Author Archive: Peter Jakobsen
Edge of Reality
(Created by Paul Grabowsky, Adelaide Festival Centre, 14 June 2023) Elvis Presley and Cabaret? But of course! If you Can Dream, avoid that Kentucky Rain, have a Little Less Conversation, perhaps have you Always on Our Mind, and do it My Way, it could work. And this night, it kinda-did, care of Paul Grabowsky’s absolutely clever re-working of the arrangements of the King’s greatest hits (and some lesser mortals), with a terrific jazz/rock/fusion band (piano, guitar, cello, clarinet, trumpet, fiddle, drums, glockenspiel?) and starring celebrated Australian vocalists Joe Camilleri and Deborah Conway, Edge of Reality is a unique tribute to…
Continue Reading →Richard Wagner: “The Ring” Reprise
The Ring on TV and in Adelaide On Sunday 28 May 2023, the Richard Wagner Society SA celebrated the Maestro’s birthday with a cake cutting, and an array of Wagner accoutrements (see below). And President Geoff Siedel introduced two documentaries on that well known “story of a man who buys a house and can’t keep up the payments”, the first concerning the televised premiere of a Bayreuth Ring in 1980; the second concerning the mounting of the Adelaide production in 2004. These items above were from the sublime Adelaide Ring. As we have written, with Asher Fisch rehearsing at great…
Continue Reading →F.B.I. – Following Barack’s Instructions
The Durham Report drops (12 May 2023) On 6 May, 2016, George Papadopoulos, an unpaid foreign policy advisor to the Trump campaign for the Presidency, indulged in bar talk with some Australian diplomats in London, to the effect that Russian operatives had supplied dirt on Hilary Clinton, to the Trump campaign. As if one couldn’t find enough Clinton dirt on one’s own. The diplomats passed that info to the Obama Administration, and Barry’s goons went to work immediately. All the odious apparatus of the Deep Swamp State went into overdrive, and as Durham concludes (in his truly stunning, and likely…
Continue Reading →Back to the Future
Glenelg v North Adelaide, 13 May 2023 (John Sandland Cup) It was a very pleasant autumn afternoon, starting with a 104 point win to the Tigers Reserves, and then, in celebration of the 50th anniversary of The Greatest Game Ever Played, surviving members (or next of kin) of the 1973 Premiership Team paraded on to the ground, led by Captain Peter Marker. The Sacred Heart School Drummers gave all of them a fine volley of percussion. It was a lovely trip down Amnesia Lane to catch up with the Greats from that Greatest of Great Days, including Neville Caldwell, Peter…
Continue Reading →Vale Barry Humphries
(17 February 1934 – 22 April 2023) On Saturday night (22/4/23) TVC went to see the very funny Jimmy Carr. Later on, we saw his tweet: “A bit bittersweet doing gigs in Australia this evening, Barry Humphries has passed and no one will ever be as good at crowd work again.” Whilst something of a polymath, Humphries’ great legacy was established on the boards. His one-man, multi-character work in the theatre is unmatched. Most famous is his Housewife Gigastar, Dame Edna Everage. Caroline Overington, in the Sydney Morning Herald, described Dame Edna as “a perfect parody of a modern, vainglorious…
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