America….Bloody Oath.

My last 2 weeks… June 17, 2006

Hey all!

Sorry it's been so long since updating, but I have been catsitting out at Crystal City, and have not had Internet access, apart from trying to steal wireless from other people which wasn't very successful! It sucks because I have had a fun couple of weeks as well!

Here's a quick rundown…

6/6/6 – Wolfmother – Black Cat

Oh hell yes. I had been hanging out for this gig for months. We got in for free thanks to some Aussie friends in Chicago who knew the tour manager (whose number I now have in my phone!).

Wolfmother rocked out as only they know how. I saw them at the Big Day Out earlier this year, and they were outstanding in a big arena, but in a little club, they just went off amazingly. Solid, pumping, tight and rocking. They are so good live. I hear they have a sold out tour of Australia coming soon. If you haven't got tickets…SCALP some!

They have been going great guns in the states. Playing lots of shows, lots of TV and store appearances (were on Letterman last week) and they will be supporting Pearl Jam for some upcoming shows in Europe. I really hope the boys make it big because they are the most excting thing to come out of Australia for a long time (We don't count Jet or The Vines).

The World Cup

Of course this has been the highlight of the last week. Not only did I spend last weekend completely drunk and in Football heaven, that Australia game on Monday (which was at 9am for us here) , was just the icing on a huge huge cake of luscious football. Me, Dougall, Alex and Tinning just went ballistic after those 3 goals. It was so amazing to watch and experience Australia's first ever goals and first ever World Cup win. We were drinking malt liquor and beer from 9 in the morning and the day just flew by as the yanks went down (hehehe) and the Italians showed their skills against the Ghanans (Ghanians? Ghanesians?).

And right now? I am soaking in the Ghana v Czech Republic game. I have been trying to watch every game, or at least part of every single game……and…OMG Ghana just scored on the Czech Republic!! Holy crap….that was awesome!

It doesn't matter who is playing. I am just soaking it in as much as I can.

Mind you, the American commentators suck. I almost prefer to watch the games on Spanish TV to avoid hearing their crappy commentary where they feel they have to compare football to baseball, basketball and boxing. One commentator even said, "Everyone in the world has heard of Michael Beckham". So sad it's not even funny!

My Aussie holiday!

I have booked and bought my tickets back to Australia from July 1st to July 15th. I am looking forward to seeing the kids especially, but also I miss my family and friends so I will hopefully try and catch up with everyone I can while I am there. I actually arrive in Sydney on the morning of the 3rd (missing a day!) but can't wait to get there!

While I'm home I will be celebrating my 30th and my sisters 21st, so be prepared for a party!!

So hopefully I will be around a bit more from now on. Thanks to you all for your comments and emails. It's nice to know people are checking out this blog and enjoying reading it!

GO THE AUSSIES against Brazil tomorrow!!!! I will post some photos of our t-shirts that we'll be wearing. Made especially for the World Cup!

The life of a nomad.. April 8, 2006

I write this from an Apple iMac that I am utilising whilst house/petsitting a little pug dog named Max up on W Street in NW Washington DC.

I currently have the keys to 4 different places in NW and NE DC and am looking after cats and dogs and houses so as I keep off the street. It’s an experience!

I really bit off more than I could chew this weekend. Not only is there Max the pug dog here, but there’s Kula the Shephard-cross up in Brookland, and Sue and T-Bone the cars in Adams Morgan and Pharmacuetica in Dupont.

Am I crazy or what? I will have to try not to double-book myself in the future however as it’s really crazy trying to commute between houses, and work out where to keep my stuff.

And there’s the animals! There is this cat in Dupont Circle, in this tiny little apartment on a hidden away street that hides. When I first went there with the owner, she had to go in first, so the cat wouldn’t hide away. So I turn up to check on the cat, and I can’t find her (or him? Who can tell) anywhere. The dog wasn’t touched. There was nothing in the litterbox. What the hell?

So I look upstairs and downstairs in the places that the owner said she might hide. But still nothing. There is a closed door which appears to be a spare room or something and I look in there, but at first look I see and hear nothing so I move on. 10 minutes later after still not finding the cat, I have a closer look in the spare room.
There, hidden away in the corner behind a box is a cat. Scared, hungry and freaked out.

The lady who owns this cat has gone to Iraq and France for a month, and she bought an Auto-feeder for the cat but she couldn’t get it working before she left. It took me 15 minutes or so, but I figured it out. This cat is totally skittish though so I’m sure I’ll have fun trying to find her next time as well….
Fortunately this place had a pushbike that looked hardly used, and I thought I would borrow it to trek around town instead of using up money on the Metro to get everywhere.

It’s worked out well, and I have managed to ride 20 blocks in 15 mnutes, which is quicker than the metro anyway!

So…thursday night!

It took me until I reached Washington DC before I saw John Butler Trio for the first time, live. They were at the 9:30 Club. Firstly, I rock up there in my Aussie Socceroos top, and I look around for the people that I knew were going. I didn’t have much luck finding them, so I ended up just pushing up into the crowd near the stage.

I look and listen and there are Aussies everywhere. It feels like I am at home, standing in the ANU Bar. I end up chatting to bunch of girls who are n DC as nannies. They tell me that they have been here 18 months and this is their 3rd John Butler gig. There’s American guys ALL around these girls as soon as their accent filters out. It’s pretty funny to watch.

So, JBT comes out and plays one amazing gig. They just churned out hit after hit and the crowd was lapping it up. It seems that they attracted a pretty big following in the States as everyone seemed to be singing along.
When John got up and played Peaches and Cream, with a single mic in the middle of the stage and a guitar, he asked the whole crowd to be silent. After he told one tool to ‘Shut the Fuck Up’ he went on to sing the song along with the whole crowd. And in the last chorus bit, the other 2 guys came up and sang along as well. It was acoustic, but it was electric. Just amazing to hear the whole crowd single along.
I was talking to some Americans after the concert (which went for a marathon 2 1/2 hours) and they said it was the best concert they had ever been to.
It was pretty damn good and makes me rue never seeing them in Australia before. But I am just glad that I got the opportunity to check them out here in front of a crowd they seemed like it would appreciate them more than an ANU Bar or Royal Theatre crowd.

So now I sit, in this house on W Street, in front of an iMac, on a Saturday night trying to decide whether I will go out or not.

Better go walk the pug first….

Bands, Music and Parties March 11, 2006

New Pearl jam album coming out May 2nd. Oh HELL yeah. And of course, they are touring it and they will be in DC on May 30.

So who’s jealous? 🙂

System of a Down will be in Virginia in August, so I might try and see them too.

Nebula, Hellacopters and The (kiwi) Datsuns on tomorrow night at the Black Cat. I love live music, and want to see more. There’s also The John Butler Trio playing soon at the 9:30 Club. I think I want to see Blackalicious as well. There’s just too many bands, and too little money!
I saw Dave Chappelle’s Block Party last night with about a 95% black crowd. It was great. They were getting into it, and it was a fun movie. Dave Chappelle is a funny bastard. He is touring to DC as well but his show sold out in like 5 minutes. He actually comes from here I think, so he has a huge following, and seeing as though 70% of DC is black, it’s little wonder.

He does attract alot of us white folk as well though.

Setting up for a big party here at the house tonight. I will probably post photos later. It’s a farewell for Adrian who heads back to Oz in a week or two. There should be 30+ people here with lots of Aussie beer, punch and good music!

The weather kicks arse today. it’s like 21 C today, and warming up to 26 on Monday. Good Bye Winter!

But back to 11 on Wednesday. Damn! it’s worse than the topsy turvey Canberra weather!

Went out last night to a place called ‘The Big Hunt.’ But we renamed it to ‘The Magic Hunt’. We’re so funny. We was, me, Dougall and Alex (new guy at work, also from Canberra who freakily knows Dougall’s brother and people that I know. Canberra is a small town). Had a number of ‘Bad Ass’ beers and generally had a fun ‘ol time.

Anyway, time to go get some stuff together for the party I guess.

oh yeah, and Yellster you’ll be happy to know that the name ‘Dorko’ is getting around now….I had some friend of Alex’s saying, ‘So, this is Dorko..’ last night.

Gees, it’s like being back in high school….