ok
dear commenters, subscribers, fiendss and foes
i am so sorry for my not time being here
for however long it was….
i was working long hours
stuck in places with no internet (believe it or knot)
jesus i can hardly remember the victorian gig now
it was kinda cold
i talked to gudinski
i walked thru the crowd
and i realised how much paul kelly means to em
and how we could never approach that…
for this crowd at any rate
cos i guess these people have jus’ been listenin’ to kelso
(as grant used to call ‘im)
(and grant really loved kelsos music too!)
their whole lives
and they met n got married n divorced n bet on the horses
and played cricket on the beach and had christmas barbies
etc
and they fucking well love him
and yes i wrote he was ordinary
and i guess that was envy talking
cos i wish i had thousands of people coming to see me at wineries
cos kelso can sell these big joints out on his own
and hes got this vulnerability
this softness
and theres no one else like him
he is kinda ordinary
but in the sense of an ordinary day
because paul has no pretentious stuff left in his songs
they are economic universal easy and often beautiful songs
check out randwick bells which grant especially made me aware of
pointing out what he considered were the implications in a very simple song
paul is a great australian writer
but he avoids condescension
he is a relaxed and engaging performer
he easily remains intimate even at this great range
and with all these people……
his band is excellent
some of his songs are real gems
good on ya kelso….!
anyway after melby
i have meeting with polinski n crew about mimesis
polinski as iconoclastic as usual
one guy at meeting says
“we dont want this taking up a lotta time n money”
polinski says “i do !”
ha ha
i thought that was pretty funny
i hate those meetings where there all talking the olde jive lingo
blah blah timeframe blah blah actioning blah blah heres my e-card
anyway we fly to perth
and its very very hot
the road crew are all bright red in the faces
n sweating buckets of ink as my mum would say
steve its really hot says jordy b who really IS the 5th member of the cherch
cant be as hot as last new years day in sydney i say confidently
it is says jordy b ,steve ,it is..
when i hit the stage its over 100 fahrenheit like 43 celsius
and the guitar strings are red hot n detuning
the bass heats up
n im carrying this great hot lump of wood n metal
all over the place
trying to be cool n enigmatic in the scorching withering heat
kudos to the audience who tolerated that n listened
well the band heated up
and we played n angry n hot block
which is so-o appropo cos block was written about days like this
hot stinkin’ australian days that blast your white skin
and make your pits gush water n yer head fuckin’ pound
i stood on that stage
in the direct sunlight
my sunglasses fogged up
the music screaming in my headset
my fingers plucking the molten strings
and about 8 thousand people
and all around grapevines
and mountains
and that merciless sun
and im fading fast
but i give it everything i got
and we crash n burn gloriously
afterwards im knackered
i go to motel
blow a spliff with sam spans on a building site next to motel
while lightning strikes itself above us
next day
is swallowed up in leaving perf n flite back
nothing remarkable
so there you go
itll be bizness as unusual from tomorrow on
so stay tuned
tonite is state theatre in sydney
bye bye