Mixed Bag

“There were so many podcasts I’ve never heard of”, I told quite a few people at last night’s Australian Podcast Awards. Though I knew a lot of people attending, including quite a few finalists and winners, there was a distinct “knowledge gap” for me about many of the commercial sector podcasts.

In contrast to the recent podcast day I attended, this was a much more “commercial” event. https://jamesobrien.id.au/2022/10/are-podcasts-dying/ There were quite a few nominees and winners from the ABC, including the podcast I work on. However, most of the nominees and winners were from podcast apps like Listnr, I Heart and Nova.

As well as some great company and conversations (and a few drinks/food), I came home with a long list of podcasts to listen to. These include “Hi, I’m Eddie” https://www.slq.qld.gov.au/discover/podcasts/hi-im-eddie produced by former ABC colleague, Rhianna Patrick, and the overall winner, “The Last Outlaw” https://thelastoutlaws.com.au/ I also came home with a realisation I need to seek out more podcasts from the commercial radio and community sectors, to know more about podcasts than just the ABC.

*With Jake, Mon and Jack, part of the team for Innies + Outies. https://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/innies-and-outies*

For me, it’s been a very busy few days.

It all started on Friday night when a couple of friends and I went to the recording of an ABC TV special, to go to air in the lead-up to Christmas. Hosted by Nazeem Hussein, the special featured a range of musicians and comedians, with an emphasis on diversity. There were lots of laughs.

*Some of the acts appearing on the Christmas Cabaret special to screen in December on ABC TV.*

It was such a delight to see long-time musical favorites like Linda and Vika Bull appear live, as well as remote video inserts from Paul Kelly in Melbourne and Kate Miller-Heidke in Brisbane. We all laughed out loud at the “rather spicy” lyrics of the song by Kate about “growing a beard down there for Christmas”.

*Vika and Linda Bull, performing at the Christmas Cabaret special to air on ABC TV in the lead up to Christmas.*

And then on Saturday, the same couple of friends and I went to the Marrickville Musical Festival. It was very much a “grassroots” musical festival, with school bands and lots of indi performers across a range of genres.

I wore my “Lismore T-Shirt” (gotta keep the word out there!!) and received lots of positive affirmations.”I love Lismore too”, one bloke said to me, sparking a realisation afterwards I might have recognised his face from home. And of course, I couldn’t resist this photo opportunity. “You can’t keep away from floods”, a friend joked on Facebook.

On Sunday I went to see the movie, “Bros”, which has been described as “the first mainstream gay romcom”. It had all of the conventional story of “love gone wrong, and then finally achieved” you find in most romcoms, except the two lead characters are men.

As much as I loved the idea of playing with the convention, I still found the film somewhat annoying. In fact, I thought it was a little “too gay” for my liking. In the back of the romantic comedy, there was a lot about “gay politics” and identity that I just wasn’t interested in. I understand why it was there, to contrast the lives of the two lead characters, I just found it personally a little distracting and alienating.

And from there, I went to the nearby Uniting Church at Newtown for the installation of my friend Karina Kreminski as a minister for one of the emerging communities, Surry Hills.

It was a wonderful experience to be there, to share the experience, and to hear an affirmation of faith.