JANUARY/FEBRUARY/MARCH/APRIL DIARY

I am writing this in June, stupefied at how fast this year has gone. As I go through what I have done in these first 4 months, no wonder really!

So, the year starts with me still without a car after my stupid car accident back in October at Port Macquarie. Not having a car was quite freeing in a way, but ultimately you lose a lot of freedom, which doesn't make sense, but what about this crazy life makes sense anyway!

I got it back finally mid-month, just over 3 months without it. I was initially very nervous about driving again, but it didn't take long to get back into shape. Roundabouts still give me a bit of PTSD though.

Work has been insane. In my day-job at Belmont Library, the work still delights and entertains me, however I have taken on a few other bits and pieces to help out, so my dance card is incredibly full. This has been exhausting. During this time I have been helping out with our Collections department, Readers Advisory and Collections (ordering books etc) is my great love and area of expertise, so I enjoy the experience, but it is a lot. I also filled in for my boss for a month or so, and I have been working on my large project, which is a Comic Con type event called Pop Bam: popular culture festival planned for late July. 

You can read more about POP BAM here.

And I am back teaching at TAFE, 2 nights a week online. I love this so very much. The actual teaching, and lesson prep comes pretty easily to me, so I don't find it too tiresome. However, the admin can be a killer, and even now I am only getting better at it. I have lovely colleagues who are very helpful and kind. This term I have been teaching copyright, which I thought was going to be pretty dull, but I have found it absolutely fascinating and get to teach it again next term with my other class!

First term was full on - juggling both jobs - and I had moments of oh boy, I have taken on too much (and I had), but by second term, some of the smaller things had fallen away and things were much more manageable, plus the more you do something the easier it becomes. It just means being super organised and only taking on what is important, I am super great at the first, and getting better at the second. And I wouldn't change a thing!

My health has been - touch wood - good, but my menopause has been a big pain in the arse. Menopause (and peri-menopause) is getting more traction these days. As always, it is up to GEN X to push the boundaries, but you do not hear much about this incredibly important rite of passage, until it hits you and even then, not much is said. This needs to be changed, and many of us are talking about our experiences. I felt like my experience has been mild until I started reading up about it more recently. And whilst it is nowhere near as bad as it could be, I realised I had been going through much worse than I had been thinking or saying. Not to whine or need sympathy, it is a fact and you need to be realistic about it! It can be tough, hot sweats (I get them really bad), mood swings, foggy brain, dry skin, and much much more. It is all there, so be nice to your late 40s to 50s ladies, you never know what they are going through!

I have also been having regular osteo and massage visits and this seems to be keeping my osteo arthritis under control...as such...I am always in chronic pain, but for the most part it is very manageable...except for severe weather changes...then it is a huge pain.

And I have made it 5 years clear of cancer, so that is something worth writing about.

Andrew and I continue to go back forth between Sydney and Newcastle most weekends, which is a lot of fun.

We have done a few cool things over these months.

Our friends fostered a heavily pregnant hound in between Christmas and NY, and 12 puppies later they were in a whole lot of beauty...and work. So we went puppy visiting and it was divine!!!

We saw David Sedaris at Sydney Opera House

And spent a little time in Sydney.

Beatnix at Lizottes

I did my usual Oscar Watch, here are my predictions and other information.

We saw Weird Al Yankovic at The Enmore

Tim Rogers at Lizottes

We celebrated Andrew's Dad's 90th birthday. He is in pretty good shape, mentally and mostly physically for 90. It was a joyous celebration

There was the remarkable Newcastle Writer's Festival

AND RocKwiz at The Civic Theatre.

A couple of weeks off at Easter.

And The World is a Vampire Tour.

The usual reviews:

Jan/Feb here.

And Mar/Apr here.

Life is most definitely for the living!

And here are some pics...

THE WORLD IS A VAMPIRE

The World is a Vampire Tour had a great line up.

Amyl and the Sniffers, Jane's Addiction, and Smashing Pumpkins.

I have always wanted to see Amyl, LOVE Jane's Addiction and Andrew loves Smashing Pumpkins.

It was at Newcastle Entertainment Centre AKA The Shed, one of the worst venues you will ever find. But sometimes you just have to let go and attend.

And so we did.

There was another support band and a LOT of Wrestling, Billy Corgan has his own wrestling troupe. It started mid afternoon, but no one needs to sit at that venue for longer than they need to.

So we cruised in and arrived as Amyl started, perfect timing.

They are an Australian female led punk band, and I bloody loved them. They sounded great, she was amazing and had everyone entranced. I heard later it was not as good as they usually are - in smaller venues, so I really look forward to that opportunity in the future.

After that we suffered a little wrestling, it was a bit of fun.

Poor Andrew was not feeling the love for the venue, so he had to go for a little wander. I had warned him it was shit, we had pretty good seats to the right of the stage, angled in. But when I say good seats, I mean we could see the stage fairly well. These are unaccommodating plastic bucket seats on bleachers that wobble. And the seats are close, and the place was packed. Awful doesn't even begin to explain how it feels.

By the time Perry slid on stage with Jane's Addiction we were too caught up in the music to be too bothered by the seating. 

Jane's Addiction kicked arse! I hoped they would. I know Perry can be 'difficult' but he sounded great, looked happy and chatted occasionally in a lovely playful way. They played everything you wanted to hear and more, and just rocked the joint, what more can I say, but this fan was very happy.

Now I could have gone home there, but Smashing Pumpkins were still to come on. I knew a spattering of songs and whilst not the biggest fan thought I should enjoy the set. I was not prepared for how many songs I knew and how much I loved it. Billy Corgan, also known for being 'difficult' was also great. He sounded amazing, as did the band. Really uplifting too. They rocked and they played some great pop. They also delighted the audience with covers of Once in a Lifetime (total punk version, fantastic!) and a really pretty version of Under the Milky Way but in the style of SP.

We unfurled ourselves from the awful chairs, and wandered back to the car happy and full of joy and great music.

Live gigs are the best aren't they!!!???

THE CHURCH

Last night a group of us took a punt and went and saw The Church at The Civic Theatre.

I say took a punt as they have not played for a while and it would appear Steve is the only remaining member, there is a drummer he has had since the mid 90s, but none of the original line up. This sort of thing always leave me concerned.

And Steve can be cantankerous.

I saw them once back in the day and they were great and I have seen Steve solo a few times.

This concert was billed as The Hypnogogue World Tour. The Hypnogogue being a new album, I was curious.

After another amazing meal at Menya Makoto, we headed to the theatre. We immediately could see it had not sold out and there were a LOT of empty seats in front of us. The tickets were a bit exy for a Aussie band. 

We commented on the many empty seats and waited for them to start.

Out they came to thunderous applause and they played an unfamiliar but ok sounding song. But something felt wrong, they sounded flat and a little off. Halfway through the song you could see a roadie trying to get Steve's attention. I had initially thought the small audience and many gaps put them off, but it was a tech issue. So much so they had to go off stage for a small amount of time while it was fixed. Not a great start understandably

It was not a long break, of course the bogans in the audience had to go out and get more booze. I really will never understand the human race. The amount of people heading in and out to the bar was very distracting and rude and may have influenced the evening for the band.

They came back on after a few minutes and restarted the concert.

They sounded much better. But this first half lacked something, even with the tech fixed. I appreciate and enjoy the laid-back guitar focused pop/rock that is The Church, but I am no way a huge fan. I don't know every song, but I do know a lot. They played a mix of hits and popular songs mixed in with songs from the new album. 

This first half was mostly the atmospheric guitar songs, and that was fine, but as an older audience, it kinda made you (me) sleepy.

The main problem was the new album - it was actually quite good, but it was a concept album and high concept at that. It was obviously made to play as a whole, as concept albums are meant to. And this is how they should have started the concert. 

The concept was a dystopian future - highly original (I jest!) - about a thing called The Hypnogogue that can pull songs out of people's heads and a musician goes in search of it. This is a very very basic explanation, Steve had many many more highly detailed explanations. I am still unsure if he was being amusing or serious. The thing reeked of just out of high school, early University wankery. But the songs were quite good, despite the long winded explanations before each one. Having said that, it was lovely to hear Steve being affable and chatty, as opposed to his usual cantankerous self.

About 80 mins in they took an interval, which is odd for a rock concert. As my friend said, if Springsteen and The Stones can play for 3 hours + straight, surely they can do a tight 90-120 mins gig. 

A lot of people left during the interval, which is a shame as the second half was much better. Still nowhere near great, but better. They played a lot of the more uplifting and rockier/pop songs in this half. They sounded a little more together in this half. 

I've seen a lot of concerts and lucky to only have a handful of bad ones to report back about. And I am picky, when I pay big bucks for something I want value for money. This was not bad, it just wasn't great.

I think the venue was not suitable, something smaller, more intimate - Lizottes or even the good ole Cambridge (where I think I saw them way back when) would have been a better choice.

They most definitely should have played the concept album in full and in order for the first half, I would have enjoyed that rather than the disjointed mix of songs that were pulled together. It was like they had an amateur who had never written a set list or made a mixed tape pull it together.

They didn't need an interval, but if they played the concept album first, took a small break and then came back to play the hits in the second half, well, that would have been perfect.

Please don't think I hated this concert, I really didn't, I enjoyed it but it left me feeling a little cold to be honest. I cannot rave it was brilliant or the best thing I have seen because it simply was not. I have seen them before and they were better. Thing is this is a new and youngish band, you cannot replicate the original sound and for some very odd reason (especially for a band known for guitar music) they had 2 drummers that added nothing special to the music. One drummer is sufficient, but whatever. That was the least of their worries.

They played Under the Milky Way mid way through the second half. They probably should have saved that to go out on, but I get not making a big deal of their biggest song. It did sound great, better than anything else played, but then it is a great song, better than anything else he ever wrote. I loved seeing all the bogans in the audience finally awakening and getting up to dance - to that one song, and then sitting down again as he played a slower, less dancey song. 

My personal favourite, Almost with you, was also played in this half and it sounded good. The jangly guitars not quite as good as they used to be but close.

It finished just before 11 and we were done, but the audience wanted more (really!?!) and they came back on and played Reptile - which Andrew loves and sounded great and You Played, an ok song that they stretched out for way too long. They had worn out their welcome with me, I was done, we left before they finished the song - as many others did.

We all debriefed as we walked back to our car, we didn't hate it but didn't love it. Something was missing or off. We all agreed the venue just didn't work for them and the many empty seats in the audience was probably off putting. I explained my theory of playing the new album in it's entirely and everyone agreed.

Maybe we are getting too old and cynical, maybe you can never revisit old faves, I am certain - from observations - that many people enjoyed the evening far more than we did. Although that could have been the alcohol they consumed, lol. But we do see a lot of gigs and listen to a lot of music. They WERE good, just not as good as they could have been.