Supermarket Encounters

One evening recently I was standing in the supermarket checkout queue waiting for my turn to be served. I was fourth in line and trying to keep my head down a little, as I had seen a former classmate from the AIF, “K” and I didn’t feel like talking to her at that moment. You know when you’re out and about and your busy and or tired and just want to get on and do what your trying to do, but you see someone you know, maybe an old co-worker or a friend of a friend and you know you probably should just take the time to say hello for a moment…it’d probably only take a minute or two, but for whatever reason you really don’t feel like it, so you do the whole no-look or look away and concentrating on something else. Your avoiding potential eye lines… maybe they won’t see me and then we can just mutually go about our business… In this case, I was tired and I just wanted to get home and make some dinner, but there’s more you see, because towards the end of the AIF course K stopped showing up to the classes. Everyone wondered where she’d got to, because the course was quite intensive and demanding and she’d already made it most of the way through when she started being absent. In the final fortnight of the course, another one of my classmates “Adonis”, on his way into the building, had seen K being dropped of by her boyfriend. It was like a scene from a movie. He heard her boyfriend say ‘Have a good class’ and then watched as she walked towards the course building, only to turn away and head in the opposite direction when her boyfriend had driven away. Adonis tried to wave her over, but she just gave him a cheeky smile and turned heel and headed somewhere else. “Have a good class!” So this was a further layer of complexity that I now sort to avoid, as it was clearly her boyfriend doing some shopping with her, and I figured she might just as likely wish to avoid a conversation with me that might go potentially something like “Hi Denny”, “Hi K, how are you?” “Did you end up passing your certificates?” “Yes, what happened to you? I didn’t see you in the last couple of weeks of the course…” etc etc… So it was an overly complex social scenario that lead me to my position four people back in the checkout queue trying not to look anywhere near my left where three aisles across K and her boyfriend were going through a remarkably slow checkout process. I now became aware of two men at the head of my queue chatting away in a friendly and cheerful manner. I recognized one of them from my childhood neighborhood. A good guy called Ben. So here I go again, in a situation where I probably should say hello, but I don’t really feel up to it, and I’m trying to keep a low profile already….maybe its just the existing state of mind making me feel like this, but I decide to keep my head down anyway and pretend to not notice him…he might not recognize me anyway. I feel really bad about this one. Much worse than avoiding K. I mean I hardly know her, but this guy was a real character from my childhood. He married his neigbourhood sweetheart “V” another nice character from that era and I could clearly see him clutching a beautiful little blond girl of about 4 or 5 who I presumed was there daughter. So I’m keeping my head down, trying not to be seen…by anyone… and fighting the rising sense of guilt that I’m feeling about Ben…sheesh den you know how it is…I don’t want to be rude, but its inconvenient…the supermarket is really busy and I’m tired and hungry and its getting late…yaddayaddayadda but its all BS really and I’m losing because the voice for the affirmative is drilling me and I know I should just let him see me and see if he recognizes or acknowledges me and greet him warmly if he does and ignore the fact that all these strangers standing around will be listing in as we wax the lyrical about how long its been “Its been over 15 years…you look great…you too…” But I don’t. Head down, don’t look left, don’t look forward…minding the business of one’s toes. Ben finishes his conversation and his checkout. He bids farewell to the other chap he’s been chatting with and bustles out of the supermarket. Well at least that’s one all round awkward situation resolved. Just as I’ve thought this a woman from the adjacent aisle leans over and taps the woman in front of me on the shoulder. “Excuse me is that your bank card on the ground there” She asks as she points down near our feet. The woman in front of me picks it up and says “nope, it’s not my card” She turns to me and asks if it’s mine. I already know its Ben’s before I’ve even looked. I say “Does it say Ben on it?” We both read the name Benjamin on it. She assumes its mine and hands it to me. I explain that it was that guy who’d left a minute ago. We look out of the supermarket, and up the mall I spot Ben leaving via the far exit and disappearing around the corner. I chuckle at the situation. I’m the only one who knows what he looks like…I’ve got his bank card….I excuse myself from the queue and run after him. I catch sight of him crossing the carpark. “Ben!” I say it as if it hadn’t been nearly 20 years since we’d last spoke. The fog of weirdness descends, but he turns and seems to recognize me immediately. He’s nonchalant and smiles warmly perhaps searching for my name as the years melt away. “You dropped your card in the supermarket” I say as I hand it to him. He takes it and we shake hands. I’m filled with a genuine nostalgic sense of warmth. I’m a fool sometimes…I can’t believe I considered not acknowledging him or saying hello…awkward and inconvenient or not. It is now a genuinely happy moment. He introduces me to his young daughter bundled up in his arms with the groceries. I recognize V in her facial features immediately and I tell him so. He seems pleased about this and tells me about his other child who apparently looks like him. I tell him I’d love to catch up for a beer. I hope we do. A warm late summer’s evening glow, the distinctly clean and fragrant west coast evening air and idiot-me saved from myself, and Benjamin casualling across the carpark having not lost his bank card in the supermarket…Benjamin who we used to call ‘Ronnie’ because he lived in The White House… What a great little situation made of beautiful little things.

Den's Top Ten Films 2007

I managed to get to 22 films this year. I saw 300 and Control twice.

Oddest thing I saw was an obscure 16mm 1975 drug culture film “Pure Shit” although it was known at the time as Pure S. It wasn’t particularly good, although it was interesting. I was a bit disappointed there weren’t more street shots of inner city 70’s Melbourne. The majority of street shots were at night and streaming from car windows. There was one nice moment where some of the characters after breaking into a chemist run into Edinburgh Gardens in Nth Fitzroy and hide inside the rotunda. (Rotunda: See SpiderBaits “Run” video clip)

1. Pans Labyrinth

2. Control

3. Blood Diamond

4. Atonement

5. This Is England

6. Death Proof

7. Transformers

8. The Good Shepherd

9. The US VS John Lennon

10. 300

In between days

Of late Ive had few of my peeps tell me that they have been surfing my blog regularly to see if I've added anything new. Mostly what they express is in disappointed tones, as obviously I am a fairly erratic poster. Sorry to all who'd like to see more regular updates, but I never wanted this to be like an online diary. Full of day to day activities and trivialities...not that i don't enjoy a triviality or two. I guess i have been curtailed somewhat by my thematic desires for this blog, which coming to think on it now, it would be hard for me to define for anyone what exactly those were. What is blog worthy to Den? Well surely some of my content covers that, but i guess its a bit random and sometimes things that i think might interest some of my readers, I'm not confident would be appropriate reading for others ;-) Perhaps i need a members only section preambled with "Beyond here scant tales of dendonedid debauchery may await ->"
So having rambled to here i will string together a few journal like thoughts on the last few weeks as a kind of concessional effort for those of whom my blogging inconsistency has disappointed.

I went in to my boxing gym a few weeks ago, i hadn't been in for 3 or 4 weeks due to work and study load, and the gym was full of flowers. I went to the sign in desk and commented to one of the trainers "Well thats a lot of flowers..." His expression drained from his face and he said "Oh...you haven't heard yet" He took me aside and told me that one of the main identities of the gym, senior trainer and organiser 'Megan' had recently passed away. She was 29 years old. I wanted to walk out of the gym and go home. It was so shocking. This old school boxing gym space was very much her space. Hers and her brilliant partner Robbie's. Robbie is a pro boxer and our senior trainer. Together they formed a tight and supportive atmosphere of a home away from home for the people who came to train with them regularly. Megan was 29 and fit as all-get-out. She had a heart attack. I haven't been able to bring myself to call anyone and find out what the coroner's report has said. It's so strange to see someones photo memorialised on the wall above where you have seen them so often...there she was week in week out supporting you whilst you trained,encouraging, chatting about fitness, cooking and philosophy. We were lucky enough to have them over to my mum's for a BBQ last year...Megan was a good person and I am glad I knew her.

I have been in Melbourne working for Ad Assoc at the Spring Carnival. Its been grand. How good is Melbourne in spring?! If you love big grey cities and hidden bars. Me and AB went for a quick beer in the city on Tuesday night. We were looking for a little hidden bar he knew and ended up finding this very cool little open aired rooftop bar several stories up on Bourke street. Sat out on deck chairs on some astro turf and lorded over the city and a couple of pints. Beeeaauutiful.

Wanna see Den doing his own interpretation of a hyperactive 'gay spider man' dance?
Check out the clip at the blog: AIF Class of Oct 07

...Or dancing like a cockney nut job as Tone put it!

I recently graduated from The Australian Institute of Fitness and am now taking my first steps as a qualified personal trainer and fitness instructor. Will keep y'all posted.

You might also wanna say g'day to me at my facebook site
There doesn't seem to be an actual unique url for my page, so just do a search for denny carr and you should find me.

The Ian Curtis/Joy Division film "Control" is beautiful, visually brilliant, sad, funny and moving. Watch for the astoundingly good playing by the actors playing the part of Joy Division. You might swear you were back in 1979 Manchester or London.

Listening to: Joy Division (what else!)

Base Jumping with Survivor Tom

Recently I had this intensely vivid dream. I was trekking in a strange landscape of forests and hills, but it was subtly different to present day earth, perhaps prehistoric even, with massive stands of large and densely leaved alien looking trees and thick coffee coloured loamy soil underfoot. Through this landscape I was making my way with Tom of Survivor Palau. Tom Westman the NYC fireman winner of Survivor Palau no less! I walked up a steady incline
towards a hill crest which became a large bluff and a dramatic cliff edge. Here the path diverged. To my left was a slow meandering trail that wound its way along a hill line and eventually down onto the valley floor and straight in front of me the path proceeded up to cliff overlooking the valley. I peered over the edge of this enormous drop-off, and some 60-80ft below there was a large green lagoon. The lagoon and its surrounds were very beautiful. The panorama filled me with a sad unnameable longing. I considered the paths. I looked at the lagoon and wondered if I might make the jump. I was distracted by fears of broken limbs and alien crocodiles or big fish that might live in the mysterious jade waters below. I turned to Tom and he came up and joined me on the edge of cliff. He paused there for a beat, gave me little smile and then… took a big step off. He descended through the air feet first like a missile, plummeting into the water below with a spectacular splash and then resurfacing moments later looking up at me with a huge and expectant grin on his face. I think I actually spoke aloud and said something like (Smirking to myself) “Now that’s why Tom’s a million dollar Survivor winner and I’m standing on the edge of this damn cliff wondering what to do” I was wracked by fear…contemplating in awe, inspired by Tom’s example, but knees knocking and mind racing at the possible outcomes… I found myself recalling the sequence in Basketball Diaries when Jim Carroll and his friends were base jumping off a cliff, and one of them had never made the jump and was baulking at the edge…I’m sorry to say that I awoke at this point…before this story could force a conclusion…flash images of free fall, underwater rock and being unconscious and isolated in an alien landscape. So it’s somewhat off a cliffhanger I suppose ;-), but I will say that when I awoke I felt as if I were still there, wiped the fine rain forest mist from my face, but quite honestly, and although there’s the benefit of doubt here, I might’ve been just seconds away from admitting defeat and going the long way around.


Listening to: Devoted Few - counting cars

Bomb Jack Coin

We've got this great little 'Cocktail table' arcade computer game at work that has about 50 games from the 80's on it. Me and Neil and some others have been giving the game Bombjack a bit of a belting. Bombjack is a brilliant little arcade game from 1984 that has stood the test of time surprisingly well.
The pub staff can mark their coins with an X on one side and their initials on the other, so they can get their coins back when the computer game chap comes and cashes out the games. Neil left the pub a few weeks ago to take a job managing a store in Kalgoorlie (about 600km East of Perth), and one day after he hadnt been there very long, he looked down on his till and lo-and-behold there was a shiny dollar coin with my very own "DC" & "X" marked on it! What are the fuckin odds huh?! Crazy! I think he's kept that dollar. Cool huh? :-)

A virtual moment with Den

I got up late today around 10:30, hit snooze on my alarm three times. I always get a bit lethargic in the mornings around this time of the year. I think its the transition into the darker colder season. Some people call it S.A.D and I'm inclined to agree with them...that's what it feels like, so I try remember to go outside and stand in the slim bands of undiluted sunlight that part the outer lips of shadow and kiss me neatly on the forehead. I try and catch some rays, bar-up and get on with it.

I had baked beans and an egg for breakfast. I'm trying to eat less grains and less carbs. Which is very hard, because I love wheetbix and toast. Future folk will probably look back on our era and chuckle about everyone all strung out and jittering. High as a kite on all the GOD DAMN sugar. I wouldn't mind so much except that current research suggests it fucks you up in the head as much as it does in the belly.

After breakfast I read a few pages from A Fighter's Heart which is an intensely interesting book about a writers journey through the various sub-worlds of martial arts. I then sat out on my balcony where the sun was shining. In the warmth of its bathe I daydreamed briefly whilst staring down into a neighbours beautifully composed garden....catching sight of lawn, sunny lawn and childhood memories rolling in. Memories of lunches and optimism, the great unknown world of tantalising possibilities. Memories that intersect the present moment...evoking in me contemplation of my current attititude towards life. Learn to let go, learn to charge up on happiness whenever and wherever you can find it. To Be hungry without being consumed by its ambitions. To Be ambitious without being eaten by the future...To be able to survive drought.

I began reading a few pages of the novel Snow Crash. I am looking for references to the Metaverse because I am preparing to write for an oral presentation that I have to give at Uni this afternoon. My presentation is to be on Virtual Reality, with its central reference being an extract from Virtual Reality called Cyberspace and human nature. I could just leave it at an analysis of the prescribed text, but I cant help but throw in Snow Crash, which is one of my most favourite and seminal books. I was contemplating V.R and the Net and hyperreality when I felt compelled to write this little bit...a desire to share a virtual moment. I'm paying it forward right now, because I'm feeling the love and I'd be happy if you could too.

Bless.

Screen West

G’day,

This is an open question and letter To Whom It May Concern at Screen West.

I refer to the West Australian article from 13/1/2007 that outlines Screenwest’s alleged recent funding rejection of a new Australian feature film that was slated to be set in and around Perth.

I would sincerely like some insight into the machinations of Screenwest and its role in the Australian film industry. If the claims made within this article are true, then I just have to ask why?  If a film with a script that has been “praised by the Australian Writers Guild…” and further lauded by “Buena Vista International” has been “refused funding” what is going on?

I also note that this article claims that in the last 10 years Screenwest has “knocked back” three extremely successful film projects in Shine, Rabbit Proof Fence and Wolf Creek. I’m sure I don’t need to spell out how disconcerting it is for a Western Australian film lover and supporter to be told that WA’s chief funding body has passed on three films that went on to collectively earn more than 70 million AUD internationally and 20 Million AUD domestically.

As a Western Australian who has spent several years living in the Eastern States, I have often encountered the view that WA is a cultural desert. It pains me to imagine that this is in any way true. From my point of view and personal experience there certainly would appear to be an annual exodus of artistic talent from Perth and WA. I sincerely hope that the people involved in Screenwest and other arts funding bodies and indeed the WA State Government at large are as concerned about the cultural health and diversity of WA as I am. 

Yours Sincerely,
Dendonedid

aww c'mon guys

Last Monday night we had four idiots walk into our bottlo and take 4 or 5 bottles of spirits off the shelf and then uber-casual-like stroll out of the exit. One of our guys was in the main coolroom and didnt see a thing, but Joshy caught sight of them as they were on the turn and went right up to them and said to them "Come on guys..." that if they "stopped now" and "put the stuff back" that he wouldnt call the police. Other than attack them in some way there was nothing Joshy could do. They responded by speeding up a little, all confidence, and casualled outta there. No fault on Joshy, because we dont get paid enough to be bouncers and he did real well just to get close up and confront them...anyway when we looked back on the security footage we were all struck by how funny Joshy looked as he reached out to these morons, a study of opposites - "c'mon guys...be reasonable" so here it is...the perfect caption: "aww c'mon guys!"

Triple J Hottest 100

I voted in the Triple J hottest 100! Because I rock and Triple J rocks. Do you rock?

Looking over my ten songs for this year, you might notice I’m sporting a heavy bias towards the more indie acts (That’s a kind of tactical voting…isn’t it Pollbludger? ;-) Certainly if I wanted to vote in a more populist way I would’ve at the very least included the following three songs, which I’m certain will feature large somewhere in the top 20:

Kanye West’s - Touch The Sky, Youth Group’s – Forever Young and Lupe Fiasco’s – Kick Push. They’re good songs, but they don’t need my vote. All three of these songs were or still are getting heavy rotation on big FM radio. Some people might even argue that these types of songs shouldn’t be played on JJJ anymore, too big and too popular in the mainstream…although it occurs to me that its good for JJJ to have some “big hits” and good for smaller less known acts that they be heard in the mix with big platinum unit shifters such as Kanye.

Anyway… so I probably won’t have a single song I voted for in the Hottest 100 this year, whereas I had 5 last year! *-)

Dappled Cities Fly - Fire Fire Fire
Deloris - Loup Garou
The Editors - Blood
Faker - Love for Sale
Josh Pyke (Night Hour) - Memories & Dust
Laura Jean - I'm A Rabbit I'm A Fox
Pony Up! - The Truth About Cats & Dogs (Is That They Die)
Red Riders - A.S.P.I.R.I.N.
Subaudible Hum - All For The Caspian
Valentinos - Rain

Top Ten Films 2006

1. Syriana

2. The Prestige

3. Jackass 2

4. Ten Canoes

5. The Departed

6. The Host (Gwoemul)

7. Clerks 2

8. Thank you For Smoking

9. Crude Awakening

10. In The Shadow Of The Palms

──

11. Darkon

12. Seven Swords

13. Shooting Dogs

14. The Great Yokai War (Yôkai daisensô)

15. Overcoming

16. Performance (Special mention)

I had a wonderful year for film going. I saw the most films ive ever seen at cinemas in a year, being 31, of which 14 I saw at the Melbourne International Film Festival. It was also my privilege to briefly work at the utterly superb “rare, cult & foreign” video store The Movie Reel in Northcote. And I attended the Melbourne premiere of Clerks 2 with over three hours of Q&A with Kevin Smith afterwards! Choosing for my list was extremely close this time around and I could have easily done a Top 15 with nothing much between 1 and 15 in terms of how I felt about them. Hence I’ve included 5 alternates and a special mention for Performance, the surprisingly rare 1970 film starring Mick Jagger and James Fox in his last film before an almost decade long sabbatical and alleged breakdown, which was in no small part connected to the psychedelic shenanigans that occurred during the making of Performance. I was very lucky to see a restored print screened at the impressive Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACME) Cinémathèque in Melbourne. Its an excellent and film and I had to mention it, even though it was filmed way back in 1968.

Stan bin laden - 70K (reprise)

As I promised in the original Free 70K blog, here is a link to the Herald Sun article that illuminates in more detail, the “taskforce” and international search for Melbourne Super-Villain “Stan”

Littlerach

Dendonedid Presents:
Rach, Rach Rach Little Rach...ive not mentioned her enough on this here blog. When i first met her i was told she was the door-bitch. She was the best god damn door bitch a beautiful little punkrockroom could have. Rach rocked...and rocks and knows all about rock but yet little about geology...but that doesnt even begin to scratch at the surface of the femme-enigma that is lil Rach. Talk to her about rock. Talk to her about punk...about punk attitude...about how it can save your life. Like it saved mine!

RACH RACH RACH RACH RACH LilRach!

Go and talk to her via the seminal Mess+Noise neighbourhood

Quickly before she makes me take this down ;->









Listening to: Placebo - running up that hill

Island That Time Forgot

Here’s a quick reminder to check out Adam Ford’s inspired Monkey Punch Dinosaur site.
Whilst using this plug as an opportunity to show off a great pic of mine that didn’t make the site because of the strict “punching” requirements. As I emailed Adam
“I don't suppose it would help if I explained that in MMA-pro-fighting terms that the monkey has assumed a position that is called ‘the mount’ (true story;-) and is pursuing a side to
side punching tactic known as ‘ground and pound’
...heheeheh except its not working and he's gonna get eaten…shhh”


...go on what are you waiting for?! Make one of your own and send it in! Go to it!

PS- Island That Time Forgot - Special thanks to Rich,Karen and Ollie for production, set design, casting and on site catering!

Little Grey Car

Last week I completed a Philosophy short course at CAE. The course was superbly taught by a gentleman named Sam Gates. “Without chalk-and-talk or lectures students must engage with the issues themselves, evaluating philosophically important arguments while advancing their own opinions” Mr Gates had an engaging style that brought forward classic modes of thought, that could be simultaneously examined and applied within the context of day-to-day & modern life situations. There are several philosophy short courses being taught by Sam Gates at CAE Melbourne and if you get the opportunity I highly recommend signing up for one of them.

A couple of weeks into the course I told the class a story about when I was 5 years old and I had this little grey Matchbox car that I was using in an experiment that involved digging a small hole and then burying the car and then waiting a while and then digging it up again to see if it was still there. I did this several times and each time, surprise surprise, the car was still there (hey I was 5 all right!) finally however I dug the hole and the car was not there. I frantically dug around the area, searched through the small piles of sand that I had excavated, dug through, pushed the sand around, went away, came back, dug and searched and pushed sand around, but the car was gone…gone and never to be seen again. It was a big moment for me, and I have often thought of it since. Why’d I tell this story? I think I told it because the class was discussing notions of certainty, which would make sense since the course was subtitled Quest for Certainty
At the end of my final class a fellow student named Viki (spelling?) approached me and lifted up my hand. She put her hand over mine smiling sagely as she placed something in it. I looked down and it was a little grey car. She explained to me how she and her family had discussed my story and had thought it would be an appropriate gesture to find a little grey car of about the right historical age and present it to me as a gift. Furthermore Viki explained to me how the family had meditated on the object, empowering it with positive energy that I could take with me and use as inspiration in my coming university adult entry exam. They put a lot of thought into which little car they felt was the right one to get for me, even, as Vicki told me, having a little argument about
Needless to say I was floored. It was such an unexpected and kind gesture. I was very much moved. I Felt like I’d received some kind of class merit or peers award. So I’d like to thank Viki and her family, her kids Isabel and Orion and her husband (afraid I can’t recall his name), for their thoughtful gesture.
I will be taking the little grey car into the STAT exam with me.

“In the abstract world…unalterable truths, before this world I knew all forms and when I was born into this world, (what I did) what I do is that I recognize these forms that I have already known…before this world when I knew all forms…” – Fragment from my
in-class notes. (From a Plato dialogue I think. I include it as it ran down in my notes, because a lot was happening at that moment and how it fell onto my page is in its own way quite beautiful and hints at the larger idea in a poetic light. Don’t you think? ;-)

Listening to: Laura Jean - I'm a rabbit I'm a fox

FREE 70K

For those Melbournians or anyone familiar with the prolific (often difficult access and high altitude) graffiti of Stan & Bonez and the rest of the 70K crew, who have recently been the subject of an international taskforce, with most members having been arrested and facing prison…I saw this on the weekend Clifton Hill Station & Hoddle streets and thought it worth a mention. Looks like the Free 70K campaign has begun!
Still trying to find an online link to the most recent Herald Sun article dated 01/09/06.
here is a link that mirrors a previous article from The Sun earlier in the year.

Monkey Punch Dinosaur

G’day g’day! I’m very sorry dear visitors that I have been such a force of absence these past months. The sad truth is that during this time I have composed several blogs in my head, but have not got around to posting them. But anyhoo I’m back now and here’s why:

I have an entry at the fantastic Monkey Punch Dinosaur website so please check it out.

…and stay tuned for some retrospective blogs in the coming weeks.

Peace on yer.


Listening to: Chinese Rocks – the Ramones version and the Heartbreakers one…back2back double play roCK!

Good Friday

Here are some photos I took on Good Friday whilst walking around Fitzroy/Collingwood. I was going to show the street art pics, but I like the building shot as well, and in it's way I believe it is a related branch...part of what we like referring to as Accidental Art and the like. I will probably throw some more pics from this day up on MySpace.com, so check em out "by yourself or enjoy them with a friend"

Listening to: Arcade Fire, The Walkmen & rare instrumental version of 'Dosed' by RHCP

Blood Tests

(Sub title: “Tough Love” The prequel)

Recently for the first time in my life I had blood tests to test for every conceivable STD, HIV or any other similar neo-zoom dweebie hazards such as the Hep gang.

I recently arrived in Melbourne for a working adventure (*Perhaps more on this at a later juncture) and had to call a doctor in WA to get the results. I controlled the fear fairly well. You’ve got to “let go” I guess. The courage to ignore that which you cannot change or affect…it goes something like that doesn’t it?
Anyhow It was a nerve wracking few minutes as the receptionist placed me on hold to fetch the results and inform me that it was all good.
How good is that? Over the years I have done many risky things, and I’m a bit fortunate I guess…so if you ever did stupid things with Den…well at least for my part (ooh err) its all good! (Motions to the sky, praying or just taking a deep breath? it is unclear)



Listening to: Faker, Bluebottle Kiss and The Cure

Hey Hey My My

- This follows on nice from the previous blog entry. The 5th of April was the 12th anniversary of Kurt Cobain’s death.


There’s a good little write up here,
that comes from a Washington radio station called KXRO. As an additional side-note It also mentions that it was the 4th anniversary of Layne Staley’s (Alice In Chains) death, who I had forgotten died on the 5th of April also. Anyhoo…I’ve been in Melbourne doin a lot of walking and getting around on trams and trains, headphones in, volume up, soaking up the atmos of grey-london-antipodes, listening to “From The Muddy Banks Of The Whishkah.”

“New rock is the old rock rolling”

Lagged me to my Mum

Talking to my Mum it has just emerged that one of my old friends, and I WILL find out WHO, made some passing comment to my Mum about 8-10 years ago that, and I quote “Denny’s been into some heavy shit”
hehehe sounds like I was in a badass crew with a heavy rep doin jobs and chunks of time! ;-)
The Fuck.
Weak as piss whoever you are…weak as piss.

To make sense for my other readers, at the time the person was referring to my drug taking adventures in the underworld.
Lagged me out to my Mum. Didn’t even “Tough Love” me, or organise a freakin intervention (not that I needed one) …and we all saw how successfully “TL” worked with Kurt Cobain (Bless)

“Its kicking on to 12 years now, and still no sign of Mr Mojo rising!”

Nothing of any substance, just a cryptic note under a door or a whispered guilt breathing in a corner…
Lagged me out to my Mum was all one had to offer…
Weak As Piss!
You know who you are!

…hehehe that was fun…I’m so hard ;-)

Listening to: Bloc Party
Reading: Valis - Phillip K.Dick

Drive-Thru Dragon Fly

When I opened the Bottlo on Sunday morning an enormous Dragonfly blew across the ground in a curlicue of leaves and other detritus. I carefully picked it out and put it up on the desk. It seemed to exhale and it straightened itself out and we sat together quietly for a few moments while it died. I put it in a plastic money bag. By the time I got it home that evening, much of the bright tigerish yellow gold bands around its tail had faded. I scanned it… so that it in part lives on in digitized recollection of its brief but brightened glory.


“If you were designing an organism to look after life in our lonely cosmos, to monitor where it is going and keep track of where it has been, you wouldn’t choose human beings for the job. But…we have been chosen, by fate or providence or whatever you wish to call it. As far as we can tell, we are the best there is. We may be all there is. It’s an unnerving thought, we may be the living universe’s supreme achievement and it’s worst nightmare simultaneously.” - Bill Bryson 'A Short History Of Nearly Everything'

Shit Sandwich

One of my regulars in the Bentley bottlo is this priceless old character called Tommy.

I was telling him recently that we were thinking about organising a social cricket game, and perhaps he might be interested in joining in. He instantly replied:

“You know me mate… I’ll be in anything but a shit sandwich! And that’s only cause’ I don’t like bread! ”

**lol**

Tommy >>>

Heavy Product

I meant to give a shout out to my old mate Adam Ford ages ago.
So better late than never I suppose.

Adam is an excellent writer and diligent advocate of literary expression. His debut novel Man Bites Dog was published by Allen & Unwin in 2003. In 2004 it won Best Designed Young Adult Book in the Australian Publishing Association Awards, and last year was runner up in the 2005 One Book, One Brisbane award.



Recently Adam chucked up a street art photo of mine on his website.
He is collecting photos of the work of a mysterious sticker artist. See extract from Adam's site below:

Heavy Product Gallery
Outside the wind has picked up. A solitary guy with a canvas satchel strapped to his back and a skateboard tucked under his arm walks past. He pats the side of the pub with one hand and strolls on. I notice that he’s left something behind where he touched the wall. Gina comes out and locks the door behind her.
“Oh, shit,” I say, nudging Gina. She looks to where I’m pointing.
Just underneath the blackboard announcing next week’s gigs is a Heavy Product sticker.
“That wasn’t there before, was it?”
“What?”
“The sticker, for fuck’s sake.”
“Oh. No. No, it wasn’t.”
“It’s him, then. We’ve found him!”

Though Steve and Gina are fictional characters, the mysterious individual who places "This Is A Heavy Product" stickers on flat surfaces all over Melbourne is all too real. Below are some of the more recent sightings. If you have spotted one of the tell-tale markings left by this mysterious individual, we'd love it if you took a photo and sent it in, so it can become part of this ongoing divination project. Or if you can't be arsed traipsing out camera in hand, you could drop us a quick email and let us know where you saw it and maybe we'll go out ourselves. All contributors to the gallery will receive an exclusive Adam Ford Zine-and-Other-Stuff Pack (tm).


Check out Adam’s site at:
http://www.labyrinth.net.au/~adamford/index.html


Reading:
Illusions - Richard Bach

Listening To:
Music Vs Physics

South Perth foreshore

Heres some photos I took down on the South Perth foreshore last night.

Hugh Ford (The Magic Cowboy)

This is a pic of an excellent work called "Walkers" by my good mate Hugh Ford. If you really like it you might fancy youself as some sort of art collector and want to buy it. Well your too late as it has already been sold!
Check out Hugh Ford's blog FOREVER APE at : http://magicowboy.blogspot.com/

and dorfens

How do you feel now? You’ve got to remember these things as best you can….long after they’re gone. Because in a way, that’s far more important than the ‘High’. The accurate and more still, meaningful recollection of ‘The Moment’. What it meant, how you got there…how you get there again.

Den's Top Ten Films 2005

As part of my ongoing list therapy (boy I’m never gonna get tired of that piece of personalia) here is my first blog regarding the top ten films I saw in the year. I started this list a couple of years ago, mainly as a nerdy celebration for me and my fellow film loving mates to enjoy.

I don’t feel like my viewing in 2005 has matched the stellar heights of 2004. With the likes of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Lost In Translation, Kill Bill 2, and Return of The King to name but four from last years list. I would however have to mention the Aussie contingent. Last year there wasn’t one Australian film in my top ten, (or even amongst the fourteen films on my short list). This year there are four. 2005 was undoubtedly an excellent year for the Australian film industry.

2005
1. The Aviator
2. Look Both Ways
3. Riding Giants
4. The Proposition
5. Little Fish
6. Sin City
7. The Weeping Camel *
8. Narnia LWW
9. Hitchhikers Guide
10.The Magician

*As in last years list, I made the decision to include a film, The Weeping Camel, that was released 30/9/04 in Australia (26/2/04 U.S), because I didn’t see this film until February 2005 and it was a significant part of my cinema going experience for the year. Interestingly this film is listed on IMDB as a joint German and Mongolian production. It was first shown to a cinema public at the Toronto Film Festival all the way back in September 2003. It made its debut in Germany 8/1/2004 and there is no listing for Mongolia. Guess I should look into this further, but I have no idea what Mongolia has in the way of cinema infrastructure. My mum was there in 2002, I should ask her what she thinks :-)

All other films on this list were released in Australia sometime in 2005.

As an example of how complicated things can get in listology, Stacy Peralta’s film Riding Giants made limited release in the US in July 2004, but didn’t get released in Australia until March 2005.

Listening to: Triple J

Energy Cannot Be Destroyed

I was going to make some big song and dance out of my return, but instead I’ve just decided to get the ball rolling again with this wee blurt about exercise, stuff and gunk.

Once you attain a certain level of fitness it becomes easy to forget how far you’ve come. As of writing this I have just completed my first boxing for fitness session for 2006. Prior to this it has been quite a lay off for me. In October I flew to Melbourne to work at the Spring Carnival for Advertising Associates, (but that’s another story), I ended staying in Melbourne for over six weeks. Whilst I was there I struggled to maintain a regular training program. I did a B4F class immediately upon my return to Perth, in which I was good and strong, but had clearly lost some endurance. Then I came down with a bizarre flu-like lurgy that ended up being viral conjunctivitis. It made my right eye puss up and close over, my nose bleed, my chest congest, threatened to turn into bronchitis threatened to never go away and generally beat the crap out of me for over two weeks.
So now I am taking a moment to reflect on where I have come from, how far I have come and how badly I want to resume progress on this journey to fitness.

I got onto this talking jag because tonight when the heat was on I was shocked to feel how weak I had become. On several occasions I actually had to stop during the circuit. I felt weaker than the first time I ever attempted this B4F circuit. Amazing sensation, but thinking about it now, it probably shocked me more because I have rarely been sick since about August 2003, (I know this because it was about six months before I quit cigarettes), when I had my final bout of severe bronchitis. And because I haven’t had to train back to form from being sick, since this whole campaign of transformation began some nineteen months ago.
I keep thinking of a scene in the M.Night Shyamalan film Unbreakable, when the character David played by Bruce Willis asks his wife “Do you remember me getting sick?” It goes on because she can’t recall a specific occasion and neither can he.

My old buddy Max Flory is fond of pointing out how many stories and novels could be condensed down to their first and/or last paragraphs…even last lines, without them losing their principle meanings. So it is with that in mind that I finish with:

It still surprises me how much the physical training battle is a mental one.


The First law of thermodynamics = Energy cannot be created or destroyed; only changed from one form to another.
(Also called the law of conservation of energy)


Listening To:
Bluebottle Kiss - Patient

Last Days

*From discussions of the Gus Van Sant film ‘Last Days’ on the Internet Movie Database website.

http://imdb.com/title/tt0403217/usercomments-51

I think much of the criticism surrounding this film is fair.
I however find myself rating the film fairly highly. Like many other reviewers, I too found myself challenged and slightly bewildered by the film’s long scenes with static camera work, that seem to not end up going anywhere. There is one scene in particular where Blake has fled out the back door from another unwanted visitor and has just run past a row of trees and plants in the back garden. Blake runs through the frame and the camera holds the shot on the background of trees and shrubs for what seems like 10-15 seconds. Although this is definitely unconventional filmmaking, I can appreciate what Van Sant and Co might be trying for. There is an emotional resonance throughout the film. Conveying this to an audience in a unique way is a delicate task. I suspect that the frequent use of long static shots is Van Sants attempt to allow his audience the time to consider what is transpiring. The film language is daring and requires the audience to participate in creating the emotional landscape that the film requires to live.
The film is definitely frustratingly static at times. The action is minimalist. The narrative probably does fail when held up against the orthodox requirements of traditional film and storytelling narrative. It is at the very least a daring piece of filmmaking and challenges its audience all the way. It is ‘empty’ in a way, but the films emptiness reveals a subtle emotional storytelling and a deep atmosphere. I found this playing on my mind long afterwards.
Does the film work without some prior knowledge of Cobain’s story? I can’t honestly answer that, as much of my appreciation of this film comes from my own personal ‘back story’ as it were. I think this film may suffer from people’s initial reactions, but I believe there is something living within this film that warrants quiet reflection.

http://www.lastdaysmovie.com/

Noi The Albino

Heart-achingly beautiful film from Iceland

Noi The Albino

http://www.noi-themovie.com/

do thine self a favour...
*grins*


Listening to: CKY infiltrate-destroy-rebuild

Alien Zoo

Last night I had a very vivid dream. At the point that I can start recalling the dream, it feels as if quite a bit of the story has already evolved. The sense of this is heightened by my actually waking up during the dream. In fact now I’m not sure whether I awoke at all, but rather dreamt that I was awake thinking about the intense dream I was having.
I was on board an alien spaceship. Actually I’m not sure it was a space ship, I’m assuming it was. It was somewhere big and aliens lived there. I was wandering around in a very clean set of halls and corridors. Like the movie cliché white and metallic spaceship interiors. Something had made me feel annoyed or distressed and almost instantly ‘they’ sensed it and gently levitated me into a giant domed area like the inside of a multilevel shopping mall an enormous domed ceiling enclosed a space the size of an arena. The atmosphere was very quiet and serene. There was a lot of lush hanging foliage dangling from large hanging baskets that reached down from high above. ‘They’ levitated me toward an enclosure that was walled by some sort of clear Perspex or glass and I immediately understood that this space was some type of botanical garden or zoo. Within the darkened enclosure there clearly moved several humanoid forms. I was levitated right up to the glass. The dim light from the giant atrium didn’t quite penetrate the enclosure. I'd have to say that this looked like a controlled phenomenon. I could see the humanoid shapes moving out of the darkness toward the glass I distinctly remember thinking ‘shit I’m gonna get a shock here when these creatures become suddenly visible right in front of me and I willed the levitation to pull me back a few feet from the enclosure. I then noticed that a few metres to my left there was an open doorway into the enclosure anyway, and one of the humanoids kind of half stepped out half leaned around with a long gangly arm that reached out in a handshake gesture. It’s upper half remained cloaked in dark so that I couldn’t really distinguish its features, however its arm was quite visible and the skin was a reddish brown colour with a ruddy skin texture flecked with what looked like large sunspots. It spoke to me in what I assumed was English, but thinking about it now it could’ve been any language or even non-verbal. It greeted me and introduced itself. Alas I can’t remember its name, but I’ve a vague recollection it was something unlikely like Richard or Wayne. I was then levitated to another enclosure where I saw another set of very humanoid looking creatures, again in a dimly lit enclosure. All I can really recall about them is that they seemed to have a green colouring (god this is sounding more and more like the product of 30 years of television). This bit of the dream is vague in my memory and I think it is here that I woke up in my room lying face down on the bed, feeling a bit spooked and looking around to see if there were aliens in the room! I remember they kind of spoke to me telepathically and explained to me how their method of ‘borrowing’ humans, was very different to our pop culture depictions of alien abduction. At the time the information struck me as some kind of revelation, alas I can’t remember what this information was. I Remember thinking that it was something to do with a ‘mind lift’ that left our physical body where it lay on earth, but simultaneously enabled us to be wholly somewhere else…in another dimension or just out in Space orbiting the earth? But a type of temporal/phase transfer. Extra dimensional, but linked…all linked. Particle physics I think…quarks, gluons, and leptons doing bizzaro virtually incomprehensible superstring theory stuff like being “vibrating strands of energy that oscillate in eleven dimensions, consisting of three we know already plus time and seven other dimensions that are, well, unknowable to us. Strings that are very tiny (‘well duh’) tiny enough to pass for point particles” Passing for point particles when they are in fact strands of ‘crazy string’…well, at least that’s my understanding (*grins*) Cant help but picturing pink string foaming out of spray-cans at this point. The above quotation is author Bill Bryson attempting to simplify the mind-boggling quantum physics ideas of people such as physicist Michio Kaku. http://www.mkaku.org/
Anyway I digress, although that’s pretty much it really. The aliens weren’t malevolent, for example the whole trip to the zoo was a response to my becoming uptight, they were trying to help…and responded instantly as if my thoughts were being monitored, which obviously in the context of this story, they were. I clearly recall being impressed by their technology and the childlike quality of their handling.
Best of all after that dream I went straight into a dream about my beautiful ex-girlfriend Sarah and it was very pleasant and comforting, and again very vivid and with full detailed settings, like standing outside in the car park outside Max’s old house, his Mum’s place in Subiaco. Heaps nostalgic, but also a celebration of things. This is a hugely important recognition for me. And it left me feeling thus. Which is nice for a change, normally such reminiscences are sad and at best ‘exquisitely’ painful. Gives me hope for the future. And for friendly aliens (*winks*)

“We are willing enough to praise freedom when she is safely tucked away in the past and cannot be a nuisance. In the present, amidst dangers whose outcome we cannot foresee, we get nervous about her, and admit censorship”
- E.M. Forster

Listening to: The Guild League ‘Inner North’

The Take

Went and saw a great doco at the Luna last night called ‘The Take’
http://www.nfb.ca/webextension/thetake/
It’s about a kinda socialist (dogma-lite ;-) movement in Argentina.
“In the wake of Argentina’s economic collapse in 2001, Latin America’s most prosperous middle class finds itself in a ghost town of abandoned factories and mass unemployment.
Thirty unemployed workers walk into their idle factory, roll out sleeping mats and refuse to leave. All they want is to re-start the silent machines. But this simple act —the take —has the power to turn the globalization debate on its head.”
-Director/producer Avi Lewis
Anyway the reason I mention this, apart from the fact that I enjoyed it and its worth checking out, is because this morning whilst at work in the bottlo, a nice old lady started talking to me about a current political issue in WA to do with trading hours and trading restrictions. (There is a proposal to lift restrictions on liquor stores opening on Sundays)
http://www.caan.adf.org.au/newsletter.asp?ContentId=t25072005
Anyhoo I gave her my spiel on how I saw the current state of play and then I went on a mini-rant about ‘The Take’ and my opinion on the role of big business in the decision making of Western governments. She asked me if I was studying Law, and then she said “Do you know that you’re the first intelligent young person I've spoken to..(she took pause)...well...in years!”
She was well pleased and left full of smiles.
Regardless of truths here…it sure did make me feel nice and hence my chucking it up here. Going to bed now…hard work today, then hard boxing and now wasted ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Croc drags man from canoe

“Crocodile kills man after dragging him from his canoe.”
16th August 2005
This is a terrible thing for the man who has lost his life in such a brutal and bizarre way and no doubt for his family, not the least of which his poor wife, who was in the canoe with him when the great beast struck and tried to help her husband b4 being propelled into the river after their canoe capsized during the course of the attack.
Of course I feel for these people.
But how is killing this animal going to help anyone?
If a 4 mtr croc was hanging around a drain in Newtown Sydney, then maybe kill the animal as a last resort, but we’re talking about a sparsely populated, fairly remote National Park in Cape York no less. In fact I have just found on the Queensland Government & E.P.A website the unequivocal piece of advice for people wishing to canoe within Lakefield National Park
"Canoeing is not recommended because this is crocodile country"
see: http://www.epa.qld.gov.au/projects/park/index.cgi?noback=1&parkid=187

It came on the news last night that they were searching for the “big rogue” croc.
I turned to my mum and said “Now they're gonna kill that croc or some other random 4 mtr croc that they come across…”
Unfortunately that’s exactly what has happened. They found a big croc on the 17th of August and killed it. http://www.abc.net.au/farnorth/stories/s1440820.htm
They cut it open and its stomach was empty. Apparently it could’ve still been the ‘guilty rogue man-eater’ due to a crocodile’s tendency to cache its food before eating it. But there’s no way to be 100% certain.
At the risk of hammering my point…best we go and kill some other big crocs, just to be sure.
August 19th Minister dismisses calls for crocodile cull
http://abc.net.au/news/items/200508/1441197.htm?farnorth

And finally I found this nice one page report (with an excellent drawing) done by a Queensland student, on the legend of a boat-attacking crocodile
A 6 metre salty known as ‘Sweetheart’
http://www.herbertonss.qld.edu.au/landofoz/judedwin.htm

Not Today

England v Australia, 3rd Test, Old Trafford, 5th day.
August 15, 2005
It was way past my bed time. I had just turned out all the lights, had got into bed. I had to work in the morning, but I couldn’t leave the cricket in such a situation. I got back up.
Turned the TV on just in time to see Ponting get out for 156. Australia are 9 for 354. Four Lee and McGrath must survive 4 overs to save the Test.
For 24 balls I knocked on wood, gripped the edge of the table and spoke firmly, nervously at the TV “not today” “we are not going to lose today” “its our turn for some luck” every ball, every single ball.
Ball beats the bat and narrowly misses the off stump…
“Not today”
Skied chance falls short…
“NOT TODAY!”
Somehow I felt in my knotted stomach that they would do it. And they did.
Lee and McGrath hung on and kept the Poms out for 24 balls. Saved the match and maybe, we shall see, the Ashes.
Series level 1-1.
In 20-odd years of watching Test Cricket a draw has ever meant as much to me.
Special mention to: Ponting, Warne, Lee, McGrath and Clarke.
Well done lads!

Final 24 balls cric-info commentary:
http://aus.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/2005/AUS_IN_ENG/SCORECARDS/AUS_ENG_T3_11-15AUG2005_BBB-COMMS.html

Den's Top Ten Songs (July)

1. The Presets - Girl and the Sea
2. Data Rock - Computer Camp Love
3. Helium – Cosmic Rays
4. Turbonegro – All My Friends Are Dead
5. Dappled Cities Fly – Battle Won
6. Andy Clockwise – Alice May
7. The Bloodhound Gang - Foxtrot Uniform Charlie Kilo
8. Bloc Party – So Here We Are
9. Blue Bottle Kiss – Running Into Doors
10. Darren Hanlon – A To Z

Aussies didnt fare quite as well on this one. Aussies- 5 OS- 5

Listening to: Bit By Bats

cosmic rays and memory tricks

I had a rewarding musical experience today. I guess it was a rewarding ‘memory recall’ experience also. I was at work, it was early in the morning, I got an unknown fragment of a tune in my head and had absent-mindedly begun whistling it. Then It occured to me that the fragment, was sorta wrong. What I was whistling was a distortion of some song that I liked, but that I hadn’t thought of in years. Somehow I knew that the snatch of tune I had was from an obscure song that had been briefly important to me, some 4 or 5 years since, and that at the time I’d made a mental note to try and remember it. After several attempts, I managed to straighten out the tune in my head so that I had the correct melody. I recalled the sensation, from years ago, of being struck by what a poignant melody it was, yet I still had no idea what the song was, who it was by…or even when or where exactly I’d heard it. Then doubts plagued me about whether it was a song at all, and all that foggy memory game stuff started banging around in my head. Doggedly I kept whistling the melody over and over for about 5 minutes. An intuition came to me, that it might’ve been something I’d heard on a Matador Records anthology about 4 or 5 years ago. I wrote myself a stupid note that mentioned this notion. It was like 8am in the morning and I feared that even with this note, that by the time I got home I’d have forgotten the melody. I tried a Jedi memory trick…well actually it’s a technique that a spoken word poet, whose very distinctive name I can’t presently recall (duh) explained to me one night in Shelton lea’s bookstore in Clifton Hill. And whilst on this, it further warrants a mention, that the senior trainer at Boxing For Fitness, Robbie Bryant, does a very similar memory association trick, in what has become a ritual at the start of every training session. He looks around the gym and says “Ok, and we have…Denny, John, Paul, George and Ringo, we have…etc etc” until he has said absolutely everyone in the gyms name. Even people he has just met. It’s all to do with attaching in one’s mind a physical or symbolic association with the person or thing, that acts as a trigger to recall. You have to wonder why it isn’t easier to just remember ‘Fred’ rather than something like ‘roman nose, curly grey hair, face like a donkey = Fred!’ I dunno that I fully grasp the concept… and I have well digressed--- So because I was worried about forgetting the melody that had mysteriously and randomly popped back into my head after years of being ‘lost’, I attempted my version of this memory association trick and locked in on the time of day and how silly I felt at that moment whistling the melody for the seventieth time. It worked and when I got home I put on the Matador Cd, which for the completionists among us, is called ‘Everything is Nice’ and is a ‘10th Anniversary Anthology’ of Matador Records releases, which include Pavement, Cat Power, Modest Mouse, Guided By Voices, Sleater-Kinney, Cornelius and Yo La Tengo…to name a but a few (pretty fuckin great list there huh?) So yeah, it worked ‘cause ten songs into disc one I discovered the song…a song that I had been listening to with William Bowe in 2000, ( It’s actually Billy’s cd on long-term loan to my collection!)….{ d r u m r o l l }- - - ‘Cosmic Rays’ by an American outfit called Helium.
Wow that was longwinded wasn’t it…I must be a bit fried from the three 10 hour shifts I’ve just done in a row. ;-)
Anyhow for my patient, loyal and overly interested readers the song ‘Cosmic Rays’ can be listened to at: http://www.mp3.com/albums/259465/summary.html and the story of the enigmatic singer/songwriter behind it can be explored at: http://www.marytimony.com/neusite/
Where there are also some free mp3’s to download.

Aint the memory grand.

Listening to:
Mary Timony

Satan’s Special Service

Last night I enjoyed an excellent evening in Fremantle visiting my good pal Petri Sinda and watching the Australian Cricket team take a winning position in the first Test of the Ashes series. I headed off home at around 1am. I was driving east along Leach Hwy when I noticed a Transperth bus had come up fast behind me and was now tailgating me. Odd thing really, they’re not like taxis, I mean these buses aren’t generally known for they’re erratic driving. So I’m kinda wedged between the bus and a slow moving car in front of me. Before I could take evasive action the bus pulled out wildly from behind me and tore up the outside lane. It went by so quick I didn’t catch sight of the driver or even its route number, but I could see that the bus appeared to be completely empty. I pulled out from behind the car in front of me so I could try and stay in touch With the bus. I laughed sharply when I saw that on the back of the bus it’s fluoro green route number was 666. The bus increased in speed and began pulling away from me and the other car, which was a bit back from me in the inside lane. The situation was quite surreal. There was no other traffic to be seen in either direction. The inside lane car sped up dramatically and past me. In the far distance I could see that the bus had pulled up at the traffic lights at the intersection of Carrington Street & Leach Highway. Maybe because it was around 1am and a foggy night, or maybe it was our proximity to Fremantle’s gigantic cemetery, but the atmosphere had become suddenly and distinctly eerie. Despite this, I had a broad grin on my face and was chuckling to myself a lot. I guess it was a disbelieving kind of chuckling, I mean I could definitely see the bizarre and funny side of the situation. I was still grinning as I drew up on the intersection and realised that the bus had been sitting in the right hand turn lane while the lights were green…as if it were waiting for us to catch up. The lights changed to red as the inside lane car reached the intersection. That left me approaching in the middle lane with the 666 bus on the outside right of me, and the other car on my inside left. I slowed down. The bus was definitely empty, it’s interior was strangely lit…I don’t know how to describe adequately…it was sort of dim, soft light with a yellow tinge…but the soft light had an almost misty quality to it. I rolled up toward the very front of the bus. I could see the drivers section was cloaked in darkness. For a brief moment I imagined I was about to see an empty drivers seat. I glanced across at the inside lane driver, still a sardonic, enthralled grin playing across my face. He glanced at me, then his eyes fixed in the direction of the bus. The route number on the side of the bus said ‘Special 000’. I stopped at the white traffic line. Thoughts whispering in my head ‘No driver, no driver…could there be no driver?’ But at that moment I saw that there was indeed a driver. Unmistakable. In the dim recess of the drivers compartment, his upper torso and head faintly lit. The absurd theatre of it all. Lit just enough so I could see the driver looking directly back at me. Looking back at us, unflinching with a steely mischievous grin. My heart rate pulsed. I glanced back at the inside lane driver. He appeared as if in a trance, his eyes locked on the bus. A tingle rattled across my shoulders and shot down my spine. The bus took off turning right. The lights had gone green again. I watched the bus as it tore off down Carrington street. A second or two later I realised that the inside lane car was well up Leach highway, obviously moving very quickly. I rolled off the lights and looked down Carrington Street as I passed through the intersection, but I couldn’t see the bus anymore.

Listening to:
The Best Of The Band

Bullfuck

I guy came in the bottleshop on Friday night and wanted to know the various prices on Highland scotch and cola pre-mix cans. I told him the bottlo had a 8 for $15 'run-out' special on Highland stubbies. He became full of bluster and swaggered toward me saying " 8 for 15?!",
"-Yep"
He continued to swell in size like some angry gas filled balloon...i felt sure he was going to nut me...
"Bull Fuck!"
"It's true mate, 8 stubbies for $15"
"Bull Fuck! There's no such fuckin thing as Highland stubbies!"
He turned away from me and walked over to the display fridge containing the Highland scotch and cola products, "8 for fuckn 15 stubbies! Ive never fuckn heard of em! Where are they then?" This was a classic piece of bizzare bottlo behaviour. He was standing right next to them.
Anyhow the rest of this story continues to move around in a rough Beckett-esque circle for several more minutes until the guy decides that he's well pleased that the stubbies do in fact exist, and that it's a "blody good deal" and he'll "go two of em" all the while still managing to look like he might attack me at any moment. But the real reason i recount this story is because of my fascination with his exclamation of the term BULL FUCK which i'm pretty sure i havent heard anyone say since circa 1978...
Bull Fuck. A true-blue Aussie amalgamation of Bullshit and get fucked or fuck off (depending on context and delivery of course). "Denny that's a load of Bullfuck!" for example.

Listening to:
Darren Hanlon
Little Chills (album)

Reading:
'Generations Of The Acid'
by Petri Sinda

Den's Top Ten Songs (June)

Ok so without too much further ado, below is my Top Ten of songs that I’ve been listening to in the month of June. My criteria is quite loose, in that there is no time restriction on how old a work is, for example, Romania by Dappled Cities Fly is about 3 years old now. But due to my ongoing fascination with new music, most of the songs will likely be from the past 12 months.
It is a Top Ten because I believe in List Therapy ;-), but really I hate qualitative lists of Art ( hence why I’m undergoing list therapy! ), I love all of these songs, but something had to end up at number 10…and lets face it, you know I had a bunch of cool songs that have just missed out…
If I get the time and inclination, I will re-edit this post and include websites, and other interesting bits of info about artsists mentioned…but heh if your really keen, you can always email me.
And lastly, I am fairly pleased to point out, that nine songs out of my inaugural
Top Ten are by Australian acts! Go Aussie!!
If anyone can email me and tell me correctly which artist is the foreigner, then I will send them a prize.

Den’s Top Ten Songs (June)
1. Romania – Dappled Cities Fly
2. No Way Out – Love Of Diagrams
3. Walls – The Red Paintings
4. The Eve, The Girl – Dappled Cities Fly
5. The Turning – Tucker B’s
6. The Chapter In Your Life Entitled San Francisco – The Lucksmiths
7. Mr Raven – MC Lars
8. Qwest (Feat. Seed) – Combat Wombat
9. Quarter To Three – Faker
10. You Saw Me Fall – The Fragments

Dig it. :-)

Candle Records

Last night I was sitting at my computer, stalling on getting ready for bed, feeling sorry for myself because I had to get up at 6am. I haven’t worked any really early mornings in years. Many nights on shift at The Terminus Hotel, by the time i got home from a night at work and afters shenanigans it was 5am or later!
Anyhow so I checked in on my email and discovered I’d won two Cd’s

“Denny,well done you've won 2 Candle CD's for leaving a message on the Candle guestbook. please email me your choices and where to send them to. thanks, chris at candle”

How cool is that! So nice to win something. I figure then that this is an appropriate moment to plug Candle Records, who have been unswervingly dedicated to their particular vision of Australian music, since 1994. As they say:
“Welcome to Candle Records, home to some of Australia's best pop acts –
The Lucksmiths, Anthony Atkinson, Ruck Rover, Golden Rough, Tim Oxley, Darren Hanlon, Jodi Phillis, The Guild League, Richard Easton and The Small Knives. They all write great lyric based songs and we're sure you will grow to love them like a family.”
http://www.candlerecords.com.au/

Candle is also the erstwhile home of the late-n-legendary, enigmatic &
Icarus-like Sydney outfit The Simpletons. Candle still have some of their CD’s for sale, although I believe most Simpletons stuff is sold-out and now rare.

Off to work. More laters

Word of the day:

Candour
1. Whiteness; brightness; (as applied to moral conditions) unsullied purity; innocence. [Obs.]
2. A disposition to treat subjects with fairness; freedom from prejudice or disguise; frankness; sincerity.
‘tribute superior sagacity and candor to those who held that side of the question. --Whewell.’

Listening To:
Triple J

FAKER

FAKER
+ Guests
The Swan Basement, North Fremantle. June 26, 2005.

Local outfit The Silents started as I arrived. The Basement was about half full as The Silents pumped out a tough and sexy set of their nouveau psychedelic-beat-rock. The backing vocals were at times washed away by the bright sound of the room. Despite this it was a tantalising display and a crowd that was about half full at the beginning of their set, swelled to a near full house by the end, simmering away enthusiastically.
Faker emerged on stage like a man possessed. A man like their lead singer Nathan Hudson. Hudson has a big dark voice that at times royles out softly, dripping with intent, but also reaches up in angst filled fingers waving and shakingt at the sky. And he did that often. Flicking his fingers around and pointing at his head, counting off beats, hand reaching up high. His Body contorting and twisting spasmodically at times, indeed my esteemed companion William Bowe (somtime genius music journo) commenteed that Ian curtis was back “in” in a big way. (“Here are the young men…”) Hudson wore a tight buttoned up shirt and severe looking thin black tie. A tie that he used to gently hang himself with several times during critical highs in the performance. During the song ‘Enough’, Hudson bounced of the red velvet clad walls, and briefly stood like a mountain climber, side on, suspended in the corner of the stage, before flinging himself, wild dervish like, back to the mic for another verse.
Hudson was given excellent support in Bassist Nick Munnings, who swayed back and forth from his mic and often appeared to mouth the words along with Hudson, as if in a trance. He would then briefly snap to attention and rejoin in the critical harmonies, such as during the superb ‘Teenage Werewolf’. Munnings has a controlled coolness that shone from his face throughout the set. Although there still seemed to be some problems with the levels on the backing vocals, Munning’s cool focus, his singing along and smooth movements forward to the mic provided a perfect counterbalance during Hudson’s frequent disappearances down into the crowd or his climbs up the rear corners of the stage.
The frenetic energy that Faker conjured throughout their set was held together masterfully on the flanks by Guitarists Phil Downing and Stefan Gregory who were mostly fairly static on the far left and rights respectively. Of the back line engineroom, I couldn’t really see drummer Paul Berryman, but when I caught glimpses of him he was all focus ‘doin the business’ hunched over, coiled up and locked in. Guitarist Downing seemed on a couple of occasions as if he too, might explode off the stage, or crash into the walls as he tore up on ‘in-the-slot-riffs’ and intense climaxes, that were features of such songs as the brilliant ‘Quarter To Three’, ‘Bodies’ and ‘Teenage Werewolf’ . Both Guitarist’s playing during the latter song was so superb that it made me proud to be witnessing such a celebration of Aussie music, and to a full house on a Sunday night no less! Faker absolutely nailed this gig. It was evocative, and energetic. Dark at times thoughtful, pained and passionate at others. Songs such as ‘Quarter To Three’,‘Werewolf', ‘Kids On Overload’, ‘The Familiar’ and ‘Love For Sale’ were all highlights within a set that demonstrated the confidence and certainty of a band that has by all accounts, “taken it’s time to solidify”, but that is now clicking with a live set that must put them high amongst the best acts in Australia. Tonight was a clear validation of that time spent by Faker in “getting it right”. There is rarely an idle moment with Faker and scarcely a wasted song. If you can’t see them live their debut album ‘Addicted Romantic’, (EMI) is a significant document of an Australian band that has truly arrived. Masterful.
http://www.faker.com.au/

Listening to:
JJJ