Things a bit quiet on Glen Osmond Road?

The Glen Osmond Road Association puts-out a newsletter for traders and businesses in the area and I happened to see the March 2006 issue of the newsletter. The headline caught my eye:

'INVITATION OFFICIAL LAUNCH OF PUBLIC TOILET...'

The front page of the newsletter is all about the launch of 'the Glen Osmond Road Public toilet.' There's the main text box that explains the great excitement with which the writer announces the launch of the toilet. There's even a separate text box that reminds people of the 'Important date to remember .... ' when the new public toilet is launched ('light refreshments provided by Wokinabox noodle bar and Subway'.)

Unfortunately, we missed attending the event on Tuesday 14 March at 6pm. But the new Public Toilet was officially launched by His Worship the Mayor of Unley, Michael Keenan. I wonder what's the protocol for the Mayor in launching a public toilet - does one break a bottle of champagne on the seat? Is the climax of the opening the ritual flushing of the loo? Does the compere of the launch events have to keep a straight face when introducing the Mayor and other distinguished guests to launch the loo?

Why didn't we see this event on the evening news? Perhaps the Association needs to update its PR capabilities.

Now, I'm wondering, was it a slow news day/week/month on Glen Osmond Road so that the launch of a public toilet became front page and headline news? Or is it a case that the long suffering traders and businesses on Glen Osmond Road now have a place to relieve themselves if taken short? Perhaps it is front page news if that's the case!

So if you are driving on Glen Osmond Road you might want to give a little toot as you pass the new Public Toilet on the corner of Glen Osmond and Kenilworth Roads. Put a smile on the face of any lucky occupant and acknowledge this Great Achievement.

John Cage's 639 year long performance

In an earlier post I wrote about US composer John Cage and his silent piano piece titled 4'33". Malcolm brought to my attention that in a small abandoned church in eastern Germany John Cage's 'biggest/longest' concert is being performed. The concert lasts 639 years in total, with the first year and a half of the concert being silence. The first chord played in February 2003, and in January 2006 the chord changed to the second one.

The organ is having additional pipes made and installed in advance of them being used in the concert.

What struck me about this concert is how Cage has shifted time beyond the human expectations of how long a concert normally lasts. If whales could hear the concert I wonder if they would find it more interesting than most people will. If there are intelligent extraterrestrials out there monitoring what we on earth are doing would they think this is interesting to listen to instead of the high pitched mosquito buzz of normal human communications?

P.S. The next chord change is scheduled for a few years from now. Make sure you don't miss it!

Another bloody Garth!

Roy and I were in Melbourne not long ago - he to catch-up with family and I to attend the opening of the Montalto Sculpture Prize where my sculpture, 'Silent Embrace' is a finalist. While there Roy's sister and brother-in-law had us to dinner at their St Kilda apartment. The weather was nice, suitable for a barbeque dinner. In Melbourne that means that it wasn't raining (too hard) and it was above 13 degrees celsius.

Little did I know that Roy's sis and bro-in-law had too bought a Garth barbeque not that long ago! I shared my shaggy-dog story about the joys and thrills of assembling my Garth bbq and asked them what their experience was like. Well, turns out that they are much smarter than I am as they outsourced the effort to an authorised Garth field assembler. If I had known how frustrating the experience was to be in trying to assemble the darned bbq I would have gladly paid someone $60 or so to put mine together as well.

As I said earlier, I do have to give credit to the Garth folks for the very professional packaging and images on the boxes. Very good looking. Very nice boxes. Have I told you how impressed I was with the outside of those three cardboard boxes...