North Perth musician Cat Hope is taking her immense talent off-shore after scoring a Churchill Fellowship.
Just 11 West Australians earned a grant under the prestigious research program.
The composer, musician, songwriter and noise artist is well known both locally and internationally for her avant garde music but the Edith Cowan academic is also gaining a reputation for devising an alternative way to write music.
“I developed my own system, sometimes borrowing from other cultures,” she tells the Voice. Colours and lines more reminiscent of a graph than traditional music are used to compose scores.
“There are limitations in traditional music, which is centred around [instruments like] the piano,” Dr Hope says. “The 20th century blew that away. Music doesn’t have to have a 4/4 beat—or a beat at all.”
In January she heads to Japan, Germany Iceland, Sweden and the US to talk to musos and further refine her system.
• WA Greens senator Scott Ludlam and party leader Christine Milne in Perth on Tuesday. Photo by Matthew Dwyer
Scott Ludlam is Australia’s insurance policy against a rampant Abbott government, says Greens leader Christine Milne.
Launching her party’s WA campaign Tuesday, Senator Milne’s language and tone all-but-conceded the Coalition would be in government after September 7.
She says the challenge now is to stop the Coalition gaining control of both houses of federal parliament—and that meant electing Greens to retain the balance of power.
With the Liberals polling strongly in WA Senator Ludlam faces a nail-biting time over the next two weeks to remain as WA’s sixth-elected senator in this half-Senate election. His chances depend on the Greens lifting their performance from their March 9 state election drubbing and on receiving a good flow of preferences from Labor, minor parties and independents.
“Scott Ludlam returning to Canberra is what this election must deliver,” Senator Milne told the small crowd at Form Gallery in Perth’s Murray Street.
“There is no-one in federal parliament who cares more about the people and the environment.”
The Fremantle-based senator was lauded for his advocacy for digital rights, renewable energy, indigenous rights and the Kimberley. He kept relatively quiet himself, saying he didn’t have “one-liners” for the media.
• WA Greens senators Richard Di Natale and Scott Ludlam (rear) and Perth candidate Johnathan Hallett. Photo supplied | Giovanni Torre
The Greens say they will build an $18 million dedicated indigenous residential health centre if elected to government on September 7.
“The Greens health package for WA includes more than $150 million for the state’s hospitals, with $50 million of that quarantined for rural and regional hospitals,” party health spokesman Richard Di Natale said Wednesday. “The Greens would bring dental into Medicare so that every man, woman and child in Western Australia will be able to go to the dentist as easily and cheaply as they go to the GP.”
Senator Di Natale was flanked by federal Perth candidate Johnathan Hallett and senator Scott Ludlam, who both face voters in two weeks.
“Caring for people’s health is a priority for the Greens and that’s why we’re investing in the health of Western Australians,” Senator Di Natale said.
“The Greens believe that your health shouldn’t depend on your bank balance or your postcode and that’s why our health package will boost access to medical services across Western Australia.”
Mr Hallett said the reforms would be good for Perth, with additional funding for Royal Perth and a dedicated indigenous treatment centre making it, “easier for existing local health facilities to deal with demand”.
• Buskers will get the heave-ho if the Barnett government’s light rail route goes ahead. Photo by David Bell
Full-scale model trains have gone up in the Hay Street mall to protest Barnett government plans to run light rail through the pedestrian strip.
Perth city council installed the models to show how cramped the mall would become with a MAX line running through it. Anti-MAX propaganda handed to passers-by said a train through the mall would mean “all street planting, street art, sculpture, street performances and stall opportunities in Hay Street mall would be lost”.
Al fresco dining would also be on the chopping block and pedestrians would be put at risk, the PCC claims. As a final insult, the MAX is not even planned to stop in the malls so traders would see little benefit. The PCC instead wants to see a route down William Street then along St Georges Terrace.
• John Howard, Paul Ashcroft and Whitney Richards star in Tim Winton’s Shrine. Photo supplied
John Howard has heard all the stories about sharing a name with a certain former prime minister and makes it clear he has no interest in talking about it any more.
The prickly thespian clearly doesn’t relish talking about himself during our interview, giving him plenty in common with Tim Winton, the playwright of Shrine, in which Howard is the star turn (the posters feature only Howard but there are other characters too).
The veteran actor prefers to be “doing things” such as mending fences on his NSW property, than hawking himself about the circuit, drumming up publicity.
But he’s a Winton fan from way back, appearing in the author’s first play Rising Water and he let it be known well in advance he was up for a role should Shrine make it to the boards.
While Winton is “relatively new” to playwriting the seasoned author, “has the magic and poetry,” rasps Howard, who also writes.
The roadside crosses that litter Australia’s highways are the inspiration for Shrine, set in WA’s south-west.
Howard’s character, Adam Mansfield, is a successful developer whose son Jack dies in a car crash.
A year after the event, broken Adam meets small town girl, June, who’d shared a strange and life-changing night with Jack shortly before his death.
The play is about, “grief, ghosts, expectations and redemption” says Howard.
“[Winton] nails it, he gets into the bones of the characters.”
Howard’s character, Adam, is a far cry from Bob Jelly, the bombastic real estate agent and mayor he played in TV’s SeaChange. Jelly’s redemption in the eyes of millions who’d tune in each week was his love for his wife, Heather, and his kids—and the fact he never succeeded in his various schemes.
“[He] kept failing. Apart from the house he sold Laura (Sigrid Thornton) he never sold another.”
Howard studied and talked to a number of real estate agents to get into character for Jelly, something he does for all his roles, including the grumpy but brilliant surgeon Frank Campion in All Saints.
Well into that series he pointed out to writers his character’s success rate with patients was dismal.
“The first 30 odd patients died,” he says with a rare glimmer of a smile.
Born in country NSW in 1952, the then-lanky Howard grew up in Sydney where acting was far his thoughts.
“I come from a long line of shepherds, farmers and teachers, a long way from show biz.”
Leaving school he dabbled with going into medicine, law or landscaping.
“I was a boy who didn’t know what he wanted to do.”
A chance meeting with A Country Practice’s Anne Tenney introduced Howard to acting and he was hooked.
“I went to NIDA and that was my ticket.”
Shrine is on at the State Theatre, William Street, Northbridge, August 31 to September 15. Tickets at ticketek outlets or on 1300 795 012.
The Palmer United Party candidate for Perth is former English teacher and law graduate Gabriel Harfouche.
A union man, he says he climbed aboard billionaire Clive Palmer’s bandwagon because of his plan to “reunite the nation” and get fresh faces into parliament.
Mr Harfouche says PUP policies he most likes include banning party officials from being lobbyists and a policy to send wealth back to the regions.
He strongly backs PUP’s refugee policy, which involves flying people here, interviewing them at the airport to see if they’re genuine refugees, and then either letting them in or flying them back.
“You wouldn’t need detention centres,” Mr Palmer has said.
“I think it has a strong international law basis to it,” Mr Harfouche says.
“We aren’t just about politicising the issue… we have to adhere to the conventions that we are signatories to, and Palmer United is strong on that.”
The larger-than-life party leader, whom Mr Harfouche speaks to weekly on the phone, is also a big drawcard.
“He’s a man of large stature and large ideas and I think he’s quite affable and altruistic.” Palmer’s support for veterans and age pensioners is also a big plus.
Mr Harfouche’s family came from Lebanon 42 years ago. He went to UWA where he chuckles “too many nights at the tavern and poker parties” meant he “didn’t cut the mustard to get into law”.
He instead became an English teacher, working in the north-west, with his first posting in Newman. He’s now gone back to uni and finished a graduate diploma in legal practice.
• Kidsland owner Shahid Tirmazi. Photo by Matthew Dwyer
Kidsland was nearly Never Never Land.
For more than a year the Mt Lawley play centre has been stuck in limbo after Stirling city council declared the building “unsafe” in 2012 and closed it down just one week after it opened.
It reopened this month after finally getting all the proper approvals.
Owner Shahid Tirmazi says the drama cost him “hundreds of thousands in debt, loss of insurance and loss of income”.
“Now I just want families to come along and put this all behind me,” Mr Tirmazi says. “The kids love it—we’ve got great slides—and it’s proving really popular already.”
He says his landlord had converted the building—previously squash courts—without obtaining proper permissions but he was left holding the baby.
“The council wanted to hit me with a $15,000 fine and another $1000 for every day I was open,” he says.
“I’m planning to sue the landlord—I understand he sued the builder, who is now bankrupt.
“The landlord is trying to negotiate with me now, but I’m not interested.”
• Johannes Luebbers and WAAPA musicians. Photo by Matthew Dwyer
The Perth Jazz Society is a tough old boot.
Since forming in 1973 it has has survived flares, synthesisers and all manners of personal changes and musical fads.
In its heyday it showcased international jazz stars, including Stéphane Grappelli and Miles Davis sideman David Liebman.
This month it celebrates its 40th anniversary at the newly opened Laneway Lounge in Murray Street.
PJS president Johannes Luebbers says the club was formed by UK migrant Don Mead.
“From what I know Don was a massive fan of jazz music, but not a musician,” he says.
“Sadly, he passed away a few years ago and his wife now lives in the eastern states.
“The history of the club is quite nebulous because it has changed hands so many times and been through many incarnations—I think there is memorabilia lying in boxes all over the city”
For more than 20 years the PJS held weekly gigs at the Hyde Park Hotel, where it built up a cult following.
But the society nearly folded in the late noughties when it was forced to move to the Charles Hotel, struggling to attract punters Tuesday nights.
Shortly after becoming PJS president in 2010, Mr Luebbers decided to try different venues across the city to rejuvenate membership.
The PJS now hosts nights at PICA, The Ellington and the Laneway.
“It’s worked out really well, because we can showcase different types of music at each venue,” he says.
A composer and pianist in the Johannes Luebbers Dectet, Mr Luebbers says the PJS has around 200 members and on average attracts around 50 to gigs.
“It will take a while to rebuild the PJS brand, because people still think we’re at the Hydey,” he laughs.
“But we are slowly building up a new following—they keep trying to bury jazz, but we aren’t going anywhere!”
The PJS will celebrate middle-age at The Laneway Lounge August 27.
A capital future I UNDERSTAND former Vincent councillor Ian Ker wanting the city to survive the local government reform process (Speaker’s Corner, Perth Voice, August 17, 2013). The City of Vincent has defied all the odds and prospered since its forced separation from Perth in 1994, a split strongly opposed by the community.
The historic neglect of the Vincent area under the City of Perth had turned around with active representation and the first upgrade of Beaufort Street and the first major makeover of Beatty Park were underway when the City of Perth was dismembered.
And while Vincent has done well over the past 19 years in fostering an important community identity, two factors are crucial in determining our position.
Firstly, we have to regard the prospects of winning our case. Clearly the state government believes it has a mandate to reduce the number of councils. If we were to simply argue for no change, our chances of success would be zero. We would be seen as simply engaging in classic “turf protection”. We would not only lose but we would see most of our residents and businesses forced into Stirling.
But having been mayor for the past two years, I am firmly of the view this case for full merger with Perth also represents our best option. There are great synergies and shared aspirations with the two authorities.
We are both wanting to accommodate and encourage great new development while conserving the heritage that makes our landscape so rich. We have lively street cultures that are very different from the Stirling economy based on big box shopping centres.
With this comes the need for active place-making. We could benefit from sharing resources in this task; resources that would help us with festivals, public art and urban design. We both have strong night-time economies and we could both benefit from specialist staff to deal with the special challenges and opportunities.
While I am proud of what Vincent has achieved, I totally believe we could do so much more as a vital part of a capital city. Alannah MacTiernan Mayor, City of Vincent
Upsetting avos YOUR photograph of Rod Willox (Voice, August 17, 2013) is worthy of a William Hazlitt essay. Bit late for that, of course.
Was the veteran Stirling councillor’s tantrum on a Mount Lawley street brought about by the Barnett merger plans, as reported, or by your photographer snapping him in extremis?
What better case for elected councillors’ service to be limited to eight years? If such ruling had been exercised over recent decades, what different and healthier communities we might now be enjoying.
More imaginative outlooks and bright ideas would have countered the dominant tunnel vision that hampers many councils; that inhibits our progress and prosperity.
Such ruling might also have avoided our local government’s current turbulent landscape. On the other side of the coin, the mergers upset the avocado cart for Willox and others of his ilk. Lutah Salt West Bank, Swan River Colony
Shock and . . . I READ with a combination of shock and amusement this week that Alannah MacTiernan had executed an Olympic-inspired backflip on nuclear power generation.
She seems to have been struck by this revelation like a leper finding the Lord at a religious revival! But it’s much more serious than my flippant remark suggests.
This is the same Alannah MacTiernan who has scaremongered on nuclear power stations in the past and is still the mayor of Vincent which is a “nuclear free zone”. Will she now be pushing for that status to change? She has tried using weasel words and dressing up her change of heart as if it’s part of a plan to save the environment but again, this is contrary to what she has said in the past. Unfortunately it all points to a matter of trust. Alannah has spent the past 20 years as a politician and, unfortunately it shows with the way she is playing fast and loose with promises, integrity and matters of trust. Wendy Ware Camm Ave, Bull Creek
Driven agenda YOUR front page story “London Calling” (Voice, August 10, 2013) implies Perth lord mayor Lisa Scaffidi is responsible for bringing London cabs to Perth.
She isn’t…so there!
Lisa and her husband should stick to what they do best, property development, and leave the taxi business to the taxi business.
The taxi industry thought this up itself, 20 years after trialing an earlier model London cab in Perth (which failed dismally). The taxi industry, which is continually assessing vehicle suitability, has considered the market and identified this vehicle as complementary to the existing fleet.
Lisa has addressed some of the greatest changes to Perth in decades and for that she deserves accolades. I am sure the taxi industry is confident its business model and fleet in the future will be the best for the public and the industry without Lisa’s taking the credit.
And we don’t want them yellow! Tony Gibb former London Cab (Perth) operator Kitchener Ave, Bayswater The Ed says: To be fair to Ms Scaffidi—she hasn’t claimed any credit. We included her image entirely gratuitously as a “face of Perth”!
There’s an old saying that cooking begins in the market and this has never been more true than with the Italian cuisine which relies heavily on fresh produce.
Tomatoes, garlic, onions, capsicum and eggplant along with seafood and poultry are some of the most common ingredients in the Italian kitchen, which is why, Positano, on James Street in Northbridge, chooses their ingredients with acute care, hand picked daily from the markets.
“The best Italian food is combined in simple ways to preserve the identity of the ingredients” says Anthony Brekalo, owner and operator of the much loved Italian restaurant. “Simplicity is key – and a freshly squeezed bottle of olive oil goes a long way”. No one knows fresh produce like Anthony who is also the owner of Adriatic Seafood which supplies fresh seafood to other restaurants and hotels in the Perth vicinity.
It’s no wonder that Positano is a crowd pleaser, and with the chef straight out of Italy’s dining scene with over 30 years experience cooking up the freshest pasta and pizza, Positano may just be king of Northbridge.
On the menu there’s a wide range of seafood cooked in a variety of ways, baby veal medallions pan friend with capers, olives, garlic, chili with the Positano homemade Napolitana sauce, and succulent lamb on the spit along with traditional dishes like homemade gnocchi and lasagna. “We’re rooted in tradition with classic Italian recipes and flavours and ingredients, that’s what’s kept us going and will continue to keep us going” says Anthony.
When established, Positano was a place for friendly and relaxed dining with exceptional service, quality and value for money. “This has always been our intention and still is” continues Anthony. And the Perth locals love it and give their thumbs up:
“This was the second time we went to lunch here and it was fantastic . Really enjoyed the food and the service was excellent. Will certainly be going back – keep up the great food and service. I would highly recommend this restaurant to anyone visiting Perth”.
“WOW… the tiramisu is so, so, so good. I will come here more often”.
“Service was excellent, food was delicious. Highly recommend”.
Come and experience the vibe and food at Positano’s in Northbridge – the only thing that beats it is an actual trip to Italy. Book now for Father’s Day!
Perth Voice Interactive 