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WOLFMOTHER lead singer Andrew Stockdale has been fined $350 for singing in a pub

IF you have your doubts about the musical worth of modern rock, you'd be cheered by hearing that Wolfmother lead singer Andrew Stockdale has been fined $350 for singing in a pub

IF you have your doubts about the musical worth of modern rock, you'd be cheered by hearing that Wolfmother lead singer Andrew Stockdale has been fined $350 for singing in a pub. The incident happened last Sunday night at West End in inner-city Brisbane, when the afro-haired Stockdale crashed the stage at the Archive Bar. According to evidence tendered in the Brisbane Magistrates Court, the band occupying the stage "took exception to that" but eventually handed over the mic to Stockdale. He then belted out the Beatles classic Let It Be. In a performance captured on a mobile phone and seen by Strewth, he slurs his way through the song, at one point yelling "Oh, motherf . . ker . . . let it be", which isn't really in keeping with the spirit of the song when Paul McCartney first wrote it for the Fab Four. Stockdale was refused alcohol service and security guards tried to evict him, but he sat down until he was arrested and taken to the Brisbane watchhouse where he was charged with being drunk and disorderly, failing to leave licensed premises and resisting removal of licensed premises. He pleaded guilty yesterday without appearing in court and was fined with no conviction recorded. There's a reassuring continuity in rock stars behaving badly, but getting fined for singing in a pub is still a black eye for a singer.

Happy ending

MOST of the announcements on the Australian Securities Exchange are extraordinarily worthy but a trifle dull, so in among those sober offerings yesterday was one from Planet Platinum, headed "Showgirls Bar 20 Club", where the owner gave the good oil that the establishment offering what's politely known as a range of gentlemen's services would remain open. In March, the company lost its liquor licence for the bar in central Melbourne, but it has successfully appealed against the suspension. The establishment has remained open through the appeal process, but apparently word among the clientele was that it was closed. As executive chairman John Trimble informed the ASX yesterday, "there has been a significant decline in the patronage and turnover of the company's hospitality and entertainment business at Showgirls Bat 20" because people thought it was closed. Given that the patrons of such establishments are known as Johns, it's now up to this John to persuade the other Johns that it's open again.

Let them eat lead

THE hills are alive with the sound of gunfire, or at least they are in NSW, according to the ALP. Opposition environment spokesman Luke Foley said the Shooters Party was extracting a price from the O'Farrell government for its support and there would be an extra 5000 hunters in state forests during this term of government. "I was in Ben Bullen State Forest three weekends ago bushwalking and picnicking. I mean, I should have been issued with earmuffs before I went there," Foley said. "I could hear shots firing out regularly." The shots would be music to the ears of the Shooters Party.

Technical hitch

IN a week in which Marshall McLuhan would have turned 100, his dictum of "the medium is the message" was spectacularly challenged at the University of Sydney where Amazon chief technology officer Werner Vogels was giving a lecture. Vogels had prepared a PowerPoint presentation, but its lack of performance became a serious distraction, shaking and clicking in and out, and Vogels was becoming increasingly testy. In the end, it was resolved by having someone standing at the back of the room manually clicking the slides over. So one of Australia's premier technology universities, hosting one of the world's foremost experts on digital technology talking about mass data storage and cloud computing, couldn't operate an overhead projector. Vogels and the university would be hoping that, in this case, the medium was not the message.

Chilled thrills

WHILE much of Australia will bunker down today against rains and winds, ageing lunatics will dive into the water off Victoria's Great Ocean Road for the winter pier-to-pub swim at Lorne. Race organiser Ross McDowall said water temperatures were generally about 2C higher than in Port Phillip Bay, so the 9.5C in Port Phillip Bay translates to about 11.5C, possibly even reaching a tropical 12C, at Lorne. John Dineen , 76, is the oldest swimmer, one of four competitors over 70. Victorian Premier Ted Baillieu, who hasn't been seen that much by his fellow Brighton Icebergers since he became Premier, will be there, clad in his Speedos, as will all other competitors. Wetsuits are for wimps, apparently. It makes Tony Abbott's effort swimming in Port Phillip Bay the other day in a wetsuit look lame.

Seal deal

A GOOD sign: the master of a ferry waiting to dock at Sydney's Circular Quay yesterday drew passengers' attention to a seal in the water, waving to them. Good for the seal to be there, good for management to tell people.

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