Mar 19

SA-175 Snap Shots of our State – How To Buy

SA-175 SNAP SHOTS OF OUR STATE

BY PETER MADDERN

ABOUT

Last year, 2011, was the 175th year of European settlement of South Australia. SA-175 Snap Shots of our State is a brilliant editorial and pictorial review of that year by local photographer and writer, Peter Maddern.

Starting with youth music festival, Summadayze on New Year’s Day and going through to the last days of the preachers in the Mall and Occupy Adelaide, Peter covers the issues of the year and freeze frames the life and times of the State in bold photographs and text.

Eschewing usual media approaches to image creation and the grand land and cityscapes normally associated with books about South Australia, Maddern focuses instead on the people of the State, adopting a photographic style of the likes of Henri Cartier-Bresson that endeavours to capture unique moments of them interacting with events and the people around them.

Glenelg Jetty - Australia Day

Editorially, SA-175 Snap Shots of our State covers all the major issues of the year, from the bombast of the Adelaide Oval redevelopment debate to the exuberance of Australia Day, from our many festivals to football and sport generally, and the unhappy mix of water, wine and politics. From Lake Eyre to the South East, Maddern has tirelessly and with great determination sought out the unusual and the splendid from events and people being involved in them.

SA 175 Snap Shots of our State is an impressive record of one man’s view of our great State, presented for the benefit of current and local citizens, our significant diaspora, visitors and for historians in years to come looking to get a feel of the life and times of South Australia at the beginning of the second decade of the third millennium and 25 years out from our 200th year as a State.

SA-175 Snap Shots of our State is now available in book stores – see further details below.

How Good Is This - Revellers at Future Music

For more information check out images and how the pages look and read on Facebook at SA-175 Snap Shots of our State\’s Facebook Page

MEDIA

Check out the write up of SA 175 Snap Shots of our State in Indaily on 2nd May here at this link.

Also, check out the author’s interview with Peter Goers on ABC 891 on 2nd May by clicking this link

WHO WILL WISH TO HAVE A COPY OF SA-175 SNAP SHOTS OF OUR STATE?

SA-175 Snap Shots of our State is a coffee table style book, printed in rich colour, that will appeal for those looking for something new and fresh in the way of a pictorial book about South Australia. It will appeal to those who:

*   live here with an interest in the affairs, events and issues of the State

At The Royal Wedding - Rundle Mall

*    were born and raised here and who now live elsewhere, interstate or overseas

*    enjoy great photography of people and events

*    are looking for a unique gift about the State

*    are tourists to this State

*    have an interest in the history of this State

BOOK STORES

Upon its release on 1st April, SA-175 Snap Shots of our State will also be available in the following select book stores:

Dillons Bookshop                            162 The Parade, Norwood 5067                    (08) 8331 0946

Dymocks – Rundle Mall                    135 Rundle Mall, Adelaide 5000                     (08) 8223 5380

Dymocks – Burnside Village              Shop40C / 447 Portrush Rd, Glenside 5065     (08) 8379 2880

Mary Martin – City                           249 Rundle St, Adelaide 5000

Barossa Valley - After The Worst Vintage

(08) 8359 3525

Mary Martin – Norwood                  134 The Parade, Norwood 5067                     (08) 8361 2575

Imprints                                          107 Hindley St, Adelaide 5000                        (08) 8231 4454

Mostly Books                                  Mitcham Sq, 199 Belair Rd, Torrens Pk 5062    (08) 8373 5190

Matilda                                          8 Mt Barker Rd, Stirling 5152                          (08) 8339 3931

Art Gallery Bookshop                      North Tce, Adelaide 5000                               (08) 8207 7029

SA Museum Shop                           North Tce, Adelaide 5000                               (08) 8207 7370

Pages & More                                66 Jetty Rd, Glenelg 5045     (08) 8376 1112

Pages & More                                13 Gawler St, Mt Barker 5251 (08) 8391 1544

Pages & More                    Westfield Shopping Centre, West Lakes 5021       (08) 8356 1699

OTHER OUTLETS

Dunks on Unley                   67 Unley Rd, Parkside  5063                (08) 8373 4855

The Misty Hollow                 56 Main St, Hahndorf 5255                 (08) 8388 7440

Having A Kick and a Catch in the Amateurs

ORDERING

For any enquiries about ordering, please contact the author, Peter Maddern, direct at pmaddern@palmerstonprojects.com.au or on 0414-344447.

Otherwise ordering and payment can be done by the following methods:

Paypal – account email address is pmaddern@palmerstonprojects.com.au

Direct Deposit – Contact Peter Maddern at pmaddern@palmerstonprojects.com.au for relevant bank account details.

HOW MUCH?

For one book,   the price is $  49.95 plus $  9.95 postage and handling = $ 59.90

For two books,  the price is $  99.90 plus $12.95 postage and handling = $112.85

WITH EACH ORDER, PLEASE CONFIRM IT AND ADDRESS DETAILS FOR POSTING TO PETER MADDERN AT pmaddern@palmerstonprojects.com.au

FOR MORE IMAGES AND INFORMATION AND TO FOLLOW US VISIT

www.facebook.com/SA175.SnapShots

Or Click Here



Mar 19

FRINGE – Swami in Me – 3.5K

By Anthony Nguyen

The Adelaide Fringe has had an endless variety of comedians this year, and one of those many entertainers include Wendy Torbet, a local comedian, who performs in a witty and engaging musical comedy show based on her life experiences growing up in India, titled Swami in Me.

Clearly showing vocal skills with her singing and her guitar playing, Torbet puts a hilarious spin on several songs with rewritten lyrics that would leave the audience keel in laughter.

Although being based on her life, it is obvious that the show didn’t follow a set storyline. There were several strange subplots during the show which involved a talking (and crying) projector, naked nuns and the devil called Lucifer. These subplots were awkwardly funny, and would result in you thinking its relevance to the show and why there were there in the first place. Although it did give a few chuckles, the show would definitely suffice without these particular scenes.

Unfortunately, the continuous technical difficulties with the equipment resulted in the technician coming up onstage several times throughout the show to fix the microphone. This seemed to disrupt the flow of the performance, yet Torbet didn’t let the audience down.

Wendy Torbet is clearly a rising comedian, with a great knack for improvisation and a hilarious edge for more adult-themed jokes.

Swami in Me has two remaining shows in the week at the Crown and Archer Hotel before packing up to finish for the Adelaide Fringe. However be advised, as a large majority of Torbet’s jokes are although extremely funny, are heavily sexual-themed with some swearing, so be sure leave the children at home.

Kryztoff Rating: 3.5K

Mar 17

FRINGE – Cirque de Gymnastique – Retrospective – 4.5K

By Fiona Gardner

This cross between circus and gymnastics intertwines with film giving you 200 performers who tumble, back flip, bend like rubber and strut like its back in the 80’s while incorporating some old school tracks.

A high energy work, where each act brings along their own specific style and genre which span from circus arts, to cheerleading, aerobics, sports aerobics through to gymnastics. This show presents itself mainly as groups, keeping you constantly entertained with all these amazing talented performers in one venue at one time.

With these young developing bodies, one can be sure that a few stars will arise out of this crew. Obviously with the mass of colors and sparkles, names are not easy to come by, although you can definitely pick the ones that shine.

One of my favorites was the sparkling glow stick little rhythmic team, with ultra flexi backs, rolling right over their heads, almost looking identical! Each work having a moment to shine; the girls who suspended from the tissue supporting another girl below, Bounce, Bounce, Bounce; definitely made you want to fly, not to mention the Harlequin Spirals Wheel Team; where one women quoted behind ‘I want to do that,’ – they obviously had made their feats look rather easy.

This great event held in South Australia even attracted Flip 4 Fun from Victoria, which I must say as a whole were the strongest looking team together. Definitely a great show mixed in with film and some great tracks.

Kryztoff Rating  4.5K

Mar 17

FRINGE – The Three Minute Project – Genevieve Brandenburg – Mercury – 5K

In the 1960’s Andy Warhol got potential stars to his Factory to pose, without blinking, into a black and white camera as their screen test.

Local girl Genevieve Brandenburg took that concept last year and expanded upon it, asking, as it turned out over 220 friends, acquaintances and randoms to sit before a colour camera, set rolling by Sam Young, in Hindley Street’s Reading Room and do whatever for three minutes.

The outcome of that social experimentation was revealed last night at the Mercury Cinema. It is extraordinary.

Slice and dice this epic any way you wish but at one level it represents a truly fascinating record of the looks, fashions, issues and concerns of Adelaide’s uni student youth (with others as well) circa 2011. As such it draws you in and increasingly so – is this me, was this me, what would I have done, is this the future of our state and nation, why so much metal work in otherwise attractive faces?

One postulated early on that he assumed all who had come before would have tried to be funny but he wondered whether he would do that as well. As understandable an assumption as that kid made, what presents itself is in fact quite different. Many just sit there, fiddle or stare but say nothing while others recite passages from Blake, Van Gogh and Shakespeare. Some talk about events of note in their life – the death of their father, being Christian and busking, homophobia. Others do attempt to various degress of sucess to be funny.

But as each appears, one can’t help but get drawn into their faces, their expressions, what makes them different and therefore what emerges as Brandenburg says the project does, as ‘a celebration of the individuality, creativity and beauty of the human being.’ (The young guy with the mouse crawling around his neck as he recites a terrific joke about whales deserves a documentary of his own.)

Sure, there are a few things that might have been done or could still be done to improve it – at four hours with an interval it is all absurdly (albeit Warholian) long and the camera work would have benefitted early on with an auto focus – but that does not detract from the fact that amongst all the stand up (so called) comedy dross of the Garden, on its last weekend, the Fringe 2012 has finally struck gold with a five star project to remember.

Kryztoff Rating  5K

See our video interview with Genevieve Brandenburg at Kryztoff\’s Youtube Interview with Genevieve Brandenburg

Mar 16

I Am Google – Austral – 4K

Guests are welcomed with cookies so that their browsers will work, a good indication on how geeky this show is going to be.

I am Google, performed by Craig Ricci Shaynak, who has quite an amazing bio of his own (see his website below), takes us into the world of Google, search engines and social media, giving a glimpse into what life would be like if Google where a person.

It’s sad to hear that Twitter broke up with Google because she thought Google wasn’t funny enough. Well have you ever asked Google Maps for directions from New York, NY, United States to Tokyo, Japan? Look it up and see what way Google suggests to cross the Pacific Ocean. And Twitter thinks Google’s not funny. Go on look it up now http://maps.google.com.au

But at least since the break up Google doesn’t have to worry about the communications issues Twitter has with only talking 140 characters at a time.

When facebook hooked up with twitter, Google dropped some rumours about a timeline, and truly who loves facebooks’ timeline. 1+ for Google on getting back at facebook. But Google still isn’t happy that Twitter likes being poked by facebook.

The audience got a chance to try out Google’s Translate function plus there where guest appearances by Yahoo and Bing.

It surely does appear that answering the worlds questions 24/7 can be very  tiring. What would we do if Google decided to take a well deserved break from its mission to organise the worlds information.

A very clever, if somewhat geeky show, which will entertain the nerds and Google power users and more.

http://www.i-am-google.com/

Kryztoff Rating   4K

Mar 16

FRINGE: A Little Horse Play – Tuxedo Cat – 2.5K

After advertising last year’s version of the show as a work in progress Steve Sheehan returns with this, presumably complete version of A Little Horse Play.  A play featuring a little horse, the music of Wagner, Lizst and Satie and an Opera Singer.

The surreal premise of a restaurant ‘background comedian’ telling jokes to the music of classical composers has potential and drew the biggest laughs early on in the play as did the ridiculous transcription of Wagner’s Liebestod.  Thereafter, the play ventures deeper into surrealism with Sheehan performing classical pieces with a horse mask on and an actual small horse walking around the stage whilst an Opera Singer mimes various mis-haps with animal masks on.  Yes, this won’t appeal to your average stand-up comedy fan.

As an exercise in absurdity this is certainly bizarre.  As a piece of abstract clowning there was little in the way of laughs from the packed out audience.  Sheehan is obviously a funny man, his bumbling mumbling character could have drawn bigger laughs but there was more focus on the music and mimicry.

This may find an appreciative audience but with some fine tuning I think it could have a much wider appeal.  But then again that’s probably not what Steve, or the horse want.

Mar 15

FRINGE – Counterproductives – Mr and Mrs – Bakehouse Theatre – 3.5K

By Julia Loipersberger

Everybody has been through that awkward experience late at night at a dinner party – everyone has had a little too much to drink and all of a sudden one of the couples starts bickering in the corner. It starts off quite funny and somewhat light-hearted, but all of a sudden sarcastic asides about sexual performance and snide remarks about the quality of somebody’s cooking are being made, and all of the guests start to feel uncomfortable about being engaged in a ‘no-longer-completely-joking’ domestic dispute.

‘Mr and Mrs’, the Australian premiere of a show by stand-up comics Liz Stephens and Aaron Counter – who are both actually married, to each other – is a lot like a repeat of one of those awkward evenings. Commencing with video footage of an ‘actual attendance’ at counselling sessions, the show was a remarkably candid view into the challenges, joys, frustrations and difficulties of being married stand-up comedians.

Everybody in the audience was able to relate to the humorous tales of married woe shared by Liz and Aaron. At times a bit stilted, it was apparent that not all of the jokes had come from their ‘real life’, which gave the appearance of the performers trying a bit too hard. Similarly, a lot of the show revolved around those awkward scenarios about who is allowed to win arguments and whether Liz is always right, which made me squirm a little in my seat. Nonetheless, most of the content of the show was truly funny, and made for a genuinely enjoyable hour.

As Tolstoy once said, ‘Happy families are all alike. Unhappy families are all unhappy in their own way’. If the familiarity and hilarity of the troubles narrated by Liz and Aaron is anything to go by – such Aaron specially picking a comfortable sofa because he knew he would spend a lot of time on it, Liz being asked if she was a victim of domestic abuse because nobody could believe anybody could be clumsy enough to fall down stairs AND walk into a door within two weeks – then this must be a very happy marriage indeed. Certainly it is a very enjoyable performance to attend.

Kryztoff rating  3.5K

Mar 15

FESTIVAL – Water Stains on the Wall – Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan – 2.5K

By Julia Loipersberger

It is indisputable that Chinese and Taiwanese dance troupes possess an incredible mastery of the human body, and are capable of feats of choreography that are nothing short of magical. So I always knew that, whatever else I experienced during ‘Water Stains on the Wall’ I would be experiencing stunning feats of physicality. I was not wrong.

The best way to described Water Stains is to say that it is sparse – the performance commences with some thirty semi-naked performers assembled on a white stage – and, apart from the fact that the number of performers on the stage constantly ebbed and flowed and that occasionally black clouds passed across the surface of the stage, this is how the performance continued. Although at times there was music, this was not consistent throughout the performance, meaning that there were lengthy periods of near-silence, with the only audible sounds the ‘swoosh’ of the dancers’ feet and clothes as they cavorted across the stage.

This produced an absolutely amazing effect, giving the appearance that the dancers were floating through the air, which was absolutely mesmerising. For about ten minutes. Unfortunately, the performance went for 70 minutes with no interval, and there was absolutely no variation in the music, backdrop or even the nature of the performers’ actions. ‘Minimalist’ in this circumstance is definitely an understatement.

It goes without saying that the performance of each of the dancers was flawless and exactly as choreographed. For those of you who are interested in technical brilliance only, this show is well worth purchasing a ticket to. For everybody else, unless you have an amazing attention span this show is not recommended. Although beautiful to watch, Water Stains is heavy going.

Kryztoff Rating    2.5K

Mar 15

FESTIVAL – A Streetcar – Festival Theatre – 2K

It’s Festival time and in recent iterations that has meant, along with a big audience production (this year Morricone, last time Mahler) there is in each festival some foreign theatre that just fails.

A Streetcar is a French production based on Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire. On arrival for the patrons last night, the big Festival theatre stage possessed a long glass rectangular cuboid which formed an at times stunning secondary stage within the main as a modern bathroom. Beneath lay ten pin bowling pins which were of no great assistance at all. To attempt to help us through the French, a screen for surtitles was perched above the stage.

The perception of the worth of much of modern art seems nowadays to be to lay it on as big and as bold as one can imagine, dress it up as avant-garde and look down on those in the audience who don’t get it or dare to ask the question whether the new emperor has any clothes.

A Streetcar is one of those productions that whatever merits it may be afforded in Paris they have failed to make the trip to Adelaide.

For starters, the rat-a-tat dialogue, especially of Blanche, played by the much acclaimed Isabelle Huppert, was simply too quick for the sub-titler and indeed caused a break down early on. (The use of en English grammarian on what was shown may also have been of value.) The signing by Eunice was horrible, over amplified (if not redundant) and delivered with little stage aplomb. The portrayal of Blanche was unhappy; there was no way this unhinged sex fiend could ever win sympathy in our hearts. There was some nudity that often was gratuitous and the whole production necessitated an audience, stuck in their chairs for near on 2 ½ hours, to sustain an attention across at least two eye levels, making for a most uncomfortable experience.

As mentioned, art nowadays can be quite condescending to its patrons but at some point it is they, and only they, who pay the bills. A Streetcar was simply over ambitious, with too little done to make the shift from one country to another work. At the end of the day, a play stands and falls on its message but when an audience has to struggle so hard to make head or tail of what is happening,  no amount of fancy bathroomware, video or histrionics can close the gap. This Streetcar simply left its audience behind.

Mar 15

FRINGE: Tom Green Live – Royalty Theatre – 4K

For those of you who don’t remember, Tom Green was the vacant face of MTV about 10 years ago, he was the pre-cursor to Jackass and other ‘gross-out’ comedy and starred in a handful of Hollywood flops.  Tens years later after a battle with testicular cancer, appearances on Celebrity Apprentice and his own web chat show he is touring the world and going back to his stand-up roots.

For this show, Green seems to have left the shock value antics behind him brilliantly paying reference to it only.  Despite being 40, the Canadian has kept his frenzied charm, staring hysterically at individual audience members whilst lamenting the lost innocence of finding printed pornography in the woods, the addictive and destructive qualities of social media and thanking the crowd for coming out in the rain (about 15 times).  The performance showed an assuredness and love of the craft which earned him his name in the first place.  This confidence was on display when Green noticed a reviewer scribbling notes in one of the front rows, asked for the note pad and read the critic’s notes.  After noticing the word ‘disjointed’, the former Mr Drew Barrymore proceeded to start the show again leaving out some of the more off-the-wall behaviour of his previous introduction.  The crowd loved it.  Green obviously has a loyal fan base in Adelaide two ladies returning for this second night and promising to attend the show again the following evening.

Whilst there was some hypocrisy in his criticism of the internet when the comic’s chat show (advertised and plugged throughout) is now on the web only and despite his claims to being ‘experimental’ and immediately stating he got into comedy just so he could have fun, Green’s fun is infectious and not self indulgent.  Whilst his irreverent and shocking antics over the years have not being to everyone’s taste, there is a sincerity in his desire to do something new.  Like Andy Kaufman before him, this is a comedian who likes to push the envelope not just for fun and to shock but for the art form.  Green talked candidly about his fear of death when faced with his cancer diagnosis in a touching final thought about living life to the full.  Go and see Tom Green at the Royalty Theatre, Adelaide and comedy are lucky to still have him.