Hey boy, hey girl

I'm not much into dance or electronica, but this Chemical Brothers song is an old favourite. It popped up on my iPod on Friday and I've been listening to it ever since...well, mostly just the first minute or so of it over and over to hear the bit (at about the 38 second mark) where the base kicks in. I have new, better quality earphones and the bass sounds ah-mazing. 

NaBoPoMo: day 21

I'm enjoying this song at the moment. Those guitars at the start hooked me in. Jack River (real name Holly Rankin) comes from near where my mum lives. Always nice to support new Aussie music.   

NaBloPoMo: day 8

I've been enjoying listening to some old music by Aussie band The Cruel Sea lately (not that there's any other kind). I couldn't find a video for the song I'm really liking, which is I Feel, their 1990 single, so I've included another favourite instead. Tex Perkins has such a sexy voice. 

Yes, I missed a day of blogging yesterday. I was sick. I'm not officially signed up to NaBloPoMo so...whatever.

November: day 22

I've been listening to a lot of 50s and 60s guitar and surf music lately. Here's a bluesy tune from the amusingly named Bud Spudd and The Sprouts.

November: day 19

Glitter bug

I'm giving new meaning to the term 'nail art'. The silver glitter SNS polish on my left index finger came off in one piece like a shell and my friend said it looked like a beetle. 

***

I was forced to buy new earphones because the ones I had just randomly stopped working and the Apple ones I had in my desk drawer at home are too big for my ears holes. They just keep falling out, making me cast envious glances at all the people with ear holes big enough to accommodate them securely. You people with big ear holes; you don't know how fortunate you are. 

Anyway, I was too lazy to venture up the other end of town to buy some good quality earphones so I went to Smiggle and  got some cheap ones for $13 AND THEY ARE ACE. So much better than the gigantic Apple ones. So snug! They almost sound like little corks popping when I take them our of my ears. 

***

I ran for eight minutes at the gym tonight (in intervals) and I ate a very tasty protein ball afterwards. 

Prodigy

Check out these youngsters playing Smooth Criminal. The cellist is 8-year-old Jun Justin Yu, who has been playing the cello since he was four and has played at Carnegie Hall with the New York International Symphony Orchestra, among many other achievements. 

Current culinary fixations and thwarted creativity

Yarn bombing, Swanston St 

I have developed a mustard fixation. I can't get enough of it. Wholegrain and dijon, in particular.  I love it on steak. I love it on lamb and on pork. I like to dip dill pickles in it. I make salad dressings with it. I would have scoffed at the concept of a mustard sommelier not too long ago, but now I want be one. 

My other culinary fixation right now is the combination of avocado, cumin, lime juice and coriander. It's delicious and fresh and zesty. Mmmm, smashed avocado...and salad dressing...and guacamole, of course.  

Luke snoozes on the couch quite often and he looks so cute I can't resist taking photos of him. I have so many pics I could start lukenappingonthecouch.tumblr.com but for some reason he isn't as amused by this idea as I am. Don't stifle my creativity, man!

I bought the new Kitty, Daisy and Lewis album, The Third. I like it.  

JBPM: (belated) day 27

This song, Tommy Rockwood by The Little Willies, is reminiscent of Muppet music, don't you think? When I listen to it (which is often lately), I imagine Rowlf playing the piano with his ears flapping about his head. 

JBPM: day 21

I don't know if you've noticed, but I'm obsessed with citrus, especially lemon and lime. Eating citrus, drinking citrus and smelling citrus.  I can't get enough. It's so fresh and zesty and zingy. 

My obsession intensified recently when my osteo put a citrus blend in the oil burner in their waiting room and the scent made me feel good (well, better. I rarely feel good physically). I know citrus oils are said to be uplifting and energising, but I assumed that was marketing bunkum. Maybe I was wrong...

Since that day I've been on a quest for smelly stuff for my flat so I can be uplifted and energised in the comfort of my own home, and today I found Glasshouse's diffuser with lemongrass fragrance and it's divine. Fresh, zesty, zingy.  It's only been on my mantelpiece for a brief time so I'm not uplifted and engergised yet me.

I like saying "zesty". And "pudding" or "puddin'" or just "pud". I've been using pudding words more than usual today in reference to last night's cobbler. Pudding is actually one of my favourite words. It's so warm and comforting, and kind of silly too.  

I have been listening to Norah Jones' two country music side projects for the last day or two after an online friend mentioned Norah was in an all-girl country band call Puss n Boots. And while looking up Puss n Boots I found she had another country band called The Little Willies (teehee). I really like both bands. I don't own any of Norah Jones' music though. I love the twangy stuff. 

Here's The Little Willies' cover of Diesel Smoke and Dangerous  Curves. 

JBPM: day 11

Today was Brigid's last day in our team. She gave us all homemade vanilla fudge as a parting gift. Mine came with a very sweet note attached saying I was the best desk buddy a girl could hope for. Aaaw. I gave her a tiny cactus with a little tuft of red on top just like me. 

The woman at the Myer florist who sold me the cactus said she liked my hair. As I was walking back through the store a perfume spruiker dressed as a cop (complete with baton) told me I had "cool hair", but I pricked my finger on the cactus at the exact moment he said it, and I was past him before I could acknowledge the compliment. 

Luke played me a couple of songs he thought I would like from The Decemberists' last studio album. I did like them. This is Rox in the Box from The King is Dead. 

JayBloPoMo: Day 3

I've been listening to Jack White's second solo album, Lazaretto, for the past few weeks. I don't LOVE it, but it's growing on me more and more. I'm loving the song Alone in My Home  though. The album version is piano heavy, but I also like this string quartet live rendition. 

(Is the woman's ukulele smaller than usual?)

I got a modest payrise. Modest like a flannel nightgown. I wasn't expecting a flimsy negligee, but I was hoping for something that showed off a bit of leg. I've been working hard. So this isn't particularly gleeful to be honest...more a case of trying to turn my disappointment into gratitude. I could have missed out on a payrise altogether. 

Peanut butter on toast. Yum. 

Day 30: Kensington spider, Little Prince, Proud Mary

Luke and I visited the inner western suburb of Kensington for lunch today just for something different. 

We each bought a book at the bookshop next to the station. I got an old Puffin paperback of The Little Prince, which I've never read before. It has a handwritten message inside the front cover:

For L.P Isaac Ricardo 

With best wishes for this week, and next month, and next year, etc, etc 

Leslie Oct 1969

I've started reading it and I'm quite charmed.

We ate at the White Rabbit Record Bar.  I had a strawberry spider (icecream soda) with my panini. I first ordered a lime spider, but they were out of lime, and they were out of raspberry as well, so I had to settle for strawberry, which tasted like raspberry anyway. 

Then we took our cameras and wandered around a bit looking for ghost signs. This Velvet Soap sign was the best find. 

Can anyone make out what the white lettering - a separate sign - says? Bleached something?  There was an Empire Cocoa sign on the other side of the building.

We saw the 20 Feet from Stardom at the movies. It's a documentary about the back up singers to some of the biggest musical acts of the 21st century, including Bruce Springsteen, the Rolling Stones and Stevie Wonder.  It was a bit too long, but I really enjoyed it. It really iss a story that hasn't been told before. The singing is (not surprisingly) AH-mazing and the women featured are engaging and sassy. 

One of the singers featured is Claudia Lennear, who was part of Ike and Tina Turner's Ikettes. The doco included a bit of this clip of Ike and Tina doing Proud Mary. I've seen this numerous times before. I love it (the Ikettes appear around the three minute mark).

Day 29: Jolene and other old White Stripes songs

I've just found a bunch of old White Stripes songs on iTunes. B-sides mostly, if that terminology still applies - stuff that's not on their albums anyway. I'm sure the songs weren't there last time I looked. They are mine now. I will listen to them tomorrow. 

I've been listening to the White Stripes - my favourite band - today. I have many favourite songs, including the live Under Great White Northern Lights live cover of Jolene. It's just so damn raw. It gives me goosebumps every time I listen to it. I doubt another straight man has so convincingly begged a woman not to steal his man before.  

I had yummy lemon cheesecake gelati at Fritz tonight. We're still doing our Friday night Grill'd and Fritz thing (although we haven't had the gelati so much lately). Soon the weather will be warm enough for us to start walking there again instead of driving. 

I spotted a ghost sign on the way there tonight. I can't believe I haven't seen it before since it's on a road I've been down many times. I guess I've just been looking the wrong way every time.

I watched Masters of Sex after I got home from dinner. It was excellent, of course. 

Day 23: Soulful Saturday

This is a good Saturday morning housework song. Or a good anytime song. 

Creature of habit, mushrooms, random connections

Bare branches

I saw two Nankeen Night Herons again tonight, hunting for their dinner at the river's edge. One was standing in the exact place I saw it last night, perched on the same rock, staring into the water in the same direction. It must have found a tasty meal there. Its companion was standing in the water about a metre from the bank. The tide must have been very low, because the night heron is not a long-legged bird. 

Bad phone photo taken in dark with flash because, 

as always, I was running late this morning

There's several patches of mushrooms growing along the river. They must have sprung to life after the recent heavy rains we had...though I don't think it takes much rain to encourage the fungus.

I've made another new musical discovery. Stella Angelico, another Melbourne singer-songwriter, has been on my radar for a while, but I only just got around to looking her up last night. This is from the EP she released last year (with her band The Switch). It's very Amy Winehouse-esque.  I love it - and the rest of the EP. I don't actually own any Amy Winehouse albums, but I probably should.  

Speaking of music and discoveries, a man from the Netherlands  (Hi Michael!) found my blog by searching for the lyrics of a Gabby Young song called Mole, which I blogged about a while ago. He wrote:

Not finding any I ended up searching for "can't we be children about this". There's two hits for these exact words, both leading to this page.

Wooh!  It's both odd and awesome that my blog was the only source. I get a kick out of the random ways people connect on the internet. 

Relief and vicarious happy dance

I recently started to worry (for reasons I won't bother explaining) that we were going to be turfed out of our flat so it could be renovated. I was poised to be devastated at having to  leave my home of the past 8 1/2 years - I really would be devastated! I love this place. I never want to leave! This flat and this location are a major source of contentment for me. Sure, I'd be happy elsewhere eventually too, but it just wouldn't be the same. 

But, good news! We don't have to move! I'm so relieved!  

In lieu of a happy dance, I bring you a video of Tom Jones dancing up a storm in 1968. I'm incapable of watching it without laughing my head off, and I'm not easily moved to fits of  laughter. Wait for the dancing at around the 1:17 mark. Hil-AIR-ious. 

 

Catching up: part II (the music stuff)

Remember I wanted to buy some new music recently, but was lacking inspiration? That's over now.  Here are my recent finds. 

The first is Lightning Bolt by English youngster Jack Bugg. I heard his song Seen it All on the radio and liked it, and I like the album too. I suspect I might be his oldest fan, given I'm old enough to be his mother.  I do chuckle when he sings that he's seen it all at just 19, but then even at my advanced age I haven't been to a gangster party where someone got stabbed, so what do I know, eh? 

The second is Motorhead Girl from the latest album by Swiss rockabilly band Hillbilly Moon Explosion.  I had never heard of them before and found them via the "Listeners also bought" function on iTunes when I was looking to see if Imelda May had a new album out. She doesn't, but, happily, Hillybilly Moon Explosion has a back catalogue for me to explore. 

Finally, an artist I 'discovered' via a Holden ad on the telly!  It's You Rascal You by Hanni el Khatib. I love the garage-y guitars.  

This is from his first album, which I bought today. His second album, produced by Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys, was released last month. It pretty much sounds like a Black Keys album, which you would expect would endear it to me - being the big BK fan that I am -  but it doesn't. I think it's a bit meh.

The Reverend

On the topic of rockabilly, Luke and I went to see legends The Reverend Horton Heat last Friday night. The Reverend looks a bit like someone's grandad, but boy, he can still play a guitar, probably in his sleep. They played for more than an hour and a half, so we certainly got our money's worth...although I admit I was really tired and my feet were sore and I wasn't sad when it finished. I'm old now. 

Melbourne act Mojo Juju was the support act and, while I enjoyed The Reverend, I loved Mojo. I wish she'd played for 90 minutes.  This is her new single, which they played last Friday. 

Televisual ESP, cheesy, musical inspiration

Yesterday evening, for reasons I know not, I felt an urge to re-watch Amelie. A little later on I was flicking through the channels and there it was, showing on SBS One. Is it one of those movies that gets shown every two months, like the Back to the Future movies on commercial TV?  It was about half way through, so I didn't watch it then, but I will soon.

Cheesy

Luke bought some marinated artichokes during the week which didn't end up getting used, but I didn't want them to go to waste (they came from the deli, not out of a jar). This morning a recipe popped up on Pinterest using marinated artichokes - a baked chicken dish with garlic, tomatoes, cheese and basil - so I made it for dinner (with some added spinach). It was so quick and easy to make, and very tasty. Is it possible for anything topped with golden, slightly crispy cheese to not be tasty? It was perfect Sunday night fare. 

Musical inspiration

I haven't bought any new music in months and was lacking inspiration, so I asked Twitter for suggestions. Jane (Gleeful reader, logophile and writer of the Six Degrees of Sir Thomas Urquhart blog) suggested this song, which I like very much, and not just because it has our name in it. 

The song was performed and filmed for Radio National and was on a playlist of 39 songs and interviews uploaded to Youtube by the broadcaster. I spent most of the afternoon listening to and watching them - such a wide variety of performers, most of whom were completely new to me. I liked Paul McDermott and his band singing Slow Ride, the work of Tuba Skinny and Moriarty, Gordon Webster and Friends with Every Day I Got the Blues, and watching RN Drive host Waleed Aly trying to play the kazoo, using a kazoo made by the world's only kazoo museum. (Can you believe that? Only one!) 

A few other Twitter people made suggestions too, but I haven't looked them up yet. Feeling much more inspired now. 

Spoiled for choice and off to see The Reverend

I can't believe I didn't already know you can design your own sneakers online. What rock have I been under? Nike offers the service and so does New Balance - no doubt there are plenty of other sites that do too. You pick an existing style and then choose materials and colours. You can even have a personalised logo and your choice of words on the heel. 

I mention this because I have a lot of trouble finding decent casual sneakers in colours I like. I'm quite particular. There's often too much yellow, orange and pink and pastel shades in women's ranges. Not my style. I bought a pair of men's Asics Onitsuka Tigers in purple, black and silver a few years ago because I couldn't find anything I liked in the women's range. Sadly they've just about had it and I need something more cushiony  underfoot this time. 

I think I want a pair of Nike Cortez, their original running shoe which came into the world the same year as I did. Trouble is...what colour? Maybe red or green. Or navy. Or royal blue. Too much choice now! 

I discovered on Facebook that psychobilly legend The Reverend Horton Heat is playing in Melbourne on 31 May. Mojo Juju (formerly of The Snake Oil Merchants) is one of the supporting acts. Since I started writing this post, I've bought tickets to go. Woooh!

Did I mention I'm seeing Wagons again in June? They're previewing songs from their upcoming album. Can't wait. I'm off to Sydney to see Mark Forsyth in two weeks too. Lots of exciting things to look forward too. That's the way life should be. 

Repeat, dancing, gold

I listened to Graveyard Train's Life is Elsewhere on repeat at the gym and on my way home tonight. It has a good beat for fast walking.  

When I walked past the State Library there were people dancing to music coming from about a dozen ghetto blasters (proper old school ones) lined up on the front steps. One young guy appeared to be wearing only his undies and singlet. (I didn't take photos because I didn't want to disrupt my  post-work out power walk momentum.)

Further along Swanston Street, the sun was sinking low and perfectly in line with with Collins and Bourke Streets so that the tram tracks looked like twin rows of gold disappearing into the light. I should have taken a photo of that.