Author: cottonward

ABBA night at Imperial Hotel

Went to an ABBA Night held at the Impy Cabaret Room, Erko.

Danced the night away in a big circle, with fans spontaneously jumping into the centre and showcasing their moves when overcome by inspiration.

G had spent that morning shopping, searching for “giant inflatable pillow balloons like in the Polish TV special”, and settled on bubble-blowing kits, bejewelled fake microphones to sing into, and streamers to throw when over-excited.

Hard core fans stayed on-floor during The Visitors (to show off the fact we knew all the words), while everyone else hit the bar.

Showed first-timer L how to do the moves to SOS. Angus finally turned up to an ABBA night, which fell on a date when he wasn’t on a plane to somewhere or other.

D faced intense interrogation over why he wasn’t expressing his fandom via the compulsory non-stop dancing, and cited a “broken toe” which will take 12 months to heal!

Great drag numbers in spectacular/comedy costumes were done on the famous Impy stage (the inspiration for the Priscilla movie) to Nina Pretty Ballerina, Rock Me, Does Your Mother Know?, Tiger, and The Winner Takes It All.

Dancing Queen was played in honour of late fan John Godwin (big Agnetha fan), who was so sweet and always ready with an encouraging word and a witty line. Miss his friendly face. Did our best Bandstand Special moves in loving memory.

Finished at 2am with the traditional Old Friends Do as we all formed a tight-knit circle.

Stood outside and were told off twice by the bouncers for being too raucous. G escorted me home down King St, Newtown, exhausted on our hands and knees, after over-exertious dancing.

When not crawling, in an inspired move of anarchistic action, we pasted ABBA posters up and down King St, with G standing on tippy toes so he could place them high up enough so passersby couldn’t easily rip them down. I was laughing so hard as he was so earnest. One was still up the next afternoon!

angus

AA Gill on turning 60

AA Gill as a young man (A A Gill)

Last week an editor breezily mentioned that as I was coming up to a milestone decade would I perhaps like to write something about it? You know, is 60 the new 40? Why do you make those little noises when you get out of a chair? Am I considering getting a shed, or a cruise, or Velcro? 

Continue reading AA Gill on turning 60

Exodus Foundation

Volunteered this Christmas for the Exodus Foundation’s annual lunch for 3000 homeless and disadvantaged people.

A very hot day and fabulous atmosphere. Starts with a church service, then lunch (served for three huge groups of people at different times) in a big marquee. Great entertainers sang Carpenters, Nancy Sinatra and Johnny Cash songs.

The volunteers are fun to hang out with and we sang Christmas carols during our breaks. Father Christmas had a lovely decorated grotto and distributed donated presents. At the end of our shift, we got a free Christmas lunch of turkey and cranberry sauce, ham, veggies, salad and choc cake for dessert!

exodus

ABBA fans fest Nov 29

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Our soiree involved watching Countdown (top of the pops) TV specials, famous for being the launching pad for ABBA’s success in Australia.

We fast-forwarded through rocker Jimmy Barnes’ clips, and slow-mo’ed to scrutinise Mark Holden shirtless in suspenders, singing “I Wanna Make You My Lady”. Lots of slow mo for Sherbet, Skyhooks and John Paul Young. ACDC were great, Little River Band, Marcia Hines. Mark Holden explained: “Countdown was a direct line to huge paydays, millions of dollars. My first album, pre-Countdown in 1974, sold 2000 copies. My 2nd and 3rd albums [promoted via Countdown in 1975] sold 80,000 copies each. That’s a hell of a lot.”

Nice to see Bjorn doing an interview re: how important Australia was in re-launching ABBA worldwide.

Watched Molly getting sozzled during the 100th Countdown special, and fluffing his lines with Prince Charles. Overall, too many rockers and not enough pop stars! Julie Zemiro always wonderful as a TV host.

ABBA fests are renowned for a sugary overload of lollies, but this time we ate healthier foods, chicken, fruit (and Swedish pastries)!

Speaking our truth, telling our stories

Went to this Marrickville Council forum, a “friendly all-inclusive panel discussion on LGBTIQ initiatives and emerging issues”, MCed by social justice advocate and former broadcaster Julie McCrossin.

Everyone was invited to make recommendations for Marrickville Council’s assistance.

Some highlights:

Cristyn Davies, co-chair of Twenty 10:

There should be changes in Early Childhood settings so children can express their gender in different ways eg. wearing different clothes. There should be gender-neutral bathrooms.

Marrickville Council should offer internships, so young people who have difficulties finding a job (because of their appearance), can get work experience. They should be asked which gender pronouns they would like to be used in the workplace.

 Sujay Kentlyn, of Outrageous Ageing:

“A lot of couples are terrified of going into residential age care, afraid of being treated badly and not respected. But things have changed, thanks to people like David Urquhart and Lex Watson.”

Some retirement villages have a “Rainbow Accreditation”, look for the Rainbow tick on their website.

– McCrossin said in her last days “I want the values of the Sacred Heart Hospice”.

 Teresa Avila: founder and director of Red Rattler venue in 2008 (not-for-profit incorporated arts association, often hosts alternative queer events).

Had a long list of recommendations, including that council publish a “Creative Spaces for Dummies” guide for local artists. Avila said it had cost about $200,000 to navigate council’s requirements to get the Rat up and running, which is a huge barrier for future artists thinking about opening a space.