2011-12 Queensland Country Press Awards
NRL stars Jamal Idris and Ben Ridge shoot some hoops with Miles State High School students during the Gold Coast Titans’ visit to the regions in February
Kneeboarder Bronte Thompson carves up the eastern corner of the Chinchilla Weir in April.
A tug plane drags an ultralight, englineless glider into the sky and onto atmospheric thermals at the Chinchilla Easter Gliding Competition in April.
An all-in brawl erupts during the second half when the Chinchilla Bulldogs hosted the St George Saints in July.
Sharp shooter Neale Fleming takes aim in the continental division of the Chinchilla Clay Target Meeting in July.
Cattle judges Darryl Waugh of Wandoan and siblings Belinda and James Dockerill of Casino inspect the form of Stud Beef at the Wandoan Show in March.
Skateboarding Australia’s Max Schubert busts an Indy Grad over the hip at Chinchilla skate park during National Youth Week in March.
Photos: Harry Clarke. Copyright APN Australian Regional Media. All Rights Reserved.
138th Kentucky Derby
A record of over 167,000 punters hone in for ‘the most exciting two minutes in sport’ at Churchill Downs, Louisville, KY.
This is a column on the 2012 Kentucky Derby AKA ‘The Run for the Roses,’ as it appeared in the Chinchilla News on May 17.
MY FAMILY’S excuse to travel to the United States was to reunite with my brother after nearly twelve months of him living abroad.
Of course, our rendezvous to the 138th Kentucky Derby last weekend was welcomed as a mere perk of the trip, the timing a pure coincidence.
Some Chinchilla locals might remember Jimmy Clarke as a scrawny junior footballer at Bulldog Park, tufts of snowy hair poking through the gaps in his headgear.
(L-R) Cousins and Chinchilla locals Hamish and Jim Clarke glance up from the Derby Form Guide.
Today, along with eleven other young racing enthusiasts from England, Ireland, Japan, China and America, Jim is currently living in Lexington, Kentucky, the centre of all thoroughbred operations in the country and an hour’s drive from the state’s capital.
The group is undertaking a two-year education program to foster future leaders in the industry.
Given the popularity of horse racing in the Chinchilla area, I thought some readers might find it interesting to see a few snaps of the industry at its most extreme, or as Hunter S Thompson famously put it, “decadent and depraved”.
Behind the glitz and glamour at Churchill Downs racetrack, a dark side of “the most exciting two minutes in sport” is certainly visible.
Tens of thousands of punters lost unimaginable sums of money when ‘I’ll Have Another’, at odds of 19-1, passed the post, and if that didn’t bring this dark side to light, track security’s shock discovery of a human corpse in the stables the following morning certainly did.
Apparently not all 167,000 Derby attendees had the time of their lives that day.
Going to Kentucky was also a chance to catch up with fellow Chinchilla boys Peter and Hamish Clarke.
Pete joined the party while on a US tour of separate itinerary while Hamish, slightly nostalgic of the quiet Queensland lifestyle, flew down from his construction management job in Vancouver, Canada, to join his cousins.
The 2012 Kentucky Derby was an eye opening experience, however in retrospect, a less hectic day at the track can be found in December at the Chinchilla Cup, where the only thing people might leave in the stables is the odd empty stubby.
My view of the Derby from just before the first turn.
EDC
Anyone who attended Las Vegas’s inaugural hosting of the Electric Daisy Carnival in 2011 will sympathise with those who didn’t get the privilege again 2012.
It was almost unbearable to know that over 300,000 of your best friends re-convened for the magical “EDC” last month, held at the entertainment capital of the world for the second time, and organiser Isomniac‘s punctual stream of live updates, photos and reviews as the party raged, made it even harder.
The only thing we could do was sit in misery and watch this trailer over and over again, trying desperately to retrieve any memory or flashback from whence it was filmed.
Onassis – Second Chance
Deep in Bedlam Records studios, a pair of young Brisbane producers have been brewing an electro-pop project called Onassis. Fresh as the late Autumn in their home town, first release ’Second Chance’ was immediately picked up by Triple J’s Lewi McKirdy and thrown on the air, literally within minutes.
One of the guys used to play bass guitar for the short-lived Princes of Harlin and the other was in Vasy Mollo, both writing fantastic music for the stage but going relatively unheard. Makes you wonder how much other good shit there must be out there.
Their small catalogue of unreleased demos IMHO sounds like a blend of Hot Chip, Art vs Science and Scissor Sisters. Onassis have busted out a well polished banger, a bit of mastering and tweaking having been done by the Bedlam guys themselves. The vocals are a standout in the way of energy, production and lyrics. “I need a second chance at life, and another one to do what I need, and another one to do what I please”. So true. And have a go at the menacing synth solos in the third quarter…
Onassis – Second Chance
Here’s their Triple J Unearthed page, Facebook and Soundcloud.
Santigold – Master of My Make Believe
You know those songs you hear at a party for the first time and immediately confront the DJ – “name and artist?” Of course, the music is blaring, so he or she has to scream it in your ear six times before it can be banked to your intoxicated memory. On one such occasion a few years ago, that song was Santigold‘s “L.E.S Artistes”.
Despite having worked in the industry for many years, up until April 24 this year Santigold had only ever released one album. On the back of a decorated career in A&R for Epic Records and as a songwriter for a number of famous popstars, Santi White, as she was then known, eventually started performing as Santigold to release a self-titled debut record in 2008.
The sassy and stylish diva was never going to dissappoint on a follow-up album four years in the making and sure enough, “Master of My Make Believe” goes above and beyond whatever was expected of the Brooklyn local. Her songs are so human, she sings about real things, without sacrifcing meaning for the sake of a rhyming couplet. She means what she says and says what she means, and the same cannot be said for many other artists of her genre or era.
A few days after appearing on the main stage at Coachella, Santigold absolutely wooed a small and intimate home crowd at the Bowery Ballroom in New York city. In a rarely seen scenario, the biggest cheers from the audience came when she offered to perform some new material, which was as well recieved as it was anticipated.
A double-page spread in The New York Times and a feature article in SPIN magazine in the days following the release of her new record praised Santigold’s genuine artistry, attention to detail with regard to music production, originality, and phenomenal life presence. Onstage at the Bowery, Santi would finish every song with a quick tilt of the head and a big grin, as if to say “ta-daa!”
Get an earful of ‘The Keeper’, off the new album.
Santigold – The Keepers
YouTube Covers
These guys are pretty clever
Avicii – Levels (Crazy Drum Cover/Remix!)
Skrillex Bangarang (feat. Sirah) – Guitar Cover
Miike Snow – Black and Blue
Who knows what this self proclaimed “three-headed dog” from Sweden are trying to get across in this song. To me, taking ‘Black and Blue’ one line at a time offers a better listening experience than trying to decipher a greater meaning from the lyrics. It’s like the scene in The Shawshank Redemption when Andy Defresn starts blasting Mozart through the intercom. Narator Morgan Freeman, says “I have no idea to this day what those two Italian ladies were singing about. Truth is I don’t wanna know – some things are best left unsaid. I like to think they were singing about something so beautiful it can’t be expressed in words and makes your heart ache because of it“. He goes on with some metaphor about birds flapping into the prison and dissolving the walls to feign a brief moment of freedom for the residents, but I personally wouldn’t take it that far. For a start I’ve never been indicted, so I dare not speculate with regard to ‘Black and Blue’.
Elaborate Hollywood analogies aside, Miike Snow have been floating around Australian radio waves since 2009 and the release of ‘Animal‘ under their self-titled debut album. However it wasn’t until recently when planning a trip to the US, researching the artists who happe to be playing in New York city while I’m there, booking tickets to Miike Snow at the famous Terminal 5 and thereby listening to their back catalogue that I came across this gem.
A-Trak, Mark Foster, Kimbra – Warrior
Photo credit: rollingstone.com
What a fine four-footed trio… The next installment of Converse‘s ’Three Artists, One Song’ intitiative draws together two of the world’s hottest new artists and a famed pioneer, educator and entrepruneur in the DJ world.
Perhaps it was the 2012 Big Day Out that introduced Mark Foster, frontman of fresh Californian pop sensations Foster the People to the wife-material Kiwi darling Kimbra. Indeed, they were both rostered on the Converse Essential Stage for the international touring festival earlier this year. Either way its a fantastic match-up; Foster can sound remarkably feminine at the best of times and coupled with the vocal dynamics of Kimbra, it can be difficult to distinguish between the two in ‘Warrior’. The prominant, uplifting synths typical of Foster the People is audible, as is stuttering remix work of A-Trak.
It’s a great video too; colourful choreography, slick production and a finale where Kimbra abandons her lollypop skirt before performing a roundhouse kick that would school even Heihachi Mishima. She hasn’t put a foot wrong. One that note, this video would look right at home as the opening credits for latest Tekken 6, and 90% of the Fuel TV programming for that matter.
One of the top comments in the initial days this video was posted said something like, “Kimbra could kick me in the face any day”.
Kimbra, A-Trak and Mark Foster – Warrior
For the love of tetrahydrocannabinol
Solids laughs on offer here with an EP promotional video by freshly harvested Brisbane hip-hoppers Fukazinator. Titled “Mary Jane”, the song explores the promiscuous tendencies common of their home town’s favourite narcotic, touching on the often-seen hardships of romance and adultery.
Wish I had a name like Drapht
While the camerawork here is rather ordinary at times, credit is definitely due to the machine that captured this little party at Big Day Out at the Gold Coast this year, if only for the surprisingly great sound quality. A live Drapht show, the nifty little Xacti 750HD by Sanyo, Youtube’s stabilizer function and a decent set of headphones; you’ll be wishing you had a name like “Jimmy Recard”.
However, the camera’s High Definition could be much more highly defined and it obviously won’t responsible for a Hollywood Blockbuster anytime soon, but for something you can fit easily in your pocket and whip out willy-nilly at a music festival, it does the job. 
The best thing is the fold-out, rotatable LCD screen that enables you to hold it at arms length over a canopy of colourful heads, hats, arms, iPhones and shoulder-mounted sheilas and still see what you’re recording with comfort. The first video was recorded at quite a distance from the stage but the Xacti has reasonable zoom capabilities too, even though it struggles a bit in dimply lit environments, like the Converse Green Stage for example.
To the camcorder’s merrit, on this occasion it actually prevented a fight from going down in the crowd. A tusstle flared up between a couple of aussie hip hop chicks during the intro, dimishing in a flash when the culprits realised they were being filmed. Should’ve been more subtle hey!
WATCH IN 750HD
So far the Xacti has been used in every video posted on Flash Bangers, inlcuding the set by Art vs Science later that night in notorious Boiler Room at the same festival. Great cover of the Chemical Brothers‘ “Block Rockin Beats”.
