Top five
Each year, when I remember, I share the top new posts on this blog
These results reflect the popular additions during the year and I acknowledge that some older material might have had more visitors than current preoccupations.
It's interesting to see that, when I returned to making these lists last year, I made a resolution to post more in 2025.
This year I've posted the most since 2017.
12 tones of Christmas
I've been cultivating a friendship with a local guitarist
The right-handed guitar had a left-handed neck, which isn't uncommon since it gives a strong Hendrix vibe.
It
also was missing a couple of screws and resisted adding more, an issue
that revealed two had already snapped off in the heel of the neck.
I swapped that neck for the next one, which was also branded Fender and it felt like that was meant to be.
I realised it was a style of guitar that suggested it was late 1980s or early '90s when shredding was popular.
After
filing off the broken screws on the warped left-handed neck, I was able
to revive a busted guitar that I already owned and it now has a good
character despite some intonation issues that I continue to tweak.
Anyway,
as I reflected on now having two more working guitars, I offered my new
friend the "Grungemaster" guitar he'd admired when visiting.
They
say it's difficult to make new friends in middle age and I'm grateful
for how my new fixation on pulling apart guitars has created so much
joy in recent months.
My mind is often pondering the possibilities of modifications and there are so many to explore.
And it's wonderful to have found someone interested in hearing the results, as it must bore my family.
Still life
While visiting my sister I woke from a dream about being at a school and teachers asking I to build a pop-up skull
I think I mentioned it to her, but it was still surprising when she suggested we make art on Saturday afternoon.
She identified there were the flowers given to her after our father's death and a collection of animal skulls to choose from.
Reminds me that I should draw more often.
Spilt Milk in Canberra
Took my son to this music festival in Canberra and it felt like the first time I'd been to something like the Big Day Out in decades
This guy was a highlight of Spilt Milk and it seems unusual for a local act to compete with the headliners, which were also hiphop amongst a heavily pop lineup.
I mean, some of the other bands I'd heard on those rare moments I listen to Triple J but mostly one could tell when they were playing a single because everyone would whip out their phone to film it.
One of the strengths of Genesis' set was his wide variety of influences and tempo shifts, as well as energetic movement across the stage he held on his own.
(And occasionally I'd look to see what the sound guy was doing, because I kept recognising his VSTs.)
Recent performances
The "performative reading" fad led me to contemplate which book I took to jury duty yesterday
Sitting at the courthouse gave me a couple of hours of reading time and, aside from being the only person I saw reading a book, I was also the only person wearing a mask.
Anyway, dear reader, my performances didn't stop there.
The case involved a couple who'd been arrested with a commercial quantity of cannabis and the judge clearly did not want any jurors who didn't want to be there.
He implored people to come forward if they have sleep apnoea!
So I raised my hand and took the opportunity to tell the room that I supported drug law reform and in particular thought cannabis should be decriminalised.
The judge told me I was dismissed.
Careless classic
Currently revisiting the Primus drummer auditions with my son and thought to investigate this band
George Michael's poignant song is beautifully rendered in a soulful way, and the rest of their set is great too.
Another modern classic for your delection!
In praise of girlfriends
When I saw this comment earlier in the week it seemed like outrageous clickbait fodder
Young men might think their freedom comes from being single, but their opportunities to mature are severely curtailed by not having a relationship.
When you have a significant other you gain someone outside of your family who will observe and comment on where you have opportunities to grow.
It's not always easy to have a person you love who will call out your shortcomings, particularly if you respect them enough to listen and care.
Too often people feel empowered to end a relationship when it's not serving them and, while I can't comment on all of those experiences nor the hurts that might be stirred, sometimes these are experiences where emotional growth can occur.
Obviously not all our relationships are good ones, otherwise so many wouldn't seek ways to escape or move past trauma.
However, it is through reflection that we can learn things not able to be seen from our own limited view of the world or learn about the patterns of behaviours that lie below the initial flush of anger, embarrassment and shame.
I learn a lot about myself from those around me, particularly those who have known me and trust me as I can trust them.
Some of the best lessons have come from girlfriends, which is why this hateful human is disdainful and wants men to look to other men for a limited reflection of human experience.
Giddy gigging
What if part of the thrill of a live concert is lightheadedness?
The reading for healthy fresh air is 450-500.
Maybe I should put on an album and put a bag over my head?!
Just joking, don't put a bag on your head.
However, now I wonder if there's a playlist for putting a bag on one's head?
Since
Covid, many famous musicians take significant precautions at their gigs
and others are suffering from mystery illnesses that prevent
performing.
Yet public health is bad for their
business model, since you can only fit so many people into a space and
they need more if they want breathing room.
It sucks being a boy
I was walking through dark streets one time and a drunk approached to ask a question, like "do you know the time?"
I flinched and they noticed, touched my arm and said something like "it's alright mate, I'm not here to hurt you."
I remember brushing it off at the time, like 'nah, I wouldn't be scared of you' but, afterwards, I realised how frightened my body had been.
It was like when I touch a hurt and mentally tell myself to heal, since I have been assaulted on the street and at the time no one cared.
That flinch made me appreciate the trauma of being assaulted.
Apparently young men are the most common victims of assault and, because they're usually hit by other men, there's often an attitude that it's boys being boys or something.
I remember the police laughed at the idea they would find my assailant and a journalist dismissed my story, saying "it happens all the time."
Well, let me say, it sucks being hit and finding that no one considers it seriously.
Jest like me
I read about Infinite Jest and had been intrigued enough to order a copy, only to discover the size intimidated me.
As someone who likes to read in bed, the idea of holding up this slab was also discouraging.
Recently
I thought again about reading it, but there are piles of more easily
digestible texts and I tend to go for non-fiction a lot of the time.
I
had been prompted by Ted Goia's discussion of David Foster Wallace's
prescience, and it's a great article that I recommend reading.
It
was while reading the article aloud to my partner that my son heard
about the book and, like me so many years ago, became intrigued.
Last night he asked for it, but it took a while for us to figure out which book he was talking about.
"It's got something about forever in the title," he said unhelpfully.
"The book described changes in technology and how it will impact people in the future."
Anyway, we eventually remembered Goia's analysis and the discussions that followed.
Now
I'm wondering if the "jest" will continue as I hear my son describe the
book's contents, or if it'll sit like so many books by his bedside.
Or if I'll end up buying another copy as my youngest son joins his siblings in leaving home for university.
'69 White Boomers
Mark Davis wrote a book titled Gangland that argued Baby Boomers were holding the reigns of Australian culture
It was published in 1997 and, as Generation X gave way to Y and Millennials, it seems like nothing has changed.
In fact, when I hear what my kids are listening to I find myself wondering if the music industry invests any money in cultivating new talent?
Socks to be you
My friend Ted has a good bit of advice to add to this:
It's even better if you take off both socks and hand them over one at a time. For an encore you can get another sock worn the previous week out of your pocket and hand them that as well. Nobody knows what to do with that third sock.
No memories
Maybe it's liberating?
If I have no past, then my future becomes a lot more open with possibilities.
Then again, one now wonders if I'm going to have to pay someone to see them again.
Quincy Jones argues for a Ministry of Culture
Australia “…does not have a Ministry of Culture. It’s reflective of a poisonous societal mindset that history and culture are irrelevant. Well, I’m telling you, culture is anything but irrelevant. You’ve got to know where you came from in order to get where you want to go. Without that foundation, you won’t know who you are, and you sure can’t expect to create truthfully without knowing the truth.”
Great Art Explained
These videos by James Payne keep getting better
I like the way it gives historical context, as well as multiple interpretations of the meaning of the artwork and how that changes over time.
1000
On the weekend I uploaded my 1000th video to Youtube
Nearly 20 years ago my first video showed mountain-biking outside Wagga with a track I made in Cubase.
Yesterday it was a piece on tenor guitar responding to a poem.
It's remarkable to consider how my experience of Youtube has changed in 20 years, given I wrote about that encounter and now endure the indignity of watching advertising to view my own work.
Anyway, another number just now:
2222
Total for posts on this blog and I'm on the way to the most in almost a decade.
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