when withdrawing money from auto teller machines (atms), have u every wondered why you have to stipulate the amount to be withdrawn, right down to the last cent; whereas the smallest denomination that atms dispatch (in australia, at least) is a $20 note?!?

is the process of hitting the '0' button that extra two times per transaction, perhaps a little existential?

~

enough about 'music of my youth' and the like, at least for now ...
instead, here's an interesting little time-waster; a kind of little pipe-dream fantasy game ...
imagine u have a voucher which entitles you to a round-the-world airfare with 6 stopovers, and no limit to which airlines you fly or how many flights or transits it takes to get to those stopovers.
where do u go? let's see ... umm ...
- la paz, bolivia
- somewhere in the carribean - how about say the leeward islands?
- bergen, norway
- maputo, mozambique
- thimphu, bhutan
- phongsali, northern laos

yeah, give that a shot - that'll do me for now ...
~

throughout 1986 i accrued my own cassette collection of the midnight oil discography as it then stood. in general this process entailed obtaining more recent releases (e.g. 'red sails in the sunset', 'species deceases') first, and older releases (e.g. debut self-titled album, 'bird noises') last.
i was about to say i have since lost all of these cassettes but as i recall i think that andy macrae ended up with many of them when i left brisbane to go travelling in 1992. i believe that when i last visited him in melbourne in 2000 he still had these; which is fine by me - i know they're in safe hands.
over the past couple of years i have acquired 2nd-hand cd versions of '10-1' and 'place without a postcard' and occasionally look around for well-priced and/or 2nd-hand copies of their other releases. there are still some post-'diesel & dust' releases (most of htem actually) which i have never heard in full.
as far as their albums go, in my opinion it is very hard to go past '10-1' as a very good, solid album from start to finish. there are so many good tracks, which have been 'classic' midnight oil tracks - on this one.
briefly, some highlights for me from their other prior releases include:
- from 'place without a postcard': brave faces, don't wanna be the one
- from 'bird noises' ep: wedding cake island (great instrumental), no time for games
- from 'head injuries': 'back on the borderline', 'stand in line', 'cold cold change'
- from 'midnight oil': 'powderworks', some long guitar-ortiented track or maybe it's the intro to 'surfing with a spoon'?, 'run by 'night'
~

mcmlxxxvi
a new show started on abc-tv on saturdays, around midday:
b-b-b-beat b-b-box!
i dug it. it contained lots of film clips interspersed with interviews with musicians & 'ordinary punters' on a given topic each week (e.g. 'aids & sex education', or similar). it wasn't all current pop music a-la 'countdown' - there was more obscure stuff, from bands i hadn't heard of at the time, like killing joke, jason & the scorchers, xtc.
my key motivation at the time was not only to see bands new to me, but quite specficially to catch music by midnight oil in particular. i was pretty much a new 'convert' to this band at the time, having seem them live for the first time late the previous year on their tour promoting their 'species deceases' ep.
beatbox often played midnight oil stuff, and it was pretty much all stuff i hadn't seen before, be it film clips of singles from the excellent '10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1' album or live footage from some sydney concert or other. sometimes i had to go & play footy before beatbox started, and on those occasions i'd either tape it on an acoustic cassette (on abc radio) or - preferbaly, if possible - get my mate to tape the show on video. we didn't have a vcr at the time. when my mate did tape it we'd go over to his house on monday lunchtimes & watch it.
one day when i was at home & watching beatbox, a film clip by an obscure band called 'the church' was played. the song was 'tantalised', the clip was shot partly in an amusement park -type environment (merry-go-rounds, etc.), and the band members wore dark glasses and paisely shirts. curious ...
~

i've got to add a couple more points to the last post. for me, the key attraction of 'dark side' ain't really about the concepts explored by the lyrics & voices (not to say these don't add something intriguing to the whole thing), which kind of render it (or much of it) - i think - a concept album in many ways; it ain't about syd barret or even pink floyd; it ain't about prog rock or space rock per se.
for mine, it's all about the soundscapes on 'dark side'. it's about that subtle yet catchy slide guitar (or is it pedal stell even?) on the opening track - or in fact i think that is on the start of 'breathe'; it's about the build-up to the verse in 'time'; the catchy bass riff in 'money'; the sax solo in 'us & them'; and the moody interplay of vocals and piano on 'the great gig in the sky'. i think that surely most people couldn't listen to the latter and not experience at least some kind of visceral response.
could it all be considered a bit over-rated or self-indulgent? a bit of a toss at times, perhaps? it might be somewhat understandable if some were to take this or a similar viewpoint, particularly from the perspective of some decades subsequent to its release. you be the judge.
first & foremost, i like the sounds.
~

in early 1973, about a year before kiss relased their debut self-titled album, pink floyd relased 'the dark side of the moon'. having previously released a handful or so of albums (some of them film soundtracks), and dumped 'crazy diamond' syd barret (too much lsd evidently?), pink floyd had something of a 'breakthrough' album in 'dark side'. i shall leave it to others to determine whether this was/is a good, bad or indifferent phenomenon. either way, it's pretty much a classic album in the eyes (or ears) of many, myself included. 'the great gig in the sky' is one of a number of stand-outs moments, for mine.
the album was recorded at london's abbey road studies and in fact paul mccartney & wings were also recording an album there at the same time. i noticed that alan parsons (presumably he of 'project' band carrying his name) was sound engineer.
the 'little voices' heard throughout were provided by a number of people. some key phrases, such as "no i'm not afraid of dying - why should i be? ..." (at the start of 'great gig'), and "there is no dark side on the moon, really; matter of fact it's all dark" (at the end of the album) were provided by the irish doorman at abbey road.
it's tempting to propose that the second-last track 'brain damage' was inspired at least partly by syd barret. the first verse begins "the lunatic is on the grass" and the chorus finishes with "and if the band you're in starts playing different tunes / i'll see you on [insert album title here]".
the last track, and thus the album, ends with "everything under the sun is in tune / but the sun is eclipsed by the moon".
a bit of an exploration into bipolar disorder (which at that time wouldn't have been known by that term i'm sure) perhaps? either way, this album explores territories which neil armstrong did not in his propsoed "giant leap for mankind" ...
~

i've loved talking about kiss ... and to this amusing topic i shall return; but for now weird forces which i can't fully explain seem (to me) to be indicating that i should discuss pink floyd's 'dark side of the moon'.
more on this topic at another time quite soon - for now let me leave the comment (by someone other than me) that as much as anything, it is all the 'little voices' heard between & during songs on this album which largely constitute the 'dark side' ... ?
~

judging by his comments posted in reply to the last entry, dan's knowledge of kisstory is indeed far more extensive than my own. furthermore, it appears that dan has attended at least one kiss concert (which year?) which is more than i can say for myself.
i remember when they visited australia (for the first time, perhaps??) in 1980. their brisbane gig was at the illustrious lang park. admission prcie was i believe $17.50. i didn't go; i was nine years old and lived hundreds of kilometres away. i had to settle with recruitment as a foot-soldier into the kiss army (for $7.50) which brought with it a swanky dossier with numerous kiss pictures/postcards and stickers and the like. there were also many buble-gum cards, posters, dolls and the like (not included in the kiss army membership package) with which i could occupy my time. i believe that eric carr toured then, in his first year with the band. (did the fox smell his own scent?)
all the publicity associated with kiss' 1980 australian tour did bring some form of minor benefit or relief for myself. this was a time when rumours were rife that kiss were at the vanguard of a rapidly-growing satanic cult, or similar. everyone was saying that the band's name was an acronym for 'knights in satan's service', etc. (there was also the rumour that gene had had a cow's tongue sown into his mouth, but that was somewhat less beleivable or disconcerting, at least for parents.) my own mother was, quite predictably, somewhat concerned about my growing fascination with kiss. perhaps she was afraid i might sacrifice the family cat late one night in the middle of a five-pointed star drawn on my bedroom floor and ringed by candles. in any case, it seems that a kiss appearance on a daytime tv show allayed my mother's fears, at least to some degree. one of the band memebers, almost certainly gene or paul, evidently denied the satan-related rumours and said that instead they were aiming at superhero status in the eyes of the kids. fair enough - harmless fun, thought the parents.
if i had known back then that you could get kiss comics printed in red ink which contained, allegedly, portions of kiss band members' blood, i would have been throwing money over the newsagent counter quicker than you can say 'you're good looking and you're looking like your pretty good' (from 'come on and love me').
~

i shall continue on the kiss thread for a while, if i may (and indeed i may); after all,_both_ of this blog's regular readers (at least to the degree that regular readership is assessed via comments posted) seemed amenable to this topic.
my first question is why was ace frehley the only one of the original kiss members who did not participate in the kiss 'collaboration' with the melbourne symphony orchestra a few years back? ('rock and roll over, beethoven') he was replaced by tommy thayer whom i believe was foremrly involved with the band in some managerial capacity. heck, the band even got peter criss back, as chubby & greying as he was, for this event. methinks there must have been some substantial falling out between ace and 'the band' (or paul & gene, at least).
indeed, i read again the sleeve notes on my 'double platinum' cd and these mention that by 1978 both ace & peter were very disillusioned with the direction in which the band was then heading and the associated frenzy of touring, publicity, etc. this despite no less than three kiss albums surpassing the million-sales mark over the previous year. in fact, according to the sleeve, the concept of the solo albums was some form of managerial suggestion/compromise to give ace and/or peter a bit of creative license in their own right & thus convince them to stick with kiss.
frehley's rather funky 'new york groove' single from his own solo album was quite a departure from the more - ermm - 'straightforward', driving (and at times explosive) rock sound which kiss were perpetuating at the time. indeed if you look at songwriting credits across the 20 or so track on 'double platinum', ace is credited only with 'cold gin' (from the band's self-titled debut album: 'it's time to leave and get another quart / around the corner at the liquor store / haha, the cheapest stuff is all I need / to get me back on my feet again') and with the instrumental 'rock bottom intro', of which only 52 seconds was included on 'double platinum'.
on this compilation, criss is credited only as co-writer of the soppy ballad 'beth' ('me and the boys will be playin all night' - cue melancholic refrain). otherwise all tracks on 'double platinum' were written/co-written by stnaley and/or simmons. this factor probably provides a strong clue as to one primary reason behind frehley's and criss' disillusionment with the kiss phenomenon by 1978...
one correction to my last post - double platinum contains tracks from kiss' first six (not five) studio albums, the sixth being 'love gun' from which a line from the title track was quoted. i don't need to tell kiss afficianados that the others, in chronological order, were: kiss, hotter than hell, dressed to kill, destroyer, rock and roll over.
~

i am not a huge fan of the 1981 kiss album, "music from 'the elder'", at least not based upon my recollections of it.
perhaps it would be a different story if i were to hear the album again now. nevertheless, based upon my memory, i do like the song 'dark light' (co-written by ace frehley, my favourite band member) and i know there were a few other decent moments on there, e.g. perhaps 'just a boy'. and i think 'escape from the island' (again co-written by frehley) was a pretty rocky little instrumental track.
all things considered however, upon receiving it for xmas (on cassette) as a 10 year-old, i was not as impressed with it as i was with "unmasked" which contained stellar tracks like 'talk to me' (ace again) and 'torpedo girl' ("c'mon: get your feet wet!"; co-written by ace).
on "music from 'the elder'", in the simmons ballad 'a world without heroes' gene seem to be lamenting - and/or perhaps even foreseeing - the demise of kiss in the 1980s, after the heady days of the 1970s (i guess there was probably only one way to go from the latter really). i didn't see gene give a rendition of this ballad on his more recent 'reality' tv show 'rock shool' - perhaps we shall see this in the second season series?

more recently, i got myself a copy of 'double platinum' which is a bloody solid kiss compilation indeed. i don't usually go in for these compilation (or greatest-hits-type) thingos, but in this case i'd always had a curiosity about this one and it hasn't disappointed. it provides a good selection of numeorus key tracks from the first five (i believe) studio albums throughout the mid-1970s and thereabouts; i.e. prior to the solo albums then 'dynasty', 'unmasked', and the steady descent into the world without heroes. a few songs, most notably strutter have had a re-working which (although i am not intimately familair with the original mixing) seem to work well in my opinion. there are numerous highlights (.e.g 'you pulled the trigger of my [da-da-da-da] love gun!') but on the whole it is hard to go past simmons' 'calling dr love'.
~

this is
a post about nothing really;
a rather pointless, silly post - one which really isn't worth reading, in many ways.
it is highly unlikely to engage the reader; at least not any discerning reader, surely.
perhaps we might say the same about this blog as a whole.
there is little, if any, point in posting this; i should probably just delete these words rather than clicking on that 'publish post' box. but i won't do that - i'll point my cursor at that box & click it soon enough. evidently i don't have the wherewithal to produce anything more compelling than this; at least not for now. i don't even have the wherewithal to know how to spell werewithall. i am a failed blogger; i score an e-minus in blog101. i should have attended those tutorials after all. i need to re-enrol next semester, perhaps as a full fee-paying student?
'moscow is more open to fresh ideas than ever before.' i just heard that on the tv. well i just need to get me some fresh ideas to post, and maybe then i can get the muscovites tuning into this presently-suspect blog in droves.
this is shite: i have no road-map, no plan, no strategy or forethought. i should have thought this through; instead i'm making it up as i go. thinking on my feet, or fingers, and doing a shoddy job of it. and i'm using far too many semi-colons. what a joke, and an unamusing one at that.
r u still reading? why?
what is a blog anyway?
~

some days u just look at that little vertical line beeping on & off, on the screen, and wonder what the hey ... what to say? when all is said and done, is any permution of letters, symbols & spaces ultimately any more valid, meaningful or real than any other? will one such permutation actually impact upon the kosmos in a manner significantly different, at the end of the day as it were, to another given permutation?
i don't claim to have the answers, although my guessed answers to these questions would at present be:
a. no
b. no
actually: screw that - change those answers to:
paivw
yv5

there u have it.
~

if u ever find yourself
in jerusalem
having ingested lsd for the first time in your life
some hours earlier:
after hanging around the wailing wall for a few hours and wandering through the alleys
of old jerusalem ... if u are then tempted to call a friend, collect,
who is on the other side of the world, just minding their own business ...
just bear in mind the likely repercussions.
then get out the number & call that friend if the mood strikes you!
~

i've got no concrete idea
[could put a fullstop right here actually, but won't]
as to what to write about at present.
anybody know a good limerick?
the one about the old man from calcutta perhaps ...
a funny gag? there was an englishman, an irishman, and a scotsman ...
does anybody 'out there' ever feel like puking
if they brush their teeth soon after drinking a glass of orange juice?
or is this perhaps indicative of a stomach ulcer?
i hear there are some really putrid / bitter, yet effective, herbs prescribed by practitioners of chinese medicine, for treatment of such ulcers.
yes and do u realise
['that everyone u know ...']
that green tea & black tea are from the exact same plant; the key difference is how long each is roasted.
i haven't really got any further ideas at this juncture
well, at least none that i can be arsed to translate into type right now; so i think i'll leave it about there, for now
although i will add that i do wonder, not infrequently, as to whether or not i may tend to over-use semicolons; and on a related note, i do also wonder as to whether or ont i might, at least occasionally, use semicolons somewhat inappropriately.
certainly i think it is fair to say
that i generally prefer usage of the semicolon over the colon.
actually i've just recalled my discussion of sigmoid colons in my last post; but i assure u that my present discussion of these punctuation marks was not consciously intended to provide any form of link [tenuous or otherwise] to that post.
what i was going to say was that as a kid
i did favour semi-trailers over 'regular' trailers.
especially the ones that had those little compact bed/cabin things right behind the driver's seat.
~