ASR – StopPress 106
1) Syl
is met at the door by Sue 2) Melissa makes sure her hair doesn’t
catch alight when the birthday cake arrives
Melissa’s
16th birthday party
25.6.12 – Last week I got a text inviting
me to Lissie’s birthday party lunch, (what is it with
those girls – only Nicole has stuck with her given name), but
I let it languish for a couple of days before getting back and
there was a mild panic as Sue and I missed each other’s subsequent
messages. Technology makes our lives so much easier..
Anyway, Chris and I arrived comparatively early, despite trying
quite hard not to be too prompt. I brought in a dog
poo sample on the sole of my shoe to liven up the entrées,
(not appreciated), then Syl arrived unexpectedly (pic 1)
and the birthday lunch finally commenced at about 2.45. Chris
was quite hungry by this stage and ate very well – he usually
stuffs himself full of crackers and nuts way before the main
course arrives.
Sadly that’ll be the last time there’ll be a family do at the
Sullivans’ Croydon house. They’ve sold it and will have to be
out by early August. The end of an era..
1)
Chris poses with his hero, Adam Stevens 2) The demo over the
road from (the) European
Stuff
happens, followed by more stuff
19.6.12 – June is when my mum
has her birthday, (fittingly on Queen’s Birthday weekend),
and then I have mine, slap bang in the middle of the month
on the 15th. I don’t really believe in astrology, but it seems
particularly apt to be a Gemini in my case, one twin (or face)
looking back over the last six months and the other looking
forward to the next. But maybe just thinking that predisposes
me to behave like a typical Gemini.. Alright, just the facts
then.
My actual birthday (on Friday) was pretty quiet really. I
didn’t even realise I was 67 till I had a call from Mick Newman
who thought I’d just turned 66. Mind you, there were an awful
lot of birthday wishes from my friends on Facebook and that
made me feel important.
The next night Chris and I went over to the Cafarellas for
a birthday roast – a real Sunday-style roast lamb and spuds
roast, not one of those smart-arse American insult-fests.
We cracked the Moët I’d given Marg on her birthday, which
was a lovely sharing bonus. I brought Chris with me and Liz
(Edmonds) was there too as it was her birthday the day before
mine – we had a fun family night.
Dick was over in NZ with the family on Sunday, so gave me
a couple of tickets to see Danielle de Niese with the ACO
at the Melbourne Town Hall on Sunday. I met up with Doug Macrae,
his daughter Cathy, Terry Toby and Henri Licht at (the) European
for lunch before racing down to the Town Hall to squeak in
by seconds before Tognetti and the ACO trooped on stage. I
didn’t have a programme so I was guessing that the opening
piece was perhaps Hayden or Mozart, or even Mozart’s dad,
whom I seem to remember had a proclivity for hunting pieces.
(It was Mozart junior).
My enjoyment was already being undermined by not having had
time for a pit-stop before we took our seats, but I had no
idea what the next piece was that the delightful Danielle
tackled* and I certainly had no idea that it was written and
sung in English. Or perhaps that should be Australian, as
it was apparently from a text written by Patrick White. I
know my hearing is indifferent at the best of times, but it
reinforces my prejudice against classical technique when it
renders language indecipherable. Dame Joan was the absolute
worst.
I was in quite some pain when the ACO played another piece
that I was unfamiliar with by Richard Meale, but I found it
quite soothing – as I suspended myself above my seat on my
elbows to take the pressure off my bladder.
Mozart’s Exsultate jubilate was next, a piece that
I was quite familiar with as I’d sung it myself with the Christchurch
Cathedral Choir and Danielle performed it with panache but
‘without the usual spikiness and robotic precision’ as Clive
O’Connell noted in The Age’s review.
I still can’t sing it with any precision and I’m sure the
other chorister lads were no better than I was, so the Cathedral
Choir’s version must’ve sounded a bit on the Portsmouth
Sinfonia side.
I think I astonished a few blokes at the intermission as I
outlasted wave after wave at the urinals and I still wasn’t
quite sure I hadn’t done myself a medical disservice ten minutes
later, but then the discomfort subsided. It was Schubert and
more Schubert after the break – and I was pretty certain it
was Schubert too, even without the programme. Danielle appeared
briefly at the start, (in a change of costume too), but, somewhat
surprisingly, only reappeared at the end to take the applause
with the ACO.
Cathy had to go back to the office, (legal work is never done),
so it was up to the blokes to brave the hordes of Hawthorn
supporters to grab a coffee – or in my case a hot chocolate
– and review the days events. Terry and Doug had been at the
St Andrews gig the previous Sunday so I’m guessing their taste
is as catholic as my own, but we’d all enjoyed the day. I’d
be happy to take pot-luck at the Town Hall with the ACO again
if the chance comes my way.
* The Tree of Man – Carl Vine