fitzroyalty

1 Pure Scenius – Brian Eno, Karl Hyde and the Necks at the Sydney Opera House

Brian Eno was the best gig I saw this year – a fascinating and thrilling performance, with the additional status of being a rare and longheld ambition fulfilled.

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A jumbled summary of some of the events of 2009 in Fitzroy.

Art and entertainment

• Unpretentiously Underground gallery opened then faded away
• The Last Tuesday Society got bigger and bigger
• book launches were most enjoyable
• I helped judge slam poetry
• went to lots of exhibitions at Lamington Drive and Gorker gallery
• listened to some jazz at the Laundry and at Uptown
• went to lots of comedy shows
• saw The Church play at the Workers Club
• participated in the shoot for a scene of a film as an extra

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Rone’s current Rose St wall paste-up has not lasted as well or for as long as his previous work on the same space. I remember reading about the glue paste-up artists use on Drab’s blog, and wonder if Rone’s recipe was not right on this occasion? It’s a shame because this work on Rose St was perhaps the best yet, with each print receiving an additional handpainted element, making each sheet unique and the entire wall more complex and visually appealing.

I have to interrupt my series of summer holiday reviews to discuss some breaking news. The Fitzroy based Abby Winters porn site is in trouble again. The bogan press journalist, who has been pursuing a vendetta against it since 2007, reported yesterday that G Media CEO Garion Hall has been charged with numerous offences including ‘making objectionable films for gain’. For the background to this story read my December 2007 and June 2009 posts.

The charges are the result of investigations following his June arrest. A number of people writing about this issue then analysed the law and came to the conclusion that while it may be legal for Abby Winters to publish its content on the internet (which is not examined by the Australian censors), the legality of creating the content in Australia was uncertain due to archaic, incomplete and contradictory state and federal laws. The links at the end of my June post provide more detail on this.

While the Herald Sun stories from 2007 and 2009 are full of irrational emotional nonsense and short on analytical argument, the charges are serious, particularly in relation to child pornography (one allegation made in June was that a model was only 17 when she modeled for photos that appeared on the site).

I have been writing this post for some time. Its original focus was about a pattern of unethical behaviour I have experienced from entrepreneurial employers. Since my June post, my opinion of Hall has changed dramatically. In August – September this year I interviewed for the position of Marketing Manager at Abby Winters, which is one of three employers whose behaviour I will discuss below.

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