13th & 14th December

 

The Nevada Strange & Ghosts of Television

 

Saturday

Annie and I never go out on Saturdays and we figured out why – because filth from every corner of Sydney seems to run loose through the city on Saturday nights. We went to Spectrum where we saw The Nevada Strange, Dead China Doll, Ghosts of Television and Reptiles play. Out of those bands, I’d only ever seen Ghosts of Television before, and I wanted to go just because of them, and they were brilliant, as always. They must have been playing new songs because I didn’t recognise any. My only complaint is that they didn’t play their cover of Notorious B.I.G.’s Juicy which is seriously the best thing ever! It was my first time seeing Ghosts of Television whilst sober, and yep, still as good! They really remind me of Kicks Joy Darkness which adds to my immense love for this band. I’d heard of The Nevada Strange before, and heard good things about them, and they did not disappoint. They had a stand-in drummer who didn’t even know their songs and they were still great! The singer is absolutely fucking insane, as though always on the brink of being violent. It was amusing watching them play. They could seriously be something incredible. Dead China Doll were also very impressive. I wasn’t expecting anything like their sound. Was very good. Reptiles were good, obviously a talented bunch of guys, but they just weren’t anything special and I got bored pretty quickly. I left a few copies of Feels Like Friday #8 at Spectrum. On the way home I made up rhymes about the City via Granville line – “Minto, the place to go.” “Campbelltown, party town.” “Canley Vale, epic fail.”

 

Sunday

Today consisted of listening to Bad Brains and Minor Threat, walking down to the shops to buy the newspaper, sitting on the living room floor reading the newspaper, simplifying my resume so that it says “hey, I’m not headed anywhere more than a part-time retail job, please hire me”, having a one-woman Girl Talk dance party in my living room and thinking up my Top 10 Albums For 2008 for Those Walls, Your Ears. Obviously a really exciting day…

 

Oh and my sister basically cornered me into admitting I smoke (various substances). The surprising thing was how nonchalant she was about it. I was expecting her to break my neck or something…

 

Photos by ANNIE LY.

12.51

 

This arrived in New Zealand today so now it’s safe to post it here without the surprise being ruined – mail I sent to Dee with a mix I, just quietly, think is some of my best mix work yet.

 

Straylight Run – Hands in the Sky (Big Shot)

Bjork (feat. Kelis) – Oceania

Tricky (feat. D’na) – Call Me

The Weakerthans – Without Mythologies

Die! Die! Die! – Whitehorses

Kicks Joy Darkness – Collapse of the Wave Function

MGMT – Weekend Wars

The White Stripes – I Want To Be the Boy To Warm Your Mother’s Heart

The Magnetic Fields – With Whom To Dance

Patrick Wolf – Lycanthropy

The Dandy Warhols – I Love You

Bloc Party – Selfish Son

Pulp – 97 Lovers

 

Speaking of mail, this morning I received a lot of zines and it was so good; it felt like back in the day when the only zines I knew of were from overseas or from elsewhere in Australia and the idea of zinester friends in person seemed so far-fetched, so I’d get really excited every time I got mail addressed to “Ivana Stab”.

 

I chopped off more of my hair yesterday and have started straightening the ends so it fluffs out more and curls less and it’s pretty rad.

 

Aside from the inconceivable pain caused by my menstrual cycle, today was a pretty good day. I had plans of going to uni to return some books but the thought of climbing up all those steps was just too much. All I wanted to do was curl up in a ball and clutch my stomach. I got to the city around 1.30 and hung out at Hyde Park reading zines – Brainscan #23 by Alex Wrekk is absolutely fucking amazing and everything I love about zines combined into the one well written, amazing-looking zine. I bought a World AIDS Day ribbon, leaving me with $1 in my wallet. The man that was selling them said “excuse me sir” before I looked up…then he apologised quickly. Hah. I was wearing yet another shirt stolen from my dad, though. The man has a much bigger wardrobe than I do and he’s got style! Then Kylar joined me and brought some tube of neon green goo which was apparently candy – didn’t look very edible and neither of us wanted to try it. Kylar also brought presents. Then Morgan joined us, bringing Panadol thankfully (which sadly didn’t end up helping at all). We hung around for a while, put Kylar’s present to use, though it didn’t really do much for me, then left Hyde Park because they wanted food, then wandered aimlessly before going into Red Eye where I saw lots of CDs I wanted to buy (although the one that really interested me was by a band I’d never heard of but loved the name – Agnostic Front! …also, why are bands like Cobra Starship and Fall Out Boy and Simple Plan in the Punk section…?). Then Kylar left and Morgan and I went to Hyde Park again where we ended up staying until 7, I smoked an entire packet of cigarettes and it was decided that I have to go to Mother Russia before moving out, and I can move out after I’ve discovered the meaning of life in the mother country. Yes!

 

I came home to realise mother has completely stopped talking to me and I have no fucking idea why. Something about how I’m not taking care of my health and don’t listen to her? Lollerskatez.