Running Touch: new talent dawning
By NEIL WALKER Running Touch is a Mentone man of mystery. The 21-year-old electronica singer-songwriter, who is nameless and faceless in publicity shots, is a jack of all musical trades but listening to efforts such as his latest song This Is Just To Say it’s apparent he is certainly a master of blissful beats and smooth vocals with an urban edge. The vocalist, lyricist, guitarist, pianist, producer and poet (yes, poet) is off to a...
Live: walking the walk
By ANDREW DIXON “Entrepreneurial” isn’t a word you commonly associate with multi-platinum rock stars. Nor would you expect them to admit that, sometimes, building communities and creating jobs in the real world can be “much larger than band stuff.” Live’s new (ish – he reminded me it’s been almost four years since he signed up) frontman Chris Shinn has the presence of mind to acknowledge the way the world works outside the...
Def Leppard shake off the haters
By NEIL WALKER The haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate but Def Leppard are due more credit in rock and roll’s history books than critics generally give them. Taylor Swift certainly thinks so. The biggest pop star in the world right now performed with Def Leppard in 2008 as part of a US series called Crossroads that paired modern musicians together with their idols from yesteryear. Swift reckoned that singing the likes of the hit...
Hunters & Collectors release their first ever anthology
By CAMERON MCCULLOUGH They are anthems for a generation, songs that define an era in Australian music. “The real essence of rock music,” Mark Seymour pondered at the end of 1983, “It’s just passion, it’s just really pure.” More than three decades later, that statement is a neat summation of the new Hunters & Collectors collection, which is simply titled Anthology. These 40 songs tell the tale of a remarkable 18 years, from the...
Director’s Take
By ANDREA LOUISE THOMAS Little in life is more inspiring than a person who has great passion. Sydneysider Damien Ryan, who directs Hamlet for Bell Shakespeare this season, is enthralled with the poetry and dramatic possibilities of Shakespeare’s works. A scholar and teacher of the Bard, his interpretations and innovation are remarkable. Last year his direction of Bell Shakespeare’s Henry V swept the Sydney theatre awards winning...
Window on wonderful
By ANDREA LOUISE THOMAS Artist Sarah Dingwall shapes, blows, stretches, teases, and melts glass under the glow of a small blowtorch using a mesmerizing technique called flameworking. She crafts spectacular jewellery, tiny pots, hanging decorations and little messages encased in glass. It’s not just what she makes that distinguishes her work, but also how she shows it. Her botanical inspired displays are beautiful and unique. She...
