a long weekend into jazz...

that's what it seemed like. three nights of listening to uber cool music. oh yeah. started off with inga at the mustang bar on friday night. i think i've got a convert to swing. what fun.

saturday i met up with marija and stuart at the quarry ampitheatre in city beach. hadn't been there before - what a fantastic venue. anyway, libby hammer and hip mo' toast were playing. and not just any kind of swing music, but a few australian rock classics converted to swing. pretty fabulous stuff. few of the crew from swingit! were there, doin' their thing on stage. just glorious.





there was even a strip tease from the band members. ultra sexy like into their blue bond singlets. ah, sweet australia day. ha!!




sunday at twilight i went along to a series of free concerts that the city of subiaco put on through the summer - this one was held at uwa. june smith and the new apple band. she is just amazing. her voice. wow!! and just so happens that a friend, graham (a great musician) is playing the keyboard.


this is the view across the road from uwa - pretty nice huh?


i closed my long weekend with a full monday of star trek: next gen viewing. oh the good life. :)

24 working days to go...

and have i shown you where i'll be living yet?? with good friend soph, in north carlton. close to everything.


i've got so much going on between now and then, i have to remember to sleep. :)

i HEART lindy hop

you gotta try it if you haven't already succumbed to the wonder and joy that is lindy. no, really. fellas, you will be guaranteed of a choice of swooning partners if you can dance. i'm needing some sleep at the moment after two nights of jitterbugging my way around the dance floor... would give up the ole zzz's anytime for lindy. :)

2008 and already another countdown

first day back at work after a two week holiday... how does one settle in? most people aren't back yet, so it'll be a quiet week until deadlines are remembered and panic sets in. ha!

so xmas was relaxing and damn hot... perth in the early 40s (and no, i'm not referring to the 1940s but temperature). there was very little movement after the eating. here's a pic of the girls from christmas day. me, niece larissa, sister ainsley and my mom.


boxing day turned out to be another hot one, but luckily enough i was in my car for most of it, driving up to kalgoorlie. a thought while driving was that the next time i was on this road and heading in this direction i would be driving over state lines. how very exciting.

anyway, the few days in kalgoorlie-boulder were relaxing ones, trying to stay cool was the biggest effort. everyone is well, and i told my nan i wouldn't post the pics of her sitting in front of her fridge (not trying to stay cool) with hair dryer in hand, defrosting some ice. dripping water and electricity, sure kids, follow in your elders footsteps. ha!

back in town for new years eve - and thus far i only have one photo which gail took of me prior to the evening starting. it's pretty much me in about 1986 - and yes, griffin crescent had been turned into a 1980s club for the evening, many thanks to melis and al.


oh yeah, i was hot and cool all at once. haha!!! i know, you wish you knew me back in the day.

okay, enough gaffing on. back into the new year - expect BIG things my friends.

um...

so i haven't been here in a while... that doesn't give anyone the right to steal my toolbar away from me. must i now have to use html to sort this out?? hmm... anyway, i'm back. it's been just over a month and i can hardly believe it. i apologise for staying away so long but things have been happening.

let's see... for one, i've started lindy hop classes with swingit!i'm definitely in love there. the dancing, the music and the promise of buying myself cool shoes and clothes.

then there was the sunday morning i headed out to the usual breakfast in the park and found that some very silly individual/s had put a brick through my rear car window. and not just the window, through the panel work as well. so i lost my car for a day when it was in the panel beaters. only a day? i hear you ask. for the moment yes. early feb i get to lose it for up to 5 days while they replace the temporary hatchback. at the moment ivy looks like she has racing stripes, as the hatch is white against the deep green of the rest of her body. i thank my mom and sister for driving me to and from the panel beaters.

the big news for the month (besides being only minutes away from christmas closedown) is that i officially RESIGNED from ECU. yep, i'm outta here. last day is february 29 and i'll be leaving for melbourne (first of all kalgoorlie) on monday march 3. yes, i'm driving across the country again. this time with my trusty camera, so expect some wide open country photos.

disappointed!

i'm not in a good place at the moment. very disappointed, with myself mostly. i was doing my usual sunday morning in the park reading the papers and i come across the announcement (every second page it seemed like it) of a new documentary premiering last night. thanks for listening: the history of australian radio. yep, pipped at the post again. i started researching this doco just over 2 years ago, after the commonwealth games show bit the big one. and no, it's not nice to know that i'm on the right track, at the right time just not having the right corrections. it's crap. and i'm really frustrated with it all. now what?

a saturday in northbridge

what a fantastic day... started off wandering through a little church fete. had i known it was on i would've arrived earlier, before all the lamingtons and scones had been snaffled up.


then just a few short blocks away...


i wandered around the area, waiting for the shows to start and marija & stu to show.

came across a few odds and ends.




this next pic is of the gastropodia, which reminded me of the snail from never ending story but mixed with the wish dragon falkor.




the strange fruit ensemble were just fabulous.





main stage: adam hall and the velvet playboys and the swingit! dancers.




then fliptease on the high trapeze... well parts of it were sort of high. and then other parts... i will just say, contortionist... eek!!










vulgargrad was a lot of fun. "old songs of the russian thieves, punk of the perestroika era and a dose of st. petersburg ska".






i went and got some dinner during vulgargrad and returned not only with a chicken gozmede but this...


strange fruit was up again after the russian gig. these are a melbourne-based group, who are just mesmerising.
















i went home not long after that... i was disappointed with the krumpers - though melis and al said they did improve. :) but i had a super day in all. thanks northbridge.