Perth Voice Interactive

WHEN it comes to sex appeal, the Italian Tenors leave Shades of Grey in – well – the shade and Madame Ciccone seems a tinny-titted support act.

With a mix of pop/opera, sass, suits and seductive songs the easy-on-the-eye trio’s YouTube promos are backdropped by drop-dead gorgeous Italian settings and enough slow-mo and soft lighting to have any cougar licking her lips.

Conservatory

They weren’t always destined for the stage, but luckily for the female half of the planet, fate intervened.

Mirko Provini held a sociology degree and looked set for a career in academia, while Evans Tonon was studying to be a lawyer.

Sabino Gaita is the only member of the trio who set out to be a musician, studying at the Milan conservatory where he qualified as a tenor, composer, saxophonist, clarinet player and pianist.

Having abandoned a career at the bar Tonon studied music in London and Rome, while Provini added a music degree from the Milan conservatory to his academic bow.

The Three Tenors (Pavarotti, Domingo and Carreras) proved opera could be popular: “They were the first to start this kind of idea which is imitated by many groups around the world,” Tonon says.

Playful even about classic music, the trio named themselves after a UK-mate’s cliched view of Italians.

“[He] said ‘when we think of Italians they are good cooks – and good singers’,” Tonon told the Herald.

The tenors are heading Down Under for a tour and the launch of a new album.

“We create a whole new and fired atmosphere with our interpretations of Italian pop songs,” Provini says in a press release.

Their Perth show is a mix of the classics and Italian pop, sung with a operatic fillip, Tonon says.

They include Speak Softly Love from the movie The Godfather – sung in Italian: “Hallelujah is the only non-Italian song,” Tonon says.

There’s nothing stuffily highbrow about the Italian Tenors, with plenty of hamming up: “We put in some fun to connect with people. “We like to have fun on stage.”

But there’s nothing funny about the passion the trio bring with them: “It is for us as Italians to create a breathtaking mix of passion and culture to build our own composed world. That’s always a concept of our work,” Tonon says.

The Italian Tenors are at the Astor Theatre, September 10. Tix on 9370 5888, but get in quick as shows in the east have already sold out.

by JENNY D’ANGER

PERTH council will track pedestrians by honing in on their mobile phones from this week.

The council will use the data to work out where people walk, how long they linger and how often they come back as a way of measuring the success of events. It can then decide whether the events are worth sponsoring.

Mobile phones constantly send out ethereal tendrils looking for wifi networks to connect with, which lets the council pinpoint where the user is in the city.

Patronise shops

Unlike a laser beam at a door counting how many people can go in, your MAC (media access control) address is unique so they know if you return, or if after going to a publicly-funded art event you then go patronise nearby shops.

The city says the data is anonymous and won’t be shared, but the technique has drawn criticism when it’s been used overseas:

In San Fransciso cafe chain Philz Coffee used the information to streamline shop layouts, focusing on takeaways if patrons were moving through quickly, or putting in more tables if they were sticking around.

But after just a few complaints over privacy the store pulled the technology.

The other issue is that anyone who didn’t see the announcement on the PCC website has no way of consenting.

US attorney David Adler summed up the concern at a recent technology conference in Las Vegas: “I don’t think there’s any way an end user can give meaningful consent to use of their location data. I don’t think end users understand the information that’s being shared”.

Monitored

One US data-collection company requires stores using its technology to put a sign out informing customers they’re being monitored.

There are ways to avoid being tracked but they drastically reduce a phone’s function.

The council says anyone who wants to opt out (assuming they read the Voice or stumbled across the plan on the council’s website) can switch their phone to airplane mode (disabling phone and internet) or turn off wifi, but that kills the precision of any apps that need GPS like google maps (or more importantly, Tinder) and prevents connection with other networks.

by DAVID BELL

VINCENT council will oppose a proposed fire station on Carr Street.

Mayor John Carey saying he’s “greatly disappointed” with the department of fire and emergency services’ handling of the plan.

The department says 27-33 Carr Street (which the state paid $8.7 million for) is the best spot for the $19 million station, taking into account lot size, response times, population studies and “traffic congestion hotspots”.

The WA planning commission gets to decide on the fate of the station next Tuesday, and Vincent’s submission will argue against it going ahead.

It says 45 of 56 submissions from residents were in outright opposition and two others had “general concerns”. Most cited worries about noise, traffic and safety.

Mr Carey says the traffic study the department is putting forward is a decade old.

He said if a private developer came to Vincent council with 10-year-old traffic surveys they’d be told; “go back, we want better data”.

“Private developers have to provide comprehensive traffic surveys. The [department] is a government agency, there are no excuses,” Mr Carey says.

The 2006 study was carried out before several major apartment developments in the area, including one next door, all of which have added a lot of cars to the roads. Mr Carey says it also wouldn’t take into account the upcoming Charles Street bus lane.

“No wonder people get cynical about consultation when they just say ‘we’ve selected this site’,” Mr Carey says.

The department says the site’s also a good spot taking into account other nearby stations and the areas they can reach, and noise will be minimised because trucks will only whack on the lights and sirens when absolutely necessary, which is usually when they’re away from the station.

by DAVID BELL

STIRLING councillors are remaining steadfast in their refusal to let an owner knock down a heritage protected property at 26 Holmfirth Street, Menora.

The house is located within the Menora heritage protection area, where houses built before 1960 are protected unless their heritage fabric is so compromised they no longer represent an architectural style.

Unfortunately for owners Monica and Michael Perrone records from Landgate go back to 1959.

The council initially rejected the demolition application in March, and the Perrones appealed to the state administrative tribunal which ordered mediation and told each party to prepare a heritage assessment.

Both assessments saw little worth keeping, with the city’s consultant TPG Town Planning saying; “the dwelling is not a good or even typical example of the style” prevalent in the area.

“It is considered that the demolition of the subject place will not have a detrimental impact on the character of the heritage protection area,” TPG’s report said.

In light of that Stirling staff recommended demolition but a majority of councillors who sit on the planning committee were not to be budged.

“The refusal is still valid,” they included in an explanatory note to their decision.

“The proposed development is contrary to… the city’s character retention guidelines” for that special control area.

by DAVID BELL

A MENORA home which has gone through two painstaking restorations has taken out top honours in this year’s Stirling heritage awards.

Sue and Trevor Darge had already picked up a heritage award in 2010 when they renovated the art deco home and added a second storey, but in July 2013 most of the home was destroyed by a fired caused by an electrical fault in the roof.

Rain

What the flames didn’t raze was subsequently affected by rain that seeped in after the blaze, while the burnt remains of the upper level had fallen through to the ground floor making it virtually impossible to move around.

But the Darge’s weren’t deterred, and once again went through the detailed process of reconstructing the period style.

They were able to recreate the geometric style of the leadlight doors and windows using fragments that survived the fire as a guide, but cornices, the ceiling and other materials took sleuthing.

Ms Darge says the company they’d obtained period-appropriate hand-made bricks from had closed since their first renovation, but they were able to source a smattering of leftovers of differing colours. Skilled bricklayer Michael Woodman got creative by laying them in alternating patterns so the overall effect was a rough match to the original brickwork.

The family was out of the home for 18 months during the rebuild, but are now settled back in.

Ms Darge said she’s long loved old houses, and when their insurer wanted to appoint the builder they fought to have their own heritage experts.

Fire was also the genesis for the other major award given out this year: The Mt Lawley Primary School received the Barrie Baker Special Recognition award for the restoration of its 100-year-old facade following the 2012 fire.

The state government initially planned a full demolition, but strong community sentiment saw the facade saved with a 63-week rebuild to incorporate what remained.

Long-time heritage protector Ian Merker was also recognised, having been a member of the Mount Lawley Society since 1977 and helped formulate policies back in the early 80s to preserve heritage buildings around that part of town.

He’s now worked with the Royal WA Historical Society to safely store and scan images dating back to the 1890s to make them available for public perusal and purchase on the Mount Lawley Society’s website. They’re viewable at http://www.mountlawleysociety.org.au/historical-photos and the collection’s updated pretty regularly.

by DAVID BELL

MIFFED Vincent CEO Len Kosova says Perth Liberal MP Eleni Evangel was given a detailed explanation of why a letter to pensioners in the city wasn’t political well before she publicly criticised the council.

Last week Ms Evangel, who’ll be facing Vincent mayor John Carey in next February’s state election, got stuck into the council over the letters, which alerted the pensioners to a Barnett government cap on rates rebates and advised them to contact her with any concerns (“Keep out of politics, MP warns Vincent,” Voice, July 2, 2016).

But Mr Kosova says the state revenue office had advised Vincent to include that advice.

Ms Evangel had also queried why 1700 pensioners who wouldn’t be affected by the $750 cap also received the same advice, but Mr Kosova said the letters were sent before rates were set by councillors so staff couldn’t tell who would be eligible or not.

Complaints

Mr Kosova concedes his staff made one error: the letters directed complaints to Ms Evangel, yet a small number of Vincent ratepayers are in Mt Lawley MP Michael Sutherland’s domain and should have been advised to contact him.

Meanwhile Mr Sutherland says it’s hard to fathom how Mr Kosova and mayor John Carey didn’t know about the letters.

He said the CEO or mayor claiming to have had no input “left me scratching my head”.

“As a Perth city councillor for 14 years I cannot imagine that an important letter … would come down the food chain without authorisation from the bosses.

“Normal practice would be for the mayor, CEO and the relevant director to have knowledge of this, even if they had no ‘input’ into the actual drafting of the letter.”

Mr Carey says it’s improper for elected members to have their fingers in rates notices and operational letters, and if that was Mr Sutherland’s experience at Perth council it was no wonder that organisation had been having problems.

“They’re welcome to do an FOI request. I was not involved in this issue,” he says.

“What we’re seeing is a nasty personal claim with no evidence.”

Perth council also advised people to contact their local MPs if they had issues with the cap. Neighbouring Town of Cambridge’s missive was decidedly less fiery, including no contact details for MPs.

by DAVID BELL