Thursday, October 30, 2008
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Garden Music Festival
This review can be found in 3D World.
Garden Music Festival
Government House
Sunday, October 19
Walking past the gates of Government House on Sunday towards Garden Music, I felt compelled to turn to my lover and ask: “Are we in the right place?” For sure enough, the short glimpses of the perfectly manicured grounds gave way to babies, kites and women with wide-brimmed hats.
Things were only slightly different once we were inside the grounds—sure enough, Entropic were there on centre stage, cruising through one of their jazzy percussive melodies and trying to will the crowds away from the coffee stand, but the clientele of Garden Music had remained relatively unchanged: families galore, interspersed with the occasional young couple. It’s true, the sunny day and lazy beats made for a perfect pairing, but I couldn’t help feeling a little out of place. This feeling was only heightened as we walked past a herd of elderly citizens, grouped together under the shade of a tree in large sun chairs, raving about pensions and what not.
The 1940s vibe continued well into the Government House grounds, where the croquet and badminton were in full swing. After a moment or two of excited anticipation at living out my Alice In Wonderland fantasies (I’ve wanted to play croquet ever since reading that book), my lover and I descended into the field where we amused ourselves for about two minutes playing badminton, before the huffy game attendants told us, rather sternly, that we could just walk onto the field and start playing, we had to get in a line. Fuck that, thought we. So it was on to croquet, which turned out rather disappointing, given the weight of the mallets and the surprising difficulty of coordination.
By that stage we were content to simply lie down on the lawns with some garlic prawns and a glass of wine and listen to Hermitude as they took to the stage with their Cuban-based rhythms, jazz and hip-hop, while watching the small crowd that had formed in front of the stage, dancing along, waving their arms in some sort of ritualistic, rain-dance kind of way.
And so the afternoon slipped away, until the excited screams of children got too much for us and so we said goodbye to one of the most confusing, yet delightfully fun music festivals we’d ever been to.
Garden Music Festival
Government House
Sunday, October 19
Walking past the gates of Government House on Sunday towards Garden Music, I felt compelled to turn to my lover and ask: “Are we in the right place?” For sure enough, the short glimpses of the perfectly manicured grounds gave way to babies, kites and women with wide-brimmed hats.
Things were only slightly different once we were inside the grounds—sure enough, Entropic were there on centre stage, cruising through one of their jazzy percussive melodies and trying to will the crowds away from the coffee stand, but the clientele of Garden Music had remained relatively unchanged: families galore, interspersed with the occasional young couple. It’s true, the sunny day and lazy beats made for a perfect pairing, but I couldn’t help feeling a little out of place. This feeling was only heightened as we walked past a herd of elderly citizens, grouped together under the shade of a tree in large sun chairs, raving about pensions and what not.
The 1940s vibe continued well into the Government House grounds, where the croquet and badminton were in full swing. After a moment or two of excited anticipation at living out my Alice In Wonderland fantasies (I’ve wanted to play croquet ever since reading that book), my lover and I descended into the field where we amused ourselves for about two minutes playing badminton, before the huffy game attendants told us, rather sternly, that we could just walk onto the field and start playing, we had to get in a line. Fuck that, thought we. So it was on to croquet, which turned out rather disappointing, given the weight of the mallets and the surprising difficulty of coordination.
By that stage we were content to simply lie down on the lawns with some garlic prawns and a glass of wine and listen to Hermitude as they took to the stage with their Cuban-based rhythms, jazz and hip-hop, while watching the small crowd that had formed in front of the stage, dancing along, waving their arms in some sort of ritualistic, rain-dance kind of way.
And so the afternoon slipped away, until the excited screams of children got too much for us and so we said goodbye to one of the most confusing, yet delightfully fun music festivals we’d ever been to.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Video Games Draw Parallel with the Art World
Art scandals are fun. Sometimes whole decades can pass without a really good, juicy, art scandal. The art world is usually a reserved, shy, sort of place, where debates are carried out in polite, hushed whispers. Barely does the general public get a glimpse into this paradise of civility. But, when they do, the paradise can quite quickly turn into Hades.
Australia's latest art scandal saw one of our most famous and talented photographers, Bill Henson, shrouded in a media frenzy that sought to judge whether or not the artist passed as a child pornographer. I think the jury may still be out on that one, even though public censors and police have all stated Henson's work is decidedly not guilty being anything but art. But since this is an opinion piece, I'll begin by stating my view on Henson, and his work.
I first came across Henson's work while studying visual arts in high school. Having a keen interest in photography, I was instantly grabbed by the subtle, emotive and rather lonely nature of his photographs. I loved them. Never, as the then-15-year-old girl that I was, did I find contention with the fact his photos often depicted naked children.
Henson has long been considered one of this country's greatest exports, and one of the best photographers all around. Never has anyone, to my knowledge, had any problem with any of his work (and he's been photographing children for a long time). Why now? I guess that's the nature of art scandals; they spring up without real reason.
In any case, the debate has been an interesting one to follow. It's in its dying days now, but someone has already written a book about it--author and journalist David Marr (who has written about previous art scandals in Australia) wrote The Henson Case.
I saw David Marr last night, speaking about the 'Henson hullaballoo', as he called it. What struck me though (and here's what I'm sure you've been waiting for) is that throughout his entire speech, he might as well have been speaking about video games.
The link here is the protection of children, and the fact that Australian society seems to have gone a bit cuckoo over this. Australia remains the only civilized country that still effectively 'bans' video games because of this obsession with the protection of children. No matter that children are not the target audience for video games or the visual arts-- their protection seems to overrule the basic freedoms that should be afforded to citizens.
What is happening now in the art world has been happening for a long time in the video games world. The fact that the government refuses to introduce an R18+ classification is all tied to this notion of protecting children.
At the Federal Government's request, the Australia Council now plans to introduce 'arts protocols' in response to the Henson case. The protocols relate to the depiction of children in government-funded artworks, exhibitions and publications, and will apply from January 2009. They will be a condition of Australia Council funding, and have apparently been designed to ensure the rights of children are protected in the artistic process. However, this includes ensuring that everyone viewing the artwork has an appropriate understanding of the nature and artistic content of the material.
What this means is that government-funded art galleries will not be able to exhibit any works that are deemed 'too difficult to understand' by the public. What does this mean? I don't know. How can anyone have 'an appropriate understanding of the nature and artistic content' of an artwork?
If this were a universal rule, it would effectively mean that no gallery anywhere would be able to display any artwork ever again. This goes against the very nature of what art is. The artistic vision of the artist is shared through the artwork, but everyone is free to interpret it as they wish.
And all this because they do not want children to be corrupted by, and through, images such as Henson's. These protocols are not just aimed at protecting children from being exploited as part of the art creation process, but also protecting them all around, including not being exposed to inappropriate content.
No government can censor art just because one or two people find it offensive. But as soon as there is talk of 'protecting the children', that gives a government carte blanche to do as they will, because who is going to oppose the protection of children?
This is David Marr, speaking on ABC's Lateline program:
"I try to distinguish between real children who have the real need to be protected and the kind of forum in which the fragility of children is being used by people who have always been trying to have a more modest society, a better behaved society, a more sexually conservative society. Those people aren't listened to any more at all by anybody unless they're talking about children, unless they're talking about the safety of children."
"What we have to decide as a society is whether that means we are going to start banning a whole area of material which is not considered remotely pornographic by people like the Classification Board, by the directors of public prosecution around Australia or even by police. But there is in the community at the moment a very strong wish that this somehow be stopped and banned. This is the most ambitious call for censorship that Australia has experienced for a very long time."
I would disagree with Marr only on his last point: Australia is already experiencing a very similar, if not more ambitious, wave of censorship, with the constant banning of video games in this country.
Australia's latest art scandal saw one of our most famous and talented photographers, Bill Henson, shrouded in a media frenzy that sought to judge whether or not the artist passed as a child pornographer. I think the jury may still be out on that one, even though public censors and police have all stated Henson's work is decidedly not guilty being anything but art. But since this is an opinion piece, I'll begin by stating my view on Henson, and his work.
I first came across Henson's work while studying visual arts in high school. Having a keen interest in photography, I was instantly grabbed by the subtle, emotive and rather lonely nature of his photographs. I loved them. Never, as the then-15-year-old girl that I was, did I find contention with the fact his photos often depicted naked children.
Henson has long been considered one of this country's greatest exports, and one of the best photographers all around. Never has anyone, to my knowledge, had any problem with any of his work (and he's been photographing children for a long time). Why now? I guess that's the nature of art scandals; they spring up without real reason.
In any case, the debate has been an interesting one to follow. It's in its dying days now, but someone has already written a book about it--author and journalist David Marr (who has written about previous art scandals in Australia) wrote The Henson Case.
I saw David Marr last night, speaking about the 'Henson hullaballoo', as he called it. What struck me though (and here's what I'm sure you've been waiting for) is that throughout his entire speech, he might as well have been speaking about video games.
The link here is the protection of children, and the fact that Australian society seems to have gone a bit cuckoo over this. Australia remains the only civilized country that still effectively 'bans' video games because of this obsession with the protection of children. No matter that children are not the target audience for video games or the visual arts-- their protection seems to overrule the basic freedoms that should be afforded to citizens.
What is happening now in the art world has been happening for a long time in the video games world. The fact that the government refuses to introduce an R18+ classification is all tied to this notion of protecting children.
At the Federal Government's request, the Australia Council now plans to introduce 'arts protocols' in response to the Henson case. The protocols relate to the depiction of children in government-funded artworks, exhibitions and publications, and will apply from January 2009. They will be a condition of Australia Council funding, and have apparently been designed to ensure the rights of children are protected in the artistic process. However, this includes ensuring that everyone viewing the artwork has an appropriate understanding of the nature and artistic content of the material.
What this means is that government-funded art galleries will not be able to exhibit any works that are deemed 'too difficult to understand' by the public. What does this mean? I don't know. How can anyone have 'an appropriate understanding of the nature and artistic content' of an artwork?
If this were a universal rule, it would effectively mean that no gallery anywhere would be able to display any artwork ever again. This goes against the very nature of what art is. The artistic vision of the artist is shared through the artwork, but everyone is free to interpret it as they wish.
And all this because they do not want children to be corrupted by, and through, images such as Henson's. These protocols are not just aimed at protecting children from being exploited as part of the art creation process, but also protecting them all around, including not being exposed to inappropriate content.
No government can censor art just because one or two people find it offensive. But as soon as there is talk of 'protecting the children', that gives a government carte blanche to do as they will, because who is going to oppose the protection of children?
This is David Marr, speaking on ABC's Lateline program:
"I try to distinguish between real children who have the real need to be protected and the kind of forum in which the fragility of children is being used by people who have always been trying to have a more modest society, a better behaved society, a more sexually conservative society. Those people aren't listened to any more at all by anybody unless they're talking about children, unless they're talking about the safety of children."
"What we have to decide as a society is whether that means we are going to start banning a whole area of material which is not considered remotely pornographic by people like the Classification Board, by the directors of public prosecution around Australia or even by police. But there is in the community at the moment a very strong wish that this somehow be stopped and banned. This is the most ambitious call for censorship that Australia has experienced for a very long time."
I would disagree with Marr only on his last point: Australia is already experiencing a very similar, if not more ambitious, wave of censorship, with the constant banning of video games in this country.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Wayne Kramer on Guitar Hero: World Tour
I interviewed rock legend and MC5 guitarist Wayne Kramer recently for a story for GameSpot Australia in relation to the upcoming release of Guitar Hero: World Tour, which Kramer features in with a rerecord of the MC5 hit Kick Out the Jams.
Wayne Kramer has cave-dwelling hermits on his mind. These, according to the legendary MC5 guitarist, are the only people on Earth who aren't familiar with the worldwide popularity of the Guitar Hero franchise. But Kramer is biased; he's become somewhat of an advocate for the game ever since Guitar Hero publishers Activision Blizzard approached him to be part of this year's anticipated release, Guitar Hero World Tour.
It's a match made in heaven for Kramer, who, at 60, is still going strong. Performing live shows and recording music for TV and movies as often as he can, there's no doubt that the plastic Gibson would feel right at home in his hands. That is, if he ever had time to pick it up. At this stage, he's just enjoying the popularity among his younger fans.
"I don't think I've actually ever strapped a Guitar Hero guitar on, but I've been talking to a few of my friends who are in the games, and they all tell me they're always getting their arses kicked by their 6-year-old nephews," Kramer says via phone from Los Angeles. "My nieces and nephews all had the same reaction when I told them: They asked me if they could get a free game. They think I'm all hooked up. I don't even know if I'll be getting a free game, and I'm in it."
Kramer is one of the more established artists to feature in the Guitar Hero games, having started his career in 1967 as a teenager and cofounder of the very loud, very successful Detroit rock act, MC5. After a string of personal problems, the group broke up, leaving Kramer to battle a serious drug addiction for several years before returning to performing in the '90s. Kramer is now recognised by Rolling Stone as one of the top 100 guitarists of all time and will soon have his very own, signature stars-and-stripes Fender, which the guitar company will release in honour of Kramer's career. "I'm so excited to have a model of my own guitar made," he said. "It's a great honour for a kid like me who used to look at catalogues of electric guitars hoping that someday he could own one."
Although guitarists all over the world will soon be able to strap on a Kramer Fender, faux rockers all over the Guitar Hero world will soon get their own piece of Kramer memorabilia, in the form of a brand-spanking-new rerecorded version of the MC5 hit, Kick Out the Jams. Earlier this year, Activision Blizzard announced to eager ears that the long-awaited Guitar Hero World Tour, the seventh game in the popular series, would feature exclusive rerecorded songs by the likes of Motörhead and The Sex Pistols. Kramer joined the lineup of rerecorders after teaming up with original MC5 producer Bruce Botnick as well as friends Jerry Cantrell (of Alice in Chains) and Gilby Clark (formerly of Guns N' Roses) to rerecord Kick Out the Jams. The session fell just short of the 40th anniversary of the track's first studio recording, Kramer wanted to keep its authenticity by including the original vocals recorded by Rob Tyner in 1968.
"I wanted the sound to be really heavy and modern, but I wanted the spirit to be original," Kramer said. "We started brainstorming and we came up with the idea of using Rob's original vocals. We have pretty amazing tools nowadays and so that was possible. I really wanted the guitars on the track to be slamming, and I thought I'd bring in some firepower by bringing Jerry and Gilby in, and the whole thing just came together."
When Activision first approached Kramer, the musician felt thrilled that the video game publisher's music taste ran that deep. "I'm really honoured that they think the music of the MC5 deserves to be with all the other great rock artists in there. I'm really humbled by it. It looks to me like [Guitar Hero World Tour] is a who's who and a cross section of the wide world of rock, and it makes me grateful that other people would be that interested in my songs, and that these songs might mean something to them. But just because people are playing my song on Guitar Hero doesn't make me any cooler. I still have to put my pants one leg at a time."
Musically speaking, a game like Guitar Hero can play a big role in education. Its ability to condense music history into a few hours' worth of songs has seduced many artist, ancient and modern, to lend their talents to the rhythm game. The benefit for them is as much music appreciation as it is millions of people hearing their work. "With a game like Guitar Hero, 'old' bands no longer exist," Kramer said. "Every band that was ever a band is a band right now. For those who are 16 or 17, The Who is a band right now. The Yardbirds are a band right now, Black Sabbath, the MC5, The Rolling Stones--it's all right now, and I think that's a terrific state of affairs."
Kramer believes Guitar Hero sends a positive message to those who play it, and he's got high hopes that it might even inspire one or two people to pick up a real guitar. "Games like Guitar Hero combine art that's been created over the last 40 years with activities that tech-savvy people of today are comfortable with and that they enjoy. I can't see how it won't inspire people to pick up a real guitar. There's got to be some 16-year-old somewhere that gets into the game and thinks 'This is really great.' Inspiring kids to be musical is a great thing; there's no downside to it. The more art that's in people's lives, the richer their lives are."
So what of the prospect of future involvement in Guitar Hero? "I'm certainly not ruling out being part of any future Guitar Hero games. I think it's all such great stuff, and I'm happy to do anything that I can to continue to get music to the people."
Kramer has just completed a score for a documentary film called The Narcotic Farm, which will examine the history of America's attempts to deal with drug addiction. After that, Kramer will begin work on a new TV series for HBO.
Wayne Kramer has cave-dwelling hermits on his mind. These, according to the legendary MC5 guitarist, are the only people on Earth who aren't familiar with the worldwide popularity of the Guitar Hero franchise. But Kramer is biased; he's become somewhat of an advocate for the game ever since Guitar Hero publishers Activision Blizzard approached him to be part of this year's anticipated release, Guitar Hero World Tour.
It's a match made in heaven for Kramer, who, at 60, is still going strong. Performing live shows and recording music for TV and movies as often as he can, there's no doubt that the plastic Gibson would feel right at home in his hands. That is, if he ever had time to pick it up. At this stage, he's just enjoying the popularity among his younger fans.
"I don't think I've actually ever strapped a Guitar Hero guitar on, but I've been talking to a few of my friends who are in the games, and they all tell me they're always getting their arses kicked by their 6-year-old nephews," Kramer says via phone from Los Angeles. "My nieces and nephews all had the same reaction when I told them: They asked me if they could get a free game. They think I'm all hooked up. I don't even know if I'll be getting a free game, and I'm in it."
Kramer is one of the more established artists to feature in the Guitar Hero games, having started his career in 1967 as a teenager and cofounder of the very loud, very successful Detroit rock act, MC5. After a string of personal problems, the group broke up, leaving Kramer to battle a serious drug addiction for several years before returning to performing in the '90s. Kramer is now recognised by Rolling Stone as one of the top 100 guitarists of all time and will soon have his very own, signature stars-and-stripes Fender, which the guitar company will release in honour of Kramer's career. "I'm so excited to have a model of my own guitar made," he said. "It's a great honour for a kid like me who used to look at catalogues of electric guitars hoping that someday he could own one."
Although guitarists all over the world will soon be able to strap on a Kramer Fender, faux rockers all over the Guitar Hero world will soon get their own piece of Kramer memorabilia, in the form of a brand-spanking-new rerecorded version of the MC5 hit, Kick Out the Jams. Earlier this year, Activision Blizzard announced to eager ears that the long-awaited Guitar Hero World Tour, the seventh game in the popular series, would feature exclusive rerecorded songs by the likes of Motörhead and The Sex Pistols. Kramer joined the lineup of rerecorders after teaming up with original MC5 producer Bruce Botnick as well as friends Jerry Cantrell (of Alice in Chains) and Gilby Clark (formerly of Guns N' Roses) to rerecord Kick Out the Jams. The session fell just short of the 40th anniversary of the track's first studio recording, Kramer wanted to keep its authenticity by including the original vocals recorded by Rob Tyner in 1968.
"I wanted the sound to be really heavy and modern, but I wanted the spirit to be original," Kramer said. "We started brainstorming and we came up with the idea of using Rob's original vocals. We have pretty amazing tools nowadays and so that was possible. I really wanted the guitars on the track to be slamming, and I thought I'd bring in some firepower by bringing Jerry and Gilby in, and the whole thing just came together."
When Activision first approached Kramer, the musician felt thrilled that the video game publisher's music taste ran that deep. "I'm really honoured that they think the music of the MC5 deserves to be with all the other great rock artists in there. I'm really humbled by it. It looks to me like [Guitar Hero World Tour] is a who's who and a cross section of the wide world of rock, and it makes me grateful that other people would be that interested in my songs, and that these songs might mean something to them. But just because people are playing my song on Guitar Hero doesn't make me any cooler. I still have to put my pants one leg at a time."
Musically speaking, a game like Guitar Hero can play a big role in education. Its ability to condense music history into a few hours' worth of songs has seduced many artist, ancient and modern, to lend their talents to the rhythm game. The benefit for them is as much music appreciation as it is millions of people hearing their work. "With a game like Guitar Hero, 'old' bands no longer exist," Kramer said. "Every band that was ever a band is a band right now. For those who are 16 or 17, The Who is a band right now. The Yardbirds are a band right now, Black Sabbath, the MC5, The Rolling Stones--it's all right now, and I think that's a terrific state of affairs."
Kramer believes Guitar Hero sends a positive message to those who play it, and he's got high hopes that it might even inspire one or two people to pick up a real guitar. "Games like Guitar Hero combine art that's been created over the last 40 years with activities that tech-savvy people of today are comfortable with and that they enjoy. I can't see how it won't inspire people to pick up a real guitar. There's got to be some 16-year-old somewhere that gets into the game and thinks 'This is really great.' Inspiring kids to be musical is a great thing; there's no downside to it. The more art that's in people's lives, the richer their lives are."
So what of the prospect of future involvement in Guitar Hero? "I'm certainly not ruling out being part of any future Guitar Hero games. I think it's all such great stuff, and I'm happy to do anything that I can to continue to get music to the people."
Kramer has just completed a score for a documentary film called The Narcotic Farm, which will examine the history of America's attempts to deal with drug addiction. After that, Kramer will begin work on a new TV series for HBO.
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