Mardi Gras Sydney: Delta Goodrem Brings Teeth to Mardi Gras

Delta Goodrem's bright white smile will be working overtime at this weekend's Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras when she performs as the new ambassador for a tooth-whitening product.
Goodrem will perform as toothpaste brand Oral Bs new ambassador at the event on Saturday night, it was announced on Monday.

"Smiles are infectious, they bring out confidence and powerful connections between people, so I'm delighted to be involved in this years Mardi Gras Parade and to be partnering with such an incredible brand," Goodrem gushed.

The Voice Kids judge will perform mid-parade on the Oral-B float.

The tooth whitener is the official sponsor of Mardi Gras photographers.

Sydney's Mardi Gras is celebrating 35 years of gay pride. This year's gay parade and festival will take the theme Generations of Love, a reference to the first Mardi Gras march in Sydney in 1978 and the ongoing struggle for equality.

Taste Festival Sydney 2014 and NSW Food & Wine Festival

Food lovers, it’s that time of year again! The NSW Food & Wine Festival is starting this week and we can’t wait for all mouth-watering food and wine events lined up in this year’s program.

Running for one month from the 21st of February to the 21st of March, the festival is bigger than ever, with something for everyone.

The festival celebrates NSW’s finest produce, wine and wine regions, featuring growers, winemakers, artisan food producers, chefs, restaurants, sommeliers and bars across Sydney and regional NSW. Events include sparkling brunches and high teas, snacks and street food, dinners, classes and more.

One of the festivals biggest events, Sydney Cellar Door, will take place on February 21st to 23rd in Hyde Park South. As well as the famous wine tastings, Sydney Cellar Door will feature food stalls including Bar Pho, Nomad, Salt Meets Cheese and Gelato Messina.

Live music will fill the park as locals and travellers dine together amongst the greenery.

RESCU Recommends: the popular Tour the Regions Dinners. These special event dinners feature set menus prepared by the finest chefs and sommeliers in NSW, with a focus on local produce. The dinners will take place at restaurants around Sydney.

For more on NSW Food & Wine Festival visit: nswfoodandwine.com.au

Taste of Sydney

Taste of Sydney is the city’s biggest event during NSW Food & Wine Festival. The 6th annual Taste of Sydney will take place on Thursday the 13th to Sunday the 16th of March in the gorgeous Centennial Parklands.

Aside from the opportunity to taste delicious food and wine, the event will offer an array of interactive features from the Lurpak Cookery School to a Food & Beverage Matching Masterclass
.
RESCU Recommends: Sensology’s ‘The Art of Cocktail Making’. In this class, expert mixologists shake things up with simple step-by-step demonstrations on creating and serving some of the world’s most iconic cocktails. Prepare to be a hostess with the mostest at your next party.


For more on Taste of Sydney visit: tasteofsydney.com.au

Queens of the Stone Age and Nine Inch Nails Live in Sydney

The Frontier Touring Company are thrilled to announce that two of the world’s most influential bands of the last decade, Nine Inch Nails and Queens Of The Stone Age, will join forces for a massive double headline tour. In what could arguably be described as one of the biggest double bills to ever reach our shores, QOTSA and NIN, joined by special guest Brody Dalle, will kick off this explosive tour at QANTAS Credit Union Arena on Thursday March 6th 2014.

With the first headline band on stage being decided each night by the toss of a coin, fans will want to make sure they’re at the ready for a big night from the minute doors open.

Queens Of The Stone Age are possibly the single most critically acclaimed hard rock band of the 2000s. The band’s popularity on Australian shores was thoroughly cemented when “No One Knows” became the No. 1 anthem for triple j’s Hottest 100 in 2002. No strangers to Australian audiences, frontman Josh Homme declared earlier this year that “Everybody who knows me knows that Australia is my home away from home”. The current album “Like Clockwork” released in June 2013 (featuring Trent Reznor, Dave Grohl, Elton John and a host of others) ended the longest ever gap between Queens albums with the band's first ever No. 1 album in the U.S, also debuting at No. 1 in Australia.

Nine Inch Nails are considered a pioneer in the industrial music movement and have been highly influential in the evolution of electronic music. Past recordings have revolutionised detailed digital production. The band have sold more than thirty million albums worldwide, released a remarkable collection of singles and received two Grammy awards. Already with a reputation as one of rock’s greatest live bands and renowned for their multimedia live spectacles and elaborate stage productions, we couldn’t be more excited to see where Nine Inch Nails take their upcoming live show.

If that’s not enough to get your head around, Queens Of The Stone Age and Nine Inch Nails will also bring very special guest, Australian-born singer/songwriter/musician Brody Dalle along for the ride! Dalle will open the shows with a full band, playing a selection of songs from her extensive catalogue from her renowned punk rock bands The Distillers and Spinnerette and new songs from her fierce forthcoming solo album.

The relationship between these two rock powerhouse bands is no secret; they’ve played over thirty shows together in the U.S. and have teamed up for several recordings together over the years, including an appearance by Reznor on ‘Kalopsia’ from Queens Of The Stone Age’s “Like Clockwork”.

It’s evident these two bands share a musical affinity and are prodigies of the live show.

Sydney, you had better secure your tickets because this is going to be one mammoth, mind blowing, live event of the year that you definitely don’t want to miss!

View the Sydney Entertainment Centre Site for Additional Information and Ticket Enquires

Queens of the Stone Age and Nine Inch Nails Live in Sydney

The Frontier Touring Company are thrilled to announce that two of the world’s most influential bands of the last decade, Nine Inch Nails and Queens Of The Stone Age, will join forces for a massive double headline tour. In what could arguably be described as one of the biggest double bills to ever reach our shores, QOTSA and NIN, joined by special guest Brody Dalle, will kick off this explosive tour at QANTAS Credit Union Arena on Thursday March 6th 2014.

With the first headline band on stage being decided each night by the toss of a coin, fans will want to make sure they’re at the ready for a big night from the minute doors open.

Queens Of The Stone Age are possibly the single most critically acclaimed hard rock band of the 2000s. The band’s popularity on Australian shores was thoroughly cemented when “No One Knows” became the No. 1 anthem for triple j’s Hottest 100 in 2002. No strangers to Australian audiences, frontman Josh Homme declared earlier this year that “Everybody who knows me knows that Australia is my home away from home”. The current album “Like Clockwork” released in June 2013 (featuring Trent Reznor, Dave Grohl, Elton John and a host of others) ended the longest ever gap between Queens albums with the band's first ever No. 1 album in the U.S, also debuting at No. 1 in Australia.

Nine Inch Nails are considered a pioneer in the industrial music movement and have been highly influential in the evolution of electronic music. Past recordings have revolutionised detailed digital production. The band have sold more than thirty million albums worldwide, released a remarkable collection of singles and received two Grammy awards. Already with a reputation as one of rock’s greatest live bands and renowned for their multimedia live spectacles and elaborate stage productions, we couldn’t be more excited to see where Nine Inch Nails take their upcoming live show.

If that’s not enough to get your head around, Queens Of The Stone Age and Nine Inch Nails will also bring very special guest, Australian-born singer/songwriter/musician Brody Dalle along for the ride! Dalle will open the shows with a full band, playing a selection of songs from her extensive catalogue from her renowned punk rock bands The Distillers and Spinnerette and new songs from her fierce forthcoming solo album.

The relationship between these two rock powerhouse bands is no secret; they’ve played over thirty shows together in the U.S. and have teamed up for several recordings together over the years, including an appearance by Reznor on ‘Kalopsia’ from Queens Of The Stone Age’s “Like Clockwork”.

It’s evident these two bands share a musical affinity and are prodigies of the live show.

Sydney, you had better secure your tickets because this is going to be one mammoth, mind blowing, live event of the year that you definitely don’t want to miss!

View the Sydney Entertainment Centre Site for Additional Information and Ticket Enquires

Events Choosing Sydney Despite Convention Centre Closure

Sydney, Australia is hitting the publicity trail with positive stories on the city despite not having a convention centre.

“Sydney expects 2014 to be a strong year for business events with close to 53,000 delegates spending more than 230,000 days in the city and delivering an economic impact (EI) of close to A$200 million to the New South Wales (NSW) economy.”

Lyn Lewis-Smith, ceo BESydney said: “New South Wales welcomes around 50 per cent of the 890,000 international business visitors to Australia each year. And of these total arrivals, conference and convention arrivals account for about 20 per cent of visitors."

“This year, Sydney is open for business even though we won’t have a convention centre for the next three years. The pipeline of secured events is strong and we are still seeing bid wins for short term Asian business that will continue to grow the event pool. The benefits from all of these meetings, incentives and conferences will be great.

“You only have to look at the events of all sizes that we are hosting this year - from 18,000 people to just a few hundred - to see that our venues are continuing to accommodate conferences, meetings and incentives in Sydney’s usual, exceptional manner.

"--Some 2014 highlight events secured by BESydney include: The 105th Rotary International Convention for 18,000 delegates with an EI of almost A$64 million; Pro-Health China Annual Conference for 4,500 delegates with an EI of A$22 million; International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) World Parks Congress for 3,000 delegates with an EI of A$24 million and the LG Group Long Service Staff Reward for 1,400 delegates with an EI of A$7 million.

“Rotary is one of the world’s largest annual international business events and will inject close to A$64 million into the local economy during the four official convention days in June, making it one of the largest business events ever mounted in Australia,” said Lewis-Smith.

Easter in Sydney - Accommodation for the Whole Family

Metro Hotels has the following Easter Accommodation Packages.  A great Sydney stay for the whole family

• Easter Holiday Special at Metro Hotel Sydney Central

• Easter Family Package at Metro Hotel on Pitt

• Aspire Family Easter Package

• Easter Break at Metro Apartments on Darling Harbour

visit http://www.metrohotels.com.au/special to view all Metro Hotel Accommodation Hot Deals currently available.

Hug time: NSW Targets India With New Tourism Campaign

The "jhappi time" campaign, which translates to "hug time", urges Indians to come to Sydney to reunite with loved ones abroad. Photo: David Porter

New South Wales is hoping to attract more Indian visitors with the simple promise of some "jhappi time", Hindi for "hug time", with their loved ones.

Australia's biggest ever tourism campaign targeted at the Indian inbound tourism market, launched by Destination NSW on Tuesday, is using the concept of "jhappi time" to increase Indian visitor numbers by at least 10 per cent over the next 12 months.

The campaign, which has been a year in the making, entices Indians to visit family and friends living in Australia. It features four 60-second commercials, in which Indian families fly to NSW for some "jhappi time" with their loved ones.

The commercials were directed by the famous Australian-Indian Bollywood director Anupam Sharma, and include scenes at Manly Beach, the Hunter Valley and the Blue Mountains. They will screen in cinemas in Delhi and Mumbai, promoted on billboards, and will be accompanied by print, online and social media campaigns in India and Australia.

"We are hoping to see a 10 per cent increase over the next 12 months as a minimum," chief executive Sandra Chipchase said at the campaign launch. That's an increase on the more than 77,000 Indian arrivals to NSW in the year to September 2013, which is worth an estimated $183 million a year to the NSW economy.

Arrival numbers from India have increased since Air India launched direct flights between Delhi and Sydney in August last year, says Chipchase, and is expected to rise with the growth of the Indian middle class.

NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell outside the MCA with dancers for the campaign. Photo: Ben Rushton

Premier Barry O'Farrell, who also attended the launch, said the campaign is "as important to NSW today as throwing another shrimp on the barbie was for Australia a number of decades ago".

"India is a young country with an expanding middle class and so trying to tap into that tourism stream is incredibly important," Mr O'Farrell said.

He said he believed the Indian community had moved on since a series of much-publicised attacks on students tarnished relations between the countries in 2010.

"We've all got over it," Mr O'Farrell said.

Read more

Cricket's Biggest International Prize! One Year to Go Celebrations

14 February 2014 marks one year to go until the first match of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015. To mark the occasion, public events will be held in all 14 World Cup Host Cities over two days.

To mark the occasion, public events will be held in all 14 World Cup Host Cities over two days. The events will include the unveiling of a city countdown clock, multicultural performances and junior cricket activities. Members of the public are welcome to all events.

Thursday 13 February
  

Host City	Event location	Start time
Auckland	Queen’s Wharf	6.30am
Hamilton	Garden Place, Victoria St	7.15am
Dunedin	The Octagon	10.30am
Wellington	Midland Park, Lambton Quay	12.00pm
Napier	Sound Shell, Marine Parade	12.00pm
Nelson	Trafalgar Square	12.00pm
Christchurch	Re:Start Mall, Cashel St	5.00pm

Friday 14 February

Host City	Event location	Start time
Sydney	Martin Place Stage	12.00p
Melbourne	Federation Square Stage	12.00pm
Adelaide	Rundle Mall	11.00am
Brisbane	Queen Street Mall Stage	12.45pm
Canberra	Canberra Centre	12.00pm
Hobart	PW1 forecourt (Princes Wharf 1)	12.30pm
Perth	Forrest Place	12.00pm

Also on 14 February, prior to the start of the New Zealand v India test match at the Basin Reserve, a press conference to announce how Government and tournament organisers will work together to maximise the legacy of the tournament.

There will also be a special visit from the members of New Zealand’s 1992 Cricket World Cup squad during the tea break on Day 2 of the test.

Find out more at http://www.icc-cricket.com/cricket-world-cup

Top Ten Must See Events at This Year's Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras

1. THE MARDI GRAS DISCO CLIMB

Talk about getting high on life. If God is a DJ then this rainbow themed dancefloor atop the Sydney Harbour Bridge is surely heaven. Can you think of a better way to herald in Mardi Gras season than combining disco with bridge climb? Thought not.

The climb has limited departures and is only available during Mardi Gras. Book early to avoid disappointment.

Disco Climb. Mardi Gras 2014. Source: Supplied

2. THE 36TH ANNUAL SYDNEY GAY AND LESBIAN MARDI GRAS PARADE

Sydney is home to the loudest, proudest, largest and most-loved celebrations of the LGBTQI community on Earth. Join hundreds of thousands of spectators lining the route along Oxford and Flinders streets on Saturday, March 1. Plant a smile on your face and simply enjoy the wild ride.

Rain, hail or shine, revellers gather along the route. Source: News Limited

3. FAIR DAY

If Parade is the party then Fair Day is the fete of Mardi Gras season. Get along to Victoria Park on City Rd, Chippendale on Sunday, February 9 for this all-day family-friendly picnic celebration. Enjoy roving drag performers, gourmet food, loads of market stalls and the Doggywood tent for pampered pooches.

Performers Mrs Vera, Dob Downe and Mr Tina pictured at Mardi Gras Fair Day. Source: News Limited

4. JOHN WATERS LIVE AND IN PERSON

American filmmaker John Waters, he of the pencil-thin moustache, appears for one night only at the Sydney Opera House on Sunday, March 9. The cult figure, who appears on Sunday, March 9, is responsible for Hollywood gems Hairspray and Cry-Baby and is notoriously candid about the downside of fame.

Filmmaker, playwright, comedian and man for all seasons John Waters appears for one night only at the Sydney Opera House. Source: Supplied

5. PAM ANN presents PLANE FILTHY

Pam Ann is the anything-goes air hostess alter-ego of Australian comedian Caroline Reid. Get set for some seriously funny observations on air travel through the golden age. Not to be missed. Reid performs over two nights, February 27 and 28, at the State Theatre. Punters will also be presented with a complimentary glass of sparkly and a Pam Ann compact and fridge magnet. All class!

Pam Ann A plane sitting on the tarmac at an airport. Very high resolution 3D render. Source:Supplied

6. KINGS & QUEENS of CABARET

Enjoy a stellar Mardi Gras cabaret season at the Slide Lounge, Darlinghurst all this month. Among the headliners will be Olympic diver Matthew Mitcham, who will debut his own show. The multi-talented Mitcham is joined by queen of country Beccy Cole and a host of other performers. Check out the full program at mardigras.org.au

To get you warmed up for the main event, here's a little gold medal entree from Mr Mitcham

MATTHEW MITCHAM GOLD MEDAL DIVE

7. COURTNEY ACT in BOYS LIKE ME

Following sold-out seasons in New York and Los Angeles, Australia's own Courtney Act performs hit cabaret show Boys Like Me for one night only, February 25, at the Sydney Theatre, Walsh Bay. Act is a bona fide homegrown superstar at the top of her game. Boys Like Me tackles masculinity, femininity and dirty laundry.

COURTNEY ACT IN BOYS LIKE ME

8. HARBOUR PARTY

Summer sun, an iconic harbour and big dance beats combine to make the Mardi Gras Harbour Party a hot ticket item this season. Gather at the Fleet Steps, Mrs Macquarie's Point on Saturday, February 22 from 3pm. Bring your dancing shoes. Already confirmed acts include British DJ Joey Negro and Paul Goodyear from the US.

Joey Negro plays the Harbour Party on February 22. Source: Supplied

9. RAINBOW RUN

Fitness freaks unite and show your support for equal love by taking part in the Rainbow Run. Held Saturday, February 8 in Sydney Park, St Peters participants should be at the start line of the 6km course by 10am. All proceeds from the event will be donated to Equal Love initiatives in Australia. A DJ set broadcasted throughout the circuit has been designed to keep participants motived.

Show your support for marriage equality by taking part in the Rainbow Run. Source: News Limited

10. THE VAUDEVILLIANS featuring JINKX MONSOON

Those well abreast of the reality television hit RuPaul's Drag Race will already be familiar with irrepressible narcoleptic drag queen Jinkx Monsoon. The Season 5 champion makes her Australian debut with co-star Major Scales at the Vanguard, Newtown from February 18 until March 2.

- See more at: http://mardigrassyd.blogspot.com.au/2014/02/top-ten-must-see-events-at-this-years.html#sthash.XSHtI94d.dpuf