The Time Being | Steve Kilbey

extra early good morning fiendss
yessaday i run jlk out to his helicopter
and he throws me the keys to the karmic ferrari
and the password that letsa me in
(nutmeg)
to the incredible serene and convenient
kh heady quarters
the chrome the glass the gold records
the secretary birds
the garish wallpaper
and gratuitous displays of welf
jesus
how many did that irish guy sell in asia?
wow
i struggled for this opulence
the secos are all in early
working on khs next strike against
the “straight” music biz
i dont know if you mind me saying it
herr directeur
but its getting hard to tell
whos on whos side here
i mean, did ya really need a sauna and a steamroom
especially as its been erected
im the old sk private office
now gone
so the legions of euro and jap bizness men
can be pampered
while kh skims another cool mill
but for what?
this?
no you silly girls i do not want another
soy hot chocolate with gelatine free marshwiggles
no thank you
yes the kh muesli
soaked in cloudy fresh pressed pomegranate juice
was superb
but next time go easy on the acai
and the wheat grass was a little stringy…
should see the kitchen here
whats jlk running?
a bohemian record co
or a bloomin cordon bleu cuisine noveau?
now leave me alone miss secretary
i have some bloggin to take care of
it wont write itself
if i sit here for my mani and pedi cure
yes my cuticles are slightly …askew
i admit
but please
ah
i banish them
here in this office
i look out to see the pacific ocean
grey and low key this rainy foggy morning
the “straights” head off to their imaginary werk
to keep the great machine stoked up
on statistics memos n boozy lunches
the beautiful surfers ride the waves
regardless of anything else
flat or mountainous
theyre cruising the briny face of the deep
where real monsters loom
well i been listening to three
amazing australian records
and if you fiendss worship me
as much as you should
you should be ordering all the records by
decoder ring
who are an instrumental band with sometimes vox
absolutely beautiful stuff
intricate pulsating atmospheric
guitars
symphonic pointillistic
i got all their records
everyone is EXCELLENT
but especially recommend somersault

bluebottle kiss new album
its a double
melodic savage wild great lyrics
surprising inspiring energetic
urgent
i think all their records are good
but this new one is GREAT!
elk w/ i liljestrom
hey this is so goode!
talk about euro romantic dark weird
intelligent strange
shes on hi fi mikes album as well
the lyrics are so goode too
fiends check these records out
i really dont think youd be disappointed
at all in any of em
au contraire
they are all fuckin amazin

well more on the woes of fatherhood
as ya know
where i last left ya
aurora been diagnosed with strep throat
gets her meddy-cin
oh no doc
she dont likey that one
she swells up
goes all purple
and her tongue nearly chokes her
she’ll be right
says laconic aussie doc
then
baby bouncer
no longer bouncing
in fact shes lolling in her bounce chair
like a limp stick of broccoli
eyes droopin’ n runnin’
she looks up kinda sadly
yes dad i got it too
next ms evie starr n i
go out to get some dinner
at lauries
(you should try their tempeh burger
with satay n guac)
by the time we get there
ms esk has thrown in the towel
im sick dad
i dont want anything
so there they are
3 sick pigeons in a row
guzzling tylenol
chewing echinacea
and thermometers protruding
from mouths
taking their tenpacha
as eve says
oh dear
just what ya want for school holidaze
a buncha sick n restless ninnies
stuck inside
and wreaking havoc
one day inside n evies climbin the walls
2 days n shes demolishing em

any way
do kids n rock n roll really mix?
hmmm…thats what i thought

funny reading all the reviews for ultc
seems like some were gonna write the same thing
whatever the fuck the record was actually like
oblique lyrics
dreamy guitars
etc
blah
etc
blah
others seem genuinely surprised by it
and can see we made a great leep forward
i must say that mr fan-borin’s review
on hotelwombat made this olde rocker misty
im glad you like it
and if he bloodywell likes it
then its good enuff for me
but did ya notice that toggle action IS
derived from interlock off jammed
just as youd predicted
you clever little man
wow dude
you write so well in english
id fuckin LOVE to read it in yer mother tongue

how do people get so good in another language?
im serious here
i would faint if most aussie reviewers
could toss phrases around
like our teutonic friend over here

anyway
anyway
im working on some paintings
have finished my small bit in the movie
(did i tell ya bout the stuff they were
snorting in the party sequence? ha!)
im going over to newt town today
to maybe help davey c w/ his dark movie
(max castle, where are you?)
many things in motion
many things have come to a standstill(ion)
time will reveal all
elli getting better n better
i love you all
good n bad
happy n sad
girl n lad
bye
sk

good morning you voracious fiendss
youve come hanging round
looking for a blogfixx
hanging round on the internet
ready to wolfe down my words
(secretly coated in an invisible
tasteless odourless alkaloid
that will cause addiction after
prolonged exposure)
im sittin in the caf
wearing my negative uninvited like the crowds
t shirt
i have haad some good gnus though
elli herself rang this morning
chatted for 15 minutes
feeling itchy n restless
maybe god willing
she can return home soon
pretty much back to her olde
elli-ish self
but i have actually learned a lot
about her in the last 2 weeks
she displayed constant fortitude
despite everything
and i KNOW
she did better than i woulda done
when i was 14
i appreciate yer concern people
i really do
this is beyond the masks of society
this stuff makes you need other people
and im glad you were there
for me
in the way that you were
luddite that i am
i fume about computers
yet i owe so much to the intahnett
and the way people who liked what
i/we did
could kinda focus themselves
and think its great
and i think its great
that i dont have to wait weeks n weeks
to find out what YOU GUYS think of the things we did
before it was just the critics
(n their little fucking axes theyre grinding)
but now
its instant
im grateful for that

doing some last minute werk on basement tapes
with peter k n jorden bee
hey jb is one talented nice cat
he mixes us live in sydney
he plays guitar on ultc n bwtb
he engineers vox n mixes bwtb
he sings b vox on ultc
and
a true gentleman n scholar
a true fifth member of the hchcur
also david trump
another bouy genius
he has mixed played sung n written n recorded
with us for years n years
hes mixed ultc (in 2004)
its a great sounding record
its beefy
its smooth
its got lotsa subtle things
thatll take ya a while to pick up on

i loved the review in lunarpuke6
old guys who took 2 many drugs one
except i think to myself
cos the dude is saying this ones like heyday
n this ones like blah blah blah
and im thinkin’
but you must be pretty old yerself
if things are remindin ya of heydey
anyway
we getting some goode reviews so far
so far…
of course
some little matt snow is out there
as we speak
sittin in his flat in wapping
the eggy stains still congealing on his shirty
reaching for his laptop
(even tho he no longer has a lap)
and having cause to hit the vitriol button hard
but you all know the problems we rock artists face
in 2006
there are restrictions
we wanna work within the restrictions
yet simultaneously slowly open out
i think ultc does that n more
its the first hchcru that makes me wanna dance
its brash its smooth its stupid its wise
its primitive its sophisticated its cerebral
its sexy
come on what more can you ask for
you gonna be playin this disc for a lot longa
than mosta the othah stuff you shell out for this year
itll keep revealing things to ya for years
i put em in there for ya
slow release
fluctuations over the years
sometimes itll be different
anyway
thats it
love on ya
sk

monday
9 19
sunny bondi etc etc
the postcards
the t shirts
the surf boards
the juice bars
the thai restaurants
the tourists
the blow ins
the johnny come latelys
the israelis
the hasidics
the mums n dads
the kiddiwinks
the teenagers
the bag ladies
the hoity toity models
the south american coke dealer types
the shop owners
the hangers on
the main men

yeah bondi

yessaday we have ye olde eggy hunt
for the doodles
doodles dye their eggies n paint em
then we go to ye olde parky warky
nk…keep them doodles bizzy while i hide eggies
big ole daddy promised the doodles 2$ for each eggy found
ok here i go
putting eggies in trees etc
uh oh theres other kidss in the park watching me
they seeing where i hide eggies
when nk unleashes the doodles to find eggies
th’other kids swoop in
they know where they all are
oh no
its all going wrong
just like i sing in that song
that eggy that i hid
that they wanted to find
but all they found were other kids
where the eggies used to be
so we got about 10 boys all aged about 10 to 12
swamping our egg day
evie is beside herself
and storms off
aurora is more enterprising
shes gotta basket fulla eggies
n
shes already counting up her bux
and picturin the toys she gonna get
nk running round tryin to keep evie interested
ok ok
we gonna have another egg hunt
an auxillary hunt
nk gonna hide em this time
those effing boys watch again
and swoop in to find all eggies
chaos reigns

nk and i play a game called kubb
a swedish game where you throw batons
at wooden blocks
we play against mah bro jlk n his mate matt
this is a very zen game
ole sk has inherited olde joycie bennetts (my mums)
feel for spatial relationships
i musta admit nk no slouch either
we win 2 games
but jlks friend comes good at the end
and we lose the last game
i heartily recommend this game to anyone
its avalable in the us cos someone i know got one
its good for mild exercise
and is great for all ages
(will you listen to me now….)
anyway we finish the game
oh no
what now
aurora is languishing on a bench
lookin like death warmed up
i dont believe it
she got tonsilitis
it comes outta nowhere
her throat all pus-ey
her tonsils swollen up
her face all grey
a temp of a million etc
oh god off to the quacks with her
gee this being a father lark
kinda hard on ya, isnt it
i go home with evie
still grumbling about the eggies
baby bouncer still grumbling
cos nk ran off to doctors without a proper feed
ok i go home
karin calls with elli at the hospital in stockholm
elli on five different painkillers
all hooked up to machines
how are ya darlin?
good comes the weakest of repies
how are feelin
good daddy…im good
elli i know ya not good darlin
yes daddy im very good
i realise shes trying to stop me worrying
daddy i gotta go now
karin tells me ellis had a little bleeding
in her spine
doctors divided if shes needs another operation
i cant believe this is happening
karin sounds so tired and hollow
elli is being so brave n positive…

later that night the orrible cchhru has a meeting
at a thai restaurant in newt town
we get caught up on one thing
round n round n round it goes
sk nods off
its been a long fuckin day bouys
finally at 11 somethin
we end our meeting
i sign 300 copies of ultc
(just what i wanted to do)
go home
fall into bed
have strange dreams
half awake
dreading another call from sweden
no news
good news
get up
baby bouncer lying next to me
waiting quietly for us to all wake up
she gives me such a lovely smile
as i open my eyes
the doodles come running in
aurora proffering her forehead
im better daddy
can you take us swimming?

its another day fiendss
life
its warm
its good
ya gotta treasure it
ya gotta love ya loved ones
ya gotta be kind n considerate
ha you say
you were rude to me once
backstage at the (fill in gig here)
im sorry
im a grumpy olde bastard sometimes
im human
im gonna try harder
i love you people
who read this
and i appreciate you all
the noisy ones
the silent ones
the pretty ones
(hey i got some pretty girls reading my blogg
look at the pictures)
the regs
the newcomers
ya all welcome here
life too fuckin precarious
for pretending
im gonna try n knock out some good stuff for ya
this week
i got loads on
finishin’ my movie
all kindsa things

see ya round
sk

morning you lot
this is gonna be quick, by necessity
happy eastah etc
(whatever that means (to you))
did my gig
was it a shambles?
chaos?
a fiasco?
i dunno
you bee the judge
a possibility we gonna put it
on here for ya to downlode

elektra has had some complications
still waiting for news on that

its not easy fiendss
im overcommitted n underfunded
somethin gonna give somewhere

i guess i m gonna be back 2 morrow
give ya a proper bloggey then
love sk

happy goode fryday
you holidaying fiendss
sk has no holidaze
everyyday the same to him
so i envy n pity ya
in equal proportions
gotta feeling todays bloggo maybe
ye olde mixed bagge
in which i pontificate on things
as if anything i can say
will make any difference
but inna way this science of blogging
is a miracle for me
cos (not that ive ever read another one in my life)
im a blogger at the top of his game
im ALMOST a better blogger
than lyricist
and didnt i declare myself the winner
in that field too
i am the judge
the jury
and the recipient
of my systems idea of justice
yes i am a harsh critic
but i apply that to myself
only half a dozen songs
this olde wordsmith dropped the ball on
for a quarter of a century
some people have written better lyrics
than me
but have they kept it up
record after record
in fair wind n foul
i never wrote my songs down to ya
n
i dont write my bloggs down to ya neither
its like yer sittin’ here with me
9 50 good friday
we both been to the icebergs
we did our laps
the water was PERFECT
the temp is about 77 degrees
its nicensunny but not ultra cookin ya
im sittin’ here in the internet joint
the one run by the jap girls
im a f%^&$ing regular here, joe
thats mah machine you be usin’
ah thats better
i putta lotta thyme into this computer here
and its startin’ to love me back
i am programming it with my will n intent
anyway
i watched the preposition
by nicky cave last nite on dvd
fair bit of tomato sauce, i’ll grant you
but um
in the end
i felt like i’d wasted the time n interest
i’d spent on it
sorry nicky
but i did love your book
and recommend it
along with the boatmans call
which i really like
but not the one that came after that
where the singing went up an octave
and it sounded fuckin ridiculous
and the lyrics were a little twee
(kittens in laps ,puhlease,yer sposed to be the prince of darkniss)
but im very proud of ya generally
(as if he cares what i think!?)
and shows that australians
are capable of things
that some other countries cant do
but he sure is a maverick
i think hes capable of anything now…

yeah its good friday
the day they nailed our saviour
why is it good friday, daddy?
whats good about it?
well sweetheart
its good because
the bad guys got jesus
but he hadda die for our sins
so it was good he died
in a bad way of course

look fiendss
i know one thing
i read the bible
cover to cover
i know what jesus message is
its so simple
be a good guy
love everybody as much as ya can
do no harm
try to love god a little…
thats really it
but religion has so complicated this
why?
so the same kinda idiots who nailed jc up
in the 1st place
the important pollys n priests
so they could use this to get hold
of the hoi polloi again
by the balls
with a whole lotta mumbo jumbo
latinate ritualistic supersticious
who can follow any of that
where did that happen in the gospels
no
its accretion kids
look that word up sonny jim
it means that blokes added their own trip
onto the inspired bits by the real deal
so you get yer c of e
yer catholics yer baptists yer luths
yer methos yer presbos
yer united church of upper downs
i dunno
where is that stuff in the bible?
ya see
when i read jesus words
(or whoever the fuck said them
it doesnt matter to me
someone had these thoughts
they are revolutionary
sublime
heart stabbing thoughts)
when i read em
i feel its all so easy
i feel so good
heres the message
take it easy baybee
thats it
if you genuinely take it easy
everything else will take care of itself
people taking it easy
dont interfere with other people
taking it easy themselves
simple
simplistic maybee
but true nonetheless
same as buddha said
just sort yaself out dude
dont worry bout him or her
forget yourself
and youll remember
well
buddha actually never said anything like that
thats my attempt at wryly
transliterating some of the pali sutras
for ya
ha ha
you know what i mean
i can put it in some fancy latinate for ya
whaddya want that for
ok
thats it
go out there and be nice
its easy
so make it easy on yourself
cos breaking up
is so very hard
to do
sjk

yeah fiendss
im filming the film
im halfway thru
im playin an olde music producer
livin in bondi
i gotta coupla scenes at skinny dips cafe
then saturday i film the ubiquitous
“party sequence”
before i go to the sando to slay ya dead
with mah charisma
(which i just had topped up)
boy im such a goode akta
i cannae believe it mah self
plus of course
im getting plenty of offers to do
more akting from the admiring onlookers here
theyre wondering where an actor of my calibre
has been all these years
well i started off acting a child
back in the sixties
then i started acting as a handsome
young popstar
then as a handsome not so young pop star
now im playing an avuncular kind olde guy
that you all can and could love
im playing a daddy
im playing a husband
im playing a troubled dude
who eventually came goode
thanks to yoga swimmin meditation
and all the rest of it
the theatre is the world
you are my co actors
this is the script
feel free to improvise
any how
i gotta get back to my luxury trailer
snort some brain draino
have my steroids
check the botox
etc
i’ll bee seeing ya
sk

thanks for your love n wishes n prayers
ejjk after 6 hours under the knife
op pronounced successful
dont underestimate those wishes
the pscycho-kinesis of good luck
the player on a winning streak
the belief
that changes the shuffle from a deuce
to an ace
it all helps
perhaps as the scalpel falters
the prayers hold it in its course
i dunno
i was operated on once
for my arm
it was busted in 3 places
i was still on the “gear”
i didnae wanna come in from the cold
but it went black
i hadda get it reset
this was in sw. eden too
i hadda get it rebroken
well let me tell ya fiendss
in case ya never had anything broken
cept yer heart..
breaking does hurt
but rebreaking
ah..thats excruciating agony
yer humble hero waking up from deep anaesthesia
fucking screaming
MORPHINE
however already being well along
the road to opiate self medication
the morph did little
to alleviate the fire burning in my arm
im never gonna play the bassey again
i thinks morbidly to myself
i escape from hospital
my arm on fire
score even more medication
down the train station
medicated almost to oblivion
the pain recedes
in the narcotic evening
falling down in my mind
so add that to one more reason
not to get on ye olde gearski
if ya need an op
then the morph aint gonna do much
for the pain
anyway
i must thank lord v
creator of everything
and in whose hand
everything rests
holding aloft the immense spheres
keeping the innumerable universes
revolving in space and time
as they must
and yet
alone with you
in your heart of hearts
and so beautiful and lovely
he lets you have yer hearts desire
if you can really handle it
fill me with your infinite love
let me be like i could
one down
one to go
sk

identical twins
is there anything weirder
than identical twins
there was always at least one pair
at all my schools
i learnt early about the diff
between fraternal and identical twins
we had the abbott twins who were 2 peas inna pod
and we had the holloways
brian had almost white hair and darker skin
john altho he looked like brian
his hair was sandy and he was paler
maybe weighed a little more
a pair of identicals usually reduced me
to some silly state of envy confusion
a willingness to want to penetrate this thing
this doubling up of nature
why did that egg split and become 2?
no body knows that answer
myself
i say
2 souls with same right to egg
“i tell ya what, sis, i’ll go ya halves”
2 souls with something left unfinished
2 arch enemies reunited as duplicates
or
just
2 strangers on a train
like the rest of us
wow i used to hang around sometimes
with these guys the king twins
they were so fucking identical
it took me ages to figure it out
oh those beautiful subtle differences
which your eye can seize upon
so you dont get fooled
so you dont make that ultimate faux pas, pa
ya call em by the other ones name
yeah ident-y-cal twinss
what a fucking trip
all those movies where id groan
when ya realise
oh no it was a bloody identical twin
that did it
the evil twin gone wrong

i saw a film once bout 2 i. twins
somewhere in usa
they play around do this n that
but at dinner time only one goes in
the other waits outside
we eventually come to realise
that one is dead
only the other twin sees him
the dead twin urges the other on to evil deeds
etc etc
oh and the grandmother teaches him how to
see thru the eyes of the birds
oh yeah that my kinda film
why not more of this stuff
and less of copsnrobbers?
shakespeare had twins
he had twins in his plays too
but now ive seen the true joys n tribulations
of being an i. twin
ive seen the confidence
the camaraderie
the support
the gestalt
and
ive seen all the other stuff too
the comparisons
the mistakes
the part of a package deal
double trouble!!
if i hadda buck fer everytime i heard that
you cannot even begin to guess what they share
how their relationship is
because the other one has always been there
right from the second that ole eggy
went splitsville
(and fiendss, they can split 3 ways too)
there she was, the double
the mirror
yer best friend forever n ever
twins fight like demons
ive seen e and m lookin round for anything
they could lay their hands on
scissors vases anything
they go at it tooth n nail
suddenly its over
not a word
all friendly
you cant intervene
one day in sweden one twin rings me up
at my place not too far away
theyre about 6or 7 then
daddy can you come over and punish her
shes been really bad to me
ok im comin right over
i get there
its the twin who rung answers the door
ok i say
im gonna make her sorry she did this..
is that what ya want? i say
she nods
shes determined
give her a smack daddy she says
vengeance in her eyes
i go in the bedroom
the other one in there
i say to her
you better pretend im punishing ya
scream n carry on
so she does
she starts wailing
im yelling n pretending
of course
the other one bursts in
no daddy no
but i thought you wanted her punished
yes daddy
BUT NOT THAT MUCH!
sometimes theyd cry when the other one was hurt
even if they werent there at the time
i tell ya one thing
if you took one of em out on their own
they would rapidly begin to miss the other
and theyd always say i wish she was here
we made up lots of games
walking round stockholm
kicking stones
or suddenly 2 of us
running away and hiding from the other one
we were even still playing that one
last year actually
we went down the coast
stopped at kiama to see the blowhole
which is almost never blowing
one twin uses the toilet
other twin quick as flash
lets hide daddy
we behind a tree
when other one comes out
its starting to rain
and shes realising shes in a strange town
and her father n sister seem to have skedaddled
the other one with me is laughing cracking up like a fiend
i cant bear to see the other one so dismayed
we jump out from behind our spot
ha ha ha
just like olde times..
anyway
i was myself dismayed
to find out today
that i musta been naive
to think one i. twin was
gonna have something and
not the other
minnas got the same condition
i might be goin over soon for a little while
i dunno
i think its all gonna be alright
sk

good monday morning to you
today im goin in to edit the footage
of the cchhru at the basement
ive already seen it
and its gonna be a real silk purse from a sows ear job
believe me
not cos i look like ive thoroughly lived
every one of them 51 years (baybee)
tho i do
not cos of bad sound and mistakes
tho it has these
but for the indefinable magic
that has been lost
the thing that held it all aloft
the glue that held it all in place
you know when people say
you hadda be there
theres some sense in that
i can think of so very very few live performances
that have not withered reproduced
in the sunny confines of yer living room
able to control the volume
ff and rewind
light n dark
pause
stop
the band have lost the hegemony
the audiences clappin n screamin
have receded to a polite smatter
the expressions of exstacy
pain abandonment
the grimacing that a guitar seems to wanna
make ya do
those crowsfoot inducing loud roars
instead of singing it proply
the impossible closeups
that no one would ever see
ah..
no one has ever really filmed us live
and captured it
cos it aint possible
the closest thing
believe it or not
is a single shot
of the whole band
from halfway up the middle
of the audience
thats who the bands playin’ to
not to a camera
six inches above and away from
yer left temple
so ya gotta see the whole band at once
its nonsensical to focus on the singer
thats why theyre a band, right?
i dunno
anyway
ive never felt the magic in live recordings neither
you gotta be there
thats it really
if you aint there
you cant get the feeling
on a cd or dvd at home
youve isolated one alkaloid
out of a whole drug
dont be surprised if the results
are disappointing
now ive realised this my whole life
im trying to think now
of a record that i like thats live
get your ya yas out
is the only one i can think of
and that cos it possibly snuck in
before mah critical faculties
sharpened up to todays
fever pitch
(nothin’ can get over the bar)
but as for anythin else
theyre all disappointin
(yeah dylan bootlegs too)
(and the dead, i cant understand
the dead AT ALL)
and all those tedious bowies double
live bore a thons
its like filming a play
it doesnt work
its wooden
its pedestrian
the cchhru live is a conceit
that needs an audience
it plays to the audience
it cannot play to a camera
the cchhru n cameras
do not intersect
its a one off thing
for that night
on dvd
on cd
the jokes dont make ya laugh
the music dont make ya love
the performance dont make ya live
so whats , uh, the deal…?
i dunno
its filmed now
i must only hope for amelioration
i must placate the inexorable gods
expressed in pixels n blanks
shadow n light
flicker
flicker
persistence of vision
you see muddy
i’ll steal from anywhere

ha!

sk

dear ….
how are you today
me, im fine
its a sunny morning here in bondi
seagulls, azure sky, white fluffy clouds
backpackers, tourists, old men playing dominoes
young girls texting on their poisonous mobile phones
shiny cars disgorge bright passengers
half lives
skin deep
frail old lady meets my gaze
in another time n place
she was a stunner
somehow i convey this to her
she sends me an image
a warm night, a garden
two lovers have detached from the main party
in the light of the lanterns
in the light of love itself
they stand among the shadows
at the edge of the water
the moon reappears
in its rays we see the womans face
breathtakingly beautiful
the solemn planes and angles
her perfect nose almost leonine
her closed eyes
translucent thru the lids

that was me she says
i break off contact
in a another second
i might have seen
that the man was me

bondi markets hauls itself together
an uneasy truce at the waterhole
hippies selling plants n incense n “eastern” stuff
the chinese massage guys
doin a hard sell on ya
then givin ya a good olde pull n push around
fer yer moneys werf
theres people selling hammocks
theres a great lookin asian dude
he gotta be my age
his hair all teased up in some kinda keith richard 1973
he sells military shirts n stuff
with patches stuck on
i got 2 shirts off him
my 8 ball shirt on ultc
n my super service as worn on all white tour
he buys these real cheap shirts
bungs on a lil patch (iron on type deals)
he charges like 65 bux
what does it matter
its the idea ya pay for
he had that fucking idea
and ya happy to pay
cos hes taken all the guess work out of it for ya

in the interior part of the market
people are seeing how THEIR idea is goin
some are cleanin up
others sit forlornly
their macrame pot boilers
and their impressionistic photos
unloved by the hoi polloi
i hate it when ya stop in front of a stall
maybe cos the crowd has almost come to halt
in the narrow spaces
and ya stop and they tell ya the price
of every trinket or second hand book end
on the stall
i was once the sorta junior partner
in a little clothing/market venture once
we werent doin so great
until one day my partner had the idea
of buyin all these scraps of material
that noone really wanted
all different colours
we got loads cheap
then i silk screened stuff onto the bitsnpieces
each one was an original bit
then she sewed all the bits n pieces
each individually silkscreened with
all kindsa stuff
rockstars faces
little slogans like
mandrax made me do it
or
let me take you to the empty place
etc
(insert own early sk ism here)
then she sewed that into this big sloppy kinda
sweater/jumper/pullover/turnover/pushover
these things, my sweet fiendss
sold like hotcakes
and soon we would getting 1000s a week from em
till the bubble burst a few months later
(by then everybody in sydney musta had one
each one was totally unique
i’d be walkin along in paddington
and id see all these snooty modelly types
walkin along with my fuckin logo across their chests
i even screened pictures of myself, a spider
and the words the church
this was in 78/79
so you can see i was doin some forward thinkin
mind manipulation marketing tekkneeks
even back then….)
people
i have rambled away my allotted time
i have other flocks to attend
and i aint even had brekky yet
just 3 gumballs and a bottle
of fiji water
yessaday i had an excellent nepalese veg
at paddoteen market (as evie calls it)
the scene of my brief fashion bonanza back in 1979
full circle now
sitting in the pleasant autumnal sunshine
with b. bouncer bouncing on mah knee
selling tat at the markets was never really my kinda thing
(mind you, there was loads of pot n stuff back there
in those days
so i m sorry to say i spent mosta the time
stoned behind a rack of clothes
freezing my ass off
and plotting how one day
in the far distant future
there would be a world wide web of computers
and that i would write my kinda memoirs
on a machine
instantly effortlessly
transmitted all round the world
in an instaneous flash
really
i was!
sk