A favourite of mine - unknown photographer, Australia - early 20th Century
Shamefully, I kept this on a pinboard for many years (cos I used to ride motorcycles a lifetime ago) - this rider is making dust! I always thought he had a cigarette in his mouth but I guess it's just a mark on the negative... wish I had the negative
==
Again, no idea - it's one of those make your photograph into a post card from the first 1/4 of last century - It has "post card" in 3 languages so it is from Europe somewhere - I reckon it's from English occupied India - there is one Indian looking fellow (the only one with a water bottle at his waist) and the tanned white boys are all wearing those silly English safari hats - as if wearing one of those will save them in a fall... Perhaps the hard hats are for the sun or really for bullets...
===
Raphael's Motor Car Hire & Repair Company is a photo I've had, I think, the longest -since teen years. Again, photographer and place unknown - most likely Australia (the building suggests Aust)- and date? circa 1920s me thinks
The t-shirt was maybe yellow and beige and I think my Mum still has a photo of me with really bad hair (a home cut maybe and probably only 11 years old) playing tippy-go in the yard (that's cricket but if you tip the ball you have to run - hence the tip & go!)
- usually we played with an old tennis racquet from the dump & a tennis ball.
I thought I was never that good at Tippy-go but one day as a mangy teenie at the beach (playing hooky no doubt) I did really well and the boys who so did not want to f**k me were almost impressed at my tippy-go ability - they almost understood respect and camaraderie through the haze of their oily hormones..
(lovely suburban Adelaide in the 1970s - they also pretended to be surfies - on flat wave Adelaide beaches!!)
==
Annnd, then there was, "Hey Charger" - every time you see a Chrysler Charger, you must hold 2 fingers up in the peace sign & go all sultry and say sexily, "Hey.... Charger!"
I was about to do that a few years ago while visiting Adelaide and some yobs in a hotted up car yelled, "Lesbian!"
Gee, that's tough.. and your point is?
*only in Adelaide...
A few treats have come home to hang around on my turntable is the past couple of weeks. Sometimes a picture sleeve can be as good as the record (sometimes better!)
Amongst the collection I now have the lovely Roberta Flack - could I resist this cover, I think not:
An Australian EP, it of course features one of her most famous songs (First Time Ever... and then you snored... heh heh) and a rather forgettable duet of You've Lost That Loving Feeling, which was never such a great song in its first outing (by whomever sang it - don't tell me cause I'm not interested - oh, it was those 2 blokes, one had a really deep voice & they wore beige polyester suits...) Doesn't matter, I would've bought the single of her First Time Ever... but having it for the same price as a rare EP is fab... and, wow, that hair!
Then... sigh... :
An obscure New Zealand EP from 1967 or 68 in fabulous nick - Phillips obviously banking on the popularity of her BBC 1966-67 television show (the photo is from the show) but such a groovy telly!
Phillips brand of course...
- featuring 3 previous A-side singles (Give Me Time 1967, What's it Gonna Be 1967, Wishin' and Hopin' 1964 - USA not UK) they named it My Colouring Book - a B-side from 1964 - who knows how Phillips execs worked then. One of the nice things in Australia that not only did we get Dusty's UK releases (Her "Where Am I Going" Australian release LP is even a better mix than the UK LP - and it was never released in the USA) but we also got the USA only releases as well but often with different covers.
anyways to fly a little way - 20 years - into the future - I also picked up an English pressing of Nina Hagen's "African Reggae" 45 with picture sleeve - another Parramatta Road bargain:
===
So, that's an Australian release by an American, a New Zealand release by a Brit and an English release by a German
== then there's the Skunk Records Luxemburg EP release of a punk rock benefit compilation (Amore & Anarchia) with 4 bands from... all over the joint and the vinyl is yellow - see:
Tracklisting: A1 Toxkäpp Märder A2 Subway Arts Bow To No One B1 Bakunin's Children Bart Simpson B2 D'Rotzbouwen Intro / Subcaos - I'd call it more earthy punk rather than hardcore but it packs a punch when played loud loud and made a very work-weary AH happy the other night when I became home DJ & played my new find before revisiting The Frumpies and a splash of 7 Year Bitch (the later on CD)...
When Sydney has its gorgeous Winter days, it's always a delight going for a walk. My walk today had purpose - I finally finished 2 years of tax return accounts. I reckon that government payout did the ATO a big favour in that I'm sure it's a bigger record of people doing tax returns than the years when they announce an amnesty...
But, so on the walk, and it IS on the way to the accountants office is the artist's house - the wonderful Jenny Orchard & her fabulous totems:
This one pisses me off so I thought I'd share it with other folks who are into enjoying being annoyed by squeaky-voiced, hot pants wearing blond Scotts
-as opposed to squeaky voiced extra pair of socks in the jeans choking on own vomit Bon Scott(s) -hmmm will the rock god police hit me with 1 million volts of lightening bolts ... oh, dear I must mean High Voltage!!
Damn, see, corny crap pop from my small child past makes me silly with pun.
the following band was called "Middle of the Road" but I think they should have called themselves the Tweeties or Squeaky Squash Squish goober something...
When I think of 'middle of the road' (MOR) it's a style of music very bland and boring and more like those 1980s soft rock bands or torch singers with bad synth (think Whitney, George Michael, America and their 'ken horse, Eagles, Icehouse and all those A-Ha type bands and without thinking about how nice Annie Lennox looks, have you listened to Eurythmics, There Must be an Angel - it is soooo MOR I may have to self-harm)
MOR cannot always be easily ignored it can be very very very annoying - in the past week I've been working for a lovely fellow researching some archives in Ultimo where there is different boring radio stations piped throughout the building each day and it's been making me a bit ratty. How can Vega FM make even Patti Smith sound wrong... by surrounding her song with tedious Icehouse and some other shit. Another day it was 2-Day FM - Kenny Rogers and all! At 4PM one day, the office people changed the station to a christian program - whoa, that's definitely MOR (hands up who wants to see Guy Sebastian naked??) with really odd god advertisements thrown in just to gobsmacked this unsuspecting atheist.
But to get back to 1971 this bit of bubble can on first listening not be dismissed as easily as 80s MOR -it is annoying yet catchy at the same time
urgh - did I write that? Catchy? no it's fucking not. 'ken chirp your fucken cheep... and what is it with the Tweety Pie voice?
See if you can last through the whole song, have a little singalong while you're at it... share it
I don't even know how I got to be listening to this - that's the disease of it...
http://www.youtube.com/user/dascottjr
These folks have done the best voice over of that corny epic Bonnie Tyler hit, Total Eclipse of the Heart,showing that it's way more fun to sing what is actually happening in the clip - it begins funny and then gets hilarious. I love Youtube - but Sony sucks by being lame copyright corporates - forgetting that the people who did this and people watching it & enjoying it were major contributors to the wealth this one release made (except me I guess... hmmm, maybe those that enjoy this most couldnt't stand the effing thing!)
hopefully you can get the gist of how much fun this is until the greed monsters jump on it again
Zombiefied humans ride the escalator to heaven or.... obliteration! Do they know? Have they been hypnotised like in some b-grade sci fi film and follow commands without queston from a strange fearsome mutant creature from another planet? oh, hang on, that's Hillsong or the JW's or Scientology
There were no bespoke tailors (or closets - this IS Adelaide) to be seen in this place so we were suspicious of the true meaning of this arcade... May 2009
It's been a bit of a crappy weather week. I have a lot of clothes sodden on the line out the back - I may have to put them all back in the washing machine to spin so there is a slim chance they will dry. There's a break in the rain this afternoon and I can hear the squawks and squeals of the rainbow lorikeets in the straggly eucalyptus tree in our yard.
A fabulous actress and so beautiful and intelligent to watch - if I saw her name in the cast of any film, I knew it would be excellent but now she has died of cancer too young. 4/5/1944 - 14/5/2009 the last two films I saw her in were, Hilde and the utterly wonderful Vier Minuten And I am looking forward to seeing her in The Murder Farm with scrumptious Julia Jentsch (Sophie Scholl). Now looking forward to this screening takes on a whole new meaning - I hope I don't have to wait another year to see the only screening in Sydney at the German Film Festival. This is just not fair.
AH and I are back from a short visit to Adelaide. She bought me a wonderful new coat and I've brought home souvenirs from a Saturday spent at an antiques and collectables fair in the trendy Adelaide suburb of St Peters. That was not the reason to fly to South Australia - it was more relative (and friends...). At $4 each, these 3 Dutch postcards circa 1942 of the famous 1.5km Maas Tunnel, which opened in 1942 are a treat (didn't know what they were when I bought them, just that having a postcard of an empty tunnel tickled me) There is a parallel tunnel to the auto tunnel for pedestrians and bicycles, I assume that's where these fabulous escalators* (above) are situated. I often buy old postcards to send to friends & family for fun (It began with my Father sending me all sorts of quirky cards including an original 1950s Queen Elizabeth visit to Australia postcard that now lives on our fridge) but these tunnel cards are just too special to give away. Now I have a reason to visit Holland.
(the sign is an Exit Here notice but the literal translation is "Here Go Away")
*After looking up the Masstunnel online I notice the escalators in my photo-postcard have been modernised and no longer exist...(the tunnel is a tourist attraction - I reckon for folks who are partial to a world tour of tunnel discovery and I think those people exist)
Next I may have to look for photos of factories postcards - the pleasure goes on.
A.H. and I did a bulk deal again this year and went along to 5 films that screened at the 2009 German Film Festival. Films were good but the most outstanding was Hilde – the story of actor, singer, writer; Hildegard Knef (above).
Running for 2 hours, which I never noticed as it was totally engrossing & starring Heike Makatsch (Aimee & Jaguar, Resident Evil, Anatomie 2, Love Actually) who bears striking resemblance to the real Hildegard:
(abvoe: Heike Makatsch)
===
Hildegard Knef 28/12/1925 – 1/2/2002 – Another true Diva to celebrate.
Hildegard was 14 years old when WWII began and studied acting in Berlin under the Third Reich. She had an affair with a Third Reich bureaucrat & disguised herself as a male soldier during the last days of Hitler’s hold over Berlin, mainly to avoid being caught (and raped*) by Russian soldiers (don’t miss it if you ever get the chance to view Helke Sander’s excellent 1992 documentary, *BeFreier und BeFreite ( Liberators Take Liberties)- about the not so celebrated actions of the Allies in Berlin)
Despite being invited to Hollywood by David Selznick, her USA success was on stage on Broadway.
Moving back to Germany, she continued acting (with a little controversy) but truly found who she was in the early 1960s when she started writing, recording and performing her own songs and some memorable covers. She was also a prolific book writer, survived breast cancer and died from emphysema in 2002.
The film, Hilde, is a fabulous portrayal of a genuine diva – try to see it.
(at the beginning of the trailer she says, "who is Hildegard Knef? I've found an answer to this question, This is Hildegard Knef" - when she first stands on stage as a singer)
Ella Fitzgerald is quoted to have said Hildegard Knef is "the best singer without a voice".
Here in the 1970s, she does rap (probably called spoken word, you reckon?):
Having always wanted an Aston Martin since I was 15 yrs old (wow, that's a while ago), I came across my dream model up for auction this weekend, well, today actually.
I don't care about it being out of rego and I'm so not looking at that puddle underneath near the rear... THAT CAR SHOULD BE MINE!
Here is (my) the actual car in the auction room this weekend: a 1954 DB2/4 Grand Tourer Mark 1 (not the Spyders or the funky DB3 )
I even got AH excited about it even though she was a little more taken with the 1958 Porche Cabriolet (and it was gorgeous)- there were some really interesting cars and motorcycles in the auction rooms and we spent some time looking in cabins and pretending we were deciding which car we really wanted to buy...
I don't have $100k to 150k to throw around so I may have to resort to a 1960s model like the DB5... that's just downright sexy... vroom (except that's a bloody James Bond car - best I add another $100K!)
Another model of my 1954 DB2/4 sold last year for $165k & in the USA, for $USD200k+ !
gosh.
A cabriolet model was featured prominently in Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds
Quick Tippi! put the roof back on!
Tippi Hedron's character spends a number of scenes being out-starred by my car as she drives to the quaint coastal town in pursuit of the Rod Taylor character. She doesn't get pecked by a bird until she LEAVES the DB2/4 at the docks, roof still down and takes to a dingy. hmmm. Later, driving at twilight, she parks the car and there is only one brake light - but what a star; when they grab the kid from school, surrounded by all those birds, Rod Taylor puts roof on in a flash.
And, of course being the true star of the movie, the car is immaculate, not a scratch, not a tear as they drive away from THE BIRDS!
This must have wonderful car that should belong to me has also starred in some film called Checkpoint (1956)about racing cars, The Saint (ha! show that Volvo a thing or too) and made many appearances in the 1953-57 TV series, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Presents
Even though I haven't driven cars or ridden a motorcycle for 15 years, when you do see me driving... well!!
==
postscript: OMG, OMG, it was passed in at auction. AHHHH.
How exciting that the Rudd government has "kept true" to it's promises for same sex couples law reforms. And what better way to let everyone know by headlining with "Couples are Couples" - if you're on social security and have just done the dyke thing of move in together the day after the night you met, say bye bye to your dole. That's right, 'equal'(read: almost, sort of close) rights means the Gov wants to cut more people off the dole. Will this mean that people sharing house who are the same sex will get as harassed as a man and a woman sharing house? I shared house with 2 people who were long time friends and housemates. They were both homosexual and of the opposite sex and Centrelink used to hassle them all the time as defacto (even though the bloke was obviously camp). That's a thought - I wonder how people will react when Centrelink asks housemates if you girls or guys are just good friends! How do straights answer that one? Gosh, I can almost taste the strained homophobia.
What other reforms are there? umm, if you're a breeder there's stuff and a bit of immigration, which is good - makes moving to Australia as difficult as straights that don't marry. I'm not into following the hetero flock (and really find the white wedding and expected expense carryon totally ludicrous) but the Labor Party still won't agree to marriage between people of the same sex. Marriage can only be marriage if it is between a man and a woman.
Damn, what happened to the days when you could get a friend to put your dole form in... No one bothered the unemployed and the unemployed could hang out with other unemployed and do stuff like watch Prisoner on the telly and get really excited when the midday movie was in colour and almost adult & modern while eating baked beans straight out of the can... Sure people could bludge a bit and winter is a bit cold to get a job and summer, well how about that heatwave, can't work in that... But eventually people get work - the people who want to rip off the system will always find a way to rip off the system but it seems everyone gets punished. So gee thanks once again mediocre feddies I feel all warm and not too furry knowing that any independence I feel as an individual will always be under scrutiny. See, reforms that don't go all the way really only benefit one way. Same can be said for the work place relations changes - someone may work for 20 years and get retrenched but if there's less than 15 people working there, they get nothing and dismissal is not unfair. How fair is that? Arts, what arts? And Then There's The Pulp Mill
It would've been Dusty Springfield's 70th birthday last week & it's 10 years since her death. So happy birthday Dusty. If I was to step into the tardis and step out around 1967, hell, I'd do more than peel grapes on request!
Nonchalantly holding a camera, I spent an afternoon in March taking photographs as I walked from town to Paddington to meet AH for a gallery cruise. There was quite a bit to photograph, which I will work on as I go along and so far the bus ride home came up with a couple of gems:
Both images show people unaware at the moment I pressed the shutter button that they were being photographed. I like the candid nature of these.
ly 2 weeks after making a tape for Meggs - to torment, tease and delight her on her old Sony Walkman, I got the bug. After a fun evening & a little wine, AH & I got dancing & giggling with my humble vinyl collection to make another "tape for Meggs"
How could I surpass the greatness of Shocking Blue's Venus... the additively cuteness of Lynsey dePaul and the total coolness of Nancy Sinatra singing Bang Bang...and damn, how fab & fun is Cher's Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves...
A different mood was needed altogether... but it was the arrival of my Blue Mink 45 in the post that insisted there be another Tape for Meggs.
And once again, I set the rule of only playing music I have on vinyl.
Side A:
1. Can The Can - Suzi Quatro (LP 1973)
My brother was the bigger Suzi fan when I was a teenie. To me her band was really ugly to look at (aesthetics in pop mean a lot to a teenager) but she was pretty cool even though it looked a bit silly having that big bass guitar so low when she was so little.
I saw her on the telly recently in an English whodunit where she played a has-been type rock star, still on the booze. She was excellent and funny.
In the early 1970s her biggest record hits were in Australia (followed closely by Europe / UK).
Born in Detroit USA, she's lived in the UK for many years, was the voice of Rio in the Bob the Builder film and turns 60 in 2010.
4. Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll by Ian Dury (LP 1977)
The LP cover this comes from includes Ian Dury's son, Baxter at the age of six.
5. Shivers by Marie Hoy and Friends (LP 1986)
Also sung by The Boys Next Door (Nick Cave), this is from the Dogs In Space movie soundtrack - to me, hers is the coolest version - one of my very favourite songs from the 1980s.
AH doesn't like hearing this song because an old boyfriend a lifetime ago used to sing it, badly.
6. Tubular Bells by Mike Oldfield (45 1974)
Unlike the long-winded LP where he announces all the instruments about to be played (gee, isn't Mike a clever lad), this is the single - the compact version, an excellent tune and was released as single from the soundtrack from the The Exorcist. A friend of mine can't even hear the title of that film; it frightened her so much as a kid...
7. O Caritas by Cat Stevens (LP 1972)
Excellent guitar, wonderful macho voice with a splash of high drama. Love the Cat.
8. Penny Lane by The Beatles (EP 1968)
Can't even remember when I got this EP record it's fun to play & this particular piece of vinyl has the romantic, nostalgic addition of quite a bit of surface noise... but no distortion
9. Eleanor Rigby by The Beatles (EP 1968)
Got lazy & let it play from the last song.
10. Billy Don't Be A Hero by Paper Lace (45 1974)
As said in a previous blog - they're a bit like topiary & cement garden animals - 4 men often in matching suits with spangles and with the same flower in each lapel. In this song, they also whistle and the 5th member, the drummer, is the singer... fabulous.
I still regret the day I didn't buy that how-to book on indoor topiary from a sale table... At least I have Paper Lace on 45 (I would never regret not buying their LP - that would be like actually having a topiary garden)
11. The Corrupt Ones by Dusty Springfield (LP 1967 - soundtrack)
Crappy B grade James Bond wanna be film starring Robert Stack & Elke Sommer (need I say more...) BUT! - with a fabulous theme song
12. I Feel Free by Cream (LP 1972)
13. Elephant Talk by King Crimson (LP 1981)
SIDE B.
1. Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen (LP 1985) a hits LP - the song was released in 1975
I don't need to link this one as everyone has heard and can probably still sing it most the way through, making up that other language operatic bit.
AH learnt English at school singing songs including this one - funny, hey?
To my horror, I cut off the first word of this song underestimating the leader tape and apologised to Meggs. She replied that it’s fine but her face tightened as she told me about the guy who'd been stalking her and was a nutter Queen fan as well so she's not too fussed about listening to Queen.
I may have to redo the tape.
2. Young Blood by Rickie Lee Jones (LP 1979)
From her first album with the hit, Chuckie's in Love on it that really was overplayed in its day and I'm still not in the mood to hear it. Young Blood is cooler and less self conscious.
3. Games Without Frontiers by Peter Gabriel (LP 1979)
Not the original video to this song but all I could find after looking for, oh 3 minutes...
4. One More Cup of Coffee by Bob Dylan (LP 1975)
With accompaniment from Emmylou Harris & good fun to sing along with providing one does a nasal roberty bob impersonation.
5. In The Wilderness by Genesis (LP 1976)
one of those "Rock Roots" series. Original recording was 1969 & it shows - a little corny but it has a good pop feel
6. Dancing Barefoot by Patti Smith (LP 1979)
Poet, patriot, artist, messenger. I saw her in concert last year (2008) at the Sydney Opera House - I think none of us, the audience and her, Patti Smith, could really believe it. She loved opera at a young age and said on stage, I may not be able to sing opera but I'm singing in the Opera House!
The last time I'd been in the same room as she, it was the local Enmore Theatre in 1997. Ushers kept making us in the audience stay in our seats. Patti got down, off the stage and danced with people until we all got up and stayed up. This latest concert was full of subdued people and I was asked to sit down during Gloria (I knew the playlist and it was the 3rd last song for f*&ks sake) - hey mister, this is rock, this is Patti Smith and I WILL NOT BEHAVE!! some sweet girl in retro clothes suggested I dance over there, in the side aisle... ... where do these people come from?
At the age of 62, Patti Smith is dancing through the audience, motioning people to get up and dance. They get up as she passes, clambering arms with hands out to touch her, only to sit again when she passes. What a lame lot of well fed people...behaving... She was talking politics - Bush was still in but Obama was on the campaign trail.. Here, Howard was gone, even humiliated and Rudd is in - quiet, mediocre and not John Howard.
Patti Smith lives in the Chelsea Hotel in New York. She was there when those people flew planes into the twin towers. In the book of her exhibition, Strange Messenger (2002 Andy Warhol Museum) she writes; "They (the twin towers) are gone. And all those people. I keep sitting on my stoop looking towards the night, to where they were, thinking they will reappear. A dazed businessman impeccably dressed, save for the white dust covering his shoes, passes..."
7. Starman by David Bowie (LP 1972)
Check out the boy in the audience with the horizontal striped vest who spots himself on the monitor about 2 third through - What an effing dork. As a just made it to wet dreams youngster, would he ever envisioned being seen more than 2 million times 35 years later - heh heh.
This song has been covered by more than 25 other artists. This song was not a first choice for Bowie's album, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars but replaced a cover of Chuck Berry's Round and Round, reportedly on the insistence of Bowie's record company lawyer/executive, Dennis Katz.
8. Universal Radio by Nina Hagen (45 1985)
go Nina. Nina for president
9. Dancing In The Street by Martha and The Vandellas (LP from original recording 1964)
10. Too Nice To Talk To by The Beat (LP 1983)
(see! and you thought I couldn't remember the 80s...)
11. Dear Prudence by Siouxsie and the Banshees (45 1983)
12. Doodlin' by Dusty Springfield (LP 1965)
Have to go now & play some records...
This record cover is doing the rounds and too damn irresistible to ignore - imagine finding this under the Christmas tree! Damn, imagine finding one of these girls in ya bed! How's the therapy coming along?
and what exactly DO they mean by Jesus Use Me - not what Bill Withers meant when he sang "Use Me"
I had to get my glasses adjusted at the optometrist, which happens to be next door to Baz at Egg Records. Cleverly, he had a box of singles & EPs on his counter. I said, Hi and what in here. I found an EP from 1993 from the Frumpies: "Babies and Bunnies" - lots of fun and thanks to the always entertaining Youtube, there's even some clips of the songs from this EP.
An extra on this vinyl is around the inner part where there's usually a serial number etched in - something a person doesn't often look at. There was no date on the record itself so i held it to the light to see if it was etched in. It wasn't but "SKANK AND CHILL" is beautifully engraved there. On the b-side is engraved: "UNFOCUSED HATRED SEEKS A VICTIM"
now I'm off to meet my good friend, Sylvia for a beer and no doubt a chat about her lovely fella & my fabulous gel... as well as, you know, stuff including this little treat of a record
that's my scribble on the flyer - wot a dork! (if you click on the picture, it will come up bigger & readable)
== Siouxzi Mernagh has just finished her fellowship with Berlin ici (Institute for Cultural Inquiry) - an institution that organizes fellowships for people to work on projects that require lots of brains. Stuff like: Death Drive, Repetition Automatism and Seriality in the Intersections between Psychoanalysis, Cybernetics and Popular Culture With thanks to Siouxzi up to 20 of my images (from the series I have posted online on my website (some other shots SM chose from here)will be shown as 3x4 metre slides during the course of a "Sydney" evening in Berlin she is putting on to celebrate the completion of her fellowship film. She wanted to show Sydney different to the usual Opera House & kangaroo look by presenting a quirky, inner west view - more like the Sydney she knows. I share the Unseen Sydney part of the show with Megan Yeo - we are both rapt. Lucky Megan leaves for Europe on Monday, just in time to catch the show - I'm looking forward to hearing all about it.
A glaringly sunny morning and there's dozen policemen & big vans in our street before nine on Sunday.
Our house was door-knocked - I was lying in bed vaguely waking up listening to the news on Radio National.
Two pleasant policemen waited at the door while I got decent - ish. The main fellow asking questions was very interested in those annoying noises I heard sometime between 5 and 6 AM.. I think that was the time. "Are you sure it was two male voices" "Yes" "Could you hear what they were saying" "No but I tried to listen to what they were saying - I thought it would be better than telly but I couldn't hear anything"
Rats! In the early hours of the morning I was annoyed by the noises & talking but just as I thought I would do some, "bloody stop it with the cars doors will you!" yelling out the window but suddenly they either stopped or I went back to catatonic land. The other thing is it may have been the media opening and closing car doors a dozen times & trying to talk quietly in our little street with all those trees and warehouses now made into apartments - sounds bounce all over the place.
Later, resisting the urge to gawk (a fine art in need of practice), AH went for a little walk & met other neighbours also not gawking. from what they heard from someone who heard - who probably heard something, it was a balcony fall... jumped or maybe he/she was pushed...
In-house events or "serious incidents" (as the nice policeman called it) are less frightening than say, the robbery outside our front gate or the aggravated rape just up the road in the park at 9PM one night...
One thing I do know - I'll be gawking at the news tonight.
I finished off some old slide film I had in my op-shop bought 1975 Ricoh Rangefinder and had it processed as print film (cross-processed)- it took a few goes to get the negative to scan ok.
Today as I post this, I'm feeling a little Gothic... and it's raining outside.
Marijuana grows wild in Missouri but eerily drawn eyebrows and 3 toned permed hair takes true mastery
=== if you click on the image, you will get a better view - Dorothy Peterson: Trend Setter! And I know what else she thinks about when she's slipping on that uniform: shoulder pads would be nice. (I told you she's ahead of her time!) +++
A week ago I visited Meggs Yeo in her shared studio space in Petersham with the purpose of taking some photos of her and her work. an enjoyable time was had.
Friday 6 March AH and I potter into Sydney town & check out the Hyde Park Barracks, which is now a museum. By 3PM I really need some lunch and the cafe there closes at 3. I suggest we go to the little place opposite the NSW Art Gallery - get a coffee & salad roll. On the way down Art Gallery Road, AH says, "what's that?" and spotted next to a large Ficus Hillii (fig) what we thought to be a rat but realised it was a very, very young ring-tailed possum, the size of a little guinea pig. It was just sitting there, unafraid, enjoying a forage and munch on the fig fruits...
Fortunately there was gardener nearby and I brought him over & asked him to call a ranger to take care of the little one. The ranger was there in under 10 minutes. The gardener asked for us to stay with the possum, which was a good thing as I had to ask 2 people who stopped to see to please not use their camera flashes. Then it occurred to me that I had a camera in my bag that would not need a flash to get a record of a really cute little creature.
Finally to the little snack bar for very good coffee and a salad roll. Other native animals we saw or heard that afternoon were; Kookaburras, Sacred Ibis, Rainbow Lorikeets, Little Corellas, Sulphur Crested Cockatoos, Little Cormorant...
We popped into the the NSW Art Gallery and had a look at the 1600-1800s Korean paintings (Joseon Dynasty) - fabulous - there's some amazing surrealist looking pieces, 200 year older than the Surrealists we all know about (not quite the images I saw but the only samples I could find):
There's been a bit of protest from people mostly the workers about to lose their jobs - fair enough. There has, I suspect been a lot of shrugging of shoulders with an "oh well, that was bound to happen" and "what can we do?" etc etc Bonds, home of Chesty Bond in his famous singlet (that has a minor celebrity spike in the late 1990s when gay men visiting from the USA reckoned the singlets and Tasmania's Blunstone boots were the thing to wear). Now the lot (not blunnies yet though.. I think) are moving off to China, home of questionable work practices and pollution. I wonder what will happen when Chinese workers get unionised to help stop the exploitation and punishment.
Addison Road, Marrickville, Sydney Australia - a crazy mixed up street. Partially paved with bitumen, partially with cement. It has a feeling of Carnie people sometimes (Carnival types) rather than the edgy, could be protection racket people on say, Marrickville Road...
A mix of residential, commercial (mostly scruffy secondhand DIY) and industrial buildings.
some of the buildings look like bathrooms.
And just to prove it girls serve beer in their underwear in the pub on the corner: "Lingerie Waitress" (just the one then?)
But it is the Ming On Trading Company that's my favourite building on the street.
