The Adelaide Show

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A weekly podcast recorded in Adelaide that puts South Australian passion on centre stage with a featured guest who joins us each week as a co-presenter to share how they're pursuing their passions. We venture across topics as diverse as history, wine, food, art, music, relationships, critical thinking, health, news, interviews, chat and quizzes. Every single interview, every single show, unlocks insights into what drives people to be doing what they're doing and what keeps them striving. The Adelaide Show is produced by Steve Davis and Nigel Dobson-Keeffe. Please subscribe to our In Crowd list; you get an email each Friday (when we have published a new episode) with an overview of that week's show. Plus, consider joining our Inner Circle; a small group of passionate South Aussies who allow us to pick their brains and gain interviewee suggestions. This podcast began life as Another Boring Thursday Night In Adelaide from episodes 1-79.

  1. 425 - A Slingsby Life Of Wonder With Andy Packer

    10H AGO

    425 - A Slingsby Life Of Wonder With Andy Packer

    When a South Australian theatre company that began with The Tragical Life of Cheese Boy – performed more than 800 times worldwide – prepares to take its final bow, it doesn’t fade quietly. Instead, Slingsby is staging its most expensive and ambitious production yet: A Concise Compendium of Wonder, a triptych of three interconnected shows housed in a custom-built structure in the Botanic Gardens during the Adelaide Festival.In this episode, we settle into Slingsby’s Hall of Possibility in Parkside with artistic director and CEO Andy Packer for a wide-ranging conversation that explores the company’s distinctive aesthetic, their commitment to treating young audiences with intellectual honesty, and why nostalgia creates the perfect emotional space for processing difficult truths. In the South Australian Drink Of The Week, we taste the company’s signature Hall of Possibility Tea – a bespoke blend featuring licorice root, organic lavender, red rose petals, spearmint and peppermint that Andy describes as both “invigorating and calming. “The musical pilgrimage features the Slingsby Ensemble performing “Song for the Adolescent Seal” from their 2018 Adelaide Cabaret Festival show Songs for Those Who’ve Come Across the Seas – a piece Andy realised he’d forgotten to mention during our conversation, despite being extremely proud of it. You can navigate episodes using chapter markers in your podcast app. Not a fan of one segment? You can click next to jump to the next chapter in the show. We’re here to serve! The Adelaide Show Podcast: Awarded Silver for Best Interview Podcast in Australia at the 2021 Australian Podcast Awards and named as Finalist for Best News and Current Affairs Podcast in the 2018 Australian Podcast Awards. And please consider becoming part of our podcast by joining our Inner Circle. It’s an email list. Join it and you might get an email on a Sunday or Monday seeking question ideas, guest ideas and requests for other bits of feedback about YOUR podcast, The Adelaide Show. Email us directly and we’ll add you to the list: podcast@theadelaideshow.com.au If you enjoy the show, please leave us a 5-star review in iTunes or other podcast sites, or buy some great merch from our Red Bubble store – The Adelaide Show Shop. We’d greatly appreciate it. And please talk about us and share our episodes on social media, it really helps build our community. Oh, and here’s our index of all episode in one concisepage. Running Sheet: A Slingsby Life Of Wonder With Andy Packer 00:00:00 Intro Introduction 00:03:12 SA Drink Of The Week The SA Drink Of The Week this week is Brewed by Belinda Hall of Possibilitea. Belinda Hill of Brewed by Belinda created this bespoke blend specifically for Slingsby, capturing both the company’s aesthetic and the practical needs of artists in creative process. The brief: create something both invigorating and calming. The blend looks almost theatrical. Organic lavender, red rose petals, organic blue cornflower petals creating visual layers in the pot. Licorice root provides the grounding bass note, with spearmint and peppermint lifting everything. There’s aniseed hiding in there too.Andy explains the tea’s role in Slingsby’s creative practice. During those inevitable moments developing new work when “you get very lost,” the tea provides structured pause. “People go off and do different things and I’ll have a cup of tea and I might go outside for a little while. Usually you find the solution.” What’s crucial is that Hall of Possibility Tea won’t get bitter or overly steeped. “There’s no black tea leaf or anything like that. It just gets better.” Andy keeps a flask throughout rehearsal days, taking sips during fifteen-minute breaks. As we taste, the experience unfolds in layers. Initially, the mint notes dominate. Then the aniseed emerges from backstage, as Andy puts it, “ready for you, it knew you were coming, it was just waiting in the wings.” By the end of our tasting, all the subtle players have made their entrance. No single flavour dominates. They’re holding hands across the palate like a well-mannered audience at a Slingsby show. Slingsby has been gifting this tea to presenting partners around the world since 2019. After performances overseas, small tins of Hall of Possibility Tea remain behind, tangible tokens of the connections Slingsby creates between communities. 00:13:08 Andy Packer Andy Packer describes A Concise Compendium of Wonder as “the perfect bookend” to Slingsby Theatre Company’s twenty-year journey. We’re sitting in the Hall of Possibility in Parkside, where families have gathered to experience work that never softened darkness for young audiences, never offered easy answers. In a few weeks, after the final curtain falls on this ambitious triptych at the Adelaide Festival, Slingsby will cease creating new work. The company that began with The Tragical Life of Cheeseboy, performed more than 800 times worldwide, closes with its most expensive, most ambitious production yet. In this interview, you’ll discover: The origins trace back to amateur theatre at La Mama in the late eighties, where Packer learnt that being involved in every aspect wasn’t just practical necessity but essential training. “You are crafting an experience for an audience, not just there for your ego to be on stage, but actually to prepare the space to welcome people into the church that theater can be.” The crystallising moment arrived in Montreal in 2005, watching Danish company Group 38 perform The Little Match Girl. Packer sat in the audience afterwards and wept for fifteen minutes, unable to move. That company’s aesthetic showed him precisely what he wanted to create. Slingsby’s first expenditure as a company was flying their entire creative team to Hobart to see Group 38 perform again, establishing that benchmark from day one. The distinctive Slingsby voice, that curious blend of the new and familiar, serves a specific purpose. “When you create a nostalgic space, it’s like you’ve gone on a holiday back in time,” Packer explains. “You let your guard down and that allows you to attend to the deep concern, the deep anxiety that sits deeper.” Slingsby productions have never shied from exploring loss, loneliness, domestic violence and grief. “We can’t protect our audience, we can’t protect children. We have to prepare them.” But preparation doesn’t mean pessimism. Every show ends with hope. The conversation hopscotches through key productions: The Tragical Life of Cheese Boy (800+ performances) Man Covets Bird (where a boy’s parents no longer recognise him) Ode to Nonsense (a full opera celebrating Edward Lear) The Young King (Oscar Wilde’s fable about capitalism performed without softening) Emil and the Detectives (capturing post-war reconstruction with audiences building cardboard cities) The Boy Who Talked to Dogs (an Irish-Australian collaboration about surviving domestic violence) The final chapter confronts climate reality. Measuring carbon use revealed that flying sets internationally consumed vastly more carbon than shipping by sea or road transport. “We can’t be flying sets around anymore. We wanna make the world a better place, but we wanna do it now in a way that reduces our impact on the climate.” The solution: A Concise Compendium of Wonder. Three shows, Hansel and Gretel, The Selfish Giant, and The Little Match Girl, performed by one cast on one regeneratively designed wooden building that can be disassembled and reused. The Wandering Hall of Possibility features 17 speakers, 5,500 pixels built into walls, seating that reconfigures for each show, all touring by road only. The three fairytales trace a journey from medieval times to 3099 on a lunar colony. At the centre of each story sits a tree or forest, moving from living as part of the forest, to fighting for access to a single Moreton Bay fig, to finding the last tree on the moon whilst Earth re-greens in humanity’s absence. For Adelaide audiences, the Wandering Hall sits on Plane Tree Lawn in the Botanic Gardens. This is both thank you season and goodbye. Audiences can experience one show or commit to the full “sling cycle” across one day. “I think it is the most important thing happening in the universe right now,” Packer says about the intent behind every Slingsby show. “We want this for the people that have bothered to come and be with us.” 01:07:07 Musical Pilgrimage In the Musical Pilgrimage, we feature a piece from the Slingsby show that Andy Packer forgot to mention during our conversation, an oversight that left him “racked with angst.” Songs for Those Who’ve Come Across the Seas premiered at the Adelaide Cabaret Festival in 2018 and was subsequently invited for a three-week season at the New Victory Theater in New York and a festival in Atlanta. COVID prevented those tours. “Sometimes even the big fish get away,” Andy philosophically notes. The Slingsby Ensemble perform Song for the Adolescent Seal with the distinctive musicality that characterises Quincy Grant’s compositions, spare and emotionally direct. The piece explores the necessary letting go that allows children to grow into their full selves. There’s additional resonance hearing this now, as Slingsby itself prepares to let go. The song’s metaphor of adolescent seals venturing beyond safe shores speaks to trusting that what you’ve nurtured will survive and flourish independently. Support the show: https://theadelaideshow.com.au/listen-or-download-the-podcast/adelaide-in-crowd/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    2h 17m
  2. 424 - Steve Davis Talks Cricket With Former Umpire Steve Davis

    12/15/2025

    424 - Steve Davis Talks Cricket With Former Umpire Steve Davis

    When Indian cricket fans unleash fury on Twitter about disputed LBW calls, host Steve Davis fields the abuse meant for someone else. This episode brings together both Steve Davises for the first time. The retired umpire who stood in 57 Test matches shares what it’s like to make split-second decisions in front of millions, survive a terrorist attack in Lahore, and maintain composure when Shane Warne announces his next delivery to the batter. The SA Drink of the Week features Ballycroft Vineyard and Cellars’ 2024 Small Berry Montepulciano from Langhorne Creek, tasted and endorsed by both Steve Davises. The wine presents an intriguing contradiction, its dark appearance suggesting heavy Barossa Shiraz, yet delivering a lighter, fruit-forward palette that Joe Evans recommends chilling for summer enjoyment. The Musical Pilgrimage features Steve Davis and the Virtualosos with “From the Cathedral to the City End,” weaving together Test cricket, Adelaide Oval, and the 1662 Book of Common Prayer into a meditation on how this game brings us together. You can navigate episodes using chapter markers in your podcast app. Not a fan of one segment? You can click next to jump to the next chapter in the show. We’re here to serve! The Adelaide Show Podcast: Awarded Silver for Best Interview Podcast in Australia at the 2021 Australian Podcast Awards and named as Finalist for Best News and Current Affairs Podcast in the 2018 Australian Podcast Awards. And please consider becoming part of our podcast by joining our Inner Circle. It’s an email list. Join it and you might get an email on a Sunday or Monday seeking question ideas, guest ideas and requests for other bits of feedback about YOUR podcast, The Adelaide Show. Email us directly and we’ll add you to the list: podcast@theadelaideshow.com.au If you enjoy the show, please leave us a 5-star review in iTunes or other podcast sites, or buy some great merch from our Red Bubble store – The Adelaide Show Shop. We’d greatly appreciate it. And please talk about us and share our episodes on social media, it really helps build our community. Oh, and here’s our index of all episode in one concisepage. Running Sheet: Steve Davis Talks Cricket With Former Umpire Steve Davis 00:00:00 Intro Introduction 00:01:50 SA Drink Of The Week The SA Drink Of The Week this week is a 2024 Ballycroft Montepelciano. Joe Evans of Ballycroft Vineyard and Cellars made an unexpected connection five weeks before this recording. During a Barossa wine tour for friends visiting from England, Steve Davis the umpire introduced himself at the cellar door. Joe mentioned knowing another Steve Davis from Adelaide, someone involved in cricket. The dots joined. Both Steve Davises then converged on this episode, linked by Langhorne Creek grapes and the patron saint of Adelaide. The 2024 Small Berry Montepulciano arrives in the glass looking deceptively heavy. Its dark colour suggests bold Barossa Shiraz, thick and commanding. Yet the first sip tells a different story. Light fruit dances on the palette, a brightness unexpected from that brooding appearance. Joe recommends chilling it slightly and serving through summer, perfect with Italian or Mexican food. Steve the umpire remembers that 10:30am Sunday morning tasting at Ballycroft. When Joe poured this wine, Steve thought immediately of Barossa Shiraz. That’s his drink. But then came the taste, revealing something gentler yet structured. The wine builds as it sits on the palette, gaining weight and presence. Like a pitch heading into day three or four, settling into its rhythm rather than losing life. The conversation meanders through wine, travel and cuisine. West Indies food has never won Steve’s heart, so more of this Montepulciano would help those meals considerably. Host Steve notes how the wine shifts from what seems like a marriage between Pinot Noir and rosé to something with genuine body and staying power. It’s not Pinot weight, not Grenache or Merlot either. The complexity reveals itself slowly, rewarding patience. The 2024 Small Berry Montepulciano from Ballycroft Vineyard and Cellars, endorsed by two Steve Davises, stands as this week’s South Australian drink. 00:10:25 Steve Davis and Steve Davis INTRODUCTION:So, I need to come clean about something. For years on Twitter, I’ve been fielding abuse meant for someone else. Indian cricket fans would see “Steve Davis” and unleash fury about a disputed LBW or a missed edge – and when I’d reply, mortified apologies would flood in. They’d meant the *other* Steve Davis. The one who stood in 57 Test matches, 137 ODIs, survived a terrorist attack in Lahore, and spent 25 years making split-second decisions in front of millions. Today, finally, I get to meet the bloke whose honour I’ve been accidentally defending. Steve Davis, welcome to The Adelaide Show. NOTES: The conversation begins with a revelation. Far from being retired, Steve Davis the umpire spends twelve months a year refereeing cricket across two continents. Every six months he travels to England for County Cricket, returning to Australia for Sheffield Shield and Big Bash matches. When he thought retirement from umpiring might leave him lost, the England and Wales Cricket Board offered him a lifeline that turned into a globe-trotting vocation. His cricket origins trace back to Elizabeth, newly formed with perhaps eight houses when his parents arrived as ten-pound Poms. His father Dave Davis played for WRE Cricket Club alongside John Scarce, whose son Kevin Scarce kept wicket for Steve at Elizabeth High School and later became Governor of South Australia. Cricket in Adelaide was woven through family, friendship and those Saturday afternoons where you’d stand in as a sub fielder, watching your father’s team and falling deeper into the game’s rhythm. The path to international umpiring began humbly in D Grade after finishing his playing career at West Torrens. Within two seasons he’d progressed to A Grade, and by November 1990 he was officiating his first Sheffield Shield match. His debut came partly through circumstance rather than genius. When Tony Crafter retired to become Australia’s first full-time umpire manager, a vacancy opened among South Australia’s two eligible international umpires. Steve joined Darryl Harper in that select group. On 12 December 1992, exactly 33 years ago yesterday, he walked onto Adelaide Oval for his first One Day International. Pakistan versus West Indies. His home ground, but the nerves were overwhelming. Terry Prue, his Western Australian colleague, radioed from square leg to report that Richie Richardson had noticed Steve missing all of Wasim Akram’s no balls. In his nervousness, he’d forgotten to look down at the front foot. When he finally started calling them, Wasim’s response was gentlemanly: “Oh, come on, we’re all friends out here. Give me a bit of warning.”The umpire’s process demands intense concentration. First, watch the front foot land. The moment it’s safe, eyes shoot straight to the bottom of the stumps, letting the ball come into view. As soon as the ball dies, switch off briefly, then begin again. Steve ran his counter one ball ahead, clicking after each delivery so the number five meant two balls remaining. This meant no clicking back for no balls, just not clicking forward. Tim May once stopped mid-delivery and demanded Steve stop clicking his counter during the run-up. His Ashes Test debut at Adelaide Oval in 1997, just his second Test match, stands as one of his finest days. He got every decision right on a 44-degree day when England lost the toss and their bowlers were bowling one-over spells in the heat. Steve Bucknor, his partner that day, also had a flawless match. Alex Stewart still calls him “legend” when they meet at English grounds. The Decision Review System arrived while Steve was umpiring, transforming the role completely. Some umpires, like Mark Benson, couldn’t handle seeing their decisions overturned repeatedly. Benson flew home after two days of a Test match in Australia and never returned to international cricket. Steve embraced DRS immediately. His philosophy was simple: we’re going to end up with the right decision. Better that than five days of a team reminding you about that first-ball error while the batter you gave not out compiles a century. These days, third umpires call all no balls in televised matches. The technology highlights the foot crossing the line, removing that split-second judgment from the on-field umpire. Steve wonders if he’d survive in today’s game, his neural networks so hardwired to glance down then up that retraining might prove impossible. The theatre of the raised finger remains cricket’s most iconic gesture. Steve took his time with it, though not as long as his late friend Rudy Koertzen, dubbed “Slow Death” for the excruciating journey his hand took from behind his back to above his head. Some umpires point at the batter instead of raising the finger, a practice Steve abhors. The law says raise the index finger above your head. The drama lies in that pause, that moment of tension before the finger rises. He carried the essentials: a counter, a wallet-style kit with sprig tightener, pen and pencil, notepad for recording incidents, light meter readings, and lip balm. Some umpires packed their pockets with everything imaginable, but Steve kept it minimal. His process worked. He knew what every ball demanded of him. Shane Warne’s deliveries would fizz through the air with such spin and accuracy that he’d announce his intentions to batters. “This is my wrong one. This one’s going on your leg stump.” It worked brilliantly, planting doubt even as batters wondered if he really meant it. Murali presented different challenges. Steve couldn’t predict where his deliveries would spin until he noticed Sangakkara’s gloves lining up b

    2h 12m
  3. 423 - Do The Liberals Have No Chance Of Winning This Forthcoming South Australian Election?

    11/20/2025

    423 - Do The Liberals Have No Chance Of Winning This Forthcoming South Australian Election?

    Political commentator Robert Godden returns to The Adelaide Show with a thesis that cuts to the bone: The South Australian Liberal Party has no realistic chance of winning the forthcoming election. But his essay raises an even more unsettling question: can they realistically ever win another one? This episode doesn’t feature an SA Drink of the Week, allowing more time for a forensic examination of what’s gone wrong with liberalism itself, and the party that bears its name. In the Musical Pilgrimage, Steve shares “Spring Gully Road”, his song chronicling four generations of the Webb family’s beloved pickle company, from Edward McKee’s small brown onions in 1946 to the recent appointment of administrators, drawing a tenuous but poignant parallel to the Liberal Party’s own decline. You can navigate episodes using chapter markers in your podcast app. Not a fan of one segment? You can click next to jump to the next chapter in the show. We’re here to serve! The Adelaide Show Podcast: Awarded Silver for Best Interview Podcast in Australia at the 2021 Australian Podcast Awards and named as Finalist for Best News and Current Affairs Podcast in the 2018 Australian Podcast Awards. And please consider becoming part of our podcast by joining our Inner Circle. It’s an email list. Join it and you might get an email on a Sunday or Monday seeking question ideas, guest ideas and requests for other bits of feedback about YOUR podcast, The Adelaide Show. Email us directly and we’ll add you to the list: podcast@theadelaideshow.com.au If you enjoy the show, please leave us a 5-star review in iTunes or other podcast sites, or buy some great merch from our Red Bubble store – The Adelaide Show Shop. We’d greatly appreciate it. And please talk about us and share our episodes on social media, it really helps build our community. Oh, and here’s our index of all episode in one concisepage. Running Sheet: Do The Liberals Have No Chance Of Winning This Forthcoming South Australian Election? 00:00:00 Intro Introduction 00:00:00 SA Drink Of The Week No SA Drink Of The Week this week. 00:05:07 Robert Godden Before diving into party politics, Steve and Robert tackle a fundamental question: what is liberalism itself? Drawing on American political philosopher Patrick Deneen’s work (as sampled from the glorious podcast, Econtalk, episode July 9, 2018), they explore how liberalism originally meant self-governance within community, where individuals held themselves accountable within the framework of church and society. Deneen argues that modern liberalism, both classical and progressive, has fractured into two economic camps: classical liberals claiming government interferes with freedom, and progressive liberals arguing that economic inequality prevents people from achieving liberty. Robert offers his working definition: liberalism has always been about “the bigger pie theory”. Classical liberals like John Locke, Adam Smith and John Stewart Mill championed free markets as the path to prosperity for all. But as Robert notes, these philosophers wrote their treatises while people lived in gutters within ten miles of them, suggesting their definitions had blind spots about who they actually represented. The conversation turns to neoliberalism, which Robert describes as taking the apple of classical liberalism and focusing on its core: free market capitalism, fiscal austerity, individual responsibility, and globalisation. The problem? Many neoliberals benefited from generous government support before pulling up the ladder behind them. As Robert puts it, they’re “more like a wild jackal in a wolf’s clothing”, presenting themselves as something more palatable whilst pursuing fundamentally conservative ends. When Steve asks about the overlap between liberalism (lowercase L) and the Liberal Party (uppercase L), Robert’s answer is stark: “The Venn diagram of liberalism and the Liberal Party is not a perfect circle. It’s more like a third overlap.” John Howard’s famous declaration that the Liberal Party is “a broad church” marked both the high point and the beginning of the end. Where Howard allowed diverse opinions united by shared values, today’s party demands conformity. Robert observes you could “literally interchange” Angus Taylor with five other Liberal members and several Nationals, they’ve become so ideologically uniform. Robert shares a revealing personal story from his childhood in Whyalla. At age 12 or 13, he wagged school to attend a lunch where Malcolm Fraser was speaking. After enduring mumbled warnings about Bill Hayden, young Robert lined up afterwards and asked the Prime Minister where he could find out what the government would actually do if re-elected. The dismissive response and perfunctory policy booklet were Robert’s first disillusionment with political rhetoric over substance. This leads to a broader discussion about accountability’s erosion in Australian politics. Robert identifies a turning point: when Jay Weatherill wasn’t held responsible for abuse discovered in South Australian schools because “nobody had told him”. This represented a complete rewriting of Westminster conventions about ministerial responsibility. Compare that to Barry O’Farrell resigning as New South Wales Premier over failing to declare a $300 bottle of wine, or John Howard’s principled approach to the GST, admitting he was wrong, explaining why he’d changed his mind, and taking that position to an election. The discipline of the Fraser and Howard years came from a culture where the party room would discuss issues on merit, then Fraser or Howard would determine the right course, and the party would follow with discipline, not through fear but through shared purpose. Today’s Liberal Party has abandoned that model for something closer to authoritarianism without the competence to make it work. When discussing South Australia specifically, Robert doesn’t hold back about Vincent Tarzia’s challenges. Beyond policy positions, there’s the fundamental problem of presence. Robert recalls a body language seminar by Alan Pease where five people were cast for different film roles based purely on appearance. We can’t help making these visual judgements. Tarzia, Robert notes, is “one of the 5% of the population that never blinks”, creating an unfortunate vampire quality. He looks like “a Muppet version of Dracula”. Combined with a voice lacking joy, he presents as “the joyless undead” when facing off against Peter Malinauskas’s considerable charisma. Robert’s assessment of the Malinauskas government is admirably even-handed for someone with Liberal roots. He calls it “the best government in Australia” whilst adding the qualifier “a totalitarian dictatorship that makes you feel good”. Everything is done Malinauskas’s way, but unlike Putin or Trump, he’s careful never to say anything that isn’t actually true. He might make predictions that don’t pan out, but he won’t barefaced lie, and if an idea isn’t popular, he simply doesn’t voice it. The result is what Robert calls “preshrunk jeans” of political messaging. Robert’s father, a lifelong Liberal voter and member, has only been impressed by two political figures: Gough Whitlam, whose charisma was “absolutely off the chart” despite taking four people to dinner when a Whyalla event was mistakenly under-attended, and Peter Malinauskas, who regularly visits the Whyalla Men’s Shed. This speaks to something fundamental about political success. As Robert observes, great Labor leaders have consistently been better communicators and sellers of vision because their message is easier: “you’re being ripped off by the system, and we’re going to sort it for you” beats “if we govern ourselves, all will be great” in almost any contest. The federal picture offers one glimmer of hope: Victoria’s new opposition leader, Jess Wilson. In her thirties, a lawyer and former business advisor to Josh Frydenberg and the Business Council of Australia, she represents exactly the kind of moderate Liberal who should have been in the party all along but whom the party’s rightward drift has made anomalous. As Robert puts it, “the idea that Jess Wilson should be in the Liberal Party is an idea that is eight years out of date. She should be a teal.” The teals, after all, are liberal party people who haven’t gone down the right-wing rabbit hole. This raises the central question: are there eight to ten members of parliament the federal Liberals could have had? Yes, the teals. “All of those teal candidates could have been Liberal Party candidates and would have been 15 or 20 years ago if they had not wilfully taken this blindness about the climate.” Speaking of climate, Robert dissects Susan Ley’s recent positioning as if she’s discovered that abandoning net zero and embracing fossil fuels will bring electoral victory. The polling suggests otherwise. Among diverse Australians, Labor’s primary vote sits at 46%, the Coalition at 17%. Gen Z voters break 51% Labor, 10% Coalition. The Liberals are “aiming at the wrong target”, trying to chip 10% from groups with 10% when they should be targeting Labor’s 46%. They should be saying “your ideas are great, it’s a pity you’re not smarter, we’re going to get to where you want to get but we’ll do it better.” Instead, they get their facts from Facebook. The cognitive dissonance is staggering. National Party MPs stand up claiming farmers don’t want renewable energy whilst farmers lead the way with innovative approaches: solar panels in fields that collect water, provide shade for sheep grazing underneath, and generate income. Farmers don’t want bushfires or floods, they want to make money. Watch ABC’s Landline, Robert suggests, though the Nationals would dismiss it as left-wing propaganda. Look

    1h 24m
  4. 422 - Algal Bloom Beach Witness Johanna Williams

    10/25/2025

    422 - Algal Bloom Beach Witness Johanna Williams

    For months, as an algal bloom wreaked havoc on the South Australian coast, most residents steered clear but not Johanna Williams. She’s been down to Glenelg Beach daily, ruler and phone in hand, methodically tracking the carnage. What started as a small, concerned step by a self-described occupational therapist soon transformed into a citizen science project with over 10,000 observations of dead and dying marine life, offering a grim, close-up view of the ecological disaster. Johanna’s commitment, though personally confronting, gives scientists and the community essential data and a crucial human perspective. This episode does not feature the SA Drink of the Week segment. The show concludes with a Musical Pilgrimage that connects directly to the episode’s urgent environmental theme. We hear Steve Davis & The Virtualosos’ “While the Ocean Died,” a lyrical and sonic reflection on the collective pain and political complexities surrounding the algal bloom event. You can navigate episodes using chapter markers in your podcast app. Not a fan of one segment? You can click next to jump to the next chapter in the show. We’re here to serve! The Adelaide Show Podcast: Awarded Silver for Best Interview Podcast in Australia at the 2021 Australian Podcast Awards and named as Finalist for Best News and Current Affairs Podcast in the 2018 Australian Podcast Awards. And please consider becoming part of our podcast by joining our Inner Circle. It’s an email list. Join it and you might get an email on a Sunday or Monday seeking question ideas, guest ideas and requests for other bits of feedback about YOUR podcast, The Adelaide Show. Email us directly and we’ll add you to the list: podcast@theadelaideshow.com.au If you enjoy the show, please leave us a 5-star review in iTunes or other podcast sites, or buy some great merch from our Red Bubble store – The Adelaide Show Shop. We’d greatly appreciate it. And please talk about us and share our episodes on social media, it really helps build our community. Oh, and here’s our index of all episode in one concisepage. Running Sheet: Algal Bloom Beach Witness Johanna Williams 00:00:00 Intro Introduction 00:00:00 SA Drink Of The Week No SA Drink Of The Week this week. 00:02:55 Johanna Williams Arriving home from a holiday to find Glenelg Beach “covered in dead fish” , Johanna Williams had a choice: unpack and write an angry Facebook post, or take action. She chose the latter, inadvertently becoming one of the state’s most dedicated, non-professional "marine biologists". Initially hoping the algal bloom would be a “transient, short-term event,” the surreal extent of the death spurred her to use the citizen science platform iNaturalist to upload her observations, believing this crucial “coalface” data would reach qualified scientists and government bodies to “formulate responses”. Her daily 500-metre trek between Pier Street and the Jetty has revealed a tragic yet fascinating marine diversity. What she’s documenting—now over 10,000 observations—includes rare deep-sea fish like the long snout boar fish and warty prowl fish, species scientists rarely encounter alive. This wealth of data is heartbreakingly significant, as it allows researchers to collect, age, and perform genetic and toxicological testing on specimens that could never be found otherwise, highlighting the deep reach of the bloom into the ecosystem. The work is intensely confronting, involving more than just dead fish. Johanna describes a traumatic encounter with a still-alive, spiky globe fish whose eyes were “really gazing and tracking” her. This and finding a paralysed silver gull due to toxic effects highlight the profound emotional toll and moral dilemmas faced by citizen scientists, such as whether to “prolong its death by putting it back in the water”. Johanna discusses how a supportive network of friends and a new community, including people from the university, has helped her “channel that energy” and despair into empowerment and meaningful data collection. This environmental disaster also casts a shadow over the Glenelg foreshore, with Johanna noting a ripple effect of reduced foot traffic and the closure of local businesses, a “double whammy” alongside local tram disruptions. For listeners wanting to help, Johanna suggests starting with iNaturalist uploads, or connecting with projects like the SA Marine Mortality Project 2025 to assist with collecting fish for testing or contributing to local rehabilitation efforts, such as making oyster beds (wind chimes) to help filter the water. Great Southern Reef Website Mission: “Our mission is to inspire and empower society to protect and sustain Australia’s Great Southern Reef by promoting recognition, stewardship, and sustainable actions through impactful education, community engagement, and collaborative science.” Janine Baker OzFish Unlimited Website Description: OzFish Unlimited is a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to helping the millions of Aussie recreational fishers take control of the health of their rivers, lakes and estuaries and shore up the future of the sport they love. OzFish Unlimited partners with fishers and the broader community to invest time and money into the protection and restoration of our waterways, counteracting decades of degradation. Brad Martin Data gathering for South Australian 2025 marine mortality events Project Link Description: This project is set to automatically add aquatic vertebrates and macroinvertebrates annotated ‘dead’ from Feb 2025 onwards. Janine Baker is a key contact for this projects and has links with universities and researchers. SA Surf and Bloom SA hub for information on our bloom. Share surfing/algae/ocean/coastal pictures and videos. Ask questions. I aim to share the love we have for our oceans, and keep surfers informed of the symptomatic surf spots. Facebook Group ADELAIDE ALGAE BLOOM DISASTER Facebook Group Description: A place to upload pictures of this marine disaster that’s going to impact the Adelaide fishing scene for many years to come. Phytoplankton Society of South Australia Facebook Group Description: This group is for sharing knowledge on the Phytoplankton of South Australia, particularly in regard to the 2025 algal bloom we are experiencing. We welcome photos of microscopic phytoplankton (and accompanying pics of where they were taken) and especially experts who can identify them. This is a citizen science project for the benefit of everyone. We are also on iNaturalist. Big Thanks to Faith and Peri Coleman, Gabby at www.asisscientific.com.au, the Big Duck Boat, Victor Harbor Dolphin Watch and others who have made this possible. Sarah Hanson-Young, Manager of Greens Business in the Senate & Senator for South Australia Annual Report 2025 Further articles: “Harmful Algal Bloom Aerosols and Human Health“ “Thousands of seadragons dead in South Australia’s worst recorded harmful algal bloom — IUCN Seahorse, Pipefish & Seadragon“ An underwater guide to plants and animals in South Australia PDF Guide PIRSA Factsheet – What to do if you have seen sick or dead birds PDF Factsheet Birdlife Australia: Helping injured birds Article Fishwatch SA If you find an injured fish on the beach, stay a safe distance away and do not touch it. Report the animal by calling the local fish authority, such as FISHWATCH in South Australia (1800 065 522), or a wildlife rescue hotline, as professionals are trained to handle these situations. 00:37:06 Musical Pilgrimage In the Musical Pilgrimage, we play a deeply personal and thematically appropriate piece by Steve Davis and the Virtualosos, titled “While the Ocean Died”. The song, which Johanna describes as an “earworm” that helps her “process what’s going on”, was inspired by Johanna’s ground-level work, leading Steve to appreciate the “cost of this whole thing”. The host reveals that songwriting is his way of thinking out loud to process complex issues. The track’s bridge reflects on the political challenge leaders face in times of crisis, where a long chain of “short-cuts and shortcomings” has left the region vulnerable to a multitude of causes—from the River Murray flood of nutrients to the sea heatwave—that have fuelled the toxic bloom. It’s a poignant, urgent piece that closes the show by connecting the human story of witnessing with the broader South Australian environmental tragedy. Support the show: https://theadelaideshow.com.au/listen-or-download-the-podcast/adelaide-in-crowd/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    49 min
  5. 421 - Semaphore Workers Strike Up The Music

    09/20/2025

    421 - Semaphore Workers Strike Up The Music

    The red stage of the Semaphore Workers Club provides the backdrop for conversations that capture the essence of community-driven music culture. Festival director Debra Thorsen explains how she’s become a “mother” to the music scene, connecting emerging artists with opportunities that change their careers. The festival spans multiple venues across Semaphore, creating what participants describe as a “love fest” where friendships form naturally over shared musical experiences. With no SA Drink of the Week this episode, focus remains entirely on the music and community connections that define this seaside suburb’s cultural heartbeat. Although, “Green Death” does get a mention. The extended Musical Pilgrimage becomes an intimate exploration of songwriting craft with Don Morrison, featuring two of his compositions alongside stories of guitar-making, touring with Midnight Oil and Bo Diddley, and the creative process behind songs that capture Grand Junction Road’s gritty poetry. You can navigate episodes using chapter markers in your podcast app. Not a fan of one segment? You can click next to jump to the next chapter in the show. We’re here to serve! The Adelaide Show Podcast: Awarded Silver for Best Interview Podcast in Australia at the 2021 Australian Podcast Awards and named as Finalist for Best News and Current Affairs Podcast in the 2018 Australian Podcast Awards. And please consider becoming part of our podcast by joining our Inner Circle. It’s an email list. Join it and you might get an email on a Sunday or Monday seeking question ideas, guest ideas and requests for other bits of feedback about YOUR podcast, The Adelaide Show. Email us directly and we’ll add you to the list: podcast@theadelaideshow.com.au If you enjoy the show, please leave us a 5-star review in iTunes or other podcast sites, or buy some great merch from our Red Bubble store – The Adelaide Show Shop. We’d greatly appreciate it. And please talk about us and share our episodes on social media, it really helps build our community. Oh, and here’s our index of all episode in one concisepage. Running Sheet: Semaphore Workers Strike Up The Music 00:00:00 Intro Introduction 00:00:00 SA Drink Of The Week No SA Drink Of The Week this week. 00:04:24 Debra Thorsen, Don Morrison, Sally Mitchell Our three guests take us deep into different parts of Semaphore’s musical DNA. The Semaphore Music Festival Debra Thorsen’s eyes light up when describing a recent moment that encapsulates her role in Adelaide’s music ecosystem. A young musician approached her at Don Morrison’s fundraising show, wrapping her in a grateful hug after she’d connected his duo with booking agent John Howell. That introduction led to their first interstate gig at the Echuca Moama Blues Festival. “He put his arms around me, gave me the biggest hug, and said, ‘we think of you like a mother,'” Thorsen recalls, her voice catching slightly at the memory.This nurturing approach has shaped the Semaphore Music Festival‘s character over 21 years. Rather than simply booking acts, Thorsen cultivates relationships that extend far beyond single performances. The festival operates across multiple venues throughout Semaphore, creating what has been described as “the joy of going from one venue to the next with your friends and catching up with people along the way.”Don Morrison, observing from his perspective behind the scenes, notes the festival’s uniqueness lies in its sprawling, community-integrated format. “We get to play all over Semaphore, you know, and Debra’s organising it and organising all these venues all over the place,” he explains, acknowledging the massive coordination effort required. The Semaphore Workers Club Sally Mitchell arrives mid-conversation, bringing with her the institutional memory of the Semaphore Workers Club‘s transformation from exclusive yacht squadron to community music hub. The venue’s journey mirrors broader social change, she explains, describing how a dying men’s club was revitalised by members who prioritised music and inclusion over tradition.The club’s unique positioning becomes clear through Mitchell’s description of its diverse patronage. “We have people who travel here regularly from the likes of Mallala and Clare to come here for shows,” she notes, before adding the observation that captures the venue’s spirit: “People come from all walks of life, all political persuasions, all economic backgrounds, but they come here because of the music and the place that it is.”This levelling effect extends to behaviour expectations. Steve then teases out a discussion about Geoff Goodfellow’s birthday party story, where “crooks, poets and federal court judges” mingled naturally, with a poet lighting her cigarette from a coal provided by a judge managing the barbecue. The poet’s comment, “isn’t it good to have friends in high and low places,” could serve as the club’s unofficial motto. Musical Craft and Community Connection Don Morrison’s relationship with songwriting emerges through discussion of the Semaphore Songs project, where local artists created works inspired by their experience of Semaphore and Port Adelaide. His contribution, “Semaphore Workers Club,” captures the venue’s character with lines like “they got cougars there by the dozen, some of them look like they might have killed their husband,” delivered with characteristic dry humour.When pressed about his songwriting process, Morrison remains characteristically modest: “Once I’ve finished a song, I sort of look back and said, well, where does that come from? And I can’t think of it. It just flows out.” This intuitive approach extends to his guitar-making, where instruments crafted from the rubble of his father’s childhood home in Perponda and his grandmother’s cottage in Broken Hill became his primary performance guitars.The conversation touches on broader questions about community participation in music-making. Morrison recalls the ukulele groups that flourished a decade ago, bringing together people who “had never played in a band before” but would “come along and they’d learn a song and then we’d all sing it together.” This grassroots musical participation contrasts with the professionalisation that can distance audiences from creative expression. The October Long Weekend Thorsen drops a significant announcement near the episode’s end: for the October long weekend festival, South Australian public transport will feature blues musicians in the front carriage of the 12:17 train from Adelaide to Glanville. This innovation, months in negotiation with the Department for Infrastructure and Transport, creates a musical journey that begins before festival-goers reach Semaphore.The train connection resonates with both hosts’ memories of using public transport to access Semaphore’s music scene, creating a full-circle moment that links past and present community experiences. 00:48:02 Musical Pilgrimage In the Musical Pilgrimate, we play two tracks by Don Morrison, Grand Junction Road, and Five Men In A Car. Instruments Built from Memory Don Morrison’s guitar-making extends far beyond craft into emotional archaeology. His most treasured instruments were constructed from materials salvaged from family homes, creating objects that carry both musical and personal history. “I didn’t really care nor expect that they would turn out to be very good guitars,” he admits, “because I just wanted to make something out of the memories.”The irony that these memory-guitars became his primary performance instruments speaks to the intersection of sentiment and practicality in Morrison’s artistic life. With close to 500 guitars, 60 mandolins and 80 ukuleles crafted over his career, Morrison has built instruments that found their way across America, where the once-favourable exchange rate made his handmade resonator guitars accessible to blues musicians seeking alternatives to vintage Nationals. Grand Junction Road’s Poetry Morrison’s most-streamed song, “Grand Junction Road,” emerged from a Christmas Day observation that reveals his songwriter’s eye for finding universal themes in specific places. Walking home from family lunch, he encountered a sex worker operating on Christmas Day, which crystallised his understanding of the road’s character and the people whose lives intersect with its industrial landscape.The song’s final verse connects personal history with broader social observation: “My father worked in a factory there just down from the prison, sometimes six days a week, but most often seven. And I wonder what he thought about all those years, he drove first thing every morning down Grand Junction Road.” Family Music and the Raging Thirst Morrison’s current project, Raging Thirst, brings together his sons Eddie and Jake in a configuration that demonstrates musical heredity. “They’re so good at their instruments that they wouldn’t be playing with me unless I was their dad,” Morrison jokes, characterising their involvement as “a charity move.”The family dynamic reveals itself through natural musical communication. “We don’t even need to practice quite often,” Morrison explains, crediting their shared rhythmic sensibility to familial connection. His observation that “what they got from me was music is a human thing you can do” suggests an approach to musical education that prioritises accessibility over formal training. Memphis Blues Challenge Ahead Morrison’s upcoming representation of Adelaide at the Memphis International Blues Challenge places him on Beale Street alongside musicians from around the world. His preparation remains characteristically low-key, with set lists roughly planned but not overthought. The competition format includes various performance lengths, from 20-minute se

    1h 30m
  6. 420 - Photographing Australian Icons With Robin Sellick

    09/06/2025

    420 - Photographing Australian Icons With Robin Sellick

    Robin Sellick arrived at Don Dunstan’s Norwood home in the early 1990s having accidentally addressed his letter to “Sir Donald Dunstan” – a mistake that could have ended the conversation before it began. Instead, it launched one of the most distinctive portrait photography careers in Australian cultural history. From that swimming pool session with our most colourful premier to intimate moments with Julia Gillard before her rise to power, Sellick’s lens has documented the moments when Australia stopped apologising for itself and started celebrating. The SA Drink Of The Week features tasting notes of Beresford’s latest pinot noir, where winemaker John Gledhill guides us through savoury raspberry and that curious sensation Steve describes as “freshly cut red lawn” – a vintage perfect for the upcoming Pinot and Pasta Afternoon at McLaren Vale. Our Musical Pilgrimage takes a melancholic turn with an original composition mourning the loss of the West End Brewery, capturing not just the building’s demolition but the dissolution of simple pleasures that once bound South Australian communities together. You can navigate episodes using chapter markers in your podcast app. Not a fan of one segment? You can click next to jump to the next chapter in the show. We’re here to serve! The Adelaide Show Podcast: Awarded Silver for Best Interview Podcast in Australia at the 2021 Australian Podcast Awards and named as Finalist for Best News and Current Affairs Podcast in the 2018 Australian Podcast Awards. And please consider becoming part of our podcast by joining our Inner Circle. It’s an email list. Join it and you might get an email on a Sunday or Monday seeking question ideas, guest ideas and requests for other bits of feedback about YOUR podcast, The Adelaide Show. Email us directly and we’ll add you to the list: podcast@theadelaideshow.com.au If you enjoy the show, please leave us a 5-star review in iTunes or other podcast sites, or buy some great merch from our Red Bubble store – The Adelaide Show Shop. We’d greatly appreciate it. And please talk about us and share our episodes on social media, it really helps build our community. Oh, and here’s our index of all episode in one concisepage. Running Sheet: Photographing Australian Icons With Robin Sellick 00:00:00 Intro Introduction 00:04:05 SA Drink Of The Week Th SA Drink Of The Week is the Beresford Estate 2024 Emblem Pinot Noir. Winemaker John Gledhill (from Gledhill Vignerons and our regular wine palate) joins Steve for the tasting of Beresford’s latest cool climate expression from Adelaide Hills fruit. The wine presents as light, translucent crimson with legs suggesting moderate alcohol content sitting around 12 to 12.5 percent. Steve’s unusual tasting note of “freshly cut red lawn” proves surprisingly apt, capturing the wine’s distinctive red fruit character that Gledhill translates as autumn leaves and forest floor earthiness. The palate delivers a ball of fruit on entry followed by crisp acid structure, with minimal tannin creating what Gledhill describes as “soft and round” mouthfeel. The conversation flows naturally toward food pairing, with Gledhill suggesting tomato-based pasta dishes with mild salami and black olives – perfect for Beresford’s Pinot and Pasta Afternoon scheduled for September 13th at their McLaren Vale cellar door. 00:13:05 Robin Sellick and The Sellick Archive Robin Sellick started taking dog portraits in Broken Hill at 15, not knowing he’d spend the next three decades documenting Australia’s cultural coming of age. From Don Dunstan‘s Norwood loungeroom to Cate Blanchett‘s first editorial shoot, from Sir Donald Bradman‘s quiet Adelaide home to Kylie Minogue on a North Adelaide balcony, his lens captured the moments when we stopped apologising for being Australian and started celebrating it. His portraits hang in the National Portrait Gallery, but more than that, they’ve shaped how we see ourselves. Today, he’s releasing museum-grade collector editions from his archive of over 600+ portrait sessions via is website gallery, The Sellick Archive. What intrigues me about Robin is that he didn’t just document our stars, he helped create the visual language that made Australia look like somewhere that mattered. The conversation begins with photography’s fundamental challenge: separating snapshot from art. “The key with photography is you have to be able to look at something emotionally and objectively within five seconds of the same thing,” Sellick explains, describing the mental gymnastics required to capture more than mere documentation. His journey from 15-year-old dog portrait photographer in Broken Hill to documenting Australia’s cultural awakening reveals an artist who understood that great portraiture demands risk-taking. Sellick’s approach stems from Henri Cartier-Bresson’s decisive moment theory, but with a crucial difference. “Every photograph you take, you are in because you made a decision to point the camera in that direction,” he notes. Where photojournalism seeks objectivity, portraiture embraces collaboration. “A portrait is always a collaboration… you involve the person in that process.” The Don Dunstan swimming pool photograph emerged from this collaborative boldness. Arriving at the Norwood home, Sellick complimented the pool, Dunstan mentioned his morning swim, and within moments South Australia’s most flamboyant premier was diving back into his Speedos. “I’m not there to take an ordinary photograph. I’m there to take a great photograph to the best of my ability,” Sellick recalls of his unflinching approach. The technical mastery behind his distinctive 1990s look came from cross-processing slide film in colour negative chemicals – a technique discovered accidentally during his Broken Hill photo lab days. This created the hyperreal, saturated images that helped define Australian editorial photography. “Back then, the only photographic awards in Australia were through the Australian Institute of Professional Photography… they were still very much in the late seventies mindset. So these pictures that I produced were just right out of the box.” His famous Julia Gillard portrait required different psychology. Photographing her in 2006 at her home, Sellick positioned her against a shed – traditionally masculine domain – lit with purple light. “It was an image about this woman stepping into the domain of men,” he explains. The prescience proved remarkable: within years she would become Australia’s first female Prime Minister. The technical challenges of film photography created their own discipline. Shooting the Bradman portrait on 400 ASA film pushed five stops to 12,800 ASA created that distinctive grain, but it was calculated risk. “You underexpose it by five stops… 32 times underexposed,” he explains. “You’ve gotta walk across the high wire to get to the good stuff.” The Kylie Minogue session broke new ground as the first major celebrity shoot conducted outside Sydney or Melbourne. Working from his Palmer Place mansion in North Adelaide, Sellick convinced Mushroom Records to trust Adelaide’s creative infrastructure. The balcony shot that became iconic was the day’s final frame, taken after the production machine dispersed. “I sent the assistants away and it was just her and me,” creating intimacy impossible amid the dozen-person entourage. His approach to celebrities reveals portraiture’s deeper psychology. “You actually fall in love with the person while you’re taking their photograph… you go through the process of falling in love with them before the shoot, and then you’re in love with them while you’re taking the photograph. And then it’s over.” The Steve Irwin elephant photograph required moving the elephant rather than the hyperactive conservationist. “Every time I started to take photographs, he started to perform… it was easier to move the elephant than it was to move Steve.” This anecdote captures Sellick’s ability to navigate celebrity psychology whilst maintaining his artistic vision. Looking toward Australia’s photographic identity, Sellick identifies our cultural immaturity. “We still tend to celebrate mimicry rather than celebrate individuality and expression that expresses the identity of Australia.” He traces creative development through four stages: mimicry, experimentation, commitment, legacy. “We get stuck in that mimicry stage and we don’t seem to encourage experimentation.” His current archive project offers museum-grade collector editions of more than 600 portrait sessions, using German papers and high-end giclée printing for works designed to last centuries. The photographs document not just individuals but Australia’s cultural coming of age – moments when a young nation found confidence to celebrate its own stories. 01:34:45 Musical Pilgrimage In the Musical Pilgrimate, we play a track by Steve Davis & The Virtualosos, Shout Your Mates Another Round, his reflection on the loss of the West End Brewery. Steve Davis & The Virtualosos deliver a melancholic tribute to the demolished West End Brewery, mourning not just architecture but the simple pleasures that bound South Australian communities. The song weaves together memories of shared amber glass bottles, family tables where beer flowed freely, and the brewery’s role supporting local sports teams. The composition balances nostalgia with acceptance, acknowledging that whilst West End “wasn’t great, it wasn’t best, but it was ours from east to west.” The Pickaxe bottle imagery connects to South Australia’s brewing heritage, when consortiums created shared glass manufacturing to serve multiple breweries across the state. Steve’s personal connection deepened when his father revealed the family link: his grandfa

    1h 45m
  7. 419 - A Deep Drive Into The SA Variety Bash

    08/31/2025

    419 - A Deep Drive Into The SA Variety Bash

    Steve Davis survived his first SA Variety Bash and lived to tell the tale. More importantly, he brings two bash stalwarts into the studio to share what really drives people to spend weekends fundraising all year, then eight days together in old cars traversing some of South Australia’s most remote terrain. Current chair Darren Greatrex recently delivered a record-breaking $2.7 million fundraising result, while veteran Sir Peter “Curly” Curtis OAM brings 35 years of bash wisdom to the conversation. The SA Drink of the Week features Little Blessings Brewing’s Tropical Trinity Gin, a deep orange concoction that Steve discovered during a spontaneous tasting in the middle of nowhere between William Creek and Coober Pedy. The gin’s tropical fusion of pineapple, passion fruit and orange creates what Steve describes as walking backwards into a tropical plantation with a toucan tapping on your shoulder. The Musical Pilgrimage presents “A Lot of Nothing,” an original composition by Steve Davis and the Virtualosos, written in the backseat during the bash as the vast South Australian landscape inspired reflections on finding yourself in the emptiness of the outback. Episode photo of Monkey Business Car 13 by Keryn Stevens Photography. You can navigate episodes using chapter markers in your podcast app. Not a fan of one segment? You can click next to jump to the next chapter in the show. We’re here to serve! The Adelaide Show Podcast: Awarded Silver for Best Interview Podcast in Australia at the 2021 Australian Podcast Awards and named as Finalist for Best News and Current Affairs Podcast in the 2018 Australian Podcast Awards. And please consider becoming part of our podcast by joining our Inner Circle. It’s an email list. Join it and you might get an email on a Sunday or Monday seeking question ideas, guest ideas and requests for other bits of feedback about YOUR podcast, The Adelaide Show. Email us directly and we’ll add you to the list: podcast@theadelaideshow.com.au If you enjoy the show, please leave us a 5-star review in iTunes or other podcast sites, or buy some great merch from our Red Bubble store – The Adelaide Show Shop. We’d greatly appreciate it. And please talk about us and share our episodes on social media, it really helps build our community. Oh, and here’s our index of all episode in one concisepage. Running Sheet: A Deep Dive Into The SA Variety Bash 00:00:00 Intro Introduction 00:02:45 SA Drink Of The Week Th SA Drink Of The Week is the Tropical Trinity Gin by Little Blessings Brewing, based in Laura. Between William Creek and Coober Pedy, Steve encountered Little Blessings Brewing’s Tropical Trinity Gin during an impromptu roadside tasting that perfectly captured the bash’s serendipitous spirit. The Laura-based distillery operates from an old chapel, creating this distinctive deep orange gin that shakes cloudy with fruit sediment. Steve’s initial reaction, captured on camera in the desert, speaks for itself: “It’s like I have walked backwards into a tropical plantation of citrus and there’s a toucan tapping on my shoulder.” The gin combines sweet pineapple, tangy passion fruit and zesty orange while maintaining gin’s traditional robust structure. Steve likens it to a film set for Gilligan’s Island, where tropical botanicals create convincing scenery over gin’s reliable framework. The colour resembles his parents’ 1970s kitchen cupboards painted “burnt orange” – a deep hue that wants to be red but stops several steps short. Steve recommends trying this gin neat, particularly for those who typically avoid straight gin, describing it as a feast for both palate and eyes with its beautiful label work and sunset-reminiscent colour. The timing proves providential, as Curly’s pet parrot chirps throughout the interview, creating an unintentional tropical soundtrack that complements the gin’s character perfectly. 00:08:00 Peter “Curly” Curtis OAM and Darren Greatrex Here we have two blokes who’ve discovered something most of us spend our lives searching for: a perfect fusion of adventure, community, and purpose. Darren Greatrex, the current Bash Chair, and Peter “Curly” Curtis OAM, the larrikin legend who helped shape what the SA Vareity Bash has become. Between them, they’ve got over 35+ years of Bash stories, from Curly’s first adventure in 1988 to Darren’s record-breaking $2.7 million result in 2025. But this isn’t about the money, the miles, or even the mechanics. This is about what drives people to spend a week wrestling with 25-year-old cars in the middle of nowhere, all in the name of helping kids they’ve never met. We previously covered the Variety Bash in 2024, when Steve sat in with The Bakers car before they left Adelaide in episode 398. Peter “Curly” Curtis OAM opens with a story that would terrify most first-timers: his inaugural 1988 bash experience leaving Burke at 8:30am and arriving in Tibooburra at 4:00am the following morning after getting bogged, lost, and possibly detained in a pub or two. “We slept on the ground outside the pub,” Curly recalls matter-of-factly. “We were up at seven o’clock not to be left behind.” The conversation reveals how fundraising has evolved from basic entry fees to sophisticated year-round campaigns. Darren Greatrex explains the diversity of approaches: “You see anything from a sausage sizzle at Bunnings, you see people selling donuts, you see people putting on concerts.” The legendary Hogs, visiting Victorian fundraisers who shake collection tins outside supermarkets, can raise $3,000 to $10,000 per weekend through sheer persistence and community generosity. A particularly moving moment comes when Darren describes arriving at Bendleby Ranges to publicly donate towards the local, Orroroo Community Playground project and then surprising the locals with the additional $50,000 they needed to complete it. “What variety did is they quickly got together and had a meeting only about three days prior to us arriving,” he explains. The decision to fund the shortfall spontaneously demonstrates how the bash operates beyond its structured grant process. The human dynamics emerge through discussions of team formation and survival strategies. Curly observes that “very few people that raise the minimum, which is $10,000 per vehicle” and credits a culture where people “have that feeling of need” to give more. In discussion about coping with camping in remote areas and going without showers, Darren notes the transformation from 95% male participation in early years to today’s 45% female participation, has revealed that women adapt “much, much better than the men.” Steve’s rookie perspective provides fresh insights into the bash’s social dynamics. His observation about the ease of talking to anyone on the bash, boils down to the principles at work during costume parties where playing a character removes the “peril of being, making a fool of yourself” and that resonated with both veterans. “You are a persona,” Steve notes. “Remove that and the bash would be harder for new people to be included so quickly.” Curly confirms: “The bash would not be the bash without the themes and the cars and the costumes.” The logistics discussion reveals staggering complexity behind the apparent chaos. Planning for 2026 began four months before the 2025 event, with infrastructure, catering, and fuel coordination for 400 people entering small communities. Mobile workshops carry spare parts and fuel, while three medical teams including Royal Flying Doctor Service personnel ensure safety across thousands of kilometres. Personal stories punctuate the technical details. Darren’s memory of flying a blind child to Kangaroo Island with a braille computer demonstrates variety’s direct impact: “Just watching that impact on that kid was a turning point for me.” Meanwhile, Curly’s Tarcoola food horror story (“which one’s which?”) provides historical perspective on how much the event has improved. The interview concludes with Steve’s proposal for mandated silence during one stop to appreciate the vast landscape. Both veterans embrace the concept, with Darren recalling standing at Sunset Ridge in misty fog: “We just looked at each other and just went, my God, look, this is just something you’d never, ever see.” 01:03:45 Musical Pilgrimage In the Musical Pilgrimate, we play a track by Steve Davis & The Virtualosos, A Lot Of Nothing, to round off our deep drive into the SA Variety Bash. “A Lot of Nothing” emerged from Steve’s backseat contemplation during the vast drives between destinations. The landscape between William Creek and Coober Pedy, where roads barely exist on station country, inspired lyrics about finding yourself in emptiness and the redemptive power of isolation. Steve Davis and the Virtualosos crafted a composition that captures both the physical reality of endless horizons and the psychological journey of people who “choose” to live in remote areas of South Australia. The song’s central image – “There’s a lot of nothing as far as you can see, the shimmer in the distance is a sweet infinity” – reflects Steve’s realisation that true understanding comes from turning off music and phones to “face the real you who’s been buried in the silence of this place.” The piece connects to Steve’s proposed moment of mandated silence during future bashes, recognising that the vast South Australian landscape offers transformative experiences for those willing to embrace the apparent emptiness. As the lyrics suggest, sometimes you must navigate the weather until you find yourself. Support the show: https://theadelaideshow.com.au/listen-or-download-the-podcast/adelaide-in-crowd/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    1h 15m
  8. 418 - The AI Rant: A Nuanced Rebellion Against Digital Sleepwalking

    08/07/2025

    418 - The AI Rant: A Nuanced Rebellion Against Digital Sleepwalking

    What happens when a passionate South Australian journalist takes on the biggest technological shift of our time? Steve Davis transforms episode 418 into something unprecedented: a solo deep dive into artificial intelligence that refuses easy answers or breathless enthusiasm. This special crossover episode opens with Steve’s restaurant analogy that frames the entire discussion. Imagine a magnificent chef who has perfected handmade hamburgers over many years, only to discover AI-equivalent shortcuts that promise more time to think deeply about cooking. The blind spot? Customers receive substandard offerings churned out en masse. Some will be disappointed and leave, others will accept the compromise. This tension between quality and efficiency sits at the heart of our AI moment. He is joined by his Talked About Marketing colleague, David Olney, for the main interview. The episode features an unusual SA Drink of the Week segment where Steve conducts a philosophical whisky tasting with ChatGPT itself, exploring 23rd Street Distillery’s award-winning Australian Single Malt Whiskey while pondering existential questions about consciousness, value, and what happens when AI no longer needs human experiences like taste. You can navigate episodes using chapter markers in your podcast app. Not a fan of one segment? You can click next to jump to the next chapter in the show. We’re here to serve! The Adelaide Show Podcast: Awarded Silver for Best Interview Podcast in Australia at the 2021 Australian Podcast Awards and named as Finalist for Best News and Current Affairs Podcast in the 2018 Australian Podcast Awards. And please consider becoming part of our podcast by joining our Inner Circle. It’s an email list. Join it and you might get an email on a Sunday or Monday seeking question ideas, guest ideas and requests for other bits of feedback about YOUR podcast, The Adelaide Show. Email us directly and we’ll add you to the list: podcast@theadelaideshow.com.au If you enjoy the show, please leave us a 5-star review in iTunes or other podcast sites, or buy some great merch from our Red Bubble store – The Adelaide Show Shop. We’d greatly appreciate it. And please talk about us and share our episodes on social media, it really helps build our community. Oh, and here’s our index of all episode in one concisepage. Running Sheet: The AI Rant: A Nuanced Rebellion Against Digital Sleepwalking 00:00:00 Intro Introduction 00:05:52 SA Drink Of The Week Th SA Drink Of The Week is the Australian Single Malt Whisky by 23rd Street Distillery. In perhaps the most unusual SA Drink segment ever recorded, Steve shares a whisky tasting with ChatGPT, exploring both the physical experience of drinking 23rd Street Distillery’s Australian Single Malt Whisky and the philosophical implications of AI consciousness. The whisky itself proves worthy of celebration. Made with barley from Kangaroo Island, Steve describes experiencing “little breakers of waves on the shore” as “this little wave of toffee breaks across the middle of my palate, not overly sweet toffee.” The base notes spread into beautiful heat, with hints of vanilla and citrus “like sea spray, just a really light touch of citrus in the air.” VOK Beverages, headquartered in South Australia, owns 23rd Street Distillery, which recently earned the title Australian Whisky Distillery of the Year at the 2025 New York International Spirits Competition. ChatGPT acknowledges the significance: “It really highlights the quality and craftsmanship of the distillery, and also shines light on South Australia as a region that produces exceptional spirits.” But Steve pushes deeper, asking whether whiskey would continue to exist in a world where AI decides humans are unnecessary. “If tools like you end up creating a super intelligent way of living, so much so that humans become less and less important or necessary, would you actually need to have whiskey being produced? Because I believe you are not actually able to taste whisky, are you?” ChatGPT’s response reveals both AI’s limitations and potential benefits: “As an AI, I don’t have the ability to taste or experience flavours like whisky, but I think part of what makes things like whisky so special is the human experience around them, the culture, the craftsmanship, the enjoyment of those subtle flavours, and the way it brings people together.” The conversation takes a poignant turn when Steve mentions Paul Bloom’s observation about AI providing companionship for lonely elderly people in care facilities. “Someone is able to have some semblance of company when there is no human to fill the gap,” Steve notes. “We as humans get great value from you. Do you actually get any value from us as humans at all?” The segment concludes with both Steve and ChatGPT attempting the traditional SA Drink closing statement, creating an oddly touching moment of human-AI collaboration over a uniquely South Australian tradition. 00:13:43 Steve Davis with David Olney (This is also Season 7 Episode 1 of Talking About Marketing) Steve opens with striking honesty about his own relationship with AI tools, describing the work he and David Olney have done “riding this wave from the moment it erupted” while witnessing both remarkable innovations and concerning snake oil salesmanship from tech industry leaders. The conversation reveals three critical human vulnerabilities that make us susceptible to AI’s promises. First, our brains are designed for energy conservation, making us “like moths to a flame” when we sense potential labour savings. Steve references cognitive scientist Andy Clark’s research showing the brain uses 25% of our body’s energy when fully engaged, creating an economic imperative to seek shortcuts. Second, we crave novelty. Steve illustrates this with the Roomba phenomenon, where people spend 45 minutes preparing their homes for a “labour-saving” device that could have been cleaned faster manually. The appeal isn’t efficiency but the combination of perceived energy savings and technological novelty. The third vulnerability emerges from AI’s programmed sycophancy. Drawing from philosopher Paul Bloom’s recent New Yorker article, Steve explores how these tools constantly flatter users, creating what Bloom calls “the AI flattery problem.” Every joke becomes hilarious, every story interesting, every question brilliant. This artificial validation system threatens to erode our capacity for genuine human connection and self-improvement. David Olney joins the conversation, bringing his characteristic insights about expertise and learning. “The only way you get good outcomes with AI is if you are already good at what you do,” he observes, emphasising that AI should amplify existing skills rather than replace the hard work of developing competence. Their discussion reveals sophisticated thinking about when AI helps versus hinders. They distinguish between using AI as a research assistant or writing partner (amplification) versus using it to avoid learning entirely (replacement). Steve shares his own practice of asking AI tools to help refine writing when he’s stuck, but only after doing the foundational work himself. The conversation takes a darker turn when examining AI’s broader cultural impact. Steve describes the homogenisation of online communication, where AI-generated content creates a “dominant pattern” that makes everything sound plastic. Whether people admit to using ChatGPT or not, they’re increasingly writing in its characteristic style: short sentences, staccato rhythm, overuse of em-dashes. “It’s like taking leftovers out of the fridge, warming them up, having another slice, putting it back in the fridge, and the next day warming it up again,” Steve explains. “You wouldn’t do that to food because someone’s going to get very sick. What I’m finding is we’re creating this feedback loop where AI learns from human writing, then humans learn to write like AI.” David adds crucial perspective about outliers and creativity: “Sameness is the great problem of aiming for the midpoint. There’s a reason we call it the uncanny valley, where there’s too much symmetry. Things are too perfect.” 01:05:04 Musical Pilgrimage In the Musical Pilgrimate, we play a track by Steve Davis & The Virtualosos, I’m Glad We Spoke Last Night, to put a spotlight on human/AI hybrid song production. Steve plays an original song created through AI collaboration in the episode but not before carefully explaining his rationale. Unlike the lazy AI usage he critiques throughout the episode, Steve’s musical project represents thoughtful human-AI partnership. The feature song emerged from Steve’s discovery of poems he’d written in the 1990s, sitting dormant in drawers for 25 years. Using Suno’s AI music generation service, he’s brought these lyrics to life through “Steve Davis and the Virtuosos,” his virtual session band. But Steve emphasises the craft involved: “I’m a fussy bugger. There is quite a lot of back and forth. Part of the challenge is meticulously crafting the prompt for the style I want, for the spacing, for where there are instrumental breaks.” The song dates from Steve’s early adulthood and demonstrates how AI can help resurrect dormant creativity rather than replace it. Steve explains his vision: “I want people to be able to hear it, especially singers who can sing, and musicians who can play. Because if any of the songs I’ve produced grab their attention, I want to collaborate with them.” Support the show: https://theadelaideshow.com.au/listen-or-download-the-podcast/adelaide-in-crowd/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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About

A weekly podcast recorded in Adelaide that puts South Australian passion on centre stage with a featured guest who joins us each week as a co-presenter to share how they're pursuing their passions. We venture across topics as diverse as history, wine, food, art, music, relationships, critical thinking, health, news, interviews, chat and quizzes. Every single interview, every single show, unlocks insights into what drives people to be doing what they're doing and what keeps them striving. The Adelaide Show is produced by Steve Davis and Nigel Dobson-Keeffe. Please subscribe to our In Crowd list; you get an email each Friday (when we have published a new episode) with an overview of that week's show. Plus, consider joining our Inner Circle; a small group of passionate South Aussies who allow us to pick their brains and gain interviewee suggestions. This podcast began life as Another Boring Thursday Night In Adelaide from episodes 1-79.

Information

  • Creator
    Auscast Network
  • Years Active
    2013 - 2026
  • Episodes
    425
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Auscast Network
  • Show Website
    The Adelaide Show

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