TWiSK #355
Opening night for Dickie’s risqué musical
Locals in truth telling podcast of Council meeting
Sunday stroll and sing in Elwood
Repair Café @ EcoCentre
Ricchi e Poveri @ Palais
Wednesday 8 March, 7 pm
Ricchi e Poveri return to Australia after 30 years with original members Angela and Angelo with their dynamic band performing multi-award-winning unforgettable hits spanning over half a century.
Tix
International Women’s Day “DigitALL” @ Town Hall
Thursday 9 March, 6 pm – 8 pm
Celebrate IWD and hear Ally Watson AOM, Founder of “Code Like a girl” and Sarah Moran co-founder of Women in Tech ?? Girl Geek Academy plus Carlene Harlock, Coordinator, Friends of Suai. The event will celebrate the innovation and leadership of women committed to bridging the gender digital divide.
A live music jazz trio will perform before, during and at the close of the event.
Bookings required 
Eric Bibb & Band @ Memo
Thursday 9 March, 7 pm
One of the world’s leading bluesmen, two-time Grammy Award nominee, Eric Bibb with special guest Lloyd Spiegel. $80
Tix
Mick Daley’s Corporate Raiders @ George Lane
Thursday 9 March, 7 pm – 11 pm
Country-folk-alt-rock band Mick Daley’s Corporate Raiders were reared on a steady diet of Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, Townes Van Zandt and Nick Cave. Sounds like my musical diet minus Joan, Janis, Lucinda and Dolly.
Tix
Aurora @ Palais
Thursday 9 March, 8 pm
Sold out show
Chain – 55th Anniversary Celebration @ Memo
Friday 10 March, 7 pm
Chain are celebrating their 55th Anniversary – can it be that long since you were young, and the world had just begun?
As well as their hits and favourite Chain material, they will also be performing some material that hasn’t been heard for years. $45
Tix
Not Finished With You Yet @ Alex Theatre on Fitzroy Street
Friday 10 March to Sunday 2 April
Part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival
A new musical with a powerhouse cast headed by real-life partners Christie Whelan Browne and Rohan Browne.
Tickets from $66 (previews) $71
Tix and info 
“Weird Al” Yankovic @ Palais
Friday 1o March and Saturday 11 March, 7.30 pm
“Weird Al” is the biggest-selling comedy recording artist of all time.
Opening the show is Al’s long-time friend, the legendary comedian Emo Philips.
Tix 
Mussel and Jazz Festival @ South Melbourne Market
Saturday 11 March and Sunday 12 March
Bustling food and music festival at the South Melbourne Market.
Worth the pilgrimage from St Kilda. Free.
Details 
Finding Freedom exhibition @ Space2b
Opening Saturday 11 March 11 am – 1 pm
Until 26 March 2023
This month’s exhibition welcomes a group of courageous and talented artists from Ukraine, Egypt and Iran, expressing their personal stories about ‘Finding Freedom’ through art.
Info
144 Chapel St, St Kilda
Multicultural Peace Day @ St Kilda Town Hall
Saturday 11 March, 1.30 am – 3 pm
Heavenly Culture World Peace, Restoration of Light (HWPL), an International Peace NGO founded for global peace and cessation of war, is hosting the Multicultural Peace Day. Cultural booths, food trucks, cultural performances, and a fashion show. Free.
Register 
Cold Irons Bound + The Golden Rail @ George Lane Matinee Sessions
Saturday 11 March, 3 pm – 6 pm
Tix
‘Sunday Stroll’ @ Elwood Singing Walking Trail
Sunday 12 March, 10.30 am – 12.00 noon
Explore this local musical trail along the Elwood foreshore with members of the Elwood Community Choir as ‘stroll leaders’ to get the singing going and answer questions about the trail. Free event.
Meet at Robinson Reserve, between Barkly St and Marine Parade, Elwood.
You can also take a self-directed musical stroll at any time.
Discover more about the trail 
Darts Tournament @ St Kilda Sports Club
Sunday 12 March, doors from noon, names in by 1 pm
Score a bullseye at the next Darts Mafia Super Darts Masters Comp. $20 entry includes pizza.
Now that hits the spot.
St Kilda Repair Cafe @ EcoCentre
Sunday 12 March, 2 pm – 5 pm
Bring your broken items to the St Kilda Repair Cafe to reduce waste and learn new skills, all while having a cuppa.
You can donate unwanted phones or laptops, their IT experts will wipe all data give it to refugees and asylum seekers.
Cora Graves, 38 Blessington St (across from previous EcoCentre location)
Aequales Ensemble @ All Saints
Sunday 12 March, 3 pm
Aequales Ensemble will be joined by oboist Stephen Robinson for the following program:
J. S. Bach, a selection from the Goldberg Variations, arranged for String Trio
Gordon Jacob, Oboe Quartet
Zoltán Kodály, Intermezzo for String Trio
W.A. Mozart, Oboe Quartet in F Major
$25 / $20; students: granted free with a valid student card.
Tickets at the door (no EFTPOS) or Trybooking
2 Chapel St
Don’t Miss
When The Rain Stops Falling @ Theatre Works
Until Saturday 18 March, 7.30 pm (1 pm matinee Sat 11 March)
Alice Springs. 2039. A fish falls from the sky – it still smells of the sea. It’s been raining for days and Gabriel York knows something is wrong…..
Writer Andrew Bovell (Lantana, After Dinner, Anthem) has created an epic and powerful piece of magic realism, which asks the question: do we have the capacity to address the damage of the past in the future? First performed in 2008, the play has become increasingly relevant as the world faces the impacts of climate change and global warming. $45/$35 some tix $20
Tix
Wolf Play @ Red Stitch
Previews: Until Wednesday 8 March
Season: Thursday 9 March – Sunday 2 April
South Korean playwright, Hansol Jung’s Wolf Play looks at the broken adoption of a little boy who is plucked from South Korea and moved to one American home, then shunted to another. In this internet-era custody battle, Jung draws upon the ancient, underappreciated performing art of puppetry to playfully explore a lone wolf desperately seeking his ‘pack’. $69 – $20
Tix
Diary worthy
Clannad @ Palais
Friday 17 March, 8 pm
St Patrick’s Day and the Melbourne gig of Clannad’s last tour of Australia and the first Australian tour without founder members Pádraig (2016) and Noel, who passed recently.
Tix
St. Patrick’s Day Parade @ Acland Street
Saturday 18 March, 2 pm
A parade along Acland Street to the Plaza followed by a ticketed event in O’Donnell Gardens. Free family events from 10 am – 3 pm
Tix
Songs for Suzanne: The Music and Poetry of Leonard Cohen @ Memo
Sunday 19 March, 3 pm
Locals who love Leonard, with Henry Wagons, Rebecca Barnard, Delsinki, Alma Zygier & more $89/$69
Tix
FOJAM presents – Carole King: Hits & Rarities@ Memo
Wednesday 22 March & Thursday 23 March, 7 pm
A classy ensemble featuring Harry James Angus (former frontman and founder of The Cat Empire), Emily Lubitz (Tinpan Orange), Jem Cassar-Daley, Esther Edquist (Sweet Whirl), Freeds and emerging star Jemma Cher. $70/$35
Tix
Hijinks and low-lows @ Sisters in Crime
Friday 24 March, 6.30 pm (dinner) 8.00 pm (show)
Crime doesn’t always have to be bloody and gory, as new books by Elizabeth Coleman, Kerryn Mayne, and Ilsa Evans prove. Crime can make us laugh as well as gasp. Also hear Anne M. Carson read from her new book, The Detective’s Chair: Prose Poems about Fictional Detectives (Liquid Amber).
Bookings
The Rising Sun Hotel, 2 Raglan Street, South Melbourne.
No wheelchair access
Marathon council meeting on local laws
Passionate testimony published in our podcast
Councillors baulk at ‘move-on’ laws
Community consultation starts soon
A raft of changes to local laws were approved for consultation by councillors at last week’s meeting for community consultation.
But the consultation will not include tougher ‘move-on’ powers for council officers to deal with nuisance behaviour and ‘camping’ on council property including footpaths and parks.
Locals vocal about problems
At the meeting, councillors were faced with a procession of passionate submissions calling for more action to improve public safety, especially in identifiable hotspots including Acland and Fitzroy Streets. Many of the submission supported additional ‘move-on’ powers.
After a lengthy discussion, the majority of councillors (7:2) rejected tougher local laws as ineffective solutions to problems caused by entrenched social disadvantage.
Move on to where?
The most controversial consideration was the option of ‘move-on’ powers that would enable council officers to compel people to move on. Progressive councillors including Cr Crawford and Cr Baxter questioned where the people involved were expected to go.
Others felt the ‘move on’ powers were a step too far and a complex job best tackled by the police.
Already tough local laws on alcohol
Some councillors also noted that there were already extensive local laws on drinking in public places, yet the problems continued.
Cr Pearl said, ‘we don’t need more laws, we need more state government action.’
Behind the scenes, more police please
Council CEO Chris Carroll said that council was working extensively with police behind the scenes. He was positive that joint patrols combining council local laws officers and police were effective – but he said these patrols are “very infrequent” at the moment.
He also said that council was advocating for more police resources to enforce existing laws,. such as drinking in Acland Street.
Analysis
“History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce”
TWiSK is not in the habit of being alarmist about street issues in St Kilda but the testimony at Council by such a wide range of locals is hard to ignore.
That’s why TWiSK ‘broken the rules’ to bring you a podcast summary of the ‘truth telling’ at last week’s Council meeting.
Listen Now (21 minutes)
The testimonial is confronting and raw, and it deserves an audience, especially amongst those setting priorities in State government and the police.
According to the testimony:
Triple 0 calls are being ignored.
Existing local laws are being ignored.
Women in particular are feeling unsafe.
Crime, drug dealing and assaults are daily events.
These are not new issues for St Kilda
TWiSK can see why Council is reluctant to back tougher laws when existing laws are not being enforced and are obviously ineffective.
TWiSK also acknowledges that legal solutions are rarely helpful solutions to drug & alcohol problems and mental illness.
But finger pointing is also rarely helpful.
It takes more than a village …
The most import message here is that all levels of government must work together.
TWiSK hopes that joint patrols with police and council officers will become a frequent response and that police can step up enforcement in clearly identified hotspots.
It’s time for our representatives in government (including the police), to recognise the local tragedy and take appropriate and proportionate action before it becomes more of a farce.
As always, your opinions are welcome and will be published
Email (brief, civil and authorised opinions)
St Kilda Talks Podcast
Not good in the ‘hood
Truth telling testimonials from residents
Listen now (21 minutes)
This podcast presents audio highlights of community testimony to the Council.
Consider it like a community truth telling session.
You’ll hear a selection of the personal experiences from numerous locals as they tell council what they see everyday in their community.
Its confronting. It’s raw. And it needs an audience.
We’ve chosen to give it a broader audience, not to embarrass council or councillors, but as an ‘open letter’ to all levels of government saying that things are not good in the ‘hood.
Not authorised but fair coverage
The testimonies included have all been used with the permission of the speakers.
But not with the permission of council. That permission has not been sought.
As a community news outlet, we believe this is fair coverage of publicly available material.
We’ve have simply made it more accessible with permission of the speakers – in some cases the speakers have asked that we only use their first names.
Listen Now (21 minutes)
Greg Day
Happy to chat anytime 0418 345 829
Content suggestions and community questions are always welcome.
gday@archives.gdaystkilda.com.au
Recent editions
Monday 27 February – Sunday 5 March
Monday 20 February – Sunday 26 February
Monday 6 February – Sunday 12 February
Monday 30 January – Sunday 5 February
This Week in St Kilda respectfully acknowledges the Traditional Owners of this land, the people of the Kulin Nations. We pay our respect to their Elders, past and present. We acknowledge and uphold their continuing relationship to this land.
TWiSK is always free and proudly independent.
Subscribe for free or with a voluntary option of paid support from $5 per month or $50 annually
Venues are also invited to subscribe
