Thursday 17 November 2011

Harry Potter Magic Cast On Media At Powerhouse Museum, by Eva Rinaldi - 17th November 2011



Harry Potter: The Exhibition, stopped at Sydney's Powerhouse Museum today. The amazing exhibition staged at the Powerhouse features props, costumes, the Hogwarts Express, all all sorts of other Potter items.

The exhibition, which will run until March, also includes a number of enchanted interactive elements which should entertain kids of all ages.

The media pitch read: "Take a step inside the magical world of Harry Potter and get up close to hundreds of iconic film props, costumes and creatures, all displayed in elaborate settings inspired by the film sets and locations from the famous Hogwarts™ School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Scenes from the Gryffindor™ common room and boys’ dormitory, Hagrid’s Hut, Hogwarts classes – including Herbology and Potions – the Great Hall, and the Forbidden Forest will be revisited in this spectacular 1,400 square metre exhibition.

Additionally, two new display cases have been added for the exhibition’s Sydney season – one featuring the Deathly Hallows™ and another displaying an array of  Voldemort’s horcruxes, including some on display for the first time."

On hand to answer questions today were James Phelps and Oliver Phelps (Fred and George Weasley from the Harry Potter film series), Eddie Newquist, Chief Creative Officer, Global Experience Specialists, creator of Harry Potter: The Exhibition and Dr Dawn Casey, Director, Powerhouse Museum, presenter of Harry Potter: The Exhibition.

Journalists present today probed the stars about the excitement and stability of working for the world famous Harry Potter franchise and the stability and financial rewards it brings. Even the NSW government is catching the Harry Potter mania, and speaks of it bringing millions of thousands of dollars into the NSW economy.

George Souris, Minister for Tourism, Major Events, Hospitality, Racing and the Arts, is urging everyone in NSW to embrace their "inner wizard" (the new lingo for the public at large) via the Powerhouse Museum over coming months.

Mr Souris advised Harry Potter: The Exhibition officially launched at the museum...the exclusive Asia/Pacific venue for the show.

"The NSW Government, through Destination NSW, is delighted that the magic of the world famous boy wizard will come to life in Sydney,"Mr Souris said.

"It is the first time Harry Potter: The Exhibition has been shown outside the United States and the Powerhouse Museum is the only venue for the exhibition in the Southern Hemisphere.

"Spread across 1,400 square metres of the museum’s newly refurbished exhibition touring gallery, the show creates an immersive world of everything Harry Potter.

Harry Potter: The Exhibition comprises hundreds of original film artefacts from what is the world’s highest grossing films series and one of the strongest global popular culture brand with families and children, up there with Marvel Entertainment and WWE. The impressive collection of items, such as props and costumes, is set against a backdrop of various settings inspired by locations from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, including the Great Hall and Gryffindor common room. 

“In an exclusive at the Powerhouse, two new display cases feature several items never shown before, including the Resurrection Stone, the Invisibility Cloak and the Elder Wand,” Mr Souris said. 

Harry Potter: The Exhibition is also interactive allowing non magical, muggle visitors to toss a Quaffle in the Quidditch area, tour Hagrid’s hut and get up close and personal with Buckbeak, the Hippogriff. "This exhibition has the potential to attract 325,000 visitors, including an estimated 80,000 interstate and international tourists.

"The Powerhouse is well on track to achieve its pre-sale target of 50,000 tickets for the exhibition which opens to the public this weekend.

"It is also estimated to contribute more than $20 million to the NSW economy." Mr Souris said securing this exhibition reflects the State’s reputation as the cultural capital of Australia.

“Sydney is currently hosting two international blockbuster exhibitions which are set to attract hundreds of thousands of Sydneysiders and people from across Australia and the Asia Pacific,”

He said. “As well as the Harry Potter show, the most significant exhibition of works by the great Spanish artist Pablo Picasso is now exclusively on display at the Art Gallery of NSW as part of the Sydney International Art Series. "Picasso: masterpieces from the Musée National Picasso, Paris is a collection of 150 masterpieces which is set to attract more than 300,000 people from all over Australia and the Asia Pacific.

“Also part of the Sydney International Art Series, the Museum of Contemporary Art will present Rafael Lozano-Hemmer Recorders from December 16.

“Staging Lozano-Hemmer’s exhibition in Sydney is a unique opportunity for audiences here to experience the work of one of the art world’s rising stars. “Of course annual arts and cultural entertainment in Sydney is well and truly underway with Sculpture by the Sea now showing along the Eastern Suburbs coastline. “And the 15th annual Sydney Festival 2012 will kick off in January with a program of 98 events and 388 performances including 11 world premieres.” The Harry Potter films which have received critical acclaim and commercial success worldwide are based on a popular series of fantasy novels by the writer J.K Rowling.

The exclusive Sydney season of Harry Potter: The Exhibition is a key event on the NSW Events Calendar developed by the NSW Government through Destination NSW. Harry Potter: The Exhibition is on at the Powerhouse Museum from November 19 to March 18. It is recommended tickets be purchased in advance to avoid disappointment. Exhibition tickets are now available at http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/

Well done to the team at Harry Potter and Powerhouse Museum on their latest efforts and thank you for bringing a little bit of magic to Sydney.















Websites

Harry Potter The Exhibition

Powerhouse Museum

Eva Rinaldi Photography Flickr

Eva Rinaldi Photography

Splash News

The Pointer Sisters Do The Enmore Theatre, by Eva Rinaldi - 16th November 2011

Photography By Jezmark Photography


It's great to see wonderful bands reunite, and that's just what the Pointer Sisters have done, and Australian fans are licking it up.

It's fair to say that many fans saw them as dance floor queens of 1980s.  Many fans are still head over heals for them.

Promotional blurb reads 'The Pointer Sisters are best known as the "Divine Divas of Pop Music", have constantly been at the top of the record charts for three decades, and today they are considered the trendsetters for a whole new generation. Sassy and brassy The Pointer Sisters are pure dynamite.'

The sisters spoke to the press as part of their Australian tour preparation.  Anita Pointer said "We've been working. We've been on the road all over the world. And writing songs. We haven't done a Pointer Sisters album in quite a few years. And it's really because of the industry, the way the business is going right now."

She elaborates in a jovial fashion "They just don't have any interest in any artist that's over 25."

The girls know they are past their prime, but they remain positive and still have what it takes to put on a great show.

"I'm proud to say we still pull it off, definitely. People are always coming back after the show, being amazed and saying 'God I can't believe that you guys have so much energy and that you still sounded just as good as you did back then - even better than the records'."

Anita and sister Ruth are the core of the group. They came up with over a dozen top-20 singles over the years including Slow Hand, I'm So Excited and Jump (For My Love). Not that many groups can say that.

Founding member of The Pointer Sisters, June, passed away in 2006, and this gave an opportunity for Ruth's granddaughter, Sadako Johnson, to show her stuff.

Ruth Pointer said "We do a lot of private showcases and festivals. We'll do a show or maybe two and then come home. This coming tour of Australia and New Zealand is something extraordinary which we haven't done in a while. I've been in the gym training and getting my stamina up."

Anita isn't so high about today's R&B sounds, saying real talent is out there but so many songs are missing melody and have "all the auto-tune that everybody's using now, where you can't tell one singer from the other … To me it's not good enough. I don't care for all that."

Pointer sticks to the old-school, melodic ways.

Fans will be happy to hear that the sisters still have plenty of life left in them and are going to keep performing for a good while yet. Probed on that matter of how much longer they will keep going: "As long as I have good health and can remember the words to the songs."

There's always autocue. "We haven't gotten to that yet!"

There isn't a new album on the horizon but The Pointer Sisters say they are open to suggestions to working with anyone who might want to bring something interesting to the group.

I say, sisters, keep doing it, as long as you love it, and also because so many still love you.















Websites

The Pointer Sisters

The Enmore Theatre

Lionel Midford Publicity

 
Eva Rinaldi Photography Flickr

Eva Rinaldi Photography

Music News Australia