COLDPLAY PERTH REDUX

Some far better vids than mine of the show are starting to pop up on youtube.

Viva la Vida
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Lovers in Japan in a butterfly confetti shower, we couldn't tell the confetti was butterflies from where we were sitting.

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A short clip of the yellow ballons that were bouncing around during Yellow
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and I've just discovered that my pics look heaps better in a flickr slideshow, I'm gonna have fun with these in the future
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COLDPLAY PERTH 2009

So as mentioned below I wasn't really "feeling" Coldplay prior to the gig. I kind of felt I was arriving at the party about 3 years too late. I was also dreading another show in the god awful Dome, it so sucks in there acoustically and the seating layout is possibly the worst in the world.

We got there pretty early because the parking is another major hassle at this place (surprisingly they proved me wrong this time round) and so we caught the support act, Mercury Rev. Well it's always a tough ask to support another band isn't it? You get a shit lighting setup, half the sound output of the headliner and a crowd who'd rather you got the hell off the stage ASAP. But every now and then a support act kicks the butt of the main dudes. Not so much on this occasion.

Firstly who the feck are Mercury Rev, what kind of name is that and when will you decide on your own music style. I think we determined they were a bit Muse meets Coldplay meets My Chemical Romance meets Freddy Mercury...........ahhhh so that's what the name is all about.

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Anyhoo on with the show. Coldplay come out....now is a good time to watch my crappy vid of the opening songs....

They just exploded onto the stage and suddenly I started to feel it, finally, thank christ. This whole French Revolution feel was pretty cool and I kind of started to "get" their latest album a bit more after hearing it in this context. It's still their worst though IMO.

These guys really take a leaf out of the U2 how to play an arena gig handbook and I'm okay with that. It was a great show, sure they played for an hour less than a certain 74 year old legend did only a few weeks ago but in their defence they were slightly more active.

Possible highlight of the show would have to be the two bogan chicks about 4 seats down from us who decided to scratch each others eyeballs out only a few songs into the show. Something about one of them having such a huge fat ugly head that the other one couldn't see. Bonus entertainment for your dollar right there.

I gotta say though that I wished we'd bought mosh pit tickets, we so wanted to get up and dance, the fear deep in our stomachs that bogan chicks would leap at us like a pack of rabid vampire vixens ripping out our jugulars if we dared stand up kept us firmly in our seats. Next time it's the mosh or nothing.

Highlight would have to be when the band left the stage and left the arena via the crowd only to reappear way up on the second tier of seats to a small stage with mics and commence an acoustic "busking" session, some peeps got an awesome up close coldplay experience even if it was stinky and sweaty. Pretty sure they didn't mind.

So basically song after song that you almost new the words to and if you didn't it didn't matter because you simply mouthed along and everyone believed you did. I had an awesome time, probably top 20 all time gigs and only just out of the top ten. Oh and the confetti pouring out of the roof made for a very cool visual highlight.

Edit: The sound was actually pretty good last night, the first track had me thinking it was going to be nothing but reverb all night but I never really noticed it after that.

I've put some larger versions of a few of these shots over at YeLPanorama, much better in that format.

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SO TONIGHT I'M OFF TO SEE THIS GIG

And for some reason I'm not overly amped about it. I think it's because I really just don't dig their latest album. I'm hoping it's gonna be a great show, people tell me they do great shows but the Burswood Dome? What a shite venue, the sound will be better outside than it will be in. Anyone else remember the Jamiroquai spot there a few years ago, well 6 years ago actually, after that I vowed never to watch a show there again. Should I have kept this vow?

Sigh, I gotta snap out of this and think positive. A review tomorrow no doubt.

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THE HOOD # 79

Again with the silver power box attracting stencils and pasties and stuff


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PETER BJORN AND JOHN

When you make a video clip with Japanese greaser breakdancers, well, you have yourself one hell of a video clip right there my friend.

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HOME IS WHERE YOUR CASTLE IS

I snapped these pics in Silkwood Queensland. It's a house....erm castle and the "King" wants you to photograph it....okay. The tragedy here is that I suspect the "King" is proud of it.

Good to know that the modern day castle comes equipped with TV reception.

The more I look at it the more I see, firstly the front staircase reminds me of an Escher drawing....actually NO the whole damn house reminds me of an Escher drawing.

and then I think of Jan Ter Horsts' house in Fremantle, minus the protest slogans but just as hilarious.

Although creepily the dome on top reminds me of the Hiroshima memorial and that just took the fun out of it.

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HER MORNING ELEGANCE - OREN LAVIE

What a brilliant clip, great song too, trying to find it on iTunes at the mo with little luck. Might have to try Amazon.

This clip really does capture my sleeping patterns of late, pretty sure I do 75% of those things :)

If you want to hear some more Oren Lavie stuff go to his MySpace page

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HUGH JACKMAN IS THAT GUY

I'm watching a replay of the Oscars right now and typing this up during the adverts. There's something about the Academy awards that makes me watch it each year, I'm not really sure what it is because let's face it they are usually soooooo boring.

So far Penelope Cruz has sat through probably the longest ever Best Supporting Actress introduction ever, I mean 5 presenters? really? do we need that? She did look awesome though and the movie she won it for is one of the better ones I saw last year.

So Jennifer Aniston and Jack Black are now presenting best animation film or something and Brad and Angie are sitting right in front of her on the front row, they did manage a "Cut to Jolie" moment, she was laughing so that's comfortable for every one isn't it.

So far though the highlight has been my old mate Hugh Jackman....

Tiff suggested in the comments that I elaborate on some of the "things" I posted below especially #12, as it's Hugh and all.

Whoops James Bond is fluffing his lines hehehe

So as per #12, I used to work with Hugh Jackman. It was right near the end of my cooking career and I was head chefing at a cafe/restaurant in Northbridge called Valentinos. Not the highlight of my culinary history but I at least had fun there. That's where I met Hugh, he was studying to be an actor at WAAPA and like all would be actors working as a waiter.

He had a shaved head back then, a #1 cut, and it's fair to say that every single waitress and female customer that came in there noticed Hugh.

ahahahaha Seth Rogan and James Franco, highlight number 2.

So yeah Hugh was a waiter and I was the chef. Now it is common nature that the kitchen staff in any restaurant will heap shit on the waiting staff, especially in Hugh's case. The reason being that there was a buzz about him even back then, everyone knew he was good, people in the know were already saying this guy was gonna crack the big time. And they were right, almost as soon as he left Valentinos he had a TV show and well the rest is history.

One of our best digs at Hugh usually went like this (this is the clean version and I'm not just cleaning up my repsonses here either haha)....

Me: so Hugh how's it goin?

Hugh: good Stu, and you?

M: yeah really good thanks

H: cool

M: so Hugh when are you gonna realise the truth?

H: the truth?

M: yeah the truth, the truth that almost all would be actors just end up being waiters for the rest of their lives. You know you're gonna be here for years serving minestrone soup to ungrateful customers don't ya?

H: hahaha if you say so mate.

M: yeah I mean what makes you so special that you get the big break, I mean I've seen you try and get me to cook a customers request that isn't on the menu, you're not that convincing

H: hehe f#ck off, I gotta go .......... (that last one is best left unclean for effect)

Now keep in mind this was fairly standard banter and he copped it from all the chefs not just me, but deep down we all knew this guys career was worth watching. And here I am right now watching him do a Hollywood dance number at the Oscars with Beyonce. I guess we were right. He is such a nice guy too that I believe if I bumped into him again he wouldn't think twice about having a beer with me or anyone else from those days.

Man I wish I'd kept one of his order tabs, one that had Hugh written in the space for the waiters name. Imagine what I could get for that on eBay :)

Well the truth is I already know who all the winners are and I think Hugh's done his big bits, not a bad effort, he might be a bit too casual Aussie, or folksie as the Americans call it, for the critics. I hope not. So I might hit the hay.

Oh god now we have 5 dudes out introducing the Best Supporting Actors, I hope they can this idea next time round. At least Heath won, although it has to be the worst kept secret ever.

I just remembered why I watch the Oscars, it's kind of morbid though, I watch it to see the bit where they show who died in the past year. It makes you go "oh wow that guy, really .... her?" I'm pretty sure Heath will be either the first or the last guy on that roll call tonight.

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25 THINGS I KNOW ABOUT ME

I did one of these 25 things on Facebook the other day, may as well put it here too.

1) I love the smell of coffee and I hate the smell of Tea

2) I hate the taste of coffee and Tea

3) I used to be a Chef, then I became a Taxi driver whilst I learnt to be an Archaeologist. Jobs 1 and 3 turned out to be better than 2.

4) One of my fares in the Taxi became a best friend.

5) I've cooked for Marlon Brando, Lauren Bacall, Bill Clinton, Heath Ledger, Richard Harris, Bruce Willis, Demi Moore, John Cleese, Brian Ferry, Rod Stewart, some 80's band called Bros, Joan Collins and Boy George (Yeah I ain't so proud of the last one, it was only sandwiches anyway)

6) As an Archaeologist I am yet to find to find any Temples of Doom, nor any buried alien spaceships, gold or dinosaur fossils, So stop asking.

7) I luuurve chocolate

8) Red wine beats white wine, except when I feel like having a white wine.

9) I've seen the movie but preferred the book on most occasions, why don't people read anymore?

10) I have a list of things to do before I die, I've managed a few but I'm finding it hard to do most of them. Sometimes the opportunity presents itself and I get to wipe one from the list; however sharing a glass of Fanta on top of Mt Everest with the Dali Lama is proving difficult. Come on....imagine the conversation.

11) I once missed out on meeting Bono because it was my turn to leave the line and get food.

12) I used to work with Hugh Jackman, I'm not sure I will remember him if I see him again.

13) Photography is becoming a hobby, so is painting.

14) I'm crap at committing to hobbies

15) I own 14 pairs of Adidas/Nike/Tiger/Converse sneakers, I only ever seem to wear the same 3 pairs though

16) I have never smoked a cigarette in my life, I'm pretty damn proud of that.

17) People who lack common sense really piss me off, I find I have less tolerance for that sort thing the older I get. Hence I need to get to the top of Mt Everest for a chat with that guy.

18) I wish I didn't love eating meat, but I do.

19) I am the most loyal of friends and only truly connect with those who I feel can reciprocate.

20) I have maybe 100 acquaintances but have only 20 (ish) true friends.

21) I fall in love with the wrong girls often, some will never love me but I will always love them, some know who they are <3>

SKY MORNING

Another incredible sky this morning. Almost as it if was on fire. A larger version over at YeLPanorama.

TORTOISE DAY

Another day of survey up here in the north. It started normally enough, we met at the cars at 6.30am, the flies were waiting for us as usual - we have a gentleman's agreement with them, they don't bother us on the way to breakfast and in return they get to annoy the crap out of us until sundown. An extremely one way kind of agreement but it's all we have.

A mild 42 degrees today, nice cool change right there, with a promise of afternoon showers. It stayed fine all morning and we found this grand old tree on the edge of a creek bed to have lunch under.

The rain has been pretty persistent the past month so the creeks are starting to fill up. I so did not expect to see a tortoise and a fish in one of the creek pools. These creeks only have water in them above ground for about two months of the year, so these lil fellas would have to bury themselves under the ground for the remainder.

such a cool dude.

Finally as promised the rain came down in the afternoon, it caught us out in the middle of the bush. we discovered pretty quickly that Mulga trees give awesome shade and poor shelter.

Good times.
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GAS STATIONS # 13

Converted with Hotrod
Bororen - Queensland

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RANDOM IMAGES # 21

took two looks didn't it?

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ORANGE TO ORANGE

So I finally got to eat one of those bush oranges we spotted weeks ago. They are really small compared to an Asian orange (that's where the orange originated from if ya didn't know).

It has a pretty tough skin and amazing colouring on the inside. I'm always keen to experience new flavours so I was pretty pumped to eat this and it looked great. Imagine my sad face when I realised it didn't have much flavour at all, well no flavour I can pin down so I can't really say what it tastes similar too. It definately wasn't ike any sort of citrus. In fact I think it's only the shape and the skin that gives it the orange monicker, teh similarities end there.

It has the texture of slightly thicker than normal fairy floss and that's about it really. It wasn't horrible or anything but I think it would probably need sugar added to it to make it interesting. I certainly wont be planting fields of them and making a fortune from it any time soon.

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BIRDS ON A LIMB

We were having lunch in a creek bed today when we noticed these birds above us sitting on a tree branch making a hell of a racket.

Then we realised that they were young birds waiting for an adult to bring them food.

Then they waited some more.

And then more came.

Nice deal really, just sit there and wait for the delivery, of course you have to enjoy eating bugs of all varieties.

It's a good time of the year up here at the moment, apart from the heat, there's a heap of rain and the usually dry creek beds are starting to fill with water. It's great to see eveything green again.

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EXCLUSIVE OF TRIMMINGS

I'm beginning to see a pattern forming here with my new shirts and their tags. First Nike and now Puma. I wonder if I have to wash the trimmings separately as well.

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EXCLUSIVE OF DECORATION

A new shirt and with it a new translation.

Apart from it being polyester I'm not really sure what Exclusive Of Decoration means, but it must be important enough to write it in English.

THAT WAS THEN THIS IS NOW

I do so love a good before and after pic. This one is of the Paghman Gardens in Kabul, Afghanistan. The pics where taken 40 years apart. They're like different worlds really, hard to believe it is the same place. I can only assume that the Taliban hated anything beautiful.

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SAM THE KOALA

An amazing image to come out of the devestation of the Victorian bushfires. If you know Koalas you'll know they're not the friendliest of creatures, but after what this poor thing had been through it wasn't exactly full of beans.

He said he was in the middle of backburning at Mirboo North when he saw the stricken koala. "I could see she had sore feet and was in trouble, so I pulled over the fire truck. She just plonked herself down, as if to say 'I'm beat'," he said.

"I offered her a drink and she drank three bottles.

"The most amazing part was when she grabbed my hand. I will never forget that."

Mr Tree and his brigade then received an emergency call-out to save a house, but minutes later Sam was picked up by wildlife carers.

She is one of 22 koalas, 14 ringtail possums, several wallabies and eastern grey kangaroos that have been handed into Gippsland carers.

Full story here

But this is an amazing pic....

and now some footage has turned up.

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THE HOOD # 78

More alleyway street art in Highgate

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ITS LEONARD COHEN WEEK HERE AT YELPAR

Most definately, I've even got Leonard Cohen I'm your man on the TV right now...thanks muchly for the heads up on that one LuLu <3

Leonard

IT DROWNS AND IT BURNS

Australia is in pain at the moment. Disasters everywhere, every hour the death toll from the bushfires rises, it's expected to breach 200 very soon. Your heart goes out to those who have suffered loss both human and material.

Witnesses say the fire moved as fast as the wind....how terrifying that must have been.

Australia is a big country so it's no surprise that the opposite end of it is suffering an opposite effect. Heavy rains have flooded far north Queensland whilst the south of the country burns. If only that rain was down there.

Mum sent me a few pics of the view from her verandah, I'll compare them with shots I took at xmas last year.

If you are so inclined you can donate to the Red Cross Bushfire Appeal here.
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LEONARD COHEN - A DAY ON THE GREEN

Where do I start?

I may have just witnessed a concert that will never be bettered. I feel like I've been in church and not minded at all. I have been blown away.

I said before that I would travel anywhere in the world given the opportunity to see him perform. Suddenly he is delivered to my doorstep.

We had awesome seats, luck of the draw there.

Every song was met with rapturous applause by the audience. An odd mix of a crowd too, plenty of over 50's and even some under 20's and lots in between. I guess Leonard has captured a bunch of new minds with his poetry.

Hilarious watching the 50+ crowd get smashed on their unwooded chardonnays and then stumble around the venue trying to re locate their seats. One tragic woman staggered in front of us and failed at every attempt to balance herself on the steepish amphitheatre floor. It stopped being funny when she crashed into a poor woman walking past and the two of them crashed to the floor like a collapsed rugby scrum. Our next vision was of security escorting the drunken mother out of the venue. Her husband is no doubt still searching for her.

Leonard played almost all of his hits, bantered with the crowd freely and amazed us all with his ability to drop to his knees like he did at age 74. Man I hope I'm that flexible at that age. His smoky crusty voice was incredible and his lyrics amazing. Not a single sole (bar the drunk mothers) walked out of there with a modicum of disappointment, if they did then they have no soul.

Awesomely my camera battery failed to recharge so I was forced to use my phone cam after it crashed so I only have a few good pics and some crappy footage, although the sound is great, which is enough.

Some pics and the rest are here

Pete brought cakes, always great being mates with a pastry chef

A couple of vids

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Hallelujah



I'm Your Man



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