Zoltan Kodaly - Evening Song / Esti Dal

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=86Dtkwe7nK8


I'm trying to figure out how I can post youtube links. Need help.

I did a post back in Feb called Blissed Out.

Last night a new, very welcome, friend sent me a link which took me back to a previous life when music was all about the classical variety. (I spent years studying classical in high school and almost took a degree in it). I was never quite good enough so I went off in another direction. I was always a huge fan of early 20th Century stuff and Choral music from Eastern Europe.

This man Kodaly wrote some incredible stuff based on old folk songs and I used to love singing it. I was in a Choir for over a decade.

Anyway, I digress. I went off searching youtube for clips of this guy's work and found my favourite piece, Evening Song (Esti Dal in Hungarian).

This belongs on my Blissed Out list. It's musical perfection. For most of the piece everyone but the sopranos just hum. But they hum these gorgeous chord progressions. I would love to hear this performed live by a really decent choir in a church with great acoustics. One day I hope.....

Global Gathering

Finally got to see Sasha after all these years. Was very impressed but not blown away. Maybe I built the expectation up too much. I DID enjoy the set. I don't think a lot of the crowd did. I think it would have been better in an enclosed space rather than in the middle of the day under the blazing sun.

Above and Beyond were superb. Uplifting trance. Shame it was on a Sunday in the middle of my project Go Live. Ho Hum.

Excellent company (and highly excitable as always - Gaffney peeing his pants and dragging me to the front to get a better look).

Frantic Boat Party

Dance parties. Meh! I'll go to Mardi Gras as you get a few good DJ's and that night is all about the people you're with anyway. I prefer a festival or an older crowd day out like this now and again. This is my second boat party and it just gets better. After years of Colin trying to get me to come along I always thought I couldn't handle 6 hours of hard techno. But it's not all about that. The bottom deck is a little too hard for me but I dipped my toe in now and again. The middle deck is where I found bliss though. Funky house just edging towards hard slightly away from happy house. I'm crap at classifying. Some of the best music I've heard in a long time though. The best dance party crowd ever. Average age must have been mid 30's. Lots of old school clubbers. The non messy kind.

Frantic is a club night originally from London, There were a fair few ex pats. I just love this day out. It's like a reunion. Took Hamo on his maiden voyage. He loved it and he's an R&B die hard. $40 for a 6 hr cruise around Sydney harbour with great DJ's who do it for the love and brilliant, lovely, friendly people. An excellent day out.

Bloody Oath Mate

Friday 7th November, Sydney, Australia

This is the day I became an Australian Citizen.
Yeah. I know I've gone to town with the old pics but this was a top night and I wanted to catch the moments on here. I had an awesome day. 6.5 years I've lived here now, bar a 6 month sabbatical in London back in '05. It's been, and still is, a blast. Apart from the odd month here and there where I go live with my projects and go a little bit greyer, I still feel like I'm on holiday. I still run across the harbour bridge the odd Thursday night with the Kirribilli runners and have to remind myself that I live in this gorgeous city. I feel like a very lucky person to have the gang of friends around me that I do, thousands of miles away from my home land. I felt really honoured to get this. It now means I can stay here forever, no matter what I do. Sneakily, it also offers me an easier way of getting hold of one of those elusive US working visas. (On the to do before 40 list which I will publish one day)

So back to the day and night in question. Really nice, warm, welcoming ceremony presided by Clover Moore in Sydney Town Hall with my nearest and dearest in attendance. Champagne at the Slip Inn. Back to the house. Set up DJ equipment, arrange furniture. Welcome guests. PARTYYYYYY! 2 awesome DJ's. Mister Gaffney and Mister Tevita. Awesome job. Danced and talked shite til daylight. Couldn't have wished it any better.

Scooby dooby doooo

You must know that I'm a lady. I press flowers and stroke kittens and swim in rivers wearing dresses and hats.

Happy Halloween and Happy 30th Nathan

The first and last time I dress up as a lady. Velma to be precise. (Mark as Daphne, Joe as Fred, Dylan as Shaggy, Charlie as Scooby).

The Bangles

Who knew going to watch a girl group from the 80's could be so much FUN?

Manic Monday / Eternal Flame / Walk like an Egyptian / If she knew what she wants / Hazy Shade of Winter

And quite a few more I remembered. These ladies are serious musicians. Ain't nothing manufactured about them. They shared the vocal duties pretty equally, they all had brilliant voices.

Funny and surreal moment. The ENTIRE venue (including myself) knowing every single word to Eternal Flame and singing their hearts out. I think the group were genuinely surprised at this and seemed to be having the time of their lives judging by their sweet smiles.

Susanna Hoffs is also seriously hot for a 48 year old.

For once I was very grateful of Fraser's fixation with the 80's and asking me along. Top Sunday night viewing.

Goldfrapp - Sydney Opera House

I can't praise Alison Goldfrapp enough. She is just a mindblowing talent.

A faultless voice, seems like a relatively shy performer but belts out a tune.

They and Massive Attack would be considered my favourite groups. This was my second time of seeing them. First caught them in Brighton a couple of years back touring the Supernature album. (Some consider their best, definitely the worst for me).

They were in Australia touring with the Parklife festival. I was gutted when this was announced. Even though I like my festivals a couple of times a year I've started to feel a bit like an old man. So I wasn't looking forward to spending the day with thousands of flouro clad teenagers off their chops. So I was very happy when they finally announced that they were playing the iconic venue that is the Sydney Opera House.

They started pretty quietly and I melted when they played Clowns. Then they gradually pumped it up and moved to the heavier stuff. Strict Machine went OFF.

Accompanied by a sizeable string orchestra, the sound was brilliant. A very happy night with some excellent company...Clare, Hazel, Joe, Lucy and Fraser.

Munich 26th Aug - 29th Aug

Another new experience. Been to Germany on a couple of trips. Used to work in Hamburg a few days each month when I worked for ICI. But never experienced Bavaria before. Was very pleasantly surprised. Andi and Ekrem were very hospitable and really looked after me. Need to go back and experience the BMW museum at some point. Ran out of time. Spent my birthday afternoon in a beer garden. Perfect.

Madge

Saturday 23rd August - Cardiff, Wales

I was a bit cynical leading up to the concert. Mark talked me into going a few months earlier when the trip was still in planning stages. I thought 'what the hell'. She's 50 now. Probably not that many more chances to go and see her. I was pretty blase about it until I met up with Nico and Mark at the pub outside Cardiff Station. Then I have to admit I did get totally swept up in the excitement. I knew the concert wouldn't be as good as the Confessions tour but I was very thoroughly entertained. And we were pretty close to her. 'Like a Prayer' was knock-me-over good. Wait til you see the DVD and it will become clear why. Night out on the piss in rainy Cardiff afterwards was very entertaining.

A week in Wales 14th Aug - 23rd Aug

All about time with the family. Quality time with the old man. Catching up with nieces and nephews. Visiting mum in the care home and taking her out for drives in the car. She can't talk any more but she can smile. Heartbreaking and joyful at the same time.

Spent hours sat in front of the TV with Dad glued to the good ol BBC Olympics coverage. Nowhere else in the world where I'd rather be.
GB's best games ever. Many a tear in my eye with some outstanding performances. (Soft cock I know). The Athletics and Cycling were jaw dropping. Usain Bolt. Chris Hoy. Absolute legends.

My first full day back in Wales was spent on the Llangollen canal with Dad, sister, brother in law, niece and nephew. One of the happiest days of my life. Really. Thanks Jo x x x

Barcelona / Ibiza / Sitges 11th Aug - 19th Aug

Will never grow tired of Barcelona, or indeed of Spain. I fell in love with this city way back in 1992 when I attended the Olympics with Gaz, Gail, Jess and Tim. We were all pretty poor at the time, (I was a full time student) but we were all fanatical athletics fans. Have very happy memories of that holiday and I've lost count now on the number of times I've been back. I think this is my 7th visit here so I feel very comfortable there and know my way round pretty well.

The main point of this trip was for it to be the party / chill time away from the UK, just me and Mark. I've always said I wanted to go to Ibiza before I hit 40 and this we the perfect opportunity. Not sure why I wanted to do it. It's just been on my list of things to tick off.

So we did a couple of nights in Barcelona. Stayed away from crazy night life. This was all about the atmosphere and nice dinners in special surroundings. I've done the tourist sites to death. This, for me, is a city just to stroll around and discover interesting side streets.

Ibiza was very cool. I was expecting thousands of English lager louts but not a lot of them around. They all seem to gather in San Antonio. We were in Ibiza Town which felt very classy. Lots of beautiful people, brilliant but incredibly expensive clubs. Got to see Basement Jaxx and Paul Oakenfold DJ. Not bad. Lots of plonking by the pool and beers galore.

Sitges was less me. A nice enough Mediterranean seaside town though and more relaxation.

London 1st Aug - 4th Aug

And then again on the 12th to 14th

24th to 26th

30th to 31st

I miss London. It's busy, expensive, crowded, shit weather. But it's also exciting and vibrant and cool and I have a lot of friends there who I wish I could spend more time with. All my memories of living in London are happy ones pretty much. Whenever I go back I struggle to cope with the pace and the crowds for the first day or so then I'm right back into it.

For the first time me and Mark were in London together. It's very cool to have your best mate from Australia on holiday in London ( a place where we have both lived before but never together). And we ran amuck. Neither of us wanted to crash at friend's places, we craved comfort. So we booked a place on Shaftsbury Avenue. Separate nights out with our respective pals then hooked up for a night at Fire in Vauxhall.

I rarely go clubbing now. I'm always disappointed with the music in Sydney. I prefer bars with friends. London, however, never fails to disappoint with the night life. Perfect music. A nice friendly social crowd. Had an awesome night.

Lots of dinners / coffees / beers with old friends. Shopping for jeans (30 inch length pants are a fucker to get hold of in Oz). Couple of museums and galleries. Walks along the Thames. Movies. Pret a Manger. Strolls around Hyde Park. Getting pleasantly lost in Kensington in the middle of a rain storm. Happy times.

Istanbul 29th Jul - 1st Aug

A new favourite city.

I didn't plan this trip very well. It was going to be a 3 month round the world odyssey but work project timelines got moved around and it got condensed into 5 and a half weeks instead. Consequently South America got scrapped for another year and I decided to concentrate on Europe and being at home with Dad for the Olympics.

So I decided on Spain and Germany a while back but I had a few days at the beginning to go somewhere new. Decided on Turkey at the very last minute and very pleased I did. Istanbul is such a fascinating place. It really does feel like East meets West. There is so much interesting history, the mosques are very impressive. The people were incredibly friendly and I made a few new friends. Had my first experience of a Turkish bath called a Hammam. An amazing experience. I felt like I was walking on air when I was finished in there. Comes highly recommended. Next time I'm in Europe for an extended time I am definitely coming back here again.

Hong Kong 26 Jul - 28th Jul

Start of the big trip. Paid a little extra to fly Cathay coz I like them.

I like Hong Kong. This is my 4th time of passing through. I think I might like to live here for a stint. It would never be the kind of place where I would stay long term, but I like the fast pace and would enjoy it for about 6 months. Then I reckon I would grow a bit weary.

It's always good to catch up with Ockie who always takes me to a new bar each visit. I always end up absolutely legless with him.  And weirdly I always seem to bump into someone from my past. This time I was stood in a bar when tapped on the shoulder and my old pal Steve from Chester was there. He now lives there. Wish I could remember out conversation. Incredibly I managed to find my way back to Ockie's apartment on my own. God knows how.

Sunday was spent up the peak with a chronic hangover. Didn't do much else really. Was all about the catching up which was really nice.

Stereophonics

Coz I'm Welsh and it would be rude not to really.

Lost touch completely with what these guys have been up to. Was big into them back in the early days. So trotted along out of a sense of duty more than being overly excited.

Christ, was I wrong. It only turned out to be greatest hits night. It was all of their old stuff. Superb. Kelly Jones is a ROCK STAR.

A couple of complete tits in the audience wound me up a little. Good time was still had.

Air - Sydney Opera House

Not exactly a disappointment, but I kinda expected more of this.

The venue was perfect for them I reckon. 

I do love their stuff usually but I think some of their better work is when they use guest vocalists. And none of those songs were used in this concert. They chose to do all instrumental and their own vocals.

They were all brilliant musicians. I'm not sure who their drummer was but he was a stand out. The highlight would have to be a verrrrrry long version of La Femme d'Argent, the opening track from their Moon Safari album.

They also looked tres cool in their all white gettup.

Roisin Murphy

She was fantastic. Played at the Metro theatre. Still a brilliant venue to see anyone. 

Superb voice, incredibly sexy stage presence. Played most of her brilliant latest album.

Highlight by far was her one and only Moloko track of the night. My favourite by far...Forever More. Done in a very cool remix way.

Blissed Out

I wish I knew how to post music files or youtube videos. This post would mean so much more if I could give you samples of what I'm talking about.

So I'm going to continue the music theme. I've made a new discovery today and it's had me thinking.

Firstly, I have a confession to make. I've just downloaded something I shouldn't have. It's the new Goldfrapp Album, Seventh Tree. I've been looking forward to it since I heard some samples on their myspace site and then again on a Radio 2 show with Mark Radcliffe. (I love the way all of their albums so far have gone in pretty different directions yet still maintain the same high standard).

I just stumbled across it on mininova and thought I would take a sneaky peak.

(In my defence I fully intend on buying the real thing once it gets officially released).

Anyway, I'm straying from the point.

The point is that there is a track on this album called 'Clowns'.

In my humble opinion, this is as close to perfection as you can get. I have to say I'm a sucker for a great string arrangement, and this song has an incredible one. Plus acoustic guitars and a blissful melody sung by Alison Goldfrapp. It's just pure lushness. And the best fade out ever.

So I have a few songs like this. Ones that just put you in awe of them.

I don't necessarily listen to them the most, or even class them as the best songs by that artist.  I just know that they will make me feel good. And I would class them as musically perfect. But that's just me...

'Clowns' by Goldfrapp

'And Dream of Sheep'  by Kate Bush

'Unison' by Bjork (Of course)

'Crazy English Summer' by Faithless

If anyone is reading this and you have some similar ideas I'd love to hear them.

Suzanne Vega

Suzanne Vega at the Lyric Theatre in Star City. 

Not a bad venue at all. Pretty intimate and comfortable. It was nice to be a concert and just sit down and soak it all in.

Can't remember how I discovered Suzanne Vega. I do remember I was still in school. Around 'A' Level time. It started with Marlene on the Wall. Bought the first album (in cassette, he he) and played it to death. That track, and Small Blue Thing and of course 'The Queen and the Soldier'. Amazingly simple yet tuneful and probably the first album where I really started to get interested in the lyrics.

The second album was excellent too and my interest dwindled a little at album 3. Lost touch until her latest came out which is called 'Crime and Punishment'. Was a pretty good album with one amazing stand out track called 'A Pornographer's Dream'. Loved it and re-sparked my interest in her.

So, to the concert. A simple affair. Band of 4. Great musicians. Suzanne was very engaging with the audience and very witty. I expected her to be a lot more shy for some reason.

Since I only know 3 of her 6 or 7 albums that well I was pleasantly surprised to know about 80% of the set list. Well worth it. 

Big Day Out Melbourne

My first BDO in Melbourne and highly likely to be my last. Same line up as Sydney (see below) but this time including Bjork.
Her set list was similar but with 3 different tracks. One of which was "All is Full of Love", one of my favourites.
The crowd were more excitable which definitely rubbed off on her. She was a lot more chatty and the whole band seemed to be more into it.
So the concert had a whole different feel to it. And they cranked up the bass to an orgasmic level. Just how some her stuff should be played. Loved it.
Flemington racecourse is a terrible venue though. Too dusty and hot, no shade. The bar area was essentially a cage and boiler room was in a tent. Crap! We have it good in Sydney.

Set list for Melbourne:
01. Intro - Brennið Þið Vitar
02. Earth Intruders
03. Hunter
04. Pagan Poetry
05. Unravel
06. All Is Full Of Love
07. The Pleasure Is All Mine
08. Anchor Song
09. Army Of Me
10. Five Years
11. Bachelorette
12. I Miss You
13. Cover Me
14. Wanderlust
15. Hyperballad
16. Pluto
17. Declare Independence

I should probably give you some background as to why I went to Melbourne. Well part of it is a long story about having the flu and missing out on tickets to Sydney.
But that all got resolved. The other part relates to Bec and Craig ducking out of their world tour for a month or so and just so happen to land in Melbourne in time for Big Day Out. Since the last five years have been spent with them on this momentous occassion I thought it would be a cool idea to continue the tradition. Plus I got to see B again. Hence it was worth every penny.

Big Day Out Sydney

This is now my 5th Big Day Out in a row. Introduced to it by Bec and Craig and a summer staple for me now.
5 years ago you could get tickets on the day. In the last couple of years the thing sells out in under an hour. Mental.
For my overseas readers BDO is a NZ / Australia tour over 3 weeks. The same or similar line up visits Auckland / Brisbane / Sydney / Melbourne / Adelaide and Perth.
The line up is made up of mainly rock acts but with a heavy dose of dance / electronic. The venue for Sydney is the Olympic Park which with it's multiple stadiums is the perfect set up for 5-6 acts going on simultaneously. This year's headliners were to be Rage Against the Machine, Bjork and Carl Cox.

Everyone that knows me in Oz will be well aware that Bjork pulled out the night before with swollen vocal chords. Had I not seen her on Wednesday I would have been sobbing at this news but I took it like a man on the chin with the knowledge that she would be better for Melbourne 3 days later.

In spite of her absence I had a cracking time. Loved Unkle and Arcade Fire. Very pleasently surprised by LCD Soundsystem who put on a cracking show. Tried to appreciate Rage. Although I thought they produced a good sound I decided the music wasn't for me. Rounded the night off with 90 minutes of Carl Cox who was superb. Year 4 had been a bit of a disappointment line up wise but this year restored my faith in the festival. Year 6 looks likely.

Easy on the eye

No, I didn't go see Jack Johnson. When I googled Bjork at the Opera House his image came up. He does, however, have a voice that melts. And he's not bad to look at either.

Bjork at the Opera House

Anyone that knows me well will be sick of hearing about this by now. The 23rd of Jan is of great significance in my life. It is the night Bjork performed at the Sydney Opera House.
This is the gig I got up at 5am to queue for tickets for just in case the internet decided to crash. I had a team of people getting up early to log on. My presence at the ticket office was insurance just in case they failed. In the end Danni came through and got my tickets. That was back in November and I've been counting down the days since.
Miss Guomonsdottir didn't disappoint. For me if I really like the music it's all about getting the best spot acoustically. Not so bothered about standing with my mates. (It's not like I would pay them much attention anyway when Bjork is in the house). She put on a brilliant show. Loved the brass section replacing her traditional string section. Added a new twist to everything. Loved how she moved between banging bass numbers to delicate molodies. Liked the fact that she didn't stick to the big selling tunes and played some of the more less known album tracks. Was blown away by the new version of "Who Is It". Loved it all. Was all over too fast. For my memory more than for anything else here is the track list:

01. Intro - Brennið Þið Vitar
02. Earth Intruders
03. Hunter
04. Unravel
05. Joga
06. Who Is It
07. The Pleasure Is All Mine
08. Pagan Poetry
09. Desired Constellation
10. Army Of Me
11. I Miss You
12. Bachelorette
13. Cover Me
14. Wanderlust
15. Hyperballad
16. Pluto

Encore
17. Oceania
18. Declare Independence

Tunng

I can be a creature of habit and I know what I like music wise. But every now and then, especially around the Sydney festival, I'll buy a random ticket to something I never heard of and see how I like it.
This year's toe dip in the ocean of unknown music was a British band called Tunng. I skimmed through the Sydney Festival website and checked out the odd band on www.last.fm
They sounded good. Folk meets Electronica. 2 genres I guess I'm fairly familiar with.
The gamble paid off. Saw them in the famous Spiegeltent. A venue worth the ticket in itself. Got there late but found a space propping up the bar....perfect. So Tunng now have a few hundred more fans. I loved em. Feel good, nice banter, 3 acoustic guitars on one stage sounds so good. Especially with some gentle electronic beats similar to the sounds Matmos make. I liked em so much I went out and bought the album.

Beach Boys

So we're at January 5th and it's the launch of the Sydney Festival.
Always a good time of year. Stuff in the Domain every Saturday night. A good excuse to try and listen to music in the open air with a few drinks and good company on a picnic blanket.
This year the launch had a lot of effort put into it. A good chunk of the CBD was closed off and there was stuff going on all over the place.
A dance party kind of thing in Martin Place. I dipped my toe in but wasn't in the mood for that kind of thing on this night.
I caught a little bit of Pint Martini in Hyde Park. I have one of their albums, "Hang on Little Tomato". Dare I say they sounded a little bit more pretentious live than they do on the recorded media. They seem more fun on the CD I have anyway.
The main attraction of the night I guess was Brian Wilson. He's getting on a little now the old chap but he had a good go and did most of the favourites from the Beach Boys back catalogue. Surrounded himself with a decent band and they made a good sound. A free and chilled way to spend a Saturday evening.

A musical slant

Since all I seem to be doing lately is going to gigs I've decided to turn this into a music blog.
I'm also writing retrospectively as life got a bit busy for a while. I might describe something other than music here and there. Will just see where the mood takes me.

So a review of who / what I saw in 2007. A pretty good year:

Crazy Penis
Dave Seaman
Muse (Big Day Out)
Jet (Big Day Out)
Eskimo Joe
Killers
Hedwig
Bjorn Again
Good Vibrations Festival
Carl Cox (Future Music Festival)
Ferry Corsten (Future Music Festival)
Groove Armada (V Festival)
2 Many DJ's (V Festival)
Pet Shop Boys (V Festival)
Tears for Fears
James Levelle

Hard-Fi
Daft Punk

Some thoughts:
Outstanding gig of the year: Crazy Penis

Worst sound quality: The Killers at Big Day Out

Overhyped by me by endlessly playing the brilliant live album over and over and over again before actually seeing the concert and going off the back of 8 nights out in a row but brilliant to see nevertheless but still disappointed with the sound: Daft Punk

Happy New Year!

Awesome! Simple as that. I was totally blown away by the fireworks last night. Sydney knows how to throw a show. This was the first time in 5 years that I've been around to witness this. Sydney people tend to be a bit blase about this spectacle. I guess they've grown up with it. But I've never seen anything like it. We watched the 9 o clock show from Gwen and Steve's roof terrace. This show was good enough. The 12 o clock show though was special There were about 30 of us at the party and we all strolled down to the harbour shore with bottles and plastic cups and cameras in hand. Everyone was pretty much plastered but all in good spirits.

I've woken up today with a bit of a hangover. No great surprise there. Despite the gorgeous day I am hiding in my room with the curtains closed. I may venture out later on.

Happy New Year to anyone that's reading.

The end of 2007

It's 4pm on New Years Eve. It's been great year. This past week has been particularly brilliant spending it with some good, good friends. The best you can get in fact. And I've just spent most of today with someone very nice indeed. Unfortunately it's not someone who resides in Sydney and is just passing through. Seems to be par for the course with me.

I'm going to think about my resolutions and post them here in the next few days. I consider myself lucky though. 2008 is going to be an excellent year. I'm either going to concentrate on my career and securing some pretty lucrative experience and then go travelling with that in my back pocket. Or else if I don't get the opportunity to get that experience I'm off travelling for a good few months. It's a win-win situation and I'm feeling very comfortable at the moment.

Tonight is going to be good. I've never done the Sydney NYE fireworks despite living here for almost 6 years. I always seem to be out of town. So I'm off to the Blake's place in Kirribilli to secure a top notch view.

Adion / Au reviour / Hwyl fawr Dafydd x

Freestyle

It's been a shocker of a last few months. Busy as hell. There's been tonnes of stuff going on but I don't seem to have had the time to update this. The jury is still out on whether I leave a mysterious blogging hole in my past or retrospectively add some posts. Will have a think about that one.

In the meantime, aside from a crappy Christmas Day the weather this week has been gorgeous. Yesterday (the 28th) I caught up with Geoff for lunch in Bondi and had a couple of ciders in Ravesi's (lots of stories from this place over the last week).

Then I headed over to the Olympic pool in North Sydney. I've always been a decent enough swimmer but never particularly strong and could never swim free style for much of a distance. So Gwen offered to give me some coaching as she used to be an instructor. After an hour my technique had improved no end. I think this could become part of my new exercise regime. The running doesn't work in getting rid of the belly. And it's got to go in 2008.

Sat morning now. I have an offer of a night in the Hunter Valley or a day at the beach. So here I am updating my blog and procrastinating. Come on lad, make a decision.

Delayed update

I've been ordered to update this thing since Bec and Craig, the world travellers are getting bored of looking at my speakers.
They are somewhere in Malaysia lying in hammocks or something at the minute. Sounds rubbish. Much happier here working my ass off trying to achieve impossible deadlines.

So a fair amount has been going on lately. I have been doing more than just listening to my sexy speakers. My life in summary over the last few weeks:

James Levelle was excellent. The Oxford Arts factory is a cracking venue for live music. Decent crowd.

Did the Bridge Run in 48 minutes, and not one to break tradition spent that afternoon down the pub.

Fraser got his citizenship. A very proud moment for the man. He hasn't had the guts to tell his mother yet though which is pretty funny.

I've discovered Spin classes. Painful but rewarding.

Spent a great weekend at Lake Macquarie. Excellent company, awesome house.

Went to watch the camel racing. Interesting.

Have finally found a Spanish tutor. Her name is Sonia, I'm expecting hard work ahead.

Karl has the job of a lifetime with Google and is currently in California at their head offices in training. He's very excited about the free steaks at lunch times.

Attended the Surry Hills festival.

Got out of the city for another weekend, this time at 7 mile beach, Gerroa. Nice.

Failed to secure a ticket to Big Day Out in Sydney. Still living in hope. Going to Big Day Out Melbourne with the world travellers and the evil, Bjork hating Kelly Gardner.

Foaming at the mouth in anticipation of Bjork at the Opera House tickets going on sale this Friday, 2nd November.

Disappointed with the 3rd series of Weeds. Loved the Bourne Supremecy, enjoyed Ratatouille but not a patch on the Incredibles.

Discovered a musician called Herbert thanks to Nathan. Saw Hard-Fi live for the 2nd time and completely blown away yet again.

And finally, over the moon that daylight saving is finally here.

Pics of some of the above to be displayed in subsequent post as will a review of the past weekend.

Thanks for reading.