2020 Australian Council Awards
The 2020 Australian Council Awards were held in Australia last night.
This year’s awards recognised Michelle Ryan, Tommy Murphy, r e a, Kath Duncan, and Autumn Skuthorpe.
The awards highlight Australian artists who are working to contribute to their art forms and the award recipients receive grants as a result.
Investigation into Education from the Royal Commission
The Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability will be continuing its investigation into education at a public hearing in Brisbane.
The Chairman, Ronald Sackville, has said the public hearing will explore the barriers in the education system to students with disabilities in accessing and obtaining a quality education.
Tennis Pagan: EKO
<p><span><span><span>- Passion project and micro-label </span><strong>Spirit Level</strong><span>, founded by radio personality and producer </span><strong>Tim Shiel</strong><span> and </span><strong>Wally De Backer </strong><span>(aka </span><strong>Gotye</strong><span>), seems to pick its roster mostly via the curation instincts of Shiel and Shiel loves the producers and artists that are even more micro than his label.
Puppy Rescued from Pipe
A two day old puppy was saved from a pipe in Brisbane yesterday.
The Brisbane Plumbers were called after the puppy had fallen into the pipe in the bathroom.
They wrote on their Instagram that they believed ‘it was a prank call.’ The video of them saving the puppy can be seen on their Instagram.
Use No Hooks - 'The Job'
Chapter Music reveals a trove of previously unreleased recordings by early 80s Aussie disco-punk heroes Use No Hooks. The band feature Arne Hanna from Michael Hutchence's late 80s INXS side-project Max Q, as well as members of infamous Melbourne synth-punk band Primitive Calculators.
Use No Hooks are best known for their 1983 Aussie punk-funk classic Do the Job, never released at the time and first heard on Chapter's Can't Stop It! #2 compilation in 2007. The track was later bootlegged on a 12" by UK DJs Psychemagik and has since become a leftfield club staple.
The band existed in various incarnations from 1979-84. ey took part in Melbourne's renowned Little Band scene, before morphing unexpectedly into a nine-piece disco-funk big band in 1983. This final incarnation took nods from Chic, Talking Heads and the Sugarhill Gang, twisting them into an Australian punk-funk, proto-rap format uniquely their own.
The band recorded five songs onto reel-to-reel four-track with engineer Simon Grounds in 1983, including the legendary, Do the Job, but the unmixed tape remained in a cupboard for more than 35 years. A chance conversation between Simon and Chapter’s Guy Blackman lead to the songs finally being rescued from the aging reel. Mikey Young and Simon Grounds mixed the recordings, and UNH bandleader Mick Earls added choice live/ rehearsal tracks from the band’s earlier lineups as digital bonus material.
The end result proves Do the Job was no accident. Lead vocalist (and Primitive Calculators frontman) Stuart Grant intones Mick Earl’s dry, colloquial lyrics in playful dialogue with singers Denise Hilton (Primitive Calculators), Marisa Stirpe (The Take) and Wendy Morrissey, over frighteningly tight white funk grooves from Mick Earls (guitar), Phil Nichols (keys), Matt Errey (keys), Andre Schuster (bass) and Arne Hanna (drums).
11 am Zedlines
image courtesy of Creative Commons
Topless Extinction Rebellion activists formed a human chain on International Women’s Day to protest climate change.
Topless Extinction Rebellion activists formed a human chain along Waterloo Bridge in London on International Women’s Day yesterday to protest climate change.
The group says climate change disproportionately affects women and their toplessness reflects women’s vulnerability to quote-unquote climate rape.
They say the bridge was chosen because it was predominantly built by female labourers in World War 2.
A man was removed from a Sanders rally after brandishing a swastika flag
On Thursday, a man was kicked out of a Sanders rally after bringing in a flag with a swastika on it.
The man was immediately booed and quickly removed by security.
Sanders says he didn’t realise what was going on until he saw the man being escorted offstage.
Australian children protected from exposure to pornography,
Australian children are set to receive better protection from exposure to pornography, by the addition of a mandatory age-verification stage when accessing hard-core websites .
Research shows abuse of children by their peers in schools and kindergartens is directly related to seeing explicit websites and this issue must be addressed by the government.
”We fully expect Australia will follow the example of the UK government that is working towards shielding children from exposure to porn,” said FamilyVoice Australia spokesman David d’Lima.“
Ergon and Energex incorporate virtual reality technology
Every day, more than 4,500 of employees deal with the risks associated with working with electricity, Ergon and Energex are using virtual reality technology to build a safe, effective and engaging platform.
This allows apprentices and tradespeople risk free training scenarios whilst replicating workplace environments.
Mr. MacDonald said, "while the Virtual Reality training aid is currently a prototype, it’s hoped that its final development and refinements will one day see it being used in various training disciplines and organisations. “