Interesting - on Ninetonoon this morning, it wasn't rock music that was totally inappropriate: instead she was reported as saying that singing was inappropriate. Her idea of appropriate music was then reported as a string quartet. I fell out of bed at that one.

arse!

In WW2 allies and axis were often facing off against each other close enough that they could both hear the same radios at night. I always love hearing stories of songs like Lili Marlene coming from both radios or voices from both camps heard singing along.
Music is, regardless of particular choices of taste universal in that it often reflects our common desires.
Music is the soundtrack of our lives and if anything it is remarkable how so much music created during the wars spoke of hope, love and friendship.
And if you believe stories of americans and germans singing in harmony it was the only sign of unity in a time when millions were being wiped out (Well there is also a story of a soccer game we all know but that was Christmas)
What better way to honour ANZAC day.

That said a concert at Auchwitz would be in bad taste.

// Music is the soundtrack of our lives

Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr John Farnham!!!!!

There is music - just not performed by aussie pub rockers.

I take your point Aka. That said I do think once you get away from the main cenotaphs and the battlefields you get a sense people are there cause it is something to do, not to honour those who made the ultimate sacrifice.
Makes me wonder if the whole ANZAC thing has lost its significance. If inviting John Farnham along to sing 'the band played waltzing matilda' maybe it might add, not take away from the event.
Another perspective would anyone be bitching if Dame Kiri had been invited to sing?

As a day to commemorate the soldiers I don't terribly want to see it turn into something undignified. I'm just not sure having something other than a bugle to listen to does that.

nah see I just let the news come to me.... eh voila!

so much of this is just typical aussie media beat-up...

at least Clark showed some taste. Can you blame her for not wanting Farnsy playing?

// if she's never heard him play, why is she taking responsibility for this decision?

She didn't veto the concert because John Farnham would have played at it. She vetoed it because she didn't think *any* rock/pop musician playing would have been right to mark such a solemn event.

It's not really about John Farnham.

it's about the primeminister vetoing music

it's about the primeministerS vetoing music

but i still only have one primeminister,
that is 'the primeminister'
you know the one:
helen 'string quartet' clark

Um, please please please don't take this as defending Farnham (or Brash), but there's a lot more to him than a couple of 80s hits. He's also painfully conservative, from everything I've seen, so would have more respect than.

//there's a lot more to him than a couple of 80s hits.

Just out of interest....what would that be?

and Jet, dont forget his cutting edge work with the Little River Band

it doesn't help that the news was refering to him as the "aging rocker"

What freetrade deals have we signed at ASean whilst crying over Farnsey?
Maybe he's getting a break on "Whispering Jack" reissue in the lucrative Thai market.
I hit Ruth "one for the road" Dyson up about this national disgrace a couppla weeks back, no shame, or even reflection of what these deals mean to the Worker/Slave.
But hey its good for Tait Electronics apparntly...

//best damn aerobics music ever //

ANZAC day is not a celebration of aerobics

//ANZAC day is not a celebration of aerobics

a sharp observation there, get this man a bicycle.
point being i don't care if they were arguing about rolf wanking harris,
this is to remember australians and new zealanders banding , fighting and being slaughtered side by side as brothers.
the fact that these great leaders of our respective nations don't even have the wherewithall to handle this kerfuffle with the least bit of sensitivity or tact,
shows
without a shadow of a doubt
that they suck

big stu
// I think that the PM was right to make the call she did.

rope
// i hear ya, it's about the primeminister vetoing music

Helen Clark and John Howard both agreed at APEC that any sort of concert event at gallipoli would be inappropriate. The beat-up has indeed come from the Aussie media, spurred on by Farnhams management, who have chosen to pick on our PM as the naysayer, merely because it's NZ's turn to organise the event, and that the NZ government thus have veto on whatever happens. If the Aussie government had been in charge this year, it would have been a non-story.

firstly, limegreen it's a distinct pleasure to read your assessment of the technical merits of musical instruments, a fine post.

Big stu, i agree it has been a media beat up, but i don't see it as isolated within national bounderies, or necessarily that the politicians are doing their best to handle the issue with the reserve it deserves

as myshkin reported further up:
"it wasn't rock music that was totally inappropriate: instead she was reported as saying that singing was inappropriate. Her idea of appropriate music was then reported as a string quartet."

how is that more appropriate than john farnham?
how can the australian media be fingered as responsible for this kind of tardness of mind
how many string quartets have you seen play outdoors with good sound delivery?
what kind of material did she have in mind?

I think "Sadie the Cleaning Lady" is as fine a tribute to the Wartime Domestic Workers as any of us are likely to hear.
"Touch of Paradise" may struggle, but "Pressure Down" arranged as duet with Ilhan Sas, should light up the occassion, and placate the hosts.
His deal with Coca Cola may have expired but John sure does bring a lot of Fizz to his performance, and Im sure the youth of today would whole heartedly endorse this icon of Australisian Pop music.
Still, Glenn Shurrock may have been a better choice, particulary as NZ who made such a sucess of himself in Australia.
Im not so up with the play on James Reyne, he, of course, was always to hard core for my taste, and with Mitsubishi using his track from "Design For life" album, theirs always the chance of leftwing Dole Bludging rabble rousers crying Foul over commerical interests getting in on our celebrations.
So its a quandry, Im just glad the mother of The Nation has stepped in and shown a firm hand on this, the single most important issue of her 5 1/2 year reign. Its great that such issues get so much attention, as it shows just how much respect we have for the elderly, freezing to death in their $10/week mobil rest Homes.

NO ROPE. He's posting a remarkable rendition of his latest Bum Trumpet routine.
Bums rush more likely, Cultural Imperialists.
Limegreen, Your thoughts please.