Friends – Page 9 – helenthura.com

February 11, 2007February 21, 2007

All you need is love Beatles

So last night was The Beatles tribute gig and it was a fantastic night out. There was myself, Clare and four of her ~~convicts, followers, converts,~~ friends.

11 bands, a full house, 2 and a half hours, one small super sweaty room, one great cause, 200+ songs in The Beatles catalouge. One rocking night. We had fun guessing which songs would be done by the various bands. It was a great format with the bands doing between one and five songs each with most doing three or four, super quick changeover between sets (always a bonus) and of course a great cause in Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors without Borders). Since there is talk of doing a similar format later this year with a different artist and charity, it will be great to see who will be the focus of the next tribute.

I don’t have photos from all the bands who played but I do from six of the eleven.

Hot Liquid Sex.
These girls were glam. The drummer had pearls on. I don’t think we need to go further.

Ace
How rocking is this Beatles shirt? Last night was alllll about The Beatles shirts.
ace 1

The Blood Poets
This guy stood on my foot later in the night, I went ouch, he said sorry, it was all fine.

Kristy London and The Other Halves
Kristy was a total treat.

Emma Dean
Again another total treat. Probably the main attraction for Clare and I last night and she didn’t disappoint.

Glasshouse
These guys were big organisers of the night or came with the idea and as the second last band they had the floor bouncing as they channeled as much Beatles vibe as they could with a rip-roaring cover of A Hard Day’s Night

Tyrone Noonan finished the night and was a treat pulling out the tin whistle, as was Tara Simmons who opened the night in a cello trio, 26 who also had a large string section, Asa Broomhall who shined in his one song and The Gin Club who also gave all they had to the night.

It was such a fantabulous night. Lots and lots of singing along 🙂

February 4, 2007February 4, 2007

Die Happy

Last night was a blast and I can now Die Happy (incidentally a pretty cool German band I saw at the Pumpwerk in Wilhelmshaven. In terms of live music venues, the Pumpwerk stands out as one of the best for me. Just the right size. Just the right atmosphere. Just the right everything. I would love it if the Pumpwerk were in Brisbane). Back to the topic at hand which was Sam and Helen’s semi-big night out.

The highlight of my night was of course when Women in Docs pulled Sally Dastey up on stage near the end to do Tin Roof. It went off. In case you haven’t realised Tin Roof is pretty high up in that handful of songs that make up my all time favourites. It sits up there with Marrakesh Express by Crosby, Stills & Nash (who are playing in Brisbane in 3 weeks but the tickets are waaaay to pricey for me), Ice Cream by Sarah McLachlan, Safari by The Breeders, The Waitress by The Waifs, You Sound Like Louis Burdett by The Whitlams, The 59th Street Bridge Song by Simon and Garfunkel, Lady Madonna by The Beatles, Adelaide by Old 97’s, You or Your Memory by The Mountain Goats and a handful of other songs. Classic songs. Of course going to a concert and hearing one of your all time favourite songs is just top shelf stuff.

Last night with Sam was fantastic. So was the night before with Andrea. Though how could it not have been fantastic? Great music and good friends always equals fun times.

After the show was over we made our way down to Eagle St where Sam works to see Cory and to munch down some wedges and fold cutlery bundles for the next days trade. I have to say at the start of the night I didn’t think I would spend part of it wiping cutlery dry and giving it to Sam so she could wrap it up in a serviette. A couple of hours out on the town, dancing, drinking, chatting, walking and generally having a good time. Then we made our way home and that takes me to where we are now.

If you are going to be in Melbourne, Nowra or Canberra between March 14 and 23, I reckon you should check out the Gig Guide on the Women in Docs website and get a few friends or family and plan an easy night out with good music and lots of laughs 🙂

January 14, 2007

Under the Milky Way

I have worked full-time this week as my boss has been on holidays so the 2iC and I each got to step up in our roles. I look forward to my paycheck as 36/37odd hours on a casual rate is very nice even after the tax is taken out. Working that much this week has sort of put my job hunt on hold but I sort of look forward to getting back into the job hunt because I really want to find a job soonish.

Mum, I and some friends are heading off for a 4-day canoe trip in the morning so that will put the hunt on hold for a couple of days. We are paddling down Teewah Ck and Upper Noosa River to Elanda Point on Lake Cootharaba. The last time we did this trip was the summer of 2001/02 so it will be nice to see how it has changed and of course to get out on the water for a paddle. (This map shows the general area we are paddling in. To give a sense of scale, Lake Cootharaba is a about 11km from tip to tip.)

I went out for Low Tea earlier today with Ms Andrea to Queenies Tea House at Ascot and had a delightful time, chatting and eating and chatting and eating. I had a Chocolate Low Tea which gave me a selection of little chocolate treats like little tartlets, mousse, fudge etc with quite a nice pot of Organic Ceylon Pekoe. Andrea was very dainty and had the Traditional Low Tea which gave her a trio of ribbon sandwiches, some sweets and a few cherries. Her tea selection was a Japanese Sencha Quince which to me tasted like marshmallows. I am serious! After a leisurely “lunch” we looked in the windows of the shops on Racecourse Rd as they are all shut on Sundays and saw quite a few pretty things 🙂

I should mention that a little over a week ago Mum and I went into the State Library to see the National Treasures exhibition before it closed and that was wonderful to see. Seeing Ned Kelly’s mask, Willis’s pistol, draft designs of the Sydney Opera House, Bradman’s Bat, design sheets of the classic EH Holden, Cpt Cook’s journal from the Endeavour, gorgeous artwork from the colonial era as well as some incredible botanical and zoological artwork and so much more. I urge you to explore the National Treasures webpage even if you aren’t Australian just to see some of the incredible things in the exhibition.

One of the first things you see in the exhibition is Jacob Cuyp’s painting of Abel Tasman with his wife and daughter. I dropped my jaw at the work of the restorers as this painting looked like it was painted yesterday not in 1637, the colours were so vivid and fresh.

When I wrote this earlier this arvo I didn’t think I would have a photo to share with this but whilst I was letting the post mature and thinking about a title (Untitled I?) I did a little chalk art out on the street much to my father’s disgust. The lady across the street and Mum appreciated my art though 🙂

I was going to do a 🙂 but my circle at the start went slightly pear shaped as you can see. Instead I ended up with just a face.

Mum and I also went to see The Queen last night and what a fantastic movie it was. I can definitely see it picking up a large swag of awards. Wow.

January 8, 2007

Stop acting like a bunch of E.roseicapilla

This is a photo of Clare and I at the Mountain Goats at The Zoo last night. Oh wait wrong caption but we could be called a pair of Galahs I guess. Though this pair of Galahs are a male and female, like bird seed and spending their days flying about the Glasshouse Mountains so I probably quit whilst I am ahead.

The above photo is from earlier in the day when we went up to visit Grandad at the farm. Had a pretty quiet day at the farm, washed the car (much easier to do at the farm where there are no water restrictions like in Brisbane), picked beans, had lunch and had fun with my camera taking photos of a small selection of the birds who visit Grandad for his good looks and charming conversation (ok they like the bird bath and seed he leaves out, a girl has to have an imagination).

Once we had returned from the farm and I had had a short power nap it was into the valley to meet Clare to go to The Mountain Goats and John Vanderslice (JV) show at The Zoo.

It was Clare’s first ‘Goats show so she didn’t really have anything to compare it to so I am pretty sure she had a good time. I on the other hand well there were parts of the show I enjoyed such as Peter Hughes passing a bottle of Jameson’s around the crowd or the encore of covers or JV joining the boys on stage after a couple of songs and staying there for the rest of the night and providing some cool harmonies. Overall though compared to the last two ‘Goats shows this seemed to missing the magic, the crowd was a lot more somber and there was a lot less singing along and dancing at this show.

The biggest bummer of the night though was that they had sold of shirts the night before in Sydney 🙁 🙁 🙁

December 4, 2006

3 months in a leaky boat

or perhaps I should say 3 months is a little late but then it is my party and I’ll cry if I want to.

Yesterday, I had a party. There was rain, friends, food, fairy lights and good times. Leading up to yesterday evening I knew it was going to rain at some stage but I was wishin’ and hopin’ that it would hold off. It didn’t and it rained as people arrived and it rained as we ate nibblies and it rained again as we had dinner. By then all I was wishin’ and hopin’ for was that it would clear for dessert so we could bathe in the speckled light of 928 fairy lights strung up on the verandah. It did clear and we then finished off the night in a magical atmosphere on the verandah under the sea of fairy lights. As we eat the leftovers and take photos of the food I will post them. I can say now though that I was happy with the food and Karl’s Sangria recipe is very very very nice indeed.

I wanna sit and talk and laugh with you all

sugar and spice and all things nice
This was my birthday cake, but we didn’t sing Happy Birthday so is it still birthday cake or just a celebration cake? Hailing from the wonderful pages of the Dec 03/Jan 04 issue of Delicious is this very yummy Rosewater Cream Berry Meringue Stack. Raspberries, Blueberries, Strawberries, Cream and Rosewater, need I say more?

Out on the patio we would sit…

We’d watch the lightning crack over canefields

singing hail, hail, the gangs all here
From the school girls to the Indo Girl, to the 2nd year girls and then the 3rd year girls, these are the girls (plus a few absentees) who have in some way or another had an in influence into me growing into who I am today.

side by side one for all together we grew
Five years in bottle green, soccer/cricket/football games, sitting on the hill, playing music, doing group assignments, laugh central. Where else but in high school do you form a group of friends where the girls all have boys names for nicknames and are still used today? Fred/Candy, Doug/Kaliope and Guido/Dina and myself as Bill, I don’t think those times will ever be forgotten.

Hey Joe
Concerts, Movies, and lots of chilling and chatting. One year of Indonesian together, four years and counting of fun filled adventures and laughs.

they’re fun to have around
Really where do you start? The sweet little Nural who is both a 2nd year and a 3rd year girl who can always say something cute or Andrea, the girl who is me but not me (in her own words) or Rachy Rach (Marky Mark/Richie Rich) who is always up to having a rant about something and a good time.

one and one and one is three
Some say she’s from Mars, I just say she does Law, Swinin’ down the street so fancy free, I just say she always has a smile. Clare and Georgie, the perfect pair to share my last year of uni with and the laughs have just kept coming since exams have finished.

It wasn’t so much a 21st birthday party 3 months late but a celebration of where I have come from and where I am going now, a celebration of the end of schooling for the current time, for the girls who have I have met along the way and for the old to meet the new and to kick back and have a nice time.

Well the clock says its time to close now
I know I have to go now
I really want to stay here
All night, all night, all night

(3 months is a leaky boat is of course a of course a play on the title of the fabulous Split Enz song Six Months in a Leaky Boat)

(and big props to anyone who knows any of the the songs where the captions come from)

November 29, 2006

Hello Mr Drive-In

Several months ago as I was driving Sam home from her 21st present, she told me what I would need to do for her present to me. Which was basically just keep a night free, well with uni over for the year, I thought last night was a perfect night to take her up on the offer. I was then told that we had to be there are 6:30pm and it would take about 1hr to get there, so I sat and thought “I wonder what she has planned?”. On Monday when we were chatting Sam told me that I could wear whatever I wanted as there was no dress code. This got me thinking more and then the rest of the family popped in with suggestions as to what we could be doing. They ranged from going to the beach for Fish and Chips, actually only going 5mins down the road because Sam told me 1hr to confuse me, not actually going anywhere but just cruising the streets in Sam’s little Festiva or going to the Yatala Twin Drive-In.

My last guess was what we ended up doing. Many many months ago Sam and I were chatting and it came up that I have never gone to a Drive-In and she filed that little piece of information away for a later date :). Before we made the drive down we stocked up on a variety of different sugar sources to ensure that we would have a night of sugar induced hysterics, which we did of course end up having.

We were unsure of what the traffic would be like on the way down so we left a bit early and ended up having a long snack stop at Yatala Pies waiting for 6:30 to come around which is when the gates opened. We were both unsure how many people would be there since it was a Tuesday night and were quite surprised at how quickly the place filled up. The first movie we watched was Borat which was a total crack up and then A Good Year which was a decent yarn. Then it was home time and we cruised back up the M1 home with plans of future road trips we should do. Thanks Sam for a fantastic 21st present 🙂