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This month we have seen the hospitality sector get belted again and the emergence of a new organisation to try and make a case to government about how important it is that the sector gets the help it needs Now that is unquestionably true, the hospitality sector needs help desperately but what it needs is to hear from the people at grass roots level not from owners wearing watches to press conferences worth more than the average family car Business is tough and it will quite possibly get tougher later this year but if ever there was a need of a voice for the little guy now is the time for it. We went and found one of the little guys and got him to write an article for us from the perspective what things were like pre covid and what they’re like today plus Daniel is the son of immigrants who came to Australia in the 1970’s They built a business, they ran it as a family and despite the fact that they’re still going Daniel and his family have never seen things this bad.
We hear politicians on both sides of the fence demanding changes to how kids use social media and we agree, we do need better guidelines around social media for kids, but what we cannot allow is governments to dictate and or control online content With the emergence of new media and social media platforms that do carry news outside the regular mainstream narrative its not rocket science to know that governments would rather see that thorn in their sides be disposed of, but we cannot allow them to do so Make kids the priority absolutely but do not allow anyone with the letters MP after their name control anything than what they wear to work everyday!
With council elections fast approaching and with the prospect of a federal election next year we talk to former deputy Lord Mayor Arron Wood about what leadership looks like and we hear from the legendary Ronnie Di Stasio about what real vision for the future means.
We are joined by a new member of our team in the ‘Humourless Hedge Fund Manager’ who apparently runs a hedge fund out of a ute outside a pub in Dubbo? He wanted us to call him Wolfy but we thought that was too much I was lucky enough to talk to another iconic restaurateur Matteo Pignatelli about his 30th anniversary this year and what he’s doing to not just survive but thriven and we hear the tragic story of Caterina seeing her restaurant flooded but also how she is planning to fight back Following up from talking to former drug addict and ex criminal Gaz Wright we catch up with Brisbane based rapper Josepe Cowan and find out how he’s staying on the straight and narrow and making a real name for himself in the music world.
We welcome back our regular contributors, I of course I have my say on a range of topics and this month we welcome prestige car dealer Nick Theodossi to the fantastic list of advertisers we have.
I hope you enjoy Issue 14 and please share our magazine far and wide because we do want to be bigger than Forbes and ultimately with a reputations as good and better than the New York Times
Remember to keep on asking, why hoodies and thank you for getting onboard with our magazine!
Cheers
Ben Logan Founder & Editor in Chief Hoodies Magazine
Despite the blonde good looks, confidence and having come from a loving family Wood knows what it’s like to struggle when it comes to mental health and knows what it takes to come back from adversity Unbeknownst to his parents Wood was constantly bullied at school, but after a year living in the US the bullied skinny kid was no more in his place the much more intimidating individual who was bullied no more. With new found confidence Wood finished school and studied forest science. With a keen sense of environmental issues Wood returns to Mildura, wins young achiever awards, starts his own business called ‘Firestarter’ which aims to help kids learn about the environment, gets on TV and life is good, until a relationship break up and whack depression.
Wood landed on anti depressants and in a world of pain but to his credit dug his way out, got himself onto council, refocused on what was important, got married and had a family and is now one of the most sensible and authentic voices on sustainability we have in the country today. There have been repeated attempts from both sides of the political divide to lure Wood into state or Federal politics and all, for the moment, have failed, he’s not writing it off, but you do get the impression he has some unfinished business in Melbourne
s saw it at its worst at the height of the Covid crisis, alive with people at all hours of the day. He knows all worked in them, he’s connected to the place and he do, but he is also mindful of the fact that Melbourne p ant more people in the city and while bike lanes are here to stay how are we making better use of them? How are we encouraging people into the CBD? How are we protecting pedestrians from e-scooters? How are we bringing small businesses back to the City? What are we doing about graffiti and issues landlords, tenants and residents deal with on a daily basis, issues that in some cases scare the hell out of them. How are we working with property groups on more innovative housing? How are we building sustainable housing? How are we looking after the weak, the elderly and the vulnerable? He talks like a man with a vision for how to bring Melbourne back to life, he talks in a way you think a person in politics or council should, how are we making profound and sustainable change for the betterment of society is his question It’s a question I guarantee not many of those currently in government of council would have the answer to, but I suspect Woods question is rhetorical
In the world of social media and a world where likes and hits can mean more than content Wood knows that any leader worth their soul has to go beyond a social media presence They have to have a deep connection to real issues faced by real people, they have to have vision for the future and they need compassion Wood tells me a story of a woman who couldn’t get any traction on an issue she had within council when he was Deputy Lord Mayor The issue lands on Woods desk and so he does what good people do he went and listened to what the woman had to say, she was initially shocked by the fact that he actually turned up, but impressed and felt heard.
What Wood has managed to do in his career is deliver his own vision of what the future looks like for not only us, but for our kids. He has walked the line of politics but never stepped a foot in either camp and now seems a man with an energy surrounding him that you hope he continues to direct our way. Will he run for Lord Mayor only he and his closet ally’s know, but if he did he would do it outside the political battle fronts of Labor, the greens and the Libs who of course don’t get involved in the politics of council elections. (and if you believe that email me as I have some magic beans and unicorn I’d like to sell you) The fact that Wood sits outside the political party confines would make him a highly important candidate should he run because what do many of us crave today? Common sense politics and a vision for the future not wrapped up in the same old political rhetoric and spin. Should he run for Lord Mayor? Of course he should! But what is without doubt is that right at this moment in our history we need more people like Arron Wood because good leadership, the right leadership and leaders with a deep connection to real issues being faced by real people are vital to society as we navigate these difficult times Vote 1 for Wood I say!
Rap music and Hip Hop may well have a reputation of gang culture and everything that goes with it, but you will not find a two more emotive genres of music than rap and hip hop
For a lot of young people wanting a voice of their own who come from the streets of wherever not many have had piano lessons or learnt to play the flute rather they spoke about their feelings and emotions and wrote them down and then turned them into rap music. The influence of rap artists like Eminem, public enemy and the Beastie Boys still rings through the rap of Kendrick Lamar and Australia’s own Bliss n Eso, but also an emerging talent by the name of Josepe.
Josepe Cowan has been here before He was on the verge of an international rap career but blew it basically because of a drug problem which landed him in jail where he was locked down 20 hours a day Serving a seven month sentence Cowan got himself clean and when he got out got himself back on track to finally being the rap artists he wanted to be
His time in jail and the horrific upbringing he’d had not only lead him to rap music, but he also started on the pathway of wanting to help kids not make the same misdates he made Josepe like gaz Wright who we spoke to in the last issue is building himself a brand, but where Gaz was building the Hope cartel Josepe is building his music career, his artist management company all while wanting to help as many kids get off the gear and back on the straight and narrow.
I said the same thing about Gaz last issue these guys understand what it takes to build their brands They know they have to post content everyday, they have to highlight their product and their message and they know its about consistency. If Cowan and Wright can change the lives of even half of the young people they come into contact with it will be a huge win for the community as a whole let alone the kids themselves.
With Cowan though he not only wants to be helping kids but he also wants to be that rap artist he should’ve been a few years ago. His latest track ‘Beam of light’ is a story of him acknowledging his past, coming to terms with it and then wanting to move on It also mentions the son he hasn’t been able to see for sometime and while not seeing your own child is itself gut wrenching its the small details you hear Josepe give us about his life on the wrong side of the law that makes you think of what he’s actually had to endure to get back to where he is now
None of this is to gloss over what Cowan did in his previous life, but what he’s doing now is taking charge of his life He’s recording an album, working with top producers and has a definite plan to get back to where he should be His music is telling the story and going back to what we said at the start try and find me another genre of music that has so much heart and emotion in it Cowans music is full of everything rap is Its the story of the journey, the story of the pain, the hurt, the insecurity all rolled up into one four minute song that breaks your heart.
Rap though isn’t just about rhymes and being able to patter it’s also about sampling, about putting together different tracks and then mixing it all together into one song or a complete album and that takes time and skill, a skill set Cowan unquestionably has. His beats and samples are a mix of guitar sounds, high pitched voices and deep base rhythms that hit you right in the middle of your chest. His music without stands up against anything currently out there and you can’t help think that he is on the verge of finally becoming that rap artist he was meant to be on a global stage.
When you talk to Josepe he is a man of unquestionable honesty, he gives it to you straight, he’s not walking away from his past and he’s not asking for forgiveness, rather he’s the guy that is facing up to what he’s got wrong and now wants to genuinely give back He is on a path that he got stuck on a few years ago but is now focused and totally committed to not only becoming one of Australia’s best rap artists but also to helping kids avoid ending up in prison
It is the likes of Josepe and Gaz Wright that we should be getting behind so we can help get youth crime back under control and inspire other young kids to find better ways to be what it is they want to be. We can only hope that more young kids watch what Josepe does next because it’s no doubt going to be massive.
Hit his website at www.josepemusic.com and download his tunes via your streaming service.
Anyone that has had a business for more than 30 years knows what they’re doing Matteo Pignatelli has had his restaurant on Brunswick Street for 30 years this year and it is no small achievement
In 1994 the doors at 533 Brunswick Street were opened for the first time and since then Matteo has faced the 2008 GFC, Covid and now possibly the biggest financial crisis in a generation but he’s still there doing it and doing it better than most.
When you walk into Matteo’s you feel as if you’re walking into someone’s home. You can feel the warmth within the walls that have quite a lot of the last 30 years, a dining area to the left of the front door and then steps up to a bar area that you feel you want to stand at and drink red wine or cognac while smoking a Number 4 Montecristo. Towards the back of the bar area two function rooms and a table that I sit at to wait for the man himself.
We’ve said countless times that hospitality is about having a soul, about giving people somewhere to feel looked after and to give them experiences and memories they come back for time and time again, this is what Matteo’s gives you, even when you sit quietly and watch the room you can feel it
I meet the man himself and he’s calm, polite and thinking all the time. He like other successful people I’ve met understand the importance of your people, be they the ones that work with you or the ones who come to your venues and Matteo is quick to rise when he sees a regular customer, greeting him with a hug and asking him how he is.
Matteo is a man who indeed gives back to the industry he set up the Young Guns of wine, he’s been on the board of William Angliss and he’s work with the Restaurant and Catering association. Again he knows that people are key to the success of the hospitality industry.
Despite the fact that the kitchen at Matteo’s has indeed seen some of the best chefs ever to stand over a grill this country has had to offer he’s never allowed the restaurant ti be chef lead Yes absolutely you have to give the chef the opportunity to be who he or she is within their cooking but the restaurant is about an overall experience rather than it being completely food lead
The restaurant is closed Mondays and Tuesdays and while the restaurant itself is an experience to behold it’s in events and functions that Matteo has managed to keep the front doors open for all these years. For those asking why…the great thing about events and functions is you know what your fixed costs will be for a function, but when you just open the front door and hope the line if you build they will come rings true you have no idea what the costs and possible losses will be because you could have no one show up and you’re doing what with all that food you prepared? Functions are cream, book as many of them as you can, create an experience and keep them coming back again and again.
During the covid crisis so many hospitality businesses tried to stay open, turning to take away and delivery, but Matteo wasn’t buying into it His teams came to him with a proposal to run a take away menu, but when he sat down with them to run through the costs and all associated overheads they thought better of it and the restaurant was closed with staff going onto Jobkeeper.
Despite understanding that a restaurant needs a soul Matteo is a shrewd business man, he knows cost and knows how to get value for money especially when things get tight as they are now, he juggles cost within the kitchen, on the wine list, on staffing while managing to keep all the wheels moving and staff staying happy and engaged
His staff are one of his greatest assets To have managers that drive from the Yarra valley to come to work in town you have to be doing something right and there is real sense of trust of the front of house staff There isn’t an owner jumping around checking what staff are doing or asking why haven’t they done this or that, there is trust and an expectation that things get down the way they should be done. The way they’ve been done for the last 30 years.
In the coming weeks and months Matteo’s will celebrate their 30th anniversary with various chef dinners and events and well should they celebrate because the man himself and his team have earned it. 30 years is an extraordinary achievement and we can do nothing but say congratulations to Matteo himself, to his team and to everyone that has made it happen. There is a succession plan for Matteo and he will of course make it happen, but right now in some of the hardest times the hospitality industry has seen we should celebrate this achievement and raise a glass to a the next generation who will see in the next 30
wwwcity-lardercom
Having great vision is not something many people actually have Vision that comes from a place of genuine concern and care for their fellow man, and then to have someone capable of making the vision a reality is indeed a rare combination I’m not talking about about someone that can fix a problem, or that can see a hole in a market for x product, these are indeed critical people and companies in society, rather I mean the people who see beyond a year, people who see beyond ten years, people who are themselves ahead of their time, people who can see past a crisis and help solve problems that will deliver long term solutions that in their own way help society as a whole
As we sit in 2024 here in Australia we are in need of the people who have vision, people who can lead, people who while running their own businesses or whatever else they do see it as their responsibility to help plot a new way forward, people who want to make a difference
In late 2018 I met Ronnie Di Stasio for the first time at Cafe di Stasio. I had met his confidant, his partner and rock Mallory Wall a few weeks earlier who had interviewed me and given me a job as one of the managers at their soon to be opened new venue Di Stasio Citta. Ronnie Di Stasio is without doubt one of those visionary leaders and Mallory who herself has extraordinary vision is the person that brings it all to reality
During the dim dark days of the covid lockdowns people from the hospitality industry who were within their 5 kilometres would come and see Ronnie to ask him what to do, to help get hospitality back open again and to ask him what his plan would be to bring life back to Melbourne and the country at large Ronnie wrote had a letter published in the Australian Newspaper which he titled; A Letter to the Governing Bodies of Australia The letter went through a point by point plan to help get the country moving again, what the hospitality sector needed and how we could once again be back together in restaurants, cafes and other such venues The letter received glowing praise and I remember the floods of emails and mail he and Mallory received in support of what he had proposed
Ronnie was the reason St Kilda became the destination it did, yes St Kilda had the beach and back then the grunge cool, but Cafe di Stasio was where people went to be seen, to be part of the community Ronnie built, to eat and be joyful With the advent of bike lanes, of oversized tram stops, with homelessness and with drug crime getting out of control St Kilda lost it’s urban cool and became a shadow of its once mighty self, but from the ashes comes back the man who has today seen past all of it and sees a new opportunity for St Kilda and it’s in his own backyard
Later this year Ronnie and artist Shaun Gladwell will launch ‘Spazio di Stasio’ a gallery space and artist community where? Above the restaurant and bar that helped rebuild St Kilda, Cafe di Stasio So now more than 30 years after the opening of the original ‘Enfant terrible’ Cafe di Stasio and the man known as Ronnie will again be at the front of the line leading the rebirth of St Kilda.
When Ronnie and Mallory took over the lease of what would become Di Stasio Carlton the concept was something to behold and I remember seeing the space that was at the time a run down furniture shop Ronnie was parking the car and Mallory showed me through what would become a restaurant and garden unlike anything else The kitchen will go there, the bar there, bathrooms over there, this is the court yard she said, we’ll have a bar in there and so on it went I like to think I have decent vision myself, but I remember calling my wife saying I had no idea how they’d make it a reality, but they did With the help of an architect who knew them, a builder that understood them and with their own complete commitment and vision to say what they all created it was and is a success would be an understatement Vision and delivery in action
See while there are indeed people out there with visionary skills a lot of them do it for the trappings of wealth, of fame, of a social media following, to go here and there and do as they please, which is all well and good, but the real visionaries do it because it’s their life Their lives are based around the ideology of creating something and shining a way forward for the rest of us to follow along with The very essence of life is struggle, but how you deal with the struggle is what defines you To someone of great vision the struggle is also very real, but they see past it, they see opportunity, they show us that they understand the struggle but give us the tools and information to make it easier.
We live in a time filled with economic hardship, of higher than desired inflation, of political parties very short on vision and of real struggle so now is the time we need to listen to the people of vision. The people who aren’t sitting in council chambers or in government the people who know what its like to struggle, who empathise and who want to show us a new way forward because they themselves want to make a difference
The new visionaries will present themselves of that there is no doubt, but it will take longer than it should because we have become so afraid to forge a new pathway, but in the meantime there is a man named Ronnie and a woman called Mallory that are once again shining a light on what’s possible for all the right reasons.
Can another Kennedy get into he White House? On current polling you’d doubt it, but this is American politics and as we know anything can and will happen
Robert Francis Kennedy jnr is the son of Robert F Kennedy who was of course the brother of John Kennedy RFK as he is known is a 70 year old environmental lawyer who went to Harvard and the London school of economics Jump on his wikipedia page and you’ll see him classed as an anti vaccine activist and a conspiracy theorist. I’m guessing RFK doesn’t run his own Wikipedia page!
Regardless of whether he is a conspiracy theorist or not RFK is running as an independent candidate on a ticket that has on it Joe Biden and Donald Trump and it makes for quite the line up! Now with current polling data from ‘The Hill’ showing Trump leading with 41 9%, Biden with 39 8% and RFK with 7 2% you’d have to suggest Kennedy isn’t going to win but is it possible the US could indeed one day see an independent candidate become President?
Yes we know congress would probably have people jailed before that was allowed to happen but what Kennedy is doing during this campaign is giving the other side of the story, the story the republicans nor the democrats don’t want out there See Kennedy is no fan of corporate America, he does not like back door deals that continue to see people suffer He is no fan of politicians getting rich off thew back of their time in office because various lobby groups backed certain congressmen and should he become El Presidente guess what? He’s going to go after all them
Both Trump and Biden travel with huge amounts of security provided by the secret service RFK despite being on the ballot and a legitimate candidate gets no secret service protection and he is unlikely to be given an opportunity to be part of the planned debates
See while America is indeed the wild west and you can’t help but think it doesn’t matter who gets into thew White House its not going to end well. What Kennedy is doing is happening across the world, independent candidates are raising their voices against the main political parties and saying nooooo, we’ve had enough of all that rubbish we want some common sense and real accountability back in the building
Here in Australia we have seen now a number of instances where independent candidates have knocked out major political hitters on both sides of the divide The Simon Holmes a’Court backed Teals are only getting louder and stronger and you can’t help but think that come federal election time they will play a major role in the outcome of the Federal election All those strong smart independent women who probably did vote Liberal at some point would now cut their own arms off to avoid doing so again and can’t see the value in backing an outdated bunch of white men who still think its 1955
With RFK running pretty much a solo race if he got more than 20% of the primary vote you’d have to see it as a win, but I wouldn’t right off the possibility that one day we could indeed see an independent candidate win a US election and wipe out all that is wrong within the US political system If I was them though and it was looking like they could win, I’d probably be hiring my own private security detail because there would be a few people who might not fancy the idea there being anything but a republican or a democrat in the White House
T H E P O L I I T C A L S O L U T I O N S
How do you solve a problem like politics? Chuck em all in jail? Can you imagine! No unfortunately we’re stuck with them for some time yet, but what can we do to stop the utter garbage we’re fed on a daily basis?
The Voice was possibly one of the great disasters in Australian political history and because of it we saw an issue of profound importance politicised and nothing much actually change because? Well when Albo realised the referendum had failed he dropped it realising it wasn’t a vote winner and would do him too much damage politically if he did again pursue it So now what for indigenous people? Well more of the same
The same when it came to cost of living pressures it wasn’t until late 2023 that people really started feeling the pinch of interest rates that labor stepped up and bashed the supermarkets, why did they wait? Well because it wasn’t really a vote winner, but when enough people did get upset politicians could see the validity in helping out average punters for? You guessed it votes!
When did we see an end to lockdowns in Victoria? When polling data changed on Andrews So we all know that politicians only take action on behalf of voters when they see some validity in said changes. Basically they all want to hang onto their tax payer funded salaries for as long as possible and really why not? I mean wouldn’t you be a nodding head behind some MP announcing another useless infrastructure project when you could get paid $150,000 plus?
So what do we do? Well I’m not a constitutional lawyer but we need to be working out how we make it law that a clearly defined list of issues for society need bipartisan approval Now obviously each party would be wanting to have different lists, but no, they don’t get a vote on what goes on the list A group of independent business people, of average punters, of mums and dads are brought together to work out the list That list then becomes the Australian list of ten Ten issues of profound importance to the country that must have bipartisan approach and approval from those in government Basically MP’s have to work together and they work under time limits, if they can’t agree then it’s taken away from them and given to the independent body to work out Yeah ok this is a pipe dream, but why are we tolerating all the time wasted on delivering real results on real issues?
We then introduce wage incentives for politicians Base salaries all sit at $80,000 and from there politicians are awarded bonuses if they hit certain targets within each of their job roles Keep infrastructure on budget here’s $10,000 NAPLAN results go up, heres $10,000 Balance the budget via independent review, here’s $10,000 Have your team back in the office 75% of the time here’s $10,000 reward for effort, no effort, no results? No bonuses Why should politicians, those who are held in even more contempt than lawyers be paid for stuffing things up?
Then why are we seeing private jets being chartered? Government cars? Expense accounts? All of it gone No more taking the piss out of the tax payer sorry boys and girls. Yes ok the PM needs to be able to move around and requires security so some of that is ok, but minions flying out to Dubbo, no sorry you can drive and eat Maccas on the way, ly EV’s are a good way to save the planet go buy one go your find out
le we’re at it we should also see the introduction of fines for independent body of non corporates come up with a list of comments that are banned and a series of fines introduced top of that if a politician fails to answer any form of question also fined Want to work on the public purse make them ble where it hurts!
a lot of this is tongue in cheek, but what are we doing here? now politicians rip us off, we all know the system by which we them is broken when a party can form government with less of the popular vote so why do we put up with it?
ear from politicians is how bad things will be if we don’t tow f we don’t do this it will be the end of the world! No it won’t will really mean is that any decision they do make will quite hand a contract or a job to their mates company and help r super fund The corruption, the lies, the spin, the do gooders s done, people are sick of it and we need change desperately
we get serious about change though? I think it’s a case of out. Write about it, post on social media about it. Talk about it at work because the only thing a politician currently really to is a shift in polling support so hit them where it hurts and ne day the Australian List of ten will be a reality, but I wouldn’t r breath Too many people make too much money off all of it, esn’t mean we shouldn’t keep trying!
Australia will exceed 40 million population (potentially 50 Million) by 2050. “There is Gold in them thar Aussies and that thar Land.” In our continent and our Australian people lies more opportunity than Australia has ever dreamt of. But how do we accommodate 50 million Australians.
Here in lies the solution.
I wrote in Hoodies Magazine 13, that Australia is one of the largest countries on earth. It covers an Area of 7,692,024 square kilometres, 2,969,906 square miles. Australia is one of the world's most ethnically diverse nations on the planet. In 2024 a quarter of the Australian people were born in other countries. Australia is warm and has an abundance of open spaces. The future solution to population and economic growth and strength lies in our ability for regional expansion and development to be the central key. A bigger population gives us opportunity to smash the Regional Development Myth. Australia will not be able to squeeze the growing population into the 5 major capital cities of Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne Adelaide and Perth. Already these cities are overcrowded and infrastructure under prepared.
Australia's future prosperity depends on growth of regional infrastructure and population spread to thrive. Regional development for Australia, requires regional cities to create affordable housing, suitable employment, infrastructure development, and services and managing growth around population spread and regional consolidation. For these rural regions opportunities to succeed, we need processes of management of population, for growth, demographic makeup, and community socio-economic viability. The distinctive character of future regional population and economic growth, highlights the needs for demographic change in Australia's growing population and economic sustainability.
It is time that Australia made the decision to build strong regional economic growth centres with world-class lifestyles, seamlessly connected and economically relevant to our 5 major capital cities and interconnected to other regional centres by deliberately growing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and value-added advanced manufacturing capacity, health services, education and technology effective centres to accommodate our growing population and future wealth creation.
Future Australia needs a new Demographic map. One in which Regional Australia is joined by a network of regional hubs that complement the opportunities of those regions. These hubs would be serviced by interconnectivity of infrastructure that links them and provides them access to our key major coastline cities, including Darwin. This infrastructure development provides employment and economic opportunity and maximisation of our natural resources. Australia should be the economic powerhouse of Southeast Asia, and our internal hub infrastructure should be a gateway and pathway of productivity of those regional Australian economic hubs.
To accommodate the strengths and establish the competitive advantages of those regions we need to identify what the existing and new opportunities for investment growth are, taking account of those existing strengths of that environment. Those existing assets may include natural, economic or social assets which provide value, competitive advantage, and a point of difference for that region in maintaining those advantages, identify any future expansion opportunities. Regional growth will be derived from those regions which have a strong existing presence and show potential for growth and competitive advantage. In determining what resources and opportunities are needed we must look at key social issues.
The availability and development of affordability of housing to meet the growing and changing demands of that regional community.
Employment, attracting and retaining the additional skilled workforce.
Educational and Health facilities to enable and maintain liveability in the expanded region.
Connectivity of communication, Mobile and Internet capability as a fully integrated whole of Australia technology system.
The abundant supply of Water, and Energy supply, fundamental to residential and commercial requirements, crucial to the productivity of the regional hub city. Ample and abundant supply to agriculture, mining and manufacturing of water and energy supply.
Creation of vocational education and skills training, aligned to a region’s existing and future employment opportunities and industry growth profile, enabling economic growth and attracting and growing local skills particularly in critical service sectors. Transport infrastructure that provides connectivity through public and private transport networks within and between regional hubs and major cities.
By providing this level of Regional development, it presents opportunities to complement regional Australian expansion for economic and population growth that will be necessary for the population of Australia of 2050.
As much as we look at demographic, structural and economic change, we must look at political structure change. As everyone that has read my articles before will know my view is that our political representation is broken. I do not mean we need to change our Australian representative democracy and or constitutional monarchy, or our federation of states. But if we are to broaden our landscape to Regional Cities adding to our population and economic growth opportunities the current State and Local Government system does not function adequately in that environment. Under a new political system, no politician at any level of Government could hold office for more than three consecutive political terms. Politics is not a career it is a public service. So, my solution.
The federal Government would continue as the federation of states; The State Governments would continue for state responsibility;
But we create a New Regional System of representation;
In building a Regional development expansion opportunity, we also create a new regional political structure that represents areas of regional relationships. If we use Victoria as a model; These regional hubs would reduce the amount of bureaucracy from 79 LGA’s down to say; 10 Strategic Regional Hubs. These hubs would be administrative in nature and report to the State for administrative purposes. Less expensive and potentially better democracy of that region. For Democratic purposes, we modify our political representation to suit the restructure.
Currently in Victoria, there are two Houses of Parliament which have 128 members in total, 88 in the Legislative Assembly (lower house) and 40 in the Legislative Council (upper house). Once again massively expensive currently undemocratic and under representative of our democratic values.
The Paradigm shift to of a new structure
Regional politicians would be elected to form the elected representative body of that specific Region, the constituents of that region would directly elect these political candidates. Let us say, 10 Politicians for each Region. One of these elected politicians of the region would be elected by majority vote of constituents to be the Regional Head. The Regional Head and one other elected politician, democratically and separately elected as the candidate by the majority vote of the people, would sit in the Legislative Assembly of the State (lower house)( do not care about what name we call them).
A Further two of the Regions elected politicians would be democratically and separately elected as the candidates by the majority vote of the people of that region to represent them in the Legislative Council (upper house)( do not care about what name we call them) of the State Government Parliament. These 40 Regional representatives, form the Parliament of the State Government. 20 politicians in the Legislative Assembly and 20 In the Legislative Council. Reduction from 128 to 40. The State Premier and Deputy Premier are elected from within this 40 by the people of the State. The restructure serves many purposes, we reduce the costs of the out-of-control politicians and the failed representation of those politicians, and we reduce the massive cost of bureaucracy.
At the Federal Level...Again, we rid ourselves of the massive numbers of politicians in Canberra from the 76 senators and 151 members of the House of Representatives. These 227 positions represent the number of seats in parliament which as we know is just an over representation of our Australian society.
Across Australia the Victorian model example would form the National Structure. If we say we 10 regions in Victoria and say a separately federal elected representative from each region of Victoria, you will have 10 Federally Elected politicians. Allowing for quota (current system) then 6 States and two Territories you would elect 80 politicians to represent the Australian citizens down from 227. The Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister is elected from within this 80 by the people of the Nation.
As a result, we reduce the costs of the out-of-control politicians and failed representation of those same politicians, and we reduce the massive cost of bureaucracy. As in the Victorian model you would accommodate the two houses of Federal Parliament.
Australia time to take a stand
The solution to our problems is simple, better political governance and competency, maximising regional development and selfsufficiency based on our abundant natural resources and land mass. Reduction in size of Government and Bureaucracy at all levels of Federal, State and Local Government.
It is our own time to build our aspirational society and to be the envy of the region and to demonstrate our Australian values of a successful society with Southeast Asia on our doorstep as a major opportunity. Time to take a stand to make Australia great again.
Ron Hodgson - AuthorNote: These comments are my own views, various information in this article may have been sourced from public record. Where it is not attributed, I fully acknowledge the authors rights.
www.lamaroshotel.com.au
It’s 2024 and the world is unquestionably changing After the covid years a lot of the world got rid of the governments that in many cases screwed it over, but now we have come so far away from any form of common sense and reality people are on the verge of taking to the streets and saying enough is enough But! Before we do indeed see things get out of hand we need to take a deep breath and remember how the world actually works.
It’s not too hard these days to wind up a conspiracy theorist A mere passing comment can lead to people suggesting all kinds of things that will see Tik Tok go into melt down and get people suggesting all kind of insane theories, but while the conspiracy theorist may well be an escaped mental patient the bigger issue is that governments and bureaucrats aren’t helping the situation Yes there will be and always are things the public are much better off not knowing, but if we actually had governments that weren’t shrouded in secrecy and that we didn’t continually see MP’s on $180,000 or so a year end up being worth millions of dollars perhaps we’d be able to get a better grasp on where the money goes
But let’s take a look at the world and in some ways accept the cards we are playing with
Money makes money, money brings power, power brings control, control brings money and the whole thing goes round and round. People wanting to grab a small or large slice of the pie that is having a successful business have to almost go without food to get their share with little or no help to make their way in the world unless they’re using? Mum and Dad’s money! It’s not until those start up businesses show signs of making the wheel some money that people might start paying attention, maybe
In the world of democracy governments have a tough job of that there’s no doubt, but they’ve now damaged the core principles of our said democracy so badly that one wonders if its not time to hit the restart button on it Here in Australia a major political party can end up in power with less than 35% of the popular vote and get to 38 or 39% and gees it was a landslide! How does this happen, well while some people will suggest we let it happen it was sitting governments that changed the rules that saw them able to use support from independents and minor parties to get into office or to maintain control So while these said governments will and do tell us they are making the system more transparent and more accountable they’re actually not, they’re rigging it for themselves and those that pay them to do it
When it comes to government controlled messaging we need but look at the recent farce Albo created with Elon Musk. No one in their right mind would say we don’t need to have better controls around social media content and taxes for that matter but what we cannot do and what we must not do is allow governments of any kind to be dictating what we can and cannot see on the internet! We need but look at what governments themselves get up to on social media to show they’re only in it for their own agendas and the more of it they can control the better for them and worse for us. The trick for all of them is they hide it under this shield of wanting to do for the kids or whatever short sighted cause they feel can win them votes.
Then we come to people like me and my magazine that question what’s going on, not from a place of conspiracy although some of those seem to be turning out to be true, but rather from a point of view of how much longer do we put up with all this rubbish? The overarching problem for the world of new media is that we don’t have millions and billions of dollars to take on the big boys who are indeed backed by the companies with vested interests in things staying the same. A key issue is advertising revenue. Big companies don’t want to rock the boat in fear of losing government support or customers. There are also the companies that have indeed backed certain government officials, bodies or councillors to help drive their own agendas and none of them want to see the rules change. In the US in particular we have politicians making decent six figure salaries who low and behold end up millionaires because of brilliant investment strategies or investment funds topped up by ummmmm friends and family? We indeed know some now former politicians here in Australia were wealthy prior to going into government but there are a few more who seem very well off post their political careers who must also be very good with numbers or have great mates.
The big chip in the game for mainstream politicians, bureaucrats, mainstream media and for those invested in things staying the same is the conspiracy theorist. See if the politicians and the media can cast aside the real questions about political behaviours and of the ways in which it all works as conspiracy theory rubbish then they get a foot in the door with those who want to believe life is all normal and there’s nothing to see here. The unfortunate thing though is that anyone or anything that does sit outside the dictated narrative of politics and of the mainstream media networks is prime game for the conspiracy theorist tag when a lot of what is said outside those forums now isn’t so crazy.
While a good conspiracy theorist can be cast aside as an escaped mental patient politicians and bureaucrats will also attack anything new or outside their square as a waste of tax payer money, as an unproven theory, as something that stands in the way of progress or isn’t energy efficient enough when the world needs green energy. Contemptible rubbish, the lot of it and again serves only the purpose of government and their money people.
We know the system is broken, we know main political parties don’t really care about the average punter it’s all a game rigged to keep their mates happy and them in jobs, we all know that large corporations have large financial holdings in munition companies, in pharmaceutical companies and in media companies, we know that when politicians come out of office they have managed to get rich, we know we live in a world that is based on greed and power and we know we desperately need to hit the reset button, but the question is now as we do in fact face economic hardship unlike anything seen almost for a generation will we do anything about it. We will never see the end to political spin and corruption but it is well past time we saw better accountability and allowed more voices of reason to be heard because the times they are a changing.
Life the universe and everything was a lot easier when the answer was simply 42.
Well, what a month!
Sometimes we sweat the little things and sometimes we should look at the big picture.
I want to tell you all a little story about when things that you love & breathe are suddenly taken from you.
No wrongs, no rights, no blame and certainly no end in sight. A solution can always be found. We, as restaurateurs always find solutions and we are trained to find them quickly. It might be a delivery that hasn’t turned up for a function, (so you call in an urgent favour from a rep) or the bins that weren’t emptied, (so you call the company and pay a premium, as rubbish removal in food businesses is essential), or the chef/dishwasher that doesn’t turn up and you call in all matter of favours from your mates. I have a restaurant housed in a basement and when things go wrong, a basement always bears the brunt of anything. Over the years we have had to deal with the unthinkable from water leaks, lift issues (and yes, I have been stuck in one with my infant child and fear was at another level) and a whole list of things that are too difficult or rather too painful to remember. However, you always have a book of trusted tradies like plumbers, electricians, pump experts, air conditioning experts etc etc to call upon & things get sorted.
Unfortunately, on a weekend in May, a storm water on Queen street, burst and completely flooded my restaurant. Maybe the gods were on my side that day as I had worked a wine function until 1am the previous night and I would never be back at the restaurant on a Saturday morning, because as you all know I only work Monday to Friday lunch, excepting for private functions. So, to be there at 10 am on the Saturday was simply a fluke. Thank god, as my Italian push & shove personality with the occasional blaspheme enabled me to make decisions quickly. Now if any one of you understands anything about water, you will know that it is unforgiving. It gets in everywhere & gets into everything. Worse still, when the water is considered contaminated water!
I walked into total darkness & felt the sludge under my feet. My favourite MA + boots have not recovered. The mud is still entrenched in the fibres of the special burgundy leather, regardless of how much I have tried to clean them. There was a foot of mud in the small cellar, precious bottles embedded in that mud. Even when they build restaurants, it amazes me why builders can’t have a gentle downhill slope into the various drain holes. Nope, when they built this restaurant years ago, they decided to put in uphill drain holes to slow the water down. Arrgghhhh.
Although the pipes are owned or managed by Greater Western Water, probably via the state government and I should be bloody furious that there is no information about the state of our ageing pipe works in and around the city, (although I plan to make it my business), I have to give a shout out to a mature man named Gary who was supervising his crew on the street attempting to find the leak. I cried, I screamed, I became manic. He actually cared, as he saw that my livelihood was basically washed down the drain. He knew the amount of damage by sight and he also knew that it would be a much bigger rebuild & repair job than I had imagined. No one seems to answer phones on a weekend and it is strange that 1300 numbers don’t work when you are desperate. After much begging he was able to get an assessor out late on Saturday night. I said give me a yes because I want the carpets and all my beautiful old Baltic pine floorboards that had already buckled & weren’t safe to walk on, removed asap, before the stench set in. Within 36 hours my precious, and for me, irreplaceable antiques were moved by restorers as the water subsided. A friend, Jenny, who by chance was there with me assisted in packing away all the 500 plus glasses that were left drying on the bar from the wine dinner the night before. Finding boxes that weren’t soaked was a challenge. Riedel glassware is expensive and needs to be packed correctly. I was squishing my way through mud drenched carpets and flooring to remove perfectly set tables of their plateware, cutlery, glassware & napery, so that the bare tables could be upturned. That was no mean feat. To be honest I still didn’t realise the magnitude of the task ahead.
solely rely on city councils to issue permits. You would be surprised how convoluted all of this is. The insurer may then call in a loss adjuster (which has happened in my case) who may want other quotes. Due to the contaminated water they are compelled to call in a hygienist. Now all that takes time. Once the people are appointed then you have to hope that the tradies are available to begin works & we are all aware of the chronic shortages at the moment. What of availability of all the materials. Can you see how time escapes us all and suddenly it is 3 weeks down the track and still no decisions, nor can any works commence.
This flood has turned my life inside out. I worry about my staff’s mental health. I worry about keeping them until we reopen. I worry about reengaging with my business community. I worry that any changes will forever alter the restaurant that it was. My issues are not those of the insurers, they are my own. There is no banter in the kitchen, no sound of exhaust fans, no music to set the tone, no cooking smells, no coffee ready on demand, no reps to hound me, no team that are your famiglia, no clients that l can physically touch. This is a snap shot of what I will miss. It is the exhilarating world of a restaurateur.
My dear friend Mikko, accomplished architect, artist and simply a Melbourne treasure recently said this to me. The three Ss. Structure, Services, Scenery. I still have the structure, the services are diminished and the scenery is gone. So not all is lost.
Alla prossima
Caterina x
My parents came to this country because in the 1970 Australia was the land of opportunity. An immigrant with nothing could come without a penny and build a business from scratch. My parents did exactly that. Government and institutions would back small business because they knew there was opportunity to succeed. We all made a great living because there was a partnership all round. Bank, Government and Operator!
Today is the opposite is true. Banks wont lend small self employed businesses money Many have to go to second and third teer lenders to fund their dream. Government policy maybe by design or incompetence has made running a small business in Australia almost impossible. Bank, Government and Operator are now working against each other!
In over 35 years of experience, from working with my parents in our Gelato Manufacturing business in the late 1980s to over 20 years of Pasta Manufacturing Business with sprinkling of Café and Restaurants all over Sydney I can speak from experience that its never been this bad. No “Recession that we had to have in the late 80s to the GFC in the 2000s. Nothing has been this bad. Government inaction is not an option! Something needs to change and fast!
Tax on top of tax, Inflation adding to increased food costs, electricity prices, gas prices, Licencing, Wages and Rents! This was also true in the past but the sneaky way that small businesses were forced to get in front was to hide a bit of the cash declared to the ATO. This also gone due to tap credit cards, Afterpay, Shopback and apps like Heyyou and Ritual. We pay GST, Payroll Tax, Company Tax for people who actually make a profit which isn’t small business, Tax on Petrol, Services, Most goods, Superannuation. We are very overly taxed and now its come to a logger head!
I foresee a dim future. If something is not done immediately, in 15-20 years, the general public will be buying coffee from Coles and Woolworths and the big boys in town who can afford to not make a profit. Good operators will not want to go into business to make a measly wage.
Pre-Covid, the city of Sydney was in fine form. There was abundance of people around shopping, buying, as interest rates were decent and inflation wasn’t out of control We were not 100% but were surviving well in a tough environment We would pay ourselves a nice wage but nothing spectacular We could feel something was brewing During Covid, we were asked to do unspeakable things like reject people from our shop (which I refused to do), reduce the amount of people who could sit in the café to less than ¼, and implement draconian measures to keep people apart like animals! It was a horrendous time. The city was a ghost town. We survived on the governments $750 per week Many shops decided to remain closed during the first bit of lockdowns but we decided to stay open I never took a dollar during this period but I knew my staff, many students needed jobs to put food on the table as the government was giving them very little
As the governments allowed society to open up again, business slowly increased, be it at a very slow pace We soon realized that people didn’t want to come back to work 5 days per week We were stuck on 2-3 days for over a year We had to cut staff wages down to bare minimum to even keep the doors open Still now we are working on a 4 days work week This all stemmed from the Covid days We’ve never recovered
Due to both state and federal government incompetence, inflation started to rise, we noticed all of our costs were increasing, we were in the situation that we were stuck on a 4 day working week with severely reduced turnover coupled with increasing costs that impacted our bottom line quite dramatically! We understood quite quickly that we need to start cutting costs, but still attempting to maintain quality We cut where we could but was still not goo enough The ATO still wanted their money each quarter and in fact was the biggest earner in my business by far!! We decided for the 1st time ever to go on a payment plan! It was sickening to think that we had gotten to this and that the State and Federal governments still silent. I wrote to the then treasurer Jim Chalmers and Tanya Plibersek. I received an automated response from Jim and none from Tanya and she’s the member for Sydney! I knew then, we were on our own The other day I heard that there was a new Australian Restaurant and Café Association (ARCA) being formed I was all excited as finally we had someone who would represent the small guy on the national stage As I read the article, it was clear to me that we had the “Big Boys” there as usual attempting to grab the limelight and pretend that they were facing the same problems we small family businesses were What a kick in the teeth! These guys are nothing like us! We have completely different problems and difficulties! We don’t have the pulling power of celebrities, social media gurus like Broadsheet and Good Food to shed light on our activities! We can’t negotiate great deals with rent from big landlords, We can’t negotiate great deals on food prices from our suppliers In other words, these guys were using our struggles for their own benefit!
If these guys are fairdinkum they would all stand aside and put 12 small business owners on the board! That’s the only way we know that the small business is fairly represented in this association. If I were on the board of the association I would be speaking with a vast range of small business to see exactly where the problems lie My problems may not be someone else’s problems I would lobby government to immediately implement 3 teers of business that fell under the “Café and Restaurant Representation” category to:
Category 1
$1-$300,000 75% discount of GST
Category 2
$301,000-$1m 50% discount of GST
Category 3
$1m-$5m 25% discount of GST
Another point I would like to make A café buys in coffee beans with no GST although sells it with GST! We can’t even offset one of our main purchases because no GST is applied to the beans! The GST system is unfair because many items are either left out or not put in at all This needs to be fixed immediately!
This would immediately give relief to businesses on payment plans with the ATO which is currently sitting at around 70% of small businesses This action would not be inflationary as most of the funds not going to the ATO would be going to keep staff employed and paying bills
2024 is not the year for anyone in their right mind to open up a hospitality business My advice to anyone contemplating it, is to speak to at least 10 different shop owners and ask many questions You’ll soon realise that its not a very good idea This industry at the moment is very sick and needs to be fixed
We need to do something and quick, every day businesses are closing We need to save as many mum and dad businesses as we can and we should implement changes that would allow them to thrive once again!
www hillsbros com au
My wife says I take my hospitality skills for granted which I never really understood until the post covid world dawned and I saw so many venues struggle. See while hospitality is unquestionably a brutal industry to work in and make any kind of decent living in it’s not rocket science, we’re not curing cancer here, we’re serving food and booze that’t it, but too many owners and managers see it as something far more complicated than it actually is.
Yes there are numbers to watch, wages to pay properly, taxes to pay, rent to pay etc…but the actual art of hospitality isn’t in dots, foams and smears its in the people. The people you work with and the people who come in and out of the venues.
I went to Polperro winery recently and when you walk in you feel as if you’re walking into someones lounge room. You’re amongst the trees, you can see the vineyard, there’s an open fire, the people are welcoming theres a sense of comfort a sense of hospitality to the whole thing Then you have a venue like Di Stasio Citta with its architecture, its art, its marble bar and its blood red chairs, but you still have a venue that welcomes you in because again the people are welcoming, they’re not pandering to you they’re genuinely engaging with you and want you to enjoy the experience.
Hospitality, true hospitality, the venues and the legends of hospitality venues all over the world have one thing in common and that is soul, without that soul it doesn’t matter how clever you are with interviews, or how good your accountant is or anything else if you don’t have soul you don’t have a venue.
Despite what all these councillors and politicians will say across the media the hospitality sector isn’t back, it isn’t doing better than it was this time last year, the truth is it’s in a dire state and it needs help from governments to not thrive but rather just to survive, but in the meantime while the industry waits for governments to realise how important the sector is to the economy owners and managers need to go back to basics.
Train your staff, train them in two things 1) The importance of the entry points of the venue and that every time someone walks in this doors they are greeted and met with hospitality and 2) The ringing phone. The phone will only ring when you’re juggling ten different things and will only ring when it’s the worst time for it to do so, but no matter what staff are doing, no matter where the phone is, answer it, because a ringing phone means money. It means someone wants to book a table or make an event enquiry or come in for a drink and is asking when you close. Phone and door and from there it’s about having a system by which the customer is engaged… how are you? Would you like a champagne, a latte, a martini, some mineral water…sales
I wont bore people with an order of service but its about giving people an experience they remember that has them come back again and again. It doesn’t have to be foie gras and Krug it can be as simple as heating a babies milk in a microwave for a mum or a dad in a cafe you are selling an experience that hopefully brings people back through the doors time and time again.
Focus on the basics, focus on crating the soul of a venue and most of all focus on the people because without the people you can’t serve anyone and without people coming through the front door you wont make any money. It’s not rocket science, but now is the time to remember the industry is called Hospitality for a reason.
Sometimes to put into words what you experience and certainly pictures can tell a thousand words and we’ll do our best to articulate it as well! Fratelli Serio & Battista Borgogno are a 5th generation producer right in the heart land of Barolo in the neighboring commune of Cannubi. There are many things that make them special and some of those are that not only do they source fruit from their older sites but also from new and emerging sites around Novello and Diano
The Masterclass and dinner, well they were amazing and the first huge thanks and congratulations go out to the wonderful team at Merricks General Wine Store who were simply incredible over two full nights firstly with the sold out Masterclass and then with the enormous dinner that followed the night after. The flower arrangement honestly must be seen to be appreciated. But the food and wine matching was stunning with everything from Bagna Cauda to Vitello tonnato to big enormous RaviolO! … Oh and Pannacotta!
Most wines have sold out with more to come but here’s a limited offer so feel free to take advantage. We have some limited Riserva Cannubi Barolo 2011, 2013 and 2014 so enquire within.
www.vinobambino.com.au
Melissa Brauer aka The Prosecco Queen
Wine educator, freelance writer, digital marketer and event guru, creator, and director of the annual Prosecco Festival (now coming into its 8th year in 2025).
Every edition I share what’s new, what’s in my glass, and which cellar doors are worth a visit.
What’s new
Bass and Flinders Firetree Cinnamon Myrtle liqueur
Acclaimed Mornington Peninsula distillery Bass & Flinders boasts an absolutely stellar line up of gins, a stunning aged brandy, a range of liqueurs as well as uber-stylish bottled cocktails. They were also the first distillery to offer gin-making masterclasses (which are a fabulous way to spend an afternoon)
The latest offering from second-generation distiller Holly Klintworth (whose father Wayne started Bass & Flinders in 2009 with best mate Bob Laing) is a nod to Fireball cinnamon whisky – whilst being an altogether classier, more grown-up version I caught up with Holly at the recent ‘Drink Victorian’ industry tasting and this definitely left a lasting impression with its spiced heat and sweet finish An absolute show-stopper
Head to the website here
What’s in my glass
Moschofilero - Greece
This is not my usual profile of a Victorian wine – as I’m actually in Greece at the time of writing - having spent a couple of weeks on the utterly bewitching tiny island of Hydra, just 90 minutes by ferry from Athens.
What I’m always keen to do whilst travelling is drink the local wine, and in this case, it’s Moshofilero, an aromatic white wine with great acidity, and rose petal and citrus notes, which ends up being slightly textural with the slightest blush of pink thanks to a bit of skin contact (similar to a Pinot Grigio made in the same style, as both grapes share a pink skin). It’s mainly grown on the Pelopennese, a peninsula at the bottom of Greece, with Hydra just a stone’s throw away. You can in fact see its coastline whilst drinking the wine from across the water ;)
Absolutely perfect with every seafood dish imaginable (calamari, prawns, octopus were highlight food matches) I’ve managed to track down a couple of places you can get your hands on a bottle. Dan Murphy’s have a Malagouzia/Moschofilero blend, and for a straight ‘Moscho’ as the locals call it, try here online at Sense of Taste https://senseoftaste.com.au/products/troupis-tomh-moschofilero Road tripping
If you love Rosé then you’ll no doubt be familiar with Dominique Portet wines. Their Provencestyle dry Rosé is a runaway best seller, their Brut Rosé sparkling is also a stunning drop, as are their elegant classic French reds.
What you might not know is that their cellar door offers a range of tasting experiences - their Estate tour and tasting, Le Tour De Rosé, and their premium André experience which includes a tutored tasting and offers an upgrade to museum release wines. They also have a trés delicieux food offering with seriously mouthwatering menu items including steak frites, duck and roast chicken, all perfectly matched with Portet wines, naturellement.
Check out the website here
This delicious recipe was curated for the prawn lovers. Very easy recipe to follow, and your guests will beg you for the recipe. Using fresh Aussie prawns, and a array of freshly ground spices & sauces, makes this dish a must have recipe in your Repertoire.
Ingredients
1 tbs whole black peppercorns
3cm piece ginger, grated
1 long green chilli, seeds removed, chopped
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1/3 cup (80ml) peanut oil
1.2kg whole green prawns
5 spring onions, thinly sliced on an angle
2 tbs soy sauce
2 tbs oyster sauce
1 tbs fish sauce
50g unsalted butter, chopped
2 bunches bok choy, cut into quarters lengthways
2 cups white rice, cooked to packet instructions.
Method
1.Grind pepper in a mortar and pestle. Add ginger, chilli and garlic and pound to a paste. Heat a large wok over high heat, add 2 tbs oil and stir-fry prawns for 2-3 minutes until just cooked. Remove from wok and set aside.
2.Add another 1 tbs oil to the wok and stir-fry pepper paste for 1 minute, then add the spring onion and stir-fry for a further 1 minute. Add soy sauce, oyster sauce, fish sauce, butter and 1 cup (250ml) water, then bring to boil. Return prawns to wok and cook for 3-4 minutes, then transfer to a serving bowl.
3.Heat remaining 1 tbs oil in the work and stir-fry bok choy for 1-2 minutes until wilted. Serve with the prawns and rice.
For a extra peppery hit grind freshly course black pepper over the top before serving.
Arlan F Van Rooyen Hoodies Magazine
Culinary Travel Retail
Email: avr2469@gmail.com
Society is about being part of a community and understanding that we need to be constantly redefining the ways in which it operates
Will Land Tax Cause Havoc In The Strained Rental Market?
The land tax free threshold in Victoria has reduced from $300,000 to $50,000 – resulting in approximately 380,000 property investors will pay land tax for the first time. Everyday investors will have to decide if their investment is worth holding OR to liquidate and invest in another state with a higher threshold or in a different asset class all together. Havoc will ensue by either landlords passing on this increased costs to tenants or offloading their investment thus reducing an already strained market of available rentals. Future investors will avoid Victoria as the cost to hold will be too high for their wealth accumulation strategy
The Nitty Gritty Details
In Victoria, the total land tax revenue has surged by over 300 per cent, jumping from $1.8 billion in the 2016 financial year to a projected $6 billion in the current financial year.
As part of Victorias COVID Debt Repayment Plan, this land tax surcharge involved reducing the land tax-free threshold from $300,000 to a mere $50,000. I don’t about you, but I am pretty confident when I say that there isn’t a single block of land in Victoria that is valued at $50,000 or less.
As a result, approximately 380,000 property investors are anticipated to pay land tax for the first time this year.
Why is this a concern in the rental market?
The noticeable increase in land tax over the past few years has prompted more investors to reassess their property investments. Those that will stay in the game will likely to pass on a portion of the increased costs to their tenant Or in other terms – an increase in rental rates
Considering the already strained national rental market, this inevitable rate is going to cause a lot of stress to a lot of tenants
Land tax is imposed by state governments, based on the value of land holdings on 31 December each year. It’s a marginal rate system, meaning the more land one owns, the higher the applicable tax rate. It is calculated based on the unimproved land value assessed by the state’s valuer general, the same valuation used for council rates.
Generally, your own principal place of residence is exempt from land tax, but it applies to investment properties and holiday homes Victoria's new land tax surcharge disproportionately impacts investors with smaller property holdings, leading them to incur significantly higher land tax compared to investors in other states For a property with an unimproved land value of $500,000, NSW, Queensland, and South Australia impose no land tax Western Austra per annum. According to t erty, with many being 'mum and
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At the end of the day, it all comes down to knowing your numbers. Combined with knowledge of the markets and ‘hot’ areas that are geared towards becoming positively cash flowed faster – utilising the right property strategist can catapult you to success quicker than you anticipated
Dedicated to your Success
Australia faces a national crisis: violence against women. While many initiatives exist, a crucial gap remains – the current lack of specific workplace safety regulations dealing with gendered violence. This fosters a breeding ground for violence against women, impacting their safety both at work and at home
The Root of the Problem: Gender Imbalance
Gender inequality sits at the heart of the issue According to OurWatch, traditional power structures and harmful attitudes create situations where women hold less decision-making power and are more vulnerable to abuse. This imbalance in power manifests in various forms of abuse, from sexual harassment and bullying at work to violence at home by an intimate partner.
The Perilous Workplace
For many women, workplaces are unsafe.
The lack of specific regulations against gendered violence is alarmingly evident in cases like EY Oceania and Court Services Victoria
At EY Oceania, a young auditor's tragic death while facing an allegedly unsafe workplace culture raises serious questions about women's safety in imbalanced environments.
Similarly, a toxic workplace at Court Services Victoria demonstrably contributed to a female solicitor's suicide and numerous others experiencing stress leave.
These cases spotlight the current gap in regulations – workplaces can foster cultures of harassment and discrimination with limited legal repercussions, putting women at significant risk. Furthermore, women from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds (CALD) and those facing other forms of discrimination are even more vulnerable. The lack of clear regulations leaves them exposed to a double whammy – gender bias and prejudice based on race, ethnicity, or other factors
The consequences of workplace inequality are not confined to the office. Financial insecurity due to the gender pay gap and limited opportunities can trap women in abusive relationships at home.
Economic dependence on a partner increases their vulnerability to violence, as seen in situations where job loss or financial hardship triggers new abuse or worsens existing situations.
The Boland Review, a recent comprehensive assessment of Australia's work health and safety laws, highlighted the significant risk posed by the lack of specific regulations addressing gendered violence. It identified women and migrant workers as particularly vulnerable to psychosocial risks, warranting explicit attention in developing regulations.
The review recommended that Safe Work Australia develop criteria to assess new and emerging hazards, including gendered violence, to determine if legislative changes are necessary. This emphasizes the urgent need for regulations that explicitly target and prevent gendered violence in workplaces.
The Boland Review recommendations offer a blueprint for addressing these issues By implementing stricter regulations that prioritize gender equality and intersectional approaches, we can dismantle the power imbalances that fuel violence against women This will not only create safer workplaces but also contribute to a society where women are valued, respected, and free from fear The lack of current, specific workplace safety regulation dealing with gendered violence is a significant risk. It allows a culture of gender bias and disrespect to flourish, jeopardizing the safety and wellbeing of women in both professional and personal spheres.
By enacting stronger regulations and embracing a more equitable future, the Australian Federal Government, and our State and Territory Governments can create a safer and more just Australia for all.
Sapphire Parsons is a Senior Workplace Lawyer. In 2024, she was recognised as one of the Australasian Lawyers Best Young Lawyers in Australia Under 35
You know when you place a bet on the opposition at the match, especially when the opposition is unlikely to win, just to emotionally hedge? The payment, at large odds, is a salve to the embarrassment to the jersey you are wearing.
I did this with NFTs As a traditional Humourless Hedge Fund Manager, who spends their days buying and selling shares, the world of Crypto and its unstable asteroid belt of NFTs was an annoyance Leaving aside the Active vs Passive investing debate for a moment Actively picking shares is a great leveler, running a business doing it is humbling, there is complete transparency to your efforts and for better or worse plenty of people try and fail. Yes, you get paid well if you succeed but if you don’t you are left running an expensive shell with no assets.
Fast-forward to 2020 and Bitcoin and Ethereum were things. I am not really sure of the utopian use case of either, I mean, I get it and they are novel but for me they are sophisticated warehouse receipts that could help a grocery store track the providence of tomatoes. Tomatoes leave the farm, #hash, Tomatoes reach distribution centre, #hash, temperature never above 25 degrees, #hash.. really useful to have an immutable blockchain of this information, would I pay ~USD$60k for one? Not sure. Regardless of my views, what was happening was a lot of people who could not articulate a business case were getting rich. FOMO is a real issue.
At this point I will divide the Crypto and NFT world into two classes of people. There are the “creators” or marketers and there are the “hordes.” People who have studied the Gold-rush know that the people that sold shovels made substantially more money than the average miner. “Creators” fabricate shovels. Bitcoin had its largest gains in 2017, in 2018 (Link) 751 Coins and ICOs were launched and have since failed, by 2022, 9 out of 10 blockchain projects failed. These creators made immense fortunes printing their own electronic imaginary money, then selling it to the hordes, they then sold and crystallized their wealth into Bitcoin, free from the shackles of caring what happened to Pancakeswap, Apecoin, Chia Network, Baby Doge, Smooth Love Potion or any other creatively named coins. NFTs are an extension of this, get a computer to make infinite versions of art and sell them, just like coins except you print a slightly different one each time. Think of them like sports playing cards you had as a kid. Tradeable for ice cream in the playground.
Now the scene is set, what did I do? I decided to become a “good” creator, a benevolent force in the NFT genre I launched an NFT art gallery to compete with the marketplace of Opensea and others My playing cards would be curated, smart, thoughtful, forward-looking As a “good” creator, with no need for a storefront like traditional galleries, I gave a generous portion of revenues to the artists If it went well, we would get rich, but importantly, I would get my emotional hedge, my FOMO to the “Creators ” We were launched, it was at this point that things started to go wrong.
As a content guy, a guy that likes research, a nerd, the gallery I wanted should be based around artists that were so compelling and new they sold themselves. This is of course false. The reason the traditional gallery takes 50% of the sales is because they do 90% of the selling. What became evident really quickly was that the deal we had with the Artists wrong. Overall, and I won’t shy from generalization here but, Artists are not good at promotion, they aren’t structured, in some cases they have actively tried to avoid any activities similar to this. They became good Artist by expressing themselves freely, which should have been a hint. So, incentivizing them with money to take on this role was a disaster. One thing that the imaginary money printing “creators” did was market like it was going out of fashion. Pay $1m to a Kardasian, no problems, we’ll make $20m from the launch. Give 10% of coins on issue to an influencer, no problems, they have 2m followers who believe everything they say no disclosures required. Contents, Schmontent.. make it and pump it. This style was an anathema to me, my network is staid, the money I wanted to commit was modest and I had no desire to pound the hoardings myself So, the answer, obviously, was to spend more money to hire PR
PR was a disaster, a money-pit, a void, avoid Now, I have subsequently been led to believe that there are some quite competent PR firms that know people I chose poorly, at my launch I rallied 300 people in my network but there was no press. In the weeks leading up to the launch local papers had editorial after editorial about new businesses of a similar ilk with glowing reviews. Successes were confined to Motorcross Monthly rather than the AFR.
The launch was a high-point, April 2022. The digital art and artists were wonderful, my business partners and I had toiled for months to get to this point. In the subsequent 3mths the volume and price of popular NFTs fell 30-90%. From April 22 to July 22, the price of Bored Apes fell 45% and volumes fell 80% and they were the good ones. Appetite for a new gallery with new artists and no Kardashians fell a similar amount. Now if prices had risen and the multitude of my mistakes had continued would I have actually achieved my goal of riches, we will never know, but emotionally I believe it.
And that concludes my story, for only a couple of tens of thousands of dollars, I achieved peace of mind that if “creators” got richer I would be along for the ride and when the bottom fell out of the market I could chuckle at my experience and go back to being a HHFM I sure showed them where is Bitcoin again?
Military leaders get paid to make the hardest, most stressful executive decisions that anyone will ever have to make Essentially, they have to decide (or not) whether to commit their military personnel to armed conflicts and in the process put their people in harm’s way. The stakes are different in business. Very few, if any, business leaders have to make decisions which endanger their staff’s lives. A lot of them could learn some things from the disciplines used by the military in constructing their strategy.
My father went to the Royal Military College, Duntroon (RMCD) from 1948 to 1951, prior to being shipped off to fight in the Korean War. Even at age 94 he was able to recall how military strategy was taught. They did it by painstakingly reviewing prior conflicts and understanding what worked and what didn’t. They then thought about the enemy that they would be facing and constructed a flexible plan that minimised their own risks and exploited their enemy’s disadvantages.
At RMCD they taught new officers about military strategy from day one. They refined these lessons down to 10 key principles which are embodied in the acronym - A C M
A = AIM Selection and maintenance of the aim is the No 1 principle Essentially the military teaches that you should only have one aim, or objective
C = CONCENTRATION. Concentrate your efforts and don’t diversify beyond what you can sensibly control.
M = MORALE. A motivated army is a pre-requisite for success.
O = OFFENSIVE ACTION. Always be moving forward.
S = SECURITY. Ensure that your key assets are secured at all times.
S = SURPRISE. Be unpredictable. Zig when you are expected to zag.
F = FLEXIBILITY. Don’t be wedded to a plan that isn’t working. Try something else.
A = ADMINISTRATION The front line will fail if the supply chain falters
C = CO-OPERATION Co-operate with trusted partners who can advance your efforts
E = ECONOMY OF EFFORT. Employ the minimum resources required (people, money, time etc.) to achieve the desired outcome.
While the fighting of wars has changed significantly in the past 70 years, the principles of military strategy haven’t. They are timeless. And so it is with business. A.C. M.O.S.S. F.A.C.E. has valuable lessons for any business.
Equal Opportunity versus Equal Outcome – Lets go back to First Principles.
Over the last decade we have been hearing the expression “Equal Outcome” rather than “Equal Opportunity” creeping into the narrative. This may seem innocent enough but what does it mean if as a society we begin to focus on equal outcome rather than equal opportunity.
Firstly, let’s look at how we define both expressions
If we look at the Wikipedia definition for Equal Opportunity, it says: “Equal opportunity is a state of fairness in which individuals are treated similarly, unhampered by artificial barriers, prejudices, or preferences, except when particular distinctions can be explicitly justified ”
As against Equal outcomes which is defined as:“It describes a state in which all people have approximately the same material wealth and income, or in which the general economic conditions of everyone's lives are alike
Equality by itself is a term that has been around for several centuries and was articulated by Aristotle in reference to Plato: “treat like cases as like” Since the French Revolution, it has served as one of the leading ideals of the body politic.
In recent years we have seen a distortion of the concepts to mean the same thing. The current US Vice President Kamala Harris in a speech said: -
“So, there’s a big difference between equality and equity. Equality suggests, “oh everyone should get the same amount.” The problem with that, not everybody’s starting out from the same place. So, if we’re all getting the same amount, but you started out back there and I started out over here, we could get the same amount, but you’re still going to be that far back behind me. It’s about giving people the resources and the support they need, so that everyone can be on equal footing, and then compete on equal footing Equitable treatment means we all end up in the same place ”
So what is the floored logic of all of us ending up at the same place?
Equitable treatment (or opportunity) does not mean that we all end up at the same place (equality of outcome) This is just floored logic
The inference in this statement is that government has a responsibility to ensure equality of outcomes over equality of opportunity In other words, the government has the right and the responsibility to tip the scales to support one section of society at the cost of the other
To a certain degree most societies already do this in part through progressive tax systems which redistributes income from the wealthy to the less wealthy Most people accept being taxed based on income and get on with their lives However, what happens when the concept of equality of outcome begins to creep into all aspects of government policy?
As Friedrich Hayek once wrote, “There is all the difference in the world between treating people equally and attempting to make them equal While the first is the condition of a free society, the second means, as De Tocqueville described it, ‘a new form of servitude ’”
Servitude to whom? Government of course.
And even if government had the perfect policy settings to drive equality of outcome, who is to say that individuals will end up at the same place if they all have equal access to the same resources, upbringings and support systems.
Individuals are individuals and you can’t make them all want the same thing Which brings me to the next point What about free choice?
There is an assumption that everyone wants to have equal outcomes This goes against the notion that people have free choice to choose what they want to do, when they want to do it, and however they want to do it We all can’t be doctors for example
We are seeing the trend of equal outcome in the US creeping into recruitment practices in the government military and in industry with the recent example of Boeing.
If you want the best, you must recruit the best, not lower the standards in such a way that it compromises the very institution, company or occupation where you want to achieve equality, to the extent it could lead to the destruction of the organisation itself
What about balance of effort?
During life we are told if you put in the work then you will get the results Imagine if you are a high-performance athlete, you don’t become so because of pure natural ability, although it does have a role to play Talk to any high-performance athlete and they will tell you the same thing They had to work hard to get to the top Particularly in sports where the difference between winning and losing can be less than a second So, imagine if we abolished first second and third places in competition. There is no gold, silver or bronze anymore, just copper medals. Everyone gets the same.
Do you think people will try as hard if the outcome for all is the same? Of course not. This maybe an extreme example but it is a good way of highlighting the point. If the person next to you gets the same outcome as you despite not putting in the same level of effort, do you think you will work harder or work less?
It is an interesting quandary If we all get the same outcome what is the incentive to do better?
What if I don’t want to play?
The old proverb “you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make them drink” comes to mind when thinking about equality of outcome.
In essence you can do everything in your power to try and get someone to do something, but you can’t force them to do something they don’t want to do. If you do it is known as coercion, something we don’t accept in free societies
Call it human spirit which in essence wants to be free
So how under a society of equal outcomes do we deal with those that don’t want to participate Do we coerce them, bend them to the will of government?
This is what they do in communist and socialist states It is not based on the will of the people it is based on the will of the State. Disobey and you wear the consequences.
Karl Marx defined it as someone being unequal to the another if they produce more than the other based on circumstance:
Thus, with an equal performance of labor, and hence an equal in the social consumption fund, one will in fact receive more than another, one will be richer than another, and so on To avoid all these defects, right, instead of being equal, would have to be unequal ”
And here is the crux of their argument for equal outcomes It is based on circumstance!
The hypothesis of the equal outcome argument is that because people have different circumstances, the government must intervene to ensure there is a level playfield so everyone can have equal outcomes. This can only be achieved by pulling down those who succeed to the level of those that chose not to work as hard and don’t succeed as much.
As I mentioned earlier, this is the government changing the balance of the scales towards those that don’t sacrifice their time and put in the effort of others This trend is growing in the US to the extent that those that don’t want to work hard to achieve their goals believe it is their right to take from others what they believe they deserve
This can lead to some very interesting outcomes, case in point is the LuLulemon A store was being robbed in Georgia in the Unites States Two employees tried to intervene, and they were fired by the company with the CEO stating that they stand by the decision based on safety grounds You can understand the safety concerns but does that really require that the employees be fired
Some years ago, they would have been heralded as heroes, but not in today’s world. We are witnessing a strong spike in crime in the US, particularly in retail stores where criminals walk in and fill up bags with merchandise and walk out not concerned about the consequences because there are none. Being soft on crime is one of the secondary impacts of equality of outcomes. Where the judicial system considers the circumstances of the perpetrators of the crimes and lets them go free. This is most acute when looking at the conviction of illegal immigrants in the US the most recent high-profile case being the murder of Laken Riley The killer was paroled for former crimes committed and released into the public
Is it worth someone losing their life?
This may be extreme, but the consequences of deploying a policy of equality of outcomes can lead to some extreme outcomes
Are you tired of being cooped up indoors, feeling sluggish, and longing for a way to kickstart your fitness journey? Look no further! Lace up your shoes and join me, on a transformative journey from the comfort of your couch to conquering your first 5K race
As a personal trainer, I've witnessed firsthand the incredible benefits that running can bring to both the body and mind Not only does it improve cardiovascular health and boost endurance, but it also releases endorphins, those feel-good hormones that leave you energised and uplifted.
So, how do you go from being a couch potato to crossing the finish line of a 5K race? Follow these simple steps to get started:
1. Invest in the Right Gear: While running doesn't require fancy equipment, investing in a good pair of running shoes and comfortable workout attire is essential to prevent injuries and enhance your performance. One of the best investments you can make in your running journey is downloading the Nike Run Club app. This app offers a wealth of resources, including GPS tracking, customisable training plans, guided runs, and challenges Best of all, it's available for free on both Android and Apple devices, making it accessible to everyone
Set Your Goal: Begin by setting a clear and achievable goal. Whether it's completing a local 5K race or simply running for 30 minutes without stopping, having a specific target will keep you motivated and focused.
2. Start Slowly: Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither is your running endurance Begin with a combination of walking and jogging intervals, gradually increasing the duration and intensity of your runs as your fitness improves
3 Follow a Training Plan: Utilise beginner-friendly training programs, such as the popular Couch to 5K (C25K) program, which provides a structured approach to gradually building up your running stamina over several weeks.
4 Listen to Your Body: Pay attention to how your body responds to running and adjust your training accordingly. It's normal to experience some muscle soreness and fatigue, but if you're in pain, take a rest day or seek guidance from a professional.
6.
5. Stay Consistent: Consistency is key to progress. Aim to run at least three times a week, scheduling your workouts at times when you're most likely to stick to them.
7. Fuel Your Body: Eat a balanced diet rich in whole foods to fuel your runs and support recovery Hydrate adequately before, during, and after your workouts, especially in warmer weather
Cross-Train: Incorporate cross-training activities, such as cycling, swimming, or strength training, into your routine to prevent boredom, improve overall fitness, and reduce the risk of overuse injuries.
8. Celebrate Your Progress: Celebrate each milestone along the way, whether it's completing your first continuous mile or shaving seconds off your pace Every step forward is a victory worth acknowledging
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9 10 Join a Community: Consider joining a local running group or online community for accountability, support, and camaraderie Surrounding yourself with like-minded individuals can provide motivation and encouragement on your journey
Remember, the most important step is the first one out the door. Embrace the process, stay patient with yourself, and trust in your ability to progress. Before you know it, you'll be crossing that 5K finish line with a sense of pride and accomplishment that only comes from pushing past your limits and realising your full potential.
So, what are you waiting for? Let's lace up those shoes, leave the couch behind, and embark on this exhilarating journey together. Your future self will thank you for it!
If you need help with your fitness goals or have any questions along the way, feel free to contact me at 0405 775 877 or Dm on @fitness one way
Erick Couto Personal and Founder of One Way Fitness
Ok I’m not a massive fan of the EV, I’d much rather spend $80,000 on a 1972 Chevrolet Chevelle with a 5.7litre V8 in it and do donuts around the outside of any any kind of EV that got in my way BUT if China do actually flood the global market with said EV’s and hybrids even I may have to have a look.
The recent motor shows in Asia have shown just how impressive some of these vehicles actually are, yes I know many of them were just prototypes and most will never see production, but even if one fifth of them ever did get on the road you have to wonder how Tesla et all are going to complete. See the Chinese still have this every big thing over most of the world except maybe India in that they’re labour costs are nowhere near what the rest of the world are paying
Now it may well be the case in is already in some cases true that the build quality on some of these EV’s from China that have made to Australia isn’t awesome, but neither were Kia’s when they first came here and look where they are now Yes ok that was just one company out of quite a few that tried to break into the Australian market, but they did make it work and its not hard to see the Chinese doing the same thing.
The biggest issue for the EV is charging, holding a charge, where to charge and the length of time needed to charge one and then range. The Chinese though have got this one covered by making some of their EV’s hybrids but also offering better value for money when compared to Tesla in particular. When you see what some of these Chinese made cars are capable of you cant help but think you’re stepping into some kind of space ship. Many come with crystal clear 10’ plus digital screens, cameras everywhere, driving assistances, top quality sound systems and within their 4X4 ranges the ability to raise and lower the car with the flick of a button
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To take redundancy or not to take redundancy that is the question…well it’s a question but the answer is pretty bloody easy, of course I would!
See, when I got married to Dona man I was a different person. I was child free, horse free and I had savings. Now I have no money, a child and unfortunately I still have Dona man who I do often blame for having no money, but regardless of blame my priorities have changed. No Covid didn’t change me unlike those gen whatevers who feel they need a day off to get back on top of the issues they’ve had with breaking a finger nail and couldn’t possibly come to the office more than one day a week because they’d be triggered into an emotional state if they saw a homeless person, no I’ve always quite liked the office but it is time to move on.
Now if Dona man did had a job that paid actual money I’d be able to buy the farm I’ve wanted most of my life, but he doesn’t so in my post working life I’m going into business for myself, what that is I’m not saying but the point is there does indeed come a time in your life when you say yeah I’m outta here. It doesn’t have to be when you get to my age of 23 rather its when you’re ready.
I was that person at family gatherings when the cousin would come in with their new baby and they say do you want a hold, and I’d say sorry I’d rather crack a vase over my head and run out off the room, today though I find it impossible to think of my life without my children, and sometimes Dona man Pre-covid I was in the office four days a week and I still go in three days a week but while I still quite like it my brain wants to move on to something new
From what I’ve done for the last 30 plus years to what I do next is chalk and cheese and watch this space but I think its important that people do indeed at least entertain the idea of stepping outside what they know into something they’re passionate about and want to see succeed Ugh I sounded like Dona Man then, but at least my idea will make us some money for food unlike his
Dona man though has this thing about purpose, passion and pathway, again it’s a great idea but Tony Robbins he isn’t so don’t give him any money but the idea of it is absolutely right on the money We all have a purpose in life and that changes over time, we all have our passions which in many cases don’t change and when you get to a certain point in life we should go back and check in to see if we are indeed on the right pathway for ourselves
Understand your purpose in life, then your passions and work out if your passion can fund your purpose My purpose in life is to raise my children and to have some money to give Dona man, can my passion fund those things? Right now, no, but can they in the long term? Absolutely they can so now its a case of putting a plan together and putting it all together Ugh it’s annoying when Dona Man gets things right, maybe you should give him money to help plan your life, don’t tell him I said that though!
For now though I do still like my job, but I am planning for what life looks like post the office and finding my passions and so should you
At time of writing this US comedian, UFC commentator and podcast host Joe Rogan is one of the most successful social commentators on the planet. He has more than 16 million subscribers to his podcast and has had more than 3.5 billion views for the podcast which is also broadcast on You Tube. A long term $200 million deal with Spotify has given Rogan a global audience for what he describes as long form conversations with his guests, and if you haven’t listened to him and his guests believe me when i say nothing is off the table
Rogan has done more than 2,000 podcast which started in 2009 and while his initial shows were based around comedians he didn’t and still doesn’t hold back on his own personal views, views that raised eyebrows during the covid pandemic. Rogan made no secret of the fact that he wouldn’t take any form of Covid vaccine, but he didn’t just say it was all of plot of Bill Gates rather he went on this journey to present what he said were facts not being delivered via mainstream media and or governments not only in the US, but across the world
With the issues around Covid vaccines now becoming clear it has in some ways justified Rogan’s stance but he doesn’t make it about one side or the other from a political perspective Yes there’s no doubt his own views lean right, but everyone is in the gun when it comes to being called out by the man himself He supports same sex marriage, gay rights and recreational drug use, but does not believe transgender athletes should be competing outside their original sex He believes in what we call Medicare and the right to basic income, but stands up for gun rights and hates cancel culture. Some would suggest much of what he says and believes is just basic common sense, but others believe he’s a right wing nutter.
No matter what you think about Rogan and I personally quite like him, although some episodes are a bit too much the point is he represents a shift away from mainstream narratives to a world of being allowed to have your own opinions and being taken seriously by a lot of people! And herein is the thing about the shift away from mainstream media, people are over it When you turn on the nightly news (if you still do) or you pick up a newspaper from one of the main media corporations the messaging is either left or right depending on who owns the publication When it comes to government media, in this country the ABC it’s mostly left wing progressive opinions, but what we are seeing more of now is this shift towards people and outlets like Rogan who really are getting paid to say what they think
We have seen recently the move by by governments to quite rightly begin the move to control social media sites and the content being seen by kids. There’s no doubt we need better guides around social media for kids, but what we cannot do is allow governments to control overall content, content like Rogan’s that does indeed question the role government has and how it operates
My oldest daughter turns 18 later this year and from when she got her first iPad to now the world of online media and social media itself has changed dramatically and new voices have been raised While there are indeed those that don’t agree with much of what Rogan has to say we need to make sure that the right to have opinions outside of main stream constructed narratives is not actually illegal and should in no way ever be censored.
We have laws, we have basic morality that we do and should live by but now more than ever we need to stand up for the rights of people who do go outside what is fed to us via this controlled mainstream media industry. This is the new era of media and we absolutely need to make sure we protect the most vulnerable members of our community but we must never stand in the way of the right to have an opinion or a global podcast that indeed challenges the agenda of governments across the world
Joe may be not be right on everything, but he’s here to stay and we must make sure those like him and dare I say like Hoodies never see their right to go against the popular narrative taken away
Ugh the ABC The progressive media organisation funded by the Australian tax payer that couldn’t turn it’s head right if there was trans activist standing beside them reading gender transformation stories to kids Why is that?
See the ABC will say they’re the only media outlet in the country that is impartial, it’s written in their charter that they have to be, but in its current state it’s more like a suggestion than an actual thing they have to adhere to, just ask Laura Tingle. See I have no issue with Tingle I’m sure she’s smarter than me and would be able to argue me under the table but if she’s going to work for the ABC she is supposed to be impartial not going off on a tangent suggesting Australia is a racist country.
Where do labor politicians and John Pesutto go when they want to deliver a message? The ABC because? That’s their people, but is it? The ABC has recently had its worst ever radio ratings results. Even the once mighty Triple J is warning their listeners that the next song has swearing in it, I’m sorry what the fuck? Triple J!
Yes ok the ABC is one of the go to places fro crime drama and British comedy but really? There are a thousand streaming services now and you cant help but ask hard the ABC gone past its use by date When it comes to radio Raf Epstein and Sabra Lane remain the highlights with the rest not able to offer anything other than left wing rubbish TV shows are the awful Q and A and 7.30 with the famed Tingle. Now before anyone jumps on the gender bandwagon Tingle especially is a brilliant journalist and is a formidable interviewer but does she want to be impartial? With that skill set and I know she wouldn’t do it but I’d get a Sky subscription to watch Credlin and Tingle go at each other!
The whole everything to everyone thing doesn’t work you can’t do it, and you can’t stop people in this case employees having their own opinions. People want to hear what Laura Tingle think, people remarkably want to hear what 3AW think, 2UE, Kiss FM, Fox, Sky, MSNBC, CNN, ITV and then you have social media! People want to share opinions and then make up their own minds. It’s human nature to say what you think and media outlets are no different
For too long the ABC has tried to walk this ridiculous line of impartiality and it’s really over, but then what? Well sell it obviously The federal government could do with the money and if the Feds did sell it they could sell it under the proviso of certain things being kept on the program sheet. There needs to be a certain amount of indigenous content, of educational programs, of programs produced by women and so on. If they don’t get rid of it what is it? It’s losing ratings, people are leaving the organisation and the line of impartiality is gone, it’s sell it or nail the intentions to the mast and say this is what we are.
The biggest issue for any organisation no matter what industry is its identity It needs a clearly defined purpose and ideology or it will flounder and not be able to deliver on much of anything For tooling now we have tolerated the ABC walking towards the left while pretending it’s straight down the line, well those days are over and in the world of new media its time to get real or get out of Dodge because the world has changed and if the ABC doesn’t move now it’ll only get worse.
The story of Hoodies as some people know goes back to the Covid days when I took to LinkedIn to write my views on the ways in which governments across the country were dealing with he pandemic. Now as we drop Issue 14 I thought given I had zero idea what I was doing when we started I’d offer some free advice to people about how to build yourself a following.
In the last 12 months content I’ve posted just on LinkedIn has had more than 1 million hits on it Then the magazine has had in the region of 350,000 hits and then the social media platforms another 100,000 or so meaning Hoodies content had had nearly 1 5 million hits in the last 12 months, not bad for something that started life off as a bit of a rant!
But how did we get there? The secret isn’t really a secret the key thing in all of it is consistency that’s it. It’s not about ice baths, writing gratitude lists, getting up at 3am for your gym work out, or anything else the bottom line is consistency. But while you have to have the consistency you need to focus on what your message is and what it is you want to achieve.
Warren Buffet has said many times before when asked what course someone should do to be successful that they should do a sales course because everything is about sales. You need sales to generate revenue and as Paul Breen said to me after I ear bashed him about my rainbows and unicorns idea, Yeah that’s great but where’s your next sale coming from? To which at the time I had no answer
So number one thing to remember is if you’re wanting to build a following, a network, a reputation then you have to be delivering content every single day If you want to be known for bird watching post something short and sharp everyday about birds A lot of mechanics are now using social media to build their customer base by posting content about cars and their issues, some of those handles get hundreds of thousands of hits and views and don’t forget some of these social media companies are paying you money when you generate enough hits, so you can derive an income from what you post.
One of the big issues for content creation though is taking the viewer of your content to your own platform. This was my biggest issue. I could get 120,000 views on a single post on LinkedIn but struggled to get 50 hits on my website which was a blog at the time This is always tricky but you need to give people a reason to stop scrolling and hit the link you provide back to your more detailed content There needs to be an offer made to people and then a reward for when they do engage with your own platform So you could tell part of a story, give part of a video, show part of a product and say if your hit our website we’ll show you the rest of xyz And you’re up against social media companies who know how to keep people engaged on their own platforms, but really it’s a numbers game. If you can get 50,000 hits on a post and then get 500 hits on your own site that can break down to a 100 that really engage with what you’re doing and then maybe 10 buy what you’re selling which in turn generates revenue for you. From there you work out what the metrics were that got the engagement and use them again but repurpose them and add more reasons for people to go to your site So next time you might get 80,000 hits with 800 and 80 sales and so on, but the key is going back to consistency
The consistency part is the shit part because everyday when people are off doing their own things or whatever else you need to focus on what you’re posting that day and how you can hook more people each and everyday back to your core product or idea that in turn gets you more traction and increases your revenue. It’s not rocket science really and yes there will be those products, brands and people that just hit it at the right moment in time and go through the roof quicker than you and if you can do that all power to you, but don’t forget the story of the rabbit and the tortoise! Just remember consistency is the key and as I say to my daughters, there is always a way
If you need help getting traction or want some advice on how to get traction or how to start a brand feel free to shoot me a message I work cheap and happy to help how ever I can Email hoodieshatsnobs@gmail com
I like these lists. I had an email a few weeks ago about the ten greatest front men of all time, Freddie yes the emailer said, but mate the others? We need to talk! And their is the point, it’s all subjective. When we all used to go to the office we would stand around and talk about these kinds of things and lists and now yeah things are different but gees we can still call, text, email even meet in person to talk about stuff that’s not all about how much of a dickhead Albo is! Having said that though I reckon theres a list of the ten biggest dickhead politicians of all time, first Australia and then the world! Who will be the number one biggest dickhead politician of all time global edition?!
But this issue we are talking the ten greatest live performances of all time any genre Now there have been iconic performances but this list is mainly based on how technically amazing the performance was plus who the artists were has some relevance It could be argued that some of these performances aren’t that technically amazing, but then you read who’s involved and you think, yeah ok, but I’m sure some people will disagree!
So with no further interruptions ladies and gentlemen the ten greatest live performances of all time are as follows;
The year is 1973 and two of the greatest ever singers ever to grace the opera houses of the world walk onto stage at Carnegie Hall in New York, Tenor Richard Tucker and Baritone Robert Merrill Both men came had powerful dramatic voices suited to Verdi, Puccini, Mascagni and the like and this concert while there have been great tenor baritone concerts I think beats all of them.
The concert is just with a piano, no band and the whole thing goes for nearly two hours, which in terms of a recital is unheard of plus they both sing operas greatest hits The greatest duets, the greatest arias and both in amazing form vocally They sing the oath duet from Otello, Merrill having sung Iago, but Tucker not Otello so you get an insight into how Tucker may have brought the Moor to life They pay homage to those in the audience especially as they call him, “Their former boss ” Rudolf Bing General Manager at the Met and the applause is rapturous after everything do, but to their credit and their humility they don’t let the applause drag on, they start the next item before people have settled back in You can tell these are men who love what they do, they love these pieces and they want to perform them to an audience that adores them
A concert for the ages and now only available on You Tube or if you van find it a double LP.
To me standing in a field with 200,000 others people in the mud would be a nightmare, but I also know that Wood stock despite its issues was one of the greatest live music gatherings in history It was the end of the 60’s and free love was still in abundance but it had taken on more of an anger to it with the death of Martin Luther King Jnr in 1968 and with the US heavily involved in Vietnam free love was becoming more racially motivated than ever before
On a Monday in August 1969 a 26 year old Jimi Hendrix walked out onto stage armed with his white fender Stratocaster to play for the maddening crowd and Jimi did not disappoint. With his band behind him they played all their well know hits, but it was the Hendrix solo version of the Star Spangled Banner that stole the show. Hendrix like so many other talent black men and women throughout history understood their own significance to the story of black people and the fight for their rights So when Jimi played the US anthem he didn’t just play it as it was written on the page he played it as a statement of the plight of black America, he played it for the pain of war and he played it still, with a pride for his homeland The performance gave listeners then and all of us now one of the greatest examples of irony in human history because while Jimi played the anthem go his home land he showed the world everything that was wrong with it at the same time A performance for the ages
8 Dr Dre, Snoop, 50 cent, Eminem, Mary J Blige, Kendrick Lamar
Ok so I said at the start of this that not all of these performances were all the best technically some were based on who was on stage and this is one of them. When Dr Dre, Eminem, Mary J Blige, Snoop Dogg, 50 cent and Kendrick Lamar took to the stage for the half time show at the NFL Super Bowl 56 we were watching music and rap history in the making. Yes ok there have been amazing people on stage totters before, but to put totters a half time show with this lot of mega stars was unbelievable! All singing live, all at the top of their game and really it’s unlikely to be seen again any time soon
7 Prince at the rock n roll hall of fame for George Harrison
In 2004 George Harrison was inducted into the Rock n Roll hall of fame and to celebrate it Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne, Steve Winwood and Dani Harrison took to the stage to perform Harrison’s famous song ‘While my guitar gently weeps ’ The song itself repeats on itself so when this cohort performed it they broke it up into two sections with one guitar solo in the first and another in the second. The first was all fine, but for the second solo on walked a little bloke in a red hat playing a red Fender telecaster, the bloke was prince and that night Prince who didn’t sing (unfortunately) gave one of the greatest performances ever
Prince was and remains a musical genius and with him having sung and written so many amazing songs you forget how good he was at playing the guitar, but here his genius shines through Harrison by his own admission wasn’t Eric Clapton in fact it was George that suggested Clapton play with the Beatles, but regardless Prince takes the whole thing to another level even at one point turning away from the audience to fall back into he crowd while playing Even Dhani Harrison laughs at how unbelievable Prince is At the end of the song Prince throws the guitar away into the crowd and walks off stage making no acknowledgement of the crowd, it was a legendary way to end one of the legendary performances.
6. Heart with Jason Bonham
You know I reckon when Robert Plant was watching Heart play Stairway to heaven at the Kennedy Centre honours concert he thought they played it better than Led Zeppelin ever did, apart from Jimmy’s solo
In 2012 the remaining members of Led Zeppelin were honoured at the Kennedy Centre honours Page, Plant and Jones sat in the theatre and watched as Heart took to the stage to perform one of the most iconic songs of all time The song started as it does softly, gently, bringing the listener in to the story, then a slowly the band comes in Jason Bonham, Original drummer John Bonham’s son begins to play the drums and soon were into the the guitar solo with heart singing like their lives depended on it.
The solo fills into a choir and then into a mass choir of sound and rock music pumping throughout the auditorium with Jimmy Page himself gobsmacked being seen to mouth the Wow! Yo Yo Ma the cellist is rocking out and audience members seem almost in a trance to the music For several minutes the theatre pumps to the sound of Heart and this mass choir and people feel it in the soul that they have witnessed one of the great live performances of all time NOT performed by the original group
5 Paul McCartney at Glastonbury
In 2022 Paul McCartney turned 80 and in that same year the former Beatle was the headline act at the famous Glastonbury music festival, 80. Let that one sink in for a minute, and when it has understand that the 80 year old Beatle played for nearly two hours! Within that two hours McCartney played some the Beatles most iconic songs and with the help of some very well known stars delivered a performance unlike any delivered by anyone else even close to his age!
While his voice may not be as it was when he was 20 who cared? No one! And why should they? He was backed up by some of the best muses ever and don’t forget the man can still really play! A two hour set list at one of the biggest festivals on the planet McCartney is easily on our list!
I never really got the whole grunge thing I’m gonna kill myself, I’m gonna kill you, look at the floor all the time and never smile I want to die then I want to jump round like a moron and then I’ll go do lots of drugs and die Hmmm still don’t get it really, well at all, but when Nirvana popped up on MTV unplugged in 1993 they showed themselves to be the incredibly talented musicians they actually were. Sound that was stripped right back to acoustic instruments and band members exposed, they could play it or they couldn’t and they could. It’s not hard to see why Dave Grohl is still so good today because this was where he really learnt his craft and took a lot of his influence from
Regardless of what I or anyone else thinks or thought about grunge what it had was this unbridled emotion to it, it was raw energy and when you stuck it on a small stage with the band only using acoustic instruments it took on this intensity that it didn’t really have before
The MTV Nirvana gig was almost a nod to the Presley concert staged the same way, but the Nirvana gig gave way to many more artists going acoustic one of the most famous was the Eric Clapton one, but regardless of Elvis or Eric Nirvana were a voice for a generation and on MTV that night the world got to hear it in a totally new way.
We talk about Hendrix at Woodstock and the irony of the national anthem but when it came to Whitney Houston at the Super Bowl in 1991 there was absolutely no doubt that Whitely loved her country and the country loved her
Whitney who was the niece of famous opera singer Leontyne Price had one of the greatest voices in history At the Super Bowl she sang the anthem with a military band in full flight and in a stadium with 70,000 people in it so it wasn’t on the list of easy places to perform but my god did she perform. In a stadium nowadays you’ll see a singer with ear buds in to hear the track and themselves but Whitney didn’t have ear buds nor did the conductor of the band. He was listening to her via fold back speaker and her tot he band via another one. Despite the fact that sound travels at varying speeds they all made it work.
Some have suggested it wasn’t live but go back and have a look at her during the mid part and you can see she’s running her own race and the conductor moves with her, he’s a bloke id like to meet, but the way in which she sings with such passion and joy for the anthem is something to behold and to remember how lucky we were to have had Whitney with us, but to also think how sad it is she left far too soon
All Football World Cups have an anthem or a song for them and in 1990 the World Cup Anthem was the famous tenor aria Nessun Dorma by Puccini sung by the great Luciano Pavarotti. With the World Cup being played in Italy that year and with three of the biggest stars ever in opera all in the same place for a short time it was decided that Domingo, Carreras and Pavarotti accompanied by conductor Zubin Mehta would put on for one night only a concert in Rome that would go on to become the first concert of the Three Tenors
Domingo and Pavarotti stand outside the tent of tenors on their own as possibly the greatest ever, but Jose was no little cousin had he not suffered leukaemia and had health issues mid way through his career he was probably on the way to surpassing or at least equalling his dear friends If you ever in any doubt how good the young Jose was have a listen to the recording of him sing the Lucia duet with Caballe, but regardless at this special (at the time) one off event Jose stood his ground.
The concert was a mix of fun, of serious singing and of celebration of actually having three such extraordinary singers of the same voice type on stage for this special event They all sang their party pieces and Pavarotti singing Nessun Dorma and then all singing various songs and arias together There was the pointing and laughing saying you sing this I sing that but really it was all planned and brilliantly executed by three of the greatest singers ever to grace one stage together
Queen at Live Aid 1.
The famous music critic and writer Paul Gambicini is interviewed about Queens performance at Live Aid and he said there was a feeling backstage that as Queen performed people started to say, they’re stealing the show When you look back at what Queen did at Live Aid they didn’t just steal the show that day they delivered what is the greatest live performance in the history of the planet!
From the moment they walked on stage at Wembley Queen and Freddie were on Freddie blowing a kiss to his Mum from the piano then rising up to grab his microphone to dance across the stage with the audience of 80,000 clapping along like nothing ever seen at a rock concert They sang they played like no one ever played before and as someone else remarked…”They could write it and they could play it live!”
Hit after hit after hit for 21 minutes Queen were Live aid and even Bob Geldof said the concert hadn’t taken off til Queen played Freddie sang with the audience and like the front man he was he made every single person in that stadium that day feel part of all of it May was extraordinary, Taylor the band and Freddie’s rock and John Deacon the ever reliable bass thumping out his lines
Later in the evening Freddie and May returned to the stage to perform, the very apt song ‘Is this world we created’ Freddie’s vocals soaring high above the still packed stadium and into the air that only rock gods and legends can occupy
Queen went onto perform stadiums across the world, but it all began at Wembley at Live Aid on a day that changed music forever thanks to Queen who gave the world the greatest Live performance of all time!
Next issue the 10 greatest recordings of all time
There is a famous story of Verdi and Wagner being in a garden within very close proximity of each other while both men were at the height of their musical powers, but never said a word to one another, they glided away from one another never to utter a word between themselves. A somewhat magical sad and fascinating story all rolled up into one when you think how great both men were but if they had indeed spoken what would they have said?
Wagner and Verdi stand at the top of the operatic genre as kings of all things it has to offer Despite so many other composers being geniuses of the genre, despite the fact that so many composers works have stood the test of time Verdi and Wagner remain at the top of the glorious tree
The style both men had was very much their own, but they shared their understanding of how drama and music combined to bring forth all the genre could offer an audience member Wagner took his music to extremes it must be said going so far as to design instruments capable of playing the notes he wanted and building theatres big enough for the orchestras he wrote for Verdi was not like that he worked within the confines of tools he had, but he too pushed them to their limits
Despite both men writing vastly different music the type of singer required within both their works can often be seen singing roles of either composer. The Wagner heldentenor is the exception to the rule it must be said because if a tenor can indeed sing Siegfried, Tristan and Tannhauser its unlikely they’ll do much else given how rare the voice type is nowadays, but if you ’ re a spinto singer you could easily see yourself singing Otello, or Siegmund, or Radames or Walther the same for women the Brunhildes of the world while specialised Wagnerian’s would sing Turandot or Salome. But no matter how you look at singing the works of either composer you are going g to need a set of lungs that can get over and beyond more than 90 musicians playing at full tilt Wagner and Verdi both shared their passion for loud!
I’ve always thought of Wagners music as ethereal, there is a brutal beauty to it You have pieces that are joyous and all conquering but then you have the terror and ferocity of the Ring, but no matter what operas of Wagners you listen to it is music that transcends the genre
With Verdi who was such an inspiration for the Verismo composers you have a composer who wrote anthems, who wrote music that could inspire and bring forth a range of emotions in his audiences. Where Wagner had the Ring cycle as his greatest accomplishment, Verdi had his final three operas, Aida, Otello and Falstaff, two of which were based on works by Shakespeare as his Aida brings to life ancient Egypt, Otello Venice and Falstaff England in his last of three works based on Shakespeare’s plays Many would suggest Falstaff his greatest work, but to me its Otello To this day no other piece of work has captured the essence of a Shakespeare play like Very did with Otello The body of the play remains but Verdi brought a soundtrack to it giving the Moor incredible and powerful music so aptly set against that of his doomed wife Desdemona She sings the Willow song with a freshness and beauty that is in stark contrast to the oath duet Otello sings with the unscrupulous and evil Iago
In Wagner’s Ring cycle you have everything Wagner has ever given us. His stories of the Gods, his incredible orchestrations, a style of singing unheard from any other composer and four operas totalling more than twelve hours of music, a true masterpiece of composition Wagner takes us on a journey within the four works that starts with the softest music imaginable then taking us on a journey of indeed god like proportions all the way to Valhalla itself
Neither men really cared for the others works with Wagner not caring for grand opera and Verdi questioning why Wagner made his works so long Wagner pushed the limits of musical composition and then beyond with things like the Tristan chord and his through composition style whereas Verdi worked mainly within the confines of the rudiments of music and gave his arias in particular a beginning a middle and an end. Wagner is probably the more encompassing composer in that he gave both orchestra and singers the same level of importance whereas Verdi was very much a singers composer I guarantee people can name more choruses and arias of Verdi than Wagner That’s not a detraction from the music of either man rather its highlighting how they each advanced the drama and stories within each of their works
It is impossible to say who was a better composer as they are both geniuses and gave the world a back catalogue of music that we are able to break down and study for more years than we be alive, but what we should acknowledge is that both men left an impression on music unlike any other opera composers in history.
The question however will always remain, if they had talked to one another in that garden all those years ago what would they have said to one another, but it remains again something to debate and discuss when it comes to these two great masters of their art
I can hear them now My kid can paint better than that or why is a soup can art? Why is something painted hundreds of years ago worth so much? Why is some black kid’s street art worth so much today? And who’s that Banksy dude?
I remember being in London when English artist Tracy Emin’s piece ‘the unmade Bed’ was launched at the Tate People again came up with the lines of what the hell? My bed at home looks like that, people can come buy my bed if they want Now, ok some of this isn’t wrong, why does Tracy Emin putting an unmade bed in the Tate make it art, when Cheryl from Dandenong can do the same thing? Well the answer is that Cheryl didn’t think about doing it because she does see past the bed Yes, ok thats sounds like utter wank, but work with me here
Meditation is the ability to go beyond the conscious mind An artist who can deal in any kind of artistic creation is in a similar way going past the conscious mind and bringing to life subject matter that we take fro granted ie the unmade bed. It’s like those weirdy pictures that when you stare at them long enough another image appears, that’s what art is, it’s seeing beyond what you have in front of you and understanding it on a whole other level
Art has been at the forefront of challenging the norms of society for centuries It’s been political, it’s demanded change, it’s called out political rhetoric, it has been cutting edge and it has forced people to face up to the issues of race and oppression. The famed indigenous artist Reko Rennie creates pieces via contemporary media that provoke discussion about the history of indigenous people, such is the power Reko creates that his works are now seen across the world The same for another contemporary artist Shaun Gladwell who who had a portrait of the imprisoned Julian Assange into the Archibald Prize
Gladwell went to Belmarsh prison to see Assange but wasn’t allowed to take in any kind of painting materials so in the lead up to their meeting he asked Assange to bring with him chocolate bars and twenty five pounds When the pair met Assange gave Gladwell the chocolate and the money and the Artist melted it in his hands and then drew the portrait onto the bank notes.
Gladwell says of Assange that he is an unlawfully incarcerated journalist and computer programmer and while it was not easy to get into see Assange it was worth it The painting was finished back in Australia and the final work is Assange’s head as a hot air balloon, his forehead carrying the image of the doves of peace with the whole piece being about the fact that an innocent man sits in a maxim security prison while Australia does little to help
Gladwell did not win the Archibald prize this year. Instead it went to a talented artist by the name of Laura Jones, who painted a portrait a portrait of the talented Australian author Tim Winton Boring as bat shit Sorry Jones is unquestionably talented as is Winton, but really? Could there have been a safer winner? Ok the Archibald has never really been too controversial but if art does indeed want to remain at the cutting edge of questioning the world it puts under the microscope wouldn’t Gladwell have been a much more worthy winner?
This isn’t to say that art has to be hyper critical every moment of of every day, but with the world in a state of flux art that questions what is happening around us needs to come to the fore
Art like beauty is in the eye of the beholder we like what we like because we are all incredibly different, but what art and especially this years Archibald seems to have forgotten is that while safe is ok we as a society rely in part on art for our soul. Ok most people wouldn’t agree with that, but art, creativity, culture all go together to enable us to know who we are, where we came from, what we should be shamed of, what we should remember, what we should celebrate and what we should be proud of We can’t forget that Art brings us joy but it also has a responsibility to question and confront the world we live in, here’s hoping next years Archibald prize is given to an artist that does what art should do
I am a lover of the art song, in particular German and English I’ve written before about the Vaughn Williams song cycle ‘Songs of Travel’ a beautiful collection of songs tells g the story of a mans journey through life, but now we move to the German art song better known as Lieder.
One of my greatest singing teachers was the mighty Australian Soprano Loris Synon who I without question should’ve paid more attention to when I was 19 (I was a dickhead!) one year for my birthday gave me the score of the Schubert song cycle Schwanengesang (Swan Song) I sang there first five songs of the cycle one year for an exam and they have stayed with me forever. Another cycle by Schubert is the famous ‘Die Schone mullerin which I also sang but arguably the greatest of the Schubert sing cycles is the ever popular and difficult ‘Winterreise’
One of the greatest exponents of the Schubert Lieder was the German Baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau who with pianist Gerald Moore made some the most legendary recordings of German lieder ever Fischer-Dieskau and Moore are the bench mark from where all recordings of Lieder are measured and for good reason, but that doesn’t mean new recordings aren’t worthy of listening, far from it. In fact a new recording from the baritone Andre Schuen is very much worthy of discussing.
Most great lieder singers are German, for obvious reason, but Schuen is actually Italian but didn’t study voice in Italy rather he went to Salzburg where her studied lieder with Wolfgang Holzmair which is one of the resins why this new recording of ‘Winterreise’ is such a success
The vocal line and piano in lieder have to be almost in unison. Obviously they are making different sounds, but one reacts to the other with light and shade. The vocal line tells the story of the cycle in this case of a lonely traveller trying to forget about a lost love while venturing through the snow and the piano moves the drama forward The connection between the two performers has to be absolute and in this recording pianist Daniel Heide and Schuen are without question total unison
Winterreise is made up of 24 songs and Schuen sings all of them with more than their required beauty and style His version of the famed ‘Fruhlingstraum’ has a lilt to it that gives his voice the space to show its beauty, with Heide following magnificently along beside him
One of the hardest things about singing lieder is it’s just you and the piano, to bring out the emotion and the story of the piece you have to have an almost obsessive understanding of the dynamics required and if you have to understand each and every word you sing
As much as I’m a fan of all things Tenor even I have to say that the higher keys for lieder don’t work as well as they do for the baritones Even my favourite cycle Songs of travel sounds better sung by a baritone, and here with Schuen you can hear that his vocal range is perfectly suited to the genre.
This version of Winterreise out on Deutsche Grammophon has only the slightest echo or reverb on the recording. You can hear Heide’s use of the pedal giving sustained sound but its perfectly matched with the slightest echo on Schuen’s voice giving the whole thing this warmth without being dull
Fischer-Dieskau’s Lieder singing got better as he got older so we can only hope the now 40 year old Schuen does the same but this recording is now a new bench mark as to what modern lieder should sound like. The next recording Schuen does of Winterreise will be different again, but what a recording it will be and I for one cannot wait to hear how this what is still a young man in terms of lieder singing develops as he does grow within the genre
Daniel Heide & Andre Schuen - Winterreise is available now across all streaming services
That’s Issue 14 done…I have to say as I come to the end of this issue this one has been hugely emotional because it really represents everything I’m passionate about and think is important in the world.
Thank you to everyone who wrote for us, everyone that took the time to be interviewed and of course everyone that downloads and reads what has been our biggest issue yet
We’re already planning Issue 15 and after more than year of doing this I feel we are just getting better and better with every edition we publish
We’ve got a new website in the making, better data tracking, adding new writers and new advertisers every month and no matter what we do we just want everyone to keep on asking, Why Hoodies? Because it really does matter!
Until next month please continue to share our magazine, share our content and thank you to all.
See you next issue
Cheers
Ben
Founder and Editor Hoodies Magazine 2024
why hoodies? because it matters