The Source: Kamahl ‘humiliated’ after getting shut down at charity lunch

Showbiz legend Kamahl says he was left humiliated at a charity lunch when the MC ended his impromptu performance.

Kamahl says he was left humiliated after the MC interrupted and ended his time on stage at the charity lunch.

Putting the squeeze on Victoria’s movers, shakers and headline makers.

Showbiz legend Kamahl is embroiled in a new war of words, this time over his treatment at a charity lunch.

The Australian singer, who recently caused a stir with his Yes/No/Maybe stances for the Voice referendum, says he was “humiliated and embarrassed” by Smooth FM presenter Ty Frost who MCed the October 22 event.

Kamahl posted on Sunday about his experiences at the Yellow Diamond Foundation fundraiser for brain cancer.

The Malaysian-born entertainer had attended the $160-a-head lunch in western Sydney “at considerable inconvenience and expense”.

Kamahl said he left the event with a “heavy heart.” Picture: AAP

“I chose to entertain the guests, til the uninterested and uninformed emcee Ty Frost interrupted and abruptly ended my engagement,” he posted.

The 88-year-old had been reciting Desiderata. The famous poem by Max Ehrmann, from 1927, encourages readers to “be cheerful” no matter what happens in life.

Kamahl left the event “with a heavy heart”.

He later posted that he had since recovered his “cool” after the “humiliation” and was hoping to meet Frost to “clear the air”.

Kamahl’s posts were not met with much sympathy on X.

Some people were, well, so unkind.

Tom the whistleblower posted that those attending the event revealed that Kamahl was not there to perform: “You took it upon yourself to sing and the organisers told you to rightly f … off.”

Another follower also posted that Kamahl did not appear to be part of the official entertainment: “Sometimes it pays to keep one’s mouth firmly shut!”

Stan’s sound of silence

Veteran journalist Stan Grant had plenty to say in the weeks before the Voice referendum.

Working in Denmark, he said, he found himself referring to Australia’s “noise” around the Voice as “mean”.

The former ABC star hasn’t added much to the said clamour since the referendum — until now.

As Monash University’s Constructive Institute Asia Pacific inaugural director, Grant will deliver an opening lecture at an Australian National University leadership forum on Monday night.

In his reflections of the vote, called The Witness of Poetry, he will say that he still feels “the noise”.

Stan Grant is delivering an opening lecture at an Australian National University leadership forum. Picture: ABC

And in breaking his silence, Grant advocates the place of silence.

“I know the language of the op-ed column, words written for effect,” he will say.

“Words written with an audience in mind.

“I know the performative parry and thrust of the television interview too often an exercise in gotcha and evasion…”

“There is a time for debate. And sometimes amidst the noise there is even insight. But there is a place for silence. Sacred silence.

“It doesn’t mean we should not keep striving for good journalism but it had better be good, because we are competing with silence.”

Say no more.

Hipsters and tipsters buzzing over new festival

Melbourne’s newest music festival, the hipster event The Eighty Six, took over the city’s so-called Bonsoy Belt (Westgarth and Northcote to Thornbury and Preston) at the weekend with the strength of a quadruple-shot latte.

The Eighty Six, backed with funding from the Victorian government, and named after a tram line, is aimed at supporting Melbourne’s inner-north’s creative community and small businesses.

The festival’s marquee event, Super Saturday, saw 200 acts staged in 40 venues along High St across a marathon 22-hours.

Acts included British reggae star Dennis Bovell, Indigenous rapper Briggs, Detroit DJ Theo Parrish, and former Northcote resident turned 1970s pop star Normie Rowe.

But hipsters and tipsters declared art-punk band Gut Health the buzzworthy act of the Eighty Six.

Athina Uh Oh fronts Gut Health.

Critics, chin-strokers and those who love banging on about seeing a band before they ‘cross over,’ crammed into rock bar Shotkickers to see the scorching-hot five-piece.

Triple J once said Gut Health performs “with the spirit of New York’s No-Wave revolution and the diverse musical backgrounds of each player … to create a polymorphous and positively thrilling, dancefloor filling, post-punk concoction.”

But the superlatives might be best saved for Athina Uh Oh, the band’s enthralling singer-songwriter, who commands the spotlight while flying under the radar in terms of her links to legit rock royalty.

She is the daughter of Daddy Cool and Mondo Rock legend Ross Wilson and Tania Gogos-Wilson. Her stepsister is actor Olympia Valance.

However, industry buzz says Athina is on track to be a superstar in her own right.

Industry buzz says Athina is on track to be a superstar in her own right.

Honouring Normie Rowe

Still on the Eighty Six — ding! ding! — the festival’s Eighty-Six Festival artistic director Woody McDonald revealed his bittersweet reasons for putting 1968 King Of Pop Normie Rowe on the line-up.

Rowe, who grew up in Northcote, and performed in Preston and Thornbury rock venues back in the day, returned to his old stomping ground to play a show at an Eighty Six event

“Normie was one of our first rock and roll stars,” McDonald said. “Now the place where he grew up is the home of Melbourne music. It’s come full circle.”

McDonald’s mother, Joan, who passed away last year, also ran Normie’s fan club.

“I put Normie on the bill as a homage to her, and a homage to his history in Northcote.”

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