What songs would you add?

Lonely Boy – The Black Keys

I’ll bet you have trouble staying still when listening to/watching this clip.

It’s Lunacy – Ed Kuepper

Ed Kuepper is a favourite musician of mine. I haven’t seen him recently but saw him years ago at a local university with the Hoodoo Gurus. Listen to the lyrics – love em.

Fever – Sarah Vaughan [Adam Freeland remix]

Yet another cover version of an older song and I really like how it’s been done. This is a great one to sing along to as well – if you’re into that sort of thing. I might be!

Human Fly – Nouvelle Vague

It takes nearly a minute before the song actually starts and it’s a live version, but it’s a great song – a Cramps cover. It’s also somewhat slower than the music above. I saw Nouvelle Vague a year and a half ago at the Adelaide Cabaret Festival and I thoroughly recommend them. They were great.

I know I asked above, but I’m asking again. What song/s make you feel great?

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Tuesday, 20 September 2011, Day 301/365.

I have to admit that when I take JJ out to an adult thing he’s usually pretty good. I mostly let him take his DS just incase he needs to entertain himself but he doesn’t always use it.

I do get the “I’m bored”, “I want to go home” whines sometimes but usually he’s excellent.

Last Tuesday we went to a friend’s going away and as it was an evening thing I only planned to stay for a little while so I could get him home to bed at a reasonable hour. If I didn’t take him it would mean not going, or organising childcare for a few hours which is probably more disruptive sometimes.

He knew most of my friends who were there so was able to chat to them. There was a piano at this place and as I’ve shared before, he’s been learning piano.

After we’d been there for about an hour he asked me if he could play the piano. I said to ask the owner and she said it was fine so off he went. The piano was upstairs and most of us were downstairs.

As I said he’s only been learning the piano for a few weeks but he’s got a couple of tunes he’s memorised and a friend showed him an easy one which he’s since played every day.

It was great to see him do this of his own accord and get off the hand-held game. And he enjoyed himself.

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Friday, 9 September 2011, Day 290/365.

Last Friday night The Surfer and his mate got together for a jam with their guitars. Normally I am excluded from these get togethers.

This time I was invited and I borrowed a friend’s microphone so I could be the singer.

It was exhausting, but good fun although The Rolling Stones wrote a lot more songs than I ever imagined. I hardly know any of them.I mention this because that’s what my guitarists are really into.

They work really well together taking it in turns with the lead guitar and rhythm and it was good to watch. My ukulele even made a brief appearance. I just need to electrify it so I can join in. Woo hooo.

We did do some other songs besides Rolling Stones, things they probably wouldn’t have done if I wasn’t there.

We ‘jammed’ for four hours straight so by midnight I was completely knackered and ready for bed.

We did arrange to go and see Tex Perkins and The Kill Devil Hills tonight though. Am really looking forward to that.

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Wednesday, 31 August 2011, Day 281/365.

I like listening to music when I’m washing the dishes or cooking and this little contraption allows me to dock my iPhone and listen to music while in the kitchen.

It also means that my offspring can watch tv in the next room.

This little thing packs a reasonable punch. Obviously it’s not as good as my stereo but it does the trick.

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Friday, 19 August 2011, Day 269/365.

This man – Henry Wagons – and his band are heading off to the USA and Canada soon. I recommend going to see them. Last Friday night was the second time I’ve seen Henry Wagons (solo) and I loved it.

When we arrived I had to get out my credit card to prove I’d bought tickets. I also wanted to get out my camera because Henry was at the desk. I put my just purchased chocolate stout on the desk and was immediately told off because I’d just put it on his merchandise – a tea towel. I don’t think he told me off, but my girlfriend did. I was mortified. Of course it left a teeny little stain.

I asked if he still minded if I took a photo and he was very gracious and allowed me to. See above. I felt a wee bit guilty about not buying the stained tea towel and probably would have bought it on the way out but someone else had.

It was a great show because there weren’t heaps of people crowding us and we had a very good view. I’m so glad I went. He’s a great entertainer and aside from the music, the inter-song chat was excellent.

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Thursday, 28 July 2011, Day 247/365.

For this birthday I got him an electronic keyboard. I honestly didn’t know what to get him and didn’t want to get yet another DS game when he’s got a few now anyway and I knew he was also getting money for his birthday.

The Surfer actually suggested this and I’m glad he did. I’d already asked JJ if he wanted to do piano lessons and he expressed an interest.

So he got the keyboard for his birthday and started piano lessons a week ago. So far he’s been practising without me prompting him too much. I hope his interest sticks with it and he enjoys it enough to learn to play it well.

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The Surfer and I quite often sit down and play the ukuleles and I have a sing along. He can also play the guitar and has recently bought a banjo. I’m a one strum wonder and because of his guitar experience he can pick, and sounds quite good. He’s trying to get me out of my one strum wonder bit and one day I’ll get there.

Anyway, due to us stuffing around on iTunes with our two phones, I found these voice memos on my iTunes. One of them, below, is us playing along to a song called Raining Pleasure by The Triffids, a band from Western Australia. Oh, and it’s me singing.

If you can’t see the little audio player above, then here’s a a link Raining Pleasure.

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It was a  fairly warm and quite humid day so we went suitably attired with hats and sunscreen. It didn’t help that the humidity probably made us sweat off all the sunscreen.

I know these two fellas below and had to capture their t-shirts.

The Big Day Out is a pretty well-oiled machine and because it’s become bigger than it was 11 years ago I noticed a few changes.

One is that you have to buy drink tokens which makes going to the bar a lot quicker. For a can of beer it was two tokens, ie $7. We were lucky enough to have guest services bar passes which meant that we could pay for drinks in cash, sit down in comfort indoors and had access to our own toilets. There’s always a big queue for the ladies at things like this so that was a blessing although the bar staff (and I asked two) didn’t know of these toilets even though they were just outside one of the doors. I had to discover them for myself. I’m sure it’s a tiring gig working all day at the Big Day Out but a bit more friendly customer service wouldn’t go astray. At one stage I was obviously waiting at the bar and saw that two bar staff were standing one metre away from me. I had to approach them for service!

Here’s three of our group in the bar between music.

Not everyone’s lucky enough to have access to this bar to cool off so there are things like this. It’s a mist dome – a very pretty one. This one provided some shade as well. There were other spray type tents that had more water so you could just go and soak yourself to cool down.

Here’s The Surfer getting some spray.

‘Big Day Out. Insert wisdom here…’  Not sure what it says underneath.

Musically, we started off watching The Jim Jones revue who were really good. They were recommended by a friend and I’m glad that we got there to see them. I’d like to see them again too.

Then we had a bit of a break before the late afternoon when our schedule was jam packed. We saw a few things including Gyroscope. We did pop along to the silent disco around 5.

I’ve never been to one before and it’s good fun, especially with a group. You go in and get given a set of headphones. There are three channels for three different choices of music, or in this case two. So there are two DJs who are competing to get you to listen to their tracks.

At one stage Beastie Boys were on – Fight for your Right to Party and we must have all been on the same channel because we were singing along. It’s funny watching people dancing to a different tune.

Early evening onwards was when the other bands that we wanted to see were on. Firstly Iggy Pop and the Stooges whom I’ve never seen before. Iggy was a bit of a dot in the distance but we could hear them well enough and had room to move. He’s up  there somewhere.

Here’s myself and a couple of friends at the guest services bar. I’ve either got my eyes and my mouth wide open in shots like this or my mouth and eyes closed. Hmmm.

After a rest we saw Primal Scream who did the Screamadelica album they released about 20 years  ago. There’s some great songs on there. While they were a bit slow to start with, by the end of the show they were rocking. I’m glad I hung around and saw them to the end. It was quite a change from the last time I saw them at the last Big Day Out I went to in 2000 where they did their new stuff.

Lastly, but definitely not least, we saw Grinderman fronted by one of my favourite musicians, Nick Cave. Grinderman were so energetic and fabulous. It helps knowing the music but even though I’m reasonably familiar with it, it’s much better seeing them live and getting the gist of the music and lyrics in a way that you just can’t by only listening to music on a stereo.

We finished off the day with a Chip on a Stick – one potato cut up in a continuous chip that’s put on a stick and then we caught the tram home. My legs were in absolute pain from standing up most of the day – something I’m not used to. It took me a few days to recover but I’m definitely glad I went.

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Last week was a great week with going to see musicians who’ve been around for a long time. Firstly it was AC/DC on Tuesday evening. I had trouble remembering the last stadium type concert I went to, not including things like The Big Day Out and Womadelaide. Maybe it was Madonna in 1993?

Anyway, AC/DC it was. I was extremely lucky to be taken along by a gorgeous man and I enjoyed it thoroughly. My son was worried about the beating my ear drums might take but it wasn’t too loud. Probably something to do with the nearby North Adelaide residents complaining? I don’t know. A colleague who lives in North Adelaide said she could hear a bit of bass and the crowd singing along more than anything.

We had trouble finding what gate to go in as the one that was on our tickets wasn’t signposted at all. Just about everyone else seemed to be lining up for the main gate and that would have taken quite some time to get through. When we did eventually find our entrance we spent the next 15 minutes waiting to buy merchandise because the woman in front of us couldn’t decide what type of tank top to get in what size.

Then we went to go onto oval and found out that you needed a wristband for that but we hadn’t had the option of getting one at the gate we entered by so had to trot over to the main gate to get it.

We were pretty much in the middle of Adelaide oval so I couldn’t see that much on stage and there’s always someone at least a head taller standing in front of me at these things. Thank goodness for the big screens. Angus was just superb. I’ve never seen such guitar playing. Considering their ages they all do a really good job. My only beef was that they didn’t sing Long Way to the Top.

Despite 42,000 people plus leaving the venue afterwards it wasn’t too hard to get home. We’d caught the tram in and after helping a bloke off the side of the road who’d crashed out with half his body on the road, we caught a tram that was full of other concert goers. It was a really good vibe and I’m so glad I went.

A few days after that Tom Jones was on the menu. A friend who was working at the gig organised a bunch of free tickets which I happened to hear about. Another friend organised the bus so about 30 of us hopped on the Tom Jones express for a two hour drive to the Barossa Valley to see Tom Jones.

It poured with rain on the drive down and kudos to our bus driver for getting us there and back on the creaky bus in one piece. Fortunately the rain didn’t persist and it only rained for a short while after we arrived.

There was seating out in a fan shape in front of the stage which meant us general admission people had a small space at the side to view Tom but it wasn’t too crowded and we still got a good view and we were able to boogie, unlike the seated people who were told off by security if they stood up. Why pay extra for a seat I wonder?

All too soon it was over and we had a two hour bus trip going home. After drinking beers on the way there and red wine at the concert, I had a bit of a headache so closed my eyes and rested most of the way home. I wasn’t alone there.

So early the next afternoon we went to pick up my son from his friend’s house. He’d been absolutely wonderful there which is great for me when I want to ask them again to have him. But on the way to the beach to walk us and the dog he was mister grumpy pants and continued to sulk for the whole walk on the beach. I guess coming home to mum after having a fabulous time at his friends was an anti-climax, but still it brought me down off my Tom Jones high that’s for sure.

The photo above is of him walking ahead of us on the beach and you can see the storm clouds in the distance. Those clouds kind of suited his mood.

Tonight he has another sleepover booked – March is a busy time for socialising here – and he was the best behaved JJ I’ve ever seen. He was helpful, thoughtful and just plain lovely. I told him that I much prefer that JJ to the grumpy one I witnessed on Sunday. Not sure that he’ll remember that – I’m sure I’m in for more grumpiness but a girl can live in hope.

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Back in the late 1970s I heard Abba’s song SOS for the first time and fell in love with it and then heartily embraced nearly all songs Abba. Mum used to like them as well so we’d see all the Abba specials on tv, hear them on the radio etc. I loved them and because they were so popular there was lots to embrace.

When I was 21 I was given the record (vinyl) of Abba Arrival as a joke. I had a bit of a laugh but was kind of glad I had been given it because I secretly still like Abba even if it was a bit uncool. I still have the record.

Fast forward nearly 30 years and there’s an Abba Singstar game for the Playstation. It has been out a couple of years I think but we only just bought it from eBay last week and consequently we’ve been having our very own Abba revival here.

For those unfamiliar with Singstar you hook up a couple of microphones to your Playstation, select a song and the system judges you, flashing up words throughout the song like bad, awful, cool and good. It also gives you points at the end and lets you know if you’re a Wannabe, a Hit Artist or a Singstar. As I know most of the Abba songs I usually sit in the cool and good categories and get good scores – usually. You can battle with a friend and there’s some songs where one person does the lead and the other does backing vocals.

A friend came round last Friday night before we went out and we did a duet together where she was backing and I was lead. I stuffed up because I was too busy laughing at her attempt at backing vocals. We laughed even more when we played it back and had a listen to ourselves.

I’ve done singing lessons and think I’m a fairly accomplished singer but singing along to Abba is a lot harder than you might think. Those two women can really sing so there’s been a couple of nights this week that have seen me fire up the Singstar and belt out Gimme Gimme Gimme or Voulez Vouz to see if I can beat my score.

JJ has also embraced Abba and his favourite song is Mamma Mia. I now cannot stand to hear the song again. Bless him for trying though. Actually I think this is the start – finally – of him having more of a musical appreciation. Last Saturday before he went to bed he asked if he could listen to some relaxing music to help him get to sleep. I put a Deep Forest CD on for him. He’s now got a second Deep Forest CD in his room and a CD of Abba’s music done on a Hammond organ. He can keep that one. Goodness knows where I got it from.

In his unknown endeavour to embrace retro he’s also started using this lamp at night when he goes to bed.

Now I just hope to pass on my love of the op-shop to him and my work is done.

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