Farewell SNACS

December 5, 2006
by Rodney Olsen
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This morning during my radio programme on 98.5 Sonshine FM I chatted with Ian ‘the kid’ Simpson of the Sensitive New Age Cowpersons. (He’s the one with the banjo on the right.)

I’ve seen the ‘Cowpersons’ in concert a few times and they always provide a great show. As well as being darn fine musicians, they’re very funny guys.

Their website says, “Australia’s premier comedy bluegrass band, the Sensitive New Age Cowpersons pack their classic rock songs with great original material, and deliver them all bluegrass style. There’s hot banjo picking, even hotter harmony singing – and not quite so hot bodies.

The Cowpersons’ heady mix of some of the ‘bentest’ original country music ever written and eclectic repertoire of classic songs have taken them from their home town of Fremantle, Western Australia, to headline performances at folk and country festivals around Australia and as far a field as the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. As musician/humorist Greg Champion has noted, they’ve proved “the hardest act to follow” he’s ever “had the misfortune to come across”.

Sadly, they’re breaking up.

They’re about to play a few farewell shows to say goodbye to the fans that have enjoyed their music over many years. If you don’t want to miss them you can head to their website for the details. Our family is sure to be there to say goodbye.

During my on-air interview I played their amazing bluegrass version of U2’s Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For and their extremely funny New Australian National Anthem.

Unfortunately, I can’t put their music online for you but you can listen to our interview using the media player at the bottom of this post.

As well as providing some very funny musical moments, the guys from Sensitive New Age Cowpersons are very accomplished musicians. For many years Ian toured and recorded with Slim Dusty as well as touring with people like Paul Kelly.



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Shower time

December 4, 2006
by Rodney Olsen
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I don’t mean to be personal but how long did you spend in the shower this morning?

This weekend I read an interesting article from The Age which suggests that we not only cut down on the time we spend in the shower but that we also cut down the amount of showers we have in a week.

Some doctors have got together to work out just how much showering we really need and they’re saying that a shower just three times a week would be just fine. They’re also saying that it’s better for our skin to avoid hot showers. We should apparently opt for water that’s as cool as we can handle. Hot water can make conditions such as psoriasis worse and hot showers longer than around 10 minutes can actually worsen conditions like acne.

As for soap, they’re recommending that we only use it on the areas of our bodies that produce odour. I won’t go into details. Most of our bodies need never come into contact with soap.

So it seems that we can save water and soap and at the same time be healthier with less washing. What do you reckon? Will you be cutting down?

I think there’s probably a few kids around that will be using the doctors’ findings to support their case against having a shower.

What kind of showerer are you? Are you in and out or do you prefer to linger? I must admit to some long hot showers. When you get the temperature just right there doesn’t seem to be anything better than letting the water do its work. It’s a great way to relax.

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It was all yellow

December 1, 2006
by Rodney Olsen
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It’s not often that something that happens in the world’s most isolated city makes world news but that was the case yesterday when something incredibly important happened here in Perth.

I even found the story being reported in the Washington Post.

Just before they began their latest Australian tour in Perth, The Wiggles called a media conference. They confirmed what many had suspected over the last few months. Greg Page will no longer continue to be the Yellow Wiggle.

A video was played at the conference letting Greg make the announcement that health problems will prevent him from continuing as the band’s front man. You can see the video here.

The statement on their website says, Greg has been suffering symptoms for many months, affecting his ability to perform. The condition is related to blood pressure and while in no way life threatening it affects his balance, breathing and coordination at unpredictable times and with varying severity. Greg has discovered he is genetically predisposed to this condition and that he now needs to focus on managing his health.

Greg is a founding member of The Wiggles and has devoted 15 years to the group. The whole band, crew, and all Wiggles staff, have expressed their sadness and their wishes for Greg to overcome his health problems.

I know that some parents are sick to death of hearing about fruit salad and big red cars but The Wiggles have done a great job of entertaining kids over many years. I know that they were very big in our household. Pauline took our kids to their concerts before they became worldwide stars and Australia’s top earners in the entertainment world.

Who would have thought that changing the line-up of a group of children’s entertainers would make world news?

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More funny radio

December 1, 2006
by Rodney Olsen
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Louise Kelman is a comedy performer who joins me on 98.5 Sonshine FM each Wednesday morning to discuss some of the strange but true news stories that have hit the headlines over the past week. It’s great to just spend time chatting and having a good laugh.

If you want to hear what we got up to this week you can click here to listen. The audio file will open in another window so you can continue browsing while you listen.

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