Diary of a disaster?

Came across this wonderful blog entry by David Walsh, creator and founder of Tasmania's seriously impressive Museum of Old and New Art. Check it out here.

Below, an excerpt to whet your appetite:

"Grace is now excitedly shaving the head of Jemma’s boyfriend, Matt (who is agreeing to be shorn out of solidarity, since Grace has had some hair removed). Thus the world revolves. And as I already knew but now my knowing is renewed, my world revolves around my children. Through Grace’s misfortune, and through her fortune, I feel pain and I feel joy. And I feel her travails and triumphs more bitterly, and more exultantly, than I feel my own. That’s what love is."

Ohbijou - Wildfires

john clarke and bryan dawe at it again

Their timing is so spot on.

Favourite bit:

Bryan: Do you think you've got better policies?
John: ... Pardon?

Thursday Tunes

Here's some music that found me this week. First up, Australian Bon Iver lover Dustin Tebbutt is from New England New South Wales. How he managed to maintain this sound growing up in country music, er, country is beyond me. But this song gets an overly-reverbed falsetto 'Hell's yeah!' from me.



Next up - and changing the mood slightly - is Pro Era hip hop collective member and 18-year-old Brookly-nite Joey Bada$$ (even his name be blinging) with some very laid back loops overlaid with some swearing.

Take that Thursday and pump it.
 

Kotki Dwa - The Wolf

 

 

Check out this song by UK band Kotki Dwa.

Weird name. Amazing beat drop.

Listen here

Journalist proceeds with stock standard leadership aspiration questions after failing to realise Rudd has been made PM

Well, things have moved very fast this week in politics. Sometimes as a journalist, it can be hard to keep up with the Labor Party. Australian journalist Brian Dunstan had managed to secure an interview with Kevin Rudd the morning after the leadership coup. It appears poor old Brian might have gone to bed early the night before and missed the whole leadership tilt. Here's the amazing transcript from Brian's interview with the newly elected PM the morning after.

 

Brian Dunstan: Mr Rudd, thank you for joining us on 2AHfm breakfast.

Rudd: Prime Minister Rudd, yes.

Brian Dunstan: Prime Minster Rudd?… ha, yeah. Mr Rudd, there have been rumours all this week that you’re going to run against Julia Gillard. Can you confirm here and now for us that Julia Gillard will lead Labor to the next election?

Rudd: Well… um. No, I don’t think that's going to happen now.

Brian Dunstan: Well, will you– … No?! Ha! You probably shouldn’t be telling me that Kevin!  Ok. Well, I’ll ask you this. Will you challenge the Prime Minister for leadership of the labor party before the election?

Rudd: Ah… yes. Brian, not sure if you heard what happened last night.

Brian Dunstan: What?

Rudd: Yeah, I sort of got made PM already.

Brian Dunstan: When?

Rudd: Last night. It was kind of a big deal. I'm surprised you didn't hear about it.

Brian Dunstan: Right… well, to be honest with you, that sort of fingerbangs this interview for me.

Rudd: ... I’m sorry about that.

Brian Dunstan: I had a bunch of questions written down here, which were essentially five different ways of asking you if you were going to challenge Julia Gillard? I was going to machine gun them at you, like a hard hitting journalist. It would have made me look really good! The senior  management guys here at 2AH would have loved it. But you’ve sort of buggered that now, haven’t you Kevin?

Rudd: It appears so. I'm sorry.

Brian Dunstan:  Yeah... well...  Look, maybe we should just go through the questions quickly anyway and then call it a day?

Rudd: Sure.

Brian Dunstan: Ok. Kevin let me ask you directly, do you want your old job back?

 

Rudd: Um-

 

Brian Dunstan: -I’ll just put ‘Yes’ to that one. Ok… Second question. Are there any circumstances under which you will return to the leadership of the Labor party?

 

Rudd: …Yes.

 

Brian Dunstan: Yep. 'Yes' for that one too. Are you destabilising Julia Gillard's Government by leaking information to the press?

 

Rudd: Well- 

 

Brian Dunstan: Let's say 'yes'… Although you failed to give me a heads up on this one, didn’t you Kev?!

 

Rudd: ...

 

Brian Dunstan: Ok, finally, do you still harbour any ill-feelings towards Julia Gillard for the way in which she deposed you as Prime Minister in 2010?
 

Rudd: None at all Brian. Julia Gillard is an exceptional-

Brian Dunstan: -yeah, don't. Just, don't do that... Alright that's it. Kevin Rudd thanks for your time…

 

Rudd: It's been a pleasure.

 

(Off air) Brian Dunstan: Well...  that went well.

Howard Sattler a Hero for Hairdressers Everywhere

There’s been a positive twist to comments made by Howard Sattler last week inferring that Prime Minister’s husband is gay because he is hairdresser, with hairdressers all over the country finally getting the courage to question their own sexuality. James Pender reports.

David Weeks has been cutting hair for thirty years. Up until he listened to Howard Sattler’s interview with the PM, he was happily married to his wife of 15 years, Jennifer. Together, they have two small children, Tom and Lucy. David describes how listening to Sattler’s interview changed his life.

"Howard really opened my eyes to how gay I am. I remember the exact moment Howard said, ‘He’s a hairdresser, he must be gay’ and I thought… you know what? Never was a bloody truer word spoken. Cutting someone’s hair, sweeping it up and putting it in the bin and then charging the person for that service is incredibly gay. In fact, there's nothing gayer. I’m just ashamed it’s taken me so long to realise."

David is just one of many Australians who this week has heeded Howard Sattler’s call to action. Sydney hairdresser Simon Denstal broke up with his boyfriend when he discovered that he was moonlighting as a builder.

"I always suspected he wasn’t really a hairdresser. He used to come home at night covered in dirt. Or you know, I’d find work gloves in the back of his car. So I finally confronted him. I said, ‘are you even a hairdresser or not?’ And he broke down. He said he loved me but that he just really enjoyed building."

And what did you do?

"WWHD. What would Howard do! I broke up with him on the spot."

While Sattler’s comments have been liberating for some, it hasn’t been good news for everyone. Melbourne man Brian Dunston’s love of hairdressing led him to break up with his wife of twenty-two years.
 
"When I heard Howard’s interview with the PM, I was in the salon at the time. As soon as the interview finished, I knew there was only one thing for it. I called up the missus, and told her, you know, that I was a hairdresser, and she said, ‘yeah I know that,’ and I said, ‘no, love, I mean... I’m a hairdresser. I like to cut hair and have sex with men.’"

And what did she say?

"She said, ‘No, that’s flawless logic. Thanks for letting me know.’ And she hung up."

And how did that make you feel?

"Sad obviously, because I love her a lot."

Brian says while he’s relieved to no longer be living a lie, being a hairdresser is not always easy.

"Yeah, sometimes I wish I wasn’t a hairdresser. I wish I could be, you know, maybe an accountant or something, just for the sake of the kids. But deep down, I know I’m a hairdresser. And Howard has really helped me to realise that dressing hair comes with certain responsibilities."

And what are they?

"Well, be gay."

Inspiring stuff. This is James Pender reporting for Jamison Inc

Seeing your musical destination

I've decided that I like music that breaks into a bit of background conversation noise. This is a good example - from about 3:45 onwards.

Without getting too over-analytical (What? You james?! Over-analytical) it's like the musician puts himself in the destination of his music. ie - where will people be when they hear this? What will they be doing? How will they be feeling? And in so doing, the musician brings the destination of his/her music into the studio. It can make the music sounds so much more alive. What can I call it? Synthetic live listening? Musical time travel? Emotional projection?

Anyways. Check it.

The Lucky Country

This week, the leader of our nation had to sit through media interviews about her 'small breasts', 'huge thighs' and 'red box'. She then had to answer repeated questioning about her 'gay hairdressing husband'. Meanwhile, the Defence Force discovered that its officers were demeaning women... Again.

A few weeks back, Adam Goodes had to explain to Australians why being called 'an ape' was hurtful. Eddie McGuire needed it explained twice. Some people still didn't see what the fuss was about.

Meanwhile, Beale, Warner and Gallen set the example for our next generation of young men by punching their way to sporting success.

And tonight on The Project, Steve Price said that we needed to stop talking about these side issues and get back to the issues people care about: border security and asylum seekers.

Somewhere in the middle of all this, Australia was found by the OECD to be the happiest nation on Earth.

Somehow, I don't feel like celebrating.

The Paper Kites take a walk

Lub this song. Lub this video. A simple one shot. A horizontal lanscape. A vertical man. Paper Kites. Get behind me.

Buechner - yellow leaves

“Remember too that life is very good,
And that to live is better than to die,”
And all in all I’d say so still, though sixty-
Six is not so sure as sweet sixteen
What life and death are all about.
Suppose
We lose less, dying, than we find.
Who knows?
Life’s good, for sure, but would we choose to live
Forever if we could? Or might that seem
Like twilight never deepening into dark,
Like never calling it a day, and letting
Go, and lying down to sleep.
“Life should
Be wondered at,” I said, “not understood,”
As if I thought there was a choice, then said,
“Remember love,” as if we might forget.

The National - Fireproof

You keep a lot of secrets.
And I keep none.
Wish I could go back.
And keep some.

You're Fireproof
Nothing breaks your heart
You're Fireproof
It's just the way you are

Yum.

Tears

You never know what may cause tears. 

The sight of the Atlantic ocean can do it sometimes: or a piece of music; or a face you’ve never even seen before; a pair of somebody’s old shoes can do it; almost any movie made before the great sadness that came over the world after the second world war; a horse cantering across a meadow; the high school basketball team running out onto the gym floor at the start of a game.

You can never be sure, but of this you can be sure: whenever you find tears in your eyes, especially unexpected tears, it is well to pay the closest attention.

They are not only telling you something about the secret of who you are, but more often than not, God* is speaking to you through them of the mystery of where you’ve come from, and is summoning to where, if your soul is to be saved, you should perhaps go to next.

 - Frederick Buechner

*For the record, I don't believe in God in the sense of a man (or woman) in the sky.  I think that throughout history, humans have used religion to explain the seemingly unexplainable.  River gods make the water run. Sun Gods make the crops grow. And finally, a God that gives us hope of life after death to take away our fear that this life of ours has no meaning beyond the years that we live it. But I am open to God as a symbol of the concept of the mystery we yearn to understand.

Ane Brun - Lamento della Ninfa

Ane Brun creates a new genre : Baroque and roll.

Bitch - don't kill my vibe

Jamison Inc just entered the club, tooth pick in mouth, cocktail in hand, fur coat and sunglasses on. If you need me, I'll be up the back near the dance floor, slouched in my booth, nodding along.

Bombay Bicycle Club - Leaving Blues

The harmonies on 'Leavinnnnnnnnnn' - just yum.

The National - I Need My Girl

The National performed another of the songs off their new album on Jimmy Fallon.

i'm under the gun again i know 
i was a 45 percenter then 
i know i was a lot of things 
but i am good and i am grounded 
davy says that i look taller
i can't get my head around it 
i keep feeling smaller and smaller
 

The National: I Need My Girl from respectator on Vimeo.

Living up to who we were

You may remember Mr Little Jeans from her beautiful cover of Arcade Fire's The Suburbs.

Here is the Norwegian singer's new single, off her forthcoming album, called Oh Sailor.

It's a perfectly standard pop song, but there's something mesmorising about that child choir.  The collective voices give this chorus a sincerity.

When you feel like you're out there on your own.
Know there is someone watching over you.

Perhaps we each of us can sometimes sense our childhood watching over us.

Putting love first, and fear second

This is what happens when a society chooses to put love first, and fear second. Absolutely awesome. A real reminder of what we have the potential to be when we choose not to let our decisions be ruled by fear, hate and insecurity. Thanks New Zealand.



And here's one of the speeches that got them there.

James Yorkston - Woozy with Cider

Um..... This is juuuuuuust yum.

You know the drill. Glass of red. Headphones. Comfy chair. Lights off.