Anyway, here are the sites that Duncan links to: liveDaily and tvnz. And here’s the scoop from another page at tvnz:

A reformed Crowded House is expected to perform at a major American music festival in April.

Julia Connolly, a spokeswoman for Finn’s office, told the Dominion Post newspaper that further auditions were planned in Auckland and Los Angeles. “At the moment, they’re just working at getting the band together,” she said. “Something’s formally coming out once the band is in place.”

And, for your great pleasure, the video to Something So Strong. This is really NOT going to help to get it out of my head. But, as long as it helps to combat the Charles thing, it’ll work for me. Enjoy!

ht: Duncan Riley

Post from: The 80s Club

What is Nicole up to these days? In addition to recently completing three films, filming a fourth, and having three more lined up; the BBC posted this announcement:

Actress Nicole Kidman has confirmed she will marry country singer Keith Urban in Australia following the couple’s arrival in Sydney on Monday.

“We are very happy to be back in Australia,” the couple, both 38, said in a joint statement.

“We have come home to celebrate our wedding with our family and friends.” Reports suggest the couple will marry in a church in the city on Sunday.

Post from: The 80s Club

Post from: The 80s Club

Blithely ignorant mainly of such grownup issues during the 70s, I can’t really say what the prevailing worry of that decade was. But during the 80s it was a toss-up between a fear of the U.S.S.R. gaining control over the world, and a nuclear war. This fear was pervasive, and the art, music, movies and literature of the times reflects that.

Jonathan Schell writes, in his article ‘The New Nuclear Danger‘:

On June 12, 1982, 1 million people assembled in Central Park in New York City to protest the reckless nuclear policies of the Reagan Administration and to call for a nuclear freeze. They never assembled in such numbers again–in part because Reagan reversed course and opened nuclear arms talks with the Soviet Union, and in part because, after Mikhail Gorbachev came to power, the cold war began to wind down. The day remains in memory as a reminder of how quickly public concern over nuclear annihilation can arise and how quickly it can evaporate. When the cold war finally did end, nuclear weapons pretty much dropped out of the conscious thoughts of most Americans.

Frank Farkas in his article on the new nuclear threat, says:

I was there on June 12, 1982 with my wife and my 2-year old, now a college graduate. So I was more than routinely interested to learn that a coalition headed by New York State Peace Action had decided to commemorate June 12th on the occasion of its 20th anniversary. What makes the commemoration truly meaningful for me and my generation of peaceniks, and for that matter, for any peace-minded individual, is that it’s much more than just nostalgia.

Most of these things only touched my personal world in peripheral ways. I was involved in activities and organizations that promoted inter-cultural understanding, supported the environment, and were in favor of peace; but it was not a cause nor a passion. In my 20s I paid more attention to the ‘grown up world’, to politics, to impending doom and disasters. I also encountered great music with a political bent, among the artists I’d say my favorite is Midnight Oil:

Midnight Oil has at various times been synonymous with suburban beerbarn angst, green political activism, indigenous advocacy, and musical non-conformism, yet at the same time the band has been a mainstay of commercial radio and an icon of contemporary Australian culture.

Many of the political concerns we faced in the 80s are still of concern today. Looking back 25 years and realizing that however far we’ve come, we still have a long way to go, could be daunting- or we could turn up the volume, and find motivation to make a change in our world.

Post from: The 80s Club

Wikipedia has a good spread for those looking for a bit of Skase trivia.

Post from: The 80s Club