Growing Old Outrageously with Prince

At the launch party for the 2012 Sydney Writer's Festival at the Hickson Road Wharf 2 on Wednesday evening the Shuttle's eyes were immediately drawn to the above tee-shirt.

And the wearer lived up to expectations. She's Elisabeth Davies and it's the title of book she's penned with her school day's pal Hilary Lindstead (pictured above)

Jennifer Byrne & the Chaser's Julian Morrow

Davies and Lindstead went to school together in England before parting company for 35 years and then meeting up again and discovering a shared love of travel. The eccentric pair embarked on a trial journey to Morocco. That tentative beginning has turned into a series of wonderfully unusual holidays, and Hil and Lis have been circumnavigating the globe ever since.
Among many other destinations, they have taken in Marrakech, Fez and the Atlas Mountains; Patagonia and the Galapagos Islands; Istanbul and Cappadocia. They've been on safari in Namibia, Botswana and the Serengeti, attended music festivals in Naples and Prague and made a pilgrimage to the western isles of Mull and Iona. Along the way they have encouraged, enraged and entertained each other, while living through countless adventures.

  In the preceeding decades Elisabeth went to Cambridge, studied economics and became a civil servant and journalist. Meanwhile Hilary had re-located to Australia where she has been a theatrical agent for names like Baz Luhrmann, Neil Armfield and Gillian Armstrong. These two are great fun and the book should be a good read-the Shuttle has just orderd a copy. After recounting their history the two minxs' were soon off working the party with writers like Professor Ross Steele, Roddy Doyle, Frank Moorhouse and Tom Keneally. Listen to the ABC Radio interview with Hil & Lis here.

## On Tuesday evening Prince wowed audience's at the Allphones Arena albeit with a toned down show  (he's found God or something) but the real action was at the after party at Ivy in the city where Prince jammed with Seal and Public Enemey's Flava Flav as the Shuttle's exclusive snaps show.

Pity the ballroom was packed to capacity but it was still better than the Allphones Arena and for a rock'n'roll party, fairly civilised.

Justin Under Attack

While the compact Kings Cross club Beach Haus celebrated the opening of their Moet & Chandon bar (above) Australia's most successful night club entrepreneur Justin Hemmes has come under sustained attacks that bear all the hall marks of the infamous Australian "tall poppy syndrome".

Justin Hemmes

No-one has invested as much money as the young mogul in providing chic and luxurious premises for Sydney-siders to party in. To date an estimated $200M. Hemmes employs around 2000 staff and is regarded by those who work for him as a firm but fair and generous boss. There is a waiting list of hundreds of young hopefuls wishing to be employed by Justin's Merivale Group.

Starting with 2 hotels in the city, Hemmes bucked the trend and turned old style pubs into stylish and modern bars aided by his sister Bettina who is responsible for decorating all his premises.

Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman partied at his Slip Inn while the Crown Prince of Denmark, Frederick met his future bride Mary Donaldson there during the 2000 Olympics.

When he opened the elegant Establishment in lower George Street in a beautiful colonial Georgian building he introduced the city to a style not seen before.

Huge marbled floored bars that become packed after office hours, an award winning restaurant Est run by top chef Peter Doyle (picking up '3 Hats' again last week at the Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide launch) and a series of function rooms constantly in use with a nightclub Hemmesphere that became the place to relax for visiting international stars from Beyonce to Bono to actor Simon Callow.

In any other world class city Hemmes would probably be given a gold key to the city having almost solely revived central Sydney' dormant nightlife.

A party at the Ivy pool

Instead he has faced a raft of opposition from local police over exaggerated incidents that pale into insignificance when one considers he hosts tens of thousands of patrons every week.

Hemmes also came under the gaze of  Lord Mayor Clover Moore who donned a new hat as the head of the Anti-Fun Police and attempted to enforce strict drinking hours reminiscent of the dreaded 1950s "six o'clock swill" when pubs slammed their doors shut at 6pm each evening. Fortunately the outcry was deafening particularly as Hemmes had invested his family fortune in his city nightclubs

Hemmisphere

Three months ago Hemmes was held up at gunpoint in his recently purchased Surry Hill's pub . Outside a police car with 2 officers calmly watched as the armed raiders made their get away in a stolen BMW crashing into another car in the process.

A fortnight ago it is alleged his doormen bashed a patron in the cellar at Hemme's Ivy complex and mis-lead police whilst cleaners washed away bloodstains.

A few nights ago Hemmes distinctive black Rolls Royce Phantom was pulled over in Redfern and the driver was charged with drug possession. Yesterday a man claimed he had been assaulted by Hemmes at Ivy. Hemmes denies the charge and says CCTV footage backs him up.

Sydney once had the most corrupt police in the Southern hemisphere, routed out at great personal sacrifice by an imported British police commander who, for his efforts and success was forced from the country by a series of cowardly and false attacks from shock jocks and politicians.

It comes as no surprise Justin Hemmes has been spotted in New York City in recent months checking out premises. His talents would be snapped up in the USA. They would roll out the welcome mat.
It would serve the good burghers of Sydney right if they forced the man who has done more to brighten Sydney life to flee abroad to a city that would appreciate his talents.

Tales Of The City # 1

Adam Williams

When So You Think You Can Dance's Adam Williams posted a message on his Facebook page about the annoying $168 parking fine he picked up a few weeks ago after leaving his car at Taylor's Square for a just a few minutes, he identified a growing frustration that is building in the inner city of Sydney- and Lord Mayor Clover Moore could pay a price.

Word comes to the Shuttle that a group of Oxford Street businessmen on the Golden Mile between Whitlam Square and Paddington Town Hall are planning to actively oppose Moore's re-election plans and help drum up support for other candidates.

The business, nightclub and restaurant heart of Sydney  has been Clover Moore's domain as the MP for the Sydney electorate and as Lord Mayor. Her support comes from young professionals and the huge gay and lesbian community. But that support is waning with many disaffected voters viewing Moore as someone who is consolidating power for power's sake and pushing her unpopular ideas of how the city should be.

Clover Moore

One of those ideas-the ugly bike lanes that have sprung up all over the city leaving already narrow roads with even less space and ugly concrete barriers taking up even more space. They are hardly used except by a handful of cyclists.

To promote the lanes Moore took to a bike herself and promptly fell off and broke her wrist. Then it was discovered that she has not one, but two much coveted free car parking spots near the Town Hall.

That Moore's army of parking wardens are viewed as heavy handed is rubbing salt into the wounds. Drivers are paying exorbitant fines for a myriad of infractions. Evening parking limits of 2 hours are  believed to have driven out dozens of small in-expensive restaurants to outer regions leaving places like Kings Cross and Oxford Street, once pleasant dining areas depressingly sleazy with fast food outlets that become a haven for hundreds of drunks in the early hours.

The Golden Mile, Oxford Street is now deserted until around 10pm when thousands of teens flock to the many gay nightclubs and pubs. There is nothing in between.

The City Council's much vaunted plans for Taylor's Square that are trotted out almost yearly never materialise. International designers have been consulted and say Taylor's Square, on one of Sydney's major routes from the airport into the city via Oxford Street could become a broad boulevard reminiscent of the great cites with the square a haven for outdoor cafes and grand statues. Instead it gets dirtier, dustier and more depressing every year. A sad attempt at a 'fountain'-water spurting from a dozen jets on one side of the square is popular with thirsty dogs but few humans.

William St-even the hookers have fled

Former Prime Minister Paul Keating's call for William Street leading up to Kings Cross to be transformed into a mini Champs Elysee has fallen on deaf ears. The glitzy boutique Royalty Prussia is the only retailer to have taken up the challenge. Luxury auto showrooms like Ferrari have fled to the inner west. Even the once colourful transvestite hookers who populated the street around mid-night have fled.

Many residents and business groups are asking just what has been gained by having Moore as both local MP and Lord Mayor. As an independent she gains no support from either the Liberal or Labor Party who would both like to see her gone and who prefer to concentrate their resources on the outer suburbs where their support is strong.

All this is infuriating around 30 local inner city businessmen who feel Moore has betrayed them over her much talked about plans to regenerate Oxford Street and it's many small alleyways into smart cafes, art precincts and so on. It's all been a miserable failure according to them.

Last week the multi-millionaire nightclub owner Justin Hemmes found himself with a pistol held to his head as two balaclavered thugs robbed his newly purchased Excelsior Hotel in Surry Hills. The bandits were so emboldened that they ignored the fact that the pub was packed at the time and their get-away car parked next to a police car outside. They fled with the loot while the coppers looked on.

Justin Hemmes

A distressed Hemmes and his father John Hemmes can be seen in this video arguing with police about the incident. Hemmes who has invested something like $200M in various nightclubs and pubs including the Ivy complex in the city was furious when Moore and police wanted to impose strict drinking hours and curtail his operations earlier last year.
They backed down on that one and Hemmes says the problem is rather one of few police on patrol in a city that now operates 24 hours of the day. Rather than trying to dictate to tens of thousands of young people just what hours they should start and end their partying, authorities and Moore should be curtailing the handful of troublemakers rather than make everyone suffer because of a few. Hemmes says he feels safer walking the streets of New York rather than Sydney.

Five years ago Clover Moore was the unchallenged Queen of Sydney but her crown is tarnished, some say beyond repair. Is it any wonder many are fuming over a report in City Hub newspaper earlier this year where Moore was spotted drink in hand on the footpath at Harbour City Bears art show for the Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras. Other galleries, bars and cafes who put a foot wrong end up with fines for thousand of dollars for similar infractions.

Seen in The City :

outside St Mary's Cathedral

at Star City

no joy for Justin

Sydney nightclub mogul Justin Hemmes had his application against police rejected today in the Supreme Court.
Hemmes had applied to have an order overturned- from licensing police to class his Ivy and Establishment venues from today as 'type 2' venues . The classification forces bars to close earlier than usual with alcohol served only in plastic beakers as opposed to glass and is applied when there have been over 12 assaults reported.

Despite Hemmes claiming his various bars have up to 2 million patrons a year passing through without incident and that he had no time to order enough plastic beakers, the judge rejected his application with the comment: "it would have been prudent to anticipate any development" .

 This is a blow to Hemmes who is possibly one of the most gentlemanly hosts and has always had excellent security at his nite-spots. Hemmes is expected to appeal.

a strange exhibition..

The invitation to Justin Hemmes Ivy said 6pm for the opening of their Voyeur exhibtion of sexy snaps taken around the precint of Hemme's amazing multi-million dollar nightclub venture. One slight hitch-there seemed to be no photographs and few guests but heaps of champagne and nibbles. Perhaps the other invites are still in the post.

         At least we spotted marketing executive Sharon Sargent who brightens up any room. Sharon says she's threatening to attend the Polo In The Park this Saturday at Centenniel Park, wearing something sensational. Can't wait.

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The furore erupting over Demi Moore's photoshopped snap on the cover of W Magazine and described as "the"worst Photoshop ever" is another discovery of the excellent blog Photoshop Disasters. Check it out-it's good fun.

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And have a look at the very amusing Angry people in local newspapers, the sympathy blog for hapless local tabloid snappers.The entire Shuttle staff have worked on local newspapers at some stage -we feel their pain.