George Michael Symphonica Tour - Australia 2012

AFTER HIS 2010 SOLD OUT TOUR, GEORGE MICHAEL RETURNS TO AUSTRALIA AS YOU HAVE NEVER SEEN HIM BEFORE!

George Michael triumphantly returns to Australia in November and December 2012, with his Symphonica Tour

The multi-million selling artist is back in good health and fighting fit after a battle with pneumonia at the end of last year, which unfortunately led to his ‘Symphonica’ tour being postponed. George Michael is now preparing to return to the big stage later this year with rescheduled and newly added tour dates in Europe, the UK and Australia.

Before its unexpected hiatus, Symphonica, played to packed houses in Europe and fulfilled George's long-cherished artistic ambition of performing alongside a full orchestra. On the tour George will perform a carefully chosen selection of his own material spanning his remarkable career; and he will also cover some of his favourite songs from other artists.

On Symphonica, the music has been re-worked and re-arranged for a large scale orchestra, which will accompany George and his band throughout the tour. This brand new symphonic production has given each song added layers and fresh nuance. It's unmistakeably George Michael, but not as we've ever known him.

With an unparalleled voice, a large-scale orchestra and a tantalising promise to include songs never previously performed live, Symphonica is a magical experience awaiting singer and audience alike...

TOUR DATES*:

Tue 27 Nov - Brisbane Entertainment Centre

*Ticketek is selling for the above venues only.

The Beach Boys 50 - 2012 Tour Australia

Paul Dainty, Chairman of Dainty Group has announced that one of the worlds' most legendary and influential bands of all time The Beach Boys, will tour Australia this year as part of their 50th Anniversary Tour with dates confirmed in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth.

The 50th Anniversary Tour marks the first time in more than two decades that original members Brian Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jardine, Bruce Johnston, and David Marks will tour together.

The 50th Anniversary Tour, which commenced in North America in April, is receiving critical acclaim and proving to be a historical concert event not to be missed.

For five decades, America's first pop band to reach the 50 year milestone has recorded and performed the music that has become the world's favorite soundtrack to summer. Founded in Hawthorne, California in 1961, The Beach Boys were originally comprised of the three teenaged Wilson brothers: Brian, Carl and Dennis, their cousin Mike Love, and school friend Al Jardine. In 1962, neighbour David Marks joined the group for their first wave of hits with Capitol Records, leaving in late 1963, and in 1965, Bruce Johnston joined the band when Brian Wilson retired from touring to focus on writing and producing for the group.

Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988 and recipients of The Recording Academy's Lifetime Achievement GRAMMY Award, The Beach Boys are an American institution that is iconic around the world.

TOUR DATES*:

Tuesday 28 August - Brisbane Entertainment Centre

*Ticketek is selling for the above venues only.

Brisbane City Landmarks Turning Maroon In Lead-Up to 2012 State of Origin Decider

Last night, Brisbane took on a new shade of parochial pride with the Story Bridge, Kuripla Bridge, Wheel of Brisbane and City Hall among the city landmarks to turn maroon in the lead-up to this year's Origin series decider tomorrow week.

The new colour scheme is part of the "Show Your Colours" campaign, which was launched in the Queen Street Mall yesterday.

The campaign is designed to get the state behind the Maroons as they go for a record seventh consecutive series wins over New South Wales, and to promote Brisbane as a major events destination.


The city's residents are being asked to play their part and decorate their houses, cars, workplaces and everything else in maroon to celebrate being a Queenslander and display their pride in their state.

FANS: Darren lockyer with Breeanna Dwyer, 7, Hudson Spencer, 9, Chloe, 9, and Kane Martin, 6.

Former Queensland captain Darren Lockyer said the campaign would lift the Queensland players for their must-win game.

"As a rugby league player, it doesn't get any more exciting than Origin at Suncorp (Stadium)," Lockyer said.

"It's about supporting your team, the more maroon we see the better we'll play."

Pictures: Annette Dew

Source: The Courier-Mail

Queensland Tourism News: Newman Doubles Tourism Funding To Regions

State funding for tourism organisations in regional Queensland will be doubled to help prop up the ailing industry.

Premier Campbell Newman told the DestinationQ conference in Cairns today the funding would increase from $3.11 million to $7 million through a redirection of resources as the industry struggles to attract tourists.

But he says the government can't afford to just "throw buckets of money" at the industry to help it compete with the high Australian dollar and neighbouring countries.

"Simply preserving what we have will not meet the challenges of the future," he told the 300-plus crowd.

"We can't afford to sit with the status quo and it won't get us to where we want to go."
Mr Newman had campaigned about tourism being one of the major pillars of Queensland's economy during the lead up to the state election.

He told tourism operators the conference was about coming up with a new way forward for the state's tourism as he promised to do in his first 100 days in government.

Some of the conference's major focuses will include reducing red tape, attracting and retaining skilled workers in the industry, marketing strategies and how national parks were operated.
The forum, which several ministers including deputy premier Jeff Seeney are attending, was welcomed by tourism bodies.

Accommodation Association of Australia CEO Richard Munro said it was important for frontline operators to be able to air their grievances directly to government.

"It's important for governments at all levels to put in place policies which promote investment in both existing and new tourism accommodation products which do not adversely impact on operators", Mr Munro said in a statement.

Simple Minds And Devo Take To Australia

Two rather different but very popular ‘80s pop acts are coming together for a big tour of Australia this December, as Simple Minds and Devo play a series of theatre and winery shows with support from Australian art-rock superstars the church and, for some shows, the Sean Kelly led Models.

Australia was the first territory to embrace the music of Simple Minds, their Love Song in 1981 was a massive hit here, as was the New Gold Dream (81-82-83-84) album which followed in 1982. Of course, after that, they became one of the world’s biggest bands with hits like Don’t You (Forget About Me) and Alive and Kicking which continue to be cherished the world over.

One of the most exciting, subversive and infectious acts of the post-punk era, Devo not only have a swag of hits, but a huge number of critically adored records which are seen to be some of the most influential among many modern bands. Likewise, their stage show has always been one that confounds and intrigues and their recent visits as headliners of the Splendour In The Grass and Livid festivals have shown that they have not lost any of what made them so exciting.

Alongside the long-standing Australian legends of alternative pop and rock music the church and groundbreaking Aussies Models (who play the A Day On The Green winery dates in the Yarra Valley, Perth, Hunter Valley and Brisbane's Mt Cotton), these shows are set to showcase some of the finest music that came out of the 1980s but is still completely relevant and exciting today.
Tickets are on sale Monday 2 July. Dates are below.

Brisbane Reveals $353 Million IT Overhaul

Australia’s largest council administration, Brisbane City Council, has revealed an ambitious plan to spend $353 million on a comprehensive new SAP-based business administration platform which will see some 62 legacy systems shut down and replaced with the aid of IT services firm Accenture.

In a statement released this week, Brisbane Lord Mayor Graham Quirk said the “major overhaul” would be undertaken over the next decade, and was expected to generate about $450 million in efficiencies over that period – meaning the benefits of the new system would outweigh its cost by “about $100 million” over that period, if everything goes according to plan.

“Council’s current systems are outdated and need to be brought into the 21st century if we want to cement Brisbane’s reputation as an economic powerhouse in the Asia-Pacific Region,” Quirk said. “To do nothing is not an option. As Lord Mayor my job is to deliver Brisbane ratepayers the best value for money and Council needs to change the way it does business to achieve that. This new system will allow us to create one Council that is seamless to deal with for residents and businesses. Less money tied up in red tape means more money spent on frontline services in our suburbs such as tree trimming, road resurfacing and footpath repair.”

The bulk of the money will be spent in the first three years of the systems’ implementation, with the rest being spread over the rest of the decade. $104 million will be allocated to the project in the 2012/2013 financial year, with the total installation cost expected to be about $194 million. There will also be an operating cost of about $111 million over the total ten-year period.
“It is predicted that it will cost ratepayers about $212 million to run Council’s current outdated systems over the next ten years if nothing is changed,” the council’s statement said.

SAP hasn’t exactly had the best run recently within Queensland’s public sector, with the German software giant’s technology also being used in the disastrous Queensland Health payroll systems implementation. A KMPG audit recently found the project has already cost $417 million and will need some $837 million more to fix over the next five years, in a finding which the state’s new LNP Health Minister Lawrence Springborg said in Parliament several weeks ago illustrated that the project was an “abomination”.

However, it was IBM, Queensland Health itself and government shared services provider Corptech which implemented the project, and very little blame for the disaster has been attached to SAP, with much of the problems with the project relating to governance and business processes, not the specific technology being used. In his statement, Quirk attempted to head off criticism of the SAP platform for the BaSE project before it began.

“Quirk acknowledged SAP was the same brand of software used in the recent Qld Health payroll upgrade,” the council’s statement read. “However he pointed to the former State Labor Government’s own independent report, which found the problem with that rollout lay with Qld Health’s implementation, not SAP’s software. Quirk said Council was also undertaking a different implementation strategy that would see Council change the way it does business to suit the new system, not force the software provider to alter its tried-and-tested product to suit the organisation as Labor did with Qld Health.”

Quirk said Brisbane City Council was being “flexible” in its rollout to ensure that it gets the project right the first time before switching on the new platform, to avoid the same problems Queensland Health suffered. “That said we’ve put in place strict contractual arrangements regarding any potential late delivery or cost increases to ensure we get the best service and value for ratepayers, something Labor and Qld Health also failed to do,” the LNP Lord Mayor said.

Opinion/Analysis

In my opinion, this implementation which Brisbane City Council has announced is a recipe for disaster. Any time you try to shut down dozens of legacy systems and migrate the whole shebang onto one huge centralised platform, you’re going to suffer a huge number of roadblocks.

While no doubt Accenture, SAP and the council itself are being very careful here, especially because of the disastrous implementation at Queensland Health, I think anyone who expects this implementation to proceed smoothly has not been following recent IT projects within Australia’s public sector.

It is a universal truth now that Australia’s sub-Federal public sector is broadly incapable of successfully delivering on major IT projects; we’ve seen this trend right around Australia recently, from Queensland to NSW, to Victoria and Western Australia, and I do not expect this rollout to be any different. If this deployment is successful, it will be very much an outlier.

Hawaiian Airlines: New Brisbane-USA Connections Via Honolulu

Hawaiian Airlines will begin flights between Brisbane and Honolulu this November -- and while Australians tend to think of Hawaiian as a holiday airline, the connecting flights via Honolulu to just under a dozen continental US cities will be a useful option fo Queensland's business travellers.

Being able to skip a connection across Sydney Airport and missing out on a further multi-terminal change at Los Angeles LAX? We count that as a win.

So are the direct flights from Honolulu to San Jose (Silicon Valley's local airport) and ten other US cities that would otherwise require a connection.

There's also something to be said for mixing a bit of work and play with a bonus stopover in Hawaii on the way back. After all, you deserve a little downtime!

You'll also earn Virgin Australia Velocity points on Hawaiian's flights.

Of course, there are tradeoffs. (Aren't there always?) Hawaiian's business class seat is an older-style recliner, and the flights only run three times weekly.

The new flight details in full

The thrice-weekly Brisbane-Honolulu flights will take around nine hours, using a Boeing 767-300 plane with 18 business class and 244 economy class seats.

Business class on Hawaiian is an older recliner-style seat, similar to what Qantas uses on its domestic 767 Cityflyer planes. 

In terms of timing, US-bound Flight HA444 will depart Brisbane at 1835 every Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, cross the international dateline and arrive in Honolulu at 0805 the same day.

Return HA443 will leave Honolulu at 1020 every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, cross the international dateline and land in Brisbane at 1600 the next day.

Hawaiian's thrice-weekly schedule -- and the seats that don't match up to anyone else's business class across the Pacific -- may give some business travellers pause. That's especially true for business travellers more sensitive to schedule or a fully flat bed.

But if you have the flexibility, an aversion to extra connections, a dislike of LAX and an interest in stopping over in Hawaii, it's definitely something I'd consider.