Festival wash out

Oh dear. The punters are most displeased. On a summer's night as rain poured down a much anticipated event seems to have gone down like a lead balloon.

The Sydney Festival has posted the following on it's website about the Rogue's Gallery concert on the Opera House forecourt.

"Sydney Festival is disappointed that Rogue's Gallery did not live up to expectations for some audience members.

Rogue's Gallery is our third collaboration with acclaimed producer Hal Willner, following the immensely popular Came So Far For Beauty (2005) and Lou Reed's Berlin (2007).

Rogue's Gallery came to Sydney Festival with a track record of previous shows at London's Barbican Centre, Newcastle's The Sage Gateshead and Dublin's Analog Festival, where it was warmly received by both public and media. Willner conceived the Sydney version on the same principles. His method is to bring together an eclectic range of artists for a short but intensive rehearsal period resulting in an event characterised by performances of spontaneity, risk and surprise."

Rogue's Gallery is a sea shanty with sailors,convicts, travellers and all the hardships, horrors, lusts and romance that went along with life at sea.It was conceived by actor Johnny Depp and amongst others it starred Marianne Faithfull (Quintessential rock survivor!),Tim Robbins (Hollywood superstar and musician!),Todd Rundgren (producer and legendary purveyor of deft pop gems!) and our very own Peter Garrett (former front man for Midnight Oil and current Federal Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts ).

Amongst the comments on the Festival's website :

"There was only one good thing about Rogues' Gallery for me; Kate St John playing an oboe in the first number. The rest of the show was really disappointing."

"Marianne Faithful had some presence, despite being out of time out of tune and forgetting the words, but the rest of what I saw made me cynical about old rockers"

"I felt sorry for some of the performers who did bring professionalism and inspiration to this second-rate event. In addition to poorly rehearsed and indifferent performances,"

"This was a very very disappointing event. It felt like being at the rehearsal for a rather bad high school concert."

"Ms Faithfull seemed to be under the weather (no pun intended) and had to hum when she couldn't find the words to read and Mr Robbins appeared to be chewing gum."

" It was a complete rip-off. When you pay $145 you expect professionalism and a class act."

Here's Todd Rundgren in top form:

Kate's lawyers after Aussie paparazzo....

        The report that Kate Middleton has instructed the Queen's lawyer's to pursue 2 photo agencies over the sale of snaps of Prince William's girlfriend adds more woes to Sydney based agency Ikon and it's likeable boss, the roguish snapper Peter Carrette. (right in white sunglasses)
   The report -on Murdoch's News Ltd website says the pics were offered to British newspapers, presumably The Sun and other News Ltd outlets but were graciously rejected but published in Germany (forgetting to mention the slight fact that the German publication is part Murdoch owned ).
   Carrette, who lives in a Bondi apartment owned by friend and actor Jack Thompson and originally from London, has lived most of his life patrolling Bondi Beach and snapping topless stars .
    He came a cropper in 2006 when he organised himself and 2 aides to squirt actor Heath Ledger with water pistols at a film premiere.

      "You need us " was their claim and Carrette fronted several TV interviews broadcast world-wide proclaiming his right to do just about anything to get a saleable snap.
    That stunt backfired badly when the giant film corporation Village Roadshow banned him from all future events. 2 days later Carrette was filmed walking up the steps of the late Ledger's recently purchased Bronte Beach seaside house and leaving a bunch of flowers at the door with a note.
       As he departed a male opened the door-ripped up the note and hurled the bouquet after Carrette. Within 2 months Ledger announced he was flogging his much loved house and moving to New York to escape probing cameras. He died there in 2008.
     But another blast from the past is about to arrive Downunder and is seeking an apology.

Mick Jagger's ex-girlfriend Marrianne Faithful will be in Sydney in a fortnight and has said she is still smarting from a snap taken as far back as 1967 when she and Mick arrived here for Jagger's film role as the bushranger Ned Kelly. Faithful ended up in hospital on day two after a suspected drug overdose.
      A photographer sneaked into the hospital in a doctor's coat with stethoscope and snapped Faithful as she lay in bed looking like death. The pic went around the world in a flash.

     tSS spoke to Faithful via telephone a week ago about her up-coming appearance at the Sydney Opera House where she will be joined on-stage by the Federal Environment Minister and fromer Midnight Oil's singer Peter Garrett and actor Tim Robbins in a show conceived by actor Johnny Depp.
      Asked about the infamous snap, Marrianne said she  had "sort of forgiven the photographer but  I might just give him a kick in the balls if I run into him "
       Step forward Peter Carrette . According to the News Ltd piece Middleton's lawyers have asked for financial compensation. Carrette claims he receives $50,000 a picture-even claiming that was what he received for the Faithful hospital snap in '67 (which in today's money would be about half a million). Plenty enough  for a lead-lined jock-strap to protect those bollocks.