Send in the Clowns

"Don't you love a farce; my fault I fear
I thought that you'd want what I want - sorry my dear
But where are the clowns - send in the clowns
Don't bother they're here"

- Stephen Sondheim

Have you ever noticed how often New Zealand governments refer to Scandinavian experiences to validate social experiments ? You gotta love the Scandinavians. Actually I have a Saab car, so I know they don't always get things right. So, from those lovely people who brought you the Vikings ....

Check this out.

S'funny how you can make weird connections. Last night I went to the launch of my friend Helen Medlyn's new CD. The clown song features and she performed it at Mollies in Auckland. Very posh. If you like that sort of thing. I'm more inclined to edgy bohemian myself. But I am always gobsmacked by Helen's ability to have the audience eating out of her hand. Like at at Sheepworld, but with rich people. I will never forget her performance in Madama Butterfly.(which I promoted for Auckland Opera). Helen was Mrs Pinkerton. Helen is a GREAT singer. Mrs Pinkerton doesn't utter (to the best of my shallow pond of knowledge) a note. But she commanded the audience's attention with an imperial confidence…no irony intended…
She rocks. Or Blues. Or Operas…

So, to wrap up…send in the clowns (no, not the New Zealand Parliament)…and find some way of hearing Helen Medlyn perform.
I like in real life, but hey,…the record is lovely.

Comments

Go figure

Took my daughter shopping tonight. We had dinner out. Got back home late. She laid her new clothes out in neat rows so she could choose what to wear for tomorrow. She's 5. I see her just every second weekend. How can such incredible errors of judgement (marrying my daughter's mother) result in such a wonderful little human being? Go figure

Why billboards must go.

The problem with billboards and advertising in public places is they are an invasion of privacy. Unlike magazine, tv, radio (etc) advertising you cannot choose to turn it off or avoid it. Nor does it offer anything in return. It is a medium that offers no benefit or advantage to the person it is inflicted on. At least television ads subsidise the programming. Without doubt some billboards are entertaining - I thought the anti GE poster for short lived MADGE activist group was particularly good. But most are rubbish. Literally. Badly executed. Nothing important to say. The debate has led to a great deal of hysteria - mostly from people with a vested interest in perpetuating the deployment of hoardings. Perhaps the idea that the issue at stake is 'property rights' is the creepiest. If you own a building you have every right to plaster anything you like on its external surfaces. Is that an antisocial point of view? I think so. In the UK you could have an ASBO slapped on you for si...

Johnny Bunko competiton

The Great Johnny Bunko Challenge from DHP on Vimeo . There's a young chap in Indiana, one Alec Quig , who has written to me about creating a career based on a polymathic degree, from which he has recently graduated. He's an interesting young man and his concerns about going forward in life are the anxieties we all face at crossroads in our lives when we are forced to make choices. Dan Pink's latest book The Adventures of Johnny Bunko: The Last Career Guide You'll Ever Need might help: "From a New York Times, BusinessWeek, and Washington Post bestselling author comes a first-of-its- kind career guide for a new generation of job seekers.There's never been a career guide like it.the fully illustrated story (ingeniously told in Manga form) of a young Everyman just out of college who lands his first job. Johnny Bunko is new to parachute company Boggs Corp., and he stumbles through his early days as a working stiff until a crisis prompts him to find a new job. St...

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