always holds the audience’s attention, save for the odd mobile phone going off (when will people learn?). Most spectacular are the dance scenes, which, although probably not up to the standard of the original (could we expect them to be?), certainly rise to the occasion and are a lot of fun to watch. For some, this may represent a stroll down memory-lane, and for others it will be a first time see...either way, I feel certain no one goes home disappointed. For something a cut above the regular weekend cinema screenings, “Singin’ in the Rain” is a memorable experience.

Ben Coleman

Written by Raimondo Cortese An Anon.Production Directed by Mark Haslam Performed by David Wright and Amy Kinsett 3 May 2001As I wandered out of my class in the

Faculty of Creative Arts building I noticed the usually bare courtyard was buzzing with activity. Cabaret tables filled the space and happy patrons sat eating cakes and drinking coffee available from the temporary cafe stall set up on one side of the courtyard. I bought a delicious cake, and as I sat down to enjoy the ambience of the scene, I realised that I had stumbled upon an Anon.Production of Riamondo Cortese’s Inconsolable.A lone man sat on a park bench at

one end of the courtyard amongst the coffee tables. He looked tense. As he lit up a cigarette, I couldn’t shake the awareness that he was acting. I hoped that this wasn’t going to be one of those over conscious performances that always leave the audience feeling slightly uneasy.After a brief but tense period of

nothing happening, a sexy woman dressed all in retro orange approached the bench. The man, the woman and the audience were all equally nervous as the two strangers attempted to talk to each other.As the play unfolded, it became

clear that the two characters were both wounded and lonely casualties of contemporary life. What was holding them together in this interaction was a desperate need to communicate on some human level. As each of them took small, timid steps to revealing their private fears and insecurities, I began to wonder where this strange and lovely relationship would lead. Increasingly, I wanted one of them to have the courage to stand up and say “I want to love you and I want to be loved”. But fear makes human relationships more complex than that. Whenever one of them got close to taking the first brave step of reaching out, the other would retreat, unsure of the sincerity of the offer.The tension that I felt at the

beginning of the show was transformed into immense sadness. By the end of the play, I could see the characters, not as nervous actors, but as lonely people, isolated by their fear of love. As the play finished and the two characters parted ways unfulfilled, I felt tears pricking the back of my eyes.Inconsolable was bravely acted. Though

the actors were nervous, they did not attempt to hide their fears behind tricks or gimmicks. I felt privileged to have witnessed so honest a performance from both performers. The direction was sensitive and intelligent: the sum of the parts added up to a cohesive whole that was clear and fully realised. The choice of play was relevant and appropriate for our culture and our era. So much contemporary performance is so internally focused and self obsessed. It was a breath of fresh air to see a show that displayed compassion for the world and that attempted to reach out and touch the audience.

M ith ra Cox

54 TERTANGALA

By DAVID WILLIAMSON Illawarra Performing Arts Centre May 2nd, 2001

From the current fashion for female bisexuality to the idea of the dot.com millionaire, to the scariest strap-on penile device, Up For Grabs is a cartoon set in the land of slick white couches that support a breed of scumbag lounge-lizards some people think only inhabits Sydney.

Every year or so the big fella comes out and holds a mirror to Australian society. This is his take on the not yet notorious noughties. Ephemeral Williamson; not about great historical moments like Don’s Party or great cultural institutions like The Club.

Helen Dallimore is Simone, a gorgeous go-getter desperate to make it in the art world amongst clients who’d

UP FOR G RA BSbe happy to have her on her knees, literally. What will she do to push a second rate Whitely above the $1 m record? Hers is a strained shouting performance that is never quite convincing.

Garry McDonald breezes through as the homophobic big businessman with an upright reputation -in reality he is hated by his hideous wife (Angela Punch McGregor) and “takes it up the arse” to quote Mr Williamson’s script.

In between, there are Generation Xers Kel and Mindy (Felix Williamson and Kirstie Hutton) the only survivors of the e-crash with a business called ‘Damage Control’ that profits from fractured relationships. His penis extension surgery failed, so she sleeps with girls. He

watches.

Tina Bursill is an alcoholic academic corporate art buyer delivering the wild card motive that gives the plot real intrigue. Simon Burke is the only voice of reason as Simone’s husband.

Cartooning it is; instead of developing characters the revolving stage just revolves displaying a morality colour chart and a menu of hypocrisy on which the characters gorge themselves.

Unpredictable. A good night’s entertainment but not Williamson’s best. Which character is Rene Rivkin?

Peter Hand.

TERTANGALA

Miloby Ned Manning, Bridge Theatre May 31,2001Milo, the main character lives on a hobby

farm within driving distance of a major city, or in this case, Canberra. His partner, Di, (Kelly Butler) is a high-powered public servant who deals with allocating aid for the rebuilding of villages in Papua New Guinea, amongst other things. Milo has just been knocked back for a teaching position he has half-heartedly applied for, Di tells him she has quit her job and that it is his turn to provide for them. The fact is that Milo, (Damien Rice), (who as I recall played a doctor on G.P. some years ago), is a bit of a useless prick. Most of his half-baked schemes are appalling failures: he has a half-finished novel, most of their herd of poddy-calves have died, while he seems content to sit around smoking dope and listening to the Rolling Stones, both of which are highly damaging to the brain, (it is a moot point as to which is more harmful).

Toby (Craig Elliott) and wife Peg are a couple from the western plains who arrive at Milo’s place with their new baby, while Milo and Di are arguing. It turns out that Milo and Toby are old friends and that Toby is experiencing great hardships on the land. Toby is critical of Milo and arguments ensue over who is a real farmer and who is not. Dope is smoked, piss drunk, liquid speed is imbibed, conflicts erupt and a raucous time is had by all.

Overall the play was quite well balanced

in its structure, highly amusing and well directed by Aarne Neeme, with a high standard of acting by the four leads, particularly Shayne Francis as Peg. The set and lighting design, by Mark Viner and Martin Kinnane respectively were both interesting and appropriately minimal.

Having said that, at times the story of Toby the true blue cocky confronting Milo the impractical hobby farmer, seemed a bit contrived. Pot smoking, whether in plays or film can be disastrous and should probably be avoided, although in this case it was pivotal to the plot. Alan Seymour’s The One D ay o f the Year has some of the silliest dope smoking moments ever written, not forgetting the film version of David W illiamson’s The Club, and worst of all Nicole Kidman’s dope smoking performance in Eyes Wide Shut, (as one of my friend’s describes it, “the performance that killed the film that killed the director”). Nor do I

think Peg and Toby’s baby could have slept through all the shouting, fighting and a gun firing, but that is a minor quibble.

The audience at the Bridge Theatre enjoyed the performance and I’m sure the production will be well received when it tours regional Australia after completing its W ollongong season. It’s always good to see a theatrical performance and we should give support and encouragement to local productions, as theatre is in a perilous state at the moment, (Glen Street Theatre in Sydney’s north looks to become the latest casualty, along with Newtown’s New Theatre, both due to lack of sponsorship). So get along to a theatre performance this year, if only to be able to answer your grandchildren when they ask you, “Granddad/nanna, what did a play look like?”

Craig Davison.

Annual Wollongong Unibar Cougar Bourbon Bandcomp, Heat One 16 May 2001

Yes, it is time once again for the annual Unibar bandcomp, and we are going to tell you as much as possible about each and every part. Bandcomps, campus bandcomps in particular, are generally regarded as highly dubious affairs. ‘Competition’ - is music supposed to be sport? Is it fair representation that bands with 7 minute songs will only get to play two and six sevenths of their songs, whilst other bands play eight or more? And the most persistent attack on bandcomps: just who the hell is qualified to ‘judge’ bands anyway, and what are they judged by?

Bandcomps are a vulnerable issue for musicians and other industry members. This review of the bandcomp will necessarily traverse a number of Tertangala editions,so those of you interested or involved this year are welcome to express fears, angers or queries via email to contortions@email.com or in writing, delivered to the Tert office and addressed to 38+4=9.5. ,

Heat one:The judges:Two females and three males. Good mixture

of ages. Four local venue promoter/operators (including the Unibar’s own), and me, occasional scribbler for the Tert and member of two in-stasis local bands.

The criterion:Factors considered in judging include

Originality, Musicianship, Audience response, Stage presentation and Recording viability. Penalties apply for uncooperative behaviour (such as ignoring the engineer’s requests), and for exceeding the allotted 20 min set/10 min changeover time.

The bands:1st band tonight is all-girl Supersun. Drawing

the shit time slot (7:30pm) is an immediate disadvantage, and SS were a little nervous in front of the small early crowd. They adopted a ‘heads down and play’ non-interactive attitude and got on with it. Very 1992 (think Veruca Salt, Nirvana), tight and with a particularly good drummer, their songs were nothing especially new for the genre.

Band No. 2 - Beergut. Goddamn awful name (though apparently some judges admired it for the courage factor). Beergut call their music ‘rockie new-age’.They played messy, loud guitar music that switched back and forth between punk and something like hiphop. Most of the time their sound was very dirty (good, enjoyable dirt), but the guitarist had a tendency to rip into uselessly cockrock solos. They made a hearty effort to kickstart the 8pm audience out of their apathy.

Band No. 3 - Freeflow. Bloody hippy name. As the only acoustic band tonight, FF were at an advantage, naturally standing out against noise.

FF instantly installed a mellow atmosphere, which much of the audience member adored. As with most of tonight’s bands, they are all strong musicians and tight as a unit. FF’s biggest downfalls were the hint of sameness creeping across their set, and the singer’s occasional affectations bordering on intimate ululations. Freeflow were one of the two bands tonight to win and will go through to the next round.

Band No. 4 - Stone Ox. All but the final band tonight were easily identified by genre, Stone Ox being willfully devoted to stoner rock, and they did a better job of capturing their respective genre tonight than any of the other bands. More derivative than necessary, but they got away with it most of the time because their songs were damn strong, with charmingly hooky riffs that any band would covet the ability to write. Stone Ox also stepped up the efforts initiated by Beergut to get some audience interaction going.

Band No. 5 - Ludo. Probably the besttimeslot to draw (9:30pm), though undoubtedly Ludo would’ve gotten the room jumping at any hour. Easily held their own amongst the numerous other slick, skilled musicians tonight. Ludo were extremely showy, with a drummer than combined massive windmill pounding with regular stick twirls, a bassplayer jumping to the verge of hysteria and two guitars that were just too smooth and cool. The sound of Ludo was loud and partying, but with a slightly shallow side. They came across like a meated up, heavy, heavy take on 80s new romanticism. The other winner tonight (along with Freeflow), Ludo went beyond skill and professionalism (which almost all the bands had to an impressive degree) to flood the stage and floor with impossible-to- ignore energy.

Band No. 6 - RPM. One of the only bands to sound anything like one of the others tonight, and then only marginally, RPM were a heavier, more serious take on what Beergut tried, this time closer to ‘numetal’ than hip hop or punk. RPM had some interesting starts to their songs, but a little too often descended into stock standard guitar progressions, as if trying to hide a dearth of ideas. Second only to Ludo in the energy stakes, RPM were also possibly the most polished of the lot tonight.

Band No. 7 - Last for the night, consequently another shit slot (11:30pm), Traces of Nut were the only band not immediately categorisable. With two basses and brilliant screaming harmonies, Traces of Nut were the most original band of the heat, belting out low-key arty rock somewhere near The Wash in terms of a clever ability to contrast and combine dynamics of space, melody, and volume within a song. The band I’d most like to see again.

Three more heats remain: Wednesday 30th of May, Wednesday 13th of June and Thursday 14th of June. Two bands from each heat go through to the finals.

38+4=9.5.

The Pils sessions: Roger The Engineer I The Del-Emmas I Rocket Science UniBar @ Wollongong 24 May 2001

It had been a big day and I kind of recall being perched on a stool with a schooner of black in front of me, sleeping and having a bizarre dream. I was dreaming that The Rolling Stones were doing a gig at the UniBar. It was such a vivid dream in fact I eventually opened my bleary eyes and I could still hear this “Stones” like music, and this was when I realised I was not dreaming and in fact a band was actually playing on the stage. That band was Roger The Engineer and boy do they know their rock. These guys could be dead ringers for the Australian Rolling Stones Show so close was their sound, all their own songs (except the You Am I) cover. The name it self came from a Yardbirds song or album apparently. They had the moves and the look and I thought they were cool. I’d really like to check out their record collection, I bet they own just about every classic rock album.

It had been quite sometime between drinks since I last saw The Del-Emmas and a few changes have taken place. For one they have dropped the costumes. The first few times I saw the Del-Emmas they were all wearing black bob wigs, catsuits, and masquerade masks. It’s just the girls as they come now, which is cool - it’s nice to have some idea of who’s playing what. They have also added a keyboard player that has really changed the sound for the better. The Del-Emmas use to have this sort of surf guitar rockabilly twang thang happening in a Cramps kind of way. That is still there but has now developed into something else. I’m having trouble putting my finger on it but it takes me back to maybe a 60s sound like Shocking Blue (they wrote Venus who Bannanaramma later revived) and I found the vocals reminiscent of Nancy Sinatra. Confused yet? A lot of fun I didn’t really catch any song titles or any fine details because I was too busy dancing my ass off (a theme that was to continue through out Rocket Science’s set) I did however dig the girls groove enough to buy the vinyl they were flashing around (SixFtHick are on the B-side double bonus!).

I first encountered Rocket Science as support to Tumbleweed and believe me they just get better and better. I had a few friends coming tonight to check them out based upon hearing there single Burn In Hell on Triple J, none of them left disappointed (in fact I think it was a trip to the record shop to purchase their CD for at least 5 of them). For those of you who missed the show, Rocket Science are quite unique. Big rock riffs combined with keyboard and thermion that their animated frontperson plays throughout their set. It works a treat, for some reason every time I hear a thermion it reminds me of B-grade horror films. Rocket Science kind of have this air about them, nothing too serious and a lot of fun. Don’t get me wrong I’m sure they are serious about their songs and sound, but one kind of gets the feeling they are not out to change the world just maybe have a good time - and we did. Like I said I was too busy throwing myself around to notice much of what was going on, but in the aftermath I did hear mention that Hendrix got a bit of a cursory nod on the thermion and that can only be a good thing.

Rev.Cheesus Crust

56 TERTANGALA

M§8sqqs frMp£? USesytf. lift©Oxford Tavern,25 May 2001.

Any time of the year, a Vicious Hairy Mary Oxford gig is a highly anticipated and well- attended event, but tonight had numerous additional causes for excitement. Firstly, the Viciousos have recently announced their departure from Australia for some time, to tour Japan, so this was possibly the last chance to see them for quite awhile. Secondly, and far more exciting for the audience, was the rumour put about that they might finally play some new material (it’s only been what, two years almost?).

Throughout their regular metamorphosis of sound, from the two bass minimalism days to the current heavy-metal circus with keyboard, piano accordian, violin, bass and drums, Vicious Hairy Mary have raised a strong force of loyal zealots which is fast approaching an army of morons as their once-inventive ways begin to succumb to stagnation. VHM have made a reputation with inspiring experimentation, but since their last CD, O rchestra Phantasma, what was once a novel groove is fast being ploughed into an intractable rut. So the whispers of new songs were understandably going to kick up some interest from those in stasis, yearning for the next phase of Vicious sound.

The crowd turnout was in fact a little smaller than has been the norm for a VHM Oxford gig (ie: HUGE), though it was still healthy for any other Friday night. The first band, The Alohas enthused some of the crowd and drove others away. Aside from the expected ignorant response of not wanting to watch something too specialised (the Alohas are a mostly instrumental surf band), even the most broad-minded of the audience were literally at pains to watch The Alohas. The horrific mix during the first three songs sawed everyone’s head off with its serrated top-end. Once the mix developed some degree of coherence, The Alohas kicked out quite a high energy, fearless- in-the-face-of-adversity kinda show. They were very much surf, but surf that’s heard some Frank Black, and, oddly enough, the only really non-instrumental song (as in more words than ‘hey!’ or ‘go!’) sounded like Tom Waits after having chewed too many amphetamines.

The most interesting thing about The Alohas was the personality they imbued their playing with: The bass showed just how effective the electric bass guitar can be as a percussion instrument, generating the sound of a low-

flying search and rescue helicopter for much of the set. The guitars in turn slickly showed just what local tremelo wannabes don’t understand about the device (no need for chorus pedals here). Unfortunately, the drum’s particular idiosyncrasies were often lost, on account of the toms not being decently miked up. Still, The Alohas worked hard and had fun doing it, with little fucking around between songs and smooth, if a little tame, dismissing of unoriginal heckling.

As soon as VHM started setting up their high spirits were apparent. Bass/vox Michael Lira took the opportunity during his mic/megaphone soundcheck to perform some weird vaudeville circus-pimp spiel, and this behaviour continued throughout the set (at one point going on so long that the drummer simply decided to start the next song). The whole band seemed very excited and unusually relaxed. Keyboard/piano accordian/brass Guy Freers was noticeably less stiff than his typical kitsch gothic show- host self, and violin/brass Samantha Fonti, ever the aloof professional, cracked up completely during ‘Mad’, unable to play her trumpet line at one point for laughter.

Vicious always bounce around in the way their scary playground carousel music suggests, but generally it is part of the act, as pre-planned and dare I say heartless as the elaborate costumes, but tonight they really were kids before Christmas, all thanks to the upcoming Japanese tour. Lira’s barely-bottled mania at it all reached a peak when he introduced ‘Cuidado’ with a squeal of ‘Ichi! Ni! San! Shi!’ instead of his traditional ‘Uno! Due! Tre! Quattro!’.

As for new material, they did deviate substantially from their now rigor mortised ‘10 songs from Orchestra Phantasma plus Ghost Town set. They still drew heavily from Orchestra... but threw in some long unheards, such as Spanish Flea, plus a cover of Porky and Friends (‘Vicious and the band’ tonight) and one or two trinkets that sounded suspiciously like new songs (either new, or else ancient vault secrets), still noticeably in the vein of Orchestra..., but new nonetheless.

Now that they’re all geared up for a foreign conquest, lets hope this one-band genre return with a freshly widened style, and a way of escaping the impending status of one-band cliche.

38+4=9.5.

BYRO N BAY: a m usic festival and the

search for Rohan Langford

“...damn right I’m a D, and I’m gonna chop off your balls and check them forTHC!”

The mood in Byron is not what I had heard about - things aren’t the picture perfect holiday haven for the rich and famous. Not the place where old hippies come to die. And it’s not a place I’d recommend to come to live an alternate lifestyle. It’s tense up here. All the locals look at me like I’m liable to burst into sudden murderous rage at any moment, and I’d swear that I’m the only person in this cafe that had to pay before they were served. It’s Blues Festival time and the residents are prepared for the worst. They’ve all given up their little pieces of heaven for a week as the number of blow-ins grows and grows. Added to all of this is the recent introduction of ‘sniffer’ dogs to the streets, picking up people on suspicion of possessing illicit drugs, a stress that I’m told this place can do without.

I’m up here for two reasons: one, because I managed to ‘negotiate’ myself a press pass, and two, since I’m up here, I want to catch up with an old friend of mine who moved this way a few years back to play music and make lefty docos. I’ve come up early in an attempt to find him and acclimatise myself with Byron before the festival starts.

Rohan Langford, Pt. 1: Walking the streets of Byron late at night with the self appointed guide I met while hitch-hiking into town, (a just past middle age man who has come out of the ‘mountains’ for the first time in six months), I get the sense of what this place is all about; people of all sorts are coming here to hang out and appreciate how good they have it. Street stalls, beach fires, congo drums playing. The demographic of this place is huge. Down at the beach BMW’s are parked along side Combi’s, and no one seems to mind. There he is...My guide and I run down the street away from the beach in pursuit of a tall, blonde dread-locked guy, with a beard. We reach him and I pant, “Rohan?”.

The man turns towards me with the kind of look on his face that I received earlier from the cafe owners - a “what the fuck are you going to do to me” face that is reserved for times of extreme danger. I apologise and explain to him that I’m a journalist in search of a friend. This does nothing but fuel his fear, and as we stand in awe, he is running down the road. My guide and I stand, jaws dropped, and my only thought is of seeing Ben Harper in a few days time.

BEN HARPER - Dive-bombing guitar set to the sounds of three brothers beating out a rhythm of every kind while the tent breathes in and out as one - lights making chaotic patterns on the roof and walls as the whole sweating mess of the floor sings and smokes.

R.H. Pt. 2: It’s the first night of the Blues Festival and I am walking around absorbing the scene, (I am of course here as a journalist, and one of the conditions of my free entry is that I

CONTINUED PAGE 59

TERTANGALA 57

You Am IEskimo Joe/The Vines

Woonona/Bulli RSL 18 May 2001

This being as close to my “Local” as it gets, it was good to see some bloody decent bands play after way too long. I mean sure it gets bands all the time, but I’m sorry The Screaming Jets, Darryl Braithwaite, Jebediah and Pennywise do not do it for me.

The Vines opened proceedings in an impressive way. The classic three piece line up bass/guitar/ drums and a sound which I could only describe as a bunch of guys well versed on bands such as The Rolling Stones and The Beatles, who may or may not have been influenced by stuff such as Nirvana and maybe Blur. They had an energetic and exciting stage presence, plenty of Pete Townsend “Windmill” action on the guitars. In fact a little reminiscent of what I have heard early You Am I shows were likeso it’s no wonder they got a SUDDQWsloi

Eskit | | j§ jpe. I don’t like them, sorrvf p & as simple as that they doabso l^ggnoth ing for me but that is a pejponal choice. My favourite parts ojlEskimo Joe’s set was the Maddon|i tape they had playing be|ore tffey went on stage and the oa^w herfthey said “We’re Eskimo f l p t t ia q ^ o u good night”. I know I'm being a little nasty but it’s hard to say anything nice about a band you think is utterly shit, but I’ll try my best. Four-piece line up that sound to me like they are playing 80s style synth pop on guitars. Catchy radio friendly fodder, catchy choruses and a whole “Nutrasweet” non-offensive thing about the lyrics, I mean c’mon they sing songs about bloody sweaters for chrissake! Yes they did play that song and the other one about turning up the radio. There were those that liked them and they certainly got a good crowd response.

I’ve liked You Am I for quite a while now. However, this (much to the shock of people I know) was the first time I had managed to see them. They didn’t disappoint, a brilliant light show complete with projections gave the whole thing a bit of a Velvet Underground feel that was complementary rather than distracting to the music. Opening with Purple Sneakers it was just great song after great song from there on in. I can’t say I necessarily know the name of every song they played but when you find yourself recognising a vast majority from airplay alone you know it’s got to be one great band who can keep churning them out with such regularity. There was one moment when I recall a song (possibly from the new album which I don’t have yet) reminding me a hell of a lot of David Bowie’s Suffragette City. Low and behold the next verse Tim (as in Rogers) did actually start singing said song. As I said earlier The Vines reminded me of stories I had heard of earlier You Am I shows. For one You Am I use to be a three piece and Tim was rather well known for his onstage wild “Windmill” action. Tonight however there was none of that. You Am I are now a four piece having picked up an additional guitarist, one David Lane who made

a rather striking appearance in his all white suit, a certain Sydney based street press has commented that he may have outshone Tim’s onstage attire. Yeah, well maybe but I kind of thought that this was a rock concert and not a fashion parade. All that crap aside, the addition of David on guitar meant that Tim was free to switch between acoustic and electric guitars (which he did quite regularly), probably playing a vast majority of their set on an acoustic guitar. A great example was the song Tuesday off Hourly Daily. I’d sort of prepared td not«hear this %ong but here it was, Tim on acoustic guitar, David Lane interpljting the horn section as a b lis te r * guitar solo. One of those magickconcert moments. Get Up and Dkmage of course made appearances, Berlin Chair still appears to be a bit of a crowd fave. I had a grealknight and left glad that I’d finally managed to see one of Australia’s great rock bands and in The Vines, possibly seeing one of the next up and coming great bands.

Rev. Cheesus Crust

do actually cover the event), (starting to sound very Hunter S-ed)You can’t walk any more than ten meters around here without getting swamped with the sweet smell of Byron Bush Buds. Everyone is stoned, partly because this is Byron, and partly because of the fact that if you want a beer you have to first line up for tickets, and then line up for beer.

Somebody has stuck a joint in my face, and it’s all I can do to be polite -

“Did you catch Ed Kuepper?” Even though he is starring at me, he hasn’t acknowledged me since his initial obstruction. “I’m a journo. I’m covering the festival for a paper in Wollongong.”

“Wollongong”, he is suddenly back with me, sitting on the grass, (he later described to me the amazingly epic journey he had been on ‘beyond the ghosts and into the world of strange’), he also told me that it wasn’t actually pot he was smoking, but some kind of Indian Shaman herb he had picked from the legal high tent that was at the festival. “My friend has a brother in Wollongong”. There’s no conviction to him but I suddenly think that maybe he is talking about Rohan - he has a brother down there. I press him.

“What’s his surname? Is it Langford?” He turns his head to face me, slow and calculating, and from behind the cover of glowing eyes, he says, “Nah, it’s something else”. I leave him there on the cold bank that’s turning to mud, and head off to listen to some music.

ED KUEPPER - Dirty screams from the deepest banks of the river - growls and howls of metal on strings, all set to the stomp of a boot on wood. Dressed in cheap and worn clothes, he sits up there like some kind of deity,

R.H. Pt. 3: It is my last night in Byron, and I still haven’t found Rohan. I come back from the festival to my accommodation in the early hours of the morning to find the place swarming with nearly thirty people. I strike up a conversation with one of the visitors, reminiscing about who we have or haven’t seen The John Butler Trio - times we just missed out on a ticket, or that one time that they canceled. Finally, I think the time is right to lay it on him.

“Do you know a guy called Rohan Langford?” I don’t expect that he would, this guy only lives here for six months of the year.

“Rohan”, he says, trying to recall. “Rohan...he doesn’t have blonde hair does he? In dread-locks?”

“Yeah, he does,” I say, trying not to scare him with my enthusiasm.

“Yeah, and he’s got two kids...” Ah shit. “O.K. don’t worry. Let me think”. He holds his chin as he does, and this seems to help. “Not Rohan with the brother in Wollongong? And he went to Melbourne last year?.”

“Yeah, and he got beat up by thecops?”

“That’s right.” The tiredness from the last few days lifts from my head, and we get to the business of remembering a phone number. It turns out, that Rohan lives with one of this guy’s friends just out of town, so we ring their place. First ring engaged. Second ring, engaged. Third ring, an answer. After a brief conversation explaining who I am, I find out that Rohan isn’t in tonight. He asks me if I want to leave a message, but all I can say is, sorry we

missed each other. I’m heading back home in a few hours, and that will be the end of it. I sit again, and we talk about music. So close. So fucking close.

JOH N BUTLERTRIO -T h e lights have failed, and the place is in a trance. Drums beat from all around, the torchlight following their pulse. Gnarled faces light up from the dark of the stage, the crowd acknowledging each one with the chant they have made up to accompany the song.

After a week up here, I never found Rohan, but I think I found something much better - I found a place that will give up its soul to accommodate thousands of strangers, just for the sake of a good time. The music was great, the people were friendly enough, and drugs and drinking are always for the best. But, falling asleep in the car at four in the morning, heading out of Byron, I decide that it’s time for the locals to have their home back, at least until next year.

T. Cahill

Two-Moons Festival Oxford Tavern 2 May 2001

This was a bit of a benefit type thing to combat the proposed development/ regression of Sandon Point. Nothing like a benefit gig to draw the masses to live music. Who am I kidding? - Everyone came to get pissed.

Speaking of getting pissed, first up was Blind. They probably had the hardest job of winning the audience over for the night. Word leaked out that shock! horror! they were a Christian band and therefore were bound to be crap. A little bit unfair really,I mean we have shown tolerance (even if we thought them funny) towards devil worshipping metal bands and really, is it about music or who’s side you’re on? Blind play a hard rock, funk edged style of music a bit like the Spin-Doctors at times. They don’t appear to have any problems in playing their instruments, they were a little lacking in audience interaction (except for “This one’s about the beauty of God’s creation”), but gigging and experience usually remedies that problem. Although they seemed to get a good response (i.e. we clapped and went “woo”), they just drifted along and had a lack of hooks or catchiness. I guess we never did get over Highway to Hell or South Of Heaven, did we?

Dreamgirl and the Motorist were next up and delivered once again. Dreamgirl is the creation of Carolyn M. Chism. I saw her in solo mode at the Hideaway Cafe and her songs worked really well in that format. With a band however they are really something else, and what a band. Rebecca Mayhew would have to be one of Wollongong’s most underrated multi-instrumentalists (Is it because she is a girl? I hope not). She plays guitar and sings in Bracode, she plays drums and sings in Baby Machine, she gave Nabilone their huge bass sound (they haven’t quite been the same since) and other numerous collaborations I don’t know about. She is in bass player mode tonight and weaves in and out of Carolyn’s sparse guitar

lines.The line-up also included Jules (I didn’t know you played drums) and some guy I’ve never seen before on percussion and saxophone. Saxophone is great, everyone should get one. I’m told it was this guy’s second gig ever, not that you could tell - he is really talented.

Who was that flanno wearing bearded folk guy? I thought it was Neil Finn in disguise, a friend thought Ned Kelly. He played a few traditional folk/country songs and then was gone, just like that.

Everybody needs to see the Archie Wah Wah’s. They are the cure for a bad mood. Ronnie and Chris were looking quite dapper in their matching black skivvys (was it really a coincidence Ron?) and Nate even put on his glad rags too. Oh sorry music... Everything appeared second and I tried reciting this to a girl later and she gave me a quizzical glance then asked me where the toilets were. Oh Well. Can I Kiss Your Face is straight to the point and that is a beautiful thing. Man, nice harmonies too. Their last tune Moody rounded up the set and left me feeling kinda... I missed the inclusion of Red Wings, but you can’t have everything now can you. It was good to see all the “Archie Virgins” see what I’ve been raving about and respond accordingly.

The Organisation. Some say it’s silverchair, some Tool, even The Tea Party got a mention. I say it’s all of the above and here lays the problem. All bands have their influences, but the hard part is the blending of these influences so that the music becomes something new otherwise we are left with a clone of the bands we try to emulate. The Organisation are a tight three-piece and they play well as a group. Once they find their sound I think they could enjoy the sort of success that bands like The Sick Puppies are currently achieving. Cityrail doesn’t cater for latenight dwellers so I had to miss the end of The Organiz\ sations set, but I was impressed with the diverse line-up, a change from seeing four of the same and a good night was had.

Rev.Cheesus Crust

The Dandy Warhols, Even, Pretty Violet Stain The Enmore Theatre 7 May 2001

I had trouble getting through this day in anticipation of seeing the Dandy Warhols. I missed their last tour and recently borrowed Thirteen Tales of Urban Bohemia from a friend, so I wasn’t making the same mistake a second time.

Pretty Violet Stain were up first. Had seen the name but hadn’t really seen or heard them before. Things got off to a shaky start due to problems with the sound but this got better towards the end of their set. I was a bit non­plussed at first, they played alright and were sort of catchy but seemed a bit like maybe they had read a text book on how to write a good pop song. I did warm to them by the end but I can’t remember one of their songs today, a bit average I suppose you could say.

Whilst Even were setting up my friend and I went to the lobby to check out merchandise.

TERTANGALA 59

Imagine our surprise when The Dandy Warhols’ Keyboardist Zia McCabe was selling her own T-Shirts!

So of course we had to be big groupy sluts and buy one each and get her to sign them. We were so stoked at this that we decided to skip Even and celebrate with a beer or three up the road. I’ve seen Even once before and their Beatlesque pop doesn’t really do it for me, to be honest I just came to see The Dandy’s and these guys were just filling in time. I did see another friend afterwards who was a bit of a fan and she said they were great (I think she may be just as biased as I am about The Dandys).

With precision timing we returned from our beverages just as The Dandy’s were doing the “How ya doin Sydney” bit. Opting for the gentle lead in Sleep got things rolling before running straight in to Be-In off ...The Dandy Warhols Come Down. This being one of my favourite Dandy’s songs, it was around this point that the uncontrollable urge to dance like a maniac overcame me and I rushed down the front to do so. The strangest part of the evening was that I appeared to be one of the only people doing so. The crowd response was so strange, everyone just kind of stood there and stared at the stage. There was a really good tripped out light projection going on, but I just don’t get how people couldn’t dance to something as rocking as the Iggy Pop like tune Shakin or the Rolling Stones inspired Bohemian Like You. The Dandy’s like to do what they want so there was no sign of Everyday Is a Holiday, Heroin Is So Passe (two of their biggest hits to date) and even current single Horse Pills was given the night off.

They did play a pretty good selection of songs from both their last two releases, a few from their earlier stuff as well as a couple of surprises such as “An Australian folk song”- their rendition of AC/DC’s Hells Bells.

Overall it was a great gig, even if I can’t work out why the crowd was so dead I know I at least got my money’s worth.

Rev.Chesus Crust

Machine Translations/Gilded Kiln/Kevin WhiteOxford Tavern19 May 2001

Kevin White’s mix of dirty blues and subversive folk is occasionally a bit too derivative, but he emulates well. He set out tonight with a song that was so much like a Tom Waits cover that it’d be better for KW if it was. As is the solo performer’s lot, he had a noisy crowd to contend with and did a fine job of creating his own little pool of enthusiasm for his ugly little ducklings to swim about in. His sound is gruffly endearing and a number of the drinkers in the front tables quickly became engrossed in his songs.

One pitfall of the sound, not wishing to get too pedantic, was KW’s use of one of those Dean Markley pickups for the acoustic guitar. These things are evil and must be stopped (unless you want to stab yourself with high frequencies and pretend the bottom end doesn’t exist). And a particularly admirable moment in KW’s set occurred when he broke a string: hardly seeming to notice, he just ripped it out of the way mid-strum and carried on. From that act alone, Kevin White is Rock.

BmkltinU

Oxford Tavern 12 May 2001

that require multiple exposures to key into. Quick-fix pop junkies may or may not be able to%ndur£;their

DWAB: The entire Dodgy World extended multi-layer drone, which this evening consisted of one boy gets as abrasive as a laconic Sonic and his guitar. Perhaps it was this Youth on the mean edges, though bandless lineup, but DWAB did not at other places it’s deceptively floral, seem up for demanding attention occasionally wandering in melodic, this evening, preferring to play his trancey Curisms. poppy, folky (especially tonight) Benefiting from an exceptionally songs gently to himself and let good mix after a protracted whoever wanted to listen. There was warm-up, DH were sounding the a peculiarly sweet fragility to the best they ever have. Maybe it DWAB sound this evening - a long was to do with the fact that we way from his usual jumping around could hear everything for once, but behaviour. The apogee of the DWAB DH seem to have pushed their set tonight was a captivating cover cohesion and energy up a number o f‘femme fatale’, carrying the song’s of levels recently. As with DWAB,inherent delicate intimacy to an exponential extreme.

Assuming DWAB is gearing up for a return to the full-band, iny our face dancing-with-hairdryers

the highlight of DH tonight was ;in fact a cover, an absolutely astounding rendition of The Clouds’ Rocket that had the entire audience dumbstruck. The vocal harmonies

tomfoolery of last year, these interim during this song in particular were solo gigs look to be precious little of a proficiency and potency that is curios indeed. rarely witnessed live.

JBT: It is something of a tradition Their sound is often akin to a wall amongst Wollongong bands (certain shambling around for somewhere aberrations aside) to make no effort to fall over - long, long songsdressing for a performance and the Jeff Brown Trio have followed suit. DWAB did in fact make some effort, a distractingly cryptic effort, given that he changed from one plainish collared shirt into an equally nondescript number for the duration of his performance, then changed back again. JBT, however, had something of an image to maintain, given the cock-rock shape of their singer’s guitar; they failed dismally. The most exciting piece of clothing between them was the drummer’s banana yellow cap, and nothing else they wore came close to equalling it. Musically, JBT are straightup, by the numbers rock, though adept at it. If you like clean cut, all out rock, this group are one of the better of that ilk within the Illawarra. Tight and professional-soundinq. Shame about the genre (and the clothes).

Honey are a band;:/v ::

that can grate on sheltered ears - but Dropping Honey have obviously made the transition from searching for their particular sound to defining and refining it.

38+4=9.5.

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60 TERTANGALA

Gilded Kiln had a write up in the last Tert, which was when I first became aware of their existence. The initial impression tonight was that they are built around Tim Ireland’s work, since a number of their songs were recognisable from his solo shows. That said, the use of such a diverse band greatly enhances these songs. For example, the second song of the set was given an unexpected shift into darker waters by the band, especially Damien-Dropping-Honey’s weirdo Spycatcher walking guitar riffs. Not having seen GK before, I was impressed by the idea of them as much as for what they actually sounded like. Obviously accomplished musicians, they have the capacity to do just about anything, given the range of instruments (two guitars, a drummer and a percussionist, double bass and violin, with at least three quality vocalists). However, the result was not necessarily as amazing as the theory suggests. They all play professionally, tightly and smoothly, the violin in particular played with meticulous control, but some unquantified factor was holding back. As is quickly becoming my answer for everything, maybe it was to do with the mix? Certainly the audience had difficulty hearing the bass in all but the quietest moments. An interesting band nonetheless, and one well worth checking out, at least for their contrast to typical Wollongong rock bands, and in the hopes of some growing use of their potential.

Machine Translations are another band I’d heard of, but not yet heard. Others apparently more in the know assured me that tonight was not indicative of their usual sound. Admittedly their reputation and name had led me to expect some kind of experimental arty band, possibly featuring unusual/homemade percussion. What we got was a drums/ bass/guitar/keyboard band, as standard a line up as you could get. Despite this they were strangely deviant in a very subtle way, and though they had a standard form of percussion, the style of drumming was nicely unique - lots of booming toms in the quieter spots created impressively dramatic tension, and 60s happyrock snare at other moments helped to effect a surreal contrast.

Familiar in an almost unidentifiable way, MT sounded like a modern antique, or an antique modernity, perhaps? The trite but here appropriate term ‘timeless’ comes to mind. As well as possessing a significant amount of 90s-ish indie guitar, they managed to sound much as you’d imagine the Go-betweens would if they could write more interesting songs; otherwise tenuous comparisons to the Velvet Underground were reinforced by the singer’s odd pseudo-American Reedish speak/sing accent. I’m told they chameleon their sound entirely between gigs, so maybe it’s best not to get attached to this spectacle of subtly insistent pop. Regardless of their next guise, however, they are obviously thinking about the music in a way that promises interesting art next time around too.

38+4=9.5.

Gerling/Tracky Dax/Ge! Thursday Wollongong Unibar. 17 May 2001

This night was not only the exciting return of Gerling to the ‘Gong after too long, but the official opening of the new Unibar. These two factors alone seem to have guaranteed a large proportion of fuckwits in tonight’s crowd. As one observer observed, Gerling are excitingly experimental, but their gift for danceable hooks also designates them as a target for idiotic morons to follow in droves, and they did. The crowd had more of a yob pub than a university gig feel tonight, as illustrated by the number of incoherent dickheads wandering about picking fights.

The first band tonight, a group from Orange known as Gel, were a mixed offering. Using all-electronic equipment, they got the kids up and dancing, which is a feat in itself for bottom of the bill. Their simple, weaving sounds coupled with speedy beats were very reminiscent of the W ipeout2097 soundtrack (yes, I get my chief electronica education via Playstation), and while quite good, were not anything new.

They had a workmanlike demeanour about them too, a la Endorphin, showing the audience the tops of their skulls more often than their faces, except for their ‘percussionist’, who was a puzzle unto himself. Aside from the distracting recurrence of being able to hear the thud of his sticks on the electronic drums over the top of the electronic sounds, this boy was a bit of a let down in that he seemed to burn all his energy after three or four songs. By halfway through their set, he’d gone from manically banging along to every beat, to less than half-heartedly slapping a pad every bar or so.

Second up tonight were Tracky Dax. On the surface they appear to be a loungey-with-beats party band, a bit like Peter Allen meets Elton John with a drum machine, and accordingly they larger crowd dancing away.But there’s something deeply insidious about Tracky Dax.They sound like an even less trustworthy Mr Bungle, without the metal. It would be most interesting to peruse their lyrics to see what unwholesome backwards Satan messages they’re chanting at us (the only lyrics I could pick were in a song with something about universities being compared to trailer parks - that is not natural).Theirsinger also bears an unnerving resemblance to some bizarre cross between Tony Macris and Ricky Martin.

And then there was Gerling.For those not in the know, this band ALWAYS kick ass onstage. As has been prophesised by other seers recently, this band are likely to have immense impact on the

next generation, both for their songwriting and their live performances. Their music is the closest anyone has come to a genuine blending of electronica and guitars, and they are the leaders in showing the complementary nature inherent to happy, beaty, singable hook aesthetics and their sawing guitar, hysterical screaming counterparts. As they took the stage tonight, Gerling also seemed to have finally wrenched the prize of ‘most hobbit-like’ from Supergrass, in good time to cash in on all the Lord Of The Rings buzz going on at present.

Some inspiring highlights included: their CD giveaway, where they simply hurled cd singles of ‘decker’ into the air, ensuring that whoever got the inner sleeve did not get the case, and neither of them would get the CD itself; the beer bottle keyboard solo, which honestly sounded great; an almost rock-pig moment of PA climbing (though it ended safely - thus boringly), and an eight and a half minute version of ‘Ghost Patrol’, all swamped with Gerling’s characteristic combination of mime aerobics and rock star posing.

As is to be expected when Gerling come to town, the new Unibar was completely packed. Like most people I gave up trying to get a drink after 9pm, and those that tried took thirty minutes or more. On a more positive note, the new room does look an absolute fuckload better than the old school-dorm carpet box we had to put up with before, and whoever decked it out has been generous in sticking a battery of bar heaters along the walls (as a means of flooding everyone with cosmetically flattering redlight, I presume). Can’t wait to see the first drunk fall down the two or three baby steps onto the dancefloor and split their face open, either.

38+4=9.5.

photo: Carolyn M. Chism

TERTANGALA 61

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Law as a desiccating process

By Duncan Wallace

Year after year tfie “bright young things” come forth, juice for a dried o fa system. T ’he Caw does not bike these wifdunruCy hfooms, it prefers its flowers pressed between ye blowing pages.‘Embarrassedby youth’s sheer exuberance, it prefers to extract the sap bike some covetous embabmer, knowing it needs the infusion but

fearing best it consume too much.‘Yhe years pass and the young things too dry out, resisting to the end the weight of the vofume cCosing around them, wedging themsefves between the foetid pages.Eut the casebook inevitabby cboses and another fewer is pressed lifeless against another interminabbepage.

Necessary Stages.By Guillame Lee

Did you see him sitting there, on a deck chair o f moss?Overgrown with sleepiness and the murmur of the lost.In a time that moves with snail’s feet as absent as the days,In the midnight mixed up mirror of a lonely sad embrace.

Did you pass him by without a care, no attention seeking drone?As you wander among your mindful friends in that friendly comfort zone.H e’s lonely did you notice? His friends have all gone,They disguise their shallow pity in the gesture of a moan.

Twilight apparitions bare their teeth, in the struggle for his soul,

The destitution drugs and weary days still take their toll.I ’ve seen him many times, I ’ve felt his private struggle,In lower times the higher heaven was just a warm and friendly cuddle.

But he scares me too.I think he is a part of me,Something I ignore.

For he is and I regret, an incarnation of sorts. The dark and sad in all of us is crying to be told,“D on’t ignore me, don’t debase me, don’t separate my life,I too have something to give, a depth, a heart, not strife.Embrace me in your arms, I ’ll teach you how to feel.In melancholy and sadness too a truth there is revealed.I am the poet’s soul, I live deep in your heart, And in the morning of the days, I was light, not dark.”

I turn away and walk on by, his speech has touched me so,But still I have no courage, no conviction, I am cold.I think of him sometimes and where his kind come from.And when I search inside of me I quickly come undone.For in there he sits, not mocking, nor in tears. He faces with a quiet strength the worst of all my fears.In the private places that I keep concealed,He is like a light, in the dark revealed.

Flesh, Light, FlightBy Elizabeth Hughes

It was quite different being dead.

I ’m not really sure when it happened, because at first I didn’t realise that I had died. I got out of bed, feeling lighter and happier than I had in years. I had been ill for a long time, and even had to give up my job because of it, but when I got up that morning, it was as though none of that mattered in the least.

I didn’t feel like eating breakfast or going to the toilet for some reason, but I walked across the room and looked out my open window at the garden. The colours were more intense than I had ever seen them - an emerald lawn and flower beds as bright as if they were made of stained glass, with a sky the transparent blue of a swimming pool. It was very beautiful, but the odd thing was that I felt completely detached from it all, as if the pale sunlight had formed a fine invisible mist over everything.

When a car drove down the road outside my house, I realised I could not hear it. Or rather, it was like holding your head under water in the bath. Your ears fill up with sound, a dim clunking from some mysterious unidentifiable region below the floor. When I was a child, I loved to curl up with my back curved against the white porcelain, imagining I was still tucked in a bag of placenta, hearing the thud of my mother’s heart, the moan of her lungs, the roar of her blood that we hear echoed in the waves of the sea ... that first best-loved of mothers, that first unforgettable womb.

That’s when I turned around and saw my body for the first time. It came as a horrible shock, I can tell you. I am (or was, I should say) what kind people call pleasantly plump, and cruelly realistic people call fat. When I was alive, I could make the best of myself, as they say. With the right clothes, good posture, a nice smile, the smooth clear skin that is the blessing of carrying extra weight, and what Americans call a positive attitude, I thought I could just about carry it off. But there I was, slumped on the bed with a gaping mouth - too large and lopsided I now noticed, doubled chin, ripple of cellulite over the backs of my thighs, floppy breasts almost hanging out of my tatty old nightie - looking like nothing so much as a big unpalatable lump of raw dough.It was then that I realised the change

TERTANGALA 63

that had occurred. For a moment I felt ashamed, and wished I could move myself to a more dignified position before someone found me. I even considered waiting to see who exactly would find me, and how long it would take them to notice I hadn’t returned their calls, and hadn’t shown up for a doctor’s appointment, and hadn’t gone out to collect my mail. Even when very ill, I would always pick up my mail from the tin box, gather the letters inscribed by computer, typewriter, or the archaic sprawl of a human hand. Bills from the gas company, circulars begging me to invest, send a donation, catalogues to buy this or that, letters and cards from friends in other states, subscribed magazines. Seeing my name over and over, feeling important that my name was worth typing so many times on so many white slips of paper, wanting my name to go on meaning something.

But then I thought that if I began hanging around my unwanted body with its short ordinary name that had actually been misspelled quite often on the delivered envelopes I would have taken some irretrievable step towards being a ghost, if that’s the right word. In fact, with my one new sense that had replaced the five or six I’d had in life, I had become aware that my house already had one of these: an elderly woman in a floral print dress who seemed to have attached herself to a shadowy part of the garden that I had never liked watering at twilight. She wandered in a blind aimless fashion, repeating the same gestures again and again like a grotesque wind-up toy. I felt the same dismayed uncomfortable pity that I would have felt if I'd discovered a drunken bag lady sleeping rough on my lawn, covered by the flimsy rag of my morning paper.

• i !;yI had no desire to do the same, and when I looked at the body again ,1 felt very little towards it. It seemed absurd that anyone should want to cry over it, and I had known people who would weep and be very sorry indeed as well as shocked and a bit frightened that death could be so close to the charmed circle of their own lives. That they should take the body and dress it like a rubber doll in clothes that had been mine, put lipstick and powder on its soggy face to make it look more like me but of course it wouldn’t. My face had been considered attractive in life, but without movement of the muscles and without me inside, it hung slack and empty as a mask. I now saw that the construction of the face was bland-featured and the eyes were too small. Occupied by a different person, it would have been thought a heavy-jawed, plain and rather stupid face.

This was the piece of flesh that others would clean and dress and place in a wooden box. Into the earth it would go, ashes to ashes dust to dust and all that, and people would sing hymns to it to comfort themselves and perhaps one of my friends or a former colleague, if my friends were still too upset, would stand up and talk a little about me and the feelings I had evoked in some people. They were unlikely to say anything important, or anything that I would want to hear.

They wouldn’t say what my hair smelt like when I got out of the shower, or that I had hated to be touched on the navel, or that I would get tears in my eyes whenever I read a certain 19th century poem. They couldn’t tell the audience that I listened to baroque music, watched American soaps, liked kosher food, detested people who used the word collectable as a noun, cried once a fortnight and enjoyed the feeling of walking barefoot on wet sand for the simple reason that I had never shared these parts of myself with anyone.

I turned away from the body - no longer my body. In the turning away, I left behind all the bric-a-brac and debris of living, all the flotsam and jetsam I had accumulated and sometimes thought comprised what I called me. When I turned I wished myself elsewhere and so I was.I was speed, I was light, I was heat, I was time passing, I was an endless singing sound, I was a colour that could be seen glinting on the water. I was an electric flash in a wide dark sky and a bead of moisture rolling down a spring iceberg and a grain of sand that whirled in a dust storm above a purple desert.

I could see floating before me a million million bubbles like frosted glass, and inside each one was a life about to happen. Into one I was going to dive, to break the fragile surface and enter another body. I would fall and keep on falling until I felt the touch of earth, the warmth of sun, breath, blood, bone and a beating heart.

It was going to be quite different being alive.

Elizabeth Hughes

The White Kids of Berkeley

The white kids of Berkeleyplaster fake blue tattoosonto their industrial bleached skinmouths filled with mashed pink iced donutstand back and laugh at the Wogs whoplay chess in the courtyardtheir eyes gleam with the glory ofManchester, Glasgow or Leedsthey have had dreams of those grey-greencitiessince before they could walk.And their parents have told them ‘We spoke EnglishThe way English was meant to be spoken.’ Yeah, the white kids of Berkeley say,No Wogs for us No Wogs are we.

The white kids of Berkeleywhiplashed with kettle cordsor a wet teatowel across the facewear their toxic lime-green polyester shirtsand rolled up jeansgrin with fused hair lipsand rub their fat hands on Manchester.Celtics, Rangers or Leeds club jerseys,call the fast Kooris ‘Boongs’and play eye spyfrom the back of the bus.

Something beginning with D Drip, Dog, Dickhead get told to watch their language, the white kids of Berkeley shout.

This is our language!More than it is yours!Our parents are English.We white kids of Berkeley.

They find short cuts thru paddocks and parents asleep in front of TV- the hum of an English soccer crowd fills the plastic lined rooms, seeps up from the crisp brown carpet, travels along the inside of these slack, spent nerves.

Escape to the verandaand imagine that boatshipping them right backto those silver coated citieswhere their parents shonebefore their skin started to rustbefore their eyes became the dusty brickwindowsin a smoke stack.Before this country dried them out, crushed themand blew them into some black Cringila wind.

No Wogs are us No Wogs are we,Boast the white kids of Berkeley.Left to wonder then Why they still don't belong.

Myfanwy McDonald.

64 TERTANGALA

Poor Circle: Machine Translations’ latest release can’t be circumscribed by the conventional popformula. The Tert’s Serena Armstrong finds why from J. Walker.

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I was reading an interview with Ozzie Osbourne and he said that some of his albums have keyboards in the background and it gives the album an aural space and fills out the sound. Was that what Superheist were trying to do?

That is exactly it. It just gives the music a different texture - it separates you a little from the band.

How does it feel to finally realise your first full- length album?

Ha, it’s like having your first child, (laughs all round). It has been a long wait and we have been great procrastinators but it is finally here.

The band has been together for around seven years. Did the experience of recording the album bring you closer together?

No, it didn’t bring us closer together. We will do it again though, it was an awesome experience because we got to work with some great people. We have been a band for a long time and we have been writing songs for a long time together, so it was nothing out o f the ordinary. We have recorded heaps of things but just working with new people and in working in a different environment was great.

You have a pretty slick and well produced sound. Is that from working with the international producers?

Yes, we have done a lot o f touring over the last five or six years, so we played everywhere and people would just ask us ‘when is your full-length album coming out’? We ended up releasing an EP and that stemmed the tide for a while and then decided to go in and write this album.

SUPEFAdam and I waited anxiously for the operator to tell us that Superheists lead singer Berger is on the other end for the interview. We finally hook up and to find Berger articulate with a super good sense of humour making it easy to illicit information about Superheist and their first full length CD The Prize Recruit. The following is what transpired:

What year did the band form and how did you all meet? Was it at school, playing football, or down at the local pub?

The band formed back in 1994. Three o f us went to school together and we met the drummer at a music shop down the Peninsula (laughs all round). We only got the current base player 18 months ago.

What about the variety of music influences amongst the band members?

Our base player is into Iron Maiden and Frank Zappa, our drummer is into Faith No More, the Police and Sepultura, the guitarist is into everything from Smashing Pumpkins, Fear Factory, Cradle o f Filth and the keyboard player is into anything from classical, Rage Against The Machine and all that sort o f stuff. I am into anything from metal to what is my favourite o f all time which is Sinartra.

Was it easy fitting Fetah your keyboardist, into a heavy metal act?

We were the first metal band in this country to do it and it was pretty easy at the start. There was no difficulty finding space for that type o f thing

HEISTYes, the sound is an international sound production. We wanted to it to be that way, and we specifically set a target for the album to sound like it does. That’s why we got Kalju Tonamu the producer. He did a great job getting the initial source sounds and the American guy just came in and polished it and took it to the next level.

Obviously you have a certain standard when you play live. Did going up another level sound wise inspire you, or did it raise the bar of what you expected?

No, it just means you have to keep that standard up, and you try to do the live shows to the best o f your abilities. It took us a while to find the perfect front o f house guy, to have that sound exactly the same as it does on the album live, and we put a lot o f focus to it.

This album has really taken off for you. In your opinion what do you reckon is the biggest factor?

I t’s a combination thing, having exposure through the media, being on radio and TV and being in the press all the time. Touring is involved too, especially with other good bands like Grinspoon. We did the 28 Days tour and Shihad, it's just about getting out there and putting yourself on the line. I think that opens up a lot o f people's eyes and minds and all o f a sudden we debut at number 12 on the ARIA charts. (Both Adam and myself laugh and say that’s not too shabby)

You would often build up a good support base offer the years just by touring though, is that a fair comment?

How long did it actually take to record?

It probably took four months to write the songs, and six weeks o f actual work time.

Your album has different moods and grooves through out do you believe this has made it successful?It does give it listening variety

What about the song that means the most to you?

Slide.

What about your classification. Where to you fit in? Are you new metal, heavy metal or something along those lines?

We're probably just metal. I ’m not sure where we fit in as we are just trying to develop our own sound and be Superhesit. I don’t know why they need to tag us - we are just writing music and that’s probably why there is listening variety.

The band has been touring extensively and they are just finishing the first phase of their tour and 90 percent of the shows were sold out. Superheist are coming to Wollongong University. They have played here in the past out on the Duckpond Lawn and Berger descirbed the experience as “ so bizarre dude”. We tell him that there is a new $3millionuni bar that cost so they have a new flash venue to play in. Apparently Superheist’s guitarist’s girlfriend is from Wollongong and goes to Wollongong Uni, small world hey!

Superheist will be here on June 28lh. Check the local gig guide to confirm.

Thanks for the interview Berger, see ya in the bar!!

Bart James McKenzie and Adam Thurtle

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f tf

campus culture

Ivox POPS v o x POPS v o x POPS v o x POPS v o x POPS

Simon, BA His/Pol 4th year.

1. Not as good as the old UNIbar, too commercialised.Steelworks.Don’t plan to, I will go overseas when I incur a big enough student debt.Don’t know.

2.3.

4.

This issue we ask the1. W hat do you th in k o f the n ew Uni B ar?

2. W h a t’s yo u r favo u rite p la c e in W o llon g o n g ?

Jess Belief Bachelor of Arts- psychology 2nd year.

1. Northern Beaches, Sydney.2. Anywhere sociable.3. I’d come back to visit.4. Feminine.

Al, Mining Engineering, 3rd year.1. I like it! No bar feel, it is like a cafeteria.2. North gong pub.3. No.4. Feminine.

Greg, MIB 1st year.

1. Very good.2. Campus East.3. No.4. Masculine.

|v o x POPS v o x POPS v o x POPS v o x POPS vox POPS

|v o x POPS v o x POPS v o x | v o x POPS v o x POPS

students of UOW3. W ou ld you spend th e re st o f yo u r life h e re ?

4. Is c h e e s e m a scu lin e or fe m in in e in F re n c h ?

Natasha, BA environm ent resource studies, 2nd year.

1. OK.2. M ountains.3. Definitely not.4. Feminine.

Russell, Environmental Engineer (about to graduate)

1 .It doesn’t have the atmosphere the old uni bar used to have. It seems to be following the trend of renovated pubs which makes it unhomely.2. Beaches and mountains3. No, but its certainly a good place to spend yo u r growing up years.4.Feminine.

Christie and Annie, B A English 7th and 5th year.

1. Nice, not as d in gy as it could have been.2. My bed. C hristies Bed.3. No, fo r a while.4. M asculine, fem inine cause I’m into chicks.

Dominika, Evironm ental Science 1st year.

1.They forgot to put the soul back in when they rebuilt it. There’s more the a uni bar then a place where they buy beer. What happened to the uni bar?2. W ombarra Train Station3. I was thinking no, but I am slowly falling in love with the place4. I am going to run away and find a French student less I embarrass m yself further.___________________________________

|v o x POPS v o x POPS v o x POPS v o x POPS v o x POPS

SRC REPORTSPresident’s Report John Finlayson

Hello everyone. On Monday May 21 at about 5pm, an incident occurred in the Western car park where a woman was forced to drive her car up near Helensburgh. She was then left with her hands tied while the abductor ran into the bush. Thankfully, she was able to call the police on her mobile phone, and she was rescued before anything else happened. Please take a look at the photo in this Tert of the offender, and if you have seen them, you know anything about this event or you notice anyone behaving suspiciously, please contact security or

the police. And don’t hesitate to use the security escort service that is available by calling 4221 4555 (just extension # 4555 when using an internal phone) or by dialling # 1 at a security phone (marked with a blue light). People should havethe right to feel safe on campus, so we are currently trying to get increases tosecurity, but please use the services that exist.

On July 1st there will be a ‘reignite the fight’ action in Canberra. The theme of this will be ‘no reconcilliation without justice’. The action has been called by the Indigenous Student’s Network (ISN) in response to increasing attacks by the Howard Government. The ISN has invited non-indigenous students to come and support this very important cause. For more details come in to the SRC, or look around for posters (the travel details are yet to be confirmed).

On Tuesday July 31st (second week of session) there will be an SRC discussion meeting where all students can come and say how the SRC should be structured as to best allow your involvement and active participation. I think something like this has been needed for a while, so please attend. It will be on at lunchtime, with the location TBA.

The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) will run from October 6-9 in Brisbane. There will be protestors going from around the country to this, including from Wollongong. Due to the high business involvement in CHOGM, there will be anti-corporate and anti-globalisation protestors there. Also, as this will be a meeting of governments and their leaders, this is also a great opportunity for those of us opposed to capitalism and to any form of government (ie: the anarchists - scary!) to make our feelings known. The details as to how we are going to get there haven’t been organised, so if you are interested then you can contact me (if you so wish, there are also a number of other groups / political parties that would be only too happy if you contacted them about it).

‘Rebel Uni’ is the name that has been given to an autonomous space where any students can organise free ‘lectures’ or whatever they wish. In this place knowledge can be shared by all, for the benefit of all. Anyone can organise a talk or a demonstration (as in a demonstration of how to do something, not protest) on any topic they please. For more information look out for posters advertising when and where it will be (week two of session seems like the likely time).

As this is the ‘Wollongong’ edition of the Tert, I would just like to say “GO WOLVES!!!!’’ with regards to the National Soccer League Grand Linal. I would also like to say, “YOU’RE LUCKED!’’ to the NSL leadership for moving the game from Wollongong (where it was meant to be) to Parramatta Stadium. So much for the home ground advantage.

As you are all no-doubt aware, the new UniBar has opened. While I still prefer the danky, skanky hole that was the old UniBar (where I fitted in perfectly!), the new bar is growing on me (for $3 million you’d hope so!). While there seems to be a new crowd of people (I suppose it is a ‘licensed cafe’ now), it still has the same old food and the same old beer as the old one. I suppose that is why I am beginning to like, or, well, at least not mind, the new bar: because we still have a beer-serving establishment on campus (open till 10pm!) that helps me unwind after a long days work in the SRC office, around campus, or even in class (he does CLASS??? SHOCK!). But I do miss the old bar, its smell, its crowd, and its rats running across the floor at night (sigh).

Anyway, I am reminiscing now, and I’m too young for that, so I'll see you round,

John F4221 4201 / president@ src.uow.edu.auPS. Thanks to Don Beale for not cutting down that old tree in the bar, and

for promising life bans to anyone carv.ing their name in the tree- so watch out fuckers!

W elfare O fficer’s Report Peter B issett

Hi.Once again I would like to let all students know that if

they require any relevant information on drugs or how to use drugs eg: injecting safely, they can obtain such info in the form of pamphlets and booklets directly from me at the SRC. I personally would like to say I neither endorse nor condemn the use of drugs, but I feel if students are going to decide to use them, then it is our responsibility to provide the best possible information without any political bias.

I would also like to let all students know emergency cash loans are only going to remain available if students repay them. Unfortunately there is only a limited amount of money available for loans, and whilst the SRC would like to help all students in need of short term loans this will only remain possible if the outstanding loans are repaid.

Treasurer’s Report Scott C aine

Just a few words. It’s getting to that part of the session when everyone’s getting busy, starting to panic and wishing that they could just stay in bed for the next three or so weeks. It’s here the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy would be of infinite help. “Don’t panic” it would say. Your computer bn the other hand, much larger then the HGttG and not in such a smart and practical case, will tell in a practical and soothing manner, with a smart and informal little box, that your hard drive has crashed and by inference that the essay/assignment/thesis that is due in the next five minutes is destroyed/lost/or that really-it-wasn’t-that- good-anyway-so you-should-be-glad-it’s-gone. All the same, DON’T PANIC!

In all honesty, if you had one of those little gadgets to flag down a passing UFO, then I would use it right about now, cause let’s face it, although we’ve all been there, it would suck to be in your shoes. It’s funny though isn’t it? When they hand out your student password to the internet, or give you your student card they should give each person one of those soft scrunchy little balls that you can’t destroy no matter how hard you squeeze the thing in frustration. Perhaps beside each computer they should also have one of those soothing wave machine thingies that rock gently back and forth producing a don’t-eat-that- sort-of-blue coloured wave inside the glass. On second thoughts, if the windows could open in the computer labs there would probably be a large pile of smashed glass and a pool of strange blue liquid on the ground outside the labs. It would make you feel better though. And one other thing: why are they called labs? As in laboratory, a place where scientists conduct experiments. That’s right. It’s just one big experiment designed to see how far you can go before you CRACK, like a funny blue liquid wave soothing machine thingy hitting the pavement.

But I digress. They should also give each person a one hour each session free consultation with a psyche student. Or for arts or fine arts students, a one hour each session free consultation with a commerce or law student: that’d make them feel better right away. I was going to write something about the new uni bar and democracy but right about now you don’t want to hear about that. You want to hear that someone else just lost their entire essay too. You want to hear that someone else did pathetically on that exam as well. You want to go to that new uni bar and have a beer/scotch/whisky, rum, tequilla and coke, and laugh. And that’s what I’m here to tell you, for lack a HGttG close at hand: DON’T PANIC! Take a deep breath and smile. Find a friend, have beer, roll a joint. If all that fails, sit on the beach and watch the ocean for a while and just remember the whole of the world behind you is completely and absolutely nuts. It always helps to get a sense of how absurd humans and human endeavour are. Then take a deep breath, put your crazy hat back on and plunge right back in.

And for all those other people who don’t need this advice, you too can laugh and think: I’m glad I’m not in their shoes. Yes, you just keep thinking that...

This has been your friendly SRC treasurer, and if you have any messages for me just give them to my secretary and who’ll forward them to me at my resort, I mean office, in the Bahamas.

70 TERTANGALA

Education ReportBence Szabo

I wrote a number of policy issues in the Education edition of the Tert (Edition Two). Though they were quite dry they will affect students greatly. Lets just say that the response was negatory, please go and read Edition 2 and make some comments; if you can’t find the TERT then go on-line where it can be read at the SRC’s web-site.

Our education system could not currently be described as ‘free’, lets face it we have to pay. HECS costs us all quite a bit in the long run. Though we have a debt we usually ignore, there are expenses which force us to part with our money right now. There are membership fees to organisations that provide services we have no input into, text books and stationary, course readings (my pet hate with a 20% mark-up at the student subsidised UNIBook shop) and the other hidden charges. It would be interesting to start thinking in a user-pays mode, and to start demanding what we really want.

The library has gone down this path and become a ‘service provider’, the language used within its walls is not of books, resources and students but of products, services and clients. Why? Because the library has to do more with less every year. This is not the fault of the library so much as Administration who see more merit on increasing our art collection and syphoning off funds to their corporate arm The Illawarra Technology Corporation (ITC).

1999 2000Works of Art $1,483,000 $2,085,000

It is a similar story for teaching. If you encounter a lecturer who doesn’t know what he or she is talking about, or their manner of presentation is a little off-putting then remember it is not necessarily their fault. They have probably received minimal training on how to teach at tertiary level, the usual criteria being successful completion of an undergraduate degree. How many teachers are teaching outside their area of expertise or how many have been thrown in at the last minute? This comes down to bad management of limited resources.

If you have any problems please don’t hesitate to drop me a line and tell me what’s going on. I am here to help with both individual problems and the greater issues.

Come to Education Action Collective meetings to make this uni what you want it to be.

Email queries: education@src.uow.edu.au

Sexuality Officer Report Kelly-Anne Stewart

* The Q-Space is getting closer to completion with the paint job nearly finished. Thank-you to all those who have helped with all facets of the painting, from the debating of colours to the shopping to the application...it was a great day and a good show of numbers given the hectic time of year. The carpet is being laid in two weeks and the final touches will be not very far behind. We are hoping to have a grand opening when second session commences

* There will be a car wash happening to raise funds for Allsorts to attend the Queer Collaboration Conference in July in Newcastle. We are staging an on and off campus car-wash-a-thon...a trivia night is in the pipeline and this will include fabulous tongue in cheek raffle prizes...watch this space!!

* The Sexuality Department and the Tertangala are accepting submissions for the 2001 Sexuality Handbook...this publication is running on a particular theme centred on discrimination. While there is a main theme we are open to all mediums and topics, it can be serious, raunchy, informative, and humorous or can be in the form of personal stories, poetry or fiction. We are also interested in including some art works and/or photos...they need not be pornographic! The Sexuality Handbook will aim to be an important reference point for queer students both on and off campus and the deadline is the 11th of July so be creative and keep in mind that if you don’t want to be identified as the author of your piece you can remain anonymous. You can submit work to the Tertangala editor Ariane Lewis via email:- tert.editor@src.uow.edu.au or to your friendly Sexuality Officer via:-sexuality@src.uow.edu.au. For further details you can call the SRC on 42214201 or the Tertangala 42214203.

* Sexuality Week is fast approaching and this year it’s happening in week 6 of session 2. We will be having the annual Homodenial Pageant and various other fun, rainbow orientated activities. To be involved, or to be part of the Sexuality Week working bee contact sexualitv@.src.uow.edu.au. Rest assured their WILL be

fairy floss, fake fur and lots of other technicolour paraphernalia!!!

Environment Officer’s Report Shau Teo

So much happening, so much excitement in the environment department!! Algal blooms in the duckpond, tonnes of potential re-useable paperbeing thrown out, expensive recycled paper in one photocopier, lack of

••• . •. ‘ » 4 recycling facilities, styrofoam /plastic packaging, WASTE,WASTE, WASTE, I’M GOING INSANE, AHHHH!!!!!!!

What can we do? We can complain, we can demand that the uni improve its environmental initiatives; this is how chip rolls went back to their original price after the sneaky 30c increase.

A student-working group (not to be confused with the CEMWP) has been established to tackle these issues, research other universities’ commitment to improving environmental practices and to present these concerns to Wollongong University. I feel there needs to be a communication improvement between the Campus Environmental Working Party and the student community, and if myself and other Environment collective representatives are going to adequately voice student concerns we need to get your feedback.

The environment collective has been busy fund raising, ‘twirling’ and ‘drinking’, to get students up to the Student’s and Sustainability Conference 2-6 July, in Newcastle. It should be an exciting, inspiring and empowering week of actions, field trips, workshops, forums and speakers. This is an important event, which explores the themes of sustainability, eco-feminism, indigenous issues and the direction and placement of young activists in environmental and social movements. As well as this it also allows network bases to be created, strengthened and expanded through different environmental organisations throughout Australia.

Many of us in the SRC and the Environment collective have been supporting and helping out at the Sandon Point/Kuradji Picket and Tent Embassy. At the moment the fight is being drawn out through the legal process via the Land and Environment Court. Please, if anybody would like to join the blockade contact list (when things begin to heat up), please let myself or someone in the SRC know. This comes down to basic respect for the environment, species other than us, and acknowledgment of indigenous land rights.

This is about racial equality, not division and applies to all of us whatever colour skin we are; in the words of Uncle Gubbo “we are one people”, and we must realise this. The Koori people are not trying to “grab” this land for their own benefit, they have as much right to retain their cultural heritage, and sacred burial sites as any one else. It is only the arrogance and ignorance of developers and financially motivated individuals with no values who are supporting this development. What a strange, Eurocentric, selfish civilisation we are when we knowingly wipe out ecological communities, pollute our creeks and destroy our basic needs of survival in the pursuit of ‘development’, ‘dollars’ and ‘domination’.

Sorry I have drifted off on a philosophical tangent here...

Some people from the environment collective have been attending the Corrimal Coke works ‘community’ meetings. Dare I say “community” when such representatives have to be approved by Corrimal Cokeworks and most of them don’t live there, but own business in the area .. .stakeholder interest is all I can say.

I am beginning to look in to the Dendrobium project which BHP Illawarra Coal are trying to win public support for. I have a sneaking suspicion that there is a considerable degree of public ‘greenwashing’ going on with BHP Illawarra Coal persisting with an intensive public relations campaign and community newsletters, promoting the general atmosphere that everything is just fine and dandy. Well it’stime to see the other side of the story. If anyone wants info of thismine proposal for the Kemeira Valley there are information centres in the mall, Mount Kembla School, WCC and other places. (You’ll find that the argument will always end up in economic rationalism). When I find out the dirt I’ll let ya’s know. A better idea is to try contacting the Illawarra Escarpment Coalition for their opinion. The Department of Urban Affairs and Planning is the consent body for the proposal andthere are copies of the submission details in the Environmentcorrespondence box (in the SRC) if you are interested.

We’ve got a groovy website up and running now, go to the src website www.src.uow.edu.au and then to the environment section!!!

TERTANGALA 71

tertjournal of wollongong university

MEDIA COLLECTIVE - Will resume first week of semester two, tuesday august 23rd.Arts at 12:30pm, news at 1:00pm.Skip on into the media office, building 11 at the SRC. Bring your free SRC lunch, your ideas, your pen and your buddy.

Environment: p l a c e , i d e n t i t y , green, ; kyoto protocol,jabiluka, pkc... something we live in, something we create. Tertangala Edition Four will explore the notion of environment: all submissions are welcome (whether you’ve trekked the high country in Tasmania, or you are engineering plans to mine sand on the corners of the Blue Mountains National Park, Tertangala wants to hear from you).

Deadline is August 6th. Contact the Tert office for more information on 42214203, or Shau Teo, SRC Environment Officer 42214201 - email: environment@src.uow.edu.au / tert.editor@,src.uow.edu.au

tertjournal of wollongong university

72 TERTANGALA

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