
Issue No 10		23 April 1999

Review

When Billy Met Lindsay

By Gary Moorhead - Avdiser to Lindsay Tanner

What happens when a British political popster meets with an Australian political thinker?

Dateline: Forum Theatre, Melbourne. 20 April 1999, Billy Bragg and the Blokes

Melbourne's Forum Theatre for the first of three sold-out Billy Bragg and the Blokes shows. Complimentary tickets and backstage passes for Lindsay Tanner, Federal Shadow Minister for Finance and Consumer Affairs (and occasional author) plus one staff member.

Bragg, the most political of popular music performers wanted to meet Tanner; Tanner, shameless rock fan, wanted to see the show.

The Forum Theatre is a relic of Melbourne's Greco-Roman period. Audiences are confronted with an interior decorated with Corinthian columns, Greek gods and dancing nymphs. The ceiling is the stars of the Southern Hemisphere.

All of this was added inspiration for Billy Bragg in his between-songs monologues.

Not that Bragg needs much physical stimulation for his monologues. Billy Bragg is more than a musician. He has the comic talent of a Ben Elton - the golden pause, plus the ability to absorb local culture into his routine.

So we had an array of jokes on Tasmanian themes (the location of his last performances) mateship versus 'blokeship', the republic, the preamble and doing a 'Grollo'.

At the same time he used his banter to drive home a range of political messages.

A Billy Bragg concert is really a political meeting punctuated by songs.

We had the attack on student unionism as just another manifestation of the Howard Government obsessive hatred of all things 'union' (and the amusing contradiction of Howard's fight to retain a flag containing the 'union jack'). We had the importance of de--escalating the violence in Kosovo, but never giving in to racism. We were reminded of the situation in Timor and why Australia must make a stand. And fascism.

Opposition to fascism is one of the links to Woody Guthrie. Anyone who would write "this machine kills fascists" on his guitar can't fail to be a hero to Bragg.

The musical collaboration across nearly 40 years (Bragg was asked by Guthrie's daughter to write music for Woody's unrecorded song lyrics) was the highlight of the evening.

Maintaining a consistent standard with new songs is often a major problem for mid-career artists. Bragg has been given an almost bottomless well of material to flesh out his own inspiration. He recorded 40 of Guthrie's songs and 15 are included on his latest album, Mermaid Avenue.

Interestingly, the Guthrie songs Bragg chose to perform were more reflective and personal. These and a fair selection of Bragg's own signature songs had the crowd still yelling after more than two hours and three encores. The band too, is an absolute cracker, with a live power and skill reminiscent of Ian Dury's backing band "The Blockheads".

Backstage after the show, Bragg's political enthusiasms were unabated. A conversation with Tanner and Phil Cleary, neither of whom are short for a word, was all Billy Bragg. Impressions of Australia, both bush and cities, changes over time, defining our identity, then on to post-Thatcherite Britain (I voted for the 'Tony-Party') and how to fight Howard.

As he was finally dragged off by his manager to "schmooze" the assembled record company and other music industry crowd, his parting words were: "get me all the preambles. I want all the preambles."

For Bragg, the politics never stops.

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Issue 10 contents

Interview: Latham: Leading With The Chin
Labor's heretical voice talks about trade unions and how they'll survive in the land of the Third Way.

Unions: Nursing the Numbers
Active members are the key to recruitment for one of the state's strongest unions, the NSW Nurses Association. We talk to some of the star recruiters.

History: A Sense of Community
Historian Greg Patmore looks at labour-community coalitions in the Lithgow Valley between 1900 and 1932.

International: Labor Council Official to Dili Front Line
Labor Council�s Chris Christodoulou will be one of the first foreign unionists to head to East Timor in the leadup to independence.

Review: When Billy Met Lindsay
What happens when a British political popster meets with an Australian political thinker?

Legal: CyberPorn in the Workplace
A new protocol in the NSW public service is setting the benchmark for acceptable use of the internet.

» Vizard Offers Unions Cheap Computers, But Is It a Pup?

» Y2K Crashes Bank Holidays

» Carr Says Thank You To Union Movement

» Crew Saved by Message in a Bottle

» Unions to take on Qantas Over Foreign Jobs

» No Training on Coat-Hanger Sparks Job Fears

» Council's Hypocrisy Sparks Green Ban Call

» Shoddy Editor Sparks May Day Confusion

» STOP PRESS: Employers Bid to Scrap ANZAC Day Fails. For Now

» Guest Report

» Sport

» Trades Hall

» Piers Watch

» Not So Wild About Bragg

» Faction Talk Must Be Broader

» A Bouquet from the Bush

» Help a Student Pass!

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