International man of mystery

Brett, here is some of that piece from Di Butler entitled "River festival to stake a claim on the next Olympics"(I've realised that links don't work well)...

"Obviously parts of Brisbane will have to then start thinking about the Games of the XXXIV Olympiad if the city is in any way serious about making a bid, but for the rest of us it's straight into another exciting and important event, Riverfestival.

And the AOC will be watching this year's closely. This is Brisbane's chance to prove it's got what it takes to stage an Olympic Games. Or at least the goods to deliver a stunning opening ceremony. It's not a coincidence that Seven also is the host broadcaster for Riverfestival, and rest assured the same experienced production crew will be on hand for Riverfire on August 30.

This has become Riverfestival's signature drawcard, with its comfortable mix of pollution and deep concern about local waterways. It's very now, very hypocritical.

Seven will have brought back many, many valuable new ideas from Beijing to put into practice. Such as photoshopping in the fireworks on the following Monday, rather than making a big mess and noise by actually having real dog-frightening pyrotechnics on the night. One of the Veronicas - not the fake lesbian, the other one - will be at South Bank to sing a selection of meaningful songs. And when I say sing, I mean mouth the words - there'll be a more accomplished, less telegenic performer in a Sydney studio doing the heavy lifting. I'm thinking Casey Donovan.

But what if by then all of Australia's available airforce are part of a coalition of unwilling patrolling the sky above South Ossetia and, instead of a pair of F-111s, organisers can only get Jayce Barker and his Channel 10 traffic helicopter? Then Riverfire will have to be cancelled. Because without that dump and burn, it's got nothing.

Half a million people aren't going to turn up to Kangaroo Point to have a look at one million bread tags collected by Shailer Park State School. I'm sorry kids, but they're not."

All this because the Fairfax-run Brisbane Times website got the Riverfire sponsorship... and Sunrise is intending to do a OB the day before (below the Kangaroo Pt cliffs where they will not draw people [as it is well away from South Bank] at that time of day, unlike Today's recent Brisbane outing which drew 1000+ people to a outer northern suburb) which leads me to believe that Kochie and Mel will host Riverfire at the expense of Seven's wading pool of Brisbane talent.

Add to that the "dumbing down" of Riverfestival (possibly instructed by Seven's management down south) with public events being cut dramaticly (notable exclusions include the RiverSymphony concerts, RegattaFest etc) down to two main days for public events, Riverfire and RiverSunday, both on Riverfire weekend.

All this sponsored by a station who twenty years ago was always about the "Love You Brisbane" slogan, while these days it has upset the Brisbane viewer base on many a occasion... (dumping the Brownie's Coastwatch program in 2000, dumping Brisbane's TT in 2003, moving Agro to Sydney then dumping it in 1997, moving the 2008 Gladiators revival to Sydney and so on.)

No wonder people are still watching Extra... Seven simply can't be trusted in providing a Brisbane voice on Brisbane's everyday issues no more (i.e food, fuel, lifestyle etc), and a few people who grew up with Kim Durant's stirring version of the Love You Brisbane promo (which I hope Seven uses for it's fiftieth birthday next year) are wanting to harken back to a simpler time.