IT HAS been the ultimate privilege being a councillor serving the Mornington Peninsula Shire over the past four years. I’ve learned so much about public causes and communities, met some truly inspirational local leaders, worked with brilliant staff and gained a one-of-a-kind perspective on government in Australia. I also like to think I’ve achieved some fantastic outcomes for the residents of the Briars ward and the peninsula, like the footpath down Wooralla Drive, Mt Eliza, a new policy on poker machine venues, sensible economic development and a host of local road upgrades. Much of this was made possible thanks to…
Author: Andrew Dixon
With a career spanning almost twenty years, half a million album sales, gold and platinum albums and eight Golden Guitar Awards, Adam Harvey is back in black, telling the story of Johnny Cash with country music belle Catherine Britt. The Man In Black has been reloaded after two sell-out seasons at the Sydney Opera House and an 18-month Australia-wide tour. The acclaimed show, originally starring Tex Perkins narrating the life of Johnny Cash, won a Helpmann Award for Best Contemporary Australian Concert. Starring in this year’s tour of The Man In Black, Adam Harvey is one of Australia’s most popular…
It’s hard to pin down exactly what kind of impact Tex Perkins has had on the Australian music industry, or on music more broadly. He’s not your typical front-man superstar, yet he’d be more widely recognised than the lead singers of most modern-day pop groups. He’s been making music since for more than 30 years, but is barely a smidge over 50 years old. Although he did find his feet and a degree of early success with the group Thug, how did he gain so much fame and notoriety without a prominent campaign vehicle like Jimmy Barnes’ Cold Chisel, INXS’…
“I don’t know if anyone really thinks five years ahead in any tangible way… I’ve taken a long term approach to being a musician and my career with this band.” It’s a solid answer to a seemingly innocuous question asking what Rai Thistlethwayte has been doing with his life over the last half-decade or so. Far from laying low, hiding from the spotlight in some small outback town, Rai’s been immersing himself in the musical culture and cultural music of Los Angeles. “Like any lengthy project, you’ve gotta do a little reinvention, a bit of maintenance along the way, and…
SOMEWHERE back in 1996, a stupid conversation took place between four young blokes in a dusty oil shed on the trucking yards of Port Melbourne’s Dallas Crane Transport that went something like, “so ya reckon we could do this for a living?” Almost 20 years later, Dallas Crane have become a not only a lauded constituent of the Australian rock ‘n roll scene, but a trend-proof mainstay that continues to exhilarate audiences wherever they bloody well set foot! Some used to call them, “Australia’s hardest working band,” playing their guts out to anyone who’d listen, in which most cases was…
Few rock bands exude a musical culture born of global influence with the finesse and polish of The Tea Party. 1.6 million albums sold worldwide under EMI and a cult Australian following are testament to that. The Canadian rockers took an extended break in 2005 but have come back with a vengeance, touring extensively in Australia and Canada and even releasing a new album since reforming in 2011. Frontman Jeff Martin now calls Australia home, having built a secluded musical retreat on 100 acres just outside of Byron Bay. He calls his new rural studio ‘Riverhouse’. “My roots are here…
LAST week’s episode of Q&A on the ABC was a disastrous affair with far-reaching consequences. The media furore that followed is difficult to summarise – a microcosm of our national debate, born of the difficult policy decisions governments make on behalf of their citizens. It should serve as a reminder to everyone that the right to say and think what we want is easily surrendered to fear. The performance of Zaky Mallah on the program raised many issues, but the aftermath has been short on answers. Mallah made the shocking claim that Muslims were “justified” in heading overseas to join…
The Mornington Peninsula is known all over the country for its diversity of landscapes including some of the best beaches in the world, wild surf coast, rolling fields and unspoilt bushland as well as historic landmarks signifying some of the first British settlement in Terra Australis. But when it comes to people and culture, less than six per cent of people in the municipality speak a language other than English at home, compared with an average of 24 per cent in metropolitan Melbourne. Less than one per cent of the peninsula’s population is indigenous. The region is one of the…