Kingdom of Rust

Doves - The Metro, Sydney

If the Flaming Lips were an explosion for the eyes, the Doves were to do the same for my ears and soul. For about a decade I've been listening to their 4 albums, and have had many an emotional moment to them, driven very fast or just day dreamed of being somewhere else. In short, I love their music.

I was just a little excited to be going to see them. Lauren and I locked in our now regular spot at the Metro, optimal for sound and vision... it was time to stand back and let the band do the business.

The addition of the new album really added some greatness to a set. The band can even afford to leave out some awesome older tracks like Catch the Sun which in fairness, they are probably sick to death of playing. Jetstream and Kingdom of Rust were amongst my new faves, but Black n White town and Pounding just did it for me.


11 out of 10.

It Overtakes Me/The Stars are so Big

The Flaming Lips; The Hordern Pavillion.

A gig back at my love/hate venue... love it cos it's a decent size and there's usually a pretty decent atmostphere, hate it cos I can never get close to the stage to get the shots I want, and the security are usually pretty hot on SLR cameras.

That said, I smuggled in my 40d with my 50mm lens in my other pocket without any problems again. Once buried in the crowd I put my half drunk beer in my pocket, replacing my 50mm lens and set up, ready for the gig I'd anticipated a very long time indeed.

This band, as you may have heard put on one hell of a stage show; stunts, props, actors, lights, balloons etc etc they try it all out and just have a whole heap of fun with the crowd. The lead singer split from a giant TV wall that at the time was projecting an intimate part of the female anatomy as if being born, the rest of the band followed and before we knew it, there were 50 giant coloured balloons bouncing around, along with the front man inside a zorb, rolling about over the crowd!

Streamer and confetti cannons blasted, as kids dressed as frogs and kittens danced away at the side of the stage all the way thru the gig. They only made way breifly for a large inflatable Slug and sunshine!

The light show went on and it was undoubtedly the best small (ie. not Daft Punk at Homebush or U2 at Wembley '96) touring show I've seen in Australia, maybe even the world... fantastic and highly recommended, even if you're not so familiar with their music.

Food, Glorious Food

Lithgow, Blue Mountains Degustatio - Weekender

After an interesting week, that started with getting some dodgy virus, right around all this Swine Flu hoo ha, I got signed off work for 3days, only took 2 and was back, shakily on the Wednesday. By Friday evening, I still felt like I'd done 10days straight so was totally stoked to be packing the car at 5pm with enough chicken to feed 15people, and enough clothes to get me thru a weekend of rest and relaxation.

I picked Lauren up and set off down Paramatta Road toward the Blue Mountains.

A mere 3 hours later, and we were pulling up at Toad Hall once again, as 2 Kangeroos bounded in front of the head lights. We carted our gear from the car to front room, and then busily prepared what would be the first meal of the weekend for everyone there; a FonMacca Massala!

Toddles managed to pull out from his bag, a delicious, rich Pecan pie, home made of course.

What then followed was 44hours of fine dining, great drinks, maaaany laughs and some nice chill time...

I woke up early for some reason on the Saturday, so decide to sneak out of Toad Hall, with my camera and go for a little wander. I found myself leaving the outskirts of the property, finding that the frosty ground led me further and further down the road. I barbed fence caught my eye, before I was hopping over it in search of a cool morning panorama.

As I made my way thru the fields, a couple of Roo's skipped in front of me - ahh yes, I was definitely in an Australian Winter Wonderland!

My feet started to get wet, so I turned back, I probably only covered 1km but it felt like I'd been gone longer. As I walked back into Rog's place, a few of the guys were basking in the early morning Sun out front, from there, we ate fresh bread, muesli and then played some backyard cricket. Nice.

I gave Oren a hand making some Rice Paper Rolls which would be our mobile lunch, before the gang collectively wagoned up and drove out to the Pulpits Rock BushTrail. about 6-7km of medium grade terrain with some killer views.

So we marched, down steps, across streams, looking over sheer drops, along cliff faces and under some craggy cave like rock formations - before stopping for our lunch. A swig of Jack fueled the return journey. 12 or so sets of tired legs headed back to Lithgow for some dinner and drinks.

A chicken dinner followed by Choco Lava cake and ice cream with strawbs topped off a perfect day.

I coulda slept longer, but around 9 hours was enough to recover before being awoken by the smell of some delicious blueberry pancakes courtesy of Rog n Claire... from there, it was time to clean up, and head home back to Sydney.