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HG Nelson brushes up on the bush

A unique ABC TV show will visit Cowra, Lightning Ridge, Corryong, Yarrabah, Blinman and Stanley.

hgnThe ABC has announced a new television series, about poetry no less.

To be hosted by HG Nelson, Bush Slam is a 6 x 30 min. series produced by Freehand Productions (Top Gear Australia, Dancing with the Stars, and Missing Persons Unit). No stranger to hosting contests, Nelson has recently been hosting Comedy Slapdown on Foxtel.

The series will be taking two different poets and / or lyricists to six rural towns in Australia to explore the culture, the beauty, the folklore and the humour.

Each poet will be given just three days to capture the essence of the town and its people in verse. At the end of three days, the poets will entertain the town in a live head-to-head ‘poetry slam’ hosted by Nelson, also known as Greg Pickhaver, with locals deciding the winner.

The towns to feature are Cowra and Lightning Ridge in NSW; Corryong in Victoria, Yarrabah in Queensland, Blinman in South Australia, and Stanley in Tasmania.

Amanda Duthie, ABC TV’s Head of Arts, Entertainment and Comedy said “Poets provide the bass notes of our culture and identity. So it is thrilling that this prime-time series will explore wide open spaces, the verandas, sheds, hills and forests of Australia through the verse and rhythms of a great line-up of talent. “

Peter Abbott (Top Gear Australia, Big Brother) will oversee the production. “What’s special about Bush Slam is that it tackles poetry head-on, an artistic realm that some regard as remote and inaccessible, ” he said. “It will employ new techniques to slice and dice the creative process in a way that’s enlightening and entertaining.”

Bush Slam goes into production on March 2nd and will air on ABC1 later this year.

3 Responses

  1. HG, go to the Blinman Racecourse to see the dialpidated monument to Brigadier Hore-Ruthven, governor of SA and first to fly into Blinman and later to be governor general and confidante of John Curtin during ww2. It’s near the winning post. Regards Neville Stapleton

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