ALICE SPRINGS NEWS
September 17, 2009. This page contains all major
reports and comment pieces in the current edition.



$10m initiative to keep money here. By ERWIN CHLANDA.

Keep the money in the desert is the motto for a $10m Desert Knowledge Australia (DKA) initiative.
It’s encouraging small businesses in The Centre, and in eight other desert regions, to work collaboratively, across state borders, “so they can identify and pursue opportunities to strengthen and create business,” says John Huigen, the CEO of DKA. 
The concept has been tried out over some years by DKA, which is headquartered in Alice Springs. 
In the trial project a number of desert businesses went beyond collaboration to form joint venture alliances so they could win outback contracts which normally go to big firms in the capital cities.
For example, mining supplies contractors in Broken Hill formed Alliance Engineering in 2004 that soon won a tender worth $4.5 million from the mining company Bemax. 
They went on to work with Alice Springs business Fluid Power to win contracts in Mt Isa. In the pilot scheme’s final year $7 million of new business was reported, according to a report by CSIRO.
Mr Huigen says the new three-year scheme has been expanded to more regions and now targets creative industries, local produce including bush foods, mining services, sustainable building and tourism.
There is no fee for joining.
“Local alliances will build capacity and capability and mean that local desert firms are better able to compete against the big city firms. More business won by desert businesses means more money circulating in local economies, more jobs, more skills-development opportunities and stronger local communities,” says Mr Huigen.  
The regions are Central West QLD, North West QLD, Central Australia NT, Barkly NT, Kalgoorlie‐Boulder WA, Mid West Gascoyne WA, Pilbara WA, Far West NSW and Far North SA.
The concept has clearly inspired major players: BHP Billiton is kicking in $1.8m in cash.
Telstra and Qantas are each providing a line of credit (“it’s as good as cash,” says Mr Huigen) of $375,000.
DKA’s contribution is $600,000, and $4m will come “in kind” from 28 regional partner organizations.
The Aboriginal Benefits Account will contribute more than $1m, and nearly $2m will come from the Federal Department of Innovation.
There will be a staff member employed by the program in each of the nine regions, plus an extra four in the “hub” in Alice Springs.
Each centre will have a second staff member provided by a participating organisation or business.
The launch on Monday by Innovation Minister Kim Carr showcased some of the whizz-bangery the program will use.
Parliament House was linked by tele- and video conferencing and live web sites to Alice Springs, Broken Hill, Carnarvon, Darwin, Geraldton, Kalgoorlie, Karratha, Longreach, Mount Isa, Perth, Port Augusta, Port Hedland and Tennant Creek.
Mr Huigen says this kind of “virtual meeting place” was a feature of the trial program and will be the main form of communication for the new group.
“The exciting thing about working with Telstra is that we can try out their new technologies and use them to defeat the tyranny of distance,” he says.


Last ditch effort to save Anzac Hill school. By KIERAN FINNANE.

“This is our school – my aunties and uncles, my cousins and all my big kids went here, I’ve got nieces and nephews here as well as my daughter and I want my last son to go here.”
Cheryl Schembri was talking about Anzac Hill High, now one of two state middle schools in Alice – the other being ASHS – but facing almost certain closure as a regular school at the end of this year.
The strong sense of belonging expressed by Mrs Schembri and other parents attending a small but passionate meeting last Friday looks likely to be lost with the merger of the two middle schools.
Parents spoke of other reasons for retaining enrolments and core subject teaching on the Anzac campus:
• maintaining choice for those families opting for public education;
• safeguarding a small, intimate school population and campus where everyone knows everyone else;
• building on the school’s achievements of recent years, including improved literacy, parent-school partnerships, and strong Indigenous representation on the school council;
• students being able to walk to their neighbourhood school;
• not wanting students to travel across town every day;
• maintaining the separation of some Indigenous families;
• fear that some students will drop out rather than go to a new school.
At the beginning of this month the Anzac School Council said they were told that three options were being considered for the merger. The first two involved students chopping and changing between campuses; the third would see all students at the Gillen (ASHS) campus, with some specialist facilities at Anzac.
The council wanted the Education Department to consider a fourth, which would see separate enrollments maintained, and English and Maths taught on both campuses with exchange between the two for specialist subjects.
They also wanted to see Special Needs education available on both campuses.
The council would support a merger along these lines.
The council claimed to have had assurances from senior Education Department personnel that core subjects would be taught and enrollments maintained on both campuses, but these assurances have since been withdrawn or watered down.
Now that they’ve been told that the third option is the one that will be put in place – with all enrollments and core teaching at Gillen – the council feel that they have been “seriously misled”, said president, Alan Smith.
They object to the “top down” approach of the department: “It has not been a building process where ownership belonged to the community,” said Mr Smith.
This is despite messages such as this one from Paul Newman, General Manager Schools – Central Australia, in an update in May this year:
“Communication and sharing of ideas are integral to the planning process and will help shape the establishment of the new school.
“NT DET will require significant input from all key stakeholders so regular meetings with School Councils will be arranged over the coming weeks.”
Says Mr Smith: “It seems that the Education Department’s idea of consultation has been asking people to watch powerpoint presentations which superficially look good but are all very theoretical.
“Then we get five minutes for discussion and our ideas all get pushed to the side.”
The department provided the following response to these issues in writing, attributed to Mr Newman, whose title is now Director School Performance Central Australia: “The result of consultation is that the community overwhelmingly supports Option 3 as the most logical and educationally sound option for middle years students living in Alice Springs.
“The additional or 4th option, provided no real change other than a significant increase in the transportation arrangements between campuses. 
“This option would not provide a broad level of subject choice for students and would not provide teachers and students with opportunities to develop the strong teacher/student relationships required in middle schooling. 
“Option 4 was considered during initial planning but was considered not to be in the best long term educational interests of students.”
Mr Smith said the council welcomes the injection of capital expenditure in creating “Centres of Excellence” for specialist learning, especially as, he said, there’s been no infrastructure expenditure at Anzac since 1994.
The funds will see, for example, the assembly hall at Anzac redeveloped as a performing arts facility and a manual arts facility created on the Gillen campus.
The council is happy to see cooperative use by the two schools of these facilities and others, said Mr Smith, but they feel that can happen without a merger that spells the end of Anzac as a school with its own identity.
It particularly rankles that Anzac has now been associated with the government’s Youth Action Plan, that will see a “youth hub” (which parents referred to as a “police hub”), staffed by school-based constables, an alcohol worker and student counsellors, established on the campus (at the cost of three classrooms) as well as what Mr Smith described as an “Intervention-related” boarding facility (also at the cost of three classrooms).
“The problems seen in Alice Springs do not emanate from this school,” said Mr Smith.
“The opposite is true – it’s a good school where kids from different backgrounds all get on with each other. 
“Mentioning our school in the Youth Action Plan adds a stigma that’s not fair or helpful.
“The school principal has reported at the last council meeting that there are very few fights at Anzac – that’s really unusual for a secondary school – not much shouting and very few suspensions.”
After a meeting of council members with Chief Minister Paul Henderson on September 7, Mr Smith said the Chief Minster went on air to describe the council members’ “great level of enthusiasm” for the merger.
Said Mr Smith: “Faith [White], Cheryl [Schembri] and myself were all at the meeting – there was no level of enthusiasm.”
Mr Smith said they were heartened by Mr Henderson’s assurance that the merger was not an “issue of numbers”, but even if it were, as Anzac has more students than ASHS (165 to 157), why not move the ASHS students to Anzac, he asked.
The large grounds at ASHS could be sold as residential land – helping solve the town’s housing shortage – and the profits could fund the redevelopment of the Anzac campus.
POLICE HUB
Alternatively, why not build the boarding facility and the “police hub” at the Gillen campus where there is so much more room, he asked.
“We have the main police station and the new Todd Mall station all in the centre of town. Would it not be more logical to have a police hub in Gillen?” 
On these issues a spokesperson for Mr Henderson provide the following statement in writing: “The government is committed to providing quality education in Alice Springs, including at the new Centralian Middle School.
“The Government is also committed to the Youth Action Plan – which includes a youth hub at Anzac Hill campus and a boarding facility.
“During his visit, Mr Henderson met with stakeholders from Anzac Hill and Alice Springs High School.
“He also met with the Centralian Middle School’s student leaders’ group and new school principal, Therese Hicks.
“He found enthusiasm, commitment and support for the Government’s plan to achieve better outcomes for young people in Alice Springs.”
There was frustration and anger amongst the parents at last Friday’s meeting, sensing that the horse may have bolted.
“We’re the ones who vote for Mr Henderson, so he’d better be careful,” said one parent.
Another commented that Alice is a growing town with a young population – it would be very short-sighted to only have one public middle school.
CYNICISM
There was also some cynicism: “It’s September now and they haven’t even organised uniforms let alone got the staff they need,” said a parent worried about the impact on the transition to high school of next year’s crop of Year Seven students.
On this issue the written response attributed to Mr Newman says: “The new principal, Ms Therese Hicks, has met individually and collectively with all staff to determine their commitment to the new school approach and expectations. 
“Curriculum planning, infrastructure upgrades and staffing arrangements are well underway and on track for the start of the 2010 school year.
“A competition was conducted to find a logo for the new school with the winner and design announced last week.
“A uniform for the school, incorporating the logo, is being designed in consultation with students and parents, and procurement is progressing.
“The new uniforms will be available before the school opens next year.”


The Alice is a jobs Mecca. By ERWIN CHLANDA.

In July there were 2619 people on the dole in Alice Springs, receiving Newstart or Youth Allowances while the town has acquired a reputation among backpackers as an employment Mecca where work can be snapped up quickly and easily.
The word’s out in the big cities among young travellers from around the world that there are plenty of jobs in The Centre, mostly in the tourism and hospitality industries, that hostel or caravan park accommodation is cheap, although near capacity right now, and the locals are friendly.
While some guest houses limit stays to a few days, others have people travelling on working visas staying for months.
Michelle, a local working for the Ritzy Alice Haven, says around half the guests have working visas and are staying for months: “People walk into a business and come out with a job.
“They can’t believe how fast they can get work.”
The bed rate is $22 a day for dormitories, including breakfast.
Jasmin, 23, worked as a primary school teacher and pharmacy assistant in her native Germany.
She says she’s “half German, half Iranian” and came to The Alice for three days to visit The Rock.
In less than a day she found a job as a waitress in a mall cafe, five minutes’ walk from the Youth Hostel Association (YHA) hostel in Parsons Street, and decided to stay a while.
She says because of the recession, jobs for backpackers are scarce elsewhere in Australia – except for Alice Springs.
Roger manages the YHA. It has a pleasant courtyard, Alice Springs’ old open air, walk-in cinema, where guests lounge on the lawn or in deck chairs, reading and chatting.
He says the organisation is committed to helping backpackers find work, but only to a point.
It’s a strategy to attract business to the hostel, but on the other hand, the chain needs to have space for guests referred from its outlets around the nation.
“We will not allow the hostel to become a boarding house serving only a worker clientele,” he says.
“We get a lot of requests for long term accommodation, to rent a room for six months. We don’t do it. It’s not our business.”
Roger, who formerly worked on King’s Creek Station with Ian and Lyn Conway, has just installed a jobs blackboard at the YHA.
He says there is “high content at the moment” of long-term residents, about 10 to 15%, who stay “a couple of months,” working at MacDonalds, in mall cafes but also in outdoor labouring jobs, if their neon yellow vests are any indication.
One of the backpackers with whom Jasmin shares the dorm – six bunk beds – is Ellen, also a German in her mid-twenties.
She too came to see The Rock and decided to stay.
She quickly found a job as a “food and beverage attendant” with a major motel.
It’s a step down from her Bachelor of Arts in Media, Journalism and Communication from the Free University of Berlin.
Her impressive CV lists account executive of a communications company in Frankfurt, and project manager of online sales and corporate publishing for a company in Augsburg.
When she came to Alice “I dropped in my CV and they rang me back,” she says. “Alice is a very nice town,” she says in her fluent English.
“The feeling is very good. It’s very relaxed.”
Lula is working an early morning shift at a fast food outlet. Originally from Ethiopia, Lula was sponsored to migrate to Australia by her father. She’s been living and working in Melbourne for the last five years and hopes to see some of the country for the next four to five months.
After Alice she’ll head to Darwin and on to Perth. 
She found her job here after two days and is also picking up extra casual work. Working hard makes her happy, she says, because it allows her to help her aunty back in Ethiopia who has no children of her own to take care of her.  Lula is staying at Alice’s Secret.
Mulga of Annie’s is reluctant to have long-termers who are holding down jobs. His focus is on people wanting to book his budget tours to The Rock, and he needs a fresh intake of visitors every few days.
The other problem, says Mulga, is long-termers develop a sense of ownership of a room which they share with short-term visitors: “I’ve been here for two months ... don’t leave your mess in that corner, it’s my corner ... pack your bag tonight and leave it outside ... I’m working late and want to sleep in.”
Mulga says there is a more enterprising clientele lately – Germans, Scandinavians and French who “want to do something different”.
They’re a refreshing change from the Brits “who hang around Sydney and get drunk”.
Frenchman Gael, 22, dropped his CV in to the Alice News. 
He has an advanced vocational diploma in audio visual.  Each summer from 2004 to 2008 he says  “I picked black currant, red currant, strawberries”.
Vanessa, 27, comes from Strasbourg in eastern France and speaks fluent English.  She says it’s easy to get a one year holiday working visa for Australia: “You just fill in the application.”
She spent three months fruit picking and has been in Alice for four months, coming here without the intention of staying.
Landing a job as a waitress in a mall restaurant for three days a week has changed her mind.
She and her boyfriend live in their van in a caravan park.  He has a job cleaning hire cars. She attended a hotel management school and worked as a waitress in France.
Alice people are “really nice, helpful, curious, keen to show us different places,” she says.
Philipp, a German fresh out of highschool, also speaks fluent English.
He heard in Darwin about the job opportunities in Alice but it took him a week and a half to find work when he came here.
He got his job via a notice on a board in a backpacker’s hostel, a position with the Desert Park restaurant.
Philipp says Alice was meant to be just a stopover for a couple of days on his way to The Rock, but now he has the job he’ll stay for three to four months.
Chien-Hung, who goes by the handle of Johnny, is having a harder time of it. He has a Masters of Biology Science, majoring in Neuroscience.
He’s been in Alice for nearly two weeks, to improve his English, and is still looking for work.
He spent two weeks in Noonamah, outside Darwin, picking and packing mangoes.
“It was horrible,” he says, “picking fruit under the hot sun for eight hours a day.”
The other problems were that the farm was a long way outside Darwin, and the other workers were mostly also Taiwanese – not a good opportunity to improve his English.
When a lift to Alice was offered he didn’t hesitate.
He was due to start a job with Flavours of India – only to learn the next morning it had burned down.
He likes Alice, observing that most locals seem to know each other.



Fest on Cloud 9. By KIERAN FINNANE.

BOne of the great gifts of art is that it raises spirits, lifts people above the everyday.
A local woman told me about taking her frail elderly parents to watch the festival opening parade on Friday night.
From the terrace at The Lane they had a fine view of the passing little drummers with their shining faces, the skillfully made giant puppets depicting all kinds of insects, borne aloft by eager groups of young people, the stilt walkers full of bravura, the assorted other groups of revellers, some in costume, some playing music, some dancing.
Bringing up the rear, the Asante Santa choir stopped in front of The Lane and sang, as if specially for the people seated there.
Her parents were simply entranced, said the woman, their delight also her own. 
For me, something similar happened at The Black Arm Band concert on Sunday night.
Billed as a memorial to the late George Rrurrambu Burarrawanga, former lead singer of the Warumpi Band, the production was also a tribute to the many struggles of Indigenous Australians for recognition and rights.
But more than this, it asserted, in the way that the best Desert Mob shows do, a fundamental optimism, riding on people’s resilience and creativity.
Fascinating archival footage, going back to the 60s, bore witness and wakened memories, while the brilliant gifts of the many musicians on stage carried every heart and mind with them.
Who can forget the joy and power of Shellie Morris singing “Swept away”?
Or the wonderfully mellow voice if infinitely sad song of big man Kutcha Edwards?
The brash exuberance of Dan Sultan, the brilliant didjeridu solo of Mark Atkins?
The surge that went through the crowd when Shane Howard came centre stage and had everyone on their feet dancing?
The compelling performance by Ruby Hunter?
When the ensemble did “From little things, big things grow”, with the throng joining in, it seemed the peak had been reached. Yet more was to come.
Lou Bennett caressed the night with silvery versions of “Somewhere over the rainbow” and “It’s a wonderful world”.
And then Sammy Butcher and Neil Murray, the old wine of the Warumpi Band, came on stage with the new.
They sang the Warumpi classics “Blackfella Whitefella” and “My Island Home” and for a time nothing else mattered – any differences, frustrations or misunderstandings were cast aside, we were all “true fellas”.


More glass, please: Mayor.

Incentives to get big commercial users of glass involved in the Town Council’s recycling efforts are up for discussion.
The refund of 5c per glass or aluminium drink container is not available to businesses, but Mayor Damien Ryan wants council to get creative about other kinds of incentives for them.
He suggests giving businesses some kind of  “green credit” in return for their used glass, that they could use in their promotions, or else the possibility of planting trees in their name, or naming stretches of footpath or cycle paths for them.
Ald Jane Clark doesn’t like the idea of naming rights but supports a “green” endorsement from council for use in promotion.
While council’s Cash for Containers scheme saw its biggest day last Saturday with 95,000 containers handed in at the depot, the vast majority of containers are cans, not bottles.
Council needs more glass for crushing and adding to concrete in its footpath program.



ADAM'S APPLE: The sins of bad jokes.

One of my favourite comedians Anthony Morgan once said, “Don’t you hate it when you think you’ve got a joke but all you’ve got is a sentence?”
In my line of work sometimes bad gags are an unfortunate inevitability.  A bad joke is like a night out gone sour.
You start off with good intentions but somewhere along the way you end up in the comedic version of an argument at the kebab stand at three in the morning with the guy in the Hell’s Angels vest. You know it won’t end well but you’re in the middle of it anyway.
I’ve had my fair share of stinkers. Most of them are solved by pressing play on the desk and praying hard that the song might make the listener stay tuned.
But sometimes things do go pear shaped. On these thankfully rare occasions I have had to apologise. Apologising isn’t really something I like doing or am particularly good at. I would much rather place my tongue between the beaters of a mix master than say sorry but that isn’t an option when you’ve been an idiot.
Bad jokes can be cruel. They can be mean spirited. They can be vilifying. But perhaps the worst sin of a bad joke is that it just isn’t funny.
In ancient times the only person who could criticise the King was the jester. The fool was able to openly mock the social and political climates of the day. What a powerful weapon at his disposal.
In contemporary society some comics take it upon themselves to stretch the limits of what is considered good taste. They discuss a multitude of issues such as race politics, gay rights, abortion, and poverty. They talk about religion and drugs and domestic violence and seem to have an encyclopaedic knowledge of strange sexual practices. They discuss all the issues never discussed in polite conversation and they get away with it because they make you laugh.
Racial comedy has the potential to be some of the funniest comedy you’ll have the pleasure of hearing. Comedic legends like Paul Mooney, Richard Prior and Dave Chappelle use race in their routines. Australian comics have used it to such an extent that entire shows are built on it.
I went to a comedy night in Sydney a few years back and saw a young geeky kid do some of the best racial comedy I’d ever heard. It was an incredibly brave thing to do for a very skinny white kid in multicultural western Sydney. An audience of primarily Lebanese and Maori men gave him a standing ovation.
The reason he was funny is the same reason Chappelle and Mooney are funny. The fact that the different races of people on the planet have cultures and customs and beliefs that seem so incredibly strange to outsiders makes our interactions prime comedic material.
Of all the racial comics I have seen, none are cruel, all are intelligent and all provide a look into my neighbour’s life that I otherwise wouldn’t get. Last week’s story about the bloke who put swastikas on a t-shirt for a laugh ticks none of the boxes for funny. The big mistake this bloke made was to think the idea was a joke. At no point from idea to manufacture to point of sale did his notion satisfy any of the criteria for being called a joke.
There have been calls for the police to act. There have been statements saying that this sort of action should be punishable by law. There have been calls for laws to be changed.
I’ll take my cue from the aforementioned Paul Mooney who said that the price for being able to say what you think is that you have to listen to the thoughts of a lot of idiots.
For those that are looking for punishment, you should know that on the day the story broke, perhaps for the first time in his life, the man responsible woke up knowing that he was an idiot.


LETTERS: The courage to speak out.

Sir,– I reply to Alex Nelson’s letter of last week, headed “Long half-life of Murray’s grandiose nuclear visions”.
Alex, there are two types of people in this world: negative knockers and reformist doers.  
Regardless of someone’s ideology and belief systems, we should encourage, not discourage those people who have the courage to express their views and float their ideas.
Your letter quite rightly argued that the nuclear debate in the Territory has some history, inferring that nuclear proponents should remember this and just go away.  Alex, people with true ticker use history as a guide not as a hindrance as they attempt to provide fresh perspectives in a forever changing world.  
You argued that our population is embarrased to express views on such topics.  Alex, they’re not embarrased, they’re simply afraid to put themselves out there as they may be personally attacked and denigrated by letters such as yours.
It is with this in mind that we should celebrate those who agitated for justice for the Balibo five.  This week I raised a glass for them.  They certainly didn’t allow history to be lead in their saddlebag!
In reference to your commentary about my attempts to establish a National Hall of Fame to celebrate the wonderful work performed by our brave emergency services workers.  
Very sadly, this concept was dealt a horrific blow when a wonderful Central Australian, who had promised to donate some land that would have accomodated this facility, passed away under tragic circumstances.  
I have never given up on this vision. Therefore very soon there will be a plaque erected to honour our heroes within the grounds of one of our prominent local national icons.
Murray Stewart
Alice Springs

Line of Pine Gap fire

Sir,– As another neighbour in the ‘line of fire’ from Base housing air cons, Joint Defence Facility Pine Gap’s claim to be ‘energy conscious’ is hard to take.
It’s not very energy conscious to run 320 ancient, power guzzling and noisy air cons on 160 properties across our town.
Leaving these monsters running 24/7 when the houses are unoccupied for months on end (protects the interiors they say) is also not energy conscious.
Extensively renovating their properties to create sumptuous interiors, as is currently happening, but not upgrading the air cons also does not demonstrate energy conscious priorities.
While replacing glass to achieve energy savings seems like a good thing, would you really do that before putting in energy efficient air cons?
As for their claim that they are saving water with their automatic systems, these savings are only possible because neighbours (the same ones blasted by their air cons) go next door to turn them off when they start leaking water everywhere.
We do that after calls to In Town Housing go unheeded, as do our complaints about the noise although lately they have started to respond by saying that they don’t tell us what air cons to use so don’t tell them.
The difference is that we don’t run massive air cons pointed straight at them, we turn our swampies and split systems off when we go away and in the spirit of good neighbourhood relationships we take care to not intrude on their peace and quiet.
Ralph Folds
Alice Springs

Residents  returned

Sir,– [In response to last week’s lead story, ‘Shire Councillor in bashing allegations’],  Housing Services Central Australia is responsible for the tenancy management services in Laramba and is strongly supported by Shire Council staff.
Tenants have access to a range of support services to help them meet their responsibilities, including reporting faults and requesting repairs and maintenance.
Community based Housing Reference Groups provide advice to Housing Services on such issues as housing allocations and evictions.  However decisions on allocations and evictions are made by Housing Services.
Advice is that all families who left Laramba as a result of a community dispute are now back residing in the community.
If people need assistance they can contact the Shire for information or call Housing Services on (08) 8951 5344.
Andrea Martin
Executive Director Central Australia,
Dept of Local Government & Housing


Bass so thick it makes your clothes flutter. By POP VULTURE with CAMERON BUCKLEY.

Witnessing last Friday evening the Alice Desert Festival’s eruption into a week and a half of blissful sensory assault was every Tom, Dick and Harry.
Tom: This opening parade is like a giant hypodermic slowly pushing a swelling crowd through the mall and onto the very music-friendly grass of Anzac Oval.
Harry: Dr Strangeways are first on the podium. At the dawn of their debut release this is a showcase set.
Dick: The Dr seems to have this inbuilt asset – to appeal musically to whatever mood you are in. And as painful as it is to reach this conclusion, it seems that the boys are beginning to outgrow the Alice scene.
No eagle soars higher than that which soars on its own wings, and it is time that this bird flew the nest. And with a recent booking from the Woodford Folk Festival, and armed with their debut, this could be the well deserved beacon of opportunity the band deserves.
Tom: Ahhhhh… Mista Savona. This evening’s Melbournite drawcard. You know that feeling you get when the bass is so thick it makes your clothes flutter, but you can still talk over the top of it with the punter next to you, I get that reminiscence here.
This is a treat for all the people who have little clue as to who they are.
Harry: Los Bandoleros Perdidos, final act, centre stage, closing out the bill?
Dick: This ensemble is very much a strong working mechanism in progress.
And this has paid off in public accolades, with the band having the privilege to close out the evening with their set, a position as an unwritten law usually reserved for the headline act.
But this time around it’s a polished touch, giving out a vibe you associate with the closing credits of some cool film. A soft caress of music that lubricates the devil grip of a hangover that is your alarm clock the following morning.
This evening of music shows there really is a thin line between heaven and here.
Harry: Dick, you’re like a junky bouncer, addicted to your own position and personality.
Dick: I just believe that the rent is so high in this town because it is the best place to be in the country.
Tom: Dick, why are you dressed like that?
Dick: Don’t you know that if you wear a fake laminated pass back to front around your neck, a yellow glow-in-the-light council worker’s vest, and whilst carrying a clipboard you adopt a frantic persona, pretending to talk on a mobile phone about things not being your problem, you can gain free entry into just about everywhere!
Harry: But this entire evening is for free.
Dick: I never pass up an opportunity to practise.


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