thorpie live at sunbury

next song dedicated to john from maxine

“It’s Bennelong time,
Bennelong time,
Bennelong
lonely,
lonely,
lonely,
lonely,
lonely,


.....time”

Thanks to nabla in comments over at Tim Dunlop's

tokyo cats

This photo was taken last night. These are Tokyo cats out on the street in winter getting warm by sitting over a set of in-ground street / park lights

progress report on weekly kpi's

Watching: Cheap Trick Live at Selena’s Sydney DVD 1988

Stopped watching: Dalziel & Pascoe - cos its jumped the shark into The Bill soapie territory from character driven stories.

Listening: Staples Singers collection and Handsome Family bone up for live concert next thursday.

Stopped listening to: WEST Lucinda - see my blog entry below.

Reading: Dummies Guide to Iran; Dummies Guide to Weightlifting and Strength training;
Bury Me Standing, The Gypsies and their Journey, Isabel Fonseca = A grand panorama of European Gypsydom, its histroy, its present condition and its future prospects;

Dying To Win, The Strategic Logic Of Suicide Terrorism, Robert Pape = looks at the facts, stats and concludes:
-suicide terrorism is NOT primarily a product of Islamic fundamentalism,
-the worlds leading practitioners of suicide terroism are The Tamil Tigers - Marxist-Leninist from Hindu families and
-all suicide campaigns have wide support and clear goals that are secular and political
FXH says read it.

Drinking: Little Creatures Pale Ale - very cold.

Eating: with above Little Creatures Gummy Shark @ $23 a Kilo crumbed in Moroccan spices and lightly grilled on each side with asian salad and ginger and lime juice.

Sitting / reclining : Under air con

Going to: Chinese New Year at Box Hill tonight to eat gyoza and Mo Pa To Fu and watch dragons and firecrackers and nightmarket.

Looking forward to: The Handsome Family Gig with The Flood opening and later on Ron Sexsmith, Dale Watson and I think I should also go see Lee Scratch Perry. And also The Australian Chamber Choir on March 3 and the Necks at Melbourne Town hall.

Loathing: Hot Weather

Fearing: Not Sleeping another sweaty greasy whisky priest night.

Texting: The daughter in Taiwan, 新年快乐 Happy New Year, on her way to Kyoto, Japan for a week

lucinda williams - west

Available for around $23 at JB Hi-Fi in Melbourne since middle of last week, the WEST album by Lucinda Williams is, as they say, eagerly anticipated, long awaited and ..........a big disappointment for fans.

Initially I thought it was just me. Sometimes the day is wrong, the car not the best place to listen, the couch not the best place to listen, it will be better late at night, a few grogs perhaps, or my non active listening fallback, I'll put it on while cooking.

I'm thinking, where's the twang, who is playing pedal steel, slide, fiddle. Answer no one. At least not so you can hear. OK. I'm cool. It's moody perhaps. It's Lu's Wrecking Ball. Nope. Maybe it's what we used to call the crossover album. Oh well there's 13 tracks must be something soon. Ah. Track 7, Come, On sounds great. Go back turn it up loud. Good. Play it again. And again. No. It won't sustain repeated listening. It's not Changed the Locks.

So maybe this is the album for the girls not us boys. But the most respected female country music blogger in Australia the world, Flop Eared Mule, reviews it over at Hickory Wind and has a similar thumbs down to me.

Lucinda's voice is magnificent with age. Weary, alive and kicking, but let down by the production, backing, and yes, her own songwriting. I've had much the same problems with Van Morrison's last few albums. His voice is still great enough to hope for more but the songs and arrangements are by-the-numbers.

What was I hoping for? Blood On The Tracks or even Desire, perhaps Tonights The Night, or highlighting that grain in the voice, an American series type album. Her voice has that quality of Cash's that will reward close mike recording and sparse arrangements. But the songs on this album just aren't there.

It occurred to me that this album might be the one that non country fans might buy and consequently get curious about the back catalogue. I'm not about to put my copy on eBay, but I can't see it getting too many scuff marks from repeated playing.

It's no accident that I compared Lucinda Williams to Van Morrison, Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Neil Young.

Life goes on. I'm sitting here waiting for the next album by Lucinda Williams.