things to do and then nothing to do, it's time to note down what's been
happening... I really must get back into the smaller daily notations. It
makes for more bite-sized chunks of things as opposed to encyclopaedic
reams of text.
So let's see what HAS happened. Vodafone is vacillating between suckful
and acceptable right now. No problems with the account of anything like
that- moreso that I still don't have a phone which works (properly) at
all. Don't bother calling - I don't know who it is, as the screen is
blank white and flashing when someone does call - and I am sick of
answering blank flashing calls from telemarketers and (believe it or not
- fax-machines) - not to mention the random flashing which is just the
phone having a small epileptic fit and not getting a call. Also, if
people are trying to send me a text - it's probably better to try that -
though I get every 2nd-3rd one. Now for the obvious question - get it
replaced. Yup. Repaired is more the point. To do that I have to take it
(it's outside the 30 days grace-instore-replacement period) to Chatwood
before 5pm on a weekday and wait for - about 14 days without a
replacement (they don't do that). OR I convince the store I bought it
from (which has been remodelled and has new staff) that this is the 3rd
replacement I have had and needs to be dropkicked with a new handset
(not of this model, yet of this brand) supplied. Stay tuned for more
stupidity as I try to get time off around 11am - which is our busiest
time (the time that the store-manager suggests that she is available to
discuss this issue). Until then, expect to have little non-personal
contact unless you catch me via email - Meh! It happens.
Secondly, we have a new stove/oven at The Fortress. This makes me very
happy as it's fan-forced and auto-lighting and so froth. The old one (as
frequent visitors will know) was just working - AND was adding rust
flakes to anything on the old griller. Not to mention that these
rust-flakes were coming from the supply pipes which means that saying
there was a resemblance between pipes and swiss-cheese is fairly
accurate. Actually, talking to the gas-man (plumber) yesterday, he hd
advised the real-estate agents 5 months ago that the stove needed
replacing, yet it took us showing the landlord last week that there was
an issue - and when he saw it it was done in 4 days. Anyway, it's a nice
little retro-look, yet modern, and won't up the rent in having the old
one replaced. Well the story is that the landlord had bought a new
stovetop, but then 2 months later got his entire kitchen replaced (with
another new stovetop) so we get the older new one with no cost
associated with it (read: no upping of the rent). Of course it did take
from 10:30am through to 2pm to get the old one out and the new one in.
There was much chipping free of the gas-tap and then moving of old stove
and levelling of new one - and replacing gasket in the wall (damaged by
the cementing in of the old tap). Just enough for me to be there all
day. (I think the universe is trying to tell me that I only need to be
here at work for 4 days a week and not 5, y'know?).
Thirdly, we have a new DVD/HDD recorder (an LG thingy) as the old Conia
died on the weekend. Connecting it, though, is an adventure and I am
scouring the interwebs for the cheats walk-throughs right now.
OK - as far as other things done are concerned...
Last Friday (apart from work) I was Sexually Inappropriate With (my)
Friends because the Shaker Courtyard Kids told me that it was the right
International thing to do - after that I was asleep a lot.
Last Saturday was a pottering about the house day, which also showed me
how much I need to clean up my act on 'getting rid of stuff(TM)' I think
I'll be doing this in the next week or so - just the rubbish stuff. Last
Saturday night was a very pleasant dinner at The Annandale with Miss
Kate, Brian, and Barbara before heading into the Band-Room to see Kate
Miller-Heidke. I'm getting ingo the deplorable habit of not seeing
support bands unless I know them - and this is something I think I
shoukld getout of the habit of doing. Why? Well how else can you tell if
you like 'new' music if you just go and see the bands you want to see.
(After all, there's a reason that supports are there - unless it's
Vaness Amarosi supporting Kiss - but I digress). It was nice to be
finishing a meal and having Katre walk in through the restaurant.
Seriously - the talk all but stopped and whispers of "There she is..."
permeated the room. That tere's an inidication fo the level of 'fame'
associated with her right now, she stops a room. Then again, this IS the
woman who joined the estwhile Cyndi Lauper onstage a little while ago
(which to me seems like it was the teeming of two equally talented
bookends) to perform 'Girls Just Wanna Have Fun'. Still, the band-room
was packed and kept filling. The Merchandise table was full of T-Shirts,
girly-fitted-singlet-tops, programme-album books and CDs and DVDs!
Hoorah! I spent time wondering what to get (and of course the CD/DVD
combo won out) andf went inside to try to get a space. The nice things
about having venues which don't llow smoking in them is that people have
to go outside - this makes getting down the front a whole not easier,
and down the front is where I wanted to be for this show. From the
moment the screen raised up and Kate's band took the stage the applause
and sporadic cheers were a constant throughout the show. Kate's show was
so familiar - and it's not from having seen her perform before. There's
something familiar in the lilt and the delivery which begs the question:
is the she love-child of a tri-fusion of Cyndi Lauper, Kate Bush and
Debbie Harry? Whilst her band is a talented background presence, (Keir
Nuttal [Guitars], Ben McCarthy [Bass, Vocals], Steve Pope - the Alpha
Male [Drums], and the astonishly talented (and Golden Guitar nominated)
Nicole Brophy [Backing Vocals, Acoustic Guitar]) Kate heself is a
gleaming light onstage. Perhaps it was the white banged hairsyle, or the
multilayered skirts, or perhaps just the honest radiant smile, offset by
an innocently-sly-humour-filled expression, coupled with a pounding
staccato delivery of her first number, but damn if she doesn't light up
the room. What she lacks in ascerbic delivery a-la Debbie Harry, she
makes up for in subtly and wonderfully subversive lyrics in the Lauper
vein. A very neat 12-song set (mostly from her multi-Aria-nominated
Little Eve album) with a 2 song encore which had the Annadale not only
packed to the back walls and out into the merch/pinball room, but
begging for more. This is her last tour promoting Little Eve, and thence
she goes into 'next album' mode and we won't see her for a bit - yet
seeing her tonight was a real pleasure. I like artists who can hold
their own onstage (especially when they can hold the audience in the
palm of their hand). They're a pleasure to watch, and Kate (along with
her band) was an absolute pleasure to experience. Everyone talks about
'Australian Idol' as being her (current) tour-de-force, and it was an
audience favourite on the night, I think her signature on this night was
her version of 'You're The Voice' which blended almost seemlessly into a
'Bohemian Rhapsody'-inspired riff in the middle. It honestly made me
laugh (in an embarrassingly delighted manner, like a 3 year-old
discovering something wonderous) and the only thing that would have made
it better would have been John Farnham in the audience singing along.
Afterwards was a dose of Die Maschine, and associatred trash-baggery,
which lasted well into the following morning.
Sunday being the day of sloth and IT/DVD-geekery, became sleep and then
a Monday of work. Of course Monday evening became 'The Night the DVD
Recorder Died' with an image of Donna slipping in behind the corner unit
to reconnect the leads in a way wghich had the IQ box straight into the
TV.
Tuesday, y'all know about with stove-replacement amusement/irritations
which then had a small side-trip to Harvey Norman to replace the DVD/HDD
recorder (thank the Gods for extended warranties I say), followed by an
excursion to see 'Salome In Cogito Volume III' at The Carriageworks. To
say that this was simply a performance-piece would be ultimately
correct. I don't pretend to draw too many referents in style and
performance to others - though I can say that I agree (mostly) with
another reviwer. If this were david Lunch having re-written the Oscar
Wilde play, being directed by Terry Gilliam (on a strict budget) then
you would get what I saw last night. If one did not know the story of
John The Baptist and Salome, one would be left wondering just what the
hell was happening, and I know 4 audience walked out last night, though
it may have been because of something totally unreletaed, though I
suspect not. The 'star' Mary Helen Sassman (Salome) leads the show and
holds the audience with her madness-infused performance. Indeed all of
Salome's 'family' are mad, or suffer from bouts of manic behaviour. The
show used most of the enormous Carriageworks space well, and the story
(if you knew it) made a perverse sort of sense to me. Herod (Daniel
Schlusser) was simply mad and suffered bouts of spasticly physical guilt
for the wanton acts of sadism he perpetrates both purposesfully and by
his very inaction in places. The Queen (Syd Brisbane) seemd more fixated
on the form of 'social' behaviour regardless of the surrundings and to
appear 'normal' to the world (this in itslef manifested as a perversity
when compared to the rest of the family), John The Baptist (Pier
Carthew, in his acrylic cell for most of the performance) vaccilated
between religious fervour and supreme depression - whilst rebuffing and
almost succumbing to Salome's sporadic advances. Dana Miltins' character
seemed more like the bulk of society, than any one person, suffering
from the opression fo the wealthy and the depradations of a famine
induced by a myopic monarchy. Indeed, Salome herself was albino (perhaps
a tongue-in-cheek pointer to the porphyria which seemed to haunt certain
in-bred European royalty of decades past). Two things were a little
disappointing (to me) though. The use of the baby in the last phase of
the piece, though this - as the baby was real and normal - could suggest
that out of madness there is a spark of hope, the the lack of any
beheading on The Baptist. Yes there is obvious reference to the act, and
the sudden appearance of a working circular made me grin in anticipation
(which shows that the madness is contagious), but the one thing expected
did not happen. I expected the head to be produced and felt cheated when
it was not. Perhaps that's just me. The set was lovely, if utilitarian,
the soundscape was wonderfully disturbing and overall it was theatre
which deserves to be seen. However, don't expect the usual - by any
stretch of the imagination (or David Lynch's).
...and that lead to a trip home, sleep, and working today - which is an
adventure unto itself.
Tonight... well there is/was a possibility of seeing Iron Man with
Michelle et al, but that may be off, I do know that Jow is arriving in
Sydney later tonight - but she's getting in late eniough that she's
staying in a hostel tonight and tomorrow night. Friday is Jow and
barabara and I heading into see Frank & Co at the Oxford, followed by
(potentially) Hellfire - depending on my state-of-flu - and thence
nothjing else for the rest of the weekend except DVDs and sorting out
stuff in the house - yes I MUST get a plan together for the
rationalisation of/if not culling of some stuff.
--
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