no courtesan could begin to decipher your beam of light

gorgeous late autumn sunday morning
i sit at my kitchen table
with aurora justine k
shes drawing flowers n fairies
with the doodles new glittery pens
(im having a bit of a fiddle with em myself)
the air is crisp but not at all cold
australian birds sing outside in the different gums n palms
compared to dry old cold canberra
bondi is a tropical paradise
red n orange n crimson hibisci
white frangipanis the most aromatic flowers
ones with slight pale yellow
or rosy whorls becoming maroon near the edges
thousands of flowers i couldnt name
a passionfruit tree with pink autumnal blossoms
and the strange mixture of trees
the figs
the ghost gums
oaks
twisted strange native trees
paperbarks
scribbly barks
its all still
silent
except for enos on land
which is playing softly on the kitchen counter
i can see evie lying in her bed
looking at the ceiling
letting her mind roam with miraculous freedom
that only children and madmen and geniuses understand
its funny with twins
they usually do their imaginings together
me....ii lived in world i had sculpted and formed
in a crowded part of my mind
it was made of
playing cards
(to me the diamonds and clubs were the good guys
just check out the jacks...
the hearts and spades, those jacks,
they look like cads n ne'er do wells
blackguards
while the ds n cs
their jacks (princes..?)
were sensitive kind and usually without
the horrible little moustaches...
then as i am talking about cards
i think who or what do the aces represent?
hmmm...well...
theyre higher than kings
but are also sometimes the lowest....the one
they represent the point where absolute power
either coagulates into the all powerful ONE
or devolves into the singular lonely one
they are the link
where communism meets fascism
where beauty n ugliness collide
the interzone
the apex
and the nadir
consider this fiendss
and look at the cards next time you playing
hmmm most blokes i know
would laugh if ya asked em to play monopoly
or even draughts
chess
but cards
ahh
lotta people love the cards
i do
im fascinated with em
and five hundred is my favourite game
but i can turn into the sinner when i play...
)
other things that informed my daydream
were marbles
(once again joycies spatial clout came in handy)
but although i was good
i was never the best
and i lost lotsa marbles
i had a personal relationship with
(a white one with a yellow ring round the centre)
we played "follows" in nsw
where you just shoot for the other guy
catch as catch can
in victoria we played big ring n little ring
where you shoot the other guys marbles outta a circle
but without your shooter getting caught in the circle
except i think in big ring you wanted to get in..
in the a.c.t it was holey
and only holey
this was my favourite game
and the one that got me totally hooked
its a form of gambling
i justa realized that
youre staking something you love
something that is intrinsically worth something to ya
and when you lose
ah...the sick despair
the bruised ego
the struggle to smile
or say something
the need to repress the shout
"you bloody cheat!!
all the bad chemicals that come with losing..
losing anything
money
yer lover
or marbles...
but the winning
mmmm
oooh lovely ego rush crush acquire
to defeat your rival
collect his booty
"kilbey, youve cleaned me out"
moaned a hapless boy in my back garden in canberra
we had a perfect back garden for holey, baybee
rocky sandy soil grass all terrains are us
you dig a hole
you say how many yer wagering
"how many up, kilbey?)
"ten up, mate
"ten....no way, im only playing for 5"
then youd say
no pots or grannies
this meant that the other player could not invoke
any arcane rules
to get himself outta a jam
it was a clean game
then youd get to the nominated distance from the hole
start shooting
(theyre was even a special and the only legal way
to shoot and that was to flick with the hand laid flat
alongside the marble and catching the forefinger
under the middle finger
you lightly flick
now the strength and subtlety of yer flick
was the very essence of the game
like golf or pool
except in those games the balls represent something
but are nae of importance of themselves
in marbles the balls are the prize and the wager
what an amazing twist
anyway in holey you won
by sinking the last marble
that means when theyre all in the whole bar one
if you have a go at sinking the last one
and you just miss
then youre opponent can easily sink it
and win the lot
so theyre was a very elaborate endgame
trying to have potshots at the hole
but hard
so if ya missed it would go off away from the hole
of course sometimes it went in the hole n bounced back out
sometimes it would go round n round the hole
and roll back out
sitting right on the rim
where the other kid could just tip it in
and your heart would sink right thru yer boots
yeah i cleaned em out
and they cleaned me out
and it was like going bankrupt
you hadda hit yer parents up
to buy some loathesome new marbles
now theres another thing
the beautiful rare n valuable marbles
you could never buy em
they were in circulation
but you hadda win em
ya couldnt buy em
all you could buy were these dull common "guts stickers"
average green flecked things
sometimes if you wanted an americano
or a tom bowler
or a bottler
ya hadda stake a number of the gutstickers
so getting wiped out was tragic
and addictive
wow
marbles my first addiction
anyway now im outta time
i love ya
sk

no hot ashes or liquid

i am ether pirate
i am copping this airspace for nothing
ho ho ho
how long before im cut off...?
this is my 3rd attempt at blogging this morning, fiendiess
twice already today
i have lost the lot
if i go off the air again
im just gonna cry

anyway
received glenny benny from the undies
new lp yessaday
starstudded line up, ladies n gentlemen
stephen cummo
grantley maclennon
adalita from magic dirt( nice one!!)
sarah blasko
angie hart
gianna lee from andromeda
phillipa nihill from the unders
but the whole thing holds together
in one continuum
every other singers done a lovely job
on their track
bennies music remains superb
just like the curchh
hes getting better n better
he is himself and no other
he picks up his giutar or synth
and he is gb
and being yourself is no meen feet
thats the hardest thing to do
to turn into yerself
i wasnt myself for ages
like a pot of cold milk oats salt n sugar
i was just sullenly floating about
just a bunch of influences n ideas
i didnae even notice it at first
but one day i guess i turned on my old 4 track
and out stepped sk
an instant geenius
like athene
falling formed from zeus head
there i was
me, at last
all the olde skin shed
i had my own take on it
i had my own spin
i wanted to include
trex
bobdylan
dylan thomas
bowie
beatles
stones
patti smiff
v. undieground
be bop deluxe
the doctors of madness
twilight zone
sci fict n fant
rimbaud
surrealism
impressionism
futurism
all of that and more
i threw into the process which created me
an ya know what fiendss
i aint influenced by
nor do i wanna be like any o the following
rem
u2
coldplay
the byrds( well, very little)
echo and the bmen
grunge
emo
rap
disco
country n westin
none of those
if ya read a revue
and it mentions any thing on the a list
ya know they got it right
anything on the b list they getting it wrong
we are nothing to do with the 80s
anymore than you are
we lived thru it just like you all did
thats it
if you wanna bark up the wrong tree go ahead
you ever see a picture of me looking 80s
(you probably seen one where i looked 80, tho)
nope
we are not about movements
eras
nostalgia
youth oer
olde age
we are musicians trying to describe
something sublime
and we disavow being a part of anything
i dont care who ive influenced or not
i dont care what the critics say
be it love or hate
i only care what you fiendss think
and even that
will not sway me from my lifelong need
to plough this furrow
and i'll plow it
even if i reap success or indifference
and pat yerselves on the back if ya like
what i/we do
in the simple terms of rocknroll
we strive to stretch it to its limit
and yet it still has to be us
thats a dilemma to be hammered straight fiendss
it can take a quarter of a century
its a slippery slope
easy to go off one side or thother
its a marathon
the race doesnt end till yer die
and then ya come back and start all over again
and you gotta learn it all over again
unless ya remember
and then they call you a prodigy
and i know its not easy to keep on track
so i thank ya for ya patience
thats understood
i will continue to explore the othertime
and the empty place
now i been off the gear awhile
and i been hitting the pool n the y. mat
breathing in the prana-chi-love
my mind clearing
ideas come to me
unbidden
unhidden
there is no work in this for me
my fingers glide over my bass
like flames licking the wood
they work independently
my voice sings
words arrive in my mind
i do nothing
my blogg is dictated to me
by the saint or the sinner
sometimes, often
they share it
anyway
im gonna proclaim my belief in god
i call him vishnu
call him arthur if you want
let him be whatever you like
but talk to him
ask him to reveal himself
it takes so long my lord
my sweet lord
no instant grat fiendss
not here
sorry
on monday nite at 9 15
im playing a gig with 2 of austs
finest jazz players
real musicians musicians
i already rehearsed with em
and let me tell ya these cats are magic
jonathan z on double bass
hamish s on drums

plus
david lane
whos playing i love
esp in this context
at the icebergs club
bondi fucking beach fiendss
be there!
and
maybe i'll even be worth a revue this time.....
(sigh)





sk

floorshow

amplitiude
inexact measurement
positive
negative
unsatisfied externals
shadow dimension x
strange menace moving in the past
witch trials
2 gods
uncertain ratio
sudden voltage in the night
electrical disturbance
antimony
acheiving the exact opposite
secretion of object
fake medium
the houdini factor
steve kilbey,51
match
set
point
in the distance
new world waits for discovery
darkest america
colony
governors pleasure
her majesty in blue
sharks
absolution
les n joyce buy their tickets
shift
sift
gears engaged
doesnt matter if you shooter or drinker
mania
powder
rush
pain
the awful ache
god remove this
please
remove this
septembre 13 rolls around
at last
echo beach faraway in time
fraud
bribe
3 coins in the fountain
paid off
laid off
thankless task
vishnu appears by the ganges
inner vision
out of body
terminus
full fare
subsonic
miracle st
need to learn spanish
ive got my password
set up
ready to glow
burn it for me
make a copy
make me smile
the bleeding oblivious
taken for granted
undine
spirits
disappearing point
fine

outside later

i waited fifteen minutes
before i climbed out of the chrysalis
so this was the world of men...!
other than the enveloping fog
nothing had really changed
the soft moan of the shells was audible
even in the asian gardens
the centres sprinklers system had malfunctioned
the cameras became damaged by the water
the film exposed revealed hidden shadows
lurking in the velvet black
lamp black
chinese white
a crumbly powder
i wondered what that was used for
people appeared behind curtains embracing
a sooty grimy city night fell down almost at once
black cats criss-crossed my path
the marshes bayed for human blood
mosquitoes as big as swallows
built nests in that stagnant thinktank
once a library
now home to book worms
devouring your autobiography
living your life in negative
so this 2006
how futuristic
forever young
forever beautiful
forever surfing the present
into this future
which parts for you
like a vein red sea
until you are deep in deep time
then it slows down around you
you wake up sleepwalking
in the enemy camp
you are now so far gone
youve rebounded off infinity
and youre staggering round this neck of the woulds
you quoting poe to the sikh parking inspector
you wearing crimson in eden
you with the cute snarl
well thats the way it goes
i guess
im not prepared to expect anything much
its a hot/cold day/night here
suddenly im empty

walk the pathways that the studious choose

you see
thats the trubble with me....
yesterdays blogg
what a vile rant
bilious poisonous tripe
that stopped being funny
about a second after i typed it..
oh yes my wise brother
who appears on these pages in different guises
warning me when i go too far
judge not lest ye be yourself judged
(now mr p. savant
as eager as you are
to stick it to the manne
just take my name off that rant
and you can go do whatever you like
with it
especially if youre in the taxation dept
try not to stick it up on the noticeboard
in the vip bathroom
but i sympathise with ya
i really do
the security sucks you under
but it suffocates ya at the same time
there will be more on my
misadventures in the ps coming soon)
but back to 2 things
which puzzle me about my self
why cant i get control of my evil twin?
and
why canberra?
why does canberra haunt my thoughts
now fiendsss have ya ever noticed
theres some silly man putting some olde
and dreadful lyrics up on the comments?
are they supposed to embarass me?
(jesus, they sure do)
but what is the real reason?
cmon, unmask yaself,
i gotta pretty good idea who you are
or put some new ones up there
gee it gives me the creeps to think of ya
sitting in ya office typing that same olde
nonsense everytime
and cmon
if ya really know me
as i assume yer insinuating
ya must have some worse ones up ya sleeve
than those tired olde turkeys

but why do my thoughts turn towards canberra
when i have been so many places since then
ive done so much
ive been up
ive been down
i seen places that i never thought id see
(yeah kilbey, like the inside offa u.s. jail)
i been to one of the most northern cities on earth
the guy who put the gig on was worried that the
good ice- hole fishing was gonna ruin
the walk up for the gig
now thatsa problem
you dont have in sydney at least
i been to rio de janeiro
like a wild lawless sydney itself
thatssa a wild place fiendss
they got everything there
anyhow
despite having done all the stuff
and not having lived there for 30 years
the place niggles at me
it makes me laugh to think of a few olde codgers
who hated me when i was "on the canberra scene" man)
who now dine out on their stories
how they knew me n pete
and how
blah blah blah
(insert yer own baby grande anecdote here, boys)
anyhow
some score is unsettled?
what does olde canberra want with me?
i thought itd be sweet revenge on ya
when i become a huge olde rock star for my
fifteen minutes
but to tell ya the truth i did never think
of ya at all in those days...
now dont get me wrong canberrans
i love so many of you dear thingss
kathy n kon up in harkett
these people fill my heart with tenderness
i cant believe how nice they are
no animal products either
sometimes i imagine myself walking
thru canberra on a hot
(always a hot canberran night
the smell of the pines)
night
i walk thru the suburbs
to gaze on the people i know
and knew there
my uncle ken and aunty irene
speartackle...how are ya?
the saga bouys...it was my fault, lads...
itsa ok
i was a real ratbag
the noisy one in class
just like now
i couldnae control my evil twin
who looked just like me
except he had a horrible way
of pissing everybody off
im sorry
i thought geniuses were allowed
(supposed?) to act like that
im sorry to all the guitarists
bass players
drummers
singers
who i criticised
rudely loudly obnoxiously
yes dave studdert kicked me outta his groop
hell baby grande kicked me outta my own group
im sure the hcruhc have entertained the thought
if you think im obnoxious
you should see how it feels to be me
remember the lady called hel
one side beauty
the other rotting corpse
thats like me
half sinner
half saint
so i guess i got some unfinished bizness
with canberra
but when i go there
i can never find what it is
it has evaporated over the years
leaving only the congealed crust
of some nagging feeling
russell n i hadda look at our olde house
theres no nostalgia here
i say to him
its a mansion now
all our memories are gone
same with the school
me n russell go down there sometimes
only once
on a warm dusk in december
did we make contact with the past..
aahhh....
its all comin back to me

anyway
baby grande was pretty rough
you dont really wanna hear it
i dont blame the others
they were my stupid songs
it was right they should be banished
to obscurity
you see
i think its wherever you are
between childhood n adulthood
it weaves a spell upon ya
throws a glamour on ya dreams
somewhere inside me
is an eternal canberran adolescent
going round this world
looking outta my eyes
and going wow
and then
typing rants lika yessadays
can i come more cleen than that?
sk
happily ever after

the silver of your sun-suit negates the exit, cute....

monday morning fiendsss
snap to it
get in yer carr
drive to work
etc etc etc
ya know how i told ya i never werked
a day in my life...?
that doesnt mean i didnae have a job
yep i hadda job
in the public service
but i didnae work...
if only the real workers knew..
the guys in the factories
the policemen
the firemen
the truckies
the tradies
the bus drivers...

there is this vast body of pseuds
who turn up at their office every day
nothing really to do
nothing that matters anyway
i know cos i was there
i avoided doing any work
and so did most of the rest
public fucking servants
sittin around reading the gazette
cheating on their flexitime
having an extra day off every fortnight
sickleave
travel leave
blah blah blah leave
this lurk
that perk
if only they knew how easy these loafers got it
cmon lets have both barrels of yer vitriol
all you shiny bums sitting on yer fat asses
in some office block in canberra
dont come the raw prawn with me
i know you jerks are goofing off round the water cooler
having extended tea breaks
having 2 hour lunch times
borrowing the govt car to do yer shopping
and not just canberra
imagine
washington
ottawa
london
great legions of public servants
who knows what they do?
who cares?
i tell ya what fiendiess
i wassa a pub lick servant for nearly 5 years
tween the age of 19 to 24
believe me
yer average rockah does ten times the werk
of these lazy fat cats
embedded in the system
ya cant cant sack em
once theyre in
theyre like cold sores
ya cant kill em off
they just hang around
sucking on the system
they wanted to sack me
i was the laziest
i was the most rabble rousing layabout
i got there the latest
i went home the earliest
i spent my time and the govts money
writing poetry n lyrics
going out to hit the coffee shops
and import record shops
i flaunted my hedonistic snotty nosed attitude
and they couldnt even sack me
i smoked fuckin dope in the toilets
they still couldnt axe me...
just like politicians
theyve feathered their own little nests
empire building
getting more chairs n desks
filling in forms to order more staples n bulldog clips
making calls overseas w/ yer money
lookin at porno on govt computers
boozy friday lunchtimes
what a lazy corrupt buncha rogues
cmon
dont try and kid us any of ya are doing anything useful
you could sack 2 thirds of em
and theyd still be overstaffed
public servants
ha ha ha
goodbye
sk

somnambulist blues

sometimes when im doing yoga
or sometimes when i smell a perfume
go by in the crowd
sometimes when i hear a song
or onstage
or driving a car
i am whisked off
into the past
when i was not me
i wassa buncha other characters
but i experience it all again
as this wiser older sadder me
teenage years hot canberran summer nights
riding in my car with fernando
he played "rhythm" guitar
(but probably couldnt spell it)
he went to the catholic school
we smoked galaxy cigarettes
they were sawn off but they were the cheapest
fernando n others would go into
canberras only music shop
fernando would distract the owner
who was a real grumpy olde codger
unaware of the magical electric guitars
he had hanging up in his shoppe
and while he was asking mr t
some real stupid question
we would bury our heads
pen n paper in hand
to pilfer the chords out of his meagre catalog
of music books
fernando (excitedly)my brother got the chords
for rock round the clock!!!
me(disappointedly) oh wow....
but what about the rolling stones...?
fernando:no the olde manne caught em at it...
chased em all out of his shop..ha ha ha!
we'd all plug into my one amp
god no wonder my ears are so ruined..
ive been listening to other dudes
blast me since way back when
different guys would show up
on different weekends
one day a guy turned up with a lectric 12 string
a burns i believe
i swapped him for my bass for a few weeks
but in those days without a tuner
it was so hard to get it in tune
and it had a whammy bar(!?)
some times we jammed down in watson or dickson
at this guy mark tolleys who had a drumkit
he was a great lookin drummer blond prince val cut
flannel shirt levis n thongs
he predated curt kaboom by about 20 years
he also had an older sister who went out
with the bass player in one of canbras biggest bands
so this was all quite exciting and authentic stuff
to me
tho im sure our music was woeful
(3 17 year olds bashin thru rock round the fucking clock
for a whole sunday arvo is not my idea of fun
and i was a part of the racket)
someone stuck their head in the door and says
whos winning?
sometimes thered be 3 or 4 guitarists
n me
all in my one amp
all playing the same dreary thing
over n over
how i longed for some like minded compadres
who hated 12 bar blues and foghat and savoy brown
and wanted to do something a bit different
but these guys looked at music
the way they looked at footy
it was for men
by men
and should be mennish at all times
sensitvity or originality were frowned upon
back in those garage days
after a while i answered an ad in the paper
to join a 50-50 band
that played gigs and got paid(!!)
boy what a unimaginative bunch of ordinary turkeys
they hired me but i dont know why
they decreed that we should all wore these lilac
safari suits with crimson velvet bow ties
i was already writing songs but you think
these wallies coulda appreciated me back there n then
did they realise they hadda 18 year olde bouy genius?
like fuck they did
i was a thorn in their side
these guys were only like 21 22 themselves
but they seemed like grand dads to me
mind you
we made loadsa money for those days
yep i was sometimes making 150 bucks a week
believe me that was a lot in 1972
i hadda a car some equipment the lot
i remember one night asking the diminutive scottish
drummer called dave why he was so angry
you....you make me so fuckin angrrry
he hissed back over his drum kit
the singer was called ron
and he hadda nice voice actually
my mum n dad didnt mind when this group
borrowed the garage on satday arvo
ooh steven hes got such a nice voice son
joycie would say
he can arf bloody sing said my dad
but these guys hated me
why? you ask, good reader
not fully realising the nuisance
the 19 year olde sk could be
to "grown ups"
but boy
before they kicked my mischeivous ass
outta their tinpot groop
we played a lotta gigs
gigs in tiny little towns like gunning
captains flat (a ghost town, fiendss)
narooma on the coast
bungendore
we played at weddings
christmas parties
wests footy club on sunday nite
where our piece de resistance
was ghost riders in the sky
yippee yi aaaeeee
yippee yi ooo ooo
the crazed rugby players and their sloshed mates
galloping round the room
whooping and braying
you can imagine how i was enjoying that, fiendss
sometimes wed back female impersonaters
hotly debating if theyd had the snip or not
sometimes ron the hilarious jack the lad that he was
would slip in "rude" lyrics
like in black magic woman instead of
might pick up your magic stick
hed sing
might pick up my greasy prick
that kinda thing
still it hurt when i sensed they were plotting
against me
and i finally i was axed in the carpark
one freezing fucking night
while i loaded up my amp
we been rehearsing with another bass player
ron told me
trying to put it in more euphemistic terms
why? i asked puzzled, not understanding
he just kept looking at me and smiling
gradually the horrible truth sank in
id blown it
id pissed these idiots off enuff
and now i was out
no more mauve safari suit
no more gigs 5 nights a week
no more 50 bucks a gig
the fat lady had sung for me
it was the twilight of my 50-50 career
(50 percent oldies, 50 current)
i was washed up on the canberra caberet circuit
i retired back to the garage
to plot my revenge
my olde band got bigger n bigger on the circuit tho
everytime i heard their name blasted from a
community announcement
saga playing tonite at the polish club
i would think dark thoughts
my resolve would be supercharged
i will form a band
that will obliterate all those
who doubted my true genius
i will eclipse all of their careers
i will form the cchhru
and baybee
we will ROCK!!!
sk
sunday 20something of april o6
bondi beach, nsw
2026

selected grapes from the holy land

im sitting here drinking carmel pure grape juice
muscat
made in israel
mmm
oh whatta smooth drop
yer humble hero been drinkin grape juice
whenever he could find it for 30 odd years now
lloyds in australia do a wonderful grape juice
all the flavours all the grapes
sultana greenache muscatelle etc
you can feel the grape juice hit yer system
you can feel the body gobble it up
the immune system : i'll have a bitta that
itll help against the streptococci in sector 5
the stomach : ah a lovely lining
the tongue : such delicious sweetness
the throat : oooh soothing
the larynx : divine lubrication
the skin :oh nice, i can repair that little rough bit
the etc : blah blah blah
whatta waste they turn it into wine
all that lovely grape juice.....

some hilarious reviews of ultc
a bloke to wife as he holds cd unopened:
this is me at my happiest
then halfway thru:
lets go for a walk

that i feel shows the true nature of disappointment
so much more eloquently than a thousand nme reviewers
furtively scribbling armed with their thesaurii
lets go for a walk...
from now on that will be my phrase
when something is a little dodgy or bodgy
or wanky skanky loada hanky panky
i heard sebastian rockstarrs new album
how was it?
lets go for a walk
saw the new harrer potty movie
yeah?
lgfaw

folks, as a diss its a winner
so the dude so happy
(at his happiest, no less)
he struggles to get the cellophane of the cd
(he is now approaching the peak of his joy)
he sticks ultc in player
(all down hill from here)
"i wassa downa inna city onna mirahkell streat"
(regret sets in)
the openin riff of unifried feeled blasts
(sadness a feeling of being tricked)
"i needa space kneadle baybee"
(disappointment hardens on his dreams)
"jussa lika the trype that they sell ya"
(exactly he thinks to himself)
"eeeezzzzy bay beee blah blah blah blah blah"
(lets go for a walk)
but harold thats by the hcruhc
theyre ya favorit band in da whirld
i said lets go for a walk doris
but harold you waited a year to get that cd
and it sounds just like all the others so why..?
doris i said lets go for a fucking walk!
but harold...
I SAID A FUCKING WALK!!!!!

we need more badde reviews like this
less of the he cant sing and the lyrics dont make sense
(and...?)
more visceral physical stuff
eg
when i heard the opening note of this record
so sickened by it was i
that i tore it from the player
and ground it to silver dust
against my kitchen floor
i have , however
loved all their previous work.
or
the music on this record
causes birth defects in lab rats

oh by the way
we gotta good review in the english sun
4 stars
saying we're too goode for the h. polloi
oh our curse
of being too goode
too fast for you baybee
its a high n lonely destiny
being the worlds forgotten (olde) boy
being the best
but most uncredited
i mean we get reviews like
yeah the church are great heres another great record..next?
good band, work hard, f

well if ya thought the hcruhc were obleek
mimesis is finally finished
a double album of atmospheres
dark beautiful music
words from dreams
ebbing flowing receding washing
coming on again
stronger stranger
music so full of sound
hidden things
things fizzing and squirming
falling and shivering
distant contraltos wailing
pianos crashing thru icy surfaces
double bass deep in the earth
the stories like life
that dont lead anywhere
you think
all things in a circle
all opposites reconciled and drowned
in each other
black n white become pains grey
(thats a painting pun)
anyway mimesis art imitating life
its fucking brilliant
and if any smarmy little bastard
gives it a slightly badde review
i'll be donning my bricklayer gear
and coming round yer house
and bricking yer fucking door up!
doris: oh ya got that mimesis cd at borders harold
harold:yes im most happy before i put it on
doris:oh do lets hear it dear
mimesis comes on
(a gorgeous distant drone w/lovely tinkly sounds
sk begins to intone "a long and deserved holiday.."
harold:lets go for a walk
doris:but steve kilbeys bricked up our fuckin'doors!
anyway fiendss
its saturday morning here
im gonna go out n have me some ye olde funne
visit the markets
score some tat
do my block
blow a bundle
bit by bit
thanks for your attendance
sk

a pleasure launch on the sacred river alph

nothing is real
all is in flux
everything is happening at once
i invented time so you could understand that.
music comes to me unasked
words fill up my head
i sip my nepenthe
the ichor in me rises
i begin to vibrate
i feel the hands of the muses
and the fates
each with their equal claim
music comes to me unmasked
it stands naked in my fingertips
it will slip unclothed into your void
in to your emptiness i thrust my music
for safekeeping
like a long walk through the snow
like a night under a lake
beneath the surface tension
of our little society and its rules
you will have my music
to keep you company
to endure the lonely watch of wee small hours
in your triumph and your shame
music will take you home
music will draw your bath
the sound of my singing voice
will hold you in place
will hold you up
when your velocity falters
like little children
songs enter the world
hang around for a while
grow up and move on
in the glorious spring of our masters eternal youth
music will lead you over hills
through the woods
the elementals
the spirits of the trees
music oozing out of this earth
unbidden music
strange music
make mine strange and weird
my music that tries to envelope you
my music youve never heard
the music i keep for my self
the stuff that would break your heart
the notes that fall like tears
the words that are too much to bear
the songs you know are but a shadow
of the secret music
that undresses and caresses you
and leaves you sleepy and unsatiated
the music that borrows a thousand crowns
and never repays them
the music that was made illegal in new north wales
and kingsland
the music that was heavily censored by the romans
the music that jesus whistled when he was a boy
the music that was the last thing dad played
on his piano before he died
the music that i heard deep in the ground
the music that bees hear in the flower
the music vishnu dreams as he sleeps

dip your fingers in the cold current
you sit on the prow of our small boat
as we glide through these underground caverns
take up your instrument and sing
as i row row row my boat
gently down the stream

purple auroras, pale scarlets and blue eves

extra early good morning fiendss
yessaday i run jlk out to his helicopter
and he throws me the keys to the karmic ferrari
and the password that letsa me in
(nutmeg)
to the incredible serene and convenient
kh heady quarters
the chrome the glass the gold records
the secretary birds
the garish wallpaper
and gratuitous displays of welf
jesus
how many did that irish guy sell in asia?
wow
i struggled for this opulence
the secos are all in early
working on khs next strike against
the "straight" music biz
i dont know if you mind me saying it
herr directeur
but its getting hard to tell
whos on whos side here
i mean, did ya really need a sauna and a steamroom
especially as its been erected
im the old sk private office
now gone
so the legions of euro and jap bizness men
can be pampered
while kh skims another cool mill
but for what?
this?
no you silly girls i do not want another
soy hot chocolate with gelatine free marshwiggles
no thank you
yes the kh muesli
soaked in cloudy fresh pressed pomegranate juice
was superb
but next time go easy on the acai
and the wheat grass was a little stringy...
should see the kitchen here
whats jlk running?
a bohemian record co
or a bloomin cordon bleu cuisine noveau?
now leave me alone miss secretary
i have some bloggin to take care of
it wont write itself
if i sit here for my mani and pedi cure
yes my cuticles are slightly ...askew
i admit
but please
ah
i banish them
here in this office
i look out to see the pacific ocean
grey and low key this rainy foggy morning
the "straights" head off to their imaginary werk
to keep the great machine stoked up
on statistics memos n boozy lunches
the beautiful surfers ride the waves
regardless of anything else
flat or mountainous
theyre cruising the briny face of the deep
where real monsters loom
well i been listening to three
amazing australian records
and if you fiendss worship me
as much as you should
you should be ordering all the records by
decoder ring
who are an instrumental band with sometimes vox
absolutely beautiful stuff
intricate pulsating atmospheric
guitars
symphonic pointillistic
i got all their records
everyone is EXCELLENT
but especially recommend somersault

bluebottle kiss new album
its a double
melodic savage wild great lyrics
surprising inspiring energetic
urgent
i think all their records are good
but this new one is GREAT!
elk w/ i liljestrom
hey this is so goode!
talk about euro romantic dark weird
intelligent strange
shes on hi fi mikes album as well
the lyrics are so goode too
fiends check these records out
i really dont think youd be disappointed
at all in any of em
au contraire
they are all fuckin amazin

well more on the woes of fatherhood
as ya know
where i last left ya
aurora been diagnosed with strep throat
gets her meddy-cin
oh no doc
she dont likey that one
she swells up
goes all purple
and her tongue nearly chokes her
she'll be right
says laconic aussie doc
then
baby bouncer
no longer bouncing
in fact shes lolling in her bounce chair
like a limp stick of broccoli
eyes droopin' n runnin'
she looks up kinda sadly
yes dad i got it too
next ms evie starr n i
go out to get some dinner
at lauries
(you should try their tempeh burger
with satay n guac)
by the time we get there
ms esk has thrown in the towel
im sick dad
i dont want anything
so there they are
3 sick pigeons in a row
guzzling tylenol
chewing echinacea
and thermometers protruding
from mouths
taking their tenpacha
as eve says
oh dear
just what ya want for school holidaze
a buncha sick n restless ninnies
stuck inside
and wreaking havoc
one day inside n evies climbin the walls
2 days n shes demolishing em

any way
do kids n rock n roll really mix?
hmmm...thats what i thought

funny reading all the reviews for ultc
seems like some were gonna write the same thing
whatever the fuck the record was actually like
oblique lyrics
dreamy guitars
etc
blah
etc
blah
others seem genuinely surprised by it
and can see we made a great leep forward
i must say that mr fan-borin's review
on hotelwombat made this olde rocker misty
im glad you like it
and if he bloodywell likes it
then its good enuff for me
but did ya notice that toggle action IS
derived from interlock off jammed
just as youd predicted
you clever little man
wow dude
you write so well in english
id fuckin LOVE to read it in yer mother tongue

how do people get so good in another language?
im serious here
i would faint if most aussie reviewers
could toss phrases around
like our teutonic friend over here

anyway
anyway
im working on some paintings
have finished my small bit in the movie
(did i tell ya bout the stuff they were
snorting in the party sequence? ha!)
im going over to newt town today
to maybe help davey c w/ his dark movie
(max castle, where are you?)
many things in motion
many things have come to a standstill(ion)
time will reveal all
elli getting better n better
i love you all
good n bad
happy n sad
girl n lad
bye
sk

fluctuations in colour and time may occur

good morning you voracious fiendss
youve come hanging round
looking for a blogfixx
hanging round on the internet
ready to wolfe down my words
(secretly coated in an invisible
tasteless odourless alkaloid
that will cause addiction after
prolonged exposure)
im sittin in the caf
wearing my negative uninvited like the crowds
t shirt
i have haad some good gnus though
elli herself rang this morning
chatted for 15 minutes
feeling itchy n restless
maybe god willing
she can return home soon
pretty much back to her olde
elli-ish self
but i have actually learned a lot
about her in the last 2 weeks
she displayed constant fortitude
despite everything
and i KNOW
she did better than i woulda done
when i was 14
i appreciate yer concern people
i really do
this is beyond the masks of society
this stuff makes you need other people
and im glad you were there
for me
in the way that you were
luddite that i am
i fume about computers
yet i owe so much to the intahnett
and the way people who liked what
i/we did
could kinda focus themselves
and think its great
and i think its great
that i dont have to wait weeks n weeks
to find out what YOU GUYS think of the things we did
before it was just the critics
(n their little fucking axes theyre grinding)
but now
its instant
im grateful for that

doing some last minute werk on basement tapes
with peter k n jorden bee
hey jb is one talented nice cat
he mixes us live in sydney
he plays guitar on ultc n bwtb
he engineers vox n mixes bwtb
he sings b vox on ultc
and
a true gentleman n scholar
a true fifth member of the hchcur
also david trump
another bouy genius
he has mixed played sung n written n recorded
with us for years n years
hes mixed ultc (in 2004)
its a great sounding record
its beefy
its smooth
its got lotsa subtle things
thatll take ya a while to pick up on

i loved the review in lunarpuke6
old guys who took 2 many drugs one
except i think to myself
cos the dude is saying this ones like heyday
n this ones like blah blah blah
and im thinkin'
but you must be pretty old yerself
if things are remindin ya of heydey
anyway
we getting some goode reviews so far
so far...
of course
some little matt snow is out there
as we speak
sittin in his flat in wapping
the eggy stains still congealing on his shirty
reaching for his laptop
(even tho he no longer has a lap)
and having cause to hit the vitriol button hard
but you all know the problems we rock artists face
in 2006
there are restrictions
we wanna work within the restrictions
yet simultaneously slowly open out
i think ultc does that n more
its the first hchcru that makes me wanna dance
its brash its smooth its stupid its wise
its primitive its sophisticated its cerebral
its sexy
come on what more can you ask for
you gonna be playin this disc for a lot longa
than mosta the othah stuff you shell out for this year
itll keep revealing things to ya for years
i put em in there for ya
slow release
fluctuations over the years
sometimes itll be different
anyway
thats it
love on ya
sk

the earth forever renders the promised mockery

monday
9 19
sunny bondi etc etc
the postcards
the t shirts
the surf boards
the juice bars
the thai restaurants
the tourists
the blow ins
the johnny come latelys
the israelis
the hasidics
the mums n dads
the kiddiwinks
the teenagers
the bag ladies
the hoity toity models
the south american coke dealer types
the shop owners
the hangers on
the main men

yeah bondi


yessaday we have ye olde eggy hunt
for the doodles
doodles dye their eggies n paint em
then we go to ye olde parky warky
nk...keep them doodles bizzy while i hide eggies
big ole daddy promised the doodles 2$ for each eggy found
ok here i go
putting eggies in trees etc
uh oh theres other kidss in the park watching me
they seeing where i hide eggies
when nk unleashes the doodles to find eggies
th'other kids swoop in
they know where they all are
oh no
its all going wrong
just like i sing in that song
that eggy that i hid
that they wanted to find
but all they found were other kids
where the eggies used to be
so we got about 10 boys all aged about 10 to 12
swamping our egg day
evie is beside herself
and storms off
aurora is more enterprising
shes gotta basket fulla eggies
n
shes already counting up her bux
and picturin the toys she gonna get
nk running round tryin to keep evie interested
ok ok
we gonna have another egg hunt
an auxillary hunt
nk gonna hide em this time
those effing boys watch again
and swoop in to find all eggies
chaos reigns

nk and i play a game called kubb
a swedish game where you throw batons
at wooden blocks
we play against mah bro jlk n his mate matt
this is a very zen game
ole sk has inherited olde joycie bennetts (my mums)
feel for spatial relationships
i musta admit nk no slouch either
we win 2 games
but jlks friend comes good at the end
and we lose the last game
i heartily recommend this game to anyone
its avalable in the us cos someone i know got one
its good for mild exercise
and is great for all ages
(will you listen to me now....)
anyway we finish the game
oh no
what now
aurora is languishing on a bench
lookin like death warmed up
i dont believe it
she got tonsilitis
it comes outta nowhere
her throat all pus-ey
her tonsils swollen up
her face all grey
a temp of a million etc
oh god off to the quacks with her
gee this being a father lark
kinda hard on ya, isnt it
i go home with evie
still grumbling about the eggies
baby bouncer still grumbling
cos nk ran off to doctors without a proper feed
ok i go home
karin calls with elli at the hospital in stockholm
elli on five different painkillers
all hooked up to machines
how are ya darlin?
good comes the weakest of repies
how are feelin
good daddy...im good
elli i know ya not good darlin
yes daddy im very good
i realise shes trying to stop me worrying
daddy i gotta go now
karin tells me ellis had a little bleeding
in her spine
doctors divided if shes needs another operation
i cant believe this is happening
karin sounds so tired and hollow
elli is being so brave n positive...

later that night the orrible cchhru has a meeting
at a thai restaurant in newt town
we get caught up on one thing
round n round n round it goes
sk nods off
its been a long fuckin day bouys
finally at 11 somethin
we end our meeting
i sign 300 copies of ultc
(just what i wanted to do)
go home
fall into bed
have strange dreams
half awake
dreading another call from sweden
no news
good news
get up
baby bouncer lying next to me
waiting quietly for us to all wake up
she gives me such a lovely smile
as i open my eyes
the doodles come running in
aurora proffering her forehead
im better daddy
can you take us swimming?

its another day fiendss
life
its warm
its good
ya gotta treasure it
ya gotta love ya loved ones
ya gotta be kind n considerate
ha you say
you were rude to me once
backstage at the (fill in gig here)
im sorry
im a grumpy olde bastard sometimes
im human
im gonna try harder
i love you people
who read this
and i appreciate you all
the noisy ones
the silent ones
the pretty ones
(hey i got some pretty girls reading my blogg
look at the pictures)
the regs
the newcomers
ya all welcome here
life too fuckin precarious
for pretending
im gonna try n knock out some good stuff for ya
this week
i got loads on
finishin' my movie
all kindsa things



see ya round
sk

easter bunny/mixamatosis

morning you lot
this is gonna be quick, by necessity
happy eastah etc
(whatever that means (to you))
did my gig
was it a shambles?
chaos?
a fiasco?
i dunno
you bee the judge
a possibility we gonna put it
on here for ya to downlode

elektra has had some complications
still waiting for news on that

its not easy fiendss
im overcommitted n underfunded
somethin gonna give somewhere

i guess i m gonna be back 2 morrow
give ya a proper bloggey then
love sk

i been walkin' thru the desert, no it musta been the library.....

happy goode fryday
you holidaying fiendss
sk has no holidaze
everyyday the same to him
so i envy n pity ya
in equal proportions
gotta feeling todays bloggo maybe
ye olde mixed bagge
in which i pontificate on things
as if anything i can say
will make any difference
but inna way this science of blogging
is a miracle for me
cos (not that ive ever read another one in my life)
im a blogger at the top of his game
im ALMOST a better blogger
than lyricist
and didnt i declare myself the winner
in that field too
i am the judge
the jury
and the recipient
of my systems idea of justice
yes i am a harsh critic
but i apply that to myself
only half a dozen songs
this olde wordsmith dropped the ball on
for a quarter of a century
some people have written better lyrics
than me
but have they kept it up
record after record
in fair wind n foul
i never wrote my songs down to ya
n
i dont write my bloggs down to ya neither
its like yer sittin' here with me
9 50 good friday
we both been to the icebergs
we did our laps
the water was PERFECT
the temp is about 77 degrees
its nicensunny but not ultra cookin ya
im sittin' here in the internet joint
the one run by the jap girls
im a f%^&$ing regular here, joe
thats mah machine you be usin'
ah thats better
i putta lotta thyme into this computer here
and its startin' to love me back
i am programming it with my will n intent
anyway
i watched the preposition
by nicky cave last nite on dvd
fair bit of tomato sauce, i'll grant you
but um
in the end
i felt like i'd wasted the time n interest
i'd spent on it
sorry nicky
but i did love your book
and recommend it
along with the boatmans call
which i really like
but not the one that came after that
where the singing went up an octave
and it sounded fuckin ridiculous
and the lyrics were a little twee
(kittens in laps ,puhlease,yer sposed to be the prince of darkniss)
but im very proud of ya generally
(as if he cares what i think!?)
and shows that australians
are capable of things
that some other countries cant do
but he sure is a maverick
i think hes capable of anything now...

yeah its good friday
the day they nailed our saviour
why is it good friday, daddy?
whats good about it?
well sweetheart
its good because
the bad guys got jesus
but he hadda die for our sins
so it was good he died
in a bad way of course

look fiendss
i know one thing
i read the bible
cover to cover
i know what jesus message is
its so simple
be a good guy
love everybody as much as ya can
do no harm
try to love god a little...
thats really it
but religion has so complicated this
why?
so the same kinda idiots who nailed jc up
in the 1st place
the important pollys n priests
so they could use this to get hold
of the hoi polloi again
by the balls
with a whole lotta mumbo jumbo
latinate ritualistic supersticious
who can follow any of that
where did that happen in the gospels
no
its accretion kids
look that word up sonny jim
it means that blokes added their own trip
onto the inspired bits by the real deal
so you get yer c of e
yer catholics yer baptists yer luths
yer methos yer presbos
yer united church of upper downs
i dunno
where is that stuff in the bible?
ya see
when i read jesus words
(or whoever the fuck said them
it doesnt matter to me
someone had these thoughts
they are revolutionary
sublime
heart stabbing thoughts)
when i read em
i feel its all so easy
i feel so good
heres the message
take it easy baybee
thats it
if you genuinely take it easy
everything else will take care of itself
people taking it easy
dont interfere with other people
taking it easy themselves
simple
simplistic maybee
but true nonetheless
same as buddha said
just sort yaself out dude
dont worry bout him or her
forget yourself
and youll remember
well
buddha actually never said anything like that
thats my attempt at wryly
transliterating some of the pali sutras
for ya
ha ha
you know what i mean
i can put it in some fancy latinate for ya
whaddya want that for
ok
thats it
go out there and be nice
its easy
so make it easy on yourself
cos breaking up
is so very hard
to do
sjk

swimming pools, movie stars

yeah fiendss
im filming the film
im halfway thru
im playin an olde music producer
livin in bondi
i gotta coupla scenes at skinny dips cafe
then saturday i film the ubiquitous
"party sequence"
before i go to the sando to slay ya dead
with mah charisma
(which i just had topped up)
boy im such a goode akta
i cannae believe it mah self
plus of course
im getting plenty of offers to do
more akting from the admiring onlookers here
theyre wondering where an actor of my calibre
has been all these years
well i started off acting a child
back in the sixties
then i started acting as a handsome
young popstar
then as a handsome not so young pop star
now im playing an avuncular kind olde guy
that you all can and could love
im playing a daddy
im playing a husband
im playing a troubled dude
who eventually came goode
thanks to yoga swimmin meditation
and all the rest of it
the theatre is the world
you are my co actors
this is the script
feel free to improvise
any how
i gotta get back to my luxury trailer
snort some brain draino
have my steroids
check the botox
etc
i'll bee seeing ya
sk

the unrevealed : working with adrenochrome opaque

thanks for your love n wishes n prayers
ejjk after 6 hours under the knife
op pronounced successful
dont underestimate those wishes
the pscycho-kinesis of good luck
the player on a winning streak
the belief
that changes the shuffle from a deuce
to an ace
it all helps
perhaps as the scalpel falters
the prayers hold it in its course
i dunno
i was operated on once
for my arm
it was busted in 3 places
i was still on the "gear"
i didnae wanna come in from the cold
but it went black
i hadda get it reset
this was in sw. eden too
i hadda get it rebroken
well let me tell ya fiendss
in case ya never had anything broken
cept yer heart..
breaking does hurt
but rebreaking
ah..thats excruciating agony
yer humble hero waking up from deep anaesthesia
fucking screaming
MORPHINE
however already being well along
the road to opiate self medication
the morph did little
to alleviate the fire burning in my arm
im never gonna play the bassey again
i thinks morbidly to myself
i escape from hospital
my arm on fire
score even more medication
down the train station
medicated almost to oblivion
the pain recedes
in the narcotic evening
falling down in my mind
so add that to one more reason
not to get on ye olde gearski
if ya need an op
then the morph aint gonna do much
for the pain
anyway
i must thank lord v
creator of everything
and in whose hand
everything rests
holding aloft the immense spheres
keeping the innumerable universes
revolving in space and time
as they must
and yet
alone with you
in your heart of hearts
and so beautiful and lovely
he lets you have yer hearts desire
if you can really handle it
fill me with your infinite love
let me be like i could
one down
one to go
sk

double whammy !!

identical twins
is there anything weirder
than identical twins
there was always at least one pair
at all my schools
i learnt early about the diff
between fraternal and identical twins
we had the abbott twins who were 2 peas inna pod
and we had the holloways
brian had almost white hair and darker skin
john altho he looked like brian
his hair was sandy and he was paler
maybe weighed a little more
a pair of identicals usually reduced me
to some silly state of envy confusion
a willingness to want to penetrate this thing
this doubling up of nature
why did that egg split and become 2?
no body knows that answer
myself
i say
2 souls with same right to egg
"i tell ya what, sis, i'll go ya halves"
2 souls with something left unfinished
2 arch enemies reunited as duplicates
or
just
2 strangers on a train
like the rest of us
wow i used to hang around sometimes
with these guys the king twins
they were so fucking identical
it took me ages to figure it out
oh those beautiful subtle differences
which your eye can seize upon
so you dont get fooled
so you dont make that ultimate faux pas, pa
ya call em by the other ones name
yeah ident-y-cal twinss
what a fucking trip
all those movies where id groan
when ya realise
oh no it was a bloody identical twin
that did it
the evil twin gone wrong

i saw a film once bout 2 i. twins
somewhere in usa
they play around do this n that
but at dinner time only one goes in
the other waits outside
we eventually come to realise
that one is dead
only the other twin sees him
the dead twin urges the other on to evil deeds
etc etc
oh and the grandmother teaches him how to
see thru the eyes of the birds
oh yeah that my kinda film
why not more of this stuff
and less of copsnrobbers?
shakespeare had twins
he had twins in his plays too
but now ive seen the true joys n tribulations
of being an i. twin
ive seen the confidence
the camaraderie
the support
the gestalt
and
ive seen all the other stuff too
the comparisons
the mistakes
the part of a package deal
double trouble!!
if i hadda buck fer everytime i heard that
you cannot even begin to guess what they share
how their relationship is
because the other one has always been there
right from the second that ole eggy
went splitsville
(and fiendss, they can split 3 ways too)
there she was, the double
the mirror
yer best friend forever n ever
twins fight like demons
ive seen e and m lookin round for anything
they could lay their hands on
scissors vases anything
they go at it tooth n nail
suddenly its over
not a word
all friendly
you cant intervene
one day in sweden one twin rings me up
at my place not too far away
theyre about 6or 7 then
daddy can you come over and punish her
shes been really bad to me
ok im comin right over
i get there
its the twin who rung answers the door
ok i say
im gonna make her sorry she did this..
is that what ya want? i say
she nods
shes determined
give her a smack daddy she says
vengeance in her eyes
i go in the bedroom
the other one in there
i say to her
you better pretend im punishing ya
scream n carry on
so she does
she starts wailing
im yelling n pretending
of course
the other one bursts in
no daddy no
but i thought you wanted her punished
yes daddy
BUT NOT THAT MUCH!
sometimes theyd cry when the other one was hurt
even if they werent there at the time
i tell ya one thing
if you took one of em out on their own
they would rapidly begin to miss the other
and theyd always say i wish she was here
we made up lots of games
walking round stockholm
kicking stones
or suddenly 2 of us
running away and hiding from the other one
we were even still playing that one
last year actually
we went down the coast
stopped at kiama to see the blowhole
which is almost never blowing
one twin uses the toilet
other twin quick as flash
lets hide daddy
we behind a tree
when other one comes out
its starting to rain
and shes realising shes in a strange town
and her father n sister seem to have skedaddled
the other one with me is laughing cracking up like a fiend
i cant bear to see the other one so dismayed
we jump out from behind our spot
ha ha ha
just like olde times..
anyway
i was myself dismayed
to find out today
that i musta been naive
to think one i. twin was
gonna have something and
not the other
minnas got the same condition
i might be goin over soon for a little while
i dunno
i think its all gonna be alright
sk

the underhold :how it affects you

good monday morning to you
today im goin in to edit the footage
of the cchhru at the basement
ive already seen it
and its gonna be a real silk purse from a sows ear job
believe me
not cos i look like ive thoroughly lived
every one of them 51 years (baybee)
tho i do
not cos of bad sound and mistakes
tho it has these
but for the indefinable magic
that has been lost
the thing that held it all aloft
the glue that held it all in place
you know when people say
you hadda be there
theres some sense in that
i can think of so very very few live performances
that have not withered reproduced
in the sunny confines of yer living room
able to control the volume
ff and rewind
light n dark
pause
stop
the band have lost the hegemony
the audiences clappin n screamin
have receded to a polite smatter
the expressions of exstacy
pain abandonment
the grimacing that a guitar seems to wanna
make ya do
those crowsfoot inducing loud roars
instead of singing it proply
the impossible closeups
that no one would ever see
ah..
no one has ever really filmed us live
and captured it
cos it aint possible
the closest thing
believe it or not
is a single shot
of the whole band
from halfway up the middle
of the audience
thats who the bands playin' to
not to a camera
six inches above and away from
yer left temple
so ya gotta see the whole band at once
its nonsensical to focus on the singer
thats why theyre a band, right?
i dunno
anyway
ive never felt the magic in live recordings neither
you gotta be there
thats it really
if you aint there
you cant get the feeling
on a cd or dvd at home
youve isolated one alkaloid
out of a whole drug
dont be surprised if the results
are disappointing
now ive realised this my whole life
im trying to think now
of a record that i like thats live
get your ya yas out
is the only one i can think of
and that cos it possibly snuck in
before mah critical faculties
sharpened up to todays
fever pitch
(nothin' can get over the bar)
but as for anythin else
theyre all disappointin
(yeah dylan bootlegs too)
(and the dead, i cant understand
the dead AT ALL)
and all those tedious bowies double
live bore a thons
its like filming a play
it doesnt work
its wooden
its pedestrian
the cchhru live is a conceit
that needs an audience
it plays to the audience
it cannot play to a camera
the cchhru n cameras
do not intersect
its a one off thing
for that night
on dvd
on cd
the jokes dont make ya laugh
the music dont make ya love
the performance dont make ya live
so whats , uh, the deal...?
i dunno
its filmed now
i must only hope for amelioration
i must placate the inexorable gods
expressed in pixels n blanks
shadow n light
flicker
flicker
persistence of vision
you see muddy
i'll steal from anywhere



ha!


sk

bliss comes first as a jangling flood

dear ....
how are you today
me, im fine
its a sunny morning here in bondi
seagulls, azure sky, white fluffy clouds
backpackers, tourists, old men playing dominoes
young girls texting on their poisonous mobile phones
shiny cars disgorge bright passengers
half lives
skin deep
frail old lady meets my gaze
in another time n place
she was a stunner
somehow i convey this to her
she sends me an image
a warm night, a garden
two lovers have detached from the main party
in the light of the lanterns
in the light of love itself
they stand among the shadows
at the edge of the water
the moon reappears
in its rays we see the womans face
breathtakingly beautiful
the solemn planes and angles
her perfect nose almost leonine
her closed eyes
translucent thru the lids

that was me she says
i break off contact
in a another second
i might have seen
that the man was me

bondi markets hauls itself together
an uneasy truce at the waterhole
hippies selling plants n incense n "eastern" stuff
the chinese massage guys
doin a hard sell on ya
then givin ya a good olde pull n push around
fer yer moneys werf
theres people selling hammocks
theres a great lookin asian dude
he gotta be my age
his hair all teased up in some kinda keith richard 1973
he sells military shirts n stuff
with patches stuck on
i got 2 shirts off him
my 8 ball shirt on ultc
n my super service as worn on all white tour
he buys these real cheap shirts
bungs on a lil patch (iron on type deals)
he charges like 65 bux
what does it matter
its the idea ya pay for
he had that fucking idea
and ya happy to pay
cos hes taken all the guess work out of it for ya

in the interior part of the market
people are seeing how THEIR idea is goin
some are cleanin up
others sit forlornly
their macrame pot boilers
and their impressionistic photos
unloved by the hoi polloi
i hate it when ya stop in front of a stall
maybe cos the crowd has almost come to halt
in the narrow spaces
and ya stop and they tell ya the price
of every trinket or second hand book end
on the stall
i was once the sorta junior partner
in a little clothing/market venture once
we werent doin so great
until one day my partner had the idea
of buyin all these scraps of material
that noone really wanted
all different colours
we got loads cheap
then i silk screened stuff onto the bitsnpieces
each one was an original bit
then she sewed all the bits n pieces
each individually silkscreened with
all kindsa stuff
rockstars faces
little slogans like
mandrax made me do it
or
let me take you to the empty place
etc
(insert own early sk ism here)
then she sewed that into this big sloppy kinda
sweater/jumper/pullover/turnover/pushover
these things, my sweet fiendss
sold like hotcakes
and soon we would getting 1000s a week from em
till the bubble burst a few months later
(by then everybody in sydney musta had one
each one was totally unique
i'd be walkin along in paddington
and id see all these snooty modelly types
walkin along with my fuckin logo across their chests
i even screened pictures of myself, a spider
and the words the church
this was in 78/79
so you can see i was doin some forward thinkin
mind manipulation marketing tekkneeks
even back then....)
people
i have rambled away my allotted time
i have other flocks to attend
and i aint even had brekky yet
just 3 gumballs and a bottle
of fiji water
yessaday i had an excellent nepalese veg
at paddoteen market (as evie calls it)
the scene of my brief fashion bonanza back in 1979
full circle now
sitting in the pleasant autumnal sunshine
with b. bouncer bouncing on mah knee
selling tat at the markets was never really my kinda thing
(mind you, there was loads of pot n stuff back there
in those days
so i m sorry to say i spent mosta the time
stoned behind a rack of clothes
freezing my ass off
and plotting how one day
in the far distant future
there would be a world wide web of computers
and that i would write my kinda memoirs
on a machine
instantly effortlessly
transmitted all round the world
in an instaneous flash
really
i was!
sk

just got in from 3bc

i feel betrayed
i feel lost
i think about my blogge
that got sent to magnetic heaven
my poor unknown unloved blogge
that i laboured over with love

fiendss i hadda nice nite lassa nite
i took a cab over to sunny newtown
with george the wurldss brainiest cab driver
hes fuckin' discussin' the subtext n semantics of rocknpop
w/me
and its apparent influence on left or boho pollytics
oh yeah
olde sk enjoys this stuff a lot more
than
hot enuff for ya?
or
how about those fuckin' roosters?
george is one of those guys
who you gotta ask
why the hell is a intellectual giant like this
droppin off guys at the casino in a cab?
george you always gonna be mah driver
in the nite time
(glenny havin the solemn honour of daytimes)
these kinda guys make traffic jams fun
in fact i got into such a heated debait
about something
that i was surprised when i finally realised
that i wassa sposed to be going somewhere
and that i'd actually arrived (baybee)
anyway
i was at the vanguard
where i did a soundcheck for hi fi mike
cos i wassa gonna singa coupla songas thatta nite-ah
great songs
the long way home
and
a new one
i only did the words for
the nite before
great music
sorta euro dancey trancey nancy blah blah bjorky stuffy stuff
i dunno
i hate labelling stuff
cos i hate it when they try to do it to me
what the fuck am i n the chchru?
ive had
mope rock
indy rock
alternative rock
pscychedelic rock
paisley underground(puh-leeze!)
any way hi fi is a cool dude
the whole album is great
buy one cos i'm on there, fer sure
but im shore ya gonna dig the whole cd.
after soundcheck
i went down to arch boheemian artiste n culture vulture
davey c n his loverly wife jeonga c (she from silver korea)
hes made this horrific horror film
it must be excellent cos i can hardly bear to watch
its making my flesh crawl
it is a brilliant film, thats fer sure
but i donna lika feeling this feeling too much
sort of anxiety as soon as it begins
total suspension of disbelief
(or even dat belief)
im also gonna be doing the soundtrack
and its gonna bee nasty
(i hope)
not necessarily my cuppa tee
but i can do it
and i sometimes like too
now dc and jc
theyre pretty arty filmy types
live in a warehouse in gothsville
hes seen more arthouse movies
than youve had hot dinners etc etc
i wondering to myself how could he have escaped my blogge
so long
so there ya go d and j
you boheemian hipsters have finally been recognised
but remember
ya start out hip
you end up hip replacement
thats the way it is

anyway we had vegetarian vietnamese
delishus
we smoked some jazz cigarettes
we hit the vanguard
(naughty old sk had a double red bull n voddy)
i met the other luminaries
who were guestsingers like me
inge liljestrom
connie mitchell
and a guy called iota
who tim po. has just produced
who has a very mellifluous voice
he came onstage in a black long dress
fishnet long gloves n stockings
a big pair of boots
a fur collared jacket
and a lovely red velvet hat
(i think my auntie doris had one like that
at russells christening in 1963)
but
the dude can sing
i was pretty goode i guess
(as per fuckin' usual)
the clapped
i said goodbye
bade my fond adieus to dc n jc
fled home
n
here i am today
i love ya
sk

damn

i wrote a really long and involved blog
for you today
and as it was publishing it
the system went down
and i lost it
and it aint anywhere anymore
and i feelso bloody sad that that happened
another second sooner mighta been ok
an hour down the drain
its all gone
sorry
bye
ps eks op now tuesday nxt week
sk

her kiss is the whip of the moon

strange days indeed
isolated in our heads
like ants deep in the earth
we assume everything
we know nothing
we stumble on fragments
we shout
look
now we know everything
we measure
we assign dimensions
we gauge value
we assess meanings
we search n search for a truth
already discovered
we dig in the dirt
next to a towering diamond
we kill the creatures who are us
in disguise
we cause and we become the cause
wickedness flaunting itself, as usual
same as its ever been
we cry out
how can god permit this?
we are swallowed by the years
traceless we go under
down n round
round n down
we determine meaninglessness as the prime
completely fucking blind
to the ballet of the clouds
the symphonies of the birds
the paintings of the forests
the drama of the seasons
you want meaninglessness
you get meaninglessness
and you get wickedness
science as uncontrollable anxiety
as bill nelson said in futurist manifesto
medicine races along side
half right, half wrong
just like all the religion
like a thousand little angels
on the point of a pin
theres no point in describing
the place that theyre in
like a filigree diamond
filched from a ring...

it isnt what youd thought itd be
we cant imagine what it really is
after all
after all that

you need to be constantly conscious
where?
aware!
look at it all carefully
watch yourself
what are ya doing?
why are ya doing it?
challenge the assumptions
demand the fuckin' miraculous
but go easy on em
at the same time
hiss at the villains
if you like
remember god
imitate christ
do yer best
man
its so simple
it takes so long
we need it so bad
insist on the stuff
thats had love put into it
thats what ya pay the big bucks for, fiendss
the love
and you thought it was for free?
everything contradicts everything
its a gordian knot
cut thru the ritual
call a fucking spade a spade
if we all did that we wouldnt have to bear
the great weight of loveless mediocrity
suffocating us

im playing with el laney tonito
strandgatan baybee
well
thats enuff for today
i love you
sk

unbewildered by these changes

imagine all space is within your head
imagine you contain me
imagine that my memories are yours
its easy if you try

one winter in early eighties
during a break in incessant touring
i wake up in rozelle
i guess russell is still asleep in his room
i have a pile....,
nay
a mountain of shirts
that sits in the middle of my room
this mountain is the fruit of my travels
round the obscure n remote op shops
of olde australia
the chchru drivin up n down the east coast
these bouys never bypass an odd town
nope, the make a (kil)beeline for it
raid the op shops
the st vinnie de pauls
the salvation army
the catholic ladies guild of kempsey shop
wherever a great shirt might lurk
there we were
often actually fighting each other
running in shops to be the first
to get the shirt
so there was at least 100 shirts
velvet
corduroy
paisley
floral
polka dotted
tab collared
button down
so i choose a shirt from the pile
a pink n purple floral number
pull on me everpresent black cord jeans (elephant)
pull on mah black suede boots
its kinda cold
i pull on my cord jacket as well
stumble down my stairs
last weeks gig at the tivoli still ringin' in my ears
russell n friends last nite mix still in bowl
i donna minda if i do
(sound of a hippy wally smokin' several bongs)
yeah thats better
(jesus, is it sposed to burn ya throat like that)
have my brekky
muesli n a hundred vitamin pills
and a cuppa tea
bongs kick in
mmm maybe another bowl of muesli or 2
need to hear my track of the moment
i always had a track i would play over n over
at full vol day n nite
they had been variously
my flamingo by nick kent and subterraneans
doot doot by freur
i am the cosmos by chris bell
back of my car by big star
this charming man by the smiths
ceremony n in a lonely place by new order
atmosphere by joy division
any way
todays track is hope by the mighty wah!
it goes on full volly
"you lied to me-ee i wish youd believe me"
the song does its trick
and i feel happy n sad all at once
russell staggers down stairs woken up by the racket
morning steven
he manages and disappears
into the shower
an ominous knock at the door
a dark shape i see outside
who could it be at this hour
i open my door
its markus
dressed in his customary black
tall gaunt n pale
like a cross between dirty harry n neil young n a ringwraith
with long black hair
and big yellow car his mother had dubbed
the marijuanamobile
he only spoke it cryptic whispers
almost inaudible for my ringin ears
wanna come up the coast steven
why not...
five minutes later im heading out of town
up to my friends hideout up in the hinterland
we drive thru early eighties sydney
the beautiful leafy suburbs on yer way north
markus is quite a character
totally anti-establishment
hes just waiting for some apocalypse
just round the corner
you better learn to use a shotgun n ride a horse
when all this is gone
he tells me
and we talk about all the guys who are
doing time for possession of one seed
or something preposterous
and he gets me all anxious
so we stop n refresh ourselves a little
we discuss conspiracy plots
the illuminati
jimi hendrix
finally we arrive at his little shack
hidden within a clump of trees
a little run down house
markus housemate is bill
a chinese guy with long black hair
who dont say nuthin
he makes markus seem boisterous
i get the grand tour
there are no, ahem, amenities
there is a trench
and near the trench in all their magnificent natural glory
half a dozen dope plants nod in the icy wind
and beyond that trip wires
which are connected to spear guns that fire a piece
of dowling on any who would trespass
the afternoon changes into a freezing cold night
it dont get this cold down in sydney
we all huddle round an open fire
markus stokes it n prods it
chucks on a few big logs
and soon we're snugger than buggers in a rug
someone does a food run
mmm vegemite n toast n cups of tea
bill silently takes up his solemn job as bongmaster
and he jus' keeps on handing it to me
and i just keep on smokin'
afraid i might appear rude if i decline
the wind n rain batter at the roof n windows
markus bill n i
silent in this fire illuminated room
only the crackle n grind of the wood
and the softly billowing smoke
i enter some eternity
this night is stretched out forever n ever
i am still there
somehow


love
sk

marine side story

sitting here in a new caf
right across from the pacific ocean
a not so balmy afternoon
here on the eastern coast of australia
winter winter winter
oh youve been a servant of the evil one
i hate autumn n winter
maybe thats cos im in the winter n autumn
of my life
the cold cuts thru to mah bone
the wind rips me open
and my songs escape
the sea is dark blue
about as inviting as funeral parlour
whitecapped and turbulent
it hurls sandfilled waves
at the shore
the sky is filled with racing clouds
every now n then
the sun breaks thru
it still burns
and itll still burn ya
no matter how cold it gets
the place is quite deserted
the tourists musta fled
real fairweather friends i guess
marty arrives
i guess hes gonna do the books
or something
he berates me for my one finger typing
he says hes got something to run by me
i gotta finish typing this tho
i dunno where i was going now
the cold wind keeps blowing
id guess youd call this cafe the opposite of stuffy
kinda like onetime
when i checked into my hotelroom
in nowheresville usa
i walked into my room
hmmm
something different here
tho not immediately apparent
its very cold n fresh in here tho
must turn off ac
gee the windows are clean tho...
the windows....
hey hang on
(approaches windows and feels that there aint no windows)
exclaims
there aint no fucking windows in my room
ah...
but the air was fresh
and it was very quiet
sooner or later
if you stay around longa nuff
everything will happen to ya
even getting a hotel room
with no windows
it aint all glammer my fiendss
it aint all dancing on clouds
nevermind all that
a new season has come to bondi
summer is over
thanks for your lovely love
sk