Oh joy, oh rapture!

As Alan of Australia has reported, bands may yet be marching towards Bathurst in 2000. It now appears the fallback position for the relevant New South Wales politicians is to offer the American and Japanese (yes, Gil, Japanese!) marching bands some time on stage at various non-opening ceremony events.

The heat has not died down in the New South Wales media - I can't speak for other parts of the country - and we have yet to face tomorrow's Sunday newspapers, which usually manage to build up our collective anger on most issues, but it would be nice if just one news item actually included a detailed report on the *music* on offer. Maybe Alan, Alison, etc, have looked more closely at our local TV news, but it seems to me the music is way behind as a news item.

By the way, the original deal for Bathurst was for more than 2000 band members to stay here for two weeks before the Games, supposedly injecting $3,000,000 into the Bathurst economy.

But right now I'm now going to watch Pat Rafter and that bald New York kiddie play their Wimbledon semi-final. Aussies versus Yanks in a sporting context? Who cares?

Bruce from Bathurst (the $3m town)