The Age from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia • Page 12

TUESDAY 20 APRIL 1993 TH1 ACg 13 FEAMJEES How to win friends qnd influence children Pleturar JOHN WOUDSTRA THE pop singer leaps on to the piano stool, swings tbe boom mike towards his mouth and starts "thumping out subversive songs to tbls wildly appreciative audience. "Within minutes, they're up bop-Jping in the aisles. Tbe lights the backing singers gyrate and rainbow ribbons of smoke cVreathe tbe stage. He leaps into -'the audience, singles out a girl in the front row and sings only to her. "She's In love! Ji The difference between this and "Cdy other pop concert your kids might hire on video Is that the are about eating toffee ap-ftes, staying up late and watching "TV; the starstruck girl is all of nine years old; and the performer is Peter Combe, Billy Joel to the bllly-cart brigade.

Peter Combe Is now on a nation-feltour (with a slimmed-down ver-Won of the ABC video concert) to promote bis latest album, 'Spook', Je cheerful, thoughtful mix of songs cover topics as traditional as -Odttle Red Riding Hood, as contemporary as garage bands, as quirky as Mr Wonderful toupee arid as gentle as the birth of Emily, Ms youngest daughter. On Sunday morning, Peter "Combe is In the foyer of Frank-Ikon's George Jenkins Theatre, setting up the merchandising table 'tad readily signing the occasional autograph for early ticket-buyers. 'Aa hour before the first of three -troncerts that afternoon. Combe Snakes the horrifying discovery 'that for the first time In "1001 he has left his guitar In his tlfy hotel room. This delays proceedings by 10 to IS minutes.

Confessing to the mistake and -apologising for it straight away, be Hot only appeases his audience but also makes one mother who has tegun a slow band-clap look fool- toh and rude. Clearly a man of no pretensions but great presence Is Peter Combe. 'j When he was growing up in Ade-Matde, he remembers only one live children's show The Tlntoo-es' marionette theatre. Now 44 od with five gold (sales In excess of 35,000) and two platinum (70,000) albums to his credit. Combe Is Australia's top-selling children's recording artist, ahead of other acts like Tbe Wiggles and Franclscus Henri, who themselves ctimmand loyal following.

Combe's secret is easy to pinpoint He has skilfully taken all the Ingredients of the ideologically suspect pop concert and made tljem family-friendly. Combe's dsengs may subversively acknow-JWge that children are just as en-lUled to certain venial pleasures adults videos and Junk food, example. Bat between the lines tfhey also promote parentally approved values, such as sensible 68tlnH regular teeth brushing, and a healthy quota of exercise. "I'm actually a great believer In good diets, and It's true, we do watch too much TV. It's one of the rock opera that ran In Sydney for six months In tbe '70s.

He Was understudying some of the cast. Including Doug Parkinson, and composing on the side. With Carol, Joanie and Alice, he packed and went to London where he hosted his own TV program, 'Music Time. A radio program followed. By the end of 1982 he was ready to take the plunge and go solo.

Four months ago, prompted by a desire for even greater Independence, he formed bis own company, Rascal Records. 'Spook' Is Its first release. Its second, due In October, Is a musical version "of tbe May Glbbs' classic 'Snugglepot and Cuddleple', which is also destined for the stage. Like great writers of popular songs for adults. Combe never underestimates the Intelligence of his audience.

His following may be young and Inexperienced, but his respect tor children's love of word play Is expressed in "the blood, sweat and tears that are part of the songwrtting Sometimes tbe songs "fall out of you, and the Ideas are never a But for tbe most part, the mechanics are long and arduous. 44TWORK away at them, 1 I craft them, I start them -A- again, I switch a verse tor a chorus." When an album Is Mulshed. It combines some rare and ambitious elements; the contemporary and the traditional with the seriously quiet and Cleese-ian crazy. Combe's songs also reinforce tbe familiar and celebrate the commonplace. At tbe same time; he manages to expand his audience's musical boundaries and broaden their experience of the world.

There's a great myth that children aren't capable of taking in all sorts of musical and lyrical styles," he says. "Children are very bright people. But they are so often underestimated, undersold and trivialised." Without fuss or explanation. Combe refers on stage to the Frankston Tabernacle Choir and such musical giants as Yehudi Menuhin and Luciano Pa-varotti. Tbe kids may not have heard of them yet, but wbea they eventually do, the penny will drop In the old nickelodeon, as It were.

Combe classifies his music and rejects the notion of music for different age groups. "As soon as you say something Is suitable for kids aged nought to six, it becomes uncool for the seven-to-12s aad they graduate to Madonna, ACDC and Guns N' Roses, who have nothing to say to a seven-year-old. It's totally inappropriate. The trick is to blur the edges a bit" And like good children's anything literature, film, television Peter Combe blurs tbe edges enough for adults to enjoy Us music too. Why, some of them even ask for his autograph.

Peter Combe is appearing ft the Athenaeum Theatre today ail tomorrow and at Ringwood and Geelong later this week. (I jfv I 1 Today, in the middle of school holidays, Peter Combe will perform in Melbourne. His fans are predominantly under-age and his songs are sometimes about toffee apples and snails. But, as BARBARA HOOKS reports, his success is not child's play. reasons I tour," Combe says, "so that kids can see for themselves that I really can sing, I really can play the piano and the guitar, and they're not just tricks done in a studio." Combe jocularly describes himself as "the bum of the the only songwriter In a family of doctors, save bis father, who was secretary to seven South Australian ministers of education, and his mother, a traditional home-maker who "exudes nothing but nice feelings for Conscious of the paucity of quality children's entertainment when he was a boy.

Combe was nonetheless unconcerned by it and describes his childhood as "extraordinarily After graduating from university and spending a dissatisfying year as a social worker, he was gently prodded towards teachers' college where he discovered a genuine affinity with children. (wyVE always liked children, I always enjoyed them," he said. "Without being simplistic, I always thought they represented tbe lovely face of optimism. But at the same time, folk music was at its peak and I was really Into Simon and Garfunkel, Peter, Paul and Mary, Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan. Deep down, I wanted to be a performer." As a boy of 10, Combe was taught classical piano the usual way, with lessons In private and practice in solitude.

It stifled his Interest In piano and he gave It up for the Instant gratification of cricket, tennis and football "like a million other boys my But the lessons were not a complete waste. They shaped his present philosophy about music and children. "Music In those days was far too isolationist," be says. "In the past 10 years it has become a much more social thing, which Is really Important because music is gregarious by nature. You either do it for an audience or at least for your peers." The Combes still have old-fashioned soirees at their extended family gatherings but the musical component is not compulsory.

Combe recalls that his first song-writing efforts at 17 left his Think you've got problems? Meet Albert the albatross. STEPHEN MOSS reports. today ha mast be at least 24 years Id. Ia fact, the bird may have been aroaad even longer thaa was first thought la the sammer of 1N7, a visiting ornithologist oa Bass Rock, la Scotland's Firth ef Forth, was astonished to discover an adult albatross amsag the gaaaets. The bird left Bass Reck la sammer IMS, probably dae to the dlstarbaaee from haadreds of day-trlppera from Edinburgh.

It may weU have flawa roaad the coast aatll It discovered aaether, more hospitable gannet colony oa Shetland. If this la the case, thea Albert la approaching his Mlh birthday. Albatrosses, like shearwaters Peter Combe at work (and play): "Children are often underestimated, undersold and answer Implies yes and no without sitting on tbe fence." COMBE and his wife Carol, a physiotherapist, have four children Joanie, 20, Alice, 19, Emily, 14, and Thomas, 9. A proud, loving "but imperfect" father. Combe wrote a song to celebrate tbe birth of each of his children, and pens them a silly poem every year on their birthday.

This puts the Combe family's personal anthology at some 68 entries enough for about five albums. But what sort of dad is Peter Combe, king of the kids? "There's a terrible dilemma In this field," he says. "There I am espousing family values, but I will probably spend up to 13 weeks this year detailed In a musical sense," Combe says. "She makes very intelligent comments about Inversions and scales and chord progressions, which Is great I love it and It Is very good for me as a writer." Combe first considered the possibility of performing full-time while working on 'Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band', a Unlucky in love 7 touring. I shouldn't really be away that often as a father of four.

"While I am, I experience a certain amount of guilt that I can't escape. I know I'm doing my job and I know I'm working for other people's families, which is fantas- tic. At the same time, I'm away from my own family, which puts a certain amount of pressure on them. It's an unresolvable dllem- ma." All the Combe children bave contributed in some way to the eight albums produced since their father went freelance 10 years ago. But be has a strict rule.

"I would never ever use my own children on an album unless I thought they could do it really well. And If they couldn't, I wouldn't." As it turns out. Papa Combe might one ronisation with the Southern Hemisphere cycle. Each spring he returns to Hermaaess aad tries to build a a est aad hold territory. And each year the resident gaaaets drive him away, aa-willing to accept this la the Uatll the mld-llMs the albatross weald haag around the coloay for most of the summer, providing mainland birdwatchers with a fine reward for the loag trek ta see him.

But if anyone Is plaaalag a pilgrimage to Herat a-aeas this year oa Albert's account they should hurry. Ia recent years a return la April has asaally been followed by departure la May, to wander the North Atlaatlc aatll spring calls oace again. The Guardian 1 'father of liberty' exploit his slave? normally warm and approving parents struggling for something nice to say. "It's the only negative message I can vaguely remember getting," be says. "They were evangelical, religious songs and they were really awful; dreadful.

I reject fundamentalism and always have. But I did go through a quite strongly religious phase." And now? "These days, I describe myself as a humanist Christian agnostic. I think the Sermon on the Mount is one of the most wonderful speeches you will ever hear, anywhere In the world. But I don't believe In the virgin birth and tbe resurrection. They're wonderful stories, but they didn't really happen.

So when people ask if I'm a Christian and I take three words to tell them what I am, my aad petrels, are true masters of the ocean. Unlike more coastal species such as gulls or terns, they are able to spend long periods at sea, thaaks to a unique evolutionary developmeot kaowa as the tubeeese. This la a protraaloa at the base af the bird's MIL which eaables It to excrete the excess salt produced by drinking aea water. So how did this particular albatross get here la the first placer Albatrosses are familiar to every eceaa traveller la the Southern Hemisphere, as they spend tbe winter wandering the teas, away from their breeding groaads oa the Falkland Islands. With a 17-metre wingspaa aad an unrivalled command af the air, they cover many thousands of kilometres before returning to ALBERT the black-brewed Albatross or, to give him his scientific name, Diomedea mt-lanophit Is back at the north-era tip af the British Isles.

By rights, at this time of year he should he setting eft a round tear of the Seath Atlantic. But instead facing the rigors et the eeuthera winter, he Is the loae representative of his species aerth ef the equator. This meats, Albert as birdwatchers have affectionately named him returned for his 22nd summer at the vast gaanet coloay at Hermaaess, oa the Shetland Island at Uast He Is destined to begia aaether lonely year valaly awaitlag a mate. Ia tbe summer ef 1172, whesj Deaay Osmond topped the charts with 'Poppy Love', the black-brewed Albatross made his first appearaaee at Hermaaess. At the time, he was la adult plumage, te land la September or October.

Tbey stay aloft by using air currents produced by tbe strong ocean winds so feared by sailors. Bat If aa albatross strays too aear the eqaater. It Is asaally forced back by the aotorloua doldrums. Unable to penetrate this area, the vast majority of albatrosses tnra aad head south. ONE theory suggests that wbea Albert reached the doldrums, the wlads were uncharacteristically strong, enabling him to continue through to the North Atlaatlc.

Havlag reached the Northern Hemisphere, he simply continued until he found somewhere similar to his breeding groaads. Since then, the albatross's behavior has raa true to Instinct, although six months out of synch day be overtaken by tbe younger Combes. When only five years old, Emily was pronounced a natural singer; Tom wrote a song for the 'Chopsticks' album; and Alice, who is studying for her diploma of music and would dearly love to tour with her father, constantly evaluates his work. "She's very complimentary, but her criticisms are quite Did the sexually DURING the celebrations for Thomas Jefferson's 250th birthday last week, there was much barrumphing about the unmentionable topic of his fine life his much-rumored affair with the black slave Sally Hemings. With the passing years, there have been repeated attempts to bring the affair out of the closet, mostly by Americans of African descent who cite oral histories in their claim to be descendants of Jefferson.

White custodians of the Jeffer-sonian legend indignantly maintain that be was morally Incapable of having relations with a black woman. What they dont like to think about is that be was hypocritical about slavery. Jefferson's original draft of the Declaration of Independence denounced George III for promoting the slave trade, and be condemned slavery In his writings elsewhere. Yet be kept many slaves of his own. An open question Is whether the visionary of American liberty, a man of such innate fairness, could have countenanced a relationship so obviously unequal he being lord and master and Hemings tbe obedient slave.

In the modem parlance of such relationships between employer and employee, Jefferson's affair with Hemings, If It took place, would be open to charges of sexual harassment. This Is an Intriguing thought, because Just down the road from his Montlcello plantation a debate ts raging concerning power-sexual relations on the campus of the University of Virginia, which he founded. The university Is to vote this week on what may turn out to be America's stlffest guidelines on sexual harassment The draft that has been drawn up by the university faculty calls for a total ban on relations between professors and students of either sex even "consensual relations" and even between professors and students they do not supervise. Since Harvard University Introduced guidelines on campus sex in the mid-1980s, more and more of America's 3900 colleges and universities bave adopted rules against offensive behavior. This hi mostly defined as unwelcome sexual advances or requests for sexual favor linked Kenneth Galbralth married, for nearly half a century to a former student Inquiring how Jet could atone for his past sins, Mr Galbralth was respectfully 3d.

formed that his waywardneas-would be overlooked becauseSC happened long ago, in another-era when such relationships were less politically noticeaUer Should the University of Vrr gjnla pass Its rule. It is bound lot be challenged on campus as beting unenforceable, and probably la the courts as unconstltutlonaL More sensible guidelines oav other campuses require teachers; dating students to report tbetra lationshlpa to department hegdS' and remove themselves from rect supervision, SO FAR tbe American cowls have been reluctant to hv. come Involved In the hwue, especially as the Increased awareness of sexual harassment has spread from tbe campuses to the high schools. There the issue has less to do with sexual relationships than with cloudier no-" tions Involving a school's responsibility to protect its pupils from threats of sexual discrimination that could Jeopardise their acs. demlc advancement.

There are many grey areas; Teasing, Joking or flirting Us a sexual manner might be deemed, acceptable la some sodal settings, or among soma racial of ethnic groups but not ottterar Codes against using sexual "htUC speech" between students have-been challenged oa tbe ground that they violate tbe coaatitutkMt--al right to free speech. IZ Even so, parents have sought and received, damages against state schools. A pupil at high school la Minnesota received' fUSlS.000 from local goverm-ment funds after tbe school failed to remove graffiti mentioning her name from the boys' toilet despite repeated requests, from her parents. How would Thomas Jefferson) have viewed the way his system has evolved? He might have defended tbe authors of the graffiti by arguing their freedom of speech, however crude, was being violated. And how would he have voted at his university? Perhaps for the freedom of one aad all, high aad tow.

teacher aad student ta fall hi torn An American hero, on his 250th birthday, has been ensnared in arguments about appropriate behavior, writes PETER PRINGLE. Jefferson: could be open to claim of sexual harassment. with academic advancement Even In American high schools, incidents of sexual harassment once lightly dismissed as mere teenage teasing, are now regarded as serious offences of sex discrimination, and schools are having to develop their own policies on how to deal with It Few argue with the need to bring sexual harassment Into tbe open and debate It But as with other changes In the sodal behavior of Americans, the desire to be politically correct drives some people beyond tbe bounds of reason. And by pushing the Issue too far, they have encouraged many people to push back. The Inevitability of academic courtships ts as old at Helorse and A be lard and as common as autumn leaves in the quadrangle.

The Idea that such affairs of the heart can be banned by rule or statute Is absurd. When the Harvard faculty sent out Its first circular oa the subject, a copy dropped through the letter box of one of its moat Illustrious emeritus pro feasors. Jofea to A Pre-arranged funeral is responsible planning so do something about it today. To find out more phone 13 1363 to speak to one of our experienced consultants or mail the coupon to John AllisonMonkhouse, Frecpost 52, P.O. Box 188, Mulgrare North 3170.

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