THE BLACK BALLOON:

Bit of a funny old weekend, it was the ANZAC long weekend and i didnt have anywhere to really go away but still managed to fit a bit in, Saturday i got to visit Matt and Robyn and see their new bub Lily then raced across the the city to catch up with Barb’s and go out for dinner at Govinda’s in Darlinghurst, the cool thing about this place is after dinner you can pay a few bucks extra and stay around and watch a movie which we did, ‘The Other Boleyn Girl’ was pretty good, sort of makes me wish the the royals were run like that today, you watch the movies while lazing around on what i can only describe as glam bean bags, it was small and intimate and this was no more apparent than when someone started farting, inevitable really considering the food was all vege and the starter was a bean soup.

Finished off Saturday night with a hot chocolate on Oxford st, scary, scary place that on a Saturday night, it was crawling with cops and they seemed to have their work cut out for them, i dunno to me it seems like the fun has gone out of that place, well the street at least.

Above pic: The good and bad of rain, miserable weather made to look amazing .. i took this from my kitchen window just before heading over to Tyson’s new pad.

Above pic: This weekend Tyson moved into his first ever flat, it’s such a funky little place and i have total door envy, not only is every internal door at Tyson’s padded with foamy plastic but EVEN the front door has the padding, this is a total tribute to Elvis i’m sure who’s doors at Graceland’s were padded as well.

Above pic: I’ve had my digital camera now for a few months now but i’m yet to get around to buying a bag for it, so far i’ve been using the furry pouch it came in, i’ve sort of become a bit attached to my dag covered bag.

Above pic: Went to see this movie last night, i was really moved by it and i thought it was amazing that it came from a first time director, i love a movie that has a real Aussie flavour .. i dont mean an in your face pastiche but those movies that have a real Aussie flavour and a feel that only people from here would get, things like unique set decorations and costumes that are so Australian and bring back a flood of memories, the school uniforms in this movie are pretty close to what we did have to wear here (well at least at my school)

BRIAN WILSON SYDNEY JANUARY 2008:

As long promised here are the photo’s from Brian Wilson’s Sydney concert’s this past January, Thanks to Dave Farras for letting me post the first lot of photo’s which he took. I wont rehash all the stories and adventures but a couple of things come to mind, as with every Brian tour i have been around once again this one was surrounded by joy and friendship and amazingly good times, whenever you are around a Brian event it seems any troubles and woes you may have fall away for the duration. As you can see by the photo’s most of us got to meet Brian and most of the band and i would like at this point to thank Tony and Robyne for pulling together the Orient hotel get together and especially Jeff Fosket who came along and just happened to bring his mate Brian along. I’ve now had the chance to meet two three of the inspirations of my life, Paul McCartney, Linda McCartney and Brian and through this meeting with Brian i was able to simply thank him as i did Paul and Linda for the absolute joy and happiness they have brought into my life.

The Orient hotel get together really felt like, and looking at the pic’s really was a gathering of family.

One final thing, i wish everyone could have been there with us when we got to meet Brian, the sense of love and care for Brian in that room was tangible, you could feel it moving around you like a warm breeze, when it was my turn to have a sit and a chat with Brian he held my hand and said ‘You’re cold!!’ i responded that i was nervous and jokingly started to rub my hand on my bum to warm it up, Brian looked at me and said ‘Hmmm maybe you should go to the bathroom and put it under one of those hand dryer’s to warm it up’. Later as Brian was leaving he passed me and grabbed my hand and said ‘That’s better, it’s warm now’, it must have been the warm breeze of love in the room that done it.

All photo’s below were taken by and are copyright David Farras








Above pic: Ah yes, the giant inflatable Beach Boys goiter, it hovered over us like a giant undecended teste just waiting to whack us on the head.

All photo’s below were taken by and are copyright Greg Swan.




















Above pic: I took this photo of Nelson at Hotel during lunch, i had it blown up and i presented it to Nelson the next evening, he loved the photo and hugged me in thanks, just before the band flew out i got to chat to Nelson one last time and just as i was leaving he thanked me again for the photo.

Above pic: Nelson’s scraps.

Above pic: The infamous Brian DNA cake, when Brian cut the cake it started slip and Brian grabbed it with his hand, later some fans were to find Brian’s finger print embedded in the icing, i guess it was our version of the hand print’s outside the Chinese theatre in Hollywood, except these finger print’s were a lot more valuable and definately and lot more tasty.

Above pic: I took this photo of Brian in Newcastle in 2004 during the SMiLE tour, this is what i got Brian to sign for me at the Orient hotel.

THAT WAS THE WEEKEND THAT WAS:



Spent the weekend away in Sydney, met up with Steve at Broadway .. oh man, i’ll never complain about parking down here at home again! i was stuck in a parking lot gridlock for the longest time, made our way to the fab Glebe record fair, i mentioned and noted to Steve that this funky inner West location has a vastly different clientel to the West West Parramatta record fair, at Glebe it’s chock full of hot indie boys looking to score vinyl to mix up, the Parra fair is usually chock full of 40 year old male postal workers who still live at home with mum, nothing wrong with that but ummmmmmm there IS something to be said for the inner West vinyl seeker, and speaking of i almost had a wettie as i was scanning the stalls and found a girl with a K-tel record selector still in it’s box for sale!, years ago i gave one of these to Phillip as a gift and it was one of the hardest things i’ve ever had to do, handing that over to Phillip when i secretly desired to keep it, so i was stoked when i found this one for me and not only that the girl had marked down everything half price so i ‘only’ paid five dollars for!, i love how on the box it states ‘Works just like a computer’ COOL!!, so it download’s porn and virus’s?.


On Saturday night we headed off to Polly’s dance at Marrickville town hall, i havent been to a Polly’s dance in about ten years and i forgot how much fun they are, the drag show’s go on for almost fifty minutes!! Beryl graced us with her presence later in the evening and a great time was had by all, we became a bit obsessed with one of the drag queens, she totally looked like the spawn of Beryl Motion, you can see her in one of the above pics, she’s standing on the left of the photo with another drag on the steps of the town hall, i so have to go to the next dance, i even managed to run into a couple of old friends, too many couples there tho, hey .. so i’m bitter



Sunday a favorite way to spend a day, late breakfast in a cafe then aimlessly walking around the shops in Newtown, where else could you find a rubber toy of an obese Ronald McDonald?.

FAIRDAY 08:




Better late than never, Mardi Gras Fairday this year was just about perfect, not too hot and not too cold AND the rain stayed away, it was cool this year as my neice and her fiance Emily came along and it was cool as an uncle to see this. If you look at the third photo you can see Beryl having a little chuckle to herself .. of course surrounded by cups of beer, by the time we got to the restaraunt Beryl had gulped, sculled and licked up twelve beers by that time, tho the trooper she is she managed to hold down the gut full of Thai food she gobbled up, a true legend.

OP SHOP 08:

Above pic: it seems it doesnt take much to get Tyson to simulate defacation, i was amazed on our recent ‘Op shop au go go’ to find this old wooded thunder box, but what both scares and facinates me is that the pan on this blurter actually looks like a Hotel room service tray.

Above pic: it seems everything has a price except for this stunning wig.

FRIDGE MAGNETS:

Recently a few friends in the States by coincidence decided to gift me with fridge magnets, one a Jackie O set and another was of Paul in his swimming trunks, my middle name is ‘Mix and match’ so thats just what i done, i think Paul looks fabbo with his magnetic Oleg Cassini dress on, and in the second pic in honour of Jackie O’s Cousins Big and Little Edie Beale i decided to mix up Jackie’s outfit so her pants are on upside down and on her head instead of a pillbox hat is a lovely heel, ‘I have to think these things up .. ‘

EMO’S:

Above pic: Me with native bird of Australia the ‘Emo’, my nieces partner Emily is from the States and for her birthday we took her to look at some native animals, she will deny it but i’m sure i heard her refer to the ‘Emu’s’ as the ‘Emo’s’.

Above pic: Me communing with a Kangaroo, everyone thinks they are all nice and cuddly and these ones were pretty docile, but i once saw a giant roo try to almost disembowl my brother, it torn his shirt and cut him (i missed most of the action, i was too busy racing to get my camera out) but these little guys were cute, plus being a vege i have a theory that animals dont smell death and slaughter on me so they dont ever bug me.

Above pic: I LOVE this photo that my niece Lis took, i call it ‘The Persistence of wheelchair’ as i find this pic very Dali-esque, i was trying to get the kangaroo to wear my glasses but it was freaking out, i think it thought it was hallucinating (much like what i see when i wear them) i love how my hand is framing it’s head and in the background is my mum sitting in a wheelchair but if you look closely her legs are reflected and distorted in the glasses, hey give me a break, i’m an Aquarian, i see art in just about everything.

BAD RONALD:




Recently my zygot sister in trash Marcia turned up gold on ebay when he landed a copy of my all time favorite scary movie from when i was a kid ‘Bad Ronald’, it was great watching it again and it was every bit as cheap, nasty and camp as i remember it, it’s weird after blogging about Number 96 and now Bad Ronald both from my early youth i realise that even back then i may not have known what it was called but i was totally drawn to the camp value in all these movies and tv shows, even things like Shelly Winters swimming scene in The Poseidon Adventure i totally saw the camp in that, and so the question begs, nature v’s nurture? i’m going with nature.

SOFT SERVE:

I guess a meditation in my life should be ‘As long as bread and butter pudding and soft serve are available to me on a dinner plate maybe life isnt so bad after all’

FROM MY NOTICE BOARD: