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Wednesday, December 24, 2008

A John Waters Christmas (2004)

I'm sitting here, freshly poured white russian in hand, enjoying Phil Spector's brilliant holiday album, A Christmas Gift For You, after putting together my nephew's new drum set and I'm thinking to myself "sometimes, Christmas is fantastic!". So, in honor of my splendid mood, i'll share something with you. I discovered this album a few years back when I went through my first John Waters binge. It's totally great! One of my favorite holiday albums, way up there with Spector's. These are songs that John Waters himself has chosen, a mix tape of sorts, to share with everyone on his favorite holiday of the year. I got to see Waters live last christmas for his annual stand-up thingy and if you ever get a chance to go I recommend taking it. He's a great man to hear speak. So anyways. Please, sit back, pour a drink, and enjoy this holiday gem! And have a good holiday season assholes!

"Just when you think you can’t stand to hear another Christmas carol, here I come with a holiday treat that will make you actually appreciate the insanity of the Yuletide season. Wrap this CD as a gift to yourself, pretend you forgot what it is and act surprised when you open it. Close your eyes and imagine you’re with me at my house Christmas morning listening to favorite carols.

What better music to open your Xmas stocking with than “Fat Daddy (is Santa Claus)” ?! Fat Daddy -- Baltimore’s one-time coolest rhythm and blues disc jockey, host of “Negro Day” on “The Buddy Deane Show”, and my inspiration for the Motor Mouth Maybelle character in “Hairspray” -- never sounded so lovely, so cheery, so ripe to be asked over for eggnog. Maybe Tiny Tim could join us. No Mrs. Miller, this eccentric but brilliant performer may have been a novelty act in his day, but when he sings, “Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer” like a Christmas canary, he’s no joke in my house.

Of course, some of us get neurotically religious during the holiday season, so “Happy Birthday Jesus” by scary “Little Cindy” will be just perfect to play if Christian guilt ever creeps into your celebration. Listen to this child’s voice; so godawful, so devout, so beautiful, so perfect. No second take in the recording booth for this motley moppet! “Little Cindy” regrets nothing and neither should you.

A lot of my Baltimore friends might be described as “extreme white people” so I hope you don’t mind if I invite a few of them over to join us. They especially like to get drunk and sing-a-long with “Here Comes Fatty Clause” and complain about future bankruptcy because of gift giving. Of course, some of these guests get the “whirlies” and are unable to stand up without falling down so I put on the crippled Christmas carol “Little Mary Christmas” and we all shed a tear over the pathologically maudlin orphan who “hobbled back to her room” after being passed up for adoption year after year.

But who needs to feel sad at Christmas, right? Especially when Big Dee Irwin and Little Eva belt out “I Wish You a Merry Christmas” in a soulfully obscure holiday greeting that makes me wish I had their heirs’ home addresses so I could wish them a merry one, too. Of course, not all of our friends could make it over here today, so when we listen to the melancholy “Santa, Don’t Pass Me By” and think about that country singer hitching a ride with Santa to get home for Christmas, I bet you’ll feel like picking him up and buying him a present all on your own.

I can’t help it, I have the hots for “The Chipmunks.” We all have a type, what can I say? When these mischievous little friends ring those “Sleigh Bells”, I feel so happy, so aggressive that I want to get dressed as Santa, go out and scare the neighbors. Just when I think no Christmas song could be any closer to my heart I hear the nasal good cheer of “Sleighbells, Reindeer & Snow” and wish I could get a stuffy nose. I fix everybody another cocktail and we sit back, count our blessings and marvel at the almost cinematic use of the musical instrument, the theremin, in “First Snowfall.” I remind my guests that being alone can sometimes be so peaceful.

But hey, it’s time for turkey dinner so what better way to say grace than to play my old time favorite Kwanza carol, “Santa Claus Is A Black Man.” Here it is, the motherlode of crackpot Xmas carols, the 45rpm record I hunted for my whole life and recently bought on eBay at a great deal of personal expense just so you could hear it too. Yes, Akim, there is a Santa Claus and he’ll always be black in my mind because of your liberating, endearing vocal. Just thinking about this holiday song makes me feel as if I could spontaneously combust.

Have a merry, rotten, scary, sexy, biracial, ludicrous, happy little Christmas.

See you next year.
" - John Waters

  1. "Fat Daddy" - Fat Daddy
  2. "Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer" - Tiny Tim
  3. "Christmas Time Is Coming" (A Street Carol) - Stormy Weather
  4. "Happy Birthday Jesus" - Little Cindy
  5. "Here Comes Fatty Claus" - Rudolph & Gang
  6. "Little Mary Christmas" - Roger Christian
  7. "I Wish You A Merry Christmas" - Big Dee Irwin & Little Eva
  8. "Santa Don't Pass Me By" - Jimmy Donley
  9. "Sleigh Ride" - Alvin & The Chipmunks
  10. "Sleigh Bells, Reindeer And Snow"
  11. "First Snowfall" - The Coctails
  12. "Santa Claus Is A Black Man" - AKIM & The Teddy Vann Production Company

Merry Christmas Ya Little Jerks!

Hope everyone has a good Christmas, or Holiday, or what have you. Hopefully by the end of the night I'll have uploaded A John Waters Christmas, one of the best x-mas albums ever, but if not it'll be tomorrow. Toodles for now.

- DD

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Kenneth Higney - Attic Demonstration (1976)

Imagine for a second that Jandek and Simon Finn teamed up with Jad Fair and started a psychedelic free form folky rock 'n' roll band in 1976. It might sound a little bit like this. It's naive but complex, confusing and strange but very beautiful and honest. It has a certain quality to it that I can't quite place, but I like it! Very much! I guess this album has become somewhat of a cult classic among record collectors, and it's pretty easy to see why. It's a very strange album, but I highly recommend it to those interested in outsider music.

"Attic Demonstration is a collection of demos performed by Higney in 1976. A New Jersey truck driver looking to jumpstart a career as a songwriter, Higney pressed the record in order to give it to other musicians, in hopes that they would perform his songs. That no one took him up on his offer is not surprising, since this a relentlessly downbeat, ramshackle collection of music. It’s a compelling and frequently bleak piece of work, but not one with much (or anything at all) in the way of the commercial potential Higney may have hoped for. Imagine Neil Young’s depressive masterwork On the Beach, only replace Neil Young with an untrained singer who vacillates between a haunted, plaintive drawl and a raspy shout, force the musicians to play constantly out of time, drench everything in tortured lead guitar, and deprive the band any second-takes." - Dusted Review

More Info:
Reviews: CD Baby

1. Night Rider
2. Children Of Sound
3. Rock Star
4. Can't Love That Woman
5. Look At The River
6. Quietly Leave Me
7. Let Us Pray
8. I'll Cry Tomorrow
9. No Heavy Trucking
10. Funky Kinky
11. I Wanna Be The King

Peter Jefferies & Jono Lonie - At Swim 2 Birds (1987)

What you have here is some extremely melodic mood work. It's instrumental zone music of the highest grade. At times, the guitar is fairly reminiscent of early Durutti Column, though overall there is a lot more going on here. It almost delves, if only for the slightest of moments, into the Krautrock arena with glorious repetition and rhythm. It's a very beautiful and eclectic album, so full of sound. I especially enjoyed the songs Interalia and Tarentella. Aside from listening to it I don't really know too much about the people involved or anything like that so please just grab, listen, and enjoy!

"Jefferies' first solo effort is actually a full collaboration with fellow New Zealand musician Jono Lonie, titled after the cult surrealist novel by Irish author Flann O'Brien. The album itself is entirely instrumental, and described by Jefferies in the liner notes for the 1997 reissue as being "an antidote of sorts to a previous sound and method of writing," further referring to the recording location at Lonie's house as providing the "ocean, air, light" counterpoint to the often dark and brooding This Kind of Punishment releases. For all this, many hints of Jefferies' TKP work inevitably crop up (as does its overall sonic quality, due in part to also using a TEAC four-track). The most unmistakable connection is his distinct, evocative piano sound, highlighted prominently on songs like (unsurprisingly) "Piano (One)." However, the collaborative nature of the work with Lonie, in the end, does result in distinctly different music all around; when "Piano (One)" really takes off with a restrained but forward-moving keyboard line as Lonie's echoing guitar weaves around the music, it's just one of many moments where things indeed feel much livelier and more brightly beautiful than in the past. Jefferies adds drums at points much as he did in TKP, giving the sprightly drone "Interalia" a rollicking little push where needed and providing the powerful "The Standing Stone" with a pulsing beat under a strong guitar/violin combination. He also plays with tape effects to provide fine twists and turns to the music throughout. Lonie's own work is impeccable; besides providing almost all the guitar, his violin work is equally striking. The title track is one of his finest moments, as his violin melody rises throughout an overlay of reverbed strings that have turned into a weirdly lovely background shading. " - All Music Guide

  1. Introduction
  2. Thief With The Silver
  3. Piano (One)
  4. Interalia
  5. At Swim 2 Birds
  6. Tarentella
  7. Where The Flies Sleep
  8. The Standing Stone
  9. Aerial
  10. Short Was Fast
  11. Piano (Two)

Thanks to La Folie Du Jour for the original upload.

Eric Copeland - Hermaphrodite (2007) + Alien In A Garbage Dump (2008)

I have long been a fan of the New York noise outfit Black Dice. Their unique combination of melodic noise and pop sensibility is undeniably original. They do to "Noise Music" what i've always wanted to do, or have someone do for me. As a result I naturally got very excited last year when Eric Copeland began releasing his solo work.

Hermaphrodite (2007)

Hermaphrodite is probably the best noise album i've ever heard. It's OK if you don't agree with me. This isn't your average noise album. It takes what Black Dice does to "Noise" and amplifies that. It's what you might expect if Justin Timberlake decided to do noise music. By that I mean it's "poppy" as hell. That being said, if you're not a noise fan then you'll want to take that with a grain of salt. This is still Noise by any definition.

As far as I know, Copeland spent a few years tinkering with his first solo effort before finally deciding on these 12 tracks, a euphonic mixture of radio loops, frequencies, various effects pedals, samples, etc. Though this is indeed a noise album, it's an extremely fun and, again, poppy one. It's noise you don't mind bobbing along to. I'll stop this ramble so you can enjoy it for yourself.

"It may be misleading to say that Hermaphrodite, the first solo album by Black Dice's Eric Copeland, is catchier than anything his band has done. After all, it's a noisy, predominantly abstract record. But there's a joyful swing and pleasant ease to Copeland's work here that no Black Dice album has quite caught. Rather that darting around implied destinations, Copeland is happy to settle into grooves, picking simple patterns and letting them blissfully churn away. The result is music that you can actually nod your head to, even when it challenges your grey matter.

Hermaphrodite's accessibility comes not just from its simplicity, but also its playfulness. Through bouncy rhythmic loops, sprightly vocal chants, and child-like melodies, Copeland crafts pieces that feel sunny and breezy even at their roughest. In that sense Hermaphrodite evokes Gang Gang Dance's early séances and Animal Collective's brighter rain dances. But it's even closer to the wide-eyed art loops of the Residents. Copeland captures that seminal outfit's primal beauty on tracks like "Wash Up", with its warped vocals and bubbly synths, and "FKD", with sneaky whines so Residents-like you can practically follow the bouncing eyeball." - Pitchfork review

1. Hermaphrodite
2. La Booly Boo
3. Oreo
4. Green Burrito
5. Wash Up
6. Spacehead
7. Tree Aliens
8. Scum Pipe
9. Dinca
10. Mouth Hole
11. FKD
12. Scraps

Alien In A Garbage Dump (EP) (2008)

So, this too is great. I found it somewhat different from Hermaphrodite, though that could be due to the fact that there was much less time spent on creating this. Still, I can't help but nod along to the rhythms Copeland creates with his mashed samples and vocal loops. Highly recommended listening for anyone remotely interested in Noise.

"Sometimes a song's title can tell you something. Case in point is the title track from the Alien in a Garbage Dump vinyl-only EP by Black Dice member Eric Copeland. As heard on his record last year, Hermaphrodite, Copeland is something of a sonic dumpster diver, finding weird bits of sonic detritus and then slapping them together into collages that can be both creepy and funny. Compared to where Black Dice has been with the last few records, Copeland seems to be in a comparatively maximalist state of mind, never finding any virtual audio tape that he didn't want to saturate with noise. He's also making music that seems to me a touch more pop and easier to latch onto on the first spin. "Alien in a Garbage Dump" begins with huge amounts of clatter and a sampled voice imploring "Just don't do it" in a never-ending loop that could be a cousin to the "Come out to show them" bit used in Steve Reich's "Come Out" all those years ago. It works through myriad small variations to the pulse of a bass hit, and then it comes out on the other side, squinting into the bright light of a for-real tune. Over "La Bamba"/"Like a Rolling Stone" guitar chords, a loose and melodic guitar solo brings things home. Ah, the wonders of contrast; you can find some pretty cool shit in a landfill." - Pitchfork

1. King Tits Womb
2. Alien In A Garbage Dump
3. Corn On The Cob
4. Osni
5. Scones And Bull
6. Reptilian Space Beings Shapeshifting Bloodsucking Vampires
7. Everybody's Libido

Friday, December 19, 2008

Synecdoche, New York (2008)

So apparently i'm out of the loop. I'm so out of the loop. I'm embarrassingly and shamefully out of the loop. I'm so far out of the loop it's scary. It may not be for you, but for me it's terrifying. You see, I somehow have managed to go until two days ago without knowing about this new film thats coming out. Finally, at long last, my hero, my god, the love of my life, the intencely brilliant Charlie Kaufman has directed his first picture. When it comes to writing a story that just destroys everything you've come to expect in a story, there's no one better than Kaufman. I didnt know he was even writing a new film, let alone that he was done it, and he was directing it himself. I am, to say the very least, so fucking excited I could cry. NOT ONLY THAT! but it stars my favorte actor as well. The always depressingly great, Philip Seymour Hoffman.

The film, as far as I've picked up so far, is about Caden Cotard (Hoffman), a theatre director, who builds a lifesized replica of New York city, and fills it with actors to play himself and the people he knows in an attempt to dicover something about himsef that might satisfy his insecurities with life (??). I think? Now, within this life sized recreation of New York city there is of course another life sized recreation of New York, and within that recreation, OF COURSE, there is yet another life sized recreation of New York, and so on and so on and so on and so on. All of these filled with actors, playing the parts of Cotard and his friends/family. God I love you Charlie Kaufman. Anyways, i'll stop drooling now. Thought I'd let you know in case yr as behind as I.

Monday, December 15, 2008

Holiday Rush

OK, so I'm traveling around home for the Holidays, and I haven't really had a chance to upload anything, nor do I have a very solid internet connection, but I'll have lots of new stuff in the coming weeks, so please be patient. Sorry for taking so long to update.

- DD

Sunday, December 7, 2008

The Brothers Quay - Rehearsals For Extinct Anatomies (1988)

Another brilliant stop-motion short, by The Brothers Quay.

Jan Švankmajer - Picnic With Weismann (1968)

Well I guess today is movie day on BT. This is one of my favorite pieces by one of the pioneers of stop-motion animation, Czech filmmaker and artist Jan Švankmajer. If yr not familiar w/ his work then you need to look into it. Enjoy!

more info:

Fallen Art

Sonic Youth + Aphex Twin (Dance Party!)

Duncan Browne - Give Me Take You (1968)

Some hippy psych-folk goodness for a quiet sunday afternoon. I was just listening to some Lee Hazelwood and it mellowed me out big time. I decided to listen to Duncan Browne's debut release Give Me Take You, an occassion not too frequent in my day to day. What a nice album. It's so peaceful and good. Browne's voice hangs slightly on a cross between Paul McCartney, Nick Drake and a bit of Dr. Strangely Strange frontman and founder Tim Booth. There's also a hint of John Cale in there somewhere. I highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys beautiful folk. Very similar musically to Donovan, Bill Fay, or Dr. Strangely Strange, though not quite as eccentric as the latter. Just get it if you like nice mellow acoustic guitar songs.
The End.

"Duncan Browne's melancholy first album, Give Me Take You -- released on music impresario Andrew Loog Oldham's Immediate label in 1968 -- is one wonderfully tender album. Many who only discovered it well after its original release are compare its dulcet introspective tone to Nick Drake's albums. It does fall into a similar English folk vein, though Browne's arrangements are, on the whole, more Baroque, giving the album a semi-classical, regal feel. Browne charted his own classical arrangements and wrote out vocal charts for a choir, but turned to his art school friend David Bretton for song lyrics. It's Bretton's lovely Pre-Raphaelite style phrases, used here in the guise of lyrical content, that fans of this album often react strongly to, one way or another. True, there's a youthful innocence and melancholy that comes off as somewhat naïve sounding, mawkish, and awkward in our modern age -- "Better a tear of truth than smiling lies" is one example -- but this is a minor quibble. Immediate issued only one single from the album, "On the Bombsite," but it failed to connect with listeners. At the time of its release, Oldham's Immediate was reportedly falling apart. He was in financial ruin and reportedly cut the sessions short to save money. The album remained out of print until 2000, when it was issued for the first time on compact disc by the U.K.-based Castle imprint, this time with five bonus tracks dating from Browne's early-'70s sessions when he was recording for the Bell label." -

Ninepence Worth Of Walking

1. Give Me Take You
2. Ninepence Worth Of Walking
3. Dwarf In A Tree (A Cautionary Tale)
4. Ghost Walks
5. Waking You
6. Chloe In The Garden
7. Waking You
8. On The Bombsite
9. I Was You Weren't
10. Gabilan
11. Alfred Bell
12. Death Of Neil

Sun City Girls - Djinn Funnel (2006) (LP)

Sun City Girls
are one of those bands where you never know what to expect. They're probably the band you can always rely on being surprised by. Every album I've ever heard has been totally different from the last. They're jazz, they're rock and roll, they're lo-fi garage punk, they're acid freak-out tribal blues, they're indian wedding destruction, they're folk fodder farfiza funk. They're also really great! This album is my favorite of what I've heard. It's very aggressive and raw, sometimes sounding a lot like Old Time Relijun or something. Lot's of cool guitar licks, and brutal drum drones, and a few great vocal waves that just put you in a trance! The guitar just squeals on into waves of euphoria until you forget that you're even listening to it. My favorite song is definitely the albums opener, Nites of Malta. It makes me want to cream on the walls with blood semen and smash my face into nails and screws. Enjoy this gem, or die a wasted soul.
(This is an LP rip, limited pressing of 570 copies)

"There's five tracks on "Djinn Funnel", recorded between 1999 and 2001, and they're the Girls like I've never been familiar with em before. I don't profess to know nearly the amount of SCG material as I'm sure many out there do but this one stumped me hard, if we were Invisible Jukeboxing I'd have been as out of my element as Marianne Faithful trying to nail down an MF Doom b-side. All these five are Sun City Girls playing the blues, playing the heavy electric blooz psych rock blues that is. "Nites of Malta" opens the set with a funky, swishing drumline and stoned, radio-ed nasal voice drip, with an absolutely searing Rick Bishop solo what kinda brings to mind Michio Kurihara shredding things on the record he did with Boris...'cept with the Eastern hookah haze the Girls often tread in. It ends with an explosive, thrashing chorus of screaming feedback (and screaming voices) and somehow the LP keeps getting better from there. If "Djinn Funnel" is the band's "Paranoid" - heavy, stoned and blues-informed - then "Dukun Degeneration" is its "Planet Caravan" with the echo of Ozzy's vocals replaced with noise distortion from Rick's guitar as Alan's struggles to keep things above water with melting, gelatinous bass fuzz. But it's Rick again who steers the songs up to and over the brink with more destructive, almost metal moves on "Dark Nectar", while he shears up in almost Mizutani-like fashion with another Eastern bent on "Red Sea Blues", an even closer comparison would be Acid Mothers Temple and the Eastern-influenced psychedelics they dredge up from time to time. The best is saved for last on the 12-minute epic finale "Grand Trunk (Drifters of the Grand Trunk)". Moving at a meditative pace and operating off of a rhythm section composed of Gocher's cyclical cymbal shots and Alan's gently loping, looping bass rhythm, the Girls hit a sound not at all unlike what OM put together on "Conference of the Birds" with a bit more in the way of subtly pushed, acid-washed guitar licks and airy vocals. Other reference points coult be Quicksilver Messenger Service or the Grateful Dead. And yeah the Sun City Girls playing in line with classic 70's psych sounds every bit as good as you'd hope."
- OuterSpaceGamelan

The albums sounds nothing like this.

1. Nites of Malta
2. Dukun Degeneration
3. Dark Nectar
4. Red Sea Blues
5. Grand Trunk (Drifters of the Grand Trunk)

Dean Ween shows us his "Sunday Sauce"

Dean Ween shares his recipe for a Sunday Sauce. This looks and sounds so delicious! I am definitely going to try to make it someday! Enjoy.

The Sunday Sauce

Saturday, December 6, 2008

Ween - Axis: Bold As Boognish (1987) (Cass.)

Depending on when Mrs. Slack came out, this would be Ween's second release. There's isn't much known about the album, and the label it was released on is long dead. The album is kinda strange, for Ween. It's very raunchy old school punk type music, with the trademark silly lyrics, and lots of noisy feedback. At times it's reminiscent of Dead Milkmen or something of that ilk, but overall it's a lot noisier. You can tell they were 17 when they made this. It's very aggressive and full of hyperactivity. I Love it! I had never heard Ween like this and it's great! Released on cassette tape.

More Info:

  1. "I'm Killing It (Kill Everything)"
  2. "Tweet Tweet"
  3. "On The Beach"
  4. "I Like You"
  5. "Bumblebee"
  6. "Emily"
  7. "David The Negro"
  8. "The Iron Whore"
  9. "Sittin' On My Ass (Wanton Nougat)"
  10. "Smoke In My Brain"
  11. "Anne"
  12. "Aqua-Ween"
  13. "She Said, She Said"
  14. "The Journey Into Dinh"
  15. "Gene's Lament (Tree Love Theme)"
  16. "Opus 51 Fugue Trilogy In A (Take Me To The Tree) - a. Yurtle Swimming/b. The Tree/c. Bertha Gets The Mooshy Mooshy/d. The Kitty And The Squirrel/e. The Departure"
  17. "One Love For Boognish"

(Thanks to Bruunski Beats for the original upload)

Friday, December 5, 2008

Hanatarash - The Hanatarash & his eYe (1992)

TOTAL DEATH ENTERTAINMENT CURMUDGEON! that's one way of putting it. Hanatarash is Eye (pre-Boredoms) and Mitsuru Tabata, and it's total noise war chaos. They were banned from every club they played due to their intencely violent and dangerous live shows, in which Eye would basically set up and destroy "things" including large drum barrels, sheets of glass, various metals, etc. Get this and explode.

"Hanatarashi (ハナタラシ), meaning "sniveler" or "snot-nosed" in Japanese, was a noise band created by later Boredoms frontman Yamantaka Eye and featured Zeni Geva guitarist Mitsuru Tabata. The outfit was formed in Osaka, Japan in 1984 after Eye and Tabata met as stage hands at an Einstürzende Neubauten show. After the release of the first album, the "I" was dropped and the name became Hanatarash. They used a variety of unusual noise-making objects, including power tools, drills, and heavy machinery.

Hanatarash was notorious for its dangerous live shows. Some of the band's most infamous shows included Eye cutting a dead cat in half with a machete, strapping a circular saw to his back and almost cutting his leg off, and destroying part of a venue with a backhoe bulldozer by driving it through the back wall and onto the stage.

At a 1985 show in Tokyo's Superloft, the audience was required to fill out waivers due to the possibility of harm caused by the show. The show was stopped due to Eye preparing to throw a lit molotov cocktail onto the stage. The performance cost ¥600,000 (approximately $6,000 US) in repairs.

After several years of the intense live shows, Hanatarash was forbidden from performing at most venues, and were only allowed to return to live performances in the 1990s without the trademark danger." -

Live (1988)

Live at Bears, Osaka Japan

1. Bom Bom Rider
2. Acid Surfin Nazimetal
3. Audio Gunshot--One
4. Pointless Brosers
5. Suicidal Budda
6. Audio Gunshot--Two

Blurt - BBC Session (09/24/80)

I have no album art for this one, sorry. If you've never heard Blurt, think James Chance meets The Pop Group meets The Birthday Party? Maybe even a bit of Faust-ish Krautrock thrown in for kicks? I know, i know, that sounds WAAAY too good to be true, and maybe it is. It probably is. Blurt isn't the best band to ever exist. BUT, they're certainly really really REALLY great and well worth listening to. So fucking groovy and cool. So get this and rock and roll a little. Its good time chir out duude. WAKKID DOOD. the end.

"Blurt are a musical group founded by poet, saxophonist and puppeteer Ted Milton in 1979 in Stroud, Gloucestershire. Ted Milton's brother Jake Milton, formerly in psychedelic group Quintessence, on drums and Peter Creese on guitar. After three albums Creese left the band to be replaced by Herman(Nep'n' Bend)Martin on synthesizers who after a year of constant touring left the band and was replaced by Steve Eagles, former member of Satans Rats, The Photos and Bang Bang Machine. Shortly thereafter brother Jake left to be replaced by Paul Wigens, with a short interim on drums by Nic Murcott. Eagles was replaced by Chris Vine as guitarist from 1990 to 1994. The latest drummer in the band is Bob Leith, also on drums in Cardiacs.

Blurt's compositions are based around repetitive minimalistic guitar and/or saxophone phrases with relentless, machine-like drum beats, over which Ted Milton orates his lyrics in a variety of "voices"."

Cherry Blossom Polish (Live in Stollwerk, 1982)

1. Cherry Blossom Polish
2. Paranoid Blues
3. Some Come
4. Ubu


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Tuesday, 29 July 2014

Show and Tell #13

Every so often I get a lovely email or a message from someone via my Facebook page sharing a photo of something they've made from one of my books, or using one of my free tutorials.

It's always awesome seeing these photos. They really make me smile and - no exaggeration - getting to see what people have been making from the patterns I put out into the world is one of the very best parts of my job!

So, today I'm sharing a few pictures people have shared with me since my last Show & Tell post...

Melodie made an iPod cosy using the mix-tape-themed tutorial I did for Mollie Makes. I love how she's imitated the magazine cover in her photo!

(It was also lovely to see other peoples versions of the cassette phone-cosy pop up on Instagram - a blue one, a pink one and, rather awesomely, one for an old walkman).

Melissa of Storybook Felts stitched a parrot from Heart-Felt Holidays (the parrot is one of the designs I contributed to this fun book). The parrot in the book was designed for Talk Like a Pirate Day, but Melissa's was used by her son when he played a pirate in a school production.

Sylvia has been busy sewing lots of animals from Super-Cute Felt Animals. In the book I stuffed all the animals but Sylvia is keeping hers flat and framing them, which I think is a very nice idea.

Katrina stitched a couple of the free patterns I designed to accompany Super-Cute Felt Animals. She enlarged my templates and made a happy starfish and a couple of shells.

Rosie used my felt owl tutorial to make a whole flock of owls and then designed a branch for them to hang from - such a great idea!

Kasia has been very busy and has stitched cactus brooches from my cactus pattern...

... a flower brooch (and a fab sunflower brooch) from my flower tutorial (originally featured in Made in Felt magazine, and now available on my blog) ...

... and has cleverly enlarged my leaf brooch pattern to make these leafy coasters.

And last but by no means least, Nicola used lots of my animal patterns from Super-Cute Felt Animals to decorate this special gift for her friend!

Many thanks to everyone who shared their photos! xxx

You can see see all the previous show and tell posts here. If you want to share what you've been making from my patterns (or from supplies you bought from me back when I still sold them) please do get in touch. Please note that I only share photos of my blog with peoples permission, so if you just want to share your work privately you totally can! You can leave a comment and link here on this post, send me an email or share a photo over on my Facebook page.

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Really Cool Beds for Van Dwellers

RVs July 6, 2017

You may be wondering where and how, those who live out of their vans sleep comfortably. You may also be someone thinking about buying a van to convert into a living space and wondering what options you have for bedroom furniture. It takes no genius to realize that it would require a genius to put a full bedroom in a van, so what are the options for van dwellers once nighttime rolls around and it’s time for sleep? Well, there is always the floor, but no one wants to do that long term.

We wanted to inspire you and spark your imagination by giving you some really cool options for how to sleep comfortably as a van dweller. Some of these options are beds you simply place inside your van space and others will have multiple uses. You can also get crafty and build the kind of bed that would fit perfectly in your van space, but not everyone has that kind of time, talent, or interest.

Below we share some pics that should motivate you to think outside the box when it comes to beds and bedding, while living in a van.

The Simple Solution

You can go the simple route if you’re not hard to please and you’re also an easy sleeper, by purchasing a few crates and a mattress and throwing the mattress on top of the crates. It’s simple, quick, and most importantly economical.

The Futon

The futon is another great and simple solution. Many come with their own wooden or metal frame that can be propped against the wall during the day with a few reinforcements to keep it from flying around when you’re driving.

Go Totally DIY

If you have any building skills at all or are a quick learner. you can build your own bed from your own specific measurements. Many van dwellers do this and they don’t mind having their bed be the center of attention when they have visitors.

The Multi-Purpose Bed

Stores like Ikea and other home stores sell economical crates that can be used as coffee tables, dining tables, and side tables. The great thing about using crates is that they can also be used for storage. You can place the crates where you want in any design you want, L-shaped for example, put your mattress or futon mattress on at night or use as a sitting space during the day with pillows and accessories, so it can act as a sofa as well as a bed.

Try an Air Mattress

Air mattresses are not the lumpy cheap plastic things they used to be. Although, you can still find that kind if that’s all your budget can allow, but there are excellently made air mattresses out there on the market today that sleep just as well as any decent regular mattress.

The Loft Bed

Some van dwellers are savvy enough to build a loft in their van and a ladder with just a few steps and throw a good mattress up there in that space. It’s out of the way and the rest of the van can be used for living and dining space.

Below are some examples of the bed solutions we talked about and more, in our gallery.

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Thursday, December 31, 2009

Sunil Gupta currates an exhibition at Whitechapel Gallery, 2010

Where Three Dreams Cross: 150 Years of Photography from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh
21 January–11 April 2010
Curated by Sunil Gupta

This is a landmark exhibition giving an inside view of how modern India, Pakistan and Bangladesh have been shaped through the lens of their photographers. From the earliest days of photography when the first Indian-run photographic studios were established in the 19th century, this exhibition tells the story of photography’s development in the subcontinent with over 400 works that have been uniquely brought together. It encompasses social realism and reportage of the key political moments in the 1940s, amateur snaps from the 1960s, and street photography from the 1970s. Contemporary photographs reveal the reality of everyday life, while the recent digitalisation of image making accelerates its cross-over with fashion and film.

For more information about the show, please go to Whitechapel Gallery's website at

The exhibition is organized by the Whitechapel Gallery, London, in collaboration with Fotomuseum, Winterthur.

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Saturday, August 14, 2010

Robert Giard: The Creeks – On Display In Our Project Room

The Creeks
August 12 – October 2, 2010

The Creeks 3, 1991

The Creeks 4, 1991

The gallery is pleased to announce our second exhibition of photographs from the Estate of Robert Giard. This exhibition will be held in our project space and will feature a key selection of vintage prints from his series “The Creeks.”

About Robert Giard

(American, 1939-2002)

Robert Giard was a portrait, landscape and figure photographer who for two decades chronicled a broad survey of contemporary American gay and lesbian literary figures. Giard came relatively late to the practice of photography. He majored in English literature and received a B.A. from Yale, and a M.A. in Comparative Literature from Boston University. Entirely self-taught, he began to photograph, concentrating on landscapes of the South Fork of Long Island, portraits of friends, many of them artists and writers in the region, and the nude figure.

In these early years, eschewing a romantic view of landscape, Giard did much of his shooting during the late autumn, winter, and early spring when many of the fashionable houses of the Hamptons were boarded up for the season. With the region largely depopulated, the surrounding grounds assumed for him "a mysterious, even somewhat sinister air." Among many notable images are twenty-four photographs made at The Creeks, the estate the abstract expressionist painter Alfonso Ossorio which are the subject of this exhibition. (see below)

Ultimately, it would be in the area of the portrait that Giard’s career made its most indelible mark. In 1985, after seeing a performance of Larry Kramer’s The Normal Heart dealing with the crisis of AIDS in the gay community, Giard was moved by a sense of urgency. He decided that he would put his talents as a photographer to use for other gay men and lesbians "by recording something of note about our experience, our history, and our culture." Synthesizing his life-long interest in literature and his involvement in gay issues of the 1970s and 1980s, Giard set about documenting in straightforward, unadorned, yet sometimes witty and playful, portraits, creating a wide survey of significant literary figures, as well as brash new writers on the scene.

The Creeks 1, 1991

The Creeks 5, 1991

A selection of these portraits, culled from the five hundred examples he had already amassed, was published by MIT Press in 1997 as the anthology Particular Voices: Portraits of Gay and Lesbian Writers, and served as the companion volume to the New York Public Library’s 1998 exhibition of the same name. Broadly documenting the flowering of gay and lesbian academic writing, fiction, poetry, and playwrighting, his collection of portraits included such iconic figures such as Edward Albee, Allen Ginsberg and Adrienne Rich as well as emerging novelists making their first mark such as Sapphire, David Leavitt, Shay Youngblood, and Michael Cunningham.

Robert Giard was the recipient of many grants and awards, and the published version of Particular Voices won a Lambda Literary Foundation Award for Best Photography/Art Book in 1997. Examples of his work are in collections of the National Portrait Gallery, the Library of Congress, the New York Public Library, the San Francisco Public Library, and the Brooklyn Museum.

In 2004, the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University acquired the Giard Archive, including one copy of every image he produced during his lifetime, as well as all of his papers, including correspondence, workbooks, diaries, and research materials.

For more information please visit

About The Creeks

The Creeks has been hailed as "the eighth wonder of the horticultural world" and "the most outstanding private conifer collection in the United States, a living work of art." (NY Times, July21, 1991; American Conifer Society Bulletin). It is home to hundreds of specialty plants, shrubs and trees with thriving specimens of some of the most unusual and rarest conifers on earth.

Originally built for the painter Albert Herter (1871-1950) in 1899 by Grosvenor Atterbury, architect of the Parrish Art Museum, it was acquired in 1952 by the renowned artist, Alfonso Ossorio (1916-1990). At one time, the likes of Enrico Caruso, Isadora Duncan and Anna Pavlova performed in the studio-theatre.

For nearly 40 years, The Creeks was a hub of artistic activity on the East End of Long Island as it was frequented by Jackson Pollock and his wife, Lee Krasner; Grace Hartigan, Franz Kline, Elaine and Willem de Kooning, Robert Motherwell, Barnett Newman and Mark Rothko.

Giard’s photographs of The Creeks are a unique documentation of Ossorio’s union of sculpture in landscape. Giard depicts the contrast between geometric form and carefully tended shrubbery as the man-made forms speak their own silent language under the open sky. Like all of his landscape imagery, “The Creeks” captures something deeply mysterious about the human imprint we make on nature.


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Of False Idols and Relevant Plagues

15300568_10154782208442720_1655146378_nValencia is an interesting cradle of Metal civilization in Spain. Situated on the eastern coast, and hosting south of only 1 million people, it is kind of the insiders secret of Spanish Metal. Many of the important bands, promoters and people within the scene hail from Valencia, yet outsiders eyes tend to focus very heavily on Barcelona and Madrid (for the person hoping for a football joke, prepare to be disappointed. In second though, fuck!) One of the bands that I personally think should definitely stop being a secret and definitely ought to be exported is the relatively new Whoredom. Though young, Whoredom are one of those bands that transfer their name and ambience perfectly with their music. It is grand, but it is dark. It is disgustingly monstrous, but it is also incredibly human.  Live equally, they transfer these feelings very well. They play in a way that makes you understand the music and in a way, understand the thought that goes into it while retaining the…well, for lack of a more Metal word, fun of going to a show. So without further adieu, here is my chat with Zenon of Whoredom!

Bulldozer: Hey Alex, what’s up?

Zenon: All’s good, what about you?

Bulldozer: Good, good, same old shit. So, Old Plagues For The New World has been out for a year now, how do you feel about it?

Zenon: Well, I still like to hear it which is telling. I’m still proud of it and I think I will always be, especially considering our lack of experience in recording and producing, etc etc. We still enjoy rehearsing the songs, though they don’t sound 100% perfect yet, there are a lot of things to improve. Things we are doing right now, but we are still proud of it.

Bulldozer: What would you say are some of the main take aways and things you learned from doing this EP?

Zenon: Honestly, we have learned a lot of tune ups. A lot from the mistakes in recording, about exercising patience. Endurance. We did rush some of the things on the EP, we entered the studio with a few songs that weren’t properly rehearsed. But again, the result is good, so it’s good with us.

Bulldozer: What’s the meaning of that title? does it relate to the Columbian exchange?

Zenon:  No, it doesn’t relate at all to the Columbian exchange.  While it could fit in relation to the concept, it isn’t what we were thinking of or is in the contents of the EP. We came up with the title after dealing with other choices we have come up with, this one sounded good enough for us. Powerful enough for us. It has more than one meaning but the main one would be a stance against the modern standards of mankind. We have this materialistic, egocentric, pseudo-egalitarian view of the world of mankind. All in the name of “progress” and “tolerance.” In the end, there are still wars, conflicts, and the “quest for happiness.” An unending turf war for man to endure. We have moved forward in our abilities and our comfort but human existence is as void as it’s ever been. We may live in a golden era, but the ghosts of the past are still here. “Old Plagues For The New World” it’s the same shit as it has ever been for mankind.

Bulldozer: What about these last few years brought to you to this title and theme? What made you think about this?

Zenon: I’ve been reading a lot about anthropology, cultural anthropology and as a matter of fact, I’ve just started studying it on a regular basis. Some authors and some books made me masticate a lot on this kind of stuff. Authors that reflects a lot of violence in mankind. In the character of mankind. Nothing really personal but my own thoughts and recollections regarding the state of the world. A growing disenchantment with the state of affairs right now. When you’re in a kid, you live in a golden bubble, everything is great, your parents are here to help, then when you’re thrown into the world, you have this youngster phase where you think you’re going to eat the world, the world is your oyster, but as you grow it fades. You grow cynical and sardonic with mankind.

Bulldozer: The artwork is also quite striking, beautifully conveying the name in a way, who did the artwork? and also, why did you choose this particular piece?

Zenon: It’s a classic paint by a great master, Hieronymus Bosch. Dutch painter. It’s a painting called “The Temptation of Satan.” You always have the classic painting, the “Garden of Earthly Delights” which is his classic.  We were looking in that direction but we looked for something less known and more adequate to our lyrics. The inside illustrations are parts and we tried to make all the decisions match a little bit. The feeling, the lyrics and the content needed to be mirrored by the illustrations.

Bulldozer: So why did you go with this one in particular? you said it connects but in what way? why Bosch in particular?

15240127_10154782207287720_369026887_nZenon: Hieronymus Bosch was a great painter, he painted for for Catholic churches but he also painted really dark and twisted visions. There was a lot of cynical contempt in his drawings. There was a part which was surrealistic, with criticism of the society in which he lived. He painted for example, pigs with human hats and this kind of stuff. It’s a good balance between imagination and reality. It’s what our lyrics aim towards as well, a fantastical representation in our minds of something real. Part real part surreal.

Bulldozer: So the band’s name is Whoredom, why did you guys choose that name? how does it appeal to the band?

Zenon:  As you may know, choosing a band’s name is as difficult as choosing your child’s! We considered a lot of names but eventually, the last proposal was Whoredom. It was short, easy, a mouthful and twisted in the right places. The old meaning of Whoredom is to worship false gods or idolatry, it fit our concepts. It reminds one of the earlier things we discussed, always working towards wrong priorities, wrong directions and losing money and time to man made gods and idols. Obsession is another focus represented here that is also very widely represented in the lyrics and in the artwork. Of course, it has the word Whore in it! Which is enough to draw the attention of the children (laughs.) It’s kind of obscene, it fits really well with the lyrics and our dark sense of humor.

Bulldozer: Something that struck me is the Whoredom symbol, with the two axes, the fire in the middle and then the triangle, what does it mean?

Zenon: That’s part personal and part that I can’t remember it (laughs.) I made the symbol when I was really drunk! It was kind of “lets just put something between the logo and the artwork.” Of course, it has the axes and the spears which are symbols of war. The symbols inside of it are symbols of putrefaction and death. Cool stuff (laughs.) I did this many years ago, but like anything else in music, you can find and give it any meaning you want. In the end it’s just something that came from inside but not for any particular reason.

Bulldozer: You of course, are a Belgian national, how did you come to join a Spanish band in Valencia? it’s kind of interesting! (laughs)

Zenon:  To be honest, I grew up in Catalonia. My parents are from Belgium but I was raised in Spain. About my heritage, yeah my culture is Belgian but I grew up here. I live here. So joining a band was the most natural thing. I listen to a lot of Belgian bands, Ancient Rites, and Ostrogoth etc etc. But I never experienced Belgian Metal, I never really lived there. I can’t really relate to it except for my heritage. The fact I ended up in Spanish band rather than Belgian one is because I live here, simple as that. I grew up with my hometown scene in Girona and the Barcelona scene but I never really became a part of another circle.

Bulldozer: Also I noticed that interestingly, with the exceptions of you and Julkarn (who was absent on the record,) most of the members are relatively new to recording Metal, how has it been like mixing the old blood with the new?

Zenon: You mean having senior people in the band and newbies, right?

Bulldozer: Yes

Zenon: Well, we’ve learned a lot from Julkarn and his dealing. I myself have been in bands since I was a kid, since I was 16 or so but never with the level of accomplishment that Whoredom has seen. So I consider myself quite new too. I had a few other bands but never with the same airplay as Whoredom.  Nefarial (couldn’t find a real name) also played in a few local bands before Whoredom. But in the end it’s ok. There are a lot of things that new blood and old blood do differently. For example, when Julkarn and I learned every song by rehearsing it to death and crushing it in the rehearsal room. While other younger members of the band tend to record and practice it in their home, then come to polish it up in the rehearsal room. Either way is fine and both have pros and cons, like anything else. It really doesn’t matter if the guy is young or old. Anyway, Julkarn is not only a great musician and a friend, but a source of knowledge. We turn to him a lot for the senior advice of “what to do in Metal” (laughs.)

Bulldozer: Do you feel that the mix of oldschool and maybe, newer tendencies contribute to the band’s sound?

Zenon: It’s kind of difficult to say. Some of the members in the band listen to a lot of Behemoth and this kind of stuff, but we listen a lot to some friends of yours (Alex is referring to the fact i’m a Polish national)! Voidhanger, Infernal War. A lot of Polish stuff, we also like stuff like Hail of Bullets. When we write stuff, there are no restrictions. We don’t come out and go “we’re going to write an oldschool Death Metal song.”We just come up with the riffs and if it’s ok to us, it’s ok to us. What I can guarantee you is that you won’t hear  damn Deathcore riffing or Djent riffing on the record. We do incorporate newer bands with an oldschool style and it benefits our evolution. New flesh, old blood! But with that said, we don’t try to rehash anything. We don’t want to be some regressive band that only copies. One of the keys to writing great music is not putting any restrictions on yourself.

Bulldozer: What was the recording process like for this record? what’s it like being an upcoming band from Valencia? The Spanish scene, while consisting of many bands and having even a few breakout acts such as Avulsed, Angelus Apatrida and Wormed, is still rather small in the European sense of scale

Zenon Not really different from being an upcoming band from any other country except for the fact that the scene is smaller in Spain. Fewer gigs and fewer people attend the gigs. It’s just smaller. You get more airplay in country like Germany, Poland or Sweden but for us, of course, we came from this kind of country. It doesn’t bother us so much.  It’ll be more difficult for us to grow large as a band coming from Spain than if we came from Germany, but that’s more power to us. If we make then that’ll be more impressive than if we were a bourgeois band from Berlin.Now a days, being a band from Spain, you have to pay big money for a chance to play live and go on the road. We will only do that if it’s wanted. If we have to stay in the Spanish scene forever, so be it.

Bulldozer: Would you say the Spanish scene is supportive? competitive?

Zenon: When you go play a gig, people are supportive, more so than say in Norway where people just stand around and yell between songs. There are some great bands and some great people in the Spanish scene but it’s still too small and divided. Everything moves in little groups, sects and often in ridiculous battles of ego between them. You find a lot of people who listen to some kind of Metal, be it Death or Thrash or whatever, who won’t go to a show because that particular band isn’t a part of their circle or isn’t a part of their niche. That one of the guys is an “asshole” or a “retard.” It all has this churlish attitude, for fucks sake, it’s just music, not a soap opera. Get over it. But overall if you see it from the outside,  it’s a rather warm scene. Small but warm. We stay away from the aforementioned type of shit, especially because we’re not big enough to generate any kind of controversy or to engage in these stupid films. We stay out of it and try to be at our best, regardless of our crowd.

Bulldozer: So my friend, what are the plans regarding the debut or upcoming material?

Zenon: We are rehearsing new material of course, and when we finished our gigs with Deströyer 666 we  already started rehearsing this material. As a matter of fact, the process of writing never stops. Every week and every month we come up with new riffs and ideas, so it’s not like we’re choosing a thing to do and go into writing. It’s just putting different ideas into practice. We write new songs with all the material we have already. We could have enough material for two albums if we wanted to record them, but that’s not the point. We are rehearsing the songs that feel right and putting the right ideas into practice. We don’t know yet if the next release will be an EP or an LP, but we are definitely looking to record something soon.

Bulldozer: What direction are you choosing to take with this one?

Zenon: Well, we never thought of that. We just write and whatever comes up, plays. The new tracks have a little bit more traditional Metal influences, a little bit more Death Metal influences but nothing that obscures the Black Metal. It’s pretty diverse, it’s in the same eclectic style we’ve started with the EP. We can’t tell really until we decide which tracks to record, and it also depends on the production sounds and techniques, but it doesn’t really bother us. As long as it’s dark and violent, it holds up.

Bulldozer: Is there anything you can say as far as themes? concepts?

Zenon: The lyrics that I already wrote for the new record follow the same destructive path of the first EP. Maybe more in a post apocalyptic way, not dystopian but after the disaster kind of way. The last one was more of a refection on the state of things, but the new one is aimed on a way to get out of the chaos. Kind of a Phoenix coming from the ashes.  I haven’t really decided it yet though, it’ll come through naturally. I haven’t put that much thought into it, but many lyrics are written. But when we choose a concept for the album, the artwork, that stuff and we match it all together. The lyrics are as diverse the songwriting.

Bulldozer: Is there anything in the Immediate future? any shows? anything you’d like to announce?

Zenon: There are a couple of shows coming up for the beginning of next year. One in northern Spain, in the Basque country. Also there’ll be another show in Valencia sometimes soon, in the next 4 to 5 months. We don’t really have any big plans but we just keep doing our stuff, writing, rehearsing and if a gig comes up we hope to do it. We don’t really have tour plans yet. We all have our steady jobs and our families , we’re not rockstar band. Whatever comes in the end is fine by us. If we make it, that’s great  but that’s not the point. The point is to enjoy what we do and play music for the sake of it. If there’s a gig then the point is to have a good time, drinking, playing and enjoying our band.

Bulldozer: Any last words?

Zenon: Last words are for pussies! (laughs.)

Interview: Benek Astrachan
Photo: Antonio Cano


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Thursday, January 10, 2013

The Next Big Thing:  Blog Hopping with Lannah Sawers-Diggins

Greetings from Australia everyone.  I am Lannah and this is my introductory blog which is part of a blog hop organised by Vicki M Taylor.  My heartfelt thanks to you, Vicki, for inviting me to be part of this.  I have never done anything like this before so please bear with me if I make boo-boos etc.  I will learn as I progress - I hope.

Up until a couple of weeks ago - make that last week, I had never even heard of a blog hop, but when I read Vicki's post I decided to 'apply' - and here I am.  But a description (for me at first and those unfamiliar with such a concept) of a blog hop is as such: (the original blurb):

'THE NEXT BIG THING is designed to raise awareness of our work, or work in progress.  We do that by answering ten questions about it.  We graciously thank the person who nominated us and tag four to six authors whose work could very well be THE NEXT BIG THING.'

So here we go, with my questions and answers:

What is the working title of your next book?

The Book on Stations, or The Stations book.

Where did the idea come from for the book?

I have always been passionate about both the outback and writing.  Some years ago, I woke one morning with an 'epiphany' which has been mentioned in previous posts.  It was a birthday and I woke, feeling an overwhelming urgency to have my late father's book, 'The Sawers from Pitcairn' published and 'out there' - preferably before my mother died.  I had always wanted to write and have books published but - how?  Seriously, how do you have a book published?  Turning to good old google I eventually found someone who could offer exactly what I wanted and feverishly set about getting this book out.  And it happened - exactly a week following Mum's passing.  Damn. Lousy timing.  However I was reassured that she was happy knowing that something was finally being done - well, as happy as anyone can be facing that stage of life.  After Dad's book was published and I was on a roll, I decided that the time had come for me to combine those two passions - my writing and the outback.  So I am.

What genre does your book fall under?

This is a hard one.  It could be educational or travel, inspirational, geographical - any of these and more probably.

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

Given that I have around two to three hundred people involved so far, with more being added almost daily this is not easy to answer.  I would certainly look at Australian actors - but as the book includes foreigners who have moved to Australia and either visited or lived in the outback on stations, other nationalities would be needed too.  This would be a huge undertaking - as research for the book itself already is.

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

A treasure trove of information and educational material for the world to learn about.  That could change as I progress along this road but that could be it for the moment.

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

I would hope that it will be represented by an agency but only time will tell.  As I am absolutely determined that it will be published and I will do everything in my power to make sure it is the success it will deserve to be for all the people involved, so if it has to be self-published, then so be it.  But again time will tell.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

Again not easy to answer as every chapter is being devoted to a different station and there are just so many different aspects involved.  I have been writing it, changing it, editing, adding, deleting etc etc etc since the start of 2012 and this will continue right through to publication.  As everyone who is involved will be sent every copy of the draft right through to the end, it will be a huge undertaking.  And one that I am absolutely thriving on.  I am having the time of my life, to date.

Just for the interest of, well, anyone and everyone, the choice of cover design and title for the book is going to become a competition for the children of the School of the Air in Australia.  Most of the bases around the nation have been wonderful enough to agree to support this and when the time comes (later this year, nearer to publication) they will announce the details of the competition across the air (internet) to all the isolated children around the nation.  The children and families will then design the cover and/or choose titles for the book, submit their choices direct to me by email (or mail if chosen) - I will then narrow the entries down to a shortlist (with the help of my daughters and a couple of other people) and these will then be emailed to a select panel of judges, most of whom will be celebrities in Australia.  Once they have made and returned their choices to me, I will send the winners' names around the country again to be announced over the SotA.  There will be two prizes, one for each of the design and title.

I will be keeping everyone up to date on progress of the Stations Book, or the Book on Stations as I travel along this wonderful road.  I have actually already begun doing this but details will become stronger.

For your reading pleasure, here are the links for some more great authors who are taking part in THE NEXT BIG THING blog hop:

Host Vicki M Taylor:
Other amazing authors:

Saturday, January 5, 2013

My first foray into fiction is progressing extremely well - maybe a bit TOO extremely well.  Once I get into the writing, the memories are just flowing back and, sad to say, nothing pleasant.  Some of it is actually quite eerie, which is surprising me - these appear to be memories I had locked pretty strongly away.  But not so strongly that they cannot escape, returning to 'haunt' me.  Another aspect which is surprising me is that there are a few things that I just - cannot - remember.  I have obviously locked them away so completely - so tightly - they are now absolutely refusing to budge. And normally that would be fine - but in this situation, it's not as if they are all important aspects needed for the story to flow.  So - I am having to improvise.  Fortunately other memories remain strong enough to allow me to do this without interrupting the flow and making these parts 'stand out'.  I am trying to inject humour, light heartedness, as well as bringing out the sadness and absolute and utter fear that I felt at the time - and indeed that I am feeling occasionally as I write and these memories return.  I am actually visualising the scenes and can see faces very, very clearly - as though this all occurred yesterday, or very recently.  Anyway, I am finding it very therapeutic - while the fact that I endured that six year nightmare will never be erased, the fact that I am writing it down, getting it out is probably the best thing I could be doing - and, yes, very very long overdue.

Stay tuned.


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My Grandfathers knife, i don't know much about it although every time i asked him i got a new and exciting story. I have had it a while and curious on it's history :)

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Hey Esta welcome to BCNZ!

I don't know what kind of knife it is sorry.

It looks pretty beat up how long did he have it for?

Hi Esta, welcome to the site.

Cool knife. I would guess that it was made in Nepal by the same people that make the kukri which is an agricultural knife and weapon used by the Nepalese. The kukri is also carried by the Gurkha soldiers of Nepal. Even though yours has a different design it could quite possibly be a ceremonial knife or weapon or a general purpose tool.

Your knife seems to have a very similar sheath design and construction to the Kukri sheath. The kukri sheath is wood and covered by a thin leather which is sewn along the back of the sheath. They have a metal cap at the point of the sheath. Sometimes the sheath has designs on it.

The inlays on your handle also look similar to the kukri handle as well. If you google "traditional gurkha kukri" then go to IMAGES you will see some examples.

Hope this is of some help.

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Sydney Markets Receives Global Recycling Award - Business Recycling News

Sydney Markets Receives Global Recycling Award

Date: 28-Feb-14
Author: Ryan Collins

Source: © via Creative Commons

The largest distribution centre in the Southern Hemisphere, Sydney Markets Limited, has received the ‘Best Renewable Resources: Recycling' award at the Global Sustainability Leadership Conference and Awards at the World Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Congress held in Mumbai, India.

Sydney Markets won from over 2,500 international entries received for the award. It recognised Sydney Markets for its innovation and commitment to sustainable business practices, closing the loop and reducing its environmental footprint through waste management, recycling, water and energy savings.

Sydney Markets has invested resources and equipment in its recycling program which has reduced its waste disposal costs by over a whopping A$7 million since 2005. Impressively, it has also increased its resource recovery rate from 17 percent in 2005 to 65 percent in 2013 by implementing a number of initiatives including:

  • An onsite Green Point Facility that operates daily to allow tenants to deliver waste to be sorted, separated and diverted into eight waste streams including organic, cardboard/paper, timber, steel, plastic, polystyrene, steel and concrete.
  • Working with Veolia Environmental Services to collect and transport waste streams with the aim of diverting majority of the organic waste produced. Over 4,000 tonnes of organic waste is processed each year by EarthPower Technologies using anaerobic digestion technology to convert solid and liquid wastes using bacteria into a biogas and a sludge that is dried to produce a high nutrient organic fertiliser.
  • The onsite recycling of polystyrene using a machine at Sydney Markets Flemington that has resulted in over 50 tonnes per annum of polystyrene or the equivalent of over 200,000 boxes being recycled.
  • The daily collection and recycling of plastic film in excess of 30 tonnes per annum.
  • The reusing and recycling of timber pallets with damaged pallets being shredded and turned into garden mulch. About 1,156 tonnes of timber pallets were recycled in 2013.
  • Reducing paper consumption by 30 percent since 2011 with the introduction of electronic invoicing to tenants, sending information by email and staff education.
  • Working with Planet Ark to recycle over 120 kilograms of printer cartridges and old mobile phones in 2013.

Other initiatives have been put in place to collect fluorescent tubes, light bulbs, batteries and other e-waste. Water recycling plans will be incorporated in Sydney Markets' environmental management plans in the near future.

You can find further information here.

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This week, I experienced a lot of bad incidents. Last night, I got a stomachache. It was very hard one. I woke up at 4am and found it out! I jumped into a toilet several times. I was not able to sleep enough....

Friday's works are always very hard. I have two important meetings. I am very responsible for the progress and achievement of those. I often run out of energy in the night. Tonight, I came back at 12:43am. No energy left! I write this blog and finish the day. A good thing is that my stomachache is gone!

I don't know why

I got up late! However, I tried to do the same things as usual. That means I must finish each task quicker such as eating breakfast, brushing tooth, taking a shower and so on. I jumped in my car, but the traffic on the way to go to my client is not desirable. I don't know why, when I have to reach somewhere quickly, I am often stuck in slow traffic! And I got there...

Another Day in Countryside

I got up this morning no in Tokyo but Gunma. More Accurately, I am in Numata, the northern part of Gunma Prefecture. This place is surrounded by mountains. I rather say that Numata and Minakami, the next town, are on mountains.

I love to stay countryside as I wrote in a previous blog. Do you know the color of Green is good for your eyes? So, if your eyes get tired, why don't you go to a mountain to be surrounded by the color of green? The color of green stands for eco. Are you saving energy consumptions for the earth?

(Picture: Tsukiyono Minakami Gunma)

Japanese Economy in June

As the world-wide economy, Japanese economy seems to rise little by little. My friends who lost jobs found a new place to work. The sooner or the later, companies may start investing for new business that becomes successful on the way to recover the economy.

A thing that I worry about is banks. If they keep closing doors to the small and middle-size business, more companies may bankrupt. I know some companies around me still fight with this hardship. About me, a new business reaches at a place where two roads spread in front of me. I must choose one and step ahead with a positive mind.

Get out of here!

I have nothing good to write about today. I got up this morning with the feeling of a fatigue. Am I sick? I try hard to care my body, but it sometimes doesn't work. I own a private business without any employee and am not married. So, I have to do everything! I mean everything.! It is so hard to keep going this way. Before things get worse, I have to get out of this situation!

Recently, I go to work in Minakami, Gunma two or three days a week. The contrast between Tokyo and Minakami are vivid. Minakami is a countryside surrounded by mountains and has many hot springs. For me, that place is a healing for a body and mind. I sometimes visit a hot spring to relax myself.

I am writing this blog in Tokyo. The Minakami's landscape dwells in my mind. I can visualize it very clearly and feel the air. I also love to live in Tokyo where many people and buildings jump into my eyes. This is a stimulus for me to be inspired. For business, speed and creativity in Tokyo help me finding a new path to go ahead. The both of a countryside and Tokyo are necessary for me to live and work well.
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Tea Review: Tea from China

Sunday, March 5, 2017

Jasmine Tea from China
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The Chrysanthemum Tea from China is a nice herbal option, but to be honest, we have so much decaf tea around here that are far more exciting...maybe useful for when sleep is being sneaky.

Jim said...

Did I buy you these?

ih said...

Yes. We have a lot of tea.

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This Day in Liberal Judicial Activism—January 7

by Ed Whelan

2006—Illustrating how deeply Democratic attacks on Republican judicial nominees have descended into farce, Senator Edward M. Kennedy fulminates in a Washington Post op-ed, two days before the start of Samuel Alito’s hearing on his Supreme Court nomination, that “credibility” is a “major issue” for Alito. (See here for more.)

Bench Memos

NRO’s home for judicial news and analysis.


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Caldwell v. Downs

United States District Court, E.D. California

June 20, 2017

DORIS L. DOWNS and WENDY L. SHOOB, Defendants.

         Plaintiff is proceeding in this action pro se. This matter was accordingly referred to the undersigned by E.D. Cal. 302(c)(21). Plaintiff has filed a request for leave to proceed in forma pauperis (“IFP”), and has submitted the affidavit required by that statute. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(1). The motion to proceed IFP will therefore be granted.

         I. SCREENING

         Granting IFP status does not end the court's inquiry. The federal IFP statute requires federal courts to dismiss a case if the action is legally “frivolous or malicious, ” fails to state a claim upon which relief may be granted, or seeks monetary relief from a defendant who is immune from such relief. 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2).

         Plaintiff must assist the court in determining whether the complaint is frivolous or not, by drafting the complaint so that it complies with the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (“Fed. R. Civ.P.”). The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure are available online at Under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, the complaint must contain (1) a “short and plain statement” of the basis for federal jurisdiction (that is, the reason the case is filed in this court, rather than in a state court), (2) a short and plain statement showing that plaintiff is entitled to relief (that is, who harmed the plaintiff, and in what way), and (3) a demand for the relief sought. Fed.R.Civ.P. (“Rule”) 8(a). Plaintiff's claims must be set forth simply, concisely and directly. Rule 8(d)(1). Forms are available to help pro se plaintiffs organize their complaint in the proper way. They are available at the Clerk's Office, 501 I Street, 4th Floor (Rm. 4-200), Sacramento, CA 95814, or online at

         A claim is legally frivolous when it lacks an arguable basis either in law or in fact. Neitzke v. Williams, 490 U.S. 319, 325 (1989). In reviewing a complaint under this standard, the court will (1) accept as true all of the factual allegations contained in the complaint, unless they are clearly baseless or fanciful, (2) construe those allegations in the light most favorable to the plaintiff, and (3) resolve all doubts in the plaintiff's favor. See Neitzke, 490 U.S. at 327; Erickson v. Pardus, 551 U.S. 89, 94 (2007); Von Saher v. Norton Simon Museum of Art at Pasadena, 592 F.3d 954, 960 (9th Cir. 2010), cert. denied, 564 U.S. 1037 (2011); Hebbe v. Pliler, 627 F.3d 338, 340 (9th Cir. 2010). However, the court need not accept as true, legal conclusions cast in the form of factual allegations, or allegations that contradict matters properly subject to judicial notice. See Western Mining Council v. Watt, 643 F.2d 618, 624 (9th Cir. 1981); Sprewell v. Golden State Warriors, 266 F.3d 979, 988 (9th Cir.), as amended, 275 F.3d 1187 (2001).

         Pro se pleadings are held to a less stringent standard than those drafted by lawyers. Haines v. Kerner, 404 U.S. 519, 520 (1972). Pro se complaints are construed liberally and may only be dismissed if it appears beyond doubt that the plaintiff can prove no set of facts in support of his claim which would entitle him to relief. Nordstrom v. Ryan, 762 F.3d 903, 908 (9th Cir. 2014). A pro se litigant is entitled to notice of the deficiencies in the complaint and an opportunity to amend, unless the complaint's deficiencies could not be cured by amendment. See Noll v. Carlson, 809 F.2d 1446, 1448 (9th Cir. 1987).

         A. The Complaint

         Plaintiff brings suit against two superior court judges from the Superior Court of Fulton County in Atlanta, Georgia. ECF No. 1 at 2. Under “Basis for Jurisdiction” she writes, “Federal Question: 42 USCA 1983 Civil Action for Deprivation of Rights[;] Judicial Immunity does not extend to civil rights actions under this code in seeking prospective injunctive relief against the judicial acts of state court judges. Federal Question 28 USCS 1331 and 28 USCS 1343 Civil Rights and Elective Franchise.” Plaintiff alleges that in July of 2003, divorce proceedings were initiated by the father of her two children. Id. at 3. In fall of 2004, defendant Judge Doris Downs “wrote a letter or decree recusing herself and her influence from the plaintiff's divorce case.” Id. The case was then “recused by Judge Melvin Westmoreland and transferred into the court of defendant [Judge] Wendy Shoob.” Id. The divorce was settled in February of 2005 and shared custody of the children was awarded. Id. Plaintiff alleges that in April 2005 defendant Shoob called for an emergency hearing, and issued an illegal gag order unlawfully restricting plaintiff's rights. Id. Defendant Shoob scheduled a follow-up hearing on June 17, 2005. Id. Due to a medical emergency, plaintiff informed the court that she would not be able to attend. Id. Plaintiff states that defendant Shoob was also unable to attend, and instead defendant Downs, “in violation of her earlier decree, unlawfully assumed the position of judge replacing defendant Wendy Shoob. Defendant Doris Downs issued an unlawful, hand-written bench warrant ordering plaintiff's arrest.” Id. Defendant Downs also gave full custody of the children in question to their father. Id. at 4. Plaintiff was remanded to Fulton County Jail, where she remained for several days without charge, and was ultimately released without charge. Id. Plaintiff seeks judgment against Judge Shoob and Judge Downs for “damages of funds diverted to plaintiff due to unlawful actions, ” attorney's fees, costs of suit, and such other relief as may be just. Id.

         B. Analysis

         Plaintiff brings claims against judicial officers that are immune from suit unless they acted clearly without jurisdiction, but does not provide sufficient facts about the underlying action for this court to make a determination as to whether plaintiff can state a claim against the judicially immune defendants.

         As a general rule, when the plaintiff seeks monetary relief against a state court judge, judicial immunity bars the suit. In re Castillo, 297 F.3d 940, 947 (9th Cir. 2002), as amended (Sept. 6, 2002). In Pulliam v. Allen, the Supreme Court held that judicial immunity did not encompass claims for prospective relief and attorneys' fees against a judge in her judicial capacity. 466 U.S. 522, 541 (1984). This is apparently the precedent on which the plaintiff relies. However, “Pulliam has been partially abrogated by statute: In 1996, Congress enacted the Federal Courts Improvement Act, Pub.L. No. 104-317, 110 Stat. 3847 (1996), which amended § 1983 to provide that ‘injunctive relief shall not be granted” in an action brought against ‘a judicial officer for an act or omission taken in such officer's judicial capacity ... unless a declaratory decree was violated or declaratory relief was unavailable.'” Gonzales-Quezada v. Hayden, No. C09-1469-JCC, 2010 WL 101323, at *2 (W.D. Wash. Jan. 7, 2010). Neither exception seems to apply based on the limited facts plaintiff alleges.

         In any case, plaintiff does not seek prospective relief. Prospective relief refers to preventing something from happening in the future; here, plaintiff seeks an award of financial damages based on past actions that the defendants took in their judicial capacity. ECF No. 1 at 4. A judicial defendant is absolutely immune from suits seeking monetary damages for acts performed in his or her judicial capacity. Mireles v. Waco, 502 U.S. 9 (1991). Only actions taken in “the complete absence of all jurisdiction” or falling outside of a judge's judicial duties may subject a judge to liability. Id. at 11-12. “In determining judicial immunity, [the Ninth Circuit has] distinguished between acts “in excess of jurisdiction” and acts “in the clear absence of jurisdiction” by looking to the subject-matter jurisdiction of the judge: “[a] clear absence of all jurisdiction means a clear lack of all subject matter ...

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text:
Ready or Not

The first Holiday Market is Saturday.  Today is sunny, calm, and 70ºf, a perfect day to be outside.  I took a walk and because of Saturday’s forecast, drove by the lot where I will be set up.  I was hoping that I would be able to slip a strap or polycord under or through the car stop wedge that will be the back of my stall, but they look like they are firmly adhered to the brick pavers.  Last year, the market manager said he was trying to get the town to install tie down rings in the pavers, but that has not been done.

The hope for the strap or cord is because Saturday is forecast to be a high of mid 50’s, 20% chance of rain, and 25 mph gusts of wind.  I have to erect a 10 X 10 foot popup canopy and I don’t want to spend all 5 hours worrying about it taking flight, taking out my display, or another vendor’s stall.  I have a few empty 5 gallon buckets and dozens of rock piles on the farm, so I think I will load up a few buckets with 50 pounds or so each of rocks and tie the canopy down to them.  If the wind can take out 3 of those along with the 25 pounds of leg weights, I am in trouble.

Of my last soap making, one of my popular scents did not set up properly.  The bars are usable but not pretty, so that batch will be retained for family use.  I will have to make another batch of that scent for the December market and see what others sell to determine which other bars to make.

My crates are packed.  I spent the afternoon making sure that I have the little clip on chalkboard tags for each scent of soap, each scent of lotion bar, and each salve.  I still have 3 skeins of yarn to label and pack, decide whether I want 2 or 3 tables and if I go with 3, then I need to decide what to use for my 3rd table cover.  I bought an Indian cotton throw in the fall, cut and hemmed it to make two table covers, but I don’t have a third table cloth that will go with the color or pattern.   I’m sure I will figure it out by Saturday morning.

If it is windy as forecast, my A frame stand for hats and mitts will likely blow over.  The T shaped one with clips for shawls can be anchored to the table edge with a C clamp.  Maybe I should add a base across the back of the A frame so it too can be clamped down.

I will dress in lots of layers that can be peeled off if it warms up during the day.  Fortunately a new and favored local coffee shop has opened in one of the fixed stores right at the market, so I can at least keep a cup of hot coffee or tea nearby to warm my hands.

This was last year.  The display is changed and simplified now.  You will have to wait to see how it sets up this year.  If you can’t come in person, stop by the shop  You can make your purchases there and I will deliver them to you if you are local or mail them to you if not local.

2 thoughts on “Ready or Not”

  1. I have an event I’m attending tomorrow, too, and am so, so grateful it is indoors as high winds and cold temps are predicted. Hope nothing blows away, and that you sell, sell, sell!
    Blessings, Fran!

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text:
The Center for African Democratic Affairs (CADA) has called on governments, election management bodies, political parties and civil society organizations in Africa to collectively address the issue of exclusion, identifying it as the root cause of political violence on the Continent.

A press statement signed by Mr Frank Adarkwah-Yiadom, Executive Director of CADA and copied to the Ghana News Agency at the weekend on the occasion of this year’s AU Day celebration, laid particular emphasis on elections, diversity and democracy, ethnic divisions in Africa and how they can be avoided.

“High rates of unemployment, lack of political participation, gender inequalities and deep imbalances in the distribution of local level resources, accentuated by political patronage, lie at the heart of the continent’s failed democracies”, the statement observed.

It noted that youth and women were among the most marginalized populations in sub-Saharan Africa, indicating that young people below the age of 35 account for 65 per cent of Africa’s total population, yet their unemployment rate, at 27 per cent, stood at twice the world average.

“In the absence of meaningful inclusive participation, these youths are prone to political manipulation and violence. Unemployment and exclusion from decision-making processes render them hopeless and desperate” it said, adding that the potential for the continent’s youth to contribute to sustainable economic development, democracy and peace still remained untapped.

The statement further observed that while there were more women in decision-making positions and in parliament now than ever before, women still struggled to make themselves heard as policy makers.

It urged African countries and the international community to continue to invest in elections to strengthen democracy, while at the same time they intensified efforts to promote developmental programmes that focused on people by allowing all sections of society to play active roles in shaping the future of the continent.

“Attention must be geared towards positive economic growth in Africa aimed at building institutions that are more responsive and representative of all ethnic groups and encourage more inclusive development. … Together, let us work to create an open and vibrant society that responds to the needs of African men, women and youths of all ages”, CADA stated.

Source: GNA

Categories: Press Releases

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