Check you later, Eartha Kitt

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eartha_Kitt

walking on 24 December

FREE TO A GOOD HOME or FREE TO SOME SUCKER TO BLOW THEIR ELECTRIC FUSE (back lane, Camperdown) - yes it really is a cassette player and TV / radio all in one


finally a day home. I picked up the last of my Lambda prints for the exhibition on Tuesday and yesterday headed out to pick up some mail, NOT go to the day job (fucking hooray) & get some rock moll posters up in a couple of local record stores etc.
I'm pretty tired and, although it's only 23 degrees, the humidity is a bit... there.
My final walk was to the Vintage record store on Parramatta road but it was shut. I satisfied getting sore feet on the way home by taking some photos with my bargain bin mobile phone.





Naughty graffiti artist - Camperdown Park



What you can (not) take into the park

images copyright

in lust with Julie London (again)

this is why youtube is such a fabulous resource.
and I am such a sucker for a husky voice.
I'm working on images for my exhibition with 5 CDs in the player on random - good fun includes Deep Purple and Julie London - when "Come on-a my house" came on, one of my favourites, I wondered if any clever person had found some clips & there they are - Julie London performing in 1964 in Japan - not the song I wanted but fab just the same


how cool

hmmm, the microphone looks like an internal ultrasound thing (be pleased if you've never experienced one!)

now! on with those punk rock chix!

Found

Walking to work in the drizzle this week & spotted a photo negative strip wet on the footpath - I walked a few more steps, turned & picked it up, complete with little wet worm attached (think it died from eating emulsion)



Picking up other peoples personal photos is always weird - creepy almost.
There's something eerie about images of strangers - are they dead? Is there no one left to keep the memento? Maybe they just don't give a shit.
I let the neg dry on my desk in the day & brought it home to scan - now I can call it art - found in Annandale Dec 2008.

Happy birthday little cat

This is Compostt (she will be one day...) and it's her birthday this week - on the cusp of Scorpio & Sagittarius November 1989. Makes her 19 (92 in human equivalent according to a vet chart I have). That's a long time to be co-habiting with another living creature - longer than with my parents (about 17, I think..) or my partner (15 years).
Her kitten sister (same litter & looked like the same father), La Cretia de Borges sadly died earlier this year but Compostti just seems to keep going even though she weights just 2KG (that's all fur you see)and has not good digestion, ingrowing / over-growing claws, furballs that are hard to remove (she gets a little cross).
I think her longevity is due to a quiet & secure life.
She's also a sweet natured animal - as a good friend says when he visits, "Quick, call the cute police!"
Some days she is so odd and cute, one has to resist squishing her till she squeaks.

She often finds interesting places to sleep and can make a brick look heavenly comfortable.
The telephone table is a favourite and even the shrill bell of our original GDR telephone (complete with numbers to call including the Volkspolizei - People's Police) doesn't put her off. I'm sure she does that cartoon cat in the air when it does ring.
So, anyway, happy birthday little cat.

Below: here she is about 10 years ago when we lived for a year in Abercrombie St, opposite the Darlington primary school. I would secretly watch her at the front gate waiting to receive pats from the children. when a child or adult walked past, she look hopeful but if they didn't stop her shoulders would drop... where are those cute police!

Exhibition Announcement

I'm jumping in the deep end with the setting up of my 4th solo show:
5 years as a rock moll.
It's a documentary of the gigs I go to in the inner west of Sydney - mostly Scooter gigs - here's their blurb:

Scooter is a non-profit venture set up by a bunch of queer Anarcho punk girls in Sydney to provide space playing instruments and forming bands. It also involves a network of girl zine producers, artists and contacts with overseas / interstate girl bands with similar focus. Live bands perform at every gig along with djs.

I went along to a Scooter gig about 6 or 7 years ago (a late comer) and have made fabulous friends, heard some excellent and not so excellent music drank copious amounts of beer and, along the way, have documented some of the gigs as a project using 3200 speed black and white film that I hand process in the bathroom & then scan into a computer in the corner of the lounge room. All the images for this exhibition will be printed on a professional Lambda printer at Pixel Perfect in Chippendale.

I've put together the first of my promotion below (I hope the first prototype I put into cyber land isn't accessible... it was late and my spelling sucks). I'll be taking this one off to OfficeWorks to play with their Xerox machine and make a few A3posters - That's Kristy Machine in an audience moment - obviously a really cool band was playing that day.

i bloody tunes!

the one and only time I want to buy a single song off itunes... my version of itunes on this computer (and no others at home) happens to be in German and it has nothing to do with my beloved. I have no idea how the latest update ended up Deutch but it is.

only
want
one
song

dammit.

A Patti & Polanski week - a week later

I began this a week ago - must've got busy...

almost Monday again...7 days ago started like most - ho hum day job and relying on Sydney Buses to get to work got impossible so I've started, much to my left knee's protests, walking to work - from home through Annandale & up to big noisy Victoria Road with a view of Sydney harbour as a working harbour - lovely in all its scruffiness - I wonder when it will become a fancy marina for the wealthy only...
View from the bottom of the hill - 2/3 the way:





I get these views when I take the route for banking & post box pick on the way - about 5km.



by Wednesday things are looking good - I take off from work an hour early so it's not such a hurry to get to the much anticipated Patti Smith concert. Not at the Enmore like in 1997 (an exceptional gig! we all got up and danced much to the dismay of the ushers afraid of... ? who knows what dancing can do!) but in the Opera House.
we had fab seats, thanks to a very generous friend giving me my ticket as a birthday gift. I saw the song list, looking down on the mixers desk - I'm rapt!


a band called the Drones opened - we walked in, walked out and had another glass of champagne.
Patti Smith was on top form - despite having to see a doctor that day - she told us about him asking her to donate his fee to the Obama president campaign in USA.
Patti is rock and roll * is a poet * is a patriot * is absolutely American * but of the world.
She tried to get people on their feet by walking through the audience.
People stood, waved, held out their hands and sat down once again. Oh so well behaved except for the tall white blond bob woman in the blue top in the front row. She was on her feet, shaking and dancing all night. Her shiny blue top showed a lot of cleavage and only just held substantial breasts. she would turn now and then to implore those around her to stand and join her in dance - leaning over with arms out - a fun sight! when Patti, lovely Patti was doing her walk, she came around the stage to the front row and that's when I cracked up, "Look out!" I exclaimed to AH "Patti's going to be swallowed up!" because blue top was so tall, I imagine Patti's view was all voluminous cleavage, she didn't linger and continued her royal walk.
There's a good review in the SMH but for my liking, I think the microphone filtering was over done - the gig was so produced, it couldve been a CD if it wasn't for Patti Smith herself - she spits on stage sometimes and she spat in the opera house... and everyone else behaved... we can be a lame lot! We got home near midnight and disturbed the neighbours.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/entertainment/music/because-the-night-belonged-to-her/2008/10/17/1223750280309.html




On the following Saturday, I finally get to see Roman Polanski's 1965 gem, Repulsion starring a 22 year old Catherine Deneuve and her hair. An intense, imaginative and truly entertaining film.




The next day we head down for a Sunday one-off screening at Dendy cinema, Circular Quay of the Patti Smith Doco, Dream of Life.


I wasn't as late as AH (who was on bicycle) but we ended up probably pissing off the sold out room full by having to be led with torch right down to the front row... whoa, that's a big screen! turned out well though - having no choice where to sit meant no debates and moving again as there was no one in front of us and, fortunately, no overwhelming aftershave / bad perfume nearby either. the next hour + was spent totally involved in Patti Smith's life. Sure you can make criticisms of the doco (like the wanky hand-held deliberate moving bits during live footage)but for me it was further insight and following so closely after the concert days before, like a good, savoury plate after a really good meal. Go Patti!

Not dead yet and quite happy about that

Redfern - next street down from Please Close The Gate

Please close the gate

Sunday out - Cinema for breakfast & walk via Redfern

If anyone has any inclination to go to the cinema then go and see Towelhead - an exceptionally moving, funny, provocative and truely excellent film. One thing that really stood out for me was the perfect timing of each entrance of each character and a interesting redemption of a couple of men - I'm not into spoilers and am glad I didn't read up too much on this film. Scored a free preview that meant we had to get over to Paddington at 10.30 AM on a Sunday morning - on our Daylight Saving October day. One less hour sleep, drizzle & humidity but we made it and it was very worth it.
An extra privilege was having some coffee and lunch with filmmakers & artists (to name just 2 talents of these people) Lucinda Clutterbuck & Ray Argall - just lovely.
by mid-afternoon, AH & I were in Paddington but the Australian Centre of Photography was shut for a renovation! rats!
Next stop one of those back streets Paddington pubs for a toilet and beer stop - very expensive way to have schooner of light beer!
we'd already decided to walk home & cut through Surry Hills, which was displaying some of our best Goths, left over from the Blue Moon festival weekend - our local Enmore Road in Newtown was the main host the night before - goths, goth art and a general fun feeling.
On our way through Redfern, just off Cleveland Street, AH looked down an alley and exclaimed, "that is so Berlin!"
so here is a feeling of that lovely urban city about 16 thousand kilometres from Sydney but the resulting images from the point-and-shoot are now too bright for her and look too Redfern instead of Berlin. Seeing as it is Redfern, we thought that is not too much a problem - it's all to do with the light, humidity and us wearing sunglasses with the later being the most deceptive when creating a mood.
but, just the same here a pic from our walk home:

Glebe record fair

Zalatnay - cover image - LP found at Glebe record fair Sept 08




Saturday morning - wasted my first 3km walk to Leichhardt - I made an early arrival to the advertised 'record fair' turned out to be 1/2 a hall full of books - records were there in plenty but quality was not there - except for a Siouxsie & the Banshees "Once Upon A Time" - near mint for $5 - the only thing to end up in my backpack. When I headed over to the 45s it was dismal (no original company sleeves & no picture covers...) but worse still, I felt I was in the battle of the stamp collector or, hey, shouldn't these smelly oily men with the rattling breath be looking for cassette tapes or those 8-track cartridge things http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/8-track_cartridge (I love Wikipedia - thought they were called 6-tracks...)- and they weren't moving for anyone!

right oh, this is crap - I'm off to Glebe - a fun trek through side streets & a little window shopping on the way - 4 km & $3 later & I'm in music-o-rama! Did the rounds, said hi to that handsome guy from Egg Records... Then - oh dreamy score - 3 Australian Dusty EPs - covers excellent & records in great nick plus bargains to boot!
that same yukky man from the Leichhardt fair was there too! I bet he drove over... of course he did, he had to keep leaning heavily on the table he was standing at... looking at 45s... Rats! he got the Patsy Cline... oh sick feeling... what will he be doing while it's on the stereo... hmmm, it does play for at least 2.5 minutes.

I made an escape to the next isle, resisting the urge to flash my near mint Shangri-Las ep... just to hear that snot rattle & the bronchial gasp. This other isle was way interesting - vendors had wonderful mini players and I've got to say that my Hungarian Diva, Zalatnay sounds way better and kitsch-ier on one of those players rather than our flash Yamaha set up at home... but, credit where it's due - it is really good fun (cover pic above) - here's just a hint of the latest fab diva to be carried under our threshold!




here she is in an early clip (you tube rocks!)

is she the Hungarian Dusty? (that's what AH reckons - I reckon more like the Euro Lulu or something - Z is not as gutsy or charismatic as DS) did this fall into my hands for a few bucks by accident? by fate? hmmm... when it comes to pop, who can really say...

=

Dinner tastes better on a Kathie Winkle plate

In July my parents sent a money note for me to buy a birthday present. I went to a favourite shop in Erskineville: Revolver Records - a fab shop that sells good vinyl records & ephemera plus collectables. In the corner, a set of Broadhurst plates & bowls with the Rushstone design by Kathie Winkle circa 1968. Kathie Winkle began working for the James Broadhurst & Sons Portland Pottery company after leaving Shorter and Son in the early 1950s & was asked day if she could draw. Accounts say she said, "sort of" and, with no formal art design training by 1958 she was producing her own designs. She came up with about 100 different designs from 1958 until the mid 1970s
.... damn, I wonder if there's curtains to match!
Dinner does taste better on a Kathie Winkle design.

Day trip to Manly

Last Sunday was AH's birthday and we spent the day hours on a little visit to Manly - ferry from Sydney Harbour & then a walk over to Shelly Beach, up the hill, through an hole in a old sandstone wall & we were in our own piece of national park for the day. there were more flowering plants than any other time we visited and when we ate our lunch, a family of Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos gave us a swoop and flying display - not bad!
I took my pocket point and shoot so the bird shots are crap but the images are in my head. camera behaved for an OK record of some wildflowers - Flannel Flowers, Heath Banksia, Bush Pea, Pimeleas, Spiny-headed Matt-rush, heaps of Grevilleas to name about a fifth of what we walked past. I could look up all the Latin names and be a smarty pants but I can't be bothered - it's too nice to stay inside being pedantic... Anyway, common names are fine an suit point and shoot.
We finished the day back in Newtown for champagne & Thai food.

Somewhere in New Zealand... in a radio station....

I recently bought a Japanese 45 vinyl from a New Zealand online store. It's in pristine condition and I'm very happy with the purchase. When I bought it, I added on another 45, just to even out the postage - Originally released in the UK 11 June 1965, this New Zealand made 45 of Dusty Springfield's, In The Middle Of Nowhere was first played on the radio 7 August 1965 and was stamped each time it was played over the next 20 years with its final date stamp 20 June 1985
I didn't expect this little bit of history to come with the 45 and the record itself, surprisingly, plays quiet well - well with a bit of surface noise but both sides play all the way through - atmospheric, one could say




===
Here's Dusty Springfield performing said song at a NME (New Music Express) awards concert 1966:



== (seriously short sighted, not wearing contacts & in heels, how on earth did she do it?)

Pizza Delivery from The Netherlands!

Been having a couple of bun fight battles on EBay, collecting Dusty Springfield on vinyl - sometimes in Glorious Monotone but this delivery took the cake... yeah, umm, pizza.
I walk over to our post office to pick up the parcel delivery - how fun, this is recycling across the world! Pizza Delivery from Holland - the seller calls himself "dike" - and this dyke, loves pizza!

But, of course, it's the fabulous & rare 45s that were inside that made my day. Home delivery Dusty - yes please!





==

vinyl fix

on the way back from a swim at the local university pool (very civilized sans splash pools and nappies), I took the plunge and headed in Goulds Bookshop to check out the vinyl records up the back. this place is huge and you risk your own life squeezing bewteen towering shelves topped with tettering piles of books, books and more books.

Up the back there must be 5000 LPs. trouble is most are in poor condition but that doesn't stop Gould pricing them from $5 to $15 and some look like they won't play at all.


I figured I'd be methodical and go through it section by section. After an intensive 1 & 1/2 hours, I came up with 3 surprises - Suzi Quatro, Peter Gabriel's 1st album in better condition than my well loved copy and a 1980 rare Tommy Stewart and His Orchestra - Circle Records, Atlanta USA - cool jazz.



Then! there it was the first LP from Jefferson Airplane... took the record out & oh dear! I couldn't sell such a hacked record to anyone Plus old gould wanted $14.95 for - think I know which decade of which century he's living in.
I did go back another afternoon & spent 2 more hours there and only managed about one 20th of the collection and gave up after the 10th copy of Phil Collins in the air tonight & if I see one more Mondo Rock album... no to mention all those dreadful 80s pop boy bands... brrrr.

So, this was my venture into vinyl trash and it occured to me all the times I've moved house and how much of a drag it was carting all those LPs in milk crates that they never quite fit in properly. Think I'll stick to 45s - that's the fun stuff and it keeps me from being reported missing, only to be found under a toppled pile of b-grade science fiction books in some obscure corner of Goulds.

Blame it on Paracetamol - listening to Paper Lace performing The Night Chicago Died

I have a pinched nerve in my shoulder or neck or thereabouts... had it since Saturday but it was showing signs of creating a fiasco last Thursday now that I really think of it...
means I got stuck in bed on Sunday morning! couldn't get out. I use my mobile as an alarm so I called my partner (now in the kitchen with the radio on) - went straight to answer... so I call our landline continuously... AH doesn't want to talk to anyone and hopes I will answer the phone... I CANT GET UP!!! I did get up with careful and painful manoeuvring
but now it's Monday. I've been squeezed in for an appointment tomorrow with the osteo but I think the paracetamol has had a strange affect - I turned on the computer to check emails and found myself somehow watching Paper Lace doing their hits on Youtube... don't know how it happened. I WAS listening to Dusty Springfield introducing Motown to the UK..
then it happened..............


and... Billy Don't be a Hero

it's like cement garden animals and topiary - not only are they in matching outfits with white carnations, the drummer is the singer and..., I can hardly say it - there's whistling as well!

No To Pope - a gathering of Pope Go Homo chantings

Vanessa Wagner & Pope Alice came down from above (well, northern NSW & QLD) to host the protest.




Our taxes paid for thousands of catholics to take over Sydney.
Not everyone agrees.
we helped with handing out some of the 6000 condoms donated by Glyde. AH handed to a young catholic girl at Central Station who replied, "No, thank you, I'm a catholic."
AH said, "but what about your boyfriend?"
to that, the young woman said, "oh, thank you." and took 2!!

Rozelle Hospital - and then there's the view

Rozelle Hospital Part 3

Rozelle Hospital Part 2

Rozelle Mental Hospital - the end of an era

Since about 1840 there's been a mental institution in Rozelle. Some of the practices included chaining people up in basements.... As nasty as that sounds, the lack of staff and knowledge about how to treat people when they lost the plot kept people at least physically safe.
Now they've set up some new flash place that takes 3 buses to get there from the city (one to Rozelle)with 'state of the art' blah blah and high security.
There's been a lot of debate over what to do with the vast and beautiful area of Rozelle Hospital. Some will go the the Uni with an arts school already in the grounds but there's a lot more than that. I wonder if they will wait for things to die down and then sell to the highest bidder for an exclusive waterfront development... gee, would the government really do that? betcha!

I work in an office some days also situated in the Rozelle grounds and took my pocket digital out for a walk last Thursday lunchtime...