Posts by Russell Brown
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Hard News: It's Choice, bro, in reply to Sacha,
How so?
It needs to demonstrate an audience.
Otoh, Bomber's Citizen A show for Triangle apparently gets a little NZOA support, and that's only available in Auckland.
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Hard News: Doug the Goth, in reply to philipmatthews,
One positive about Gothdom, I always thought, was that it allowed for femininity – both in girls and boys. It wasn’t a sexist scene, and it was far from macho – which even punk and other things around in the 80s were.
Good point. I've also just been agreeing with Andrew Dubber that neither of us could ever recall meeting an actually unpleasant goth. Doug was a nice chap, just not quite as dramatic as he conceived himself to be.
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Hard News: Doug the Goth, in reply to Shaun Lott,
A bit harsh, maybe… but really! An analysis of Goth music with no mention of the Sisters of Mercy? ;)
Oddly enough, the Sisters didn't feature as much as the more, er, crap bands.
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Southerly: Liveblog: Moving House (Literally), in reply to Hebe,
Piko moved to Stanmore Road for a year or three. The old part of the Kilmore Street building is down; the new part survived, just.
The funny thing is, I only recently realised that Brigitte Unwin runs Piko. Brigitte and I were good friends way back in the day in London -- we lived in nearby houses in Bonnington Square and had some adventures together. Her comedown tea, with valerian and whole camomile flowers floating in the cup, was the stuff of legend.
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A definite high tidemark of suffering was the removal of the remains of our chimneys, in which – very fortunately – I had the able assistance of the lovely Ian Dalziel from Apple Pie Design. Actually ‘assistance’ perhaps undersells his contribution. Saint Dalziel lifted a mind-boggling 75 tonnes of bricks (7.5 tonnes, 10 times). The fact that he hasn’t ended up in a spinal unit is nothing short of a miracle; indeed I plan to use this as evidence in my campaign for official papal recognition of his saintliness.
The prodigious lifting ability you see in Ian today was honed carrying entire PA Systems up the steep, carpeted stairs of Melbourne pubs and RSLs as the roadie for the legendary Toy Love. The saintly nature itself is, I believe, innate.
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Field Theory: Talkin' Softball, in reply to Bart Janssen,
But for those wanting something to do on a mild Monday evening in summer I strongly recommend the slowpitch league.
Can you remind me about this next summer?
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Capture: A Foray into Portraiture, in reply to Alex Efimoff,
Thanks every one :) I appreciate that you all liked my works. I think it’s a pretty interesting idea to have an online public version of an offline public exhibition.
I heartily commend you for it.
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My great-cousins, Mark, Dean and Brent Stephenson of Johnsonville, all played softball at a high level, and Brent was good enough to be recruited by a company team in the US, which paid for an apartment, housekeeper, car and university education.
The best thing they ever did for me was give me a supple, weathered glove that bore the name of the "Richard Hadlee of softball", Kevin Herlihy. (I also associate them with Alice Cooper's Billion Dollar Babies.)
I used that glove a lot.
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I played softball through school, usually as catcher or shortstop, and even coached a junior team one year.
But towards the end it became clear to me that I just wasn't good enough to continue. My last game was against a Cashmere High team whose pitcher was bringing the ball back over the plate. My first turn at bat was a humiliating stand-up strikeout -- I genuinely thought every pitch was off line.
One thing I did love about softball was what it possible to do with the ball. If you throw it really hard, with the right wrist action, it's possible to make it corkscrew through the air to your target. It feels, and looks, great.
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Love shot, Jonathan -- and thanks for the link to the video. I'd missed that.
Here is Toy Love Live at the Gluepot, in shocking pink.
