City organ gets $2m tune-up
The Brisbane City Hall organ will make its grand re-entrance to Brisbane’s cultural life next year after restoration costing about $1.9 million. Intense restoration work on the 1890s classic organ continues in a workshop at Hemmant in Brisbane’s east. Master organ builder Simon Pierce said a 10-member team from Pierce Pipe Organs was restoring the [...]
Juggers play it fast and furious in New Farm
It looked like the rehearsal of a medieval battle scene. People fighting with swords and spears, wearing track pants and t-shirts, were thrown into relief against a darkening sky in New Farm park. The mystery was solved when someone handed me a green leaflet that said: Jugger. Jugger is a game based on the 1989 [...]
Young string players charm Brisbane Square
The Terzina String Trio entertained patrons with enchanting baroque music at the Brisbane Square library last week as part of the Fête de la Musique Brisbane festival. The two-year-old trio is made up of Queensland Conservatorium students – twin 19-year-old brothers Michael Poulton on violin and Phillip Poulton on viola and Camilla Tafra, 20, on [...]
Reynolds’ “Portrait of Aneas Mackay” is remarkable in its silence
It’s amazing what can be the most attention grabbing artistic work in a collection. People joke about sculptures made from great heaps of rubbish, and paintings that are reminiscent of their 4-year-old niece’s artistic triumphs. But in this case, we see a quiet painting of a man who seems as if he isn’t even there, [...]
Glimpses into the life of an artist who died too young
Queensland Art Gallery When painter Amrita Sher-Gil died in 1941 aged 28 she was already recognised as one of India’s most important artists, though she left behind only about 150 canvasses. Born in Hungary to a Jewish opera-singer mother and an Indian Sikh father, her talent was nurtured early and at the age of 16 [...]
Life and Light – Lloyd Rees at the QAG
More than 100 pieces of Lloyd Rees’s artwork are being shown at the Queensland Art Gallery this month, celebrating the Brisbane-born artist’s long and successful career. The Life and Light exhibition focuses on Rees’ early drawings of Brisbane and showcases his exploration of light in landscapes, street scenes and portraits. One of his most prominent [...]
Review: Girl of the Golden West
Opera Queensland (Lyric Theatre) A strange mix of poker games, Italian, gun fights and high notes, Puccini’s The Girl of the Golden West combines the cultured world of opera with the 1850s gold rush in California – and somehow does it well. The opera has a Romeo and Juliet feel to it, with Minnie, the [...]
Sherbet icon braves the sun for Green Heart
Skin cancer victim Daryl Braithwaite endured the strong Queensland sun yesterday, to wow the crowd at the Council’s Green Heart Fair at Chermside. The Australian pop icon, who made his name in the ’70s band Sherbet, was the climax of the festival, a initiative of Council’s Green Heart (sustainability) campaign. Green Heart is Council’s attempt [...]
Asian fusion the key to new life for Brisbane restaurants
Brisbane’s restaurants have fallen under harsh scrutiny from critics and the press alike. Its culinary scene has received harsh criticism over the years, with claims that Brisbane food culture represents a “cultural desert”. Alchemy Restaurant manager Edward Bray rejects the criticism. “I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s a cultural desert as such, it’s constantly evolving, desert [...]
Street poll: Should we ban the burqa?
France has passed laws to ban the wearing of the burqa in public places. The ban has attracted criticism from many people, including human rights groups, but some say there should be similar laws in Australia. We asked people in Brisbane’s Queen Street Mall what they thought.
Mr Dick makes fun of someone’s name
Campbell Newman is like the character Newman (pictured) in Seinfeld, Minister for Industrial Relations and Education Cameron Dick said today. “Like the postman in Seinfeld, Campbell Newman is known for his shonky, shoddy and grand schemes that eventually come to nothing. Like the postman, Campbell Newman loves his position, loves his status, but never delivers,” [...]
Street poll: the future of bookstores
Many brick-and-mortar bookstores are faced with the fact that readers are increasingly buying books in digital form or from internet marketplaces. Borders bookchain in the United States announced bankruptcy last month and the Australian chain announced voluntary administration the next day. We came to the Borders store in Brisbane’s CBD to ask shoppers if they [...]
Street poll: What did you think of the Oscars?
With the US film industry’s annual Academy Awards having their big event last night, we asked Brisbane people whether they watched the telecast of the ceremony – and what they thought of it. Camera and production supervision: David Douglas Stuart
Rare heritage building damaged by flood
Brisbane’s second-oldest convict-built structure was a victim of the 2011 floods. A retaining wall at the Royal Historical Society of Queensland’s museum at the old Commisariat Store in William St partially collapsed after a water main under the footpath burst. The building is only one of two remaining structures built by convicts in Brisbane – [...]
Review: Macbeth
New Farm Nash Theatre Blood and butchery, swords and sorcery, tyranny and tragedy, murder and mayhem, daggers and death are all promised in promotions for Nash Theatre’s production of Macbeth. It’s a promise the cast are clearly driven to deliver as much as Lady Macbeth in her wanton desire for the throne. Brenda White’s decision [...]
