THE NAKED CITY – with Miss Death, Jay Katz and Coffin Ed
THE SYDNEY FESTIVAL – TIME TO WIND BACK THE CLOCK!
There’s no doubt that this year’s Sydney Festival was a great success, certainly artistically and one would guess financially as well. There was a massive diversity of music, dance, theatre and the visual arts – and best of all, much of it was absolutely free!
Yet something was missing, something that we instantly identify as quintessentially Sydney – something as iconic and everyday as the Bondi Sewage Treatment Plant, the Devonshire Street Tunnel or the towering neo-brutalist UTS building. Sure we utilised some of our great venues, both indoors and alfresco and thousands turned out for the big production numbers at the Domain, in the CBD and at Parramatta Park. But where was the cultural connection when it came to the throbbing every day infrastructure of this great metropolis?
Back in the late 1970s when the festival first began as the “Festival of Sydney” under the directorship of Stephen Hall (aka “Festival Hall”), and with a much smaller budget, the emphasis was more on the festive, rather than the deeply cultural or the provocatively arty. It had more of a ‘fun for all the family’ Moomba-style feel, if we can allude to Melbourne’s long running celebration of anything worth celebrating.
Nevertheless the festival under Hall, who held the artistic reigns for a staggering 18 years, was often criticised as lightweight and designed only to lure punters into the Sydney CBD during the January holiday period. There were carnival rides in Hyde Park, a series of super cheesy, middle of the road music concerts in the Domain and even a multicultural theme when Carnivale was tacked onto the program for a number of years.
What we’d like to see is a combination of the old style festival kitsch with the modern day cutting edge stuff that the current Sydney Festival strives to achieve. Let’s give the Opera House and the Domain a well earned rest as we set the festival against the stunning backdrop of the “real” Sydney. Here are just a few suggestions:
- Phillip Glass conducts the Sydney Symphony Orchestra on Gilligan’s Island at Taylor Square with a specially-composed three part suite, “Music to Accompany Water Spurting Aimlessly from the Ground”.
- Christo wraps the Desalination Plant. While he recently lost his long time partner Jeanne-Claude, we are confident Christo would return to Sydney at the prospect of packaging our brand new desalination complex with 100,000 square metres of Glad Wrap.
- The Kronos Quartet live at Woollies Cafeteria. A moving and poignant tribute to Sydney’s last people’s cafeteria prior to its impeding demolition. Price of the performance includes pork sausages and choice of three veg.
- Jeff Koons’ Bilby. Koon’s massive floral mutt was a huge hit for the 1995 Sydney Biennale and we’d love to see the project revisited, this time with a strong local conservation message. A giant floral bilby, strategically positioned on top of Blues Point Tower, would become a focal point for the entire festival.
- Opera on the Monorail. The despised monorail would enjoy new popularity with a “moving” performance of Wagner’s Ring Cycle, all fourteen and a half hours of it, featuring Shannon Noll and the Australian Opera plus a one thousand strong wobble board orchestra under the direction of Rolf Harris. Free energy drinks would be provided at each monorail station to keep the patrons awake.
THE HIT LIST:
VIRNA SANZONE, The Vanguard, Friday Feb, $20 advance/$25 at door: After previous sell-out shows at the Vanguard, Virna returns with an exceptional band for a night of the deepest soul, fuelled with her unique jazz stylings and a world of diverse musical influences. With special guests Edwin The Brave featuring Daniel Misfud. www.virnasanzone.com
TEXAS CHAINSAW TRIVIA, Darlo Bar, every Wednesday from January 27 at 7.30pm (free!): Sydney’s most offbeat and entertaining trivia quiz, is back at the amazing retro-styled Darlo Bar at the Royal Sovereign Hotel in Darlinghurst with your regular hosts Jay Katz, Coffin Ed and Miss Death plus a stack of guest celebrities, “extreme trivia” and pick a box style prizes. www.mumeson.org
MORE NOISE THAN SIGNAL, Mu-meson Archives, Friday 5 February 7.30pm for 8pm start, $10: Running off the back of Circa 79 Signal to Noise, the Archives has compiled a brief history of Sydney’s experimental, electronic, industrial noise scene in the early ‘80s. There’s rare footage of Lumber Jack Bond from Hell, Mesh, SPK, Toby Zoats etc as well as a focus on imported influences from SRL, NON, Einstürzende Neubauten, Throbbing Gristle, Cabaret Voltaire, The Residents and many more. www.mumeson.org
