Page 10 - Melbourne Observer - Wednesday, July 18, 2012
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Di Leap of faith ■ Here I was working away, swearing that the world is going faster and not enough hours in the day ... and I find out we actually have gained a second! Called the ‘leap second’ it explains why a lot of people had computer problems on June 30. A ‘leap second’ occurred and among the major businesses that had problems were Qantas . Explains a lot! What is this leap second I asked? A ‘leap second’ is a real occurrence, it is a one-second adjustment that is occasionally applied to UTC Coordinated Universal Time in order to keep its time of day close the mean solar time. The most recent leap second was inserted on June 30 at 23.59.60 UTC. Did it mean we had more time and the earth slowed down? I had to find out! I had a leap second to find out! Well it did for ‘a leap second’. The main reason for the slowing down of the Earth’s rotation is tidal friction, which alone would lengthen the day by 2.3ms/century. So I found it wasn’t enough time to do the filing or catch an extra cup of coffee, but it was there. And I found out that Google was right across it. Instead of inserting a leap second at the end of the day, Google servers implement a leap smear, extending seconds slightly over a time window prior to the leap second. All this was going on while I was preoccupied with what Katie Holmes was going to do next with her throwaway mobile phone and how that was going to all play out. She is a smart cookie. I am not going to write anymore as I believe Tom Cruise is reading everything that is written about it!
I love my job!
For HAPPY LANDINGS FOR PAM ANN
■ I was thrilled to hear Pam Ann is coming back like a boomerang in August in a National Tour of Pam Ann’s Around The World. Coming to the Athenaeum on August 1718, Pam is the alter ego of Australian ex-pat comedian Caroline Reid. Caroline has been performing as Pam Ann since 1996 after dreaming her up at a costume party. She returns this year with a brand new show having completely sold out her last tour in 2010. New York-based Reid's sense of humour has been likened to that of Lenny Bruce, and her portrayal of the outrageous air hostess Pam regularly takes her literally around the world. She has featured in advertising campaigns for BritishAirways and is currently the celebrity spokeswoman for Heathrow's Sky Team Terminal 4. Pam has also appeared in promotions for KLM/Air
with leading Melbourne publicist DI ROLLE
that I miss her new live show Around The World this August at my peril – like a kangaroo or an ostrich, she’s for France,ever moving forward! “To spend an hour or so in Pam Ann’s vampish company is like being held hostage on a plane filled with laughing gas,” wrote The Daily Telegraph. Pam Ann is one of a kind. I am preparing to buckle my seat belt. Melbourne’s dates for Pam Ann: Friday– Sunday, August 17-19, 8pm. The Athenaeum Theatre. Book at Ticketek 132 849 or www. ticketek.com.au
● Pam Ann JetBlue, Lufthansa, Mardi Gras live TV Qantas in-flight pro- broadcast airing to gramming, SAS and more than two million even the low cost car- viewers. rier EasyJet use her From boarding to videos in their training. landing, First Class, In Australia, Pam Business or up the Ann starred in her own back in ‘Cattle’, pretelevision talk show, pare to be flown like The Pam Ann Show you’ve never been on Foxtel and has flown before. twice hosted Sydney's I have been told
Lady Julia Morris: No Judgement
● Julia Morris
● Molly Meldrum with Cosentino ■ Lovely to see Molly Meldrum out and about. He caught up with Cosentino and had a great photo taken. It’s really a miracle that we have Molly with us. Cosentino is currently touring Australia, and continues to take the country by storm. For more information on his tour I did myself a favour and visited his website www.cosentino.com.au He goes from success to success.
■ In the ‘leap second’ I did manage to catch up on what is coming up in Melbourne and one lady who never skips a beat is the fabulous Julia Morris. I have watched her for years and laughed at her quirky sense of humour. Lady Julia Morris: No Judgement is the name of the show. It is coming to the Athenaeum Theatre, Melbourne on Saturday, November 3. Trying not to judge others is extremely hard work. Having them not judge you is even harder. Julia says,:“Every single day I try to give up judging again. To be a better person. Everything’s fine until I nearly get taken out by another white Range Rover driver at the school drop off and I’m back to square one. Mummy’s home!” Australia’s first Celebrity Apprentice, Lady Julia Morris gets the job done in No Judgement – a very funny evening of stories and songs about our daily frustrations and not to kill someone. I have always found Julia a very courageous comedienne and smart as a whip! Visit www.juliamorris.com.au and find out more about this show. I know Stephen Fry loves her, he told me so! I know the UK loves her, her reviews are great – “… when Julia Morris is in full verbal flow on an stage, it’s as though Joan Rivers. Germaine Greer and Betty Boop are all living inside the same body. Phew, she’s a scorcher,” wrote The Herald , Scotland. At the Athenaeum Theatre. Book on www.ticketek.com.au or phone 132 849.
Grievous ■ Another woman I really admire is Denise Scott. I heard her on the Conversation Hour with Ita Buttrose and it was one of the best radio interviews I had heard for a long time. Having known Denise for many years now, I have always loved her. She is a great talent. She has a talented son by the name of Jordie Lane and he is starring in his own show. Grievous Angel: The Legend of Gram Parsons, the original cosmic cowboy which will premiere in Melbourne on Friday (July 20). Jordie is a much celebrated performer and he is set to tackle the role of the man who, to this day, is hailed as the patron saint of alt–country and roots . “Gram was everything you wanted in a singer and a songwriter” said Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones, I was very im-
● Jordie Lane at Joshua Tree for Grievous Angel pressed by that com- that. I really admire ment and what about that and totally get it. Jordie even rethem being with us for 50 years, bless them leased one of Gram’s songs I Just Cants all. Grievous Angel: Take It Anymore. That is a passion of The Legend of Gram Parsons tells the fas- an artist for another cinating story of a man artist. “Gram Parsons who lived fast and has been a huge infludied young. Gram Parsons was ence over my journey just 26 when he died, as a musician,” says overdosing on mor- Jordie Lane. “He inspired me to phine and tequila. His death, and the not let genre stereoget in the way bizarre theft of his types making good mubody by his road man- of ager and its subse- sic.“It’s a great honour quent burning in the and privilege to be desert turned Par- playing him on stage.” sons’ life and music The Grievous Aninto legend. gel: The Legend of Jordie Lane’s con- Gram Parsons is writnection to Gram Par- ten and directed by sons runs deep. Michael Bate, the last He wrote much of man to ever record an his latest album in interview with him (in Room 8 at the Joshua March 1973, six Tree Inn in California months before he where Gram died. died). I found out that if I The theatrical conwanted to go and stay cert gives a unique inthere it would cost me sight into Gram’s Room 8 for $100 a thoughts and passions night, the room as on life and music, as been left as it was expressed in his final when Gram died in it. interview. This is the sort of “All the Gram Parthing I would do for sons books, films and Bob Dylan. tributes have been told I would stay in the from the outside lookroom Dylan had in the ing in. We never Chelsea Hotel – that heard Gram’s voice, would be absolutely his version of events,” amazing, so this was says Michael Bate. Turn To Page 13 Jordie’s equivalent of