The Melbourne Review - December Issue

THE MELBOURNE

REVIEW ISSUE 26 DECEMBER 2013

MELBOURNEREVIEW.COM.AU

RELAXED ENTERTAINING The formality of entertaining might have disappeared, but effort should not be forgotten when preparing food for guests

34

PM’S PRODUCTIVITY THREAT

FAKING IT

THE ART EFFECT

Economically, it has been a disconcerting start to Abbott’s Prime Ministership writes Stephen Koukoulas

Peter Singline and David Ansett on the growing market for knock-offs and replicas

Peter Tregear reflects on the recent ABC1 Keating interviews and the former PM’s taste for great art

08

10

25

Noxon Giffen Architects

MAKE ROOM FOR WEYLANDTS Looking to fill a void, redecorate or just find that perfect piece? You’re sure to find it in our first Australian store.

Featuring thousands of contemporary, quality furniture and homeware items that we have hand picked from around the globe. Our collection boasts the rare, the unusual and the beautiful displayed in inspirational room settings. You can also enjoy fresh and seasonal meals from our chic fusion bistro to make sure there’s no void left empty.

Now open at 200 Gipps Street, Abbotsford, Melbourne.

WEYLANDT S www.weylandts.com.au

4 The Melbourne Review December 2013

WELCOME

facebook.com/TheMelbourneReview

ISSUE 26

twitter.com/MelbReview

General Manager Luke Stegemann luke@melbournereview.com.au Art Director Sabas Renteria sabas@melbournereview.com.au SENIOR STAFF WRITER David Knight DIGITAL MEDIA COORDINATOR Jess Bayly jessbayly@melbournereview.com.au ADMINISTRATION Kate Mickan katemickan@melbournereview.com.au

36

Production & Distribution production@melbournereview.com.au National Sales and Marketing Manager Tamrah Petruzzelli tamrah@melbournereview.com.au 0411 229 640

Bar Nacional

Advertising Executives Nicoletta Chul nicolettachul@melbournereview.com.au 0432 549 555

Pete Evans and Gavin Baker’s new San Sebastian-inspired eatery recently landed in Docklands.

Sarah Nicole Lee sarahnicolelee@melbournereview.com.au 0435 798 816 Karen Lawson karenlawson@melbournereview.com.au 0421 701 709 Ellen Murphy ellenmurphy@melbournereview.com.au 0412 440 309 Photography Matthew Wren For all advertising enquiries: advertising@melbournereview.com.au Please send all other correspondence to: editor@melbournereview.com.au Distributed by Melbourne Distribution Services. 0425 320 251 MANAGING DIRECTOR Manuel Ortigosa

27

29

37

Gudinski

War Is Over!

Christmas Dining

Music, Melbourne & Me explores Michael Gudinski’s pop and rock memories.

Yoko Ono’s first Australian exhibition is showing at Sydney’s Museum of Contemporary Art.

Lou Pardi on escaping home to eat out on Christmas day

Publisher The Melbourne Review Pty Ltd Level 13, 200 Queen Street, Melbourne Vic 3000 Phone (03) 8648 6482 Fax (03) 8648 6480

INSIDE Society 06

Disclaimer Opinions published in this paper are not necessarily those of the editor nor the publisher.

All material subject to copyright.

Business 10 Feature 12 Biotech 14 Columnists 16

Audited average monthly circulation: 25,739 (1 April to 30 September 2013)

38

39

THE MELBOURNE

Young Guns

Sake Samurai

Andrea Frost reviews the wines from the Young Guns of Wine Award winners

Kumo Isakaya owner Andre Bishop is Melbourne’s first Sake Samurai.

review

Books 18 Performing Arts 24 Visual Arts 29 Food.Wine.Coffee 34 FORM 41

The Melbourne Review December 2013 5

MELBOURNEREVIEW.COM.AU

WELCOME CONTRIBUTORS

WIN! FOR YOUR CHANCE TO WIN, ENTER YOUR DETAILS AT MELBOURNEREVIEW.COM.AU

Patrick Allington

Dave Graney

Peter Singline

David Ansett

Roger Hainsworth

Luke Slattery

Annabelle Baker

Phil Kakulas

David Sornig

D. M. Bradley

Stephen Koukoulas

Shirley Stott Despoja

Wendy Cavenett

Tali Lavi

Peter Tregear

Alexander Downer

Daniel Nellor

Evelyn Tsitas

The Gilded Cage

OUR COVER Relaxed entertaining spread as prepared by Annabelle Baker.

Marianne Duluk

John Neylon

Ilona Wallace

Robert Dunstan

Lou Pardi

Damien Williams

Andrea Frost

Elaine Saunders

Byron George

Margaret Simons

Now showing at selected cinemas Writer/director Ruben Alves’ charming, semi-autobiographical Parisian comedy is the story of a loving, hardworking married couple whose long-held dream of returning to their homeland finally comes true – only to be secretly undermined by their friends and neighbours. Directed by Ruben Alves. Stars Rita Blanco, Joaquim De Almeida, Barbara Cabrita, Lannick Gautry and Alex Alves Pereira.

Photo by Jonathan van der Knaap See page 34.

This publication is printed on 100% Australian made Norstar, containing 20% recycled fibre. All wood fibre used in this paper originates from sustainably managed forest resources or waste resources.

Meryl Streep Ewan McGregor

Chris Cooper

Julia Roberts Abigail Breslin

Benedict Cumberbatch

Juliette Lewis

Margo Martindale

Dermot Mulroney

Julianne Nicholson

Sam Shepard

Misty Upham

BASED ON THE PULITZER PRIZE AND TONY AWARD-WINNING PLAY

MISERY LOVES FAMILY

IN CINEMAS

JANUARY 1

6 The Melbourne Review December 2013

SOCIETY

Youthlaw Working for positive responses from the legal system for those young people who may not trust or understand its machinations, yet stand most in need of it.

by Daniel Nellor

T

here are 51 community legal centres in Victoria, but only one of them is devoted solely to young people.

Youthlaw is situated at Frontyard, which is a rapidly expanding co-location of services ranging from health to housing to education, all aimed at people under 25. There is another factor uniting those who find their way to Youthlaw: disadvantage – often chronic, and often severe.

A young man, for example, homeless and mentally ill, has been fined for an incident of drunkenness in a public place. He cannot remember anything about it; he had no other place to be drunk but in public; and at any rate he has no money to pay the fine. A teenage girl is ‘couch surfing’ after a terrifying escape from domestic violence and sexual abuse. A Sudanese refugee – past witness to an extreme act of violence little known in the country he now calls home – has been arrested following a desperate and ugly fight on a housing estate.

The law, as we know, applies equally to everyone. In fact, since 2006, a Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities has enshrined this principle in Victoria. But it is one thing to capture the idea in the statute books – quite another to make it come true on the ground. That takes effort, persistance and hard work. Anna Radonic, an experienced principal lawyer, tells me that Youthlaw is really “about equal access to justice”.

Last year the Law Foundation found that young people are less likely than any other group to seek legal help. At the same time,

they are among those who need it most. To be cast unsupported against an impassive legal system can be debilitating at the best of times, but for many of Youthlaw’s clients – who are already struggling with a host of other personal problems – it can be utterly devastating.

The research couldn’t be clearer: The years of child- and young-adult-hood contain turning points at which decisions made and paths taken can have lasting consequences. One startling statistic is that over 93 percent of male prisoners in Victoria left school before the final year and didn’t complete any other form of training. To finish a basic education and prepare for a decent life young people need stability and they need support – unfortunately, due to chaotic family lives or serious abuse or just plain bad luck, most of Youthlaw’s clients don’t have much of either.

The response of the legal system at such critical moments can make a big difference, which is why Anna Radonic strongly supports the kind of ‘therapeutic justice’ measures now dotted around Victoria: The Neighbourhood Justice Centre in the City of Yarra; the Drug Court and Koori Court; the mental health list at the Magistrates Court. “These have had fantastic results,” says Radonic.

The idea is simple: If you can find out why someone committed a crime and help them deal with it, they are less likely to do it again in the future. Youthlaw takes a similar ‘early intervention’ approach. Their location at Frontyard means they can surround clients with a wide range of supports while working to achieve a more positive response from a legal

One startling statistic is that over 93 percent of male prisoners in Victoria left school before the final year and didn’t complete any other form of training.

To finish a basic education and prepare for a decent life young people need stability and they need support – unfortunately, due to chaotic family lives or serious abuse or just plain bad luck, most of Youthlaw’s clients don’t have much of either.

system which until now did not seem to be on the young person’s side at all.

One client had been staying at a particularly cheap and nasty hotel in St Kilda for want of anywhere else to go. With an intellectual disability, a weight problem and a drinking habit he was an easy target. Perhaps inevitably, one night his wallet was stolen, but when he went to the police they promptly arrested him for being drunk. Things turned violent; he was injured in the scuffle. He came to Youthlaw to make a complaint.

One year later he was back. This time he had been bashed by a group of teenagers who, once again, took all of his money away. He didn’t go to the police this time – what was

the point? His lawyer pointed out that he was a victim of crime, and there was compensation available for people in his situation. “Many of our clients,” says Radonic, “just don’t know their rights.”

Youthlaw explained to a magistrate that their client’s previous traumatic interaction with police was the reason he hadn’t made a report of the assault when it happened. He not only received some monetary compensation – the magistrate also ordered he be given a bicycle to get from A to B! Perhaps most importantly, he learned that the law was not an enemy: it could respond to his needs and recognise his experience.

Not every client has a happy ending.

THE PERFECT PRESENT THIS CHRISTMAS ADOPT A KOALA! WWW.SAVETHEKOALA.COM

The Melbourne Review December 2013 7

melbournereview.com.au

SOCIETY

Looking beyond the money The new Mitchell Institute for Health and Education policy at Victoria University.

by Luke Slattery

T

he new kid on the block at think tank central is Victoria University’s Mitchell Institute, founded this year on the strength of a $12.5 million philanthropic bequest from businessman Harold Mitchell, and its focus on inequality in education and health is expected to pitch it straight into the political hot-zone.

Ariel Couchman, Youthlaw’s director, is realistic: “Those of us who have worked at Frontyard for some time know it will usually take two to five years of support for a young person to stabilise and move forward.” Funding is a constant worry.

Grants are hard to come by; it is not just the clients who sometimes feel they have to beg for a living. But the cost of timely intervention and decent legal support is very little when compared to, say, the cost of keeping someone in prison down the track ($90,000 per year according to the latest calculations).

Besides, there is a moral obligation at work here: “Many of our young people are not faring well,” says Couchman. “It is largely adults who are responsible for this, and yet are least responsive to their situation.” Youthlaw’s response, together with all the other services at Frontyard, not only offers hope to disadvantaged young people; it not only helps to make good on the promise of the Human Rights Charter; it also goes some small way towards fulfilling Youthlaw’s vision of ‘a just and equitable society for, and by, young people.’

»»Youthlaw: Young People’s Legal Rights Centre Inc. can be accessed at Frontyard, 19 King St, Melbourne. info@youthlaw.asn.au youthlaw.asn.au

The institute’s first public intervention was a policy forum on education at Federation Square last month, and it took place just days after Education Minister Christopher Pyne’s backflip on his election commitment to honour the Gonski reforms. In a briefing paper for that event the institute signalled a preparedness to tackle uncomfortable issues and to speak unpalatable truths.

“Too many young people are being let down

by Australia’s school systems,” the institute said.

“By year 9, one in four students cannot read well enough to equip them for further education, training or work. By year 10, half of Australia’s students miss more than a day of school each fortnight. Twenty percent of students do not make it to year 12, and more than a quarter of school leavers are not fully engaged in work or study.

Gillard, was also an adviser to the Gonski review; and he comes to the education question with a strong background in policy architecture. He is clearly unsettled by the state of schooling.

“How is it that we have this persistent problem of too many children falling through the cracks, particularly when we do invest fairly heavily?

We’re not saying money is irrelevant but we’re raising the question that there’s got to be more to it than money, given that we do invest pretty well, and we’ve been growing our investment in the past 20 years. We’ve been getting some improvement in that time but now we’re really flat-lining and too many kids miss out.”

Chairman of the institute’s advisory board and former federal minister for Melbourne, lawyer Lindsay Tanner, is aware that its focus on the inequality of education and health outcomes might make it easy to portray as a mouthpiece of the left. “There’s no doubt it’s a tricky issue,” he said of the need to retain a bipartisan approach while raising issues if inequity which are traditionally a part of the left’s moral vocabulary.

“One of the key tests will be our ability to produce material that could be picked up by either side of politics. In some cases you are going to produce research outcomes that are going to be greeted more warmly by one side or the other of politics, but ultimately we’ll be judged by the quality of our work and its relevance.”

Executive director Mark Burford said the institute, which is jointly funded, and located, at Victoria University in Melbourne’s west, aimed to broaden the education policy debate from its narrow focus on funding.

Burford, who has worked with the Victorian Department of Premier and Cabinet under premiers Kennett and Bracks, and as a senior adviser to Labor Ministers for Education, John Dawkins and Julia

“It’s also the case that many of the really big issues that we need to work on and explore are neither naturally Liberal nor naturally Labor. The big challenge in health, to take one example, is how to structure it with mechanisms to push back against the power of ‘producer interests’ – by which I mean doctors, nurses, specialists and everybody who works in the system. Neither side of politics is very keen on that because both of them are closely associated with different sets of producer interests.

“In Australia everyone takes their queues on the way the health system is run from the people who work in it, whose interests are not necessarily aligned with the interests of the people the system is meant to serve. Who for example is going to challenge the pharmacists?

Neither side of politics has shown much interest in it so far, and yet you and I and everyone else pays a high price for that lack of interest.”

vu.edu.au/mitchell-institute-for-health-andeducation-policy

TWO NIGHT

Surfing Paradise

“For young people from specific groups, including those from low-income or Indigenous backgrounds, those who live in remote areas, or have mental health problems or disability, it gets worse with a very high likelihood of poor educational outcomes.”

Had this paper been produced by a teachers’ union or entrenched interest, it would doubtless have rounded off with a call for a funding boost.

Crucially, though, it called for a smarter use of funds and for better educational aspirations, a view that is not necessarily inconsistent with the Coalition’s position that “funding is not the real issue”.

Where some think tanks are focussed keenly on changing the climate of public opinion, the remit given the Mitchell Institute by its funder is to generate research with policy applications.

It’s not so much about making a noise, Tanner says, as making a difference.

FROM

$239pp Designer accommodation Daily breakfast for two adults Two hour surfing lessons for two adults

Drop in on Summer with QT Gold Coast’s newest Two Night Surfing Paradise accommodation package.

Soak up all the sun, surf and sand from one hot beachside location.

Unwind in designer accommodation, fuel up with daily breakfast at the famed Bazaar Marketplace and Hang Ten with a 2 hour surf lesson for two adults.

For reservations call 07 5584 1200 or visit qtgoldcoast.com.au

8 The Melbourne Review December 2013

FINANCE Abbott’s threat to productivity From an economic perspective, there has been a very disconcerting start to Tony Abbott’s Prime Ministership.

by Stephen Koukoulas

W

hile it may not be deliberate, the Abbott government is embarking on a set of policy decisions that are certain to damage Australia’s productivity growth.

Productivity is an essential ingredient in sustaining economic growth with low inflation, which, when achieved, lifts living standards and wellbeing for the population. Unlike some economic policy changes which can be turned on or off with quick results, productivityenhancing policies are generally influenced by decisions taken many years before.

This means that there are no quick-fixes to productivity, but there are policies that can enhance or hamper the goal of higher productivity.

Tony Abbott

High quality education for all of today’s five to seven-year olds is one example of a longrun productivity-enhancing policy. Giving education opportunities to today’s children will not yield higher productivity until they enter the workforce in 10 or even 15 years’ time.

Foreign investment inflows to Australia are also an important for productivity. Strong foreign investment in Australia allows firms to build factories, mines and financial services platforms, for example, that might not have been built without the foreign capital. Even non-economists understand how investment creates jobs and boosts economic growth. Without it, every economy is doomed.

The economics profession is probably unanimous (there may be an eccentric somewhere) about the virtues of education and

foreign investment as drivers of productivity.

This brings us to the concerns of some of the early policy actions of the Abbott government.

The Abbott government is setting about restricting opportunities to access high quality education by cutting funding to public schools.

This will mean that fewer future workers will have the skills needed by the corporate sector when they look to expand their businesses.

Those who miss out on better education and training will be condemned to lower paying, lower productivity jobs. There is an unquestionable link between educational attainment and skills and productivity and income.

In addition to this, there is the decision of Treasurer Joe Hockey to block the foreign takeover and associated capital investment in the grain distribution company, Graincorp. Australian grain growers will remain beholden to a capital-deprived and therefore relatively inefficient company for the distribution of their product around the world.

This ‘lost’ investment in agriculture, as a result of the decision to block the foreign investment in Graincorp, comes at exactly the time that mining investment is tapering off and it has been hoped

by Treasury and the Reserve Bank of Australia for the non-mining investment sectors of the economy to pick up.

Blocking the opportunity for investment into Graincorp is the wrong policy at the wrong time.

The decision of Treasurer Hockey to spend $8.8 billion in a payment to the RBA when he was advised not to do so is again misplaced with considerable opportunity and financial cost. It is extraordinary to consider that the $8.8 billion is around 0.6 per cent of GDP and will mean the government has chosen quite unnecessarily to add approximately $350 million a year in interest costs. This money could have either been saved or allocated to education or some other productivity-enhancing function.

While the Abbott government was elected on a platform to abolish the carbon price, it has become apparent in the post-election environment that the business community is not comfortable with the policy uncertainty that surrounds this and the move to the Coalition’s Direct Action policy to reduce carbon emissions.

It was always a dubious commitment to move to Direct Action and Australia is now moving from being one of the global leaders in climate change policies to one of the laggards. Without a price on carbon from the middle of 2014, the Abbott government risks a more severe and therefore more costly fix to carbon emissions in the years ahead. Future generations will almost certainly pay a higher price for action on climate change which will crimp future growth.

In the meantime, it is likely that Australia will fall behind in the transition to renewable energy innovation and production with consequences for the future investment needing to ‘catch up’.

A further policy that will damage productivity is the decision to severely downgrade the National Broadband Network. What was a major productivity-driving technology will, under the Abbott plan, be slower, less powerful and have a narrower coverage than planned under the previous government.

There may be some offsets to this list of productivity-limiting policy changes. Mr Abbott is keen to increase infrastructure spending which, if well targeted, can yield gains over the medium term. It is to be hoped this is the case to offset the damage elsewhere.

All up, the list of policy changes that will restrict productivity far outweighs the policy changes that will enhance it. From an economic perspective, it is a very disconcerting start to Mr Abbott’s Prime Ministership. He may be meeting some ideological objective with these policy changes on education, carbon pricing and the NBN, but he is hurting Australia’s potential growth rate in the process.

The issue is that the negative effects will probably not be felt for many years to come, almost certainly well after Mr Abbott has left politics and some future government will have to deal with the problems.

»»Stephen Koukoulas is Managing Director of Market Economics. marketeconomics.com.au

The Melbourne Review December 2013 9

melbournereview.com.au

POLITICS The National Interest?

BY Alexander Downer

O

ne of the short essays I’d encourage you to read was by George Orwell, who in the early 1940s, wrote a passionate piece about the use of the English called Politics and the English Language. He decried grammatical solecisms, pretentious use of neologisms and sentences with an unclear meaning. If the reader isn’t quite sure what the author is saying there is one of two explanations: either the author doesn’t really understand the point himself, or he is deliberately trying to obscure the meaning from the reader.

So that brings me to Mark Scott, the head of the ABC. He decided to amplify claims made by the Guardian newspaper that Australia had in 2009 tapped the mobile phones of the Indonesian president and his wife and a number of ministers. Scott has since argued that to do so was “in the national interest”.

Now to do something – anything – in the national interest sounds like a very good idea.

After all, it wouldn’t be well received if one did something against the national interest.

That would at the very least be unpatriotic and in an extreme case it could be termed traitorous.

I try to be fair here but so far Mr Scott has not explained why the amplification of this material was in the national interest. He just says it was. It’s a case of lazy use of language which Orwell abhorred.

So let’s think about this. It could be argued that it is for the best to know there are allegations that our security agencies spy.

Well, I think most people would know that and the vast majority would hope they do.

With one proviso. If the security agencies were acting beyond the law then that would be a scandalous matter and heads should roll. But there is no suggestion in this case that any law has been broken. The ABC and their mates at the Guardian – a left wing British publication – have never made that claim.

which involves extensive intelligence sharing.

There is, of course, an argument that publishing this material was manifestly not in our national interest. In other words, that it is unpatriotic. That it damages our country. For a start, publishing revelations about our intelligence capabilities tells our adversaries what we can do. That, in turn, helps them to take counter measures.

Already, the Snowden allegations elsewhere have led both the Taliban and Al Qaeda to change their modus operandi to avoid detection. And no doubt all sorts of people in Indonesia will now take evasive action to avoid detection by Australia. At a certain level that may not matter. After all, the Indonesian leadership is hardly a threat to Australia. But it will matter if terrorists and people smugglers can work out how our intelligence agencies operate and the extent of their capabilities.

And then there’s the bilateral relationship. You don’t have to be a professor of international relations to know a strong bilateral relationship between Australia and Indonesia is in our national interest. It’s important for our exports, for jobs, for our security and for our overall engagement with Asia. Mark Scott knows that. And he knew that if the ABC amplified the Snowden allegations it would cause substantial damage to our relations with Indonesia.

But that, apparently, was less important to him than just pumping up the story.

He needs to be put under pressure and have the two sides of the national interest ledger put to him and explain why publication of the allegations was more in our national interest than our relations with Indonesia, stopping people smugglers and fighting terrorism.

There is anotherAIRLINE issue: that we apparently PARTNERS share intelligence with the Americans. Well, that’s on the record. Anyone with any interest in these issues knows that. It’s no secret, what’s more, that we are part of the so-called five eyes arrangement with the Americans, British, Canadians and New Zealanders,

National Collecting Institutions Touring & Outreach Program

International Exhibitions Insurance Program

L o s e Yo u r s e l f i n t h e Wo r l d ’ s G re a t e s t M a p s UNTIL 10 MARCH 2014 Only at the National Library of Australia, Canberra PRINCIPAL PARTNER

GOVERNMENT PARTNERS

Don’t get me wrong. The ABC was free GOVERNMENT PARTNERS to do what it did. I’m an unashamed advocate of freedom of the press. But with freedom comes responsibility. The Guardian and the ABC are responsible for the consequences which flowed from their actions.

Just as the Australian newspaper MAJOR PARTNERS is responsible for the consequences of publishing the salaries of ABC staff.

That outraged Mr Scott. But what was the impact on the national interest? You guessed it. Precisely none.

AIRLINE PARTNERS

AIRLINE PARTNERS

MAJOR PA

International Exhibitions Insurance Program

National Collecting Institutions Touring & Outreach Program

National Collecting Institutions Touring & Outreach Program

GOVERNMENT PARTNERS

Te r r a I n c o g n i t a To Au s t r a l i a

Put simply, the ABC and the Guardian may have made it easier for terrorists to avoid detection and threaten the lives of Indonesians and Australians. And they may have made it easier for people smugglers to avoid detection, sending still more people on hazardous journeys to Australia which will cost lives. So, you reasonably could ask a rather pointed question of the ABC: is this in our national interest?

PRINCIPAL PARTNER

So we can rule out altogether that the national interest was served by the ABC revealing our spies are law breakers.

MAPPING OUR WORLD

MAJOR PARTNERS

International Exhibitions Insurance Program

IN PARTNERSHIP WITH

FREE EXHIBITION GALLERY DAILY FROM 10 AM BOOKINGS ESSENTIAL nla.gov.au/exhibitions

Fra Mauro (c. 1390–1459), Map of the World (detail) 1448–1453, Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, Venice. The loan of the Fra Mauro Map of the World has been generously supported by Kerry Stokes AC, Noel Dan AM and Adrienne Dan, Nigel Peck AM and Patricia Peck, Douglas and Belinda Snedden and the Embassy of Italy in Canberra.

IN PARTNERSHIP WITH

10 The Melbourne Review December 2013

BUSINESS

If you can’t make it, fake it The growing market place for rip-offs

by Peter Singline & David Ansett

M

ore and more when you look around we encounter a diverse range of products that are rip-offs of original designs. Technology is making it easier and easier to replicate the genius of others, but should it be happening?

In our world of branding and graphic design, we are super sensitive to ensure that when exploring the world of design for stimulation, it is only ever for kick starting the creative juices and never for mimicking. We respect both the work of others, and the rightful expectation of our clients that they will receive an original design outcome that meets their brief. Originality is valued and expected.

However, there is no doubt there is a big market for ‘knock-offs’ in other industries, and

nothing more in your face than some furniture retailers. Perhaps we are being a bit harsh by using the term ‘knock-offs, rather than the preferred language in the furniture world of ‘replicas’.

Our interest in the topic has been aroused by the incessant weekly advertising by furniture retailer Matt Blatt, who promotes designer furniture replicas with the following disclaimer: Matt Blatt’s replica products are not manufactured or approved by, or affiliated with, the original designers, manufacturers or distributors including Herman Miller, Charles or Ray Eames, Knoll, Fritz Hansen, Flos, Studio Italia, Giogali, Artemide Spa, Futura S.r.l., Brand Van Egmond, Tolix or Xavier Pauchard.

Time is running out for Critically Endangered orangutans.

Adopt an orphan orangutan from just $55/year at orangutan.org.au or phone 1300 RED APE (1300 733 273)

Blatt’s approach raises a number of issues and none more so than the legalities associated with seemingly selling someone else’s designs.

A conversation with Ben Hamilton, IP Partner at leading Melbourne law firm Hall & Wilcox, suggests that Matt Blatt appears to have a very good handle on where the law sits with such matters. Generally, when someone sells an item which looks similar to the original item, there are two types of legal claims that can be relied on: intellectual property and misleading and deceptive conduct. Both have different challenges. The former often requires taking steps to register the intellectual property so, without a registration in place, there

can be no protection. With misleading and deceptive conduct, one has to demonstrate consumer confusion, which can be difficult.

Hamilton pointed out that while a Design Registration does provide legal protection, it only has currency for a 10-year period. Once the registration has lapsed, the designer is left with having to establish that the competing item causes confusion in the minds of the public that the goods being sold are the original design or associated with the original design.

Clearly, given the above disclaimer by Matt Blatt, they know exactly where they stand. In fact, to their credit, the buyer is left in no doubt

The Melbourne Review December 2013 11

melbournereview.com.au

BUSINESS when design knockoffs, passively or otherwise, pass themselves off as the real thing. But if they declare to the world that they are replicas, and any relevant design registrations have lapsed, are they not doing the average punter a favour?

To be able to have a stylish piece of furniture that may be $5,000 less than the original is surely a rather egalitarian gesture on their behalf.

However, there has to be more to the world than simply making every conceivable product or service more cheaply. In Australia, it is not only the creative community that is potentially disadvantaged. Many food manufacturers are seeing their investment in product development gobbled up by the supermarkets who come out with their copy cat, cheaper private label offerings. Likewise, over the years the fashion industry has had to contend with an amazing array of rip-offs. that they are buying a fake and not getting anything like the quality or prestige of the real thing.

However their communications have not always been as noble. In 2011, American furniture-maker Hermann Miller took legal action against Matt Blatt for misleading consumers as to the authenticity of a range of Eames-designed furniture that they were selling. Hermann Miller has the design rights to produce and sell Eames originals.

The result was an out of court settlement and the introduction of the above disclaimer. While the terms of the settlement were confidential, the statement at the time makes Hermann Miller’s thoughts on the matter very clear: ‘... we’re happy and we think all manufacturers of original and authentic designs will also be happy that we have been able to win this small but significant battle for the ethics of authentic design.’

There is no doubt a question of ethics at play

According to Ben Hamilton, protecting one’s IP is only going to become more challenging into the future, as the world gets smaller. More and more businesses have an international footprint, and all businesses that trade online are potentially exposing themselves to many different legal jurisdictions. From Hamilton’s perspective, individuals and businesses need to think strategically as to whether they will actively seek to protect their IP, or leave it to the whims of the market place. The cost

of registering a trademark or a design is not prohibitive, and once it has been taken out, the originators at least have the option of taking action to protect themselves against deliberate rip-offs. In many respects it is like insurance.

It is a cost, but like most of our insurances we hope that we will never have to use them.

The interesting thing is that we all get to have a say in rewarding and protecting great design. We all get to decide whether we buy the real thing or the fake. The shopping frenzy that accompanies Christmas provides a superb opportunity to celebrate original design.

Choosing to make our own mark by purchasing authentic designs that capture our imagination is a powerful and positive gesture in promoting the creative talents of this world.

Our Christmas wish to you is to give yourself a treat – go and buy yourself something truly remarkable.

»»Peter Singline and David Ansett are co-founders and directors of Truly Deeply, a Melbourne based brand strategy and design consultancy. trulydeeply.com.au

BENDIGO ART GALLERY –

FASHION VISIONARIES FROM THE FIDM MUSEUM LOS ANGELES

Showcasing the work of the most influential and avant-garde fashion designers from the 1980s to today, including VIVIENNE WESTWOOD – ISSEY MIYAKE – CHANEL – YSL VERSACE – DOLCE AND GABBANA – COMME DES GARCONS VALENTINO – PRADA – ALEXANDER MCQUEEN – DIOR MOSCHINO – CALVIN KLEIN – MATICEVSKI AND MORE UNTIL 2 FEBRUARY 2014 TICKETS: 03 5434 6100 • PACKAGES: 1800 813 153

WWW.MODERNLOVEBENDIGO.COM

VIVIENNE WESTWOOD READY-TO-WEAR COLLECTION, FALL / WINTER 1993, COURTESY OF THE FIDM MUSEUM AT THE FASHION INSTITUTE OF DESIGN & MERCHANDISING, LOS ANGELES. GIFT OF ARNAUD ASSOCIATES. PHOTOGRAPH BY MICHEL ARNAUD.

12 The Melbourne Review December 2013

FEATURE for the D-Day landings in June 1944. Officially, British Government policy throughout the war remained one of precision bombing: targeting specific industrial and military sites in order to grind down the Nazi war machine. But in practice, things were different. Bomber Command’s chief from March 1942, Arthur Harris, would stand for none of the cant that sought to maintain that the old policy and present actions were one and the same. His aim was to destroy as much of Germany as he could in the time he had available.

Remembering Bomber Command When the Queen last year unveiled a new memorial to the 55,000 men who died in Bomber Command during World War II, 92-year-old Australian Edgar Pickles was there. As historian Damien Williams learns, Pickles’ journey was one of many that Australians have undertaken to Second World War sites around the world.

by Damien Williams

I

T is never an easy task fixing the wings of an Avro Lancaster to its fuselage. In the dining room of an ageing farmhouse near Barham in southern New South Wales, a “Lanc” lies on its back while Trevor Taylor fiddles with struts and screws to put the aircraft together. A musician and retired dairy farmer, Taylor indulges this pastime as secretary of the Cohuna Model Flying Club. After nearly 20 years’ work, this one-sixteenth scale model of Britain’s most famous bomber of the Second World War is nearing completion.

As Taylor and his friends go about their work, a bachelor farmer sits at the nose of the aircraft.

He knows Lancasters better than Brickhill and certainly better than anyone else in the room.

Edgar Pickles flew 50 missions in them over Europe between May 1943 and April 1945 as a member of Royal Air Force Bomber Command.

The walls around him testify to those years, when Pickles commanded one of the most technologically sophisticated pieces of machinery in the British war effort. Citations for his two Distinguished Flying Crosses sit in

a frame by the door. Photographs of his crew hang on an adjacent wall. They show young men in flying suits, dwarfed by the size of the aircraft behind them. Nearby there are the crests of his three RAF squadrons: 100, 625 and 550. A portrait of the young Queen Elizabeth watches from the opposite side of the room. In the adjoining lounge room, Winston Churchill sits in a frame above the mantelpiece.

Churchill’s enthusiasm for Bomber Command faded quickly when peace was restored in 1945.

For Pickles, the dangers that he and his comrades faced remain fresh in his mind. “The Jerries could sit off with their cannons at 800 yards and just pick you off,” he says, as his voice drops.

“You’d just see this little bit of tracer across the sky and the little flame about two-thirds of the way [along the aircraft] … and the next thing, you’d see it going down in flames.”

* * * * Lancaster crews were highly vulnerable to fighter attack, search lights and anti-aircraft fire.

Death and injury could also come from other Lancasters. Most missions were flown at night without navigation lights. Collisions and the threat of falling ordnance were constant hazards.

It was as much Pickles’ skill in the air as it was the number of officers who were killed in Bomber Command that saw him rise from the rank of flight sergeant to squadron leader in less than three years, from 1943 to 1945.

“I was operating towards the end of the war and our losses weren’t as bad then,” he explains.

2012, this time in a Qantas Airbus, to watch a much older Queen Elizabeth from across Green’s Park. There, the Queen unveiled Britain’s latest memorial to Bomber Command, comprised of men and women from the UK, the Commonwealth and the allied nations.

Of all the British and Commonwealth units that fought between 1939 and 1945 – army, navy and air force – Bomber Command took the highest proportion of losses. In all, 55,573 men took off with their squadrons only to be killed by shrapnel, cannon fire or misadventure.

Of them, 4,050 were Australians.

Death rates in some squadrons were so high that they were replaced several times over during the course of the conflict. According to the war planners’ brutal arithmetic, this was an acceptable loss, particularly when Soviet military personnel and civilians were being killed in their millions on the Eastern Front.

* * * * Some 67 years after he flew with Bomber Command, Pickles flew back to London in June

The thousand-bomber raid on Cologne on the night of May 30, 1942, set the pattern for future attacks. The first waves of aircraft dropped high explosives on the mainly wooden city, breaking windows and smashing roofs. They were followed by even more deadly payloads of incendiaries: small bombs containing phosphorous and other substances designed to start fires and resist extinguishment. The flames that were stoked all over Cologne joined together to become massive firestorms. A total of 384 civilians were killed, 5,000 injured and some 45,000 made homeless. As the Lancasters, headed for England, rear gunners could still see the glow of the burning city as they crossed the Dutch coast.

Strategic bombing – the practice of dropping high explosives and incendiaries over wide areas – bought the allies sufficient time to prepare

“We did 15 trips on our first tour and we were the senior crew on the squadron … We’d lost the entire squadron except for two crews.

That was pretty sticky. The squadron strength was about 24, I think. So we’d probably lost 20 or 22 crews by the time I’d done 15 trips.”

Pickles survived his two tours but not all those who flew under his command were so lucky. One night during the northern summer of 1943, Pickles captained his aircraft in a raid over Hamburg. Out of the darkness, Luftwaffe fighters emerged and opened fire on the Lancaster. Two of Pickles’ crew were killed and a third was seriously injured. With only four of the seven crewmen able to operate and defend the aircraft, Pickles nursed it safely back to England.

It was for that action that the then 22-yearold won his first Distinguished Flying Cross.

At war’s end he was awarded a second.

The citation for that award noted his “zest, enthusiasm and determination for operational flying” that he displayed “during the worst

The Melbourne Review December 2013 13

melbournereview.com.au

FEATURE winter weather, and in the face of the enemy’s heaviest defences”. * * * * Cologne presaged the devastation that would over the next three years come to cities and towns such as Bremen, Hamburg, Lubeck, Berlin and, perhaps most famously, Dresden. Pickles and his crew from 550 Squadron flew a 10-hour round trip to bomb Dresden on February 13, 1945. His recollection of the night in Bruce Anderson’s Ploughshares and Propellers (2009) is simply that there was “very extensive damage”.

Pickles returned to Australia in 1946 at the controls of a modified Lincoln bomber, flown home with a crew of six other men. In the 1950s he purchased “Cadell”, near Barham.

There he has stayed ever since, growing crops such as rice and sorghum and raising sheep.

Aircraft, however, have remained a constant presence in his life.

While farming, Pickles flew a P51 Mustang and, later, a silver Beechworth Bonanza.

Returning home was as simple as landing on the driveway and taxiing to the door of the homestead, where the photos of those who never came back adorn the walls. * * * *

As Pickles makes tea in his kitchen warmed by a wood-fired cooker, the old man looks on with admiration at the machine in front of him, assembly complete. “Well,” he says, “now it’s looking more like an aeroplane.”

With Taylor and the Cohuna Flying Club members gone it becomes quiet enough for one of Pickles’ cats to return to its favourite position on the stool by the island bench. He shoos it away, but the cat hardly moves. “Just

ignores me,” he says.

“Cadell” has recently been sold yet its new owners are happy for him to stay on in the homestead. Without the responsibility of running the farm, his thoughts turn to the Bonanza parked in its hangar nearby.

“I’ve got plenty of friends about the place,” he says, “and I can easily fly around to visit them. I think that’s what I’d like to do in my retirement.”

»»Dr Damien Williams is an historian in the National Centre for Australian Studies at Monash University. This article is drawn from Anzac Journeys: returning to the battlefields of World War II (Cambridge University Press, 2013), RRP $49.95. cup.cam.ac.uk/aus/ artsonline.monash.edu.au/ncas/

TOO HOT IN BED? Waking most morning feeling tired and unrefreshed? Research has shown that a major cause of poor sleep is overheating. Natural fibres that breathe, combined with correct weight, help achieve a more comfortable good night’s sleep, as do some specifically designed products.

The Lightest Summerweight Quilt Ever Exclusive to The Bedspread Shop, these lightweight quilts are intelligently designed to provide your most comfortable summer sleep. Approximately a quarter of the weight of most down quilts, the almost weightless batiste covering, the perfect amount of airy European down for Summer, the 4 way temperature control results in the perfect summer quilt. Made in Australia by our Danish makers. Hurry – limited stock!

SB $259 $179 DB $315 $219 QB $359 $249 KB $409 $289 Super KB $499 $349

Coolmax Mattress Protector Great new product specifically designed to overcome the overheating issues often experienced with the use of a latex, memory foam or some pillowtop beds. The fabric used for the protector is woven in a manner that immediately reduces heat and also draws moisture away from your skin. It is ideal for cooling your bed down in summer. Soft and comfortable, lightweight, machine washable and fast drying. The fitted stretch skirt fits mattresses up to 50cms.

SB $129 $97 KSB $139 $105 DB $159 $119 QB $179 $135 KB $199 $149 Pillow protectors $49 $35

Egyptian Cotton Waffle Blankets Soft enough to sleep under without a sheet! These blankets are woven in Egypt using genuine Egyptian cotton.

SB $149 $99 DB $179 $126 QB $199 $139 KB $229 $159 Super King (290 x 330) $259 $179

Superdown White Goose Pillows

Ahh...the absolute bliss of laying your head on a plump, soft, supportive white goosedown pillow. Ideal for hot heads.

Often recommended by physiotherapists for sore necks.

600g: ideal for smaller frames and lower sleepers $169 $119 800g: ideal for larger frames and higher sleepers $215 $149 European $229 $159 King $289 $199 Travel $69

Summerweight Silk Covered and Silk Filled Quilts Luxury at its silken loveliest! Not only is this quilt beautifully light and extremely desirable, it’s also good for you! Silk has many properties that make it ideal for use in bedding. Its thermal qualities help to regulate temperature fluctuations.

Also, the amino acids in silk create a healthy environment for the skin, whilst creating a hostile environment for dust mites.

10% off, one week only.

SB $239 DB $299 QB $349 KB $399 Super KB $549 Silk pillow cases and sheet sets also available.

Actil First Line Sheet Sets What could be better than climbing between these crisp, fresh white cotton sheets? Huge savings on these sheets known for their durability.

SB $150 $109 KSB $160 $119 DB $160 $119 QB $170 $125 KB $190 $139

Silk Pillowcases – the perfect gift Great for your complexion and maintaining hair style. Free sample silkwash with purchase. Singles $80, Pairs $155, King Size $79

The Bedspread Shop | 106 Glenferrie Road, Malvern | Phone orders 9500 1222 | Open Monday–Friday 9–5.30pm, Sat 9–5pm and Sun 10–4pm | www.thebedspreadshop.com.au

14 The Melbourne Review December 2013

BIOTECH

Recycled Sound

by Elaine Saunders

Henry is a refugee. He has no hearing in his right ear and severe hearing loss in his left ear.

His one hearing aid had been stolen and he could not afford to purchase another one. When he approached Better Hearing Australia (Vic), which provides free professional services to people with hearing loss, it was clear: Henry needed a hearing aid, and support, or else he did not know how he could build a life for himself in Australia.

Better Hearing provided a hearing aid for Henry. Better Hearing also called the disability support unit at Henry’s university and arranged an interview with a disability liaison officer to find out what support and what assistive listening technology was available. Henry is back on track and Better Hearing has stayed in touch to ensure that he receives the support he needs.

This support is made possible by Better Hearing’s Community Assistance Scheme and Hearing Aid Bank. They enable low income people with hearing loss to get reconditioned hearing aids at little or no cost. The Hearing Aid Bank relies on donations of unwanted hearing aids, which are then supplied to disadvantaged people, particularly refugees. Partly funded by the Department of Human Services, Better Hearing is the primary provider of hearing aids to refugees in Victoria.

Now the Rotary Club of Melbourne and Rotary Club of Toorak are launching a new joint project to encourage members to ‘recycle’ their old hearing aids by donating them to Better Hearing. Australian hearing aid company, Blamey Saunders hears, led by audiologist, scientist and chair of the Rotary Club of Melbourne’s Health Issues Committee, Dr Elaine Saunders, collect and assess donated hearing aids and refurbish them for free, before passing them on to Better Hearing.

Jan Sigley of the Rotary Club of Toorak is liaising with the local council to promote the scheme, and is in discussions with a major pharmacy chain to provide additional dropoff points.

Henry’s problems are sadly not unique.

Every year, over 4,000 people from refugee backgrounds settle in Victoria, including a

significant number in rural and regional areas.

The health and wellbeing needs of these refugees are complex. Pre- and post-arrival experiences can have profound impact on health outcomes.

Experiences of war, cruelty, family separation, deprivation, and prolonged periods in refugee camps are highly traumatic experiences that differentiate refugees from most other migrants and impact greatly on their health and wellbeing.

The challenges of hearing loss are intensified under these circumstances, and poor hearing can be an insurmountable barrier to language learning and employment. Federal government funded hearing services do not fully cover the needs of this group and the private hearing aid market, typically priced at around $10,000, is inaccessible for disadvantaged groups.

The issue of hearing health accessibility for refugees is a particularly stark example of a wider unmet need in Australia. Currently more than one in five Australians have hearing loss.

Hearing loss increases in prevalence with age, and is estimated to affect three in every four people who are over seventy years old. There are high rates of industrial hearing loss in rural or remote areas – two thirds of farmers – which if left untreated, causes fatigue, isolation and depression. Hearing professionals believe work related hearing loss to be one of the major contributors to poorer rural health. Yet, though hearing loss is very common, in Australia 80 percent of people with hearing loss do not get help. People try to get by, and often only seek audiological advice when it becomes intolerable for them or, frequently, for those around them.

Whilst people delay seeking help, scientific evidence is mounting to suggest that the long term communication and health problems associated with delay are serious. Hearing is a “use it or lose it” sense. The longer our hearing deteriorates, the harder it is for corrective action, such as hearing aids, to be effective. If we don’t hear a full range of sounds for a long time, we lose the ability to interpret sound.

Leaving hearing difficulties untreated for a long time means you lose the ability to understand speech, even with the best hearing aids.

Untreated hearing difficulties lead to other complex issues, such as gradual withdrawal into isolation and depression. Fatigue increases, due to the concentration required to try and understand.

Missing just one consonant sound in a sentence may mean you lose a word in a sentence. You seem less ‘with it’, less engaged, and you find yourself being patronised. Relationships suffer.

For older people, cognitive decline occurs more

Photo: Supplied by ‘Recycled Sound’ project (with permission from Briana)

H

enry (not his real name), aged 35, was struggling at university. He broke down as he began to describe his problems. He explained feeling inadequate as all his friends were getting through university and moving forward in their lives, whilst he felt like he was sinking.

Better Hearing Australia (Vic) client, Briana.

rapidly and untreated hearing loss has now been shown to double the likelihood of developing dementia.

Research shows that cognitive decline and incident dementia are independently associated with hearing loss in older adults. The widely reported study by Dr Frank Lin (2012) found that mild hearing loss had an effect on cognitive scores equivalent to approximately seven years of ageing. Also, when compared to individuals with ‘normal’ hearing, a patient with mild, moderate, or severe hearing loss had a two-, three- and five-fold increase in the likelihood of developing incident dementia, respectively. It is theorised that this is probably due to the inevitable withdrawal that occurs when people struggle to communicate easily. The importance of timely action does not seem to be as well understood

as it is for other areas of health.

Hearing health is crucial for the downstream costs and effects it has on overall health and wellbeing, and there is a high need in the community for hearing aid use and advice.

Significant barriers to hearing aid uptake include expense, perceived poor return on investment, and social stigma. The current service delivery model is a key contributor to the expense of hearing aids. Despite hearing aids costing less to manufacture than smart phones, consumers face costs of around $10,000 per pair. This is largely due to the industry structure, an overly medical focus, inflexible methodologies, and excessive R&D costs due to legacy technology.

This industry model for hearing aids keeps the cost of hearing aids high. Customers are typically

THE MELBOURNE REVIEW DECEMBER 2013 15

MELBOURNEREVIEW.COM.AU

BIOTECH / HEALTH

The Australian government does have a subsidised hearing scheme in place to try and address the need to reduce the incidence of untreated hearing loss and provide access to quality hearing devices. The scheme has community service obligation and voucher programs. Australian Hearing is the government agency charged with delivering hearing aids and hearing services to children and pensioners. It provides services to people 26 years and under, Indigenous adults over 50 years old, and adults with complex hearing needs. In addition to the services provided by the Australian government, there are at least 215 private services providers for voucher program clients (people with pension concession cards, Department of Veterans’ Affairs Gold cards amongst others).

Whilst the government scheme assists children and a proportion of adults in need like pensioners and veterans, it does not cover the majority of the demographic, aged 27 and beyond, needing hearing aids. It does not cover Briana (pictured), a young mother with

profound hearing loss, someone like Henry, or low income earners who are not pensioners.

However this is not just a case of ‘the thin edge of the wedge’. A $10,000 product is a significant purchase for most of us and difficult to justify even if you are not regarded as disadvantaged or in a low income bracket. Initiatives such as Better Hearing’s community assistance scheme and hearing aid bank, with Rotary and Blamey Saunders hears, are trying to redress this and make hearing health more accessible. This will be an ongoing effort and commitment.

There are other solutions too, outside the not-for-profit sector and government subsidies.

High quality hearing aids can be made more affordable, just as the prices of other assistive technologies are going down and moving into the mainstream. New and innovative business models can be used to keep costs down and scale efficiently. That involves using the most enabling technology of our time and the great game changer – the internet. An eHealth model for hearing aids is the key to making them more accessible. Making the most of the internet and the clever use of communications technologies will go a long way to make sure that we can reach as many people with hearing loss as possible and give them real value. The recent shift to eHealth has shown that the internet does not mean compromising on quality and individualised service. On the contrary, technology has made us closer than ever before. Early access to hearing health needs to be universal.

» Please recycle your old hearing aids by posting or dropping them in to: Recycled Sound Blamey Saunders hears 364 Albert Street East Melbourne VIC 3002 Recycled Sound Better Hearing Australia (VIC) 5 High Street Prahran VIC 3181 blameysaunders.com.au

Photo: Pia Johnson

offered a free test by a clinic/hearing aid retailer and referred to the clinic’s audiologist/hearing aid fitter, who sells and fits hearing aids from a supplier who is often the ultimate owner of the clinic. This entire process is often priced at a bundled cost of around $10,000 for the consumer. The impact of high bundled costs is to perpetuate a cycle where people delay seeking hearing devices until their loss has deteriorated into complex additional problems.

Audiologists are consequently overloaded with high needs cases, which in turn drives up the price of audiological services which are bundled into the price of hearing aids. Due to this cost cycle, people with mild hearing loss cannot justify the expense of hearing aids, and audiologists tend to turn away people with mild hearing loss until problems have progressed enough to create more of a need for hearing aids. This is occurring despite scientific knowledge that the mild or early stage of hearing loss is the optimal time to start using hearing aids. There is also mounting scientific evidence that hearing aids significantly help people to understand in noisy environments regardless of their degree of hearing loss, and that even people with mild hearing loss can benefit greatly from hearing aids.

Musicians Suffer For Their Art

BY NOÈ HARSEL

W

hen thinking classical music, words such as rarefied, elegant, artistic and passionate come to mind. The reality however, includes words more like: lockjaw, carpal tunnel syndrome, repetitive stress injury, torn rotator cuffs, inguinal hernias, exploded neck vertebrae, lower spine problems, anxiety and stress. Starts to sound more extreme sport and less highbrow art form!

Our musicians, in their quest for perfection, are suffering for their art – quite literally.

Historically, musicians’ physical and emotional complaints were dismissed or considered part of the job.

In the early 1800s, German composer, Robert Schumann (1810-1856) inflicted such serious injury on himself, using a contraption that he invented to try and improve his playing, that he destroyed his career as a pianist. In the early twentieth century, conductor Artuno Toscanini inflicted both psychological and

France: adventurous women wanted For ladies who want to experience a lifestyle that exists in France after the tour buses have gone, Penny King’s ‘A French Experience for Independent Women’ is for you.

Limited places remain on our ‘Tours for Independent Thinking Women’s’ small group tour, departing 22 March 2014, where you will walk with us to secret places in Paris,

Our experience counts.

physical abuse on his musicians, once snapping the bow of a violinist in the musician’s face, causing serious injury.

107-111 King William Rd, Hyde Park, SA

*Travel restrictions and conditions apply. Please ask us for further details. Accommodation is single share. Flight Centre Limited (ABN 25 003 377 188) trading as Travel Associates. Lic No. SA TTA254.

It was this concern for the next generation of musicians that led members of the faculty and staff at the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM), to create a unique Health and Wellbeing Program. With funding from the Helen Macpherson Smith Trust, ANAM created a program that brought leaders in the fields of performance physiotherapy, pilates, yoga, mediation, psychology, audiology and Alexander technique to the musicians.

Internationally renowned cellist and ANAM faculty member, Howard Penny elaborates, “Musicians of all levels generally ignore the fact that their instrumental hardware includes their own body. They are unaware of how it is designed to work efficiently and of the appalling statistics of serious playing-related injury.”

Howard is passionate about the inclusion of the Health and Wellbeing Program, “The awareness, information and tools gained through the Program provide prevention and maintenance strategies. The comprehensiveness of this program in its scope makes it unique in the world.”

Thankfully for these young musicians the Program is continuing and expanding. With any luck, musician’s injuries will soon be taken as seriously as those of our sporting heroes.

enjoy a candlelit concert in Saint Chapelle and a private tour to the gardens of Giverny.

Speak French over dinner; dine and shop with the locals. We stay in a Chateau in the Loire Valley, make our own perfume in Grasse, and see the Changing of the Guard in Monte Carlo. A private walking tour in Avignon will have us stroll along the Pont d’Avignon - dancing is optional!

All new passengers who book by 31 December 2013 will receive a complimentary Parisian High Tea

Call 1800 136 037

www.travel-associates.com.au/perchalla TAADV55380

16 The Melbourne Review December 2013

COLUMNISTS Irregular Writings City of Music

BY Dave Graney

T

here is a Melbourne Music Week every year. 2013 was the fourth year; there were all sorts of conferences and gabfests fronted and run by the sorts of people who think they know how to run things and float stuff. Experts in their fields. They have these things around the world with different slants on things. In February there is MIDEM in Cannes – an all-in-the-jacuzzi gathering of labels that has been going for decades. In New York City every October there is CMJ music marathon, focussed around college radio. A place for trade but also for showcase live events.

Then there is Austin SXSW music every March, which draws acts and labels from all over the world to gather and try to catch each other’s – somebody’s! – eyes. Some people say it’s great!

Similar events have sprung up around our island continent. There is a conference heavy week in Brisbane every year and one in Adelaide and Hobart. No disrespect to these cities but Melbourne is undeniably a rich MUSIC CITY. It has a sophisticated audience and varied types of venues and scenes. I know this! I opened for Glenn Campbell a few years ago in every capital city – including Tamworth and the Gold Coast – and the reaction of the audience in Melbourne lifted that band of brothers higher than any other room they set up in. The set list was full of GOLD and they played it beautifully every night. In Melbourne people rose to the occasion: the stagey setups, the introductory vamps and the hints of classic moves here and there. People were on their feet from the start.

Everywhere else, they were on their feet to get to take a leak every ten minutes. Here, people knew what a show was. They got into it.

So I am glad that a MUSIC CITY has a MUSIC WEEK. My friends often take pains to tell me I am a damn know-all and I am thankful for their frankness. But I have never had this talent recognised and exploited by the music business much. I mean to say that my invitations to spout forth for a comely fee at any venues were not really happening – so I didn’t attend any of the forums on how to manage social media or which posture to assume as you approach commercial radio programmers. I either knew that shit or I didn’t wanna know it! Instead I went along to an event down by the banks of the Yarra which was music only. A whole lot of Melbourne (and surf coast environs) acts playing in a new fangled kind of fibreglass tent structure down under Princes Bridge by the river. The private school boat crew were all doing their mysterious stuff but they had to contend with throngs of Melbournians basking in the in the spring sun one late Wednesday afternoon.

Yes, some bright spark had had the idea to set up a whole lot of food stalls in the vicinity. People

love food. Much more than they love music. If a guitar chord is let loose in the city, there are immediate complaints; almost as much as if a wind turbine is set up in the country. People moan immediately. They hate noise in the middle of the city! But if a cook throws a few slices of onion on a barbie, he or she draws a crowd like the Beatles did in the 60s. The magic!

So there was an excited, murmuring crowd wandering about and eating all kinds of food.

Lying in the sun and picking fleas out of each other’s hair. You know the scene. I got tired of looking at the wildlife and headed over to the dome / tent where the music was already happening. Both sporting polka dotted shirts a la Dylan 1966, Fraser Gorman and Courtney Barnett powered through a set of each other’s tunes. Fraser pointed out their matching shirts and made no apologies. He also outed a member of the audience for wearing the same spotted attire. A coded garment, full of rich and overt meaning. Baptism of Uzi brought on some guitar harmonizing that was so refreshing. If I could mention a precedent – and it’s probably all wrong – I would mention the band 801 from the predawn of punk rock in the UK. Brian Eno and Phil Manzanera and a bunch of George Smiley-esque private school prog killers. Baptism of Uzi have massive skills and great ambition.

The Murlocs came on in a skittish mood, all having been at a funeral that day. When you’re 19 or 20 that’s heavy traffic. Ambrose and Cullum lead the way. Ambrose has that mad natural garage squall in his voice. He says stuff to someone in the front row along the lines of “What was that pleb?

Sorry! Who’s got the mic? Who wins?” He can toss that kind of aristocratic stuff off easily. Harmony play with a highly anxious guitarist and singer and a bass player at the centre who hams it like Victor Mature in Samson and Delilah. Their aces in the hole are three singers who give every song a grand EXILE-ish trill and flash for the ages. Dan Kelly comes on after five months playing guitar for his close relative, Paul, and gives an absolute guitar master class. Playing a Gibson SG through stereo amps his music begins with the 5/4 triumphant title track of his last album Dan Kelly’s Dream. A torrent of words, a story in every tune, no talk in between songs but so, so match fit on the guitar grooves. A perfectionist, he slays with skilful execution of a whole set of new material. One track was a great motoric groove that swept the crowd along for a good ten minutes. No solos, just the chord voicings and touches of pedal effects and just plain joyful choogling. King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizzard closed out the night. These guys obey no rules but their own whimsical grooves. A singer who insists on putting his mic through a Fender amp and a general wish to die by drowning in a sea of beautiful reverb.

You can’t help but warm to them. They even have a member you’d swear is Jeff Daniels straight from the set of Dumb and Dumber. (I love that film.)

Did I say the tent/dome was filled with a thousand or so young adults in their early 20s?

Such a night of talent and skill and a crowd getting right into it. No sad stories of neglected artists or people who could have been. They were all happening. Right then and there. Right here and now.

@davegraney

Six Square Metres Succulents

BY Margaret Simons

A

bout three years ago a friend of mine moved house. Because he had no room for it, he gave me a small, grey succulent plant in one of those raffia style hanging baskets.

I am not a fan of succulents. I can’t really say why. They need no care and look interesting enough. Perhaps I don’t like them because they are, in a suburban garden, almost entirely useless. You can’t eat them, sit under them or use them for lawn. They seem an indulgence.

More than that. There is something about their fleshy juiciness that repels me. When they flower, they look like aliens. I have been known to talk to my plants, but if I spoke to a cactus I would suspect my sanity. They are

Longneck Peace, goodwill and nuclear warheads

BY Patrick Allington

S

canning my bookshelves the other day, I came across a oncesleek tome that has fallen on hard – or at least fallow – times. My copy of The Fate of the Earth, US writer Jonathan Schell’s 1982 warning about nuclear holocaust, is showing its age. The pages have yellowed, the spine is cracked, the ink has curdled. Its cover was once jet-black – apart from the white words, which stood up like neatly stacked bones.

But now that blackness, symbolising everlasting oblivion, is rubbed and scuffed, as

not of my world.

I can’t connect with them. They don’t need me, and I don’t need them. Growing succulents is a bit like having a stick insect for a pet or a boring pen friend as a correspondent. It makes you wonder why you bother.

So, not wanting to offend my friend, I put the hanging basket containing his succulent down beside the yellow recycling wheelie bin in my front yard, and said I would find a proper place for it later.

There it stayed. I thought it would die, or at least sulk uselessly until I got up the will to kill it. I half hoped someone would steal it.

Instead, it thrived. The thick grey leaves grew larger. Soon there were more of them

if life endures despite Schell’s best efforts to scare us silly: ‘In judging the global effects of a holocaust, therefore, the primary question is not how many people would be irradiated, burned or crushed to death by the immediate effects of the bombs but how well the ecosphere … on which all forms of life depend for their continued existence, would hold up.’ Humans and cockroaches: BEWARE. When I pulled The Fate of the Earth from my shelf and opened it for the first time in 25 or so years, I might as well have dug it out of a pit. It not only looks and smells like a relic, it reads like one too. US-USSR posturing has come and gone (as has the USSR itself, although I find President Putin pretty scary when he’s shirtless). All we have to do – ‘we’ being the everybody-loves-everybody-even-though-weall-spy-on-each-other global community – is hose down the North Koreans and the Iranians (‘non-status-quo nations’, as some experts

The Melbourne Review December 2013 17

melbournereview.com.au

COLUMNISTS flowing over the sides of the hanging basket.

Over winter, the basket disintegrated and now the damn thing is enormous. Every fortnight I extract the yellow bin from its tight spot between succulent and gate, and manoeuvre it out on the kerb for collection.

Accidentally-on-purpose I run over a bit of the succulent. The leaves snap and squish in their crisp, liquidy fashion. It takes damage, dropping limbs and bleeding clear sap.

I ram it with the wheelie bin. I trample on it. I wish it death. Yet within two days it has collected itself and, like a tiresome acquaintance who won’t take a hint, seems even happier to be in my life. Now it overruns a fair bit of my precious space, taking up room that could be occupied by coriander, sweetcorn or carrots. It has put out tall spindly flower heads, drooping pale orange bell-like appendages.

I admit to grudging admiration.

The question is, why don’t I uproot it, squish it and green-bin it? I suppose it seems a waste.

Its home is next to the recycling bin, after all.

Why should I waste a perfectly good plant, in a spot where not much else will grow?

Last weekend, I found that this triffid-like thing has rooted in a number of places, making new plants in virgin soil.

I took out the secateurs and cut it back on the weekend. Normally one cuts back woody plants, the secateurs making satisfying decisive incisions, promoting healthy new growth. This thing was barely cuttable. It gave way under the blade, squishy and malleable, and it bled everywhere.

I didn’t take it all away. I want to see what it will do. Each evening I look at its pale stumps, and imagine that it is looking back at me. What will it do? Die, or come back?

I feel mean and guilty about my succulent. I don’t like the person it causes me to become.

I am not sure I want it to die. I hate it, but it is mine.

@MargaretSimons

like to call them) plus a few pockets of crazed terrorists. And if any of these rabblerousers get too uppity, Obama can nuke ‘em. What could possibly go wrong?

Ah, the 80s, when I whipped myself into a frenzy of fear: bad dreams, beer-drinking to block the horrors out, grand plans for activism never acted upon. And my fears were – or so I believe – legitimate. Schell tapped into this era, not with literary fireworks but with a sober, ‘just the facts ma’am’ tone. The Fate of the Earth contains plenty of startling details, from the scientific mysteries of how bombs actually manage to do what they do, to a list of the ways that a nuclear war might kill a person. But it’s a fine line: adopting a calm pose when discussing the end of the world might be a smart way to avoid having friends, family and critics tell you that you’re hysterical, but sometimes it seems as if Schell is intent on boring readers into a heightened level of interest.

Third Age

BY Shirley Stott Despoja

I

ate my grandson’s chocolate frog. It was an unusually large one, given to him by his father as he left for work. I was meant to see him and his sister off to school happily, but things went wrong and I sort of confiscated the frog, giving the poor boy the evil eye when he dared to ask about it as the bus he catches to school arrived.

There was no question of replacing it because of its size. There was nothing to do but to confess. “I ate it,” I said, some days later. “I am sorry.” “Did you, grandma?” he asked. He has a slight English accent, which reminds me of John Howard Davies, the child actor in Oliver Twist and The Rocking Horse Winner (important films of my childhood). He even looked up from his iPod, which showed there was something going on in his little red head.

We looked at each other. It was a moment.

This old woman in his life was not only capable of greed but also theft. I no longer felt like one of those grandmas in the kids’ books who are short, fat, rosy-cheeked – and absolutely above reproach. I was just Shirley. I think I saw this in his eyes, along with some amusement. After all, chocolate doesn’t mean all that much to him. His life is full of amazing things and amazing people.

He has never known something like Shout Night, the highlight of my childhood, until my father got bored with it, when a few sweets, such as musk sticks and bobbies, still available in Sydney despite the war, were shared out in the family as a huge treat. Shout Night was actually payday. I was the youngest by eight years, old enough to experience nice traditions like these, but too young to know why they ceased. To explain Shout Night and the scarcity of sweets in my childhood, I

It’s hard – and Schell knows it – to keep people feeling scared about an event that’s almost impossible to imagine. As he puts it, ‘Futurology has never been a very respectable field of inquiry.’ After all, those dire 80s predictions didn’t come true: last time I checked I wasn’t a lonely survivor fending for myself in a bitter and twisted post-nuclear wasteland.

Nuclear weapons worry me more than, say, an asteroid hitting the earth but less than, say, road rage. Or cancer. I’d rather tell a joke about Kim Jong-un getting his remote controls mixed up (you know, that one where instead of changing the TV channel he accidentally vaporises himself, ha ha ha) than ponder the consequences of North Korea managing to lob a homemade warhead as far as Seoul ... or Fukushima.

I might have become complacent about a nuclear holocaust but Jonathan Schell sure hasn’t. Unlike The Fate of the Earth, he hasn’t sat on a shelf silently ageing. He’s been talking,

would have to take my grandson on a short tour of WW2, rationing, being hard-up but not quite poor, with a WW1-angry dad… and he would be bored stiff. So a lot of the time we pretend my childhood was just like his and his sister’s: full of discoveries, travel, getting out of music practice, about goodies and baddies (my baddies were Nazis and “Japs”; his are fictitious characters from films I would never sit through).

I watch for eye-glazing when I talk about being young, but mostly it is the eyebrow-lift of disbelief. No car? No telephone?... but we had the beach, the tram rides, a dog, the backyard full of fruit trees. I can see them thinking they don’t need to feel sorry for me and that is a relief to them.

But who am I to him? He is careful of me (“Mum, grandma needs help” – their stupid car is too low for me); he likes my house full of stuff, my over-protected cat… What will he remember of me when he is a man? It is worrying. Will he remember that I ate his chocolate frog? I suspect he will.

We old people are working away on how we will be remembered. Not in obituaries, but in the minds of our descendants. And sometimes of younger friends. But this column is about my experience of old age and being a grandma of three is the most important thing to me. I

teaching, writing – preaching – a no-nukes message this whole time. And he’s got me anxious all over again, a sort of mid-life crisis for somebody who’s not into cars.

The dangers are different now. Messier too, even though America and Russia still have the bulk of the things pointed here, there and who knows where. Still, the message, boiled down to bare bones, hasn’t changed that much.

As Schell said in The Fate of the Earth, ‘Two paths lie before us. One leads to death, the other to life.’

And yet I feel another type of complacency kicking in: why do I need to worry about nuclear annihilation when Jonathan Schell is worrying on my behalf? It’s nearly Christmas, after all, a time of peace and goodwill to all men and women. She’ll be right … right?

@PatrAllington

can see I need to buck up. The chocolate frog affair was a lesson. Here endeth.

Little Christmas Cracker…

As we get closer to the end of the year, I can’t help but think that 2013 has been most unsatisfactory. Not even the election was properly sorted. There is so much violence on TV and other entertainment that even a milk advertisement is ugly with it. I suppose we will go on telling ourselves that this doesn’t affect our sensibilities, but we are wrong, and just too lazy to do anything about it. Hanging over us all is the shame of our treatment of desperate people and sad animals.

You will need to be pretty thick-skinned to rattle on about the joy of Christmas, but no doubt we will, and put our hopes in children and grandchildren to improve our civilisation.

In which case it is the ultimate folly to prejudice their attempts by pulling the rug from underneath the planet, so to speak. We can do better, as our end of school year reports used to say.

Handel’s Messiah is not the music for Christmas, to raise our spirits. Try his Fireworks twice daily instead. Squeeze a bit of joy out of this wicked, disappointing world.

Forgive me: old people find optimism hard at this time of year. So be nice to your granny.

Indulge her. Go on.

18 THE MELBOURNE REVIEW DECEMBER 2013

BOOKS

THE PURE GOLD BABY Margaret Drabble / Text Publishing

BY TALI LAVI

Early last year an essay addressing the murky territory of `Women’s Fiction’ appeared in the New York Times. Meg Wolitzer posited the existence of separate rules for `literature that happens to be written by women’, which ensure a relegation of their work to a lower realm, significantly amongst male readers. Sickly confections for covers, not employed for books written by a male author on the same subject, further alienated readers. This was followed with Maureen Johnson’s inspired tweet a few months ago, launching `Coverflip’, an initiative that invited the public to flip gendered book covers by redesigning them. The results, ludicrous and eerily echoing many modern book covers, highlighted the insidiousness of this form of marketing.

Thus Text Publishing has seen fit to bedeck The Pure Gold Baby, distinguished British author Margaret Drabble’s seventeenth novel, with a black-and-white photograph of a young woman gazing wistfully out a window,

falsely evoking a sense of wartime romance.

The story deserves a more elevated treatment.

The narrator, septuagenarian Nellie, is one of Drabble’s distinctive women; cerebral, of sly and acerbic wit (`We didn’t know about cholesterol then. It hadn’t been invented.’ `I suppose we were asking for it, showing all that leg and accepting lifts from other people’s husbands’), a woman of her time. The young female narrators of Drabble’s earlier novels have ceded territory and, perhaps in what is a disavowal of youthful egocentrism, Nellie has chosen not to tell her own story but that of her good friend Jess, an anthropologist who embarks on an affair with a married professor in her early twenties, consequently having a child. In this way it is a revisit of the author’s earlier classic The Millstone, wherein narrator Rosamund, a female academic of the same era, becomes a single mother. Further parallels form because that book’s narrator is subsequently confronted with the bleak reality of a sick child when her baby Octavia is found to have a heart defect.

Similarly, Jess is thrust into a parallel universe when it becomes clear that Anna, her adored and beautiful young child of sunny disposition, is a child unlike others. Hence Jess becomes not merely a mother but life-long carer.

Where it departs from the earlier narrative, beyond its more removed perspective, is in its sweep; Drabble chronicles societal and demographic changes from the sixties until now by focusing on a particular area of North London, Finsbury Park, and the trajectory of a set of friends over these decades. Alongside this is a textured, albeit disengaged study of parenting a child who doesn’t fit mainstream expectations. The Pure Gold Baby further enters the realm of cultural history as Jess becomes obsessed with historical and contemporary institutions, philosophies and methods of caring for society’s vulnerable.

A human portrait with interpolations into the ethics of methods of care, anthropology, missionaries, genetics, ageing and philosophy, this novel is intensely multivocal. At one dismantled rural asylum, Jess observes previous inmates’ initials carved into the tree trunks, `The grey bark has risen to enfold them, the sap has risen within them and swelled their lips, but still they speak.’

Drabble gives witness to them and to so much more in prose that often reaches the luminous.

capital hotel group hotels you will love

The only hotel group to stay with when in Canberra

THE BOOK OF MY LIVES Aleksandar Hemon / Picador

A GIRL IS A HALF-FORMED THING Eimear McBride / Text Publishing

BY TALI LAVI

BY DAVID SORNIG

For ardent admirers of Aleksandar Hemon’s well-crafted fiction, this non-fiction collection might come as a surprise. Familiar elements are present: the Bosnian migrant’s inner landscape and sense of displacement, the author’s uncanny ability to punctuate the mundane with the terrible blow of real experience and his distinctive bold humour. The language, however, is much more a departure; as if Hemon’s usual lushness of prose would detract from the duty to bear witness that drives these essays, which together loosely form a memoir of sorts.

Self-parody runs thick through this peripatetic journey of interiority and exteriority, from his fouryear-old self coming to terms with the arrival of his baby sister, `I had knowledge, I had ideas, I knew who I was... Therefore, I tried to exterminate her as soon as an opportunity presented itself’ to his adult writer `complicated’ self. But it is his particular blend of insight, cynicism, compassion and aversion to trite conclusions that elevates his writing, from commentary on the hell of ethnic warfare, odes to Sarajevo and borscht, to the final shattering piece.

Mammy on her knees. To God and Mary.

Uncle. He is uncle. Does that. Yes that. Uncle does it bare. Deep red and raw. You. Brother not right. I. Love you playing Luke and Han with you. You. Not right in the head. Cut it out the tumor. But not right. In. The. Head.

You catch. Yourself wondering how.

Anything at all. Like. Words. You have made sense of anything. At all. But story is to reader like words. You. He. She. I. Making its sense.

Wrods. Wds. Story too. Like that. This the pleasure. There’s the pleasure in the surprise.

To read like at being able to read this. The trick it manages. Rare trick. Manages to pull it off.

The art. All raw soliloquy. To read he says.

Carnal. Yes. I. Conscious. Say. Less babble than. Barnes. Bloom. Joyce. Reach back that far. That deep in the tradition. More Beckett than. Anything at all. Like words. While a girl is a half-formed thing the woman. Powerful.

Without pretence. Writes a novel. Or flaw. Like this. With name. Eimear McBride.

tion

moda

ges Pacfrkoam

Accom

$177 ht

per nig

• Overnight accommodation • Buffet breakfast for 2 adults • Complimentary carparking • 2 adult tickets to exhibition

Valid from 6 Dec 2013 - 21 Apr 2014

Book now at capitalhotelgroup.com.au

1800 828 000

INCA culture Central, south and north 1400–1533 AD Female figure

MOCHE culture North coast 100–800 AD Portrait head stirrup vessel

SICÁN-LAMBAYEQUE culture North coast 750–1375 AD Tumi [Sacrifical knife]

The Melbourne Review December 2013 19

melbournereview.com.au

BOOKS Leviathan: The Rise of Britain as a World Power

The Circle Dave Eggers / Hamish Hamilton

BY David Sornig

David Scott / Harper Press

BY Roger Hainsworth

What a book this is! It is partly a narrative history of the first British empire that ended with the American Revolution, concluding with a brief glance ahead to the much larger second empire that emerged after 1783. However, Scott’s account is no mere narrative. This phenomenon of Britain’s imperial expansion needs explaining and Scott’s book is a long and interesting analysis of how the impossible gradually became the unlikely and finally emerged (in foreign eyes) as a sometimes dreaded reality. He begins in 1485 with the kingdom of Henry VII. This kingdom seems unlikely ground to sprout the British Empire.

The population was then only two and a half million compared to France’s sixteen million, and only half what it had been before the Black Death of 1349. This disparity did not inhibit the English from claiming a vanished empire in France. Although their efforts to retake it naturally achieved nothing, this imperial aspiration was perhaps a portent.

Two centuries later England had an empire in America and the most powerful navy in the world and was a great power.

All this came about despite bitter internal divisions in religion and politics and civil wars across the British Isles that slew more men proportionate to population than the war of 1914-18. Under Charles II the population actually declined. How could it happen? Scott’s explanation is `Leviathan’, a concept derived from the English philosopher Thomas Hobbes, and defined as `the fiscal-military state’.

Efficient administration through Parliamentary committees combined with taxation to service debt contracted with London’s commercial wealth, made possible the maintaining of Parliament’s large and efficient New Model Army from the closing years of the Civil War to the end of the Protectorate. After 1649 that

40,000-man army combined with an invincible new-modelled navy transformed England into a European power desperately courted by those bitter rivals France and Spain. Leviathan and England’s great power status failed to survive the Restoration in 1660 but the Glorious Revolution of 1688 saw the 1650s Leviathan revive by a combination of continuous parliaments, parliamentary committees dominated by relevant ministers, the creation of the national debt and the founding of the Bank of England. The powerful fleet of the 1650s now reappeared to serve the Rodneys and Nelsons of future generations, and not only the armies of Marlborough and Wellington, but even of Frederick the Great (through British subsidies) could serve British policies on the Continent of Europe. Despite her much larger population wars with France left Britain undefeated and her imperial possessions enlarged. In fact the British government was not interested in geographical expansion (bound to prove expensive) but only expansion in commerce (bound to increase British wealth). The American war of independence cost Britain half her geographical empire but her empire of trade was as large as ever - and growing. Then came an industrial revolution that would make Britain the `workshop of the world’. All that, of course, falls outside the boundaries of this fascinating book. Let’s hope he writes a sequel!

In Dave Eggers’ new novel, the internet behemoths who today profit on monetising human consciousness and relationships have been supplanted by The Circle and its TruYou system, a ‘one account, one identity, one password, one payment system, per person’ that does for one’s entire online life.

The torrent of society-changing inventions delivered by The Circle – the end of anonymous trolling and child kidnapping, the rise of transparent political processes – are sold as being infinitely more valuable than their trade-offs: the attrition of privacy, the surrender of self-worth to the need to accrete social network approval.

Eggers primes us into this world with his likeable central character Mae Holland, a young woman, not long out of college, whose problems – a dim future in a dull utility bureaucracy, her father’s MS for which his miserly insurance is shafting him – are dissolved when she takes up a job with The Circle and becomes one of its rising stars.

Like everyone who has been coopted by The Circle, Mae is under a spell, sold on the organisation’s increasingly Newspeak slogans at weekly events that have the same slick, self-congratulatory and evangelical tone of a TED conference.

One of the few who are opposed to the growing ubiquity of The Circle is Mae’s hometown ex-boyfriend, Mercer, a small businessman who extols the virtues of simply making things, in his case chandeliers from deer antlers, rather than the ‘unnaturally extreme social needs’ through which Mae filters his very presence.

While Mae’s unquestioning acceptance of Circle ideology is Eggers’ way of figuring the organisation’s creepy seductions as it tilts toward the flip-side of its utopian promises, Mercer is the mouthpiece for the questions she should be asking. In many ways he

The sounds, bands, fans, fun & other stuff that happened.

OUT NOW

echoes digital pioneer Jaron Lanier’s worry in You Are Not A Gadget that ‘The central mistake of recent digital culture is to chop up a network of individuals so finely that you end up with a mush. You then start to care abut the abstraction of the network more than the real people who are networked’. Indeed, Eggers’ novel might be thought of as the counterpart in fiction to Lanier’s manifesto.

Any speculative dystopian warning that’s not so far removed from present-day reality needs to get right the balance between basic realism and a believable extrapolation from it. On the realism score, Eggers gets the seductions of The Circle so very right while maintaining all the way through an ironic distance from its excesses. While some aspects of the extrapolation appear a little too convenient, particularly The Circle’s doing away with internet anonymity, they are necessary to Eggers’ underlying message.

His fear is not so much the ubiquitous monetisation of human relations through the network, but a further extreme, that of the prospect of a techno-totalitarian state in which the ideology of transparency comes to surpass even the ideology of capital. While totalitarianism is a blunt object to use on readers, it’s excusable given that Eggers isn’t really trying for subtlety.

20 THE MELBOURNE REVIEW DECEMBER 2013

BOOKS

SUMMER READING It’s been another hectic year for publishing as the dynamics of the book trade both contract under the commercial pressure of sales, and expand with the possibilities of new technologies and platforms for readers.

As ever, works of sharp and challenging brilliance jostle for shelf space with over-hyped fodder; meanwhile, we continue to see the relentless proliferation of writers’ festivals, the largest of which have become behemoths of cultural confluence and clout, writers shadowed into the corners by stellar chefs, political tricksters and sexedup ‘thinkers’, all talking endlessly into the spin cycle where the hyper-local meets with the hyper-globalised. In the midst of all this flux and gamble, we’d like to think the humble book, in any form - printed, e-book or audio - will still take pride of place under many a Christmas tree. What better gift? Here at The Melbourne Review we asked a selection of friends to guide us through 2013’s output with an eye to the summer months ahead.

We urge you to give books generously - now or at any time, and to support our local publishing industry.

ANNA KRIEN Author, Night Games (Black Inc.)

ANTONY LOEWENSTEIN Author, Profits of Doom (MUP)

JILL STARK Author, High Sobriety (Scribe)

Best of 2013 • Alexis Wright, The Swan Book (Giramondo) • Laura Jean McKay, Holiday in Cambodia (Black Inc.) • JM Coetzee, The Childhood of Jesus (Text Publishing)

Best of 2013 • Jeremy Scahill, Dirty Wars (A&U) • Breaking the Silence, Our Harsh Logic (Scribe) • Joe Sacco, The Great War (Random House)

Best of 2013 • David Finkel, Thank You For Your Service (Scribe) • Hannah Kent, Burial Rites (Picador) • Hugh Mackay, The Good Life (Pan Macmillan)

Summer Reading • John Safran, Murder in Mississippi (Penguin) • Chris Womersley, Cairo (Scribe) • Elizabeth Strout, Olive Kitteridge (Simon & Schuster)

Summer Reading • Max Blumenthal, Goliath (Nation Books) • George Orwell, 1984 (Penguin) • Kooshyar Karimi, I Confess (Wild Dingo Press)

2013

ESSENTIALS

from the Australian Small Publisher of the Year

Summer Reading • John Safran, Murder in Mississippi (Penguin) • Ian Rankin, Saints of the Shadow Bible (Orion) • M.E. Thomas, Confessions of a Sociopath (Pan Macmillan)

MICHELLE GALLAHER CEO, BioMelbourne Network Best of 2013 • Richard Flanagan, The Narrow Road to the Deep North (Vintage) • Kerry Anne Walsh, The Stalking of Julia Gillard (A&U) • Michelle de Kretser, The Lost Dog (A&U) Summer Reading • Gerald Murnane, A Lifetime on Clouds (Text Classics) • Hannah Kent, Burial Rites (Picador) • Christos Tsiolkas, Barracuda (A&U)

KIRSTIE CLEMENTS Author, The Vogue Factor and Tongue in Chic (MUP) Best of 2013 • Kevin Kwan, Crazy Rich Asians (A&U) • Robert Hilburn, Johnny Cash - The Life (Hachette) • Gillian Flynn, Gone Girl (Hachette) Summer Reading • Jimmy Nelson, Before They Pass Away (TeNeues) • Giancarlo Giametti, Private (Assouline) • Yves Marchand & Romain Meffre, The Ruins of Detroit (Steidl)

THE MELBOURNE REVIEW DECEMBER 2013 21

MELBOURNEREVIEW.COM.AU

SUMMER READING

ROBERT MANNE Emeritus Professor at La Trobe University

KRISSY KNEEN Author, Steeplechase (Text Publishing)

CHRIS WOMERSLEY Author, Bereft and Cairo (Scribe)

KATE STOKES Director, Coco Flip Design Studio

Best of 2013 • David Nirenberg, Anti-Judaism (Head of Zeus) • Saul Friedlander, Franz Kafka (Yale University Press) • Clive Hamilton, Earthmasters (A&U)

Best of 2013 • Elena Ferrante, My Brilliant Friend (Text Publishing) • David Vann, Goat Mountain (Text Publishing) • Chris Somerville, We Are Not the Same Anymore (UQP)

Best of 2013 • Donna Tartt, The Goldfinch (Little, Brown) • Eleanor Catton, The Luminaries (Granta) • Norman Davies, Vanished Kingdoms (Penguin)

Best of 2013 • Johan Harstad, Buzz Aldrin, What Happened to You in All the Confusion? (UWA) • Chloe Hooper, The Tall Man (Penguin) • Dave Eggers, A Hologram for the King (Hamish Hamilton)

Summer Reading • Richard Flanagan, The Narrow Road to the Deep North (Vintage) • Karl Ove Knausgaard, A Death in the Family: My Struggle, 1 (Vintage) • Bill McKibben, Oil and Honey (Black Inc.)

Summer Reading • Kristina Olsson, Boy, Lost (UQP) • Ashley Hay, The Railwayman’s Wife (A&U) • Susan Johnson, My Hundred Lovers (Random House)

Summer reading • Marcel Proust, Sodom and Gomorrah (Penguin Classics) • Patrick Leigh Fermor, A Time of Gifts (John Murray) • Lenny Bartulin, Infamy (A&U)

Summer Reading • Joan Didion, Blue Nights (Fourth Estate) • Patti Smith, Just Kids (Bloomsbury) • Rebecca Solnit, The Faraway Nearby (Granta)

ALASTAIR LUCAS Company Director and Writer

MICHAEL ROWLAND Co-presenter, ABC News Breakfast

BYRON GEORGE Designer and architect

ANGELA SAVAGE Author, The Dying Beach (Text Publishing)

Best of 2013 • Stephen Hawking & Leonard Mlodinow, The Grand Design (Random House) • Walter Isaacson, Steve Jobs (Little, Brown) • Peter Singer, Animal Liberation (HarperPerennial)

Best of 2013 • Mark Willacy, Fukushima (Pan Macmillan) • David Day, Flaws in the Ice (Scribe) • Colleen Ryan, Fairfax: The Rise and Fall (MUP)

Best of 2013 • Patti Smith, Just Kids (Bloomsbury) • Haruki Murakami, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (Random House) • Bill Bryson, At Home (Double Day)

Best of 2013 • Hannah Kent, Burial Rites (Picador) • Christos Tsiolkas, Barracuda (A&U) • David Whish-Wilson, Zero at the Bone (Viking)

Summer Reading • John Heilemann & Mark Halperin, Game Change (HarperPerennial) • Frans de Waal, The Bonobo and the Atheist (W.W. Norton) • Peter Boghossian, A Manual for Creating Atheists (Pitchstone Publishing)

Summer Reading • Tim Winton, Eyrie (Hamish Hamilton) • Ricky Ponting, At the Close of Play (HarperCollins) • Bill Bryson, One Summer (Random House)

Summer Reading • Arundhati Roy, The God of Small Things (HarperCollins) • Jonah Lehrer, Imagine: The Art & Science of Creativity (Text Publishing) • Haruki Murakami, After Dark (Random House)

Summer Reading • Laura Jean McKay, Holiday in Cambodia (Black Inc.) • Amanda Curtin, Elemental (UWA) • Garry Disher, Bitter Wash Road (Text Publishing)

COMING IN 2014

Plus new books from: Sophie Cunningham

Brenda Niall

Rana Dasgupta

Sian Prior

Geraldine Doogue

Hannie Rayson

Helen Garner

Graeme Simsion

Wayne Macauley Text Publishing's January–June 2014 catalogue now online

textpublishing.com.au

22 The Melbourne Review December 2013

FASHION was the addition of Alpine wood that made the stellar scent in Creed’s collection. One of his best-known scents, Virgin Island Water, is a Caribbean hit of lime, coconut, ginger, rum, sugar cane and jasmine. Green Irish Tweed, the signature fragrance that elevated Creed to legendary status, unfolds in stages: iris and lemon verbena; violet leaves; ambergris and that extraordinary sandalwood.

At 70 years of age, Olivier is close to retirement, and he will hand the family baton down to his son, Erwin. The 33-yearold is responsible for opening new selling points for Creed worldwide, but says he is committed to continuing the company in the family tradition of quality, natural, handmade products. Already, he has a number of fragrance creations and elaborations to his name: Original Vétiver, Love in White, Fleur de Gardenia.

Creed

By Nature

by Ilona Wallace

P

erfumers and vintners often find themselves caught in the same trap: effervescing about notes and hints, using ‘hesperide’ in place of ‘citrus’ for an exotic and mystical twist. Perfume comes, increasingly, with the added touch of popular culture. While all long-lived perfume houses celebrate having a Napoleon on their client list, there is now a worrying chance that you could end up spritzing yourself with Eau de Miley Cyrus or a fragrance designed for Justin Bieber. Creed—one of the world’s oldest perfumeries, established in London in 1760— prefers a subtler approach.

While their client list flows with a rollcall of twentieth and twenty-first century icons (Grace Kelly, Audrey Hepburn, Humphrey Bogart, Elvis Presley and Costello, David Bowie, Hugh Grant, Beyoncé, Michelle Obama), Creed isn’t about fashion, nor, necessarily, exclusivity; they promise quality and invention. The Creed ethos revolves around natural, and not synthetic, base ingredients. Sourcing these natural ingredients occupies much of master perfumer and chief executive Olivier Creed’s time.

For sandalwood, he travels to Mysore for a particular and rare variety; bergamot, he purchases from Calabria; for rose essence, Olivier chooses Turkish, Moroccan and Bulgarian flowers. Apparently softly-spoken and known to downplay Creed’s formidable

success for fear of sounding prideful, Olivier Creed is the man behind the house’s most famous scents.

He has a laboratory close to his bedroom so he can tinker when inspiration strikes. Silver Mountain Water (David Bowie’s fragrance of choice) is one that kept him up at night. Tea, citrus and blackcurrant form the base, but it

With mass-production off the cards, Creed is a curious beast in modern times.

Refusing to use synthetics is expensive, but imperative to maintaining quality.

Olivier has said of natural and mock scents in the past, “At the beginning, the two smell pretty well identical. But leave the essence on your skin for 10 minutes.

The real one will still smell of rose. The second will smell of God knows what.” The price tag for these natural ingredients is 10 times that of synthetics, but he is quietly proud to say his perfumes are not 10 times the price of other luxury brands’ massproduced fragrances. The profit margin, he says, is slim.

The bottom line is boosted with a selective commission service for around a dozen people a year, for a rumoured price of AU$18,000. For those of us not on the extremely long waiting list, Creed’s public line of scents is available in Australia through niche distributors Agence de Parfum and Libertine Parfumerie.

All new BMW X5 launch

O

n November 15, BMW Melbourne celebrated the highly anticipated arrival of the all new BMW X5 with a cocktail event at the Melbourne Pavilion. Close to 500 guests were treated to a lovely evening of entertainment, culinary delights and cars that only BMW can produce.

The highlight of the evening? Unveiling the all new BMW X5 in a world first viewing.

Guests of BMW Melbourne were welcomed into the venue with champagne on arrival and a sneak preview of the BMW i3, BMW’s first electric car, which is due for release in Australia in mid-2014. Shortly after 7pm, the formalities of the evening commenced. Large doors opened to the main auditorium, revealing a showcase of some of BMW’s newest models. Claire Lyon, who starred as Christine in the recent season of Phantom of the Opera, serenaded guests from a balcony.

With Tim Watson as the Master of Ceremonies, and speeches by David Longmire, Dealer Principal, and Brett Flavien, Sales Manager, the unveiling of the all new X5 was warmly welcomed. Hundreds swarmed the display vehicles as soon as the covers were removed. As guests mingled around the cars and expressed their excitement about the upgrades to the already impressive BMW SUV, the atmosphere was well and truly alive. Guests enjoyed an around-the-world culinary experience by the team at MAdE Establishment and danced into the night, accompanied by the corporate jazz band

The Melbourne Review December 2013 23

melbournereview.com.au

FEATURE

Like This. Vehicles for display on the night were the all new BMW X5, plus the BMW 6 Series Convertible and new models: BMW i3, BMW 4 Series Coupé, BMW 3 Series Gran Turismo and BMW M6 Coupe.

»»To test-drive the all new BMW X5 for yourself, please call BMW Melbourne on 9268 2222 or visit their showrooms at Southbank or Kings Way.

New at Azzaro

A’BIDDIKKIA From Itlay

RRP $592 SALE $265

RRP $518 SALE $230

RRP $728 SALE $320

New Shipment of

Just Cavalli Handbags were $1350 - $2700

NOW

$440 - $810

423 Clarendon St, South Melbourne(03)9696 2611 azzaro.com.au Mon-Fri 9am-5pm Sat 11am-2pm

24 The Melbourne Review December 2013

PERFORMING ARTS

Photo: Heidrun Lohr

Big Bad Wolf has been an unexpectedly beautiful project to work on and it’s going to work wonderfully well in such an intimate setting as The Lawler”

Alison Bell (Margot), Matthew Whittet (Thomas), Peter Carroll (Father), Claire Jones (Mother).

The Book of Everything Actor and writer Matthew Whittet is once again appearing as nine-year-old Thomas in the Neil Armfielddirected The Book of Everything, currently having its Melbourne Theatre Company premiere at The Sumner, Southbank Theatre.

by Robert Dunstan

T

he play, adapted by Richard Tulloch from the 2004 book by Dutch children’s writer Guss Kuijer, has already toured most of this country as well as being mounted overseas. It has also

picked up awards along the way and Whittet, whose own work, Big Bad Wolf, will be running in Melbourne for MTC in January, is delighted that The Book of Everything is now enjoying another run.

The Book of Everything tells the story of Thomas, who see things no-one else can, who lives in Amsterdam with parents and his sister, Margot. They are not, however, a harmonious family as their father, a devoutly religious man, repeatedly hits their mother and punishes Thomas by beating him with a wooden spoon. Thomas writes down all these incidents in his book.

“It’s such a beautiful show to do,” Whittet enthuses, “so it’s always good to return to it.

The last time we did it was in New York, so the Melbourne season is a bit like a homecoming.

The whole New York experience was amazing as it was quite otherworldly – so different to doing a show back home in Australia.”

Whittet, who says performing as young Thomas is now like, “putting on a comfortable pair of socks”, says the show has changed little although the Melbourne season features two new cast members.

“It’s very much the same show although the great thing about working with the director, Neil Armfield, is that he pretty much comes along to every performance and is constantly making notes,” he laughs. “He never stops doing that, even on the final night, so you always feel that Neil is constantly searching for new ways to improve it. He keeps scratching away at it and suggesting different ways to say a particular line. So that keeps everyone on their toes but also keeps The Book of Everything very fresh.

“There is a tendency when you have done a show four or five times in different theatres

to cheat a little and just coast along, but Neil’s directive notes each night really keep it fresh and exciting.”

Whittet is also thrilled that his own work, Big Bad Wolf, will receive another airing when MTC stage it in January.

“Both The Book of Everything and Big Bad Wolf are essentially for a young audience so it’s great that Melbourne Theatre Company were keen to stage them,” he says of the company.

“MTC is a company that has a strong adult subscriber base but hasn’t staged shows that are aimed more for kids in quite a while.

“Big Bad Wolf did beautifully well during its two-week run in Adelaide earlier this year, so it’s good it’s getting another one,” Whittet enthuses.

Big Bad Wolf is a production by Adelaide’s Windmill Theatre, a company that enjoys ongoing success for its extensive repertoire here and overseas. Whittet says that the company’s artistic director, Rose Meyers, had approached him some time ago about writing for Windmill.

“It all came from an idea by Kaye Weeks who was working in marketing at Windmill at the time,” he reveals. “She’d come up with an idea about how the big bad wolf might just be just a very misunderstood creature. As I work quite a bit with Rose – she knows I have a seven-yearold son – it was a particularly happy experience writing a play for under-nines.

“Big Bad Wolf has been an unexpectedly beautiful project to work on and it’s going to work wonderfully well in such an intimate setting as The Lawler,” he concludes.

»»The Book of Everything shows at Southbank Theatre, The Sumner, until December 22. »»Big Bad Wolf shows at Southbank Theatre, The Lawler, from January 10 until January 25. mtc.com.au

THE MELBOURNE REVIEW DECEMBER 2013 25

MELBOURNEREVIEW.COM.AU

PERFORMING ARTS

All I want for Christmas

music was best placed to help us gain control of our destiny through the power ideas.

Lest we get carried away, an appreciation of music is of course no guarantor of political virtue; good musical taste does not guarantee good conscience, nor humility; nor does it serve as a safeguard against unjust thoughts or actions. Music may help free the mind from the restrictions of the material world, but the making and performing of it itself does not exist outside of a material context. Surely part of the power of Bruce Springsteen’s music, for instance, is that he gives voice to the life stories and aspirations of working-class America.

...is more pollies who value good music.

BY PETER TREGEAR

I

In any case, didn’t Keating eventually lose to John Howard in part precisely because a good deal of us hated the fact that he seemed to conflate his vision of Australian politics with a penchant for Italian suits, Napoleonic era clocks, and loud German symphonic music? It might have impressed a few of us, but it didn’t win him votes because, barely hidden beneath our distrust of such refined tastes lies the politically deadly charge of elitism.

t is hard not to watch the Kerry O’Brien interviews with former Prime Minister Paul Keating on ABC1 without a little wistfulness. Regardless of one’s political affiliation, or one’s thoughts about the man himself, the ambition he had not just for himself but for the political process itself is as attractive today as it is lacking.

Keating’s ambition took on, the interviews revealed, as many manifestations as it had origins, but one of the most intriguing (if not initially perplexing) is his professed indebtedness to classical music. Indeed Paul Keating once declared that he had ‘reformed the Australian Economy on Mahler and Bruckner’.

What on earth did he mean?

Music psychologist Emery Schubert was recently quoted in The Australian arguing that Keating’s taste for nineteenth-century musical romanticism may have been triggered by a pleasurable associative childhood memory.

In this respect what Keating associates with Mahler is no different to what Wayne Swan associated with Bruce Springsteen – happy thoughts of childhood.

Paul Keating

Without disparaging Wayne Swan, Bruce Springsteen, or indeed Emery Schubert, however, surely Keating’s passion for such music is not just a matter of taste and personal biography but also of function and meaning. As Keating acknowledges in the O’Brien interviews (as he has several

Such a mind so inspired, he seems to be suggesting, is potentially more likely to be the kind that sets out to change the world, for it is the creative imagination which allows us to contemplate not only what we think is real, but what is possible; not just what is, but what might be.

times before) he has long been fascinated by the effect that great art can have on our imaginative capacity per se – the ability it has to make us more predisposed to be creative and free-thinking when faced with problems of all kinds (including the political).

Share the laughter this festive season with an MTC Gift Voucher

Available in any denomination, MTC Gift Vouchers offer the ultimate flexibility. You can print one at home or have it sent out in a stylish gift wallet.

With 11 diverse plays to choose from in 2014, there’s something to suit every taste. Delight your friends and family with Noël Coward’s Private Lives, Working Dog’s The Speechmaker or theatrical delight I’ll Eat You Last. mtc.com.au/giftideas Images from left: Leon Ford & Lucy Durack in Private Lives, Miriam Margolyes in I’ll Eat You Last

This is not a new idea. The German poet and playwright Friedrich Schiller nailed it back in 1803 when he wrote that great art ‘does not aim merely at transitory entertainment, it has a serious purpose, not to translate life into a momentary dream of freedom, but to make us really and truly free’. Of all the art forms, romantic era artists recognised in music the greatest capacity to release the imagination from the confines of the sensual world because it was unable, beyond the vaguest of illusions, actually to depict or signify objects or ideas drawn from everyday reality. Precisely for this reason

All the same, does not this charge, which we so readily wield now against any politician who might suggest that there could be a distinction between what is commonly accepted wisdom and what is good, ultimately undermine the very aspirational spirit that is enshrined in democracy itself? Do we not run the risk that in suppressing any public ownership of aspirational culture, we risk promoting a civil society unable to imagine the world to be different from the way it is? After all, a collapse of an inclusive political culture does not require the rise of a totalitarian state, just a just a radical collapse of vision.

Keating is therefore right, I think, to remind us of the value of appreciating romantic-era music, and its ability to inspire an empowered sense of ourselves and our imaginative capacity. In a political landscape that has lost the will, or perhaps even the ability, to talk of soul, of passion, of inspiration, of greatness, music proffers at least one vision of human potential that, frankly, we need more than ever in an age where such visions seem perilously few.

26 THE MELBOURNE REVIEW DECEMBER 2013

WORDS & MUSIC

Silent Night Joseph Mohr and Franz Gruber

BY PHIL KAKULAS

N

o other Christmas carol creates a sense of mystery and wonder like Silent Night. Written nearly two hundred years ago as a musical stopgap for a desperate priest, it has become one of the world’s best known and cherished songs. The iTunes store alone lists some five hundred different recordings, performed in a multitude of languages. Yet, perhaps the most remarkable renditions of all were never recorded. Occurring, as they did, during the unofficial Christmas ceasefires of World War One. Silent Night was composed in December 1818 in somewhat unusual circumstances. For, as

folklore would have it, a young Austrian priest named Joseph Mohr faced a dilemma after mice destroyed the bellows of the parish church organ, rendering it unplayable. With Christmas mass fast approaching, the increasingly desperate Mohr asked the church organist,

Franz Gruber, to add music to a poem he had written a few years earlier. Gruber arranged the song, as requested by Mohr, for two solo voices with choir and guitar accompaniment. The congregation approved and the song retained in subsequent years as part of the church’s festive repertoire.

Although the role of the mice has never been corroborated, an account, written by Gruber some thirty years after Silent Night’s debut, confirms the fundamental aspects of the song’s origins. Along with the discovery, in the mid 1990s, of a musical score by Mohr, historians have been able to compile a detailed picture of how the song was first performed. What is surprising is how little it has changed over the centuries, with only minor alterations to the melody and chords. Most significantly, the tempo of the song has slowed, shifting the mood from one of celebration to meditation.

39

$

For genius gift-giving ideas this Christmas, drop into any Oxfam Shop, call 1800 034 034 or jump online.

Likewise, the lyrics of Silent Night remain faithful to the English translation of 1859 by bishop, John Freedman Young. Young translated all six verses of ‘Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht’ from the original German but only three are commonly performed. The words, together with the song’s evocative melody, combine to create a supernatural atmosphere in which time stops and the earth stands still in awe at the birth of Christ. It’s the sort of powerful proclamation, achieved with just three simple chords, that every songwriter strives for.

Silent night, holy night All is calm, all is bright Round yon Virgin Mother and Child Holy Infant so tender and mild Sleep in heavenly peace Sleep in heavenly peace Silent Night’s journey from a small church in the Austrian village of Obendorf to global domination began with the church’s organ

repairer, Karl Mauracher. Having been called to restore the ailing instrument, Mauracher is thought to have taken a fancy to the ‘Christmas Song’ as it was then known and distributed copies of the music score to the surrounding parishes. In one of those parishes were the Rainer Family Singers, a small travelling group of singers akin to the Von Trapp Family of The Sound of Music fame. The Rainers took the song with them when they emigrated to America in 1839 and from there it began its expedition through the new world.

Silent Night rode a wave to popularity, both in Europe and abroad, during the golden age of Christmas carols in the mid 19th century.

By then, knowledge of the song’s authorship had been lost, inspiring the King of Prussia to track down the original writers of the song.

Unfortunately, Mohr had died in the late 1840s but Gruber remained to write his account of the song’s origins for the king and the two were formally acknowledged as co-authors of the tune.

The song’s modern reputation was made in the muddy trenches of the Western Front on Christmas Eve 1914, when German soldiers began erecting Christmas trees and singing carols. The allied English and French troops responded in kind, joining their enemies in a tri-lingual sing-along of Silent Night – one of the few carols known to all. An extraordinary, spontaneous ceasefire ensued, during which both sides downed weapons and exchanged gifts of brandy and buttons before, inevitably, hostilities resumed a few days later. The short hiatus still testament to the enduring power and glory of the song.

» Phil Kakulas is a songwriter and teacher who plays double bass in The Blackeyed Susans.

THE MELBOURNE REVIEW DECEMBER 2013 27

MELBOURNEREVIEW.COM.AU

PERFORMING ARTS

Music, Melbourne and My Memories Michael Gudinski walks through the current RMIT Gallery exhibition

BY EVELYN TSITAS

T

he fantasy recreation of Michael Gudinski’s office at the RMIT Gallery exhibition Music, Melbourne & Me: 40 Years of Melbourne’s Popular Music Culture features a wall of gold and platinum records, priceless sporting memorabilia and a massive desk with a phone, an original paging system decommissioned by Mushroom in 1999 and no computer.

This is not a retro homage to a record mogul’s inner sanctum – this is what Gudinski’s life – and world – is really like. It’s about the phone, the voice, the human connection, the hustle.

The RMIT Gallery exhibition is underpinned by academic research into music and memory

by Dr Kipps Horn from RMIT’s School of Media and Communication, and co-curated by RMIT Director Suzanne Davies. The expansive show, which fills every nook and cranny of the gallery, boasts vast amounts of rock memorabilia from the Mushroom Group and from Michael Gudinski’s personal collection.

As the CEO of the Mushroom Group, Gudinski has had his finger on the pulse of Australian music for all of the 40 years covered in the exhibition. He was there at the Sunbury Festival in 1972; he was there managing Skyhooks; he was there behind Kylie Minogue as she went from her debut single (Locomotion) to becoming an Australian icon.

As he admits, he has done it all without personally using computers, email, a Facebook shout out or a Tweet. He has people who take care of that for him – old school, Gudinski uses the phone. In fact, trawl YouTube and you’ll note he answers his mobile in television interviews, throughout media interviews and he certainly had it in his hand during his talk at RMIT Gallery on the evening of November 21. And – he answered it. Often.

The crowd was gathered to hear the man himself speak about his recollections of the Melbourne music scene. Gudinski didn’t disappoint, launching forth for nearly two hours on the past 40 years of Australian music history as he walked through the exhibition with friend and radio personality Lee Simon.

And neither did he stop answering his phone, ducking out to his fantasy office every few minutes to take calls. “He’ll have the Stones tour sewn up by the end of this,” one insider quipped. And he did – the Rolling Stones will embark on a full-scale Australian and New Zealand tour from March 2014 organised by Gudinski’s Frontier Touring. And the deals were done in his fantasy office at RMIT Gallery – during his artist floor talk. Possibly a first for an art gallery. Possibly a first, also, for Gudinski.

He did proclaim at the exhibition media launch he would be working from his gallery office desk. And he was true to his word.

Not that the audience minded the frequent interruptions as Gudinski dashed off to answer yet another call. It was all part of the Michael Gudinski myth, part of the theatre of the music industry’s wheeling and dealing. Maybe other artists wouldn’t have been able to get away with this in an art gallery talk, but as a 1980 Juke Magazine article asked: “Michael Gudinski: is he the Messiah or just a very naughty boy?”

Whatever your view, the insider’s peek into Gudinski’s own music memories was enlightening.

» Music, Melbourne & Me: 40 Years of Melbourne’s Popular Music Culture shows at RMIT Gallery, 344 Swanton St, until February 22. rmit.edu.au/rmitgallery

28 The Melbourne Review December 2013

PERFORMING ARTS

Ruben Alves

So to keep discovering all these artists that I knew and loved had at one time or another recorded there made me realise the Muscle Shoals story had to be told.”

by D.M. Bradley

S

peaking by phone from Hong Kong where his film The Gilded Cage is screening at festivals, director Ruben Alves is surprised at how the film crosses cultural borders.

Having worked as an actor in France for over a decade, what was it that made Ruben take the leap into becoming a director? “I suppose you could say that I’ve always been a director as I like to create. My best friend is a producer, so we would always be taking a camera with us everywhere, and then making a movie every year just for our friends and us in the summer.

I suppose that that means that being a director has always been something I wanted to do.

“When I was 20 I was an actor and I was making shorts, but when I was 30 my producer said, ‘Ruben, why don’t you write about your family and your Portuguese community?’ I had written a script about a French family in Portugal, and he thought that it was cool, but he said, ‘Why don’t you write instead about Portuguese people in France?’ At first I thought that might be too personal, but then I thought that maybe the time was right and that it could be homage to my parents. It’s not autobiographical, but it is inspired by my parents’ lives.”

Courtesy Magnolia Pictures

“Here in Macau they are loving it, which is cool! Travelling around the world with the movie has really been unbelievable. The film is about émigrés, a Portuguese family in Paris, but I have been surprised that it seems to appeal to people everywhere. It is dedicated to people who leave any country, who emigrate from any country, to try to find something better.”

Rick Hall and Clarence Carter.

Muscle Shoals The township of Muscle Shoals in Alabama, USA, has long been associated with the celebrated Muscle Shoals Sound that emanated from Fame Studios. That sound is now celebrated in a documentary, Muscle Shoals, that focuses on the studio’s owner, Rick Hall, and the studio in which artists such as Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, Aretha Franklin, Etta James, The Rolling Stones, Wilson Pickett, Clarence Carter, Jimmy Cliff and many others have all recorded.

What about Alves’ own small role in the film (as Miguel)? “It’s very small! Some people say that it’s me doing a Hitchcock!”

Preparing to act in a forthcoming French biopic, Yves Saint Laurent, Alves is looking forward to his second feature film as director.

“I do want to direct again, but I don’t know when I will. I hope that I can make another movie like this, which seems to unite audiences around the world.”

by Robert Dunstan

I

nterestingly, Fame Studios has never been the subject of a documentary before, but that changed when music lover Greg ‘Freddy’ Camalier visited Muscle Shoals as part of a road trip and hatched the idea of making his first ever foray into the film world.

Camalier was able to entice such people as Bono, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Jimmy Cliff, Greg Allman and Steve Winwood along with many other luminaries to be interviewed for the documentary which also features some rarely-seen archival footage.

“I couldn’t believe that the story hadn’t been told before,” Camalier says. “That really dumbfounded me and even though I hadn’t made a documentary before – I was in commercial real estate – I grew up listening to music. But I soon found out I knew only of a small amount of music that had been recorded in Muscle Shoals.

“It was a matter of being tenacious and also knowing some people who had some contacts,” he says. “And they were all keen because they had such an affinity with Muscle Shoals. If it had been for some other documentary, I think it would have been a case of, ‘Sorry, no thanks’. The fact it was Muscle Shoals and it hadn’t been done and had never had its day in the sun before was what helped.”

“So to keep discovering all these artists that I knew and loved had at one time or another recorded there made me realise the Muscle Shoals story had to be told,” he adds. “And it’s all from this small, rural place that’s in the middle of nowhere.”

Studio owner Rick Hall, who came from a dirt-poor family and is widely known throughout the music industry for his strong will and forceful ways, proved to be a different kettle of fish however.

“Oh, Rick took a while to convince,” Camalier says with a laugh. “He was very suspicious [of us] at first and we really had to earn his trust. Some of the more personal stuff in the documentary actually took a couple of years of convincing before he felt comfortable enough to talk about it on camera.

“But Rick does come across in the documentary like he is in person – a fascinating, magnetic individual who has been forged by the fire in his belly for music, Camalier continues. “You can’t help but be drawn to him.

“Everyone else involved with the studio was pretty open to talking about everything though,” he adds. “So we were able to get some really good stories on film about all that went on.”

The late Duane Allman, who recorded many sides at the studio as a session player including, most notably, Boz Scagg’s Somebody Loan me A Dime and Wilson Pickett’s version of Hey Jude, used to pitch a tent in the car park.

“Rick had lots of guitar players but this long-haired hippie kept pestering him for a session,” Camalier says. “He was told he wouldn’t be given any work, but Duane pitched his tent in the parking lot – he was told he could go right ahead and do that – and continually kept buggin’ Rick.

The rest is history.”

Muscle Shoals, which had its premiere at Sundance Film Festival before picking up the Grand Prize at Boulder International Film Festival, will now have its Australian premiere in Melbourne.

“I was really hoping to come down,” Camalier concludes, “it would have been my first trip to Australia but, with Christmas and everything, it’s just not going to happen.”

»»The Australian Centre for the Moving Image Cinemas presents Long Play: Muscle Shoals (PG) from December 27 to January 19. acmi.net.au

THE MELBOURNE REVIEW DECEMBER 2013 29

MELBOURNEREVIEW.COM.AU

VISUAL ARTS

Photo: Alex Davies

[I hope] the audience will have fun, [that they will] engage with the work and go away feeling that they can change the world.” – Yoko Ono, Sydney, 2013

Yoko Ono, Doors 2011, Installation view, War Is Over! (if you want it), Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, 2013.

WAR IS OVER! (IF YOU WANT IT): YOKO ONO

BY WENDY CAVENETT

I

War Is Over! (if you want it): Yoko Ono – showing at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) in Sydney – features the film recordings of the Cut Piece performances, one in black and white, and one in colour. They are side-by-side projections, and touch where the walls meet to create a corner: the perfect placement, and the perfect introduction to Yoko Ono’s world.

Time hasn’t softened the shock of seeing the artist submit to the will of strangers – it is menacing and beautiful and somehow quietly violent, but symbolises, more than anything, Ono’s willingness to offer people the power to give meaning to the work she creates.

It’s ‘innocence to shock’ she once said upon seeing the works together. ‘It looks like someone went through a shocking life, which was true.’

War Is Over! (if you want it) is the first exhibition of Ono’s work to be held in Australia.

Encompassing five decades of her artwork, it showcases the diversity and breadth of her ideas. Working closely with the MCA and the institution’s chief curator, Rachel Kent, Ono

It remains a poignant and heartfelt message.

» War Is Over! (if you want it): Yoko Ono shows at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, until February 23, 2014 as part of the Sydney International Art Series. mca.com.au

developed and reworked the content for the Sydney exhibition for almost four years – and what a treat it is. Featuring text and language pieces, and archival footage with John Lennon, Ono’s husband and collaborator for more than a decade, the exhibition’s many highlights include an impressive collection of Ono’s experimental films. From Fluxus and beyond, it is the abstract wonder of Film No. 4 (Bottoms), 1966-67, Film No. 5 (Smile), 1968 – starring Lennon, and the uncomfortable intimacy of Fly (1970) that best reflect her capacity for suggestion and insight.

DZ Deathrays / Mushroom 40th Anniversary Concert Thousand £ Bend 2013 / Photo: Noel Smyth

t was 1965 when Yoko Ono performed Cut Piece in front of a large audience at the Carnegie Recital Hall in New York City.

Kneeling alone on stage, the then 32-yearold waited quietly as audience members were invited to cut away a piece of her clothing with a pair of scissors. In 2003, Ono, aged 70, reprised the performance at the Théâtre du Ranelagh in Paris as an expression “for world peace”.

Both performances were filmed.

My Mummy Is Beautiful (2004/2013), another notable work included in the Sydney exhibition, is a memorable exploration of the feminine and gender in art. Comprising a pink wall, paper squares, pencils and tape, this participatory work gives each visitor the opportunity to write a private message to their mother and affix it to the wall. From love and longing, to bitterness and loathing, the range of human responses is truly moving and confronting.

Many will recognise the title of this exhibition made famous in 1969 when Ono and Lennon, as part of their global peace campaign, had billboards in 12 countries erected with the printed message: War is over! If you want it. Happy Christmas from John & Yoko.

Renowned instructional works, instillation and sculpture add to this superbly curated and imaginative exhibition – an extraordinary overview not just for its historic and cultural significance, but for the transformative effect Ono’s voice as a conceptual, performance and music artist continues to have across generations.

Ono, part of the 1960s vanguard and an enduring symbol of feminism and global activism, trained in music composition and philosophy, her intellectual approach to art practice defining a career that began in earnest in New York in 1961. Five years later, on the eve of her now seminal exhibition at Indica Gallery in London, she met Lennon at the behest of gallery co-founder, John Dunbar. Lennon was taken with many of her works including Play It By Trust, reprised for the Sydney exhibition with a new design inspired by the Sydney Opera House. Consisting of a white chessboard and white chessmen, players soon forget which pieces are theirs, and reconciliation (or negotiation) rather than competition, ensues.

40 Years of Mushroom & Melbourne’s Popular Music Culture 19 NoveMber 2013 – 22 februarY 2014 an rMIT Gallery and Mushroom collaboration Presented by

RMIT Gallery 344 Swanston Street Melbourne 3000 Telephone 03 9925 1717 / www.rmit.edu.au/rmitgallery Monday–Friday 11–5 / Thursday 11–7 / Saturday 12–5 / Closed Sundays Free entry / Public Programs / Like RMIT Gallery on Facebook / Follow RMIT Gallery on Twitter

30 The Melbourne Review December 2013

A - Z OF CONTEMPORARY ART

Helpful hints on how to make your art say NOW. Plus ARTSPEAK Bonus Pack

by John Neylon

CUTE Warning Getting cute has its own rewards and risks.

Rewards = everyone will love your work and want to coddle it. Risks = people will think your brain has turned to fairy floss in 14 shades of pastel.

Background briefing Blame it on the 19th century Victorians. Look for popular, sentimental paintings of dewy-eyed dogs and woeful waifs. Cut to early 20th century animation cartoons such as Gertie the Dinosaur, Felix the Cat, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit and of course Disney’s 1928 Steamboat Willie starring one Mickey Mouse. And don’t forget Betty Boop. The novelist Frederick Kohner wrote The Little Girl with Big Ideas (1957), which created the blueprint for Gidget (‘girl’ + ‘midget’) the Columbia Pictures movie. Now Sandra Dee, cast as Gidget in the 1959 movies, was cute, cuter maybe than Sally Field who starred in the 1965 TV series. But not as cute as Elizabeth Montgomery’s (Bewitched) nose. Cute – it’s got form.

CANON A much-contested (see contested) cultural construct involving pedagogies at 10 paces. Briefly: if a Rembrandt can’t be proven to be better than chewing gum art (see Chewing Gum Art) then the canon concept is totally spiked. A compromise may be that all art is good is some fluffy kind of way but some art is definitely better than others.

Photo: John Neylon

C

ARTSPEAK

Dead Mickey, Disneyland Tokyo, 2012

Contemporary cute Start with Jeff Koons. Outsized balloon elephants, monkeys and flower power puppies show how it’s done. Tip. You’ll need a rationale. Koons again, “Art is really communicating something and the more archetypal it is the more communicative it is”. Wow, like the Pink Panther is archetypal.

By the way, Lady Gaga is Koons’ biggest fan. Not so Robert Hughes who once described Koons as having the “gross patter” of a “blow-dried Baptist selling swamp acres in Florida”.

Deep cute But you want your work to have edge and irony.

To be deep as well as fun. More niche than pastiche. Look no further than the work of American artist Mike Kelley or Australian artist Kathy Temin. Lots of transgressive narratives, which apparently is a Good Thing. Engage with the disturbing work of Patricia Piccinini. Check out the way this artist plays on the emotions, challenging anyone not to like her cuddly and oh so vulnerable mutants.

Tip. Toughen up your act with some grindhouse patois. Try a little Russian like ‘poshlost’ (a combo of obscenity and bad taste) as in ‘ I find the calculated vulgarism of Jeff Koons to be totally poshlost’. Cute. It’s not all sugar and spice.

Kawaii power When it comes to cute with a capital ‘K’, kawaii rules.

Any serious student of the genre has to be on smirking terms with Miss Kitty White (weight

five apples), the lip-smacking Peko-chan, Kiki and Lala Twinstars and others.

Warning. ‘Kawaii’ is Japanese for ‘cute’ but ‘kowai’ means scary. Enunciate clearly or brace for strange looks.

Note. Only little girls say everything is cute.

My, you are looking neoteric Dress up your shameless exploitation of cute with some posh terminology. Neoteric covers wide territory (the retention of juvenile attributes in adult life). Can include: flattened face, hairless body, small upper jaw, large eyes and small teeth. One Direction we love you.

Tip. To really impress, contextualise everything in terms of bio evolutionary nurturing impulses. If this ploy fails resort to Teletubbies gibberish.

Too easy Don’t stress about subject selection. Stick to creatures (the paedomorphically enhanced ones of course). Bambi is on top of this totem pole. Not far below is a menagerie of creatures including Siberian Flying Squirrels, the Red Eyed Tree Frog, Chihuahuas, Nemo, Dumbo the Elephant, the Piano Playing Kitten, all Pandas and the Snow Monkeys of Jigokudani (insanely cute). Cuddleability guaranteed.

Trainer wheels Try chibi. It’s all about drawing characters with small bodies and enlarged heads and eyes. Once you master the art the world of viewer seduction

CHEWING GUM ART A thank you to Adelaide artist James Dodd for drawing attention to the chewing gummediated practice of American artist Dan Colen (preferred brands Orbit, Trident, Juicy Fruit and Big Red). The English artist Ben Wilson paints onto pre-loved chewing gum collected from the pavement. There are others. Warning: Research indicates that chewing gum may increase neuroplasticity but could cause lapses in memory.

CONTESTED The world apparently is full of contested zones (read territories or fields).

Contemporary curators and art writers are trained to recognise them and point then out to others. What happens from that point on is uncertain.

CURATOR The increase in global numbers of curators since the 1970s has coincided with a fall in numbers of people taking up religious vocations. All prefer to wear black.

is at your feet. Discrete Manga riffs are okay.

Warning. High likelihood of disappearing into the otaku red zone of geek fandom. Still interested? Get a cheap flight and head to Tokyo’s Shibuya for some Lolita meets Little Bo Peep meets My Little Pony fusion (Fairy Kei for real gamers). All pastel, Mary Jane shoes, ruffled petticoats and socks, Liz Lisa bloomer skirts and faux pearl Ugg boots. In Japan cute is never off limits, has no limits.

Trend spotting Large pink rabbits with permanently aroused ears. Currently breeding in Brisbane (courtesy Perth-based artist Stormie Mills) but on the march. Cute gone viral can be very kowai.

30% off

Custom Picture Framing Dec 12 - Feb 9

*conditions apply

Current Exhibitions “Ethereal” and “Nothing Without Love” details at our blog tuskgallery.com

Art Sale in January 76 Harold St Camberwell 9882 2174 / 438 Chapel St South Yarra 9827 3338 tuskgallery.com.au

facebook.com/tuskgallery

tuskgallery.com

The Melbourne Review December 2013 31

melbournereview.com.au

CANBERRA ONLY

N

HEADER2

O

W

nga.gov.au

O N

PE

UNTIL 21 APRIL 2014

Peruvian-inspired breakfast and lunch packages available BOOK NOW:

or 1300 795 012

SICÁN-LAMBAYEQUE culture, North coast 750–1375 AD Tumi [Sacrificial knife] (detail) gold, silver, inlay Museo Oro del Perú, Lima Photograph Daniel Giannoni PRESENTING PARTNERS

PRINCIPAL PARTNERS

MAJOR PARTNERS

ACCOMMODATION PARTNER

32 The Melbourne Review December 2013

VISUAL ARTS

Photo: Graydon Wood

by William Smith Jewett; Cole’s Landscape with figures: a scene from ‘The last of the Mohicans’, 1826) as well as understand the impulse to document (Henry Inman’s No-Tin (Wind), a Chippewa chief, 1832-33; Thomas Moran’s Hot springs of the Yellowstone, 1872).

Thomas Moran, 1837–1926. Grand Canyon of the Colorado River 1892/reworked 1908. Oil on canvas. Philadelphia Museum of Art, gift of Graeme Lorimer, 1975, 1975-182-1

including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Terra Foundation for American Art – America: painting a nation offers visitors a preview of American art, history and culture from before the Declaration of Independence to the mid20th century. Moving beyond the confines of pure aesthetics, it introduces the journeys and discoveries – including those places within one’s self – experienced by the American people as they grappled to discover their national identity.

Edward Hopper, House at dusk 1935. Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. John Barton Payne Fund.

AMERICA: PAINTING A NATION From settlement to modernity

by Wendy Cavenett

“

The silent energy of nature stirred the soul to its inmost depths,” said American landscape artist Thomas Cole in the early 19th century. Such were the profound feelings the American wilderness aroused in its people: the soaring optimism and reverence, the idealism and pragmatism.

These were the redemptive powers of nature, and it is this sentiment that forms the bedrock of America: painting a nation, showing at the Art Gallery of NSW until February 9, 2014.

Featuring more than 80 paintings from five US art and philanthropic institutions –

Using four curatorial themes that examine, in chronological order, settlement through to modernity, the exhibition features works by artists familiar to us all – including Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Georgia O’Keeffe, John Singer Sargent and James McNeill Whistler.

There is also a range of artists who were instrumental in the development of art in America but remain relatively unknown in Australia. These include Charles Wilson Peale (1741-1827) – credited with painting more than 1,000 portraits in colonial America, Mary Cassatt (1844-1926), who was part of the impressionist revolution, and made inroads, with Whistler, for the modern movement of art in America, and Milton Avery (1885-1965), the great modern painter of colour, whose work, Adolescence (1947) with its simplification of form and mastery of colour, reveals his interest in European modernist artists.

Importantly, the exhibition uncovers a national narrative that was fuelled by discovery and the opportunity to inhabit new spaces.

Indeed, space is a primary motif – from the discovery of the new world to the growth of the city, the paintings in this exhibition offer visitors the chance to engage with the epic landscapes and portraits that construct myth (The promised land – the Grayson family, 1850

Of the changing space of the 20th century – the cityscape, the industrial jaggedness; the different forms of built environments that required new demands from the individual – this is an exhibition that explores the many contradictions of modern life, particularly the idea of individualism that was often dwarfed by the need to conform. In Joseph Boston’s From shore to shore (1885), people from different classes travel silently across New York’s East River on a ferryboat. An industrial landscape can be seen in the distance, the inhabitants seemingly alienated from their surroundings as much as from each other. Almost half a century later, we see Reginald Marsh’s beautifully wrought Third Avenue El (1931), an intimate snapshot of working class New Yorkers travelling in a train car, the vibrancy and energy with which the artist has captured this tableau, striking. Yet it is Edward Hopper’s early work, House at dusk (1935), with its small, interior spaces set against the vastness of nature that surrounds it, that portends what is to come for many American urban and city dwellers of the late 20th and early 21st centuries.

Other stand-outs moments include Pollock’s No 22 (1950), the vibrant Something on the eight ball (1953-54) by Stuart Davis and O’Keeffe’s Red and orange streak (1919) and Horse’s skull with pink rose (1931).

Undoubtedly, the energy and brashness of the distinct American character of the early to mid-20th century bristles upon the canvases of these artists.

America: painting a nation is a rich survey of American landscape and portrait painting that belies the blockbuster hype. It is hopefully the first of many exhibitions that will see major American art institutions share their collections, and work with Australian curators to show us more about America’s rich heritage through its visual arts culture. One feels exhibitions with a focus on the Native American Indian perspective, the immigrant experience, and the fight against intolerance would be well-received in Australia, as would an incisive survey of American contemporary art practice.

As Elizabeth Glassman, president and CEO of the Terra Foundation for American Art recently said, “Our mission states, art has the power to distinguish cultures and unite them”. It’s a statement many would agree with.

»»America: painting a nation shows at the Art Gallery of NSW until February 9, 2014 as part of the Sydney International Art Series. artgallery.nsw.gov.au

The Melbourne Review December 2013 33

melbournereview.com.au

GALLERY LISTINGS

1

1

3

5

7

2

4

6

8

Town Hall Gallery

Marker 10 Years of the Town Hall Gallery Collection.

This exhibition highlights 10 years of active collecting supported by the City of Boroondara. Featuring sixty-five artworks from twenty-three artists.

Until January 4 360 Burwood Rd, Hawthorn townhallgallery.com.au

2

RMIT Gallery

Music, Melbourne & Me: 40 years of Mushroom and Melbourne’s Popular Music Culture Until February 22 Storey Hall, Swanston St, Melbourne rmit.edu.au/rmitgallery

3

Art at Linden Gate

Natural Beauty Until January 20 899 Healesville-Yarra Glen Rd,Yarra Glen artatlindengate.com

4

Catherine Asquith Art Advisory

Catherine Asquith Art Advisory National Agent for Xue Mo PO Box 6087 St Kilda Road Central Melbourne (03) 9510 4732 0438 001 482 mail@catherineasquith.com

McClelland Gallery + Sculpture Park Shaun Gladwell: Afghanistan An Australian War Memorial travelling exhibition Made to last: the conservation of art A NETS Victoria exhibition in partnership with the Centre for Cultural Materials Conservation at the University of Melbourne and supported by Latrobe Regional Gallery Until February 2014 360 - 390 McClelland Drive, Langwarrin mcclellandgallery.com

5

Without Pier Gallery

Vasos Tsesmelis The Mythology of Ned Kelly December 4 – 18 320 Bay Road, Cheltenham withoutpier.com.au

6

TarraWarra Museum of Art Russell Drysdale: Defining the Modern Australian Landscape Until February 9 311 Healesville-Yarra Glen Road Healesville twma.com.au

Geelong Gallery

Stephen Bowers: Beyond Bravura – JamFactory Icon 2013 A JamFactory touring exhibition Until February 16 Little Malop St, Geelong geelonggallery.org.au

7

Bundoora Homestead Art Centre

Various Artists Darebin Art Show December 6 – February 16 7-27 Snake Gully Drive, Bundoora bundoorahomestead.com

Heide Museum of Modern Art

8

Future Primitive Until March 2 Albert Tucker: Explorers and Intruders Until March 9 7 Templestowe Road, Bulleen heide.com.au

Claudia Terstappen In the shadow of change Until January 26 860 Ferntree Gully Rd, Wheelers Hill mga.org.au

Monash Gallery of Art

34 The Melbourne Review December 2013

FOOD.WINE.COFFEE RELAXED ENTERTAINING

BY Annabelle Baker

I Lime Curd Tarts With Toasted Meringue • • • • • • • • •

Juice of six limes 1.5 Cups caster sugar 200g Butter – cubed 6 Eggs 24 Mini sweet pastry cases 4 Egg whites 1 Cup caster sugar ¼ Teaspoon cream of tartar Pinch of salt

1. Place the lime juice, caster sugar, butter and eggs into a bowl that can comfortably sit over

a pot of simmering water. Make sure that the simmering water does not touch the base of the bowl.

2. Use a whisk to stir the ingredients until the butter is combined and the mixture begins to thicken. You will know it is ready when the mixture holds a line on the back of a spoon.

Leave to chill in the fridge for at least two hours but it will keep for at least a week.

3. Spoon the curd into the pastry cases.

4. Whisk the egg whites until frothy and then add the caster sugar, cream of tartar and pinch of salt, continue whisking until the mixture holds a stiff peak.

5. Pipe meringue ‘hats’ on top of the curd tarts.

6. Using a blowtorch, toast the meringue.

love the idea of entertaining at home but the reality is often a whole different experience. Gone are the days of formal sit down dinners with stifling table settings and pompous food. Entertaining is now much more relaxed and the formalities have almost disappeared.

Relaxed entertaining is much more suited to our current lifestyles but effort is still required and the temptation of serving frozen finger food, in my opinion, should be avoided at all costs. Stand up functions are much easier to manage and have an organic relaxed vibe, the food is easy to prepare in advance and looks impressive arranged as the centerpiece of the party.

Organising and hosting a party definitely needs to be approached without hesitation or fear and when you discover the winning formula for a great party, stick to it!

Without being crammed in like sardines the trick to a good party is definitely a large amount of people in a small space – socialisation by default. Whether it is a glass of bubbles, cocktail or something virgin, giving guests a drink on arrival, instantly gets the party started. But for me it is all about the food and if you can get that right you are almost guaranteed success.

A big party faux pas is the concept of finger food and how it is served. It should be, as the name suggests, eaten with your fingers and with ease. Attempting to juggle plates, drinks and napkins is never appreciated by guests and only discourages people from enjoying the food on offer. If you are going to serve food that has a certain element of DIY then access to table space should be provided, allowing guests to put their drink down and get stuck in. I love a combination

Tomato Tart Tatin

Looking for a unique event space?

Consider the Willows, memorable time after time.

462 St Kilda Road, Melbourne Vic 3000 | 03 9867 5252 | www.thewillows.com.au

• • • • •

12 Small vine ripened tomatoes 100g Caster sugar 50ml Red wine vinegar 2 Sheets puff pastry 100g Goat’s cheese

1. Cut the tomatoes in half and place onto a cake rack resting on a baking tray.

2. Place in an 80-degree oven for two hours.

3. Place the sugar in the middle of a small saucepan and gently pour water around the sugar creating a divider between the sugar and the sides of the pan.

of bite size food that can be passed around the room and a table of more substantial food that allows hungry guests a place to frequent.

Keep it easy for guests to access food and drinks and the rest will follow. Use food as the main attraction, decorate tables with rustic boards lined with bite-sized morsels and abundant platters that get your guests involved.

Twitter.com/annabelleats Styling and props by Tania Saxon, The Prop Dept

4. Turn the heat on to medium and avoid the temptation to stir.

5. When the sugar starts to resemble golden caramel carefully add the vinegar.

The mixture will take a couple of minutes to come back together.

6. Leave to reduce for three to five minutes until the mixture becomes thick and glossy.

7. Remove the caramel from the heat and leave to cool for five minutes.

8. Spoon the caramel on a baking tray in circles roughly the same size as the tomatoes.

9. Place the tomatoes upside down onto the caramel.

10. Cut 24 circles out of the puff pastry sheets, two sizes larger than the tomatoes.

THE MELBOURNE REVIEW DECEMBER 2013 35

MELBOURNEREVIEW.COM.AU

RECIPES Moroccan Lamb Filo Bites

Photos: Jonathan van der Knaap

• • • • • • • • • • • • •

Potato Rosti with Smoked Salmon and Crème Fraiche • • • • • • •

2 Large potatoes 2 Teaspoons sea salt 2 Spring onions 40ml Melted butter 200g Smoked salmon 200ml Crème fraiche Dill sprigs

1. Grate two large potatoes and place in a colander lined with a thin tea towel.

1 Brown onion 1 Garlic clove Extra virgin olive oil 10 Medjool dates 2 Tablespoon currants 500g Lamb mince 2 Tablespoons of apricot jam 6 Tablespoons ras el hanout 2 Eggs 5 Sheets of filo pastry 50g Melted butter Salt and pepper 24 Blanched almonds

Method 1. Finely dice the brown onion and garlic clove.

2. Heat a frying pan over a medium heat with a splash of olive oil and cook the onion and garlic until soft; set aside to cool.

3. Finely chop the dates and currants and soften in two tablespoons of recently boiled water.

4. In a large mixing bowl add the mince, apricot jam, ras el hanout, eggs and softened onions, garlic, currents and dates with a large pinch of salt and pepper. Mix until well-combined – clean hands will give you the best result. Leave to rest in the fridge until required.

2. Finely slice the spring onions and add to the draining potatoes.

3. Sprinkle with the sea salt and leave to sit for 10 minutes.

4. Ring out the potato mixture over a sink, removing as much liquid as possible.

5. Combine the drained potatoes with the melted butter.

6. Line a baking tray with baking paper.

7. Using a medium-sized cookie cutter place a large teaspoon of the mix inside the mould to create a tight circle.

8. Bake in a 190-degree preheated oven for 10 to 15 minutes or until golden brown.

9. Cool on a wire rack and serve with smoked salmon, crème fraiche and dill for garnish.

5. Place the first sheet of filo pastry onto a clean work surface and brush with a thin layer of melted butter. Repeat the process for the remaining four sheets leaving the top layer without a layer of butter.

6. Lightly grease a mini-muffin tray with oil spray.

7. Using a cookie cutter that is two sizes larger than the muffin size, cut 24 circles from

the filo sheet.

8. Place the filo circles into the tin, molding them into cups.

9. Spoon or pipe the lamb mixture into the cups until slightly higher than the side of the tin.

10. Garnish each one with a blanched almond.

11. Bake at 190 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes or until the bottoms are golden brown.

ed dixon food design introduces their newest melbourne venue

The Great Den Fitzroy’s new home for vintage Scandinavian luxury… for truly great events…

Follow the narrow candle lit laneway and be blown away by a hidden delight of an event space, filled with rare 20th Century Danish treasures.

Creatively catered for by Melbourne’s award winning boutique caterer ed dixon food design.

Whether it’s a modernist degustation dinner around the rosewood dining table or a sizzling cocktail party for 200 complete with Danish smorgasbord; there’s no limit to the creativity in this inspiring space.

Live the great life and enjoy the perfect night with ed dixon food design at The Great Den.

11. Place the puff pastry over the tomatoes and gently convince the pastry to tightly cover the tomato with your fingers.

12. Bake in a 200-degree preheated oven and bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown.

13. Leave to rest for five minutes and then carefully turn them upside down using a knife or spatula.

14. Crumble a small amount of goat’s cheese onto each tart and serve warm from the oven or at room temperature.

(03) 9419 4502 info@eddixonfooddesign.com rear of Great Dane Furniture 175 Johnston Street Fitzroy

36 The Melbourne Review December 2013

FOOD.WINE.COFFEE

Bar Nacional A slice of San Sebastian has landed in Docklands with boisterous flavours, a stellar crew and snappy Spanish drops.

by Marianne Duluk

Mossgreen Tearooms Some tearooms can seem contrived, playing at high tea as if they’re a café in fancy dress – not so Mossgreen Tearooms.

by Lou Pardi

M

ossgreen Auction house has long occupied the old Armadale Picture Theatre, a pretty building on High Street, with tall windows trimmed with copper lead lighting. The space, like any gallery, is a blank canvas. To the right of the sweeping staircase, Mossgreen Tearooms has settled into a long split-level room (rumour has it designer doggies who brunch are allowed downstairs). With the help of Peter Rowland Gold catering and some fine Wedgwood china, the mood is set for an indulgent breakfast, lunch or high tea.

The tables are covered in linen, and for now at least, a sheet of butcher’s paper with the Mossgreen insignia. Things tend to stick to the paper though so perhaps it won’t last long.

Just weeks old, Mossgreen Tearooms has a lot going well. The setting is beautiful, and the artworks

by Kate Bergin, of beautifully rendered animals having tea parties of their own, are stunning. The Wedgwood fine bone china in Butterfly Bloom is gorgeous – contemporary enough to feel as though it’s not grandma’s, but of such fine quality it’s not your childhood tea set either.

The staff are hitting their strides, and finding the correct pitch for their environs – not quite fine dining but not casual café banter either.

Backs are straight, shirts and vests are pressed.

Mossgreen Tearooms is an entirely appropriate addition to High Street, Armadale, and the locals seem to fit in as if they’d always been there – whether they be well-coiffed ladies or little girls with flowing curls.

The produce is ethically sourced and sophisticated (although not complicated) meals are turned out with care. The Milanese

– with eggs, roasted cherry tomatoes, pancetta, baked beans and sautéed spinach ($21) is an excellent choice – especially for those who like good, home-made baked beans. The Scandinavian Platter, with smoked salmon or gypsy ham, cherry tomatoes, Swiss cheese, cream cheese, gherkins and breads with Pepe Saya cultured butter ($16) is an indulgent treat and beautifully presented.

If you happen to be entertaining a canine, the Pooch Breakfast is sure to please – with scrambled free range eggs, green spring peas, charcoal bone biscuit ($9 one egg / $11 two eggs).

For lunch, the Mossgreen Club Sandwich is a blissful match of grilled chicken breast, crisp pancetta, fried egg, tomato and herbed mayo served alongside shoestring fries and salad ($22); or if you’re more in-tune with your surroundings, a selection of finger sandwiches – chicken Waldorf, smoked salmon, cucumber cream cheese, aged cheddar and relish ($13) might be more appropriate, as is the prawn cocktail ($17).

Of course the real purpose of tearooms is high tea, and Mossgreen is no exception, offering two choices, high tea ($48 per person) and champagne high tea ($65 per person including two flutes of Laurent-Perrier Brut Champagne).

Well worth a visit.

»»Mossgreen Tearooms 926-930 High Street, Armadale 03 9508 8850 Breakfast, lunch and high tea: Monday – Sunday mossgreen.com.au

D

ined at Docklands lately? Insert chirping birds here. Docklands, the bleak, Lego building stretch of Melbourne’s CBD you ask.

While you’ve been chowing on pork sliders in Collingwood, newly opened Bar Nacional in Collins Square has been plating up seriously brilliant Spanish dishes. Why Collins Square?

The precinct is currently embarking on one of Australia’s largest commercial development sites. When complete, the area will comprise five commercial towers over 10,000 square metres; with a projected spend of $1.3 billion.

We say it’s a smart move from chef and television personality, Pete Evans and US chef Gavin Baker, who after travelling throughout San Sebastian were inspired to bring their interpretation of Basque cuisine to Melbourne diners.

Bar Nacional appropriately straddles the informal bar/restaurant divide, appealing to local corporates and visitors alike. Low hanging pendant lights, high bar tables and stools in retro orange and chocolate hues are effortlessly classy.

So what’s the food like? It’s food to love and to share. Head chef Alex Drobysz (ex Gordon Ramsey’s Maze) explains that ‘’sustainability, seasonality and sourcing the finest ingredients is a firm president’’. Start with the charcutería and sink your teeth into the premium jamón Joselito (30g $21). Made from acorn-fed Iberian pork and cured naturally, the resulting texture is tender and intensely flavoured.

The tapas are impressive with hefty charred octopus, chorizo and kipfler potato ($14) and the ever-popular patatas bravas ($5).

However branch out and snack on lardo with duck egg and pickled vegetables ($14). It’s all pig fun here with thin ribbons of month long cured lardo curled around sweet ‘n’ sour pickled beetroot and crunchy radish. For best results, let the quivering sous vide duck egg run over the ribbons for an explosion of salty and smoky excellence.

A unique addition to the Nacional kitchen is their Josper oven, ‘’only one of four in Australian restaurants’’, explains Drobysz. ‘’The beauty of the Josper is its ability to char wood, be it cherry or pear and slowly releases its oils. The roasted yellowtail Kingfish ($17) from New Zealand’s north island is carefully cooked in the Josper.

Presented beautifully on a cherry- wood log, the protein is firm, fleshy and full of juicy sweetness. A silky eggplant purée adds umami texture.

Racionales are best savoured with a sexy Spanish drop - be it the indigenous white varietal Txakoli from Galicia or slurpy Mencia.

Specialist Spanish beers and a handful of premium sherries are also worth an ‘olé’.

You’ve got to give it to executive pastry chef Shaun Quade – he truly works sweet magic in the kitchen, including a killer burnt orange crema Catalana ($12). Crunchy fennel seeds and the festive polvorón (Spanish shortbread) are a fun addition.

Within the context of the ongoing development of Collins Square, a bright and exciting future lies ahead for Bar Nacional.

Why not then venture farther than the ‘French End’ of Collins and lucky you if your work digs are close by.

»»Bar Nacional 727 Collins Street, Docklands Monday-Friday 8am-9pm 03 9252 7999 barnacional.com.au

THE MELBOURNE REVIEW DECEMBER 2013 37

MELBOURNEREVIEW.COM.AU

FOOD.WINE.COFFEE

CHRISTMAS DAY MEALS » The Botanical 169 Domain Rd, South Yarra 03 9820 7888 thebotanical.com.au » Coldstream Brewery 694 Maroondah Highway, Coldstream 03 9739 1794 coldstream-brewery.com » Dandelion 133 Ormond Road, Elwood 03 9531 4900 dandelion.ws

Eating out on Christmas Day

Also consider whether any of the guests have mobility considerations.

For families with younger children, a late lunch or early dinner is a great choice, leaving time to play in the morning rather than rushing out.

For a meal with a view, it’s hard to beat Eureka 89, the restaurant at the top of Eureka Tower. They’re open for lunch from 12.30pm4pm with a five course set menu with wines and beer (ph 03 9693 8889 - $240 adults, $145 13-17 year olds, $65 children under 12).

The menu is a modern twist on Christmas fare, with seafood canapés, and whole roast poussin (young chicken) with cranberry and walnut and mustard glazed ham the mains.

Take your nearest (and not necessarily dearest), shoehorn them into a family home, apply alcohol and simmer at 35 degrees for five hours. Sounds like fun, right?

BY LOU PARDI

C

hristmas Day is a joy for children and – depending on your family – it might be a delightful time of year for grown-ups too. Just so long as you’re not the one doing the catering. Whilst some families would sooner re-enact the nativity scene in fluoro leotards than tell Aunt Jo her annual trifle will not be required, more and more families are heading out for Christmas get-togethers. The benefits are many: no-one has to slave over a hot oven, the cost can be shared rather than one family bearing the brunt, and – Christmas miracle of miracles – someone else does the dishes.

“It’s great to be able to put your feet up on that one special day and let others take care of Christmas lunch. There’s no dishes to clean and less fighting. You can just sit and be waited upon – actually share the day with your family and friends,” says Andy Page of Queen Street Rescue in Melbourne, which will be open for breakfast and lunch on Christmas day.

The time to book your Christmas lunch or dinner at a restaurant is now (well it was a few weeks ago, but now is as close as you’re likely to get). Before you do, take into consideration your family’s tastes, budget and whether there are any kids who’ll need entertaining.

If you’d like to be close to the botanic gardens (to run the children around between courses), The Botanical has a five-course lunch too. You won’t find any turkeys here though, it’s a summer menu appropriate for the Australian Christmas – think house-smoked salmon, seared scallops, snapper, lavender-glazed duck breast and a chocolate mousse to finish (ph 03 9820 7888 - $140 adults, $40 menu for children under 12). The Botanical is open 8.30am – 5pm on Christmas day.

In Elwood, Dandelion is putting on a Vietnamese banquet with oysters, prawns, suckling pig, roast duck, lobster and crab,

» Eureka 89 Level 89, Eureka Tower/7 Riverside Quay, Southbank 03 9693 8889 eureka89.com.au » Hobba 428 Malvern Road, Prahran 03 9510 8336 hobba.com.au » Queen Street Rescue 1/189 Queen St, Melbourne VIC 3000 03 9600 3777 qs-rescue.com.au

perfect for a hot day (ph 03 9531 4900 - $150 adults, $75 children, plus beverages (subject to Market prices)).

For a Yarra Valley escape, Coldstream Brewery is open 11am – 11pm on Christmas day and has two course ($55) and three course ($65) meals available, alongside their own beers and ciders and a selection of wines (ph 03 9739 1794).

For the all-important Christmas morning coffee, your local may be open for a few hours (if you’re lucky), or a sure bet is Hobba in Prahran, who are open from 8am-1pm serving coffee and pastries.

May your Christmas be merry and dishes-free.

Need a Night away?

Great location, HuGe rooms, Boutique stylinG, Deep freestanDinG BatHs... free miniBar

9 2 F r a n k l i n S t r e e t, a d e l a i d e S a 5 0 0 0

/

(08) 8410 0036

/

w w w. t h e F r a n k l i n h o t e l . c o m . au

/

theFranklinhotel

38 The Melbourne Review December 2013

WINE

Young Guns

by Andrea Frost

T

he Young Guns of Wine Award was set up to “champion a new approach to wine for a new age”. First launched in 2007 by founder Rory Kent, the awards look to recognise and celebrate new and innovative winemaking styles, use of grape varieties, viticultural methods and wine regions. In other words, to find the wine zeitgeist.

As well as the quality of the wine, the winners are judged on their approach to the whole product development; from the marketing, packaging, distribution, design, philosophy and “their overall contribution to the culture of wine” says wine judge and writer Nick Stock. “It is also about leadership and demonstrating an ability to play at the leading edge of all aspects of contemporary wine culture.”

The finalists achieve this in spades. Says fellow competition judge, writer, and owner of the Prince Wine Store, Philip Rich, “The thing I love about this competition is that every single year I taste something new,” Rich says referring to the breadth of winemaking styles and new brands in the line up. “What’s more, it’s a tough market out there yet all these guys are out there establishing new brands, trying new things, discovering new vineyards. It’s exciting.”

The winners of the 2013 Young Gun of Wine Awards, as judged by wine writers and wine show judges Max Allen, Nick Stock and Philip Rich are:

The 12 finalists are as follows: • Alex Head, Head • Cynthea Semmens, Marion’s Vineyard • Dave Mackintosh, Ar Fion/Salo

• Young Gun of Wine, Taras Ochota (Ochota Barrels)

• James Erskine, Jauma

• Best New Act, Josephine Perry (Dormilona)

• Nick Glaetzer, Glaetzer-Dixon

• People’s Choice, Alex Head (Head Wines)

• Sarah Morris & Iwo Jakimowicz, Si Vintners

• Winemaker’s Choice, James Erskine (Jauma)

• Taras Ochota, Ochota Barrels

• Josephine Perry, Dormilona

• Sally & Tom Belford, Bobar

• Syd Bradford, Thick as Thieves

• Tom Munro, Boovability/Whisson Lake • Vanessa Altmann, Switch Organic

Here is a selection of wines from the 12 finalists

Arfion Smokestack Lightning Skin Contact Pinot Grigio 2013 RRP $33 arfion.com.au Arfion in Gaelic means “our wine” and is a throwback to Mackintosh’s ancestry. Made from Pinot Grigio grapes from the Yarra Valley, the grapes were fermented on skins for 12 days giving the wine a beautiful pink blush. The wine has a pretty but pronounced nose of musk, red apples and subtle floral characters. The palate is fresh with more floral notes, a hint of wild strawberry and a delicious crunchy texture. Gorgeous, delicious, refreshing and fun.

Jauma Wines Blewitt Springs Pet Nat Chenin Blanc 2013

Ochata Barrels The Fugazi Vineyard Grenache 2013

RRP $28 jauma.com

RRP $40 ochotabarrels.com

When I asked James Erskine why he makes wines like this (organic grapes, no additives, almost natural) he looks at me strangely. “Because it is seriously the only way that makes sense. Made like this, naturally and with love, you can actually taste the joy.” The nose is intriguing and smells of fresh grape juice and peeled apples. The palate is super-dry, refreshing, with a slight fizz and a lovely creaminess.

Totally gluggable making it a perfect aperitif or fresh summer wine.

Taras Ochota took out the main prize for his label Ochata Barrels label that he runs with his wife Amber. The Fugazi vineyard lies between the Onkaparinga River Gorge and Blewitt Springs McLaren Vale and comprised of old bush vines planted in 1947. This is a spectacular wine.

An evocative, perfumed and elegant nose of crushed red berries and spicy complexity. As it breathes, the palate flourishes adding breadth and flesh – more spice, an abundance of juicy red fruits all wrapped together in beautifully medium-bodied wine. A worthy winner.

Bobar Yarra Valley Syrah 2012 RRP $28 facebook.com/bobar.syrah Winemakers Tom and Sally Belford always wanted to make a wine together. “As we travelled through France we were constantly on the look out for the right style of wine,” explains Sally. They settled on Beaujolais to influence their winemaking style “the place is fun and so is the wine” opting for Syrah, which was more readily available than the traditional Gamay. Like a lively cauldron, this wine spills with complex aromas of dark and red fruits, spice and brambles. These notes continue on the palate with vibrant red fruit flavours, more spice and supple tannins.

The Melbourne Review December 2013 39

melbournereview.com.au

FOOD.WINE.COFFEE consider moving there just before I started doing business. My first business was in 2000.

I decided at that time that instead of moving to Japan I’d bring Japan to me and so that was the inspiration behind opening my first sake bar.”

The bar was Robot, which Bishop owned for eight years before selling it to friends.

About a year after selling Robot, Bishop opened Nihonshu Shochu & Sake Bar – selling only Sake and Shochu. Bishop’s restaurant history in Melbourne is entwined with Melbourne’s Japanese culture history.

He opened Robot in 2000 and in 2003 he purchased Izakaya Chuji. “That was the first izakaya [Japanese eating house] in Australia that actually used the name ‘izakaya’,” he says.

“Izakaya Chuji opened in 1989. I was a customer there for many years and unfortunately the owner passed away. His wife was going to close the business and I was just horrified that my favourite Japanese restaurant was going to close, so we negotiated a deal and I took over the restaurant and I’ve owned it for 10 years now,” says Bishop.

Melbourne’s first Sake Samurai Each year the Sake Samurai Association in Japan awards sake experts from all over the world with the title of Sake Samurai. Andre Bishop is Melbourne’s first Sake Samurai, and Australia’s second.

by Lou Pardi

T

etsuya Wakuda was Australia’s first Sake Samurai, and he is now joined

by Andre Bishop, a six-foot-three (191cm) tall Australian Japanophile whose love of all things Japanese is evident in several restaurants, and now the title of Sake Samurai.

Although Bishop had heard of the title, he didn’t expect it would ever be applied

to him. “The recipients in Japan are very prestigious people,” he says, “brewers who have had a lifetime commitment to making sake; one of my contemporaries who received it this year was the Mayor of Kyoto [Daisaku Kagokawa] – so it’s major league people.

I’ve been doing a lot for sake in Australia, but I didn’t put myself in the same league as some of these people. It was a surprise,

an amazing surprise – I think I cried when I got the email.”

Bishop flew to Japan to receive the award.

“There’s a big ceremony at a Shinto temple in Kyoto and there’s all the dignitaries. I was dressed in traditional Japanese robes and there’s a big religious ceremony that’s incorporated into the inauguration,” he shares.

Bishop originally moved to Melbourne from Perth to study fashion, but was distracted by his love of Japanese culture and now owns several restaurants including Izakaya Chuji, Nihonshu Shochu & Sake Bar and Kumo Izakaya. He travels to Japan regularly, but recalls his first trip in 1996 fondly. “That really concreted my love of the country. I remember getting off the plane, catching the train to Tokyo and getting out at the station and thinking, ‘Oh my goodness, I’m home’.”

Rather than move to his new home though, Bishop chose to let it colour his life. “It’s always been that juggling of business desires and personal desires,” he says. “I did seriously

Bishop’s other ventures include buying and later selling the old Daimaru restaurant (renamed Izakaya Chuji) in South Melbourne; opening Golden Monkey in partnership with two friends, before selling his share back to them and moving on to open Kumo Izakaya in Brunswick East, which he describes as the embodiment of all of the lessons he’s learnt about Japan, together with influence from the warehouse feel of Brunswick East.

Bishop regularly speaks about sake around Australia and overseas, and hosts events, the next highlight being a sake and cheese matching event for Melbourne Food and Wine Festival with Will Studd from Calendar Cheese. Bishop insists sake is a better match for cheese than wine. Only one way to find out.

»»Two Masters Melbourne Food and Wine event Tuesday, March 11 – 7pm-9pm Bookings: (03) 9388 1505 Kumo Izakaya, 152 Lygon Street, Brunswick East

40 The Melbourne Review December 2013

CAfÉS

Imbiss25

by Lou Pardi

W

hen a dodgy bar vacated the spot a few doors down from St Kilda’s 19 Squares, the space was just begging to be opened up into a sidewalk café. Enter Imbiss 25 – the brainchild of one of 19 Squares’ former staff.

With a jaunty green interior, industrialstyle furniture and a painted tree stretching its branches across one wall, it’s a far cry from its former bar self.

As it’s newly open, the menu is small but well-formed, and will grow. For now it’s

Satchmo’s Den

by Lou Pardi

T

he name Satchmo’s Den conjures up images of a dingy jazz bar where Louis Armstrong himself may have performed. Whilst Satchmo’s may be small, there’s nothing dingy about it.

Well-lit, thanks to a corner spot on a largely pedestrian laneway in Melbourne’s CBD, Satchmo’s is warmly fitted out with a small but efficient open kitchen, a glass counter full of treats and a few tables. Owing to their excellent position, chairs and tables surround the front window and tumble down a tiered walkway beside Satchmo’s too.

The small but well-travelled menu covers breakfast and lunch with cereals, eggs and pancakes for breakfast, and pasta, sandwiches, quesadillas, burgers and salads for lunch. You’ll find most days the real action is on the specials

board where what’s fresh is fashioned into delights like the roast chicken and mango salad, or spaghetti with prawns, spinach and cherry tomatoes.

There are plenty of places in the city where the staff will remember your name and coffee, but Satchmo’s take it much further – they’ll remember your last conversation, and even which forgotten umbrella is yours. Remarkable.

»»Satchmo’s Den 57 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne 03 9663 8003 Breakfast and lunch: Monday – Friday facebook.com/SatchmosDen

an affordable spread of the usual suspects: salads, paninis ($10), eggs and sides, muesli, porridge, fruit toast and some craveworthy sausage (and vegetarian) rolls. And, mercifully, banana bread with yogurt and berry compote ($7.50). (There’s a criminal shortage of banana bread in Melbourne.)

The coffee is excellent, the service smooth and the setting perfect for people (and hound) watching.

»»Imbiss 25 25 Blessington Street, St Kilda 03 9996 1560 Breakfast and lunch: Monday – Friday imbiss25.com.au

THE MELB OUR NE R EVIEW DECEMBER 2013

FORM D E S I G N • P L A N N I N G • I N N OVAT I O N

OUTDOOR LIVING FORM looks at outdoor product design, colour and landscape trends

42 THE MELBOURNE REVIEW DECEMBER 2013

FEATURE

OUTDOOR LIVING The landscape that we live in, the products we surround ourselves with and the influences from the professional sector all inspire our quality of life for our inside and outside spaces.

In this edition of FORM we look at outdoor living, products and design as well as colour and landscape trends that make our outdoor spaces the most livable they can be.

An Outdoor Life We’ve been talking about the blurring of indoors and out for years. We don’t just want a blurring of indoors and out. We want to create a whole new kind of living space for ourselves that reflects the way we live outside.

W

e want an outdoor life. This has been the core essence of designing and crafting our 2014 outdoor furniture range.

From the style and shape of each piece to the natural materials used in their simplest and most true form, we’ve focused on craftsmanship and a natural, Australian, outdoor style. We’ve

worked across the full spectrum of inside to outdoor living with finer detailed pieces to bold, large outdoor statements.

On one end, we’re working with more oversized sofas (think the Ord large scale modular sofa with exposed seams and raw stitching) and the Balsa (large oversized weave sofa with deep seat cushions perfect for a large scale backyard). For those people who have larger outdoor areas, traditional outdoor furniture can often get lost and feel apologetic, so larger-scale modulars provide a proportionate sense of scale to anchor the space.

Likewise in smaller spaces, we’re seeing more compact furniture with slim, more structured frames (think the Hutt and Avalon sofas) that could work either indoors or out.

We’re also incredibly excited this season with the introduction of the brand new Burleigh range. This is the first time we’ve had this kind of range. It moves completely away from the old school (think chunky heavy teak) towards really simple shapes and laid profiles. The seats are deep and the beauty is really in the small stuff – the finger joints on the timber (which are all on display not hidden), the simple profile and the back-to-basics low-key chair profiles. The

fabrics on these are super-soft Belgian outdoor linens and in line with our colour palette this season, dusty muted tones – it’s one of our personal favourites. Fabric is also a great story this season, we haven’t had outdoor linens this soft and luxurious before. It’s a real step forward for outdoor style and comfort; linen’s one of the strongest fabrics you can get. People expect linen to be fragile but in fact, it’s actually really strong so it’s perfect for the outdoors.

Katie Rowley, Eco Outdoor ecooutdoor.com.au

The Melbourne Review December 2013 43

melbournereview.com.au

OUTDOOR LIVING

Popularity Contest

AILA Vic Awards The Australian Landscape Institute of Australia held their annual awards on Thursday, November 22 at CQ.

Public spaces that surprise are winning people over

These awards aim to foster recognition of the profession of landscape architecture, encourage excellence and provide public acknowledgement of the valuable contributions made by the profession to the improvement of our natural and built environments.

D

id you seize the chance to sip summertime espressos in a lush plantation on Queensbridge Square? Chase a foxy, fold-out noodle van through Melbourne’s CBD? Follow the pink dots to play the hopscotch pitch in Sydney’s Haymarket? These surprise opportunities popping up in our urban centres of late are examples from a growing portfolio of temporary projects by international design practice HASSELL.

The Melbourne Review congratulates all winners in this year’s prestigious awards

The AILA Victoria Medal for Landscape Architecture Making Landscape Architecture in Australia Recipient: Andrew Saniga DESIGN AWARDS Awards for Design in Landscape Architecture Excellence Award • The Australian Garden Completion Recipient: Taylor Cullity Lethlean and Paul Thompson Client: Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne

The Urban Coffee Farm and Brew Bar, Chasing Kitsune and Walk the Line projects delivered for the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival, State of Design Festival and AILA Streetworks respectively, “represent a desire to seek new ways to create and promote truly engaging public places,” said HASSELL Principal, Mary Papaioannou. “We embrace temporary projects as vehicles for testing ideas, as opportunities to directly challenge established modes of public occupation and behaviour, and as an opening to design in humour and surprise to delight people and draw them to the streets.”

The Australian Institute of Landscape Architecture (AILA) Victoria recently commended HASSELL for “making the fruits of their labour available for the enjoyment of the public and the betterment of the city”, presenting the practice with the 2013 Award for Research and Communication in Landscape Architecture.

“It’s encouraging to be recognised by our design peers for extending customary practice in this way,” said Papaioannou. “Through our significant investment in temporary projects we’ve been able to take advantage of the flexible and mostly unconstrained temporary platforms on offer which, through their ephemeral nature, allow greater freedom to experiment in the pursuit of innovative design interventions.

We can observe the public responses both on location and through a variety of subsequent and supporting media, and gather quick and invaluable insights that can inspire fresh strategies for engagement. This knowledge can be transferred to our more permanent public developments, helping to secure their long-term popularity and success.”

Landscape architecture innovations and developments Increasingly, city leaders and shapers are becoming aware of changing attitudes to our streets, elevating them beyond the status of functional links, or vehicle-dominated

• Box Hill Gardens Multi-Use Purpose Area Recipient: ASPECT Studios Client: City of Whitehorse Key Partner: City of Whitehorse, NMBW Architecture, FORM Structures, GTA Consultants, Martin Butcher Lighting Design • ‘Rezza’ – Leamington Street Skate Park Upgrade Recipient: City of Darebin Client: City of Darebin Key Partners: Playce, Project 21 • The Pod Playground Recipient: TCL (Taylor Cullity Lethlean) Client: TAMS, The National Arboretum

connections, and firmly establishing them as ‘places’ in their own right. The particular qualities of a street combine to give that place its distinct personality, differentiating it from other places with which it competes for limited consumer dollars and investment from the public and private sectors. Another undeniable competition is that which is occurring between the ‘physical high street’ and the ‘virtual high street’. With online shopping, services and social networking booming, there is no doubt that in order to stay viable our streets need to provide something more.

URBAN DESIGN AWARDS Award for Urban Design in Landscape Architecture • Halpin Way, Settlers Square and Pop-up Park Recipient: ASPECT Studios Client: Places Victoria Key Partners: City of Greater Dandenong, Williams Boag Architects, Charles Anderson , ARUP, Electrolight, Mission Australia PLANNING AWARDS Awards for Planning in Landscape Architecture • South West Victoria Landscape Assessment Study Recipient: Planisphere Client: The Department of Planning and Community Development

It is evident that designers can play a vital role in influencing the shape of our streets and public spaces, through both temporary and more permanent interventions, to encourage greater street life and identity.

“We can set the stage for new opportunities through the design of flexible solutions that enable streets to evolve beyond a ‘set piece’ to be more like adaptable platforms for activation,” said Papaioannou. “Flexible infrastructure, such as ‘plug-n-play’ services (power and water connections) and catenary lighting can provide opportunities to host a variety of customised temporary offerings in an otherwise fixed environment, enabling it to change over the days, weeks and seasons. The considered and creative curation of these ‘pop-ups’ can ensure the environment is continually providing fresh appeal for visitors,” she said.

LAND MANAGEMENT AWARD Award for Land Management in Landscape Architecture • Wanginu Park Recipient: GbLA Client: Places Victoria

“Sustained activation however, relies on the effective integration of planning, design and management. The key to maximising these opportunities is a commitment from all stakeholders – planners, designers, governments, businesses and the broader community – to collectively promote vibrancy, and the ongoing success and viability of our streets as places for people.”

RESEARCH AND COMMUNICATION AWARD Award for Research and Communication in Landscape Architecture • HASSELL Temporary Projects and Public Interventions Recipient: HASSELL Client: Melbourne Food & Wine Festival, HASSELL for the State of Design Festival

State President’s Award Design Strathewen Community Bushfire Memorial Recipient: Urban Initiatives

hassellstudio.com

44 The Melbourne Review December 2013

FEATURE / OUTDOOR LIVING

Trends in Colour When Laminex/Formica launched its three new colour palettes recently, the response was overwhelmingly favourable.

by Leanne Amodeo

N

eil Sookee is what you would expect anyone who lists ‘trend vision’ on his CV to be – innovative, astute and very comfortable thinking outside the box. As the Group Design Director for Australia and New Zealand at Laminex Group he’s in the business of predicting future interior trends. Sookee was forthcoming about what consumers can expect. “It’s about natural materials and a warm, earthy palette that’s not too literally interpreted. And it’s about products that last; it’s not about conspicuous consumption anymore.”

Sydney-based Sookee believes the shift towards an organic aesthetic is a significant one, which is why it informs one of the report’s three major themes. The Nutopia trend takes its inspiration from artisanal practice and high-end craftsmanship; timelessness, sustainability and harmony are its main drivers.

This translates into a palette of warm greys, muted greens, pale oranges and classic wood grain effects.

Nutopia may have broad appeal but it doesn’t make the report’s other two themes – Purity and Clash – any less inviting. The prior takes its cue from new technologies and reflects an ultra-modern sensibility manifest in a range of cool whites, vibrant pastels and biomorphic patterns. Clash is in complete contrast; inspired by rapid urbanisation, it translates into a palette of bright reds, greens and oranges, bold blacks and messy stripes.

This trend vision is the outcome of extensive global qualitative research by Formica in which Sookee was personally involved. “We engaged with the design community in blue sky discussions about materials and style preferences,” he says. “So we went in with no preconceived notions; qualitative research is actually a vehicle for designers to indicate to us what we should be working on.”

The methodology differs quite considerably

*made in melbourne*

*hardWood bench SeatS

*bar table

AHS

*StoolS

from a standard quantitative approach, promising more dynamic results. As innovative as the qualitative process may be, however, there are still pragmatic product management questions that have to be considered. Product differentiation in a highly competitive marketplace and the constant pressure to come up with something ‘new’ are unavoidable challenges that surround the launch of any product range.

Furniture 187a Sunshine rd, West Footscray PH: 9314 6733 ahsfurniture.com.au

*bench With bacKS *commercial outdoor furniture

*dininG tableS

Jarrah, Spotted Gum, recycled timber, commercial, reSidential, cuStom deSiGn

furniture

Sookee is the first to admit trend forecasting is a tricky balancing act. “For our finishes to be successful they have to be almost anonymous and not clamour for attention when combined with other materials on a project,” he explains. “They can’t be so signature that a designer will only use them once; but we do need to do something that’s different.” It’s as much

an art as it is a science, with a considerable margin for error. But Sookee has 30 years’ experience under his belt and he’s learned a thing or two during this time.

“The trick is to be right more times than you’re wrong,” he says. “Yes, there’s risk when you make management decisions, but if you don’t risk then nothing ever changes. It’s a pragmatic business approach; we just happen to be talking about design.” Nutopia, Purity and Clash each have unexpected characteristics but these three palettes can ultimately offer consumers successful individual solutions.

“Colours mean something different to all of us,” says Sookee. “And what each person does with these palettes is entirely up to them.”

thelaminexgroup.com.au

THE MELBOURNE REVIEW DECEMBER 2013 45

MELBOURNEREVIEW.COM.AU

FORM

Somebody Drew That

for any business to do at least once a year, for nothing else than eliminating practices that bog you down. One of the things we discovered in this period last year was an online financial platform, and this has revolutionised the way we run the business.

Putting one’s house in order

I love this kind of navel gazing, not the emotional “why doesn’t anyone respond to my Facebook posts” kind, but the pure, hard “why is this not working and how can we fix it” kind.

I want the business to be a little like a Haruki Murakami novel. Murakami’s heroes, with the grace and humility that only the Japanese seem to be able to carry off, always go about tasks with a ritualistic simplicity. The act of vacuuming a floor assumes a poetry and dignity that seems completely missing in an Australian context. The idea of putting one’s house in order, the idea of finding beauty in the mundane, and ultimately, not using this as a barrier to imagination but as a springboard to it.

BY BYRON GEORGE

I

Probably a good analogy for another thing that happens at this time of year. People, it’s less than…two…weeks…until…Christmas.

Just putting it out there. If you’re reading this online chances are it has all passed and you’re currently sitting on a banana lounge with your top button undone. If you are not, you might be still in the middle of it all.

For retail clients it means getting things open before the inevitable rush. Residential clients often want to spend the holiday season in their own home and not with the in-laws.

Whatever the reason, people in the construction industry tend to go a little mental at this time of the year, trying to avoid the construction industry dead zone which occurs every year

Photo: Courtesy of Architizer

t usually starts with the odd sneeze. An itchy nose, eyes that look like you’ve had a big night out. Weird facial contractions that seem to be the only way of scratching that itch at the back of your throat. I love and hate this time of year. The weather is getting warmer, and colder, and hotter, and windier and wetter, and that’s just this morning. The dull predictability of winter is replaced by an assault of irrational stimuli, whether it’s the pollen trying to grow new plants in my nasal canal or the horizontal hail stinging my bare lily white legs on what was supposed to be a hot, sunny afternoon.

The ISM house by Royal International Architecture of Japan.

from Christmas until mid to late January. A small project running over the holiday period can be a bit of an issue as most trades are off, and those that are working are in high demand.

A three or four-week gap turns a six-week project into a 10-week project, which is not ideal with commercial rents as high as they are.

For us, this means a few late nights, working weekends and some of the most productive time in the office for the year. The momentum of ploughing through the work with the reward of four weeks of no phone calls at the end. The

flip-side is this is all fuelled by canapés and Champagne, as it’s also Christmas party season.

This year, we’ve got the added love of an office relocation the week before Christmas.

Boxes of stuff to unwrap not filled with electronic goodies and ugly jumpers, but carpet samples and door hardware catalogues. It’s a bit like moving house, without the sentiment.

We’re also using this time to reinvent how our office does things from project delivery and documentation to the amount of money the office spends on staples. I think it’s a good thing

This is probably the most significant message in his books for me. The pragmatic and fantastic go very much hand in hand.

So this will be our January: cleaning house and putting things in order. Hopefully the pollen will be in the ground where it belongs, the legs will contain some semblance of colour and everyone will come back relaxed and refreshed. Until then, if you’re in the construction industry, batten down the hatches and let’s go.

» Byron George and partner Ryan Russell are directors of Russell & George, a design and architecture practice with offices in Melbourne and Rome. russellandgeorge.com

NEW CENTRE LOCK RELEASE Simply the best track guided blind system.

The new centre release mechanism makes the operation of Ziptrak® blinds easier than ever.

Additional handle optional;

Lift handle to activate release latches on both sides of the bottom bar. You may also use a pull stick – no need to bend down.

Optional: An additional handle on the reverse side of the bottom bar to allow for unlocking your Ziptrak® blind from both sides.

NO ZIPS • NO ROPES • NO STRAPS • NO BUCKLES Electric motors can be solar powered with remote control to help reduce your global footprint. Ziptrak® is now offering the amazingly simple and environmental SolarSmart™ automation solution for your Ziptrak® blinds.

For product information and contact details of your nearest Authorised Ziptrak® Dealer please call:

Phone +61(8) 8377 0065 ziptrak@ziptrak.com.au www.ziptrak.com.au Ziptrak® blinds can only be sold through Authorised Ziptrak® Dealers. Ziptrak® Dealers are carefully chosen for their integrity and quality workmanship to ensure customer satisfaction.

46 The Melbourne Review December 2013

FORMCOMMERCIAL

BRING THE OUTDOORS INSIDE

A

unique concept in integrating indoor and outdoor living, Elmington (a residential development of 68 boutique apartments) has been strategically designed to capitalise on its enviable position adjoining Fritsch Holzer in Hawthorn.

On the corner of Camberwell Road and Roseberry Street, Elmington sits alongside these expansive parklands, which feature native plants, perimeter trails, off-lead dog areas and playgrounds. This rare and spectacular location takes advantage of its park side aspect, flooding the southern side of the building with natural light.

The apartments – one, two or three-bedroom – can be personalised internally, through an abundance of colour schemes, options and fittings, to suit your style. Each apartment has been designed with outlooks and aspects in

mind taking advantage of the nearby parkland and north facing light.

Elmington’s landscape architect, John Patrick, says the landscaping was designed to provide a “bridge” to the parkland.

“Our primary aim was to provide greenery on site and form a harmonious link between the development and the surrounding parkland,” Patrick says. “Our design provides a link to local amenities, the parkland, playgrounds and an abundance of greenery and trees.”

This embracing of the outdoors is emphasised in the apartments on the upper levels, with their large terraces and balconies, perfect for al-fresco entertaining, with views across the parkland and to the city skyline.

On the northern side of the development, John Patrick Architects have retained some

of the original Peppercorn trees, which will provide shade for the cafe terrace, providing relief from the sun and adding to the parkland atmosphere.

As beautiful outside, with its elegant, curvilinear sweep, as it is inside, Elmington’s marriage of sophisticated interiors and leafy outlook over hectares of parkland, offers a new way of living.

»»Elmington display suite is situated 96 Camberwell Rd, Hawthorn East Open Wednesday to Thursday 12pm to 4pm and Saturday to Sunday 1.30pm to 3.30pm Call Dominic Ziino for more information 0401 333 622 elmington.com.au

BMW Melbourne

Southbank Kings Way

BMW MELBOURNE HAS CHRISTMAS WRAPPED UP FOR YOU. With the festive season upon us, now is the perfect time to visit BMW Melbourne and reward yourself with your newest Ultimate Driving Machine.

Whether you’re looking for the comfort and safety of the all new BMW X5 for your family holiday, the exhilaration of exploring the countryside in the all new BMW 4 Series Coupé or want to feel the wind through your hair in a sleek and sporty convertible, the BMW range has something for everyone.

Purchase any new or demonstrator BMW from BMW Melbourne, conveniently located at Southbank or Kings Way, before December 24* and receive your choice of one of the following complimentary gifts: COMPLIMENTARY BMW SCHEDULED SERvICING FOR 5 YEARS/80,000kM.^

BMW DvD PLAYER.~

$1,000 BMW ACCESSORIES AND LIFESTYLE vOUCHER.†

With convenient on-site parking available at both of our dealerships, complimentary wi-fi and coffee, and an extensive range of BMW Accessories and Lifestyle Products, visit BMW Melbourne today and get the Ultimate gift just in time for Christmas.

CHOOSE YOUR CHRISTMAS GIFT AT BMW MELBOURNE. BMW Melbourne – Southbank 118 City Rd, Southbank. (03) 9268 2222. bmwmelbourne.com.au LMCT 8155

BMW Melbourne – kings Way 209 Kings Way, South Melbourne. (03) 8699 2888. bmwmelbourne.com.au LMCT 8155

*Offer applies at BMW Melbourne while stocks last to new and selected eligible demonstrator vehicles ordered between 29.11.13 and 24.12.13 and delivered by 31.12.13. Cannot be combined with any other offer. Excludes fleet, government & rental buyers. ^BMW Service Inclusive is based on the vehicle’s condition based service monitoring for 5 years from the date of first registration or up to 80,000kms, whichever occurs first. Normal wear and tear items and other exclusions apply. Scheduled servicing must be conducted by an authorised BMW dealer. Only demonstrator vehicles that are within the first 12 months of initial registration are eligible for this offer. ˜BMW DVD Player, supplied and fitted, includes 2 x 7" BMW branded monitors each with inbuilt DVD Player. Suits most models. †$1,000 BMW Lifestyle and Accessories voucher will be presented at time of delivery and is valid only at the dealer the vehicle is purchased at.