The Waiting Man

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!

"You killed your European son
You spit on those under twenty-one
But now your blue car's gone
You better say so long
Hey hey, bye bye bye"

I was one of those people referred to when it was said that "Not many people bought their records, but everyone who did, started a band"

Inspired by an entirely unrelated post on LJ's 20 most popular entries at the time of writing... some songs to 'love'


Love's Theme - Love Unlimited Orchestra


I Feel Love - Donna Summer (with a whole lotta help from Giorgio Moroder)


Careless Love - Ronnie Lane's Slim Chance


Love Song - Simple Minds


Love Like Blood - Killing Joke

And of course...

This Is Not A Love Song - Public Image Limited

Yep... old keyboard dead from alcohol poisoning. New keyboard, courtesy of Long-Suffering Partner, installed & I'm getting used to the feel of it - as well as the strangely muted sound of the keys. And it has a separate number section on the right, which is all I ask from a keyboard

I can also still type one-handed without too much difficulty... Not for the reason you may think (you dirty-minded buggers!!), but because of Bella's insistent habit of climbing onto me when I'm at my desk & settling on my chest, supported by my left arm

Anyway, have a video of a favourite song by Tom Waits... I found this while looking the song up for a reply to my previous entry & it's too good to not put on a front page...

No real news. so... a meme, snaffled from Dave'sMusicTank

Answer each category with a SONG TITLE. No repeats and don’t use the internet (it's tempting but try not to). Go with the first song that comes to mind, change the answers to your own (can’t steal mine)


Something to Wear: Dr Marten's Boots - Alexei Sayle
A Place: Jackson - Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood
A Food: Red Beans & Rice - Spearhead
An Animal: Dogs - Pink Floyd
A Number: Lucky Number - Lene Lovich
A Colour: Pink - Aerosmith
A Girl's name: Sally Mae - John Lee Hooker
A Boy's name: John Henry - Harry Belafonte
A Profession: I Make Hamburgers - The Whitlams
Day of The Week: Stormy Monday - Etta James

Some Australian Christmas Classics for you on the Day...




Don't play this one too loud if there are kids in the house...

Finally!! And here's a message for the Great Pumpkin, from Australia's greatest rock band of the last 45 years



Looks like I'll have to find a bunch of songs about legal proceedings for the next few weeks, but the rest of the world can at least breathe a sigh of relief that the petulant little fucker has been LEGALLY voted out

While we're all waiting... have some 'hold' music

Long day again... Tired again

Tonight I feel like Harpo Marx, sleeping through the stateroom scene

Well... I didn't get the job that would have kicked me into a slightly higher tax bracket & got me out of the decaying cesspit of Debtors Prison

As noted earlier, the silver lining is that our September getthefuckaway can now proceed as planned... & needed

Other than that, here's all I have to say about it...

Probably, but for now, I sometimes wish more people read my Journal... for all its rantings about global stupidity, interspersed with the occasional pretty picture (IMHO, anyway), I try to be at least factual, if not unbiased

So after my many posts about our current bushfires & the politics behind them - or the failure of politics behind them, you could be forgiven for thinking I'm a bit prejudiced against the current government & surely I'm overstating the case when I say it's full of coal-enriched, blinkered, greedy, fat shits...

Step forward, Craig Kelly MP... I'll hold your beer while you shoot yourself & your government in the foot... with an F88 automatic rifle

To have this ignoramus described on international television as a "senior Australian politician" is as laughable as it is, thankfully, inaccurate. The guy is not a Minister, thankfully, he's a back-bencher with no portfolio responsibility, thankfully. But he is, unfortunately, a member of the Liberal Party's right-wing faction & an enthusiastic spokesman (until the current PM tried to muzzle him - unsuccessfully, it turns out) on Sky News' evening smorgasbord of proto-fascists, for what's been called the Coal-ition - members of Parliament who are so pro-coal, they've been known to bring it into work with them, to spruik its merits. And yes - that's the current Prime Minister who actually did that... Craig Kelly is, unfortunately, also one of the movers & shakers in the back-room who brought down the last Prime Minister, because he didn't love coal enough

I don't often, in fact I pretty much never, find myself in agreement with Piers Morgan, but if even that idiot can see the connection between carbon emissions, climate change & the worst bushfires we've seen in Australia, then could he please emigrate & then run for office in Craig Kelly's electorate at the next election. Anything to get another one of those aforementioned blinkered fat shits out of office...

Sitting here at work, trying to put off looking at the plans for a 19 storey apartment block I have to quote 3 kinds of flooring for, when my iPod decided to play this little gem...



An instant mood-lifter, if ever I heard one... & I've heard a few!

And it was followed by one of the most downright happy songs Sting ever wrote...



I still don't feel like going through 19 storeys of plans... but at least I'm feeling happier about that!!

Just a short update... I met up with an old schoolfriend tonight, who turned out to live nearby & shares my passion for single malt scotch... which is why this will be more of a bookmarker entry than a detailed disclosure... hic...

An interesting evening's conversation, fuelled & probably helped by the first nice Speyside single malt I've ever had, washed down with my current favourite Highland malt, along with a triple cream brie, smoked cheddar, pepperoni, salami & crackers - you don't want to get too adventurous with food mixing with scotch... with a couple of misconceptions cleared up, some unexpected common ground discovered & some vague future plans mooted... more news next Tuesday, if we meet again as loosely scheduled

So the past comes back at you like...



And another kind of placemarker... Did I mention I saw Tommy Emmanuel at the Opera House the other week with help from dobro maestro Jerry Douglas??

How de hegg do you ged a code id de middle ob Summer?!?!

No... I don't know either, but I suspect it has something to do with air-conditioning & two cow-orkers who've had mild coughs over the last week. Revenge will be served slow & cold (of course)

It does mean I left work early today, due to plummeting energy & care-factor levels... it also meant I had to cancel plans to see the Spooky Men's Chorale with friends tonight



But every cloud has a silver lining... & there were quite a few of them that rolled across town tonight...

Of course, everyone knows 'B' is for the Beatles & David Bowie, but in my collection, it's where two great British female artists live... who couldn't be more different to each other

Maggie Bell

Coming from the British Blues scene that also gave the world Eric Clapton, Rod Stewart, Steve Winwood & Joe Cocker, Maggie was lead singer for Stone The Crows, a band formed by Leslie Harvey - younger brother of (The Sensational) Alex Harvey (Band) - best known for their hit 'The Faith Healer', who introduced him to Maggie - a blues shouter in the same vein as Janis Joplin, but with better pitch, wider range & much less Jack Daniels...



From the Crows final album 'Ontinuous Performance', released after Les Harvey unfortunately died, after being electrocuted by a badly-grounded microphone & stand on stage. He was replaced by a young Jimmy McCulloch for the band's remaining obligations, but Les was irreplaceable as far as the band was concerned

After an understandably quiet period, Maggie's first solo album 'Queen Of The Night' came out in 1974, featuring versions of well-known songs by JJ Cale & even Janis Joplin. But nothing beats the title track, written for her by Ronnie Leahy - keyboardist from Stone The Crows



Another album 'Suicide Sal' followed, in the same format - covers & a few originals - released on Led Zeppelin's own label Swansong & therefore featuring Jimmy Page playing on a few tracks. Unfortunately, she never rose to the fame she deserved, becoming more of a critics favourite & hugely respected by other musicians. The next time she troubled the public ear was a duet with B.A. Robertson on the old standard 'Hold Me' in 1981

She still crops up on the circuit now & then - old singers gotta eat!! - still sounding good & deserving of a Johnny Cash-style revival. are you reading this, Rick Rubin??!!

Kate Bush

Completely unlike Maggie, Kate Bush arrived on the scene in the late 70s & scored a huge hit with her first single...



She had come to the attention of David Gilmour - guitarist for Pink Floyd, who heard her original demo & paid for new recordings, which he took to EMI records, who signed her up forthwith. She was only 16!!! EMI put her on hold for 2 years, before her first album 'The Kick Inside' was released. A follow-up 'Lionheart' came not long after, before she put the brakes on & started releasing work when she wanted to, as opposed to EMI. So the albums continued to arrive, but with increasing years in between them. She also stopped playing live, preferring the studio to the stage. But her videos made up for that...





She returned to the stage in London, for a run of shows in 2014. Disappointingly, at least for us antipodeans, no tour followed & the shows were released on CD, but no DVD!!??!!??!!

The thing that unites both Maggie & Kate is their lack of success in the USA market... Maggie probably because it's like selling snow to eskimos - there's no shortage of great female blues singers over there, but Kate was always a little too Celtic & eccentric for mainstream USA. Interestingly, their modern successors Adele & Florence & the Machine are increasingly popular in the USA...