Look! See!!

Nov. 2nd, 2024 09:41 pm
waitingman: (Default)
One of 4 new videos for the new Pelican Daughters album - created by Ryan Spinoglio...



Also, here's a link to a radio interview the 2 of us did with a show on 3RRR in Melbourne Australia. Now you can also put a voice to the 'blog!
waitingman: (Default)
Finally!!!

Available as a digital download, vinyl LP... CD coming soon - with bonus tracks!!


The cover!!


New album, new publicity photo!!


also available to "try before you buy" on Spotify...
waitingman: (Default)
With the unforeseen delay of Pelican Daughters first new album in a few decades (it's been 30 years, what's another few months?!?), we're now 3 songs into the next one... Here's the latest - a relentless little mover...



Guitars, bass, percussion & vocals by me. Sampling, looping & structure by Andy. Extraneous noises added during mixdown by both of us!
waitingman: (Default)
I have taken possession of some vinyl copies of the new Pelican Daughters album 'It's Time, My Friend'...

I also have the digital mix that will be made available for download & probably put up on Spotify as well. The 'official' launch date is still undetermined, but after a meeting between our record label & we 2 Pelicans, it will likely be in 4-6 weeks - there is another album in the queue ahead of us that will get its moment in the sun before it's our turn

We've been told to not talk about it, so the release comes as a noteworthy 'surprise' for our little niche market, but I had to tell someone!!!

Sssshhhhh!!!!!
waitingman: (Default)
So it was 'Presidents Day' in the USA the other day... Nice that the Great Pumpkin was served a bill for hundreds of millions of dollars... I approve


1. Have you ever been the president of anything?
Back in my primary school days, in the early 70s, when dinosaurs roamed the Earth freely, if you ask any member of Gen Z... it was the 'thing' to have little clubs/cliques for your favourite things - TV shows, or matchbox car racing... that sort of thing. I was, for a few days, the President of the Wombles fan club (For those of a non-British, or British-centric upbringing, this was the show in question...). The club folded quickly due to both general disinterest & a rival club that raced cars down the school footpaths... which even I joined

2. What do you think is the most important leadership trait?
A vision for the betterment of your society &/or the world in general. The courage of conviction. And preferably, a disinterest in just getting richer for riches sake

3. What time period did you find the most interesting to learn about in history class?
I did 'Ancient History' at high school - Greeks, Romans & some Egyptian. Which was fine as a primer for how absolute power can corrupt absolutely, but as any reader of my Journal would know, I'm a much more avid student of 'modern' history... the last 150 years or so

4. What's something you think about doing, but you haven't gotten back into in several years?
Forming a band again... finishing the detective novel I co-wrote with a friend in the late 90s... finding a therapist I can't out-think & therefore respect

5. If you could add one more random holiday to February, what would it be?
There should be a National Holiday for anyone who works in sales of any description... because this modern world insists that shops be open on every other Public Holiday. So once the kids have gone back to school in late January/early February, there should be a day when all retail workers can just enjoy doing absolutely nothing
waitingman: (Default)
As promised, here is the latest track from Pelican Daughters, from the album that will eventually come out after the new album comes out... eventually!!



A bit understated & simple, this one... based around a few chords & one riff from another unused guitar piece of mine. Vocals by a parrot someone sent us a recording of & a Vietnamese market stall worker. All drum sounds made by banging on about 3 different guitars!!
waitingman: (Default)
The last of the paperwork has been signed & filed, the artwork is approved, the digital & vinyl mastering is complete... I expect to see a vinyl LP of the new Pelican Daughters album by maybe late March & the digital download available at 'round the same time...

In the meantime, we are now 2 tracks into the next album, following a mixing session over the weekend. For the curious, I'll post a link as soon as we've uploaded it somewhere

I'll be attending a musician's camp in upstate New York in early August this year, accompanied by a long-time playing companion who has been there before... It's hosted by 3 members of King Crimson - my favourite band of the last 40 years or so & to say I'm excited about it would be a significant understatement... I'm also very nervous, apprehensive, a little shy & not a little worried about the standard of my playing ability. So I have nearly 6 months to practise my way back into the top of my game, last reached in about 2009 when I was churning out instrumentals, accompaniments & solos for a variety of different projects... obviously none of which turned me into a household name, well - beyond my own household anyway
waitingman: (World Politics)
Dear Justin,

This is Future You - writing to tell you to not waste your time worrying about USA politics in general & any of the myriad Trump stories in particular. No... I'm not going to tell you how the election in November turns out, nor anything that happens after

All I'm going to tell you is that worrying about it is pointless. You can't do anything about it, no matter how angry a lot of the shit going down makes you. You can't change anyone's mind about any of it, no matter how misguided, indoctrinated or just plain fucked in the head they are

Monument Valley, Arches & Yosemite National Parks & all the other natural wonders of the continent have been there for thousands of years & will still be there once its people have sorted their shit out for themselves & it's safe to go back there without body armour. With a little luck, you'll still be mobile & compos mentis enough to enjoy them

Hell... with a little more luck the orange b@stard will choke on a cheeseburger before November anyway... No, I'm not saying that's what happens, but it's a nice, little optimistic dream you can hold onto in the meantime. Because, as you know, there's no one who can replace him that has the same cultish hold over his mob - not within his family, nor in the Republican Party... & even without death by dietary misadventure, he's not exactly a picture of health & vitality, is he?

So when you see some story, or sycophantic suck-up about him - take a deep breath... & try to think a little more long-term about this

And don't, whatever you do, think about how low the bar has been set for political leadership in that powderkeg of a country & worry about who has the wherewithal to slither under it & take his place
waitingman: Cameras (Cameras)

Storm passing overhead in February


Paddington Reservoir at sunset


Del Amitri, live in Sydney for the first time in decades...


Electric Six, live in Sydney for the first time in quite a while...


Doubtful Sound, New Zealand - only accessible by boat. An amazing experience


Tommy Emmanuel at the Sydney Opera House


Sumatran Tiger, up close at Taronga Zoo


Monster Jam - Monster Trucks & Motor Bikes spending more time in the air than on the ground...


The right way to ride a wild horse - Gundagai Rodeo


The wrong way to ride a wild bull - Gundagai Rodeo
waitingman: (Default)
Well, after 20 years or whatever, I joined Facebook in the latter part of the year, in search of community & connection for photography & music. Some of which I found, but here's an entry there from a week or so ago, detailing what else I found there...

This will be old news to a lot of you, but I've been on FBook for less than 6 months & it appears to be populated by only a few kinds of people...

Apart from spammers & scammers, who are legion, many of the groups I wander in & out of are full of people who are convinced that nobody has a sense of humour any more & that you can't say or do anything now because "snowflakes will get offended blah blah blah the world is doomed"

I haven't encountered as many Trump supporters as I expected, but there are still plenty of people out there on the right wing spectrum who are convinced that all the world's problems are caused by 'woke lefties' & no amount of questioning or attempted debate about how these insomniac democrats caused ALL the trouble, will reveal any specific details... it's just the way it is & "the world is doomed"

Apparently, music, TV & films are nowhere near as good as they used to be back in the 60s-80s, the 'scene' is dead, as are all the great musicians, writers & actors & nobody making any kind of art today is worthwhile on any level compared to your favourite one of any of those because... well, just because

I'd considered myself something of a grammar & spelling pedant, but wow... the abuse people dish out when someone makes a mistake in their post, or their reply to a post, is brutal. A simple typo can apparently reduce an otherwise intelligent argument/comment to meaningless drivel & its author to the level of some kind of mentally-challenged dropout from 'English as a 2nd Language' classes in insert-name-of-'backward'-3rd-world-country-here. And, of course... the world is doomed
waitingman: (World Politics)
Where do we stand on the separation of Church & State? Personally I firmly believe that religion has no place in politics. Public policy should not be written with anyone's god as some kind of co-author

So what about countries where the 2 seem inseparable, like Iran - where the nation's top cleric wields even more power & influence than its President, the USA - where, increasingly, policy is being drafted straight out of the Old Testament. Or... deep breath... Israel - where being Jewish is so tied up in the nation's recent & ancient history, that it seems impossible to disagree with anything they do without automatically being labelled anti-semitic

Personally, I subscribe to no religion & have major doubts about the existence of any kind of supreme deity. But the rest of you are free & welcome to practise whatever doctrine takes your fancy, as long as it doesn't encroach on my way of life. Which is obviously why I firmly believe in absolute separation of Church & State. If your religion says you shouldn't do something, then don't do it. But you have no right to stop me... whether I'm eating bacon, taking some lord's name in vain, supporting a woman's right to abortion or LGBTQI+ people's human rights, or being repulsed by the practice of female genital mutilation on religious grounds &/or marrying off pre-pubescent girls to (much) older men. And I'm 110% opposed to killing people just because their imaginary deity is different to yours

I don't really want to wade into the murky history of Israel, its dissolution in the early CE centuries & scattering of its people, its subsequent occupation by various Islamic & Christian states for over 1500 years... you can Google all that & read at your leisure. Suffice to say that the creation of modern Israel in 1948 was not very well planned, or implemented & it displaced countless people whose roots in that land went back many generations & hundreds of years. But because they were Muslims, none of the Western governments gave a sh!t. Right from its start, modern Israel has had to fight to exist, against various Islamic countries who at the very least wanted the land back & at worst, wanted to eradicate its people because... well, because they're Jews & Allah apparently doesn't like them & that's good enough reason. At least, that's what the cleric/mullah/ayatollah etc... said

It hasn't even been 80 years since then, but it's been an unholy mess for most of that time. We've had ceasefires, various peace treaties & accords... but sooner or later religion rears its head & it all kicks off again, with Iran threatening to wipe Israel off the map & the world superpowers posturing & positioning according to their interest

And here's the contentious bit - there have been some Israeli leaders who seem to take delight in poking the bear. Heavy -handed annexations of territories they want to 'reclaim' like the West Bank, Southern Lebanon, Golan Heights... & Gaza, have inevitably led to clashes with Islamic forces & if it was a European nation doing that... well, we had 2 world wars over that kind of behaviour, plus a couple of serious ones in Asia... yet somehow, Israel is held to a different standard, even when it has cast the first stone. Somehow, it makes me think we're in the middle of the latest Crusade, where the Christian forces are still trying to take back the Holy Land from the Infidel, so they arm the Israeli army to its teeth while simultaneously decrying its unsurprising use of those weapons

Don't get me wrong - what Hamas did recently was horrific & unforgiveable, but at the same time, Israel had been poking that bear for a while - it was going to lash out eventually. And now, Hezbollah is getting fractious about Israeli rocket attacks on the Israel/Lebanon border. It appears Israeli PM Netanyahu is hell-bent on starting a new war, whatever the cost is to his own citizens, let alone anyone else. As if the cost isn't way too high already, with Jewish people in countries far from Israel being threatened & targeted by Muslims whose parents fled the Middle East to get the hell away from all that fighting a generation ago

In summary. I'm not anti-Semitic, I'm not pro-Muslim... I'm just not a fan of using religion as a coverall for aggressive nationalism
waitingman: (Australia)
Well, as the rest of the world probably knows by now, the referendum to recognise our Aboriginal people in the Constitution & grant them an advisory 'Voice' to Federal Parliament was lost on Saturday... quite decisively

There were many reasons for the loss, including the fact that the constitutional amendment itself was ill-defined & not properly explained... at least not in simple enough terms for the apparently larger-than-we-thought lowest common denominator section of our population, who'd rather be spoon-fed politically & socially divisive rhetoric from right-wing politicians & media than take a moment to think for themselves & not just of themselves. Quite early in the campaign for the amendment, it was changed from being about giving aboriginal people some recognition, respect & representation, into a Left vs Right, 'Woke' vs whatever the opposite of Woke is, & let's just admit it... regurgitation & bolstering of racism & discrimination

And if there was any doubt about that last part, last night, after the referendum result was announced, a group of neo-nazi fuckwits ran rampant at Melbourne's main railway station & on a train, harassing passengers about being Jewish, singing racist songs (Oh... & the National Anthem, just to show how 'patriotic' they think they are)

I was at a large public event last night, with L-SP & a group of friends, one of whom is Jewish & she got an SMS from her husband recommending she come home, after he'd seen the news from Melbourne...

The Trump virus - that encourages & promotes opinion over fact, superstition over science & violence over intelligence - has given every quarter-witted fuckwit who 'thinks' he (& it's mostly men, let's be honest) has been unfairly treated by a system that apparently favours... well everyone else but him, probably... some sort of validation - enough to make them more aggressive, brazen & recalcitrant, but above all visible, which in turn encourages another eighth-witted fuckwit to stand up & take his turn

It's a bit of an old man cliché to blame the internet for things, but really... how many flat-earthers did you meet, or hear about before? How many illuminati/lizard people/space laser 'truthers'? Once upon a time, if a newspaper or TV news bulletin did a story on some crackpot theory & its believers, it was presented as the Friday night 'Loony of the Week'. Now these idiots are interviewed unchallenged, their manifestos published in every detail & given a sensationalist headline that acts as an advertising billboard... to say nothing of the numerous social media platforms they can use to spout their bullshit with no fear of administrative regulation or rules. And they breed. They fester. They simmer... & increasingly boil over

I hope I'm dead & gone before this civilisation falls, as so many have before... but it's picking up speed

Hopefully, I'm just being the modern equivalent of that shabby old guy who wanders the streets wearing a sign that states 'The End Is Nigh... but sooner or later, one of us old guys will be right!!
waitingman: (Idiot!)
Sorry… I won’t stand for this.

If you’re so excited about acts of war, go back to Palestine & fight in it. Don’t bring your religious hatred here. And that goes for both sides. We had enough of this during the violent breakup of Yugoslavia when Croatian people were targeted here in Australia. Don’t start this shit here - go fight your holy war where it’s happening - then see how you like it

*Roger Waters
waitingman: (Australia)
I'm writing this down to work it all out in my head... This one's all about Australian politics, so feel free to skip it if you're not from 'round here. Hell... feel free to skip it if you are!!

The 'Voice' referendum seems to be exposing the not-very-well-hidden-in-the-first-place undercurrent of racism in many Australians - not necessarily only those of Anglo descent, but many former Europeans as well - towards the Australian indigenous population, because they are being offered a Voice to the Federal Parliament, designed to make representations to the Government on matters relating to Aboriginal & Torres Strait Island people & their culture/land etc...

A good thing, you might think... & about time. Sounds perfectly reasonable to allow them to have some input, if not influence, on decisions that affect their lives & livelihood. Things like education & social policy, to the granting of mining licenses to go & dig anywhere the Miners like for whatever traces of whatever particular rock they're looking for, then leave the place looking like an impact crater on the Moon when they're done... as has been the case for about the last 100 years or so. Things that have simply been passed &/or granted by the Federal Government, usually in return for huge 'donations' by whichever consortium, or industry body wants a favour. These sorts of people are, no surprise, vehemently against the 'Voice', as it means they can't just steamroll over any indigenous opposition on their way to a tidy profit

Rampant capitalism aside, the emotive argument the 'Vote No' campaign are weaponising, is that the Indigenous peoples don't deserve a special advisory body or, if they do, why can't the rest of us have one too?! To my ears, this sounds a lot like all those men who complain about International Women's Day & demand a Men's Day equivalent, conveniently forgetting that the other 364 of any given year, are basically days for them already. The parallel here is that both ideas are designed to redress an existing & established imbalance. Frankly, it would be fantastic if there were no need for the Voice at all, but we're dealing with a socio-economic & political world that not only has a huge head-start & tactical advantage in the way things are run, it's left our indigenous peoples hobbled back at the starting line, or in some cases, not even invited to be in the race... In order to bring things to a somewhat even keel, some extra help is required for now & that's what the Voice is - an opportunity to bring people who for centuries now have been marginalised, denigrated, repressed & diminished, in from the cold, so to speak. To acknowledge their culture & beliefs & find better ways to work with them

No one complained when the Federal Government passed the National Disability Insurance Scheme about 10 years ago, as a means to give disabled people greater access to services they needed. No one said they were getting unfair special treatment. What's the problem with helping the disadvantaged then?? Ohhhh.... because they're black? And for years, they've been portrayed & seen as ungrateful, recalcitrant, refusing to integrate into 'our' society... a bunch of uneducated drunks. Hey anyone from the rest of the world still reading at this point - does this sound familiar?!?

The other tactic being employed by... well kind of by both 'Yes' & 'No' campaigners, actually... has been to make this a politically divisive 'Left' vs 'Right' issue... a battle between those who are 'woke' & those who aren't (what's the opposite of 'woke' anyway) to the point where the original purpose of the referendum has been lost in muddied water that's now close to boiling. At what point did we Australians take a look at the political turmoil in the USA & think 'That's fantastic - we should definitely get some of that!!' We should absolutely choose an ideological side & abandon critical thought. We should totally think that if you're not 100% with us, you're against us & we hate you

I know Australia has a lot of sheep... but I thought they were mostly of the 4-legged variety

The simple fact is this: Here's the proposed amendment - “Chapter IX Recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples - 129 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice

In recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Peoples of Australia:

i: there shall be a body, to be called the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice;
ii: the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice may make representations to the Parliament and the Executive Government of the Commonwealth on matters relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples;
iii: the Parliament shall, subject to this Constitution, have power to make laws with respect to matters relating to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice, including its composition, functions, powers and procedures.”


The 'No' campaign's official objection to this is: The jurisdiction of the Voice extends beyond matters that relate only to Indigenous affairs and includes any matter that relates to Indigenous peoples. The Voice is free to involve itself in any debate that affects the broader community so long as it relates to Indigenous peoples

And, you might well ask, the problem with that is... what exactly? Well, they might start objecting to mining, land-clearing & development. They never could before & be damned if we'll let them start now!!

The key part the 'No' campaign seems to ignore, or gloss over, is the term 'make representations' to Parliament & Government. In other words, they can advise, they can petition, but they have no legislative ability - they can't introduce, let alone pass, any laws or policies... & the Government of the day is free to heed or ignore their representations as it sees fit

Personally, I've been steering well clear of any articles or reports that seem designed to further the clouding of the issue, or seek to further encourage rabid partisanship. Which has certainly irritated one long-standing friend of mine, with whom I had a Facebook comments argument yesterday, leading to him saying I was being paid to parrot the Left propaganda, then getting mightily offended when I suggested he'd been manipulated by his chosen side. When I reminded him that he'd just done the same to me, he retreated by saying he was only joking... at which point I just figuratively walked away

The possibility of losing a friendship of over 40 years standing disappoints me, but to lose it because of the global plague of Trumpian politics is actually way more upsetting to me
waitingman: (Default)
For the curious... the first track of the next Pelican Daughters album... recorded while waiting for the finished one to come out...

Princesse Féerique

This one is based around a guitar piece I wrote with an erstwhile bandmate almost 20 years ago. I'm playing the 'reverse' guitar, he's playing the arpeggios... everything else has been played, sampled, looped & effected by we two Pelicans...
waitingman: (Scream)
I just watched about 45 minutes of the TV adaptation of Terry Pratchett's 'Hogfather'... & have come to the conclusion that the Discworld novels are unfilmable. The best one I saw was 'Going Postal' & even that wasn't as good as I'd hoped

Everything seems to be pantomimically over-acted, cheesy & full of the infamous BBC 2nd-rate special effects - Death's skull was so obviously plastic, it looked like it had been purchased from Daiso in the weeks leading up to Halloween... or more likely, in the clearance sale at the start of November

No wonder Neil Gaiman eventually looked to the USA to make his stuff... though that comes with its own issues - 'American Gods' was pretty good - it looked amazing & Ian Mcshane was an inspired casting coup - except for one critical flaw... the guy who was cast as Shadow played him as a self-centred, whingeing prat & if the audience don't empathise with the main character, you're doomed. See also: the last attempt at filming 'The Hitch-Hikers Guide To The Galaxy'. I like Martin Freeman, but his Arthur Dent was bloody awful. Alan Rickman's Marvin is the only reason to watch the thing...

The TV adaptation of Pratchett & Gaiman's 'Good Omens' has all of the above flaws - overacting, bad SFX, unnecessary plot padding & Aziraphael is annoyingly unlikeable... played as an effete, prudish, gormless coward, with none of the implicit sense of power hinted at in the book. And could someone... & I'm looking at YOU Mr Gaiman, since Terry's not around to answer... explain to me why a 2nd season was at all necessary??!!??

FFS... In all these cases, you have source material that is loved by probably millions worldwide & all you have to do is put it on film & it will be a success. You don't have to re-write it, you don't have to introduce new plots & characters & above all, you don't have to hire all the 3rd-tier understudies from rural repertory theatres to play the parts...

Or is it just that I've read all these books so many times, that I have my own vision of what they look like inside my head & nothing's ever going to come close...?
waitingman: (Default)
Do you have a spare 13 minutes? At the end of it, you'll either have a new favourite band, or... you'll just be 13 minutes older (sorry!!)

waitingman: (Default)
Sunday was my only day off this week, for the 2nd week in a row, I don't think I'm really cut out for 6 day weeks any more... was I ever? Especially when the Saturdays have been spent in the Showroom, not out doing what I'm employed to do. At least I now know that when my Employer complains that when I have both weekend days off, he has to do Saturdays on his own & I'm supposed to feel sympathy that he's there with no one else, that he's being honest... he's there with no one else!! the 2 Saturdays I worked recently have been absolutely dead... to the point where I could have made significant inroads into 'War & Peace' , or even 'Ulysses' in the amount of time I spent just sitting around clock-watching. I have the next 2 weekends off & absolutely zero fucks will be given about it

L-SP was also working both days of the weekend, so yesterday was a chance to catch up with my newest musical partner - my only guitar student, who has now surpassed any need for me to show him things & it's become more of a meeting of techniques. He wanted to pick my brain about approaches to songwriting & we ended up writing a few things together that he's looking forward to tinkering with & re-arranging. I'm looking forward to hearing the results, as it will mark the 1st recording project that I've used my custom 12-string acoustic on... & even recorded with a very basic set-up, it sounded pretty good, which made all the double-grooved indentations on my fingers worth it... it's obviously been a little too long since I did any serious playing!!

From there, I headed across town & across the years, for a mixing session with my oldest musical partner, with whom I formed Pelican Daughters in 1984. With the completed album now looking like it won't be out 'til the end of the year at best, we've continued on & yesterday did 3 mixes of a new track which I'd recorded all the instrumentation for a few weeks back & left with my cohort to arrange, insert an array of field-recorded samples & add whatever took his fancy. I was seriously impressed with his work on this one & had only a couple of suggestions for changes, before we ran the drum tracks through my guitar effects unit to add some atmospheres. Mix 3 was my pick of them & I'll post a link for anyone remotely curious as soon as we upload it...

What a difference a day spent in the company of musicians can make... I came home last night floating on a little cushion of air, after a day spent stretching my creativity in 2 supportive environments
waitingman: (Orang-Utan)
These questions were written by supernutjapan

1. When did you recently have the feeling, "Life is good."
These days, it's usually when I, or we, are somewhere in the middle of nowhere doing something fun/interesting away from crowds of people. Most recently, it was standing in the middle of the CSIRO Compact Array of radio telescopes outside of Narrabri NSW, trying & mostly failing to photograph the stars amongst the telescope dishes. Despite the weather's non-compliance, it was a wonderful evening

2. Which do you need more, routine or spontaneity?
Now? I'd appreciate a little more routine, but not necessarily of my own making - I need other people to make, or stick to their routines, so I can structure mine a little more consistently

3. Do you have a difficult or annoying neighbor?
Yes. The family directly over the back fence is made up of an anal-retentive, nature-phobic, passive-aggressive creep of a Father, a more-often-than-not heavy drinking Mother, a Son who has had no discipline or boundaries growing up & now that harvest's home... & a Daughter who is only happy in hedonism & loudly complains when the real world intrudes on her pursuit of it

4. What do you want to change about yourself?
I'd like to purge my memory of about half of the stuff it uselessly retains & of all the stuff it retains from my past that randomly comes back to bite me when triggered by something seemingly innocuous & unrelated. I feel I could be more 'present' if I wasn't so assaulted by the past...

5. What do you like best about where you live?
It's cheap. It's about 250 metres from a National Park & we are constantly visited by all sorts of birds & animals... much to the back-fence neighbour's frustration & disdain... Honestly, they'd be much happier on the top floor of a city apartment block
waitingman: (Default)
Sleep well Sinéad O'Connor... you'll be missed

waitingman: Cameras (Cameras)

A cloudy night for astro-photography, but a great location, among the radio telescopes of the CSIRO Compact Array, outside of Narrabri, New South Wales

waitingman: (Orang-Utan)
Having made a kind of pledge to myself about doomscrolling & ranting about local & global politics here on my Journal, it's had the unexpected by-blow of leaving me without much drive to write about anything at all, really - a day-in, day-out diary of minutiae doesn't have much appeal to me &, as I experienced over on LiveJournal, not much appeal to anyone else either, so I've been lurking, posting comments occasionally, but nothing to really say...

The Pelican Daughters album we finished last year, is in Limbo, as our Label's distribution deal kind of fell apart & we've received occasional e-mails about what little progress there's been in finding an alternative, but so far... it may end up being 40 years since the last album before this one sees any light of day. Not that it's stopped us - we 2 Pelicans convened a couple of weeks ago to start a new track & found we're still full of ideas &, more importantly, still work well together in giving those ideas shape, form & identity. This one even has some guitar on it!!

Long-Suffering Partner & I have continued with our 'Year of doing Stuff' - 2 day car rallies every 2 months, night photography, concerts by Tommy Emmanuel, Max Richter & Damian Rice, the Sydney Good Food & Wine Show, 3 evenings at the Vivid Festival of Lights & Ideas (to give it its full, if slightly pretentious, title), with an upcoming roadtrip to the Compact Array at Narrabri, for an evening of astral photography with some hired lenses & possibly a couple of friends...

Caught up with some old school & work friends over the last few weeks, one of whom was in a local theatre production of Nikolai Erdman's 'The Suicide', which was a lot funnier than the play's title may suggest... & another who's as much of a whiskey aficionado/enthusiast as I am, with the resulting 2-day hangover being evidence of a great night of whiskey, conversation, music & day 2 of the 3rd Ashes Test in England

Work is... well, it's pretty mentally taxing actually. Even on days when I'm not driving around town, measuring & inspecting everything from slumlord apartments, to huge mansions, or half-built dream homes where the stairs haven't been installed, so inspecting the 1st floor is a challenge for my perfectly rational fear of unstable heights, especially the one the other day, where the entire scaffold I had to climb, was shaking & swaying like a 7.5 Richter earthquake. L-SP makes sure my Life Insurance is paid up every year... Otherwise, there are concerns about my Employer looking to expand the business in the middle of a bad year - interest rate rises spooking clients & inflation affecting the cost of absolutely everything!!!. This, of course, places stress on him, which he deals with by assigning me random tasks while I'm in the middle of what I'm actually employed for. I've recently discovered that I can do a lot of my paperwork at home, realising that since the office software is cloud-based, I can log in from here & not have to deal with trivial annoyances

I'm overdue a visit to my former guitar student, who has progressed well beyond the point of needing me for much, but seems to like my company & respect my opinions, so is keen to play me some of his more recent compositions... & I'm quite interested to hear them as well

Enough... Here are some photos taken on the morning of the Winter Solstice. Elizabeth Bay House in eastern Sydney is oriented so that the solstice sunrise shines directly through the front door - whether by accident or design is unknown & hotly debated, if the short presentation we attended on the day is anything to go by. As is so often the case, the original records & plans for the House were lost in a fire, so best to shelve the curiosity & just enjoy the phenomenon...


Clouds delayed the sunrise by a little...


But finally, the shortest day gets going...


And sure enough... the sun blazed straight through the door. Hard to get a clear shot of it, as everyone stood there... this will have to do

Spamalot

Jun. 11th, 2023 10:38 am
waitingman: (Idiot!)
Been home sick for a couple of days & this morning decided to clear out the e-mail account that is an absolute spam-magnet because I've had it for so long. I should just delete the account, but it's still good for some entertainment value, if only to see just how stupid you'd have to be to fall for any of them, especially 'honey traps' like this one...

Good day my dear man, My name is Lerka. I am 30 years old, I have green eyes and silky brown hair. I don't smoke or drink alcoholic beverages. Not married. I have no children. Lonely woman. Do you know the cartoon "Tom and Jerry"? If not, then this is a children's cartoon about a cat and a mouse. And when I got a cat, I decided to call him Tom. I am a person who sees only positive aspects in all events. As for me, I am a gentle and affectionate woman. My hobbies are cook and have an active lifestyle. I can't imagine my life without these classes. By the way, do you like sweet or meat dishes more? My favorite time of the year is summer. I also like analyzing movies. I have clear values. I can't stand it for non-professionals, especially when they themselves think they are professionals and take a lot of money for work. I also don't like the feeling of loneliness. I have a positive attitude to evening walks. I like to take a quiet walk in the park after a hard day, get some fresh air and generally take a break from all this fuss. After work, I usually come home, where I am greeted by my cat, who is always happy and full of energy. After that I take a shower and go to dinner also accompanied by my pet.

Firstly, her name is Lerka? (Does she live on the 2nd floor, upstairs from you, yes she thinks you've seen her before...). Then why is her e-mail address Ladyfn Smileuu taka_matsunaga@nifty.ne.jp

Second, 30 years old, green eyes & brown hair... right



Strike 1, 2, 3... you're out. Deleted!!!!

And sometimes, it seems like they're not even trying... like this one from 'Peggy'

Hi, I have a profitable idea to share with you.
We will share $ 9 Million US 50% each.
Please reply if you are interested to know more details.

Thanks,
Peggy.


Well sure Peggy... sounds legit. Deleted!!!!

At least this one gets points for effort - it even has that text at the bottom assuring me there's no virus!!

Greetings.

I am looking to work with you to engage in a profit oriented
Investment ventures in your country and perhaps with your
assistance, we could get good Return on Investment (ROI).

I have the directive of SHK Mubarak from Qatar to source for a
partner abroad who can accommodate 200,000,000 USD for
Investment. We shall execute the business under a legal
arrangement by appointing you as the lawful beneficiary.

I await your reply.

Regards,

MA.

--
This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content
by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.


Points lost, however, for having the mailing address mailer-daemon@curvycoco.com Kind of ruins the authenticity a little... Deleted!!!!

Now, I'm just going to order some cheap diet pills online, so I can look my best for the hacker who says he's accessed my webcam & microphone & is watching me. After all, I've no intention of paying him in Bitcoin, so if he's going to release video footage, I have to look my best!!
waitingman: Cameras (Cameras)
The Art Gallery of New South Wales, in Sydney, that is...









All from the phone...
waitingman: Cameras (Cameras)
New Moon... perfect!!

Increasing cloud cover & a bone-chilling wind... not so much





We'll try a different location next month...
waitingman: (Default)
1.Besides work, what takes up the biggest portion of your day?
Other than sleep? Various daily housework stuff, playing, pandering to & feeding the cat, leisure time with Long-Suffering Partner, doomscrolling...

2. If you could do anything as a career, what would it be?
I'm quite happy with my 'career' as such, but I'd be more fulfilled if I could be recognised or acknowledged for my 2 favourite activities - playing music & photography

3. Do you feel too much emphasis is placed on having a career?
Speaking as someone whose full Curriculum Vitae would run to many pages if I listed every job I've had... Yes!! I certainly think that when you're young, too much emphasis is placed on getting 'settled' into a job, career path, marriage, kids, mortgage, self-funded retirement & death from exhaustion

4. If you have a college/university degree, are you working in your field?
No... I think I studied the wrong things at University... but I've never gone back to do anything else

5. What would be the most boring job to have and why?
Sometimes, I think I'd LOVE a boring job with no public contact, no distraction & no pressure on performance... but I'm not so sure a job like that even exists. Of the many jobs I've had over the years, I can say that being a Bank clerk/teller was mind-numbingly dull... & completely thankless
waitingman: (Default)
Quite a week, this one... Not so much for me, but the world has been busy, in mostly unpleasant ways

Certainly not a good week to be a Bass player - we lost 2 great ones John Giblin who, like David Lindley who passed earlier this year, was one of those musicians you've never heard of, but have certainly heard... on music by Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins, Kate Bush, Simple Minds, Brand X, Eric Clapton, Paul McCartney (you'd have to be a good bass player to be on a McCartney album!!), Al Green, Annie Lennox, Joan Armatrading... et infinitus cetera... We also lost Andy Rourke most famously of The Smiths, whose style was entirely his own...

It was also a normal week for Elon Musk, who can always be relied on to spout some batshit-crazy, out-of-touch, billion-dollar-baby, right-wing bullshit almost on demand... & even if you don't demand it. This week, he's still banging on about working from home & how it mostly hurts his feelings, as it certainly hasn't been proved to hurt productivity. These are obviously the words of a man with too much money invested in soon-to-be-obsolete office buildings

Meanwhile, here in Australia, we've been indulging in some not-so-casual racism because a well-respected journalist, writer & Aboriginal person had the nerve to talk openly about the atrocities inflicted on his people in the name of British Kings & Queens over the last 200 years or so... & he had the nerve to do so during a telecast of the coronation of Charles III. So of course, social media has lit up like... well. like burning crosses actually, leading to Stan Grant's decision to walk away from his job & career indefinitely, due to both the abuse directed at him & his family, but also the lack of support from his employer - the Australian Broadcasting Commission, who, you'd think, really should know better... What will it take to eradicate this kind of outdated, parochial hatred from not just Australia, but the rest of the world. Every time we breathe a sigh of relief that some old white racist son of a bitch has died, it seems their poison has infected dozens, if not hundreds of impressionable young people to carry on... & carry out this unending legacy of fear-based abuse & violence

To finish the week on a lighter note - unless any of your ancestry were on the Titanic, a picture has been doing the rounds on the 'net of a modern-day cruise ship & the Titanic, showing the truly mind-boggling size difference 100 years or so has made to nautical luxury... As someone commented - "the modern ship would simply haul the iceberg on board to supply the cocktail bar"

Some John Giblin bass-playing, on a song you may know...



& Andy Rourke, making the Smiths sound amazing... that's him on the left



Next!!!
waitingman: (Australia)
These questions were written by upupandaway.

Love a musical topic!

1. What was the first album you ever bought?
'Heroes' by David Bowie... Here in Australia, Bowie's whole Ziggy/Thin White Duke & White Soul phases hadn't really made much of a dent in our popular culture - we really were on the other side of the world to all that & it took something earth-shatteringly important or amazing to register on the national radar. Our weekly music show 'Countdown' played the video for 'Heroes' one night & my ears pricked up at something unlike anything else I'd heard... The rest of the album, once I bought it, changed the way I thought about music...thanks to the talents of Bowie, Brian Eno & Robert Fripp

2. What format was it? (cassette, CD, other?)
LP record... though I know I made cassette copies for a lot of friends

3. How old were you?
The album came out at the end of 1977... so I was 10

4. Where did you hear it?
As above - coming out of the TV speaker, but sounding incredible

5. Did your parents approve?
I know my Father did... he played that album as much as I did. My Mother has never really been much of a music fan... so didn't really care, as long as I didn't start dressing like the Sex Pistols
waitingman: (Default)
These questions were written by got_quiet

1. What is your work/school commute like?
My work commute varies, depending on where I'm starting my day. Tomorrow, for example, I have to be in southern Sydney at 8am for 2 site inspections, so it'll be an early start to try & beat, but more likely endure the Monday morning traffic. My 'office' is in the northern suburbs of Sydney & only about a 20 minute drive, mostly against the traffic, but through 4 school zones & their inherent chaos

2. What did you want to be when you grew up? Has it changed?
In my pre-teen years, I had a thing about becoming a marine biologist. This was changed by a number of factors, but the 2 incontrovertible ones are that I can't swim very well & it turned out in high school that I wasn't very good at biology either. In my teens & 20s, I was aiming to be a musician successful enough to live comfortably. This was also dashed by a bunch of things, but probably mostly by a lack of self-confidence when some important decisions had to be made & by surrounding myself with musicians who were great people, but didn't have the same drive, or vision that I had, so we all completely failed to get anywhere together

3. What is your weirdest work/school/project related story?
I worked for a Temp Agency for about a year & they dropped me into a warehouse management role at a rehab hospital (physical rehab, not substance abuse!!). I was so far out of my depth & couldn't help wondering what part of my, at the time, slender CV has convinced someone that I was the right person for it. The 'assistant manager' recognised my ineptitude pretty quickly & did most of the important stuff that meant the hospital didn't cease to function. Thirty something years later, I still think I'd struggle in that role...

4. What is something you're closely familiar with that media always gets wrong?
Geopolitics

5. Describe the stuff on your desk/workspace.
Right now? The cat, the printer, an assortment of stationery, some diuretic pills & the detritus of tax-time paperwork... & where's my phone!!??
waitingman: Cameras (Cameras)

Tawny Frogmouth


Rock Wallaby


White-Cheeked Gibbon


Australian Fur Seal

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