Author: Selena

It’s great for Queensland that there happens to be so many songwriters and bands in the music line-up this year, Deadly Awards Executive Maryann Weston said yesterday.

The 19^th annual Deadly Awards feature two Queensland nominations in four of the seven musical categories  including, Female Artist of the Year (Christine Anu and Simone Stacy), Band of the Year (Dubmarine and The Medics) and Single Release of the Year (Simone Stacy and Thelma Plum).

Voting closes this Sunday 18^th August for the Deadlys’ national Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander excellence awards, and the ceremony will be held on 10^th September at the Sydney Opera House.

“Queenslanders should jump on to the Deadlys’ site and vote for their favourites at www.deadlys.com.au,” Ms Weston said.

Former Westender Sue Ray, who is performing this Saturday night at The Joynt, is nominated for ‘Most Promising New Talent in Music’ alongside fellow Queensland band Slip-on Stereo.

“It doesn’t surprise me that there is a strong Queensland presence at this year’s Deadlys; Brisbane has a great music network,” Ms Ray said.

Ms Ray will fly from Brisbane to Sydney for the Deadlys, then straight to Los Angeles and on to Nashville to work on her next album.

Slip-on Stereo has performed in West End and nearby at the Performing Arts Complex.

“We have been involved [in] a few indigenous contemporary showcases in Brisbane including the Queensland Music festival, QMusic’s Indigenous showcase and the Clancestry Indigenous festival,” Slip-on Stereo Manager Mark Bretherton said.

“We are proud to be nominated and it’s great to see so many Queenslanders up for awards this year,” Mr Bretherton said.

QMusic’s Executive Officer Denise Foley said “QMusic has been supporting the development and identification of early career artists for some time.”

“Whilst we can’t take any credit for these artists as their talent is purely their own, we are very proud to know that all of the artists currently being recognised in the Deadlys have connections to QMusic,” Ms Foley said. 

People’s market beats Coles’ supermarket in fresh food stakes with an average 27 hour transit from field to consumer, according to Food Connect’s Lakshmi Kerr.

“South Brisbane’s new Thursday market sells fruit and vegetables harvested one to two days prior to sale”, Ms Kerr said.

Councillor Helen Abrahams appreciates fresh produce in relation to harvest time.

“[B]uy your fruit and vegetables directly from the farmer or a fruit shop that can tell you when and where the produce was grown,” Councillor Abrahams said.

Public opinion in West End revealed 80% identify freshness as being one week to one month from harvest; while one local resident Bernard Cleary said, “Truth in advertising should disclose the grade of produce so we can make an informed decision”.

“If region and harvest date is acceptable for wine, then the same should be true for fruit and vegetables,” Mr Cleary said.

Close scrutiny of the fresh food section at Coles West End revealed an information sheet on each crate detailing the region, grower, packing and best before date, but no harvest date.

Anna Kelly from Coles said, “We also make product information available both in store and on our Helping Australia Grow website.”

Yet the harvest date of Coles’ West End pink lady apples was unable to be established in-store or on the Helping Australia Grow website.

Coles’ website does indicate that apples are available all year round.

According to a 2010 report by The People’s Watchdog Choice “[S]hiny red apples might have been in storage for more than a year.”

“Apples held in cold storage for three months contain lower levels of antioxidants.”

The ACCCs Food Descriptors Guideline states, “[F]ruit advertised as ‘fresh from the farm’ when it was imported, on a container ship for a month before arriving in Australia, fumigated to clear quarantine before being transported to further cold storage and then to the supermarket produce bin would be unlikely to meet the consumer understanding of a ‘fresh-from-the-farm’ claim.”

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The South Brisbane Peoples Market at 15 Hope Street opens every Thursday from 10am.