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Window Dresser's Arms, Pig & Whistle

Author Archives: Mark

Who is the smartest?

24 Monday Nov 2014

Posted by Mark in Uncategorized

≈ 13 Comments

Now if you can guess the answer please leave a message of 50 words or less.

Who’s covering who ?

15 Saturday Nov 2014

Posted by Mark in Algernon, Bands at the Pig's Arms

≈ 7 Comments

whose 1
Playlist by Algernon

Suspicion – Elvis Presley

Suspicion – Terry Stafford
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7QlMbwqg_8
Always something there to remind you – Sandie Shaw

Always something there to remind you/Kentucky Bluebird – Lou Johnson

24 Hours from Tulsa – Gene Pitney

24 Hours from Tulsa – Dusty Springfield
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZhgqCi7q6Y
Down in the Boondocks – Billie Joe Royal
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prL5_36x6n8
Down in the Boondocks – Delroy Williams

McDonald’s serve on a food fair? You need to turn on the subtitles for this one.
http://www.2gb.com/audioplayer/72866#.VGWPxvmUfew
2GB talkback caller of the year (The parrot has no idea that the caller is taking the piss.)

Witchita Lineman – Serigo Mendez and the Brazil ‘66

Witchita Lineman – Glen Campbell

Take a letter Maria – Jimmy Ruffin

Take a letter Maria – R. B. Greaves

Dock of the bay – Sam and Dave

Dock of the bay – Otis Redding

Marc Chagall

12 Wednesday Nov 2014

Posted by Mark in Gerard Oosterman

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Marc Chagall, Scott Morrison

Marc Chagall

By Gerard Oosterman

imagesMaRC cHAGALL

Australia’s minister for immigration, Scott Morrison and his off-shore and on-shore detention policies have now caused four deaths and a considerable number of attempted suicides, fifty or so by children.

It is totally wrong for this man to remain in office.
.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/09/self-harm-asylum-seekers-detention-surged-serco-report

If you are concerned and want to be part of taking action; Please voice your concerns to:

Address:
Scott Morrison MP
Minister for Immigration and Border Protection
PO Box 6022
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
Telephone: 02 6277 7860
Fax: 02 6273 4144
Email: minister@immi.gov.au

It is as wrong now to inflict terrible conditions and treatment on people that have done no wrong, as it was during the days of Buchenwald.

I’ll leave you this lovely poem inspired by Marc Chagall.

When I read this poem by Lawrence Ferlinghetti, I had to chuckle, according to the poet his work is meant to be read aloud:

Don’t Let that Horse.

Don’t let that horse
eat that violin
cried Chagall’s mother.
But he
kept right on
painting.

And became famous
And kept painting
The Horse With Violin in Mouth
And when he finally finished it
he jumped up on the horse
and rode away
waving the violin.

And then with a low bow gave it
to the first naked nude he ran across.

And there were no strings
attached.

War Songs

09 Sunday Nov 2014

Posted by Mark in Algernon, Bands at the Pig's Arms

≈ 19 Comments

World-War2-soldiers

War songs
Playlist by Algernon

Reflections of My Life – The Marmalade

The Living Years – Mike and the Mechanics

Brothers in Arms – Dire Straits

Goodnight Saigon – Billy Joel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69zvFnVa03g
Sky Pilot – Eric Burdon and the Animals

We gotta get out of this place – Eric Burdon and the Animals

Fortunate Son – Creedance Clearwater Revival
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnS9M03F-fA
The night the drove old Dixie down – Joan Baez

The Eve of Destruction – Eddie Maguire
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ar27ChFKqA
The end – the Doors

The Possibilty of ‘fracking’ Governments.

06 Thursday Nov 2014

Posted by Mark in Gerard Oosterman

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

fracking

The possibilty of ‘fracking’ Governments.

by Gerard Oosterman

etching 'couple'

They, many eminent scientists say that when you put pressure on something the results is often a release of pent-up energy. It is now used to release gas locked up in rock formations. It is called fracking. Geologists come home tired and their wives now ask; Did you do some good fracking today dear?

Go and ‘frack’ yourself is an expression waiting to raise its head in parlance of the progressive world of slinky board riders and depressed gloomy hoodie wearers. I bet you it will take over from the ‘awesome’ and ‘oh, my god’. I think ‘stuff like that’ has now sunk into the furnace of lost expressions, the same as ‘bodgie and widgie’ did some many decades ago. It was used during the period when as a teenager I used to linger around Parramatta Delinquent Girls home. Friday night was ‘curler-night’. I remember seeing girls in trains wearing curlers! Men used to perv on Pix magazine girly photos showing knees and total naked feet.

I have just brushed up my very limited knowledge on Islam and ISis with all that goes with it; I can’t say I am much wiser. Previous knowledge did not go much further than Ali Baba and forty thieves. On the way over from Holland our boat stopped at Port Said where we all went off the ship. I was fifteen then and bought a fez and a small whip used for camel driving. I kept those mementos for years. Now they are lost the same as those past popular expressions. Forever gone!

I do know that bombing always ends up killing. With the latest be-heading no doubt the reaction will be more bombing more killing and more incomprehension by many, not least myself. Isis seems to have unlimited funding and an expert PR machinery going for it. Perfectly English translations of their web-sites and IT magazines beamed and downloaded all-over. It is there within seconds as did the latest beheading video, done by the same man speaking in a thick London accent.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-09-24/analysis-campaign-against-is-could-take-years-or-decades/5764828

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-09-16/what-is-islamic-state/5748646

I don’t know what goes on. The last major conflicts in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan were all undertaken at the behest of the US. All three conflicts seemed to have achieved nothing but hordes of refugees and endlessly ongoing murderous campaigns. We were lied to by our governments as never before. Vietnam did not result in hordes of yellow peril. Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction. Afghanistan with the Taliban were Americas friends during that period they were fighting the Russians.

And now…again, Australia goes to another war. And talking about expressions, our Government calls this…not going to a war but… ‘a humanitarian MISSION’! Can you believe it?

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-10-03/war-not-a-mission-abbott-incorrect-on-iraq-action-fact-check/5772316

Governments need fracking I reckon. Get fracked Mr Abbott.

27

01 Saturday Nov 2014

Posted by Mark in Algernon, Bands at the Pig's Arms

≈ 13 Comments

27

27
Playlist by Algernon
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsWR0CTWazQ
Sympathy for the Devil – Rolling Stones

All along the watchtower – Jimi Hendrix
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bld_-7gzJ-o
Ball and Chain – Janis Joplin

LA Woman – The Doors

Day after Day – Badfinger

A change is gonna come – Canned Heat (dies at the end)

Tears dry on their own – Amy Winehouse
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4o–q6xuvs
Easy Livin – Uriah Heep

Heart shaped box – Nirvana

Up on the Roof – The Drifters

Sweet home Chicago – Robert Johnson

Let a woman be a woman Let a man be a man – Dyke and the Blazers

Suicide is Painless (Theme from M*A*S*H*) – Manic Street Preachers

The Killing Moon – Echo & the Bunnymen

September Gurls – Big Star

 

Five Great Blues Guitar Players

30 Thursday Oct 2014

Posted by Mark in Bands at the Pig's Arms, Mark

≈ 27 Comments

Tags

Gary Moore, Jeff Healey, Rory Gallagher, Roy Buchannan, Stevie Ray Vaughan

The following are some of the most influential guitar players in my life. Unfortunately they are all dead. Musicians either die from drugs or transport accidents which is a down right shame for all of us. I hope you enjoy this cross section.

 

1. Jeff Healey

Jeff lost his vision to retinoblastoma and died from lung cancer in 2008. The guy was a guitar genius and here is a version of a popular song that highlights some of his skills.

Jeff Healey – Roadhouse Blues

2. Stevie Ray Vaughan

Stevie was killed when his helicopter crashed and was probably at the height of his career. This song I have picked is my absolute favourite.

Stevie Ray Vaughan – Pride and Joy

3. Rory Gallagher

Wow, this guy had it. Whatever it is Rory just had IT. Died following complications from a liver transplant, shame on you Gordon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJCUKh-IToo

Rory Gallagher – Messin with the Kid

4. Gary Moore

Gary captivated me by his smoothness on the guitar. I rate him with Carlos Santana and Larry Carlton. Yes, you may want to have heard Still Got the Blues but this version of Red House shows all of Gary’s skills. Died from a heart attack in his sleep aged 58.

Gary Moore – Red House

5. Roy Buchanan

Unbelievable player that didn’t get the commercial success he deserved. Committed suicide in 1988. This song is by Tyrone Davis and was a big hit in 1969.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCtN_LeHsrA

Roy Buchanan – Can  I Change My Mind

First published: http://hungsworld.wordpress.com/2014/10/30/five-great-blues-guitar-players/

My 1996 RMW Boots

27 Monday Oct 2014

Posted by Mark in Gerard Oosterman

≈ 13 Comments

Tags

Border Collie, Drizabone, Rivendell, RMWilliams

My 1996 RMW boots.

7263101cl125385230911

These boots were made for walking. They were bought at the same time we bought ‘Rivendell’ back in 1996. Rivendell was a property of over 110 acres. It held a large house and an old convict built slab timber hut. It was the slab timber hut that made us get the property. You could feel the history of it. Hard labour, no running water and no electricity. A family with 9 kids lived in it till the seventies when it was bought by a couple of artists who then also build the house and the farm infrastructure with holding pens, horse stables, a diary ( dairy 😉 ) and lots of dams. The property had a 2km frontage to a river. This river used to roar after rain but became a trickle during droughts. We were told that a grave on our property held the remains of a baby that had drowned in the river during the 1920s while her mother was doing her washing. Each spring a few snow-bells used to pop up above this grave which was surrounded by an old rickety picket fence.

That’s how farming is in Australia, a fairly ruthless game not for the faint hearted or the get rich quick merchants. Wild dogs including dingoes used to go for the kill during lambing times and our neighbours used to put out baits to keep on top of those killers. It also got our Border Collie ‘Bella’, who during a walk along the fence line must have taken a baited chook head. She had enough time to bolt home, crawl underneath the veranda floor and died within minutes.

images

We never set out to do any farming. It was a semi-retirement move but with it came the restoration of the old hut into a holiday letting with a handy income. Of course, no move into the country could be undertaken without also getting sturdy boots and Drizabone coats.

Our Farm "Rivendell"

We still have the drizabone coats and wear them during cold and windy weather. They are a cotton soaked in boiled linseed oil fashion item and an obligatory features in many films including The Man from the Snowy river. My RMW shoes are now over 18 years old. They are still wearable but only just. I wear them knowing they came before our three grandkids were born, before the 9/11, the Iraq war or other catastrophes I might have overlooked. The RMW boots cost a fortune but they do last!

Here they are.

photoRMW Boots (1996)

Edward Gough Whitlam

24 Friday Oct 2014

Posted by Mark in Algernon, Bands at the Pig's Arms

≈ 20 Comments

Tags

Gough Whitlam

gough-whitlam

EDWARD GOUGH WHITLAM
A tribute by Algernon
This week’s list is a tribute to the great man. Some are song inspired by him others in relation to things he ended or set. Feel free to add any other clips you might know of along the same theme.

It’s Time
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOV2CXB8AYE
Power and the Passion – Midnight Oil

From little thing Big things grow –Paul Kelly

Gough – The Whitlams
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHJiAOzYEjk
The Adventures of Edward Gough Whitlam – Smacka Fitzgibbon

You just like cos I’m good in Bed – Skyhooks

Smiley – Ronnie Burns

I was only 19 – Redgum

The Dismissal –with Norman Gunston

Whitlam Dismissal

Leggo’s Advertisement – Gough Whitlam

 

Some Trainspotting

17 Friday Oct 2014

Posted by Mark in Algernon, Bands at the Pig's Arms

≈ 11 Comments

Tags

Iggy Pop, Trainspotting

trainspotting 2

Some Trainspotting
Playlist by Algernon

Lust for Life – Iggy Pop
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_E1-VOMxS6w
Atomic – Blondie
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUjUTG3hwyQ
Temptation – New Order
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7_Rc7m_smQ
Temptation – Heaven 17

Perfect Day – Lou Reed

Golden Years – David Bowie

Sing – Blur

Atmosphere – Joy Division
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pcqg2aoGgo
Our lips are sealed Fun Boy Three
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEY6_jcrzI8
The Passenger – Iggy Pop

 

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