The Advertiser
Festival (Confidential)
Talking Head left sitting at the bar
David Byrne turned up unannounced at the Artists' Week
opening bash at the
Hotel Richmond on Sunday night.
Alone at the bar, a laid-back Byrne
relaxed into the night, while
everyone else wondered whether to say hello
or give him some space.
That suited performance artists Sue and Phil Dodd, of Gossip
Pop, one of
the two acts for the night. They
found themselves performing in front of
one of the idols of the genre.
Pocket rocket?
A prolific consumer and commentator of popular culture,
Byrne looked for
all the world like a local,
standing at the bar with a bicycle helmet in
his hand. Someone speculated he was
travelling on one of those
super-sleek, lightweight, fold-up aluminium numbers - that was probably in
his pocket.
Off to
Sadly, the former Talking Heads frontman
didn't hit the dance floor. He
stayed about half an hour, before
(presumably!) peddling off into the
night. Byrne was flying back to
told The Advertiser. ``I've got a
couple of days before our rehearsals
begin here,'' he said.
.. and back again
If you see the amiable, silver-haired artist gliding through
the city on a
gleaming two-wheeler later in the
week, you could try calling out
something like, ``burning down the
house''. Byrne gave his I Powerpoint
presentation to a packed house at
Elder Hall on Sunday night. He's
returning for the world premiere of
the musical Here Lies Love, at the
Royal
Artists aplenty
Byrne's spot at the bar was taken later in the evening by
David Wenham,
who has everyone raving about his
performance in Songs from the Yellow
Bedroom. Also in attendance were
international visual artists, including
Video
Linda Michael was there, and well-known faces from
scene, including Angela and Hossein Valamanesh, Chris
Orchard, Loene
Furler and Annabelle Collett, along with
younger generation artists.