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17 Jul 06 - 05:15 PM (#1785824) Subject: BS: Manilow is a crimefighter in Oz From: SharonA Just heard this report on TV in the US. Apparently it's old news in Australia! From the Sydney Morning Herald: This old mob will get the hip-hoppers moving fast June 30, 2006 FM radio stations seem awash with best-selling hits from last year, last decade and the decade before that, but none dare play the most hated songs and singers. Yo! Give it up for Rockdale City Council. Tonight, Rockdale begins The Weekend of the Worst, a hard-edged, yet middle-of-the-road strategy aimed at driving hip-hop from their land. Rockdale's city fathers and mothers consider the area's pristine beachfront violated by visiting hoons gathering in car parks doing doughnuts, burnouts and playing Eminen and Tupac. The desecration long predates Cronulla's stand against intruders last December. From 9pm tonight, loudspeakers carrying the cloying Barry Manilow will be cranked up at Hashams car park in Kyeemagh to scare hip-hoppers. Manilow can be lethal. US authorities used him to wear down the Branch Davidians in the 1993 Waco siege. But should Manilow fail in Hashams car park, Rockdale has got plenty more blasts from the past. The Mills Brothers, Nat King Cole, Vic Damone, Doris Day, Frankie Laine, Patti Page, Johnnie Ray and Dean Martin are among the line-up of crooners and singers designed to affront the ears of hip-hoppers. Rockdale's Deputy Mayor, Bill Saravinovski, said hoons have been gathering in the city's car parks for some years. "They are driving away business from local restaurants and intimidating our residents and we want them out of our city. Enough is enough," he fumed. The council has Australian music industry approval for its attempt to soothe savage beasts. Strange that Rockdale left Celine Dion off its list. ------------------------------------------- Okay, that was a couple of weeks ago. Here's the latest update (this report from News24.com in South Africa): Barry Manilow puts revellers off 17/07/2006 13:42 - (SA) Sydney - It could be magic for some, but the use of loud Barry Manilow music to drive away late-night revellers from a suburban Sydney park is getting on the nerves of nearby residents. In a move reminiscent of US efforts to drive former Panama strongman Manuel Noriega from the Vatican Embassy where he took refuge in 1989, the local council in Rockdale, in Sydney's southern suburbs, started a six-month trial of high-volume hits by Manilow and Doris Day to chase away car enthusiasts who were gathering on weekend nights at Cook Park Reserve. "Barry's our secret weapon," Rockdale deputy mayor Bill Saravinovski told The Daily Telegraph newspaper, four weeks after the start of the effort. "It seems to be working." 'I just can't sleep' But some people living near the park are less than enthralled. They say the barrage of Copacabana, Could It Be Magic and Que Sera Sera," blasting from 21:00 to midnight every Friday, Saturday and Sunday is driving them crazy. "I don't know how I will cope," said Moya Dunn, describing how the songs have invaded her house. "I just can't sleep when it's on, and to think there's going to be another six months of this." Officials have given in a little, agreeing to turn down the volume a bit after residents complained. Irritating "The initial reaction was that they found it irritating," Saravinovski said. "I'm not disputing what the residents are saying. I can't swallow some of the tracks like Mandy. "We have tried to reduce the sound and we are reviewing the songs. I don't mind Barry Manilow, but I'm more of an Abba and Celine Dion fan." In 1989, US soldiers blasted hard rock music and news bulletins about Panama at the Vatican Embassy in Panama City in attempt to drive General Noriega from refuge there. The Vatican complained, and US troops stopped the noise. Noriega later surrendered. |
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17 Jul 06 - 06:06 PM (#1785887) Subject: RE: BS: Manilow is a crimefighter in Oz From: alanabit I thought they had human rights in Australia these days... |
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17 Jul 06 - 07:10 PM (#1785928) Subject: RE: BS: Manilow is a crimefighter in Oz From: Jack the Sailor Inhumane torture Psychological warfare Barry Manilow |
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18 Jul 06 - 02:27 AM (#1786131) Subject: RE: BS: Manilow is a crimefighter in Oz From: Peace Music hath charm to soothe the savage breast, |
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18 Jul 06 - 03:20 AM (#1786160) Subject: RE: BS: Manilow is a crimefighter in Oz From: John O'L What about that other thread - you know, the one about real-life costumed superheros. Would Manilowman fit into those trousers? |
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18 Jul 06 - 04:02 AM (#1786174) Subject: RE: BS: Manilow is a crimefighter in Oz From: Bee-dubya-ell What are "hoons"? Are they restricted to Australia or is there a chance they'll export themselves and become an invasive species? Do we all need to buy Manilow CDs to help repel the invasion? |
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18 Jul 06 - 04:16 AM (#1786182) Subject: RE: BS: Manilow is a crimefighter in Oz From: Matt_R Two wrongs don't make a right. |
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18 Jul 06 - 05:51 AM (#1786219) Subject: RE: BS: Manilow is a crimefighter in Oz From: Liz the Squeak Can't decide if it's the ultimate insult or if it's a great way of getting more royalties..... In the UK, several large shopping centres have been playing Beethoven and Bach to try to drive away gangs of marauding youngsters (or 'hoons'). Personally, I find a chorus or two from any sea shanty or Wombles song gets Limpit back in her room quicker than anything. Or could it just be the rainbow hat I'm wearing? LTS |
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18 Jul 06 - 08:24 AM (#1786301) Subject: RE: BS: Manilow is a crimefighter in Oz From: JennyO I'm sure you can imagine what a hoon is - ya know - a yobbo, mug-lair, nong, galah, dipshit, drongo - that clear now? In other words, a hooligan. |
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18 Jul 06 - 09:11 AM (#1786325) Subject: RE: BS: Manilow is a crimefighter in Oz From: Paul Burke A Hoon is a brain- dead party hack. |
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18 Jul 06 - 10:11 AM (#1786363) Subject: RE: BS: Manilow is a crimefighter in Oz From: Bee-dubya-ell Well, if the hoons are going to invade and I need to be armed with Manilow music to repel them, I have a small problem. You see, since nobody lives on the property east of my own I would need to protect almost a hundred acres. I only have a cheap little stereo that could never be heard over that expanse. Now, I do have an electric guitar and a Marshall amplifier which I'm sure would provide the necessary volume, but I'm not sure that playing "Mandy" using overdriven power chords, heavy on the wah, wouldn't just exacerbate the problem.... |
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18 Jul 06 - 12:56 PM (#1786476) Subject: RE: BS: Manilow is a crimefighter in Oz From: robomatic Couldn't stand most of his music myself but I've heard him interviewed and he sounded like an intelligent level-headed guy who listens to a lot of music that doesn't sound like his. Made me wish I could like his stuff enough to buy his albums (or even one). I can think of some other contenders for law 'n order restorers: Mandy Patinkin sings broadway hits. Aaron Neville's tremolo extolling "the fabric of our lives." William Shatner's 60's albums alternated with Leonard Nimoy's. On the other hand, might drive the older generation into committing crimes of violence... Alvin and the Chipmunks (A lot of older folk might not like 'em but then most of what they sing would be out of their hearing range, anyway). |
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18 Jul 06 - 01:19 PM (#1786488) Subject: RE: BS: Manilow is a crimefighter in Oz From: SINSULL There was a Spy spoof in which a Russian was tortured into giving up information by an unending loud playing of "Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny..." Johnny Ray???? Hey Jacqui! "When your sweetheart sends a letter of GOODBYE..." Just the htreat of that and Jacqui goes screaming for cover "So puth your head down and go on baby and CRYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!" |
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18 Jul 06 - 02:20 PM (#1786516) Subject: RE: BS: Manilow is a crimefighter in Oz From: Bee-dubya-ell According to the Wikipedia article on hoons, they're fond of driving souped up Japanese compact/sports cars. Perhaps that's the origin of the name. A hot-rodded Toyota Celica doesn't go "Vroom, vroom!" like a '57 Chevy. It goes "Hoon, hoon!" |
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18 Jul 06 - 10:54 PM (#1786870) Subject: RE: BS: Manilow is a crimefighter in Oz From: SharonA From the context of the article I posted, it would seem that "hoons" are indeed motorheads. We need help from the locals -- maybe Sandra in Sydney can tell us the true definition. |
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19 Jul 06 - 07:21 AM (#1787146) Subject: RE: BS: Manilow is a crimefighter in Oz From: Crystal I quite Manilows music, it is very easy listening! Copacabana is a fun song! I'm possibly the only person here who would say that! |
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19 Jul 06 - 11:51 AM (#1787338) Subject: RE: BS: Manilow is a crimefighter in Oz From: JennyO Well, hoons are all the things I mentioned in a previous post, but yes, they are mainly hooligans in cars that drive round and terrorise the neighbourhood. Wikipedia entry on Hoons We live near a roundabout on a long wide street, and every weekend the hoons come out. You can hear them screaming up and down the streets and "chucking wheelies" at the roundabout, but it's no use calling the police because if they bother to come at all, it's much too late and the hoons are long gone. As for playing loud music like Barry Manilow, I can't see how that would stop them, because it would be drowned out by the loud music in their own cars, and of course in our case, and in most cases, they are not in a car park, but driving up and down the street. Or should the whole city be wired for sound? Nah, it'll never catch on, teddy (obscure reference to an old TV commercial). |
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19 Jul 06 - 12:06 PM (#1787351) Subject: RE: BS: Manilow is a crimefighter in Oz From: SharonA But Crystal, would you find it such "easy listening" if you were one of those townsfolk forced to listen to non-stop Manilow, interspersed with Doris Day, at top volume for 9 hours every weekend (9 p.m. to midnight every Friday, Saturday and Sunday)?? I confess that I like "Copacabana" too, and some of Manilow's other early stuff -- if played once in a while. I'm not so crazy about "Can't Smile Without You", though, and his new rendition of "Unchained Melody" is just plain excruciating. If I lived there in Rockdale, I don't know which would be worse: the noise the motorheads was making, or the noise the local government is making. After all, if the idea is to torture the "hoons", why torture the rest of the town? There must be a better way. If they can install tracking devices in cars, why can't they install annoying-music-playing devices in car radios and then turn them on if you're using your car to be a public nuisance? |