Been In The Storm Too Long

Gospel Recorded in Warnnambool, Victoria Australia, November 2010. Tony Backhouse Gospel Workshop.

Unnerved...

My friend and fellow poet Libby and I attend the Unnerved Exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria. Contemporary View of Contemporary New Zealand Art. Redundant verbosity intended. Review to come another day.

http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/whats-on/exhibitions/exhibitions/unnerved-contemporary-new-zealand-art

Superb but exhausted get together by most of the Tuesday Night Soulsong group at generous Magda's for end of year celebration; Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah. Brief respite and peace on earth and goodwill to all men and women. Bless you one and all

Went to church on Sunday !!!!

Went to church on Sunday to sing at a service for the church attached to our little hall where our Soulsong singing group has practised and rehearsed for several years now. It was a strange mixed occasion (for me). I thought our singing was lovely. A bit rusty on Amazing Grace (because we hadn't warmed up – many were wandering in slightly late – bit of a shambles guys – but warm and lovely once we were all there) but the Ale was fantastic just a lovely and warm harmony, really appreciated by us and the small congregation of the church. Just stunning – wish we'd recorded it. I felt sad a little for the small and ageing congregation in the church but there's not much I can do about that – except to posit the possibility that if we sang there on a regular basis we might increase the size of the congregation – but a bit of a huge ask of the other members of Soulsong who lead full and active lives. Then we kind of went on to top it when Liz and Jo and Stella sang the loveliest high descant to an old English Hymn at the end of the service. OK – I cried. It was like that. Thank you Soulsingers for a lovely mornings singing – Richard had us do "Over Yonder" on the steps but it was a bit cold and windy and we had no audience except a few wandering shoppers on a Sunday morning. But it was followed by a pleasant coffee/brunch/breakfast at Loco's in Glenhuntly Road in Elsternwick. And a pretty happy and lovely bunch we were. Thank you to all for making Jinty welcome – she'd driven a couple of hours from the country, early in the morning to hear us. She thought it was worth it and so did I. Really looking forward to our end of year party. Feeling warm, thank you, on a cold Melbourne summer's day.

Christmas Food Court Flash Mob, Hallelujah Chorus - Must See!

Bruce Springsteen: RACING IN THE STREET

Hope the audience was equally impressed - considering that I forgot words towards the end and that it was a LONG Bruce song and a pity they didn't get to hear the beautiful piano work. I think I will keep concert songs much shorter in future... but I loved all the other contributions - each shone in its own special light - moving and lovely sounds.

TONIGHT IS IS IS IS THE NIGHT....

TONIGHT'S THE NIGHT: End Of Year SOULSONG Soiree. Tuesday 14th December 2010. 7.30pm. St John's Church Hall. 567 Glenhuntley Rd Elsternwick. Time to woo your friends, cool their bodies & warm their little hearts as we sing a selection from our repertoire. We look forward to seeing you at an evening to enliven your hearts bodies and souls...

Birthday Blues...sort of...

A short lunch and cup of tea with a friend for my birthday then off to see "Winter's Bone" and dinner with my delightful daughter. Not all bad. The day improved as it went on. Thank you to all the boys and girls and men and women who wished me well one way or another. I appreciate it.

Happy Birthday Dear Lyndon. Happy Birthday to me..

"Happy Birthday Lyndon hope it's very, very special xoxo"

Just a brief reminder that this is the 30th Anniversary of John Lennon's death. Let's spend a moment of gratitude to the sounds thoughts images and songs he gave to the world.

Final rehearsal...

Final rehearsal last night (sounding good) for: End Of Year SOULSONG Soiree. Tuesday 14th December 2010. 7.30pm. St John's Church Hall. 567 Glenhuntley Rd Elsternwick. Time to woo your friends, cool their bodies & warm their little hearts as we sing a selection from our repertoire. We look forward to seeing you at an ...

Reflections on the U2 Spaceship touching down in Melbourne...

I went with my friend Carmen from singing to see the initial touchdown of the U2 Spaceship in Melbourne last night. We kind of tried to miss the support act (Rapper Jayzee) by turning up around 7.30 (after an advertised starting time of 5.30) only to find that Jayzee hadn't even started his thing. Prior to getting in the door we were forced to check our umbrellas (even after a day of pouring December rain) an aspect of huge overseas concerts I could have done without. Of course on reflection Etihad Stadiums usual attendees could have cornered the market on the Neanderthal demographic (so maybe their concerns for the use of umbrellas were valid) but perhaps not for a U2 audience.

So then there came an hour of doof doof slightly augmented by the occasional nod to Islam in a musical sense but the content was as subtle as rap and it became clear that the size of the venue was needed in order to accommodate Jayzee's ego. This faculty will not be enhanced by my only notion of his fame stemming from the fact that he's Beyonce's husband.

After JZ had finished there was half an hour of set up for the main gig with entertaining graphics on the spaceship claw. 60,000 were there, essentially separated into ground floor residents (obediently obeying every rapper demand for arm and shirt waving and the "make some noise" command – limited vocab is apparently prerequisite for rapping). This was augmented by 3 rows of seating that remarkably reiterated the Coliseum, with some minor drawbacks; ground floor seating would have had difficulty viewing anything but the huge projected figures on the 360° screen; 2^nd level (where we were seated) gave an OK view of all but the "real" people were pretty small; 3^rd level could look down on everything but would clearly have only viewed the ant version of U2 so would have been entirely dependent on the projections. These projections were extraordinarily well crafted and choreographed and a state of the art experience which produced the effect of a monster spaceship bearing Rock Gods introduced appropriately by David Bowies MAJOR TOM. Still, for a group as sophisticated and with the range of U2 you have to wonder about the need for stadium rock, apart from of course producing the largest amount of money with the smallest amount of effort and scheduled playing dates.

The music was exquisite anthem rock all superbly done (everybody, including me, sang along to the favourites) which covered material as far back as the BOY album, touched on everything since, and provided glimpses of new material to come (cynically I'm predicting a double live album of this tour – perhaps with DVD – and with "previously unreleased material"). I may say this cynically, but I'll be buying: they remain a great band.

Mind you Carmen, who can be moved to move with delightful facility by music , stayed in her seat the entire evening and could not be drawn beyond the enigmatic when asked to comment on the event. Of course we had seen Leonard Cohen, The Master, (slightly smaller venue, better feel) about a fortnight before. I did sneak a quick glance at her when Bono included one of her favourite Cohen quotations "There is a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in" in the midst of a U2 lyric.

Other aspects worth noting: Political and spiritual messages seemed lost on the beer swilling morons in front of us (hope they weren't driving home – you can bet they were – come on Australia "GET A LIFE" alcoholism is no replacement for personality) and it was less than edifying to be treated exactly like cattle during the exit process. At over $ 200 a ticket, not good enough. This was not power to the people Bono, this was animalising the people.

I know: tired and grumpy the day after. Remember the take home message: "The music was exquisite anthem rock all superbly done..... I'm predicting a double live album of this tour – perhaps with DVD – and with "previously unreleased material"). I may say this cynically, but I'll be buying: they remain a great band."