THE recent production of Come From Away at the Civic Theatre, pictured, has rightly been praised for its excellence, and hopefully will lead to a resurgence of major productions in Newcastle. In praising the production, it is also important to recognise the efforts of the Civic Theatre box office who have offered courteous, efficient, timely and real service to those attending.
Through the local box office, customers can actually talk to someone who makes a real effort to work in with personal circumstances. Because of illness, I was unable to attend my original booked performance. Within 15 minutes, this was rectified by the Civic box office.
I compare this service to the multinational Ticketmaster. I could not attend a Sydney performance on January 20 this year. No phone contact was available, with a message advising to use email. My request went to their Consumer Advocate, who advised on August 15 that my request could not be dealt with. So the comparison was fifteen minutes in Newcastle for a positive response, and seven months in Sydney for nothing. Thank you, Civic staff.
Brian Collins, Kotara South
Stage is set for an overhaul
NSW elections are on, and Labor opposition leader Chris Minns has stated he wants an inner-city music precinct and will bring back lost venues ('Labor to alter music rules', Newcastle Herald 23/2). I believe Newcastle council and the Liberal Party have a deaf ear towards live music, as in my opinion they were happy to give the developers a free hand to bulldoze the venues.
I checked the CBD out on a Saturday night. I found the young and old walking around aimlessly; the cocktails were lousy and too expensive, a DJ working cheap exploited the musicians' art and put bands out of work. The city was dull and lacking inspiration.
I believe the city needs to be revitalised with an injection of neon lights around every corner for inspiration and magic, promoting live local bands and enticing you to dance here or there. I've been around long enough to know all the lost live music venues, nightclubs, pubs and community clubs that catered for rock, blues, jazz, swing and cabaret. Also, we must bring back a venue in the CBD for the young, an alcohol-free stage to help the young up and coming bands to hone their skills to build the local live music industry. The city must have a safe effective night time public transport system.
I think if Mr Minns is thinking of a precinct of cheap DJs, soloists and duos who depend on MIDI files and computer tracks of the recorded works of musicians, they are a poor substitute for the excitement of a live band. I believe Newcastle council may be good at making plans to pick up the garbage but they have no qualifications to determine what musical instruments should be used at any live music event.
I have found the council is anti-progressive when it comes to music that brings life to a city, and have shown along with the Liberal Party no respect for art or the live local musicians and their industry. In my opinion a new body should be set up to oversee any new CBD local live music precinct and other live music venues. I also think Mr Minns' 10-year music strategy should be reassessed to make sure we don't lose another generation of musicians.
Maureen O'Sullivan Davidson, Swansea
Got to fight for your right to party
SORRY Pat Garnet (Short Takes, 11/3), but if my letters seem repetitive, perhaps it's because these same subjects get rehashed by so many others so repetitively. Quite often, those whom I'm replying to have used every possible slant on why Newcastle's inner city should be bottom of the live music scene in Newcastle.
Regardless, I'll try my best to answer your somewhat broad questions. What type of music do I envision? That would depend on what the musicians want to play and what their audiences want to hear. How often and where do I propose this entertainment be held? That's not up to me, or any other live music fan. That would be up to the live music venues themselves. But I think it would be great if the CBD could host live music seven nights a week, and in dozens more venues, as was the case in Newcastle's glory days. As for your assertion that Darby Street, Beaumont Street and Wickham provide people with entertainment "without neighbours crying foul because of the noise", I actually have it on very good authority that pubs in all three of these areas regularly receive noise complaints.
Adz Carter, Newcastle
Don't sniff at those who studied
STEVE Barnett (Letters, 14/03) must have a distorted view of how taxation operates in the letter "don't trade away our retirements".
It is extremely difficult, perhaps impossible, for salary and wage earners to establish a $3 million superannuation account over 40 years, even for high income earners. Or is it that these are the people doing the taxation heavy lifting, thus allowing people of your "ilk" to accumulate large superannuation accounts? In terms of degree-qualified people I hope you don't need to see a doctor or dentist. Who taught you to write? Tertiary qualified school teachers. I doubt you mind seeing a degree-qualified accountant.
Marvyn Smith, Heddon Greta
Darker side of the Emerald Isle
IF you're celebrating 'a touch of the Irish' in your blood on St Patrick's Day, spare a thought for whether this means you are pumping too much iron.
People of Celtic origin are more likely to have the iron overload condition haemochromatosis which is the most common genetic disorder in Australia.
About one in 200 people are genetically predisposed to it and one in seven are carriers. The good news is that early detection means haemochromatosis is no barrier to a normal life and the condition is easily managed through blood donations. But when undetected and untreated, it can cause organ/tissue damage and perhaps premature death. So as you raise a glass to your heritage this year, vow to find out more about the 'Celtic curse' from your GP or by visiting ha.org.au.
Brook Roberts, Haemochromatosis Australia president
Douglas Adams was on the money
BRIAN Measday suggests that aliens are bypassing Earth because they can see it's in trouble ("Little green men may be greenies", 10/3). This may have some truth. In The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, it is revealed that humans are the third most intelligent species on Earth after mice and dolphins. Dolphins' warnings of the planet's destruction were misinterpreted as playful tricks. This is in good agreement with the stark conclusion of the late James Lovelock, the globally respected environmental thinker and independent scientist who developed the Gaia theory.
After the failure of COP15 in Copenhagen in 2009, Lovelock said, "I don't think we're yet evolved to the point where we're clever enough to handle such a complex situation as climate change. The inertia of humans is so huge that you can't really do anything meaningful." As we keep developing new coal and gas projects, it appears that the dolphins and Lovelock are right.
Ray Peck, Hawthorn
SHORT TAKES
MEMBERS of the jury, please turn away for there is a woman breastfeeding a baby in the gallery! Okay, now she has gone we will show you some video of a person who was stabbed 27 times, a person who had their throat cut and someone with a gunshot wound. Really?
Mick Miller, Salamander Bay
I DECIDED to fact check Don Fraser's claim "no wonder so many Labor governments only last one term" (Short Takes 11/3). Going back to World War II NSW has no one-term Labor governments, and there were none in Queensland or federally. I gave up after that.
Colin Fordham, Lambton
IT'S time to say enough is enough and take Supercars out of our residential streets and put it on a race track. Two months of disruption and stress for locals and visitors to this area is beyond belief. People have had enough and, to quote a news report a while ago, the sound of crashing waves is much better than the sound of a V8 Supercar. Get rid of it, and make 2023's race the last we see of it on suburban streets.
Graeme Galvin, Warabrook
TALKING Supercars, our lord mayor says local businesses are thriving. How many have shut or struggling? How about the residents locked out of their residences. This is a joke, right?
Bruce Cook, Adamstown
NEWCASTLE Airport anticipated 5000 movements, not 5000 people, associated with Supercars. I reckon a fair whack of those will just be the setup teams and the race teams.
David Turner, Newcastle
I FELT it prudent to keep out of the Supercars debate until now. But one thing troubles me: is it okay under our constitution and laws for a local government body to hand over to a private body the right to decide how and when people can access their own homes? Also, what about the right to disregard all road rules that in other times people are getting fined and prosecuted for? Seems odd to me.
Sandy Buchanan, Largs
I LOVED your letter, Darryl Horne (Letters 9/3) regarding our Newcastle councillors and encouraging them to just tend to the business of council services like garbage, roads and overgrown parks and lawns. I have been observing and calling out for an independent council for many years. I can see no purpose in allowing one party to have a majority as Labor does on our council at present, with meetings before meetings and voting as a bloc.
Denise Lindus Trummel, Newcastle
I BELIEVE the only way for humans to survive is to stop destroying everything and ourselves.
