Donut -- Mission Wolffuxoring & Sheepmongrelling, April 2nd to April 20th, 2006

I plan to hop over to Sydney then either fly/train to Melbourne, then back. I'm probably going to do that first... perhaps just hours after I arrive in Auckland.

I mean um err..

moley have you ever met Trayce?

This better not involve pikes ;P

In any case, I might end up making the Australia leg the END of the entire trip for all I know. It depends on what types of events might be happening when/where, etc. It's too early to tell right now.. but obviously I want to finalize everything by February at the absolute latest.

Maybe I can convince Crudderz to come down, and we can finally record the Pisscutter followup album with Andrew!

Plane tickets can be cheaper than train tickets, too, if booked at the right time.

*dodges sharp objects from Canberra pridists*

Also, Perth is ace!

DING DING DING we have a winner.

I went to Adelaide once: it was closed.

These are true stories.

Donut, read Bill Bryson's Down Under before you come.

(Also, my family is from Geelong so STEP OFF DUDERS)

But the best place in Australia is Frankston!

It's fucking freezing </Miss Kittin>

http://www.iclebyte.com/images/coke.jpg

Hey. I should steal the key to my grandparents beach house so we can have an FAP in the beachside bushland. That'd ROOL.

http://www.virginblue.com.au

I flew SYD-MEL right after arriving in SYD from the US, and they gave me a boarding pass that looked like a store credit card receipt which really stumped my poor addled jet lagged brain. I remember standing at the checkin counter trying to process what the checkin guy was talking about, looking at the paper that I was holding, and getting super confused. I guess they must see a lot of highly jetlagged americans there, though, because he was very nice and got me straightened out in the end about what I was holding.

Hey!

Lyra, thank you.

Trayce, Ned tacos? TEH HEAVENS, BEEN THERE DONE THAT DARLING ;-)

I didn't know about the 10"!

I went to Adelaide once: it was closed.

Adelaide was closed because we heard YOU were coming. Adelaide is fucking awesome and not because I am studying Tourism here. My campus is almost on Hindley Street. I can go to a cafe and catch a strip show during my lunch break.

If you want a place to piss on, try Bendigo...

Anyway, I was very wrong about pissing on Bendigo. Not only is it the music capital of the world, it is also the home of...

http://img212.imageshack.us/img212/9939/sm15gz.jpg

http://img212.imageshack.us/img212/6162/sm58hr.jpg

When I'll be in Melbourne, don't know yet.

http://www.artnet.com/Magazine/features/maculan/maculan4-28-03.asp

only you won't be able to see them as you won't have time to come west.

http://www.arcticrhythms.com/img/tvl/nsw/bigMerino01_med.jpg

Virgin Blue (OMG SO CHEAP! THANK YOU LYRA! XXXXOOOOOO!)
Thursday, April 6th : Sydney (12:15pm) to Melbourne (1:45pm)
Monday, April 10th : Melbourne (11:15am) to Sydney (12:35pm)

I assume the aiport VBlue uses in Melbourne is the main one, not Avalon, right? I assume VBlue also uses Kingsford Smith for Sydney?
Virgin was very scant about info descrbing which airport within each city was being used.. (I allotted layover time just in case.)

Sadly, this means I will only spend the weekend in Melbourne, whereas I only arrive at the tail end of the previous weekend in Sydney.

But this covers the Australian part of the trip, as far as main connections go.. whatever I do in between, who knows!

I'd rather have my wallet raped for the taxi fare.

Holla if you want accommodation advice or crashspace in Sydders too.

I M Z BOGDAN HAWLERDAYMIKER, HAW HAW HAW EBESTAN HAW HAW HAW!

Uhhhh...

I guess I will have to start collecting email addresses from you folks soon... (knowing very well that things could change between now and April.. it's still a while away, I realize.)

Kit, Trayce, ESOJ, MullyG, Gem, OtherKate, Haitch, Moley, EdwardO, Estabanito! Please feel free to email me at d o n u t b i z i t c h at hotmail dot com if interested in meeting up, etc. I'm trying to get the New Zealand half ready next, but at least i can start working out whether I'll need a hotel/motel for certain nights here and there or not, and all that. (I personally would enjoy at least one night at a hotel/motel in each city just because I kinda enjoy the privacy on occasion when abroad, although it can be limited.)

I'll try to make it up by bringing mix-CDs, rekkids, and stuff and things... again, if interested.

I need to solidy travel plans in New Zealand, and will be looking into that shortly..

But to the Sydneyfuxxorz... Newcastle! Worst visiting/staying at or not? The waterfront photos look really nice, but are there better nearby cities I could stay in for a day or night instead?

Also, AFAIK you shouldn't need a visa to get into Aus (cant speak for NZ) if you're only going to be in the country a few weeks ffs! Visas are for extended stays (I think maybe 2-3 months or more) and working and suchlike.

I could be wrong though but here should give you the info you need:

http://www.immigration.gov.au/allforms/overview.htm

Tell Air NZ to suck a fuck if that $25 visa thing is a lie!

I'll absolutely tell them this in the most slight, polite way, without any good reason, just because... :)

But this is balanced out by over-annoying announcements at the airport - every single fucking time they're calling late people, they ask "can Jim Dickhead make himself known to Gate 32..."

Looks like the air might be slightly bumpy to your destination, but as usual *sips slowly from coctail* everything gon' be alright now. :)

OK, having done more mapgazing, i didn't realize Canberra was so close to Sydney. Is it viable for a single day trip? Is public transport good? The questacon, the iron sheep, and all the pr0n0graffiti and fireworks.. all sounds fun!

The pron is mostly out at Fyshwick, yes, really, Fyshwick.

The bus service in Canberra is excellent. They run on time, connect with most of the major touristy things and as long as you're not going out into the outer suburbs (i.e. Tuggeranong, ick), heaps of routes will take you to where you want to go so you don't have to wait.

But DO go to Questacon, it is fucking ace. Also, I suppose you should go look at parliament house. Ooh! And go to the National Art Gallery. Its the best gallery in the country, and it is 5 mins walk down the road from Questacon, in a gorgeous area thats all clipped lawns, lovely native bush gardens and the lake and carillion belltower nearby. Very peaceful. I used to work across the road at the Foreign Office department, and spend my lunchbreak in the gallery sculpture garden.

Also you could go up Black Mountain tower, but its not like there's much to see, just the city and lake and all that I guess.

War Memorial's worth a visit if war history is your thang at all. Most of the touristy nice things are in reachable distance by bus so you could fit a few in in the one day.

Do not be alarmed at the zombie-town deathly quietness of the place. Its just... *like that*. Dunno why.

The sculpture garden, NGA caberra (I love my photo).

I havent been down the great ocean road in years, sometimes I wish I knew how to drive. Except I'm terrified of it.

Anyway, yeah, I assume there's bus shuttle or rail service between Melbourne and Port Campbell/"12" Apostles?

Also, I got my NZ itinerary in.. it kinda breaks up Auckland into two halves but here goes...

* Monday, April 10th, Fly from Sydney to Auckland, arrive at night
* Tuesday, April 11th, take the Overlander train all day from Auckland to Wellington
* Friday, April 14th, fly to Dunedin, arrive in afternoon
* Monday, April 17th, take InterCity Coach along east coast from Dunedin to Christchurch
* Tuesday, April 18th, leave Christchurch in evening to Auckland
* Thursday, April 20th, late afternoon, leave Auckland to go back home.. arrive back in Seattle earlier in the afternoon that same "day"

I'm sad only because this leaves me fragmented time in Auckland (a night at first, then two days at the end), and one day in Christchurch... I do spend 2.5 days in Wellington, and 3-ish days in Dunedin... It would have been nice to take a day off to go through Mt. Cook and to the west coast from Christchurch and back.. but oh well.

Cape town should send you a few. They have several spare. You have to try really hard to see less than about 18.

I'm about to start booking for a place in central Sydney.. someplace near Oxford St., for all the record shopping of course. (Sadly, that's a factor as far as where I want to stay...)

Have no clue where's a good central place in Melbourne.

Have a look at East Melbourne/Richmond - they're less than five minutes by tram from the CBD - suitably pretty too.

I'll be checking out East Melbourne/Richmond now. (Thank you Mike)

Sydney: Park Lodge Hotel (on South Dowling, literally on west edge of Moore Park)... after taking an entire day searching and searching and searching for reasonable deals, I came to this conclusion:

GO GAY.

The gay-owned hotels in or around City Centre are far more friendly, better-rooms-for-your-buck, and are far more willing to give discounts than even the chain hotels further out of town, even though "THEY ARE ONLY 15 KILOMETRES AWAY FROM THE SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE". (grrrr, die die die) I <3 Sydney gay hotels.

Melbourne: the "GO GAY" thing may work here too, but not as much. I ended up choosing the St. Kilda Base Backpackers hostel (off Carlisle St.) because City Centre is close enough by tram/train, but wanted to stay somewhere slightly out-of-the-way and near a beach. Also the rooms have private bathrooms, which is rare for hostels in the area. The next cheapest places in City Centre *and* St. Kilda were slightly more expensive, for worse rooms and shared stuff.

THAT SAID, if anyone (I can trust ;) ) is visiting Melbourne between 4/6 and 4/10 and needs a bed to sleep in (that would be his/her own, I'll stress), I can split the cost, which would be really cheap. Privacy for a night or two would be nice for me, but I can share for a night or two as well, since the rooms here have two beds minimum.

..OK, now off to booking in New Zealand.

Not sure where the other folks in Melbourne live, but I choose St. Kilda because it was just slightly out of the way but close enough to City Centre to I could meet up there via tram/train without problems for any potential weekend FAPs.

(I'm apparently staying at the "gurlie" hostel, just because they have "female only" rooms... which is a contrast from where I'm staying in Sydney apparently, despite it claiming to be split between the sexes. But I could end up being wrong on this account.)

During busier times trams can be almost 20 minutes.

Don't kid yourself, SK is pretty far from the CBD (which is shit anyway). Inner-Norf's where all the cool stuff is.

Way more interesting shopping plus beaches and parks on the southside, all the northside has is coffee shops and record stores ;P

I called them 'bats' as well and then was told you call them flying foxes. Make up yer goddamn mind down there!

I havent SWAM in the sea in years but thats cos the bay beaches here suck arse and are filthy.

And as of today, I'm set up for all of NZ! HALLEFUCKINGLUJAH!

...ALL THE FUCKING WAY HOME

BY THE FUCKING VERLAINES

(Trayce, e-mail? I don't have yours for some reason)

Don't be surprised if I also include folks from other forums along the e-mail trail (like g y b o dot o r g )

Or should I just ask, via the forthcoming email, for phone numbers, and just use the ho(s)tel phone once I'm there?

You in Sydney next weekend? Should we do Friday drinks? Got any GYB0-fuelled clubbing plans?

o, what?

As for GYBO/mashup-related planning, well, if someone wants me to DJ somewhere, that would be cool and I'd do it for free, but at this point, I'm not going to impose or force anything. I have to run some errands now then I'll be back with teh emailz (including at least one GYBOer in the mix, so who knows about that.)

(I know there's email coming, but then Ned won't whimper bitterly.)

I'm not against multiple FAPs!

Seeing the band Dark Pudding in Wellington at an art/rock show there.

Auckland and Dunedin folks saying "YO!"

Browsing over oops outta time. *PSSSSSSSHUUUUU*

Now what?

Haitch, WHERE on Pitt? I have no idea what neighborhoods to check out. I'm in King's Cross right now and had the best veggie pakoras in my life.

that pitt stretch is now semi sad. still lwsons and a redeye but yeah its expensive.

its between, um, bathurst and wentworth...maybe?

FRIDAY IS MY BIRTHDAY SO DO IT THEN AND BUY ME SOME DRINKS GALANG GALANG GALANG GALANG.

friday would be good actually, whaddyas reckon??

I think the motion for the FAP tonight is the Evil, ur, Evening Star on Elizabeth & Cooper in Surry Hills. I'm fine with that! It starts early at 4:15pm to accomodate people who have to make it home.. but I can stay later for those who want to, or for those who can't come til later. I might leave around 8pmish or so, depending on what happens... google for the place and call perhaps if worst comes to worst? (I don't have a mobile phone with me that works unfortunately.. )

Sydney is a fucking great city so far. Strongest impression of a city I've gotten since I visited Seattle six years ago. And there's five more cities left on the trip!

I vote Pause for FAP seeing as its near Donut's backpackerplace, but hey, I'll go elsewhere if I must ;-) ;)

By the time it's over you might want to buy the two countries. (They're hard sellers, though.)

Maybe they interpret the American finger gesture as a sign of praise.

it seems people within the city prefer to drive within the city for work for reasons beyond me

North Shore types, what are you gonna do? There's still gotta be a massive majority of people happily strolling and public transporting about. Especially if the standing-room-only crowds on my train are any indication, amirite?

Any mongs got a contact # for Ed O so we can see if he's FAPping tonight?

Be interested to know Brian's comparison notes :D

I vote Pause for FAP seeing as its near Donut's backpackerplace, but hey, I'll go elsewhere if I must ;-) ;)

-- Trayce (spamspanke...), April 3rd, 2006 11:26 AM. (later)

Oh come on. I'm sure he'll be sick of wanky wine bars after Sydney.

Or Fitzroy
Or Collingwood
Or Brunswick

:(

I haven't really been in any wanky wine places at all. There's too many trashy shouty discount stores, excellent hole-in-a-wall indian and lebanese places, internet cafes, pubs, sex shops, and cheap pizza/kabob places to distract me. I plan to be distracted by more record stores tomorrow or Wednesday... thank you for the tips all (and Kit for the full on record store map on the coaster he drew on!)

But whatev's good for Friday. Even a wanky absinthe bar :D

Been there before tho?

I'm fine with poncey/non-poncey, or even non-St. Kilda places really.. although it seems people are ok with Pause or The Local.. which is certainly fine (and convenient) with me.

So I saw a koala solemnly shit in front of an adoring audience today. A highlight of my life!

(Honestly, Koala Park Sanctuary is really really cool and was well worth the trek out there.. I just was very amused at the koala-struck tourists excited to see a koala poop)

Moley, contact me anytime for help or guidance on your, ahem, business trip in Chatsworth in the SFV of L.A., by all means. >;-)

Man, we should go to the Gin Palace! Heh.

A CANDIDATE FOR TACOS.

A sign that bars make you P.

Venue: The Local (aka the St Kilda Local)
184 Carlisle St
East St Kilda (opp. St Kilda Town Hall, just up from St Kilda library)

http://www.thelocal.com.au/ (I am amazed they got that domain)

Easy to get to from the #3 or #67 tram from the city, hop off on the St Kilda road/Carlisle st corner and walk up (its on the left). Bar with big open front windows, you cant miss it.

I'll try and be there by or before 6pm, if anyone wants to rock up sooner to nab a nice comfy couch or 3, go for eeet.

Hope thats ok y'all!

The location of the Friday FAP is apparently The Local on Carlisle St. in St. Kilda... that may change though, but probably not. Anyway, all is well otherwise.. Sydney was absolutely great!

-- Do-ppler ray-Nut

Thanks Donut!! I certainly will.

needless to say, WHY DIDN'T ANYONE TELL ME THE DARKNESS WERE PLAYING IN MELBOURNE THE SAME NIGHTS I'M STAYING THERE? AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGHHHHH!!

I doubt I'll be getting a Darkness ticket though. :(

You guys need to come to Pause. That's where I'm having me birthday drinks.

I'm feeling extremely frazzled.

7pm is fine with me.

Mike, if you're going to be at Pause earlier than 7pm, I'll stop by there.

WHAT DO I LOOK LIKE?

I'm 5' 10", stocky balding dude with glasses, either wearing a black Easy Street Records hoodie or (if it's too warm) a green t-shirt with a red elk on it with a pentagram in the antlers (a Big Business T-shirt), black jeans... yeah, that's me. (And yup, it's the same t-shirt I wore at the sydney fap.. it's my FAP theme t-shirt I guess)

O U hottie.

The world will soon have pictorial evidence of how hard ratty rocks.

O U hottie

ned

no owl, no credibility

Please tell me you dudes are able to get off your arses and walk fifty metres to say hello, at the very least.

DJ RECORD FAIR
hosted by ALLEY TUNES (www.alleytunes.com)
SUNDAY 9 APRIL

DJ RECORD FAIR
hosted by ALLEY TUNES (www.alleytunes.com)
SUNDAY 9 APRIL

1,000s of tunes... do some serious crate digging
$3 entry, open from 12pm

DING DONG LOUNGE (market lane, city)

http://www.memorygongs.com/pram1.jpg

(for those playing at home that is indeed sir DonutBitch, sitting in a pram, with a beer)

More pics!

Haitch is lying in the gutter, and the baby it got up and walked away (or something)
http://www.memorygongs.com/pram2.jpg
Haitch, Jim, Brian, moi
http://www.memorygongs.com/fap1.jpg
Jim et Brian
http://www.memorygongs.com/jimdonut.jpg
Tim's looking very Tim Buckley in this pic! Or is it Jeff?
ihttp://www.memorygongs.com/timhaitchjim.jpg

I am sad I didnt get Nick in any shots, nor did we end up getting to hang with Mikey properly. Goddamn I have never seen Pause that crammed. I think it's become too popular with the normals.

So very beautiful. I am envious! :-D

We went to Wild Oscar's in Richmond shortly after you guys bailed.

Pretty low-key evening in the end, but what can you do?

One of the Pause barwenches said it was FOUR birthday parties actually. What are the fucking chances?

Thanks again to all. Thank you very much, Haitch and Tim, for the record store recommendations.. I'll have to hit up that record fair on Sunday, definitely.

Hope you've been living large here in M-Town!

Can't wait to see the pic.

bye for now :)

Doing the Cable Car and Karori Wildlife Sanctuary trips tomorrow.

Off to Dunedin on Friday for Easter Weekend.

The trip down from Auckland to Wellington on the train was... something

*repeat rolling green hills, water falls, viaducts, rainbows, and sheep running away from passing train for 10 hours*

:-D Isn't that place marvellous? I'm so pleased you made it out there! And jealous you get to be movie viewing with Di! Give everyone my best.

Auckland on Tuesday.

Back home in Seattle on Thursday.

Now in Christchurch... Man, Easter really paralyzes the country in a way I never expected. (If I didn't have to purchase bandages for my foot from a chemist, I wouldn't care, but they've all been closed all weekend... grrrr.)

ok I have to leave ILX and either go back to my room or leave this hallway... STOOPIT AMERIKUNS RUINING NEW ZEALAND TRIP FOR AMERIKUN!

ahh lyttelton. so purty.

DONUT VS. DROOPY USA! ONE MORNING ONLY! IN A B&B IN CHRISTCHURCH NEAR YOU!

I come down for the hour of free breakfast between 8 and 9am, table service and everything. Very American couple is sitting around the table from me. Very American Husband, who I will call Droopy from here on out, notices my often-worn Easy Street Records Seattle hoodie. (I overhear their previous conversation enough, words like "Scottsdale" and "Mesa" to induce they live in Phoenix, AZ btw.. I could be wrong though, not that this matters anyway.)

Droopy notices my hoodie. He bellows out, "So I see you live in Stalinist Seattle! HAW HAW HAW HAW HAW!"

I was just dumbfounded with this guy's idiocy. I think the rest of the room was too. Maybe it was the decent french roast coffee I was spoiling myself to (as I've vowed to never drink coffee except on special occasions. This B&B, the Croydon House, is posh but deserves props for living up to its coziness. Highly recommended, especially after 10 days in hostels.), but I retorted in a fake Russian accent back in a somewhat loud manner "HAHA YES I CAN NOT WAIT TO FLY BACK ON STALINIST BOEING AIRPLANE TO GO BACK TO WORK FOR STALINIST MIKROSOFT, WHERE I CAN GO AND GET MY COFFEE FROM THE STALINIST STARBUKKS, ACQUIRE MY CASH FROM STALINIST WASHINGTON MUTUAL, AND ALSO ACQUIRE STALINIST MUSIK ONLINE FROM STALINIST AMAZON DOT KOM! HAW HAW HAW HAW HAW HAW HAW!"

Droopy pauses and slams his coffee on his table, with his wife IMMEDIATELY trying to calm him down. Thankfully, this all ended right at 8:30am, where the cuckoo clock in the room made a noise that made everyone's heads turn, just enough of a distraction for Droopy's wife to just tell him to give up and pat him on his back a bit more.

A french couple across from me are giggling after all of this. Very American couple leave for upstairs. A family, who I overhear are from Utah take their table. Family wonders why everyone is giggling, especially the father. Waitresses gives me a good natured ribbing about being from "STALINIST SEATTLE" and laughs. "Stalinist Seattle???" says the father of the Utah family. "That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard." and laughs.

I go up to my room, and Droopy is using the computer terminal as I pass. Droopy apologizes to me. I don't exactly apologize but make sure "it's all good dude; no biggie :D" and I explain I was in a silly mood, and was a bit tired this morning..(the latter of which is a polite lie as I got a GREAT night's sleep, actually, and felt very awake and great. Foot's feeling MUCH better now, in fact.)

...

Now I'm at the Lyttelton library. Di, you deserved a gold mine for telling me to go here. I dropped a piece of headphone equipment inside the port area, and I embarrassingly asked the gatekeeper if I could get permission to retrieve it, and a guy DROVE me to the corner of the huge slagheap to get it, and DROVE ME BACK INTO TOWN! That is fucking super nice and cool, and I'll be spreading the goodness of Lyttelton to all forever and ever for this.

Furthermore, I had a rather cornerstone moment on my trip just a few minutes ago. I had a brief but emotional state-of-the-world-today conversation with an amazing ex-German (moved to Chch from Berlin in 1981) who runs a bar here called Wunderbar, where i was taking photos, and he cordially invited me inside well before opening hours. The place is just fucking amazing. It's an all-in-one club. Rock n' roll, show tunes, burlesque.. it hosts all. Literally an oasis in an oasis in greater Christchurch. You won't believe it until you see the pictures... it's apparently where huge bands play unannounced low-key shows as a way to relax and enjoy NZ when they're down here.

Anyway, Lyttelton is a highlight of this entire trip to me.. I'm eternally thankful for Di for stressing visiting here.

Before i see the application of the Timeball, I'll head back into town, hope to hit up Galaxy Records on High, the veggie restaurant on south Colombo St. that I saw (which I hope is open) and then grab my things at the Croydon and head over to Chch airport and off to Auckland tonight.

Can't wait to see Andrew, Elisabeth, and Steven (and hopefully others who I forgot, sorry.) and hit up K road, Queen st. and all the record store action along the way... will call you guys at the airport later this evening.

Lyttleton, eh...sounds like I must visit. :-)

oh great, you're going to galaxy records! i recommend penny lanes on the sydenham side of colombo street too, its full of great bargains. i'm so glad you got to see inside the wunderbar. its my favourite venue, ever.

JUAN VALDEZ IZ TEH CRYIN'!

Andrew, E., Steven... will email you or hopefully see in later in the day or evening!

I summitted Rangitoto! Not a huge feat, but wow, what a panoramic view of the Auckland bays and islands! On the ferry ride back, the sun went behind one of the big clouds over us, while shining on the rest of the city, the temperature went down to something very comfortable and cool, and the wind dried up all the sweat I accumulated exploring the island/volcano. I got goosebumps. I can't believe this is my last day on the trip. I am going to be so fucking depressed when I come back, and this is excluding any U.S. customs bullshit... which is why uploading the pics, and posting the links and stories here, there, and on 43 places will help distract me from my post-vacation depression.

Speaking of NZ and Australian customs.. contrary to others' stories, I had a very easy trivial time going through Australian customs. I paid for my ETA online and had my passport, hotel, and shit together.. I just got asked if my destination address was a hotel or a house, and I said the former, which it was, and they let me go. A total of 90 seconds.

NZ customs, on the other hand, gave me no less than three free-wandering customs officers wanting to random search my bags and ask me all sorts of questions about why I'm visiting, what I do for a living, where I'm staying, if I know anyone here, etc. They all let me go eventually, but the way they came from behind and from the side was really kinda unnerving... at least you can see the cop, I mean U.S. customs person ahead of you when arriving in the U.S. I've always heard vice versa from Oz/NZ customs experiences. Just so you know, always be prepared for being rustled in any country no matter which country it is. Also, don't expect to necessarily be rustled in countries you fear being rustled in, either.

We DID see a bit of the Australian Music Awards coverage. We tuned in right as The Darkness won some award. I presume they came down to play shows here in time to attend the ceremonies, since Australia seems to be their biggest audience. So they win, and the band all jump up like complete divas.. crying on each other shoulders... Justin was the biggest diva of them all, like 10 times Susan Lucci finally winning her All My Children emmy, or something. He even almost falsetto'ed during the acceptance speech, sounding overwhelmed in happiness in emotion.

What followed was the art of music looking down a barrel of a gun.

Some shitty shitty shit white pub soul rock performance... makes Hothouse Flowers sound like Joy Division.. makes The Commitments sound like The Gossip... most insipidly boring flaccid white music ever performed. The prissy lead singer aggravated it.

The singer?

Russell Crowe.

anyway, hope you manage to extricate yrself from real groovy & visit me at the bookstore - I'll head in that direction after work if I don't see you. k-looking forward to seeing you!

Don't forget the $25 leaving the country tax!

OK, Great FAP at Pizza & Kiwi Music on Q. AND AND AND the upshot of all of this.

DJ Lance Lockarm is guest DJ on "Let's Get Incredible" with Dancing Stevie from 11am to 1pm in Auckland and Wellington on FLEET FM.

http://www.fleetfm.co.nz

That's 4-6pm Wednesday for U.S West Coast, 7-9pm Wednesday for U.S. East Coast, etc. A bit too early in the morning/late at night for Europe unfortunately.

Many thanks to Dancing Steve of course. It will be very ad hoc.. some mash-ups, some other stuff..

Hahah very nicely put

I just flew back from Australia and New Zealand and boy are my balls tired!

(I have no idea what I'm typing... I've been in transit for about 16 hours now literally...)

Nice to be back in Seattle! Everyone was actually friendly and strangers were wanting to tell me their life stories on the buses and tell me about their screwed up friends and stuff!

I brought back kiwifruit shortbread cookies.

And looking around, everything's now so green yes I feel everything. I'm so green, I'm so green. Yes I feel everything you said. Yes I feel it's been said.

And grey too. Green and grey.. just like every good Black Sabbath song between Vol 4 and Sabotage.

I need to consume much pizza and bananas now.

(HOLY SHIT, I REALLY DO OWN ALL THOSE TALL DWARFS RECORDS NOW! AND THAT FIRST CELIBATE RIFLES ALBUM! IT'S ALL HITTING ME NOW! IN MY HOUSE!)

Hahahah shuddup moley ;P

Gregoire touts Washington in trip to Australia
'It is a completely untapped market'

By DAVID AMMONS
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

OLYMPIA -- Gov. Christine Gregoire has her sales pad out as she zips through Australia and New Zealand this week.

The governor, in a conference call to home-state reporters Tuesday, Australian time, said the overtures to the friendly trading partner nations can be lucrative for both sides.

"It is a completely untapped market for us," Gregoire said.

...

*AHEM* What does she think I was doing for three weeks in April...? GET ONE NEW IDEA MISS GUV!

In the meantime, i'm still polishing off the Oz/NZ tour diary.. expect a melee of pic threads on Sydney, Melbourne, Auckland, Wellington, Dunedin, and Christchurch, and stuff in between in the coming week or so...!