The White Hat Melbourne Newsletter

Archived Newsletter No.128 - 27 May 2005

Contents

Italian Festival
Feng Shui Extravaganza
Music
Orchids
Reader feedback
Forthcoming musicals
Advance notice
The White Hat Quiz

Italian Festival

This Sunday at Fed Square is an Italian Community Festival celebrating (I think) Italian national day. Details at Ethnic & Religious Festivals.

Feng Shui Extravaganza

Next week is a Feng Shui Extravaganza with events at the Casino and a one day workshop at the Park Hyatt. Tickets are $188 and the Extravaganza promises “Important Feng Shui Updates for 2005/2006” and will tell you “How to get Richer, Happier and Healthier”. The White Hat newsletter may not be able to promise all that, but we can tell you how to get richer. Put on a Feng Shui Extravaganza and charge $188 per head.

Music

This week there is a concert of new music called ‘The World Takes Wing’ presented by the Composers Guild and the Composers Choir. Stonington Symphony has a concert at Malvern Town Hall and in Geelong there is a concert called Bay City Strings Meets Mariachi. Also there is a Quingentennial Celebration for Thomas Tallis with Ensemble Gombert – get people to pass that on at after work drinks. Details at Classical Music in Melbourne.

Orchids

ORCHIDS This weekend is the Maribyrnong Orchid Festival. Go along and have a chat to your favourite orchid. Details at: http://www.whitehat.com.au/Melbourne/Festivals/Garden.asp

Reader feedback

“Hi! I am one of those history graduates (with a Melbourne specialisation) that you mentioned in last week's newsletter. My focus is art - the representation of the feminine in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Your comments frustrated me because I have been doing everything possible to find out more about the commercial 'world' of Melbourne from the 1880s to about 1935 with minimal success. I want to discover Melbourne's consumer society and its beliefs and values. I'm also interested in dressmakers. milliners, artists' models, patent medication manufacturers, cosmetics and many other similarly elusive topics.
You write as if you know the full (five dimensional) picture. Can you give some clues to an unenlightened post-grad as to how these extra dimensions may be better accessed?
G
PS - Love that newsletter”

G, What a coincidence. For a short time I had exactly the same specialization but when I found that I still couldn’t convince anyone to come up and see my etchings I decided to change direction.

We will send G some suggestions, but in the meantime if any of our subscribers have some special knowledge in this area we can put you in touch. Who knows, maybe one of our readers worked in the shmutter business in The Lane or was a purchasing officer for a fashion house. Some may already have written a treatise on the aesthetic qualities and cultural and commercial significance of the muumuu. If you think you may have access to information of use to G let us know. Who knows there might be a Ph.D. in this for all of us?

Forthcoming musicals

Mamma Mia continues at the Maj and the Comedy has announced that Menopause has will be extended. Dirty Dancing opens soon at the Princess and Leader of the Pack (based on the girl groups of the 50s) opens soon at the Casino. I am thinking of writing a novel analysing how the lyrics of the period are deeply philosophical and hold the key to a hidden centuries-old mystery. Words like “Da Doo Ron Ron” and “be whop a loo wop de whim bam boom” are obviously rooted deep in the strange mystic past with hidden rituals. I think I’ll call it ‘The Spice Girls Code’ and it will be read and believed by millions. Meanwhile you can start on this mystic trail by attending these shows and watching for the strangely encrypted messages encoded in the dancing. Details at Theatre in Melbourne.

Advance notice

ADVANCE NOTICE The following weekend is the annual Hawthorn Craft Fair in the atmospheric surrounds of the council car park. Details at Craft Festivals in Melbourne.

The White Hat Quiz

How well do you know Melbourne?

Last week we asked you about the Hydraulic Service Power Department and received a large number of responses. Around half said that it supplied the power for the cable trams. That was wrong, but most of the other half got it right (or rightish).

Please note: This section of the newsletter has been removed as it forms part of a forthcoming publication or because it is forms part of our Questing activities. If you find yourself on a tour where the guide is White Hat Accredited they are likely to know the answer to many questions you may have in this area. All guides on White Hat Tours are White Hat Accredited.

Now for this week’s question(s). The quirky genius Percy Grainger is one of Melbourne’s greatest sons, so three quick questions about Percy.

1. On the footpath in a suburban street is a plaque celebrating Percy. Where is that plaque and why is there?
2. Percy’s dad helped design and build a Melbourne landmark. Which one?
3. Percy wrote a piece of music to celebrate the bright and breezy nature of Victorians. Either tell us the name of the piece or whistle a few bars.