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The Cat Empire, The Zoo, 30 Sept

Last night I went to see/feel/experience The Cat Empire at the Zoo for one of the gigs they are playing as part of their tenth anniversary tour.

It was magical, beyond most words usually used to describe a gig. There was just this energie in the room that you could feel the entire night.

Felix

The above photos is not from last night but from those years I spent as rock photographer. On that topic, last night was the first gig in some time that I have had no desire to take a photo and didn’t spend half the gig picking out the best shots and the like. Last night, my mind and body was totally there, a couple of rows from the front just to the right of the centre (the best position at the Zoo, as you get the breeze from the open windows but are still in the middle of everything), very kindly standing in front of a guy who made me stand in front of him as he was a few inches taller than me.

I didn’t think much of the support act, they sounded very different to their recordings/videos, a whole lot less polished. The total reverse to The Cat Empire who sound good on their albums but live the songs become longer with more music, more jams, more dancing and better.

The Cat Empire are playing four shows in Brisbane, two at the Zoo and two at the Tivoli, presented those options and the fact that this is their tenth anniversary tour how do you not pick the sweaty, confined spaces of the Zoo over the more majestic open space of the Tivoli? When you know it’s going to be a night of pure energie and of music that is going to flow amongst the crowd? I guess that is why the shows at the Zoo sold out first…

If the anniversery tour hasn’t rolled into your town yet, get your self some tickets and go have fun!

It was magical.

Call Me Home was just everything and more.

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Sun-day

I’m about to head off to spend the day at Uni working on a group assignment. I’m hoping though that I’ll be able to meander through the old botanic gardens this afternoon as the spring flowers in there at the moment are divine.

On spring flowers, here are mine. I planted primulas in the front bed and oh it is so lovely to have flowers in the garden again. As a kid we used pick the flowers and spin the stalks round and round between our palms pretending they were Catherine wheels.
Primulas

I didn’t plant the clover but looks almost as pretty.
Clover

When I mowed the lawn, I couldn’t stand the thought of mowing down all those pretty clover flowers so I left a square of flowering clover in the front lawn 🙂
Clover Square

Now for a collection of links and the likes.

Ten People Who Observe Birthdays on 9/11 – Whilst American based, I can certainly attest to quite a number of statements made.

I can’t stop listening to this cover of Back in Black by Will Shine
Will Shine – Back in Black (AC/DC cover) by the3penguins

The Iceland AFL team recently hosted Norway in the first ever international game in the country, my brother was of course there to capture all the action. I particularry liked how they rigged the goal posts up.

Shiney Flaggy Purse also available with more Union Jack and less stars.

Now I’m off to spend the day with my head buried in the AASBs.

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I just about did it.

referring to a declaration I made a little over a year ago. Number 8 in fact.

Halina's birthday cake from me

I made a rainbow cake, not the style of rainbow cake I had planned to make a year or so ago but an easier one both to make and to consume. I used the butter cake recipe from *that birthday cake book*, doubled it, split it in to a number of bowls, added a liberal amount of food dye to each bowl, stirred that food dye in very well, dolloped it into a bundt pan, baked it, covered it in yummy chocolate ganache (the secret to shiny ganache is a little dollop of a plain veggie oil) and then sprinkled gold sugar over the top.

It was well, it was smile material.

In progress shot.
mmmmmm cake

One of the girls at work is a day younger than me, so to celebrate our birthdays we made each other a cake. Oh it was a day of cake last Monday at work.

This is the oh so so so yummy double layer chocolate cake she made me.
My birthday cake from Halina

mmm rainbow cake.

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Overheard at Uni

Mandarin

The other week I went to uni during the day(!) for my last deferred exam, as I was walking past the library I ran into this conversation.

Girl 1 – I really want to go to Israel.
Girl 2 – me too, I’ve heard Judaism is a really beautiful town.

Yep, I really hope that these girls aren’t studying something like Middle Eastern Politics or the like.
le Sigh.

and before ask if I mis-overheard Judaism and Girl 2 was trying to say Jerusalem, nope. Girl 2 placed such an accent on the d that there was no mis-overhearing to be had.

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Again, it’s been a while

Good-bye Dad

and the above photo is why.

My dear dear grandfather passed away on June 15. He was 91 years and a bit. In my direct family lines now, all I and my brothers have now is our mother. It’s been hard.

There is so much I could write and maybe at one time I will. Now though this is what I’m saying.

I helped plan another funeral, I made another slide show, I scanned bucket loads of photos and ephemera, I wrote the better part of another eulogy and then read part of said eulogy. We cleaned up a house and started sorting through a house full of belongings. My aunts and a few of my cousins made the trips over for the funeral and house sorting. There were laughs, tears and all that goes in between as tapestries came down off the walls, china came out of cupboards, wood items were stacked and everything was sorted.

Mum and I packed up everything else and took it all home to sort into something like 7 different stacks under the house. I’m taking a suitcase or two to the Suitcase Rummage this coming Sunday with some items.

I’m still studying – no real uni break for me. I had to defer my exams as it is a bit hard to have an exam on the same day as a funeral.

This was my grandfather. My Grandad.