Aussie music

Feature wall at the ARIA Awards exhibition in Melbourne

Las Vegas

Arrival at McCarran International Airport

The scene from my bedroom at the Park MGM Hotel

The Conservatory at the Bellagio Hotel

The water feature in front of Bellagio and other hotels across the road

All these buildings constitute one hotel called New York, New York

Excalibur Hotel

Mandalay Bay Hotel

Luxor Hotel

Hello punter!

Treasure Island (left) and The Venetian (centre and right)

The Venetian

The Venetian

The Ricky Martin Show gets underway

Ricky Martin

Melissa Errico

Another flashback to New Orleans. Whilst there we attended a concert by Melissa Errico, a performer with an interest in performing Broadway numbers, especially those of Stephen Sondheim.

An excellent concert.

✮✮✮✮

Street Jazz, New Orleans

Palm Court Jazz Cafe

The party starts to warm up over dinner at the Palm Court Jazz Cafe in New Orleans.

From Broadway to La Scala

This one off concert in the Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House today follows on from similar concerts staged in 2015. Opera Singers Teddy Tahu Rhodes, David Hobson, Greta Bradman and stage and screen performer Lisa McCune perform a series musical and operatic favourites. Limited concerts are also programmed for other capital cities.

Today's performance was enjoyed by an enthusiastic audience overwhelmingly of my generation or similar.

Two disappointments. One was the non performance of 'Au fond du temple saint' from The Pearl Fishers although it was mentioned in the (expensive) program. The second being the variable sound quality and levels in the Concert Hall.

Overall though I shared the general enthusiasm around me.

✮✮✮✮

Opera Theatre, Sydney Opera House

A character and a gentleman

David Bowie 1947 - 1969

I met David Bowie in Hong Kong in the late 1970s. He was en route to perform in Australia and I was a Government official who was required to speak to him about his entry and stay. Mr Bowie was part way through a long and tiring journey and his manager wanted to spare him the nuisance of personal attendance to this matter.

As an internationally renowned celebrity Mr Bowie could have been irritated by this bureaucratic 'intrusion' into his day to day business. He could have spat the dummy or he could have sought special and priority treatment in some display of self importance. That would have been the behaviour we so often hear about from those whose lives seem to exist in some superior world.

None of this was the case when I met Mr Bowie. He was polite, respectful and simply...a nice 'bloke'.

I have never forgotten that half an hour meeting.

David Bowie; a character and a decent man.

Of Thee I Sing

It was a last minute decision to book tickets for a concert staged version of the 1931 Gershwin Brothers' musical 'Of Thee I Sing' staged for two performances on the weekend.

Written during, and heavily influenced by, the Great Depression the musical is a satire about politics in the USA. A politician stands for President of the United States on a platform of 'love'. It is the sort of silliness that was the hallmark of Marx Brothers films in the 1930s and 1940s.

The plot is old fashioned and mindless and all innocent fun.

An orchestra of thirty or so players, the Sydney Philharmonic Choir of, say, about 100 and a hard working cast of seven produced a delightful staging. Although I didn't recognise any of the numbers the tunefulness of George Gershwin's songs and the wit of brother Ira Gershwin's lyrics are clearly evident in this early work of their careers.

★★★★

With a song in my head

From time to time I have a song or tune stuck in my head. Infatuated with that song I hear it and/or silently sing it sometimes for weeks on end until I lose interest in it. These songs are not from singers like Taylor Swift or Kanye West whose work I wouldn't recognise if they were standing in front of me performing live. No, as a stereotype older gay man I often have a tune from a musical on perpetual repeat in my head.

The latest one is from Rodgers and Hammerstein's 'Carousel' This is not one of R&H's more high profile works but it contains some glorious melodies. Based on a Hungarian play from 1909, 'Carousel' is unfortunate to contain a plot that comes across as somewhat ludicrous nowadays.

The musical is completely heterosexual in theme and one of its best tunes, 'If I Loved You', is a duet between the principal male and female characters but it could easily be a gay torch song without changing any of its lyrics. That is not the reason I like it. The song's soaring and romantic melody wins me every time especially when sung as beautifully as it is by the tenor in this version from a night at the BBC Promenade Concerts.



By the way the tenor is Julian Ovenden and, yes, he is the actor who plays one of Lady Mary's suitors in television's 'Downton Abbey'.

The tune has been stuck in my head for weeks now. I know it will fade away to later be replaced by another song.

I know that will happen.

Eventually.

Plus 1

I was Ae's 'plus one' tonight at a 60th birthday. The celebrating sextagenarian was a teacher with Ae years ago and there was a fair sprinkling of school and higher learning teachers in attendance. Most of these teacher friends brought their spouses/partners to the party and Ae was keen to have me there as a sort of 'beard' in reverse. Apart from Ae I knew only one other person at the party and that was not the birthday 'girl'.

On what was by Sydney's standards a very cold night and in their home near to the ocean our hosts had set up a marquee in the back terrace; a totally tiled area. There was recorded music playing loudly when we arrived so that conversation was difficult to follow. I was in for a night smiling and nodding affirmations to conversations I could not hear.

All the trappings for a live band including microphones were set up at one end of the terrace awaiting a live performance but when it came for the speeches, one each by the birthday girl's husband and the birthday girl herself, for some reason they chose to deliver these from the other end of terrace minus any amplification. I strained to hear their words.

The live band performance followed. This was from a group of four retirees, amateurs all. The birthday girl's husband and three of his mates delivered a concert of about six songs from 'our' era (The Beatles, Eric Burdon, etc) at a decibel level which another partygoer commented to me (shouting at top level) 'artfully concealed that they were singing completely out of tune'.

At a pre arranged moment some guests threw their spare underwear at the band in a vaguely Tom Jones memorial moment. I did not participate although when I made to remove my jacket Ae looked at me horrified thinking I was about to undress to remove my underpants. There was never any chance of that.

Finger food was in abundance as was the range and quantity of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks. It was a generous evening and despite the noise levels I did enjoy myself even if I had little idea of any of the conversation around me.

But my days of standing on solid tiles for hours on end are well and truly over.

The back to back factor

I've never watched X Factor television talent contest but have heard about some of the contestants from 'water cooler' talk at work.

Today we were offered discounted tickets to attend a concert of the X Factor Australia winner (Dami Im) and the X Factor Israel winner (Rose Fostanes) at the Sydney Town Hall.

Apart from a deafening sound level it was quite an enjoyable concert. Im is a real talent and has obvious potential for stardom. Fostanes, although obviously inexperienced in filling the gap between songs with a line of catchy 'patter', has a strong voice and I imagine a future in music but not necessarily in the longer term as a 'star'.

As a school boy I used to attend the Sydney Town Hall for the annual Speech Days but this was the first time I have attended a concert there. The Town Hall certainly certainly is an atmospheric venue.

Audience assembling in the Town Hall

A distant Dami Im spotlit on stage

Night Watch

A flash mob with a difference;

Living the seniors life

Twenty-five years ago my parents used to come to town each year during Seniors Week to attend the Premier's free Seniors Week Gala Concerts.

I've been a senior (according to the entitlement for a Seniors Card) for nearly five years but today is the first time I have attended one of these concerts It was also a first for the three friends who accompanied me. The concert was the last of five to be staged in this years series.

The venue is the Sydney Entertainment Centre - in the current trend renamed to a certain airline name; the one you would think could not currently afford such a sponsorship.

Audience assembling in the Sydney Entertainment Centre

The performers were a mix of experience; Leo Sayers and Rhonda Burchmore, and the hopeful up and coming, Ben Mingay, Tom Sharah and Anja Nissen who sang a program of songs from the 1970s. It was the music of Neil Diamond, Carole King, John Lennon, the Village People, ABBA and the like. The music of our twenties.

Leo Sayers 'feels like dancing'

Rhonda Burchmore and Leo Sayers ham it up on the big screen

Big finish for 'Mamma Mia'

Finale

Before and after the concert the NSW Police Band entertained crowds outside the venue playing some classic tunes. The band and the soloist Police singers were excellent; well worthy of the professional performers in the concert itself.

Departing the Sydney Entertainment Centre

I didn't have high expectations beforehand but the concert proved to be very enjoyable.

Gospel train

Closet Valentine

As I have posted previously on Valentines Day, one of the great standard tunes from the 1930/40s, My Funny Valentine, contains lyrics written by Lorenz Hart.

Lorenz Hart

Hart was homosexual at a time when inevitably he had to remain deep in the closet. He was short in stature, an alcoholic, he suffered from depression and generally was full of self-loathing for his appearance.

Yet he wrote magnificent lyrics that would have won over many a romantic interest. It is thought that many of his lyrics were secretly gay love notes including the classic My Funny Valentine (1937) for which Richard Rodgers provided the music.

It remains a favourite 'torch song' of mine. Frank Sinatra's interpretation is as good as anyone's.

Do you hear the people sing?

An embarrassing incident at the hospital today.

I was walking the corridors from one section of the campus to another with a staff member beside me when suddenly, quite unexpectedly, the strains of 'Les Miserables' filled the air. We had just left an area where computer technicians were making adjustments to cupboards filled with coloured cables and IT equipment. I assumed they had set off the hospital's PA system.

It is not unusual for music to be heard over the hospital's PA system but the music is normally wordless and either classical or Muzak in style; not the strident strains of Hollywood/Broadway musicals.

The staff member and I looked around in surprise at this unusual intrusion in the otherwise quiet environment of the corridors and we wondered at the source of the music which at that moment seemed clear because we were walking under a loudspeaker. 'Les Mis' continued to fill the air as I travelled an elevator alone up four floors where staff looked curiously my way as the rousing choruses continued.

I returned down the four floors and moved internally through an adjoining building and still the music and singing continued. Waiting patients showed obvious signs of surprise at this unusual broadcast in a hospital.

At this point I should point out that I lost total hearing in one ear following nerve damage about fifteen years ago and since then I have had difficulty determining the direction of the sound that I do hear. I was beginning to wonder when the technicians would realise their mistake and shut down the broadcast when an embarrassing thought began to enter my mind. It occurred to me that the music might be following me. I pulled my iPhone from my pant's pocket and to my horror it was the source of the music. Somehow my iPhone rubbing against my body - settle down, readers - had caused the Music App to activate and it was me who was stirring the people to rise against their masters across four floors and two buildings of the hospital campus.

I dreamed a dream and it was an embarrassing nightmare.

Inside Llewyn Davis

A musician struggles to maintain an income and establish himself as a performer.

'Inside Llewyn Davis' is a film for the folk song aficionado and or those who remember fondly the transition to the 1960s. I wasn't especially interested in that type of music although I recognise some of the numbers and enjoyed most of those performed in the film. Whilst I grew up in the the 1960s I was still (barely) a pre-teen in 1961 when this film is set.

For those familiar with the folk scene there are probably many references that went over my head although I did catch obvious references to artists such as Peter, Paul and Mary and to Bob Dylan. My, who accompanied me, also noticed characters that probably were a pointer to June and Johnny Cash; not that I identified them but I guess there were numerous others.

Oscar Isaac plays the lead character and he appears in every scene with support from some very interesting performing talent in cameo roles.

There is some wry humour but this film from the Coen brothers is one of mood rather than plot with its darkish, palid sequences in settings that are claustrophobic.
★★★1/2

Ricky Martin at the NRL Grand Final

Here is a far better photograph of Ricky Martin performing at the NRL Grand Final than my distant pin prick of a photograph in the earlier post; taken from Mr Martin's Twitter account @ricky_martin

@ricky_martin

'With hope in your heart'*

(* 'You'll never walk alone' from 'Carousel' by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein 11)

I'm a gay man who loves musicals and watching sport. So what could move me more than one of the great tear-jerker Rodgers and Hammerstein songs sung by a huge crowd at an iconic stadium? I was playing bridge last night and so missed seeing live on television the second major soccer friendly played in Australia in the past five days, this time between Liverpool FC and Melbourne Victory FC.

Before kick off the 95,446 crowd sang the famous Liverpool FC anthem; the song 'You'll Never Walk Alone' which originates from the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical 'Carousel'. I've only seen the You Tube clip of  the rendition. I know it has been circulated widely but I just feel the need to post it here too.

Even if you don't like musicals or sport you'd have to have ice running through your veins not to find the moment at least a little bit goose bump inducing. I love it.