All The Best

#1317 Postcards from Reconciliation

Manager — Fri, 24 May 2013 22:00:23 +0000

Just in time for National Reconciliation Week, and in co-production with Redfern Community Centre, All the Best presents Postcards from Reconciliation. A man sends a postcard home about his lover: a proud man of the Bundjalung Nation, a historical postcard raises uncomfortable questions about a famous colonial figure and a Gumbangiir woman’s postcard is a clarion call to love the place you’re from- for both indigenous and non-indigenous Aussies.

My City- Sydney
A postcard from Gumbangiir woman Barbara Greenup-Davis starts as a flaneur’s stroll through the city, and ends with a vision of one city all its residents can rally for.

Written and read by Barbara Greenup-Davis, a Gumbangiir woman from Bowra, NSW.
Produced by Tim Bishop at Redfern Community Centre.
Music credits: Backing guitar: ‘Warm & Windy’ by J.D.Loudermilk (with permission); Played by Gerry Doyle (with permission).

My Man and Me
From Newtown, Sydney and heading out on the highway: a lover’s postcard from a life-long road trip.

Written and produced by Tim Bishop. Hear more of Tim’s work on his ABC Pool page.
Sound design by Tim Bishop and Belinda Lopez.

Picture credit (above): ‘Going North, heading home’ by Tim Bishop.

Music credits: ‘Throw Your Arms Around Me’ by Hunters and Collectors; South of the Border by Patsy Cline; ‘You Can Get It if You Really Want’ by Jimmy Cliff; ’That’s the Way Love Is’ by Marvin Gaye; ’Got to Give it Up’ by Marvin Gaye; ’Brown Skin Baby’ by Bob Randall.
Sound credits: ‘Car driving’ by Geody Labs; ‘Fryer’s Forest Kookaburras’ by Kangaroo Vindaloo.

Buckley’s Chance for Truth?
A convict disappears into the Australian bush, and emerges 32 years later, alive. His name was William Buckley, and his tale is featured in the history books as one of courage, survival and sheer luck. In fact, it’s thought the phrase ‘Buckley’s chance’ was inspired by his story. William Buckley survived after making contact with the Wathaurong people, who took him into their tribe and made him an honorary elder. It sounded like a story about reconciliation. But the Wathaurong people today, however, say they had never before been contacted about William Buckley’s story. They tell a tale very different to the history books.

Produced by Michael Brydon.
Music credits: ‘Making Days Longer’ by RJD2; ‘Stéphanie Quitte Le Caffé’ by Jean-Michel Bernard; ‘Towers (feat. Szjerdene)’ by Bonobo; ‘Ghost Song’ by Air; ‘Bloodflood’ by Alt-J.

Production Manager: Carly Anne Kenneally.
Features Executive Producer: Belinda Lopez.
Executive Producer: Giordana Caputo.

End song credit: ‘Fleetingly’ by Stiff Gins.

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#1316 America (feat. The Lifted Brow)

Manager — Fri, 17 May 2013 23:28:13 +0000

All the Best ventures beyond our big brown land to the home of the free and the land of the brave. Beneath the joyful strains of the Star-Spangled Banner, the idea of America is pitted against its realities. We’re looking at the United States through a decidedly Aussie lens, and neither Lana Del Rey, nor the US political system, nor Oprah will be spared.

Dragging Out History
Writer Briohny Doyle casts her pop-scholarly eye on Lana Del Rey’s National Anthem music video. It’s a reinvention of the 1964 JFK assassination, complete with President A$AP Rocky and Marilyn Monroe. What happens to history, Doyle asks, when ‘vintage is the vantage point, and authenticity is a shade on the palette?’

Produced by Jess O’Callaghan.
Music & sound credits: ‘National Anthem’ by Lana Del Rey; Film projector by Rock Savage.

‘Dragging out History’ featured in the latest edition of The Lifted Brow (titled: ‘Music’). You can order a copy here.

My American Dream
Madelyne Cummings is half-American, and her ideas about the United States were pieced together by nostalgic childhood memories of summers spent there. At the age of 21, she decided to pursue her American Dream: to live in the country as an adult.

Produced by Madelyne Cummings.
Technical supervision and sound design by Belinda Lopez.

Music credits: ‘Star Spangled Banner‘ by LaiYouttitham; ‘Someday soon’ by Tanya Tucker; ‘Nostalgia’ by Akira Kosemura & Haruka Nakamura, ‘Two Moons’ by Toe.

This Place is Yours
Seraphina Reynolds grew up in Los Angeles, worshipping Oprah for creating a culture of openness and a space to talk about personal issues. While American culture celebrated confessional storytelling, her own family was silent about the serious problems that plagued it. When depression hit Seraphina as an adult, she decided it was finally time to open up, and help others do the same.

The result was This Place is Yours. A new media project with heart, it is launching at Vivid Festival on May 26th, 2013. Buy a ticket here.

Production Manager: Carly Anne Kenneally.
Features Executive Producer: Belinda Lopez.
Executive Producer: Giordana Caputo.

Picture credit:Lana Del Rey by Paulo Ribeiro

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#1315 Love is a Minefield

Manager — Fri, 10 May 2013 23:29:11 +0000

All the Best creeps ’round the minefield of that crazy little thing called Love! A student-lecturer relationship ends in a drunken duel; a piano teacher and her teenage protégé move from scales to scandal, and a fan’s stalking on social media becomes really creepy when she decides online interaction just isn’t enough.

Episode produced by Abigail Sie and Lynda Delacey.

Voice Actors: Leanna Walsmann, Rupert Degas and Laurence Brewer.

Music credits:
-Dr Sie Interview: “Prelude No. 19 in A Major”, BWV 888 from “The Well-Tempered Clavier; Book II “by J.S. Bach, from the “Glenn Gould Edition – Bach: The Well- Tempered Clavier, Book II, BWV 870-893”.
-Amber’s Story: “Masquerade” from “Russian Ballet Favourites” by Aram Khachaturian; “The Firebird Suite” – 1919 Version by IgorStravinsky from “Fantasia 2000 Soundtrack”.
-Sara’s Interview: “These Times…” by Jon Hassell; “Rindu Kampong” Halaman by Zaleha Hamid; “They Can’t Take That Away From Me” by Frank Sinatra form “The Songs Of George & Ira Gershwin”; “Empire ii” by Jon Hassell; “Bhangda Paale” by Sadhana Sargam, Mohd. Aziz, Sudesh Bhosle & A. R. Rahman, from “Karan Arjun Soundtrack”.
-Stephan’s Story: “Nocturne No. 2 in E Flat, Op. 9, No. 2” and “Nocturne No. 19 in E Minor, Op. 72, No. 1”, by F. Chopin from the Daniel Barenboim; “Chopin: Nocturnes” Album; “Mrs. Robinson” by Simon & Garfunkel; “The Art Teacher” by Rufus Wainwright.
-Daniel’s Story: “The Chase” by Alan Reeves, Phil Steele And Philip Brigham; “You’ve Really Got A Hold On Me” by The Funk Brothers (Featuring Meshell Ndegeocello); “A Little Bit, Sometimes” by Múm; “Feels Like We Only Go Backwards” by Tame Impala from Triple J’s “Like A Version- The Hungry Kids Of Hungary”.

Production Manager: Carly Anne Kenneally.
Features Executive Producer: Belinda Lopez.
Executive Producer: Giordana Caputo.

Picture credit: ‘Brokeback Falcon’ by LegOfenris.

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#1314 These Walls Have Ears: Infamous

Manager — Fri, 03 May 2013 23:29:55 +0000

All the Best shares stories about the most revered, the most feared and the most famous of characters from Australia’s first penal colony in The Rocks, Sydney. Come inside a real-life windmill constructed in The Rocks Square, and join a packed audience hearing live stories, poems and audio movies about Aboriginal warrior Pemulwuy, bare-knuckle boxer Larry Foley and convicted murderer Eugenia Falleni— known in Sydney as Harry Crawford.

Pemulwuy
Gadigal elder Allan Madden tells the story of Pemulwuy to a packed audience inside the windmill at All the Best’s live event: These Walls Have Ears. From uncertain beginnings, Pemulwuy rose to become a leader and warrior for his people, and a bullet-defying enemy of the British settlers, who were displacing his people as they established the colony.

Larry Foley
In the 19th century, there were parts of The Rocks most ordinary folk wouldn’t dare to enter, lest they run into The Rocks Push. The underground bare-knuckle boxing gang were known by some as larrikins, and others as criminals. Their leader was Larry Foley, a notorious fighter inside and outside the ring. He is thought to be the muse of The Captain of the Push, a poem often attributed to Henry Lawson. Actor Clemency Press performed the poem live at All the Best’s These Walls Have Ears event.

Eugenia Falleni
Eugenia Falleni was born in Italy in 1875, the eldest daughter of 22 children. By the time he’d reached Sydney in 1898, he was known as Harry Crawford. Accused of murder, his identity outed, he was a public figure shrouded in mystery. Historic Houses Trust curator Nerida Campbell follows the historical clues to discover who Harry really was.

Produced by Nancy Notzon.
Supervising Producer: Jesse Cox.

The Rocks Windmill project ‘These Walls Have Ears’ was managed by:
Live event production: Carly Anne Kenneally and Giordana Caputo.
Documentaries Executive Producer: Belinda Lopez.

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#1313 These Walls Have Ears: My Place

Manager — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 23:29:45 +0000

Inspired by the much-loved Australian children’s book My Place, All the Best runs back through the history of one place, The Rocks, Sydney, to the colonial characters that lived on and interacted with the land after British settlement. The country, traditionally cared for the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, underwent a radical transformation in the 18th and 19th centuries, and those living on it experienced the best and worst of industrialisation.

Death at the Gasworks
This is a tale of three deaths at The Rocks — and a silent killer. The backdrop is the city’s first gasworks. A neighbour to houses and schools, the gasworks gifted its power — and industrial pollution — back to its community, and keeps on giving today, long after its smokestacks stood tall.

Produced by Jessica Minshall.
Music credits: ‘My Girls’ by Animal Collective; ‘Got to Move On’ by Fennesz; ‘What I Saw’ by Broadcast and The Focus Group; ‘Come Away’ by ESG;’Round and Round and Round’ by Broadcast and The Focus Group.

The Miller at the Point
Come on a walk down Windmill Street – and back in time – to find out the story behind the name of one of Sydney’s oldest suburbs. Turns out, it was a prickly miller who started out at Millers Point.

Produced by Madeleine James.

The Rocks Windmill project ‘These Walls Have Ears’ was managed by:
Live event production: Carly Anne Kenneally and Giordana Caputo.
Documentaries Executive Producer: Belinda Lopez.
Additional technical supervision by Zacha Rosen.

This project was made possible with the support of the Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority.

Picture credit: ‘Miller’s Point’ by Joseph Fowles/ State Library of NSW.

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#1312 These Walls Have Ears: The Artists

Manager — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 23:28:42 +0000

Australia’s first colonial creatives probably didn’t think of themselves as artists. Mostly, they were just trying to get by. All the Best listened for secret histories from Australia’s first penal colony in The Rocks, Sydney. The result was These Walls Have Ears, a live event and radio project supported by the Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority.

Convict Theatre
A radio movie about a highway robber turned patron of the arts: Robert Sidaway was a convict transported to Australia. By day he was a baker, and by night, he dreamed of starting a theatre in new land.

Produced by Merran Winchester.
The cast included:
Brendon Taylor – Robert Sidaway
Adrian Barnes- Judge, Governor(s)
Robert Edwards- Reverend Johnson, Various Voices
Anna Martin- Women Voices
Dominic Witkop – Sparrow & Various Voices
Thomas Adams – Various Voices
Paul Winchester – Various Voices

Original music composed and performed by John Bellamy.

References: The Convict Theatres of Early Australia 1788-1840 by Robert Jordan, published by Currency House (2002).

The First Man Hanged
Have you ever walked along Harrington Street in The Rocks, Sydney? It used to be called Hangman’s Hill. Why? Because that’s where the first man in Sydney was hung. Thomas Barrett was his name. He was a forger, a mutineer and a thief. The fact that he was the first man hanged isn’t his only claim to fame – he is now recognised as Australia’s first colonial artist. He made a medallion commemorating the arrival of the First Fleet. A month later, he was awaiting execution. This is his story.

Produced by Catriona Menzies-Pike. (Find her on Twitter).
Additional music and technical support by Zacha Rosen.

Music credits: ‘Tango til They’re Sore’ by Tom Waits; ‘Black Bottom’ by The Hoodangers; ‘Nantes’ by Beirut; ‘Lovely Raquel’ by Thomas Newman; ‘Bad Ritual’ by Timber Timbre; ‘Into the Rainbow Vein’ by Boards of Canada; ‘Black Heart’ by Calexico.

The Rocks Windmill project ‘These Walls Have Ears’ was managed by:
Live event production: Carly Anne Kenneally and Giordana Caputo.
Documentaries Executive Producer: Belinda Lopez.

This project was made possible with the support of the Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority.

Picture credit: ‘At the Rocks, Sydney’ by J.H. Harvey.

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#1311 Atom Bombs in the Suburbs

Manager — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 23:26:59 +0000

It was 1982. HIV/AIDS was creeping into Australia and neither the gay community nor the government knew how to beat it, or even what it was. One man decided to fight against the death toll and the rising hysteria, backed by a motto: ‘Don’t Mourn, Organise’. All the Best shares a sliver of little-known Australian history: about an unexpected social revolution that sprung up from the utter despair of the epidemic.

2013 marks the 30th anniversary of the Victorian AIDS Council. Find out more about its history - Phil Carswell was its founding president.

Produced by James Douglas.
Music credits: ‘Cinematic’ by Jaga Jazzist; ‘Lithuania’ by Jaga Jazzist, ‘Nètsanèt (Liberty)’ by Mulatu Astatke.
Sound credits: Courtesy of Sounds of Barcelona; FXProSound.

Production Manager: Carly Anne Kenneally.
Features Executive Producer: Belinda Lopez.
Executive Producer: Giordana Caputo.

Banner photo supplied by Phil Carswell, taken at a Candlelight vigil held in Collins St, Melbourne.

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#1310 Just Keep Swimming

Manager — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 23:29:06 +0000

24 Hours. 1 pool. 620 bodies. 2485.8kms. Dive in and join All the Best in a marathon against the clock, all to raise money and awareness of Multiple Sclerosis. Over the course of one day, a swimmer tells her story: from life’s darkest moments to a kind of success she’d never even dreamed of.

Find out more about Megaswim and its founder Carol Cooke (and follow her on Twitter!). Multiple Sclerosis Australia is a good resource for further information about the disease.

Produced by Joel Carnegie. (He’s also on Twitter).
Music credits: ‘Ride this Feeling’ by Kate Miller Heidke; ‘The Last Day On Earth’ by Kate Miller Heidke; ‘Eternal See You Soon’ by Monoganon; ‘Elande No.1′ by Dan Tepfer & Lee Konitz; ‘Your Hand in Mine’ by Explosions in the Sky.

Production Manager: Carly Anne Kenneally.
Features Executive Producer: Belinda Lopez.
Executive Producer: Giordana Caputo.

Banner photo credit: Katherine Hala
Photo of Carol Cooke by Ben Vella/MS Australia.

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#1309 What’s in a Name?

Manager — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 23:29:08 +0000

(With apologies to Shakespeare.) All the Best shares two stories about the power of names. A refugee from Afghanistan arrives in Australia and changes his name — twice. And the so-called Political Friendship Group in Canberra, which works towards equality for LGBTI Australians, is the setting for a rare story of bipartisan cooperation in these politically-troubled times. It’s a story that is especially moving for the producer of the piece, Kate Doak.

Free to be Adam
You might not guess it by his name, but Adam Free is an asylum seeker from Afghanistan who now lives in Melbourne. Adam isn’t actually the name he was given at birth. He’s changed his name not once, but twice, and all in the space of two years.

Produced by Georgia Moodie.
Music credits: Toothless by Jai Pyne; Bells by The Desks.

The Parliamentary Friendship Group
Kate Doak is a political junkie, and wasn’t surprised by anything that happened in Canberra- until finding out about a curiously-named ‘parliamentary friendship group’ including politicians across the spectrum. They have joined forces to help sex and gender diverse Australians who are stuck in a rut because of inadequate medical benefits and inconsistent state and national laws.

Read the Diversity in Health report mentioned in Kate’s story here.

Produced by Kate Doak.
Music: ‘Planet Zero‘ and ‘Sunday morning‘ by Jahzzar; ’Folk jam’ by Ryan Shello.

Production Manager: Carly Anne Kenneally.
Features Executive Producer: Belinda Lopez.
Executive Producer: Giordana Caputo.

Photo credit: Jack Dorsey under a Creative Commons license.

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#1308 Everyone Needs Music II

Manager — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 23:25:11 +0000

An Australian is on her way to Mali, in West Africa, for her dream adventure trip: to attend the Festival in the Desert. But the musicians have already fled. Escaping war and violence, the nomadic Tuareg musicians have crossed the border to Burkina Faso. In the desolate refugee camps, despite hunger and homelessness, their music lives on.

Music is Life

Produced by Caitlin Gibson.
Music credits: Original recordings of Disco and Amanou Imma by Caitlin Gibson with permission from the artists. Also: ‘Radio Mali’ by Ali Farka Touré; ‘Ikyadarh Dim’ by Tinariwen; ‘Ichichila’ by Tartit; ‘Issalalkas’ by Tarbiyat.

Thanks to Giordana Caputo for providing voiceovers of Disco, Miles Martignoni for additional training and Danielle Gesser for translations from French to English. Also to Mahmoud Ag Imma for his assistance in locating musicians in Burkina Faso.

Production Manager: Carly Anne Kenneally.
Features Executive Producer: Belinda Lopez.
Executive Producer: Giordana Caputo.

Photo credit: Olivier Marchetti.

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