I’ve never really listened to Martha, and after seeing this performance I’ve realised my terrible mistake. Here she is live in the Q&A studio singing a beautiful song by her mum (Kate McGarrigle), backed by the lovely tones of Virginia and Jaye of Brighter Later.

Soundscapey duo Jaye Kranz and Virginia Bott were selected to perform as Brighter Later with Martha Wainwright on parts of her Australian tour. The Sydney Opera House banned local support acts, but Martha got them up to accompany anyway.. and she also brought them onto QandA when she was invited to join in the discussion there.

(Virginia is also the musical director of the first chorus band of singers, which is why i’m especially enthusiastic about this performance.)

From the punch: an interesting perspective on an awkward tv moment. I didn’t see Q&A last night but I’ll see it on iView now!! Amusing comparisons of greg combet with clark kent, and suggestions that sophie mirabella looked as though she may have poisoned her fellow presenter. Can’t wait to see it.

Here’s the video. Yikes. Mirabella received a pasting from the twitterati because of the way she recoiled in horror, but GetUp and others came to her defense:

Wendy Harmer was quoted as saying,