The Time Being | Steve Kilbey

a lotta people asked me over the years
hey sk
give me some good veg cooking tips
and i say
give em a veggie burger
that’ll keep em happy
and i myself have searched this world
with its seven corners and four seas
searching for that perfect veggie burger
i hate em dry
i hate em crumbly
i hate em full of eggplant n capsicum
i hate em mushy
goddamn it
only boca burgers in america have ever come close
then
at a vegan fest this year
a lady called loren turned me on to this
yes
its the holy grail of all veggie burgers
i been veg for many many years
i aint ever ever found a burger like this
eat this and smile fiendss
i dont care even if youre a turkey who still eats meat
you will like this
this is the one shot across the board answer to all burgers
bountyburgers, my friends
www.bountyburgers.com.au
these babies got more protein
than you can shake an index at
no gmo
no animal products
natural ingredients
but oh
oh the taste and the consistency are…..scrumptious
delicioso my friends
look i could have one for dinner EVERY night
they are crunchy on the outside
they are juicy on the inside
and you can even pop em in the fucking toaster!
i get no kickback from this advertisement whatsoever
i am making the unprecedented move of
endorsing this amazing veggie burger
on my otherwise pure blogge
for the selfish reason
of wanting these burgers to go on being available
because i am one of the worlds foremost veggie burger experts
and i say
THIS IS IT
LOOK NO FURTHER!
the bountyburger has arrived
and lo, my veggie fiendss
it is GOOD!
find em
and
devour em!

sk

and dont forget to read the blog below
2 blogs for the price o’ one
thank you

you know what
just like the pink fluid
i realise there are very few if any artists
whose work i like from beginning to end
eg trex i dont mind the 3 albums before beard of stars
i hate anything after the slider….anything…what a waste
bowie….nothing after heroes..bar the odd good song
beatles ..i dont really love the stuff before say revolver so much
i mean i respect it n all that but rarely listen to it
the church…didnt really jump on till heyday
and i love priest but hate fucking some of the others
bruce springsteen…nothing after about 1978
dylan…same as beatles with ultra early stuff
i guess i’m a mid period kinda guy
my friend johnny h suggests i “do” exile on mainstreet
wow….thats a hard one..to do
because i love tumbling dice more than anything
because i reckon its the ultimate slowish sloppy grinding old rocker
honkin’ tonkin’ boogie woogie southern fried sexy fuckin rock
sometimes thats whats its about
rock gotta be about sex as much as space
because sex is part of the holy trinity of sex n drugs n rocknroll
n really
have you found any better triple pastime than this?
so i like my rock to be sexy
and i dunno i guess i thought this was
you gotta roll me and call me the tumbling dice
i can remember blasting this song with delight
when it came on the car radio
my dad would let me borrow his mazda rotary
and i’d cruise canberras highways n boulevardes
dressed in my tshirt levis n thongs (flip flops, you yanquis)
i had a girlfriend lived on the other side of the lake
in truth i enjoyed the drive there in my dads car
more than i enjoyed actually seeing her
anyway i remember turning up one day
i was 17 at the time
and she’d bought sticky fingers
and i just couldnt believe how GOOD it sounded
pumping outta her rich daddys soundsystem
(usually reserved for a bit of sunday classical)
wow!
and the cover with the zip….oh …well i dunno, do i..?
anyway i was lying there with my head in her lap enjoying moonlight mile
when her mother comes in n says
if steven is so tired he has to lay down then i suggest he goes home !
oh ha ha ha isnt funny how memories are blasted onto yer brain forever..?
but for a while
we were 2 teenagers listening to the rolling stones on our own
and feeling like anything was possible
it had this urgency
this immediacy
it was wasnt some old music hall thing
it wasnt some showbiz sham
it wasnt the fuckin’ establishment n their secondrate “pop”
it wasnt futuristic neither
it was fleshy it was earthy it was “authentic”
(ha ha ha)
(as authentic as english guys singing in a southern accent can be, anyhow)
(course i didnt realize that at the time)
so god i love tumbling dice and i love happy
i fell in love with keith richards sometime in about 1972
and i adored him intensely
i wanted to be him n jagger at the same time
i wanted to lead both their lives
exile on mainstreet
the honky chateau in southern france
the warm wevver
the drugs delivered each day
the filmstars n musicians
the gangsters n the girls
you dont even start recording till like 4 in the morning
coz it takes a while for keith to loosen up
mick taylors starting to loosen up too i guess
loosen up for the long haul
charlie n bill…inscrutable really…along for the ride
charlie always sittin’ up the back
doing his trademark smile at jaggers antics
director ” ok now we’ll shoot charlies smile n wink !”
keith sitting in some room cooking up smack in a spoon
oh you never gonna forget that smell once you smelt it
anitas nodded out somewhere..
keiths sitting at the piano
the rush has hit his head
and his fingers stretch out over the keys
and hes playing some old twelve bar thing
and his cigarette is smouldering
and his cold beer is nice n cold
and gram parsons has just ducked off out for a while
and fuck man
its 1971 and yer keith richards …who else would ya wanna be
well maybe one other guy
and that guys sitting in some fancy restaurant
with his south american wife who looks just like him
and hes swishing down the vino expensivo
and he daintily nibbles at his noo-vo quiz-een
and hes dining with prince blah blah n truman whoever
and hes thinking
fuck ive done well for myself
and sometimes
he wonders what its like for brian jones…being dead, i mean
and he isnt surprised to feel he feels nothing at all
and hes impatient to leave
impatient to get back in the limo
n drive back to the studio
he thinks maybe that the boys are having more fun than him
and hes right in a way
keith n gram snorting the top shelf stuff
and blasting the china white
they strum away on their guitars in the warm semi darkness of the studio
in the future a million music journalists will analyze this moment endlessly
but its gone in a nod and a snooze
and mick comes in
and keith wakes up
and hes singing happy
i need a love to make me happy
his thin n ragged voice the very voice of “authenticity”
and meanwhile steven john kilbey is still going to high school
and arguing with his father about getting his hair cut
and it will still be a few years yet
before he becomes totally infatuated with the stones
and devours their mid period records
and tries to ape them for a while
and he loves stones like bands like aerosmith n the new york dolls
and in england silverhead (remember them?)
yeah what a time
gawd its nearly 40 bloody years ago
ancient history
will anyone be writing about the kings of bloody leon in 40 years?
not on your nelly!

e

when youre on youre on
aint it the truth in spades
ah ya like my little music month…?
i strew songs before me like flowers
i write em
i throw em forth
i never think of em again
songs burst out of me like universes burst out of sleeping vishnu
the compensation for growing old is experience
experience is a good thing to have
everytime you do something you get experience
more n more n more
oh then you start to get a feel
oh delightful day
you grok you suss you understand
you can do it just right
i dont care where or on what
yeah gee whizz
anyway
i cant just leave ya high n dry
without all those new songs you accustomed to getting
so because i am all heart and
seeing how much you need this music
and seeing how some generous subscribers will cough up some more dough
to make this all possible (natch!)
because it takes a bit of time to knock this stuff off
and i know you’ll appreciate i just want my artisans standard rate
ie whatever you care to chuck in my hat
and thanks very much to those who did so during september
i feel sufficiently motivated to continue
i have more brand new stuff on the way
my garageband is out there practicing in the garage
i walk in
adjust a few levels
lennon n bolan in my head whisper hints
i let them have their way
one 2 3 four
the hi hat counts in
the guitars crunch down
the acoustic 12 strums with gusto
the drum wallop
the bass all rubber boom boom boom
wowee
rocknroll children oh sweet mother of fuckin’ mercy
oh this devils music got me shaking my id
i cant believe im such an old foolish master
released from youths constrictions
focussed by yoga and swimming
amplified by mother natures lovely plants
moving into more parts of my brain
i work feverishly day n night
painting writing dreaming shuddering
i heat up and i freeze
i think of nothing else but music
until i hear the song i always wanted to hear
i tune n strum n pick n croon n loon n soon more
more more more
well well well
i’ll lay it on ya
your wanting it makes it so
your servant
sk

rocknroll mystic in mixdown mixup
i unplugged with a huge crash
i slashed at the chords like i was trying to get free
waiting only for my boots to be healed and wondering
i appeared on tv shows in the ninety sixties
rocking in black n white behind the scenes at airports
like a red carpet leopard messiah
a flash of solid chrome and there i go
i conjure up the spirit of rocknroll from some stygian pit
it slumps at the controls knocked out by pink radiation
because rock is freedom and freedom is so sweet
and i wanna be free
free at last
free to be me
free like the distant mountains
i turn to my guitar
i strap it on with my phantom limbs
i cruise onstage with my gang o’ ghosts
we knock out some heavenly racket under hellish conditions
we filter the thumbnails
we decode the mysterious vedas
we vogue vaguely
we rock to the eastern edge
we sway too close to the sun
we get so drunk and we burn up upon readmission
i sing up a storm and i veto the vacuum
i straddle my cut up drums and i beat outta time
i bash at the kit
the cymbals scream in my ears
the hats sizzle unbearably
the bass drum explodes in my guts
the snare shoots my head with yellow light
i stumble round the toms like an intoxicanto
man i mumble me words like a jumbled crumble
crotchets n quavers come flying past
on the tour bus in some murky reverie
a proto -me rides into dallas
laughing like a lunatic
because ive flattened some 7ths
the golden age of rocknroll will never die
my blisters are working on their solo album
my sore throat sounds good after a good shriek
my silver tonsils lie still beating in the doctor/priest/critics hand
ive gone mad
ive been rediscovered
ive been insulted and unsalted and uninsulated too
i chuck some words into the empty bars
strap on my headphones
which blasts pasts i never lived
your good with words says some mute thing
i pound in my pond with my fond wand fondling the fifths
i’m a frogman underwater with my rubbery bass
my surf guitar is all fractions and free
dont tell me how to rock
i was rocking on the steppes during the ice age
i played electric guitar before the big banger banged his gong
i was born to die and my rock turn to dust
in my brief candle flare
i seize my trusty axe
i turn up my amp to 13
i bestride the stage like a behemoth
the sound starts up and we advance
across poland across russia
we crush audiences underfoot
we swing into santa fe
and i get shot in the side
we blow up the marshall and we hit the horizon
in helsinki i harpoon the moon
in march i walk under the arch
in summertime
i sit by the ocean sifting sand
and the mermaids go ooh ooh in the warm evening air
i sit alone in a fibro shack drinking black tea
unrecognizable even to himself
the radio comes on
judy in disguise with diamonds
oh man its its its….the name eludes me
jehovah plays guitar and jams with krishnas flute
jesus plays his sunburst jazz n he smokes his sundried jazz
his panther growls
and judas picks up the sax
the vikings arrive roaring a slade song
the romans are singing boom boom boom lets go up to my room
the greeks are singing dont cry for me alexander
alexander says great…just great
the vandals n the huns…well you know about them, dont ya
in nineveh theyre singing …nineveh, natch
in babylon theyre singing some velvet morning when i wake
in judea theyre singing are you ready for the country
in jericho theyre singing but no horns please
music must be powerful says joshua
i’m comfortably numb says rog a’waters
on a trip to cirrus minor
pompeii rocks too
rocks too hard for its own good
some new act called Volcano blew the roof off that town
the new single “i need a lava ” is hot
atlantis has sunk down the charts
here we go
the ancient world
man how they rocked
you know they did
cos i was there
and i tell you
verily baby people have always rocked
the moor on his camel
the hussar on his whore
the barbarian on his rampage
the ju ju on his pilgrimage
the hoodoo voodoo mu mu deep in the jingling jungle
what the fuck!
god gave rock n roll to adam n eve in the garden of gilgamesh
he said rock shall be thy flesh
he trembled for a moment n unleashed a distorted am 7 chord
the band started up
the credits begin to roll
the producers sigh with relief
the japanese investors are unsure still
the limo departs and joe rockstar snorts some coke
n fondles his porn star chica
the cops load their guns
the crims swarm outta the underworld
the ladies of the night swoon
the earth erupts in rhythmic blues
we chop down the last quarter acre of rainforest
we look up at the calendar its dec 21 2012
well well
five minutes more to go
might as well rock then
might as well rock

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in 1972
at a somewhat late stage of the game
i bought my first pink floyd record
it was their latest “obscured by clouds”
i bought it cos i liked the title so much
i had somehow avoided the floyd up until then
it wasnt hard pre dark side of the moon
the floyd werent on any charts
they werent very visible at all
anyway in some void between marc bolan and david bowie
i bought all the moody blues records
and i was always looking for a new band to get “into”
i had been “into”
chicago
joe cockers mad dogs n englishmen
king crimson
rod stewart n (small) faces
the stones
simon n garfucknuckle
hawkwind
and i guess i finally got around to the floyd
one sunny afternoon i took a bus into civic
and i bloody well bought obscured by clouds
i had read some reviews of it which intrigued me
no one quite knew what to make of the floyd in those days
before dark side of the moon
but anyway my dad had a stereo in the garage
up the back of the 2 car garage was a bar and a stereo
other kids were amazed at all the booze there
no one in my family drank…not my dad or mum or me
so it all just sat there
like a medium well stocked nightclub
there was all these weird liquors n oh god
almost any weird drink you could think of…
why did my dad have all that…?
he just decided he wanted a bar in the garage so he went for it
anyway i sat there in the sunshining in
through the back window
and i chucked the floyd on
and pretty much fell in love
with this easy to like record
it was quite….ordinary…in a way
it was soundtrack to a film “la vallee”
an ok film
(i saw it at the cinema in canberra)
i liked the lush instrumentation n whispery singers
at this stage rog waters hadnt overpowered the others
and the record was kinda breezy
some of it was downright rocknroll
some of it was lush n exquisite
i remember lying there listening to it
and thinking great!
i’m gonna buy all their records now
i started next with umma gumma
a half live half solo studio record
the live stuff was amazing
i imagined whole space journeys in my head
the lyrics intrigued me
set the controls for the heart of the sun…yeah!
i loved it!
the studio stuff i rarely played
i only liked waters grantchester meadows really
the others were too oblique or something
next i got the soundtrack to the film “more”
containing one of my fave floyd pieces ever “cirrus minor”
which starts out pastoral and then reaches out into glittering space
i loved “more’ and i loved all the weird quirky instrumentals n stuff
after that i got meddle
wow
dont the fucking floyd look totally cool in the middle spread
rog in his black t shirt eternally
rick wright looks tanned n handsome
gilmour looks cool n even nick mason too
fuck i loved meddle
i loved the songs on side one
i loved the piece that took up side 2 “echoes”
i loved the way the 3 singers melded their voices together
in that whispery way
what a great mysterious record it was to me
ditto atom heart mother
the same kind of thing
very lush very english
i was definitely “into” the floyd
then came saucerful of secrets which was a bit superfluous
except for the truly groovy “let there be more light”
i got piper at the gates of dawn eventually
but having got into the floyd backwards
i was never that enamoured with it
i didnt really like syd barret all that much (heresy!)
tho i liked him better on the madcap laughs
which i listened to a lot
when marty was in all about eve
dave gilmour did a guitar solo on a song
gilmour said he had seen the churches first show in london
and was immediately struck by the resemblance
between syd and your humble scribe
(wow!)
anyway i got all the odds n ends
including relics which had some great stuff not on anything else
and rogs music from the body
(which had another song called “breathe” on it)
and a floyd bootleg called omayyad
which had “the embryo” on it
as well as a rick wright organ piece called “oenone”
(which i wrongly thought was the name of a gas!?)
(and which i later nicked for myself!)
i had zabriskie point where the floyd changed an old song
into another new one {careful with that axe eugene}…
then it happened
dark side of the moon i mean
i drove 500 miles to melbourne n i bought it on import
the other records i bought on import in melbourne
at archie n jugheads import record shop were
in deep by argent
lord of the rings by bo hansson
badger by badger
flash and the second flash album by flash (pete banks ex yes)
colosseums daughter of time
and a few others i can no longer remember (thats sad)
i got home
and well i liked it
i loved it
this was before all the hype had hit
it was just another floyd record to me
but then that thing happened
it became this n that
and everyone was talking about the floyd
after that i dunno why
i started to lose interest
rog took over too much n i missed the others balance
wish you were here was good tho
but i was no longer “into” em
animals i bought but i never enjoyed
it was kinda bitter or something
i liked the old floyd
the whispery stuff
now there was too much rog completely
then the wall
i like one track comfortably numb
i hate all that we dont need no education tripe
i hated the movie
final cut was bleak
too much
i switched off
gilmours first solo album superb
rogs were hopeless rubbish
i liked bits of ricks wet dream …(mr humphries indeed)
all the rest no longer interested me
all the rog-less floyd had no raison d’etre
rog without the floyd was awful
so when people say to me
do you like pink floyd
i never know what to answer…
uh yes
uh kinda
not really
it depends
i like the middle period
post syd pre dark side
yeah