2nd December 2013; we applied to Origin to get gas connected to the new venue – principally for luxury items like cooking, washing & heating. Get this – it took THREE MONTHS to connect a gas line (early THIS month). But we can’t have a meter yet because Origin need permission from Energy Safe Victoria. So the gas pipe comes into the building & terminates.

You can call your ESV inspector between 7:30 – 9am weekdays to book an appointment – except he doesn’t answer the phone during those times. Got through to someone else in the office at ESV only to learn our ‘paperwork’ had been sitting there since early March doing absolutely nothing & no-one knows why. Guy said – “Tell your plumber to give us a call”.

If we ever actually get gas connected here it will probably be by coincidence or random chance. All this stuff reminds me that as much as we think we’re living in 2014 Australia, it’s really just 1975 with internet. Cheers Origin & ESV – here’s to rugging up for a cold winter.

Fires out.

Sunset over Melbourne taken out the front window above the new venue in Collingwood.

Spent the day measuring every wall, door & window, preparing plans for council. Moving as fast as we can to open as a performance & venue-hire space.

Fires out.

Going to Queensland next month for a mate’s wedding. Gotta learn this song for the ceremony. Josh Pyke’s cover of the Jezabel’s song ‘Endless Summer’.

Rob (husband-to-be) was the band’s original bass guitarist when we first kicked off in 2003. He played & toured with the band til 2006 before relocating to Brisbane.

Fires out.

Been waiting to post this one. Graham (Jonesy) & Kate came over for dinner a few weeks ago. Jonesy left us a jar of his boutique home-made chili sauce. This, unfortunately, is all that’s left. Went brilliantly as pizza-base sauce, on hotdogs, chicken wings etc. Plenty of sting in the tail – but not crazy. Jonesy should go into business.

Jonesy’s 50/50 Chili Sauce.

This batch was half Habanero, half straight capsicum. Habanero chili has a somewhat notorious reputation for being over-the-top hot – but this particular blend/recipe harnessed the power without crippling the participant. Very nice work Mr Jones.

Fires out.

Pic below: Last Friday before our first event in the new venue, modifying an old door for the beer garden toilets. That’s Mojo oblivious as usual – uncanny knack of being precisely in the way of whatever we’re doing. Max posted an album on Facebook this week – ‘Venue In The Making‘ with a bunch of renovation shots. Click here.

Back to it again this weekend. Builders arriving 7am tomorrow.

Fires out.

We had our house-mate’s birthday bash here at the new venue on Saturday night (as posted earlier this week). But yesterday was Scotty’s actual birthday so we went out for dinner to his favourite Vietnamese restaurant on Victoria Street. Back to Stalk & Kim’s afterward, as usual, for drinks and jamming. Yet another session in their backyard. I reckon I’ve played there once a week for the past 2 months. Last night I kept a list of the songs we played, Kim on shakers, Stalk the bongos, Max – vocals & percussion, Scotty -BVs & dog cuddling. (set list below)

America; Sister Golden Hair, Rod Stewart; The Killing Of Georgie; Pretenders; Brass In Pocket, The Vapors; Turning Japanese, Eagles; Take It Easy, Lionel Ritchie; Easy Like Sunday Morning, Richard Thompson; Beeswing, Beatles; And Your Bird Can Sing, Violent Femmes; Blister In The Sun, The Saints; Firewood, B52s; Rock Lobster.

Slow start this morning. It takes a lotta beer to come up with a list like that. Kim also named our ‘band’ last night – hereon we’ll be called ‘Us’.

Fires out.

The crisis in Ukraine escalated yesterday with the first instance of troops firing on each other, shifting the conflict from largely ‘political’ to military. Apparently a Ukrainian soldier was killed and another injured when Russian troops stormed a Ukraine base on the Crimean Peninsula. In response, Ukraine’s military yesterday ordered its troops to open fire on Russian soldiers. In defiance of international law, Russia also moved yesterday to annex Crimea, President Putin signing off on the ‘relevant’ documentation. The US is now seriously considering deploying troops to the region in order to halt further Russian military incursion. Nervous and dangerous times for Europe and especially the people of Ukraine. The pic below taken from an article in the UK Telegraph.

A Ukrainian soldier stands near an armored personnel carrier at a checkpoint near the village of Salkovo, in Kherson region adjacent to Crimea Photo: Reuters

The troubling question is ‘what’s next’ – or worse, ‘who’s next’. No doubt, eastern Ukraine sits firmly in Russia’s focus, the southern area of Crimea under its belt and forces building along the northern and eastern Ukraine-Russian borders. All this kicked off about a month ago when the people of Ukraine ousted a corrupt puppet-president, installed by Putin – opting for their own autonomous leadership, fresh elections and the release of a democratically elected former-president from detention. Coincidence? Not likely.

Fires out.

Max at a massive demonstration against Australia’s Abbott Federal Government on Sunday in Melbourne. Whenever people get out en masse to express concern about the direction of government policy, they’re often subject to a wave of criticism from conservative voices in our society – and mainly those who didn’t attend.

Public rallies & demonstrations are also important ways to learn about hidden activities in our country. Stuff our insightful main-stream commercial media deem unfit for broadcast or publication. Little things like violating the human rights of refugees and indigenous people, corporate economic savagery & environmental destruction, the subjugation of women and so on. If you’re getting your news from Channel 7 or 3AW, sorry but they don’t want you thinking or talking about all that uncomfortable stuff.

For mine, the People’s right to express concern isn’t and shouldn’t be about barracking for your favourite political party, rusted on like a football supporter. In my experience demonstrations have overwhelmingly been about truth, honesty, information and appropriate action. The opposite of politics.

Long live democracy and the will of the People, however they are ridiculed or distorted.

Fires out.

It’s been a huge week here at the new venue. We had to have the place ready for it’s first ever event; our house-mate’s birthday bash on Saturday night. With 3 hours to spare, we were done & ready to roll (and freekin’ exhausted). It was all well and truly worth it. We had a fantastic night. Still on a high this morning. Please excuse the lack of website posts during last week. Saturday night was also our first gig here, albeit unannounced. Pulled out a few On Fires tunes along with some classic Beatles, Floyd & Elvis.

The venue room already has a really nice cosy vibe to it in the early stages of construction.

Fires out.

A massive weekend working on the new venue. Very sore today. Max posted this shot on our Facebook page. Funny story – the hole got a lot bigger and the thing I was looking for (sewage pipe) was never found. The original builders had encased the pipe in a solid channel of concrete. Had to give up and start another one out the back. Found the pipe eventually. So now we can install a sink in the bar.

Marty digging out the venue floor.

Between digging & tip runs, brick-by-brick we pulled down an old fireplace and chimney in the rear of the building. An epic undertaking. Working on this place is part archeological. There’s stuff behind the walls & in the ground from a hundred years ago. False teeth, bottles, old pipe, paint tins etc.

Recovering slowly today.
Fires out.