Open up and say ... Ikeeaah

If you'll pardon the lame ass Poison (as in the glam band) reference there, if you were hapily ensconced in an innerwest enclave of groovy yet distinctive and handmade* homewares, you will have happily missed the kerfuffle in Adelaide last week as they got their very own ikea store!

I laughed to myself like a sad old nanna in a large rattly house when I saw that they'd picked it up on MediaWatch on monday night. A very rough estimate by a local PR guru put the value of all the frothing at over 100k, easy. It was a very big deal. I was here. People thought there would be traffic queues delaying entrance to the airport. There weren't. Anyway, I've got a very trivial bit of marketing waffletalk to share, just for my own amusement, and if you'd rather eat glass than talk about marketing tactics then just look away now.

Clearly all the Adelaide competitors to aforementioned flatpacked furniture specialists are bunging on as much tv advertising to avoid taking a major hit. You remember them.. "love it, at LeCornu" etc.. and they all feature a barrage of products and prices kind of spinning and leaping out of the screen. Now icky-ah have a totally different tack. Their classy, clean, ad feautres a six year olds voice talking about what he likes about the store. Not a single couch or magenta lamp to be seen. Just some chicken nuggests and a ball crawl. Perhaps there's some soft-focus flat packs being surreptitiously slid into the station wagon as he says "not bad ...for a shop". So right, in layman's terms, they're not actually trying to sell you any furniture, they're trying to sell you an experience. Horrible, isn't it? Its a leisure activity, all this shopping business. With its own car park, playpen and cafe. And if you happen to buy some nice homewares at the same time, thats just lovely for them isn't it. Now I am first to admit Ikea has some nice things, I've had a good old browse there on more than one occasion. But better that kind of consumption be done by consenting adults, in the privacy of their own credit ratings, surely?

*By old Sri-lankan and Peruvian ladies.

Anzac - que?

Well I heard The Herd's remake of "I was only 19" and saw the video clip for the first time last night. Thinking how smart they were to release it on the eve of Anzac day, I now realise I'm a tad behind the times. They first performed it on the Triple J show like a version sometime last year, and the studio recording was released on March 17 this year. I think they've done an excellent job, and the man who penned it from Redgum, agrees. The words are certainly not a nationalist call to arms, and in this version they ring out nice and clear in an Australian accent 20 ears on, infused with the cadences of western Europe and the Middle East via Sydney's western suburbs. They've kept great slabs of the original lyrics and just added more description to others. From the original:

"And can you tell me doctor, why I still can'y get to sleep/And the Channgel Seven chopper still chills me to my feet? / And what's this rash that comes and goes, can you tell me what it means? God help me.. I was only 19."

And the Herd's embellishment: "I can still hear Frank, a screaming mess, the bleeding flesh, couldn't retrieve his legs/ y' see the ANZAC legend neglected to mention / the blood, the fear, the blood the tears the tension/Dad's recollection beyond comprehension, didn't seem quite real until we were sent in."

You can hear it and view the video here (quicktime viewer - not good for dialup). I remember this song effecting me when it was on Countdown when I was a kid, and now doing my research I found out it was at number 1 for 40 weeks in 1983. What I didn't know was that apparently it was all the Vets who "latched on immediately" and that its played on ANZAC day all over the country. Always leapt out as one of the most hit-you-in-the-guts anti-war song I've heard. (If you've got others, go ahead and post in comments). I don't think its about glory or reminisence at all - and to hear these young blokes rap it is incredible. A band member, Urthboy, puts it best in an inteview for the SMH , pointing out tht The Herd's audience were not born when the song was originally released, but still responded to its message. "A lot of our audience members are fairly politically aware … [for them] war is an issue that should not be downplayed." Nice one, The Herd.

Easter quotes

"I remember when jeans first came out" - Nanna (92), while doing the regular Sunday ironing ritual. (She does, too)

"But I'll spill my drink" - Mis J's Aunty L when asked to participate in the over 10s womens running race on Easter Saturday picnin

"I think I'm going home early" - Biz, via text from the big exciting alt-rock festival in Sydney... what??