The Weekend Flame: 26 May 2003

From punk to Corey: Rocking on with Cell Block 69

By Brian Kelly

Ifthe bloke skulking around in a blond wig and Acker-dacker T-shirt in this band photo looks familiar, that might be a surprise.

Years have passed since guitarist Lindsay McDougall helped Frenzal Rhomb blaze a trail across Australia’s pop-punk landscape, and his profile these days lies mainly in the land of radio.

Lindsay McDougall strides the stage these days as alter ego Corey in Cell Block 69, a whole 80s covers band of Coreys (it is very much an 80s thing) booked to give live music fans a reason to walk like an Egyptian on Burelli St on a Sunday arvo in June.

I caught Lindsay in Corey mode, complete with flagrantly blatant plug …

Which Frenzal Rhomb song titles would describe a Cell Block 69 gig? You can’t pick obvious ones like ‘Never Had So Much Fun’ because I just did, sorry...

I’m reticent to lower the genius of Cell Block 69 to such pedestrian punk rock. Duane Le Corey Michaels has written some of the biggest songs in the centuries-long history of 1980s music. That they’ve been stolen by artists such as Billy Idol, Annie Lennox, Iva Davies and Daryl Braithwaite is testament to that. But if I had to, maybe Richer Than You because of the 80s decadence and When My Baby Smiles At Me I Go To Rehab, for the brazen theft. And all of the songs of The Cup Of Pestilence, because it’s Frenzal’s new album and I should probably mention it.

note. Then there’s costume changes, make-up, wig fittings and keytar choreography!

What’s in it for Spiegeltent audiences? I’ve checked the YouTube clips and it looks a pretty fine time.

We offer a little bit of sophistication; a truly international band, with members from Europe to Hollywood, superior songwriting, glamour, poise and stadium-level Corey-ography such that the Spiegeldome has never seen.

What’s with all the ‘Coreys’?

I get that it’s a sort of 80s name... I know. It’s made the constant line-up changes difficult, but who wants someone named Greg in their band?

You went to school in Engadine. Is that how you ended up in the sunny Illawarra?

It’s weird how many people from generic Sutherland ended up in the Illawarra. Unless you’ve been to the Shire, I guess. I moved out of Engadine to Newtown in 1997, when my high-flying Frenzal life and living with Dad stopped meshing so well, and then after 20 years decided to  make my way to Wollongong, which is where my wife grew up and lived until I’d wrongly convinced her that Newtown was fun.

You’ve been doing the Drive session on ABC Illawarra for four or more years – how did that come about and how’s it going?

Book for the June 11 show via Merrigong

Is the appeal of being in a covers band the chance to be lazy or just have fun?   Lazy, Brian, lazy? This is the hardest I’ve worked in a band ever! Duane Le Corey Michaels’ songs, whether stolen by Duran Duran, Tears For Fears, George Michael, Madonna or Kenny Loggins, are all really hard to play, and DLCM docks our pay for every wrong

Four or more is right – into my sixth year now. After leaving Triple J, I’d stayed on the George Soros/WEF WhatsApp group, and in late 2017 I started seeing messages about an impending pandemic. They needed trusted mouthpieces to spread Bill Gates’ plans, some dude named Fauci had a bunch of misinformation to get out, and I thought back at the ABC was the best place to be. We also got the real vaccine,

“This is the hardest I’ve worked in a band ever!”

– Corey Sambori / Lindsay McDougall

the one without the microchip, and you should see how fast our internet is.

You’ve been vegan for a substantial slice of your life. Do you feel the perception of veganism is changing?

I have very little interest in the perception of veganism, EXCEPT in relation to one of the most important outcomes: delicious snacks. And in the past 25 years, it’s pretty inspiring seeing

the cornucopia of delicious snacks now available in supermarkets; cheese, chocolate, burgers, ice-cream, more cheese, as they realise there’s heaps of cash to be made providing tasty crueltyfree alternatives. Also fewer animals having a horrible life is a fun bonus.

Cell Block 69 will appear at Spiegeltent on Sunday, June 11, at the un-rock ‘n’ roll hour of 3pm

WHAT’S ON NOW

27 May

Sydney Writers Festival Live and Local

27 May

Roller Derby

Breast Cancer Fundraiser

28 May

Botanic Gardens Day

Until 28 May

Fragility exhibition

Distinguished Gentlemen ride again

The annual ride – hosted by Jane and Tim Sim from City Coast Motorcycles – is a staple on the vintage and classic motorcycling calendar. Riders dress in their Sunday best, parading their magnificent motorcycles while raising awareness and funds for the Movember Foundation. The global spectacle was held in 893 cities on Sunday, May 21.

LATER

2-4 June

Thirroul Seaside & Arts Festival

6 June

Sharkeys

Bushcare Open Day

24 June

Rainbow Storytime

25 June

Helensburgh Lions Brick Fair

Find more events on our calendar

Photos: Geoffrey Dunn Photography

How an Indigenous path inspired an archway of art

By the Flame’s news

Caitlin Sloan

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Local waterways and an Indigenous pathway from the Southern Highlands to the sea have inspired a metal archway installation in the heart of Calderwood in the City of Shellharbour.

Standing tall at Calderwood District Park, Interconnection is a collaborative project by South Coast contemporary sculptor Jen Mallinson and First Nations artist Richard Campbell.

Commissioned by Lendlease to design the sculpture more than two years ago, Jen was eager to collaborate with Richard to create an artwork representing the area’s ancient environment and Indigenous history.

“When I saw the [proposed] location of the Calderwood sculpture and I realised that the ancient Indigenous path that came down from the highlands to the coast went right through that area, that was quite a significant thing,” Jen said.

“That informed the overall shape and the intertwining shape of all of the arches coming together with its embracing motion… and then it also references some of the plants and animals that are there at Calderwood and [that] have been there.

“I wanted something that paid homage to the people that lived there in the past and also recognise the new people coming to the area; the people

that called Calderwood home, basically, past, present and future.”

Carved out of the three nine-metrelong triangular arches is an abundance of native flora and fauna illustrated by Richard Campbell.

“The brief was… about maintaining the cultural significance of Calderwood, and the waterways that surround that place,” Richard said.

“[The illustrations] are all the totems of the area. You’ve got the Gymea lily on there; you’ve got the lyrebird; you’ve got the Mugadaang, the goanas; then you’ve got the Gunyung, the swans; and the ducks.

“You’ve got the kangaroo and the emu there, which captivate one of the main totems of the Illawarrra here too.”

The design and installation took 18 months and Interconnection was unveiled in February. Its creators hope the community will embrace the sculpture’s symbolism. “I hope that it becomes like a well-loved landmark,” Jen said.

Richard said: “I just want [visitors] to take [away that] our people once worked and lived on this country for 65,000 years by ourselves, and they maintained and looked after Mother Earth.

“Now we all share it together as one, we’ve got to walk together as one, talk together as one and look after Mother Earth for another 65,000 years together.”

editor,

“We’ve got to walk together as one, talk together as one and look after Mother Earth for another 65,000 years together.”

– First Nations artist Richard Campbell

Follow a trail of public art through Wollongong

A local voice is heard

By Simon Luckhurst

Aunty Barbara Nicholson has been publishing the voices of First Nations inmates from Junee Gaol for over a decade. This week saw the launch of Volume 11 in a series known as Dreaming Inside. And this year she’s supported by one of Australia’s strongest advocates for an Indigenous Voice to Parliament: Professor Tom Calma, AO.

Tom launched Dreaming Inside Volume 11 at Wollongong Art Gallery on Thursday, 25 May.

Czeslaw Milosz who once said of biographies: “Biographies are like shells; they don’t tell us much about the molluscs that live in them.” She argues that this observation does not apply to autobiographical works in the pages of Dreaming Inside.

Dreaming Inside books via SCWC website

Tom is a Kungarakan/Iwaidja man. He’s Chancellor of the University of Canberra and only the second Aboriginal person to hold the position of Chancellor in Australia. He’s co-chair of the Australian Literacy and Numeracy Foundation and was awarded the Order of Australia because of his work as an advocate for human rights and social justice and distinguished service to the Indigenous community. More recently he’s been co-chair of the Senior Advisory Group of the Indigenous Voice to Government. In this year of the Voice, he’s here to launch another in a unique series of books that un-silences the voices of so many people whose voices have been silenced for so long.

Aunty Barb quotes Polish poet

Cosplayers had a ball

Images thanks to photographer Matt Houston

SPOTTED!

“They are not molluscs inside shells. These sometimes ever so brief pieces reveal a great deal about the authors themselves, and a great deal more about the injustices of colonisation and its legacies in relation to the lives of the First Australians.”

She adds: “No mollusc ever had a voice this loud or this important.”

On Friday, May 19, the Comic Gong Cosplay Ball brought a world of fantasy and fun to Wollongong Town Hall.

Photographer Matt Houston of Ironbark Photography was there –scroll through our gallery to see all the photos of the colourful characters of the night.

“These sometimes ever so brief pieces reveal a great deal about the authors.”

– Aunty Barbara Nicholson

SHOP

Make it quick: easy lemonade scones

By Susan Luscombe

If you prefer not to get down and dirty with the traditional hands-on method of making scones, try this easier, foolproof method that takes half the time. With the lemonade, these scones are sweeter than the traditional.

This recipe comes from the CWA’s Keiraville Branch’s All About Scones recipe book.

Ingredients

3 cups self-raising flour

170ml cold carbonated lemonade

170ml thickened cream

Method

Preheat oven to 220˚C. Line an oven-proof tray with baking paper.

In a large bowl, sift flour.

In a small bowl, mix lemonade and cream. Add the wet ingredients to the dry until just combined

Place dough on a floured board and press out to 4cm thickness. Use a floured glass to cut scones, using up all the offcuts. Place scones on a the tray so they are just touching

Bake until pale golden and cooked through, about 15 mins. Eat immediately.

To buy a book, contact the CWA on Facebook

RECIPE

Autumn watermelon salad

By Susan Luscombe

The generosity of Sarah Anderson from Popes Produce inspired this recipe. When I visited her Woonona market garden to get the seasonal update, Sarah loaded me up with freshly picked basil, finger limes, Tahitian limes and a watermelon. Thanks to a suggestion from Sarah as I was leaving and a “use what you have” meal prep mentality, I decided to ignore the cold weather and make up a summery watermelon salad.

Inspired by the simple Greek salad containing just three ingredients –watermelon, feta and mint – I made a few additions. You can use what you have to hand, but here’s my version. The attraction is the variety of flavours – sweet, salty and sour – and textures. Get the recipe here

“Who doesn’t love a scone?”

Have a sconversation

By foodie editor Susan Luscombe

Surely we don’t need an excuse to eat scones but if we did, here it is – National Scone Day is this Tuesday, 30 May.

When I think scones, I think the Country Women’s Association (CWA) and the ladies from the Keiraville Branch who love their scones.

Winter break

By Susan Luscombe

Owner of Popes Produce market garden, local food warrior and force of nature Sarah Anderson is taking a break for winter.

The rear of the 4000-squaremetre property in Woonona is shaded from the winter sun and production slows.

Sarah sells her produce, grown using organic principles, locally through a subscription model, meaning that subscribers sign up to a 12-week season and share the riches and weather-related and other risks of the season.

Read more on our website

“You can make them out of nothing and they’re really quick, savoury or sweet.”

The CWA Keiraville Branch is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year.

The CWA, which is 101 years old this year, was founded on the principle of bringing rural women together to create and maintain connections for improved health and wellbeing. This continues today with regular gatherings and activities all over the country.

Sconversations is an initiative of the Centre for Rural and Regional Mental Health and the CWA. Scones and tea are a symbol for sitting down for a chat.

We gathered at the home of Keiraville CWA’s secretary and publicity officer, Rebekah Ryan, for a sconversation in the lead up to National Scone Day.

We drank tea from the good crockery and sampled pumpkin scones made by Paula and plain scones made by Liz.

“Who doesn’t love a scone,” says one of the ladies.

“My mum used to make scones nearly every Sunday night for my dad’s dinner, that was his request,” says another.

A standard scone recipe consists of self-raising flour, butter, milk and a pinch of salt. The cold butter is rubbed into the flour until combined. The milk is mixed with the flour, kneaded until smooth and formed into a mound about 4cm high.

Traditionally, a cutter is used to make the round shape but scones can be any shape. The top is brushed with milk and baked in a hot oven. From this basic recipe there are variations such as date, cheese and pumpkin scones.

Paula made a batch of pumpkin scones in the morning before we met. They were square and high because she shaped the dough into a square tin, scoring the top into squares prior to baking. The result was a scone slab, easily broken into portions. They were about 5cm high, light and tasty and a beautiful golden colour.

Liz’s scones were, by her own admission, rustic, and delicious smothered with jam and cream. Apparently, some among us eat scones with the jam on top of the cream, though with runnier cream the jam should go on first with a dollop of cream on top.

Be Weed Wise: protect native flora

By Merilyn House of Helensburgh Landcare

Cocos palm (Syagrus romanzoffiana) and Canary Island date palm (Phoenix canariensis) are weeds to watch.

Cocos palm is native to South America. It is invasive in Queensland and NSW, as well as places like Florida and Honduras. Canary Island date palm is naturally found in the Canary Islands. It has also naturalised in many countries and is regarded as a weed in Australia and California.

Their seeds are spread by bats and other animals that eat the fruit. The seeds are also dispersed by water and in dumped garden waste.

READ MORE

Small palms can be dug out, larger ones require specialised equipment, e.g. a registered tree removalist. If you wish to keep your palm, please remove inflorescences before fruit appears. Both palms are on the Exempt Tree list for Wollongong City Council. This means once the palm is positively identified, you can remove it without having to apply to Council for permission.

Grow Me Instead

Bangalow palm (Archontophoenix cunninghamiana) – This palm reaches a height of up to 30m and a diameter of up to 30cm. It has a prominent crownshaft

Garden welcomes Jurassic connection

Roarsome news from Wollongong City Council

and arching fronds up to 4.5m long with many leaflets, giving it an attractive feathery appearance.

Cabbage tree palm (Livistona australis) – This local native palm has fan-shaped leaves and generally a smooth trunk, although old leaf bases are retained on young plants. Remnant trees, sometimes as much as 30 metres high, can often be seen in gullies in cleared paddocks on the coast.

Dwarf date palm (Phoenix roebelenii) – A neat dwarf palm, which is slow growing and cold hardy. It will thrive in heavy shade and gives a tropical feel to almost any garden space.

Wollongong has a new dinosaur connection – a collection of cycads, plants from the Jurassic Period that were unveiled at Wollongong Botanic Garden on Wednesday.

Wollongong Botanic Garden curator Felicity Skoberne said: “Half of the collection came from the estate of the late Ian and Norma Edwards. An influential Doctor of Medicine and passionate plant collector, Ian served as Director of the International Palm Society from 1998 to 2002.

“The couple had always planned for their collection to be shared and, when they passed, their friends and family obliged.”

Celebrate Botanic Gardens Day on Sunday, 28 May: go see the cycads

“These palms reproduce entirely by seed.”

– Merilyn House

About Cocos and Canary Island date palms

Canary Island Date Palms at Proud Park in Helensburgh

Go bushwalking to see decorative Necklace Fern

By Emma Rooksby, co-ordinator of the Growing Illawarra Natives website

Oneof the delights of bushwalking in a steep and rocky area is the chance of coming across some Necklace Fern (Asplenium flabellifolium).

This decorative little fern has bright. pale or mid-green fronds anywhere from 10cm to 20cm long, and it has a distinct preference for growing on rocky slopes, and especially at the base of rocks or in rock crevices, where it benefits from moisture seeping through.

I often see it on the escarpment slopes, and it can even turn up in escarpment gardens where conditions haven’t been too deeply modified in order to suit introduced plants or to create neat and tidiness.

In good conditions, Necklace Fern forms a delicious, soft, green shagpile carpet that you just want to lie down in and snuggle, but unfortunately it is too delicate for that sort of treatment. It is also too delicate – apparently – to be cultivated, as I’ve never seen it anywhere in a nursery. But that’s fine: it’s worth respecting as one of those plants that will find its own way to where it wants to grow.

And the lower slopes of the

escarpment – where even among the housing, forested creeks run down to the sea – are areas that may host this species.

Like all ferns, it reproduces via air-borne spores, meaning that spores can settle and grow new plants anywhere suitable nearby. The rocky informal walls at the rear of many properties that back onto creeks sometimes host Necklace Fern, so if you live or walk along an urban creek you might be lucky to see it.

We had one turn up in our chaotic garden in the foothills of Mount Pleasant: it suddenly appeared at the base of a large Illawarra Flame Tree, nestling in among a massive clump of Elkhorn Fern that our neighbours had kindly gifted us.

Although much of the garden was quite sunny and exposed, the microclimate created in this shady south corner of the block seemed to suit it really well. In the driest of conditions, it dries out and shrivels up to almost nothing above ground, but come good rains, it springs right back again.

Three years of La Niña have it looking really luxuriant around the region at the moment.

“Necklace Fern forms a delicious, soft, green shagpile carpet.”

– Emma Rooksby

The mixed bright greens of younger and older fronds on a Necklace Fern (Asplenium flabellifolium). Photo: Emma Rooksby.

Causeway of controversy

Neighbourhood Forum 1 opposes the idea of a ‘like for like’ Otford weir with only small tweaks

Wollongong City Council will consider a report on repairs to the Otford Road causeway at its next meeting on Monday, 29 May. But with the report recommending a “like-forlike” replacement with some small tweaks, it may be too soon for the community to throw another pizza party.

Neighbourhood Forum 1 convenor Warwick Erwin said: “Wollongong City Council may try ‘like for like’ but Otford residents and NF1 won’t let Council railroad what has been promised –higher-level, full-width (two lanes plus pedestrian path) causeway that is capable of allowing greater water flow.”

The report recommends Council use a targeted procurement process, rather than invite formal tenders, so works can start as soon as possible. It says the “small tweaks” will improve road safety, reduce blockage of the culverts in heavy rain and allow for the movement of fish in the Hacking River.

Warwick does not believe this goes far enough. “For too long Wollongong City Council has just patched the old causeway when Council has known it was not up to handling the water flow down the Hacking River,” he said. “Residents of Otford have been impacted too many times by the causeway being flooded.”

This year’s February 9 downpour destroyed the causeway and no vehicles can use it. Council built a temporary pedestrian crossing – a move the community celebrated with an informal opening party in April when Gallardo’s Pizza staff used it to deliver hot fast food to their customers.

Otford residents remain concerned about access for emergency services and evacuation in the event of a bushfire.

Warwick said, “How would you, as an Otford resident or parent of a student at Otford School, like to be told that an ambulance you have just called because of a medical emergency will take an additional 30 minutes to get to you because a ambulance from the local Helensburgh station, less than five minutes away via the causeway, can’t get there because the causeway is flooded and Lawrence Hargrave Drive is closed due to road works?

“The replacement of the causeway has to be both a Council and State response now.”

The NSW Government declared the February 9 storm a natural disaster and Council has applied for grant funding from Transport for NSW (TfNSW) to fix the causeway. “Otford Road, Otford –Causeway Repair Procurement” is listed as Item 7 on Council’s agenda for Monday night’s meeting.

“NF1 won’t let Council railroad what has been promised”

– Warwick Erwin, Neighbourhood Forum 1 convenor

story on the Flame’s website

Stunning surfing

By Ian Pepper

Scarborough Boardriders hosted the junior regional surfing titles over 19 and 20 May at Coledale Beach.

To host the two-day event and see the young talent our region is fostering was an absolute privilege. We couldn’t have done it without our volunteers.

Shout out to Eddy Hamaty and Talina Wilson for a marathon of entertaining and informative commentary, and to our judges under direction of Shaun Warren and contest director Joshua Pepper.

Click here to read the full story and find out the results.

Parents v kids: Whose goals count?

By the Flame’s parenting editor, Kasey Simpson

How did you pick a sport for your child?

So far, we have put our son into swimming, Nippers and Rugby League. But are they the right sports for him?

I feel like swimming is a nonnegotiable, given where we live and how much time we spend in the water.

Nippers was definitely all me. Who doesn’t want to spend their summer ‘having’ to go to the beach every Sunday morning. We’d be there anyway. But he didn’t ask to be a Nipper.

After making the life decision to move close to the beach, I’ve always thought that the kids would involved in the surf club.

He didn’t hate it. He enjoyed going. But he struggled with the individual competition of it all.

Rugby League was my partner’s choice. A lifetime passion that now my son shares. He absolutely loves it. Is NRL obsessed. He is so delighted to go to training and games and practises every chance he gets.

But instead of trying to push our own agenda, trying to carve out a little mini me – should we be putting them into sports or activities that follow their own interests rather than ours? Or perhaps

that will come later when they start turning into their own little person. When mum and dad aren’t the centre of their world but their friends are – and then they realise who they are.

Acknowledging that sport isn’t the only activity that they can do too. What about instruments? My mum forced all us kids to do piano – even though we hated it.

I wish there were facilities and services available that offered all different sports and interests – covered each week. So our kids could get a taste of it all and then make a decision. Are there already?

Tell me – how did you choose? What challenges or lessons have you come across? I’m all ears.

Get in touch via @theillawarraflame

“Should we put them into sports or activities that follow their own interests rather than ours?”

– Kasey Simpson