Thoughts are like fishes

Trainspotter delights at Museum

Griffith Pioneer Park Museum was recently visited by a Railway Heritage Adviser who almost could not believe what he saw.

"I found the Goolgowi Railway Station and related documents absolutely fascinating," said Phil Buckley. "I have never seen such a complete set of rail paperwork from any one location like that before. I had seen some at other museums I work at in rail heritage but not of such detail."

Goolgowi Railway Station is a popular destination on 'Action Day' each Good Friday at Pioneer Park Museum, where a train collects visitors for a tour of the grounds.

The Station was constructed from cinder-concrete slabs in 1923, as part of the extension of the Griffith-Hillston line. At the time it was anticipated the site would become a major station, as agricultural experts envisaged the area would be one of the biggest producers of wheat.

106,569 bags of wheat would be shipped from the Station during 1935 alone.

As road transport overtook rail for moving people and goods, Goolgowi Railway Station was closed in 1979. In 1983 Museum volunteer Mick Coombe, a retired ex-railway employee, noticed the abandoned building was being considered for demolition.

The Museum wrote to State Rail in June that year and formally tendered the sum of $10 for the building, learning in November of their success. Volunteers and a group undertaking community service orders relocated it to Pioneer Park Museum, where it was opened to the public in 1984.

The Goolgowi Railway Station is one of 42 historic and recreated buildings at Griffith Pioneer Park Museum. These provide detailed snapshots of the lives of early residents of Griffith and the surrounding region.

It's a view that was appreciated by Mr Buckley. "I immensely enjoyed my few hours at the Museum," he said. "There is superb preservation of rare and fascinating buildings. It really showcases to me how amazing our pioneer heritage is and how diverse too."

Like many visitors, Phil Buckley enjoyed reconnecting with his own history during the visit. "My mum lived in Hillston in 1940-60s, so she would of passed Goolgowi station many times on her long trips to Sydney."

As befitting a railway enthusiast, Mr Buckley traveled to Griffith from Sydney by train on the Sunday service.

Photographs shown here by Phil Buckley. This was published here.

Outside Four Walls

Outside Four Walls is a blog that reflects the interests of my friends Michael Gooch and Louise Nicholas.

These two self-described "nature nerds" have become increasingly obsessed with birds, plants and animals in recent years.

While they always seemed keen on the outdoors, I think a turning point was buying a 20-acre block outside Clunes in regional Victoria. They've named it Finches Gully and undertaken a variety of rehabilitation works.

Saw this great photo of a Peaceful Dove on their Facebook page.

A moment of symmetry

Among the many ideas stimulated while reading Ghost Empire was an 'a-ha' moment about Islamic art.

While I haven't seen much Islamic art, I've seen a lot via friends. One mate recently traveled to Iran and posted many pictures on Facebook of the insides of mosques. Another friend, Abre Ojos, uses geometry in his audiovisual work.

Richard Fidler writes:

There are no images of God, Muhammad or Muslims saints: Islam forbids the creation of such images. The visual allusions to Allah are purely abstract; tiles form swirling lines of Qur'anic text and complex geometric patterns, displaying the Islamic tradition of finding the sublime within calligraphy and mathematical perfection.

The idea of taking inspiration from one source and representing it within another medium appeals to me for many reasons. At times I've argued that that's an essence of art.

However, the idea of religious inspiration is somewhat foreign. My Quaker upbringing means I tend to look inward for spiritual guidance. I think I'm also somewhat meditative in my approach elsewhere, which is why the trance-like aspects of electronic music appeal to me.

A quick google on the subject of Islamic mosaics offers:

the repetition within many of the designs evokes the nature of God, with a small section of work mirroring the pattern of the whole piece. In the same way, a small part of God's creation on Earth reflects his divine and infinite nature.

I know it's a leap but for me the idea of pantheism is interesting. It's suggests that you can find the divine in the everyday as well as the exceptional. I guess there's a sense of finding the right outlook.

The sheer scale of mosque mosaics is incredible but their long history is also amazing:

By 1453, architects had started designing walls with perfectly overlapping quasicrystalline tiles. Quasicrystalline patterns never repeat, but are completely symmetrical. A dizzying example is on display at its medieval best at the Darb-i Imam shrine in Iran.
Western science couldn't describe the same pattern until the early 1970s, when English mathematician Roger Penrose introduced his famous "Penrose" tiling system.

My 'a-ha' moment was seeing the creative constraint faced my Muslim artists wishing to represent the divine. In my music-making I've reveled in using a limitation as a springboard, particularly after reading an idea from Brian Eno that you need to establish parameters to focus on developing a piece of work.

Over the last four and a half years I've enjoyed the creative prompt offered by the Disquiet Junto, "an ongoing weekly collaborative music-making space in which restraints are used as a springboard for creativity."

Not to belittle the religion of Islam and it's long tradition of mosaic art but, while reading the quote from Fidler, I could understand it through my own experience.

Scarfolk Council

Dark at times but very funny.

See the Scarfolk Council blog

Constantine is 666

Reading Ghost Empire brought to mind the graffiti that sprang up around Canberra like a textual disease in the late 1980s.

The words "Constantine is 666" began to appear with increasing frequency and I recall asking my father what it meant. He explained that Constantine was a Roman Emperor.

There are many stories and theories about why Constantine adopted Christianity and promoted it within the Roman Empire. This morning my partner was telling me about an idea that it sold pacifism to Christian enemies of the Empire, creating a situation in which they could be amalgamated.

Constantine's role in creating the Council of Nicaea is significant:

The Council of Nicaea is the first major attempt by Christians to define orthodoxy for the whole Church. Until Nicaea, all previous Church Councils had been local or regional synods affecting only portions of the Church.

The result unified the Roman Empire. Anyway, enough of the ancient history lesson.

I haven't found online an explanation of the graffiti in Canberra "Constantine is 666," but there's reference to it in this letter to The Canberra Times from June 1989, which was found here.

My memory was that the slogan became increasingly common but it wasn't until the Prime Minister's residence was defaced that the Australian Federal Police appeared to put significant effort into catching the culprit.

The Lodge is the Canberra home for the (so-called) leader of Australia and it has curved white walls about eight feet high surrounding it. These days it has extensive security measures but in the late '80s there was probably only someone at the gate and maybe another guard positioned inside.

I remember seeing the words "Constantine is 666" were spray-painted on the wall and thinking it was a significant achievement. When you consider that most graffiti tags these days is barely more than a scribble, I think it says a lot about the determination of the guy to promote the message.

It's less clear to me why he promulgated the view that a Roman Emperor was Satan, just as I'm lost for his identity. Think I'll ask a few Canberrans to research it for further discussion.

2017 ain't so bad

From The Running Man

ANU Bar memories

Just been enjoying revisiting my memories of the ANU Bar after reading Bree Winchester's piece.

There are quite a few experiences for me, as a volunteer photographer for BMA Magazine and sometime contributor to The Canberra Times during the '90s.

I remember meeting Nirvana backstage at their infamous Canberra show and regret not getting Kurt's guitar pick rather than one from Krist.

Also, I remember getting kicked out of the pit after photographing a hole in the Refectory ceiling that They Might Giants made with a cannon that shot confetti.

One more highlight was US band Fishbone and I hope you'll indulge this reminisce.

I was somewhat addled when I decided to talk my way into photographing their show and for some reason it was the only time I've seen the pit at the front of the stage closed at both ends.

Their tour manager had explained that after the usual "first three songs, no flash," I'd sneak across the stage when the lights dimmed.

As I climbed onstage in the dark and began to make my way to steps leading offstage, I found my path blocked by a dark figure.

The lights came back on and I saw it was a band member and Fishbone launched into their next song.

I looked around and saw the band were dancing, thought I'd better dance too.

Then the singer said something like "There's only one way off -- jump!" and I had my first experience of stage-diving.

A sea of hands rose up and carried me to the back of the audience and it was glorious.

Sums up why I blog

Petrol prices

Making a bed today and I noticed this petrol price on the doona cover.

It reminded me that as the Australian dollar continues to drop in value against the US standard, petrol will likely increase in price. This is a concern for me as I use a tank of fuel each week commuting from Leeton to Griffith for work.

While it's been a while since petrol cost as much as the price shown on the doona, the decision by OPEC last year to reduce production was the first in a while that led to an increase noticed in the price at my local bowser. At least, one other than usual increases during school holidays.

danisnotonfire

My kids have introduced me to many Youtube channels, including danisnotonfire.

Dan and his friend Phil make engaging banter but it's kinda lost on me, aside from a good line in self-deprecation. I can't help but note his channel has only been running since 2009 but has around seven million subscribers, whereas I've had a channel since 2006 and have around 150. Clearly it's a younger person's game.

Anyway, my daughter draws lots of cartoons and among them are representations of Dan and other Youtubers.

This sketch caught my interest as she's taken a creative leap and drawn Dan as a female with whiskers.

I note Dan describes himself as a feminist and hope this doesn't hurt his felines. (Sorry, dad joke.)

Dan, if you're reading, I'd like to know what you'd have on a toasted sandwich.

Cicada shells

Judging by the cicada shells at the park this morning, there's a lot of breeding going on after recent rains.

Guess this will flow on to increases in the bird and reptile populations too.

Cicadas shedding their shells seem like a good metaphor for New Year's day.

Ruby Saltbush in old Grey Box

Saw this groundcover growing off the ground.

Leaping into 2017

Sandwiches for everyone

Remarkable sandwiches can be found here

Carved trunk?

Earlier this year I heard about a carved scar on a tree outside Wagga Wagga.

I went looking for it while I was staying in the area over Christmas and think I found it.

I've heard that carving trees was a Wiradjuri custom to remember the dead, which might explain why the shape doesn't seem like those I've seen elsewhere for coolamon.

The horizontal lines appear to be evenly spaced apart, which suggests a deliberate design but I'll ask around and see what I can learn.

Australian Government priorities are rooted

It is shocking that the Australian Government has spent more promoting an "innovation agenda" than combating violence against women by people known to the victims.

An article today on the SMH website outlines advertising spending during the 2015-16 financial year, which included the longest election campaign in recent history:

The 2010 election advertising campaign cost $12.3 million, contributing to an annual total of $116.9 million…
Promoting the Turnbull government's National Innovation and Science Agenda cost $14.9 million…
A national campaign to reduce violence against women and children in Australia cost $13.4 million

This is a disgrace.

The Facebook page Destroy The Joint notes 71 women have died in this country in the year up to 20 December from domestic violence and 80 women died in 2015.

Complaints about 2016?

Jonny Negron

There's a lot to like about this image.

2017 resolutions

Not usually one for setting and sticking to New Year's resolutions but I'm entertaining a couple of ideas for 2017.

One is to stop using Twitter because I feel it offers very little return for the amount of time I spend posting. Some years ago I experimented with posting the same thoughts on Twitter and Facebook and found the latter generated more conversation. Since I've befriended many of the people I like on the former on the latter and see they mostly post the same things in both places, I don't think I'll be worse off.

Another is to stop buying musical equipment. My reason is that I have so much gear and use little of it, that I need to spend time thinking about what is continuing to help and what isn't. One idea informing this decision is this beaut quote about a sense of guilt that impacts on one's ability to make music.

Other than these two, I'm hoping to spend more time individually with my children. Time passes quickly and I realise I'm losing the opportunity to hold their attention as they age.

Making a bacon sandwich

Love this

Seen on Facebook this morning.

It really is special because there aren't many pictures with a cat where I feel like I share it's perspective, such as the "WTF?" shown here.

Last Christmas

Some years ago I recorded a cover of the Wham! hit 'Last Christmas':

While learning it I was challenged by how the phrasing shifts to accommodate lyrics that don't stick to a meter or rhyme. It took a while to get the hang of when to launch into a line at the start of a bar or hold back a beat. Particularly this line:

I keep my distance but you still catch my eye

By the time I recorded it, George Michael had announced he was gay. It interested me that the first-person lyrics, while not specifically written from the perspective of a male, infer that the lover being addressed is male:

A face on a lover with a fire in his heart
A man undercover but you tore him apart
Maybe next year, I'll give it to someone,
I'll give it to someone special

Many lyricists write songs for other singers. Musicians like Prince, for example, had a number of their hits delivered by others.

However, in hindsight, I wondered if George had not felt the need to hide his sexuality in what would become an early hit.

So, as George's manager announced that the singer had died from heart failure on Christmas, it surprised me that the lyrics also say:

Last Christmas, I gave you my heart

George Michael's phrasing gives the impression that the words were just as important to his songwriting as the melodies. Another characteristic is his sincerity, it somehow seems dated when compared to the irony and ambiguity found in pop music today. It makes his apparent heart failure seem so much more poignant.

Wild honey

Been a while since I ate honey.

This one comes from an abandoned hive that was found in a dead Kurrajong tree after it broke apart in a storm. It tastes sweet, like Paterson's Curse-based honey, with a slight taste of wax and a zing like minerals.

Christmas present

Here is a pic of mistletoe from the hopbush that's playing the role of Christmas tree for my household this year.

Below is an early present that my kids chose for me when they went into town to buy chickens for lunch tomorrow. Apparently the chilli sauces had numbers up to 15, when the size of the jar shrunk dramatically.

The kids tell me this chilli sauce has scorpion in it but I didn't see it listed on the ingredients. It's hot but not like eating a raw habanero off the plant, which isn't something I'd recommend.
I remember tears flowing as a result but the endorphin rush was pleasant.

P.S. On Christmas I got another bottle of wine from my out-laws. I drank one of these a few years ago and found it ready-to-drink then, so hopefully it's still got some spine.

Ghost Empire

Currently I'm reading Richard Fidler's book Ghost Empire and enjoying how he expertly demonstrates in this history of Constantinople how developments over a millennia ago remain within Western culture.

Justinian the Great, for example, oversaw the creation of the Codex that established Roman laws that continue to inform those practiced today.

Another interesting section discussed Nicholas the bishop of Myra, better known as Saint Nicholas and the inspiration for Santa Claus. While not explicitly stated, I couldn't help but wonder if the story of Nicholas resurrecting children butchered during a famine established the tradition of Christmas ham:

One tells how during a terrible famine, a malicious butcher lured three little children into his house, where he killed them, placing their remains in a barrel to cure, planning to sell them off as ham. Nicholas, visiting the region to care for the hungry, not only saw through the butcher's horrific crime but also resurrected the three boys from the barrel by his prayers.

This is one serendipity I've encountered while reading the book during the festive season. Another was when I read aloud the section on how Justinian developed a Roman silk industry after six centuries of importing the fabric from China via the Silk Road:

Two unidentified monks (most likely members of the Nestorian Church who had been preaching Christianity in India (Church of the East in India), made their way to China by 551 AD. While they were in China, they observed the intricate methods for raising silk worms and producing silk. This was a key development, as the Byzantines had previously thought silk was made in India. In 552 AD, the two monks sought out Justinian I. In return for his generous but unknown promises, the monks agreed to acquire silk worms from China.

Fidler notes many historians now regard this story as a fable and that it would have been a 6500-kilometre journey taking around two years for the monks.

The serendipity for my family was that after learning the story, we arrived at our destination to find my out-laws (so called as my partner and I aren't married) had a collection of silkworm cocoons with a couple of silk moths.

I've thought before how ghosts are a beaut metaphor for the resonances within history and illustrate relevance to contemporary audiences. I'm thoroughly enjoying the book as it's like a tour of foreign lands where the pace is quick but the snapshots are wondrous.

Far cough

Listening to ABC Radio National this week I heard about Desiderius Erasmus' advice on farting:

"Some teach that boys should keep in the gas of their bellies by compressing their buttocks. But it is not civil to become ill while you are trying to seem polite. If it is possible to leave, let him do it alone, but if not, follow the ancient proverb: Hide the fart with a cough."
De civilitate morum puerilium (1530)

Of course, I could not wait to share this information with my family. The outcome is we all giggle if someone coughs.

In fact it's a joke that has yet to get old. We would often find humour in farting and now it doesn't require the gas to start a chuckle. All that is needed is to clear one's throat.

Haunted

On Father's Day this year I was scrolling through my Twitter feed when this image appeared.

The photo by Daniel Etter shows Syrian refugees arriving on the Greek Island of Kos in August 2015.

I'd seen the image in the news around that time but for some reason the context of seeing it on Father's Day had a profound affect me. It's been in my mind for months since and I've found myself in tears at times.

Tonight I learned the tears of the man in the photo are tears of joy at arriving in Greece and I've found a sense of relief. For a long time I'd assumed he was the father of Alan Kurdi.

Feeling unacknowledged

Surprised to see the photograph on the cover of Griffith City Council's Annual Report for 2015/16 is my image.

This photograph was also used on the invite to the opening and shows three of the sculptures created during the symposium at Pioneer Park Museum in April this year. From left to right the sculptures are:

'Eternity' by Tobel (cropped)
'Solido Grigio Silenzio' by Francesco Panceri
'Water is the Driver of Nature' by Hew Chee Fong

Copyright laws promote acknowledging the work of photographers and it's good practice, however there would be room for my employer to argue they own the image as it was taken during work hours and using a phone they supplied.

I published it on Instagram, which also has a bunch of conditions that would ignore my moral right. They might even claim it was their photograph.

It's interesting that the moral right of an artist to be acknowledged does not extend to stating which artist created a sculpture shown in an image in the same way that one must acknowledge the photographer and also the details of other 2D visual art.

Copyright laws are weird like that because they're shaped by the lobbying of corporations and (so called) free trade agreements.

Jobseeker

Family portrait

Round and round

Recently there was news that music released on vinyl records had overtaken music released via digital download in the UK.

It surprised me as I'm not enamoured with records but, then again, this week I've also seen an interesting discussion of how the emotional content of music can be missing in MP3 files.

Another article pointed to the demise of rock music in the charts and it got me wondering if the medium isn't shaping the effectiveness of the message, because essential elements of rock like guitars and cymbals don't sound as good when they lose higher frequencies during encoding to MP3 files.

I have a theory that it was the rise of magnetic tape as a recording medium that contributed to the development of rock music, particularly the dynamics of the modern drumkit.

Anyway, I expect rock will return again for a number of reasons. I also have a theory that it resurfaces regularly because it's what record company executives know best.

But, not so seriously, how long before wax cylinder recordings make a comeback? Because I was excited to finally locate the Edison cylinder and playback machine at work this week.

Jase on the bass

Cellist and Regional Arts Fellow Clare Brassil gave a workshop on looping in Leeton on the weekend and Ron Arel at The Irrigator took this photo of me.

It's kinda flattering to be called a "young" artist! Other people at the workshop were children, which lowered the average age considerably.

Reprints

As someone who only had a passing interest in Prince during his lifetime, I've really enjoyed discovering more about him as people look back.

One of those things that really captured my interest while he was alive was, of course, Dave Chappelle's impersonation of him.

It's really cool that Prince could laugh at the depiction of himself too, as shown in the use of Chappelle for this artwork.

So it was interesting to read this in GQ:

Davison: The backstory to that was—and this is the part Charlie doesn't tell—Eddie had wanted to play Prince his new album. So during that basketball game, Eddie's music was playing, via boom box, on a cassette. After that game, Prince goes over and he tosses the cassette out of the boom box and he says, "Let me ask you a question: Do you see me stop my show to do comedy?"

Eddie Murphy is obviously someone who, like Russell Crowe, is very passionate about music and I can respect that. This song he recorded with Rick James, who Chappelle has also lovingly impersonated, is one that I sing to myself a bit.

History lesson

Been thinking about this image since seeing it on Buzzfeed.

The photograph comes via Mark Tschaepe's Twitter of a presentation by Jose Lara.

George Orwell's line "History is written by the victor" springs to mind -- although, out of the context of 1984, that reads like an affirmation.

You for mystic

This painting “Playing (Tawamure)” (1936) by Ishikawa Toraji is a bit saucy.

I don't know art but I know what I like!

Via Hyperallergic

Oscar reviews The Invention of Hugo Cabret

Recently helped my son with his school assignment.

Organ donor

One of the things I've wanted to do while working at Pioneer Park Museum is record the old organs and offer them as a sample library.

Not sure it'll happen anytime soon but I was reminded of this aspiration while recording an oral history in St James Church recently, which is the oldest church in the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area.

Shown here is a detail from the organ in St James.

Vagina Envy

By SisterSerpents, via Womens Art.

Forthcoming sandwich

Click here to see previous toasted sandwiches.

Radio National

It's the end of another year and Cyclic Defrost have asked me to name five albums I've discovered and presumably want to share.

Once again I'm reminded how little new music I seek out. Most weeks I listen to a bunch of Junto tracks, as well as mixes like Solid Steel and sometimes responses to Naviar Records' haikus, although not so much of the latter since Soundcloud took away Groups -- but I won't write further about those can'ts here.

Sometimes I listen to albums from Bandcamp, mostly friends' recordings and things that have caught their ears.

Otherwise most new music I hear is on the radio if I go out during lunchtime, since current affairs and local news dominates the mornings and Phillip Adams' conversations in the afternoons.

Like many of my friends I've migrated from listening to Triple J to Radio National.

Currently there's concern among my musician friends that the channel will no longer run programs that feature music.

One of the things that I haven't seen discussed in this programming decision is the role the network plays in promoting music for adults.

There aren't many radio stations in regional Australia, let alone stations that promote music for a discerning audience. They've got a niche on the dial that commercial radio can't afford to focus on.

It's a shame they don't recognise the distinct place they occupy and capitalise on it because I won't be looking for the podcasts they're saying will replace the programs being canned.

Record labels should be concerned because Radio National sells music better than advertising.

I write this as a sometime critic for websites who sees plenty of emails and sponsored content but is not moved to engage. Yet it's also rare for me to change the radio station even though much of what is on RN is not the style of music I'd seek out.

You Oughta know

Been thinking about Alanis Morissette's 'You Oughta Know' since hearing it in the ute at work, the radio of which is tuned to a commercial station.

It's another modern classic and I've been enjoying reading about the song and thinking about the '90s elements it encapsulates.

The anger in the lyrics is palpable and kinda grunge yet the song has rock infused with loops, including that Stone Roses/Manchester-esque shuffle. There's another Nirvana connection in that it sounds like their onetime producer Butch Vig's band Garbage.

Co-songwriter Glen Ballard has said anger isn't something he associates with Morissette:

She wasn’t angry at all. There was anger that informed that particular song, but mostly it was … Actually, we did a broken-down version of “You Oughta Know” with a string quartet, and I was playing piano, and you can hear the ache in the song on that [version]. It’s really more about the sense of betrayal than anger, and the anger comes out of the betrayal. The 20 times we got together in 1994 were probably the happiest times for both of us, because we never stopped laughing. I thought I was the funniest guy in the world because she was laughing at virtually everything I said, and she was funny, so when people started describing her as this angry young woman, it’s like, okay, I don’t think they understand that that was just a moment. She was smiling and laughing the whole time; really she was.

I think any sense it's angry really reinforces the idea that that emotion stems from disappointment. Anyway, I wonder if the version with strings sounds like this mash-up.

The other thing about the production is that heartbeat bassline and shimmering guitars come from Flea and Dave Navarro, who were in the Chili Peppers together around that time and later toured as Jane's Addiction. Morissette married Jesse Tobias, who played guitar with the Peppers for a while too. I'm sure LA is a big town but the professional music scene suddenly looks kinda small!

The intimate details in the lyrics attracted attention and one wonders if it reveals how young Morissette was at the time. In the interview above Ballard describes a toll that touring to support the album took on her.

I need you to know

Why?

I have a pen

This week my son suggested I google "pen pineapple apple pen" and I've enjoyed the result, particularly the remix above.

Anyway, it was weird that the following day after I'd spoken to my colleagues at morning tea about the song. I returned to my office and noticed the words to the song on the whiteboard in my office.

hink again

Can't help but put this here. More here.

P.S. hink again again.

Round and round

Wrote and recorded a song on my new electric ukulele last weekend.

The result took shape with two of the projects I regularly engage in, the Disquiet Junto and the Naviar haiku. Each project is a weekly prompt to record.

My electric ukulele came from "Sorebrain" via Ebay.

I got the idea for the chorus first, from the line in the poem about the ceiling fan. Then the Junto proposed composing a piece about ghosts and Al Capone's banjo.

I’ve passed trespass stolen keys to the city
drawn curtains on opportunity
like snakes and ladders I have risen
then fallen like an angel into prison

In my reflection is insight
I find clarity in hindsight
from hard sell to my hard cell
from life this truth I tell

Round and round
round and round
round and round
around it goes

I don’t think you understand
despite that card in your hand
which ever way the die spin
the house will always win

Round and round
round and round
round and round
around it goes

Then I gave the track an electronic makeover, with 909-style drums and a synth line from Native Instruments' Monark.

Toasted egg and bacon roll

Cooked my paramour an egg and bacon roll using only my trusty Sunbeam sandwich press. Be impressed.

This Land is your Land

So sad I'll never see Sharon Jones live.

Hallo spaceboy

Kevin Foakes shared a beaut collection of Russian record covers.

This one reminded me of the spaceman used by the Wagga Space Program -- who ran the famous Unsound Festival earlier this century.

Valla Beach

Shared a couple of videos of Valla Beach earlier this year and have since published this recording from around then.

Valla is about a half an hour south of Coffs Harbour and my partner's family have a beach house there. It's been a site for great lightning pics and I saw an octopus and a seal and maybe a merman.

This video was recorded using a Rode Videomic on my Nikon D5100 SLR. I've added a couple of Valhalla reverbs, as well as a low C using Massive and mastered with Ozone 7.

A local government dynamic

Went for a job interview last week. I don’t think I got the job though.

There are two observations I’d like to make. The first is that I never perform well when I have a cup of coffee before an interview. The path from my thoughts to my mouth seems awfully short and I catch myself attempting to articulate incomplete sentences.

The second is a dynamic I’ve seen throughout regional local government. It’s a subtle conflict between the professionals who move into a region for a role and those who have lived there most of their lives.

(Admittedly I was wondering about it while watching body language during the time spent in an interview, but I’ve been thinking since on the ways I’ve seen it in my experiences with local government.)

This conflict plays out in various ways but they all share a contrast in perspective. The classic for me was when a general manager tried to put in place timed parking on the main street.

Sometimes it seems people won’t shop at a place unless they can park at the door. It also seems true of people passing through town though, as well as people wanting to park outside their business.

For an outsider it seems obvious that creating opportunity for people passing through town to stop and shop means enforcing timed limits on parking in the main street. For locals that is affront to the community they know. The idea that they might be fined for parking is not something that reflects their experience of their hometown.

Anyway, that’s one example. In various councils I’ve seen varying conflicts between the perspectives of local and visiting professionals. I don’t think the issues are black and white, I think this dynamic reflects a dialectic.

Raw egg sandwich

SPOILER! My experiment with cooking egg in a toasted sandwich failed.

Simon Matthews' Untitled

Seen at Flower Power in 2016 at the Griffith Regional Art Gallery.

Pioneer Park Museum gets a kick in the arts

Good Friday is known as 'Action Day' at Griffith Pioneer Park Museum and for 45 years it has been the event where many items around the site spring to life.

The next 'Action Day' at the Park on 14 April 2017 will see new activities added to the line-up thanks to Country Art Support Program funding announced by Arts NSW.

"Griffith Pioneer Park Museum's Action Day is one of the biggest events on the calendar and the expanding arts program will make it bigger and better," said Curator Jason Richardson.

Four artists will be employed to run all-ages workshops in media including photography, sculpture and print-making.

Griffith-based photographer Garry Bazzacco will run two workshops. The first will be introductory in nature, while the second will focus on camera functions.

Griffith-based artist Melanie Baulch will work with Richard Green to engage visitors in sand sculptures to represent and discuss local flora and fauna.

Wagga Wagga-based artist Christina Reid is a practicing print-maker and has experience teaching at Wagga Wagga TAFE, as well as having delivered a series of print workshops at Leeton's Parkview Primary School in 2016.

Ms Reid's workshop is designed to introduce the public to the variety of ways a print can be achieved. While exploring the possibilities of the material and equipment, the general public will gain an understanding some of the traditions and learn a bit about the history of print-making in general.

"Pioneer Park Museum has hosted many community-based arts groups and activities in previous decades and we're looking forward to giving our patrons an opportunity to explore their creativity," said Mr Richardson.

The 'Action Day' workshops are supported by Arts NSW's Country Arts Support Program, a devolved funding program administered by Regional Arts NSW and Western Riverina Arts on behalf of the NSW Government.

Action Day at Pioneer Park Museum is one of many great events taking place during Griffith's annual Griffith Easter Party 2017.

Disappointing sandwich

Another of my so-called remarkable sandwiches.

Shibuya sticker art

Via Tim Prebble's Music of Sound, where there's also this collection of stickers

For whom the doorbell tolls

My eldest helped make this short film as part of my response to the Disquiet Junto this week.

Another remarkable sandwich

Toasted banana and chocolate sandwich with my daughter.

Unsatisfying

UNSATISFYING from PARALLEL STUDIO on Vimeo.

200

This is my 200th post on here this year and it looks like I'm on course to overtake 2012 as the most post-y year yet.

Lifehacks

Thought I'd revisit my song 'Lifehack' and tried reworking the vocals, ending up with an a capella version.

Audrey Davies' Kookaburras

Googling myself

Today I was googling myself trying to find a link from a couple of years ago. You know what? Google sucked.

The link sought was a remix by Ben in England. He records as Kelp and we've made a few remix chains together and he remixed one of my playground recordings. It was Restyn Park in Hanwood, which I'd offered after a Junto.

So I googled my music blog with the terms "Restyn" and "Kelp" and specified my site. It said there were no results and I noticed that the blog's URL gets an Australian "au" but Google's results don't.

This is quite frustrating for a search engine operator. Obviously they want to better categorise their data and having Blogger add the country suffix allows mapping, like Hello France. But it'll then be skewed elsewhere, like when Marco shone a spotlight on my blog it shows up as "uk" -- actually, it doesn't. Anyway.

So I googled again with the same two terms and now just "site:bassling.blogspot.com" and there were some results but not the one I wanted.

In the end I went to my blog around the time of the Junto and looked in the next month to find it.

It did some weird that I was searching for specific keywords within a specific site and it couldn't find them. Particularly as they were words used in the URL of the page, as well as the heading.

Must be another of those mysteries of the internet. Thanks for sharing it with me.