The Time Being | Steve Kilbey

bob

fiddle about

yeah i had a big strange week

the orchestra thing is shaping up to be huge

at least in musical terms

i really hope anyone in sydney will/can come along

its a once in a lifetime gig i reckon

then we have bard of bondi which’ll be the complete opposite

intimate and fun (i hope )

i spent tuesday sitting in a bar with rob younger from radio birdman/new christs

we were paid to sit and drink bourbon and talk about rocknroll

nice work if you can get it

neither of us got pissed

rob younger is a warm and self deprecating guy

radio birdman were a terrific australian band that started in about 74 75

the english press were not kind tho they shoulda been

i loved birdman myself

rob and i were surprised to have so much in common

we listened to same records and we loved the same people

dolls iggy etc

the whole conversation will be edited down to a five minute sequence on VICE tv

whatever that is

it was a fantastic day

work offers continue to pour in

i am falling behind again

so i should go and keep painting for my exhibition in LA

thanks for yer attention

aloha you screaming ninnies

sk

not easy being green

hello my ninnies and ning nongs

wow i have been neglecting my blog

its boring to say how busy i am all the time

i mean why bother?

but next week for example

2morro i am rehearsing at 100 for charity gig in waterloo

then at 6 till 9 with orchestra

then do charity gig round 10

next day i get up at 6 to fly to melbourne to film an interview for something (not sure eggs actly)

then up early next day to fly to brissie where i am help produce some stuff for 2 days

friday i do interview for orchestral thing

which is on

saturday, yes will be spent rehearsing soundchecking with orchestra and finally doing gig

meanwhile i try to paint on and on

times running out and im trying to get a certain number done

i am also playing a doctor in a short film sometime somewhere

as well as all this other stuff and im losing track

thanks for the birthday wishes

theres two ways a looking at it

one is yer lucky to be alive so shut up about yer age

the other is

what a drag it is getting old

oscillating between these two things i go forward

59 years old …who woulda thunk it?

still writing my memoirs too

and all kinds of other things coming up

seriously tho

i ask every single one of my sydney fans and maybe mobile melby fans

or even brissie fans to come down and see the eighty piece orchestral gig

21st september at the great hall sydney uni ..it will be something

anyway thats it for now

i gotta keep on going here

love on ya forever

sk

Wishing you a very Happy Birthday Mr Kilbey. All the best for the year ahead, from your church family.

its not about me

the show in LA has sold out

the orchestral show is on 21st september the great hall sydney uni

i believe tickets are going fast

its gonna be huge

i am guest at brisbane writers festival from sept 4 to sept 8

i will be playing reading and blah blah blah-ing over numerous events

my art exhibition is on in LA Oct

its called the ancient world like my song

gods and geezas and gurls from the good ole days you know

its on at Century Guild (great name!) Culver City

Yes i will be there

meanwhile

i have a tendency to bring out the worst in people

my genius and idiot are too irreconcilable i suppose

i am constantly confronted with baffling ethical problems concerning my work

remember this

i am self taught in everything i do

i figured it all out the hard way

i worked long and hard at all my crafts

and i aim for being the best

although i can never achieve it , my aim remains so nonetheless

i literally dreamt all this up

it may surprise you that i encounter much turbulence as i try to deliver

a lot of it of my own making

the idiot and the genius get it mixed up from time to time

its not easy

just cos you can write some songs doesnt mean you know how to do the right thing

sometimes there is no right thing

just a lesser of 2 wrongs things

at age 4 i could recite probably 5 grown up poems complete with emphases

i was thrust onstage at age 6 to recite poetry in the wollongong town hall in 1962

i wrote my first song at 10

i wrote my first good poem at 16

ive been immersed in this long and hard

i get in a lot of disagreements and stalemates with people

heroin knocked me out of the ring for 10 years

a lot of things happened i just looked on

almost everything i do involves someone feeling upset about something

i upset em rehearsing

i upset em painting

i upset em sleeping

i upset em waking up

when i lose win or draw someone somewhere is upset

yet i am the bloke dreaming this up

however i am neither firm nor unfirm but wavering

i prevaricate second guess i get it right sometimes wrong

i cant be good at everything and i am certainly not

sometimes i think of alexander and the gordian knot

well i have had to move forward or like a shark i will drown

some things change

somethings remain the same

all of you who read my stuff presumably because you like me

none of you know how hard the idiot in me fights other people

so that the genius’ good ideas can be heard

sometimes i dont even know who or why or what i’m fighting

other times i am simply stopped in my tracks by something or someone

it takes me a long time to get liftoff velocity but now again i have it

remember this too

from the very get-go i have had people telling me how to do it

and people tell me how i shouldnt do it

skeletons in closets , dirty laundry , half a century of blab

theres a lot of creating and theres a lot of fighting

ive done my best

i did my best

and  i decided i aint listening to anybody

i dont come round your place and tell you how to do what you do

sometimes i have to assess things and make unpopular decisions

but they are decisions about my own affairs and you gotta trust me

or not

actually whatever you like

my ONLY allegiance is to my own muse

if that is stymied then i have to change things

but no one not even me has all the facts

in fact sometimes it is an unpopular way or no way at all

whatever anybody in this world says or writes about my own stuff

i will do it my way

and when i decide i am doing it i am not gonna stop

and thats the end of it now

for the time being

robbery with violins