DKs over time

I just can't take sides with the Dead Kennedys and was particulary heartened to see a fellow MySpacer had all of them as Friends so, either they don't check who their fellow Friends are on any given site or they would think it churlish to withdraw. Dunno.

Anyway, I do love

• East Bay Ray
• Klaus Fluoride
• Ted
• D.H. Peligro

I tell the world I do.

As you'll notice, the conflicts within the band have come to define them, post the split with Biafra. This would be a shame in any group but particularly so with a band with such an uncompromising, and insightful, political stance.

08 there's more

I didn't mind 2007 as much as some and it certainly finished well. Now we have a Minister of Environment, Heritage, and the Arts who has prefigured every criticism we've ever had of politicians in the lyrics he sang out front of the band. Give me Midnight Oil over big oil any day.

Speaking of astute politics

Fifty year old Jello

Hard to believe that the lead singer of the (real) Dead Kennedys is now 50 years old. Perhaps, taking this positively, radical politics isn't just a young man's game anymore.

I was a fan of the earliest punk - from Perth to London and points inbetween - but no band articulated their position on the way the world really is better than the Dead Kennedys and, much as I love the musicianship in that band, it is Jello Biafra who defined this uncompromising political stance. Happy birthday you old bugger!

Somebody bet on the Bay

As of this moment I'm feeling lucky (though it is only my first day back at work). We officially went to the only music festival that wasn't rained out. We chose so well we had perfect conditions. Or should I say, my partner chose well. I just went along for the ride.

Not that I haven't got myself to these super events but this was special. Even the Victorian version of Falls Festival, running concurrently leading up to New Year was too hot.

In Tasmania we didn't get our unbearably (still ten degrees below Perth) hot day until Saturday. And then I went for a swim in the beautiful clear ocean of Bruny Island. We walked on air! (with only yards of chicken wire and the odd enormous pylon to spoil the effect) at Tahune Air walk and bathed in the home beauty of visions out across treetops, hills and the ever present sea in the distance.

I couldn't resist the damn Internet a couple of times but kept myself busy with being away on holiday. I greatly enjoyed reading the local writing and noticing the difference. Only my second time in Tas and nary a repeated pattern.

I won't be traveling at the back of the plane again though. Which is what we did on our flight home to Hazo. Probably lucky there was a substantial stopover in Melbourne as I wasn't ready to get straight back on a plane.
It's the only time I've ever got the paper bag ready. And glad I didn't have to use it.

We were traveling in daylight so at least I got to see the island as we passed over it on our way back to the mainland.

II

Highlights of the festival: Adam Hills doing a routine based round his detachable foot, the Mess Hall being one of those surprises that makes you feel all nineteen for a minute. Though, truth be told, there were enough real nineteen year olds around to disavow me of such notions. Kev Carmody, who I forewent a good part of a Waifs performance to watch, was well worth it and we went into the blazing sun for Clair Bowditch. We saw Kings of Leon and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. More to put on the list. Kev finished his set with the song he co-wrote with Paul Kelly and so I got to see both versions (Kev Carmody explained it in guitarspeak but of course I couldn't really comprehend beyond one was a more acoustic take, the other rocky. It was an absolute treat to see Thou Shalt Not Steal live as I've loved this song each time I've heard it played.

Chuck

I picked up this book by Chuck Norris (as you do) and flicked it open to a page that said that his son was born in October 1962 and that, to help pay the bills with the new addition, he got a job in records management.

I was born in October 1962 and have a job in records management.

Coincidence?