Archive - February 2007

Australian performer David Campbell released his debut album around 10 years ago at the age of 23. Back then, music critics from as far away as New York were describing David as the best young crooner on Earth.

If you’d been listening to his new album, The Swing Sessions, all weekend like I was, you’d have to agree that he’s lost none of his ability over the past decade.

The new album contains classics like Mack the Knife, Call Me Irresponsible, Mr Bojangles, Beyond the Sea, My Funny Valentine and an incredible version of Can’t Take My Eyes Off You.

He’s crammed an awful lot into his career to this point with everything from Swing to Rock/Pop, featuring in musicals like SHOUT (playing the part of the great Johnny O’Keefe), through to television appearances and a whole lot more. He’s certainly been very busy.

I reckon his dad, Jimmy Barnes, has a fantastic voice but I’d take a David Campbell album over Jimmy’s music anytime.

David is playing a concert titled All That Jazz this Saturday evening at Houghton Wines in the beautiful Swan Valley and I had the real pleasure of speaking to him by phone on 98.5 Sonshine FM this morning.

If you’d like to hear our discussion you can click the play button on the audio player at the bottom of this post..

I’m hoping to be at the concert on Saturday. I’ll let you know all about it if we make it there.

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Soon after finishing my discussions about body image with my regular Tuesday guest, Genevieve Milnes, last week, I found a fascinating article at News.com.au.

Titled, Models feel lonely, unhappy, it centred around a London study on models which has found that, Despite being icons of beauty, those in the glamorous profession felt less satisfied and more isolated than their peers working in ordinary office jobs.

It seems that while half the world wants to look like a model, feeling that this will somehow provide fulfilment, models themselves feel like clothes horses stripped of their autonomy and happiness by a lonely life strutting the catwalk.

Psychologist/Counsellor Genevieve Milnes M.App.Psych, MA (Couns), B.Ed, B.Div from the Belmont Counselling Clinic joined me again today during my morning radio programme on 98.5 Sonshine FM for the third part of our series about body image.

We had a number of callers ringing and emailing about their experiences today and we had quite a good discussion.

If you’d like to listen to the programme you can click here. If you want to make sure that you don’t miss the rest of the series you can go to Sonshine FM’s Audio On Demand service and subscribe to Genevieve’s weekly segment.

Posted by Rodney Olsen

Technorati Tags: Body Image – Models – Radio

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What do you do when you have a child who is constantly negative?

How do you come to terms with having other children in the family who are well behaved and a pleasure to be around, yet this one child insists on being uncooperative and defiant?

My regular Monday morning radio guest on 98.5 Sonshine FM is Joan Grosser from Growing Families Australia. Each week we chat about parenting issues and take talkback calls from listeners.

Today we talked about a four and a half year old boy who doesn’t seem to respond to the same style of parenting that has helped his siblings develop into well balanced and well behaved young people. Even with the understanding that each child is different and has different needs, this boy’s parents are at the end of their rope wondering how to turn things around.

Of course in situations like these there’s always someone ready to blame the parents. In some people’s minds, good parenting will always result in well behaved kids. Many of us know that good parenting gives you a better possibility of raising good kids but some children are just born with defiant attitudes.

We discussed the problem and sought to give the mother encouragement. We also took a number of phone calls from listeners who all threw in their two cents worth. It was interesting to hear from a couple of listeners who know adults who grew up with this kind of attitude and still to this day are causing heartache for those that love them.

If you’re struggling with an unresponsive, negative child, you might get some help, some hints and some encouragement from listening to our segment from today. Just click here.

Posted by Rodney Olsen

Technorati Tags: Family – Parenting – Radio

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Do you take this debt, to have and to hold, from this day forth, until it drives you to bankruptcy?

What does it cost to get married these days?

More and more often we’re hearing of couples spending up around thirty or forty thousand dollars on their wedding day. Brides are insisting on fairytale weddings with all the trimmings and often it’s up to the parents of the bride and groom to foot the bill.

Should weddings really be that expensive? Are some people putting more effort into the wedding day than they are into preparing for a lifetime of marriage?

Life Skills Trainer, Jill Bonanno, joined me this morning on 98.5 Sonshine FM for our regular Friday morning radio segment, Simply Living.

We talked about simplifying weddings. Jill mentioned two couples she knew who had extremely expensive, fairytale weddings. One of those marriages lasted 3 months, the other 3 weeks. While spending excessive amounts of money on a wedding isn’t a certain indicator of an unhappy or short marriage, it can give us a clue about a couple’s priorities. If all the preparation and planning has been put towards a Hollywood style wedding, to the neglect of preparation for the next 50 years, it might just be that the bride and groom are headed for a Hollywood style divorce.

A couple’s wedding day should be a special celebration, and there’s nothing wrong with being extravagant if you can afford it, but how much is too much? What are the real priorities on a wedding day? A display of spending power – or simply spending time celebrating with those close to us?

You can hear our discussion by clicking here. As part of the segment we spoke to a number of listeners who gave their hints on keeping costs down while still creating a very special day.

One listener who is getting married in England early next year told us that the cost of their wedding was reduced by half because they were prepared to get married on the 2nd of January, a day that no one else wanted to book. Another listener decided on the style of everything for her wedding then set about creating that style herself, rather than paying many times as much for others to do it.

I wonder if the enormous cost of wedding days are dissuading couples from tying the knot.

I’d love to hear your point of view. Leave a comment or two. Were you able to create a stylish wedding on a budget?

We’re going to look at weddings again next week so I’d really appreciate your input.

Posted by Rodney Olsen

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Technorati Tags: Weddings – Marriage – Radio

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