Rare footage from Vox Bar, Wuhan China, 2011. Without live.

Fires out.

Big weekend working. Flew by in a flash. Couple of bar shits at Collingwood Spiegeltent, including a long one Saturday night after working all day on the venue. Made easier by the Bulldogs upset win against GWS Saturday arvo at Etihad Stadium. The Doggies unexpectedly controlled the game from the outset, finishing with a massive 33 scoring shots to 13. It was an important win against the vastly-improved Giants, also putting an end to 3 weeks of losses. The return of Will Minson didn’t go unnoticed either – a huge effect on the game.

Took it easy Sunday. Sore body from digging, concreting & lugging slabs of beer around. Slowish start this morning.

Fires out.

Just hours before it looked almost nice. But me and Plumber Stu, in the hunt for offending water pipe leak, turned the beer garden walkway into a trench & dirt pile. One of those episodes where you think you’re starting a small job & end up replacing 10 metres of underground pipework. Still haven’t back-filled yet (& relaid the turf cover). Gotta pour chlorine along the ditch. Stu reckons the wall & ground directly below has endured decades of urination by human and animal alike – hence the smell in the soil. Nice. But tomorrow hopefully that’ll be a thing of the past, when chemicals decontaminate the area.

Beer garden walkway a few minutes ago.

Round 9, AFL Season this weekend. A make-or-break game for the Bulldogs who’ve now slipped to 4 and 4, and 3rd to 11th on the ladder. It’ll be a tough game against GWS who sit deservedly in the top 4. Interestingly, ruck-man Wil Minson might return for tomorrow’s clash – the Dogs not winning a game since he was dropped over a month ago. The Bulldogs are in desperate need of height & strength – the lack of which they were terribly exposed for last weekend against Melbourne. Hopefully the enigmatic Minnow will re-inject some much needed physicality.

Fires out.

Crazy busy at the moment. Still working on the venue room. Today, massive water leak problem down the walkway to beer garden. Trench digging & so on. Located badly busted pipe. Got fixed eventually, thanks to mate Stu’s awesome plumbing skills. Leak may have been causing musty smell in a downstairs room – damp & moldy sub-floor. That’s the theory anyway. The smell problem has puzzled me here from day one. Hopefully moving in the right direction now.

Room where musty smell might soon be gone.

No news from council yet on stage one of planning application for venue. Hopefully that’s a good thing and approval arrives in the mail soon. Then onto stage two.

Fires out.

Went to the MCG yesterday to watch the Bulldogs get rolled by a much-improved Melbourne. Looks like the Dogs have been found out. Couldn’t go with a bigger-bodied Demon side, trapped in their back line too often & unable to get out. Made worse by a shellacking in the middle, terrible kicking at goal (3.9 at half time), and the kind of fumbling & dropping of easy marks that took us all back to the Bulldogs of old. Not the best way to wind up the weekend. Had a couple of guests at the game, including one from OS – his first time at an Aussie Rules game. I think he liked it. At least it was kind of exciting til midway through the final quarter.

More work on the venue coming this week…

Fires out.

Quick break from construction in the venue space. Cold today. Still going with temporary fit-out. Shop-fitting kinda thing for temporary rent as studio, office or shop. Liquid nails truly one of human kind’s finest inventions.

Standing on the stage platform a few minutes ago, looking back at venue room.

Fire out.

Taking a quick break from working in the venue room to post today. While we’re waiting on council approval for the first round of plans & paperwork, we’re looking at renting the venue out short term as a pop-up shop, studio or office space. Started banging up partition walls & fixing stuff over the weekend. Probably be a couple of weeks before it’s ready to go. Feeling knackered today.

Venue room a few minutes ago, 19th May 2015.

Still working through design ideas for the final venue layout. Then we’ll draft detailed plans accordingly & submit to council. No doubt, that’ll be another long episode of swimming through red tape to get final approval. It’s a long road – getting a good idea why it takes so long for a bar to open around here. Can’t officially start building & fit-out til we get the all-clear. We’ll keep pluggin’ away…

Fires out.

An AFL weekend of thumpings & thrillers. North got up against the Bombers in a tight one Friday night. The Hawks destroyed Melbourne by over a hundred points Saturday, followed by Carlton’s utter demolition at the hands of GWS. And West Coast obliterated Gold Coast who were early-season finals-favourites. These were all BIG thrashings, the likes of which could see a coach or two sacked as early as this week.

Sunday brought some balance back to the round with a thriller at the G between the Tigs & Pies, Richmond getting over the line by 5 points in the dying seconds. But the surprise result of the round belongs to the Dogs (yes – we are somewhat biased), losing to the comp’s undefeated champions Freo by 13 points in a heart-stopping finish, scores dead-level minutes before the final siren. Proud of the Bulldogs this morning. They were given absolutely no chance, and instead pushed the Dockers right to the line. Good signs for a very young side who’ve emerged from a tumultuous pre-season.

Fires out.

Steve Lane and the Autocrats earlier this week at Dakota Tavern Toronto for Canadian Music Week. Great stuff guys. That’s Steve’s son Kai on bass. What a great experience for a young dude out on the road, touring OS. Hope the guys went well & get a lot out of the the festival. It’s an amazing setup. Clubs all over Toronto hosting bands from all over the world. The Autocrats hail from Bendigo Victoria. With a bunch of Aussie tours under their belts, they’ve now taken the leap off-shore. Really impressed with their latest album Birds Taking Flight. Grab yourself a copy at iTunes.

Steve Lane and The Autocrats, Live at Dakota Tavern, Toronto Canada, 11th May 2015.

Big weekend of AFL footy about to start. Don’t fancy the Bulldog’s chances against the all-conquering Fremantle Dockers. North & Essendon play tonight in what should be a great game. Sydney & Geelong – a big one to look out for Saturday, and a cracker between Richmond & Collingwood Sunday. It’s round 7 (hard to believe already), one third the way through the season.

Fires out.

Today, something from the archives. Touring the States in 2010, we based in Brooklyn New York – infamous suburb Bedford Stuyvesant (‘Bed Stuy’). King, our house-mate, was also a community leader in a predominantly black neighbourhood. Once a year, each street would have it’s own block party, and this was our turn. Check out the moves. Max also makes a brave appearance in the circle…

No news on the venue council planning application for the past 2 weeks. I’d like to think no news is good news. Waiting for correspondence. Posting here when it arrives.

Fires out.