This week's episode is dedicated to the memory of Jeane. Jeane passed away on Friday morning at 7.45am at the grand age of 90.
This song is difficult. It sounds beautiful from the periphery but if you listen then you'll find it's tortured and tangled. Jeane was my good friend H's Mum. And whilst you most certainly should not read anything into their relationship from this song, what it reminds me of is the influence that parents have both good and bad.
Pink Floyd - Mother - http://youtu.be/UdvIUHw31js
On Friday I spent most of the day outside supervising a student mountain biking team. It was a lot of fun even if the wind was Wellington-esque. Something I saw out there made me stop and smile. It's a little moment for all you GenY and GenZ haters who've forgotten what it was like to be a kid. As the riders, and there were a few hundred, came through the timing point there was cones and fencing to slow them down. At one stage one of the officials was handing out freebies to everyone who rode through. I stood and watched maybe 40 kids ride through, collect some cool bike gear and without fail say thankyou and smile. Little things like that give me hope for the human race.
The Who - Kids Are Alright - http://youtu.be/P1owrU0ATco
August finished today which means that Spring begins tomorrow - hooray! It also means that DJ SamSpam has a birthday to celebrate. He's still got a couple to go before he hits the big four-oh. Here's one from his "Desert Island Disc"...
Cab Calloway - Minnie the Moocher - http://youtu.be/zZ5gCGJorKk
On Thursday Zoë installed a media player on her laptop. There's nothing exciting about that except that after she did, the laptop wouldn't function anymore. After a total of maybe 5 hours I managed to fix the thing without wiping the drive or introducing it to the windows environment by throwing it out of one. I guess all those years in tech support paid off.
Peter Gabriel - Sledgehammer - http://youtu.be/OJWJE0x7T4Q
After an awesome ride in the stillness of a cool Canberra morning with the WMGS Patron I looked back at my cycling for the month and the year so far. For August I managed to clock up 1194km to give me a total of 8902km so far this year. I think that's a reasonable effort. I'm planning to look into some racing soon because all those kilometres in my legs might mean that I can keep up with a few other old blokes. And anyway, it might just be fun.
John Lee Hooker - Father Was A Jockey - http://youtu.be/sDFk9O2GPI0
Sadly one of my favourite bands have decided to call it a day. King Cannons emailed through during the week that it was over. This is a real shame as they were an excellent live act and their EP and album were well worth listening to. It looks like we might see some of them in a different guise before too long so fingers crossed. DJ AB and I were lucky enough to see them play live three times.
King Cannons - Too Young - http://youtu.be/rget1LCS-r8
Recently I saw a book titled, "Why AC/DC Matters". I haven't read the book yet but the title caught my eye. Why does AC/DC or any band matter at all? After pondering this whilst cycling (my best thinking time), I've come up with a few thoughts. Firstly, not all bands do matter. You can be in a great band but, in my opinion, unless you are breaking new ground or have something important to say then you won't forge that connection with an audience that lasts. AC/DC took basic rock 'n' roll and turned it up. Angus Young says that they are like Chuck Berry only louder! But the rhythm, feel, image and lyrics have all combined to take them from a bar room band to world bestsellers. It's just the way that they do it. There are many, many soundalike bands (Rhinobucket is a solid example) who play just as well but are missing that critical spark.
AC/DC - Rock 'n' Roll Singer - http://youtu.be/M4pBw3KaT5k
A band such as Midnight Oil matters probably for similar reasons to Bruce Springsteen. They sing about real issues and have a distinctive sound which they may alter but not too much.
Bruce Springsteen - The River - http://youtu.be/dEOiV5eadQk
Midnight Oil - Truganini - http://youtu.be/LcxdbZ5chcc
Van Halen matters. Why? Well not only because Eddie is a virtuoso and a pioneer. But because they write rock music that appeals to a certain demographic. It's music for playing loud in the car when you really need to wash away your cares. It's escapism with volume, long hair and a harmony.
Van Halen - Summer Nights - http://youtu.be/xnS4jX9samo
Billy Bragg and Steve Earle matter to me. They write from the heart about real people. I might not always agree with their views but you know that they aren't just singing, "she loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah".
Billy Bragg - She's Got A New Spell - http://youtu.be/DwyPJ6pelZo
Steve Earle - Jerusalem (live in Sydney at The Factory) - http://youtu.be/xTO_XZuiblw
Which brings me to the Beatles. Yes, of course they matter. They are pioneers. And they weren't scared to try something new. Some bands make the same album for 20 years, the Beatles evolved and made it OK to be a bit different.
The Beatles - Revolution - http://youtu.be/tH9zG28GQEg
It's not fair for me to write about bands that "don't matter" because it's very much a personal thing. But I'm sure you all have albums on the shelf that you thought were OK when you got them but you'd never listen to. Good music, nothing special. I've got plenty of those!
Righto, that's enough. This episode was very late as a result of VLC player and Windows 7 not getting along.
DJ Rob
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