Stateside with Gavin Wood in West Hollywood Huge ‘Man from Snowy River’ concert

■ Hi everyone, remotely from my suite at the Ramada Plaza Hotel and Suites in West Hollywood comes this week’s news.

Bruce Rowland honoured

■ For over four decades, Bruce Rowland’s music has captured the hearts and minds of Australians and audiences around the world, leading to critical acclaim and an entrenched position as one of Australia’s most successful composers.

Bruce’s repertoire spans musical scores for films in Australia and the United States, television, live shows and special events.

Uniting all of his work is Bruce’s unbridled and instinctive passion for music and his ability to weave instrumental stories that capture the emotional essence of his subjects and their landscapes.

Bruce has most recently released a new album, Bruce Rowland: The Man from Snowy River and Other Themes for Piano.

This beautiful album re-imagines some of Bruce’s most beloved and acclaimed tracks for the piano and now the Concert. The Man from Snowy River in Concert

■ Featuring Melbourne Symphony Orchestra

■ Vanessa Scammell, conductor

■ Sigrid Thornton, special guest

■ Tom Burlinson, special guest

Thursday, August 17– Selling fast.

Friday, August 18 – Sold Out, Saturday 19th matinee Sold Out

Saturday, August 19– Selling fast.

This premiere at Arts Centre Melbourne honours Victoria as the film's spiritual homeland and offers the unique opportunity to revisit the beloved Australian classic on the big screen with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.

Bruce Rowland’s Awards

■ AFI Award – Best Score: The Man from Snowy River (1982)

■ AFI Award – Best Score: Phar Lap (1983)

■ AFI Award – Best Score: Rebel (1985)

■ APRA Award – Best Score: The Man from Snowy River (1984)

■ APRAAward – Best Score: Phar Lap (1985)

■ APRAAward – Best Score: Return to Snowy River (1989)

■ APRAAward – Best Score: The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello (2005)

■ APRAAward – International Achievement Award (2005)

■ ARIAAward – The Man from Snowy RiverArena Spectacular (2003)

Bruce has written over 2000 jingles for radio and television.

‘I voted’ stickers

■ There’s apparently no hotter accessory than an “I voted” sticker. Tinder dropped its “Year in Swipe” this week, revealing an interest in political engagement among its users: 47 per cent of surveyed singles said not voting is a deal breaker; 53 per cent said regular voting makes a match more attractive. 75 per cent want a match who’s “respectful of or invested in social issues.”

Activism up 84%

■ Activism in Tinder bios increased 84 per cent in 2022. But it’s not all politics. Singles were also into nostalgia, activity dates such as minigolf or drive-in movies, drinking less, and adding star signs to bios. Also? The “situationship.” The term defines a romantic situation somewhere between a casual fling and a formal, committed relationship

New Silicon Valley

■ Silicon Valley’s high-earning tech workers are increasingly opting to leave the US for London with Americans involved in half of all prime central property deals in the capital last year. Former Deputy Prime Minister leader turned Facebook executive Sir Nick Clegg, Instagram chief Adam Mosseri, billionaire J Russell DeLeon and Meta’s chief marketing officer Alex Schultz are among the San Francisco tech executives to have made the move within the last year. Google, Amazon, Apple and Microsoft have also expanded in the UK within the last decade, whileTikTok already has a big presence with London having been named the official tech capital of the world this week.

Out and About US Air build-up

■ The US Air Force debuted America’s first new nuclear stealth bomber in more than 30 years.

The aircraft, known as the B-21 Raider, is part of the Pentagon’s efforts to modernise all three pillars of its nuclear triad, consisting of nuclear missile submarines, land-based nuclear missiles, and nuclear-capable aircraft.

The B-21 Raider is expected to make its first flight in 2023 and succeeds the B-2 Spirit, first presented in 1988. The public reveal comes days after the Department of Defence released its annual report on China, saying it poses the most consequential challenge to America’s national security. China has more than 400 operational nuclear warheads and is on track to have 1500 nuclear weapons by 2035.

Gen Z workers

■ Anecdotal evidence as Gen Z enters the workforce suggests that these emerging adults struggle to interact productively with co-workers and clients in white-collar settings. According to a recent sample of 1300 managers, one in eight has had to terminate a Gen Z employee after less than one week on the job.

And real-world evidence confirms this concept even further: global accounting giants Deloitte and PwC reported spending valuable time and money to give recruits in Britain remedial lessons in in-person meetings and face-to-face presentations. Psychological markers indicate that Gen Z’s outward workplace difficulties are matched by inner turmoil. Between 2005 and 2017, when the oldest zoomers turned 20, rates of anxiety and depression increased among American young adults by 63 per cent. Now on the other side of a global pandemic that disrupted this cohort’s most formative years, more than half report having experienced such distress.

Gavin Wood

Drug crackdown

■ Authorities have arrested 288 people for trafficking fentanyl and opioids on the dark web over the last 18 months, in what is considered the largest global crackdown of its kind.

Authorities also seized roughly 1800 pounds of drugs, 117 firearms, and $53.4M in cash and virtual currencies.

The global effort, dubbed ‘Operation SpecTor’ , spanned across the US, Europe and South America and centred on the online drug marketplace Monopoly Market.

German authorities seized the marketplace in December 2021, which aided in identifying the nearly 300 vendors and buyers who were arrested.

German and US authorities also shuttered Hydra Market, the dark web’s once largest online marketplace for illicit goods and services, in April 2022.

Of the total arrests, 153 took place in the US. Other arrests were made in the UK (55), Germany (52), the Netherlands (10), Austria (9), France (5), Switzerland (2), Poland (1) and Brazil (1).

Working from home

■ A May 2022 study by the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta estimates that the number of working age Americans (25 to 54 years old) with substance use disorders has risen by 23 per cent since pre-pandemic, to 27 million.

A figure that’s about one in six of people who were employed around the time of the study.

It’s caused a 9 per cent to 26 per cenmt drop in labour force participation that Karen Kopecky, one of the authors of the report, says continues today.

Ease up on the alcohol

■ For decades, scientific studies suggested moderate drinking was better for most people’s health than not drinking at all, and could even help them live longer.

A new analysis of more than 40 years of research has concluded that many of those studies were flawed and that the opposite is true. The review found that the risks of dying prematurely increase significantly for women once they drink 25 grams of alcohol a day, which is less than two standard cocktails containing 1.5 ounces of distilled spirits, two 12ounce beers or two 5-ounce glasses of wine. The risks to men increase significantly at 45 grams of alcohol a day, or just over three drinks.

Congress can be tough

■ Two staff members who work for Rep. Gerry Connolly (D, VA-11) were hospitalised with non-life-threatening injuries after a person wielding what appeared to be a metal baseball bat walked into the congressman’s northern Virginia office and struck the staffers. The suspect, identified as 49-year-old Xuan Kha Tran Pham and a constituent of Connolly, is in police custody. He faces charges of aggravated malicious wounding and malicious wounding. He had entered the Fairfax, Virginia, district office, asking for Connolly, who was not there. A senior aide and an intern were hit in the head and side, respectively, according to au- thorities. A motive for the attack is unknown. The attack follows a series of threats against lawmakers, their families, and associates. Last year, the US Capitol Police recorded more than 9000 threats, up 400% in the past six years, and investigated 7,501 cases, including the intruder attack on Paul Pelosi, the husband of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Spy satellite

■ North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has announced the country had completed assembly of its first military spy satellite and plans to launch it at an undisclosed date. The announcement came just days after the US, Japan and South Korea agreed to conduct regular defense drills in the region. Putting a spy satellite into orbit requires a long-range ballistic missile, which the United Nations currently bans North Korea from using.

Lovatts Crossword No 32

Across Across Down Down

139. Abandon 140. Alluring 143. Natural disaster, ... wave

144. Vote in 147. Film 150. Extinct bird

151. White flower (7,4) 155. Not justified 157. Chime 158. Smell 159. Concur 162. Snapshots

Harrowing trial 167. Doctor 168. Rid of lice 169. Comfy seat (4,5) 172. Journalists' credits (2-5)

Polite

Unassuming

Deprive of food

Islands 181. Flight from reality 183. Reconstructed 184. Notorious gangster (2,6) 186. Potato variety 187. In vain, to no ...

188. Fulfilled (demand)

191. Actress, ... Diaz

195. See next page (1,1,1) 197. Megastars 198. Earphones 200. Idiocy 202. Middle-distance runner

Weeding implement

Protrudes (6,3) 206. ... de Cologne

Fireproof material

Funeral guests

238. Well-meaning person (2-6)

241. Spot

242. Admonish

243. Gain through will

244. Singer, ... Horne

246. Require 252. Mental stress

253. Renounce throne 254. Eyelid swelling 255. Focal point

256. Rug 257. East European 258. Opposition 259. Shipping route (3,4) 260. School project

1. Right on target (4-2)

2. Dr Jekyll's alter ego (2,4)

3. Ark builder

4. Moves (towards)

5. Recognise

6. Peru beasts

Battery segment

131. Weight unit

132. Record label (1,1,1)

133. Droop

141. Pseudonyms

142. US Rhode Island resort

145. Lengthy (4-6)

146. Droll plays

148. Totally preoccupies

149. Unable to read and write

152. Behaved

153. Louts

154. Finish

155. Great Bear constellation, ... Major

156. Jockey

160. Congers or morays

161. Native American tribespeople

163. Stitched garment edges

165. Cain & ...

166. Vending machine

167. Hitler book, ... Kampf

170. Vile act

171. Largest Turkish city

175. Leaves out

176. Praise highly

178. Panic

179. Current (permit)

182. Prison occupant

185. Progressed (4,2)

188. Names used wrongly

189. Most easily offended

190. Cigar dust

192. Almond biscuit

193. Most corroded

194. Flightless bird

195. Trite remark

196. Band

199. Induces

201. Made amends

204. Rowing aids

207. In present condition (2,2)

210. Companies

211. Samples (wine)

213. Coral bank

214. Safari

216. Large yacht

217. Scavenge

218. Tardiest

219. Your school, ... mater

221. Slip up

223. German or Greek

225. Eastern veils

227. In the past, long ...

228. Russian space station

231. Putrefy

233. Four score

234. Toughen (steel)

235. Liqueur, crème de ...

237. Afternoon nap

239. Most senior

240. Enfold

245. Urges on, ... up

247. Junior Scouts

248. Epic tale

249. Notion

250. Highest point

251. Windmill arm

Crossroads

By Rob Foenander info@countrycrossroads com.au

Bentleigh RSL

■ Bentleigh RSL Social Club meets at 538 Centre Rd, Bentleigh from 1pmon the fourth Thursday of the month. It offer sa variety of activities and entertainment monthly throughout the year for RSL members. New members are always welcome to join in and try the social club activities in the upstairs function room. There is a lift in the main foyer to the 1st floor. Parking off Arthur St. Enquires Tuesday-Thursday each week.

Call Sylvia, Bentleigh RSL Welfare Coordinator , 9557 4547

Tangled Trails

■ Melbourne guitarist and composer Robbie Melville has launched his new album Tangled Trails.

The album is an introspective collection of songs inspired in part by the 1921 silent film of the same name with many of the compositions being dedicated to friends and family, says the media release..

Robbie is touring around the country promoting the new work throughout June.

More info: www.robbiemelville.com

Ross Wilson’s EP

■ Mr Daddy Cool Ross Wilson will launch his new EP titled ‘She’s stuck on Facebook all the time’ at the Memo Music Hall, St Kilda, on Sunsay, October 22. Special guest will be 8 Ball Aitken. It will be the first live performance of all four new tracks as well as all the classic Daddy Cool and Mondo Rock hits that have become the soundtrack to our lives. Tickets at Trybooking.com