Farewell to Pig City
Posted on | October 10, 2008 |
It’s my last day at UQ, which makes a fresh theme seem fitting. The banner design this time is by Sarah Xu, who has been taking the lead for the past few months on the Working From Home project. I think she gets the Home Cooked Theory vibe just right. Thanks Sarah!
One of my fondest memories of working at the CCCS was running the Pig City symposium in July 2007, which we put on the day before the concert featuring the reformed Saints. Hundreds of school kids, Gen Xers and aging rockers descended on campus to either reminisce or hear first hand what it was like to be part of the Brisbane scene in the 70s and 80s. As Clinton Walker put it: “It’s great to be back at UQ. I used to come here often. To buy drugs.” Even though we were in a huge indoor lecture theatre we could still hear the sound-checks going on in the field below. Everyone was pretty excited.
The recordings from that day have never been made public, and as a parting gesture I’m putting them online here.* Listen to these and you’ll get a unique insight into the reality behind the Pig City mythology and the difference between Brisbane then and now.
The line up:
Andrew Stafford - Music writer and author of Pig City: From The Saints to Savage Garden
Clinton Walker - Australian Music Historian; author of Stranded: The Australian History of Independent Music 1977-1991
Lindy Morrison and Kiley Gaffney in conversation - introduced by Nadia Mizner
The Future of Brisbane Music Panel - Chaired by John Birmingham
Featuring
* Graham Ashton - Head of Marketing and International Licensing at Dew Process Records (home of Bernard Fanning and The Grates)
* Paul Curtis - Manager of Valve Records and Brisbane bands Regurgitator and I Heart Hiroshima
* Deb Suckling - Project Officer for Qmusic, label manager for Sugar Rush Records and Funk Folk Records and current member of Brisbane band Brindle
* Ian Rogers - UQ postgraduate student and member of Brisbane band Iron On
Please spread the word about these recordings. There’s some valuable local history captured in them spanning the protest era to the Go Betweens love triangle to Ladyfest - plus the inside story on how to get a gig in the Valley. Enjoy!
Meanwhile, a lot has changed even in the time I’ve been living in this town: new galleries, libraries, universities, busways and bridges (and more in progress, much to the detriment of my daily travels).
Not to mention a female Premier, a local Prime Minister, and a woman as Head of State. Whichever way you look at it, this has been a phenomenal time to be in Brisbane. So in spite of the gimmicks of the branding campaigns (Bernard Salt’s recent description of the city as a fried egg - “It has this very dense, funky centre stretching around Spring Hill, New Farm, the Gabba and West End, and all of that is cementing nicely” - takes the prize for the most ridiculous statement in the most offensive article to date), I’ve made many friends here and learned a lot. I’m looking forward to coming back often.
*Thanks to Ian for his work on the day; and to John and Nick for helping me with uploads.
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3 Responses to “Farewell to Pig City”
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October 10th, 2008 @ 3:00 pm
wow check out the new blogginess! sweet!
October 12th, 2008 @ 10:52 am
Sucks that you’re leaving, but I likes the new blog look!
October 13th, 2008 @ 5:30 pm
Thanks so much Mel for making my time as a uq postgraduate so much more socially enjoyable and intellectually critical. You really made it bearable for me at times–as a great voice of reason and some kind of realistic role model amongst the socially-challenged middle aged set. You’re a great friend and ally and the place will miss you.
See you in Sydney (BDO?),
xxx