Moomba musings

I was lucky enough to be in the Moomba Parade on Monday - lucky as in, I got paid to be there. Unlucky as in, I was there, it was wet, and it was ridiculously short and unimaginative. The day started at 8.30am, with a registration at RMIT on Swanston St. I then spent several hours standing around inside, waiting for the rain to subside. Then we all lined up, for what seemed like ages. There were Indian dancers, baton twirlers, drums, jellyfish, the usual bunch of floats and paraders. Obviously the Government has decided that with all the Commonwealth Games activities going on, Moomba (like all the other Melbourne events usually taking place in March/April) should be given the minimum effort and attention, while regular staff and audiences focus on the lead-up to the Games. Instead of the longer route down Swanston St, the Parade went from Melbourne Central to the VAC. Because of the short route, we spent the first half-hour/first block standing around waiting for the parade to move forward enough to give ourselves room to do our thing. My thing happened to be puppeteering in the 'Big Fish'. Three fish, or should I say, three fish in three sections (so 9 parts), to be precise. I got the tail end of a seahorse. It was fun, and I did enjoy it - I haven't been part of a parade for so long, and had forgotten how enjoyable it is to see kids' faces light up when they see a giant puppet on the street. I particularly enjoyed it when we went near the audience on either side of the road, and had an opportunity to wave part of the tail and its materials near the kids hands. It's nice to interact. Anyway, the whole parade for me took about 1/2 hour once we got going, because I was pretty much at the back of the parade. There was no Moomba fair to go and buy showbags at, or go on the rides (not that I wanted to, I was exhausted afterwards). I got home, naturally not expecting to see myself on TV (despite being prominently featured in front of the Melb Town Hall, where the Mayor and all the TV cameras were), and of course... No Moomba Parade on TV. The Queen had addressed people for the Commonwealth Games, so naturally TV programmers showed that, rather than Moomba. Even on the nightly news, we got bumped because of her. I watched Ten, Seven, and Nine, and then gave up when it came to the seven o'clock news on the ABC. I'd had enough. Not only did Moomba get bumped for the Queen, but whatever the stations did show of the parade, it usually only featured a segment of 'pretty' (ie. interestingly different or ethnically colourful) images, the Playschool float (ie. the celebrities), and the head of the parade, whatserface from Neighbours (ie. another damn celebrity with another stupid soundbite). I have nothing against these performers... it just would have been nice if for once the media had showed something other than the usual filler material. (Actually, what's with the media lately? All the newspapers seem to be dumbing down their arts content into 'film' news and random, occasional fine arts news. Theatre barely rates a mention unless it's Hedda Gabler and the Cate Blanchett All-Star Cast.) You've got to wonder about what's happening to the arts sector in this town. Ok, the Commonwealth Games are a big thing. But are they really bigger than a festival that's supposed to celebrate this town's heritage, history, culture, fun, and humour? I mean, where's all the arts going to anyway? Before you know it, arts will only get to be shown during half-time at football games, like at the Superbowl. And arts festivals will mean anything you can buy at merchandise stalls before going to the Australian Open. And good theatre will be relegated to watching the fans fight over who's going to win. One of my favourite experiences of Moomba is participating in the tram parade a few years ago; the Quarter Acre Tram was my domain, and I was lucky enough to SM the grass-covered, hidden-sprinklered, 'Aussie' W-class tram. It was so much fun, and it entertained young and old. Moomba used to be something that every family went to. I remember turning up early as a kid, just so that we could stand at the front of a 2 metre deep audience on the side of the long route. We could have watched the parade for hours, and then we'd walk slowly up to the gardens, where the fair was. This year, families stood no more than 60cm deep, watched for half an hour, bought some tickets to the Commonwealth Games (no coincidence that the organisers released new tickets for events that day), and then went home. I loved participating in the parade, as usual. I just hope that it doesn't get pushed aside for something else. God knows we need more parades in this town. With the Fringe parade gone, the Comedy festival providing nothing similar, and limited street theatre with MIAF, there needs to be something to add to the severe lack of parading. And that's my two cents... (You can see the pics of the parade at http://stickyapplelegs.artsblogs.com, under the news section.