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Mega mansion with odes to Hollywood hits the market

<p dir="ltr">A mansion on the top of a mountain with “million-dollar views” of Queensland’s Sunshine Coast Hinterland has hit the market - but its unique interior could be its biggest drawcard.</p> <p dir="ltr">Not only does it come with seven bedrooms and eight bathrooms, it also boasts its own medieval throne room, a Wild West-style saloon bar, and a Hollywood-style theatrette.</p> <p dir="ltr">Ray White Beerwah agent Alex Garden said the property, known as Chateau Cedarton, was built by a concreter who wanted his own mega mansion.</p> <p dir="ltr">“It is really unique,” Mr Garden told <em><a href="https://www.realestate.com.au/news/live-like-royalty-in-qlds-own-game-of-thrones-house/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">realestate.com.au</a></em>. “In its heyday, it would have been a really cool venue.”</p> <p dir="ltr">The medieval throne room, styled with stone tiles to create a classic castle look, is complete with two full-sized replica knights and leads into the 25-metre-long red-carpeted theatrette, decorated with Hollywood-style movie posters.</p> <p dir="ltr">The Wild West-style saloon room features timber panelling, appropriately-themed wall art and a cellar.</p> <p dir="ltr">Other internal features include a sauna and spa, as well as a formal reception area, statement kitchen, formal dining room, space for 10 cars, a pool/rumpus room, and a commercial kitchen and laundry.</p> <p dir="ltr">Outside, the 16.19-hectare block boasts just as many interesting features, such as Roman columns, a pool with its own public bathroom, and replicas of European fountains.</p> <p dir="ltr">There is also a wraparound verandah, a resort-style pool, a gazebo, fruit trees, three dams, and a workers cottage.</p> <p dir="ltr">According to the <a href="https://www.realestate.com.au/property-house-qld-cedarton-139351039" target="_blank" rel="noopener">listing</a>, the home has complete privacy despite being surrounded by large acreage homes and “hosts scenic breathtaking million-dollar views”.</p> <p dir="ltr">After spending a weekend at the home more than a decade ago, owners Victor and Lana, who have asked for their surname not to be published, said they fell in love with the property.</p> <p dir="ltr">But, their plans for transforming the home were put on hold after Victor suffered an accident which saw him undergo extensive rehabilitation two months after they moved in.</p> <p dir="ltr">“We had huge plans for it and we did open it as a function centre, restaurant and accommodation for a while, we also had visits from the elderly, from retirement villages and children with disabilities,” Lana said.</p> <p dir="ltr">“And our direction changed towards that, towards helping people who needed some peace and tranquillity.”</p> <p dir="ltr">With COVID-19 lockdowns keeping them away from half of their family in Victoria, the couple then decided it was time to sell - giving them the opportunity to move south and start their new business venture.</p> <p dir="ltr">They have freshened up the home ahead of the sale, softening some of the Tuscan palette to create a more neutral vibe.</p> <p dir="ltr">But, they have left its unique rooms untouched.</p> <p dir="ltr">“That’s what makes it so unique,” Lana said.</p> <p dir="ltr">They hope that the next owner has their own vision for the property, as Lana says the estate has “so much potential”. </p> <p dir="ltr">“It needs someone with some big plans and the ability to make them happen.</p> <p dir="ltr">“The views, the privacy, the grounds, the possibilities are endless.”</p> <p><span id="docs-internal-guid-3423ace5-7fff-e640-f932-7f5b0de0294f"></span></p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Images: Ray White</em></p>

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An ode to surf music

<p>The first tune I ever wrote – a proper tune, with an intro, verses, choruses and a middle bit – was a surfing instrumental.</p> <p>I have always been a pretty crappy singer, and I figured that the guitar could sing for me (I know, I know). But like anyone who grew up in the 60s this genre made sense to me. It was both fun and familiar, and there was room for storytelling in the sound of the guitar.</p> <p>Surf music was born with the release of Dick Dale’s first single Let’s Go Trippin’. Dale was born in Boston, but arrived in California as a teenager and started surfing. He played a left-handed guitar, but with the strings upside down, that is with the low strings at the bottom and the high strings at the top. This quite odd arrangement made for an idiosyncratic sound, all the physical movements up-ended; the dynamics reversed, the emphasis offset.</p> <p>Dale first played <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOlmBC1DlsY">Let’s Go Trippin’</a> in 1960, and it was a wild and crazy sound, the birth of a genre.</p> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"><iframe class="embed-responsive-item" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/WOlmBC1DlsY"></iframe></div> <p>The fact that he has a Lebanese background informed his style. The frenetic oud and tarabaki playing that drives Lebanese pop music of the 50s seeped in, along with his love of drummer <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene_Krupa">Gene Krupa</a>’s snappy snare.</p> <p>It didn’t take long for Dale’s influence to spread. Not really very surfy, but in 1962 Monty Norman’s James Bond theme for Dr. No was <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqcevBO9fi8">played by the tremendous John Barry Seven</a> and is a great example of the foregrounding of the edgy guitar sound that Dale perfected.</p> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"><iframe class="embed-responsive-item" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/GqcevBO9fi8"></iframe></div> <p>The first of the teen surf movies, <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056860/">Beach Party</a>, was released a year later: tales of teen idiocy, with Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon at the helm, centred around summer, surf, music and endless partying.</p> <p>At least a dozen of these films were made, formulaic and sanitised, with established comedians like <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Lynde">Paul Lynde</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Rickles">Don Rickles</a>, promoting a romanticised image of surf culture.</p> <p>Although the movies were built on beach party guitar bands, the music charts and radio waves of the time were also home to beautiful, evocative guitar instrumentals. The Ventures from Washington state had their first hit with <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owq7hgzna3E">Walk, Don’t Run</a> in 1960.</p> <p>They played mostly covers, but developed a new sound - pounding toms and unison picking guitars - releasing many twangy gems including covers of Joe Meek’s Telstar, The Champs’ Tequila, as well as two of the touchstone tracks of the surf music genre in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqC3BjIyq_0">Pipeline</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjiOtouyBOg">Wipeout</a>.</p> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"><iframe class="embed-responsive-item" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/tqC3BjIyq_0"></iframe></div> <p>In the UK, The Shadows were exploring similar terrain, with hits like <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoN6AKPGkBo">Apache</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rR0trsOUaY">Wonderful Land</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VycZVyApqew">Atlantis</a>. They took a more lyrical approach, stepping away from the blues-based patterns of the US guitar artists, and sliding in minor chords and more complex structures.</p> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"><iframe class="embed-responsive-item" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/VycZVyApqew"></iframe></div> <p>But the thing that really sets The Shadows apart is the sound: the guitar amp producing washes of spacious reverb, as well as the watery bubbling of the vibrato; the guitar tremolo stretching the strings into tonal waves, and the orchestral layering on some of the grander tracks.</p> <p>Santo and Johnny’s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rwfqsjimRM">Sleepwalk</a> is a lesson in subtle mood-making with its lap steel guitar evoking the distant Hawaiian islands.</p> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"><iframe class="embed-responsive-item" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2rwfqsjimRM"></iframe></div> <p>It appears in the repertoire of both The Ventures and The Shadows, inspires another deeply influential beauty, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QooCN5JbOkU">Albatross</a>, by Fleetwood Mac, with Peter Green on guitar, and echoes through the decades to the wonderful <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueMaYzvXX8w">work</a> of Richard Hawley.</p> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"><iframe class="embed-responsive-item" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/QooCN5JbOkU"></iframe></div> <p><strong>Australia in the 70s and beyond - great beaches, great surfers, great music</strong></p> <p>The beaches south of Sydney produced Australia’s most notable surf band in 1961. The Atlantics had their genetic roots in Greece and Eastern Europe, an immigration success story years before Vanda and Young.</p> <p>Their biggest hit, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3agVtY4Z6M">Bombora</a>, is a surf rock classic and was an international sensation in the earliest days of the genre.</p> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"><iframe class="embed-responsive-item" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3agVtY4Z6M"></iframe></div> <p>They had another big hit, The Crusher, and then in 1964 released War of The Worlds, awash with echoes and distortion and moodiness. It was innovative and brave, but ultimately spelled their demise as a surf band.</p> <p>As the 60s hit their twilight, and the wave of political enlightenment from Prague and Paris reached our shores, the blonde, post-war beach party was dragged out by the undertow. The Summer of Love, then Woodstock came and went, leaving the surfing subculture chilling with a joint in the back of the panel van rather than wildly dancing around the bonfire with a bottle of Mateus Rosé.</p> <p>The twangy instrumentals, with their snappy drums and lightning guitar lines stretched and grew, as synthesizers and production techniques replaced the earlier simple arrangements. The sound changed and became spacious, echoing the endless drift of the waves, and the slow drama of the incoming storm.</p> <p>In 1970, <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0248194/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Morning of the Earth</a> was released, becoming the first film soundtrack to earn a gold record in Australia. It not only has tracks by singer-songwriters and pop stars but also by the acid-surf instrumentalists <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamam_Shud">Tamam Shud</a>. It became an enormously influential film, capturing the idyllic nature of the surfing culture.</p> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"><iframe class="embed-responsive-item" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/K3uLj-YYaBs"></iframe></div> <p>But the twang hadn’t gone. The sound of the surf guitar is core to the music of The Cramps and The Pixies. It surfaced in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ricky_Wilson_(American_musician)">Ricky Wilson</a>’s great guitar lines for <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szhJzX0UgDM">The B52s</a>.</p> <p>It rang clear as a bell in 80s Australian bands like The Sunnyboys, Surfside Six, Radio Birdman, The Riptides, and Mental As Anything.</p> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"><iframe class="embed-responsive-item" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/b2D84Ma-CxI"></iframe></div> <p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CINvgez73g">The Cruel Sea</a> rose in Sydney in 1987 from the ashes of Sekret Sekret, settling around the ebb and flow of guitarist Danny Rumour and guitarist/organist James Cruickshank and the rhythmic undertow of Ken Gormley and Jim Elliot.</p> <p>Instrumental rock became groovy again. Eventually, Tex Perkins joined and they became award-winning mainstays in the rise of 90s festival culture.</p> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"><iframe class="embed-responsive-item" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/H_wam2QImAY"></iframe></div> <p>More recently <a href="https://headland.bandcamp.com/music">Headland</a>, who began in 2014 playing live original instrumentals to gloriously evocative Super 8 footage of big surf at Lennox Head in the 70s, have restored faith in the power of the instrumental for the post millennium. Surf music lives!</p> <p>I only ever played my little surf instrumental a few times and then that version of our band exploded – Lindy Morrison left to join the Go-Betweens and we entered a more angular and fierce phase. But last year, in a performance at the State Library about Brisbane posters and how they help to tell stories about our past, our culture and our place in the world, I played it again.</p> <p>It felt odd to be doing it on my own, but it also felt both funny and appropriate. The tune had the twang of a simpler time. As does <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJWuQV2u9ns">this little gem</a> from Brian Wilson, who believes that smiles can fix the problems of the world. <!-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. --><img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/128914/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /><!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: http://theconversation.com/republishing-guidelines --></p> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"><iframe class="embed-responsive-item" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/sJWuQV2u9ns"></iframe></div> <p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/john-willsteed-107411">John Willsteed</a>, Senior lecturer, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/queensland-university-of-technology-847">Queensland University of Technology</a></em></p> <p><em>This article is republished from <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/surf-music-in-praise-of-strings-sand-and-the-endless-swell-128914">original article</a>.</em></p>

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An ode for baby boomers today

<p><img width="117" height="100" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/44623/julie-g-aka-barbara-bindland_117x100.jpg" alt="Julie G Aka Barbara Bindland (7)" style="float: left;"/></p> <p><strong><em>Barbara Binland is the pen name of a senior, Julie Grenness, in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. She is a poet, writer, and part-time English and Maths tutor, with over 40 years of experience. Her many books are available on Amazon and Kindle.</em></strong></p> <p align="center"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">OUR GOLDEN AGE!</span></p> <p align="center">An ode for baby boomers today,</p> <p align="center">These are our golden days,</p> <p align="center">Over-sixties in our third age,</p> <p align="center">We’re sixty shades of senile and grey,</p> <p align="center">Either old, and fat, and grey,</p> <p align="center">Or men looking like Sinead,</p> <p align="center">Gravity has won along the way,</p> <p align="center">But, we’re the optimists, let’s say,</p> <p align="center">Our folks had no T.V, and no pill,</p> <p align="center">That’s why we’re here, no dills,</p> <p align="center">Did we really stop a war?</p> <p align="center">Or was it media driven for all?</p> <p align="center">But, hey, we do it our way,</p> <p align="center">Let’s all kick butt today,</p> <p align="center">In this, our third age,</p> <p align="center">Over-sixties in our golden age!</p>

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