January, 2009:

An interview with Chris Murphy

Chris Murphy is best known for being one of the most exciting performers during “Australian Idol” in 2006 but he’s been thrilling music lovers for well over a decade.

As well as being an energetic front man for Murphy’s Lore and now the Chris Murphy Band he’s one of Perth’s most prominent solo performers.

Whether it’s loud and electric or solo and unplugged, Chris Murphy delights audiences whenever and wherever he plays.

The Chris Murphy Band helped around 20 000 people get in the party mood for Australia Day on Monday as part of the Town of Bassendean Australia Celebrations and Fireworks. Chris joined me in the studio last week on 98.5 Sonshine FM to talk about the upcoming event. We chatted about everything from Australian Idol to his work supporting worthy causes. Chris even played a couple of acoustic songs live during the interview.

You can click play on the audio player at the bottom of this post to hear our conversation.

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Dralion – Cirque du Soleil back in Perth

Jan 29th, 2009

by Rodney Olsen.

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Pauline and I were privileged to be guests at the opening night of Cirque du Soleil’s Dralion last night. It’s difficult to judge the Cirque du Soleil shows against each other but I think that Dralion was my favourite of the three shows I’ve seen.

It’s hard to believe that the human body can bend into so many different shapes. I reckon that I could probably force my body to bend like that if I had my skeleton removed. The performers were absolutely amazing.

I must say that while it would have been great for Emily and James to come with us last night I’m kind of glad they didn’t. If they saw some of the acrobatics the performers were able to do on trampolines I’d be in a constant state of worry that they were in the back yard trying them on our trampoline.

Apart from the athleticism I don’t think I’ve laughed so much for a long time. There’s so much humour throughout the show it’s almost a comedy at times.

The action is so fast that I reckon that even if you went a couple of times you’d still miss bits and pieces. We get so spoiled in this TV age don’t we? Have you ever found yourself wanting to freeze frame a real life moment or watch something you’ve just seen again in slow motion? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if our brains were all fitted with hard drive recorders? I guess they are in a way … that’s where memory comes in to play … but sometimes it’d be great to see things again. I felt a bit that way watching Dralion. There were times when it would have been good to be able to rewind and slow the action down a bit. Seeing people jumping higher than should be humanly possible and then sliding through tiny metal rings high in the air looks like a brilliant illusion but it’s all happening for real and it’d be wonderful to slow things down and see it all happen again. I guess that’s why they produce DVDs of the show.

The costumes and the set were incredible and gave the performance a wonderful sense of the surreal. It all combines to transport you to another world.

After the show we were privileged to be invited to the ‘After Party’ with the cast of the show and a selection of ‘Perthonalities’. It was a magnificent event and the perfect way to cap off an amazing evening.

If you get the chance to go and see Dralion make sure you grab it with both hands.

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Toilet Tales

Jan 28th, 2009

by Rodney Olsen.

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Richard at Beyond Relevance has a very interesting post on perspectives and toilet seats.

It’s aimed at church leaders but relevant to so many areas of life.

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2009 Perth Criteriums on Facebook

Jan 26th, 2009

by Rodney Olsen.

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It’s been a busy few days helping out with the commentary for the Perth Crits. The racing has been frantic and there have been some great crowds cheering the riders as they battle it out for a win each day.

If you’re looking for some amazing photos of the 2009 Riders Choice Perth Criteriums, head to the event’s Facebook Page.

You’ll find plenty of photos and videos of all the action.

The final racing in the series will be held in the city this afternoon. It’s been a great series so far and I’m looking forward to seeing how it all comes together today.

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Back to School Sales

Jan 23rd, 2009

by Rodney Olsen.

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I wish I was still at school.

Thirty years ago, when I was going to school, the Back to School Sales were all about exercise books, grey school clothes, crayons, Bata Scouts and pencil cases.

I always hated going shopping in the weeks before school returned because there would be ‘Back to School’ signs hanging everywhere, mocking me, reminding me that my freedom would soon be over.

How things have changed. I see there’s an advertisement in the newspaper today for Back to School Specials which include an eighteen hundred dollar high definition video camera, a laptop computer and widescreen televisions which cost anywhere from two thousand to nine thousand dollars.

I’m not quite sure what the connection to going back to school could possibly be but if that’s the kind of thing you need for school these days I might just have to re-enrol.