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This was a good night. I have known Murat since we worked together on a project for IBM in Winchester, UK back in 1995. There was a group of about 12 of us who hung around together that year and had an absolute ball - it was a fantastic year indeed and in a great place. Murat was one of 4 Melbourne people on the project - the others being Fiona, Narelle and Alan.
In 1997, I decided to come on my first ever visit to Australia to mainly catch up with the Melbourne Four but also to go to Sydney where my cousin Vicky was living at the time. It was later in 1997 when an IT Agency called me (along with many others) as they were looking for IT Mainframe people to work on projects in Canberra, Sydney and Melbourne. As I had fallen in love with Melbourne, I accepted a 6 month contract to work here.
I moved out here on February 4th 1998 and when I landed, Murat was waiting for me and I stayed at his place for my first six months. So it was quite nice that on the 15 year anniversary of me arriving here, I was having dinner with him.
Joining us for dinner were Tommy and his wife Georgie - I first met these two when they were visiting Murat in Winchester. Also there was Kam, who is Tommy's brother who I have known since first arriving on these shores. It was great spending time with them as we don't catch up too often - it's hard to find a time when we are all free.
RocKwiz is a televised music quiz that is filmed at The Gershwin Room in the back of the Esplanade Hotel in St Kilda. I have been to the recording of a number of episodes over the years, but I have always stood at the back to watch. For this episode, I managed to get a table and shared the occasions, with Carolyn, Trudi, Tonia, Nic (and her hubby), Linda - a friend from work (and a friend of hers). It was a very good night and I loved how much everyone else enjoyed it too. Other than the actual quiz and the entertainment, the live music was great from acts Norman Blake (from Scotland), Hailey Cramer, Jess Cornelius, Joe Camilerri and Vika & Linda. A good night.
I keep mentioning Women of Letters / Men of Letters / People of Letters as I love the idea and how well it is managed. This particular show was held in the rather lovely Speigeltent and was a one off - then again, they all are. The participants were: Singer/songwriting friends, Clare Bowditch and TinPan Orange singer, Emily Lubitz; aActor, writer and director, Rhys Muldoon with his friend and musical collaborator, Spiderbait drummer Kram;
Director of literary institute The Wheeler Centre, Michael Williams, paired with his wife, Triple R presenter Michelle Bennett;
Poet, cartoonist and commentator Michael Leunig, paired with his son, performer and magosopher Sunny Leunig;
Award-winning poet Emilie Zoey Baker, paired with her partner, speechwriter and senior editor at Penguin Books Michael Nolan.
With all these shows, there is an element of hit and miss as there is no guarantee that you will connect with the performer(s). This particular show had more misses for me, but I am still glad that I went.
Steph is a very talented artist - if you don't believe me, then have a look at her website. Last year, whilst overseas, she fell and broke both her wrists and hasn't been able to generate too much art since. She had a local gallery, Tacit <link>, booked for a show but as she couldn't create enough to fill it, the focus was hanged to be a show that she'd put together showing works of Australian artists, mostly local. The only artist I knew of was Freya Jobbins who is a friend of Steph's from Sydney that I have met at one of Steph's earlier shows.
Anyway, though I am not a great appreciator of art, I am always happy to support friends, so off I went to the opening night. Unfortunately for me (but congratulations to Steph), there was a huge crowd there - so for me to view, it wasn't ideal, but it was still good and I got to catch up with Freya again.
Soon after, Freya sent me one of her little sculptures that I am rather partial too, so that was a lovely surprise and a very generous gesture from her.
Well, as I am getting on in age terms, I thought that I should have a medical to check that there was nothing to concern me in regards to what might fall off or stop working. Anyway, nothing was discovered (despite his long finger doing it's stuff) other than a little bit of work required around my cholesterol levels that should be easy to sort out. The second part of the medical was testing my heart that despite evidence to the Contrary does exist and does work. Once again, nothing was found that I need worry about, so quite a successful exercise and one that I will maintain annually.
As a result of this, having got a clean bill of health, I have decided to make some changes namely eat less and exercise a bit. My first goal is to lose 2 stones (12kg) by the end of the year. This isn't an aggressive plan, but requires an effort that I hope to maintain.
Charlotte is s friend I met through Karin about 3 years ago. The initial meeting was because Charlotte was thinking about getting a website to promote her writing and I know how to make a basic website. As a fellow pom, we had a lot in common and hit it off and became mates. Over the last year, Charlotte has been writing a book and though she doesn't have a publisher yet, she is happy with what she has produced thus far.
She saw that there was an amateur 'open mic' night at the Elwood Sailing Club that she invited me to as she was going to read an extract from her book to whoever showed up.
Oh my - what a night - "amateur" barely covers what was on offer.
When I arrived, they seemed to be setting up - there was a bit of background music of Sinead O'Connor's Nothing Compares To U. There was a chap sitting there with a saw and he was trying to find a note that fitted with the music but couldn't. Then, to my surprise, the song finished and people clapped - that was his act! It was truly the most awful attempt of music I have ever had to endure.
And so it went on for act after act.
- 2 teenage lads who could just about sing, but doing duets was a huge mistakes. Then one of them attempted to sing Adele's 'Make You Feel My Love' - he failed by so much.
- An old bloke sang a cappella and found musical keys that are rarely touched - unless an animal in distress was trying to catch your attention. Then he played a guitar and sang in a different key than he was playing in - maybe that was his talent?
- The two men on guitars and woman on bass took to the stage - they took ages to set up - it is hard to explain how bad they were. Like nothing you've heard before is a fair bet. Five shite songs later and I lay there broken - my resistance was gone - I had nothing left.
Anyway, Charlotte reading from her book was certainly the highlight of the evening - she did very well and it was well received - so good for her.
- Then a man played the harmonica badly for some something different to punish us with.
- And then, unbelievably, an act that equalled the previous ones - that's not a compliment
I couldn't take any more and left to go home and whimper like a damaged puppy - never again!
I do admit that I admire all the above people for having the balls to get up there and lay themselves open to the audience - other than not having any talent, I certainly don't have the courage or confidence to do such a thing.
I went to another filming of a RocKwiz episode, this time with Jackie who hadn't been to one before. It was another hugely entertaining evening - it is a very different experience to be there when it is happening and to enjoy the interactions and energy. And live music is better when it's, well ... live. This episode featured Nkechi Anele (from Saskwatch), Chet Faker and Sarah Blasco.
I know Jackie through her sister, Chris, who is the person who gave me my current job back in late 2007. We used to go out for lunch each Friday and Jackie used to join us as she was working nearby at the time. So I still catch up with Jackie every now and then and it's always a pleasure.
As I've mentioned previously, I m s big fan of local singing sisters, Vika and Linda Bull. I have known the girls for over 10 year and created their two previous websites for them. On top of that, I used to sell their CDs for them at gigs. I have seen them so many times and there's never been a bad show in all of those occasions - they are both lovely and talented.
Though they mostly do stuff together, there have been the occasional solo projects too. One of those was Vika and her band performing the Etta James story where they tell the story of Etta and perform over 20 of her songs. I never got to see Etta live, but I doubt that she could have been much better than Vika was - it was incredible - the band were great and Vika's voice as stunning -a great great evening of music - wow!
For Carolyn's mothers birthday, the family arranged lunch at the Fairfield Boathouse – a delightful setting and made even better as the weather was great too. Attending were Carolyn's sister Denise with her husband Andrew and kids AJ and Caroline (plus a friend of Caroline’s). Also there was another of Carolyn (and Denise's) nieces, Victoria with her boyfriend, Lewis. It was pleasant sitting down by the river and relaxing to the sounds of the wildlife and me devouring food.
Karen & Loretta, Charlotte, Georgina, Trudi, Steph, Deanne, Foxy, Ruth, Matt, Mara
Karen & Loretta are two friends from when I was first worked at NAB - two friends who also know each other well, so though I occasionally catch up with them individually, it was grand for the three of us to catch up - I don't think they had seen each other for a long time. We met up in St Kilda and had an entertaining time together sharing tales and adventures. Two entertaining people.
Trudi is a friend from back in 2002 when I briefly shared a house with her and two others. Trudi is very easy to like and she never does anything that could change that feeling - a delight to spend time with. We used to enjoy watching the footy together and she is a small part of what turned me into a Hawthorn fan and one of the people who benefited from that by getting a signed photo of Shane Crawford - it's a longer story but you can read about it by going to my letters page.
Ruth is a friend from back in 2007 whom I still catch up with from time to time - she always has good tales and we have a good laugh together.
Matt is a friend a met back in the UK in 1995. I was working as a Contractor with IBM in Winchester and was working with Murat, Al, Fiona and Narelle - all from Melbourne. Matt was also from Melbourne and he would pop along to hang with Murat and that's how I met him. I saw him occasionally when I first moved over here and we have seen each other more and more over the years. We always laugh a lot when we catch up, so you can't ask for more than that.
Mara is a friend who I met when we worked together back in 200? at a small company in Notting Hill. It was a strange time and involved some strange people. I think that both Mara and my sanity was maintained by our friendship and we used to escape every lunchtime and chat. I dread to think of those six months without having her around.
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