Hollywood comes to The Rescue

Lord of The Rings star Hugo Weaving joined Whispers on the floor of the Teacher's Federation Theatre  in Surry Hills at a rally by the Friends of the ABC to protest funding cuts to the national broadcaster. Under the current conservative government over $300M this year alone has been slashed from the ABC budget by PM Malcolm Turnbull leading to the loss of 800 jobs (despite promising no cuts previously).

It was standing (or seated on the floor) room only as Weaving spread his legs out to enthusiastically applaud the various speakers. They included top selling author  Tom Keneally of Schindler's List fame, Magda Szubanski, star of the ABC'S Kath & Kim and "red" Kerry O'Brien , the retired broadcaster who fronted the 7.30 Report and 4 Corners for many years.

Kerry O'Brien, Magda Szubanski and Tom Keneally at the Save the ABC Rally

Often criticized as being too "left wing" O'Brien read out many of the 100s of letters he would receive after hosting ABC political broadcasts during election days. Most attacked him as being too favourable to the Liberal Party and too tough on the Labor Party.
Szubanski compared the recent same sex marriage survey that found a 62% positive result for LGBT marriage rights with the Aussie public and quoted credible surveys that say 68% of Australians love their ABC.
One speaker pointed out that after slashing ABC TV & radio broadcasts to our South Pacific neighbours which received audiences the UK's BBC would envy,  China has quickly filled the void snapping up 300 of the Australian broadcast wavelengths and now dominate our nearest neighbours.
The rally, which was followed by one in Melbourne and will be repeated around the country are in response to a recent Liberal Party conference where delegates voted to privatize the ABC.

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Out and about canvassing today in the Longman bi-election with the Labor Party candidate Susan Lamb was Hollywood star Danny Glover.
Glover is making quite a splash around Australia and appears to have become an activist for several local matters including Indigenous affairs.

Things that happen at 10am

Maybe the Big News is that White House press secretary Sean Spicer has finally resigned (what took him so long?) after being asked to organise a press conference at the ungodly hour of 10am.

Sydney however is now a day time city with it's once thriving nightclub scene having been almost obliterated by the Lock Out Laws.

So a 10am invite to meet the UK reality TV star Julie Montagu (she appeared in the US Bravo show Ladies of London) at the Inyoga centre in Surry Hills was well within our stride.

Julie is oddly billed as the "future Countess of Sandwich" which seems a tad strange. She already has a few titles. Lady to begin with due to her marriage to Luke Montagu who has the discreet moniker Viscount Hinchingbrooke in his passport.
In the pecking order of titles, as these things go, a Viscountess is a step up from Countess but then as Luke is already the Viscount, Julie should already be the Viscountess. All very confusing at such an early hour.

 Julie hails from Chicago and is known as the Flexi Foodie and is a nutrition expert and yoga teacher and whatever she's doing, it must something right as she looks radiantly healthy. The meet & greet with Montagu was to launch her range of healthy eats. You can see more about her great recipes here.

Dead Men Talking

There are still tickets left to see the brilliant Waren Fahey and Max Cullen in Dead Men Talking at the Teachers Federation Theatre in Reservoir St. Surry Hills.
A fantastic insight into Australian folklore presented through the songs and poetry of Henry Lawson and Banjo Patterson when they meet up in heaven and have a drink together. The final show is on Sunday and tickets cost from $25 to $35. Max has come out of retirement in Gunning to do this show and Fahey is a music historian. Critics are raving about the show!
Book tickets here.

Pooch Wrestling at Banter

An interesting collection of guests turned out for the opening of the swish new French restaurant Banter in Surry Hills. Karim Ghabi of Casablanca nightclub fame hosted the evening while the delectable Laura Dundovic accompanied him greeting guests.

 One face we haven't seen out on the town lately, Fashion school supremo Leanne Whitehouse (left) who has been embroiled in a controversy over the Pm's daughter.  She sat quietly in a booth with designer Charlie Brown.
And we also got to meet Bentley, the largest feline in town who arrived in the arms of a friend of Christa Billich.
Bentley surveyed the scene with a rather haughty look and later wrestled a poor dog to the ground before going to sleep in a violinist's case which he was soon ejected from by a disgruntled musician.

From sampling some of Banter's delicacies on the night, this should be another fine addition to Sydney night life.


                         

Hugh Has The Edge

Hugh Jackman on the set of The Wolverine with Korean star Psy

He really is the easiest going superstar and when an acting pal asked him to help launch his book, Hugh Jackman was only to happy to oblige.

Hugh Jackman & Drew Carey at the book launch

Dean Carey is the Creative Director of the ACA (Actors Centre Australia) in Devonshire Street,
Surry Hills (a few doors from the Shuttle office. He's known Hugh since long before his movie days and he is very well connected as our pics show. Jackman is also patron of the ACA.

His book The Acting Edge is combined with an interactive website (yes-there is an app as well) that promises to be the perfect aid to new aspiring young actors.

Drew & Ian McKellen

And many of them turned up yesterday to meet Hugh and Drew, share a drink and


perhaps catch a few tips from Jackman who is currently filming The Wolverine around Sydney.

We know most of Wolverine's locations as they seem to coincide with just where we always park the car and all spots are taken by equipment and catering vans.
Still, Hugh is about the only movie star we know who still gives a cheery wave to people he's meet once or twice.

The Streets Ran Red With Blood

It was the 1920s and Sydney was dominated by two rival crime queens who presided over vicious gangs and stand over men. Between them they controlled prostitution, the booming cocaine and heroin trade and dozens of inner city sly grog shops.

Matilda 'Tilly' Devine

It earned Sydney an international moniker as the "Chicago of the South Pacific"


Tilly Devine, a tough Cockney was known as the Queen of Woolloomooloo and her deadly rival Kate Leigh, a former country convent girl, was the Queen of Surry Hills. Both lived to a ripe old age with the law only ever catching up to them for minor crimes.

A state government law dictated severe penalties for carrying guns so the gangs decided razors were an alternative and they used them with deadly accuracy.

Kate Leigh's 1923 police mug shot.

One night in 1931 in Kellet Street in Kings Cross, up to thirty gangsters battled it out with razors, iron bars and knuckle dusters and blood literally flowed in the gutters. Local police sensibly never dared enter the fray while many detectives were on the payroll of the two crime queens.

 A small club Gastro Park, backing onto Kellet Street was the venue on Thursday night where the NINE network launched the fourth series in the hugely successful crime films based on real life

Chelsie Preston Crayford and Danielle Cormack

Underbelly: Razor, produced by Screentime, will screen on Sunday 21 August at 8.30pm and it's back to the future with the series set in the roaring twenties. In the lead roles Chelsie Preston Crayford as Tilly Devine and Danielle Cormack as Kate Leigh.

 Legend goes that Sydney had become so corrupted by the end of the era that it took until the late 1990s for police corruption to be finally winkled out when the NSW government hired Commander Peter Ryan, the former head of London's Police Training Centre in Hendon to clean out the infamous 'white shoe brigade ' as bent coppers had become known.

For his efforts Ryan was pilloried by politicians and shock jocks and eventually left to become the head of security for the Olympic Games.

Fast forward to 2011 and Mark Standen the chief investigator for the secretive and powerful NSW Crime Commission was found guilty last Friday on drug conspiracy charges with an enquiry announced to investigate the Commission itself and it's involvement with leading crime figures.

Not much changes in the Emerald City.

Kerri Anne Kennerley joins Underbelly actors Conrad Colbey & John Batchelor

stars of Underbelly :Anna McGahan & Richard Brancatisano

Kate (left) and Tilly tried reconciliation in 1948. It didn't last. Kate died in 1964 and Tilly in 1970.

Below is the promo film for the series.