The Topp Twins: Untouchable Girls is a documentary, piecing together a patchwork of vignettes from the lives of the Topp Twins past and present; two women, I can’t believe that I did NOT hear of earlier in my life… I truly have been living under a rock, having missed such amazing performers.
Not familiar with the Topp Twins, I chose to review their film, The Topp Twins: Untouchable Girls because of its poster. Pictured are New Zealand’s Jools and Lynda Topp, dressed in outfits which could easily be seen worn by a couple of country ladies from Nashville. The times I have visited the country music capital of the world, I have seen oodles of these kinds of ladies in shopping centres, banks, airports, etc. in their ‘uniforms’, the extremely colourful sweaters (or neon get ups), with adorning patches of Christmas trees, doggies and kittens. Yes, I was drawn to a film by a gaudy jumper. The poster ‘promised’ a good laugh, and laugh I did. The Topp Twins: Untouchable Girls is a documentary, piecing together a patchwork of vignettes from the lives of the Topp Twins past and present; two women, I can’t believe that I did NOT hear of earlier in my life… I truly have been living under a rock, having missed such amazing performers. The film is directed by Helmer Leanne Pooley, who shows them in a very honest light and as they truly are: farm girls, country singers, comedians, actresses, yodelers and… lesbians. To put it in their comedy writer friend Paul Horan’s words, “they defy logic ‘on paper’, yodeling lesbian twins don’t really work.” They sing in the music genre which is liked by the very type of people who would hate them for being lesbians. And yet, for almost three decades, the sisters have been happily defying the mainstream entertainment world and homophobia. They have become ‘wholesome entertainers’ (as per a TV report from 1982 featured in film) accepted by, well… everyone who comes in contact with them. The Topp sisters are not just silly, happy-go-lucky women yodeling their way through life, and the director manages to show the audience ‘the flip side of the coin’ as well: their dedication to Kiwi gay rights; their participation in an anti-apartheid rally during a South African rugby match, and the activism to keep the Maori land from being taken away by developers. During the ‘80s the sisters slicked back their hair and wore suits, and resembled the Everly Brothers. They strummed their guitars the same way, and had that special vocal harmony – sounding like one voice – like only siblings seem able to achieve. They sing country songs, tugging at heart strings evoking emotions, and then they have the wonderful ability of turning things completely around, and cracking the audience up, provoking tears of laughter while impersonating a wide variety of characters (among them the sweater clad women featured on their poster) which they have developed for their vaudevillian styled act. The film’s depiction of the Topp sisters’ lives is sincere and down to earth. It was like taking a stroll in a scrap book created by the two, and hearing the explanation or the reasons behind a photo or a concert’s ticket stub. It was a biography which I enjoyed watching, recommend to others and earnestly hope that others will watch and enjoy as much as I did… frilly sweater and all. The Topp Twins: Untouchable Girls Genre: Documentary Directed by Leanne Pooley. With: Lynda Topp, Jools Topp, Billy Bragg, Paul Horan, John Clarke. Rating: PG Running time: 84 MIN
Erik Backer, Co-Founder, and CEO of Portal.chat 26 November 2018 Gordana Davila Recently we caught up with Erik Backer, Co-Founder, and CEO of Portal.chat at the 24th Property Portal Watch Conference in Madrid. The decade-old Netherlands-based Portal.chat offers online real estate sites an instant messaging app that also supports live video and audio chat. “We have a plug and play solution that allows real estate classified sites and marketplaces, anywhere in the world, to offer a live chat solution between consumers and the listings owners or between the advertisers (the agents) and the real estate site. “In the past 18 months, we have noticed that there has been a significant increase in the use of chat and it can no longer be ignored as a communication channel,” stated Backer. He also added that the use of chat is generational with the younger generations using chat as their prime method of communication with so...
Written by Gordana Andjelic-Davila Saturday, 24 May 2014 08:47 Left – The Topp Twins. Photo – Sally Tagg Not familiar with the Topp Twins ? Neither was I a couple of years ago, until I watched their documentary film, The Topp Twins: Untouchable Girls . I made myself a promise that, the next time they were in town, I would move heavens and earth to go see them live. Heavens and earth moved, I had my wish fulfilled. New Zealand’s national treasures, folk and country music singing activists and identical twin sisters, Jools and Lynda Topp have been performing together for over 30 years. Born in the country, tending to farm animals and leading a true farmer’s life, the sisters started out as country singers, and eventually, due to their incredible sense of humour, they evolved into comedy. In the late 1990s, the Topp Twins had their own variety TV show, which showcased a cast of New Zealand stereotype characters among them, th...
Left – Lilikoi Kaos and Circus-Oz band. Cover – Spenser Inwood. Photos – Rob Blackburn Locally grown and internationally recognised Circus Oz are not known for their intimate shows, but since the recent move into their new permanent home in Collingwood, they have pitched a gorgeous old Spiegeltent and launched their latest show, Close to the Bone . With Close to the Bone , the Circus Oz crew have deconstructed their large-scale production, squeezed it into The Melba Spiegeltent and are now performing something which is very much ‘in-your-face’ both in space as well as in style. With performers leaping off the minute stage nearly into the laps of audience members, and occasionally flashing body parts which would normally be neatly tucked away, Close to the Bone is a joy to experience. It’s like a condensed and intensified Circus Oz in one neat little morsel-like serving. Although the whole production was whipped up in just a few...
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