Missing Man Found Dead in Outback

Another in a long list of Outback mysteries:

A body believed to be that of missing Victorian man Jason Richards has been found about one kilometre from his abandoned car in the South Australian outback.


[...]

The disappearance of Mr Richards, 28, was declared a major crime after he failed to arrive in his home town of Ballarat after leaving Darwin in June.

[...]

The man's burnt-out boat was found on a track near Pimba, south of Woomera, in June, and his pet dog turned up south-east of Glendambo about two-and-a-half weeks ago.

On Friday afternoon, a fox shooter discovered Mr Richards' ute in scrub about 10 kilometres south of Glendambo.

God Said We're Allowed to Enjoy the Fall of the Murdoch's

Yeah so I just got off the phone with God, and It said that we're all allowed to have a jolly good laugh at the Murdochs and Brooks and Morgan and the whole damned, evil lot of them as they all plummet from their towers into the smashing oblivion of justice or at least something like it.

So long, you evil bastards.

173 Acres For $1

One of those feel good stories. If you're a coal company:

In the dying days of the New South Wales Labor Government a profitable mining company was virtually given 70 hectares of crown land - land that’s supposed to be owned by the taxpayers, and the asking price was just one dollar.

Phil Stuart is the loser in the deal. He's the general manager of the Hunter Plant Operator Training School, a small not for profit heavy machinery training organisation that used the land for two decades, investing hundreds of thousands of dollars in infrastructure and buildings. Now it’s facing an uncertain future.

[...]

Instead the area was given to another tenant on the land - White Energy, a publically listed coal technology company worth $675 million.

Death Adder Left in Box in Cop's Yard

South coast, NSW:

A deadly snake has been left left in a box on the driveway of a police officer's house on the far south coast of New South Wales.

The off-duty officer found the death adder on his back lawn, and a box with derogatory words written on it was discovered on the driveway soon afterwards.
A forensic examination confirmed the snake had been in the box.

That cop had kids - so very wrong. Death adders are really, really dangerous. (Although I'm guessing maybe the name gave that away.)

White-Faced Heron, Tide Pools [updated]

 A few shots from local beaches.

This beautiful bird was walking around down by the collaroy tide pools. It was about three feet tall, and it's a White-faced Heron:

An interesting fact about these birds:

When breeding, the birds have long feathers (nuptial plumes) on the head, neck and back.

"Nuptial plumes." Sexy.

Here's a bit of Eastern Rock Lobster (mentioned previously here):

A beautiful snail of some sort. Alive. (Update: Old friend Sara in the UK informs me that this is a cowry. Probably this one. It is a type of sea snail, but, as you can see, it has a uniquely shaped shell. Thank you, Sara!):

Same snail, underside:

This just to make my golfing friends jealous. The golf course about a twenty minute walk from home:

Some kind of tide pool creatures' homes washed up on the beach:

Weird, gelatinous creatures in a tide pool crevice:

One of the above creatures out of crevice:

Evidence of ancient beach civilization:

The lovely rocks of the upper tide pool area:

The Basement Gig

I played The Basement last night, opening solo set before three local bands. It was all very exciting, and it got my stomach bouncing a few times in the days leading up to the show, but, well, I was great. What can I say? I mean, for me, it's all about getting people wrapped up in a story or a laugh...before they notice how badly I play the guitar and sing. And that ain't easy! But I did it last night, from right out of the gate, and it was a damn good feeling. They liked me. They really liked me.

The Basement is truly a nice place. It's located in Circular Quay, very close the the famous Harbour Bride and Sydney Opera House. For all the hype about it, and everyone I've talked to has heard of the club - it has a bit of legendary status here - it is a very warm and altogether unintimidating room. It seats around 120, at tables, with service, and claims room for another 150 standing, but it's hard to picture than many people in this little space. The stage is small, only a foot high, tables surround it very intimately - you could easily be sitting at a table and be only six feet or so from a performer - there is wood everywhere, there is nowhere in the place where you couldn't see, and feel basically pretty close to, the stage, so, again, it's just a hell of a nice place. It is billed primarily as a jazz club, but they go way outside of that. Just a few of the acts that have played there:

Bill Evans
Dizzy Gillespie
Herbie Hancock
Johnny Rawls
Muddy Waters
Kinky Friedman
Prince
Ralph McTell
Taj Mahal
Bruce Cockburn
Daniel Lanois
Todd Rungren
Niel Diamond
Loudon Wainwright III

I mean, come on. Herbie Freaking Hancock played here! And Niel Diamond! And Prince! Holy crap! And my own personal hero - Loudon! And now me! Holy even more crap!

And they recorded last night's show, so fingers crossed that that comes out alright.

I took some photos. And the vivacious and whimsical Christine, who came to the show even though she has a bronchial crapitis thing going on - thank you, sweetness - took some photos, too, and some video as well.

This is the green room, as it were. It's full of gear, and the walls and ceiling are lined with posters and signatures and graffiti. (Click to enlarge):

A couple posters from the walls of the club:

And, finally, the star:

 Old friend Denise, new friend Chris, and a well deserved drink for the star. Ahem.

Two songs. The first. "The Bass Player." For my old friend Marty Ruddy.



The second comes with a warning: Kids, this song is for adults. And not even for all of them. So don't listen to it. Or you'll get me in trouble.



Big thanks to Sydney song and gig giant Russell Neal for setting up the show (and for use of his guitar! the electronics on mine crapped out), and thanks to everyone at The Basement (especailly engineer Chris for the help), and to the three bands: Kooyeh; The Raw Tide (can't find a website!); and Bones and All—who were really fantastic.