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Watching the yachts leave for the Sydney to Hobart is a Boxing Day tradition. But today’s weather was pretty poor, and using my phone camera just amplified the conditions.
I reckon the out of focus effects look a little like an oil painting, with that characteristic Richter wooziness.
Tags: Gerhard Richter, Sydney to Hobart, yacht
I drove out to Auburn for a citizenship ceremony this week. If you’ve never attended one, and I hadn’t before this, you’re probably imagining one of those momentous Australia Day citizenship ceremonies, with the PM and various outstanding Australians talking about what the country means to them.
Well this wasn’t like that. Despite it being a seriously life changing moment for many in this group of people from Afghanistan, Iran, Sudan and a host of other countries, it looked as though it couldn’t have been more boring for the dignitaries involved. The local MP, Laurie Ferguson, phoned in a mumbly speech – this is to an audience of non native English speakers – he projected boredom throughout the ceremony. Likewise, the mayor. The local reverend gave a sermon.
Fortunately, they were pretty much irrelevant when it came to meaning in this event. It’s a major milestone in the life of our good friend Jams, and it was pretty amazing to be there.
Tags: Auburn, Australia, Australia Day, ceremony, citizenship, Laurie Ferguson
Everyone talks about how much things have changed in music, but no one talks about instores.
It was the ultimate fan gig, with the band playing in a tiny room, just metres away. When Redd Kross did an instore at Waterfront Records, I was blown away to hear them playing acoustic.
Hanging out there at Waterfront, or other Sydney record shops like Phantom or Red Eye, you’d sit cross-legged and squashed in on all sides, tucked between record stands, with dust a constant fixture. The people sitting around were most likely in bands or otherwise impossibly hip, but just by being there for these impromptu shows seemed like it lifted your standing somehow.
There were a couple of great instores at my friends Thommy Tran and Chris Wu’s shop Gifted, but they were packed – standing – and no wonder, with, from memory, Bill Callahan and Architecture in Helsinki.
I guess there are a million ways to get close to your favourite band these days, via a splatter of social media offerings, but hanging out in a tiny shop with a bunch of like minded heads was pretty great.
Tags: live instores, Phantom, Red Eye, Redd Kross, Waterfront
Wandering around book shops is one of my favourite things to do, although, like record shops, I’m often paralysed by choice.
At this huge shop in Brisbane, all I could manage was a Patrick White and two children’s books (including one called Vic Meets Slapper by Eric The Red).
Tags: book shops, Eric The Red, Patrick White, Vic Meets Slapper
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