nutbean

Too much music next weekend. Seeing Bombay Royale at the zoo on Friday night. Then two days of soundwave - any suggestions on less light bands I should see ?

I think we extended Hogan for two years ( correct me if I am wrong - but I don't think we have locked him in super long term). Rather than lock in players for contracts of the length of Franklins I prefer the other option of extending out the contract in the second last year of the existing contract. Problem is that not all players will do that as that may not maximum their return,

With Sting ( and Bono) it's not the promoting of causes that grates my grits - it's the extent they do it in their concerts. I have seen many a performer push their pet causes and have little problem with it unless it overshadows the music. Its about balance and moderation. Eddie Vedder is quite political but he is a good example of getting a message across without it detracting or dominating his performance. I have no answer as to why Peter Garratt doesn't offend me as towards the end of the Oils reign half their show used to be a protest. I think you hit it on the head with the word "lecture" - maybe it was how the message is delivered.

Are we doing that with Hogan ? Setting a star up for life is good in theory but is fraught with danger. Giving a player long term contracts ( more than 4 years and even that is long ) with the crash and bash their bodies take ? Big risk that clubs are adverse to taking. Then there is a question of how brightly the star will shine and for how long. I will admit that Wines looks very good - would I give him a creative contract for a very long period of time. Not sure I would.

That should read "Port player for the life of the contract (unless there is the Boyd get out of contract clause )"

Makes sense but is completely wrong. The reason Toumpas was taken is he was rated by all the experts as a higher rated player than Wines - that simple. Even young Viney is on record prior to the draft when asked who he would take without hesitation said Toumpas. There has been numerous debates around whether picking the "higher rated" is the way to go. Toumpas may or may not turn out to be good as Wines. As is stands today and now - this is one more example of a lower rated player shining brighter than his more highly fancied draft picks.

I thought it was a pretty good concert. I must clarify my thoughts on Sting. I loved the early Police - saw their first Australian tour at festival hall and they blew the roof off. His body of work is impressive. I am also politically active but I don't like muso's spending 50% of their concert preaching . Well..not 100% correct - Peter Garrett for some reason didn't seem to upset me. Sting on the other hand- I wanted to lock him in a room with Bono so they could bore the socks off each other. For the record- I love U2 as well - just don't want Bono to stop singing and start talking. Sting was great on Tuesday - all about his music - not a political comment for the whole night. Paul Simon was good too. He never had a fabulous voice and it hasn't improved. I behaved myself and wasn't turfed out.

My info looks wrong on him. Shows you the fickleness of the business.

Ahhh !!! Geez it's like mind reading - was at the South Melbourne Market two weeks and who was busking out the front ?? Ross Hannaford. I did ask about him and apparently he busks because he wants to , not because he needs to. Edit - I obviously didn't ask Ross himself

One of my highlights was seeing the Divinyls at the Palace (next to the Palais). I was mashed up the front watching Chrissie perform - for a youngish boy there was something very naughty, dirty but definitely yummy about her.

I worship the ground Paul Kelly walks on... During one of his intimate gigs he talked about always knowing he could write but didn't like performing live as he always felt way too awkward to perform. He said he then saw the Sports live and from that time on he was fine. He said "if Stephen Cummings had no qualms about how he looked performing live then I shouldn't worry either as I dont look half as awkward !" Footnote - Paul Kelly should video tape himself dancing when he gets a bit excited on stage. I beg to differ that he doesn't look more awkward than Cummings.

Saw Paramore at soundwave - Hayley Williams goes off - she really rocks.

And Russell Morris.... I have seen him live many times - at first it was for the nostalgia but of recent - his last two albums - Shark Mouth and Van Diemans land are wonderful - fantastic story telling to music. The last two times i have seen him - wouldn't care if he didn't play any old stuff at all.

Sunnyboys ! What a wonderful feel good story that is. One of the great pub bands. Jeremy Oxley ( the lead singer ) suffered from mental health issues and after great success they dropped out of sight. A very loyal fan kept in contact with him and they actually got together ( and to my understanding are still together). She helped him on his road to recovery to the extent that they played a gig at a DOTG about two years ago. They were great but you could tell that Jeremy was still a bit shaky. I saw them again at the forum last year and the improvement was amazing - he was vibrant and jumping around the stage and the gig was great. I am seeing the again at the Forum in the coming weeks.

Paul Kelly looks like a spin bowler... I

Billy was with the Ferrets - and we always sing "don't fall in love" and to make it that extra bit specialthey whack a projection of countdown circa 1970ish and the the Ferrets singing that song. Rebecca's Empire had some great muso's in it. Shane O'Mara ( who is Rebecca's husband) and Pete Luscombe ( Rockwiz and Paul Kelly's go to drummer) and Bill McDonald who also plays with Paul Kelly. Went on Saturday night to the Zoo and saw Paul Kelly do the Merri Soul Sessions - PK, Vika and Linda ( if you havent seen them sing live you must - there are fantastic), Clairey Browne, Dan Sultan and Kira Puru - a great night. Ash Naylor was playing guitars - he is also a great musician who i have seen play with everyone.

Billy has gone through a tough time - his wife passed away late last year. He is just a really good bloke who just loves music. He does a version of a Little Help from my Friends ( cocker version) that goes off. You gotta get down to the singalong -started off with about 20 of us and now sells out 200-300 pretty quickly.

I'm a bigggg Tim Rogers fan.. His voice is pretty shot but it doesn't really matter...

I am quite friendly with Rebecca - who is an absolute gem of a person and hysterically funny. Besides her Rebecca's empire stuff which I really like, she has sung behind pretty much everyone. She backed Stephen on an album produced by Steve Kilbey - those two in the same room ! the stories !! oh my lord. OK - here is my confession - this sounds terribly daggy but is great fun. First Wednesday of every month at the Caravan Club, Rebecca Barnard and Billy Miller do a singalong. Billy Miller is like an encyclopedia and name a song and he can play it. Rebecca could be a stand up comedian. It is the most fun you can have with your pants on. So we pretty much sing anything and everything for 2 hours. But it gets better - every year Billy and Rebecca are invited to play at the Palais for a fund raiser for the Sacred Heart Mission and they get great people to give up their time for night - hosted by Brian Nankervis. The singalong crew get to do backing vocals for Billy and Rebecca on stage and last year we also backed Tim Rogers. My only performing claim to fame !

Ha ! You mentioned him previously and thought wow when you said what he did for a living. I love stories who do rather odd things for a living. My squeeze has a cousin who lives in Portugal - he specialises in cleaning big statues for a living. Very specialised work as some of these statues date back many centuries. He then has developed a piece of equipment that runs a very low voltage charge through the statue that doesn't hurt the structure of the fabric but the pigeons don't like. He has enough work to last him 4 lifetimes - how do you put that profession on a business card ?

I really like it. Great sound and plays right into the area of music that I like. I didn't really hear the Angels. I heard a punchier sounding The Church - you don't have Steve Kilbey's ego do you? I also liked the guitarist using the beer bottle as a slide - borrowed from Chris Cheney ? (who I am sure borrowed it from someone else.)

I think Peter Luscombe is drumming also of the Rockwiz band. I was also at the DOTG Elvis Costello gig in Melbourne - He had this beat box thingee that wouldn't work and we had to clap our hands to keep him in time. Then he got into an endless loop on the chorus of a slowed down "down throw stones" and couldn't get out. It was sad and it was obvious that he had hit the bottle before he had hit the stage. I have seen several times since and it really depends which Stephen Cummings turns up. Saw him late last year and he shared the stage with Shane O'Mara who is an exceptional guitarist and Cummings was in scintillating form. You never know what you are going to get but when he is on he is fantastic.

As an aside - Stephen Cummings has written a book called "will it be funny tomorrow Billy" - it is a laugh out loud book and he spares no one including himself. It was also made into a movie - which was really well done as it is a mix of Stephen Cummings reading excerpts and the person he is slagging off also reading the same paragraph - and commenting - really funny stuff.

I am going....cannot wait

I'm going tonight under protest. Quite like Paul Simon. I was a huge fan of the Police and saw them at the first Melbourne gig at festival hall where they absolutely lifted the roof off the place - senasational. In later years Sting has become a giant sized plonker who should be locked in a room with Bono so they can bore the socks off each other.