←Volume 31
December 21, 2016
In this Issue:
Make your way into the heart of the labyrinth
In this photo by Daniel Cordero of CASJ Photography, commissioned by Byron Shire Council, artist Jacquelina Wills walks the Byron Bay labyrinth in Denning Park at the beachfront with visitors and locals at the Closing Ceremony, December 3. Though the...
Cinema Review: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frdj1zb9sMY I’m not sure if this is the prequel to the sequel of instalment number four of the neverending story (yawn), or the sequel to the prequel… or am I getting it mixed up with Star Trek? As the jolly explosions,...
Fire ants a flaming threat from the very near north
Fire ants are threatening northern NSW and central Queensland and the current eradication program is not up to the job, according to a recent government report. A senate motion by Greens senator Janet Rice forced the federal government to...
Everyone in this photo voted for the very first time this...
I love the smell of an election in the morning… not! I don’t get politics. I just don’t. Okay? I don’t understand the mechanics or the machinations, I don’t know my senate from my double dissolution, from my hung parliament....
Stuck in a drought of time
Remember when you had this thing called ‘time’? I used to have heaps of it. So much so that there’d always be time left over. I used to drop around at a friend’s house in the morning for a...
Cinema Review: The Fencer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ki_qnD31EU0 This is a beautiful movie with an unfortunate flaw in its presentation. Spoilers aren’t called spoilers for no reason, so it is baffling that the producers chose to inform the viewer through an introductory preamble what the state of...
Miraculous signs of life in 42 BC (Before Cyberspace)
I had a minor meltdown that threatened to erupt as a major tanty when I was in Japan last October. The Tokyo Airbnb that I’d booked was much better than I expected. Stylish and spacious – especially compared with the...
Live Music Roundup: Thursday 22 December, 2016
On my frequency From its origins in 2006 as a one-night landcare music event, Earth Frequency Festival has grown significantly over the past 10 years and become a highlight of the QLD festival calendar. Now well into its second decade...
Music in the Middle
Here’s a band clearly with an abundance of ideas, the bravery to step beyond standard structures and the creative ability to interweave a pathway through. They’re an Aussie trio made up of Hannah and Harry (two classically trained musicians)...
2016: the year we didn’t need
It was a shitty year. An annus horribilis if you like. 2016 started off with the death of David Bowie and got steadily worse.
Stwike him, centuwion. Stwike him vewy wuffly
There was an unprovoked attack last week upon those who don’t participate in Christmas by a man who looks like a potato. Minister Peter Dutton was outraged that the pupils of a state school – with no ties to...
Busking brothers clean up
Brothers Nathaniel and Matt Wareing are literally brothers-in-arms for a two-man busking show they are performing at PARK&FLY, at Denning Park Byron Bay, on Christmas Eve and New Years Eve.
Post-fact survival kit
You can’t escape that new term post-fact, so let’s grab it in the crotch like Trump and run this topic into the ground as surely he will do with the US of A.
North Ocean Shores sportsfield opens
Residents in the north of the Shire have an early Christmas present from Council – a new $2.3 million sportsfield. Located on a corner block on Shara Boulevard, it features a premier grade soccer field, home and away changerooms, public...
Better to light one candle than to curse the darkness
Filmmaker David Bradbury explains his latest project Last week in The Echo, I wrote about my visit to Standing Rock. The footage I shot there will form part of a bigger new film, called The Darkest Hour… is just before the...
Alcohol related violence in Byron Bay drops 60 per cent
The Byron Liquor Accord has welcomed a 60 per cent drop in alcohol-related incidents (ARIs) since 2012. Alcohol-related incidents have dropped from 4,277 in 2012 – above the NSW average – to 1,342 incidents in 2016.
Byron councillor’s self-storage development refused
A proposal for a controversial large self-storage facility on a short road in Myocum by Byron Cr Alan Hunter was rejected at last Thursday’s council meeting.
Elysium dreams big in Byron Bay laneway
Revamping Byron Bay’s Lawson Lane from an unloved service lane into the world’s first ‘curated’ laneway will give women from the SHIFT project, who are homeless, or at risk of homelessness, the chance to extend their art to a new level.
Culture Roundup: Wednesday 21 December, 2016
Women Like Us at the Ballina RSL! After 31 shows around the country, Mandy Nolan and Ellen Briggs bring their smash-hit comedy show Women Like Us to the Ballina RSL! Having performed to packed houses at Brisbane’s Sit Down Comedy, to...
Council weighs in against NBN’s Coorabell tower
Residents opposed to an NBN tower close to their homes in Coorabell have been given assistance from Byron Shire councillors, who last week voted unanimously to ask that the tower’s construction halt until it is proven all requirements have been met.
High scores for Byron shire high schools
Secondary schools in Byron shire are celebrating the end of the year with extra fanfare after a great round of HSC results.
The Thrill of Nikki Hill
Back by popular demand to Bluesfest for 2017 is Queen of Soul, Nikki Hill. Hailing from North Carolina, and influenced mostly by Little Richard, Nikki comes by her Deep South soul honestly. This blues shouter and growler is a bona...
Mandy Nolan’s Soap Box: It takes balls
It’s official. The world has gone mad. According to a recent media report Australian men are flocking to get a new wrinkle-reducing procedure. Scrotox. Like Botox, the idea is to reduce wrinkles. But not in the face, in your balls.
A year of impossible dreams for sporting tragics
We were on the back nine at Mullumbimby. Me and my little mate Rapid Eye Movement. I was tossing up whether or not I could get away with telling him that I got a double bogey seven on a wicked par five, when in fact I’d hacked my way to a quadruple bogey nine.
Good mates and great sports
Good friends Harley Kent and Timmy Yeung Packer from Byron Bay Public School have had a great year of sporting effort recognised. Harley Kent has had a fantastic year in sport for his school and for Country NSW Basketball. He has...
