Classical slip
Anybody who is a little cluey on classic jazz or classic musicals would have noticed the very embarrassing gaff made on the front page of Tuesday’s paper, March 18. The wry, ironic, talented and entirely comedic intelligence that is Gerry Connolly was identified as none other than Gerry Mulligan, he of the great baritone saxophone or Jerry Mulligan (same sound but with a J) played by the inimitable Gene Kelly in An American in Paris. After such a gracious trip to emcee the Wallangra Festival, he deserved more than our error.
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So apologies to the very generous Mr Connolly who was so kind as to even pen his autograph, with said surname very well-attached. We can only hope he takes the mistake in good humour, as in our minds, he conjured up those very emotive strains of The Nearness of You, or a captivating performance to the masterwork of George Gershwin, and rides on the shoulders of great-ness, and keeping very good company.
Good Friday stuff
It is Good Friday tomorrow and naturally On the Pulse’s flights of fancy turned to thoughts of Easter.
Especially after a chance email happened to shine its contemporary light upon a fundamental tradition held so dear by almost every Christian.
Did you know there is a growing trend towards ‘premiumisation’ of chocolate?
Premiumisation; a new word for us and a new concept for chocoholics has driven demand for specialty chocolate stores for the past five years.
Seems consumers now indulge or purchase premiumisation chocolate as a gift for special occasions, such as Easter, and apparently analysts have identified revenue of $307.5 million in specialty chocolate stores, and $6.2 billion in chocolate and confectionery manufacturing for this financial year.
So there you go. If you thought this weekend was all about three days off, going fishing, visiting friends or family or maybe even something to do with Jesus dying on a cross to save the whole species then maybe you could be forgiven for thinking you’ve been on the wrong track. Obviously it’s all about chocolate, consumerism and $6.2 billion. It had OTP resting its chin on its thumbs as it fell into a pensive silence. It wondered if Jesus would suffer as much for today’s world of premiumisation as he did for that world, more than 2000 years ago?
Perhaps. After all, in his day, more than a few money-lenders attracted his attention, and that’s why On the Pulse decided to throw away the chocolate and get dressed for church.
A little too late?
Word on the grapevine is yet another arborist has come forward with a special report all about Inverell’s trees, leaving OTP a little bushed. It seems, much to Pulse’s pleasant surprise, there is an evergreen supply of experts on the leafy subject willing to dedicate their time and resources to the debate: “to mulch, or not to mulch”. It sure would be great, thinks Pulse, to get these guys in the same room at the same time. You know, to nut out it out—really get to the root of the issue. Between the arborists, activists and accountants, these trees have had more advocates than most celebrities, not to mention the creatively-inclined drivers practicing their synchronised and interpretive parking routines at the cost of the odd limb here and there. OTP is the first to admit our canopy of know-how is more than a little sparse when it comes to these kinds of things. You could say, Pulse is a ‘botanist’ in the same way we all had that unemployed uni mate who was a ‘chemist’, but it seems to us that this new report may have bloomed just a little late in the season. What with the gentle whir of saws and things about town, Pulse can’t help but think this new report is a bit like whipping out the Miracle Grow after spilling the Tordon. Pulse is stumped. Guess we’ll just have to wait to see how things grow.
