Musically it's a bit of a challenge finding time to listen to new stuff when I've got three sets of Australian rock hits going round and round in my head in preparation for the New Year's Eve show. It'll most likely be the last hurrah for us playing many of the Midnight Oil songs and some others too. They are great but I think we all agree that there's a lot of other music to play. I'm hanging out to play tunes like "Forgotten Years", "Hercules" and "Sometimes" like there's no tomorrow.
Midnight Oil - Hercules (live) - http://youtu.be/hih--64WkK0
"Consequence of Sound" is a music (and film) review website that I have been coming back to for more than a year now. They have a wide range of reviews and it's a good place to pick up artists you haven't heard of before. They use a simple grading system and even if something gets a C minus I'll give it a go. Their reviews are usually pretty close to the mark.
There has been a flurry of activity in the media about school children needing to learn how to write computer code. I'm fairly sure I saw the US President getting some lessons too. I've taught a few students who have gone on to be programmers of one kind or another. I've also taught Computing to heaps of kids that chose other career paths. I learned BASIC programming from a book and some trial and error in the mid 80's. The structures and logic lessons that I picked up have served me well working in IT and in teaching. But recently I was able to decipher a range of computer code to fix a few things at work. It wasn't that exciting; just some HTML, CSS and PHP but if I was relying on a visual editor we would have been stuffed. We don't need every student writing a new version of Windows (not that they'd do a worse job than MS) but some decent exposure provided by people who know what they're doing is a pretty good idea.
The Godfathers - Birth, School, Work, Death - http://youtu.be/QO5dcW0P75M
In 1987 I went to the drive in with Scouts (we walked there) to see a movie. It was a hot night so we all sat outside and watched "Highlander". It's still in my top 5 films of all time. I loved it then and I still do. Last weekend I sat down with my 18 year old daughter (where did THAT time go) and introduced her to the film. I'm pretty sure she liked it, she certainly liked the soundtrack. That's good parenting 101…ensuring films of cultural significance are introduced to the next generation!
Queen – Gimme The Prize – http://youtu.be/VEJ8lpCQbyw
You might remember that when the band toured earlier in the year that we spent some time and played a show for the staff and students at "Crossing the Divide" out at Bundarra. Well this week CTD had its first graduation. I was quite moved when H sent me a photo of Matt Pye along with some of the graduates all dressed up for the occasion. I think about the people we met out there quite often...it really was an experience that changed the way I think for the better.
Johnny Nash - I Can See Clearly Now - http://youtu.be/FscIgtDJFXg
Glaswegian indie popsters Belle & Sebastian have been around for quite a while now. They've got a new album ready to launch in early 2015. This is the first single and I think it's a rather well crafted piece of pop. There's a really funky guitar bit in there that I keep coming back to.
Belle and Sebastian - The Party Line - http://youtu.be/3vS1Hf3CVGs
In 1994 the Army sent me to Melbourne to learn all about computers. It was a pretty good course taught by instructors with a genuine desire to teach us. DJ Al-ee-Sunshine and I hadn't been married very long when I went and 3 months was a long time. She did get to come and visit for a weekend though. I remember that I was rather unwell and that we went to see the movie that the next tune is from. Somewhere I've got the entire soundtrack on cassette. I remember that the artists covering all the songs weren't allowed to use any modern studio gizmos. It turned out pretty well!
Backbeat Soundtrack - Long Tall Sally - http://youtu.be/v454mAro43E
Surprise, surprise...Dave Grohl from the Foo Fighters is the drummer on the previous track. Is there anything this man hasn't appeared on??
And now for this week's competition. If you can work out why I've chosen the next tune, other than that I like it a LOT, you'll be doing well. The link is somewhere inside a song in this episode.
Soul Asylum - Somebody To Shove - http://youtu.be/OrrE5bCA5lg
Australian music buyers have never been shy of supporting a novelty tune. I see no reason to buck the trend either. Sometimes life is a bit serious and you need a good laugh. Here's one of the best ever!
Scatterbrain - Don't Call Me Dude - http://youtu.be/NbLhHtaVIO4
That'll do. The Walking Dead are beckoning...
Rob
Man up, you're ridiculous
Hell you can't take it with ya
So, give a little extra" - Ian Hunter & The Rant Band, "When I'm President", 2012
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