IT'S TIME FOR A FEDERAL ELECTION

BRING IT ON, I SAY. THIS GOVERNMENT IS BEING HAMSTRUNG ON TOO MANY FRONTS AND IS FAILING THE PEOPLE WHO VOTED FOR IT (THE MAJORITY OF VOTERS) BY NOT BEING ABLE TO DELIVER THE REFORMS THE COUNTRY NEEDS. THE OPPOSITION IS THE MOST NEGATIVE I CAN EVER RECALL. THE GREENS, TO ME ARE A BIG DISAPPOINTMENT, SURELY THE ART OF GOOD POLITICS IS THE ABILITY TO FIND SOME COMMON GROUND, BUT THEY WON'T BUDGE ON ANYTHING AND ARE NOW ALIENATING THEIR NEW FOUND SUPPORTERS AND RISK BECOMING IRRELEVANT. AS FOR THE NO POKIES SENATOR AND THAT IDIOT FIELDING, THEY SHOULD GO BACK TO WHERE THEY CAME FROM. SENATOR FIELDING IN PARTICULAR, IS A COMPLETE JOKE, WAY OUT OF HIS DEPTH AND REPRESENTATIVE OF VIRTUALLY NO ONE. THIS WEEKEND, HE PONDERS THE FUTURE OF THE BROADBAND NETWORK. THE COUNTRY CANNOT AFFORD TO RISK IT'S FUTURE GROWTH IN THE HANDS OF A DRONGO SUCH AS THIS.

FAREWELL ROD JEFFREY

ROD "BEACHHEAD" JEFFREY DIED YESTERDAY AFTER A LONG BATTLE WITH PROSTATE CANCER. A GREAT BLUES/JAZZ SINGER, BEACHIE WAS ONE OF LIFE'S GENUINE CHARACTERS AND WILL BE MISSED BY MANY.

DECEMBER, NOT MUCH TO SAY, REALLY.

I HAVEN'T POSTED MUCH LATELY, GOT A BIT BORED WITH IT ALL. HAVE SOME FRIENDS HERE FROM ENGLAND AND HAVE BEEN ENJOYING THEIR COMPANY. I REALLY GOT SICK OF THE POLITICS THIS YEAR, NOT VERY FUNNY, JUST A LOT OF SELF INDULGENCE FROM THEM, AND SOD THE VOTING PUBLIC. THE PRINT MEDIA WAS ALSO CRAP. MORE SENSATIONALISM THAN USUAL, A SERIOUS LACK OF INTERESTING JOURNALISM. OH WELL, I HOPE THINGS IMPROVE, AND I HOPE I RECOVER MY INTEREST IN THINGS IN THE NEW YEAR. OTHERWISE, I MIGHT JUST GO AND PLAY TRAINS FULL TIME.

JOHN AND BELINDA THINK THEY ARE THE CLINTONS

FURTHER TO THE RUMOURED PLANS BY JOHN DELLA-BOSCA TO SEEK THE PREMIERSHIP OF NEW SOUTH WALES, I READ IN THE SMH TODAY A REPORTED DENIAL BY THE PARTY PRESIDENT THAT POLLING HAD TAKEN PLACE IN ROBERTSON.
"The party president, Bernie Riordan, who was at the meeting, said there had been no specific polling on Robertson, but he would not discuss general polling on Ms Neal."
WELL, THAT'S NEWS TO ME, BECAUSE I WAS POLLED ON SEPT 21ST BY ROY MORGAN, JUST LOOK IN LAST MONTH'S POST, I WROTE ABOUT IT.

I AM NOT DILLUSIONAL?

YEH RIGHT.

IT'S A LONG WAY TO THE SHOP IF YOU WANT A SAUSAGE ROLL

BRW'S 2009 TOP EARNERS IN ENTERTAINMENT LIST HAS JUST COME OUT. AC DC WITH A $105M FOR THE YEAR TOPS THE LIST, FOLLOWED BY KYLIE ON $47M, WIGGLES, $45M IN THIRD.

NAROOMA MOVES TO BATEMAN'S BAY

WELL THE GREAT SOUTHERN BLUES AND ROCKABILLY FESTIVAL WHICH HAS BEEN HELD AT NAROOMA SINCE IT'S INCEPTION 13 YEARS AGO IS MOVING UP THE ROAD TO BATEMAN'S BAY NEXT YEAR. THIS HAD BEEN RUMOURED FOR THE LAST COUPLE OF YEARS, AND NEIL MUMME, THE ORGANISER, EVEN DENIED IT TO ME A FEW WEEKS AGO AT THE FESTIVAL. BUT IT'S HAPPENING AND MICHAEL CHUGG 'S ORGANISATION IS ALSO GETTING INVOLVED. I SUSPECT THIS WILL MEAN AN EVEN BIGGER EVENT, MAYBE MORE BIG NAMES FROM AMERICA, AND BIGGER CROWDS. IT'S NOW CLOSER TO SYDNEY AND CANBERRA WITH MORE ACCOMMODATION OPTIONS AVAILABLE.
I LOOK FORWARD TO IT.

PLAYGROUND WEEKENDER AT WISEMAN'S FERRY IS RUN BY A SHONK.

SOME THINGS NEVER CHANGE. THE NUMBER OF SHONKS IN THE MUSIC INDUSTRY IS AMAZING, AND THIS SORT OF THING HAS BEEN GOING ON FOR EVER. THE FIRST RECORDING I MADE WITH A BAND 39 YEARS AGO WAS A HIT AND ALSO RE-RELEASED AT LEAST 12 TIMES OVER THE YEARS. HOW MUCH WAS I PAID? YEP, YOU GUESSED IT.
THE THING THAT IS DISTURBING ABOUT ABOUT THE STORY BELOW, IS THE BASTARD RUNNING THIS FESTIVAL CLAIMS EVERYONE WILL EVENTUALLY BE PAID. IF THIS IS TRUE, GUESS WHERE THAT MONEY WILL COME FROM? YES THE PRESALE TICKET MONEY FOR NEXT YEAR'S FESTIVAL. SO, OBVIOUSLY NEXT YEARS ARTISTS WILL BE THE NEXT BUNCH OF SUCKERS. IF ANYONE READING THIS KNOWS ANY MUSICIANS ENGAGED TO PLAY THERE, TELL THEM DON'T.

This article is lifted in full from the Sydney Morning Herald.
Tim Elliott
October 29, 2009

IT WAS billed as a long weekend of "riverside revelry for clued-up campers", a music festival on the banks of the Hawkesbury River.

Over four scorching days in February, the third annual Playground Weekender at Del Rio Riverside Resort, Wisemans Ferry, boasted six stages of live music, an outdoor cinema, a cocktail bar and a yoga stall, as well as the Scottish band Primal Scream and "the cream" of local talent.

"From the moment you arrive, you will feel a million miles away from the stresses of home," the event's website promised.

But for many of the support acts, contractors and ancillary staff, Playground Weekender has proven anything but relaxing. Eight months later, some of them have not been paid - even though its British-born organiser, Andy Rigby, has advertised and sold tickets for next year's festival.

"We did 300 hours of cleaning at that event and he still owes us $4200," says Nickie Haylen, owner of Arctic Cleaning. "Whenever I speak to him he says he couldn't find my invoice or his email is down or that his money was being held in trust by someone else.''

Ben Chamie, whose band Peabody played on February 7, says he is still owed $600. "It's not a lot of money - it's more about the fact that he's advertising next year's festival when he hasn't paid people from previous years."

A band manager whose musicians were owed $6000 spent six months "screaming down the phone" at Rigby, and was paid after threatening to email "every contact I had in the industry and telling how he operated". The money had to be picked up, in cash, from a Chinese restaurant in Cabramatta, the manager says.

"Andy is an amateur, and it's up to us to stop him from doing it again, otherwise other acts are going to get hurt."

Rigby, 37, arrived in Australia from England in 1996 and has been involved with several music festivals, including Justin Hemmes's Good Vibrations. His first Playground Weekender, in 2007, was a hit, despite what the Faster Louder music website called a "kinda-cool-kinda-dangerous lack of security".

Rigby operates several companies, one of which, Playground Music, went into liquidation in December 2007 owing $172,000. Another, Playground Entertainment, was briefly deregistered a week before this year's festival.

"The festival has had a couple of harder years when we first started,'' Rigby says. ''But we have been battling through to make sure that every single person has been paid. Everyone associated with last year's festival will be paid before next year's festival."

NAROOMABLUES FEST 2009

WELL ANOTHER GREAT WEEKEND OF BLUES, ROCKABILLY AND ROCK NOSTALGIA HAS COME AND GONE AGAIN. AS USUAL, THE WAS A GREAT LINEUP OF BLUES ACTS FROM THE STATES, WITH CHARLIE MUSSELWHITE, DIUNNA GREENLEAF BACK AGAIN, WITH CEDRIC BURNSIDE & LIGHTNING MALCOLM, ERIC SARDINAS & BIG MOTOR, CHRIS DUARTE BAND AND CANDYE CANE. BRIAN CADD WAS ALSO BACK AGAIN, THIS TIME WITH RUSSELL MORRIS. IT'S THE FIRST TIME I'VE SEEN RUSSELL PERFORM SINCE I WAS IN A SHOW WITH HIM AT THE OLD SYDNEY STADIUM 40 YEARS AGO. HE AND BRIAN PLAYED HIT AFTER HIT FOR AND HOUR AND A HALF. THE DAY'S ADDMISSION WAS WORTH IT FOR THESE GUYS ALONE! OTHER LOCAL ACTS INCLUDED THE BADLOVES,HIPPOS, BONDI CIGARS, XAVIER RUDD, THE BONE RATTLERS,MAL EASTICK, CHRIS WILSON, PYSCHO ZYDECO,BLUE KING BROWN, AND MANY MORE, AS THEY SAY.
I DIDN'T SEE EVERYONE, BUT MY FAVOURITES FROM THE USA, WERE CEDRIC BURNSIDE & LIGHTNING MALCOLM AND CHRIS DUARTE'S INVENTIVENESS. MY FAVOURITE LOCALS WERE BRIAN CADD AND RUSSELL MORRIS, JUST BRILLIANT ENTERTAINMENT, AND I REALLY ENJOYED BOTH SHOWS BY TASMANIAN PYSCHABILLY PUNKABILLY BAND THE BONE RATTLERS, GREAT FUN INDEED.

LIFE ON MARS

WELL, NOT EXACTLY MARS, BUT WOY WOY AUSTRALIA. THIS MORNING AN INCREDIBLE DUST STORM INVADED THE EAST COAST ENGULFING SYDNEY AND SURROUNDING AREAS.

WE DON'T LIVE IN INTERESTING TIMES

I HAVEN'T POSTED MUCH LATELY, BECAUSE THERE HAS NOT BEEN MUCH POINT. TONIGHT HOWEVER, I WAS PHONED BY ROY MORGAN RESEARCH, AND QUESTIONED ABOUT STATE POLITICS. THE QUESTIONS WERE BASICALLY, DO I PREFER THE LABOR INCUMBENT MARIE ANDREWS, OR WOULD I PREFER JOHN DELLA-BOSCA. ON THE OPPOSITION SIDE, I WAS ASKED IF I PREFERRED CHRIS HOLSTEIN OR JIM LLOYD. I DON'T KNOW WHO COMMISSIONED THE SURVEY BY THE QUESTIONS ASKED,
BUT THE QUESTIONS THEMSELVES ARE AN INTERESTING GUIDE TO HOW THE PARTIES ARE THINKING.
MARIE ANDREWS, I FIND, IS A PRODUCTIVE LOCAL MEMBER, SO, IS SHE GOING TO BE STEAMROLLED BY DELLA? IS HE TOO MUCH ON THE NOSE? IS THE STATE LABOR PARTY THAT STUPID? WE KNOW WHO HE IS. PERSONALLY, I'M OVER HIM AND THE MISSUS. AS FOR THE LIBERAL TICKET, WELL HOLSTEIN IS NO SURPRISE, BUT JIM LLOYD MAKING A COME BACK IN STATE POLITICS? HE SAID AFTER THE LAST FEDERAL ELECTION , THERE WAS NO PLAN "B". WELL, IF THIS IS IT, IF IT'S TAKEN HIM THE LAST COUPLE OF YEARS TO COME UP WITH THE CUNNING PLAN OF RUNNING FOR THE STATE PARLIAMENT, WELL JIM, JUST RETIRE AND LIVE OFF YOUR VERY GENEROUS TAXPAYER SUPPLIED PENSION.

I LOVE CHINGLISH

MALCOLM TURNBULL ALL TURN ALL BULL

WELL, AFTER TODAYS REVELATIONS, WHAT ELSE WOULD YOU EXPECT? MALCOLM TURNBULL IS FULL OF SHIT. HE IS NOW HAPPY TO DUMP ALL THE BLAME ON GODWIN GRETCH, THE HAPLESS PUBLIC SERVANT. SURPRISE SURPRISE! WHAT A TYPICAL GRUBBY LIBERAL ACT. TURNBULL, SEN. ABETEZ, JOLLY JOE HOCKEY, AND TONY (PEOPLE SKILLS) ABBOTT, HAVE ALL COME OUT WITH THEIR SUPPORT. mALCOLM IS STUFFED.

IT'S 40 YEARS SINCE MAN LANDED ON THE MOON

I STILL FIND THIS THE MOST INSPIRING EVENT TO HAVE OCCURRED IN MY LIFETIME.
I WROTE A PIECE OF MUSIC CALLED "SEA OF TRANQUILITY" TO MARK THE EVENT.
YOU CAN FIND IT HERE.
GO TO THE LIST OF LINKS OPPOSITE AND CLICK ON BURNING MOUNTAIN STUDIO WEBSITE.

THE POMS FINALLY WIN AT LORDS

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WELL ENGLAND HAVE FINALLY DONE IT. THEY HAVE WON A HOME TEST AGAINST AUSTRALIA AT LORDS, THE SPIRITUAL HOME OF CRICKET, AND IT HAS ONLY TAKEN 75 YEARS. YES, 1934 WAS THE LAST TIME ENGLAND BEAT AUSTRALIA AT LORDS! IN ANY OTHER COUNTRY, IN ANY OTHER SPORT, THIS WOULD BE A SUBJECT OF NATIONAL SHAME, BUT THE POMS WILL NO DOUBT BE CROWING TODAY THEY ARE THE GREATEST. AH, ..THEY ARE FUNNY. A FEW YEARS BACK WHEN THEY WON THE ASHES IN ENGLAND, THE ENTIRE TEAM WERE AWARDED MBE'S. (MEMBER OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE MEDALS) BY THE QUEEN. THEY WENT ON THE FOLLOWING YEAR TO LOSE THEM AGAIN TO THE AUSSIES. SO WHAT THIS TIME? I THINK AT LEAST A KNIGHTHOOD OR LIFE PEERAGE. ALL THOSE LORDS AT LORDS, SPIFFING.