John Shand Posts
August 20, 2020 / Features - Archive

Charles Mingus: The agony and the empathy

Perhaps he instinctively empathised because he, too, had been treated like dirt. That’s why he called his autobiography Beneath the Underdog. He, too, had had his music – some would say his genius – belittled. So when others shrugged their shoulders at the hopelessness, or openly mocked the man with…

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August 19, 2020 / Theatre Reviews - Archive

THE CREDAUX CANVAS

El Rocco Theatre, July 24 7/10 Someone had to go first and, four months after the lights went off, live theatre returned to Sydney. The sense of anticipation before this show was a bit like the crackling electricity of going to the theatre as a child: here were real, in-the-flesh…

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August 16, 2020 / Album Reviews - Archive

Hains & Young

THE WAY OF THE CROW (Newmarket) 8/10 Music doesn’t come much darker than this. It’s like being drawn deeper and deeper into a black forest, until the sky is completely blotted out and even the birds seem malevolent. The compositions were jointly penned by Brendan Hains (guitar, mellotron) and Christopher…

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