First published on Mess+Noise, here.
The line to enter Waves Nightclub in Towradgi is the kind that makes your heart sink. It snakes out through the carpark and begins to zigzag in front of Waves’ glossily-furnished beer garden. But although it’s inching forward slowly, no-one seems disheartened. Most are on beachside home turf and they’re here to see the original line-up of Tumbleweed play for the first time since ’96.
First published in Mess and Noise, here.
‘Words From Robin to Batman’
A friend once told me, “If someone gives you one good reason for something, it’s probably true. If they give you five or six, they’re hiding something.”
In a less stark way I’m reminded of this principle when discussing the genesis of ‘Words from Robin to Batman’ with The Kill Devil Hills vocalist and songwriter Brendon Humphries. He cites so many influences and inspirations that I begin to wonder what the one, true reason for the song is. What is he hiding?
First published on Mess+Noise.
Oh, how bands must bicker about what song to put first on a new record. Play it cool and go with something obscure? Or bonk listeners over the head, first thing? The mind fair boggles at the arguments over the placement of a single.
First published in Nett Magazine.
When media and marketing website mUmBRELLA published news about a company hiring staff to make positive statements about it on blogs, a flurry of outrage ensued. The majority of the 200 comments posted over the next 48 hours found the method of fake personas contrary to the spirit of social media.
But according to Sean O’Byrne, integrated communications director at Mark Communications, it’s not a rare occurrence.
Tundra & tracks, Mongolia
Our earthly possessions on the Siberian leg of the trip.
Entering Northern China
Irkutsk: the old and the new
Waiting (-19 degrees, which we were assured was "warm" compared to February temps)
Drinking neat vodka with our new dining car friends. One bottle per 3 people, until it's drained. This is the Russian way.
Ah, Siberia
The Russian train - we switched to Chinese soon after
Lenin gesturing out across Irkutsk
Traditional wooden Irkutsk abode
Smoking break - in a T-shirt!! brrrrrrrrr
The beginnings of Mongolia from train
An interminable wait. With cold comes patience, it appears. They do say riots always happen on very hot days. . .
Ice piles
Surprised the next morning when the dining cart had transformed. It went from Russian, to Mongolian, to Chinese. But from your carriage, you couldn't tell. It was like climbing Enid Blyton's Magic Faraway Tree each morning!
Mongolian livestock
Back to Siberia, from the train
More Siberia from train
Train stop, as abuzz as it gets in such cold
Mongolia
Irkutsk home
Irkutsk home
Irkutsk home
Irkutsk locals
A mystical day in Irkutsk. The trees looked like white coral.
Picknicking in furs at Lake Baikal for Russian New Year
Picknicking in furs
Frozen shoreline of Lake Baikal
Couple at Irkutsk's Winter Wonderland
Rugged up little'un at Winter Wonderland
It was all about smoked fish at Lake Baikal
Happy Russian tourists
