January, 2017 | Semantically driven

Every year now the Brighton Surf Life Saving Club puts on a sculpture exhibition to help raise money for its club. I first heard about it through friends who had a part in organising an aspect of it and also through a friend who’s had pieces in it and now I visit it every year.

The outdoor sculptures are placed along the foreshore near the Brighton Jetty and many of them are themed to fit in like the pelican, or the deep sea diver or seagulls and this year there were dogs made out of rubber boots which add a touch of fun to it.

We visited the exhibition the morning after it opened and it was good to see the amount of sold ones already. Prices range from a few hundred dollars to quite a few thousand dollars. If I had the money I’d love to fill up my backyard with some of them.

You can vote for your favourites from outside or inside which is really hard to do. I liked many of them. This was one of my favourite outdoor ones though.

There are some on display in the surf life saving club upstairs and in a marquee out the back of the club.

It’s on until 5 February. More information.

It was a hot night outside and an even hotter one inside Thebarton Theatre – no air conditioning and a couple of ceiling fans doing not much.

I saw a friend before the show started and we’d both been to a previous show of hers at Thebarton when PJ wore a yellow dress. Neither of us could remember how long ago that was but maybe pre-kids, so some time ago. Both of us were very excited to get another PJ fix.

I hoped she’d do some songs I know from my favourite album of hers ‘Stories of the City, Stories of the Sea’ – but not one did she do and in the end I didn’t care.

She came out on stage with her 9-piece band. They all stood in a row and did ‘Chain of Keys’ from the Hope Six Demolition Project album (her latest). I was sold.

For me having seen her however long ago it was, it was quite different but spectacular nonetheless. The hour and a half they performed went far too quickly and before I knew it they were off stage before coming back on to do 2 more songs.

Last time I saw her in her yellow dress it was great, but quite different. She played the guitar and had nowhere near the 9 band members she had this time. This time she played the saxophone for some songs and made holding a saxophone between songs look really cool. She held it alongside and upwards as if it was a talisman she was showing off.

A friend later thought that she was a bit aloof on stage. She may have appeared that way but it wasn’t just a woman with a band singing some songs. It was a show. A show that has stuck in my mind nearly a week later. I think that was how it was supposed to be.

We walked out of the theatre and it had been raining. Actually it had been quite stormy and we were completely oblivious of what was happening outside. We had experienced our very own perfect storm.

Archives for January 2017

Brighton Jetty Classic Sculpture exhibition

PJ Harvey performs