January 2021 – Back to the Drawing Board Productions

‘HOTMESS’ REVIEW AVAILABLE ON SCENESTR

Posted on January 24, 2021February 13, 2023 by Lloyd Marken

December 06

I was very fortunate to be back on assignment for Scenestr magazine, this time my first live event since COVID shut down the Brisbane Comedy Festival in March.

It was at The Sideshow in Brisbane’s West End. West End has its own character and history as a southside boy from the suburbs I am fairly ignorant of.

It’s down from the city’s South Bank precinct which I am more familiar with which is a giant cultural and restaurant hub with museums, art gallery and markets.

West End is the cheaper hippier end of this.

I remember going to see show with David Hasselholf years ago and seeing young people eating on a window sill out of saucepans in an apartment above a set of shops and just being delighted by it.

Places like West End are in danger of losing such culture with increased urban development but it was alive and well on sunday night December 6.

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We entered what looked like a regular cafe, went up some stairs, got served at some makeshift bar and sat on pretty simple chairs. Nobody was wearing masks, we just didn’t do that in Queensland.

There were 13 active cases in the state.

The venue had the setting of being in someone’s large living room for a get together on a sunday arvo for a few laughs.

It was good to have a laugh.

The comedians were diverse in their styles and backgrounds and led by MC Steph Tisdell who got the crowd supporting them fully and open to the experimentation of the event.

You can read my review here https://scenestr.com.au/comedy/hot-mess-comedy-brisbane-review-the-sideshow-20201208

Produced by Eyeball Media Enterprises Scenestr is an online national magazine with local offices around Australia. Having started in 1993 they’ve excelled at moving into the digital realm but they remain at heart from the streets. They still publish magazines in print for Western Australia, South Australia, New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland every month.

This War of the World piece is a mainstay of West End.Copyright Lloyd Marken.

Christmas Decorations. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

Afterwards Karen and I wandered the streets of West End looking for a place to eat and also making our way back to where we parked in South Bank. Yeah we kind of had to let it across the suburbs to get to The Sideshow.

With some delight we saw some Christmas decorations and entered a Vietnamese/Chinese restaurant we had seen packed only two hours later completely empty.

As someone who has always enjoyed quiet places Karen and I settled in for some fried rice.

There was a garden inside with a pond and we had the whole place to ourselves as West End started to quiet down for the night.

Karen waiting for our dinner. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

The West End Garden Restaurant staff were so good to us, the food was fantastic and the whole place was just wonderful. Karen and I really enjoyed our night out.

Numbers were climbing around the word, I was worried about people who lived there. It was almost surreal what was happening in Australia. It felt like we being kept out of some sick game although I’m sure Victorians would agree they had had their fill.

On the 6th of December the World Health Organisation reported there had been 66,184,789 cases globally with a daily increase of 652,608.

1 million 5 hundred 2 twenty 6 six thousand and 6 hundred and 6 sixty 2 two deaths.

1,526,662 deaths globally from COVID.

With a daily increase of 10,767.

In Australia there had been 27,956 confirmed cases with a daily increase of seven. There had been 908 deaths.

In Canada there had been 402,569 confirmed cases with a daily increase of 6,299. There had been 12,496 deaths with a daily increase of 89.

In the United Kingdom there had been 1,705,975 confirmed cases with a daily increase of 15,539. There had been 61,014 deaths with a daily increase of 397.

In India there had been 9,644,222 confirmed cases with a daily increase of 36,011. There had been 140,182 deaths with a daily increase of 482.

In the United States of America the day before, the 5th of December had been a day of big numbers. A new record for daily increase in confirmed cases – 218,671. The highest number of daily recorded deaths since March and April – 2,844.

On the 6th of December there had been 14,191,298 confirmed cases with a daily increase of 213,127. There had been 276,503 deaths with a daily increase of 2,426.

-Lloyd Marken

‘THE BEE GEES: HOW CAN YOU MEND A BROKEN HEART?’ REVIEW AVAILABLE ON SCENESTR

Posted on January 19, 2021February 13, 2023 by Lloyd Marken

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November 29

On Sunday the 29th of November, 2020 I was lucky enough to attend a preview screening of the HBO documentary The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend A Broken Heart? at New Farm cinemas and I got to take Karen with me.

Just another milestone that things were pretty in our neck of the woods while case numbers continued to rise astronomically abroad.

I enjoyed the documentary, it rang very poignant for me given Barry Gibb’s advancing years. I can tell you there were quite a few people of Barry’s and my parent’s age in the audience. I even floated the idea of taking my Mum but she had to decline. Maybe in the audience there were people who had known the Bee Gees from their days in Redcliffe. They certainly laughed and nodded at points like they were flicking through the pages of a photo album. Your culture remains your’s for life – it takes hold you of for life.

I grew up in a household of The Beatles and The Bee Gees. I heard The Rolling Stones and David Bowie but they weren’t in the house. I’m prety sure at one point there was a copy of every Bee Gees album on at least LP, tape or CD.

I enjoyed the documentary of which you can read the review here https://scenestr.com.au/movies-and-tv/the-bee-gees-how-can-you-mend-a-broken-heart-film-review-20201201

Karen and I. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

Me posing with Rocky poster. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

It sent me down a bit of rabbit-hole of Youtube clips.

I would urge you to listen to a live acoustic performance they did of one of their lesser singles Blue Island from one of their strongest later albums from the early 1990s. The thing is, it’s not a bad song but something magical happens when the harmonies those brothers had together sing it. It is something special.

There is an interview Maurice Gibb had in the wake of doing rehab for alcoholism, (I thought he got clean well before Andy Gibb’s death not after) and Barry Gibb talking about his brothers, his wife – his family to Piers Morgan.

There are personal favourites here like The Nights on Broadway (I had no idea they were that broke when they recorded that album), and younger hits like You Win Again which is soooo 80s, their last hit single This Is Where I Came In which I will defend to the death is proof they were still crushing it in 2001, their first big hit as they left Australia in the 60s – Spicks and Specks which is a personal favourite and maybe lesser known to Americans and even Brits I think.

Songs like Alone and Immortality from 1997 which resonates even more now. Absent are the disco hits which I loved as a kid but have listened to a lot more than these gems and I suspect you have too.

Anyway enjoy.

-Lloyd Marken

OH CHRISTMAS TREE, OH CHRISTMAS TREE

Posted on January 18, 2021February 13, 2023 by Lloyd Marken

20201128_220402 — Our Christmas Tree. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

November 28

On Saturday the 28th of November we put up our Christmas Tree again for the second year in a row.

I never really got around to getting a Christmas tree when I was a bachelor.

But as soon as Karen and I moved in together she got one for our apartment.

It was 2011 and I was temping and working nights at BIG W. We lived pay to pay.

It was an old fibre optic tree that no longer worked that she picked up at a Salvos store.

Half a metre tall, bent over we had no decorations but Karen placed a Christmas Penguin toy at the foot of it and voila we had a Christmas tree.

A year later a colleague at QUT offered me is Christmas tree lights that he was throwing out because a third of them did not work.

With all of them wrapped en masse around that tiny tree you couldn’t tell.

Last year I was made a permanent employee after years of working contracts.

I decided I was getting our first proper tree.

I had always wanted a fibre optic tree but the ones in the shops seemed lacklustre in their lighting. I remembered ones that shone like the embers of a fire, not these little specks of light.

Resigned to having to temper my expectations my mother suggested we try the Christmas Warehouse just down the road from our place.

There we found a tree.

People advised us fibre optics don’t last.

The guy at the warehouse suggested not to get lights to go with the fibre optics, it would be overkill.

Karen worried I was spending too much by getting our first decorations but I saw it as an investment and at my urging she picked out some.

A nice European wintry feel to this. My Mum as a young person once had a friend who drove a VW Beetle and her dream car as a young person was a Mini Cooper. Its a stretch but I guess I was thinking of her with this decoration. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

Sombre gloss. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

Karen putting up the decorations for the first time. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

Me putting up the decorations for the first time. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

My roots are in Scotland, Ireland and Italy. Alas though there was no Italian decorations in David Jones and I had no interest in the leprechaun. This proud Scottish bagpiper can stand in for them all. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

Birds always make for nice decorations and again bring back memories of decorations that have been in the family. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

A decoaration my Mum gave to me to hang on our Christmas tree from Karen and I’s Wedding Day. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

This decoration made me laugh and amused my Dad. Now I can’t help but think of him when putting it up. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

For me a must when I saw it as I do still think of myself as a Christian. It’s the decoration placed highest on the tree too. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

One of the decorations that Karen picked out. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

Something a little evocative of a decoration my family had when I was growing up. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

It’s not a snow globe but I like it. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

A pretty decoration Karen has come to admire more. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

A little Australian flavour. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

A set of Santas currently hung by me and Karen but maybe as time goes on, a favourite will be a go to for a little one. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

How they hung in 2019. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

A consistent Christmas grinch I found myself excitedly putting up the tree and placing the ornaments with care.

Finally the sun went down and I flicked the switch.

The Copyright Lloyd Marken.first time our Christmas tree was lit up in 2019. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

My God it was beautiful, so beautiful that Karen beamed and we hugged each other.

Over a tree.

Why?…

I guess in that moment, we felt we got some points on the board.

The Copyright Lloyd Marken.first time our Christmas tree was lit up in 2019. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

I hope that tree may end up in our first home.

I picked out ornaments to maybe one day be hung by the hands of a child or two.

Regardless of what the future may bring, looking at that lit up tree I felt I had one to look forward to.

If Christmas is truly about giving then my place of employment in 2019 gave me a truly generous gift and one that I will always be grateful for.

More so even given what had transpired for so many in the twelve months that followed.

Our tree after we lit it up in 2020. We had a few new decorations from family.Copyright Lloyd Marken.

One more final thing.

A shout-out to my wife.

I tried months earlier to untangle the Christmas tree lights.

Eventually I had decided I would hand them over to a charity store and buy a new set. A stupidly extravagant waste of money but one that I had resolved to make.

One morning Karen said she’d give it a go untangling them if that was my decision.

I went off and got ready for work and ten minutes later I come back out and she had them all untangled.

My wife had saved Christmas.

-Lloyd Marken

Our Christmas Tree shining bright in 2020. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

REVIEW OF THE AUSTRALIAN ARMY FLYING MUSUEM AVAILABLE ON WEEKEND NOTES

Posted on January 13, 2021February 13, 2023 by Lloyd Marken

20201121_120424 — Copyright Lloyd Marken. The view of Oakey airfield.

November 21, 2020

At the gym on Friday night I saw on the TV that India became the second country to pass 9 million COVID-19 cases. The only one since the U.S.

Per chance I was about to catch up with my brother from another mother the next day who had family in India.

It was a scary time but we intended to have a nice day out in each other’s company.

We were driving out west to the small town of Oakey.

Famous for the race horse Bernborough and where I had recently been reminded my grandmother had been born.

As a result I wore a hat that my grandfather had worn in travels when I was a boy. The hat fitted his head better but I wanted to wear it and pose at the statue of Bernborough like he had in a photograph many years ago.

It’s true.

They live on in us.

20201121_132935 — Copyright Lloyd Marken. Me with Bernborough.

I was with my wife Karen, her sister and her husband, as we had been a few weeks earlier when we travelled to Capriccios Pizza in Maleny in the wake of his Uncle passing from COVID-19 in India.

I’ve never met a man who didn’t work harder. As we drove along he passed along information of everywhere we went. A ride share worker who had previously driven cabs and worked his way up in trucking to drive semis interstate. He knew when we were coming up to the well known Fernvale Bakery in Ipswich, he told us of businesses off the main track he’d gone to as we started to get out in the country. He quietly advised and offered stories of so many places.

We did stop at the bakery in Fernvale although I went for the sweets rather than their famous and beloved pies. We will have to return and partake properly.

Around people I truly love I relaxed a little and even started to sing songs like Don McLean’s American Pie and Cold Chisel’s Flame Trees. I am not a singer so spare a thought for the poor people in that car who had to conjure their best poker faces as they realised, “Oh man Lloyd’s really going for it!”.

It was a beautiful sunny day, the Museum is housed in a hangar that is located on the perimeter of the fencing of the defence base. You do not need to enter the base to enter the museum as a result. Very cleverly located.

Kiowa faces off with Huey. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

The AS350 Squirrel which served in the Australian Army, Royal Australian Navy and Royal Australian Air Force. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

If I was mugging for the camera, certainly Karen was not. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

If I see anti-aircraft weaponry, I take a picture of it. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

Sopwith Camel. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

“Get out of that Fokker you Fokker.” Copyright Lloyd Marken.

SR-70 Blackhawk. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

HUEY! Copyright Lloyd Marken.

The Bougainville Finger. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

CH-47 Chinook. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

CH-47 Chinook. Most recently used by the Australian Army during the horrendous bushfires last summer. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

Sioux helicopters made famous in the film and TV series MASH that was set during the Korean War. This is indicative of the ones that served Australian forces in Vietnam. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

Tivomagic parked outside the Australian Army Flying Museum. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

Me in cargo/passenger compartment. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

Maintained by local volunteers it is a wonderful display of aircraft and stories from Australian Military Aviation.

I wrote a review which I was lucky enough to have published on Weekend Notes which you can read here Australian Army Flying Museum – Brisbane (weekendnotes.com)

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Weekend Notes are a growing online magazine with a wealth of contributors based out of several cities across the United Kingdom, Australia and New York. Articles are leisure related and can include a wide variety of subjects from rainforest hikes to cultural festivals, from what hot new play is on at your underground theatre to a ultra trendy eatery. Writers are paid for their work based partly on how many views their articles get so please feel free to stop by and show some love.

We had a late lunch at the Oakey RSL Club.

A tale from a pandemic past. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

Oakey ANZAC Memorial. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

Oakey RSL Club. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

Oakey ANZAC Memorial. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

Bernborugh. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

Having driven north from Ipswich through Fernvale, past Wivenhoe Dam and through Esk I decided on the way back we would drive through Toowoomba.

I was hoping we would find the University of Southern Queensland campus where there is a beautiful Japanese peace garden but we actually googled just a public garden in Toowoomba and ended up there. A callback to simpler times when sometimes you just turned down a road and found you were where you wanted to be.

The Japanese Garden are well known and are quite beautiful and peaceful in these troubled times.

At one point we went over a bridge and looked down at ducks in a pond. In the late afternoon I exclaimed with excitement when I saw a creature underneath the water and realised it was not a fish. I grabbed everybody’s attention and the words escaped me on instinct “Look a platypus!”

A platypus sighting at that time of day with those amount of people would have been very special indeed but alas what became abundantly clear in the next couple of seconds was we were looking at turtle.

Oh well, still pretty special.

Flame Trees on the Toowoomba campus. Copyright Lloyd Marken.

LOOK IT’S A PLATYPUS! Copyright Lloyd Marken.

As we drove out of Toowoomba my sister-in-law spoke of working as a speech pathologist in the town years ago making long commutes for the job. My wife had also worked around as a speechie.

In the late spring of Australia, the jacarandas were in full bloom in Toowoomba and so much more beautiful there.

It was only a 2 hour drive out of Brisbane but it had been years since I had come to Toowoomba and I had no memories of Oakey. Seeing this part of the world buoyed my spirits in the way only getting out and about can. I understood I was becoming older and now came to understand weekend trips as a child where we were packed out and driven out to dams and beaches that held no interest for me then.

As much as I appreciated my freedom which earlier in the year had not been possible and was not currently for so many around the world.

What I appreciated more was the company I kept.

It was a good day out.

-Lloyd Marken

20201121_131057 — Copyright Lloyd Marken.

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