Friday on My Mind
Songs in Our Heart # 26 Friday on My Mind (The Easybeats) (Written by Harry Vanda and George Young; released November 1966) [Also covered by David Bowie. It has an aura of suppressed violence.]
Continue Reading →A Day in the Life
A Day in the Life...(photo by Graham Crumb)
Songs in Our Heart # 25 A Day in the Life (The Beatles) (Written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney; released 1 June 1967) [The first pop anthem, weird and wonderful. 50 years on, it is still singular, with unique structure, drug-and-pop-culture-drenched imaginings, the mix of classical and pop instrumentation, and that final strident, ominous, lingering chord of E major, using the great Daniel Barenboim’s grand piano.]
Continue Reading →Aren’t Those the Eagle’s Claws?
20 July, 1969: Apollo 11 Mission lands men on the Moon, in the Sea of Tranquillity. In these days of rapid technological advances and diminishing personal heroism, it is easy to forget how earth-shaking this achievement was. But anyone alive and out of nappies in July 1969 won’t forget. “From time immemorial men have gazed into the sky and pondered, theorised, even worshipped ‘the silver ornament of night‘”.* At Rice University in Houston, 12 September 1962, President John Kennedy said: “…the eyes of the world now look into space, to the moon and the planets beyond…We have vowed that we shall…
Continue Reading →Richard Wagner & Visual Art
"Knight of the Flowers" (aka Parsifal) by Georges Rochegrosse
A talk to the Richard Wagner Society of SA by Trevor Clarke, 17 July 2016 This was a marvel of learning, a sumptuous panorama of somewhat saccharine mythical paintings, presented superbly by our fraternal guest, Trevor Clarke, member of the Richard Wagner Society of Victoria (or Danielgrad, as it is apparently now known – we wish that great State had kept its original moniker, Batmania). Trevor’s two hour talk was a fascinating and wide-ranging review, dazzling, and in some ways, dizzying, in its vast construct of connections and influence. Wagner obviously drew on the visual arts in a myriad ways –…
Continue Reading →Tiger Hunt
Those distant "Finals" seem to beckon...? (painting by Jean-Léon Gérôme )
Glenelg v Adelaide @ Glenelg Oval (Gliderol Stadium, or “The G”) 17 July 2016 A great win to the Tigers…and I wasn’t there. Maybe that’s an omen? In any case, while I was partaking of the lush decadence served up by the Richard Wagner Society’s function, Glenelg came from the back of the truck, again, and knocked-off top three wannabe, the Crows Reserves. I gather that our ebony gods, Tim Sumner and Terry Milera, got 4 goals each and helped us run-down a formidable quarter-time lead. With sterling support from the whole side, and extra goals by Josh Scott and Ziggy…
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