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Author Archives: Mark

Bikes and Such

11 Friday Jul 2014

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

≈ 9 Comments

Tags

bicycle, Kraftwerk, music, Pink Floyd

Cycling

Bikes and such
Playlist by Algernon

Bike – Pink Floyd

Oxegene 2 – Jean Michael Jarre

Tour de France – Kraftwork
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBGNlTPgQII
Trans Europe Express – Kraftwork
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pX6MtWRGW3M
The Dangers of Cycling – Paul Hogan
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8jkPsFy2Lk
Ride Away – Roy Orbison

Bicycle Race – Queen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPQp4ciS7fY
Riding on my bike – Madness

Psychotic Reaction – Count five

The Acoustic Motorbike – Luca Bloom

Bike song – Red Hot Chilli Peppers

Walk me to the bridge – Manic Street Preachers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmzDUYR90O8
Equinoxe 7 –Jean Michel Jarre

Album Review: But Seriously Folks – Joe Walsh

09 Wednesday Jul 2014

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

≈ 10 Comments

Tags

Joe Walsh, music, The Eagles

But Seriously Folks - Joe Walsh

But Seriously Folks – Joe Walsh

Well here I go again showing my age but here is a seriously, get it,  good album by Joe Walsh best know as one of the Eagles. Walsh himself has had his own successful career despite his fame with the Eagles in bands like the James Gang and of course his own solo career.

Now I came across this album by pure accident. Some of you may remember in the good old days when there was a thing called the record club. The offer seemed too good to be true, five albums really cheap then one a month for 12 months at full price. Since then I have come to believe in the saying that if something to too good to be true then it probably is. The record club deal was effectively too good to be true. So if you didn’t order your next album in time then you got record of the month. You could send record of the month back unopened with your next order for two albums but if you didn’t you were sent the bill. Well, you guessed it, But Seriously Folks, was record of the month. I didn’t send it back and I got the bill. So I opened it and couldn’t stop playing it and like a lot of other albums, I played it so much I had to later purchase it as a CD.

At the time I had a few mates that were right into Joe Walsh. They came to my place for a listen to his latest offering and absolutely hated it. They liked Walsh for his soaring guitar work on songs like Rocky Mountain Way whereas this album was subtle and witty. One of my friends told me that he had “heard” that this album was a contractual obligation and that Walsh simply threw together a group of songs to fulfill his part of the deal. Some parts of the album do reflect this however if you read other reviews of this work  nothing at all is mentioned about the subject.

To me all the tracks are worth a listen and Walsh uses subtlety, humor and wit in songs like Over and Over where he delves into the repetition of some things in life and Second Hand Store where he reflects on things of great personal value that diminish over time.  Tomorrow is a great song, the opening lyrics say it all “Tomorrow making a list of things to do, and when I wake oh ho ho ho, gonna cross all them through”, yeah, my kinda guy.

Released in 1978 and runs for just over 35 minutes. As usual most of the Eagles are backing Walsh on this album.

I thought I’d post two tracks this time. The first it probably the hit from the album Life’s Been Good the full length version. A shorter version was released for radio and if you have heard this song before you probably heard the shortened version.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMRl0198x-0

This next track, well it is actually two tracks that merge together, Inner Tube/Theme from Boat Weirdos is what I have requested to have played at my funeral. This is an instrumental piece and Walsh has captured the ebb and flow of my life here, soft, loud, highs and lows plus excellent instrumentation and a lovely melody. Hope you enjoy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OAKZGwAY9U

PS: Tutu and I still listen to this album today. To us it withstands the test of time.

First published at http://hungsworld.wordpress.com/2014/07/07/album-review-but-seriously-folks-joe-walsh/

Bobby Womack

05 Saturday Jul 2014

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

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

Bobby Womack, music

Bobby Womack

Bobby Womack

Bobby Womack
Playlist by Algernon

Lookin’ for a Love – The Valentinos

It’s all over now – The Valentinos

That’s the way I feel about cha

Woman’s gotta have it

Across 110th Street

Check it out

Daylight
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbbZ_k1Z8gU
If you think you’re lonely now

Love has finally come at last – with Patti Labelle

I wish he didn’t trust me so much

California Dreaming

Teardrops – Womack and Womack
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sm87OgZU0cU
If you think you’re lonely now – K-Ci & Jojo

Breezin – George Benson
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDgBBAkXCzY
Your welcome, stop on by – Rufus & Chaka Khan

Trust Me – Janis Joplin

 

The Tail of God – Part 1

30 Monday Jun 2014

Posted by Mark in Mark

≈ 15 Comments

Tags

Father O'Way, Gordon O'Donnell (GOD), humour, Sandy O'Way

my kinda santa

My kinda Santa

Hum diddy hum, diddy hum hum hum. Hmm, I hate waiting don’t you. Now I have been called to a special meeting and I just can’t wait, yee esse. Aren’t you excited? I am. Hmm, sorry, I haven’t introduced myself, I’m Gordon O’Donnell and I am the second youngest student ever accepted into Astrophysics at the spring chicken age of 512. Yes that’s right only five hundred and twelve years old and I’m going to become an astrophysicist, amazing.

Anyway I’m waiting for the lift to take me to the office of Professor T.D. Schnitzel who along with his partners Professor C. Chips and Professor G. Salad want to interview me after a couple of fellow students, Gees Ass and Holly Ghost and I created a new universe in a shoe box. The box resides in a cupboard at the back of lab, Astrophysics 101. The Professors want to talk to me about this universe and how to study it.

“Welcome Gordon” says T.D. “I’m Ten Dollar Schnitzel and my compatriots are Chunky Chips and Garden Salad”.

Wow, fancy being on first name basis with these legends. And what a combo they make, ten dollar schnitzel with chips and salad, every boys dream.

“So Gordon” T.D. leads off “A very interesting thing you have created with your fellow students and we have decided that we want the three of you to study your experiment for your astrophysics course. How do you feel about that?”

“Fantastic” I reply not knowing how to really feel until we get to the crux of the matter.

“Well, we have invented a machine so you can explore this new universe at your will. It’s called a Schnitzeliser. You go in one end as a Meupian and you come out the other end as a being that is proportionally acceptable to your project at the other” smiles T.D.

Oh, sorry. For those of you that don’t know, I’m from a planet called Meup. It revolves around a Sun we call Star T. Meupians live forever except for accidents. When an accident happens Meupins can then reproduce a new being. That way our planet is never over populated and degraded unlike some planets.

“So T.D.” I lead off “Let me get this straight. I start at this end as a normal Meupian male and end up in the shoe box the size of a sub atomic particle inside a space ship that will take me through this dangerous and unexplored universe where any thing could go wrong at any time”

“Yes” replies T.D. is his own unique way reflecting that I’m the one in danger while he gets the bus home at five each night, hmm.

santa“And if I don’t I will never pass astrophysics and live a miserable lonely life until one day I meet with an accident and die”

“Yes” replies T.D.

“Okay, where do I sign” I groan.

Wow, I’ve just been schnitzelised and here am I in a brand new space ship. You can tell it is brand new it has that smell. Yes, two arms, two legs, hmm, yes two something else. It’s funny when you have been schnitzelised, you feel as though someone has just punched all these little holes in you and you feel very tender, hmm.

Anyway I’m in some sort of bedroom, very swish and grandiose. It has a bathroom, shower and utilities area, very nice. One wall of the room is a book case absolutely full of all kinds of books, hmm, this could be one heck of a journey, only problem is I don’t know where I am going.

There is a knock at the door. I open it to find a droid standing in the passageway. Oh, let me explain a couple of things you will need to know about space travel. Droids or should I say, androids are sophisticated robots that can travel anywhere any time, need no food or oxygen and recharge themselves usually overnight or as necessary. They, for all intent and purposes, are your crew and it doesn’t take long before you forget they are machines and you very quickly see them as your travelling companions. The other thing about space travel is virtually everything that has a name is an acronym. You need to be alert as this will always hit you when you least expect it.

“Hello” I say to the droid “My names Gordon O’Donnell, please call me Gordy or Gord” I tick off trying to get on the front foot.

“Yes hello Gordon, T.D. has told me all about you” replies the droid. Now this droid is a rather large person with a big white beard and long white hair. He is wearing a red jacket with white cuffs and a white strip around the bottom of the jacket. His pants are red with white cuffs at the bottom. He has on large black boots, a black belt with a huge buckle and a red hat with a white pom pom. “My name is SANTA” says the droid “ I’m your navcom.”

“Please to meet you Santa” I hesitate.

“Yes Gordon, I’m an acronym. SANTA stands for Sub Atomic Neuroleptic Transparent Android but hey just call me Nick” he offers.

“Come down to the control room and I’ll show you around then I will introduce you to Viv” informs Nick.

We enter the control room and wow, this ship is state of the art. I peer out through the window where I can see out over the nose of the ship. There is a distinct red glow coming from the tip of the nose.

“What is that red glow Nick?” I ask in bewilderment.

“As we are travelling so fast Gordy the very tip of the nose of the ship excites any gas in space and that generates heat” explains Nick.

“And who built this ship Nick, it is of high quality?” I ponder.

“The Reindeer Company on Meup” replies Nick.

“And does the ship have a name?” I enquire.

“Yes. It does have a model number but basically it’s name is Rudolph”

Well you go figure. Here I am flying through space with Santa and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, unbelievable but true, well sort of.santa1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First published: http://hungsworld.wordpress.com/2014/06/30/the-tail-of-god-part-1/

A Collection of Different Things

27 Friday Jun 2014

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

≈ 18 Comments

Tags

elvis presley, John Oliver, music, Tony Abbott, youtube

a collection 3

A collection of different things
A different play list by Algernon

A little less conversation – Elvis Presley

Tony Abbott thinks the earth is flat
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQm5BnhTBEQ
Saudi Tyre change

Be a Cavemen – The Avengers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6uh7zXw-WI
The Rain, The Park and Other Things – The Cowsills

Meskel Square, Addis Abeba

My Boyfriends Back – The Spazzys

Last week tonight with John Oliver, Tony Abbott President of the USA of Australia

Last week tonight with John Oliver, Stephen Hawking Interview
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xyxe-IcFsGg
Rubberneckin’ – Elvis Presley

A Weekend in the Riverland

26 Thursday Jun 2014

Posted by Mark in Mark, Travels

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

Banrock Station, Loxton, Loxton Hotel

Houseboats moored at Loxton

Houseboats moored at Loxton

Recently the wonderful Tutu and I spent the weekend in the delightful Riverland village of Loxton. The reason we went there was many years ago I worked for a company where I would travel all over the state and up into Northern Territory. One of my jobs was to help an injured worker who lived in the township of Berri, which is just up the road from Loxton. Anyway on my return trip home I would pass through Loxton and stop at the pie shop which I can truly recommend. I was always amazed at its beauty but also its history. Beautiful old sandstone buildings just simply tug at my heart strings and I vowed that one day I would revisit the township and take it some of its beauty. Well I did and for me it was a great experience.

Loxton is a small rural town on the Murray River that serves as a commercial centre for neighboring farming districts. It has a population of just under 4000  and surrounding farms produce fruit, grapes, sorghum, barley and livestock. Tourism is also important as us “townies” flock in for the the river and the wineries. It is about 2.5 hour drive from Adelaide and the road is pretty good. We stayed at the Loxton Hotel an the accommodation was high quality as was the food in the Dining Room.

Loxton is damn hot in summer and damn cold in winter so the best time to visit is in the in-between seasons although from my view the only two months of the year not to come to South Australia would be February and August, the rest of the time it is not too bad.

The Loxton Hotel

The Loxton Hotel

Like I say, I love early Australian history so to me it is a fantastic place to visit. If that’s not you thing maybe leave it till for your grey nomad trip. Or another alternative would be to fly from Sydney to Adelaide, borrow Hung’s car, spend three days in a houseboat forgetting about anything that bothered you, return Hung’s car and fly home, easy.

Loxton Historic Town

Loxton Historic Town

Apart from the history here a trip out to Banrock Station for lunch is superb. An eco-friendly fine dining experience that is hard to turn down. Check out the hotel as they have special musical events that would be worthwhile seeing or just walk around the town and take it all in. No art gallery I’m afraid but they do have an art trail, amazing bird life and the Historical Village. Now if you visit the village it takes a good couple of hours to get around but it has been beautifully put together, old banks, post offices, schools etc all with authentic displays.

Banrock Station

Banrock Station

Here are some links.

http://www.southaustralia.com/info.aspx?id=9002400

http://www.loxtonhotel.com.au/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loxton,_South_Australia

http://www.loxtontourism.com.au/

Album Review: Dan Fogelberg – Souvenirs

22 Sunday Jun 2014

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

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Dan Fogelberg, Joe Walsh, music

Dan Fogelberg Souvenirs

Dan Fogelberg Souvenirs

 

Here is a great album by Dan Fogelberg.  I first heard it in 1979 when a friend who was sharing a flat with us at the time came home with the album. This was a bit of a shift in direction for me as this album was a lot softer then any thing else I was listening to at the time, apart from say America. Subsequently I played the album so much I wore it flat.  Luckliy it was available on CD and now along with all my other music resides on my PC as MP3′s.

It was produced by Joe Walsh from the Eagles and Joe and the Eagles feature heavily on the album so the vocal harmonies are outstanding. Throw in Graham Nash from CSNY and Gerry Beckley from America the whole tone of the album is centered around the human voice. This doesn’t detract from the instrumentation as Dan is a great guitarist and in fact could play multiple instruments. Unfortunately Dan died in 2007 from Prostate Cancer.

While I didn’t follow every thing Dan did to me I loved this album and it brings me special memories from a time in my life that was less complicated than it is now.

Released in 1974, it has 11 tracks and runs for 43 minutes.

This is my favourite track

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5IK5RH-enU

Changing Horses

First published : http://hungsworld.wordpress.com/2014/06/17/album-review-souvenirs-dan-fogelberg/

Midnight Oil 10 to 1 but not really

20 Friday Jun 2014

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

≈ 21 Comments

Tags

Australia, Midnight Oil, music

The Oils

The Oils

 

 

Midnight Oil 10 to 1 but not really
Playlist by Algernon

I heard this week that Midnight Oil maybe reforming with Peter Garrett as lead. Here’s a small selection for your enjoyment

Wedding Cake Island
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOV2CXB8AYE
Power and the Passion

US Forces

The Dead Heart

Beds are Burning
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnb3KdhkSAI
Put down that weapon

Blue Sky Mine
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYeRuGVvcwY
King of the Mountain
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdvhiHryIRA
Truganini
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4rOTwJ1PwE
The Real Thing

Mussels Singapore Style

16 Monday Jun 2014

Posted by Mark in Mark, The Dining Room

≈ 10 Comments

Tags

food, mussels, Singapore

Picture courtesy Taste.com.au

Picture courtesy Taste.com.au

 

Now here is a story behind a recipe that happened to me about 10 years or so ago. One day I came home from work and I never went back. After years of excessive work hours and stress I decided I’d had enough. Our bills were all paid and our boys were working and the wonderful Tutu who was working part time did a few extra shifts to get us by while I had a bit of a breather.

To keep my brain active I enrolled in TAFE to study food technology. Now you all know I am not a morning person so as usual I was a bit late on the first day and when I walked into the classroom there was only one chair left next to this charming looking Asian woman.

At the next break she introduced herself as Jasmin and from that moment forward Jasmin and I became friends. We sat with each other, studied together and when we did field visits she always came with me. I would always help Jasmin with her class work and give her some pointers with assignments but she did the work herself. Most of the problems for her were simply language, mainly colloquialisms. See back in Singapore Jasmin was wealthy, no extremely wealthy, her husband was a multimillionaire. Both of her boys had been accepted into the local university so she followed to keep an eye on them and enrolled in the same course as me to keep her brain active.

One day she attended school and asked if I could help with her homework. I had to make it clear to Jasmin that I was a student not a teacher and that I couldn’t do the work for her. She understood perfectly and when I read her papers I realised this was one very bright woman, so I helped her. She asked me why I would always have a cheese and ham sandwich. I told her, they are easy to make and portable. Jasmin told me not to bring lunch tomorrow and from that day on she fed me lunch everyday Singapore style and man it was amazing, prawn dumplings being my favourite just ahead of curried chicken and noodle.

At the end of the year Jasmin told me she was returning home. She was home sick and the boys were doing fine. She shouted me this meal at a Singaporean restaurant in town as a farewell gift.

Ingredients

Mussels – the chef did 24 per serve

Bland oil

Garlic

Chilli

Prawn paste – belacan

Tomatoes finely chopped

Beer

Crusty bread

Method

Heat oil in a wok. Don’t use oil with flavour, canola is best. Saute garlic, chilli and prawn paste then tomatoes. Add beer, I would use light beer, lets face it it’s not worth drinking. Let it reduce then add mussels. Put lid on and using pot holders give it all a good toss so that everything mixes. Steam for 5 to 7 minutes. Discard any mussels that do not open and plate up. Drizzle mussels with sauce and serve with crusty bread.

Serve this dish with beer not wine and it is okay to soak up the sauce with the bread. Jasmin made sure the beers kept coming and I got through and another round or two of mussels. Jasmin’s chauffeur drove me home and for years after we kept in contact by email. Unfortunately my computer crashed and I lost her email address. But doesn’t matter, it was a fantastic year, a fantastic friendship from two very different people and I will never forget her. The other pleasing thing is I know that somewhere in Singapore someone will no how to say “fair dinkum mate”.

 

The Beatles 50 years On – Part 2 1966 – 1970

15 Sunday Jun 2014

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

≈ 17 Comments

Beatles 2

 

The Beatles 50 years on – Part 2 1966-1970
Playlist by Algernon
This week marks 50 years since the arrival of The Beatles in Australia. I’ve prepared a two part list with some of their music from 1962 to 1970.

Nowhere man

Paperback writer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=needk89bJUg
Yellow submarine

Eleanor Rigby

Penny Lane

Strawberry Fields forever
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-pFAFsTFTI
All you need is love

Hello Goodbye

Lady Madonna
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDdI7GhZSQA
Hey Jude

Get Back

Ballad of John and Yoko
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBjt7EsWbWE
Something
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axb2sHpGwHQ
Come together

Let it be

Long and Winding road

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