SA Drink Of The Week

Graham Kilsby interview

The Kilsby Sinkhole episode is live now but its show notes will be updated Thursday, August 1, in the evening.

The Kilsby Sinkhole episode is live now but its show notes will be updated Thursday, August 1, in the evening.

A weekly podcast recorded in Adelaide that puts South Australian passion on centre stage with a featured guest who joins us each week as a co-presenter to share how they're pursuing their passions. We venture across topics as diverse as history, wine, food, art, music, relationships, critical thinking, health, news, interviews, chat and quizzes. 

Every single interview, every single show, unlocks insights into what drives people to be doing what they're doing and what keeps them striving. 

The Adelaide Show is produced by Steve Davis and Nigel Dobson-Keeffe.

Please subscribe to our In Crowd list; you get an email each Friday (when we have published a new episode) with an overview of that week's show. Plus, consider joining our Inner Circle; a small group of passionate South Aussies who allow us to pick their brains and gain interviewee suggestions.

This podcast began life as Another Boring Thursday Night In Adelaide from episodes 1-79.

A podcast recorded in Adelaide that puts South Australian passion on centre stage with a featured guest who joins us each week as a co-presenter to share how they're pursuing their passions. We venture across topics as diverse as history, wine, ...

The Adelaide Show

A podcast recorded in Adelaide that puts South Australian passion on centre stage with a featured guest who joins us to share how they're pursuing their passions. We venture across topics as diverse as history, wine, food, art, music, relationships, critical thinking, health, and general news. Every single interview, every single show, unlocks insights into what drives people to be doing what they're doing and what keeps them striving. The Adelaide Show is produced by Steve Davis, and ends with an original song by a South Australian artist. Please subscribe to our In Crowd list; you get an email each Friday with an overview of that week's show. This podcast began life as Another Boring Thursday Night In Adelaide from episodes 1-79.

A podcast recorded in Adelaide that puts South Australian passion on centre stage with a featured guest who joins us to share how they're pursuing their passions. We venture across topics as diverse as history, wine, food, art, music, relationships, critical thinking, health, and general news. Every single interview, every single show, unlocks insights into what drives people to be doing what they're doing and what keeps them striving. The Adelaide Show is produced by Steve Davis, and ends with an original song by a South Australian artist. Please subscribe to our In Crowd list; you get an email each Friday with an overview of that week's show. This podcast began life as Another Boring Thursday Night In Adelaide from episodes 1-79.

Steve Davis talks to Graham Kilsby and Jen Will about the Kilsby Sinkhole near Mount Gambier

286 - The Kilsby Sinkhole

Fergus Maximus and Doctor D

Sweet Songs is a collaboration between Doctor D and Fergus Maximus, multi-award-winning songwriters based in Adelaide. They first worked together in the sell-out Adelaide 2021 Fringe Show SWT_HM_ADL. Since then they have been delighting audiences with their music, stories and amiable on-stage personas. Their debut album Back in ADL is out now and you hear a great sampling of it, with seven full tracks in this episode.

The episode image was shot by Ben Searcy.

The SA Drink Of The Week - no featured drink this week.

And the whole episode is a Musical Pilgrimage segment this week!

You can navigate episodes using chapter markers in your podcast app. Not a fan of one segment? You can click next to jump to the next chapter in the show. We're here to serve!

The Adelaide Show Podcast: Awarded Silver for Best Interview Podcast in Australia at the 2021 Australian Podcast Awards and named as Finalist for Best News and Current Affairs Podcast in the 2018 Australian Podcast Awards.

And please consider becoming part of our podcast by joining our Inner Circle. It's an email list. Join it and you might get an email on a Sunday or Monday seeking question ideas, guest ideas and requests for other bits of feedback about YOUR podcast, The Adelaide Show. Email us directly and we'll add you to the list: podcast@theadelaideshow.com.au

If you enjoy the show, please leave us a 5-star review in iTunes or other podcast sites, or buy some great merch from our Red Bubble store - The Adelaide Show Shop. We'd greatly appreciate it.

And please talk about us and share our episodes on social media, it really helps build our community. Oh, and here's our index of all episode in one concise
page

Running Sheet: Sweet Home Adelaide Songs

00:00:00 Intro

Introduction

00:00:00 SA Drink Of The Week

No SA Drink Of The Week this week.

00:02:48 Fergus Maximus and Dr D, Back in ADL

Back In ADL is an album by Fergus Maximus and Dr D, drawing together some of the songs of their Adelaide Fringe hit show, Sweet Home Songs (and its earlier manifestations). There is so much goodness in the album, that we have them in the studio to walk us through a selection of songs about this state and this city, which has been named the Coolest Place In Australia by the Wall Street Journal.

Buy Back in ADL on Bandcamp.

Fergus, you've been on the Adelaide Show before, and you have 100% South Australian bona fides, having been born in Whyalla and grown up in Clare. Plus, you are married to one of our longest term listeners, Andrea Ferguson. I picture Johnny Cash walking along a railway line in the country and picking out a tune like, I Walk The Line. When did you first write a song based on a location in South Australia?

Dr D. In the early days of our podcast, you had to be born and bred in SA to get a gong, but having moved here from the UK after your frequent visits gradually hardwired SA into your DNA, you are warmly welcomed. You've performed on five continents including legendary venues in London and Chicago. Is there a tangible, physical difference between the venues in those places compared to venues in South Australia OR if they feel more significant, is that due to the aura of those cities?

It took me 4 or 5 songs on my first listen to fight through the echoes of cultural cringe. I’ve spoken about this with Peter Goers about how I don’t bat an eyelid when a song talks about Baton Rouge or New York or Chicago or London, but when it mentions anywhere in Australia, let alone South Australia, it feels tacky or too familiar. I don’t think it’s actually cultural cringe because I’m very proud of our country and our townships. I think it might more closely be linked to the saying that a profit is never recognised or respected in their homeland.

Let's get going with the title track, Back in ADL.

BACK IN ADL (17:35)

When you are writing about places, how do you stop them from sounding like TV commercials or slogans or jingles for property developments? Henley Square is one of those songs that comes very close to sounding like this, but so, too, does the title track, Back in ADL.

The line take me to your deli counter and let me taste your ways because there's lots of innuendo there especially with smallgoods ... or is that just me?

In our early days, we had the Adelaide Visa Council because people made lazy jokes about Adelaide being boring and Paul Barry from Media Watch was very cynical about Adelaide earning the Coolest City label from the Wall Street Journal. Let's listen to his cowardly backhander from a recent episode of Media Bites.

I thought we were past these lazy jokes. Your thoughts?

The second track on the album, Gulf of St. Vincent, contains the O word. Is that pedantic to query that? Is that just Total Adelaide?

Talking of Vincent, I think St Vincent Street is a great song that needs to be included, all about about a particular female police officer.

VINCENT STREET (36:00)

Talking of streets, let's address the myth of naming conventions and the belief you cannot cross the king. In episode 28 of The Adelaide Show, around the 45-minute mark, Keith Conlon highlights that it was popularly believed that the reason none of our city streets continue either side of King William Street is because you CANNOT CROSS THE KING.

PLAY KEITH CONLON INSERT

Have you caught much flak about that song?

CROSS OUT THE KING (47:50)

When you get into history, I note that This Is Our Beef has an early Redgum feel.

Beef Rebellion story

THIS IS OUR BEEF (58:05)

The thing about writing songs about places we know and live it, is that we all have stories that intersect with your songs. Do people call out during the show or want to talk to you afterwards?

FOUR TREES (MIRNU WIRRA) (1:08:01)

If I were at your show, I'd be chewing your ear about Johnnie's Gone Away because I worked at John Martins in the 80s in the West Lakes store in boyswear. And my maternal grandman, Lillian Field, she worked in the basement of the city store in the late 1930s when a young man from an engineering company turned up to fix the lifts. He soon became my grandpa.

Why did you guys write about John Martins, which we're reflecting on the day after the 2023 Christmas Pageant which was a gift to SA from John Martins for most of its 131 years.

JOHNNIE'S GONE AWAY (1:17:00)

Finally, your Fringe show has won awards, and gotten great reviews. What is next?

Has your song, Letter To Paul Kelly, caught Paul's attention?

LETTER TO PAUL KELLY (1:28:45)

00:00:00 Musical Pilgrimage

This whole episode was an extended Musical Pilgrimage segment.

Sweet Songs is a collaboration between Doctor D and Fergus Maximus, multi-award-winning songwriters based in Adelaide. They first worked together in the sell-out Adelaide 2021 Fringe Show SWT_HM_ADL. Since then they have been delighting audiences with their music, stories and amiable on-stage personas. Their debut album Back in ADL is out now and you hear a great sampling of it, with seven full tracks in this episode.
The episode image was shot by Ben Searcy.
The SA Drink Of The Week - no featured drink this week.
And the whole episode is a Musical Pilgrimage segment this week!
You can navigate episodes using chapter markers in your podcast app. Not a fan of one segment? You can click next to jump to the next chapter in the show. We're here to serve!
The Adelaide Show Podcast: Awarded Silver for Best Interview Podcast in Australia at the 2021 Australian Podcast Awards and named as Finalist for Best News and Current Affairs Podcast in the 2018 Australian Podcast Awards.
And please consider becoming part of our podcast by joining our Inner Circle. It's an email list. Join it and you might get an email on a Sunday or Monday seeking question ideas, guest ideas and requests for other bits of feedback about YOUR podcast, The Adelaide Show. Email us directly and we'll add you to the list: <a href="mailto:podcast@theadelaideshow.com.au">podcast@theadelaideshow.com.au</a>
If you enjoy the show, please <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/another-boring-thursday-night/id696302138">leave us a 5-star review </a>in iTunes or other podcast sites, or buy some great merch from our Red Bubble store - <a href="https://www.redbubble.com/people/theadelaideshow/shop?asc=u">The Adelaide Show Shop</a>. We'd greatly appreciate it.
And please talk about us and share our episodes on social media, it really helps build our community. Oh, and here's <a href="https://theadelaideshow.com.au/complete-list-adelaide-show-episodes/">our index of all episode in one concise page</a>
Running Sheet: Sweet Home Adelaide Songs
00:00:00 Intro
Introduction
00:00:00 SA Drink Of The Week
No SA Drink Of The Week this week.
00:02:48 Fergus Maximus and Dr D, Back in ADL
Back In ADL is an album by Fergus Maximus and Dr D, drawing together some of the songs of their Adelaide Fringe hit show, Sweet Home Songs (and its earlier manifestations). There is so much goodness in the album, that we have them in the studio to walk us through a selection of songs about this state and this city, which has been named the Coolest Place In Australia by the Wall Street Journal.
<a href="https://sweetsongs.bandcamp.com/album/back-in-adl-sweet-home-sa-volume-1">Buy Back in ADL on Bandcamp</a>.
Fergus, you've been on the Adelaide Show before, and you have 100% South Australian bona fides, having been born in Whyalla and grown up in Clare. Plus, you are married to one of our longest term listeners, Andrea Ferguson. I picture Johnny Cash walking along a railway line in the country and picking out a tune like, I Walk The Line. When did you first write a song based on a location in South Australia?
Dr D. In the early days of our podcast, you had to be born and bred in SA to get a gong, but having moved here from the UK after your frequent visits gradually hardwired SA into your DNA, you are warmly welcomed. You've performed on five continents including legendary venues in London and Chicago. Is there a tangible, physical difference between the venues in those places compared to venues in South Australia OR if they feel more significant, is that due to the aura of those cities?
It took me 4 or 5 songs on my first listen to fight through the echoes of cultural cringe. I’ve spoken about this with Peter Goers about how I don’t bat an eyelid when a song talks about Baton Rouge or New York or Chicago or London, but when it mentions anywhere in Australia, let alone South Australia, it feels tacky or too familiar. I don’t think it’s actually cultural cringe because I’m very proud of our country and our townships. I think it might more closely be linked to the saying that a profit is never recognised or respected in their homeland.
Let's get going with the title track, Back in ADL.
BACK IN ADL (17:35)
When you are writing about places, how do you stop them from sounding like TV commercials or slogans or jingles for property developments? Henley Square is one of those songs that comes very close to sounding like this, but so, too, does the title track, Back in ADL.
The line take me to your deli counter and let me taste your ways because there's lots of innuendo there especially with smallgoods ... or is that just me?
In our early days, we had the Adelaide Visa Council because people made lazy jokes about Adelaide being boring and Paul Barry from Media Watch was very cynical about Adelaide earning the Coolest City label from the Wall Street Journal. Let's listen to his cowardly backhander from a recent episode of Media Bites.
I thought we were past these lazy jokes. Your thoughts?
The second track on the album, Gulf of St. Vincent, contains the O word. Is that pedantic to query that? Is that just Total Adelaide?
Talking of Vincent, I think St Vincent Street is a great song that needs to be included, all about about a particular female police officer.
VINCENT STREET (36:00)
Talking of streets, let's address the myth of naming conventions and the belief you cannot cross the king. In episode 28 of The Adelaide Show, around the 45-minute mark, Keith Conlon highlights that it was popularly believed that the reason none of our city streets continue either side of King William Street is because you CANNOT CROSS THE KING.
PLAY KEITH CONLON INSERT
Have you caught much flak about that song?
CROSS OUT THE KING (47:50)
When you get into history, I note that This Is Our Beef has an early Redgum feel.
<a href="https://citymag.indaily.com.au/culture/moments-time-2-beef-riots/">Beef Rebellion story</a>
THIS IS OUR BEEF (58:05)
The thing about writing songs about places we know and live it, is that we all have stories that intersect with your songs. Do people call out during the show or want to talk to you afterwards?
FOUR TREES (MIRNU WIRRA) (1:08:01)
If I were at your show, I'd be chewing your ear about Johnnie's Gone Away because I worked at John Martins in the 80s in the West Lakes store in boyswear. And my maternal grandman, Lillian Field, she worked in the basement of the city store in the late 1930s when a young man from an engineering company turned up to fix the lifts. He soon became my grandpa.
Why did you guys write about John Martins, which we're reflecting on the day after the 2023 Christmas Pageant which was a gift to SA from John Martins for most of its 131 years.
JOHNNIE'S GONE AWAY (1:17:00)
Finally, your Fringe show has won awards, and gotten great reviews. What is next?
Has your song, Letter To Paul Kelly, caught Paul's attention?
LETTER TO PAUL KELLY (1:28:45)
00:00:00 Musical Pilgrimage
This whole episode was an extended Musical Pilgrimage segment.

Songs About South Australia On The Podcast That Puts South Australian Passion On Centre Stage

387 - Sweet Home Adelaide Songs

Meredith Burgess

Deborah Herring

Musical Pilgrimage

We have two Australian Army veterans as our special guests this episode.

The first is the Vice President of the RSL in South Australia, and President of the Magill RSL Sub Branch, Retired Major Meredith Burgess. Apart from being a mechanic for the Australian Defence Force, she became and Officer and spent much of her career in the role of Quartermaster.

Our second guest is Chairperson and Editor of The Top Ender, Tri-Services Magazine, and founder of Barossa Fun Factory, Deb Herring. Deb's focus on community extends throughout her work at the magazine for veterans as well as being a key part of her business.

If you read this before November 18, 2023, Steve would like you to join him at the Magill RSL Sub Branch for an 80s Trivia Night. He'll be the Quizmaster on behalf of the organisers the Magill Sunrise Rotary Club. Details and tickets here.

The SA Drink Of The Week - no featured drink this week.

And in the Musical Pilgrimage, it's the first birthday of Dino Jag's song, Shake A Leg Like Elvis, so we'll itch that scratch and give it another spin!

You can navigate episodes using chapter markers in your podcast app. Not a fan of one segment? You can click next to jump to the next chapter in the show. We're here to serve!

The Adelaide Show Podcast: Awarded Silver for Best Interview Podcast in Australia at the 2021 Australian Podcast Awards and named as Finalist for Best News and Current Affairs Podcast in the 2018 Australian Podcast Awards.

And please consider becoming part of our podcast by joining our Inner Circle. It's an email list. Join it and you might get an email on a Sunday or Monday seeking question ideas, guest ideas and requests for other bits of feedback about YOUR podcast, The Adelaide Show. Email us directly and we'll add you to the list: podcast@theadelaideshow.com.au

If you enjoy the show, please leave us a 5-star review in iTunes or other podcast sites, or buy some great merch from our Red Bubble store - The Adelaide Show Shop. We'd greatly appreciate it.

And please talk about us and share our episodes on social media, it really helps build our community. Oh, and here's our index of all episode in one concise
page

Running Sheet: Remembering Beyond Remembrance Day

00:00:00 Intro

Introduction

00:00:00 SA Drink Of The Week

No SA Drink Of The Week this week.

00:03:29 Meredith Burgess

That was a little snippet of the Concert Band and Chorus of the RAAF, singing Quartermaster's Store. I grew up with my dad playing "hits of the war years" over and over again and I always wondered what a quartermaster was. Well, fast forward to today and I am sitting next to a woman who has spent some of her army career as a quartermaster. I refer to Retired Major, Meredith Burgess.

Meredith, we're sitting in the Magill RSL Sub Branch, where you are President (she is also Vice President of the RSL in South Australia) and on November 18, 2023, I'll be quiz master for an 80s trivia quiz being run by the Magill Sunrise Rotary Club to raise money for your programs here. Before we talk about them, and before you help me wrap my head around the role of a quartermaster, there is some South Australian business to attend to.

You grew up in the wheat and sheep area of Lameroo and finished your schooling in Murray Bridge. What do you remember most about life in that part of Australia at that time?

I worked for 7 years at 5MU and would often drive out to regional towns to do interviews in my HG70 panel van without any knowledge of mechanics. Was the tyranny of distance part of the reason that attracted you to getting under the hood? In other words, was it a simple survival mechanism?

This drive you had for motor mechanics and metal fabrication led you to TAFE and then you joined the Army Apprentice School at Albury-Wodonga in the second class of female trainees where only 4 out of 13 graduated. My daughters have demanded that I ask you to share what it was like being outnumbered on grounds of gender and what enabled you to get through and then later get encouraged to undertake training as an officer at Duntroon?

You've had various roles as quartermaster, what is it, in layperson's terms because to the best of my knowledge it was the person responsible for making sure supplies got to where they're needed?

To get a sense of why RSL clubs and services are so important, I think us lay people need to remember the extremes service people are exposed to. Sometimes this is combat but at other times it is the aftermath of combat and atrocities and just squalid conditions. Would you mind just painting a picture or two of the conditions you and your fellow service people experienced when you were among the first to arrive in East Timor in 1999?

You're on the record discussing the difficulties you faced in adjusting back to civilian life but it seems that your involvement in this RSL club has not only been good for you but also good for the club. Can you take us through the club's resurrection over the past 10 years, and then we'll look at some of the services.

What keeps you going? What feedback do you get?

Can we be part of it - non service people?

Is there any protocol to follow? I spoke at a Mess In night for the RAAF at Edinburgh a few years ago and I had 17 pages of protocol to read, including the Passing Of The Port.

00:51:20 Deb Herring

A theme of the conversation with our previous guest, Meredith Burgess, will also run through our next chat. That theme is the human drive to build community even amid change. This is given great focus in the lives of Australian Defence Force personnel because they are posted to different locations with great frequency, having to pull up roots and replant them over and over again. Deborah Herring has lived that life when she was in the army - twice. She's now living and working in the Barossa working as Chair and Editor of The Top Ender Tri-Services Magazine (which is a magazine for service personnel and veterans) while also running an events and tourism business, Barossa Fun Factory.

Deb, you're settled in the Barossa now. I assume that's better than being moved about all the time, but what's it really like because us humans learn to adapt. Is it a challenge to learn to be in one place?

How much did you move about in the Army?

What do "relationships" look like in the defence force? Is it hard to build friendships or do you get better at bonding faster?

What happens if the team on a particular deployment is not ideal?

Meredith Burgess mentioned she felt quite lost when she left the Army. What was your experience?

Your work with The Top Ender seems to be driven by a fire in your belly to give veterans a sense of connection. What fuels that fire?

What sort of stories do you cover?

At first look, nothing seems further from being in the defence force than running a company called Barossa Fun Factory. But there is some shared DNA, isn't there, because you talk a lot about your pop up events and corporate workshops as not only creating a sense of fun but deeply building connections between participants?

What were the first things you ran?

Are there regular events for kids?

Halloween is just ahead of us at the time of recording. Special calendar events get you springing into action, don't they?

You have run some successful corporate events, too, that have a bit if "kid's fun" to them. Talk us through an example and how it's linked to greater team engagement?

And with Xmas upon us, I want to finish on something I think is excellent. You stage events called Mingle Bells, which transform the typically awkward or sometimes drunken company christmas event into a time of real connection.

Finally, Remebrance Day is upon us. Is that a significant day for you, or is Anzac Day stronger. What do these days mean to you?

01:26:43 Musical Pilgrimage

Our featured song this episode is Shake A Leg Like Elvis by Dino Jag.

Given that Elvis did his time in the Army, it's only fair we feature a tribute to him by our own Dino Jag, on this pre-Remembrance Day episode.

We have two Australian Army veterans as our special guests this episode.
The first is the Vice President of the RSL in South Australia, and President of the Magill RSL Sub Branch, Retired Major Meredith Burgess. Apart from being a mechanic for the Australian Defence Force, she became and Officer and spent much of her career in the role of Quartermaster.
Our second guest is Chairperson and Editor of The Top Ender, Tri-Services Magazine, and founder of Barossa Fun Factory, Deb Herring. Deb's focus on community extends throughout her work at the magazine for veterans as well as being a key part of her business.
If you read this before November 18, 2023, Steve would like you to join him at the Magill RSL Sub Branch for an 80s Trivia Night. He'll be the Quizmaster on behalf of the organisers the Magill Sunrise Rotary Club. <a href="https://www.magillrotary.org.au/quiz/">Details and tickets here</a>.
The SA Drink Of The Week - no featured drink this week.
And in the Musical Pilgrimage, it's the first birthday of Dino Jag's song, Shake A Leg Like Elvis, so we'll itch that scratch and give it another spin!
You can navigate episodes using chapter markers in your podcast app. Not a fan of one segment? You can click next to jump to the next chapter in the show. We're here to serve!
The Adelaide Show Podcast: Awarded Silver for Best Interview Podcast in Australia at the 2021 Australian Podcast Awards and named as Finalist for Best News and Current Affairs Podcast in the 2018 Australian Podcast Awards.
And please consider becoming part of our podcast by joining our Inner Circle. It's an email list. Join it and you might get an email on a Sunday or Monday seeking question ideas, guest ideas and requests for other bits of feedback about YOUR podcast, The Adelaide Show. Email us directly and we'll add you to the list: <a href="mailto:podcast@theadelaideshow.com.au">podcast@theadelaideshow.com.au</a>
If you enjoy the show, please <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/another-boring-thursday-night/id696302138">leave us a 5-star review </a>in iTunes or other podcast sites, or buy some great merch from our Red Bubble store - <a href="https://www.redbubble.com/people/theadelaideshow/shop?asc=u">The Adelaide Show Shop</a>. We'd greatly appreciate it.
And please talk about us and share our episodes on social media, it really helps build our community. Oh, and here's <a href="https://theadelaideshow.com.au/complete-list-adelaide-show-episodes/">our index of all episode in one concise page</a>
Running Sheet: Remembering Beyond Remembrance Day
00:00:00 Intro
Introduction
00:00:00 SA Drink Of The Week
No SA Drink Of The Week this week.
00:03:29 Meredith Burgess
That was a little snippet of the Concert Band and Chorus of the RAAF, singing Quartermaster's Store. I grew up with my dad playing "hits of the war years" over and over again and I always wondered what a quartermaster was. Well, fast forward to today and I am sitting next to a woman who has spent some of her army career as a quartermaster. I refer to Retired Major, Meredith Burgess.
Meredith, we're sitting in the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/magillrsl">Magill RSL Sub Branch</a>, where you are President (she is also Vice President of the RSL in South Australia) and on <a href="https://www.magillrotary.org.au/quiz/">November 18, 2023</a>, I'll be quiz master for an 80s trivia quiz being run by the Magill Sunrise Rotary Club to raise money for your programs here. Before we talk about them, and before you help me wrap my head around the role of a quartermaster, there is some South Australian business to attend to.
You grew up in the wheat and sheep area of Lameroo and finished your schooling in Murray Bridge. What do you remember most about life in that part of Australia at that time?
I worked for 7 years at 5MU and would often drive out to regional towns to do interviews in my HG70 panel van without any knowledge of mechanics. Was the tyranny of distance part of the reason that attracted you to getting under the hood? In other words, was it a simple survival mechanism?
This drive you had for motor mechanics and metal fabrication led you to TAFE and then you joined the Army Apprentice School at Albury-Wodonga in the second class of female trainees where only 4 out of 13 graduated. My daughters have demanded that I ask you to share what it was like being outnumbered on grounds of gender and what enabled you to get through and then later get encouraged to undertake training as an officer at Duntroon?
You've had various roles as quartermaster, what is it, in layperson's terms because to the best of my knowledge it was the person responsible for making sure supplies got to where they're needed?
To get a sense of why RSL clubs and services are so important, I think us lay people need to remember the extremes service people are exposed to. Sometimes this is combat but at other times it is the aftermath of combat and atrocities and just squalid conditions. Would you mind just painting a picture or two of the conditions you and your fellow service people experienced when you were among the first to arrive in East Timor in 1999?
You're on the record discussing the difficulties you faced in adjusting back to civilian life but it seems that your involvement in this RSL club has not only been good for you but also good for the club. Can you take us through the club's resurrection over the past 10 years, and then we'll look at some of the services.
What keeps you going? What feedback do you get?
Can we be part of it - non service people?
Is there any protocol to follow? I spoke at a Mess In night for the RAAF at Edinburgh a few years ago and I had 17 pages of protocol to read, including the Passing Of The Port.
00:51:20 Deb Herring
A theme of the conversation with our previous guest, Meredith Burgess, will also run through our next chat. That theme is the human drive to build community even amid change. This is given great focus in the lives of Australian Defence Force personnel because they are posted to different locations with great frequency, having to pull up roots and replant them over and over again. Deborah Herring has lived that life when she was in the army - twice. She's now living and working in the Barossa working as Chair and Editor of <a href="https://www.thetopendermagazine.org.au/">The Top Ender Tri-Services Magazine</a> (which is a magazine for service personnel and veterans) while also running an events and tourism business, <a href="https://www.barossafunfactory.com.au/">Barossa Fun Factory</a>.
Deb, you're settled in the Barossa now. I assume that's better than being moved about all the time, but what's it really like because us humans learn to adapt. Is it a challenge to learn to be in one place?
How much did you move about in the Army?
What do "relationships" look like in the defence force? Is it hard to build friendships or do you get better at bonding faster?
What happens if the team on a particular deployment is not ideal?
Meredith Burgess mentioned she felt quite lost when she left the Army. What was your experience?
Your work with The Top Ender seems to be driven by a fire in your belly to give veterans a sense of connection. What fuels that fire?
What sort of stories do you cover?
At first look, nothing seems further from being in the defence force than running a company called Barossa Fun Factory. But there is some shared DNA, isn't there, because you talk a lot about your pop up events and corporate workshops as not only creating a sense of fun but deeply building connections between participants?
What were the first things you ran?
Are there regular events for kids?
Halloween is just ahead of us at the time of recording. Special calendar events get you springing into action, don't they?
You have run some successful corporate events, too, that have a bit if "kid's fun" to them. Talk us through an example and how it's linked to greater team engagement?
And with Xmas upon us, I want to finish on something I think is excellent. You stage events called Mingle Bells, which transform the typically awkward or sometimes drunken company christmas event into a time of real connection.
Finally, Remebrance Day is upon us. Is that a significant day for you, or is Anzac Day stronger. What do these days mean to you?
01:26:43 Musical Pilgrimage
Our featured song this episode is Shake A Leg Like Elvis by Dino Jag.
Given that Elvis did his time in the Army, it's only fair we feature a tribute to him by our own Dino Jag, on this pre-Remembrance Day episode.

Putting A Present Lens On Remembrance Day With Two Modern Veterans Telling Their Stories

386 - Remembering Beyond Remembrance Day

David Gauci

This year, Davine Productions turns 10 years old and is celebrating with a production of the musical, A New Brain. The brain, heart, and sould behind Davine Productions is David Gauci, and he's our guest today.

The SA Drink Of The Week in from Yalumba - The Signature. This is partly because the wine is superb but also because Yalumba has long been a supporter of Davine Productions. And we'll be joined in the tasting by winemaker, Kevin Glastonbury.

And in the Musical Pilgrimage, Kaurna Cronin has a new song out and it's made itself into an ear worm, competing with the soundtrack of A New Brain!

You can navigate episodes using chapter markers in your podcast app. Not a fan of one segment? You can click next to jump to the next chapter in the show. We're here to serve!

The Adelaide Show Podcast: Awarded Silver for Best Interview Podcast in Australia at the 2021 Australian Podcast Awards and named as Finalist for Best News and Current Affairs Podcast in the 2018 Australian Podcast Awards.

And please consider becoming part of our podcast by joining our Inner Circle. It's an email list. Join it and you might get an email on a Sunday or Monday seeking question ideas, guest ideas and requests for other bits of feedback about YOUR podcast, The Adelaide Show. Email us directly and we'll add you to the list: podcast@theadelaideshow.com.au

If you enjoy the show, please leave us a 5-star review in iTunes or other podcast sites, or buy some great merch from our Red Bubble store - The Adelaide Show Shop. We'd greatly appreciate it.

And please talk about us and share our episodes on social media, it really helps build our community. Oh, and here's our index of all episode in one concise
page

Running Sheet: Davine Intervention In Adelaide Theatre00:00:00 Intro

Introduction

00:03:09 SA Drink Of The Week

2019 Yalumba The Signature.

One of the signaturies of the 49th vintage of The Signature, is red winemaker at Yalumba, Kevin Glastonbury. He sits down to taste the wine with Steve Davis, as part of Yalumba's ongoing support of the arts through Davine Productions.

00:41:29 David Gauci, Davine Productions

In 2013, the same year The Adelaide Show began, David Gauci put his roots down in Adelaide and started the theatre company, Davine Productions. Prior to this and alongside this, he has had a 25+ year career in professional theatre, as well as being a teacher to countless performers in a number of colleges and institutions including the University of Adelaide Elder Conservatorium. At the time of recording, in October 2023, Davine's about to open a production of A New Brain. This is a delightfully quirky musical that twists left and right in surprising ways and bestows upon us such unexpected rhymes like: If you make me cry, Then I’ll probably have to kill you, I will you,  know.

Learn more about Davine Productions and get tickets here. October 13-21, 2023, Star Theatres, Sir Donald Bradman Drive.

David, we'll come back to A New Brain but while we're on the topic of lyrics, do you have some favourite ones from the show?

I almost tripped over on the beach today when I heard the lyric in the "children's" song that went:
Or when someone says,
“Would you like to lose your virginity?”
Someone with who you have
No affinity

We just celebrated 10 years of The Adelaide Show and its reason for existance which was, initially, to fight the lazy way people used to use Adelaide as the butt of jokes for being boring. And yet, there you were, also in 2013, launching a not-for-profit, non-professional theatre company in Adelaide, with exceedingly high standards and backed by the likes of a broadway composer, a former director of the Sydney Theatre Company, a former head of acting at NIDA, and a much-loved national celebrity with multiple logies to his name. Can you share with us the moment when Davine Productions materialised and the importance of it being in Adelaide?

How do you maintain the high standard of excellence that Davine Productions is known for because in a professional company you have a big stick - you can dock someone's pay or fire them. But in community theatre, we all need each other. What's your secret?

There is much said about humans becoming more selfish and closed these days, so over the past 10 years, has that impact shifted your approach to finding humans who are willing to "give it their all" for the love of performing, when it's tempting to stay home and coccoon?

I've seen (and reviewed) a couple of your shows - Beautiful, The Carole King Musical, and Summer Of 69 - how do you go about selecting shows for Davine Productions? What do you look for?

What is the message or feeling you want the audience to walk away with from a Davine Productions show?

On the Adelaide Show, we've previously discussed the profound impact that teachers can have on us (especially in episode 291 in which my daughter, AJ, interviews two important teachers in her life, Kaye and Jenny), so, I'm curious to know which of the three teachers during your primary years had the greatest impact: Sr Carmel with her piano lessons and theory, Mrs Mulvahill with her elocution lessons, or Mrs Tilley and her singing lessons?

How does your role as a teacher at the University of Adelaide Elder Conservatorium influence your work at Davine Productions?

Davine is, of course, the feminine of David but it also means Beloved. That makes it a great name for a theatre company. But it also sounds a little like Divine. I'd love to learn more about your adventure at a seminary, studying theology. Why did you do it, what made you leave?

David, it's fair to say you and I both love musical theatre but what's your definition of what is "good" musical theatre?

I love Les Mis, My Fair Lady, Urine Town, The Producers, Superstar, Fiddler On The Roof, anything by Stephen Sondheim, but despise Phantom Of The Opera. There's a delicate balance in the recipe - nourishing melodies, clever word play, a story line that primes us for emotion or farce or both. Do you agree?

Your new production is, A New Brain, with music and lyrics by William Finn, inspired by Finn's own experience with an arteriovenous malformation and the healing power of art. Can you set it up for us?

01:37:44 Musical Pilgrimage

Our featured song this episode is Eraser by Kaurna Cronin.

Eraser is a great concept for a song, when someone is the ink unto your paper. Try as you like, you can't erase them.

It just shows Kaurna is still on form and there are many comments in his online places of people saying the song is now stuck in their heads.

David, is that the sign of a great song - generally, let alone in musical theatre?

This year, Davine Productions turns 10 years old and is celebrating with a production of the musical, A New Brain. The brain, heart, and sould behind Davine Productions is David Gauci, and he's our guest today.
The SA Drink Of The Week in from Yalumba - The Signature. This is partly because the wine is superb but also because Yalumba has long been a supporter of Davine Productions. And we'll be joined in the tasting by winemaker, Kevin Glastonbury.
And in the Musical Pilgrimage, Kaurna Cronin has a new song out and it's made itself into an ear worm, competing with the soundtrack of A New Brain!
You can navigate episodes using chapter markers in your podcast app. Not a fan of one segment? You can click next to jump to the next chapter in the show. We're here to serve!
The Adelaide Show Podcast: Awarded Silver for Best Interview Podcast in Australia at the 2021 Australian Podcast Awards and named as Finalist for Best News and Current Affairs Podcast in the 2018 Australian Podcast Awards.
And please consider becoming part of our podcast by joining our Inner Circle. It's an email list. Join it and you might get an email on a Sunday or Monday seeking question ideas, guest ideas and requests for other bits of feedback about YOUR podcast, The Adelaide Show. Email us directly and we'll add you to the list: <a href="mailto:podcast@theadelaideshow.com.au">podcast@theadelaideshow.com.au</a>
If you enjoy the show, please <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/another-boring-thursday-night/id696302138">leave us a 5-star review </a>in iTunes or other podcast sites, or buy some great merch from our Red Bubble store - <a href="https://www.redbubble.com/people/theadelaideshow/shop?asc=u">The Adelaide Show Shop</a>. We'd greatly appreciate it.
And please talk about us and share our episodes on social media, it really helps build our community. Oh, and here's <a href="https://theadelaideshow.com.au/complete-list-adelaide-show-episodes/">our index of all episode in one concise page</a>
Running Sheet: Davine Intervention In Adelaide Theatre00:00:00 Intro
Introduction
00:03:09 SA Drink Of The Week
2019 Yalumba <a href="https://www.yalumba.com/shop/premium-wines/the-signature">The Signature</a>.
One of the signaturies of the 49th vintage of The Signature, is red winemaker at Yalumba, Kevin Glastonbury. He sits down to taste the wine with Steve Davis, as part of Yalumba's ongoing support of the arts through Davine Productions.
00:41:29 David Gauci, Davine Productions
In 2013, the same year The Adelaide Show began, David Gauci put his roots down in Adelaide and started the theatre company, Davine Productions. Prior to this and alongside this, he has had a 25+ year career in professional theatre, as well as being a teacher to countless performers in a number of colleges and institutions including the University of Adelaide Elder Conservatorium. At the time of recording, in October 2023, Davine's about to open a production of A New Brain. This is a delightfully quirky musical that twists left and right in surprising ways and bestows upon us such unexpected rhymes like: If you make me cry, Then I’ll probably have to kill you, I will you,  know.
Learn more about <a href="https://davineproductions.com/">Davine Productions and get tickets here</a>. October 13-21, 2023, Star Theatres, Sir Donald Bradman Drive.
David, we'll come back to A New Brain but while we're on the topic of lyrics, do you have some favourite ones from the show?
I almost tripped over on the beach today when I heard the lyric in the "children's" song that went: Or when someone says, “Would you like to lose your virginity?” Someone with who you have No affinity
We just celebrated 10 years of The Adelaide Show and its reason for existance which was, initially, to fight the lazy way people used to use Adelaide as the butt of jokes for being boring. And yet, there you were, also in 2013, launching a not-for-profit, non-professional theatre company in Adelaide, with exceedingly high standards and backed by the likes of a broadway composer, a former director of the Sydney Theatre Company, a former head of acting at NIDA, and a much-loved national celebrity with multiple logies to his name. Can you share with us the moment when Davine Productions materialised and the importance of it being in Adelaide?
How do you maintain the high standard of excellence that Davine Productions is known for because in a professional company you have a big stick - you can dock someone's pay or fire them. But in community theatre, we all need each other. What's your secret?
There is much said about humans becoming more selfish and closed these days, so over the past 10 years, has that impact shifted your approach to finding humans who are willing to "give it their all" for the love of performing, when it's tempting to stay home and coccoon?
I've seen (and reviewed) a couple of your shows - Beautiful, The Carole King Musical, and Summer Of 69 - how do you go about selecting shows for Davine Productions? What do you look for?
What is the message or feeling you want the audience to walk away with from a Davine Productions show?
On the Adelaide Show, we've previously discussed the profound impact that teachers can have on us (especially in <a href="https://theadelaideshow.com.au/podcast-episodes/291-ajs-world-of-dinosaurs/">episode 291</a> in which my daughter, AJ, interviews two important teachers in her life, Kaye and Jenny), so, I'm curious to know which of the three teachers during your primary years had the greatest impact: Sr Carmel with her piano lessons and theory, Mrs Mulvahill with her elocution lessons, or Mrs Tilley and her singing lessons?
How does your role as a teacher at the University of Adelaide Elder Conservatorium influence your work at Davine Productions?
Davine is, of course, the feminine of David but it also means Beloved. That makes it a great name for a theatre company. But it also sounds a little like Divine. I'd love to learn more about your adventure at a seminary, studying theology. Why did you do it, what made you leave?
David, it's fair to say you and I both love musical theatre but what's your definition of what is "good" musical theatre?
I love Les Mis, My Fair Lady, Urine Town, The Producers, Superstar, Fiddler On The Roof, anything by Stephen Sondheim, but despise Phantom Of The Opera. There's a delicate balance in the recipe - nourishing melodies, clever word play, a story line that primes us for emotion or farce or both. Do you agree?
Your new production is, A New Brain, with music and lyrics by William Finn, inspired by Finn's own experience with an arteriovenous malformation and the healing power of art. Can you set it up for us?
01:37:44 Musical Pilgrimage
Our featured song this episode is <a href="https://kaurnacronin.bandcamp.com/track/eraser">Eraser by Kaurna Cronin</a>.
Eraser is a great concept for a song, when someone is the ink unto your paper. Try as you like, you can't erase them.
It just shows Kaurna is still on form and there are many comments in his online places of people saying the song is now stuck in their heads.
David, is that the sign of a great song - generally, let alone in musical theatre?

Musical Theatre That Reflects Something Real About The Human Experience, That's What David Gauci Looks For At Davine Productions

286 - The Kilsby Sinkhole

In 1 playlist(s)

The Adelaide Show

Social links

Follow podcast

Recent clips