Yes, they are such fun to have around 🙂 A quick catch up of the last couple of days. Last Thursday night, Ali (and Liam) and I went to see The Whitlams at The Zoo, Ali has a very good write up of the concert – go here.Helen and The Whitlams, they roll off the tongue like yogo and bread, cherries and milk, Summer and Seth, etc all such perfect matches. I was first introduced to The Whitlams in late 1998 and well since then, they have always been there for me and I am proud to say they are the only band for which I actually own each CD (Timmie, I could never steal your music!). However I have only seen them as a band twice, Tim and Jack as a duo once and an amazing concert with Tim and The Australian Chamber Orchestra at the Concert Hall. This concert is going to always stand out in my Whitlam memory as one of the greatest, just such pure energy all round, from the band, from the crowd, from Tim saying thank you after each song (at least 23 times, since that is how many songs they played :))Happy Times, nothing beats the Whitlams, they are one of those bands where every single song just rocks 🙂
Friday evening was Rachel’s 21st so Andrea and I hammed it up at the Toowong Bowl’s Club for a sausage sizzle, rounds of barefoot bowls, lots of talk and enjoying Rach’s day. Laughs all round as we tried our dandiest to get the bowl near the jack. Rachel scored a bunch of totally awesome presents as well 🙂 From me, she received 18×12 print of Fern Awakening, which is the very first time I have given someone a print of my work 🙂
Saturday – Exam = > Boring!
Then on Sunday night, Mum, Granddad, Sam and I joined NPAQ for a Batty Bat Cruise, lots of fun, enjoying a cruise up the river to Indro Island, checking out all the water front houses, chilling, talking and enjoying a sausage sizzle.
going away :)
Funny how things turn out, we were talking about Matthew’s plans to go to Bundy with a mate for 2 weeks or so after Boxing Day, then Mum says well I might go to Tassie then. Lots of talk, lots of phone calls and websites etc
Well now Mum, Grandad and I are going on a big jaunt.
Grandad will fly to Hobart round the 24th I guess and spend Christmas with Aunty Margaret and Co, as he is not up to sitting in a car for 2 days whilst Mum and I do the slingshot drive to Melbourne.
Mum and I are leaving Brisbane on Christmas Day to drive to Melbourne, arriving late Boxing Day and will catch the Spirit of Tasmania on the morning of the 27th to arrive in Devonport that night. The next morning we will meet up with Aunty Margaret, Grandad and Co to visit the Australian Axeman’s Hall of Fame.
Then we will lots of sightseeing, the first things to come to mind are the Cadbury Factory, The Cascade and James Boag Breweries and of course Bellerive Oval, where I am planning to go see the Cascade Tasmanian Tigers play the XXXX Gold QLD Bulls on Jan 2 :), which will be even cooler if our second cousin Aaron Nye is playing
Then we leave Devonport on the Spirit of Tasmania again on the night of the 9th of Jan and arrive in Melbourne on the 10th, where I will meet up with some Scrapping buddies before we start the drive back. We are still very undecided if we will take the coast or country route home.
Yehaww!
7 down, 1 to go
These books are where I have been the last little while, writing my last essay for the semester, which I handed in this morning. The oldest book in this stack was published in 1907. That’s right 1907. My essay was on the Immigration Restriction Act of 1901 (White Australia Policy) and the question of whether or not it racist. Glad to have that one out of the way.
Now just one piece of assessment left, an investigative report on the conditions and prevalence of piracy in the seas of South East Asia. Bring on the Exams!
shared music
The second installment of my music related posts.
Music is something that we share with those around us, we tell people of new music we have discovered, they share with us some of their favourites and if all goes well we find new music we like. Today I am sharing a tiny slice of the music that people have shared with me through my life. I don’t think I have a friend who has not introduced me to at least one new artist. Music makes the world go round 🙂
Karl
My older brother has probably shared the most music with me, growing up we listened to what he listened to, we looked up to him. I could be here all day sharing music that Karl has shared. A couple that stand out are.
The Velvet Underground – In particular Sweet Jane, just a few months ago when we were in Iceland, Matthew and I stayed with Karl and Anika (one of our sister’s), we spent a fair bit of time rocking out in the kitchen/dining/living area to the strains of Velvet Underground.
The Breeders – Safari was the first song we saw from the Breeders on a tape of Rage, that Karl had recorded one night, I remember sitting there enthralled with the video clip, seeing Josephine Wiggs with her bass and pink hair rocking out. We didn’t have the internet back in those days like we do now, I remember standing in Rocking Horse Records with Karl looking at the Breeders albums, and he walked out with Last Splash. The Breeders are a band that I have always fallen back on, fantastic lyrics, enchanting vocals, all just perfect listening.
World Music and Electronica/dance etc, I know two very different genres but Karl introduced me to the Gypsy Kings, Buena Vista Social Club, B(i)ftek, Hamsa Lila and heaps of other stuff, nothing like chilling to some laid back beats/tunes. Relax.
Pabbi
My dad has influenced my music tastes in so many ways; I mean he is the Papa! Growing up in our household you were assured of listening to some sort of music every night when the washing up was happening. I remember dancing round the living room with Pabbi to Hava Nagila, the days of innocence! There was of course all the standards; ABBA, The Beatles, Simon and Garfunkle, The Seekers, The Drifters, Johnny Cash, Peter Paul and Mary, James Last etc etc as well as some others
Harry Belafonte – Again more memories of belting out songs like Kingston Town in the living room.
Mahalia Jackson – Every Christmas Eve, Pabbi puts one of her records and that is the only household music we get, nothing wrong with as she does have an amazing voice. Have you heard her singing Silent Night? Mahalia had the voice.
Ladi Geisler’s album Guitar ala Carte is without a doubt the most played record in our house, almost impossible to find a copy of and we haven’t yet found a copy of volume II of Guitar ala Carte. If you ever hear some of his recordings you will not be disappointed, this man creates magic with his guitar.
Mum
Anyone who knows her will know that she refers to music as noise, however she does have a few musical interests, namely the soundtrack from Paint Your Wagon. Probably one of my early introductions into soundtracks, have you heard Clint Eastwood sing? The Gospel Of No Name City, I Talk To The Trees etc etc
Matthew
My little brother who lives in mainly black shirts with some punk band on the front, without him I would not know of many of his bands
Marilyn Healy
A very sweet pea and incredible artist, her signature line used be a couple of lines of a Howard Jone‘s song called Life In One Day, total 80’s central with Howard, ever since that moment when I looked those lyrics up, well I have been bopping along with HJ
Kathryn Nichols
One of the girls I went to primary school with, we caught the same bus home, I gave her a tape with a Toni Braxton song on, she gave me a tape of Alanis Morissette‘s Jagged Little Pill and well the rest is history, I don’t think I need to explain the Alanis factor, the voice, the lyrics, everything
Wübke Peters
Wübke, is the girl I stayed with in Germany and is actually at our house at the moment, her Christmas present to me, was a ticket to a Die Happy concert, have not met anyone since Germany who has ever heard of Die Happy but they are a band that gets high rotation on my play lists. Song of note is Cry For More
Sean
He showed me a lot of new music and opened my eyes to bands that I had ignored. Two more obscure bands that I found through Sean are Mest and Taking Back Sunday, two bands that I whole heartedly recommend that you go listen to.
Year 12 Tech Tute Teacher
Tech Tute, was essentially a free class which often resulted in class discussions with our teacher, one day some of the boys asked the teacher what music she liked and she answered Elliott Smith, I of course went home and found what music I could of his and have been hooked ever since, just love the music, the melodies and of course his voice.
This is only the smallest sampling of music that people have shared with me and only a sample of what I listen to, from folk songs to punk to 80’s pop, I like my music all over the place.
one album
The first in a series of music related posts.
If the music police came to your house and told you that for the rest of your life, you could only listen to one album for the rest of time, what would you choose? My choice always surprises me. I don’t think I could pick a single artist so it has to be a compilation or a soundtrack and I have so many to pick from but the winner?
Icelandic Pop Favourites – you can listen to previews from this link.
Toti, Anna and the kids sent this home with Pabbi after his 2000 trip to Iceland if I recall correctly, Matthew was sent one of the companion CD’s – Icelandic Rock Favourites. Without a doubt, this CD is the one that I have played the most, it was one for the first I ripped to MP3 format and again one of the first to be uploaded to my MP3 player.
The thing is though, I remember opening up the wrapping paper, seeing the CD and thought uggh Pop, why couldn’t I have got rock or something like Matthew, how wrong was I. Icelandic pop and music in general is so different to anything else I have heard. I am not a big pop fan but nothing could replace this CD in my collection.
I see the CD as having two styles in it, the first the tracks with a dance anthem theme; repetitive lyrics, lots of beats, the second style are the tracks with a focus on the vocals, less beats more guitar and piano but still very upbeat, these are songs that you can clean to. Some songs are in English, some are in Icelandic, sure I only understand some words in the Icelandic songs but I still love them.
Track Listing
Selma Björnsdóttir – All out of luck
Ég elska alla – Stjórnin
SÃÂðan hittumst við aftur – SSSól
Gus Gus – Ladyshave
Móa – Joy and Pain
Sálin hans Jóns mÃÂns – Okkar nótt
Todmobile – Stúlkan
Maryland – Dreaming
Bubbi – Sumar konur
Sóldögg – Friður
Nýdönsk – Horfðu til himins
Stuðmenn – Komdu með
URL – Song in A
Tweety – Gott mál
Greifarnir – Skiptir engu máli
Ã? móti sól – Ã? þig
My favourite track on the CD is without a doubt Stuðmenn’s Komdu með, I can’t really tell you why, other than the fact that each time I find myself singing away. My name on MSN and ICQ many, many times in my younger days was Komdu með or Helen – Komdu með.
So thanks to Toti and family for putting an irreplaceable album in my collection and opening my ears to a whole new world of music.
You can buy single songs from Tonlist for USD$0.99, bargain! Go explore Icelandic music 🙂 and if you could only have one album from your collection, what would it be?
Be Safe, Play Hard
We had a blast last night if you disregard the masses of middle-aged teens who insist on wearing thongs and handbags in a mosh pit or thinking it is a really good idea to surge the pit. Although in the end we were laughing about it because they were just a sight to see.
Kisschasy, well every song sounded like the previous one, I had really expected more after listening to stuff on their website.
The All-American Rejects were pretty cool, loved rocking out to My Paper Heart, One More Sad Song etc. Though the lead singer was a bit weird he kept on going on about how hot all the chicks were in the audience. And in the words of Sam, “Most of them are under 16 and in Australia that is called paedophilia”. Yep I am telling you, we saw kids who couldn’t have been more than nine there.
And well what could we expect from Simple Plan? After a great show in March? Well they only got better, since this was their first tour with them as headliners it was much better, they had control, they did what they liked, they rocked:) A couple of things really stood out, when Chuck the drummer was let to run wild in the crowd and then had the stage to himself for a while. The two songs they covered – Happy Together by The Turtles and I Believe in a Thing Called Love by The Darkness – rocked the house, have to say the Darkness cover was really good. Now I am sure that all bands say how much they love a particular city each time they do a show there, well this time they took it one step further and did a freestyle rap ode to Brisbane, taking off H to the IZZO by Jay-Z but it was B to the the Brissay. Sam and I stood there cracking our sides in laughter.
Mobile phones are *so* the lighter of the 21st century 🙂 Ok, so I stole the idea from The OC, kudos to anyone who can tell me which episode but it was so fun seeing the sea of mobile phone lights for the slow songs.
I took some videos of the concert as well as the photos that are here but need to figure out how to edit and compress the files down.