Last Wednesday, went down to the Vagrant’s brand spankin’ new Harley Monroe store in Box Hill North for opening night. They’d set up a marquis on the footpath out front, Dogsday playing loud rockabilly tunes to a quiet suburban street – small line of shops on one side, houses on the other. BBQ, beer & wine supplied. A great night & a great way to celebrate the opening of a new store selling all kinds of rock & roll memorabilia & other nostalgic stuff including clothes, funky record players, gift cards, art & so on.

Harley Monroe opening night 8th May 2014.

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Been a flat-out week here at the new venue. Cutting back the old floors with industrial sander for the past 4 or 5 days. Still going. Lots of nails to punch in, putty, varnish etc etc. Frenetic work rate required. Sorry for lack of posts. More soon.

Marty masked & floor polishing in the new venue.

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Flat out on the new venue (been a few days since the last post). Here’s a shot of Stu the plumber up a ladder on Friday. Gutsy stuff – not something I’d be happy about. He’s about 8 metres up (it was raining lightly making for slippery grip). Spent the weekend on a work frenzy again here. Need a shower – been a couple of days.

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New ‘smart’ meters installed in the venue yesterday – replaced the old power meters. We like to keep the excitement coming…

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Awesome drummer Albi Fabri just returned from 3 dates in Perth with the Australian INXS Show. I see on their website they’re heading to Darwin in June.

Albi Fabri on drums with the Australian INXS Show.

Albi was one of our lesser-known drummers – probably because we never actually got to play live with him (that’ll do it). But he was absolutely sensational. It was a real shame we lost him. At the time (2006) we just couldn’t keep a rhythm section together. Guys were coming & going like shoppers through a revolving door. Anyway, fast forward & it’s great to see Albi out there rockin’ the road. Good on ya mate.

Fires out.
PS – blistering weekend gone, working on the new venue.

Knocking down a wall at the venue entry yesterday. Been a huge week of building activity here. Still at it today. Big Anzac Day long weekend about to start. Building crew here again 7am tomorrow.

Marty on ladder, new venue, Collingwood 23rd April 2014.

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Diva Demolition at the Espy, Sunday night. Been a long while since I’ve actually been down to St.Kilda. Think the last time might have been for a Vagrants show at the Espy. Either way, it was good catching up with the guys from Diva Demolition who were a long way from home. First met em at a sky-diving festival norhtwest of Brisbane in 2010, they were one of the local bands on the line-up. We’ve kept in touch since, never quite managing to catch up or play on the same line-up again. Great show guys. Blistering, solid guitar rock, punk attitude.

Diva Demolition, Espy front bar 20 April 2014.

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Many thanks to Gav for sending this link – ‘Amazing Tron Dance’…

Hope you’re having a great Easter Sunday.

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Here in Australia we have a unique tax-payer funded television & radio broadcasting service, the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation). Despite being infiltrated by a wealth of right-wing & corporate agenda, it still maintains a semblance of it’s independence – the last bastion of ‘main-stream’ media not owned and therefore, not completely subject the whim of a few powerful business-people. In the ABC we’ve got half a chance of hearing the truth about the most important issues affecting Australian society, culture and politics. Sadly, despite pre-election assurances to the contrary, this might not be the case for much longer as the federal government gears up to attack our national broadcaster.

People-power movement GetUp are currently running a campaign to hold the Australian government to account & keep the ABC funded as promised. Sign on if you feel the need.

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China video archives. Strawberry Festival Beijing. ‘New’ song – and still unrecorded for release (definitely a major contender for the next album) – Next To You.

I told someone recently that I felt this show was an intimate gig. The person I was talking to & who I showed this footage, scoffed & called me a wanker. She was adamant that a show with an audience of this size couldn’t possibly be intimate. I gave up trying to explain & dropped the matter. I’d never felt that way about a festival show before. There was just something about the connection we had. Check out the video & see what you think.

Fires out.