Those of you who may have read my previous blogs will probably be annoyed that once again I start an entry with an apology for taking so long to do it. “Yeah” I hear you say, “He’s such a lazy bugger,!” Well I’ll have you know that I’ve been really busy. Just the other day I checked the mail.
The band’s been doing lots since I last wrote. We’ve been all over Australia of course and met an array of wonderful people everywhere. The band is in very good spirits despite the well publicised legal matter, because we feel we’re playing better than ever and we all get on so well. Happy New Year by the way.
We did a gig in Shanghai for a bunch of ex-pats who live there. It was an eighty’s theme night so we were perfect for it because we’re all approaching our eighties. The city itself was a bit of a culture shock. A few of us took a long walk one day because Greedy wanted to go to a certain area that was famous for selling fabrics and tailor made suits. It was stifling hot that day. I saw a taxi driver screaming at a policeman because he got a fine of some kind. I saw an old lady cooking something in a wok over an open fire in the gutter. I saw an older gentleman having some kind of domestic argument while he was wearing a beautiful pair of pyjamas at noon. If that doesn’t sound interesting enough, Shanghai’s got a serious shortage of bars. The gig went really well and all had fun. The two suits Greedy had made for him were really crap and three of us were puking on the flight home from what we suspect was dodgy food at a a restaurant in the French concession in the city. Sound bad? Wouldn’t change it for the world.
Sometime in the hazy past of the last few months we played a couple of shows for the ABC’s anniversary. It was quite a treat for me because I got to meet Graham Bond and Rory O’Donoghue (Aunty Jack and Thin Arthur). Martin went for drinks with Kerry O’Brien and came off a little the worse for wear. Darwin is still the same, as insane as ever. A couple of years ago I was talking to a certain journalist who now lives there and he was asked his opinion about what the NT’s logo should be. You know the sort of thing. Victoria- state of gardens or, something NSW state of parking fines. His response was “Northern Territory……Liquorland!”.
Again and again I apologise for taking so long to do my homework with this blog but this apology is more sincere because it’s been about six months. Again I say Sorry.
Cheers,
Duck
