It's Getting Warmer.

So I came home exhausted after spending the week at a school camp with 35 or so teenagers. The kids weren't the exhausting part - they were great - it was all those wonderful activities.  I abseiled, white water rafted, rode horses, clambered around high ropes courses, rogained - and a whole lot more.

And then I got home o spend the weekend working in the garden and around the house. At least I had fabulous weather for it all.

So here's five albums (in no particular order) to play on a very warm, pre-summer day.


1. English Settlement - XTC
2. Abbey Road - The Beatles
3. Larry Norman (Starstorm) - Larry Norman
4. Making God Smile (Beach Boys Tribute) - Various Artists
5. Gold - Ryan Adams

It Was 40 Years Ago Yesterday...

To say The Beatles broke up because of Yoko Ono is a little simplistic.

From all I've seen and read egos seem to be to blame.  Paul became leader because Brian had gone, and the others resented that. John didn't want Paul to be leader - but couldn't work up the effort to actually do anything himself. George was tired of being treated like the kid brother. Ringo, of course, was Ringo.  If The Beatles had stayed together, he'd have still been there drumming.

And Yoko was there, gazing up at rebellious John.

But as a relative of mine recently said to me, they should have just worked through it and continued making music.  The sum was always greater than the parts. He then echoed Larry Norman, who sang:

The Beatles said, "All You Need is Love"
and then they broke up.

Who knows where their music would have headed if they'd stayed together.

We'd certainly have had the best songs from their respective solo albums (plus ones we don't know, as their lives would have led different paths and the experiences would have changed.) Of course, there's always the chance they would have been terrible. (Think later Rolling Stones).

As the character said at the end of Fanboys, as he's about to see The Phantom Menace after a 15 year wait, "What if it's crap?"

But at least John and Paul were always each other's filters.  And John would have told Paul that Bip Bop was just plain silly, while Paul would have toned down some of John's more scathing attacks. (As well as (hopefully)  preventing Yoko from appearing with her own songs. We're all Water????  Ugh!)

But what's done is done, and the past cannot be changed.

At least we still have Please Please Me to Let It Be, and all the stuff making the rounds for collectors.

But somewhere, in another universe, Paul, John, George and Ringo are getting on stage to belt out some old and new tunes.

And I wish I was there.

Watch What You're Doing.

Tonight I'll be at Festival Hall in Melbourne to see The Pixies. For those that don't know this venue, it's a huge barn with less than ideal acoustics.

It has, however, come a long way. At least these days you can hear the music.

Back in the day, as my students like to call any period of time I refer to prior to their being born, it was a shocker - with a wall of sound hitting you from every direction as it bounced and reverberated around the boxing arena.

Over the years I've seen some great music there.  Johnny Winter, Dio, Stryper, Randy Stonehill, Joe Satriani to name only a few.  My last visit there was about 5 years ago to see Oasis. At least the Brothers Gallagher were still only barely talking to each other then.

But tonight it's The Pixies - not the best venue for them and I'm surprised by the choice of venue. But there is a sense of circle there for me. The first concert I can recall seeing at Festival Hall was Larry Norman, 'back in the day' - and as any Pixies fan will tell you, Come On Pilgrim, the band's first EP, was named after a Larry Norman line. In fact Frank Black turned up and jammed with Larry on that very song for one of his final shows before he passed.

I don't expect Frank to play Larry tonight - but I do anticipate a great show.

Linear Notes...

Why should the devil have all the good tunes?

William Booth is supposed to have said it originally. The founder of The Salvation Army would use well known drinking songs and write new words to accompany them to make it easier for his converts to sing along. Larry Norman used it in the 70s as a response to those that thought the church and rock'n'roll should never meet.

This has been in my thoughts this week. I found out a few weeks ago that Larry had passed on a few weeks before. It affected me more than I thought possible. I came home from work and played Only Visiting This Planet, and it moved me to tears.

Larry's death wasn't mentioned in any newspaper or TV report I saw. I didn't even see it mentioned online through any news agencies. I only found out because when I punched his name into eBay, one of the entries included R.I.P. in the description.

Larry was my first concert. I was 15 or so, and he played Festival Hall here in Melbourne. I'd never heard him before, but some older friends invited me. It had never occurred to me that there could be a Christian rocker. The only religious music I knew was quite traditional - the type of vinyl my parents listened to. I'd sit in my room listening to The Beatles, The Stones or Deep Purple in my bedroom on a tinny little mono record player, while my dad would play his music on the 'good' stereo. Not that mum and dad didn't approve. They would even buy albums for me from time to time. But I went to see Larry and became a fan that evening.

In the 90s it seemed Larry went a bit strange. He started talking about brain damage, and saying that every show was his last one. He released lots and lots of stuff - I'm sure there's a Larry album out there somewhere that consists of him making dinner with his son. Having accidentally hit the record button on a cassette player in the kitchen, he suddenly found he had his next album.

I'd spent a bit of time hunting down and buying as many of his earlier releases as I could, so I was disappointed when suddenly there were many many discs on the market, all in limited edition, that I would never be able to collect. I even met him one night in a restaurant in Melbourne. I chatted to him for a few minutes, and asked for his autograph. He told me he wouldn't sign as he didn't believe in 'the Hollywood star system.' I was very disappointed later on when I found out he'd signed items for people all over the place....

But Larry was Larry, and we overlooked these 'eccentricities'. And we thanked him for the Trilogy, and loved SNUTS (Something New Under The Son) and even listened to Quiet Lions.

But now he's gone. I guess he really was only visiting this planet.

I never did find out who Fehrion was or what all those numbers inside SNUTS mean. I loved those little mysteries.

And tonight, when I take my dog for a walk and I'm standing on the corner, I guess I'd better look up the sky in case there's something in the dark......