Exclusive ! Barack Obama in Bali

Here is our exclusive video of former US president Barack Obama and family on holiday in Bali yesterday. They were leaving the Four Seasons Hotel to go sightseeing on a rainy afternoon. OK you can't actually see the Prez and Michele but they're in one of those 17 vehicles in the motorcade. Courtesy of former Sydney nightclub owner Arthur Karvan who was caught in the traffic jam. Isn't it fun?.

Bali Hai

Maurice Terzini

While the reality TV program What Really Happens In Bali may be horrifying the viewing public as the place appears swamped by yahoos from this fair isle, it hasn't deterred successful restaurateur Maurice Terzini who is planning to launch the Icebergs Beach Club at the ritzy Sea Sentoza Resort at Echo Beach,

Terzeni's Bondi Icebergs nestled above the local swimming pool and with a world beating view of the beach is a roaring success with locals and visiting celebrities flocking to the bar and restaurant. Terzini says he is drawing design inspiration from the iconic photography of Slim Aarrons (right)  from the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s; glamour and "enjoyment in an idyllic setting with an experience that is both accessible as well as inspirational". And the architects Claudio Lazzarini and Carl Pickering from Rome's Lazzarini Pickering Architetti who designed the Icebergs will produce the Beach Club. Sounds like a winner !
                                  *****************************
There is of course a ritzy side to Bali with numerous ex-pats who have built luxury villas and who avoid the nightmares of Kuta.
Many years ago Sydney boutique Vodka purveyor Vitek Czernuszyn lived in Bali and published a local society rag before heading to Australia.
Czernuszyn is married to Woman's Weekly Editor in Chief Deborah Thomas (left) who also doubles as a councilor on the Double Bay Council. The Shuttle's spy disguised as an aspidistra in the council chambers hears that Thomas is a shoe-in to become Mayor Of Woolahra next year .  Vitek should make an excellent First Lady.

Distant Cousins # 5

Shia LaBeoff                                                Schapelle Corby                             Joseph Merrick

Sharp eyed readers ask if the following persons are perchance related : Schapelle Corby left a Bali jail today wearing a fashionable (fake) Burberry fedora and has jolted our reader's memory of a similar outfit worn by a Mr Joseph Merrick, known as The Elephant Man who took London society by storm in the ate 1800s, much as Ms Corby has fixated Australian society.

Another reader points out that film actor and star Shia LaBeoff chose a similar ensemble to appear on the red carpet last night at the gala premier of his latest motion picture at the Berlin Film Festival.
Are all three possibly related ?. I think we should be told.

Donald Friend Re-visited

The Savill Galleries in Paddington has a retrospective of Donald Friend's works which is a must see. It's rare to get this many Friend paintings together at one time-there are 28 on show- works that come on the market are snapped up immediately by collectors.

Donald Friend studied at the Westminster School of Art in London and served as a gunner in the AIF during WW2. While stationed in Albury  he became friends with Russell Drysdale and the pair were instrumental in establishing the famous art colony at Hill End.

Donald Friend portrait by Greg Weight 1987

He's probably most famous for his Bali period although there are some wonderful portrait studies at the Savill from his time in Paris in the 1940s.
 Friend discovered Bali in the 1960s when the island paradise was unheard of by most in the West. He moved there and built a magnificent house where over the years he entertained all manner of people from visiting diplomats to pop stars like Mick Jagger and David Bowie.


He moved back to Australia in the 80s when Bali became an Antipodean version of the Costa Brava and died in 1989.

Savill Galleries
156 Hargrave Street
Paddington
Tel: +61 2 9327 8311