Tuesday Night

It’s Tuesday night and it’s still quite warm, although not as hot as it has been over the last few days. A few things have happened since last I wrote.

On Saturday night I was keen to go and see some live theatre. I had the choice of two plays that I wanted to see – both student productions – “Jonah” or “Unidentified Human Remains and the True Nature of Love”. Colin had highly recommeded “Jonah” which is a musical “Set in the teeming, inner city slum of Sydney early last century this is the rags to riches story of Jonah Jones, orphan, hunchback and larrikin who claws his way up from the back streets to become king of the boot trade.” However, in the end, nudity, coarse language and adult themes won out and I chose “Unidentified Human Remains and the True Nature of Love”.

The cast wasn’t great: most of them over-acted or under-acted and had terrible voices. A bloke called Gibson Nolte – who was very good – plays the lead role of David, a young man in love with a straight friend, simultaneously trying to deal with the affections of a workmate. The workmate was played by a young bloke called Tom (something or other) who I thought was quite good (“Neighbours” material). Overall it was a pretty good evening, with some very funny moments. The Hayman Theatre at Curtin University is VERY difficult to find… as the carpark is miles from the theatre itself. Not for next time!

Sunday was bloody hot. The temperature reached almost forty degrees. To get out of the heat this afternoon I went to the Art Gallery of Western Australia.

There is a major retrospective of Howard Taylor called “Phenomena” which, “brings together work from all phases of the artist’s career. The principle emphasis of the exhibition focuses on work from the 1980s and 1990s. The dominant themes from this period: “light and space”; “forest figures”; “landscape colonnades”; “natural phenomena”;, and “forest regeneration”;

guide an exploration of his work and trace the origins of these motifs from their earliest articulations between the 1950s and the 1970s to the present.

My favourite work, by far, was a piece called Light in source reverse 1994.

In the State Art Collection (which comprises more than 15,000 works), there were two aboriginal artists which really stood out. Amongst paintings by Emily and Rover etc., there was a wonderful piece by Butcher Cherel Janangoo (now living in Fitzroy Crossing) and by a young artist (born 1979) called Ben Pushman. His first solo exhibition was all about scarring – both ritual and contemporary – in Nyoongar culture.

Work has been reasonably full-on, though there’s nothing much to report.

I’ve sent a few posts into ABBAMAIL, including one in response to Randy who watched half an episode of Parkinson and then bleated about how it wasn’t as good as Letterman, Leno, etc. to which I replied….

Scenario 1: David Letterman
“And tonight’s Top 10 is sexy Swedish babes…”

Scenario 2: Conan O’Brien
“Tell me, do Swedes really speak like the Muppet Chef…”

Scenario 3: Jay Leno
“I went to see a great show called Mamma Mia. Have you seen that
yet…”

Scenario 4: Oprah Winfrey
“After 17 years all alone Agnetha is back. You go girl..”

Scenario 5: Jerry Springer
“Agnetha Faltskog. We’ve managed to track down your stalker,
Gert. Come out from behind the screen…”

Scenario 6: Terry Wogan
“And so do you still like ice-cream time….?”

Unlike many other talk show hosts, Parkinson takes a real interest in the guest. He reads their books. He listens to their records. He watches their movies. Parkinson is not a P.R. show. Parkinson is not about Parkinson. Parkinson is about the guest being given the opportunity to honestly tell their story.

Unlike Randy’s assessment of the show as a humourless “interrogation” the program is also usually bloody funny. Witness regular episodes featuring the likes of Billy Connolly, Steven Fry and Robin Williams, where Parkinson gives them room to move, never interrupting with his own stupid one liners.

If Agnetha agrees to an interview with him, I believe he would treat her as a mature woman of fifty three, not some basket case that needs to be treated like a child. He would ask her about the music, why she chose particular songs. He would ask her about the joys and disappointments of being in ABBA. He would ask about her relationship with psycho-boy. If she had a good story to tell, he would be quiet and let her tell the story. But if she was evasive and dishonest – as many celebrities are – he would challenge her.

The reality is that Agnetha is not going to be turning up on every talk show under the sun. I’d hate the thought of her turning up on Breakfast television. I’d groan if she appeared in Australia on Rove Live. She’s going to be doing one or two interviews… probably one for tv, one for radio and one for the press. I would rather it was an honest, informed one, than a piece mindless public relations pap.