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When the AFL forked out a couple of million for Snoop Dogg to bring his signature west coast US hustle to the MCG, the legacy of the music mogul’s Grand Final performance was thought to be simply the 20-minute mash-up of his greatest hits before bounce of the ball.
But CBD has discovered it has turned out to be far greater than that.
Snoop Dogg recording with students at Warringa Park School in Werribee South.@warringaparkschool.
Away from the AFL footy PR machine, the Death Row Records boss has quietly supported a special needs school in Melbourne’s outer west, providing recording equipment for the young rappers.
When the Drop It Like It’s Hot gangster rapper was announced last year as doing the Grand Final pre-match show, the students in music teacher Ben Butcher’s class at Warringa Park School, located in the market and flower garden area of Werribee South, wrote to the Grammy winner asking him to record a song with them.
In September, when Snoop was in Melbourne on Grand Final duty and doing smokey DJ sets, the invitation was accepted.
Snoop came, saw and recorded and the collaboration with the class -a track called Drip, can be found on YouTube.
When sitting in the modest classroom with “odd sounds” coming from a clapped out speaker, Snoop promised Butcher: “Don’t worry about that Shaggy, I will fix you up.
“I will get you some gear for the studio.”
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Late last week, just on seven months after his MCG triumph, Snoop proved he was good for his word with a delivery of microphones, mic stands, speakers and an audio interface among items arriving at the school.
“The speakers and audio interface will allow us to record at least eight microphones at the one time which is a really fantastic thing to have, especially when you have a classroom of little musicians,” Butcher told CBD.
“It will allow us to record better and sound better and give more students the chance to have a go.
“We had an unboxing with the guys who were in the recording session when Snoop came. They were super chuffed and grateful and excited.”
Having had Snoop in their hood, the Warringa Park music elective students are hoping for more superstar collaborations.
Music teacher Ben Butcher (in red) with some of the equipment gifted by Snoop Dogg to Warringa Park School in Werribee South to help students record their music.
@thebenbutcher
“Kylie Minogue is here for the Grand Final and my current students are really into pop music and would like to reach out to her,” Butcher said. Harry Styles and rising Australian electro house artist Ninajirachi are also on their wishlist.
Lleyton Hewitt’s connection with Thor revealed
The long forgotten screen link between former tennis great Lleyton Hewitt and Thor – aka Chris Hemsworth – was dug up on Saturday when Hewitt was honoured at the Australian Tennis Foundation’s Night of Champions.
In a flashback to a time that style forgot, host Todd Woodbridge reminded Hewitt of his exceedingly brief career as a soap opera actor.
Hewitt had one line in a cafe scene on Home and Away in 2005 with his now wife Bec.
Sam Groth, John Fitzgerald and Lleyton Hewitt at the Night Of Champions at the Regent Plaza Ballroom in Melbourne.Tennis Australia/Fiona Hamilton
But more interesting was the other actor in the scene with the couple – Hemsworth in his pre-Hollywood superheroes days.
“It is a bit cringeworthy when you look back on it,” Hewitt said.
“The thing is, you got the girl but that was the end of your acting career,” Woodbridge noted.
Plenty of heavy hitters showed up for the celebration of Hewitt’s career, 25 years on from him winning the US Open, at Melbourne’s Regent Plaza Ballroom.
Former Tennis Australia CEO Craig Tiley’s beachfront home in Aspendale home is on the market.Belle Property Mentone
Sam Groth made one of his first public appearances since stepping down as the deputy leader of the Victorian Liberal Party and quitting politics.
Other guests included former Tennis Australia president Geoff Pollard, Hancock Prospecting spinner James Radford, IT entrepreneur and enthusiastic buyer of houses on The Block, Danny Wallis, tennis legend John Fitzgerald, former Kids Tennis Foundation chief executive Susie Norton, and Tennis Australia’s chief content officer Darren Pearce.
Absent from the event was Craig Tiley, who recently quit as chief executive of Tennis Australia to take up the reins at the United States Tennis Association. While still in Melbourne, Tiley’s move to the States is getting closer.
His home in the Melbourne bayside suburb of Aspendale officially hit the market late last week with an indicative price of $11.5 million, significantly under the $13.1 million he paid for the four bedroom, four bathroom property in April 2022.
Garry Donovan from Belle Property in Mentone who is handling the sale, told CBD there had already been strong interest in the property.
Unusually, the listing names Tiley as the owner of the beachside estate, which not surprisingly includes a tennis court.
Jacinda Ardern talks up Melbourne as lord mayor turns timekeeper
Sydney resident and former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern had no shortage of fans at the Melbourne Town Hall, speaking to a full house at the Melbourne Writers Festival on Friday night.
Ardern’s recent move to Australia has been the subject of much intrigue, as has been her decision to pick Sydney – unfortunately in the eyes of CBD – as her base over Melbourne.
Former New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern.
While heaping plenty of praise on Melbourne to soften the blow of her Harbour City snub, Ardern managed to deftly dodge the issue of why she and her family had set up home on this side of the Tasman.
“I am enjoying spending time in Australia, in part because I get to see so many people from home,” she said.
“It is lovely and when I am asked, ‘Why are you in Australia?’ one of the best things about it is its proximity to New Zealand. … We’ve felt very welcome, it has been great.”
Meanwhile, Melbourne Lord Mayor Nick Reece took on a new role of timekeeper for Ardern’s session at the festival, which the masthead supports as media partner, after the clock that keeps speakers on track was not switched on.
Broadcaster Jamila Rizvi, who hosted Ardern’s ‘in conversation’, had Reece, who was seated in the front row near former lord mayor Sally Capp, multitasking – she had to ask him several times for a time call during the event.
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Fiona Byrne is the CBD columnist for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via email.From our partners