but lets not think about…the passing time….
i fly to melbourne, victoria
a city of nearly 4 million on the banks of the yarra river
always my spiritual home in australia…..
i spend sunday in the company of martin kennedy
and then a bit of time with sam sejavka at his gig
i realize as i write this that the 2 men are like polar opposites
mk is ultra calm rational and logical
he doesnt drink smoke or take drugs
he thinks things out thoroughly
he looks before he leaps
ss is the opposite of all that……
mk and i have a very creative day
his music fits my words like a hand in glove
he has a modus operandi which allows him to generate endless variations
of his gorgeous instrumental tracks
at the heart of all of em a soft sadness
he puts it all together like a scientist
manipulating the elements within his system
kennedys stuff is precise and poignant
he plays me a new track and i immediately start to sing on it
we get halfway through a second track too
a guy comes from the age and we do an interview
over soy lattes and vegan muffins
(oh how civilized!)
and a photographer turns up n snaps us in the rainy back yard
mk n his wife n i go for a walk in the then sunny but cold melbourne sunday
i keep brainstorming ideas about k/k until my brain hurts
we want our show in melbourne to be ultra-special
its at the toff in town thursday 10th of september, melbourne
i urge you overseas people with the $ to come and see us
we will be performing our entire first album (in its entirety…ha ha)
we will have michael evans-barker from album on percussion
we will have the incredible (evil) graham lee on pedal steel guitar
we will be crooning n looning in the gloaming
so get foaming combing and roaming
cos it will be a good show
think bel-frank sinatra
think dean martin kennedy
think a dry martini ,kennedy
think roger suave with the best cocktail tunes ever
anyhow
i turned up at the ss gig
not knowing what to expect
greeted at the door by ss himself
who looks like a cross between the thin white duke
and some eastern european ambassador
hes always been one of the handsomest guys ive ever met
im madly jealous of his good looks…ok?
his hair is turning silver so subtly
it sits in a man who fell to earth cut perfectly
he is tall and slim
with a body most 25 year olds would envy
yet he does no real exercise
his face is smooth and relatively unlined
he is like a cheetah or a fox
he is graceful and also grateful
hes in a spot of bother with the law
and this gig is a benefit to raise money for his legal funds
i mean
you cant put a guy like ss in jail for growing a bit of pot
hes a fucking national treasure
like australias mervyn peake
his use of language is extraordinary
his plays are dark and convoluted and brilliantly strange
anyway he was also the singer in a new wave band called the ears
who are reforming for tonite
1st gig since 1981
backstage i joke around with greg fleet the comedian n mc
he thinks he n i should fly to alice springs
do a gig there n then get our teeth fixed up
(alice springs is a town in the centre of australia…kinda)
why alice springs?
uh…not sure…but he thought it would be a good idea
his teeth looked worse than mine
but then again
he’d pull more people to the show, i guess
you see we get our choppers fixed from proceeds of show
then lie around in the outback
convalescing or waiting for our crowns to be hammered in
backstage also a member of a now defunct famousish band
looks at me sheepishly n apologizes
for what ? i say
uh…such n such festival in 03 or 04
oh….god i remember now…
good god man!…i exclaim..what were you on…angel dust??!!
nah …just too much whisky …sighs the remorseful rocker
ok ok i say…no offence taken… i say…
wow! the last time i saw him
he was swearin’ n cussin’ n throwin’ punches at everyone….
there was some argy bargy with you n your wife ..he says sadly
no problem at all …i say doubtfully…hey thats rocknroll..i say
hugo race is backstage …another extraordinarily well preserved rocker
he looks much better now than 20 years ago
very chiselled n slim…like a young max von sydow or something..
howcome all the wild guys are so well preserved…?
huh?
it should be the opposite
anyway
i have good gig
i do the usual old suspects that i always do
i should learn some newies
i play with confidence and an assured intensity
i’m good and the audients like me
good!
sejavka n his band come on
some of the stuff is obviously dated
sam is ridiculously hammy n theatrical
hes like a melburnian new wave vampyre or something
some of the songs are pretty good
good lyrics which is what you’d expect from him
he certainly has the moves
and/but he gets puffed out pretty quick which is kinda funny
(running round n singing requires a certain match fitness!!)
i stand in the audients with the little lord
who is also an old friend of sams
we gasp and giggle n chortle n cheer at his antics
he disappears from sight
because hes too knackered to get up off the floor
simon polinski pulls a great sound
and cathy mcquade looks like a youngish sophia loren
as she sings away beside sam
the band is good n tight
and the whole spectacle is very entertaining
theres quite a few people there so hopefully theres a few $
for his legal fleas
you can check out michael hutchence playing sam in dogs in space
seeing sams moves
one wonders if hutch and even nicky cave were influenced
by sams extravagant onstage malarkey
had a great time
prominent fiends present : amanda princey n mary
john whatsisname who looks like a hasidic jew
and melissa m
who i didnt see
but who passed on 2 very lovely pre birthday gifts
melissa….thank you…i know i will enjoy them…
i stayed the night at the little lords castle in prahran
she served up roast veggies
i chatted with her dog, piper the staffy
and danny her boyfriend
and i got on a plane early n was back in the emerald city by 10 am
i just seen (get it?)the eye quack today
he says bad news is eye will always = blurry
good news is other eye will eventually be the same
as old father times fingers
undo this conglomerate of material
you know
and love
as steve kilbey
the time being