Visiting the Well

It's FAB baby!

Once upon a time when I was a young bloke I owned a Mini - a Morris Mini Minor 850 to be precise. Bought it for a couple of hundred bucks. I really loved that car. Unfortunately it met an untimely end in an accident and it wasn't worth repairing. That was over 30 years ago. It sort of looked like the car in the advertising brochure, although I hasten to add that's not me in the white Speedos.

Well since the re-release of the Mini I've been hanging around showrooms without taking the plunge. However that all changed late last year when I finally designed the car I wanted and put in an order.  It took about 3 months for it to be made in Oxford and shipped over. A Mini Cooper S, pepper white, black roof, red leather upholstery, wood steering wheel and trim, spotlights, GT stripes, sunroof, 17" JCW wheels with run flat tires etc. etc. Needless to say I'm very pleased and just love being in the thing. Retro looks with great performance. Drives like a slot car.

No wonder I haven't had time to sit around and write. mmm... and I'm thinking about those white Speedos, the Wayfarers and a Mal for a trip to the beach.

Cobwebs

Well, I'm not sure how it all came to this, but this is my first post for the year. In my defence I am running 10 other blogs for work and social reasons but that's a pretty pathetic excuse actually. If I can work on 10 regularly then why not 11?

Following will be some posts that I've had half finished but which have been stalled by other priorities. Maybe that will shake the cobwebs out of the system.

Martin 000-15

Just to confirm that indeed I am a guitar tragic, I've just taken possession of a new acoustic - a Martin 000=15.

It's a great, bare bones, high quality small bodied acoustic that chimes like a bell. No fancy inlays or electric pickups - just a stripped down guitar like the one you learned to play on - only about 100 times better.

Although I currently have a few guitars my only acoustic is one I swapped an electric for in 1973 - an Eko Ranger Dreadnaught. I wanted it because there's a picture of one in the hands of Jethro Tull from the photos in the Living in the Past album. Very large and very Italian. It's been kicked around and had more dents and scratches that a speedway car - yet it defies age and infirmity and plays on. However a new little buddy was called for and is now with its new family. If only I had time to play it. Maybe that's a hint for a resolution for 2008.

Volvelles

Information wheels—or volvelles—have been used since the 14th century to measure, record and calculate everything from verb conjugation to birth control biorhythms. From circular slide rules to Captain Marvel decoders, these unique artifacts are not only amusing but offer a model for modern interactive design.

From the golden age of celestial cartography to more contemporary applications of both language and form, Volvelles demonstrates both the astonishing range and remarkable utility of these ingenious “interactive” tools.

I’ve just picked up a wonderful book on volvelles – Reinventing The Wheel by Jessica Helfland.

I’ve used volvelles for years without realising that’s what they were called. As an amateur astronomer I regularly used (and still have) a type of volvelle called a planisphere which can be held overhead and rotated to located major features in the night sky.

Who hasn’t enjoyed playing with the album cover of Led Zeppelin III – another volvelle.

For anyone who enjoys the graphical representation of information and ingenious analog devices, this book is a must see.

I’ve even located a downloadable volvelle tool which I intend to use to create a few of my own.

Gretsch White Penguin

A new addition to my guitar family. The Gretsch White Penguin - sometimes called (by Gretsch in their propaganda anyway) the 'Holy Grail' of electric guitars. Well it is rare and beautiful. I've never seen one in the flesh before last Saturday when this little beauty was delivered. Got it from Nigel at the Guitar Shop at Paddington in Brisbane. Great place. Go there if you're in town.

The Penguin is pictured here in my lounge room keeping company with its big brother the White Falcon. I think it will sound very fine played through a new VASE Trendsetter 60.

VASE Guitar Amplifiers

An update on our progress. Fellow VASE owner, Graham Whitehouse, wrote the following in reply to a recent enquiry:

"You heard correctly, the re-issue VASE guitar amps are coming. We are currently finalising the Trendsetter 60 which will be the first amp released complete with its companion 3 x 12 speaker cabinet loaded with Celestion Greenback Vintage 25s.

The Trendsetter 60 will be a faithful re-issue of the original; hand-wired with the best available componentry and military precision. All our cabinetry is cut on CNC routers using the best available void-free Birch ply, no chipboard in sight. We've even got the vinyl covering used on the original amps and our transformers are made in Australia to the original specifications, no Chinese out-sourcing here. All assembled right here in Brisbane as they should be.

Beyond the re-issue vintage line, we have already begun our pre-production test runs of the VASE Bass speaker cabs. A couple of select backline hire companies are stocking the V810, our 1600 watt 8 x 10" bass speaker system. These speakers are the classic 810 sound with frequency response to suit the modern bass player. All high-power Neodymium drivers, especially developed for us. As with the vintage gear, all CNC routed, precision crafted cabinets make these a pretty serious bass box; available in 2 x 10, 4 x 10, 6 x 10 & 8 x 10.   

No release date as yet but you could keep an eye on the Vase website, www.vase.com.au <http://www.vase.com.au>  for further developments. The website will be launched just prior to the release of the first amps. Pricing will be listed upon release.

So there you have it. Not long to wait for the reissue of the first new model of these classic valve guitar amps in over 30 years.

Pieces of Eight

I rediscovered a little treasure today that I thought I'd lost.

In 1985 I was given the job of establishing a team of developers to make software for education. We were given quite a free rein with our initial projects and I chose to design an adventure game. I'd been a fan of cliffhanger serials since I was a kid and particularly loved pirates. I'd also been playing adventure games for some years so decided to combine my passions.

I remember sitting down with a sketch book, a set of Rotring pens and some coloured pencils. I drew a very small map of what I considered to be a classic island on which to have an adventure. As I drew the map I created the broad narrative for the story. That little map was the beginning of the project. It was photocopied and enlarged, used to create a 'room map' to assist in refining the game logic, featured as a map in the software guide, appeared as an interactive map on screen, and was a turned into a wall poster.

Pieces of Eight went on to be one of the most successful software games ever developed for schools in Australia and was released for Apple II, BBC Micro, Commodore 64, IBM PC and later Macintosh computers. It won awards and was shown around the world. It really made my name and led me to a career in software development and multimedia. So that original map is a special little thing.

I cut it out of the sketch book and pinned it up on my noticeboard for a few years, and when I moved on it came with me and sort of hung about my offices. A few years ago now, when I left my last job to start my own business it disappeared and until last night I thought I'd left it behind.

I'm writing a paper on creativity and went looking for a particular volume of poetry in my bookshelves. I'm not even sure what made me choose that book - a sixth sense I guess, because tucked away between the pages was my little map. I have no idea why I put it there - because it must have been me. I haven't touched that book in years.

It was a feeling of absolute delight to find it, not that it's particularly impressive, certainly not valuable and hardly going to change my life now - but I know it did then. That little thing represents a tipping point in my professional life and just having it again will allow me to more completely retell the story to others.

Map of Online Communities

Webcomic xkcd has created a great map of online communities. (Moon, you'll love this).

I've wandered around in a few of those lands as a freebooter and mercenary but I guess homebase is in the Blogipeligo.

Where is your home port?

Vale Lobby Loyde

One of Australia’s most influential guitarists over the past 40 years died last weekend from lung cancer. Lobby Loyde was a Queensland country boy and moved to Brisbane in the sixties to play with a number of local bands including the Purple Hearts. Lobby went on to play with the Wild Cherries, Coloured Balls, Aztecs, and Rose Tattoo etc. He was an influential composer and producer of rock and blues and is cited by many musicians from Australia and elsewhere as a prime influence.

I was lucky to meet Lobby last year at the Purple Hearts reunion gig which VASE amps supported. Just being back stage with him and talking about the craft of guitar playing in particular and the history of the music scene in general was a great experience. For all his influence he remained a very humble guy. He was 65.

Read more about him here.

FMOM Industries Wave Disrupter Gun

Every now and again you see something you just have to own. If you're lucky it's something that will be useful. If you're really lucky (which comes in handy if it's expensive) it's not only useful but your partner approves of it. If you're seriously unlucky it's neither of those things, but dammit you just have to have it.

Well I've found one. Those clever characters at the Weta Workshop (who made all those wonderful weapons and armour for the Lord of the Rings franchise) have made the all time great looking raygun. I've wanted one ever since I was a kid. Indeed I've owned a few plastic ones over the years, but this is the real thing (minus the vapourising ray gun bit ala Marvin the Martian). Hey, but you can't have everything I suppose.

Paw, I gotta get me one o' them fancy shootin' irons.

Conference Bike

For miles and miles of smiles ...

Well, it's probably a fair indication of my corporate world-weariness that my first thought in seeing this contraption was one of retribution. Having finally lost the will to live after one too many endless staff meetings I can picture our kamikaze Dilbert inviting six of his mortal enemies from prairie dog town to join him and try out his new toy. Maybe a quick blast down by the Old Cliff Road?

I'm sure the Conference Bike does all the wonderful things it claims and brings happiness and peace to all it touches. Maybe just not to me.

100 Suns

I don’t usually write on topics that have a political bent, there are plenty of other people to do that, but I was checking out some of my blogroll favourites today and came across an entry by Moon River. Moon posts beautiful entries that include visual things I love – evocative images, ancient maps etc. The one that caught my eye today though was one featuring the work of Michael Light.  This book and exhibition, 100 SUNS features images of some (yes, only some) of America’s nuclear tests between 1945 and 1992. Text describing this book and exhibition:

Between 1945 and 1992 the United States detonated 1,149 nuclear test explosions. Until 1962 the tests were conducted in the atmosphere and oceans. 106 of the 216 above ground blasts were exploded 63 miles from Las Vegas, Nevada. The remaining were detonated at the Enewetak or Bikini Atolls in the Pacific Ocean. The immediate and lasting consequences of these tests were unforeseen.

Michael Light's installation, 100 SUNS, was first presented at the Hosfelt Gallery in 2003 and is currently traveling. At the heart of this exhibition are 100 photographs culled by Michael Light from the U.S. National Archives and the records of the Los Alamos National Laboratory. The re-photo-graphed images depict above-ground tests at or shortly after the moment of explosion. Utilizing the found photographs along with text and photographic imagery shot by Light, the installation raises palpable issues about "weapons of mass destruction" in the hands of any nation.

The title, 100 SUNS, refers to the response by J. Robert Oppenheimer to the world's first nuclear explosion in New Mexico when he quoted a passage from the Bhagavad Gita, the classic Vedic text, "If the radiance of a thousand suns were to burst forth at once in the sky, that would be like the splendour of the Mighty One... I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds." This was Oppenheimer's attempt to describe the otherwise indescribable.

These often terrifyingly beautiful images illustrate with absolute clarity why nuclear weapons need to be proscribed. It also showcases the hypocrisy of the members of the ‘nuclear club’ when they threaten to ‘intervene’ when other nations get close to doing something similar, even though they themselves have wreaked untold damage on the environment and the human psyche by carrying out their testing over decades.  It becomes hypocritical when they try to adopt the white hat when pontificating. They be should be honest and don the black before they speak. Fess up. You understand that dark place because you’ve embraced it yourself.

How To Write Good

Thanks to the Notebookism site for this link.

Ever wanted to write betterer than anyone else??? It ain't impossible. Just follow these rools.

Here are some samples:

1. Always avoid alliteration.
2. Prepositions are not words to end sentences with.
3. Avoid cliches like the plague—they're old hat.
4. Employ the vernacular.
5. Eschew ampersands & abbreviations, etc.
6. Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are unnecessary.
7. Parenthetical words however must be enclosed in commas.
8. It is wrong to ever split an infinitive.
9. Contractions aren't necessary.
10. Do not use a foreign word when there is an adequate English quid pro quo.

and the final tip:

    52. And always be sure to finish what

Superhero?

Let's start off the New Year in a highly intelligent and significant fashion.

Which superhero are you?  Take the test.

Apparently I'm the Green Lantern. That's a bit spooky actually as I really enjoyed the comic book as a kid (with Hal Jordan as GL), have two Green lantern t-shirts and a plastic Green Lantern ring that glows in the dark that I got from who knows where about a million years ago.

Meaning of the banner

Well it’s the last night of the year and the blog deserves a final post. I’ve really had it on a starvation diet in recent months and one of my resolutions is to get back into more of a writing routine in 07.

To finish things off I thought I’d explain the images on the banner. I’ve had a few people ask me what that’s all about and up until now I’ve been deliberately cryptic about it. However I’ve added a new symbol and altered a couple of others in the past few days and now is probably as good a time as any to explain them.

Working from left to right.

A potshard made by the ‘grooved ware’ people of Western Europe thousands of years ago.  My ancestors and maybe yours. Very sophisticated trade routes and quite amazing Neolithic structures in the British Isles. Look at Maes Howe and Skara Brae. There have been distinctive grooved ware symbols found in pre-dynastic Egyptian sites. It questions our long held belief that Western civilisation as we know it was born between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers and drifted West. I think it was a lot more complicated than that, and that substantial parts of what we consider Western culture, particularly in the form of belief systems, came from the West and moved East. I use the image because history is a living thing and the curtain of time rather flimsy. I feel a powerful link to my ancestors and like to look at the mesh of history four dimensionally.

A golden bee from the tomb of Childeric I, one of the great Merovingian kings of ancient France. A powerful symbol in esoteric circles throughout time and one which evokes powerful magical forces. There were 300 bees found when Childeric's tomb was discovered. Only 2 remain, the others having been stolen and melted down for their gold along with his other treasures, in the 1830s. Before then however Napoleon adopted the bee as his imperial symbol rather that the Bourbon fleur de lis. He had Childeric’s bees sewn onto his imperial cloak at his coronation. I chose this bee because I am fascinated with the esoteric streams in history and also because it reminds me of the loss of great works of human creativity though stupidity and greed.

The red feather or quill I use as a symbol of creativity, particularly in writing. Many years ago I had poetry and short stories published but the realities of writing business documents for a living finally drowned those pursuits. In recent times blogging has allowed me to dip into the power of creative writing again. I have a passion for literature and hope to self-publish a volume in 2007 with a little help from a friend who has an imprint just right for that purpose (more of that in a later post). I have started collecting red feather pins - they were used as charitable foundation membership pins in the 50s in the USA and are still associated with similar activities. These pins I think I’ll give to fellow creative writers in our little self-publishing salon.

The guitar headstock relates to my love of music that I’ve written about often enough. I play guitar and collect the things as beautiful instruments but also works of art. A goal would be to play in a band again, but that requires a commitment to rehearse that I’d find hard to meet given my other activities. However I’m well aware that this is a key creative trigger for me which I must continue to explore and celebrate. My involvement with the rebirth of VASE valve guitar amps is a wonderful opportunity to be part of the music scene again.

The artist’s palette is an acknowledgement of my love of the visual arts, particularly painting. I painted in oils regularly for many years, but climbing the corporate ladder put paid to much of the reflective time I needed for this pursuit. Again, another goal is to set up the easel again and start preparing for another exhibition.

The iPod recognises the interactive technology that has been central to my working life for 25 years. I was one of the pioneers of computer education in Australia and designed games for the first generation of 8 bit machines in the 80s. Since then I’ve worked in many multimedia and eLearning environments as a producer through to CEO. My current practice still focuses on the commercialisation of interactive technologies. The iPod also dips the lid to Apple. I’ve used Apple since 1981 and have found it to be the ideal technology companion to my creative interests.

The final symbol is the latest to join the banner but paradoxically the oldest I have. I call this the multiman and I designed it in 1991 as apart of commercial management training CD-ROM project. It originally was meant to reflect a manager being made whole through the assimilation of the six major aspects of management – decision-making, communication, leadership etc. In recent times however my multiman has taken on a new guise. As part of my doctoral studies I have immersed myself in reflective practice and recast this symbol to reflect the major components that through balance and alchemical reaction make me a whole hermetic practitioner:

Vermilion for Chaos
Azure for Law
Violet for spiritual beliefs
Rust for ancestral blood
Viridian for the harmony of humanity and nature
Gold for Sol Invicta – life and light

The true destiny of the great artist is a destiny of toil. There comes a point in his life when toil begins to dominate and guide his fate. Doubts and misfortunes may long torment him. Circumstances may bear him down. He may lose years in obscure preparation. But the will to art, once ensconced in its proper hearth, can never be extinguished.       
                           
Gaston Bachelard

VASE Amplifiers III

Received some picures from Sol Carroll's Band Of Frequencies recent tour (pictured). Sol took away our cream 100w head and a quad box to give it a work out on the road. They make great music. Check it out.

Here's what Sol had to say:

Hey Paul, I've just had the pleasure of touring with the Trendsetter 100 and quad box. Absolutely phenomenal. Silken, warm tones with plenty of grunt and clarity. An instrument in itself. Well done for bringing such a quality amp back onto the market. Can't wait to hear the 50! Thanks Paul, Harry and all involved.

Sol's excited. We're excited. 2007 sees the rebirth of a legend - VASE valve guitar amps.

The VASE Vintage line will recreate that fabulous sound that Sol has described. A Vintage Plus range will include additional features suggested to us by a focus group of great guitarists from all musical spheres. A VASE 21C (Twenty-First Century) range is also planned to suit numetal and other forms of hardcore, evolving heavy music.

The Festive Season

Well the tree went up this weekend, so Christmas is close. Here in Brisbane that means heat, sun, beer, sport, more heat, more sun, more beer, more sport etc etc. That's the stereotype anyway ... and largely it's true - for the fortunate.

It's sobering to see how many of our own suffer this time of year - from poverty, violence, despair, disillusionment ... The season brings it all into sharp focus. Whether you're religious or not, the sentiments of this season should touch us all. Spend a moment or two counting your blessings and taking stock of your good fortune, then DO something for someone who lacks both. Even a small donation to a registered charity or a kind act for a friend or neighbour in distress can bring joy to both giver and receiver.

VASE Amplifiers II

Well, we're getting closer. Some great design work has been done and we're ready to start prototyping the VASE classic amps.

One very exciting development is the first signature model that we will be releasing. Pending formalities, we'll be building the Lobby Loyde Signature Edition as our first special edition amp. Specced by Lobby himself it looks like being a 100 watt stack with master volume control. Straight up, incredibly powerful and with magic tone - just like the great man himself.

For those of you outside Australia, Google Lobby Loyde and see who he's influenced.

Uses of Blogs

A colleague of mine, Joanne Jacobs, has recently co-edited and contributed to one of the first (if not THE first) academically grounded books on the uses of blogs. It's a great collection of writings that will do much to support the use of blogging from a social networking and business innovation standpoint.

Here's how Amazon describes it:

Uses of Blogs brings together scholars and practitioners from a wide range of fields to offer a broad spectrum of perspectives on current and emerging uses of blogs. Blogging is rapidly developing into a mainstream activity for Internet users, but beyond the popular headlines, there has been very little serious research done on their actual application in specific, everyday contexts. One reason for this is that the variety of styles of blogging—news blogs and political commentary blogs, marketing blogs, corporate dark blogs, fictional blogs, educational blogs, to name just a few—make it difficult to generalize and to imagine how blogs might be used in particular environments. This pathbreaking new book demonstrates the application of blogs and blogging in the full range of industrial and social contexts.

Great work Jo and Axel - a must for any business or academic library.

I'm baaaack!

Well, I was never truly away, just distracted with activities other than this blog. Right now I’m involved (in no particular order of craziness) with:

• Administering and authoring 12 blogs for study and work purposes
• Conducting my regular consultancy business for two main clients, ACID and AIM
• Progressing the research project work associated with my doctorate
• Designing a new consultancy business with the wonderful Joanne Jacobs
• Relaunching the VASE valve guitar amplifier business with my mate Harry Lloyd-Williams (also working on his doctorate)
• Building a new management training product, Three Chairs, with friend and colleague Martin Challis (also working on his doctorate)
• Trying to find some time for exercise, reading, writing, bonsai, playing my guitars, enjoying a drink with friends, painting and drawing (a forlorn hope)
• Generally trying to be visible to my family etc etc etc

Like a plumber’s leak, this poor old blog has come dead last in terms of priority. As I really enjoy this I hope that won’t continue to be the case. I teach time management so I should be able to do something about it.

In lieu of writing anything particularly clever tonight, have a look at the following:

Martins’ latest project,  SceneStation – a fantastic site containing lots of downloadable scenes for actor training. Great for schools and anyone interested in acting.

Jo’s site where you’ll read the usual goings on associated with a very busy, very intelligent, business-oriented übergeekgirl. Read about her new book.

Harry’s actual (day to day) business site where he runs one of Australia’s leading pro-audio gear production houses.

The site of a friend who is associated with the VASE revival. Mark Hilton is a great guitarist who was part of one of Brisbane’s great prog-rock bands, Silas Farm. See some more VASE info there.

My work is done.

Brisbane Medieval Fayre 2006

The Brisbane Medieval Fayre was held yesterday and today at Musgrave Park in South Brisbane. This event has been running for about 20 years and brings together local and (sometimes) interstate re-enactment groups and historical associations and societies. A very colourful couple of days with plenty of tournament fighting, arts and crafts, and olde worlde customs on display. Good things to buy as well. This year's photos have just been added as a photo album.

The Purple Hearts

Back in the sixties a band was formed in Brisbane that captured the British R&B sound. The Purple Hearts rapidly became Brisbane's most high profile band and their performances became the stuff of legend. Read about their history and impact here on frontman Mick Hadley's website.

The band left Brisbane to play in Sydney and Melbourne but broke up in the late sixties. Australia's greatest guitarist, Lobby Loyde, was part of the Purple Hearts. He went on to play with Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs, had his own bands The Wild Cherries and the Coloured Balls, and even had a short stint in Rose Tattoo.

The band reformed at the end of last year to play the Woodford Festival and repeated that a couple of weeks ago to play at the Troubador and the Waterloo Hotel in Brisbane. The company I'm involved in, VASE guitar and base amplification, supplied the gear for the recent shows.  They were special nights, both for the Purple Hearts and for VASE, reappearing on the Brisbane music scene after many years' absence.

Some photos from the Waterloo show are in a new photo album I've put up on the blog.

We videoed the night as well and a DVD of this historic performance will be available in a few weeks.

VASE Amplifiers

One of the major reasons I’ve been absent from this blog of late has been my growing involvement with an enterprise that is doubling as both research topic for my doctorate and as a startup business.

Without getting into too much of the history here (that will be for a later series of posts), VASE (Victory Audiophonic Sound Equipment) was an iconic brand of valve guitar amp made in Brisbane in the sixties and seventies. The founder, Tony Troughton, was an Englishman who emigrated to Australia and set up the boutique company to reflect his own ideas about what quality should be in amp building. Whilst the company folded after Tony’s death, his amps have lived on and have become sought after collectables.  Most bands playing in Brisbane, and in other parts of Australia, in during the 60s and 70s either used VASE or knew about them.

Harry Lloyd-Williams, a friend and colleague of mine who runs one of Australia’s leading manufacturers of professional audio products Acoustic Technologies, has for some time wanted to relaunch this brand.  He has the factory infrastructure and the experience to do justice to original products and improve on them. The company has now been formed with two other industry professionals and we will be building a range of VASE valve guitar amps for sale in 2007.

As Harry and I are both undertaking our professional doctorates in Creative Industries we’ve decided to combine business with study, and will be charting the redevelopment of the company in terms of community building and cultural renewal. What the new company will produce will be high quality valve amplifiers that combine the best of the original iconic brand with the best of modern manufacturing techniques. These will be built in Brisbane for the world market. We also intend to build and offer a range of bass amps using new technologies.

Our first public outing was last Sunday night when Brisbane’s greatest R&B band, the Purple Hearts, reformed for two shows. We supplied a stage full of VASE gear, the first time in over 30 years anyone has seen a setup like that.

Vinyl Love IV

I was talking to one of my sons the other night about a new sound system he wanted to buy for his room. He was telling me about the interconnectivity he was looking for with his range of other devices including laptop, TV and iPod. According to him, his system, which still looks pretty good to me (he bought it a few years ago), is dinosaur territory. God knows what that makes my Sansui Hi-Fi system, including turntable, which I bought in 1978 and is still in use.

Anyway his observations made my memory fly back to the wonderful device my parents had in what passed for our sitting room when I was very young boy. It was a radiogram – a gloriously large piece of wooden furniture that contained not only a heavy-duty turntable but a radio as well. Phonogram + Radio = Radiogram.

The records being played on the beast were all 78s - those shellac discs that shattered when dropped and spun at 78 rpm. My parents loved musicals and had the ‘albums’ for many of them. 78 albums consisted of multiple disks in paper sleeves sandwiched between stiff cardboard covers like a book. My love of records began at this time. Songs like Bali Hai from South Pacific, Surrey with the Fringe on Top from Oklahoma, and the Drinking Song from The Student Prince are still in my head.

Whenever I’m kidded about keeping my old vinyl albums (although funnily enough that doesn’t happen as much as it used to) I have to smile when I think about those ‘other albums’ I wish I still had. Now the sight of those would really place me back in the Jurassic with my ‘sound system’ buying son.

Other Vinyl Love posts:

Vinyl Love
Vinyl Love II
Vinyl Love III

Nine Lives

While I was visiting my boyhood haunts last weekend, I had the opportunity to visit a place where I once had a very close call with the grim reaper caused purely by my own stupidity.

Now most of us have these stories we can tell – near misses in cars, dumb stuff in high places, being blasé with electrical devices. This one involved having too much belief in my youthful invulnerability and having little respect for the power of nature – a potentially lethal mix that claims a fair share of young lives every year. I’m only here because of the quick thinking and steady nerve of a friend.

I grew up in a seaside suburb of Brisbane – a existence which allowed me to fully explore the range of dumb things boys can do with water - like falling out of boats, getting bitten by nasty marine beasties and generally finding innovative ways to lose touch with dry land.

Being part of Queensland (albeit the southern part), we are used to cyclones in summer. Most strike the northern parts of the state like the recent Cyclone Larry (a Category 5 monster).  Just occasionally they come south, and my experience comes from one of those times.

Growing up in a place makes you feel like you own it. ‘This is my beach’, ‘my pier’, ‘my creek’ etc. You get to the point where you feel in total command of your surroundings. ‘I’ve been doing this here since I was 5!’ That’s dangerous stuff because it means you’ll put yourself in situations where commonsense takes a backseat. Couple that with the bravado of being a teenager and you’ve got double trouble.

On ‘my beach’ there is a pier (been there since the 1880s) and a stone breakwater. I spent a large part of my childhood crawling over both structures. At the end of the breakwater there is rusted section of iron railings (encrusted with barnacles) that is a remnant of a swimming enclose from many years ago.

On the occasion in question, a cyclone was just off the coast and the seas were huge. For some reason which totally escapes me now, a small bunch of us ventured out to the end of the breakwater to play chicken with the waves. Our ‘vast’ experience told us that the waves would only reach ‘so far’. Naturally that wasn’t the case, and a huge rogue wave came out of nowhere, crashed right on top of us and swept me off.

I’m a reasonably strong swimmer but I was absolutely powerless to do anything but just keep my head above water. The waves began picking me up and slamming me back against the breakwater and the iron railings. Everytime I grabbed hold of the slimy rocks, the sea dragged me back out and then hammered me again.

I could see my friends looking aghast at what was going on but probably expecting me to crawl back out under my own power. However after a few minutes of this, which seemed like hours, I’d just about had enough. The wind was roaring and anyway everytime I tried to call back up to my mates my mouth filled with water. I though the end was nigh when I was slammed face first into the iron grate and could feel my forehead split on the barnacles.

Just then a big hand grabbed a handful of my hair (thankfully long) and using the power of the wave hauled me out. It was one of my mates who pushed his way forward, lay flat of the rocks and reached down while the others braced him.

I rolled around coughing, spluttering and bleeding till I was grabbed under the armpits and dragged away to be dumped on the beach.

Needless to say we just sat there for a while not saying anything until our bravado returned. We then started joking and gesticulating at the sea like cavemen hooting at the wild beast they just escaped from the safety of a tree.

All this came flooding back standing on the edge of those same rocks the other day. That was over 30 years ago but again shows the power of artefacts as memory triggers. It also hints at how paper thin the dimension of time might really be.