The White Hat Melbourne Newsletter

Archived Newsletter No.295 - 15 January 2009

Contents

Free concerts in the parks Lunar New Year Festivals Shakespeare Under the Stars Pedants' Dating Service Prom Country Reader Feedback Free dance classes Even Lost Icons of Melbourne - No.2 The Flying Swallow Opera in the Alps Night markets Children's activities From the White Hat Inbox One Night in Africa Summer Jazz Outdoor Cinema Raspberries & Mussels Red Hill Country Music Festival & Ute Muster The White Hat Quiz

Jazz Melbourne festivals Reader Feedback Farmers’ markets The White Hat Recipe Children Melbourne’s Hidden Gems Summer entertainment Midsumma Festival Pedants’ Dating Service Country festivals From the White Hat Inbox New market seeking stallholders Dupain photographs The White Hat Quiz

JAZZ January is a bumper month for jazz lovers in Melbourne. On Sunday mornings you listen to free jazz in the Piazza in Lygon Street Carlton. Then on Sunday evenings you can take a picnic to various parks in the Malvern/Camberwell are and listen to free jazz. Then next weekend is the Eltham Town Jazz Festival. Details of all these at: http://www.whitehat.com.au/Melbourne/Music/Jazz.asp

MELBOURNE FESTIVALS This weekend is the Lunar New Year Festival in Victoria Street Richmond. There is also the Tianjin Dancing Kite Festival in Royal Park. Details at: http://www.whitehat.com.au/Melbourne/Festivals/Ethnic.asp

Also this weekend is the Frankston Waterfront Festival with fireworks on Saturday night. Details at: http://www.whitehat.com.au/Melbourne/Festivals/Community.asp

READER FEEDBACK

“Hi WhiteHat Just letting you know that, yet again, I loved your newsletter - hours of intense, undiluted pleasure! A goldmine of information and wit! Just wonderful. Thank you so much. Best wishes, Britt”

Thanks Britt. I’ll have a glass of whatever you’re having. “Dear Mr/s White Hat You may joke about your pedants' dating service, but I have this great girl friend...... Put it this way, if there is a nice guy out there who loves one or more categories of white hat activities and can see what is wrong with this sentence "I looked up the address for Myers in my Melways" then he could be a great match for my friend. Ideally he would be in his early 40s , not smoke and play cards. Perhaps it would also rise his hackles if someone said the put their "PIN number in the ATM machine".......Well maybe a blind date at one of White Hat's suggested activities could be great. Could you spread the word? Keep up the good work Christine

PS I am very sorry if i have any spelling or punctuation wrong.....”

It’s always their friend. Now come Christine – admit it. It’s not your friend you’re talking about, it’s you isn’t it?

FARMERS’ MARKETS Farmers’ markets are back with vengeance this weekend. Details at: http://www.whitehat.com.au/Victoria/Markets/Farmers.asp or for a summary by day choose ‘January’ under Market Planners on our home page. As always, if you are making a special trip always phone the organisers to confirm they will be running. Schedules are often changed around this time of year and organisers of the old school often feel that the only people who need to be notified are the local newspapers.

THE WHITE HAT RECIPE

Since you developed a taste for mussels at last weekend’s Portarlington Mussel Festival, I thought I would share three of our favourite recipes for mussels.

[The rest of this section can now be found at The White Hat Guide to Mussels.]

CHILDREN Next week there are free painting classes at the Docklands suitable for children aged 5 to 12. I know you used the smokescreen of Christmas to surreptitiously clear all of their efforts from last year form off the fridge, but you’re just going to have top start all over again. Details at: http://www.whitehat.com.au/Melbourne/StreetsSuburbs/Docklands.asp

The free sports classes continue at Royal Park. Details at: http://www.whitehat.com.au/Melbourne/Parks/RoyalPark.asp

MELBOURNE’S HIDDEN GEMS

If you wander along the banks of the Saltwater River (sorry – the Maribyrnong – but we people in Melbourne still refer to the Sydney football team as South Melbourne so give us a bit of time) in the area around Footscray and Cynon Roads, you will find a pleasant quiet little area suitable for a quiet picnic. The Maribyrnong has long been cleaned up and lost much of its feel of a neglected industrial canal. You will see smaller fishing vessels at the dock and the headquarters of Lonely Planet – a business success story that started on a kitchen table above a Chinese restaurant in Brunswick and went on to become the world leader in its class before recently being sold to the BBC. One of the founders may be instrumental in financing the Ring Cycle in Melbourne, but on a quiet afternoon you are likely to walk past such a building without making any of the connections.

Further upstream smaller apartments have quietly taken advantage of the gentle surrounds and riverfront views. Still further upstream you might see the might Blackbird – Melbourne’s answer to The African Queen – at its moorings. Venture up Wingfield Street and you may be able to pick up some marinated mussels form the seafood wholesaler there if they are open. Over the road and up a side lane and you come across one of Melbourne’s more unusual museums. It is. . But why not let the proprietor tell you about it in his own words:

[The rest of this article can be found at The White Hat Guide to the Melbourne Museum of Printing.]

SUMMER ENTERTAINMENT The free concerts and dance classes in the parks continue on Saturday and Sunday evenings throughout January. Details at: http://www.whitehat.com.au/Melbourne/Parks/FitzTreas.asp

Wind in The Willows, Taming of the Shrew and Starlight Cinema continue at the Botanic Gardens. Details at: http://www.whitehat.com.au/Melbourne/Parks/Botanic.asp

Rooftop Cinema continues at Curtin House in the city. Details at: http://www.whitehat.com.au/Melbourne/Buildings/CurtinHouse.asp

MIDSUMMA FESTIVAL Midsumma Festival starts this week. Melbourne’s gay and lesbian festival has come a long way from the simple celebrating of old stereotypes. Of course there is some of that but there is much else besides. Check it out and you might be surprised. Details in all the mainstream media.

PEDANTS’ DATING SERVICE

There’s nothing useful in this bit so we suggest you jump to the next section.

“Open it” said Damien. Sarah had been excited all week because Damien had promised to take her somewhere special. She had given much thought about what to wear – a frivolous subject which was rarely allocated much processing time in Sarah’s brain. She settled on a floaty dress – no, lets face it, this was a frock – and now Damien had presented her with a small red box. “Open it” he repeated. Inside there was a small wooden printers block which had been attached to a delicate chain. “It’s an apostrophe!” said Sarah with delight as Damien secured the chain around her neck.

As they travelled to mystery destination, Sarah sensed just one small dark cloud threatening to spoil her sunny disposition. She looked again at the pendant, and there was the problem. The apostrophe was curved the wrong way. It was not an apostrophe but a single opening quote. It had been lovely of Damien to give her the pendant, but he knew her obsession with possessive apostrophes and instead he gave her a single opening quote. He would turn out to be like the others – sweet, polite but no attention to important details.

As the gloom descended on Sarah, Damien announced “Here we are – The Melbourne Museum of Printing.” Normally Sarah would have been delighted but she was despondent as she wandered around the displays. “Just imagine” said Damien, ”setting each of the letters by hand, and on top of that having do it in mirror image.” “What did you say?” said Sarah. “When the plate is pressed against the paper the image comes out in reverse. The letters have to be set in mirror image.” “Oh Damien” said Sarah gazing lovingly at her pendant. “I’ve been such a fool.”

Are Damien’s intentions honourable? Will Sarah ever get the printers’ ink out of her frock? What word appears the same in mirror image? Find out next week. . .

COUNTRY FESTIVALS The Moyneyana Festival continues in Port Fairy. I assume the name comes from combining ‘Moyne’ (the name of the shire) with ‘mañana’ which is word used by waiters in Perth when you enquire about when you are going to get some service. Details at: http://www.whitehat.com.au/Victoria/Regions/Warrnambool.asp

There is the Taste of the Prom Festival Foster featuring food and wine from the Wilsons Promontory region. Details at: http://www.whitehat.com.au/Victoria/Other/FoodWine.asp

There is Opera in the Alps in the high country. Details at: http://www.whitehat.com.au/Victoria/Regions/HighCountry.asp

The following weekend there is the Rainbow Serpent Festival near Beaufort featuring all things new age and alternative. If you are a true hippy you’ll camp there regardless of the weather. Details at: http://www.whitehat.com.au/Melbourne/Festivals/Lifestyle.asp

If you are more of a commuter hippie then we can recommend a trip to St Andrews Market where you can put on your beads, sit in the chai tent and mix with real hippies all day, then drive back to a hot shower and clean sheets at night. Details at: http://www.whitehat.com.au/Melbourne/Markets/StAndrews.asp

FROM THE WHITE HAT INBOX

We had the following message:

“hi from portc crystal & i are still not speaking which is difficult cos weve got 2 share a house & a tv. she sits on the couch & i sit in the armchair & we text each other but im not going 2 be the first 2 back down & speak. got your book on africa - ta. b a sweetie & top up my phone card 4 me. luv nat.”

NEW MARKET SEEKING STALLHOLDERS From February a large new undercover market is to run every Sunday at the Melbourne Showgrounds. This is an opportunity for stall holders to get in at the ground floor. This is not to be confused with the well established craft market which operates once a month next door at the Flemington Racecourse. The organisers are seeking a wide range of stallholders and products.

When I asked about the nature of the stalls I was told that they were individual walk-in stalls. If the stallholder prefers, the half-door can be closed to waist level and act as a counter. The top half-door could also be closed and locked if the stall holder needed to vacate the stall for a while. “How large are the doors?” I asked. “Large enough to fit a horse through.” he said.

For details, contact the organisers at 0413 819 928 or at infor@showgroundsmarket.com.au

DUPAIN PHOTOS A new exhibition of photographs by Max Dupain has opened at the Victorian Archive Centre in North Melbourne. Most of us know Dupain through his iconic ‘art’ photographs such as ‘Sunbaker’. However Dupain had little time for distinctions between art photography and commercial photography. He felt a good artist could continue to hone his craft and skills in the commercial world and be paid for it while certain ‘arty’ types preferred to starve in a garret repeating the same limited range of artistic gestures. At this exhibition you can see a number of Dupain’s ‘commercial’ photographs and decide whether you feel he was successful at mixing the world of art with the world of commerce. Details at: http://www.whitehat.com.au/Australia/People/Dupain.asp

THE WHITE HAT QUIZ

First to last week’s quiz.

Now to this week’s quiz.

When Australia drew up its constitution and determined its system of government it took elements from both the British (Westminster) and American systems. With the inauguration of a new American president due on Tuesday, we thought it would be timely fro a quiz about the similarities and differences between the Australian and American system.

1. One Australian political party oat the time of its foundation was impressed aspects of the American system and reflected this in its name. Which party is this? 2. Is the way members of Australia’s Upper House closer to that of the American system or the Westminster System? 3. In Australia is it possible to be both a senator and a prime minister at the same time? In America is it possible to be both a senator and President at the same time? 4. What powers does the Australian Constitution give to the Prime Minister? 5. In Australia what is caucus? In America what is congress? 6. In Australia can a person who has not been elected by the people as a member of parliament become a member of the cabinet? Is the same true in America? 7. You have been a minister in an Australian government but have now retired. Do you have any further obligations resulting from that office? 8. Could Rupert Murdoch ever become president of America?

No prizes – just glory and a warm inner glow.