Category: Washington St.

Japan Gets Real

Along with new voices.

(updated: 16 March 2025)

I’d always known about Japan.

From a very young age, I saw the Japanese characters on the back of drink cartons, along with Astro Boy on television. Also, I pondered my mum’s use of chopsticks, her shopping for bean shoots, roasted sesame oil, tofu and soy sauce at Japan Mart and use of the wok. I also liked checking out different car brands which meant going to the motor show. Then, in 1988, I learned Japanese at school. Also, my dad’s good friend had a Japanese wife.

Next door to Japan Mart was Brent’s Toy Shop. Both those shops have become a hairdressing supply store and bicycle store respectively, and have been like that ever since – for decades.

Italy started to get real too, when I first saw a Lamborghini Countach at Brent’s in the mid-late 80’s. Over time, they actually had a few – sometimes with rear spoilers and sometimes without. Inside the store read the slogan: “What separates the men from the boys are the price of their toys.” So gazing at Pirelli P-Zeroes that were as wide as my chest is a vision I won’t forget.

I used to think “how is this even a car?” and the name was cool too. The teasing sales guy said he’d let me have the car for $5, but I needed to pay literally on the spot. Somehow he knew I had no cash on me.

Jay Leno bought one as his daily driver and said the key with Italian cars was to let them warm up before heading off. The shop also had a De Tomaso Pantera, Aston Martin, white Lotus Esprit and red Ferrari 328 GTS at different times and as the office was on a mezzanine, as I would check out cars, the staff would peer down at me.

Wallet-wise they seemed more interested in knowing about my dad than about me. Yet by 1987 we “only” had a light-green Honda Accord…

[2020]

… to hell with those Japanese 4 seaters.

I am pretty sure most of Brent’s cars were new – and multi-brand dealerships don’t exist like this anymore and perhaps that’s why it closed down – the sales guy said something about it – the auto-makers wanted large orders, not for 1 or 2 units and they wanted vertical integration.

At the time, the closest I got to driving in a Ferrari was sitting in Ron Walker‘s red Testarossa on Irving road as I rode passed a well-known residence with “Spartacus.”

[2020 | 2025 ]

Good guy… but the Americans and Japanese solved (or attempted to solve) the problem that the Italians created – I drove one in Test Drive on the 8088.

[mid + late 80’s]

…and in Out Run at the Fun Factory arcade with Mikito (see further down) about 100m up from Brent’s, but which has also since shut down.

Recently, (as of 2024) a motorcycle salesman told me point-blank that “Life’s good on a low-rider” for a 2007 Suzuki Boulevard.

Mid-life crisis averted. Thank God for the Japanese!

Yet, I’d rather an electric unicycle at this point because it carves better and co-incides with my dream flying. So whatever takes me to Downtown Venus?!?

P.M. Dawn - Downtown Venus (Live NPA Canal+)

Anyway, we had some Japanese next-door neighbours who lived in the apartment block in 1987.

In fact, I met a number of people who lived in that building because I used to hit a tennis ball against the walls in the back parking lot occasionally after school when there were no cars around, and the Body Corporate Manager’s name was Adrian too.

Incidentally, there was a proper tennis court across the road, and the owner was nice enough to let me play their as well and have tennis lessons with Doron on Saturday mornings.

But that court was eventually bulldozed for the owner’s new residence that was self-designed, while their main house was sold-off as well. In that house, during the first intifada, a guy once said that the Gaza Strip was actually a nightspot, but it took me a few years to get the pun.

But my first reaction to seeing footage of the intifada was that the IDF should throw rocks back. In Australia, if someone started throwing rocks they’d be arrested.

Also, with this mindset, the IDF to this day could launch missiles such as Katyushas (or the equivalent) into Lebanon and the territories as well. IDF becomes IPF – Israel Proportionate Force. Because if I lob a tennis ball over the fence, someone may eventually lob it back.

Why aren’t there rows of tanks and missiles in northern Israel pointed at southern Lebanon permanently, or a fleet of self-destructing FPV drones ready to go? It makes no sense – actually it makes a lot of sense depending on the perspective. Moreover, Israel should be preparing for drones carrying cold-war warheads next as being the “new Qassams” and have jammers ready to go.

In 2025, if I come across any anti-Israel rhetoric, usually I can just say something like “What are you a Muslim or something? They’ll come for you next. Haven’t you read the Quran?” Talk about useful idiots – especially Prime Minister Netanyahu (previously Milikovski) whereby from my observations, he rarely talks about the Muslim angle of the conflict and confuses Jews with Israelites and Israelites with Israelis – like so many others.

Having today’s “Israel” named directly after its predecessor from 2500 years ago (below right) when the Israelites actually existed (as the 12 tribes) doesn’t help matters either.

[ Tower of David museum, 2017 ]

If only today’s Saudis came with gold tributes for the Prime Minister as might have happened 3000 years ago.

[ ” ]

But that was before Islam and during actual Israelite Kingship.

So Jerusalem is a city that “has been fought over sixteen times in its history. During its long history, Jerusalem has been destroyed twice, besieged 23 times, attacked 52 times, and captured and recaptured 44 times.” src

[ ” ]

So I wonder, when someone buys some dates in Sweden:

Are they:

  • Actually wanting to “Re-conquer Al-Quds” rather than to “Free Palestine” as history would infer?
  • Aware that the “international day to express support for Palestine and oppose the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories” is called “Al-Quds Day” circa 1979 – ie “Jerusalem Day.”
  • Living by the sword?
  • Aware of their own ancestral conquests and bloodshed?
  • Aware that pro-Palestinian content may in fact be sourced from certain Jews in order to turn themselves into better victims to receive more donations and support the war paradigm? This happens in Gaza as well – diverting food trucks away from those in need – creates better Palestinian victims while providing goods to sell/store and enables more content to be swallowed by useful idiots.

Let he who is without sin cast the first stone date.

All warfare is based on deception.

Anyway, so 11 or 12-yr old Mikito and a bunch of us would go to the Fun Factory and blow our coins on Double Dragon and Dragon Ninja.

Mikito was an only child and his dad was a hairdresser. I’m pretty sure their visa application was rejected and they returned to Japan. He brought over his Famicom and used it here and that was amazing to me. He struggled with English but we all made it work somehow and he was a lot of fun.

Back then, we had a Honda Accord and on my way to learning Karate in 1995, I learned Tae Kwon Do years earlier.

1

Yet mostly I dreaded Thursday’s Tae Kwon Do class because at 2 – 2.5 hours, it was so tiring and stressful. It was also a fair drive to reach the Camberwell Civic Centre. One time, the car ran out of petrol and literally rolled into the servo next door. And that’s the way the class made me feel so often.

But, under the guidance of Jack Rozinsky, I ended up with a yellow belt and two stripes before stopping. Karate in 1995 was with Sensei Joe, which I preferred.

I won an award “Most Spirited Senior” that year and was somewhat sad to give it up due to study commitments and a desire to change my physicality.

1 2 3

I threw away the trophy recently (late ’22) due to it dropping, and should’ve taken a photo before doing so. Back into the spirit realm. I remember sparring competitively with another Jewish guy double my age (Jonathan?) at the second-floor venue in Cato Street.

One of my school friends Peter was doing Chikara style Karate at the time but at a different association and when he found out about the commonality on a lunch break, he played me Pantera in his walkman. He was into the game Street Fighter II a few years earlier and used to emulate the moves he saw and take on the whole theatrical effect.

Pantera: Far Beyond Driven

Arcade Longplay [370] Street Fighter II: The World Warrior

I went to Japan in December that year too and for the first and only time,

[pic 3: Kobe post earthquake ??]

I bleached my hair with Tina in Greville Street for the school holidays.

So that trip was with Jun whose immediate family lived in Japan and I knew him from Geelong Grammar, Timbertop.

[ Jun on bottom bunk, in front of Use Your Illusion II poster ]

He had slept in the bunk next to mine and in fact, on about 3 occasions  in the middle of the night I heard (and saw) him sit up and speak a completely alien language to me.

[ At the interstellar departure gate. ]

No one else witnessed it, and he knew nothing of it personally. At the time, he was on the top bunk, not bottom. So S and Jun must’ve switched.

It wasn’t just a few words either, the monologues would go on for 2-5 minutes and were very fluent. They really should’ve woken up other people but did not.

And Jun was very often the last person to make the breakfast line-up, right after me. Re-orienting with illusion?

The lingo used for sleeping back then was “spine-bashing” and “departured” and it was a favourite pastime for many.

Today, very rarely I might hear music in my dreams – if only I could access it in waking life, like Lenny Kravitz. Perhaps people access past lives too: and languages. I had a massive download in a sleep in Jerusalem in 2005 – maybe that was Jun’s?

I should’ve tried sleeping outside.

It’s worth noting that Andrew from 4Xoverland mentioned once that part of the reason he likes 4WD’ing so much is to get away from civilisation where he has said that his soul can travel at night in a more effective way. Dream flying too? Something like that anyway.

Continuing, another school friend Sa (brown jacket below) and Jun’s cousin (pink jacket) also made it over to Japan as Jun is Australian/Japanese.

There was a lot to take in including skiing at Tenjindaira with incredible amounts of snow (compared to Mount Buller) and at one point Jun and I spent 45 minutes looking for a ski. I took a fall in the powder and somersaulted and the ski was at the top of landing spot, not down the hill where I stopped. I also recorded a video of me skiing to the base of the mountain, but the camera was on full zoom so it came out poorly.

Note the Alpine Racer game:

But it wasn’t a “game” if there was no sense of defeat, only victory or discovery.

Anyhow, in Tokyo, January 1996, I checked out the the Elvin Jones Special Quartet with Wynton Marsalis at the Tokyo Bunka Kaikan. I missed Jamiroquai by a few weeks light years.

Jamiroquai | Light Years | Live | Japan Tour 1995

Elvin Jones & Wynton Marsalis Jazz Vitoria 1997

But, by chance Prince came through a night-club that I was at with his massive entourage. I had last seen him in concert in April 1992 for Diamonds and Pearls. He played a number of shows in Japan also in January 1996. I’m not sure if he came through after his concert but I did see him from about 10 meters away despite me not trying to get a glimpse as he strutted across the dance floor to his next destination.

Prince - Love... Thy Will Be Done - January 8, 1996, Live at Budokan, Tokyo

I bought a number of CDs as well: R. Kelly self-titled, (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? (on Sa’s recommendation,) Jesus Wept and Back from the Raggedy Edge. All these albums came out a few months prior to me arriving. I really was very fortunate to be able to make the trip to Japan and am very grateful for it.

Continuing, I started Bagua and Yoga in 1997 and became vegan for a period of time. I also gave Pilates a few sessions.

But was I heading in the right direction with my menu? I was using a book to learn some of my Yoga poses. Was it enough?

I was still eager to find new voices, even if I didn’t understand them at first.

So via Sugihara, Japan provided a lifeline for my grandparents during the war on the way to Australia, so where was the next stop? Back to Japan?

TLC released tracks in 1995, which I first heard in Japan, and I mashed up in Israel in 2013.

Diggin' On You (Soulpower Remix)
I must admit to you (Sango + TLC + Britney Spears) [June 2013 - 2021]

So is that where I would find flow? And yes I did find it, quite literally…

But how do other Israelis find flow? Was defeat, victory or discovery at hand? A zero-sum game?

alike:

1 2 3 4 …

✓ 5 months ago

If nothing else, free the Left Hand!

Independence can be a way of life too.

(last updated: 4 July 2025)

[Summer – Rainbow beach]

After starting drums in 1991 with teacher Andrew Smith, right after quitting many years of piano lessons, I played in the awesome Wesley Big Band from mid-1994 until early 1996 when I left due to time pressures. Big Band people also had to play in the Concert Band as a rule.

Also, in 1994, my mum bought a:

  • Yamaha Vinnie Colaiuta 14×4.5″ signature snare
  • Paiste 15″ signature fast crash
  • Paiste 13″ signature sound edge hi-hats
  • Zildjian 17″ K dark medium-thin crash

from Manny’s Music in NYC that were all shipped back to Melbourne. Bar Mitzvah money put to good use.  Yet I ended up selling them all except the snare which I play to this day (2025.)

src

The Paiste crash was incredible but the hats were awful. It was a punt – the gear was selected from reading magazines. Even my Pearl Masters kit in 1995 was selected by magazines.

I ended up with two tom-toms of the same depth and only a 2″ difference in diameter just like Vinnie’s:

[ src – purchased: red ]

Yet, I think this was a great result as the 10″ power tom sounds reasonably different to the 12″ standard tom and the difference is easy on the ear. Both the guy at the shop and my drum teacher were unnerved with the sizings – was the 16″ x 20″ bass drum really too large for jazz and too small for a rock show?

[ 27 May 2022 ]

Surely, it can be tuned up or down? Yet, decades later, the 14″ floor tom and bass drum have ended up complimenting the 2015 stand-mounted Jinbao bass-drum.

[drums switcheroo + first play] Dirty Diana (1987 + 2020)

I also had a Sabian 20″ HH medium-thin ride (below left) carried over from a few years earlier which was eventually replaced by a 20″ K Heavy.

So I used this gear in the school band competition and we won equal-first (below-left.)

src

In November 2018 I remember going into a drum store and trying out the cymbals and realizing within a couple of strokes whether I liked the sound or not, but back then I didn’t really know what I wanted or what I liked.

Get to Sticks (1992 + 2018)

It’s the same with fashion – one look and it’s either on or it’s not – although it was never like that growing up.

In Big Band, Simon played drums before me and set a really “nasty” precedent for me to follow after himself and a number of members left after the band’s Montreux performance in mid-1994. I also saw him play at a Battle of the Bands at the Lauriston Fair and he would’ve been best off playing under Maurice White than anyone else.

I played in the 1997 BotB and ended up dropping a stick after cramping up, and it was a shameful moment for me… wow, that had never happened before. We’d rehearsed at my house too and I was doing a lot of the schlepping and all the carrying of amps took its toll. It was for first-time rockstar vocalist Hezza and in front of a lot of girls.

I am pretty sure Simon was playing drums that day in his band Polyester.


[same school, Out Loud in 2014]

It was such a failure on my part, I think I ended up playing with one cramped forearm for two songs (the other arm was incapacitated.) I barely even knew what a cramp was. It’s like “What the fuck is wrong with my arms!?” For Hezza, this was at a time when being on stage with a rock band was the equivalent of having a new IG account with thousands of new followers.

I really should’ve yelled out to the other band members for timeout. “Sorry peeps, the drummer can’t play anymore. Well he never really could to begin with either. Did you hear about the drummer who finished high school? Me neither.”

Hezza had such high hopes and it all ended up a train wreck of emotion. I saw him years later in the city at night with his friend and things weren’t the same. We were once such jovial pals.

src

Trumpeter Ollie T along with Ben, James and Zoe (all above) were playing with me in Ska band Skaface at the time (1996.) Bas and Eden also played in it and there should be a recording from Bakehouse studios floating around somewhere.

I left Big Band in Yr 12, because it was taking too much time – really it was the setting up and packing away of the drums at rehearsals twice weekly which was the deal-breaker. I may have also had fatigue issues regardless because I quit Karate in 1996 too. Jewish Big Band drummer Buddy Rich also did Karate from 48 onward, but looking at his hunch, I think he would’ve been better off with Yoga. And with Big Band a thing of the past, so was Concert Band and I must’ve freed up about 8 hours of my week.

If I am to look back with complete honesty, I suspect my health took a hit from vxccines taken for an 89/90 trip to India – Hep A, Hep B (x 3) and Meningitis.

[ above right – all shot-up with Mr Patel in Ahmedabad at his quarry that he repopulated with wildlife after its end-of-life. In that social group, I talked science with someone. 7 years later, high school physics was my best result. Magic. ]

[ A year or two later: Mr Patel again with Satyajeet (with dogs) (Darbar Shri Satyajeet kumar Shivraj khachar of Jasdan) for his royal arranged marriage. ]

I think Patel was an engineer and I met Satyajeet very, very briefly. My grandfather Oskar knew Shivraj – Satyajeet’s father.

And today new borns are given Hepatitis B shots – all ready for a trip to India!?

So that toxicity was seemingly rectified about 12 years later due to an “energetic-cleansing” type experience.

Also, I had received 4 very large mercury/amalgam fillings from a young age and those off-gassing could’ve also caused problems. Another problem could have been the fluorescent desk lamp (near Hendrix poster, pic further down.) I’ve heard someone say that the lamps dislodge mercury in the body, and of course contain a small amount of it too.

So it’s worth noting that Pranic healing deals with healing on the subtle level before it manifests in the physical hence the expression “real-eyes realize real-lies.” Autobiography of a Yogi spoke about this.

I am not so won over by vxccines because:

  • Weren’t these nasty diseases on their way out anyway due to advances in hygiene? (the Big Kahuna question)
  • Do they actually work?
  • Are they really needed?
  • Why don’t all unvaccinated children drop dead before age 30?
  • Who’s funding the studies?
  • Are there liability exemptions?
  • Is there a profit-motive somewhere?
  • What’s the track record of governments working against the governed?
  • Are they part of binary weapons systems, eg cell-phone towers, body scanners, smart meters?
  • Are there other alterior motives?
  • Have they been mis-named (just like Israel)?
  • Is there full transparency in the production process?
  • On a purely physical level, aren’t nanometals and synthetic biology the enemies of health? Do vaccines add to that?
  • With heavy metals, one can expect parasites to co-exist with them, right? And with that comes biofilms, sludge and brain fog.

Vxccines are no substitute to raising the vibration and that can come through relaxation and flow-states. That’s fine, but what if it takes monthly colon hydrotherapy, lymphatic drainage and ozone sessions to get to that point? Medical students don’t even write a single essay in 5/6 years of study. Only short-answers. After that, they’re worked to the ground so they don’t or can’t think critically. The overwork/underpayment culture is done purposely to remove undesirable mindsets from the system. What am I missing? Probabaly a lot.

Was the late Susan Wojcicki targetted due to c19/vxccine censorship?

src

If so, it’s strange to see a “bottom-up” hit – usually it’s done to the small guy for going against the prevailing winds of the industry associations and their consensus before they get traction. As Buddy Rich said:

“I used to think of myself as a tough guy. Looking back now, I wonder what’s so great about being a tough guy.” – src

So I may well have gotten fatigue, but at least I wasn’t paralyzed. I think the fatigue started to happen when more cell phone towers went up later into the 90’s and my learning ability was also hampered – but I had so much to spare, it wasn’t really noticeable from the exterior. But it may have had something to do with my amalgam fillings.

It may be worth noting that at about 6 years old in primary school, myself and all my classmates had to provide cheek swabs for some woman that came through the school. I didn’t mind – I was thrilled that she wasn’t giving us all injections.

We were also IQ-tested a year or two later, and then tested again for the propensity to disassociate as mentioned here.

Sports day was so much more straightforward, even in black shoes.

[ mid-80s, KDS, original Kooyong Rd campus | 2022 ]

Looking back, perhaps having my DNA stored somewhere unbeknownst to me was/is just as dangerous as being turned over to a possible mind-control/transgendering process to serve the beast system. Or is there a clone of me somewhere from whom I can extract something later in life?

So a human clone planet is mentioned in Ormus King 2:

and intergalactic assasinations and human replacements in Ormus King 7 whereby “humans are controlled and dominated from a far-off planet for their eventual replacement by a reptilian alien cult that hijack Earth’s technology systems.”

[March, 2021]

Anyway, there was another recording with myself, Zev, Eden and Matho done at Metropolis that I wish I still had from 1996. We got free recording time and Zev and Eden came up with a track on the spot that day. I think it was called Debowana …give me some water… It sounded a lot like Big Mistake from 1997.

Natalie Imbruglia - Big Mistake Live on Channel 5 UK

We also did a cover of Fire. I ended up giving the caseette tape to Matho at a house party one night. I should’ve given it to a venue – that really was a big mistake yet he would’ve been out of the country for the next year or two anyway so that would’ve been of no consequence. Matho wasn’t even a trained singer but sounded great. I don’t think his heart was in it.

The whole session was done to help audio engineering students and my brother put me onto “Goldsmith” who was looking for a band.

It took 3 phone calls to initially reach Matho, and that would be my 2nd last. Matho knew deep down that he wouldn’t see past his 27th birthday if anything came of the band and just wanted to dodge a bullet. Well I highly, highly doubt that… maybe me though?

So I did vaguely know one fellow Harry who died at 27 who has IG embeds on this blog.

[alike]

He may well have been following this blog leading up to his death, not sure, and none of those names above are on my FB or YT followers lists – are they super-fans or beast-system-leeches? It’s God or the devil, baby!

ANTIBOY - Devil (Official Video)

Harry had some really good insights to share, and it was/is so sad to see him leave so soon although I recently read an interesting quote: “Death is but a horizon, and a horizon is just a limitation of our view.”

He passed away at dwelling purposely setup by his family for detoxing, which is sad but I don’t know the finer details. In any case, still a great loss. His last tweet was so positive.

So back to Metropolis, not sure how happy Eden was playing bass, and Zev might’ve been wanting to sing too. Goldsmith loved the music. The biggest “close but no cigar ” moment ever.

I couldn’t think of a name for the band. Spartacus came up with “Interstellar Overdrive” for another band that had Eden in it. A year later and things may have worked out as long as we owned our masters and I would’ve been able to get a website (with MP3s) and email list going pretty quickly – even in 1997. I probably would’ve ended up hiring a drummer and played percussion or done drum programming. Maybe Zev and Eden wanted to be writing for their own groups.

So back at school, I got along well with the conductor, the late Mr Lee (not everyone did) and he was also the music school head.

[ src ]

Lee sold musical instruments to students so that was pretty shrewd of him to leverage his position like that.

He played alto sax and I once lent him my Sinatra at the Sands CD that I purchased from Greville Records but I never saw it again – perhaps it flew away! In fact, the shop was up the road from my school and in uniform, I asked the shopkeeper (owner too?) what the best big band CD was and he gave me that one. I also asked for a funk tip and he gave me Curtis.

Curtis Mayfield - Curtis -1970 -FULL ALBUM

He was impressed – so was I!

Then ~10 years later I was back there with Mr Petrie asking him if he wanted to sign up to Moshtix. He was more nervous than anything, but I wasn’t! He was like “come back to me last.” He wasn’t in the ticketing business, it was a complimentary good (like the Moshcard) and it brought new people into the store.

[ src ]

Petrie was really excited about this swipe card for venue entry – he envisaged it becoming a discount and customizable card for the younger generation – many of whom didn’t even have credit cards. People could’ve been sent MP3s after buying a ticket or had a collection of music attached to it.

Facebook turned down their initial acquisition offer from Yahoo in 2006, and I think Moshtix could’ve pushed off News Corp too. That’s easy to say looking back, and I wasn’t in contact with Petrie in 2008, but the word “Mosh” limited the ticketing scope to music, right? I know there was a cinema using the site at the time.

Wherever there is power, money easily follows, and the power is at the enabling interface between disparate groups or systems that need/use each other. So much money at the interface between yarn and skin. If I owned a newspaper, I’d look at buying a timber plantation, paper plant and a recycling business – keiretsu. If American companies merged with each other, they wouldn’t need such high tariffs, right? I have no idea.

I am not sure if Greville Records were one of Moshtix’s early retail sign-ons where people could buy a ticket and add it to their Moshcard. By mid-2005 Moshtix hadn’t listed their Melbourne outlets online:

src

Greville Records were with OzTix by 2008, though:

src

But I remember seeing GR on Moshtix at one point. Or did I? Weird. Maybe they switched over to OzTix after the 2007 Moshtix acquisition and didn’t want to associate with Big Business. Perhaps Greville Records gave the ticketer a “cool factor” that lead to greater success in Melbourne, after Sydney, and leading to the rest of Australia as a result. I have no idea.

[ Note Hendrix poster bottom left – from Greville Records ]

By mid-2005, three Melbourne venues already signed-on to use Moshtix were Bennetts Lane, The Corner and The Metro. We met those on-site and a bunch more including HiFi Bar where I came face-to-face again with Kiran (not Haslam) who I hadn’t seen since the school Big Band where he had sung. Petrie was in the dark about Melbourne’s music scene. How much did he like music? Did it really matter anyway? Kiran ended up building out HiFi’s own ticketing system but I’d have to double-check on it.
Getting Metro on board was a big win after Mr Petrie and I initially met Alistair and Anna at the venue in early 2004.

src | 2

@dannysrants Do you remember Metro Nightclub? #nightclubs #nightclub #melbourne #nightlife #clubbing #promoter #security #clubs #metro #nostalgic #throwback #rememberwhen ♬ original sound – DannyRants

Alistair, at the opposite end of a large table was like: “who’s liable if the system breaks down on the night.”
Hamish was like: “it’s never failed yet.”
Alistair: “well what happens if it does?”
Hamish: “uhmm, yes…. well…”

[ 2003 ]

It was a raw meeting as we ran through the contract and no one had even yet been short-changed. Anna in the side-office was like: “if you really want to sell a lot of tickets you either need a great act or the cool-crowd present.” Nailed it. They might’ve thought we were uncool. But when I was 13 in the early 90’s, a bunch of us had free entry into TIME underage on Saturdays there at Metro. Someone thought we were cool.

The music could be really upfront, as social media was absent and people were wanting to get accelerated attraction with “randoms.” Little by way of cyber-checkin’.

Well, that’s one theory I read anyway. Also, is it just me or did people actually look physically different back then, like DNA was of a different quality? Less autism too. My brother had a Q-Bar medallion around a decade later… so roll up anytime and then straight in.

[ 2001? ] [ src ]

But Bennetts Lane was the first sign-on, and they got on board pretty soon after the first meeting using their new “tickets direct” page and the chap told us the frequent ticket queues stretching down the lane were a real problem and that’s why he wanted to sign up so badly.

src

Who said jazz heads were stuck in the past? More like stuck in a lane!

src

In the end, friendships, commission, equity or a wage, nothing really eventuated from Moshtix. Yet due to my newly acquired hearing issues, I think it would’ve been a nightmare getting into the live music scene during 2004 and beyond. Imagine troubleshooting a swipe reader or being invited to late-night drinks and wanting to leave after 1 minute. Free the legs. At least all my Groovetip work paid off… for others! I’d have to settle with karma points and a good story! The whole “kiss up, kick down” mentality and vying to become an apex predator ultimately never works in a co-operative universe.

Mr Petrie went on to build Taxi-app ingogo, but from my understanding was ejected by the investors 7.5 years in, and the app has since shut down without an exit. We had some good conversations and he was talking about taxis and standing desks even back in Sydney.

Real Life - Send Me An Angel '89

Anyway, Sonny Payne – killer drummer. “He was Frank Sinatra’s personal drummer for all of the singer’s live appearances with Count Basie and his big band in 1964 and 1965 and 1966; in fact, whenever Sinatra sang with Basie in the 1960s, Payne was the drummer.” – src

A band is never better than its drummer and Frank knew it.

Frank Sinatra - Luck Be A Lady

The Chairman of the Board backed-up by the drummer. Interestingly, Andrew left me a heap of jazz records and I still have them to this day.

But reading the Mile Davis autobiography during that time – great read – really helped me put Jazz into perspective.

Following on from this, it wasn’t really that cool to be in a Big Band and the drumming is quite challenging – anticipating all the band lines. And in the Big Band, I never really dialled into the importance of “double-stroke roll triplets” until many years later – crucial for jazz playing. It’s a type of poly-rhythm that can really empower a drummer to put all their rudiments into a triplet feel. And that’s what life is all about – seeing the normal things through new lenses!

Also, the “Rock and Roll” style is about switching from straight-ahead grooves to these triplet fills. Going from rock to roll. Think Bonham.

I play a triplet at 45 secs:

[switcheroo drums] Bon Jovi - Blaze of Glory (1990 + 2020)

School uniforms aside, Angus Young has said he even likes the beats slightly swung, not just the fills.

So around 1996 I saw Julian Joseph at The Continental Cafe in Greville Street with Charlie (see below.) After the show, the drummer Mark told me that to be a good funk player it really helps to be a good jazz player in order to free up the left hand.

Mark Mondesir Drum Lessons: You only need 7 Rudiments!! - Heavy Groovin! #drummerworld

My goal is to have it to the point where it almost needs to be attached with a leash!

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

related:

Fretless bass player Charlie on the right:

pics
palette.fm
www.vinniecolaiuta.com/Interviews/ModernDrummer1993
✓ 4 months ago

Silverchair and Arkana – Tomorated (2022)
– mashup

Retrofuturism: “In the past, there was a vision of the future. In the future, there’s a vision of the past. And strangely, tragically, beautifully, that’s all they were… vision. The past and the future were both looking at the world they wanted, but never received. Little did we know, there was only the present.” ~ unknown

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Daniel Johns (@danieljohnshq)


✓ 3 years ago

Eve Stangello – Davali (2004)
– original (vinyl)

I know, I’m caught up in the middle
I cry just a little
When I think of letting go

* wearing a red and white Sisley t-shirt from ~2003. Also from 2003:

alike:



✓ 9 months ago

1994: Toby is Dead. Long live Toby.

I never saw him in his final days but I did get a last good-bye.

(last updated: 7 March 2025)

In 1994, I made the film “Toby is dead” with our Border Collie for media class and it was shown to the class for inspiration.

I used all the tricks he knew and completed the film without editing as a string of one-shot takes where he walks around Como park, swims in the Yarra River, crosses the road, passes a beer bottle and cruises around until he finally makes it home to be greeted by my mum at the end of the hallway!

While that film is now lost, there is a short snippet of Toby here (at 0.13) that I filmed in 1989:

"I wanna kissy... " (1989)

Toby did die within a year when we were on a trip to Bali in early 1995.

I must’ve had a premonition about it as he looked to be slowing down and seemed more tired, and that’s why I called the film ‘Toby is Dead.’ But perhaps I was mentally preparing for him dying, due to my memory of Cocoa. He was in the same litter.

In Bali, he was being looked after by my grandparents by the sea and he was sick when we left him.

"Is there something wrong with Toby" [1995]

So it was a bittersweet holiday, that’s for sure, with the regular phone updates from my grandfather.

Prior to us leaving, we thought he would recover. The diagnosis was vague.

Like with Desmond…

[ 2000 ] [ 2001? ]

…I never saw him in his final hours. Perhaps he would have wanted it that way.

However, the local vet kept the corpse and after arriving home from Bali, Toby M (the musician, not the dog) and I dug a grave for him in the front garden behind the fence. The vet came over and put the corpse into the grave and the pair covered him in lime. (see T below)

At that moment, I was waiting near the house because I didn’t want to see the dead body due to my distress. When the vet left, Toby M and I filled the grave. The vet said he probably had stomach cancer and at the time we put it down to him drinking Yarra River water when he went for a swim as he splashed around. He looked to be snapping away at the splashes he made.

And Last Good-bye came out around that time too. But it never made it onto the soundtrack.

Jeff Buckley - Last Goodbye | 120 Minutes | MTV | New York | 1/10/1995

Maybe Toby heard the song too.
✓ 4 months ago

1997: Don’t Sell Yourself, I Say!

Rather buy into your more authentic self.

(updated: 10 June 2024)

In the first half of 1997 I was weightlifting and eating a lot of red meat. I gained about 10% in body weight at my peak.

Because turning 18 wasn’t just about driving and drinking. It was also about weight training, clubs and effortless attraction.

My brother Luke was also going to the gym.

My gear above is 26 Red. The rugby top above is Blanc Bleu. The red/brown shorts are also 26 Red. The white shoes are Air Max 96 and black trainers are Puma. Luke’s top is Ministry-of-Sound (MOS) from London.

Anyway, as part of a uni assignment, I put up a personal page about myself (pic 3 below) and that’s not me in the hammock.

[ 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 ]

So in 1997, the notion of “selling myself” wasn’t really a thing. You buy into me, I decide if it’s worth it, we make it happen, and that’s it.

Anyway, nothing resulted from that page. But a couple of years earlier I put up a page on my high school site (above right) about myself and a few girls emailed me about it. I didn’t know who they were and didn’t reply. That was my first web page. For this next uni page, I think I wanted to avoid strangers contacting me because the idea of “selling myself” online wasn’t a thing. Who was the person behind the email?

So I had a taxi driver and Deakin University economics lecturer pal Jack Alan who was also weightlifting and was 10 years older. He was of Persian descent and arrived from Buffalo, New York. He had a PhD (or Masters) from New York University regarding stochastic methods in economics and he personally knew Peter from Monash, who Luke also knew, but not personally like Jack.

Initially, Jack drove my dad and I back from somewhere at night in late 1996 and we ended up inviting him into our house for further intellectual discussions. We played tennis a few times and Jack had another buddy of his come along to join us once for a game. We made a number of homemade videos of us cruising around listening to G-funk, sometimes in his red Mazda 121 and other times in my green/blue Nissan Bluebird.

pic | CC

(self-portrait (2024) insertions, car insertion)

Unfortunately the video tapes were thrown out after selling Washington Street in 2006.

[ ’06 ]

The camera I used to film was below, and like below, I did record another 21st party or two for friends at the time.

[ 1998 ]

The videos were kept in the wooden cabinet if anyone has a time machine! Perhaps some of those videos I took may be floating around somewhere. I think Jack had kept one for himself.

I worked as a busboy in that year at Carousel, (Albert Park) delivered pizzas and controlled the dancefloor lights at Silvers (now Jacksons). I also did mobile DJ’ing with a computer (see pic above) and general event promotions work like dropping flyers and passes. One was for the Whisky aGoGo Friday night at Silvers for the organiser Warren, and I brought Jack to that, and a couple of female friends I knew at the time also came to Silvers. That club was around the corner from Washington Street.

I spoke to Warren initially at Jac’s Bar (upstairs at Silvers) and he was a landscape gardener by day. The “Whisky” night had a few female dancers in hot pants dancing all night on podiums. There was also one guy dancing too.

Additionally, I was rehearing at home with guitarist and school friend Noah, and also upright bassist Lucy but we didn’t do any gigs together. I was also rehearsing at Revolver (when it was a music store) with Kon and Nik after responding to a street press advert and we did do a number of gigs together.

[ src | jamming at home 1997| eating out 2007]

[home recording ~2000]

I pushed off a lot of old school friends in order break my comfort zone at the time. Very difficult to do. I don’t know what happened to Jack, maybe he went to the Gold Coast. He was selling protein powders too at the time and was really bulking up. Fun times. We swung by a lot of clubs together. Once at Silvers, he saw some of his own students from uni and they went bananas.

One standout track we bumped was “This DJ” and we considered ourselves as Ticks [1:36: “So I hops in the van with my homie Tick”]

Warren G - This D.J.

1997 wasn’t all peaches and cream. I failed Accounting and repeated it again in summer. Failing a subject wasn’t something familiar to me. I also cut out alcohol consumption as the hangovers were bad and could knock me about over the next day. Also, I could never fall asleep drunk.. I would just lie awake with my head spinning. I do miss the beer goggles though!

Moreover, I came to the conclusion that drinking was just a way to spend one’s “happiness credits” that would accrue naturally over the week. So being “happy drunk” meant a loss of happiness someplace else during the week during sobriety. In 1997, I explained this to someone drinking at the bar at the Arcadia Hotel and they sort of agreed with me. Lucky I didn’t get kicked out!

[at the downstairs bar, 2022]

The theory explains a lot of why people crave the weekend so badly – just another theory, though.

Yet, at Club Med, Val d’Isere in 1992/93, another skier Matthieu said in a French accent regarding women that “You must attack!” He was around 15 at the time and had a girlfriend, so that was his tip on how to get one because he asked me if I had one and I said ‘no.’

But Club Med had “clubs” anyway for young people to meet one another easily no matter who they were and people met in ski lessons too. Yet what I think he meant was to be confident. Whatever the case, I still enjoyed briefly playing drums at the resort.

Incidentally, a couple of English girls came up and spoke to me after those shots, but we never ended up skiing together, so that was confident by them. I skied with a dude-ette in Zermatt about 20 years later (starting at 1:44,) who was also from England.

The name is Heart Carver

Initially, we chatted on the chairlift, pretty mundane stuff, but it took confidence for us to both get to that same point. We took the shots, even without MI6 or Eon Productions.

Speaking of Bond, at what point is confidence infectious enough that it leads to confiding information? On that note, modern interrogation techniques are now more about making a person feel comfortable and asking very pointed questions at different stages of elicitation rather than torture and asking “who sent you?” So offer chicken soup instead of the waterboard. Yet, it is to my understanding that one big risk of interrogations is wrong or altered transcriptions and interviewees should record interviews themselves with their own equipment as backup.

Bustamante has spoken about establishing baselines to determine when someone is out of sync and possibly lying. Happens at airports and wherever dangerous people need to be detected – but how can it detect monarch slaves with disparate personas? Also, who controls VICE? If bankrupt, why is it still running? Is it a loss-leader for controlling narrative? What gets excluded or altered?

Anyway, in Bali, 3 years after France I played with some other guys too at a hotel.

And also met a macaque driven by desire.

Yet, it’s about more than just music and confidence though, but goodwill.

The real job of a musician - Steve Jordan

So Matthieu was a great skier and good companion, and on our last day we went off-piste, I think even crossing into Italy, and then took a long bus ride home to make it piste-off.

“Women need a reason to have sex. Men just need a place.” – Billy Crystal

Speaking of forthcoming, on 25 Jan 1997, I went to the Big Day Out music festival. I rolled up alone and without a ticket in the evening. At the gate, someone was leaving and sold me their ticket for $5. Win. After entering, I said hello to an extended family member who I saw by chance (person I was filming at top in front of fireplace) but then kept walking to the main stage alone. People were all sitting down. Then a girl – complete stranger – walked up to me, paused for about 3 seconds and said: “Do you want to have sex with me?” I became the rock star.

She was attractive too – around my age. I had long hair at the time and still had a tan from schoolies week. But I hesitated. I think I said “I don’t know” and then she said “well do you?” and then I was silent and then she walked off permanently. The whole interaction was easily less than 20 seconds. I can’t fully recall the dialogue, but I told a school mate Cam about it a couple of days later.

So later that night, by chance I saw Marc at the main stage and checked out Soundgarden and started moshing which really wasn’t that enjoyable.

In August 1997 I started listening to Be Here Now by Oasis, and in March the following year I was fortunate enough to attend the one and only Oasis concert in Melbourne. But I preferred to stay tight lipped over it, because of the bad reviews as Liam was so wasted and Noel sang for most of the show.

[ Sydney ~2000 ]

At least Liam came out at the end: “Goo goo k’choo.”

Oasis were huge in the 90’s when music and media blended so well in a seamless experience and labels had larger sets of artists that they would develop and promote.

Oasis - All Around the World (Live at GMEX 1997) - Remastered 4k

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by St. Lucia (@stlucia)

Incidentally, I spoke to a random chap in ’97 (maybe the next) at Silvers and he said that he would wait until closing time and walk around the room and keep asking females the same question “Do you want to go home with me?” (or something similar) until he got a yes. I think he spent much the night eye-flirting and trying to look tough and cool among is wing-men. Whatever it was, it worked for him and he said that people that hang around that long are all there for the same reason and would rather have something than nothing. I don’t think he was much older than me either. Each to their own – a spoonman.

Soundgarden - Spoonman (partial) | Big Day Out 1997

As a side note, I saw Mr Gil Dibner walk up and speak to a series of seemingly random females in quick succession at Eurekamp 2009 while in my close proximity. Was he asking the time? Lift back to TA? Investment ideas? Or was he asking them out? Or saying something about me? I hadn’t spoken to any of them.

Nevertheless, the bizarre thing about Marc was that we first met by chance at a beach hotel in Goa, India in the late 80s [below right, at left].

Note – this is not skateboard Mark.

I even went out on a rented yacht with his father after failing at windsurfing.

(1 2 3 4) 5

Around 5 years after India he ended up at Wesley College, lived close to my house and we became good friends. He was from New Zealand.

[ Marc at left from 2016 ]

So one day while at home, it all clicked that we had met before and I showed him my diary from India and it even had his name written down. Wild moment but I haven’t seen him in decades as of April, 2024 – like many of my other friends from growing up and these memoirs are a way of retuning myself with the past and upcycling consciousness for the future, whilst corporations monetise them on the sly.

Speaking of which, our school motto was “Dare to be wise” (Sapere aude) but how about “Dare to be different” in a world where fashion can easily become tyranny and what most people are trying to imitate is authenticity.

But this is what’s really in fashion right now: growing old… so can I upcycle out of it using marvellous profundity? Will that activate the etheric 12-strand DNA? How do I bring nourishment into the thousand-petaled lotus and stop the fountain-of-youth from crumbling away?

But that’s only for the yogis and believers in pseudoscience. I’ll take real science any day where if it can’t be measured, it doesn’t exist.

Does growing old have to be about getting old or getting on? Can’t it be about having an indefinite shelf-life like honey and rather growing wise and kind? I’m already part of an unbroken chain back to the patriarchs/matriarchs, so perhaps I am part way there anyway.

Heroes are made, not born, one should hope!  Is life about “God versus the devil” or “God includes the devil?” Is enlightenment about having all questions being answered in a single moment?

Anyway, so a few days after BDO, I saw Silverchair at Festival Hall with Michael and found myself amongst masses of screaming girls. I think that gig was an overflow gig for the Palace show as a result of high demand and is unlisted. Otherwise I went to the one in December.

Silverchair - Live at The Palace Theatre in Melbourne - 1997

Daniel might know.

Anyway, it is worth noting in Victoria that: “It is an offence for a licensee or permittee to supply liquor to a person in a state of intoxication. It is also an offence to permit drunken or disorderly persons to be on the licensed premises, or on any other premises where we have authorised licensees to serve liquor.” source

And in that respect, in 1997 during uni Orientation Week, one night after leaving Prince Alfred Carlton adjacent to Melbourne Uni, I was told something like “come back to see us during the day” as I stepped through the door on the way out. I asked why and the bouncer just said to come back. And the exact same thing happened again in March 2019 for reasons unknown to me – I wasn’t even drinking alcohol then, but I didn’t ask the bouncer why.

In ’97, I wore a pair of blue, velvety Diesel pants (drum pic below) and red, suede Vans skate shoes a lot back then – so was it for a photo shoot? The demand really irked me after a good night out and I never went to the venue properly ever again, until 2019 for moment of déjà vu. I was phasing out drinking as well in early 1997, another reason I never returned except for a gig in October.

[pic 3 – Sydney, late 2000]

1 …

The band was named after the book The Celestine Prophecy from 1993 but I never got far into it. Some great quotes can be found here. We even had a song called Celestine.

Interestingly, there were a bunch of Sting CDs in the pile above and we covered one of his tracks in the gig.

The Police - When The World Is Running Down, You Make The Best Of What's Still Around (Essen)

I also saw Sting play in November, 2000 with Manu Katche on drums.

I did read Siddhartha and saw the film at the Trak (underneath Silvers.) I also read CwG Book 1 and ended up reading most, if not all in the series.  I also liked the Osho website and could download his talks.

[src | src 2 ]

I also read a Sivananda book brought back from India for me that covered Kundalini much to my interest.

“If Kundalini is awakened before he attains purity by Asanas, Bandhas, Mudras and Pranayama, he will come across the temptations of the other planes, he will have no strength of will to resist these temptations and will have a hopeless downfall. It will be very difficult for him to climb up again to the original height which he climbed in the ladder of Yoga. Therefore the aspirant should try to purify himself first. If perfect purity is attained through Japa, Kirtan and constant selfless service, Kundalini will awaken by itself and move towards the Sahasrara at the crown of the head to meet Her Lord Siva, the trident-bearer of Mount Kailas, the store-house of wisdom, bliss and peace.” – src

[ 1 | 2 ]

Notice he implied people should strive for purity rather than to awaken Kundalini. Interestingly, I ended up handing many of my books to Toby, including that one, and we recorded music as well in 2003. Toby put me onto the incredible The Wisdom of Ramala which mentions purity 26 times.

Kundalini in 2024 has 40K subscribers (June, 2024) on Reddit and it doesn’t interest me at all, but there’s interesting stuff on Marginalia.

[ 12 Jan 2024]

I suspect Kundalini-Shakti is as important today as it has ever been because it is more intelligent that any AI because it knows the future due to its incredible presence. In 2001, there was an issue of What is Enlightenment? called Can Enlightenment Save the World?

[ src | 2| 3 | Jan 2024 ]

All great content, including White’s description of Homo Noeticus – the next stage in human evolution. Says White above: “Enlightenment is the only thing which can save the world. The only thing.” And that “Homo noeticus is the term I use to designate what I see as a higher form of humanity emerging on the planet now, characterized not by genetic changes but by noetic changes.” So researching these topics kicked into high gear for me in 2001, my last year at university that began in 1997. It was my unofficial degree I suppose, and how can you sell someone the future – it’s already been bought!?

Another channelled take on Kundalini alongside Datre (book) was St Germain from 1999 and I remember printing the whole amazing interview out and reading it in a park.

“The thing is that everybody is different, in terms of the clarity of that moving through the body. Some people do kundalini in a clear way, some people don’t, then it comes right up, causing the mind to shift – burns out the mind, in some people’s cases – but when it is balanced, it just is an addendum to your life, it just adds in. It doesn’t really awaken, it opens your capacity to function with your spirit through your body rather than through your mind and through your imagination. If you’ll notice, people who really stand in their knowing and have a truth mechanism in there, it’s because they experience it in some fashion in their body, not in their mind. So energy when it moves in the body is identified as Shakti, as kundalini, everyplace has a different name.” – src

I also found a Gene Kieffer interview in the same journal.

[src | 2]

Also, Maitreya (another channel) covers the topic here in the following snippet as related to sexual energy, and it actually dates back to 2003:

[ 1 | 2 ]

Incidentally, at the time I remember the artist formerly known as Terence Trent D’Arby becoming Sananda Maitreya – I wondered if he was channelling himself.

Interview Marktrock 2003 - Sananda Maitreya

(goto 1:35) And he says “a new spirit has become a part of my experience.”

So Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras date back almost two thousand years ago and address the same topic of preparing for, and enabling the dissolution of the microcosm. And today there is a lot of Kundalini information and people on Quora, although I prefer to avoid using that Sanskrit word for something that is so universal and undefinable – it also opens someone up to being labelled, condemned or even idolized . . . Shakti is at least more specific.

[ 8 Dec 2023 ]

For the doubters, just because someone doesn’t understand something or can’t access it (often due to fear or pain,) doesn’t mean it’s not true. Although one could say: “you don’t awaken your Kundalini, it awakens you, and until then, forget about it.” And interestingly, in 2022, an English translation of Abraham Abulafia’s Light of the Intellect from 1285 appeared on Patreon.

[8 Dec 2023 – links above]

For one person’s Samadhi may be another person’s Active Intellect, and the translator above is a Jewish Indian.

Anyway, from 1997 onward I walked passed PAs everyday for years, being at the end of Bouverie Street and on the way to the main Parkville campus. I saw groups of people – uni students – ejected from that premises at certain times to fill up the footpath outside. Perhaps selections are made via CCTV from a back office – that bizarre scenario is not to be ruled out. Like many others, I think I was ejected back in 1997 but can’t fully recall what happened. Maybe I wasn’t. Why do they even stay open during O-Week? You keep drinking, and when you’re spotted (apparently) inebriated, you’re thrown out, just as the the law states. But why are you asked to return the following day? Nice interior, though.

Continuing, as with PAs, I used to spend much time looking at the Arcadia hotel in my prior school years waiting for the tram ride home and readying myself for a tertiary education somewhere and a trip into the “real world.”

[Oct 2002 | Dec 2018]

But the past got pissed!

K-Ci & JoJo – You Bring Me Up (Remix) ft. Snoop Dogg (1997)
– includes mashup

K-Ci & JoJo - You Bring Me Up (Remix) ft. Snoop Dogg

So Come Up Aerial (Luxar + Soul 4 Real + K-Ci + JoJo + Daniel Johns) [2015 - 2021]

1 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

✓ 1 year ago