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Fluffin', Faffin', and Falafaellin' in Brisvegas..... It was the intention of Atomic OZ organisers that the Brisbane shows were to be part of the the planned demonstrations surrounding CHOGM. CHOGM was called off short notice - the Queen and Tony B couldn't make it, however rabble rousers from round the globe had gathered anyway. Somewhere amongst it was Atomic OZ. Oct 6 & 7, Musgrave park was bursting with life. Thanx and respect to the indig mob for the welcome & having us in their park. With a war imininent in Afganistan, a march for peace was organised. A colourful crowd gathered in thecity and listened to amazing line up of speakers, notibly local indig activist and writer Sam Watson, Maroochy Burrumba, a woman from Zimbabae, and members of Brisbane's Muslim community. The following March thru the city culminated in a party in Musgrave park. - the setting for Atomic OZ's first Brisbane show. The show, guest staring Benny Zable as Death, was well recieved and reversed the atmosphere of a real long open mic session. There must still be room for humour and fun amongst all this seriously depressing, but equally important stuff. I reckon we achieved this well. Oct 7, saw activists occupy the defence recruitment offices in the city making national news. Paul's footage got on the news and Atomic OZ got a plug on channel ten!! The following week was spent organising shows, rehersing new cast members, publicity and media, long arduous meetings, lotsa f***ing round and falafael. Many thanx to Freedom house, Grass Roots community centre, 4ZZZ radio, & Zen Wharehouse. Atomic OZ performed the following Sunday at the Boundary Street festival in West end. The show got fudged pretty bad but still managed to deliver it's powerful message and was thoroughly entertaining. A Monday show to a smallish crowd in Ipswich ran smoothly, free of uncitely f*** ups. It's a pretty rare event for Ipswich to have live street theatre so we hope we left a lasting impression on them, even the cops that were sitting in their cars watchin' us. Tuesday we did a show to a large crowd at the University of Queensland. Atomic OZ can claim the infamy of getting 3 lectures cancelled due to the rowdiness of the band, we think the band weren't rowdy enough. Tuesday night wound up an exhausting few days with a party out in the hills near Samford, with bands and dj's etc and a jam session extending into the morning sometime. I passed out on my back staring skyward and was woken early from a heavy down pour of rain and the sounds of people scurrying round picking up all drums and s*** that had been left out. SE Qld so been in drought this year, heavy rain was a fitting finale to the Brisbane leg of Atomic OZ. mucho smoocho'sto all those Brisbanites that helpedus outover the duration of our brissy stay. We left on that Wednesday, eventually. |