Had quite a big night last night. Brother Gav’s off overseas this weekend for a few months. Another mate in town for quick visit, appearing on TV game show. All gathered at Stalk & Kim’s. Got home late to find shop across the street on fire. Ambulance, fire trucks everywhere, neighbours out having a beer, spectating. Joined in for a beer, ended up a few doors down for more drinks with neighbours I hadn’t met yet. Must have been after 4 when I finally crashed. Great fun at the time, but mornings like this, I hate it when mid-week fiasco comes outa nowhere.

Corner building on fire early hours this morning, Collingwood.

Fires out.

Good mate, Steve Lane & band, The Autocrats, have arrived in Toronto for a string of shows at Canadian Music Week. It’s their first overseas tour – the guys must be pumped. Been checking their Facebook & the weather looks great, the city finally shaking a long cold winter. I’ve known Steve since we were kids, also played in bands with him a few years back. Really excited for him & band – an amazing thing to do. His son, Kai is also in the lineup. Not bad, doing an OS tour in your late teens. Go get em fellas.

Steve Lane (2nd from right, out front) & The Autocrats.

Fires out.

Been listening to a pre-release copy of Chapter Ray’s latest EP. Sounds really big – the boys have laid down an excellent follow-up to last year’s debut. Drummer Mick Brown who’s been working on the new venue (he’s also a builder extraordinare) gave me the CD on Sunday. They’ve been spending a lot of time and effort over the past months, recording, mixing, agonising & mastering. Look out for it when they launch (we’ll also let you know here when it drops).

Chapter Ray, guitarist Brendan Young in studio, recording forthcoming EP (pic from Facebook).

In the mean time, Chapter Ray are playing plenty of shows around Melbourne. Check their Facebook in the build up to launch time.

Fires out.

They did it again in a thriller – the Bulldogs shock win against the Swans in Sydney on a rainy Saturday afternoon. Both sides throwing everything at it, the Dogs lead at every change. Then a late charge by Sydney saw them wrestle back the lead with minutes to spare. But the Bulldogs found something in the heavy wet conditions, a spectacular mid-air volley by Easton Wood on the goal line to take back the lead by 4 points. The upset of this season so far, unbelievably, the Dogs sit 3rd on the ladder after round 5 – a situation nobody, even their fans, thought possible.

Fires out.

As you might know, I’ve been working bar shifts at Collingwood Spiegeltent. Been a few months now. Valuable experience for a guy building his own bar, who never actually worked behind one. Anyway, doing 3 Spiegeltent shifts in a row this week for circus troop Three High Acrobatics & their latest show called Rue. Really enjoyed last night. Spectacular stuff, set to celtic punk tunes, played loud. Rock & roll circus at it’s finest. 2 shows to go – tonight and tomorrow night. Tix still available if you’re inclined.

As for yesterday’s ‘demolition report’ – just finished, off to Officeworks to print, then council to submit. Fingers crossed.

Fires out.

Delivered a 40 page document to council today, outlining who lived here & how the building has been used for the past 15 years. All part of info required by bureaucracy so we can change the use of the building to what will eventually be a live performance space. Was told at the planning counter, council still needs a ‘demolition report’. I said “but there’ll be no demolition. We’re building things in – not tearing stuff down”. Apparently, if you change a sink in a toilet, removal of the old sink classifies as ‘demolition’. So now, we need to write a report, outlining the ‘demolition’ of an old sink. If you cut a small hole in a roof to insert a roof vent, the little circle of tin being removed classifies as, you guessed it, ‘demolition’. F#ck me.

Richmond Town Hall, council headquarters.

Playing the game…
More red-tape news soon, no doubt.

Fires out.

Back to the State Library this week & the Vic Electoral Commission. Spent most of Monday researching the identity of previous tenants in our building. As mentioned, need to prove someone was living here prior to us (names, dates etc), as part of submission to council to change the ‘use’ of the building. They need to know the building has been partially and continually residential (for 15 years with no break) – so we can keep living here, and in turn, change said ‘use’ to a live music & performance venue. It’s tricky & hopelessly bureaucratic – but a game we’re stuck playing for now.

State Library Melbourne.

Pretty much found all the info we need. Documenting & hoping to present to council later today. First round of plans already there & scrutinised. More ‘exciting’ news soon, as we work the red tape.

Fires out.

Video highlights from Sunday night – Bulldogs vs Adelaide. It was a beautiful thing.

Fires out.

Big weekend of football done. Highlights video of the Bulldogs/Crows game not available yet – the biggest upset of Round 4, the Dogs absolutely thumping  the comp’s top side Adelaide. Unbelievably, Western Bulldogs were a whopping 75 points up at 3-quarter-time. In lieu of said footage, it was great to see Melbourne (who’ve been struggling for a decade now) get up & comfortably beat hot favourites Richmond. More on the Dogs game later…

The comp’s now wide open after this weekend – It’s been a stunning 4 weeks. Plenty of signs hot-favourite sides are not so hot, and promising signs for teams who’ve been down & out in recent years, like Melbourne & The Dogs.

Fires out.

ANZAC day tomorrow & the hundredth anniversary of the Gallipoli landing & subsequent slaughter. A time to remember Australians who have fought and died at war.

The Australian frontier wars were a series of conflicts that were fought between Indigenous Australians and European settlers that spanned a total of 146 years. The first fighting took place several months after the landing of the First Fleet in 26 January 1788 and the last clashes occurred as late as 1934.^{[citation needed]}

Mounted police engaging Indigenous Australians during the Slaughterhouse Creek Massacre of 1838.

The most common estimates of fatalities in the fighting are at least 20,000 Indigenous Australians and between 2,000 and 2,500 Europeans. However, recent scholarship on the frontier wars in what is now the state of Queensland indicates that Indigenous fatalities may have been significantly higher. Indeed, while battles and massacres occurred in a number of locations across Australia, they were particularly bloody in Queensland, owing to its comparatively larger pre-contact Indigenous population. (Read more)

Fires out.