Last weekend I spent all day Saturday (up until about 2am Sunday morning actually) listening to submissions for a music festival held in Canberra, ACT (for those of you who don’t know, Canberra is the Capital of Australia). I had help, in the form of three friends. Two of these guys have been running the festival for the last 4 years, and prior to that, a very close friend and I had been organising it. The festival, called Indyfest , has been running for about 12 years now. While it is no...

Mondays are synonymous with bad luck, as we all know. There is even a word for it: Mondayitis. But I never really believed in the Monday curse. Not until today, anyway. After a very busy weekend (I’m going to write a separate blog about my Saturday), which included a close friend’s wedding yesterday afternoon, I wasn’t exactly the sharpest prickle on the cactus this morning. As I was leaving the house, I realised I’d left my sunglasses at the wedding reception. Now, under normal circum...

I wrote a post recently about a problem I was having with my ears. I had an infection that left me almost completely deaf for two weeks, a hell I wouldn’t wish upon my worst enemies. Since then, I have had my hearing restored but have been told if I don’t give up performing and recording music, I could lose my hearing permanently. I don’t know what to do. I am a very creative person, with music being my biggest outlet. Being on stage is better than any drugs I’ve ever tried. There is j...

I have such wonderful memories of my childhood. I am the eldest of five children all born within 6 years (basically, my mother spent the 60's pregnant), with the breakdown being 4 boys then (finally, according to my parents) a girl. My sister had all four of us boys wrapped around her finger from the time she could bat her eyes at Dad. She grew into a beautiful, strong, proud woman who has become a wonderful wife and mother whom I love dearly. My immediate brother Greg and I were best fr...

I joined JU to be part of a community of individuals who enjoy exchanging ideas, advice, wisdom, humour and life anecdotes. I was looking for something to help affirm an idea I had that regardless of country of birth, politics, religion or social position, there are plenty of people around the world thinking as I do. I was looking for an interchange of information. Instead, I feel a little bit frustrated. It seems to me that there is a 'circle within a circle' or a group of users only...

My wife and I are big fans of Nick Hornby. One of our favourite books of his is High Fidelity. One of the aspects of this book we enjoy is the lead characters and their incessant list-making, particular by the main character Rob. So, in conversation the other night, we decided we would spend the next couple of months trying to come up with our Desert Island Twenty. This is a list of songs that mean so much to us that we would forsake all other music to only listen to these if stuck on a d...

I've written previously about how much I love music. I was recently left incapacitated for a couple of weeks after an ear infection left me almost completely deaf. I tried to keep as positive an attitude as I could during this time but the worst thing was not being able to listen to music. I tried all sorts of tricks to keep my mind occupied but everything kept coming back to music for me. Not only could I not hear my favourite tunes, I couldn't play guitar or sing either (something I try...

I want to preface what I'm about to say with this: I am not anti-American. Like most people living in the greater western world, I have grown up immersed in many aspects of American culture. I spent my teenage years on the Northern Beaches, living in Mona Vale and going to school in Manly. I was pretty much listening to the same music, wearing the same clothes and watching the same television as the kids growing in, lets say, California. I was a huge Kiss fan, as well as Cheap Trick and V...

I'm lucky in that I've got two parents who loved each other and the family they built around them. Like most families, we harbour a few secrets. Not dark ones, but no less disturbing. The fact that one of my three brothers refuses to acknowledge the existence of my parents anymore is sad in the telling, but we've all moved past it in our own ways. That's resilience, one of a number of patterns of thinking I learnt from my parents. Mum and Dad have accepted my brother distancing himself f...

The last week has been a bit of a tough one. I'm probably going to be writing about it for a while, but I'll start out with the situation. Over a week ago, I got some sort of cold/flu/virus thing that had left me with an ear infection. The consequence of this is that I've been unable to hear virtually anything for the last week or so. As a musician and, obviously, someone who loves listening to music, I've found this particularly hard. But every cloud has a silver lining, so they say. ...

Ah, Saturday. Probably my favourite day of the week. Just waking up knowing I don't have to go to work today OR tomorrow fills me with a great sense of calm. Waking today was even sweeter because yesterday at work was the event that was the culmination of work for the last 6 months or so. What this means is no more hectic days, at least until early next year. The event was an all-day medical research awards competition. And it went off without a hitch (well, a couple of hitches, but the...

Today is one of those days. Not one of those days where everything goes wrong. I believe those days only belong to people who wish it upon themselves. Neither is it one of those days where everything goes right. If everything goes exactly right, what is there left to maintain some sort of balance? Its just not in keeping with the Laws of Chaos. No, today is one of those days when everyone wants me to do something and they want it done yesterday. Considering we are all only singular i...

Early last night I received a call from a friend who was performing with his ensemble at an open mic night at a local hotel. He rang to say that a number of the acts that had booked themselves for the night had pulled out and would I be interested in coming down and doing a set. I'm always up to performing, so grabbed my guitar, kissed my wife goodbye and headed on out into the night. After watching my friend Pete and his band do their set, it was my turn. I had fun, playing songs I've ...

Here it is, Sunday afternoon and I'm online writing this. This is my first weekend entry and I'm wondering whether I'm becoming addicted to this habit. I don't see it doing me any harm, that is if exposing one's self like this could be considered harmful. I enjoy being able to express some of the thoughts that run through my head and get positive feedback. I'd just like to say thanks to those of you who have responded for no other reason than you've liked what I've entered. I'm not goi...

The above line is from a Cure song, for those of you who didn't recognise the lyric. Its a nice thought to start the last day of the week with, I think. If only I could be as positive about Mondays. Today I woke up with two different songs playing in my head. I told my wife this over breakfast and she looked at me a little strangely, saying "two songs" as though it was weird. I suppose for a lot of people it is but in my head, there is a mash-up DJ playing constantly. My wife just rec...