Conchita Wurst and Wiener Würstchen

Conchita Wurst (from Eurovision TV)

So, Conchita Wurst (Spanish/German translation = chick with a dick) has won the Eurovision contest. Apparently she grew up a gay in a small Austria town and survived by creating Conchita Wurst.

I have just seen the online version of the song and I agree with those who are saying it sounds like a new 007 James Bond theme.



Austria is home of the Vienna Philharmonic, renowned for it's misogynist hiring policies and some wag has created a cute cartoon. .

(Cartoon from von heute auf morgen website)

The subtitle says 'There are rumours that the Vienna Philharmonic has been infiltrated by females.'

The inspector in the picture is saying "Aha ... and what is this??"

Cecilia Bertoli as Castrati

Cecilia Bartoli

Sorely in need of a musical interlude, I am listening to the astonishing voice of Cecilia Bartoli, with the equally astonishing and vibrant Il Giardino Armonico .

I saw Il Giardino Armonico  perform in Maribor a couple of years ago and it was a performance I will never forget.  They were stunning. Many of the old instruments are more difficult to play than their modern equivalents but they make paying them seem easy.   Just like Bartoli, who sings without seeming to breath at all.

Just listen to this!

Audio from 2GB

Wow! Listen to what is happening in Queensland ... told by shock jock Alan Jones.

If you don't want to listen to the whole thing, fast forward to the interview with the journalist Heather Brown. She is worth listening to. 

Amazing!

Blimey, what a pre-budget fracas

Forgive me readers for being off-subject, but I read that other artists have been equally distracted from their art by current political shenanigans. It is no wonder, as each day brings more alarms and bombshells.  Australians have always been proud of their fair-go society, but it appears that we are to be dragged into the age of 1% whether we like it or not. Government budgets are often fought over, but this year's Australian Federal budget is turning into a fiasco and let me tell you why.

Joe Hockey, Treasurer (from The Guardian website)

The Audit report commissioned by the Abbott Government to support their budget has turned into a political cluster bomb. The auditors were selected from such a narrow group of far-right people that the resulting audit is seen as a piece of political rhetoric, instead of an assessment of the nations finances. Those who have analysed the figures  are finding errors, gaps  and figures purposely misinterpreted to fit an ideology. The economist Ross Gittins says the audit report shows what sort of Australia these men envisage, an Australia following the USA down the 1% path.

The audit report was probably written to show voters just how hard budget cuts could be, in the hope that lesser cuts would not look so bad. The plan might have worked except for the environment in which this is all taking place, with the corruption inquiry (ICAC) in NSW showing that businesses (especially miners and property developers) appear to have been buying favours by donating to Liberal Party (currently governing NSW) coffers and that these (often illegal) donations have been deliberately disguised from the eyes of voters by the Liberal Party.  A Premier and four members of the Liberal Party in NSW, two of them Ministers, have had to step down and more are likely. It appears that politicians will do anything for a buck, sign off dodgy mining licenses and  property developments for example. All of this is being reported instantly via social media, especially twitter which has gained a host of followers who depend upon it to point them to  trustworthy news sources. (Our print media is largely dominated by the Murdoch Press.)

The money trail appears to lead right to Canberra and citizens are now calling for a Federal corruption body to investigate.

The Federal Government (also Liberal Party) has been lamenting budget black holes left by the previous government but in the meantime many people are aware that there was no black hole, except that created by the current government (ABC Fact check: Government has doubled the budget black hole due to their own policies).

The Government says they have to balance the books, but they have also just spent over 12 billion dollars on 72 new jet fighters. People are scratching their heads and wondering if the government thinks they are especially stupid. In addition, before the election Prime Minister Abbott repeatedly promised there would be 'no new taxes'. It was his 'core' promise, repeated ad-infinitum. His budget is to include new taxes and levies, which comes as a big shock to many who voted for him. Perhaps he thinks he can disguise permanent cuts to health, education and welfare by introducing taxes on the more privileged which he says are to be short term (but of course, now you cannot trust what he says).

Is it any wonder that people are turning off this government in droves? When  Labour self imploded before the last election it would have been difficult to believe that they would have a fighting chance winning back government after just one term.  Whether they have sorted out their issues well enough to actually win the next election is debatable (supporting a call for a Federal ICAC would certainly help) but in the meantime support for the Greens, the only party not touched by the corruption inquiry,  has soared.

Blackwall painting

Autumn light: the wharf at Blackwall

On Tuesday mornings the wharf at Blackwall is very quiet and the long carpark under the trees almost empty. It seems to attract people wanting exactly that quiet. When I arrived with my painting gear two cars were parked near the wharf, the drivers of both locked in an embrace on a backseat.

Although the view is pretty it lacks any focal point but I sketched the wharf  and road and pale autumn sky. Two more painters from the painting group turned up and the people in the amorous cars left.

View north to Woy Woy over Brisbane Waters

I walked down to the other end of the parking area for a different view. Just as I reached it another car sped in and out jumped two young men in very spivvy suits.They hung around a minute or two, then when they saw me setting up my easel they jumped right back into the car and sped off.

Painters are such a nuisance when they take over quiet spots.

Never underestimate the power of music

Ecopella Choir members arrested

Singers from the Ecopella Choir are being arrested after protesting to call on the government to protect Leard State Forest, the surrounding Maules Creek community and the planet from coal mine expansion.

 'Never underestimate the power of music to disarm and calm' comments a twitter respondent.

'Never underestimate the power of music to inspire to action', appears to be the case for the Ecopella Choir.

In the meantime we read that the head of corporate affairs for a mining company at the centre of an environmental dispute has been in charge of developing policy on the environment for Queensland's ruling Liberal National Party (LNP) since 2012.

Sollima and the ACO

Giovanni Sollima
Sketched while he played at the
Maribor Festival, 2011

The ACO is touring with crack cellist Giovanni Sollima. I saw them last week and they give a concert you will never forget. If you have a chance to see them, then do go.

Sollima and his cello are the most extraordinary phenomenon, welded together they sing and cry and poke fun. You watch and listen, laugh and cry and fall into a swoon.

If you need more convincing, here is a link to Sollima playing a piece he wrote and plays with Monika Leskovar.

Leunig captures the mood

Cartoon by Leunig (taken from twitter feed)

The latest cartoon from Leunig reflects the mood of Australians right now.

They are watching their Government  turn into McCarthyites, arrest medics (below) raise taxes when they promised (many times) not to and dis their beloved (and efficient) Medicare sytem.

There is a program on ABC later today inquiring into whether we now accept that politicians lie, and if we do, what that means. One journalist has likened our current government to politicians in some 'developing' countries. He writes with dismay that you just can't trust what they say any more.

Do they think the population wont notice I wonder?

85 - the new 69

Eighty five, it sounds so innocuous and reminds me of ladders for some reason. Perhaps there were 85 steps on the snakes and ladders we used to play as kids. I had not known 85's urban dictionary meaning 'Distortion of the truth way beyond belief and or An Absolute Avalanche of Bullshit' but in NSW this week it is a definition that is on everybody's lips because 'eighty five' is the name of the firm that was set up by State Liberal Party to funnel illegal funds into their party coffers. The ICAC inquiry is showing that illegal funds came from property developers amongst others and it appears that they were donating in return for favours. The choice of name for the slush fund shows just how cynical the players were (and are).

Doctor locked on to protest

The folk who set the company up and arranged for donations were no small fry. The NSW Premier has had to resign and now his ministers are falling, one after the other. The Minister for Police resigned today.  There are so many links between the corrupt players of both political parties that it is difficult to keep track, but the  ABC has created an amazing interactive web graphic to help interested observers.

These corrupted politicians were responsible for issuing the coal mining and fracking licenses that have so incensed the citizenry. NSW farmers and their supporters are saying all the licenses should now be withdrawn.

This morning a group of doctors and medical students have locked themselves onto rigs at the Leard State Forest development to protest development of the coal mine there.

GetUp campaign poster

The Federal Treasurer said on the radio the other day that he found the sight of wind farms that you can see from a distance from the road to Canberra ' deeply offensive'.   Suddenly the whole quagmire of corporate control of government becomes blindingly obvious.

The Green Party has long called for a Federal ICAC but they have been thwarted by both major parties in their attempts to get one established. Our democracy depends on unencumbered politicians and it is now clear that a federal corruption watchdog is needed as well as a discussion of how to fund elections.

One of the people who has helped keep us informed about developments in the bush is the citizen journalist Margo Kingston. She and ICAC might together be pivotal in turning Australia away from it's path of climate destruction to one of climate rescue. Go Margo! Go ICAC!

Addendum: the medics have been arrested...  arrested for trying to protect people' health.

Holley has her say

The Coal Seam Gas issue is dividing the community (mainly the financial elite from everyone else) and causing alliances to flourish between parties who had not had cause to work together before (farmers and the Green party).  Here's what 10 year old Holley says:

Mining and corrupt NSW Politics

This art and music blog is once again overtaken by politics. Current NSW twitter feed is astonishing and irresistible.

Geoffrey Watson at ICAC hearing

We are finding out through the ICAC (Independent Commission Against Corruption) just how corrupt NSW politicians on both sides of politics are. We heard about the dealings of Labour power broker Eddie Obeid and his colleagues in the last inquiry, and now we are hearing about equally devious and illegal practices in the Liberal Party.  A fourth Liberal MP has just stood down.

 It turns out that mining companies (among others)  have been buying favours.

At the same time as ICAC is sitting citizens are protesting on the farms against the mining companies and trying to prevent them destroying farmland and forests. Over 120 people have been arrested at the Leard Forest site (see blogpost of April 3rd), among them local farmers, doctors and others who have come to support them.

Go Knitting Nannas!

Now police are preparing to break down the Bentley blockade which is a gathering to prevent Coal Seam Gas drilling on a farm in northern NSW.  It has been suggested that the police should arrest the current government instead. The blockade has wide local support, including a group of knitting Nanas from Armidale. They are knitting yellow ties.

The Federal Government is enmeshed in the corruption as well as the State Government. The Federal Assistant Treasurer Arthur Sinodinos has already had to stand aside and there is an increasing feeling that the stench goes right to the top. The Government is paying spies to track what the population is saying on social media and intimidate them. As I blogged previously, government employees are particularly in the firing line.

When you have corrupt governments licensing corrupting mining companies and citizens being arrested for trying to protect the land that the corrupt politicians have sold off, it is time to change how we are governed.

I read that an increasing number of people are dying trying to protect their land: Study Finds Global Surge in Murders of Environmental Activists.  It makes me wonder how far corporate criminals and the people in their pay are willing to go in Australia.

Being a mother

Smiling through the clamour
Oil on canvas 45 x 60 cm

It is not easy being a mother, especially when your two  boisterous younger children are eternally in competition,  each demanding 150% of their mother's attention.

It is a gift to be able to keep smiling through the noise and demands, a gift I esteem very highly (not having inherited it myself). Greta has the gift, as you can see. Her lucky children are too small to know how rare it is, but one day they may look back, reflect and appreciate.

Lotus flowers for love

Philip and Cat with Lotus Flowers
Oil on Canvas
50 x 75 cm

Lotus flowers symbolise many things, among them beauty, purity, clarity of heart and mind and, in relationships, love.

I was intending to place this couple on a big lotus flower, but that would have been out of character and a bit twee, so I placed them among lotus flowers instead.

I saw this display of lotus flowers in the wonderful Aboretum Ellerhoop-Thiensen, in Schleswig Holstein north of Hamburg several years ago. The lotus flowers were out when I visited and were a site to see. It is a wonderful place to visit, most definitely worth a detour.

[Arboretum address: Förderkreis Arboretum Baumpark Ellerhoop-Thiensen e.V.Thiensen 4, 25373 Ellerhoop]

Biennale at Cockatoo Island

Passenger ship dwarfs ferry on Sydney harbour

On Easter Sunday the weather was perfect and I was at Circular Quay wharf before most of Sydney had woken up.

It is a short ride from there to  Cockatoo Island, formerly a convict prison, then a shipyard, and now hosting part of the Sydney Biennale artworks.

Cockatoo Island in Sydney Harbour

The island might look small on the map, but it is bigger than it appears with huge ship yard  buildings which provide perfect settings for large installation works. There are also various houses up the hill, formerly mess halls and staff quarters, with spaces for smaller works. It is quite a walk between the various buildings, up and down steep steps. Fortunately the coffee shops were open by the time I needed them,

Wicked, 2013  by Christine Streuli

The works I liked most were by European artists.

Christine Streuli had taken over the mess hall and as I wandered past her work, Wicked 2013 looking at the tattoo/graffiti inspired works that were partly painted on canvas and partly on the wall I started to wonder where her work began and ended.

Canvas and wall

Still life on the window panes, partly on canvas

Graffiti/tattoo 

Streuli is inspired by so many art forms, from 17th Century still life to wallpaper. I admired the faded pictures on the window panes and wondered how she had stuck them on so seamlessly.
I looked closely at the peeling paint on the lower wall, mindful not to touch anything, obeying the 'do not touch the artwork' notice in the middle of the room. I really could not tell where the art work began, so I asked the attendant seated by the door.

"Oh" she said, "I don't usually tell people when they walk in, but the whole thing is the art work. Have a look behind the wall - she has mirrored it exactly."

Streuli had had a false wall built into the room a meter from the original and the images on the wall reproduced those on the actual walls behind them, with the addition of the various art images.

It was very clever and made me smile.

The other work I thought outstanding was an installation in one of the giant shipyard buildings. It was called The Village, by Danish artists Randi and Katrina (Randi Joergenson and Katrina Malinovsky).

The Village

The Village is a series of quaint buildings, each one rather anthropomorphic. I paint portraits so I very often see faces where there are none, but these houses were definitely people-like, with two eyes, a nose and a mouth.

House with a face

The houses looked so cute and so welcoming but all the doors were fake, even that into the church. There as no access into this charming world.  As the program notes say, 'This is particularly and unfortunately apt as we witness the perilous situation of those who seek asylum.'

Under the harbour bridge

At noon when the ferries were packed with visitors I was ready to leave. We motored along under the  bridge and around the corner to see the opera house glinting in the sunlight. 

Sydney Opera House from the Ferry

Waiting for the Ferry to Cockatoo Island

Sydney is a city of immigrants, many of them former asylum seekers, and when I saw the long lines of people waiting to board the ferry to Cockatoo Island, I thought 'Well, they will understand The Village, even if our Immigration Minister would prefer they didn't'.

Fabulous Four

Salut Salon

This is a MUST WATCH!

Salut Salon, a quartet from Hamburg give a memorable performance of Vivaldi's Summer. 

They call it Four in Competition.

F

Beethoven Muppet style

Bust of Ludwig van Beethoven by Hagen

Time for a little light relief. ...

A muppet plays Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 8 in C Minor, op. 13,  "Pathétique".

Appreciating each moment

View from Point Clare

I joined my local art group for a paint-out today but it had been so long since I had used my portable painting kit it was lacking essentials, like a water holder, borrowed for other projects. But I had a picnic cup with me and there was plenty of water in the inlet we were painting.

This is Point Clare on Brisbane Waters. As the tide receded, mangroves roots poked out of the mud and little flying insects joined the painters.

The foreshore is popular with walkers and today they included a long lost work colleague who told me he is undergoing chemotherapy. I was left looking out over the view and thinking how short our time is, each moment to be appreciated.

Toi toi at the seaside in Waikanae, NZ

The previous sheet on my watercolour block had been painted last January in Waikanae, New Zealand. It is a view over toi toi plants in a garden overlooking the sea shore, painted from the top floor of a friend's house. The weather had been so inclement, with such strong winds that it had been almost impossible to paint outside.

Not that you would know from the painting.

Stasi Australia

Anyone who lived through the Stasi era in Germany would be getting goose bumps right now in Australia.  Newspapers today are reporting that the rules are being changed to encourage public servants to dob in mates who they think might be criticising Abbot Government on social media, even if it is in a personal sphere or anonymous. But isn't it a public servant's job to critique proposed policy and point out flaws before they are made law? These new rules would have the effect of making that impossible. (There are interesting comments after the article.)

.

(Courier Mail, page 20) Tweet:Welcome to East Germany!
#auspol pic.twitter.com/n8bL3i7ECW
— Anna (@AB_Nanna) April 5, 2014)

So we can be bigots, but not criticise the government. Right.  I wonder when we will be required to get a haircut like that of our dear leader?

Coal mines, police and twitter

This art/music blog seems to have been captured by politics, but how can I resist when politics here has become high art (or high farce)? This week NSW Police are claiming intimidation by Twitter!

In Australia coal mining companies are using the tactics that oil companies have used for years in Africa. You can always find a corrupt politician to bribe and here in NSW they come from both sides of politics. Farmers are being left with no one left to defend their interests, so they are starting to take direct action themselves.

Whitehaven Coal, already involved in a high profile political corruption investigation, is forging ahead with their disputed Mauls Creek mine regardless of hundreds of submissions against this mine (I read that there were 300 submissions and only one wanted the mine to proceed).

Protesters in NSW were inspired to action this week by the most recent IPCC climate change report and decided to have a picnic in the forest where the disputed Whitehaven Maul's Creek mine site is to be built. They were on their way when they were stopped by a police car blockade. (When did police start becoming the private army for coal mining companies?)

Police were photographed by activist journalist Margo Kingston blockading the road and she posted her photos on twitter. The next day NSW police claimed intimidation by twitter!

Later in the day eighty two protesters were arrested for trespass including Bill Ryan, 92 year old veteran of the kokoda trail. He said he was proud to be there among the cream of Australian society. 

Here is a video made by the farmer organising actions against mining in the Leard State Forest in northern NSW.


And below is a video featuring Bill Ryan.

Sirs and Dames not legal?

Quentin Bryce in the SMH

Oh dear, perhaps conferring Imperial Honours on the outgoing and incoming Governor Generals in Australia was not legal?

The picture the Sydney Morning Herald used to illustrate this breaking news shows a laughing outgoing Governor General Quentin Bryce, which says it all really. There was talk that Prime Minister Abbott had shafted the popular and charming Bryce by nominating her as Dame (an honour she could not refuse without getting into a dog fight with Abbott)  because her son-in-law is current leader of the opposition and she herself is a republican. She accepted the honour but said she wouldn't use it. Now we find it may not be hers to use!


In the meantime, here is a little video that shows Australia's reaction to the Sirs and Dames issue.