Perth: This Old Love
Below are some highlights from my last week in Perth.
One of the views from my train seat:
This time around, I took the train to Bunbury and then met friends who I was going to Dunsborough with. Sometimes when I'm in transit, I amuse myself by playing a game I call iPod Russian Roulette. It's where you set your iPod to shuffle and say to yourself something like: 'the next song is going to tell me whether I should go to that party tonight or skip it and have drinks with my housemates (or 'Melbourne Family')'. If the song that comes on is upbeat, then you should go out to that party, if it is something downbeat, maybe you should reconsider and relax with a quiet drink instead. As with all daft things like this, this process usually just reconfirms the decision you have already made. As in, if a slow song comes on and I really want go to that party, I just say to myself that it didn't count and skip to one that resonates more with my mood. (Maybe I should call it iPod-8-Ball after Magic 8 Balls?)
Anyhoo, on the way to Bunbury, I thought that the soundtrack my iPod on shuffle provided could maybe give rise to some kind of profound reflection on 2008 or sense of forethought for 2009. Or maybe just get me in the mood from some fun time in Dunsborough. I was a little bored and ended up writing down the strange playlist that eventuated. I have included the embarrassing songs as well...
- Stairway to Heaven - Led Zeppelin -I love Led Zeppelin and thought that I was off to a brilliant start.
- Norwegian Wood - The Beatles - Love the Beatles, love this song
- Out in the Street (live) - Bruce Springsteen - The Boss shouts it out! Woo!
- I Feel Possessed - Crowded House - Not a song that I know that well, but Crowded House have such great music to stare out of a window to.
- Intro - Flight of the Conchords BBC Radio Series
- A Bret-Shaped Hole - " "
- Unconditional Love- Stevie Nicks - I love Fleetwood Mac, so I give Stevie a chance. This song was a little soppy, even for me.
- Dancing Shoes - Arctic Monkeys
- God Bless - Lamb - not that familiar with Lamb. Ther are some beautiful melodies but the music often sounds a bit 90s to me.
- Oh Daddy - Fleetwood Mac -Love Fleetwood Mac and have been listening to Rumours over and over of late. The album so suits driving around on a sunny day.
- Roswell Report - Paul McDermott Unplugged - Good News Week -From 1998!
- Fan - New Young Pony Club
- Barry Bonds - Kanye West -My housemate bought this CD and we tend to listen to it before we go out dancing.
- Have You Ever Seen the Rain? - Creedence Clearwater - Beautiful
- Kashmir - Led Zeppelin - Another of my absolute favourite songs and bands.
- Bernard from EMI - Flight of the Conchords BBC Radio Series
- Born to Run - Bruce Springsteen -Oh yeah! Sing it! Maybe this is my motto for the year?
- Morning Song - Jewel -Pretty. I like learning Jewel songs on guitar.
- Man-size - PJ Harvey -She rocks your socks off and you like it.
- Bonfire - Lamb
- Relapse (EP) - Little Birdy (from WA) -I love this song so much. It breaks my heart every time.
- You Can Call Me Al - Paul Simon -Classic
- Go By - Elliot Smith -His music makes my heart ache deep and soar high at the same time
- What You Wanted - Angus and Julia Stone
- Don't Leave Me Now - Pink Floyd
- Fear City - Elliot Smith
- The Trial - Pink Floyd
- Flashing Lights - Kanye West
- Tom Traubert's Blues - Tom Waits - His voice and music are amazing.
- The Piano Has Been Drinking (Not Me) - Tom Waits
- Ladies of the World - Flight of the Conchords
- Bikie Bible - Paul McDermott Unplugged - Good News Week
- Paper Tiger - Beck
- Blue Denim - Stevie Nicks
- Gone at Last - Paul Simon
- Clouds Clear - Lamb - It's good to end on a hopeful note.
Two Tom Waits songs in a row. Does that mean I'm in for some dark and salty pain in 2009? Or have had some in 2008? Hmm...
Update: my best friend Jess has since emailed me and asked for a more explicit explanation of the songs through the framework of the Roulette model. As Jess put it: "I was hoping for more of the decoding of the meaning of songs, a summary of your findings so that I could be better prepared to use the Liz method to decode my life via iPod." The wisdom of this advice was somewhat undercut by what followed: "it’s bloody hot today and I’m eating a tim tam and now my fingers have chocolate goo on them. And my keyboard."
Okay, I am basing my interpretation on a few things. These are: my history with or feelings about a song (sometimes the most heartbreaking song can make you feel irrationally hopeful), its title and its lyrics and the order in which the songs unfurled.
I would say that 2008 started promisingly with some of my old favourites, Led Zeppelin with Stairway to Heaven, Norwegian Wood by the Beatles and Out in the Street by the Boss. It was a rip-roaring start to the year with lots of exciting projects lined up. The title I Feel Possessed kind of reminds me of that feeling I had of having so much on and so many commitments that I sometimes felt a bit crazy and trapped between three different worlds of ambition.
The Flight of the Conchords have been a source of much laughter this year. The title Unconditional Love reminds me of my friends and family. It also ties in with how I feel about filmmaking and the life-long friends I made on The Sculptor movie. God Bless (the title- I can't remember how the song goes) could be how I felt when I said goodbye to lovely Perth people again after the film wrapped. Dancing Shoes definitely applies to the wrap party.
Oh Daddy and Roswell Report -the come down, the sense that the rest of the world feels slightly alien and strange after the surreal, extreme and tight-knit nature of working on a film. It's like a post film hangover.
I'm Your Fan applies to my rediscovery of blogs.
Have You Ever Seen the Rain? - I'm not sure what this song is about specifically, I can't remember the lyrics. I know that whenever I listen to it though, I feel happy even though the title kind of makes me think it's going to be sad. This applies to something that ended positively this year.
Kashmir and Born to Run applies to new feelings of freedom and clarity. There's so much to run around and discover in Melbs. Also, I feel so happy whenever I hear Kashmir, because I love it so much. That ties in with how happy I felt when I created this blog this year.
Man-Size, Bonfire, Relapse, Go By, What You Wanted, Don't Leave Me Now, Fear City, the Trial -hmmm. You Can Call Me Al coming out in the middle of these relates to all the simple fun I had getting more deeply into painting and photography this year.
Flashing Lights makes me think of a particular place we tend to go dancing late on Saturday nights. It's a brilliant discovery because they always put on a show (which is especially great when we have people visiting) and it's only a short walk from our house.
Tom Waits' Traubert Blues and the Piano Has Been Drinking songs makes me think of that end of year party-weariness.
Ladies of the World and Bikie Bible by Flight of the Conchords and Paul McDermott respectively reminds me of my resolution to drag my friend Mel into trying stand-up with me in 2009. -Melbourne seems like the city for it.
Paper Tiger and Blue Denim relates to the love of photography, painting, illustrating and all things crafty and tactile that I developed this year.
Gone at Last, Clouds Clear - I thought that these were surprisingly great, hopeful songs to end on. I think I had a fantastic year where I overcame any remnants of creative self-doubt I had and clarified a lot of the aims and desires I have for my life.
(Is the above the kind of thing you meant Jess?)
My housemates/Melbs family picked me up at Bunbury train station. My friend Jilly grew up in Busselton. Her house has a creek around the back of it, which she and her brother used to row up (you can see a boat in the distance in the second picture). I think of it as Jilly's Dawson's Creek house.
The six of us headed down to the beach for a glass of wine or two as the sun went down...
Wine and water
Four of the six pairs of thongs my friends and I abandoned as soon as we hit the beach.
Nothing like sand between your toes. I have this pic up next to my desk to remind me of that beautiful feeling.
We had a swim at Bunker Bay before heading home
Apple infused iced tea from Tea-licious in Dunsborough. It was so gooooood.BACK IN PERTH
Cauliflower man sitting on the till at the Dome cafe in Garden City. (Reminded me of Apple)
Me in the bathroom, post my somewhat successful kitchen scissors/fringe experiment.
Jess and I went and did some wine tasting at the Upper Reach Winery in Middle Swan. My favourite was the above: the Black Bream Pink.
One of the most photogenic people I know: my best friend Jess, getting silly with sunnies in Subi.
Jess, Tess and I have been friends since we were kids. We used to run around dressed as faeries (or 'fairies', to spell it in the boring way) in big Doc Marten boots.
Me hitching a ride on Tim's bike. Another thing to cross off my list.
Jess on her scooter.
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