MILES DAVIS AND JOHN COLTRANE "SO WHAT" LIVE, FROM THE ALBUM, "KIND OF BLUE" . . . . NO ONE MAN HAS HAD THE INFLUENCE ON MODERN MUSICAL FORMS AS MILES DAVIS . . . . SORRY, NO ARGUMENT, END OF STORY, THAT'S ALL SHE WROTE !!!!

THE MAN WHO REDEFINED POPULAR MUSIC ON THREE OCCASIONS, WITHOUT HIM, NO SOUL, NO FUNK, NO CLASSIC R+B, NO ROCK+ROLL, NO HIP HOP, NO HOUSE, NO COOL . . . . JUST A WHOLE BUNCH OF DULL WHITE BOY CROONERS . . . . SHIT !!!! I'D NECK MYSELF JUST CONTEMPLATING THAT FOR TOO LONG !!!

DAVIS WAS A ONE MAN MUSICAL WATERSHED . . . . A LEGITIMATE, CERTIFIED GENIUS, AMONG MANY HUGE TALENTS, HE WAS A SPECIAL KIND OF CAT . . . .



IF I HAD TO CHOOSE ONE, AND ONLY ONE ALBUM FOR THE "DESERT ISLAND" . . . . 'KIND OF BLUE" IS MY PICK . . . . I KNOW I SAID "LONDON CALLING" A WHILE BACK BUT TECHNICALLY, IT'S A DOUBLE ALBUM, NOT ONE SINGLE, OUTSTANDING DISC.

KICK BACK, POUR YOURSELF SOMETHIN SMOOTH, LIGHT UP AND ENJOY 'SO WHAT'.

FEEEEEL IT . . . . DON'T FIGHT IT !!!!

JOE COCKER "CRY ME A RIVER" 1970 FROM 'MAD DOGS AND ENGLISHMEN' . . . . FROM ONE GREAT LIVE GIG TO ANOTHER, THIS WAS THE TOUR THAT FULLY BROKE THE STATES WIDE OPEN FOR THE MAN FROM SHEFFIELD . . . . IT WAS ALSO THE FIRST TIME I TWEAKED THAT ROCK+ROLL WAS THE MUSIC OF THE DEVIL . . . . AT LEAST IN MOTHER'S EYES AND EARS !!!!

I can vividly remember coming home from rugby on a cold as hell Canberra morning in 1971 and turning on the telly to try and sneak a look at GTK, ['Get To Know' was Aussie's hippest music show] Cocker was touring and had just been busted for possession of the evil green weed in Adelaide . . . .


Anyway . . . . mum was in the kitchen preparing lunch when this very clip came on, she must've heard the words 'Joe Cocker' and guessed the rest upon hearing the tune . . . . she came screaming into the living room yelling 'turn it off, get that thing off now ! I'll have no druggies in this house on my television !!' . . . so the first forty five seconds was all I got to see until about three years later at boarding school.

What did stick with me was the 'nature' of the performance, the passion, the freedom, the total lack of restraint, the complete absence of any pretension . . . . not a thing has changed, this tune, this performance, this bloke, this band . . . . from beginning to end, especially Leon counting back in, still makes the hair on the tip of my penis stand to attention . . . . or something like that.

Everyone on that stage realises they are part of something truly special, a genuine moment in time that will be recounted and recalled forever . . . . just dig the way the singers and players are all looking at Cocker, at each other . . . . they 'knew it' . . . . this was the real deal !!! So, come on and cry me a fucking river !!!!

LUTHER VANDROSS "AIN'T NO STOPPIN US NOW" 1995 . . . . THE MAN HAD SO MUCH SOUL, AN AWESOME RENDITION OF THE CLASSIC McFADDEN AND WHITEHEAD TUNE . . . . COMPLETE WITH A CRACKING 23,701 PIECE BAND . . . . LIVE GIGS DON'T GET ANY BETTER THAN THIS . . . . R.I.P THE BIG MAN !!!!

LIFE IS JUST TOO FUCKING SHORT TO HAVE YOUR ENJOYMENT POTENTIAL LIMITED BY HARD AND FAST RULES OF LIKING THIS AND HATING THAT . . . . WHEN IT COMES TO MUSIC I'VE ALWAYS HAD EXTREMELY BROAD AND DIVERGENT TASTE . . . . NOT EVEN THE INTERVENTION OF PUNK OR PEER GROUP PRESSURE COULD KILL THAT OFF . . . .

I ONCE BOUGHT 'OFF THE WALL' AT THE SAME TIME AS 'GIVE EM ENOUGH ROPE' AND 'IN THROUGH THE OUTDOOR' . . . . LIKE BIKES AND EVERYTHING ELSE IN MY LIFE THAT I LOVE, AS LONG AS IT'S GOOD SHIT, I'M INTO IT . . . . I'VE JUST NEVER BEEN BIG ON 'B' GRADE AND ORDINARY . . . . FUCK THAT FOR A JOKE !!!

NOW . . . . MR LUTHER VANDROSS AND A CAST OF THOUSANDS . . . . SOULED OUT !!!!

1973 WORLD MOTOCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP - THE YAMAHA PERSPECTIVE . . . . '73 SAW THE INTRO OF THE FIRST 'MONOSHOCK' ON HAKAN ANDERSSON'S 250 . . . . FOREVER SHIFTING THE EXPECTATIONS ON SUSPENSION TRAVEL AND RENDERING OBSOLETE ALL PREVIOUS THINKING . . . .

THE '73 SEASON ALSO SAW THE FIRST OUTING OF THE BRAND NEW 125cc CLASS AND THE BABY SCREAMERS WERE A KNOCKOUT FROM THE GET GO . . . .

AMONG THE LIKES OF TOUR VETERANS DE COSTER, ROBERT, JONSON AND ANDERSSON, THE YOUNG AMERICAN, BRAD LACKEY AND BULTACO LEGEND, JIM POMEROY . . . . SOME GREAT FOOTAGE OF CARLSBAD AS WELL . . . . OLD SCHOOL, BLOOD PISSING MOTOCROSS ACTION !!!!



In regards to the Monoshock caper, it could well have ended up being Suzuki's only the head honchos from the factory saw no merit in it, despite De Coster having given it a right rave up after being turned onto it courtesy of it's Swedish [?] inventor . . . . a curious irony is that the engineer dude at Yamaha who realised this new fangled bouncy thing might be worth a squirt or two of the proverbial billy goat's piss was named . . . . of course . . . . Suzuki !!!!

Andersson, who dominated the 250cc class that year and smashed the title, wasn't initially convinced either . . . . his first two or three races were done using the traditional set up, then he switched to the mono version . . . . in the upshot of it all by seasons end, the reality was that the suspension itself likely only played a third string role behind Andersson's insane talent and the utterly superior power and performance of the Triple Tuning Fork Factory's donk . . . .

Even though it still took until the early eighties for most manufacturers to get their own one springer bikes on the track, the paradigm shifted never to return . . . . rear shocks started canting further forward, suspension travel distance became the primary pursuit, traditional frame geometries were now part of the past . . . . motocross was entering a new age . . . .

BMW R51/3 1951 . . . . POSTED ON POOTUBE BY A GREEK GENT GOING BY THE MONIKER OF 'ROUSMAK' . . . . AN IMMACULATE RESTO OF ONE OF THE GREAT POST WAR BIKES . . . . IT AIN'T 'EXCITING' BUT, FERK, IT'S BLOODY GORGEOUS !!! FOR 'MANIVESTO' . . . . HAPPY EASTER BROTHER, YASSOU !!!

A FRIEND OF MY DAD'S HAD ONE OF THESE BEEMERS WHEN I WAS A KID IN DARWIN IN THE LATE SIXTIES . . . . HE NEVER RODE THE BEAST MUCH BUT DID LET ME SIT ON IT DOWN IN HIS GARAGE WHEN ALL THE ADULTS WERE UPSTAIRS GETTING THEIR COLLECTIVE FREAK ON . . . . CHEERS LIEUTENANT TARRANT . . . . . I STILL CHERISH THE MEMORY.



Clearly showing the heritage and stylistic lineage going back to the Bauhaus inspired classic R32, the 5 series Kraut mosheens were brilliant pieces of design, long lived, reliable, relatively nimble, bulletproof, tractable and, to those who went for their unique aesthetic appeal, things of real and carefully considered Teutonic beauty. Ergonomics were an element of design excellence that BMW took to levels that were unequalled by any other manufacturer for decades to come . . . .

Deutschland, Deutschland, Uber Alles . . . . absofuckinglutely as far as this jigger is concerned !!!

MY FAVOURITE EPISODE OF DAVID LYNCH'S "DUMBLAND" SERIES OF 'STOP/GO' ANIMATIONS . . . . UNSETTLING, DARK, BROODING, MALEVOLENT, UNCOMFORTABLE, CONFRONTING, DISTORTED, IN YOUR FACE . . . . DAVID LYNCH TO A TEE REALLY.

THIS SERIES OF SIMPLE ANIMATION CLIPS WERE RELEASED SOME NINE OR SO YEARS AGO . . . . ODDLY, TO NOT NECESSARILY GREAT PUBLIC ACCLAIM . . . . SEEMS IT FREAKED A LOT OF FOLK OUT, NO SURPRISES THERE I GUESS, GIVEN LYNCH'S BODY OF WORK, INCLUDING . . . . 'ERASERHEAD', 'BLUE VELVET', 'DUNE' AND 'TWIN PEAKS'.



Pushing people to confront themselves, their society and its ills, addressing issues often left under the carpets of modern day domestic normality . . . . these have always been the aims and guiding lights for many artists of all persuasions, I think this is especially true of David Lynch and his catalogue of cinematic work.

Thanks to Dreadlock Dave for turning me onto "Dumbland" way back when . . . . heavy stuff, still sets my moral compass on 'spin' at times . . . . social commentary like his always does, if you're livin next door to crew like the characters depicted in "Dumbland" . . . . get the fuck out now !!!!

"QUADROPHENIA" . . . . JIMMY'S CUTSIE MELTDOWN SCENE . . . . THIS IS A TYPICAL END RESULT OF MIXING FAR TOO MANY MIRRORS WITH EXCESSIVE INGESTION OF VARIOUS PHARMACEUTICALS . . . . IN TANDEM WITH PACKING WAY TOO MUCH ANGST IN YOUR OH SO TIGHT, TAILORED PANTS . . . .

REMEMBER . . . . "DRUGS ARE BAD . . . . AND SOMETIMES, IT'S ALRIGHT TO CRY . . . . "



Released in 1980, 'Quadrophenia' slid right into the post punk sixties revival and fascination with all the key style lines of the time . . . . written and concieved by Pete Townshend of The Who, it was a well executed and assembled overview of the heyday of the Mod vs Rocker era . . . . the key scenes focused on a recreation of the riots at Brighton from the day . . . .

Oodles of sharp dressed young blokes and chicks, astride Vespas and Lambrettas covered in more mirrors and extaneous lights than you could throw at sideshow, all gulping down copious quantities of uppers . . . . the Rockers, appropriately kitted out in Lewis leathers and boots, Beezers and Trumpys on the pin, all gulping down copious quantities of lager . . . . it was in 'Quadrophenia' that the superb contemporary Brit actor, Ray Winstone, got his start up role as the rocker/one time mate of Jimmy the Pratt . . . . Sting, at the time with soon to be global superstars, The Police, also got the nod to play the role of Ace Face, King of the Mods . . . .

All of a sudden, every major urban centre from Sydney to Cincinatti had its own Mods and Rockers scene happening . . . . along with Skins of varying 'types', punks, teds, new bromantics the last of the disco ducks . . . . it was a cool flick then and still stands the test of time pretty well . . . . soundtrack was loaded with some cracking rhythm and blues, a bit of soul and obviously The Who . . . .

The title, "Quadrophenia", accurately describes the principle character, Jimmy, and his final dramatic meltdown and realisation that, like most things in life, in the ultimate washup, all the flash suits, good drugs, pimped out scooters and huge parties can end up feeling reasonably worthless, shallow and very, very fleeting . . . . . hold onto your friends, enjoy their company, cherish that shit, it's for real . . . .

999 . . . . "EMERGENCY" . . . . THIS ONE'S FOR ME GOOD MATE LOVEY OVER IN DELIGHTFULLY IDYLLIC, SEMI RURAL, DERBYSHIRE . . . . "LOVELESS BLOGSPOT" IS A MUSICAL, MOTORBIKIN, COUNTER CULTURAL, HISTORY LESSON AND WORTH SIGNING UP FOR . . . . GO HARD, YA BIG SOFT LAD, LOVE YA WORK AND YOUR SOUL BUDDY !!!

999 . . . . DO SOME RESEARCH IF YOU DON'T KNOW TOO MUCH ABOUT THEM, A MESS OF GREAT TUNES FROM THE IMMEDIATE SECOND GENERATION OF POMMY POST PUNK BANDS CIRCA '78 - '81 . . . . GIVE YOURSELF A TITANIC REACTION . . . . YOU TOO, MR BALDY TAT NO MOTOR MAN !!!

"HELL'S ANGELS '69" . . . . TRIED TO WATCH ONE OF THE CLASSIC BIKE CULT FLICKS . . . . WAS SO WASTED ON PAINKILLERS THE WHOLE EXERCISE WAS A BLUR . . . . BUT IT REKINDLED MY DESIRE FOR POMMY DESERT SLEDS AND THE ANOMALOUS SIGHT OF THE H.A GUYS ON THEIR FINAL FLOG THROUGH THE SCRUB IN THIS 1969 CELLULOID GEM . . . .

SCRUB BASHIN WITH THE BIG RED MACHINE . . . . JUST SOME GOOD OLD CLEAN, FUN IN THE SANDY SUN . . . . NO SHOVELS, PANS OR KNUCKS REQUIRED HERE !!!



THE PERIOD'S HUSKY WAS IN MY OPINION THE PRETTIEST DIRT BIKE UP UNTIL THE ADVENT OF THE "ELSINORE" IN '73 . . . . KILLER STYLE, SHITLOADS OF OIL DRIPPING POWER AND ALL KINDA ARSE ABOUT JUST TO KEEP EVERYBODY ON THEIR SIZE 13 TOES . . . .

"HELL'S ANGELS '69", GET YOUR ACT TOGETHER AND CHECK IT OUT AGAIN, ALWAYS A BUZZ !!!!

R L BURNSIDE . . . . "IT'S BAD YOU KNOW" . . . . MISSISSIPPI MOUNTAIN BLUES MEETS TECHNO TAPE LOOP HEADS . . . . 96 HOURS OF PAIN, PUSTULENT PUTRESENCE AND A TOTAL LACK OF ENTHUSIASM . . . . BUT EVERYTHING'S COMING UP SMELLING OF DOGSHIT . . . . BACK ON TRACK AND READY TO TURN THE EASTER BUNNY INTO CHOCOLATE COATED ROADKILL !!!!

AS THE DAYGLO LADS OF POMMY PUNK, 999, ONCE PUT IT . . . . "I'M BACK, IN FULL ATTACK" . . . . AFTER THE BEST PART OF A WEEK OFF LIFE WITH A TOOTHACHE GENERATED BY AN ABCESS THAT HAD MY SWOLLEN FACE LOOKING LIKE THE ELEPHANT MAN . . . . PAIN THAT MADE MY BROKEN LEG, WRISTS, COLLAR BONES, RIBS, FINGERS AND TOES SEEM LIKE A DODDLE . . . . I'M GOOD TO GO.

IT'S ALL BEEN SORTED COURTESY OF THREE ROOT CANALS, FOUR BOXES OF PANODIENE FORTE AND THREE TRIPLE DOSE REPEATS OF ANTIBIOTICS . . . . BY JOVE, I AM CURED, MADE WHOLE AND SET FREE . . . . THE LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL WAS NOT WHAT SEEMED AT SOME MOMENTS TO BE, AN ONCOMING TRAIN !!!!



I'm pretty good with pain usually, like a lot of us, broken bones, cuts, abrasions, appendicitis, falls, dislocations, tire irons to the temple, face plants . . . . get over it, get up and get back on . . . . but this shit, this is some form of hurt sent from the very heart of Satans sphincter . . . . I'd never even had a filling until I was nearly thirty, then had four wisdom teeth pulled, a couple more fillings, then the clincher . . . . the drill that graunched into a not correctly anaesthetised root zone . . . . instant, white knuckle, little boy scared freakout.

This sordid saga of pain started last Saturday night and the worst of it was finally over by mid arvo yesterday . . . . the entire left side of what is a fairly fuckin ugly mug normally, swelled up like an Elephant Man balloon, for seventy two torturous hours it felt like someone was jabbing me in the jaw with a hot needle . . . . fucking horrendous !!!!

Then when it was being cleaned out, preparatory to root canal stuff, the taste and stench of the foul shit that flooded my mouth caused me to chunder in the mouth wash basin . . . . my mate the dentist was cool, but it disturbed the bejabbers out of his gorgeous, young nurse . . . . .

Only one downside in a post-op sense . . . . because there is still quite a bit of pustulescent, stinking crud in my sinus area I am still almost brought to maximum gag reflex control capacity once or twice every hour when the stench/taste of something akin to dogshit mixed with cabbage fart floods the back of my olfactory sensors . . . . utterly and completely nauseating . . . . but nothing that can't be minimised by massive doses of burning rubber and the beautiful bouquet of exhaust fumes, it's good to back . . . . I've missed youse all as Jeff Fenech might've said . . . . XXXXX