Australian Music

Last night the ARIA’s (Australian Record Industry Association) took place. This is the Australian equivalent to the Grammy’s (US) and Juno’s (Canada).

The big winners of the night were Silverchair winning 5 awards - Best Group, Best Rock Album, Single of the Year, Album of the Year and Highest Selling Single.

Living in Australia I have been exposed to music that I would not be exposed to living in Canada.

Over the course of the year I have heard the following Australian artists/groups you may or may not have heard of:

• Silverchair
  
• John Butler Trio
• Powder Finger
• Eskimo Joe
• Sneaky Sound System
• Evermore*
• Missy Higgins
• Ben Lee
• Delta Goodrem
• The Veronica’s
• Wolfmother
• Bernard Fanning
• Rogue Traders
• Sarah Blasko
• Kylie Minogue
• Jet
• Shannon Noll
• Anthony Callea
• Ricki Lee
• Guy Sebastian

Some standouts for me are The John Butler Trio and Eskimo Joe. I highly recommend listening to these 2 groups.

It makes me think what new Canadian music and artists I have missed out on hearing during 2007.

*Evermore is a New Zealand group. But because of the closeness to Oz they have lots of air play on Australian radio and have been nominated for ARIA’s.

Gay marriage – Australia, a country behind the times

Earlier this week Labour leader Kevin Rudd stated he would not support same sex marriage. This surprised me because Australia has quite a large gay population. I also thought that Kevin Rudd was a more progressive leader than Prime Minister John Howard.

I don’t know if Kevin Rudd does not support same sex marriages because he personally does not believe in it. Or because he is trying to get elected and feels the Australian people are not ready for such a radical change.

When you compare Australia to similar countries - western and commonwealth (UK, New Zealand and Canada) you can see a difference in same sex polices. Both Canada and the UK passed laws allowing same-sex marriage in 2005. While New Zealand passed controversial legislation to recognize civil unions between gay couples in 2004.

Compare this to Australia in 2004; Australian Prime Minister John Howard banned gay marriage. He inserted a definition into the marriage act stating that only a man and a woman can be married in Australia.

What is different between the UK, Canada and New Zealand versus Australia ?

I haven’t lived here long to know really, but are some thoughts.

This is a society that because of its heritage and location is a very protectionist and conservative society.

There is also a segment of this society both old and young (I hope the older more than younger generation) that is very prejudiced and holds assimilationist view towards outsiders. Some say that Prime Minister John Howard and his government policies have favoured these views as well for the past 11 years.

It’s going to take some time for these attitudes towards gay marriage to change. But no matter how far away Australia is from other parts of world, the rest of the world is going to continue to evolve and change. The global village of television, movies and the Internet opens the world to Australia. No doubt Australia will be exposed to the social and cultural changes of the world.

The one thing working in favour of Australia is the younger generation. Many young people have friends that are gay and views that are socially progressive. The future of Australia lies in its young people and that is a very encouraging sign for its future.

Trams, Cars and Speed

Within the past month there have been 3 tram collisions (2 trams colliding into each other). The latest happening this morning, with 6 people injured. The reasons Yarra Trams chief executive gave were pressure on drivers. Drivers driving 22.5 million kilometres a year in mixed traffic.

Since 2004 there have been 63 tram collisions with a high of 23 in 2004/2005. In all my years of living in Toronto I have not heard about streetcars colliding into each other. I have seen many accidents with cars/bikes running into streetcars or the other way around. It really boggles my mind why 2 trams would collide into each other.

I can understand the first tram braking or stoping to not hit a car or interfere with traffic. But how close is the 2^nd tram to the first ?

I really believe it comes down to speed. There have been numerous times I have been on a tram and been flung about when a tram brakes suddenly.

I believe that road speed is a real issue here in Australia and it concerns me. I see cars speeding in the 60 – 80KM range in a 40-50 speed zone area. In my local neighbourhood there is a shopping strip filled with parked cars and people. Many times I have seen cars pulling out of a parking spot and flooring the gas pedal.

In my time here I heard of many accidents and deaths because of speeding and alcohol issues.

What is it about speed that is so ingrained into the Aussie culture? I believe it is only limited to the younger generation, 16 – 35 year olds. This is a nation that loves sport and since I have been here I have seen more car racing sporting programs than I ever did in Canada.

Is it because they are so far away and have lots of open spaces? Is it the bloky nature of Aussie boys who love their toys – cars. Tweaking it, customizing it and racing it.

I don’t know. But it seems compared to Canada they haven’t gotten the notion that speed and alcohol kills.

I remember going to a work party back in Toronto and everybody knew they were going to drink that night. Everybody decided to take a taxi or have designated drivers when leaving at the end of the night to go home.

What will it take for a society to change their habits? More accidents and deaths.

The Worm – Decides the next PM of Australia ?

A federal election has been called and last night the first and most likely only debate between the 2 leaders took place.

What made it interesting to watch was the “worm” that was displayed under each leader as they talked. The worm is a computer generated graph that shows a positive or negative reaction based on a group of 90 “un-committed voters” who were watching and registering their responses. Because the line moves up and down based on positive or negative reaction it looks like a worm moving, hence the name.

There has been some controversy over the worm. The incumbent Prime Minister, Liberal leader John Howard did not want the worm. While the opposing Labour leader Kevin Rudd was in favour of it.

The channel that uses the worm, Channel 9 had its feed pulled half-way through the 90-minute live coverage and had to switch to two back up feeds. Channel 9 has accused the Australian Broadcasting Company (ABC is the equivalent of CBC) and National Press Club of pulling the feed on behalf of the Liberal party because the network was using “the worm” in its coverage.

After the debate, the results of the worm were 65 % in favour of Kevin Rudd, 29 % for John Howard and 6 % undecided.

The worm did not favour the Prime Minister and it has not done so in the past 2 elections. I can see why the Prime Minister is not in favour of it.

But he has won both the previous elections. The worm is not a telling indicator. It is only based on 90 people’s reactions. With 5 weeks to go a lot can change.

I hope it doesn’t, although only a visitor to this country I want Kevin Rudd to win. Although the polls are favouring Kevin Rudd at the moment, it could easily swing to Howard’s side on election day. What’s the saying go with the devil you know than the devil you don’t.

Note for Canadian readers:
Liberal party in Australia is right-winged (some say far-right party). Where as Labour is a left-winged/centrist party.

Television in Oz

September/October is the time of year when the new TV season starts in North America. It’s back to school and change of weather from hot to cold. But here in Oz it’s the start of spring. A lot of shows start in February and run till May/June. Other programs start mid year and finish up before the start of summer down under, December.

With the rise of Internet downloading of television program’s some shows that would normally start next February have started in October here. Also new shows have aired a week later as well. One station calls it Fast Tracked, another calls it Streamed Direct.

Because the world is becoming a smaller place because of the Internet. It has forced the networks down under to air television programs as soon as it is aired in North America.

But they have only done so for a few of the shows. The following shows are now showing a week after they air in North America:

• Heroes
• Bionic Woman (New)
• Prison Break
• Life (New)
• Californication (New)

Other shows like CSI, Desperate Housewives, How I Meet your Mother and Scrubs will air next year February. Along with all the other popular shows (NCIS, Numbers, Law & Order etc.)

I like the Australian model of airing the shows in one go of continuous showing. No repeats or breaks due to a 4-5 month showing, versus the 8 month period in North America with holidays or TV rating schedules (sweep months) also factoring when to air programs.

But it also means waiting and getting it after it is shown in North America. I can understand the downloading phenomena of instant gratification.

There is a segment of the population who like to watch shows in one go and will wait for the DVDs to come out and watch an entire season in a couple of days. No waiting for 8 months to know the outcome. But you have to be vigilant and wait for the DVD’s to come out after it has aired on television. That can be another 3 – 6 months wait. Many people say it is worth it for the pleasure to watch commercial free and an entire season at your leisure.

Volunteering (a day in the life of …)

On Wednesday afternoon’s from 5 – 7pm I volunteer at the Fitzroy Computer Clubhouse, which is part of the Fitzroy Learning network. The Fitzroy Learning network is a community based neighbourhood program where people from diverse backgrounds can get assistance with education and social/life skills. They assist new immigrants/refuges that need a helping hand. Often this is the first place people can get ESL lessons, information and support.

The Computer Clubhouse is modelled on the computer clubhouse established in 1993 in Boston. There are now over 100 computer clubhouses around the world. Their goal is to provide a creative and safe after-school environment for young people from under-served communities. Working with mentors, children/teens between 8-16 years explore and develop their ideas through the use of computers and technology.

I have been a mentor for the past 2 and half months. At times it has been a trying experience because not a lot of the kids want to do projects. A lot of times they want to play games or use the Internet. As a mentor you are only there to help them and cannot force them to do something they do no want to do.

Yesterday we had a situation where the clubhouse had to be closed an hour early. An incident occurred where 3 girls took a boy’s brand new shoes and threw it up a tree and when it fell back to the ground the back of the shoe split open. After that happened the boy came back to the clubhouse and tried to get the girls bag and punched the white board. Then a mob mentality occurred with boys and girls ganging up and chasing each other. At that point the Club House coordinator decided it was not a safe environment and closed the clubhouse an hour early.

All this happened unbeknownst to me. I was helping a girl with her website. I only realized what was happening after the clubhouse coordinator was chasing the boy who came back into the clubhouse.

After the clubhouse was closed we sat with the refugee support co-ordinator and discussed what happened and the implications and future actions. It was determined clubhouse is a privilege for the members and that punishment would have to given to the girls who damaged the shoes (suspended for a period of time, before allowed back to the clubhouse). Also the clubhouse would be closed the next day until both parties had time to talk about the problem and it was addressed to all members, as the gang/vigilante like behaviour was not accepted. Also it was determined the kids would no longer be able to leave the clubhouse, play in the park and come back to clubhouse. They either have to stay in the clubhouse or if they leave they cannot come back. Finally the boy needed to be talked to as well. Even though he was wronged, he shouldn’t have tried to take the girls items or damage property. As well as create this gang of boys chasing the girls. He is one of the leaders in the group of young children and needs to understand his role and what is expected of him.

The club house coordinator was a bit shaken up. For me it was learning experience of what children can be like and the discipline needed to address such a situation.

Later that evening as I was trying to fall asleep I felt sorry for the boy. The shoes were a pair of $120 shoes. Hearing from the support coordinator the shoes would have been an expensive item for his family to purchase. The boy would have felt this and I’m sure it would be hard for him to go home and tell his family what happened.

It made me think how children can be so cruel at times. Also we live in a time of unprecedented consumerism and materialism. I’m sure it must be hard for parents of meager means with children to accommodate their desire of items like shoes/clothing and all the accessories and toys children want.

Melbourne City Romp

On Sunday 14^th October I participated in the Melbourne City Romp. It’s described as part tressure hunt, part amazing race and part puzzle. In teams of 2 – 6 people you walk or public transport it (no running) around the city. When you find the checkpoint you receive a random question/challenge. The challenge is described as using a mix of “observation, brain power and teamwork”. The tag line for the event is “think you know Melbourne…?”

It was put together by the City of Melbourne in conjunction with the Victorian government and Yarra Trams Melbourne. The money raised going towards the Burnet Institute. The Burnet Institute is the leading infectious diseases, immunology, cancer and public health institute in Australia.

I was interested in doing this and put together a team of myself and 4 other people. I was the team captain and our team name was Navman’s Navigators.

To answer questions and challenges you have to use your mobile phone to text the question code and answer. You are given a choice of 5 possible answers.

For 4 hours we went all over the city using our feet and the trams. For a lot of the challenges we had to use our eyes and find things like pictures, patterns, number of steps, number of wheels, number of lions in statues, reading plagues and finding the right answer.

It was a lot of fun, the weather was perfect temperature and at the end of the 4 hours our bodies and especially feet were very tired.

Looking back at my motives yesterday it was for points and to win. But maybe I should have slowed down and enjoyed it some more. See some of the iconic places in Melbourne that were open to us, such as the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground). It was a team effort/game and all of us were very excited and competitive.

Maybe next year if we all play again we will take a different approach. Or maybe not, because it is so much fun and the competitive nature takes over.

High speed Internet access – Canada and Oz

When coming to Oz and investigating broadband access I was appalled at the prices. Prices were based on the amount of data you downloaded and speed. Coming from Toronto where I have had broadband in my home since 1999 and initial speed of 1.5MB and then 3MB with no data restrictions it was a shock to me.

Since being in Oz I have learned that both cable (Rogers) and ADSL(Bell) providers have started having data caps and charging for excess data usage. As well as increasing prices for plans.

The reason for this in Canada is high usage of bandwidth for things such as Bittorent downloads (movies, music, programs) and other heavy bandwidth usage like online videos.

The reasons Oz have high costs is because of their location and infrastructure - it’s a big country. The ISPs are charging costs that are viable to do business and now Canadian companies are doing the same.

In Oz I pay $50 a month for a 16GB plan with a speed of 1.5MB. My ISP also offers off-peak data period between 1am – 9am where only 50% of data is counted. It meets my needs and that includes a lot of downloading.

I wonder if having not lived in Oz if I would have had the same reaction to data caps and price increases now being introduced in Canada.

The world is changing and one thing that doesn’t change is a company’s bottom dollar. If it costs more to do business then that cost is passed on to the customer. It happened here in Oz and I switched to another ISP to maximize my spending dollar.

Bebel Gilberto in Melbourne

Last night I saw Bebel Gilberto at the Arts Centre. Bebel sings in both Portuguese and English, the majority of her songs are in Portuguese. She lives in New York and has done collaborations with David Byrne, Thievery Corporation, Mike Patton, Towa Teo and Arto Lindsay.

Bebel is the daughter of Brazilian musician Joao Gilberto, also known as “the Legend” in Brazil. He’s famous for the song the Girl from Ipanema that was performed with Stan Getz and Astrud Gilberto (Bebel’s stepmother).

Because of who her father is, she is often associated with singing Bossa Nova. She describes her music as “Brazilian and pure”. Her music style is hard to describe. The easiest would be to call it “Brazilian Chill”.

When listening to her music (both live and recorded) it feels surreal, her voice does sound pure. She sounds soulful beyond her years. The music envelopes and engages you. It makes you feel like you are transported to another place – Brazil perhaps ? It gave me a giddy feeling and a natural high. I found I was bobbing my head or taping my feet while at the concert.

Even though I did not understand any of her Portuguese songs, the music and the melody of her voice just makes you feel alive. Music can truly transcend language.

Bebel has a very strong presence on stage. Somewhat diva like, not in a negative way but a playful way. She enjoys singing and also enjoys the music her band plays. At times when she is not singing, she is dancing along to the music. She likes feedback from the audience and encourages it.

After 80 minutes she left the stage and I felt like only a short time had passed. Luckily for me and the rest of the audience she came back on for another 30mins.

I would say it was the best concert I have attended and I highly recommend you seeing her live. If you don’t get the chance to, then pick up her CDs:

Her latest album is ‘Memento’ (2007) released earlier this year. Her other two albums are ‘Bebel Gilberto’ (2004) and ‘Tanto Tempo’ (2000).

Seeing Bebel Gilberto in concert will be one of many highlights of my time in Australia.

Visit her website to sample her music - www.bebelgilberto.com

Melbourne Radio Stations

Melbourne has a large eclectic range of FM radio stations. It comprises of both community and commercial stations.

I am quite surprised at the amount of radio stations and variety when compared to Toronto. To a give you a brief outline - they have 14 community radio stations, 3 contemporary/Top 40, a Gay and Lesbian, 2 Alternative, 1 progressive/under-represented, country, ethnic, Christian and a variety of rock/classic hits stations. All together there are 38 FM stations. As well as 18 AM stations.

Here are some highlights:

PBS 106.7 FM - http://www.pbsfm.org.au/
Earlier in the year I took a radio course at PBS 106.7 a community based station that relies heavily on volunteers and user donations.

They call themselves a Progressive Broadcasting Service playing under-represented music. Their line up of shows is most impressive. PBS broadcasts gospel, jazz, blues, Aussie, disco, regaee, underground rock, electronica, folk, hip-hop, Latin, progressive rock and jazz. And much more…

You truly have to love music and a variety of music to listen to PBS. As there is a different show each day. The only constant being the Breakfast show which is aired Monday – Friday.

Fox FM - 101.9 FM - http://www.fox.com.au/
The one thing I noticed about Aussie radio shows (morning and after work) is the length the DJs go to, to engage their listeners in laughs. One station that really stands out it is Fox FM; both the morning team of Mat and Jo and afternoon show Hamish and Andy really put themselves out there.

Some examples:

Mat wore a skirt for a week after losing a bet

Hamish and Andy travel across Australia in a caravan

The entire Mat & Jo morning team were honest to each other about thoughts and feelings that had towards each other

Hammish and Andy were parents to 2 girls for a week

The Mat & Jo morning show formed a music band and in 4 days learned instruments and played together

My favourite station is Fox FM, but when I do get tired of them I have so much choice when choosing a station. Triple J, Nova, Mix, Joy, Triple M, Vega.

Listening to radio is a way of understanding the culture and humour of a society. Melbourne has a vibrant radio scene and I have gained 2 things listening to the radio – greater music appreciation and laughter.

Pizza in Melbourne

Pizza is my favourite food; I have loved it since I was 4 or 5 years old. Being in Melbourne I have had to adjust to the way pizza is sold and made here.

Pizza is big business in Melbourne. I have noticed lots of pizza places here. But there are no big franchises and no Aussie franchises. There are 2 American based franchises – Pizza Hut and Domino’s. Of the 2, Domino's has the bigger presence. But it is not on the scale of Pizza Pizza in Toronto.

The majority of Pizza places are individual stores that are located in your neighbourhood. Where I live in 1-2 KM radius there are 3 local pizza shops and 2 pizza restaurants. They do not sell individual slices and open from 5pm – 10:30pm.

There are places in the city which are open for business during the day that do sell slices. But unlike Toronto it’s not a common thing. If you want a slice of pizza and can’t find a pizza place your best option is a Baker’s Delight or a Brumby’s which will sell a variation on pizza. Some places call it slices or Focaccia or rolls. They tend to be cold and either vegetarian slice or ham/pineapples, bacon and cheese or olives and cheese. I really like the Mediterranean – peppers, olives and mushroom.

In Australia they have their own unique way of making pizza and type of pizza. Most places make pizza using thin crust, a little sauce and little bit of cheese and the topping on top of the cheese.

As for Pizza type there are few genuine Pizza’s here in Oz and lots of variations between pizza stores. Here are the most common you will come across:

Aussie
Bacon or Ham and Egg

Capriccoisa
Ham, Mushroom, Olives

Marinara
Garlic, Olives, Shrimp and Smoked Mussels

Margherita
Mozzarella and Oregano

Mexicana
Salami (Pepperoni), Capsicum(Peppers), Black Olives and Chili flakes

The Lot
Ham, Salami, Onion, Peppers, Mushrooms, Olives, Pineapples

What is my favourite ?

I have come to really like the Mexicana at my local pizza shop. It has 2 of my favourite ingredients – Pepperoni and Olives. I also enjoy the Mexicana at the Preston market. Shop on a Saturday morning and have a slice or two of cheesy Mexicana after you have bought all your fruit and veg.

44 Years of failure erased

Geelong won the 2007 AFL Grand Final. They ended 44 years of misery, failure and the expectation of falling short. No longer do they not have winning the premiership hanging over their collective heads.

Although not a footy fan I was happy for them. They won by a 119 goal margin, the largest ever in AFL history. They not only won the premiership they did it in a convincing fashion.

What this does for me is believe there is some hope for the Toronto Maple Leafs to overcome their 40 drought without a Stanley Cup. It will surely be a day many hockey fans will remember when the Maple Leafs finally win a cup. If that day ever comes many people will not know what to do with themselves.