Hetty Kate and Sam Lemann

I just listened to a rendition of that old Italian hit Quando, Quando, Quando that was so melodious that I just had to hit repeat a few times. It was sung by Melbourne-based jazz chanteuse Hetty Kate, accompanied by guitarist Sam Lemann, with help from Leigh Barker and Andy Baylor. Hetty has the clearest "little girl voice" and diction that I've heard for a while. But her improvisations on the melody are also very much her own. Sam's playing is also fantastic. You should have no difficulty finding Hetty Kate by a web search. You lucky Melburnians. I hope she brings her group to Sydney some day.

Spiraling out of control

Why is it that a debacle is usually described in the press as "spiraling out of control"? Given the chaotic nature of events one would think "lurching out of control" or "staggering out of control" might be more apt. Spiraling just sounds too orderly.


I surmise that one reason is that spiraling implies some kind of malevolent impelling force that keeps the object out of reach of the players, thus absolving them of any fault in causing the problem. The mental imagery is also more attractive: the object's trajectory is making people dizzy trying to track it.


Another reason is obvious to anybody who has seen a runaway firework that has been imparted circular momentum; it traces a corkscrew-like path. The images that come to me are from the closing scenes of Koyaanisqatsi where the camera tracks in slow motion the debris of an Atlas-Centaur rocket explosion. But then "corkscrewing out of control" sounds all wrong, and one might even suspect the protagonists of too much drinking. And of course the language mafia would come after you for inventing yet another verb from a noun.

Moses invents the roman numerals

Joking aside, visitors to Manly will recognise this tribute to the Ukranian immigrant John Suchomlin who arrived in Australia in 1911 and from the mid-20s began sculpting in sand on Manly beach. Many of his works are depicted in postcards from that era.
His name is uncommon so a search will easily find material on his extraordinary life such as these: Wishing Well Shelter and Sandman.