Even with changes in media distribution, it still carries a hell of a lot of sway in exposing new acts and national exposure. So it’s no wonder people have a lot invested in the station.

Anyone who has followed music in Australia will have seen several rounds of people dismissing the station as selling/blanding out, but often in reference to the same periods – critics pine for the so-called golden era of the station in the ’90s, but while that era was playing out, the same sort of critics were pining for the freedom of the station in the ’80s.

Our memories are rose-tinted.

We find out about new music and think the source of that music is breaking new ground. You hear more and eventually exhaust that source – it can’t provide that depth AND provide for the broader audience. So you become a critic of the station or you listen to community radio and increasingly online options.

But whether or not Triple J cuts it musically isn’t my point. In fact, it’s got nothing to do with music.

I reckon one of the things the station does really well, is introduce a new way of operating to the rest of the ABC.

One of the things I like about Triple J is that because of its clear target audience, its presenters don’t get inculcated into the stuffy national broadcaster sound. They speak clearly, but like real people.

ABC GM Mark Scott tweeted recently that “All across the ABC I meet people who started at triple j.”

And as presenters like Steve Cannane and Fran Kelly move out into Radio National and ABC TV and the like – obviously a process that’s been happening a while – they’re taking with them quite a different audio aesthetic.

Since last Sunday I have:

• Spent a week in Perth to attend the Greenhouse 2009 climate conference. No gambling. Chaired a session on climate change adaptation. Lived at Burswood Entertainment Complex – Perth casino – for five days. Did not leave. Oh, did leave one night, for Meupe night in town – got Pimmon CD and Wooshie seven inch single. Back at casino, found myself sitting at a parking station as it was the only place I could charge my laptop. Swum at Cottesloe beach on the last night with new and old friends, followed by fish and chips and Little Creatures beer on the beach. Flew back to Sydney after my longest time away from Nina Bea
• Appeared in the Sydney Writers Festival 09 program
• Program review at radio. All in order, apparently
• Skipped through traffic, petered out of petrol at Albion and Elizabeth Streets, had to push my scooter to the side of the road. The shame

LISTENING to D.N.E.

I love Eugene Carchesio’s take on this world. In Someone’s Universe, his show at the Brisbane gallery of modern art Queensland Art Gallery, Carchesio filled a room with matchbox sculptures that catch the light just so, and wonderful miniature paintings and sketches. Someone’s world indeed, I was sad to leave. But if the likes of Young Marble Giants or Vincent Over The Sink get you excited, you should try Carchesio through his reissued classic (as D.N.E.), 47 Songs Humans Shouldn’t Sing.

EATING Gelato

Summer days are all about the cold treats. But if Mr Whippy soft serve doesn’t cut it, don’t fret. The Italian version is what you’re after. Gelato Messina (241 Victoria Street, Darlinghurst) constantly experiments with flavours: I recommend Sicilian trifle, choc-mint or pistachio. Don’t sleep on this one, get it while it’s hot.

READING Won Magazine #4

Won Magazine stands out from the milling crowd of do-it-yourself publishers. The tabloid style quarterly art mag might get ink on your fingers. But big pages and ace layout give breathing room to the beautiful images and long Q & A interviews with painters and photographers and writers and disco icons and fashion designers – people who’ve got things to say. Not always easy to find on the street, but worth the effort.

TALKING ABOUT Leonard Cohen

Can a 75-year-old Canadian with a line in mystical religion, poetry and pop really rock the stage as much as everyone’s been saying? More sax solos than Kenny G. Spontaneous standing ovation before he even started. It was cheesy and hilarious as hell, poignant too. All the hits – ‘Chelsea Hotel,’ ‘Hallelujah,’ ‘Everybody Knows’ – quite unlike any other show, and as great as I could have hoped.