The Big Issue Australia #623 – Kylie Minogue by The Big Issue Australia

Ed.

623 30 OCT 2020

16.

JIMMY BARNES

28.

TRENT DALTON

40.

and MUSHROOM LASAGNE

NO CASH? NO WORRIES!

Some Big Issue vendors now offer digital payments.

NATIONAL OFFICE

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The Big Issue is grateful for all assistance received from our distribution and community partners. A full list of these partners can be found at thebigissue.org.au.

Cartoonist Andrew Weldon

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Can’t access a vendor easily? Become a subscriber! Every Big Issue subscription helps employ women experiencing homelessness and disadvantage through our Women’s Subscription Enterprise. To subscribe THEBIGISSUE.ORG.AU or email SUBSCRIBE@BIGISSUE.ORG.AU

The Big Issue is a proud member of the INSP, which incorporates 110 street publications like The Big Issue in 35 countries.

Contents

EDITION

623

Hold My Hand Oz rock icon Jimmy Barnes may be full of bravado, but all his life he’s been afraid. In this personal piece, he shares how he’s learning to let it go.

22 LETTER TO MY YOUNGER SELF

‘I’m Just a Messenger’

12.

Your Disco Needs You

Legendary singersongwriter Kutcha Edwards on being taken from his family, rewriting the national anthem, and his best friend and powerful ally, music.

by Sinéad Stubbins

Kylie is back – and she’s gone full disco! We talk to the princess of pop about her pandemic fashion choices, recording her new album from home, and the hope and sparkle in her music. cover and contents photos ©Darenote Ltd 2020/Mushroom

THE REGULARS

04 Ed’s Letter & Your Say 05 Meet Your Vendor 06 Streetsheet 08 Hearsay & 20 Questions 11 My Word 18 The Big Picture

26 Ricky 27 Fiona 34 Film Reviews 35 Small Screen Reviews 36 Music Reviews 37 Book Reviews

39 Public Service Announcement 40 Tastes Like Home 43 Puzzles 45 Crossword 46 Click

CONTENT WARNING

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are warned that this magazine contains references to people who have died (p22).

28 BOOKS

All That Shimmers Is Gold Bestselling author Trent Dalton gives us the lowdown on his second book, the highly anticipated All Our Shimmering Skies.

Ed’s Letter

by Amy Hetherington Editor @amyhetherington

E FO RT NI GH T LE TT ER OF TH

Here We Come

hen I first moved back home to Melbourne some four years ago, I was bemused by a quirk of the city: queues. Long, stretched-down-the-block queues of people patiently lining up for coffee each morning, for croissants, for dim sims, for gelato, even on the iciest of days. Surely the [insert foodstuff here] couldn’t be that good. I sent photos to my mates in Sydney. Then, somehow, I soon found myself falling in line. The coffee, the hot jam doughnuts… this stuff really was that good. Melburnians clearly know how to wait. But as the long winter months turn to spring, this has felt like the longest wait of all. As we go to print with this edition, the city is on the precipice of reopening retail and hospitality. With this comes the wonderful news that Big Issue vendors will be returning to streetselling in our glorious southern city with this very edition (which serendipitously

features one of Melbourne’s most famous daughters on the cover). The timing, of course, falls in line with government advice. So please keep a look out for vendors, so distinctive in their hi-vis vests, bright shining beacons of hard work and hope all around Australia. They have all been equipped with Vendor COVID-19 Safety Training, hand sanitiser and resources to ensure their health and wellbeing – as well as yours. Even more vendors now accept contactless payments, both tap-and-go and Beem It. This has been a tough year for us all. In Melbourne, vendors have been unable to work since late March, except for a 10-day reprieve that bridged June and July. In other parts of the country, sales are down for vendors as foot traffic remains low. So please, wherever you are, stop and say hello, buy a magazine – and a 2021 calendar while you’re there. I know as soon as we can, I’ll be out there too, lining up for brunch, a counter meal and a long‑overdue catch-up with my local Big Issue vendors.

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The Big Issue Story The Big Issue is an independent, not-for-profit magazine sold on the streets around Australia. It was created as a social enterprise 24 years ago to provide both a voice and a work opportunity for people experiencing homelessness and disadvantage. Your purchase of this magazine has directly benefited the person who sold it to you. Big Issue vendors buy each copy for $4.50 and sell it to you for $9, keeping the profits. But The Big Issue is more than a magazine.

Your Say

Today I received my first Big Issue in the post! Now that I am not travelling into the city each day for work, I have missed seeing the vendors and catching up on the latest issues. It’s been wonderful to spend my lunchtime sitting in the sun and absorbing the varied and interesting articles. I often wonder during these very strange times how the Big Issue vendors are faring. I wish you and all the Big Issue staff well. Keep safe and hopefully we get to see you again very soon. Thank you for the difference you make. PENNY LYALL NILMA | VIC

I sat having coffee yesterday and glanced out to see your Big Issue vendor, displaying all that could be purchased. After buying my copy I observed him – he sold numerous copies over that time and many people spoke to him and gave him their time – smiles were the order of the day. Seeing this interaction really lifted my spirits in humanity, with so many of us benefiting from the simple sale of a magazine. Thank you, Big Issue – you really are for many. SELMA JONES WAVERTON | NSW

• Our Women’s Subscription Enterprise provides employment and training for women through the sale of magazine subscriptions as well as social procurement work. • The Community Street Soccer Program promotes social inclusion and good health at weekly soccer games at 19 locations around the country. • The Vendor Support Fund will offset the cost price of products for vendors, allowing them to earn a larger margin on their own street sales. • The Big Issue Classroom educates school groups about homelessness. • And The Big Idea challenges university students to develop a new social enterprise. CHECK OUT ALL THE DETAILS AT

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Penny wins a copy of Flavour, a new cookbook by Yotam Ottolenghi and Ixta Belfrage. You can try out their Spicy Mushroom Lasagne recipe on p40. We’d also love to hear your thoughts, feedback and suggestions: SUBMISSIONS@BIGISSUE.ORG.AU

YOUR SAY SUBMISSIONS MAY BE EDITED FOR CLARITY AND SPACE.

Meet Your Vendor

interview by Sam Clark photo by Peter Holcroft

PROUD UNIFORM PARTNER OF THE BIG ISSUE VENDORS.

30 OCT 2020

SELLS THE BIG ISSUE IN HORNSBY AND NEWTOWN, SYDNEY

Nathan

I have been selling The Big Issue since two Septembers ago, so two years now. It’s had its ups and downs, but it’s good. It keeps me chugging along. One step forward, one foot in front of another. Before I started, I was trying to find work. I’d worked in a few different jobs: I used to do plumbing with my uncle for a year, then I was door-to-door for sales in industrial and retail all across Sydney, Newcastle and regional areas. I also worked for a national charity. One day, I just snapped and left. I didn’t like the system and I didn’t like the times or areas I had to work. Two years passed where I was looking for work through Seek and Gumtree without luck, or I’d screw up my interview. It wasn’t working for me. That’s when I started selling The Big Issue. I always knew about it – I kept passing by people selling it while I was working. Now I work in Hornsby and sometimes at Newtown, both near the train stations. There are good days and bad days. The door-to-door sales experience has helped, but I usually just wave it around screaming “Big Issue!” or “Hi, I’ve got The Big Issue, come buy”. School was okay-ish. I did average in my Year 12 exams. I grew up in Sydney, around the Strathfield area with my parents, brother and sisters, but I don’t talk very much with my siblings. I used to get into fights at home with them and I have been kicked out twice after a fight, and moved to other places. But it’s better now. I am living back with my parents and catch the train up to Hornsby to work, which takes about half an hour on the Epping line, or an hour on the North Shore line. The recent lockdown was very, very boring. I was itching to work! To get by, I played plenty of video games and slept a lot. I play Nintendo Switch, the computer and read novels. I read novels where people cultivate to get stronger, meditate and all that. Not self‑improvement novels but Wuxia novels. I don’t meditate, myself. I do like role-playing games. Right now, I’m playing Digimon, Dragon Quest and Zelda: Breath of the Wild – and I can’t wait for number two. The best thing about selling The Big Issue is talking to people. Since lockdown, sales have slightly fallen because there are less people around. The tap and go system helps every now and then. It’s still been nice getting out there and working again.

Streetsheet

Stories, poems and pictures by Big Issue vendors and friends

RETURN TO VENDOR DA VI D L , VE ND O W O RD SM IT R AN D H

ER AN D EM MA , GA RD EN OM ER RE GU LA R CU ST

David L shares his morning tea with his regular customer Emma, while she shares her gardening tips on his pitch at Perth Cultural Centre Bridge.

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I work outside in a garden, and David was one of the first people that I met when I started working here three-and-a-half years ago – the person who previously did my job introduced me to him. David used to always share his morning tea with me when I first started; he always had fruit and biscuits. Now he is one of the key people I say hello to when I arrive at work, and it’s a really important part of my workday that I touch base with him when he’s here. We talk about his stories that he’s been writing for The Big Issue. Probably my favourite one that he wrote was a travel guide of where he’d been to in New Zealand, because he talks to me about his family there. I think The Big Issue is a great read. And I obviously appreciate the value that it has to David and to the other sellers in being able to earn a wage from what they do. And we talk about gardening. Last summer, David was house-sitting for somebody who was a keen gardener, and he was bringing me lots of lovely produce, a big bag of cherry tomatoes and a beautiful ripe pawpaw that came from the garden that he was looking after.

EMMA SAYS

PHOTO BY ANDREW JOSKE

I’ve been selling The Big Issue for about five or six years. Emma buys the magazine every time it comes out, every fortnight. She’s been buying it from me ever since she started doing the gardening job. Emma is friendly and she is quite easy to have a conversation with. She works outdoors, straight across from where I sell, so I can approach her and just chat to her and that. She’ll take the time out and tell me what plants she’s planting in the garden beds. Sometimes when I take a break, I’ll take a walk around the gardens, and if I spot anything unusual, I’ll let her know. Once or twice someone’s left a bag lying around, or if a sprinkler’s broken I’ll mention something to her. She always says to me that she’s interested in reading the magazines, and she always likes to actually read what I write as well. That’s what most customers love, Streetsheet – it doesn’t matter if it’s me or whoever, they just like reading what vendors write. I love showing people my articles and people will say to me “David, you’re so prolific. Why don’t you write a book?” My favourite piece was my tour guide of New Zealand. I had a lot of feedback about that.

DAVID SAYS

KATHY FIG TREE LANE | BUSSELTON

Health and Wellness Hello one and all! Daryl here again, writing another update on what has been going on since this pandemic. Well, since May I have returned to one of my first loves – martial arts, specifically t’ai chi ch’üan. At the moment I am naturally doing it via Zoom. I have also returned to practising yoga daily as well as meditating daily. I find t’ai chi ch’üan to be extremely rewarding as it helps me to develop and maintain discipline. The practice of yoga leaves me feeling euphoric for a while and with meditation I believe that this is making me a better person. Not only does it assist relaxation, but also keeps track of all my thoughts and is changing my thought process. I am still attending university as a thirdyear student, doing a double major in psychology and counselling. At the moment I am focusing on the psychology aspect of it and, as the trimester progresses, this, with the above-mentioned activities, will

DARYL MELBOURNE UNI AND 700 BOURKE ST | MELBOURNE

My Own Boss I like being my own boss and working when and where I like. I work regularly at North Sydney and at the markets. Last weekend I worked at the beach. There were heaps of people lining up at the shops and it was good having the sea breeze. I’m going back again next weekend. I also have some good display signs that I carry with me

and set up to advertise the current edition. And I have a sign that says customers can pay by card or cash. They all help sell the magazine. LEE W NORTH SYDNEY

Common Ground I’m feeling good about sales – it’s been really good since I’ve been back at work and all my customers have been so supportive. I feel even more connected with my customers. I think we all shared the experience of isolation and being away and then finally coming back. It’s nice to have that common ground. It feels good being back at work and talking to people – I love talking! The Big Issue is really important for me and I appreciate the support of everyone involved. VERNON B STIRLING CIBO’S AND MT BARKER FARMERS MARKET | ADELAIDE

Blooming Lovely I sell The Big Issue in Adelaide. I find art helps me to relax. It takes me to another place, and I can paint the way I feel. I love all arts and crafts – it is my favourite hobby. I always feel happy looking at what I have done. When people say I have done well, it gives me willpower to make more art. Here’s my favourite art piece. Roses are my favourite flower. DEBBIE TOPHAM MALL | ADELAIDE

30 OCT 2020

I would like to thank The Big Issue for the COVID-19 training pack that I received when selling resumed after the lockdown. It was much appreciated; I am sure all other vendors thought it was a most thoughtful gesture. I appreciate the handy briefcase that was included. It keeps copies of The Big Issue protected. I had it on the table in a cafe yesterday while having a coffee. A woman had noticed it and asked me where I got it from when she passed me in Fig Tree Lane later that day. It was also thoughtful of The Big Issue to provide 10 bonus copies of the magazine to vendors as well. It is good to be selling the magazine again. It was as if a light had gone off in one of the rooms in my house when lockdown was enforced.

keep me occupied. As for returning to being a vendor, that will be the next big adventure as things have definitely changed, but I am hoping to return soon and try some new pitches. I feel that being a vendor for this august publication provides a sense of dignity. A big thank you to all the wonderful customers that I have had.

ALL VENDOR CONTRIBUTORS TO STREETSHEET ARE PAID FOR THEIR WORK.

Beautiful Light

Hearsay

Andrew Weldon Cartoonist

“

Homosexuals have a right to be a part of the family. They’re children of God and have a right to family. Nobody should be thrown out or be made miserable because of it... What we have to create is a civil union law. That way they are legally covered.

I watched a documentary and saw my son. I was like: ‘What? Like, he doesn’t have anybody. Oh my god. I’m going to find him and I’m going to be his mummy.’ And so that’s what I did.” Singer Sia on adopting two 18-yearold sons last year. VOGUE I AU

“They were pounding on the door, screaming obscenities, ‘Give us the lobster’!” Jason Marr, an Indigenous fisherman in Nova Scotia, on a feud between Indigenous and commercial fisherman in Canada’s billion-dollar lobster industry. BBC I UK

Pope Francis publicly endorsing same-sex unions for the first time in the documentary Francesco. THE WASHINGTON POST I US

“I think people are just happy they can come in. They have been feeling pretty shitty and it’s a good way to feel better.” Melbourne hairdresser Bianca Covelli on being inundated with appointment requests after hair salons were permitted to reopen.

offers his explanation of why he is lying on a bed with his hand down his pants in a NYC hotel with actor Maria Bakalova, who pretends to be a television journalist in the latest Sacha Baron Cohen mockumentary, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm. TWITTER

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THE GUARDIAN I AU

“Mr Palmer’s image is not good for my heavy metal image, either. ” Rocker Dee Snider giving evidence in the copyright battle between Universal Music and Clive Palmer over the former pollie’s use of a Twisted Sister anthem in an ad campaign. He’s not gonna take it. THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD I AU

“The Borat video is a complete fabrication. I was tucking in my shirt after taking off the recording equipment.” Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani

“After spending so much time researching about pandemics, viruses and drug discovery, it was crazy to think that I was actually living through something like this.” Anika Chebrolu, a 14-year-old from Texas, on winning the 2020 3M Young Scientist Challenge for her manipulation of a molecule to make it selectively bind to the distinctive spike on the coronavirus, which could help in developing a vaccine. INDIA TODAY I IND

“I am obsessed with reality television and documentaries, and

“You know, another person can take a walk on your road and see stones. But you might see that one has the potential to be a diamond even though its qualities are hidden. And hopefully you also have the patience to find what is inside.” Erno Rubik, whose Cube took the world by storm 40 years ago, although he likes to say he didn’t “invent” it, but “discovered” it, “just finding what is already there but not visible or tangible to others”. HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW I US

“One of the biggest things that I believe is that you can only dream about becoming someone or something after you’ve seen it visually. And for boys – lucky them – they got to experience, since the beginning of the movies, that they were the protagonist, they were the strong ones, they saved the day.” Wonder Woman Gal Gadot on the importance of seeing yourself represented on the big screen. VANITY FAIR I US

“These species are eating human food. In some cases, up to half of their diets are coming from humans. It might be garbage, or corn

20 Questions by Little Red

01 Would you call this font that you’re

reading serif or sans serif? 02 Who won the 2020 AFL Brownlow

Medal? 03 How many bones are in the human

foot: 26, 29 or 32? 04 What is the Indigenous name for the

area now known as Brisbane? 05 What name is author Stella Maria

Sarah Franklin better known by? 06 Which four countries does the

Syrian Desert cross? 07 What is a gigafire? 08 What kind of dance features double

buffalos, wings and paradiddles? 09 Shepard, Maluma and Choquette are

all types of what? 10 Which 1957 novel won Boris

“I’ve lived my life and I’ve had my share of relationship entanglements. It’s rough out there. People are one thing when you first meet them and they’re something else once you get to know them for a while. With the robot, you can be yourself and just see how that goes.” Matt McMullen, founder of RealDoll, on wanting to teach people to be better human beings – by creating AI sex dolls that engage in basic conversation. THE GUARDIAN I AU

“The greengrocers are really out in force… They’re just like a freight train when they get together for a kumbaya.” Gerry Cassis, an entomologist at the University of NSW, speaking not about people who sell fruit and veg, but cicadas, in particular the large colony currently ringing out across the Blue Mountains.

“We’re showing you can cater for your residents and also nature so they can coexist. If you build on degraded sites, if you use the correct plants, sensitive design and clever management you can flip a residential community in favour of nature and you see spikes of biodiversity.” Brendan Condon, the developer behind Victorian ecovillage The Cape, at Cape Paterson, on designing for all creatures, great and small.

THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD I AU

DOMAIN I AU

WIRED I US

FREQUENTLY OVERHEAR TANTALISING TIDBITS? DON’T WASTE THEM ON YOUR FRIENDS SHARE THEM WITH THE WORLD AT SUBMISSIONS@BIGISSUE.ORG.AU

11 In which country would you find the

mysterious Nazca Lines? 12 What does the principle of Occam’s

razor mean? 13 Which team recently won the

Australian Super Netball grand final? 14 Branches from which tree are

represented on the United Nations flag? 15 Who provides the voice of Buzz

Lightyear in the Toy Story films? 16 The name of which popular dessert

translates to “pick me up” or “cheer me up” in English? 17 Which was patented first: the

telephone or Edison’s incandescent lightbulb? 18 What is the name of Taylor Swift’s

2020 album? 19 Which year did Queen Elizabeth

II dub annus horribilis, Latin for a horrible year? 20 In which Australian state would you

have found Leyland Brothers World in the 90s, complete with a 1/40 scale replica of Uluru? 30 OCT 2020

“Why is Melbourne Cup always on a Tuesday?” “So that we can all take the Monday off and have a long weekend!”

ANSWERS ON PAGE 43

residue, or house cats and pets. This is bad news for carnivores, because people don’t want predators eating Overheard by Trish in Leo’s Supermarket, Heidelberg, Vic. their pets – and, generally speaking, people don’t like carnivores in their backyard.” Philip Manlick, of University of New Mexico, on research that shows America’s big predators, such as wolves, are getting nearly half their food from human sources. EAR2GROUND

Pasternak the Nobel Prize for Literature – which he declined?

My Word

by Ashley Kalagian Blunt @akalagianblunt

he truck that rear-ended my car was like a professional sumo taking out a vegan. For a few dizzying minutes, examining the crushed accordion shape of my car’s boot, I thought I was uninjured. It wasn’t until later that the effort of holding up my head began to spark lightning bolts of pain. My neck became my biggest financial investment. Over the next decade I put at least $10,000 into it. I tried remedial massage, shiatsu massage, beachside massage. I paid a reiki master to wave his hands over my body in an attempt to correct my energy flows. I paid a craniosacral therapist to give me a weak-wristed head rub in an attempt to awaken the innate intelligence of my nervous system. I bought a product called Dr Ho’s Neck Comforter, which was basically a plastic neck pillow with velcro straps and hand-pump inflation action. It provided as much pain relief as I could have achieved by simply dropping my money in the street for Dr Ho to find. As a last resort, I turned to Japanese acupuncture. This is how I met Anna, a young, blonde-bobbed Swedish-Australian woman who ran a clinic out of the front bedroom of her house. When I arrived, she was wearing plain blue pants and a matching top that were discomfortingly reminiscent of surgical scrubs. Anna whisked me onto a massage table. I wedged my face into the face hole as she placed her hands on my back. “Oof! Well, you’re basically a disaster. But you probably already knew that.” I wondered if this was the official medical diagnosis. She announced she was going to “do some moxa”. “This is a very effective treatment.” Her voice was bright and perky as she inserted a few needles around the base of my skull. Then I heard a noise like a welder’s torch and smelled the distinct odour of burned hair. “Tell me if you feel a little burning.” I waited for my neck to catch fire, but Anna finished the acupuncture flambé without the need of an extinguisher, and removed the needles one by one. “How do you feel?” she asked as I sat up. I started blinking. I kept blinking. I felt like I should have been able to see the expression

on Anna’s face, but I couldn’t. Everything was blurry. In the legal sense of the word, I had, in fact, gone blind. “I’m sorry, but I can’t…see.” I didn’t want to make it sound like this was her fault, except that it clearly was her fault. This is the downside of being an incredibly polite person: I will pay someone $120 to set me on fire and then apologise when they make me go blind. “Oh.” Anna’s chipper attitude deflated a notch. “Hang on, there’s a treatment for that.” Her fuzzy outline pulled a book off a shelf. I heard pages flipping and the occasional pursed “hmmm”. I lay down again, and she stabbed a needle in the back of my knee. “Did that help?” To Anna’s credit, it only took 20 minutes of random stabbing to restore my vision. This, I suppose, is how I justified it when I went for a follow-up appointment. On my next visit, after the bit where she set me on fire, Anna said she wanted to use a technique called spooning. I didn’t think the table was big enough for the two of us. Then she pulled out a white ceramic spoon. “The wind can act like a poison on your skin,” she explained as she scraped the spoon over my neck. “This causes bad blood to block the energy flow to the muscles.” For years I’d thought it was the car crash that caused my neck injury. “Now, this treatment leaves some marks.” Holding up a mirror, she gestured for me to turn. “I want to show you, so you don’t get surprised.” Deep purple and black bruises spread across my neck and shoulders. The spooning had been uncomfortable, sure, but the bruises implied grievous bodily harm. I looked like an overripe banana. “Totally normal,” Anna said, nodding. There were rules to follow after the spooning treatment, including keeping the wind off my neck, and not drinking any bitter liquid, the wind’s sidekick. She handed me a brochure headed: “Tell your family and friends it’s okay!” I’m hesitant to recommend a technique that made me go temporarily blind and that necessitated a printed brochure to convince people I hadn’t joined Fight Club. But here’s the thing – my neck felt better. A lot better. An hour earlier it had crunched in pain with every movement. Now my vertebrae glided in harmony. For the first time in years, I could see behind me. Damn, I thought. Maybe it really was the wind. Ashley Kalagian Blunt is the author of How to Be Australian: An Outsider’s View on Life and Love Down Under.

Spoons, needles, a little burning: Ashley Kalagian Blunt’s neck takes her on a wild adventure.

29 MAY 30 OCT 2020

A Real Pain in the Neck

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Kylie Minogue is back, and though the princess of pop may have recorded her new album at home in her trackie daks, it’s full of euphoric dancefloor anthems to boost your mood. by Sinéad Stubbins @sineadstubbins

Disco, Kylie Minogue’s 15th album, sees the multi‑award-winning pop princess strut back into the realm of darkened rooms and crowded dancefloors chintzy with mirror balls – though she’s traded the gold hotpants for gold halter dresses. It is full of glittering optimism and familiar euphoric dance-music affirmations that take on new resonance in the face of a global pandemic (“Love is love/It never ends” she coos on the single ‘Say Something’. “Can we all be as one again?”). She began work on the record last year, and had just started recording when the pandemic hit. “That was at the time where you could still go to work and still kind of do things normally,” she says. “Masks weren’t in operation but every time someone left the studio we were like, ‘Wash your hands!’” Then in March, London went into full lockdown. When it seemed like it was only going to last “a week or two”, Minogue and the rest of her team spent the time listening to demos at home and waiting to be allowed back into the studio. “I don’t think anyone imagined it being where we are today,” she says. “But then it was clear that it was going to be a longer situation.” Minogue then did the only thing that made sense to her: she found an unused microphone in her cupboard, ordered sound equipment online and started teaching herself how to use recording software at home. “I do think it would have been

PHOTO BY CHRISTIAN VERMAAK

ylie Minogue wants to make sure I’m okay. If I’m not okay, there is a really funny meme she saw the other day that might make me feel a bit better. “There was this great one going around early on in lockdown that was like, ‘Wake up, go to the fridge, stare at the wall,’” she says, laughing at the memory of the meme. “It’s so peculiar, isn’t it?” Minogue is talking to me from her apartment in London, where restrictions to halt the spread of COVID-19 have eased considerably since the first wave of the pandemic, though infection numbers are on the rise again. When she discovers I’m calling from Melbourne, she immediately starts to say the kind of upbeat and encouraging things you would usually find in, well, a Kylie Minogue song. “Just hang in there!” she says. “Obviously my family is in Melbourne and I just feel for you all so much. I’m glad that spring is coming for you. There seems to be some light at the end of the tunnel.” Minogue is trying to be positive, but she isn’t minimising how terrible things are – she explains that early on in the pandemic she didn’t leave the house at all for three weeks, not even to walk around the block. She has spent a lot of time inside “staring at the wall” just like the meme says. All that time at home hasn’t been entirely unproductive though. “Well,” she says. “I finished my album.”

30 OCT 2020

Sinéad Stubbins is a writer and editor from Melbourne. Her debut book will be released with Affirm Press in 2021.

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quite funny to be a fly on the wall watching me trying to set this all up,” she says. “Wrangling all of these deliveries and ‘Where does this cable go?’” She set out to finish Disco remotely while in lockdown. With the guidance of “some patient co-workers” who helped her with the set-up (“They would just say, ‘Okay that’s fine. Now do this and this – screw it this way’ just talking me through it all.”) Minogue built a DIY recording studio in her apartment. Disco is the first time she has engineered her own work. The fact that Minogue has an engineering credit on Disco is no small thing, particularly for a performer who, even a decade into her career, was still being questioned for her legitimacy as an artist – largely by male critics who saw her mainstream appeal and engagement with different genres as a failing. But Minogue, modestly, mainly talks about her engineering experience through the lens of how grateful she is for her production team (“My respect and admiration just went to a new level”). She says that she and her co-writers

didn’t deliberately write songs in response to the pandemic – the song ‘Where Does the DJ Go?’ about needing music as a lifeline because “the world is trying to break me” is probably the closest they get to pandemic-pop – but they did use the album as a portal to escape it. “The songs that are about escapism, I think we gave them more importance than we may have before,” she says. “We felt some escapism making the album – just inhabiting these spaces.” In between distracting herself from the global crisis unfolding outside her door – by cleaning and “trying to grow things in the garden” – Minogue would lose herself in the album. Disco became “somewhere to just pretend things weren’t happening for a minute” and a place to “channel anxiety and energy”. Though now that she is doing the publicity part, there are some aspects of a normal album cycle that she needs to get reacquainted with. “In lockdown, there was big participation from the trackpants and the three T-shirts that were in high rotation,” she says. “Very

DISCO IS OUT 6 NOVEMBER.

30 OCT 2020

Kylie Minogue’s music has always been genre‑fluid, meaning that everyone has a different Kylie – a fact she lampooned in the video for ‘Did It Again’ (1997), where four different Kylies (Sex Kylie, Cute Kylie, Indie Kylie, Dance Kylie) get into a fight in a police line-up. Since then, we’ve met Club Kylie, through her anthem-heavy releases from the early 2000s, and Country Kylie, via her 2018 album Golden. Disco operates in a similar galaxy to the influential Light Years (2000) and Fever (2001) albums, but think less Euro-pop and more Gloria Gaynor. She decided to do a disco album when touring Golden, inspired by a Studio 54 section of the show where she did a remixed version of ‘Locomotion’ wearing a shimmery gold dress that made audiences “gasp” every time they saw it. “I loved all the gold, naturally, but it was [also] like going back to what I have more traditionally done,” she says. “My main lane on my highway.” When asked what drew her to disco music in the first place, the answer is classic Kylie: “The sparkle! And the humanity as well.” Creating a fantasy world, and sharing this spectacle with her devoted fans, have been constants in Kylie Minogue’s career – though the irony of creating a disco album in one of the few times in history when people cannot come together and dance is not lost on her. But thanks to music videos filmed after London lockdown, the spectacle is not entirely gone. If you’re looking for an escape, Kylie Minogue singing a pop song while riding a giant golden horse in space may just be the ticket. “Disco comes from darkness,” she says. “We can attest from this year that life throws its challenges [at you]. So how do you find the light within that?” The up-tempo songs on Disco, which are designed to inspire surging emotion, are just one way to fend off “the darkness”. Since the 1970s, disco has historically provided a safe space for groups who were often pushed to the fringes. Kylie Minogue fandom has famously been a welcoming space for the LGBTQI+ community (and just about everyone else, judging by the broad demographic on show at her concerts). “I thought about that more in lockdown,” she says. “How disco was a safe place. It was born out of difficulty and yes, it’s dripping in sequins and it’s exuberant. People are showing off and letting go, being more themselves or being someone else, depending on what worked for them. That makes sense to me. Everyone needs to have that kind of safe space.”

We may not be able to meet on sweaty dancefloors, but this craving for a communal experience has also led to a very specific nostalgia online – watching old, crowded concerts like they’re cultural artifacts. (It should be mentioned that the video of Kylie Minogue’s 2019 performance at Glastonbury is the most-watched set in the festival’s history.) Recently, with the 20th anniversary of the Sydney 2000 Olympics, this reminiscing has led many people to focus on two particular moments. One is Cathy Freeman winning the 400m gold (“Which I watched! I was there!” Minogue says excitedly. “Cathy Freeman winning, I mean it was just glorious.”). The second is Kylie Minogue arriving at the closing ceremony on a giant thong. “I almost forgot that I went from a thong onto a surfboard so they could get me to the stage,” she says. “The most nerve-wracking thing about it was the quick change on the stage – to get shoes on and the Showgirl crown on. It was blowing a gale; you could see the headdress literally was about to go flying off my head. I don’t even remember who did my shoes up but if it was me, I would have been trembling… I felt honoured to be part of that.” Minogue remembers that time as having “a real lightness” with a “celebratory feeling” around the country. “It seems like, especially now, an absolute dream,” she says. You can’t help but feel a bit more optimistic about things when Minogue is talking about Disco going out into the world – she imagines certain songs eventually playing at family gatherings, at wedding receptions that “aren’t fancy, but are full of love”. There’s an inherent hope to her music, one that aims to inspire a “togetherness” in her fans, even if they can’t physically be together right now. As to how a conventional Kylie Minogue album should be consumed in an unconventional time, she has a few ideas. “I hope there’s a few kitchen discos,” she says. “I hope that in the lounge room, the coffee table can be moved – or just dance on top of it. If there are tears on the imaginary dancefloor, I love that. If you can forget about everything for three-and-a-half minutes or the entirety of the album, I love that too.” She pauses for a moment, and tells me she’s searching for the right words while looking at the cover of Disco: an image of her with blue eyeshadow and big sparkly earrings, light shooting from her fingertips, floating in space like a planet with an atmosphere-defying perm. “Even if we can’t go to a disco now,” she says. “I think if you put the right song on, it can transport you somehow.”

PHOTO © DARENOTE LTD 2020/MUSHROOM

little glamour and possibly none at all.” Now she has to do (socially distanced) photoshoots, the make-up, hair extensions and sequined dresses have to make a comeback. “I’ve had to remind myself that it is actually part of my job,” she says.

Hold My Hand THEBIGISSUE.ORG.AU

Jimmy Barnes is learning to let go of the fear. Jimmy Barnes needs little introduction. He’s the Cold Chisel frontman who grew up in Adelaide, and is the author of memoirs Working Class Boy and Working Class Man. He is married to Jane.

@jimmybarnes

h, Jimmy, I thought it was so nice the way you swam down and took your wife’s hand in case she was scared of the manta rays,” said Hannah. “You’re such a gentleman.” Hannah, a surf photographer, was accompanying us on a one-day diving tour in September 2019, cruising around the Maldives looking for large, dangerous sea animals to swim with. My chest started to pump a little faster and swell with pride as she spoke, but inside I felt embarrassed. You see, the real story is a little different from what that young lady had seen. And if she’d known Jane and me well, she would have realised that things aren’t always as they seem with us. I am the one full of bravado. Always jumping up to be the saviour. The protector. The man of the house. But, it’s all an act. In fact, my actions are fuelled by pure, unadulterated fear. It’s been that way all my life. Since I was a child, I’ve been afraid of the dark, afraid of the unknown, afraid of everything. Sometimes that can make me a little dangerous, but mostly it makes me a little pathetic. Jane, on the other hand, is afraid of nothing. She is courageous and strong. On many a flight, as our plane

THIS IS AN EXTRACT FROM KILLING TIME BY JIMMY BARNES (HARPERCOLLINS PUBLISHERS, $45.00), AVAILABLE NOW IN YOUR FAVOURITE BOOKSHOPS AND ONLINE.

30 OCT 2020

has hit turbulence and I have started to panic, the only things that have calmed me down are the sound of Jane’s voice and the touch of her hand as she gently caresses my face and tells me everything is going to be all right. So many nights I have woken in a pool of sweat, heart pounding and unable to breathe, only to be held in Jane’s arms and whispered back to sleep. She is my angel. My light. Mostly, I am afraid of the unknown, the dark, the unseeable. I would throw myself in front of a bullet for my Jane, but ask me to go round the back of the house and fix a broken fuse in a storm and my mind immediately spawns a worst-case scenario. Vicious killers lurking in the shadows, waiting for an opportunity to pounce. The ones you never see until it’s too late. The same ones that terrified my mother all her life. So much so that we moved house constantly, trying to keep one step ahead of them. Every second night, I would wake to the touch of Mum’s hand on my shoulder and the sound of her voice. “Jim, son. I can hear someone outside.” Half-asleep, I would be bundled out of bed and into my mum’s room with the rest

My mum, though, was afraid every day of her life. And every night as darkness fell the world closed in on her. Out there in the shadows, something waited. And if it got the chance, it might take her. Did she ever search elsewhere for the source of her fear? Maybe what was scaring her was closer than she knew. Maybe it was inside the door. Inside the house. Inside her own heart. I know, because I’m like her, and the thing that scares me most is what’s inside me. That coldness I feel when I shut down. The darkness that lies not far beneath the surface. Scratch a little and it starts to reveal itself, black and lonely. The sense that I care about no-one really but me. I hide it from everyone and try to push it further down inside me in the hope that it will disappear. That’s where I come from. That’s my demon. It took me years to be able to sleep with the lights out, and I still haven’t quite got to the point of being comfortable alone, anywhere. But if my Jane is there, I am braver. At least I try to be. I want to be the one who protects her. Who looks out for her. I want to be someone better. Someone she can love. I want to be the one who would save her, if she ever needed saving. But, like I said, it’s normally the other way round. And now I have to own up to it. “Er, Hannah. You know that photo you took?” I reply sheepishly. “Yes, Jimmy.” I can’t lift my eyes from the ground. I can’t look her in the eye. “Jane swam down and held my hand. She knew I was terrified. She swam down and saved me. She always does.”

illustration by Hannah Lock

of the kids. Was she protecting us or were we supposed to protect her? I never worked it out. “Mum, there’s no-one out there. It’s just the wind,” I would say, before she’d cut me off. “Listen, son. Did you hear that? Shhhh! Listen. There it is again.” Her eyes would be darting around the room as she tried to remember: had she locked every window, bolted every door? There was always somewhere someone could get in. “Mum, it’s the wind, I’m telling you.” By then I could see the fear in her eyes. She would be in a state of pure panic. How could anyone be this scared of nothing? I’d think. Yet what if she was right? Maybe something was out there, watching, waiting for a chance to get us. Thump. Thump. A banging on the wall outside the bedroom. Mum’s eyes would fill with tears. What had happened to her? Where had all this started? Who had hurt her so badly that she felt the need to pass this sense of dread on to her children? You see, I am not the only one in my family who is like her. Mum successfully handed down her terrors to each and every one of us. She passed on a different fear to my dad. He was terrified too. But he was terrified of her and what she would do if she was cornered. Or if she found out what he was up to. Either way, she might have killed him in his sleep.

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series by Henry Hargreaves

The Big Picture

Prepping forÂ Dinner

Food photographer Henry Hargreaves explores the culinary world of American doomsday preppers to find out how they’re navigating these uncertain times. by Whitley O’Connor

Whitley O’Connor writes for The Curbside Chronicle, a street paper in Oklahoma City, USA.

FOOD STORED: Kosher ready-to-eat meals, matzos, rice, rabbits CAUSE OF DOOMSDAY: Terrorist attacks As an Orthodox Jew, Wander’s prep is kosher. Torah says breaking kosher is acceptable if your life depends on it, so he keeps a flock of rabbits in case of desperation. His children are not allowed to name the rabbits – they’re raised for dinner, not pets.

FOR MORE FROM HENRY HARGREAVES, VISIT HENRYHARGREAVES.COM.

30 OCT 2020

JOSH WANDER | PENNSYLVANIA City council candidate

COURTESY OF THE CURBSIDE CHRONICLE/INSP.NGO

here were you when the world shut down? More importantly, what did you eat? As the pandemic took our world by storm, many found themselves completely unprepared. Supermarket shelves were emptied as people hurried to panic-buy everything they could. Companies rushed to restock while local governments urged people to remain calm. As the pandemic spread, outbreaks hit food processing plants across the globe, leading many to close. What began as temporary shortages became a supply chain issue. With the fragility of our food system laid bare, it raised the question: how many people are prepared to face a disaster – not a couple days of discomfort, but a major disruption? One group of people found themselves ready while the rest of us scrambled. Preppers. This is what world-renowned food photographer Henry Hargreaves explored in his 2015 photography series, Ready for Dinner. In his stylised images, Hargreaves depicted meals put together by preppers across the US. “I’m really interested in people planning for the end of time,” Hargreaves says of the project. “So, I connected with a bunch of preppers from around America to talk to them about their Armageddon menus, which are all diversely designed around their religions, their lifestyles, their locations and just what they think is going to happen.” From an Orthodox Jew stocking kosher foods in preparation for a terrorist attack, to a diabetic mother and daughter storing low-carb meals and insulin in preparation for major tornadoes, these images not only show individuals and their nutritional needs but also major events that could disrupt the food system locally, nationally or even globally. When COVID-19 struck, Hargreaves took the opportunity to check in with several of the preppers from his 2015 project, to find out whether or not all of their work paid off. “We have ample supplies to wait this out and have no debts to worry about,” one prepper noted. “Unfortunately, my neighbours are not so fortunate. Some have lost their jobs and the money has run out. They worry about the future of their quality of life after this is all under control.” Another prepper put it a little more plainly saying, “I’m not worried; I’m just ready.”

WAYNE MARTIN | TEXAS Consultant engineer FOOD STORED: Campbell’s soup, pinto beans, Wayne’s World wine, cat food CAUSE OF DOOMSDAY: Financial collapse Martin keeps canned goods in buckets of kitty litter to increase their shelf life. He also keeps cat food in reserve, which no-one will steal but he can consume if needed. His homemade wine can be used to barter.

WILMA BRYANT | MISSOURI FOOD STORED: Beans, nuts, soup, pickled goods, live chickens CAUSE OF DOOMSDAY: Tornadoes

Bryant and her daughter are both diabetic and insulin-dependent. Their diet must be low in carbs and high in protein to avoid raising blood sugar. They keep a six‑month supply of insulin in a nearby stream, to preserve it. 2

KELLENE BISHOP | UTAH Self-sufficiency and selfdefence educator FOOD STORED: Waxed cheese, pickled vegetables, vacuumsealed meats, freezedried foods and pasta. CAUSE OF DOOMSDAY: Financial collapse Bishop is a foodie with a vast pantry that she constantly rotates. Her Morman faith endorses prepping. She likes to cook from scratch with real products and preserves her own ingredients for longevity.

JASON CHARLES | NEW YORK Firefighter

FOOD STORED: Ready-to-eat meals, ramen, canned goods CAUSE OF DOOMSDAY: Volcano Charles was an emergency responder in the 9/11 attacks, and believes a natural disaster may pollute the air again. His apartment can be sealed off like a bunker, and he has a waterBOB for his bathtub to store drinking water. JOHN MAJOR | IDAHO Runs a seed business

Major is concerned that radioactive dirty bombs will be detonated around the US, so he has buried a bank of over 1.5 million seeds. He forages and collects insects to cook, and also keeps bees for honey and medicine.

30 OCT 2020

FOOD STORED: Sprouting seeds, crickets, worms, grasshoppers with parmesan cheese CAUSE OF DOOMSDAY: Dirty bombs

Singer-songwriter Kutcha Edwards on football, family and the day he was taken. by Michael Epis Contributing Editor

usic is my best friend. Well, apart from my children and my wife and my extended family. Music is a powerful ally. I’m not the only one that thinks that. Archie [Roach] does, Ruby [Hunter] did, Kev Carmody, Roger Knox, dear old brother Bobby McCleod – I hope it’s okay to bring his name up – Uncle Jimmy [Little]. A lot of us have gone into maximum security jails and youth detention centres, using music as a foot in the door. Sometimes people don’t like being berated by sermons. Uncle Jimmy used to say to me, “Kutcha, it’s better to slap someone with a feather than a baseball bat.” I remember when we were in The Black Arm Band and Uncle Jimmy’d tour with us, and I’d give him a cuddle, and it was like cuddling a marshmallow. He knew his purpose in life, Uncle Jimmy. I thought I would be a basketballer. As a kid, in Burwood, I remember going up to where the Nunawading Spectres used to train, near Tally Ho Boys Home. But football took over as my passion. In 1984 I ended up playing in the under-19s for St Kilda. I was a drummer. Back in the 70s at school there’d be eight to 10 drummers, waiting in the quadrangle for assembly, everybody standing to attention, and the principal would say “back into class” and the drums would be on your hip, and it’d be “da da da duh da” and

PHOTO BY SUSAN CARMODY

Letterto toMy MyYounger YoungerSelf Self Letter

I’m Just a Messenger

you’d march the kids into classes. A bit weird. So you’d take your drums back to the general office, and you’d look at ’em, stare at ’em, and think I’d love one of those. Years later, I saw this drum in a bazaar. Me and Davey Arden, the lead guitarist for Archie and Ruby, who’s my brother-in-law, married to my cousin – that’s how it works, my cousin’s husband is my brother-inlaw – we went to the Grampians, and we were writing a song, ‘Living in Two Worlds’, and we decided to call Hessie [Paul Hester, Crowded House drummer and Edwards’ collaborator] to record it. I got up the next morning and Davey comes over, circling me, and he said, “What are you like with bad news?” Something’s wrong here, I thought. “It’s Hessie.” He’d passed away. I was devastated. I screamed, I cried. Lo and behold we are making the film clip for that song and we’re in Smith Street, Collingwood, and there was this old bazaar right next to Coles, and me and Davey went in there to film and I looked across the way and sitting in the corner was one of those drums. Now when I was recording a song called ‘Walk in My Shoes’ much earlier at Hessie’s studio, he had one of those drums. I said, “Where did you get this?” He said, “Oh I found it in a bazaar.” I said, “You know what those drums represent?” I told him that I played one at primary school, and I dreamed that he would hand it to me. That never eventuated. So I saw this drum. It was $20. I didn’t have any cash on me. Peter Grace was there, the 3XY disc jockey, and he said, “I’ll give you the 20 bucks, Kutcha.” I was stoked to get the drum. But it had a few dents in it. I was sent to a guy in Reservoir, a [drum guru] guy called Mark Orr. I handed him the drum. He starts to scrub it, and his jaw drops. There’s an inscription on the drum, like Watsonia Heights Primary School. He says, “I played this drum when I was a kid. I remember the inscription, because there was a spelling mistake on it, and it’s scrubbed out and corrected.” I said. “You’re kidding.” He repaired it. I went back to pick it up. Anyway, I said “I have memories of my childhood, but you have stronger memories. Why don’t you have it?”

30 OCT 2020

KUTCHA ED WARDS: “WE SING FO R LOVE”

THE SONG ‘WE SING’ IS OUT NOW, WITH ITS ALBUM TO FOLLOW.

30 OCT 2020

be many who agree with us doing that and just as many who don’t, you know what I mean?” So that night I stayed up till about five writing. Then a few other people partook in that rewrite. [In 2015, Durham submitted the revised anthem lyrics to the Governor-General for consideration.] In 2013 I started doing some work with a small theatre company. Team of Life was our show, and part of the show was two revised verses of the national anthem a cappella. We were doing the show in Wedderburn, outside of Bendigo. The night before the show we go out for dinner to the pub there: two Aboriginals, five Africans and two dancers. You walk in, and you can sense when you walk into a pub in regional areas whether you are welcome or not. You can feel it. You can smell it. So we had dinner and walked back to our accommodation and I thought, Gee, we’re in for it tomorrow. We’re performing at the secondary college. So I’m into my piece: “Australians let us stand as one upon this sacred land/A new day dawns, we’re moving on/To trust and understand/ Combine our ancient histories and cultures everywhere/To bond together for all time/ Advance Australia Fair.” I’m in the to and fros of that, concentrating on a dot on the back wall, and to my left, someone stands, and I thought, Uh oh, here it comes, but then to my right another teacher stood up, then slowly the whole audience was standing to attention. I couldn’t finish. I was in tears, in shock. And that was the dream – to unite this place. In reality, I’m just a messenger. My role in the whole scheme of things is to drop an imaginary pebble in an imaginary pond and create a ripple. When I speak to schoolkids that’s what I tell them. I create a ripple. To work with my people, for my people. The responsibility I carry is to voice not only what happened in my life, but my family’s, and my clan, my tribe’s, my country. I’ve been fortunate. I’ve travelled the world, been paid to do so. It’s been an amazing ride. And this is what this song ‘We Sing’ represents: “We sing for love/We live for justice/We long for freedom/We dream of peace.” When I was in that children’s home, denied my rightful path, my rightful journey… that’s why I’ve given to my people, given voice to my people. My people are the most imprisoned people, per capita, and that’s a sad indictment.

BOTTOM PHOTO BY GETTY

TOP: KUTCHA WITH HIS MUM’S DOG, MANDY, AFTER HIS FAMILY WAS REUNITED BOTTOM: KUTCHA AT THE SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE, 2008

My first memory of myself? I can remember being in a cot, in a dark room, in a wet nappy, and I’m crying. Behind the roller blinds, those old grey ones, there’s beams of light. It must be 1967, when I was taken. I was taken to Allambie Reception Centre. If that’s my first memory, how sad that is, not just to be taken away from Mum and Dad, but taken away from my siblings, who got taken to Orana Methodist Children’s Home. When I got across to Orana my older brothers Reg and Mik nurtured me every day. They protected me from the system and the demons within it. And my mum, when we were reunited, she was my guiding light. She’s passed, but I still ask her for guidance. I miss her, but I still converse with her. My big brother Reg is with her. He’s one of my heroes. My brothers are my heroes. I remember as a kid at the home, in primary school, I remember being in little plays, and we used to sing – “The hills are alive with the sound of music” – and we’d sing in falsettos, and I remember going on little joyrides, with The Seekers’ Judith Durham playing on the wireless, and The Carpenters. Oh Karen Carpenter! She had this beautiful tone and resonance in her voice, and I warmed to that. And then years later Judith Durham rang me. I was living in Reservoir, in the bungalow out the back. The phone rings and my son shouts out, “It’s for you Dad.” I pick up the phone and a woman’s voice says, “Hello Kutcha, it’s Judith Durham” and I said, “Right, yeah” and I hung up. The phone rings in the house again. “Daaad, it’s the same woman.” So we have a yarn and Judith asks if I’d like to sing the Australian anthem with her. I said to her, “Judith, I’m gobsmacked that you are calling me, even more gobsmacked that you would ask me to do that, but with the utmost respect I can’t bring myself to do that.” We left it at that, and nine or 10 months later she called back and said “I’ve been thinking about what you said. How about we do a rewrite of the anthem?” I said, “There’ll

Ricky

THEBIGISSUE.ORG.AU

I know every bird in my backyard almost by name, but take me somewhere else and I’m a complete bird brain.

by Ricky French @frenchricky

Birdhouse in Your Soul

hope everyone has recovered from the breathless excitement that was the 2020 Aussie Backyard Bird Count. It’s the one week in the year where Aussies are invited to open their eyes and pay attention to the world around them. Last year more than 88,000 people took part and we spotted 3.4 million birds in our backyards. When it comes to gathering information about what our feathered friends are up to, citizen science really does rule the roost. This year’s bird count was all the more important because an estimated 180 million were lost in last summer’s bushfires. Birdwatching is one of those hobbies that anyone can do but no-one can master. Make no mistake, serious birders are freaks. But they do have good insights. I’ve written it before in this column and I’ll repeat it: one of my favourite lines ever came from a birder when I asked him why he was so interested in birdwatching. To him it was an obvious answer and he turned the question around on me. “How could you not be interested in the world around you?” The world around me consists of my house and the backyard. We occasionally get birds in the house, but mostly they stick to the backyard. Living in Melbourne over the past few months has definitely focused the attention on the local. The world around us has constricted, but that isn’t a bad thing, because there’s now less to pay attention to and we can focus more intently. There’s no excuse to miss what’s going on in your backyard. Birding is hard, but I think we should at least learn the birds in our backyard. That’s not hard. I know every bird in my backyard almost by name, but take me somewhere else and I’m a complete bird brain. That’s why I think the eagle-eyed folk at BirdLife Australia are onto something with the Aussie Backyard Bird Count. It doesn’t ask too much of you. You don’t even have to leave home. You just have to open your eyes.

I live in grimy, patchy suburbia, bereft of bushland or even manicured lawns that might attract birds. Our staple birds are feral. Spotted doves perch on the clothesline and shit on the lawn. Packs of marauding starlings peck at the grass after it’s been mowed. The dreaded Indian myna still sullies the airspace, but I’ve noticed fewer of them this year. On the increase is the beautiful native New Holland honeyeater, with its yellow and black markings that remind me of the colours of my home town, Wellington. In last year’s backyard count it was the most commonly spotted bird in Western Australia, but it still thrills us to see it flittering around our native shrubs and catching insects on the wing. We had our first red wattlebird the other day, but it’s been a while since we’ve had the welcome occurrence of a welcome swallow air show. I guess you wing some, you lose some. More than 1000 schools now participate in the bird count, using a phone app (more smart marketing). I’m not sure whether it comes under science or maths in the curriculum, but it’s surely a terrific way to engage children in the world around them. When I was at school the only thing I counted were bits of rubbish I was made to pick up off the ground at lunchtime. Sometimes I expand my world to include the local park. Here, the world around me changes so much it’s like culture shock. Feisty noisy miners screech their incessant alarm call and divebomb the dog. There are magpies (friendly, thank god) and occasional flocks of ibis on the footy field – new immigrants. We’ve had a heap of rain and recently I’ve taken an interest in sounds coming from the drain. Frogs. What kind of frogs are they? Now there’s a new app on my phone: FrogID. The world around me is expanding, and I’m very interested in it.

Ricky is a writer, musician and bird brainiac.

by Fiona Scott-Norman @fscottnorman

PHOTOS BY JAMES BRAUND

uh. So, if we’re honest, and why not, it’s unlikely that the economy will be “snapping back” after COVID. In a plot twist not on anyone’s 2020 bingo card, this puts the robustness of the nation’s financial system on a par with my post-menopausal lady undercarriage. Most def not snapped back. Apologies for the unsolicited visual. It transpires, however, that the upheavals of COVID-19 and Menopause-52 (approx) have a lot in common: they both herald unwelcome, permanent and unavoidable change that creates havoc in their wake. I’m not intending to downplay or trivialise where we find ourselves, Australia, because whichever creek we paddle up it’s a world of merde. But there are compensations, even when all the oestrogen has shot out of your body over several flushed and convulsive years, leaving a once-bustling metropolis in ruins. The “oestrogen” in this previously never-employed analogy for the economy is population growth, and JobSeeker and JobKeeper would be the HRT (hormone replacement therapy for the uninitiated), designed to mimic business as usual and keep things artificially ticking over as we adjust to the new normal. Our economy, base‑level, is dependent on strong migration, and since corona that’s ground to a halt like an ice‑skater hitting gravel. Of course it has. Our borders are closed, international students are locked out, our birth rate is in decline for 83 reasons including climate uncertainty and a pink-collar recession, and corona is shaping up to be a bloated long-running series like The Bold and the Beautiful, rather than short, tight and fabulous like Fleabag. The hot take from Treasury is that in 2022 our population will grow by one million fewer people than previously estimated. So, no more oestrogen. It’s basically just us now. Aussies in it together. But without population pressure driving our housing and construction. Without the tourism we’re

accustomed to. With fewer people buzzing around our cities because zooming is cheaper than bodies in offices, and universities are shedding jobs like dandruff. We are, to switch metaphors mid-stream, becalmed. Bobbing like a cork with no obvious way to generate momentum. There’s no going back to how things were. This is it, babes, the new baseline. There are, fortunately, deep and profound benefits to slower and smaller. To not running so fast. To not “booming”. We have the time and incentive to reshape our priorities. Less industry and less travel mean using a lot less fossil fuel, and generating a lot less pollution. In May, daily global CO2 emissions dropped by 17 per cent. Given the climate cliff we’re falling off, that can only be good news. Citizen science projects have been overwhelmed by volunteers wanting to contribute; we’re using our lockdown and enforced leisure time to seek out and ID rare frogs and wildlife for the Australian Museum, to transcribe whale song. Families have gotten back in the habit of walks. Cycling has taken off to the point where we’ve been warned there won’t be bike stock left for Christmas. We have reconnected with our parkland, our natural environment, our flora and fauna. In Melbourne there’s a push from The People in the suburb of Northcote to reclaim a golf course for public access, rather than lock away such a beautiful swathe of land. Open-water swimming is flourishing. We have time for documentaries like The Octopus Teacher and David Attenborough’s A Life on Our Planet, and their message. We’re buying local, supporting our communities, meeting our neighbours. I had a conversation last week, FFS, about how well the grass is growing on our verge. The Change. I tell you. It’s okay.

Fiona is a writer and comedian who is no hot flash in the pan.

30 OCT 2020

Days of Our COVID

Corona is shaping up to be a bloated long-running series like The Bold and the Beautiful, rather than short, tight and fabulous like Fleabag.

Fiona

Trent Dalton

Books

All That Shimmers Is Gold

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Author Trent Dalton shoots for the sky with his new novel, the highly anticipated follow-up to Boy Swallows Universe. by Thuy On Books Editor @thuy_on

plucky daughter of a gravedigger. From age seven to 12, the book tracks Molly’s quest to save her family from what she believes is a curse cast by a magisterial Indigenous figure nicknamed Longcoat Bob. Her gold‑prospecting grandfather took what did not belong to him and his act of folly would descend through the ages, delivering misfortune to all his kin. With chutzpah and conviction, Molly takes it upon herself to break the malevolent spell. Joining her in her mission deep in the wilderness of the Northern Territory is actress Greta Maze, as tough as she is glamorous, and a little later, Yukio Miki, a Japanese fighter pilot who crashed during the bombing of Darwin and finds himself in the vine forest, waterfalls and rockpillar wonderland that is the Top End of Australia. With characteristic verve and a sensuous, poetic sensibility, Dalton’s follow-up is a thoughtfully researched and beguiling mix of adventure, fable and magic realism, with the author’s journalistic background feeding neatly into his fiction-writing impulses. “Novels are built on every interaction we’ve ever had with the humans around us. My day job for 20 years has involved entering the living rooms of Australians and politely asking them if they would mind sharing every last aspect of what it means to exist inside this wondrous, messed up, sick, pretty, tragic, hopeful thing we call life,”

ALL OUR SHIMMERING SKIES IS OUT NOW.

30 OCT 2020

PHOTO BY RUSSELL SHAKESPEARE

The last thing I want to do is have someone who honours me with their reading time be insulted or disappointed…

he says. “That was 20 years of researching, up close, the human heart. Also, there’s something deeply grounding about returning to pounding the pavement as a journalist after having one’s head in the clouds of the literary world, and having someone slam a door in your face saying, ‘Fuck off, hawker!’ It’s good for the soul.” Reading All Our Shimmering Skies is also good for the soul. Both of Dalton’s books, for all their shadows and grimness, evoke hope and wonder. And they each draw on the perspective of a child on the cusp of adulthood, as Dalton believes that our sense of possibility is strongest in this liminal state. “Yes, the stakes are raised in our adolescence. Both Eli Bell and Molly Hook are walking a tightrope of life where the universe and the adults around them are threatening to bash magic and hope out of them,” he says. “In my writing, I fight tooth and nail to push them off the tightrope, and then fight even harder to keep them balanced upon it. “I love every last one of those Australian kids on the fringes of life who walk that tightrope every single day… and manage to stay balanced... But many fall off and it breaks my fucking heart. I think I secretly am writing these books in the hope it might help more Australian kids like Eli and Molly in real life stay balanced on their private tightropes.” There’s a lot in the ether about cultural (mis)appropriation in the arts at the moment. As a white man, Dalton admits he was nervous about writing from the viewpoint of a Japanese fighter pilot. “The last thing I want to do is have someone who honours me with their reading time be insulted or disappointed, but the character of Yukio was too beautiful for me not to have Molly meet him along her quest,” he explains. “I did my best to make sure those interactions are done with deepest respect and made sure the story is told through Molly’s eyes. She brushes up against other cultures in my book in the same way I have brushed up against and documented other cultures as a journalist: with empathy, awe and endless questions to deepen her understanding of things she may never fully understand. “But, ultimately, I made sure the central characters in this story – a white Australian gravedigger girl, a German-born Australian theatre actress, a First Nations buffalo hunter, a fallen Japanese fighter pilot – are defined by their actions throughout the quest, not by where they’re from. Nothing matters along the story’s silver road but the content of character.” Speaking of philosophical questions of character, I ask Dalton if there’s any difference for him between a liar and a storyteller. His aphoristic response is deceptively simple: “Liars tell lies to distance themselves from the truth. Storytellers tell lies to get as close as they possibly can to the truth.”

arry all you own; own all you carry. It’s the central theme of All Our Shimmering Skies,” says Trent Dalton of his new release, the long‑awaited follow-up to his phenomenally successful debut Boy Swallows Universe. It also happens to be a message he’d like to impress upon his own young daughters. “You are every move you have ever made, and you can own the missteps and the bad steps, and you should sure as hell own the good steps, too,” he adds. “But none of these steps define who you are or the steps you will take tomorrow.” Dalton’s semi-autobiographical debut sold more than 500,000 copies in Australia alone. A TV series based on Boy will be co-produced by Joel Edgerton, and a play adaptation by the Queensland Theatre Company is also in the offing. So adored by critics and the public alike, and so garlanded by literary awards, it would have been easy for the Queensland-based writer to produce a sequel to the flyaway adventures of Eli Bell and his brother August, but Dalton’s latest novel is wider in narrative ambit and moves further back in time. Instead of working-class Brisbane, Dalton has set All Our Shimmering Skies in 1942, in wartime Darwin. Within these dazzling, technicoloured pages, and under the great expanse of a gift-giving sky, we meet Molly Hook, the

THEBIGISSUE.ORG.AU

Music

Kate Miller-Heidke

Miller-Heidke’s New Vision Always on the lookout for something new, classically trained indie darling and Eurovision contestant Kate Miller-Heidke has embraced collaboration on her fifth album. by Giselle Au-Nhien Nguyen

Giselle Au-Nhien Nguyen is a VietnameseAustralian writer based in Melbourne.

n the six years since her last studio album release, Kate Miller-Heidke has been busy bulking up her CV. In 2017, along with husband Keir Nuttall, she composed the musical adaptation of Muriel’s Wedding. Last year, she represented Australia at Eurovision, flying through the air on a seven-metre pole to a live audience of almost 200 million. Most recently, she was runner‑up on reality talent show The Masked Singer. All of these career-defining moments play a part in her fifth album Child in Reverse, a collection of intimate, poignant pop songs that reveal elements of the multifaceted woman behind the music. “Eurovision reinforced my views about how songs are made and written for a particular architectural space,” Miller-Heidke says. “There’s a nerdy part of me that enjoys writing to a brief, or picturing a venue when I’m writing a song. Child in Reverse was written for headphones. It’s simple, beautiful pop music that’s made to make a personal connection between me and the listener – the opposite of Eurovision. In a lot of ways, whatever I do is a reaction against the previous thing I did.”

H I-V IS S AYS R W H O ’T B E U B E ? CA N IO N A B L E H S A F

PHOTO BY JO DUCK

a pop song – three or four people in a room who had never necessarily met before, and you’ve got one day to come up with a song,” she says. “I realise now that a lot of those judgements came from a place of fear. I love how efficient it is – sometimes I’m at the mercy of my overly editing brain, and I can dig myself into an insecurity hole or work a song to death. With this method, you don’t have time to do that.” The relationship between Miller-Heidke, Collier and Klar continued beyond the program, with further writing sessions arranged in Melbourne. Through SongHubs, she also met German songwriter Tobias Kuhn, who co-wrote two songs on the album. A stroke of fate saw Brisbane’s Mallrat recording at the same studio in Melbourne, resulting in the airy duet ‘Simpatico’. The result of all this collaboration is an album that might be Miller-Heidke’s most confident yet. “All of my albums are different, but I feel like this one has this beautiful, living spontaneity that

CHILD IN REVERSE IS OUT NOW.

30 OCT 2020

It’s simple, beautiful pop music that’s made to make a personal connection between me and the listener – the opposite of Eurovision.

I really respond to. I think it’s because I wasn’t second-guessing myself as much,” she says. While there were many minds involved in the making of this record, it’s still intensely personal. As its title suggests, Child in Reverse takes a retrospective look at childhood, from body-image issues to the impact of divorce. “Becoming a parent allows you to live your childhood again through the eyes of your child. It’s brought back a lot of memories for me,” says Miller-Heidke, who has a four-year-old son. “I find my thoughts drifting back to those times, re-examining that in the light of who I am now.” Though Miller-Heidke’s songs are often upbeat, beneath the surface is a precious thread of vulnerability. Child in Reverse may have been written before COVID-19, but some of the songs, such as closer ‘This Is Not Forever’, take on added resonance in light of the pandemic, exploring the experience of loving someone struggling with depression and anxiety. “If everything’s too happy or light it sounds cheesy, and if everything’s too dark it’s not pop music anymore,” she says. “I love trying to look for that sweet spot where there’s an edge of bitterness. That’s where you can really paint with emotions and nuance.” Classically trained as an opera singer, Miller‑Heidke began releasing pop music in the early 2000s. While it may seem like she’s strayed from her roots, the musical polymath says her opera background and love of pop coexist in her own liminal space. “I always wrote my own songs and when it suddenly became a possibility to become a full-time songwriter and devote my life to that, I thought I’d hit the jackpot and I never wanted anything to do with opera again – I was just wanting to write pop songs,” she says. “The last chapter of my career has kind of come full circle; I ended up singing opera overseas and getting involved in more theatre. Pop is always going to be my greatest love,” she says. “It’s my passport back to these incredible, exciting worlds.”

Collaborating on Muriel’s Wedding opened Miller-Heidke’s eyes to a new way of working, which informed her process on Child in Reverse. “I’m way more open to collaboration than I ever have been, and I think it’s the result of seeing collaboration on such an epic scale,” she says. “I always had a romantic notion of songwriting as being something that one does alone in a room, and now I’ve completely done a 180.” Emboldened by this creative rush, the songwriter signed up to APRA’s SongHubs program – an intensive, collaborative songwriting residency – in 2019. Over a weekend on the Gold Coast, she met co-writers Evan Klar (who also produced the record) and Hailey Collier, in an experience she calls “mind-expanding”. “I always resisted the textbook method of making

Never Rarely Sometimes Always

Film

The Choice Faced with an unintended pregnancy and lack of support, a teenage girl and her cousin travel across the US in director Eliza Hittman’s compassionate and tender coming-of‑age film. by Annabel Brady-Brown Film Editor @annnabelbb

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’m excited it’s opening up in these other cities that were better prepared for the pandemic than we are,” says Eliza Hittman from her Brooklyn home. Her new film Never Rarely Sometimes Always came out Stateside in the March week that COVID-19 shuttered cinemas across the country. After scoring raves at Sundance and a Silver Bear at the Berlinale, it was tipped to be one of the year’s major independent releases. Instead, it switched to VOD in most territories. Which makes Australia one of the few countries able to watch the film in a theatre. A classic coming-of-age story, which broaches an urgent issue with great sensitivity, Never Rarely Sometimes Always follows 17-year-old Autumn (newcomer Sidney Flanigan) as she secretly travels to New York City to get an abortion, because she’s unable to do so without parental consent in her home state of Pennsylvania. By Autumn’s side is her cousin Skylar (Talia Ryder, also making her

screen debut). They visit a Planned Parenthood clinic, and, lacking cash for a hotel, loiter around the gritty Port Authority Bus Terminal all night. In 2012, Hittman wrote a script about the stressful, expensive and often dangerous journey – sometimes unfortunately referred to as “abortion tourism” – that Irish women were making to London. She later transposed it to the States. “I thought that in being localised I could tell the most universal version of that story.” While examples can be found around the world – in Australia, there were reports this year that women from Wagga Wagga were travelling hundreds of kilometres to access reproductive healthcare, because they were unable to locally – the film’s release has proved timely as the pandemic stirred fights over access rights in the US. “Especially during the pandemic,” Hittman says. “We had politicians who were playing a very dangerous game with women’s access and deemed abortion not essential. There was a lot happening during the pandemic that

30 OCT 2020

I was also worried that if I make it seem too easy it becomes propaganda.” The result is a restrained but deeply moving drama, which intimately conveys an experience that has often been rendered invisible. “I tried to approach the whole story rooted in the point of view of the character. Like if I was 17, of course I would be intimidated by this procedure, and anxious. That’s honest. I felt if I could do that honestly it would be effective.” Intense, beautifully shot sequences filled with eloquent body language and broody teenage silences take us right into the characters’ heads, aided by phenomenal performances from the two leads. “There are scenes where I would experiment with taking all the I wanted to make dialogue out, and then decide what something that could is essential in the edit,” she says. less concerned with capturing be useful and insightful “I’m the way young people really talk to and put audiences into each other… I’m more interested in what’s happening underneath.” the shoes of a very real The film also skips any journey that women moralising over Autumn’s decision, or information about the father. take every day, all Instead, various male figures around the world. appear throughout the journey as an antagonistic presence – the DIRECTOR ELIZA HITTMAN unwelcome attention of a customer at her grocery job, the creepy boss who ritually kisses PH NEWCOMERENOMENAL : SI DN the girls’ hands, and a flasher on the subway. EY FL AS TEENAG AN ER AUTUM IGAN N “Early on, I knew I wanted to focus on the real barriers that she encounters on the journey. It didn’t work for me to include one individual that was standing in her way. Because it was, essentially, this road movie, this procedural drama.” Instead, it focuses on “creating this pervasive feeling of male hostility. And heightening it, because they’re young and they’re learning to navigate it for the first time. made me feel it was important to still talk about the film.” “And those moments are a little hyperreal, maybe? Her previous microbudget features – It Felt Like Love But they’re also totally normal. I’ve had someone (2013) and Beach Rats (2017) – both follow south Brooklyn expose themselves to me on the subway a million times teens fumbling through moments of awakening and in my life. As you get older, you start to desensitise to self-realisation. Her new movie is another step again, those moments. But when you’re 16 or 17, they’re earth expanding in scope and emotional impact. shattering. They rock you to your core.” “It came from a political place, and from an In its own quiet way, the film is equally shattering. artistic place,” she says. “I’m excited about exploring Changes to the Oscars’ eligibility rules mean the film certain narratives centred around what happens with will be a contender come awards time, despite its sexuality and identity and the body. And I’ve always largely digital release. been very interested in how taboo abortion is in By which time, I suggest, the streets will be filled with cinema. Simultaneously, I wanted to make something people wearing the latest “Directed by Eliza Hittman” that could be useful and insightful and put audiences hoodies and T-shirts. into the shoes of a very real journey that women “I haven’t seen one yet,” she laughs, “but someone take every day, all around the world. sent me a picture of a face mask with my name on it… “It was important for me to approach that aspect of I won’t really believe it exists until I see it.” the narrative honestly, you know? I was worried, if I dramatise [the procedure] too much, will audiences be NEVER RARELY SOMETIMES ALWAYS IS IN CINEMAS NOW. afraid of getting it done, especially young audiences?

Film Reviews

Annabel Brady-Brown Film Editor @annnabelbb

is the season to be spooky. If you’re able to head into a cinema, The Craft – the 1996 classic that made every teenage girl want to join a coven and own a ouija board – is getting a millennial revamp with The Craft: Legacy, just in time for Halloween. For those watching at home, the sweetest trick-or-treat option is probably the new Adam Sandler Netflix comedy, Hubie Halloween. Set in the historically witchy city of Salem, and self‑consciously playing with the tradition of the Halloween movie, it sees Sandler trot out his signature big-hearted doofus once more. Come for the fart jokes and juvenile puns, stay for the line-up of stars clearly having a ball – namely Steve Buscemi as a hairy, moon-howling, friendly neighbour from hell. One of the films that Hubie Halloween tributes (and one of my all-time favourite spine-tinglers), John Carpenter’s pirate ghost story The Fog (1980), is on Foxtel. A little further from the universe: the Italian giallo wiz Dario Argento’s bugged-out 1985 horror Phenomena is free to stream via TUBI. In a remote area referred to by locals as “Swiss Transylvania”, a serial killer is on the loose. Enter Jennifer Connelly, a boarder at an elite girl’s school who can psychically communicate with insects. She befriends an entomologist played by Donald Pleasence – channelling a meek version of his role as Dr Sam Loomis in the slasher urtext Halloween (1978). Together with his pet monkey, they must solve the mystery before more heads roll. Happy Halloween! ABB

HUBIE HALLOWEEN: HEADS WILL ROLL

THE CLIMB 

A feature-length expansion on a short film, The Climb takes the structural perfection of its precursor – a single awkward, hilarious confrontation between two inept “best friends” – and expands the conceit across seven increasingly depressing vignettes. Tracing the toxic friendship of Mike (writer-director Michael Angelo Corvino) and Kyle (Corvino’s real-life best friend Kyle Marvin) over a decade – through family holidays, ski trips, weddings and funerals – the film unfolds largely in sweeping, unbroken takes, always crowded with conflict as the two man-children try (and fail and try again) to reconcile their warring personalities. There’s fleeting amusement to be found in their incompatibility, and compassionate performances aplenty, but the film feels stuck in a single lethargic gear. If nothing else, it’s technically impressive, and the pair lock horns under some gorgeous mountainside vistas. But compared to the short, Corvino’s debut feature drags like a punctured tyre. Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon the duo are not. SAMUEL HARRIS KAJILLIONAIRE

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Two things unite Miranda July’s oeuvre: eccentric characters yearning for connection and twee storylines enabling them to find it. The American writer-director’s third feature contains both, but with less modern-fairytale energy than her previous work. A family of con artists engage in petty theft, swindling and half-baked rackets. When threatened with eviction, daughter Old Dolio (a de-glamoured Evan Rachel Wood) concocts a lucrative scam that brings an outsider, Melanie (Jane the Virgin’s Gina Rodriguez), into their orbit. Old Dolio is rattled by Melanie’s femininity – not to mention her own parents’ affection towards the stranger, when they’ve long denied her affection. As the foursome grift, dynamics shift. The whimsical quality belies pointed revelations: Kajillionaire skewers the American Dream. More accomplice than offspring, Old Dolio is an expert hustler but emotionally stunted. By film’s end, we’re left pondering what she’s learned about human relationships and whether love, like all else, has a price. ADOLFO ARANJUEZ

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In West Australia’s lush Mount Barker region, Colin (Sam Neill) treats his sheep like family. Unfortunately his actual family – older brother and neighbour Les (Michael Caton) – is a bitter drunk shunned by everyone except his own prize-winning flock. The brothers haven’t spoken in 30 years, but when a deadly disease is discovered on one of Les’ sheep and the government orders the entire region’s flocks destroyed, they’ll have to find a way to work together or watch their community die. Jeremy Sims’ remake of Icelandic film Hrutar generally transplants well. Its cosy vision of Australian sheep farming softens some of the chilly original’s harsher edges, but the pleasingly twisty script keeps things interesting even when the comedy struggles. Neill can play honest farmers in his sleep, but there’s more to Colin than meets the eye, while Caton keeps Les convincingly unpleasant for far longer than you might expect. Everyone else (including Miranda Richardson and Asher Keddie) gets less screen time than the sheep. ANTHONY MORRIS

Small Screen Reviews

Aimee Knight Small Screens Editor @siraimeeknight

DAYS LIKE THESE  | PODCAST

ADDICTED AUSTRALIA

 | FOXTEL + BINGE

 | SBS + SBS ON DEMAND FROM 10 NOV

HBO’s current slogan is “There’s more to discover”. A slogan option after The Undoing – “There’s more rich-people problems”. This “more money, more problems” mindset has driven Big Little Lies, Succession and The Righteous Gemstones to success, but it’s not the case with writer David E Kelley (Big Little Lies, Ally McBeal) and director Susanne Bier’s (The Night Manager) adaptation of Jean Hanff Korelitz’s novel You Should Have Known. A therapist’s (Nicole Kidman) life implodes after her husband (Hugh Grant) is suspected of murder, and it rocks a wealthy New York City community. Kelley and Bier plant enough doubt to make it easier to hit play on the next episode, but it languishes as a whodunnit that combines upper-class melodrama and armchair psychology. And unlike HBO’s wealthy alumni, it’s terrified to interrogate the privilege it portrays. Even the enticing pairing of Kidman and Grant, two actors in the midst of fantastic mid-career runs (Destroyer and A Very English Scandal, respectively), can’t save this one from unravelling. CAMERON WILLIAMS

Addicted Australia, a four-part docuseries from Blackfella Films (Filthy Rich and Homeless), provides viewers access to the lives of 10 everyday Australians struggling with addictions to alcohol, drugs and gambling. The series follows the group over six months through peer support, detox, drug treatment and behavioural therapy, demystifying what an addict looks like while highlighting the agony of recovery. The production focuses on sharing the individual histories that lead to addiction, the impact of addiction on families, and exposing the gaps in treatment services. Viewers are drawn in by the personal anecdotes. We desperately want everyone – from the admin assistant to the grandmother-to-be – to succeed. Realistically, we know some won’t. If Addicted Australia can evoke empathy for its subjects, Australia will move forward with renewed interest in addiction advocacy, especially in these pandemic times when isolation has led more people to indulge in, or depend on, alcohol. SYDNYE ALLEN

t’s snowing outside Bruce Springsteen’s home studio in Colts Neck, New Jersey. Captured in plain black-and-white by his frequent collaborator, director Thom Zimny, the solemn scene falls in stark contrast to the fire and highways that have lit up Springsteen’s songbook for nigh on 50 years. That’s not to say it’s a wild diversion from his established tracks up to the mirage of Americana. Rather, it’s a maturing of his thirsty aesthetic; a fitting backdrop as the 71-year-old meditates on community, masculinity and mortality in a sombre new documentary. Bruce Springsteen’s Letter to You captures the making of the man’s 20th studio album. From arranging and rehearsing to recording and reflecting on the whole shebang, this tender film documents a good chunk of The Boss’ creative process, as he collaborates with the formidable E Street Band, and laments for the members no longer with us. Studio scenes are prefaced with archival sequences that set the mood for each song, as Springsteen confides in viewers through voiceover, like liner notes come to life, as per his capacity to reach millions of fans with pinpoint intimacy. The film will best appeal to Bruce’s truest believers. The context, song, context, song structure does get repetitive, particularly as Springsteen and Zimny have also worked this formula for recent concert films Western Stars (2019) and Springsteen on Broadway (2018), among others. But for Springsteen’s most dedicated disciples – and I count myself among them – it’s a wistful picture devoid of cynicism. The door is open on Apple TV+. AK

30 OCT 2020

THE UNDOING

STILL THE BOSS OF ROCK’N’ROLL

Pockets of oral history bubble up and break through our tumultuous times in this ABC podcast about ordinary people. Presented by Planet Money’s Elizabeth Kulas, with lead reporting from Pat Abboud (The Project), these standalone stories vary in mood. The aching romance of Spencer’s miracle pregnancy is a rose-coloured prelude to Kate’s grim tale of perseverance during the Mallacoota bushfires. With a focus on lived experience, the early episodes give interviewees space to weave their yarns of resilience, heartbreak and hope, creating something like an Antipodean answer to This American Life (an emphasis on “Aussie” identity is stressed by The Gooch Palms’ parochial theme song, ‘Yeh Nah’). Episode three brings refreshing irreverence as Marissa scours a shopping centre, searching for her cursed Baby, reliant on the kindness of strangers. The ridiculous premise is treated with the high-stakes styling of a spy or heist film, to delightful comic effect, which is where this show really shines. More Days Like These like that, please. AIMEE KNIGHT

Music Reviews

Isabella Trimboli Music Editor

B IG D IVA E N ER M IM I’ S

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he divas are really working overtime this year. As the virus took over our lives, in April 71-year-old Broadway icon Patti LuPone began uploading videos of herself singing and dancing in her kitschy Connecticut basement. By September, Patti LaBelle and Gladys Knight, towering figures of R&B and soul, appeared on Verzuz, a kind of virtual battle of the bands, conceived during the pandemic by producers Timbaland and Swizz Beatz. The digital duel between LaBelle and Knight, however, was light on rivalry. Instead, the broadcast had the air of a joyous reunion, the singers cheering each other on as they belted out hits from their long, luminous careers. Interspersed were anecdotes, chuckles and a surprise guest appearance by Dionne Warwick. “This is crazy and fun right?” cooed LaBelle. Now, Mariah Carey has released her new memoir, The Meaning of Mariah Carey. I suggest indulging in the Audible version, where the singer delivers each line with appropriate aplomb. “Time can be bleak darl-ing” she proclaims, in reference to her infamous animosity towards celebrating birthdays (she has “anniversaries” instead). The book’s biggest revelation may be that Carey secretly wrote, produced and appeared on a grunge album called Someone’s Ugly Daughter (1995) for the long-forgotten band Chick. “They could be angry, angsty and messy, with old shoes, wrinkled slips and unruly eyebrows,” she recalls of the era’s alt stars, “while every move I made was so calculated and manicured.” Turns out the chanteuse was even more elusive than we thought. IT

@itrimboli

THE ALBUM BLACKPINK 

The worldwide detonation of K-pop phenomenon Blackpink is anything but accidental. Shouldering four years of anticipation since the release of their breakthrough single ‘Boombayah’, and arriving at a moment when the band’s stardom has reached fever pitch as the biggest girl group in the world, is their debut album. The Album’s thesis is simple: empowerment through meticulous, big‑budget pop. Expanding on their ravenous bilingual discography, the eight‑song album works in extremes, clashing visceral elements of EDM, hip-hop and high-profile guests (including Cardi B and Selena Gomez) to create a disorientating onslaught of joyful sensory overload. The Album’s greatest triumph is in this concentrated maximalism, with songs like ‘How You Like That’ and ‘Pretty Savage’ showcasing Blackpink’s up-tempo hypnotism in full technicolour. Although largely lacking in emotional depth (closing ballad ‘You Never Know’, however, offers a rare moment of vulnerability), what members Jisoo, Jennie, Rosé and Lisa offer in its place is a pop utopia – one defined by hardcore fanfare and thudding innuendo. MONIQUE MYINTOO

SONGS ON HARMONIUM WITH VOICE ELA STILES

SAVAGE MODE II 21 SAVAGE/METRO BOOMIN

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There are shades of spooky 70s Nico, Ray of Light-era Madonna and Enya’s Celtic noodlings in Ela Stiles’ latest. A bluntbanged mainstay of Australia’s fertile DIY music scene, she has been gliding between a handful of avant-pop bands for years (including The Rangoons and J McFarlane’s Reality Guest), all the while cultivating her own hypnotic sound on the side. The instructively titled Songs on Harmonium With Voice (her first solo effort since 2016’s LP Molten Metal) is a seven-strong collection of intimate, reverb-shrouded tracks – three new, the others from her two previous albums are given warped, melodic makeovers. While harmonium lurked in the background of Molten Metal, here this wonderfully plaintive instrument comes to the fore, lapping against Stiles’ chilly, commanding vocals. What she has conjured plays as broke-down devotional music; ethereal but unvarnished, catchy but unconventional in structure. For maximum effect: recommended listening on a late-night walk down deserted streets. KEVA YORK

It’s been four years since the Atlanta rapper 21 Savage paired up with producer Metro Boomin for the acclaimed, brooding mixtape Savage Mode. The duo’s sequel proves that while the two are incredibly talented on their own, together their dynamism is unmatched. Both artists know what it takes to make a mixtape like this pop: there are a few huge guests here (Drake, Young Thug and some spoken word interludes care of Morgan Freeman), but they don’t overwhelm the album. There is plenty of room for 21 Savage to flex and push himself as a lyricist and emcee. This time around, 21 Savage has more to say (unsurprising, given his recent situation with US immigration) and pushes his flow into a more muscular realm. Playing off Metro’s cinematic production, 21 Savage reaches new heights on Savage Mode II. The ambition here is clear without being too cocky. The duo know their strengths and the energy needed to make these tracks stick the landing. SOSEFINA FUAMOLI

Book Reviews

Thuy On Books Editor @thuy_on

FUTURE GIRL ASPHYXIA

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Opening with Tokyo uni students on a group date in 1989, Singaporean writer Clarissa Goenawan’s second novel follows two of those students – book-loving Ryusei and the inscrutable title character he pines after – before intimately examining a few other members of their circle. While that makes for a slow start, Miwako’s sudden death at age 20 provokes intense soul-searching all around. As Ryusei puzzles over everything Miwako kept secret, the author delicately explores how personal shame and guilt inform the facade we put on for others. Quietly quirky in the manner of Haruki Murakami, including shades of magic realism, The Perfect World of Miwako Sumida focuses on the subtle intricacies of social interactions and sexuality, particularly in Japanese culture at the time. Like her characters, Goenawan’s writing can appear somewhat nondescript on the surface, but as you spend more time with it (and them), hidden depths are gradually revealed. This is a lingering fable about learning to accept yourself, even in the wake of grief. DOUG WALLEN

Future Girl by prominent deaf artist Asphyxia is a delightful and absorbing young adult fiction (and semi-graphic novel) set in Melbourne’s near-future. Deaf protagonist Piper has grown up obsessed with the idea of normality and tries desperately to fit in with the hearing world. She writes all her thoughts down in her art diary. Things change when she meets Marley, a CODA (child of deaf adult) who begins to teach her Auslan. Piper’s immersion in the deaf community comes at a time of economic collapse, food rationing and the rise of a corporate-owned national government. Suddenly the things that she always thought held her back – her creativity and deafness – help her to develop the skills she can use to support her family and community to survive. Future Girl combines traditional teen romance with the ominous air of a Margaret Atwood novel, plus a liveliness of spirit that drives you through the story. Not simply text-based, Piper’s beautiful drawings and designs can be seen on every page. A must read. RAPHAELLE RACE

THE GRANDEST BOOKSHOP IN THE WORLD AMELIA MELLOR 

Set in 1893, this middle-grade fiction is based on the very real life of EW Cole and his famous bookshop in Melbourne’s CBD. It may have indeed been the “grandest bookshop in the world” because it didn’t just have voluminous printed matter; no, it also had numerous other delights, including a lolly shop, a rainforest fernery with monkeys and parrots, a tea salon and a uniformed house band. Ten-year-old Pearl and her siblings are lucky to live above this arcade, but all such grandeur is under threat at the arrival of the dastardly Obscurosmith. “Old King Cole” had made a deal with him in exchange for something precious, and as a result he stands to lose his beloved shop, and more. To save her father, Pearl and her brother Vally have until midnight to solve a series of seven challenges and avoid the traps in each one. This is a magical, pacy and fun read for kids, full of wonder and mischief. THUY ON

THE PERFECT WORLD OF MIWAKO SUMIDA CLARISSA GOENAWAN

30 OCT 2020

avid Attenborough’s latest book, A Life on Our Planet, has just been released to coincide with the Netflix documentary of the same name. This important offering explores the “spiralling decline of our planet’s biodiversity” due to the unrestricted exploitation of resources and the general despoiling of nature. How to arrest this decimation of the natural world is Attenborough’s thesis. The great naturalist is now 94 years old, and during his long career documenting the planet, he has probably seen more of it than anyone else alive. Divided into three sections (‘My Witness Statement’, ‘What Lies Ahead’ and ‘Vision for the Future: How to Rewild the World’), A Life on Our Planet is generously illustrated. Written in clear and concise prose (with a helpful glossary), the book does not simply paint a sad story of how humans have messed up the planet (we already know that); crucially, it also sets out ideas on how to realign ourselves so we can live in harmony with the natural world. It may sound like an impossible dream, but Attenborough is hopeful: “When humankind as a whole is in a position to give back to nature at least as much as we take, and repay some of our debt, we will be able to lead more balanced lives. There are examples across the world of this new thinking right now.” TO

Public Service Announcement

by Lorin Clarke @lorinimus

Sometimes, you see the public version of someone for the first time and it blows your mind. Like when you go to your partner’s workplace or see your mum give a speech. It’s a version of them that contains the private them, but it’s different. It’s them being known in a broader context. As a kid, the adults who came to dinner sometimes called my parents by nicknames that predated my existence. Which meant, almost literally, that they were different people around their friends. They spoke differently and moved differently and even though they were still them, they were different on account of the public access they were granting to themselves. There’s something about seeing another side of someone you thought you knew so well that is a little bit thrilling. The flip side of this is equally thrilling. Someone I used to work with once said of a colleague: “Wait until you meet his wife. It all makes sense then.” He was a quiet bloke, and well-liked, but when his wife came to office drinks one night they were such a double-act – she so bold, he cutting in with occasional wry commentary – that their support of each other completed a picture of him I hadn’t quite been able to assemble. While walking through my inner-Melbourne neighbourhood recently, everybody in masks, I’ve been astonished at our capacity to see one another despite our faces literally being covered by material. A woman passing a child drawing a dinosaur on the footpath bows

at her respectfully. An older man wiggles his eyebrows at me in mutual amusement at a passing cyclist. The doors of the houses hang open, floorboards and hatstands visible to those passing – other people’s lives organised the way they do it. It’s inviting and mysterious and lovely and sometimes someone is sitting in the front window with a cup of tea, looking out at you looking in. There’s a person near where we live: a child or an adult, a woman or a man, a large person or a small person, right wing or left wing, who knows? That bit is private. The bit that’s public, though, the bit that creates the grey between the black and the white, is the piano practice. Plinketty plonketty. Just far enough away for us to be able to pinpoint the location. Just faint enough for us to be on the brink of recognising the piece when it stops at a difficult bit and starts again. All of us in the vicinity can hear it, but if we saw the pianist in the street, getting the mail or riding a bike, we wouldn’t recognise this musician whose work we know so well. Whoever it is, they’re getting better. I can’t help but feel, despite the dichotomy of public and private, that it would be nice to urge our neighbourhood pianist on. To congratulate the mystery practiser. To say: “We’re all with you.” Even though we’re not. A few years back when I was working in an office, I was introduced to a new colleague. I said hello. She looked at me oddly. “Sorry,” she said. “I feel like I know you, but your face is confusing me.” I wasn’t quite sure how to respond to this. “Keep talking,” she said, closing her eyes. “Go on. Talk to me.” The entire office was watching this. So I started talking. I was about half a sentence in when she clapped her hands. “That’s IT!” she said. Then she said my sister’s full name. She had heard, in my voice, an echo of her friend, my sister. She knew me, even though she didn’t. So here’s to the grey area. Here’s to other people’s hatstands and anonymous musicians and the people you love being a part of who you are.

Lorin Clarke is a Melbourne-based writer. The second season of her radio series, The Fitzroy Diaries, is on ABC Radio National and the ABC Listen app now.

n high school, our English teacher taught us the word dichotomy. “Remember that word,” he told us. “It’s a clever way of saying two opposite things.” The examples of a dichotomy that he gave us were “black and white” and “public and private”. One kid stuck her hand in the air. “What about grey?” she asked. The class then derailed completely. At the time, we thought it was hilarious: a deliberate “misunderstanding” of a very simple point the poor teacher (grinning and shaking his head) was trying to make. But now, I see her point. Both black and white contain the possibility of grey. And as for public versus private, well…there’s a middle ground. Public Service Announcement: sometimes we see what people are like when nobody’s looking.

30 OCT 2020

The Many Shades of Grey

Ixta Belfrage

Tastes Like Home THEBIGISSUE.ORG.AU

Spicy Mushroom Lasagne Ingredients Serves 6 750g chestnut mushrooms, halved 500g oyster mushrooms 135ml olive oil, plus extra for greasing 60g dried porcini mushrooms 30g dried wild mushrooms 2 dried red chillies, roughly chopped (deseeded for less heat) 500ml hot vegetable stock 1 onion, peeled and quartered 5 garlic cloves, roughly chopped 1 carrot, peeled and quartered

2-3 plum tomatoes, quartered 75g tomato paste 130ml double cream 60g pecorino romano, finely grated 60g parmesan, finely grated 5g basil leaves, finely chopped 10g parsley leaves, finely chopped, plus an extra teaspoon to serve 250g dried lasagne sheets (that’s about 14 sheets) salt and black pepper

Method Preheat the oven to 230°C fan-forced. Put the chestnut and oyster mushrooms into the large bowl of a food processor in three or four batches and pulse each batch until finely chopped (or finely chop everything by hand). Toss them in a large bowl with 3 tablespoons of oil and 1 teaspoon of salt and spread out on a large, 40cm x 35cm parchment-lined, rimmed baking tray. Bake for 30 minutes near the top of the oven, stirring three times throughout, until the mushrooms are golden-brown; they will have reduced in volume significantly. Set aside. Reduce the oven temperature to 200°C. Meanwhile, combine the dried mushrooms, chillies and hot stock in a large bowl and set aside to soak for half an hour. Strain the liquid into another bowl, squeezing as much liquid from the mushrooms as possible to get about 340ml: if you have less, top up with water. Very roughly chop the rehydrated mushrooms (you want some chunks) and finely chop the chillies. Set the stock and mushrooms aside separately. Put the onion, garlic and carrot into the food processor and pulse until finely chopped (or finely chop by hand). Heat 60ml of oil in a large pan or pot on medium-high heat. Add the onion mixture and fry for 8 minutes, stirring occasionally, until soft and golden. Pulse the tomatoes in the food processor until finely chopped (or finely chop by hand), then add to the pan along with the tomato paste, 1½ teaspoons of salt and 1¾ teaspoons of freshly

cracked black pepper. Cook for 7 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the rehydrated mushrooms and chillies and the roasted mushrooms and cook for 9 minutes, resisting the urge to stir: you want the mushrooms to be slightly crisp and browned on the bottom. Stir in the reserved stock and 800ml of water. Once simmering, reduce the heat to medium and cook for about 25 minutes, stirring occasionally, until you get the consistency of a ragu. Stir in 100ml of the cream and simmer for another 2 minutes, then remove from the heat. Combine cheeses and herbs in a small bowl. To assemble the lasagne, spread one-fifth of the sauce in the bottom of a round 28cm baking dish (or a 30cm x 20cm rectangular dish), then top with a fifth of the cheese mixture, followed by a layer of lasagne sheets, broken to fit where necessary. Repeat these layers three more times in that order, and finish with a final layer of sauce and cheese: that’s five layers of sauce and cheese and four layers of pasta. Drizzle over 1 tablespoon each of cream and oil. Cover with foil and bake for 15 minutes. Remove the foil, increase the temperature to 220°C and bake for 12 minutes, turning the dish round halfway. Turn the oven to the grill setting and grill for a final 2 minutes, until the edges are brown and crisp. Cool for 5 minutes, then drizzle over the remaining tablespoon of cream and oil. Sprinkle over the remaining parsley, finish with a good grind of pepper.

Ixta says…

FLAVOUR BY YOTAM OTTOLENGHI AND IXTA BELFRAGE IS OUT NOW.

30 OCT 2020

Tastes Like Home edited by Anastasia Safioleas

PHOTOS BY JONATHAN LOVEKIN

recall very clearly the moment I first fell truly, madly, deeply in love with food. The year was 1994 (I was three), the setting was Ristorante Pizzeria Acone, a community-run restaurant in the Tuscan village of Acone, perched 600 or so metres up the mountain where I spent my formative childhood years. Picture vineyards and olive groves as far as the mind’s eye can see. The dish was Penne all’Aconese, famous for miles around and loved by young, old and everyone in between (our dog Giacomino was a particular fan). This unassuming dish is a combination of undeniably good things. The recipe is a closely guarded secret but some ingredients can be detected easily: a sofrito base, ground pork, cream, hints of tomato, the spicy numbing undertones of dried chillies and plenty of black pepper. But what makes it truly transcendental, and thus makes the restaurant a site of gastronomical pilgrimage, is the complex, earthy and deeply umami flavour that comes from dried porcini mushrooms. Chopped into little pieces, the porcini permeates the sauce, lifting it to cosmic heights while also providing a satisfying textural contrast to the pork. Penne all’Aconese, more than any other dish in the world, tastes like home to me, and this recipe for spicy mushroom lasagne pays homage to it, my first love. While the bulk of this ragu is a combination of fresh mushrooms, most of the flavour comes from the dried porcini. Flavour and texture come together here seamlessly to create a dish where meat won’t be missed. We have long relied on mushrooms to fill the gap left by meat, and for good reason: savoury, earthy and meaty both in taste and texture, mushrooms tick a whole lot of boxes. We ask for a lot of mushrooms in this recipe – fresh and dried, and we ask for a couple of hours of your time, but the result is well worth the effort and I guarantee this lasagne will win you over. Dare I say that it’s so good, it might even inspire your very own pilgrimage to Acone, the source of the mythical sauce on which this recipe is based.

Puzzles

ANSWERS PAGE 45

By Lingo! by Lauren Gawne lingthusiasm.com PARADISE

CLUES 5 letters Animals in a pride Lowest amount Shut Start Western revolvers 6 letters Fortified building Pay attention Shoe lining Sign on, join up Wound 7 letters Lettering cut‑out Piece, slice or part Prominent Set apart Stretchable fabric 8 letters Clipped feet parts

C A N T

O E

Sudoku

by websudoku.com

Each column, row and 3 x 3 box must contain all numbers 1 to 9.

6 3

2 5

5 2 6 4 4 1 6 7 8

7 3 8 7 1 4 3 6 9 7 8

4 5 2

Puzzle by websudoku.com

Solutions CROSSWORD PAGE 45 ACROSS 1 Partridge 6 Solid 9 Straight-talking

10 Tuba 11 Schedule 14 Ectoplasm 15 Weeks 16 Anger 18 Bankrupts 20 Officers 21 Barb 25 Animal husbandry 26 Eagle 27 Perimeter

DOWN 1 Posit 2 Rarebit 3 Rain 4 Dahl 5 Enticement 6 Silverware 7 Leisure 8 Digresses 12 Appreciate 13 Barbershop 14 Elaborate 17 Gifting 19 Plaudit 22 Buyer 23 User 24 Palm

20 QUESTIONS PAGE 9 1 Serif 2 Lachie Neal 3 26 4 Meanjin 5 Miles Franklin 6 Syria, Iraq, Jordan and Saudi Arabia 7 A bushfire/wildfire that burns at least one million acres (404,686 hectares) 8 Tap dancing 9 Avocado 10 Doctor Zhivago 11 Peru 12 That the simplest explanation is most likely to be correct 13 Melbourne Vixens 14 Olive tree 15 Tim Allen 16 Tiramisu 17 The telephone (1876) 18 Folklore 19 1992 20 NSW

30 OCT 2020

Using all nine letters provided, can you answer these clues? Every answer must include the central letter. Plus, which word uses all nine letters?

by puzzler.com

Word Builder

Paradise was a park in Persia. The word can be traced back to Old Iranian pairidaēza “enclosure”. The Greeks borrowed this word to mean a hunting park. When the Jewish holy books were translated into Greek to form the basis of the Christian Old Testament, this word was used to refer to The Garden of Eden in the creation story. Later Christian writers used paradise to refer to heaven, and as Christianity spread throughout Europe, so did its words. It was borrowed into English by the late 1100s, and only a couple of centuries later people were using it for places that were comparable to a biblical paradise. By the 1500s it was being used to describe a state of blissful happiness.

Crossword

by Steve Knight

THE ANSWERS FOR THE CRYPTIC AND QUICK CLUES ARE THE SAME. ANSWERS PAGE 43.

Quick Clues ACROSS

1 Game bird (9) 6 Firm (5) 9 Honest, forthright (8-7) 10 Musical instrument (4) 11 Agenda (8) 14 Supernatural viscous substance (9) 15 Periods of time (5) 16 Ire (5) 18 Sends broke (9) 20 Authorised personnel (8) 21 Spike (4) 25 Science of breeding and keeping

11 12

livestock (6,9)

26 Bird of prey (5) 27 Border (9) 18

DOWN

21 23

Cryptic Clues

Solutions

ACROSS

DOWN

1 Birdie, par, then tried playing restrained golf (9) 6 It’s hard at the very top (5) 9 Frank Zappa ultimately appeared in ripped Tank Girl

1 Submit passage from composition (5) 2 Pitch up to eat melted brie or another cheese

tights (8-7)

10 Big brass reject a qualification (4) 11 After HECS review, states double program (8) 14 Medium offering of pesto clam stew (9) 15 Little kids on vacation for a month, perhaps (5) 16 Bug from dangerous nest (5) 18 Ruins pranks but is sorry (9) 20 Cops kill killers? (8) 21 Negative comment Airbnb lost in translation (4) 25 Deploying hay, and I run lambs! (6,9) 26 Big Bird and Ernie gutted by the gas company (5) 27 Clubs emptier before Queen and The Edge (9)

1 Assert (5) 2 Cheese dish (7) 3 Precipitation (4) 4 Children’s author (4) 5 Bait (10) 6 Cutlery (10) 7 Relaxation (7) 8 Deviates (9) 12 Value (10) 13 Style of harmony singing (10) 14 Intricate (9) 17 Bestowing (7) 19 Acclaim (7) 22 Purchaser (5) 23 Operator (4) 24 Plant (4)

dish (7) 3 Drops case of retsina at home (4) 4 Ocker expressing love for Asian stew (4) 5 Peel lentil stick and carrot (10) 6 In Wales, river meanders and forks (10) 7 Lie about? Okay! (7) 8 500 large female cats with no time for strays (9) 12 I create app for cooking relish (10) 13 21ac posher version of four-part harmony (10) 14 Celebrity Christian rises to speak, getting involved (9) 17 Willing revolutionary in campaign? It figures (7) 19 P&L check mentioned a claim? (7) 22 Ordering Uber Eats, my last customer… (5) 23 …sure upset… (4) 24 …Laurel’s friend Mike (4)

SUDOKU PAGE 43

1 9 3 2 8 6 7 4 5

4 7 2 5 3 9 8 1 6

8 5 6 4 1 7 2 3 9

6 8 7 1 9 3 5 2 4

3 2 4 6 5 8 1 9 7

9 1 5 7 4 2 3 6 8

5 6 9 8 2 1 4 7 3

2 3 8 9 7 4 6 5 1

7 4 1 3 6 5 9 8 2

Puzzle by websudoku.com

WORD BUILDER PAGE 43 5 Lions Least Close Onset Colts 6 Castle Listen Insole Enlist Lesion 7 Stencil Section Salient Isolate Elastic 8 Toenails 9 Coastline

30 OCT 2020

Click 6 JUNE 1938

Anna and Sigmund Freud, London

words by Michael Epis photo by Getty

THEBIGISSUE.ORG.AU

eparture 3.25 Orient Express.” So Sigmund Freud noted in his diary on Saturday 4 June 1938, when he quit his home town Vienna, which he would never see again. That March, Nazi German troops had crossed the border and annexed Austria. Freud, a Jew whose books had been burned by the Nazis, knew what this meant. Within days his apartment and publishing house were raided. Within a week his daughter Anna was arrested and questioned by the Gestapo. The Freud family began leaving Austria, beginning with his grandchildren, and eventually Freud himself, his wife Martha, and Anna. Departing Jews were stripped of their wealth and goods, but a sympathetic bureaucrat helped Freud, hiding his books in the Austrian National Library, and obscuring evidence of foreign bank accounts. The Orient Express made its way across Germany, which must have been terrifying in and of itself, but even more so given Freud’s fear of travel, in particular by train. The Freuds arrived in Paris the next day, and London the day after. Aged 82 and stricken by cancer, Freud suffered the

refugee’s woe, which he described as “the loss of the language in which one lived and thought” (never mind that his English was excellent). Four of Freud’s five sisters (Mitzi, Paula, Rosa, Dolfi) also got on trains – wagons – but those trains travelled east, not west. They were destined for destinations dishonoured by history – Theresienstadt, Treblinka… And as one old Jewish doctor left Vienna, another one was slowly doing likewise. His name was Eduard Bloch. He had practised for many years in the small Austrian town of Linz. One of his patients, who he had treated for breast cancer during her dying days, was Klara Hitler. It is thanks to Bloch that the world knows how devoted the adolescent Adolf was to his dying mother – “the saddest man I had ever seen”. It was thanks to the Fuhrer that Bloch too was allowed to escape Austria – the only Jew on whom Hitler had mercy. Once, when young Adolf was tormented by nightmares, Klara sent her son to Dr Bloch, who said he could not help the boy, but knew a doctor in Vienna who specialised in that kind of thing. Hitler never did make the trip to Vienna to see Dr Freud…