Culture

  • Out of work but not talent

    DSS and other thingsTribe of NewSend $25 to PO Box 95, Wyongah, NSW 2259 Review by James Smith Unfortunately, being a musician often involves an intimate, intense and often dysfunctional relationship with Centrelink, usually resulting in feelings

  • Murder, bigotry and the holidays

    Murder, bigotry and the holidays River's EdgeBy Cath PhillipsBlackwattle Press149pp, $15.95 TrashtownBy Robert TaitBlackwattle Press224pp, $16.95 Reviewed by Kath Gelber At this time of year, many of us are on the lookout for some light

  • A jazz snapshot of the black struggle

    Black UnityPharoah SandersImpulse through MCA/UniversalThe reissue of the Pharoah Sander's classic 1971 album Black Unity documents another step in this brilliant, underrated artist's evolution. It is also a jazz snapshot of the mood

  • Music across cultures

    Music across cultures Reviewed by Sujatha Fernandes Star RiseNusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Michael BrookFeaturing remixes by Joi, Talvin Singh, Asian Dub Foundation, Sate of Bengal, Aki Nawaz, Black Star Liner, Nitin Sawhney, Earthtribe, the Dhol

  • A new voice, worth listening to

    A new voice, worth listening to Capital Volume 1By Anthony MacrisAllen & Unwin, $16.95 Review by Maree Roberts This, Macris' first novel, represents a fresh voice in Australian fiction. Not the usual middle-class-angst voice or the

  • Poem: For My Comrade

    For My Comrade Today I come to visit you, comradeto wake you up in the morning. You hear the loud voicesfrom the machine gunsand the voices of crying shakes you, comrade I come to visit you, ComradeTo knock on the window of your heart;To the

  • Comedy consortium bids for rights to Jesus

    Comedy consortium bids for rights to JesusMELBOURNE — Highly regarded local entrepreneurs Rod Quantock, Fred Rowan and Lynda Gibson (better known for their comedy appearances on stage and TV) are preparing a bid to secure

  • The bush meets the struggle

    Music at the Creek — as the November 7-9 Major's Creek Folk Festival is known — has been running for five years. Each year it attracts more musicians and larger audiences to the former gold-mining hamlet about 15 km south of

  • Activist launches first book

    Activist launches first bookADELAIDE — About 100 women crowded into the Lion Bar of the Lion Arts Theatre Complex on November 11 to congratulate well-known activist Marg McHugh on the launch of her first book, What Would

  • Sting like a butterfly, buzz like a bee

    Sting like a butterfly, buzz like a bee Bernard ShawBy Michael HolroydChatto & Windus, 1997. 834 pp., $49.95 (hb) Review by Phil Shannon "A good man fallen amongst Fabians" — so Lenin was alleged to have summed up the playwright

  • A champion of social justice

    The Bottom LinePeter HicksSend $22.50 to PO Box 163, Camperdown NSW 2050 Review by Alex Bainbridge The Bottom Line is the first solo album by left-wing Sydney singer/songwriter Peter Hicks for several years. The result is excellent — a truly

  • Fremantle's women take centre stage

    Fremantle's women take centre stage Waterfront WomenDeckchair Theatre CompanyDirected by Angela Chaplin, written by Marcus HughesVictoria Quay, Fremantle, until November 29Regional WA tour to December 6 Review by Anne O'Callaghan The Port