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23-May-2015 Beatles!
I had just been running this afternoon, and was just about to hop into the shower when John down the road knocked on my door and gave me two free tickets to see the Bootleg Beatles this very evening. I would have to leave home about 6.30pm and it was already gone 4pm. Unfortunately Dawn and the kids decided they wouldn’t bother and friends I contacted couldn’t do it at the last minute so I went by myself.
The Theatre was really cool and had only been renovated about 6 years ago .. very 1920s, lots of carpet, wood, chandeliers etc. The other people were from that era too .. I felt like I was one of the youngest people there!
The Beatles music was the soundtrack to my life and about 45 years after the originals last played a gig together it was a weird feeling indeed. Quite a spiritual moment and certainly proving that old stuff still has a place in the world… the Bootleg Beatles may not be the originals but to a large crowd of people in Anita’s Theatre at Thirroul thought they were certainly close enough. I really enjoyed it.
2-Nov-2013 The Clash – Interview
I finally got around to listening to the recent interview from early September with the remaining members of the Clash. Brought a tear to my eye a few times, but well worth listening to. Makes me realise that it’s a big part of me and my history. “I wanna riot … a riot of my own”
Interesting that although it’s on Youtube it’s audio only with a static image on the centre of the 7-inch single of “White Man in Hemmersmith Palais”. I used to have that exact single (the “b” side is “The Prisoner”).
Cerys Matthews hosts an audience with The Clash at the legendary Maida Vale studios. Cerys and an audience of 6 Music listeners chat to Mick Jones, Topper Headon and Paul Simonon.
In this exclusive, intimate and very special interview the band talk candidly about their career and affection for the late singer Joe Strummer. The surviving members reveal some of their long held secrets such as how they recorded the end of “I Fought The Law” in a public toilet, also telling Cerys that some of the sounds on “Guns of Brixton” were made by the band pulling bits of velcro apart in the recording studio.
Recorded in the Bing Crosby studio at Maida Vale on September 6th, around 150 6 Music listeners successfully gained a place to be in the audience and were able to pose questions to the band.
During the show Cerys is also joined by Johnny Green, the Clash’s tour manager from 1977-1980, who tells some brilliant anecdotes about his time on the road with the band.
24-Oct-2013 One Direction concert
I took Kody and her friend Aimee to see One Direction at Homebush. We only just managed to get the tickets almost 18months ago as all the concerts sold out so quickly (I think 6 in total) and even then our tickets were supposed to be obscured view but were actually quite fine. I must confess I don’t like 1D at all and the plan was to get one of her older sisters to go in with her, but it turns out that even a free concert ticket was not bribe enough so I went myself.
I would say that 95% of the people were Under-18 year old girls with the rest beign a few parents. I met the kids in Sutherland after work and then we drove to Lidcombe and took the shuttle train.
The concert was actually much better than I imagined and although I don’t really care for the band, there did give a good show and worth the $80 a ticket. I did like it when they played a few covers that I knew ie One Way or another/Teenage Kicks (One Direction version), Originally by The Undertones and Blondie. I had both those records as a kid! They also did a good version of Teenage Dirtbag by Wheatus. These covers had a much angrier guitar sound and I suspect that if they moved away from the very twee pop they would get a bit more critical acclaim.
Anyway the girls were over the moon and it was all a dream come true. We didn’t get home until gone midnight and I was glad to finally get to bed although my ears were still ringing from the music AND the screaming !
28-May-2013 Jello Biafra Gig
I was reading the newspaper (Sun Herald) last Sunday and saw that Jello Biafra was in town doing a spoken word tour, so I bought a ticket for today, Tuesday. I bought some of the first 7inch singles that came out in the UK many years ago, so have a soft spot for the Dead Kennedy‘s. I have even had some of the downloaded Jello Biafra spoken word concerts and they are ok – he is quite an angry green-leaning person with many politics the same as mine.
Returning to Australia for his first band shows since 1983, former Dead Kennedy’s frontman Jello Biafra has now added a handful of talking shows to his extended schedule.
Entitled What Would Jello Do?, the talking shows follow on from Biafra’s you tube series of the same name in commenting on contemporary political issues, democracy, government conspiracy and cover ups, election fraud – the type of banter Jello is notorious for telling and for which he’s an excellent orator.
Anyway, Tuesday was a bit abnormal as I had to take Kody to the dentist in the morning and it was lunchtime by the time I got to work, then afterwards I went by train to Newtown and walked down the Enmore Road to the theatre. The gig was good, although quite a bit about US politics (maybe not so surprising…).
I took an incredibly bad photo here:
Afterwards I walked back to Newtown to the station, and eventually got home at almost 1am.
8-Apr-2013 Out & About in Dhaka
Today was a hartal day meaning most things are stopped, closed and all messed up. This is now becoming a routine.
We met the Canadians (Lauren, Tina & Everett) at the coffee shop. It’s kind cool that there is no street frontage and has a “you have to know where it is vibe”. Then we headed off to the international school where Chris and Lauren teach. It is a bloody great school. Very impressive. I guess it should be as the local students pay $20k a year. You would imagine they would go on to become the country’s elite.
From there we walked to the Solmaid Community School. This was in a slum area just a few minutes walk around the corner. It was hot! This school recived half of the money Marc & Chris raised last year (I donated money to here). The school opened at the end of January this year.
There were 3 classes in full flight and they have a morning session from 8-11am and an afternoon session from 12-3pm. They were expecting us.
After this we went back and then out to the American Club pool for a few hours.
In the evening, I got picked up by Al (also Canadian) and we went byhis electrified rickshaw to a Korean Restaurant. It was pretty good although quite spicy. I wasn’t the only vego. Then we kicked on to the English club, the Bagia, as the Canadians planned to meet an english teacher Martin. He was a pretty good bloke. Of course the music on the jukebox was totally stellar, lots of The Clash, Jam, The Stones, Human League, Eddy Grant – I swear I knew all the words to all the songs. When everyone at the bar started singing to “Going Underground” I just felt like joining in. I got the 7″ the day that came out!
I got home about midnight.
On hearing the news about Margaret Thatcher dying at the english place, all I could think of was this Thatchera-era song which summed up so much of those times and stirred up so many memories:
22-Sep-2012 Good Saturday
After doing my chores, including shopping, I went swimming at South Cronulla. The temp was 16.6C and felt cold for sure, but warmer than Bundeena. It felt so long since being in proper waves again (as Bundeena wher eI have been swimming all winter is very sheltered). I am quite keen to start going with the morning groups at Cronulla again, 7.30am is ok at the weekend but 6.30am is a bit hard core for mid-week! It was very sunny and perfect, although they are rebuilding the South Cronulla prom so it looked like a building site.
After I got home I walked to Maianbar and waded across to the Spit as it was nearly low tide (so only knee deep). A good day all up, just sorting out hordes of teenage kids in the house and doing the ironing !
Playlist in the car today was:
- Bob Dylan – The Basement Tapes
- Toyah – The Blue Meaning
- Lene Lovich – Stateless
It probably shows my age as the release dates were (in order) 1975, 1980, 1978.
18-Jul-2012 Bullshit Detector
Whilst trawling the internet I often come across something that strikes a chord with me, and moves me, and tonight was one such occasion. I found this film about the Bullshit Detector series of albums released by Crass. Its 16minutes long and well worth watching and best explains what Bullshit Detector is all about. Its more than just the music. 10 times more. There is even a facebook page.
If you watch the movie then you will have an inkling that it was special records coming at at a special time. All the people interviewed are just like me!
For myself, I was 16 and just finished my ‘O’ levels and took the bus to Liverpool for a week to stay with my same-age cousin. London to Liverpool via Birmingham was a big deal for a small kid in those days. My cousin John had lots of Crass stuff, and the Bullshit Detector records. It was like pure Gold and I spent days reading the record covers, playing the songs and of course going to Probe records in Liverpool. Those were the days ….
8-Aug-2011 Billy Bragg interview
Dawn went to work tonight, I went running and did some pushups – it was cold outside brrh approx 7C. Then had dinner (tempeh burger & 2 oranges). After the kids went to bed I did the washing up and listened to this great 1hr interview with Billy Bragg.
12-Aug-2009 New Beginnings
I am going thru something of a metamorphosis at the moment – trying to work out the type of person I want to be when I grow up. Right now, there is only so much I can take – of work, of coolrunning, of all these other commitments.
So I am acting a bit like a monk at the moment – I have withdrawn off to my “wilderness” bolt hole of the RNP and am just doing lots of running, not much socialising and certainly no races. to be honest the main reason I rarely race is because I am not sure I really fit in to the main demographic of most fun runners anymore. Definitely not the city to surf or many of the other runs. I prefer the smaller runs, SMC, Sydney Striders, the M7 marathon is good etc. (also because I am skint).
I am thinking of running Willy to Billy though, that’s a good one.
Anyway, on the metamorphosis side. I have decided to cut the crap and just focus on the type of runner I want to be. So I am putting in some additional runs, and making it a higher priority, and a bit more sleep.
I am reading the more about the types of runners I want to be : Anton, Sleep Train and Shogun.
I have changed my diet a bit (more on that at another time). just shifting it up a gear. If I am going to run sub-5 at Six Foot next year I need to get hard core.
Books – I read this cool book by a total wally. or at least I always assumed that Deepak Chopra was a real wally, but his buddha book is just truly stunning & amazing and it really moved me. Now of course it was written like a novel so you never really know if Siddhartha/ Buddha said or thought that, or if it was that Deepak guy, but it was cool anyway. Well worth reading. anyway my reading is going off on a bit of a tangent for now. No dout I will write more about this later.
Music – the new wilco, and the old bright eyes.
Stop apologising for the things you’ve never done because time is short and life is cruel, its up to us to change (That’s the Jam, A Town Called Malice)
28-May-2009 Last Weekend
oh boy – I am really getting into this running lark:
Saturday. The weather looked shite when I woke up so thought it would just be a hard core few at bushies. there were loads of people. From wattamolla there are only a few options and we headed towards killer gorge. some new guys running and I was going well so figured I would clean them up later. I came stone last from our group even though I ran well. Even Six Bricks beat me. Billy listed me under the females for being so slow. Still I had a good run. Saw Lynda coming back close to Wattamolla (she’s on CR too). Heard about the bishops race (ssshhh…) I put it down as 16km. felt like it anyway. pretty pooped for the rest of the day, can’t even remember what I did, running is always the best part of the day.
Sunday. SMC 25km. I wanted to go to top up the kms and have a hit out as I run mainly by myself I wanted to see how I’d go. Answer was shithouse time although I was fairly happy with my time (2:25) equivalent to a 4:04 marathon. Jeezus, I need to sort myself out if I am going to run sub-3 anytime soon! I started off midway thru the pack then slowly drifted to the back. SMC need to be congratulated on putting on a top event – just how I like it – well run but no bullshit. Same as Striders. Compared to SMH, C2S and Blackmore’s then its not hard to see why I don’t worry about the big end of town. Good to catch up with everyone afterwards (briefly) – had to dash home to take a tiddler to swimming lessons. I also dropped off approx 100 pairs of recycled runners. Totally cactus in afternoon.
Went running early morning on Tues and weds, need to put in some hard yards. Loving it. the best.
Been listening to the new manic street preachers album. t’is good. I read some of this book – Thick Face, Black Heart but chucked it in the recycle bin. total shite. waste of money. I am waiting for the road to wigan pier to arrive by post, but if not then I will start on the sid vicious book.
This was originally posted to my blog on CoolRunning. It attracted one comment:
Tim: so let me get this straight. you are a ferral bush runner who shuns main events yet you are talking about a sub 3 marathon 
3-May-2009 Why Blog?
I have a friend who is a frequent user of twitter and often encourages me to use twitter. But I am struggling, I am not sure I get “it” even though I am often an early adopter of technology – call me a twitter sceptic.
But I think I get blogs (started using Blogger on the homepage of CoolRunning Australia in 2000) which was well before it hit the mainstream.
For me I like the idea of a blog to capture the state of my mind at this moment in time – maybe to leave a record to my kids of the sort of person I was. Or for myself if I lose my marbles and want to re-find who I once was. At least to me that sounds like a convincing argument for keeping a blog. I have a personal website but suspect it needs more explanation. I also find that when I write, assuming I am not stressed out, it helps me sort out the sounds in my own mind (there is always a lot happening up there but its too noisy to make much sense).
I have also decided to not write comments on my own blog eg responding to previous comments, but will address them in future posts.
So a couple comments:
1) Plu asked for a photo of my Kayak. Technically its a “sit on” hence you might imagine that in the big sea it will be hard work. That day I was riding a Squid but I have 4 Kayaks – others include an Ocky and a cuttlefish.
2) Great Gatsby – sorry I didn’t like it. It is part of a concerted effort to read some more “classics”. I’d heard of the book many years ago but actually thought it was about a hotel called the Gatsby (for some reason) and it was only when I read the back of it that I realised it was on something else totally:
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby brilliantly captures the disillusion of a society obsessed with wealth and status. Young, handsome and fabulously rich, Jay Gatsby appears to have it all, yet he yearns for the one thing that will always be out of his reach, the absence of which renders his life of glittering parties and bright young things ultimately hollow. Gatsby’s tragic pursuit of his dream is often cited as the Great American Novel.
It came across as rich things with too much money and I couldn’t get into it. Or maybe I put up a mental wall so I couldn’t get into it. One of my mantras in life has been “I don’t wanna hear about what the rich are doing, I don’t wanna go to where the rich are going, They think they’re so clever, they think they’re so right, But the truth is only known by guttersnipes” or maybe I have successfully brainwashed myself into thinking that. Anyway life’s too short to worry aboutt bad books, there’s millions more out there to read.
i recently read the White tiger book as I am a total fanboy for stuff on India and China. I liked it.
3) Serena asked if I had read Vernon God Little – I haven’t but have listened to an interview with the author and would like to read it sometime. In general I don’t read many fiction books, usually prefer non-fiction, or pseudo non-fiction.
On the running front I ran down the street with the dog today, so its likely I will be able to start off slowly “soon”. if not tomorrow. In general if I get injured I am happy to come back slowly to make sure its healed properly.
Here are some of the Youtube videos I watched when I was doing the washing up last night – it’s a bit of an eclectic mix:
- Horse feathers “curs”
- Billy Bragg – Carpenters v Bob Dylan
- NME Video: Billy Bragg at SXSW 2008
- Show of Hands “Roots”
- Angelic Upstarts – Loneliness Of The Long distance Runner
- Dub Pistols and Terry Hall performing ‘Gangsters’ live
- Sonic Youth – Candle
- All the Young Dudes/Jean Genie – David Bowie & Billy Corgan
- Mott the Hoople: All the Young dudes
- placebo – the bitter end
- placebo – running up that hill
- Knockin On Heavens Door – Antony & The Johnsons
- placebo – bigmouth strikes again
This was originally on my blog on CoolRunning and I had a few comments:
runrosierun – I have the same problem with Twitter. I’ve tried a couple of times but I just don’t get it.
Fred – Mott the Hoople!!! All the Young Dudes!!! Thanks for the reminder of this great song.
rachinaus – You are right Kev…life is too short for bad fiction – which is why I gave up always trying to finish a book if I genuinely didn’t like it – its also why I never understand people rationing a book they enjoy so it will last longer – I mean there are so many great books no one will ever read them all in a life time.
I also agree about Gatsby and the rich but I was always intrigued by the sub text of old money versus new money. Jay Gatsby never ‘belongs’ in this book because he ‘made’ his money. What he yearns for is not just Daisy – it is the life they represent – even with money he cannot have it because he had to earn the money and is a self made man.
I think maybe this can strike a chord for any one who has felt that they are not quite part of the society they are in – or the one they want to be in. But also to want what you cannot have is an affliction that affects more than just the rich I think – OK I promise to stop commenting about Gatsby.
Hmmm – the book stuff always engages me – maybe that’s why I’m giving up my job in the new year to open a bookshop
tim – I gave twitter a good go. I found the most interesting people I could. I read their tweets each night. It became a chore. i like blogs. I like this blog. It has a range of topics with cool links and is about someone I know quite well. Twitter is just too short to have any quality to it. I sometimes wonder if we as a society just love new things.
serena – I agree with everyone re twitter. I gave it a shot. My thinking is that I will keep up with all the social network stuff so I can stay up to date on what the kids are into, but twitter made my brain get sucked out of my head and into the ether. I had to keep patting the latest Vanity Fair for reassurance that people aren’t that boring everywhere (although the thing that made me squirm was seeing how boring my own ‘tweets’ were).
Kevin I was sorting through my books that have to be moved (I have hundreds; a book junkie) and stumbled upon The Great Gatsby. I wouldn’t have opened it but thought of this blog and had a look at it was filled with notes from year 12 Lit TAE exam, a little trip back in time.
13-Apr-2009 A new start
Well, it’s been some time since I last posted.
Stop apologising for the things you’ve never done,
Cos time is short and life is cruel
But its up to us to change
I am not good at posting to blogs when I feel stressed and my running generally does a nose-dive also.
I am guessing the stress was six foot -induced and that’s over with for another year (no doubt I will post about that at some stage).
Actually my running went well over Xmas and Jan as per most years but then dropped off in Feb and March and picked up again in April (fairly obviously as Six foot is in March).
I would like to start posting more as it helps ME sort out the ideas buzzing around in my head to something that means something to ME.
Coolrunning is going great – I do less and less. Got some great people helping the site along. Although I should work out a formal way to handover to the one person that will run it. I am getting a buzz back into my running again and I like it.
Been reading heaps as always. The most memorable was Jude the obscure by Thomas Hardy. Probably one of the saddest things I have ever read, but familiar (criss-crossed Wessex many times) and also me and my missus often choose the most tortuous options also. I also read a lot of blogs and internet stuff.
Some of my current faves are:
Digital Nomads: http://www.digitalnomads.com
Free economy community: http://www.justfortheloveofit.org/blog.php
This is my heart it’s a good heart: http://finallyseeing.tumblr.com
Been listening to a lot of music also – some old, some new etc sometimes on my ipod, sometimes podcasts, some downloaded stuff. As usual it’s just an eclectic mix. Sometimes I will listen to youtubes, or random bands I have read about or other people’s mixtapes downloaded etc.
Maybe I’ll stop there, so I can keep some other things to say later.
As this was posted on my old blog I did get one comment from my friend moondust:
I spotted you yesterday walking very determinedly through Wynyard station on your way (I’m guessing) from the Martin Place building to the Kent St. Some of the stress probably coming from there also. Just control the things you can control and deal with the rest one thing at a time.
Thomas Hardy is way too depressing for me these days, although he writes female characters very well. There’s a really good BBC mini-series of Jude the Obscure, with Robert Powell playing Jude. May be out on DVD. Very intense – teenage girl stuff.
31-May-2008 Coolrunning Nerve Centre – Actually Nah
I was thinking of posting about the coolrunning nerve centre, and even took some photos, but the reality is we moved house last year, and my office had moved from a bedroom to another room to another room etc and most of the work was done during lunchtimes and coffee breaks at my day job so there isn’t really A nerve centre.
the desk – we downsized and therefore “the office” also got downsized to “a desk”
another view (mainly of the kitchen!)
I also do a lot of work now on the kids pc’s given that most of my stuff is now in the cloud.
I often take my laptop to work and work on the train (40mins each way) with a next-g card or even sneak of to a small cafe etc to work there. if truth be told, I still do some coolrunning stuff at work, but not much other than posting to the forums, as the wingnuts have locked out a bunch of stuff. however I often sink $10 every month or so into everywhere internet down between central and town hall somewhere, and my trusty standby, kinkos near australia square. I lash out $10 on a ticket and that lasts me a couple of weeks of lunchtime work.
I plan to run with billies bushies tomorrow as they are running from bundeena trig.
Last weekend I did this awesome bike/run/ swim. Biked thru my village, out on some trails to marley beach, dumped my bike in the bush and started running (felt like the old days, legs all heavy), ran like a star to wattamolla – actually went past as I wanted to check a rope going over the cliffs (someone has moved it bugger), then ran back to marley, cycled like crazy back home then swam in the sea in my shorts/topless. (not bad for winter – everyone here thinks am a total fruitcake). I was out for approx 2hrs 40mins, and was well stuffed.
obscure link for today – was listening to bauhaus for the first time for a while – bela lugosi’s dead in fact. I never realised they got released on small wonder. Small wonder was a relatively obscure punk record store in walthamstow that had a huge impact on the london punk scene.
Kevin Tiller 
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