a2.2

[ Dub Seven, Volume 2, Part 2 ]
(last updated: 4 July 2024)

1)

[March 2017]

Her Pieces (1990 + 2024) [Faith No More + Luxxly]
2)

[ 1990 ]

Forever and I (2023 + 2016) [Coastal + Nanobii + Dream Fiend]

3)

[ early 1995 ]

Wallows – Calling After Me (Official Video)

4)

1 2

1 2 3

5)

[April?, 1993 + Aug, 2017]

Swarmness (1993 + 2024) [Living Colour + Sycco]
Swarm Market (2018 + 2024) [Shaun Creek + Sycco]

1 2

6)

[July, 2015]

Learn to Love (1999/2015 + 2024) [Foo Fighters + Warpfit & Stndrd Dubs]


7)

[ 1995/6 ]

Leanin’ to the West

2Pac, Dr. Dre & Roger Troutman: California Love (PART II) (EXPLICIT) [UP.S 4K] (1996)

8)

[ early 1995 ]

“Catch you at the club. Now if you wanna roll with me, then here’s your chance.”

2Pac, K-Ci & JoJo: How Do You Want It (EXPLICIT) [UP.S 4K] (1996)

9)

[ March + August 2017 ]

10)

[ Gold Coast ~1998 : to Yoga class]

Vision of Girl (1990 + 1995) [Mariah Carey + CDB]

11)

[~1990]

Jordan Knight wants to be assaulted by his fans (NKOTB 1990)

12)

[~1990]

Mariah Carey - Emotions (Live from Top of the Pops)

13)

pic | 2 | CC
(self-portrait (2004) insertion, boat removed)
(self-portrait (200?) insertion)

Gwen Stefani - Cool (Official Music Video)

14)

[early 1995]

All I Do (TG Mix) - Jane Child

original (1993)

1 2

✓ 6 months ago

Seven Memoirs

(last updated: 18 February 2025)

1) Nightlife

[ ** ]

pic | 2 | 3CC
( self-portrait (1997) insertion, portrait extraction, background added | attended )

In early 2004 I went to hear DfP play at Seven. The highlight of the night was hearing the Purple Mix of Controversy and I also briefly spoke to G and she looked so hot it was crazy. I had seen her near me on the dance floor at a mansion party in Toorak in 1996 and Simon (not Grey) knew her. I’m not sure I should’ve been at that party as I wasn’t on the door list (as an actual name) but I do remember somehow being invited – the controversy *. The security guard just let me through because I was with my mum and there was actually no drama at all although I wasn’t expecting a door list – it may have been an oversight or I was assigned as a guest to another person, yet perhaps I should’ve just gone home anyway. It’s something I’d expect from the fashion industry – “your invite has just been revoked.”

Anyhow, it was a great party in what seemed like a basement carport but with adjoining rooms to hangout in.

At one point, I even saw Andrew there (which I found truly bizarre but good) and people weren’t stressed about messing up the carpet or knocking over a statue or anything as would happen upstairs.

So maybe it was a different girl at Seven though, but I doubt it – although it might have been a few years earlier instead at the same place. Brett (not Goldsmith) also knew G and we both saw her once at the Station Hotel with a couple of her friends. I scaled back clubbing around this time too and so that life and its people were basically shelved indefinitely but I was saved from hearing damage. You said what??

Perhaps G doesn’t even know of me. That’s highly likely. I don’t know. Good luck to her. It’s a celebrity status to have.

One encounter I do remember in 1997 was when I bumped into T at Silvers Niteclub near the bar when there was a mad crush to buy drinks. I looked down and said “it’s a tight fit down there” looking at her tight jeans. She looked back at me and corrected: “very tight fit.” I am glad she could confide in me.

That year (or 1998) I also picked up B just up the street from Salt/Warehouse with his crew and took him back to his rather large estate not far away. At the time, he was in my peer group but we didn’t know each other. He was looking for change to call a taxi.

I just offered the group a lift home regardless. I think there were 2 guys and 2 girls in total. Nice guy. He invited me inside, so I went in and upstairs on his tour he said “this place is wild” and there was sort of a party going on but I didn’t stick around. Anyway, on the way out there was a group of girls and I had a chat, and I ended up with a phone number. Impressed, B bid me farewell and I was back on the road. A few days later she never called back. Never saw B again either. With social media things could’ve been different yet I’ve always seen myself as viewing others as an end in themselves, not a means to an end, or a source for attention and admiration. Being super-rich could be challenging if one is constantly dealing with the sycophancy of others and their backstabbing. I read once that a lot of young souls are born into immense wealth and power so they can learn about their impact on others and that would make things even harder.

[*] that same thing happened again in 2004 at a magazine launch party but I did get in anyhow.

Purple Mix: 1:12:30 :-

Controversy Tonight (1981 + 2023) [Prince]

2) Grassroots

[ ** ]

pic | Dec ’21 – Kuranda| CC
(self-portrait (2024) insertion)

Note: after that shot of Nina was taken. Her instagram became private and she stopped posting to it. But just recently (beginning 2024), her number of posts has since dropped to 17.

I’ve seen similar things happen before to other people I have made contact with, even in the most minor way including Yulianna, Laura and Saunalution. Those three were already mentioned in A Tribute to David (Sep ’22). These are just observations though. It doesn’t mean much in and of itself.

I was just staying at the same campground – The Billabong in Kuranda in November ’21 for a few weeks and even spoke to an indigenous guy there too, Sony… interesting lineage too.

So I never saw or spoke to her or her friends ever again as I thereafter decided to head toward Brisbane to build a trailer, but I salvaged Nina’s phone that she left behind. I found it lying face down on the open grass with its highly cracked screen. I had a passing interest in fashion photography too at the time and left that behind myself – my broken main camera was part of the problem.

Interestingly, Carmen who was at The Billabong in Kuranda hasn’t posted main photos to her IG (Jan 2024) since then either.

 

So Nina appeared out of the blue, took it, said something about whether I would be seeing them in Yungaburra, placed it in her back pocket and left quickly.

So as with her other two friends, no online communication at all at any point and no friending or following allowed. Yet the strange part was my messaging associated with that phone incident was deleted on FB, by FB, perhaps a week or two later.

So is she still in Australia? Why?

homeaffairs.gov.au/about-us/what-we-do/borderwatch/reporting

My maternal grandmother Ina (Faina) grew up in Hamburg, Germany but was born in Oryol, Russia.

In the late 80s, she returned from a holiday there bringing me back a red sweater. It felt awkward wearing it to say the least but I still appreciated it, and her of course greatly.

There was also another long-sleeve white t-shirt – not shown here – and I think it said something about Perestroika and/or Glasnost. Would they trigger a nuclear blast?

Perhaps a demolition job?

So when I received that t-shit my main experience up until that point about Russia at school was a drill where we hid under tables and away from windows in the event of a nuclear attack so a t-shirt was a welcome relief.

The drill was in room 1, yet what presented a real danger was the tree (2) on the lawn. I ran into it once during a soccer game waiting for someone to kick me the ball. Yet I had seen War Games (1983,) so to me the drill could’ve been justified, or maybe just fear-fodder?

I will be the Russians

In Europe, I would have been more fearful of stay-behind armies like those of Operation Gladio that may readily turn on civilian populations when real threats don’t materialize, hiding weapons in networks of empty petrol-station tanks. Who knows if this organization has actually disbanded?

Anyway, Ina ended up hating boarding school in Germany due to pre-war persecution, and even returning there over 80 years later brought back too many negative memories for her including the death of her father (Simon Kaplan) where he owned a frames and casings factory – she thought about him all the time. The factory was on Schanzenstraße, Hamburg yet he was born in Mogilev, Belarus in 1888.

[ Hamburg (1936 estimated) – Simon, Rita (daughter), Elizabeth (wife), Joachim Snapir (Ina friend/partner,) Ina (daughter) ]

In 1938, the year of Kristallnacht, Simon Kaplan was called to Gestapo headquarters for unknown reasons. In the family, there was an argument about whether he should comply or flee, but he went – I think he wanted to avoid losing the factory and he ended up at Oberschlesien or else Auschwitz by 1942 for the “final solution.” So what were Nina’s grandparents and great-grandparents doing during WWII? Maybe that’s something for her to explore in meditation? Did they have dreadlocks?

Also with Nina: Dustin Bak and Max.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Diveakssh Schae (@diveakssh)

So over 20 years ago, Martin made it out of Australia from Byron Bay, and back to Germany, but his profile pic disappeared too quickly after I friended him recently: just an observation though. He was/is a really interesting guy – I mentioned him here.

Max was still here in April ’22.

He doesn’t look too keen to leave either! They all seemed like really nice people too.

I was initially at my computer one night in the dining area when the 3 or 4 approached me for a lift to a music festival.

Abrupt request… didn’t they have vehicles or something? How would I stack them all in? Could I tow them in on bicycles or have them stretching out on my bed in the canopy? Could’ve been a fun night though.

But I am aware of the German style where the camaraderie can turn on a dime (the Fascist switch??)

…like with Israelis (the Massadah switch??) But that’s just my experience anyway – and a generalisation at that.

Also, all my grandparents spoke German fluently, and my surname Wajsbrem equates from Weiss Braue in German  – White Eyebrow. Wait, so I’m one of them?! Well, Frederick was born in Meiningen, Germany.

But the other 2 (Helen + Oskar) were actually Polish (Białystok + Warsaw.)

Brem could also equate to brew in Polish – same meaning.

Nina and Dustin seemed so switched-on and relaxed, so how are they going now regardless of residence and activity? Do they have a blog of any kind of their travels? Are they still together? As they say, it’s the journey and not the destination. Is there a modelling portfolio people should see?

Do they think about tying the knot here? Have they found Shakti? Are they permanent residents or new immigrants?

A child born in Australia to foreign parents is entitled to full Australian citizenship, giving them the same rights and benefits as other Australian citizens.
src

That said, I saw a photo of Nina in Bali in ~2023 quad-biking but then came back into Australia. Good for her, I had a great time quading in NZ in 2002. I think an electric unicycle could be even better… with an airbag!

3) Vantage Points

(1 2 ) 3 4 5 6

* pics 1 and 2 were cropped from much larger pictures taken as general city scenes in quick succession with no person in particular selected to be photographed. It was a Zoom-In edit. Connotative meaning can be applied but hasn’t been inferred. Pic 3 is a screenshot from a music link further down.

A person can be at the ‘crossroads’ and not even know it until they see other perspectives of themselves later.

Crosshairs too, for example in political machinations or targeted civillians.

From my own reading of Maitreya, often it takes one’s own death to see the bigger picture missed while leading a myopic life – in a life review away from the Earth plane.

src

Also, in a piece from 2001, they mention the Hall of Mirrors as related to 9/11 terrorism.

src

Fear of death, and fear overall is the small self afraid of the big self, non??

Yet, who has ever directly seen the back of their head… even with a mirror? Everyone has a blindspot: perhaps it was meant to be that way? It gets people to the hairdresser, right?

At an end-of-year work meetup in ~2002, I was sitting next to one chap who said something like “If anyone were to kill any of my two daughters, I would want them dead.” The topic went on for a couple of minutes, I think he’d already had a few drinks, not sure, and then I said, “well, what if one daughter killed the other one?” After a few long moments, he replied “Bastard!” End of topic. Blindspot revealed.

But I never brought up the topic with him and I have no idea why he did. I think he carried a photo of them in his wallet as they were children. I don’t remeber much more of the conversation either.

Killer Kids are an uncomfortable topic…

src

…so too is part of Jewry wanting to kill another part, in what might be an active war at present with Zionists targeting religious Zionists although it is a clandestine one whereby “Sabbateans are chameleons taking on the identity of their targets, destroying them from within.” –

src

It certainly deserves verification and wouldn’t surprise me – when the parasite becomes predator and the phenomenon has history.

Note, the author of that article is Jewish.

So just as Cain killed sibling Abel (a shepherd) another shepherd (14 y/o) was murdered in April 2024 in Israel but afterward equipment was seized from his house during mourning. Sabbatai Zevi was considerred a false messiah, are there more today?

Speaking of which, in Ormus King 9 as written in Queensland in September 2019, the anti-Christ almost becomes the world’s messiah as a usurper.

It might even be worth constructing a 10th film where he/it actually does to make it more lifelike. The Sabbatean edition. Or else, one may just look at the news – that is the Sabbatean edition!

In Australia, prior to ~2019, I would never have guessed that a large part of the “genocide” against the indigenous was done by natives to themselves and they were already warring with each other prior to Cook arriving, having different languages and geographies.

The Native Police were Australia’s own Einsatzgruppen – the ‘willing executioners’ of whom historians of Nazi Germany have investigated, pondering the question of how the nation of Bach and Beethoven could also produce mass murderers in uniform. That the Native Police were Indigenous men willing to serve for rations, tobacco and a pittance, and to pursue and kill other black people should not surprise us. Colonial governments made sure that men enlisted in, say, Victoria, were used in Queensland, far from their own country – they generally could not even speak the same language as their quarry.

It was no novelty for empires to use its subject peoples to enforce or extend their rule. Imperial Russia had its Cossacks, France its Spahis d’Afrique in Algeria, East Africa the King’s African Rifles and British India a huge army whose Sepoys – Bengalis and Madrassis, Gurkhas and Sikhs – fought to gain and protect Britain’s hold on the sub-continent. That settlement in Australia was assisted by blacks killing blacks is a tragic irony of Australia’s history, but not one we should avoid.
src

Note, they were given elephant guns to enact maximum damage and someone in far north Queensland told me that there are longstanding enmities that still exist to this day and shape police recruitment.

[Queensland, 1864]

I also read in a gallery that the native police force was initially setup by a German guy to conduct “dispersals” and pave the way for settlement.

4) Packing and Stacking

* Packing up from my first ever gig. The final track was Hey Jude, as seen on the chart. This was at the Polyglot Puppet Theatre in 1994. John was playing bass. It took a few nights to get things tight.

I became interested in the drums in 1988 when I heard someone play a beat while I was in the schoolyard which really lifted my spirit. Could’ve missed it though.

I also really liked the drum solo at a Lionel Richie “Outrageous Tour” concert in 1987 – the first concert I went to.

Ricky (1954 – 2013) on drums.

Ricky Lawson drum solo

I learned piano for many years but quit to start drums when I was 12.

I tried guitar when I was 18 but didn’t like the feel of metal under my fingers and the plastic plectrums.
Q: Is there any instrument where one can avoid gripping metal or plastic?
A: Percussion.

[ 2003 with Toby | 2003 at Blue Note NYC – Marcus Miller’s rig]

Musical instruments should also have health warning stickers – like with cigarettes regarding hearing damage. Def Jam or Deaf Jam records? Def Leppard or Deaf Leppard? Playing instruments can also strain the spine – ask Phil Collins. Bassist Charles who I knew back in high school started doing yoga back then and using earplugs – smart guy.

[ early 1995, Bali – taking hits from the Bong Song ]

Cypress Hill - Hits From The Bong - 8/14/1994 - Woodstock 94

Anyway, the first late-night film I went to was the audience-participation Blues Brothers at the Valhalla starting at around 11pm.

[ pic ]

I was almost asleep but then I could see a flying pole hurtling toward me.

The pole was catapulted to reach the top of the screen and there were people shouting at me across the room to watch out. This was at 3:26 below:

The Blues Brothers Car Chase (3/3)

I was in the first or second row, wearing a suit and even had my brother next to me. I was so tired, I didn’t move an inch and it just missed me. It all made so much sense!

A few years later in France my own ski almost landed on my head after reaching a similar height during a stack and a week or two later people were shouting at me from a chairlift as I was in a collision course with a traverse track.

Stacking up the near misses …keeps life interesting.

5) Backpack Testimonial

(created: 1 December 2018)

I bought my Aiking Australia daypack sometime in 1994 for around AUD$200 after a hiking teacher at Timbertop spoke so highly of the brand at the end of 1993.

But at Timbertop, my pack wasn’t Aiking. It’s still intact today, and was used by my brother as well before me – a full-size hiking backpack.

Interestingly, Aiking (now One Planet) have supplied the school ever since.

I used the pack as my school bag in 1995 and 1996, and also for uni – it has never failed me. It is neither too large, nor too small and I can even use a larger pack on my back and then have this on my front if need be.

It is going in for its second repair, and it needed one in around 2000. It has brutally strong canvas and has an extended oversize YKK zip around the perimeter. All the inner seams are still fully intact. The black cordura base is also in top condition. This pack has been so dependable, I have almost taken it for granted, but not so much that I throw it around.

[ St. Anton, Jan 2012 ]

Perhaps one day it can be reissued, and like the old Gibson guitars that have their fadings, stains and wear marks recreated – this pack can also have its patina recreated so that everyone can experience its good looks and high build quality. It is getting a wash at this point, yet I doubt it’ll lose its soul glow.

Well done to the One Planet team.

 

[ ** disclaimer ** ]

visual and illustrative representations only and not for further distribution unless otherwise stated. No bearing with any intent or interaction. I do not know the person(s) shown above and have not met them. There is a strong randomness factor too in the selection. They may or may not know about this derivative image, as with their associated photographer and uploader. It is enabled and encouraged by the Creative Commons license attached to the original source image. This is part of a limited series exploring old photos and creating high-quality, composite images related to new music and new music mashups.
✓ 6 months ago

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

✓ 2 months ago

1993: Shorn Right!

Bad hair days be damned and seeking other solutions!

(updated: 16 February 2025)

[ Light Blue, issue 113, Feb 2024, p8-9 ]

I was never sure what to do about my hair when I arrived at Timbertop. I liked my hair but wanted something lower maintenance so decided to get a “blade 2.”

In my hike group, “Lozenge” (below middle, black t-shirt) took the photo above left and ended up getting a blade 1, I think a couple of weeks after me. It was insane.

But both our hair grew back by term 4 to the point where I was asked to get it cut.

I still can’t wrap my head around how Owen Wilson (above, yellow T-shirt) ended up in the group without anyone batting an eyelid. Or was it his twin/doppelganger?

Whatever we did, it worked and I picked up equal first in the photo competition (with Sight Regained t-shirt) at the end of Term 1.

Also, our hike group of 6 people picked up 3rd place at the hiking awards for the distance we traveled at the end of the year with our group leader (above, Dolphins cap) receiving a free jacket. In that group, to the best of my knowledge, I did most of the navigation, sometimes with Lozenge. I was the designated navigator, was I not? Yet roles weren’t really important. I had already been navigating at Mount Buller with the ski map for many years prior, so it wasn’t hard for me.

So “Dolph” chimed in sometimes yet maybe he was navigating too, but was less vocal about it. Same with “The Big Dipper” (wearing glasses.) We very rarely got lost or needed to do a triangulation. If lost, the idea is to just stop and retrace steps and with good visibility, that’s pretty easy. I think the key is to always be working with the map and land simultaneously as much as possible by merging the two within the mind. That leaves the others to crack jokes and think about water. I think we aimed for ~30kms per day in pre-planning but also took into account terrain to obtain a time target instead of distance one.

Maybe the secret to our “success” was that 4 of the guys were all from the same unit, so had more cohesion. I also knew Lozenge from before Timbertop. In the long-runs, I was usually coming in 18-25th place – I think the best from our group. Maybe Lozenge did better on a couple of occasions. None of us were laggards. The most difficult groups are ones where there is a super-fast person with a super-slow person. Also, we were good with setup and takedowns of camp – that can really be a time sink.

D’s group scored first place – they all got jackets and a girl’s group led by a Japanese girl came in second. I think that was the case.

Getting a blade 2 before anyone else was the tough thing to do and a lot of people were checking it out.

  • pic 2,3,4 – unit master and science teacher S.
  • pic 5,6 –  “Passover or Passout?” with M and FT, 5 April 1993. [pic 5 was also in the school magazine with a description]

M’s not technically Jewish and it was very gracious of him to attend. More could be said about the passover but I’d have to double check with a few others first.

Speaking of which, I met W at Timbertop and he lived near me and we actually hung out a few times in the subsequent years. I hope he’s doing well. The last time I saw him was in late 1999 when I encountered him at the end of Huntingfield Road by chance with PJ (I am pretty sure that that is what occurred.)

Looking back at my life, I’ve missed so many formal occasions, I can only see it as character-building and a means of differentiation – Rites of Passage or Rites of Destruction? Religion divides as much as it unifies in this day and age. And for some, a Jewish guy married to a gentile is not even seen as married at all and that the wife could/should convert. As such, I’m not doing too badly. It’s also impossible to convert to another religion – you’re just confused.

There’s no map to the promised land – for me at least. Does one swim upstream or downstream? Is there even a choice? And I met a religious guy in Israel that aimed to do away with all the mitzvot and just attain the wisdom behind their underlying sefirot – a different kind of observance – but even that knowledge has been corrupted I suspect. Some people think that this life is all about attaining rebirth in the World-To-Come. Beam me up, Scotty!

Anyway, so my haircut was also a rebellion from my younger years when I refused to even get a haircut.

[Tasmania – first plane trip away from Melbourne]

With the curls, random women would come up and tell me how much they loved my hair and I would say that I hated it – probably due to the compliments but I still didn’t want to get a cut: I thought it would hurt! Something like that attention then happened at school but due to the lack of hair.

Due to the attention, after the blade 2, and until it grew out a bit, I covered my head with a beanie and picked up the nickname “Champ” in the process. That was from big ‘G’ who had just tried it on and was with R at the time.

— pic 2,3 – Bluff Hut for unit campout

It was actually a really empowering nickname – I kind of had to live up to it. I’m not sure many girls used it. And there was another Champ there at the time who was Thai and that was his real name but I don’t think we ever spoke.

G and R both got really short haircuts some time later (when visible underneath their cowboy hats) and perhaps the nickname came about more from their admiration of the cut, than of me. G played drums too. I was relieved people weren’t calling me AIDS like some had 5 years prior – alongside a few calling me ‘Einstein’ such as J. Only G knew what AIDS stood for backwards. I heard him reveal it one night in the San(atorium) in passing conversation. Shocking stuff.

The Champion brand was unknown to Australia at the time and my mum brought it back from Chicago a couple of years earlier. The shop had said that it was the hottest brand at the time. K-Ci can be seen below wearing it on stage in New York in 1991 (vid here.)

In the 1980’s I used to listen to American Top 40 (Casey Kasem) on the radio, and so got a headstart on what was going to be coming down the pipe from the USA ahead of time. Here he is announcing Huey Lewis as #1 in October, 1986. But if you mentioned 80’s music in 1993, people would think something was seriously wrong with you.

“J” took the photo below with my camera and has since become a professional portrait photographer.

I ended up leaving Geelong Grammar as my plan was always to do the International Baccalaureate there, but it was shorn out of the syllabus.

What did I expect?

But I never ended up doing IB anyway due to poor French performance, and I did do VCE Media (1+2) in Year 10 which was new at the time. A few other people ended up at Wesley like PJ and a few girls. I had trouble sleeping in a roomful of people… those damn sleepwalkers – maybe that was it. But hey, I snored sometimes. So on many a night I was the last person to “depart” so I departed myself.

Going back to board – all aboard!

[ 1993 – waiting to get onboard the bus at Spencer Street station with M who I knew from my earlier Glamorgan stint whereby I came into the school already knowing good people. ]

[ 1988 –  arrive at school early enough and there’d be tons of guys on the tennis court playing an elimination game – a few girls but not many. Another chap W also went to the same school from down the street and he rode there too. ]

Quality of sleep is something I should discuss at a later point as I had nightmares for many years starting in the early-mid-2000s I think. But not really anymore. There were also dreams of euphoria, and then various combinations of the two as the mind-body complex healed and purified from the soul outward. Healed from what, though?

  1. Original sin?
  2. Nanotechnology infiltration with a biblical past?
  3. Individual or collective pain-body?
  4. Unfulfilled Jungian archetypes?
  5. Not resonating with past lives and the soul’s journey?

…with those perspectives being in response to a foreign yet innate self-regulating process contained within my perception. Opening up the hurt-locker for a spring clean.

In our unit in 1993, G was very apt at hitting the snooze button and he did it a lot, and he also ended up school captain a few years later.

[ G – far right checker shirt + red t-shirt, further up, behind wheelbarrow. “S” above with the broom who G really helped out and S picked up an endeavour award that year.]

These days I prefer to see myself as waking-up more than anything else, and creating my own version of “woke,” if it’s possible. The beauty of life is that any type of meaning can be attached to it, it seems, but for how long remains in question. But I am always happy to laugh at how seriously I take myself.


✓ 6 months ago

Next stop: Courchevel

War or peace, skiing year-round has always been the goal.

(last updated: 14 February 2025)

I’m wearing my late grandfather’s jacket, who sits in the Porsche.

– [13 February 2018] 911 GT2 RS [Porsche Car Configurator]

However, my grandmother wasn’t a fan of German cars due to their wartime experience and feelings of betrayal. Yet they both spoke fluent German.

Instead Freddy drove a yellow Jaguar that I travelled in a lot, especially up to Mount Buller.

Once at the base of Buller we would ascend in a late 70’s Landcruiser that he kept at the bottom of the mountain.

No Porsche back then could’ve done that, but I’d still drive a GT2 RS in a second, haha.

Okay so it wasn’t Courchevel but it was good preparation for it.


✓ 7 months ago