Mister Brisbane: Simple pleasures
Reasons to be cheerful; searching for celebrities; forgetting the know-nothings
My father used to speak about “the little things in life” — those that don’t rock the world but bring a smile to your face. I experienced a moment of joy last week when I managed to wash the bed sheets, put them on the line to dry and get them back inside before it started raining. Now I know that may seem trivial, but I’d taken a risk — that the sun would shine for a few hours before the predicted wet weather set in — and it paid off.
I also smiled when I saw the Red Cross blood donation mobile collection van at my local shopping centre (above). As both a former donor and recipient of donated blood, I can’t praise the blood bank enough. And as the son of a mother who recently passed away while having exemplary palliative care, I have to extend that to all health professionals and their support staff. With all the emphasis, quite rightly, on COVID-19 at the moment, it’s easy to forget all the tireless work that goes on in hospitals, care homes and clinics across Australia every hour of every day of every year.
Tune in to the Mister Brisbane radio show on Reading Radio at 1296AM and on DAB+ in Brisbane at 6.30pm on Tuesday nights. It’s also available as a podcast. Just search for “Mister Brisbane” on your favourite player or follow this link.
ALIVE AND LOCAL
At the risk of visiting bemusement on my friend James, I just want to point out that video didn’t kill the radio star. In fact, apart from television newsreaders, radio announcers are just about the only celebrities in town these days. Yes, I may be biased since I now work in commercial radio, but I remember (or have heard about) a time when Brisbane had bona-fide stars of stage and screen.
There were the vaudeville performers such as George Wallace Jr, who transitioned to radio and television, and often back again to the stage in theatre-restaurants. The casts of the many locally produced TV variety shows and panel games were household names in Brisbane in the 1960s and 70s. I’m thinking of the likes of Ron Cadee, Brian Tait, Eddie Edwards, Babette Stephens, Muriel Watson, Joy Chambers, Rowena Wallace and Dick McCann.
Now, just about everything on TV is networked, so our only homegrown and local “A-listers” are the people who read the news and appear on sponsored lifestyle shows — plus the people on radio. I’d like to think that our many talented actors, musicians and dancers were also celebrities, but I fear they are not as well known among the general public as they ought to be.
My question is: who would be on your Brisbane A list? They don’t have to be conventional celebs.
PAST IMPERFECT
I’m a bit of a history nerd, so I’m not representative of the general population, but I’m often shocked at how little many people know about the past. Without getting too much into the politics, one of the features of the annual Australia Day-Invasion Day debate is how many Australians don’t actually know what happened on January 26, 1788. Yet that doesn’t stop them from having an opinion about it.
And how often do we hear “Oh, that happened before I was born” as an excuse? Not just for not knowing significant historical events, even relatively recent ones, but for their ignorance of the things they actual purport to be interested in: fashion, art, music and so on.
I know it’s not possible to know everything, but how far back is it reasonable for us to remember? What significant events, or discoveries, should we all know about?
GO SEE
La Boite is calling it “2021’s must-see drama”. The psychological thriller Naked & Screaming is on at the Roundhouse Theatre in Kelvin Grove from 6-27 February.
FEEDBACK
TL wrote: “Bit late but your car survey item reminded me of a pet hate: Dealership stickers on the back window (or dealership number plate surrounds). If you remove them they’re likely to be back after the next service. And don’t get me going on about real estate signs that feature the agents larger than the house.”
On the topic of lollies in work drawers, Daniel wrote: “I once offered a colleague a square of chocolate and opened my office draw to extract same. I referred to it as ‘my secret stash’. She laughed and recounted that on her first day in the office, when giving her the office tour, my secretary told her ‘if you ever need some sugar Dan always have chocolate hidden here’. Seems my secret stash was not so secret .”
As for where you stash your lollies, Amanda said she put her jellies and hard candy “in a glass jar on the kitchen counter, chocolate in the fridge and mouth fresheners in my bag”. Derryn: “In my iceblock drawer.” John asked: “Is it too much that I'm thinking of getting a wine fridge to keep chocolate at 20 degrees?”
Nathan, who lives in Belfast, noted: “Caramello Koala, oh I want that!”