I’ve known Josh Bain since around 2015 when we were both working at an op shop together. He’s a musician who often performs in Healesville, where he lives. A great guy. We get together every now and then on Sundays. Here’s a bunch of our conversations that I wrote about when I was doing the Diary entries.
Sunday, 10 March, 2024
Had my usual fortnightly lunch with Josh at the Grand in Healesville. I’ve mentioned him before: he’s the muso whose open mic I went to recently. For a muso he’s pretty introverted and taciturn, so I find I have to initiate a lot of topics. Since this was the day after my Teenage Fanclub gig I was happily giving him the review. (Let me now segue into present tense speech) I mention it was a good gig, but it wasn’t Thin Lizzy at Festival Hall in 1980 (my litmus test for a great gig – coz it was). For some reason this reminds Josh of Billy Bragg’s great song New England. Apparently Billy had once said of the song he thought some of the melody was stolen from a Thin Lizzy song. A pretty lateral tangent, but that’s the way Josh’s mind works sometimes and the way our conversations often go. His comment has me thinking of some Lizzy songs that Billy might have been thinking of. Boys Are Back perhaps? Then Josh mentions Kirsty McColl, how she had done a cover of New England. Yes, that’s right, I brighten. She did it more uptempo. But she died in a motorboat accident. Got hit by the propeller. Might’ve been drunk. (Getting a bit stream of consciousness here. Please go with it!) Josh takes another tangent and talks about how Kirsty’s version of the song did some interesting things with the pronouns, because Billy’s version is very much from a man’s perspective and her version alters it to something like third person. I say that’s interesting because most female singers when stuck with a male pov song usually just change the pronouns over; then I mention others, like Emmylou Harris and Sarah Carter of the Carter Family, who sometimes didn’t. I give a favourite example in Rita Chao and the Quests, a cool Chinese garage band from the sixties, who did a great version of Hanky Panky. I love how Rita sings ‘A pretty little girl standin’ all alone/Hey pretty baby can I take you home?’ as is, giving it a delicious lesbian overtone. Josh follows suit with a reference to Cyndi Lauper’s cover of Prince’s When You Were Mine. It occurs to me that this would all be a great topic for an academic paper on ‘Pronouns In Pop Songs’.
Back at Josh’s place, we sit on the wooden veranda, chugging some Asahis, shooting the bull. It’s a hot day, and the folding camp chairs Josh uses aren’t comfortable (I keep telling him to get some rocking chairs – I love rocking chairs), but the shade is good and the Healesville view of trees and wild life is magnificent. It’s the craic. I blabber on about Peter Jackson’s Hobbit movies for some reason. All of a sudden Josh confesses he actually walked out on the first Lord of the Rings films, saying it annoyed him. I’m shocked, genuinely shocked.
Sunday, 21 April, 2024
Caught up with Josh this weekend at Kang’s Chinese, Healesville. Josh told me about a festival he went to on the Easter weekend called ConFest. Billed as ‘Australia’s leading alternative lifestyle festival’, it was held in Woorooma, NSW by the Edwards River. Josh and his friends set up a tent in what was called the ‘tranquility camp’ area. Since they spent their nights playing music and singing songs, things may not have been too tranquil there, but clearly no one minded. Josh said he attended a number of workshops on subjects like spirituality and healing, and even put one of his own on, called Social Dreaming. This was done in a teepee, with Josh instructing his participants in the subject, which he learned from his father. He said his favourite event over the weekend was the Spontaneous Choir, an evolved version of singing in the round, from what I could make of it. He said there were secluded areas along the river for skinny dipping (it was a hot weekend), but he didn’t partake – though he did swim. It sounded like a good time, and Josh has invited me to the next one, which I may attend. The Edwards River has a particular resonance for me because I have a memory of it to do with my parents. The story goes when my mum went to hospital to give birth to my younger brother, Carl, Dad decamped up to Deniliquin with his mates and fished along the Edwards River. Giving birth was purely women’s business back then. Nice one, Dad.
After a nice meal of teriyaki chicken and rice we decamped back to Josh’s Crosby, Stills and Nash house for beers on the veranda. I call it that because it reminds me of the cover of their first album. Check it out. The story goes, after the photos were taken at a dilapidated house in Santa Monica, they realised they were sitting in the wrong order. It was Nash, Stills and Crosby. But when they went back to the old house in Santa Monica, it was already torn down. I told Josh this story and it got me naturally segueing to the eventual fourth member, Neil Young. I’d been thinking of his Decade album lately, how he never got around to doing a Volume Two of his second decade – because he changed record labels in the interim. One day I’ll make a playlist of what might have been on it. I’m sure others already have. I mentioned the album Neil did with Pearl Jam, Mirror Ball, and how Pearl Jam made an ep from the sessions called Merkin Ball. This made Josh laugh, and he told me a ‘merkin’ is a pubic hair wig. I looked it up on the net, and he was right! Apparently prostitutes would make them from their own pubic hair. Amazing! Puts that ep title in a new light.
Sunday, 5 May, 2024
Josh was a bit more taciturn than usual today, so the conversation was pretty one-sided. He did mention his latest open mic gig at The Herd, which was on Anzac Day eve, and which I didn’t attend. He said he did another cover, the Cure‘s Just Like Heaven, accompanied by Isak on piano. I’m glad he’s stretching out and doing different things, like covers, but I wish he’d write some new songs. This is something I tell him all the time. He also mentioned an old friend of ours, Mike, also performed. We haven’t seen him for years, so I was interested to hear about him. Apparently he’s found ‘true love’, and she was there, and he sang songs written about her. Aww, dat’s nice! But I seem to recall Mike already had a family, so what’s going on? Josh wouldn’t elaborate, or maybe he didn’t know, but something is clearly going on with Mike. I remember the first time I saw him play: he did a Kacey Musgraves cover and mentioned her. I had only just heard about her from singer, Justin Hayward, in an interview I’d read where he’d praised her to the skies. I like her sometimes controversial take on country music, and absolutely love her album Golden Hour. It’s the soundtrack to a film I want made of a book I’ve almost written. Anyway, I asked Josh where he would like to travel to, if he could. He said Ireland. I said I’d like to go there too, and also England. He suggested we go together. Sounds like a plan.
Sunday, 19 May, 2024
Had another lunch with Josh in Healesville. He was a little more talkative today. He volunteered the information, out of nowhere, that he had been essentially cyberstalking some woman he knew years ago who he had been in love with at the time. He only remembered her first name, but he knew she had written an article about some poet, and in putting the two names together he got a result. She is married with two kids, but Josh said he might still try contacting her just to catch up. This is classic Josh: always happy to reconnect with old friends and lovers. I know I used the term ‘cyberstalking’, but there’s really nothing sinister about this. Josh hasn’t got an evil bone in his body.
Later, on the porch at Josh’s place, he told me about how his mate Peter’s old partner knew the guys from The Cure. She even had designed a couple of the album covers (he didn’t remember which). But the thing is, Peter didn’t know The Cure at all! But the cluelessness about bands goes both ways with Josh. I mentioned that Top 500 Albums of the 80s magazine and read out the top 10 albums on the list. One of them was The Queen Is Dead by the Smiths, and Josh expressed an interest in them, because he didn’t know their music. He knows the Cure, but he doesn’t know the Smiths. His music listening has been very selective. One of the reasons I was there this day was to put some more music on his phone from my music library (Josh doesn’t do the Spotify thing). He had played out most of the ones I’d put on previously. I added a bunch of artists he wasn’t too familiar with (hard to believe, considering this list), including 10,000 Maniacs, Aimee Mann, America, Amy Winehouse, Badfinger, Belly, the Bee Gees, Billie Holiday, Blur (he knew), Broderick Smith, Bryan Adams (he knew), Big Star, Buddy Holly, Camp Cope, Carly Simon, the Cars, Chicago, the Clouds (yay!), and Creedence (clearly, going through the alphabet). I also jumped to Teenage Fanclub and The Smiths and included a bunch of their albums, since he seemed interested. This was all part of what you might call a negotiated listener’s advisory, with me making suggestions and Josh often nixing them (no Beyonce, no Aespa, etc). He sent me a message later, saying, ‘I tried with the Smiths. I simply don’t get it. I don’t see why it is great at all.’ Damn!
Sunday, 2 June, 2024
Another Sunday fortnight, another meal with Josh. We were back at the Grand Hotel this time. I ordered fried rice with beef and got a vegetarian fried rice instead. Damn. Then I discovered they’re putting a 15 percent surcharge on the meals these days, and today I’m paying (we take it in turns). Double damn! Anyway, for some reason Josh was reminiscing about the console games he used to play in his youth. One called Snoopy Tennis seemed to stand out in his memory. He did some research and apparently original copies are worth some money now. We shared some old games we used to like playing. For me, it was a game called Zany Golf, and Bards Tale 2, both on my old Amiga. They’re definite nostalgia magnets.
Back at Josh’s place on the porch, we discussed the quandary of Josh communicating with that woman he used to be in love with. He still wants to contact her, but now the magnitude of it is starting to hit and he doesn’t know how to do it without coming off like a stalker. I suggest the direct approach, on Facebook. He warms to the idea. We then talk about how crap are Melbourne audiences at live gigs. Josh agrees, saying when he saw The Strokes at the Palais they wondered if the crowd were enjoying the gig, they were so quiet. Welcome to our crap Melbourne audience, Strokes, I say. Josh then mentioned they were supported by Kings of Leon on their first tour. I was envious. After last fortnight’s strike out with the Smiths, Josh admitted he liked a couple of their songs. How Soon Is Now and There Is a Light That Never Goes Out he grudgingly assented to. Said he’ll give them another go. He then talked about the four gigs his old band, The Going Away Party, did before they broke up. At least two were well attended and went off respectably. I asked why they broke up, and it turned out one member, Drew, got a good job offer in Adelaide to teach Ethics at a university. All the members had degrees, including Josh. A Brainy band.
Sunday, 15 June, 2024
I lost all my work today because of a Word malfunction, so I’ll just give the Cliff notes, coz I can’t be fucking bothered re-writing this. There was another Conversation With Josh (#258 I think), something about Josh doing an Andrew Lloyd Webber song from Evita for his next open mic outing. He mentioned seeing Violent Femmes back in 1995 at the Palais, with front row tickets, and the bass player asked his female friend back stage, but she didn’t go. Creepy muso’s. I mentioned seeing Motley Crue there, and they had titty cam. I took pictures. Hair metal was not really my thing, but I read The Dirt and reappraised them and learned to love their sleazy brand of metal.
Sunday, 29 June 2025
Me and Josh were at the Chinese restaurant again because it was my turn to pay and I didn’t want to pay that bloody surcharge the pub pays, alright? Josh seemed to be in one of his extra taciturn moods. His eyes seemed to be looking inward, like he was wrapped up in his own thoughts. I said as much but he denied it, saying he was okay. I must say the meal was extra yummy today. We both always order the same thing: teriyaki chicken, me with a side order of vegetable spring rolls. Best teriyaki ever. I bored Josh with my car talk, then asked him to guess how much I was looking to pay for my car. He first suggested $5000, and I scoffed and pointed upward. He kept adding $5000s, and each time I kept pointing, and his eyes kept getting bigger. He said he’d discovered the pub at Launching Place was putting on open mic nights every Monday and he might go and perform there. He should. I’ll go and see him. He also complained how Ash, the guy who puts on the open mics at the Herd in Healesville, seems to always be putting Josh on first. He’d rather play later, about 8pm, instead of being the ‘warm up’. I told him to tell Ash. I get why he’s annoyed. He probably feels like he’s undervalued, though I know Ash has a lot of respect for Josh’s songs and his performances.
Back at Josh’s house, on the porch, I was telling him about the book I’m reading about Sonic Youth by Thurston Moore. He knew who Thurston Moore was, but didn’t know their songs, not even Kool Thing. Typical Josh. But he does know Dinosaur Jr, kindred spirits to Sonic Youth, and I’m not familiar with them, except for Feel The Pain. He recommended an album of theirs, Where You Been. I will check it out. Then he made one of those out of the blue comments that always amuses me. He said his mate Isaac’s daughters were going to Queensland to start a new church. Just like that. Please explain, Josh. It turns out Isaac, who is a burly bloke (see picture here) who drums and plays piano at the Herd open mics, was once upon a time a pastor. And he passed on his religious zeal to his daughters, who have taken up the torch and run with it. Plan a murder, start a religion. I said I didn’t fancy their chances in getting followers, what with religion declining everywhere – at least in Australia. Josh also said some woman who attends his gigs at the Herd is a big fan of his song, Bogan Rhapsody. She’s listened to it on Spotify hundreds of times. His former band mate, Drew, who manages the account, saw the numbers and went ‘what’s going on?’ Also, his Angelica clip, which I filmed and put up on my Youtube channel a while ago, now has over 70 views. All of which he’s very chuffed about. Fair enough. From little things…Following on from the Christian daughters convo I decided to mention my new mania for Tarot (I’d been wanting to talk about it and here was my opportunity, going from Christianity to Paganism). I told him all about the different decks, and the meaning behind the cards, the Jung connection, and purifying my deck by the light of a full moon and all that. He seemed interested in it. He wants me to give him a reading using my Buffy Tarot deck. I will!
Sunday, 27 July, 2024
We hadn’t got together for a while so my latest conversation with Josh started off with a lot of catching up, which consisted of me telling him about my new car and he telling me about his visit to some old friends of his dad’s living in an old folk’s community. I’m biased, but my side of the convo was definitely more exciting. For his part, Josh expressed great interest in seeing my ‘mid-life crisis’ machine. We talked a little about music and Josh reiterated his continued dislike for the Smiths. He said Robert Smith, of the Cure, hated Morrisey. I added he had that effect on a lot of people. I told him about some of my latest music listening, including that Blackfeather album, At the Mountains of Madness. Typically, Josh hadn’t heard of them. It occurred to me he might enjoy that song Seasons of Change, so I raved about it and said I’d play it to him soon.
Josh doesn’t work, he lives off disability, so any work talk is on my side. I usually just tell him how busy I am with the library job, but I thought this time I’d share some of the good things about it. Like the other day when I was shelving in the children’s section, and a patron just told me out of the blue how much he loves our library, and what a good space it is. I thanked him and then he actually thanked me for my service. Imagine that! Then there was the other time, a week or so ago, when I helped a little boy find a book he was looking for, and he gave me a hug. Besides being nice stories I hadn’t mentioned to anyone before, not even here, I think my ulterior motive in mentioning them was to give Josh a sense of the rewards to be had from work if you’re doing a job you like or love. I think he’s mostly had negative experiences from it, as have most of us I suppose. It doesn’t have to be that way.
Driving back to Josh’s place afterward, I realised he was the first passenger I’d had in my new car. He was duly impressed by it, especially the sound system with built-in subby. He even took a photo of it to send to his friend Peter. He suggested we go out for a longer drive in it next time and maybe we could listen to his Going Away Party album on the sound system as well. It’s definitely a plan. At his place I got around to playing that Blackfeather song for him on my phone. He seemed to recognise it, thought it was okay, but didn’t love it. He then mentioned he’d heard there was going to be a theatrical version of the old TV show The Addams Family coming up in some place in Moonee Ponds. That sounded good to me, so I suggested getting tickets and we’d go. Josh then suggested
inviting Patricia Karvelas to come with us. Back in the day Josh actually went out with the now ABC reporter and TV presenter, and he often talks about her. Apparently she is now a lesbian and has a girlfriend (or wife). I enthusiastically suggested he do that, and she could bring along her wife/girlfriend. Weirdly, this is something I could see Josh doing. I looked forward to grilling Karvelas about her news values and seeming right-wing bias of late. All this caused Josh to describe himself as upper middle class in his values, which chimed well with me because I’ve been thinking exactly the same thing about myself. My background’s working class, but I never identified with it or the middle class – those parma-munching, Pink-loving bogans. My values and aspirations are more upper middle, you know? ‘There’s also a thing called lower upper middle class’, Josh joked, making me laugh. ‘That’s us!’ I retorted, liking this line of conversation very much. ‘We aspire to being upper middle class but we don’t quite have the wealth to make it stick. Thus, we’re lower upper middle class.’ ‘We’re pretenders,’ said Josh. ‘That’s why we get along so well,’ I replied.
When I leave, we usually shake hands, but this time Josh surprised me by giving me a hug. Must have been something in our conversation and the day that resonated with him, like he’d found a book he wanted and was grateful.
Sunday, 11 August, 2024
Took Josh for a drive in my car around the Healesville area, past the Sanctuary and parts unknown. It was a beautiful day for it. Last visit he’d expressed a desire to listen to the Oh To Love album by The Going Away Party (his old band) so that’s what we did during the drive. ‘Not a bad little indie rock album,’ was his modest summation after we got through it and the trip came to an end. He’s right: they made a good little album. Not a bad song on it. Josh, who wrote and sang all the songs, was in thrall at the time to the music of The Arctic Monkeys and The Strokes, and that definitely comes through, but he also had his own thing going on that makes it unique.
Apart from that, we had our usual meal at the Chinese restaurant. His birthday’s coming up this week and so I asked him what he wanted, and typically, he said nothing, leaving me to grasp for ideas about what to get him. ‘What do you give the guy who has everything?’ I joked. Later, at his place, after the driving jaunt, he wondered, out of the blue, if the singer Carole King was a Canadian. He’d been listening to her stuff so I guess it was on his mind. I was pretty sure she was New York born and bred, and a quick net search confirmed it. We both warmly agreed on what a great album is Tapestry. Then I offered one of my patented critical viewpoints on the subject of the song, Home Again, that’s on the album. Basically, the lyrics of the chorus suck. It goes ‘Snow is cold, rain is wet/Chills me to the marrow’. What a stupidly obvious couple of metaphors! Couldn’t she come up with something a little more…imaginative? It reminded me of other stupid obvious metaphors. Bryan Adams’ Cuts Like a Knife. Then, warming to my subject, I offered other examples of bad lyrics, like ‘The point is probably moot’ from Rick Springfield’s Jessie’s Girl, and ‘She knows what it takes to make a pro blush’ from Kim Carnes’ Bettie Davis Eyes. Oh, and finally, ‘You’re my pride and joy, etcetera,’ from Eleanore by The Turtles. What a damp squib of a compliment. I’m a bit of a nut about bad lyrics to otherwise good pop songs. I asked Josh if he could think of any, but nothing came to mind.
But most of the talk was around the album we’d just been listening to in the car. It was a rare opportunity having the actual creator of the music there in front of me, and he had a few observations to make. There were things he would have liked to have tweaked: songs where the vocals should have been double tracked, one track that he had wanted to add an extra bass line in, but the producer nixed it. He was proud of his bass lines, since the band didn’t have a bassist, and he’d only had about a week to come up with them, using a borrowed bass. I asked him whether songs from the album got any radio play, and apparently the opening track, Make Up, was played on local community station 3RRR, but apart from that, not much. The band didn’t have a manager, and only did four gigs before they broke up, which is a pity. I asked him what would have happened if they’d had a hit – would they have stayed together, and maybe tried getting a manager and all that showbiz razzamatazz (they broke up because member Drew left for a university post)? He thought maybe. Josh had a mental breakdown sometime after that. I wondered if the breakup contributed to it, but he said nothing. It’s a dark period for him. I hope the drive and revisiting that album helped shake some cobwebs loose for him.
Sunday, 15 September, 20024
Drove up to the Black Spur with Josh and Tony, his old mate. This is a very windey mountain road and it’s not fun to drive on. It didn’t help that, right at the start of the drive, Josh told me he gets car sickness on windey roads. Great. We had a couple of beers at the Black Spur Inn. It was pretty empty. I didn’t see why we couldn’t have done this back in Healesville and avoided the tricky drive. Oh well. We talked a lot about music. Tony’s a fan, and like Josh, a musician. Josh had done the open mic at the Herd in Healesville the other day, but I missed it due to work. He did his crowd favourite, Bogan Rhapsody. Apparently his mate Isak the drummer did a Beatles medley on piano. With all the music trivia we threw about, Tony told me about a site called Songfacts, which deals in these things. I’ll have to check it out. He wants me to make up a compilation of songs for him, possibly on cd or mp3s on a USB stick. I’ve done this for Josh too. I don’t know why these guys, who are into music, have so little of their own. Anyway, I said I would. But he has to tell me what he wants.
A day later, I got a series of texts from Tony. They were a bunch of songs he wanted. Pina Colada Song, a Julio Iglesias song, the Beatles, Umberto Tozzi, then there was some Black Sabbath, Metallica, Run DMC, Dokken, and much, much more. A weird list. Tony’s into a lot of schmaltz. Julio, Kenny G? And then for contrast, there’s heavy metal. It’s all light or dark with Tony. Nothing in between. I wondered where Tony had heard these songs, they all seemed so random. I mean, Fooled Around and Fell In Love by Elvin Bishop is a good song (I have it), but it’s pretty obscure, and from the seventies. It was at this point I decided to check out Songfacts, that site he mentioned. And what do you know, there was a bunch of the songs Tony had asked for. So that’s where he gets them from. Interesting site. Think I’ll dip into it from time to time to load up on more song trivia.
Sunday, 6 October, 2024
It was a rainy day today – it held off for the Grand Final. Josh needed me to pick him up and drive him to our Kang’s Chinese meal today. At Kangs’, over the usual terriyaki chicken, he told me he’d performed at the Herd Grand Final Eve open mic, and it went really well. He was particularly pleased with his singing and garnered some praise for his performance. He also did a cover of The Boomtown Rats’ I Don’t Like Mondays with his mate Isak on piano, which went down a treat. It was apparently a big boisterous crowd too. I wish I was there, but I was consoling my sister that night.
Sunday, 10 November, 2024
Josh has got an open mic at the Herd tomorrow for what down here we call Cup Eve. The Cup in question being the Melbourne Cup, a horse race carnival that’s been an institution in Australia for over a hundred years. It’s the first Tuesday in November, so it’s gonna be on Election Day for the US as well. It’s a holiday here. We have a day off for a horse race. Anyway, Josh said he’s gonna do an old song I’ve never heard before, a song that was inspired by a girl he had a crush on many years ago. In fact, she’s the one he had been sort-of cyber-stalking recently and had considered re-connecting with. I plan on being there, so can’t wait to hear it. He also plans on doing another cover, but he wouldn’t tell me what it would be.
I mentioned the recent Baseball World Series that was won by the Dodgers against the Yankees. I asked Josh if he’d ever played a sport and he said some cricket, plus relay sprint. He then regaled me with the story of his Under 16s relay squad and how they lost the finals because of one little slip-up. They would usually say the word ‘go’ when the changeover was being made, but the team leader decided for this time to change it to ‘Jack’. This confused the runners and so on the final changeover, when they were winning, someone forgot the changed word which resulted in the dropping of the baton and they lost. Josh was still clearly angsty about the incident, as you usually are with these childhood memories. They stick in the mind. I liked the story. I told Josh I think it would make a nice short story, like The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, the Alan Sillitoe story. I even suggested a title: We Don’t Know Jack.
When we got in my car to take him home the song on my cd player was Mashed Potato by Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs from the Australian Pop of the Sixties album I’m listening to. This is one of the silliest songs ever recorded and is mentioned in the Music Goes Round My Head. Here’s author David Johnston on the song: ‘…sounded like a pre-Thorpe Aztecs instrumental saved for, but not necessarily saved by, the frequent and irritating repetition throughout of the title words followed by ‘yeah!’. It was not one of Billy’ greatest vocal achievements…’ It’s one of those songs that, once you’ve heard it, you don’t ever need to hear it again. Bloody mashed potato yeah over and over, then there’s a brief respite with a guitar solo and then it starts again for a whole freaking 2.30 minutes. It could be half that and would still be too long. The thing is, the damn song is catchy. Josh laughed at me when, back at his house on the veranda, I was still singing it, stuck in that stupid earworm.
Sunday, 1 December, 2024
Had lunch at the Grand with Josh this time. Neither of our wanted meals (Josh for Calimari, me for veggie curry) was available due to a large group who seemed to have taken all the popular dishes. So we both settled for good old fish and chips, which took a while in coming, but gave us ample time for talk (and beer drinking). I yapped a bit about the Pearl Jam concert I went to. When I mentioned they played Daughter, one of my favourites, Josh recalled his dad liked that one too. They also did Rear View Mirror, and this prompted Josh to mention the open mic he performed here at the Grand a couple of weeks ago, because some guy also did it there. Josh did his patented, crowd-pleasing cover of I Don’t Like Mondays, accompanied by Isak. He said a duo had a go at the Gordon Lightfoot song If You Could Read My Mind, and weren’t very good. I suggested Josh should cover it himself. He could add the Whitney Houston part (from The Greatest Love of All, which includes a section – ‘I decided long ago…’ – which ‘borrows’ from that song) for a joke. He liked the idea. He confessed one of his songs, the ever-popular Bogan Rhapsody, has a bit in it that he thinks he might have took from an old Jet song. I hadn’t noticed (I’m not much of a Jet fan), but I’ll take his word for it. They all steal from each other.
The talk ranged a bit far and wide while waiting for our meal. Josh recommended a news site he likes called AVAAZ for alternative news. It’s billed as ‘the campaigning community bringing people-powered politics to decision-making worldwide’. I guess I’ll check it out sometime. The talk of concerts also led to other concerts we knew of. Josh mentioned Jarvis Cocker and Pulp at the Glastonbury Festival, how that was a big gig for them. They replaced The Stone Roses, who cancelled. I mentioned Travis at Glastonbury from around 1998. When they did 
Why Does It Always Rain On Me that’s when the rain came down, making for a magic moment. It made me think of another festival called Cropredy, which is put on every year in August by folk rock band Fairport Convention. I’ve long had an ambition to go to it. I told Josh how I want to stand in the crowd on the final night when Fairport play their gig and sing along to Meet On the Ledge, the song that always ends the festival. They had Rick Wakeman as a guest this year. I have no idea who’s in Fairport now, but most of the original members are gone or dead.
After the meal, and back at Josh’s, we sat on the porch with the usual Asahi’s in hand. I guess talk about Cropredy got me thinking of hippy lifestyles and communes and all that, because I mentioned to Josh another one of my ambitions, which is to live in a commune. It just so happens there is one here in Healesville called Moora Moora. In fact Josh’s mate Isak was a member for a while there. And I visited the place on an open day many years ago. And one of my work colleagues is a member of it now. She actually appeared on the cover of the Grass Roots magazine recently with her other commune mates for a cover story on the commune. I read it with interest, thinking I might apply for a place. But the article mentioned they do not allow pets, which pretty much leaves me out because I have a dog and a cockatoo, and they go where I go. I mentioned all this to Josh, and he said Isak was actually thinking of starting a new commune. I will follow this new development, if it ever goes any further, with interest.
Sunday, 22 December, 2024
Josh did another performance at the open mic at the Herd the other week, and I missed it. The big surprise song he did for a cover this time was Mandy, the old Barry Manilow song. I approved and mentioned it was one of Angel’s favourite songs. I figure, as a vampire, he identifies heavily with that opening lyric: ‘I remember all my life, raining down as cold as ice’. All that atonement and anguish. I also mentioned that other Manilow song, I Write the Songs, which was written by Beach Boy Bruce Johnston. Good old Manilow. Josh said he was thinking his next cover might be Sometimes When We Touch, by Dan Foley. He seems to be getting into a shmaltzy thing. I said it’s also the sort of stuff his mate Anthony likes, and he agreed. I suggested David Soul’s Don’t Give Up On Us as another one in that vein, but he didn’t know it.
Back at Josh’s place, on the porch with some Asahi’s, I gave Josh my Christmas present for him – the Beatles t-shirt. He liked it, and it fit him well. We got to talking about libraries and research and uni – that kind of thing – and I mentioned the interesting book I got off Lui for my Christmas present, the Capitalism A Horror Story book by Jon Greenaway. The basic thesis is that Capitalism shares many of the traits of horror movie conventions. There’s a Capitalist connection for zombies, witches, ghosts, Aliens, and all the other horror touchstones. Josh was intrigued and mentioned how his dad had been working on a thesis about American comic strips and their association with politics. But he never finished it and died with it incomplete. Josh said the work must be somewhere in a box somewhere around the house, and I encouraged him to please find it. I’d like to read it.
Somehow we got onto conspiracy theories and the moon landing one came up, because I’ve known people who actually subscribed to it. Josh then thought Pink Floyd might have done a song about it, or maybe there was an album soundtrack, he wasn’t sure. He looked it up on the net and there it was, a thing they did called Moonhead. It turns out they were guests on the moon landing TV coverage in England at the time. As it was an all-nighter the producers thought it might be good to include a group like the Floyd to provide some background music in between the other segments to help keep people awake. It was mainly Floyd just jamming some ‘nice, atmospheric, spacey 12-bar blues’. Ian Gilmour recalled it being a special night. He remembers going home and looking up at the moon and thinking about how people were actually walking on it at that moment. The song is actually available for a listen on Youtube, though they never did an official release of it.
Sunday, 12 January, 2025
Josh told me he’ll be having his sister and her family down soon. They’ll be staying at his house, which is actually the house his sister bought for him. Nice sister! He told me about his Christmas, which involved buying a $130 lobster as his contribution to the dinner his friend invited him to. I mentioned I got a blender for Christmas and it reminded him of a ‘sad memory’ about his mum. He was only 1 year old and he remembers the doctors giving his ailing mum special blendered food in hopes of her recovery, which didn’t happen. She died when he was very young, so he never really knew her. This memory about the blender is one of the few things he remembers about her. That’s pretty heavy. I also mentioned the upcoming Within Temptation gig I planned on going to. 
I asked Josh who would he want to see if they came out, and he said Tori Amos. He said he would’ve liked to see Sinead O’Connor, if she were alive. I said it was a pity she’s most known for the Prince song, when there’s so many other good ones. And that album, I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got, is fantastic. Every song a killer.
Back at the house I mentioned I’d taken that MBTI test and what the result was (INFP). Josh mentioned his dad used to administer something like that in his job. I suggested he do one, because I suspected he was the same as me, or at least something close. I put him onto that site, 16 Personalities, where you can do it. He’s pretty sure he’s at least an IN. I’ll be interested in the results, if he does it.
Sunday, 2 February, 2025
We were eating again at the Grand. No big group of people, so Josh was able to get his calimari, which had run out last time because of that big group. I went with a simple carbonara, which the hotel chef insisted on including mushrooms in. I spooned away the mushies and dug in. Josh’s sister and her family have been down staying at his place. It went okay, he had to tidy up a bit, and slept on his convertible couch. Even so, the sister complained that the place was getting ‘run down’. Josh also mentioned he now has plans on going to India early next year to stay at an Ashram with friends. It’s apparently the site of a well-respected mystic he’s read about. Good for him, but it’s not a place I ever want to go to.
Back at his place, I peeked into some of the rooms that had been opened up due to his sister’s stay. The front room was full of boxes containing mysterious papers and other items. On the veranda, Asahi’s in hand, I asked Josh about them. They were mostly relics of his father’s and Josh had never had the time or bothered to look into them. He said they’d found a strange briefcase that had a combination lock. Some of his friends were able to open it, and it contained an old photo of a very young Josh with his mother who, as I mentioned in the previous Conversation entry, died when he was about one. Who knows what else is in there? As a library worker, the challenge and fun of sorting through that ‘archive’ would be irresistible to me. There would definitely be his dad’s thesis on political cartoonists in there, for one. Josh mentioned his mother also wrote a thesis paper. It was on Virginia Woolf. That is so typical of Josh’s family. No wonder he turned out so interesting. I wonder if the thesis is in there too.
Sunday, 9 March, 2025
The thing with the possum last night (I hit a possum with my car) continued to haunt me this morning as I discovered, when I drove my car to Healesville for the usual meet with Josh. The right wheel guard of my car was rubbing against the wheel. The impact with the poor creature had pushed it in. I tore off the guard, and that was that. Need a new guard. There was a market happening in Healesville so I went to that before the meal, as I was early. There were some nice record and cd/dvd stalls that I perused. Almost bought a couple of rare Doug Parkinson albums, but didn’t. Doug’s one of those Australian singers whose career never really took off. His biggest hit was a great cover of the Beatles’ Dear Prudence. He had a great voice and, with his leonine looks, made for a striking figure. I have the Fanny Adams album he made in England. Good proto stoner stuff. Old-school markets are cool.
The meal with Josh was a bit different this time as we had company, namely Josh’s friend’s Gary and Sadg, a married couple, and Anthony. We were back at Kang’s Chinese eating up a mess of teriyaki chicken. Josh didn’t say much while we ‘talkers’ yakked away. I recounted my day at the recent Knotfest concert, and even mentioned the run-in with the possum when Anthony asked me about my car. At one point Gary mentioned having to do the Australian Citizenship test (he’s Canadian) and one of the questions was about cricketer Don Bradman. This got me wondering if there was a patriotic musical question, say like who did Eagle Rock? Gary couldn’t answer it, but he kind of got close (thought the singer, Ross Wilson, might have played down Healesville way recently – which he did). I think this question should be MANDATORY for all potential Australian citizens.
After saying goodbye to Gary and Sadg, we went back to Josh’s place for some Asahi’s on the veranda. Again, Josh was pretty quiet, so it was mainly me and Anthony talking mainly about our jobs (he’s a road signaler) with an occasional rant against Capitalism from me. Have to admit I felt a bit relieved not having all the pressure to keep the conversation going on me, and having someone I could engage with more than Josh. There are often long stretches of silence when it’s just me and him sitting there on the veranda. I mean, it’s okay, it’s mainly ‘comfortable silence’ and just what you get when you have two introverts sitting together.
I still think maybe I should have bought those Doug Parkinson albums…
Sunday, 30 March, 2025
It was yet another fine Indian Summer day in Healesville for the meal with Josh, this time at the Grand Hotel. I listened to the new Nmixx album on the way down and it was a good time. Have to admit I was almost going to plump for a session listening to some of those filthy Sus Records songs I discovered last night, but I contented myself with telling Josh about them, to which he chuckled heartily.
One of the main items of business we had today was to sort out the payment I’d made for his internet homepage subscription. It had come due and needed to be paid if he was going to keep it going. A couple of years back he had me set up a site about his father’s work called the AB-Institute. The AB is for Alastair Bain, his dad, who was a scholar and psychologist. Josh has a bunch of articles written by various scholars around areas to do with his father’s study and had me put them up on the site. It’s still very much a work in progress, and Josh has had help from others with it, but I’ve mainly been the one to co-ordinate and design the site. Main problem has been I just haven’t had the time to work on it. Ah well, the things you do for friends.
There wasn’t much else going on with Josh at the moment. No Gary or Sadg joining us this time, and even the most recent Herd open mic, which Josh wasn’t going to play at anyway, was cancelled. There was actually a couple of guys playing in the bar next to the dining area of the Grand I saw when I went to get the beers. They were doing a pretty nice acoustic version of Stevie Wonders’ Isn’t She Lovely. I mentioned this to Josh but he wasn’t familiar with the song. It’s far from one of my faves on that album, but Songs In the Key of Life is an amazing album. I may be wrong, but it may be the only album ever made that was a double and a half album, as it came with two LP discs plus a ‘somethings extra’ EP. Stevie was on a bit of a roll with that one.
After the meal, on the way back to the car, Josh suggested we check out what was playing at the local cinema, which is situated inside the Town Hall. I’ve never seen a film there and have been wanting to for a while. Old country movie houses are pretty rare these days and full of character. Turns out it’s playing the Bob Dylan film A Complete Unknown this week. That works out so well for me because I’ll be working at Healesville library on Tuesday. The library is right behind the Town Hall. So we’ve organised a movie catchup and meal for that day. I of course saw the film recently with Lui, but I wanted to see it again in the cinema anyway. Great!
Back at Josh’s place on the veranda it was mostly chillout time with beers and enjoying the quiet and sunshine. Josh was mostly quiet so I blabbed occasionally about my boring life. I mentioned the upcoming trip to England I’m taking with my sister and asked where he’d want to go if he were to go back to England (he was born there). Apart from visiting some relatives over there, he didn’t have one destination in mind. I pushed for visiting Abbey Road and he admitted he’d like to see the studio, if it were possible. I mentioned a teacher friend I’d known who got the tour because his sister was married to the singer in Underworld, who were recording there at the time when he visited. Lucky guy. I tried to interest Josh in some of those Eric Alper questions I’ve been checking out on Twitter and went with his ‘What’s a 10-10 album for you? Josh offered Tori Amos’ Little Earthquakes. I could think of a bunch but only mentioned Lamb Lies Down On Broadway by Genesis. Surely the main criteria would be there isn’t a bad song on the album – though I have to admit there are some instrumental passages on there I find a bit superfluous. I told Josh about the Encyclopedia of Australian Rock and Pop I’m going through and mentioned how, out of all those bands and artists, there isn’t one mention of his band The Going Away Party. Sacrilege! He agreed heartily.
Sunday, 20 April, 2025
It was another Indian Summer day for my meal with Josh at the Chinese. In fact it’s summer hot as well. Josh told me he’s off to Confest again for Easter. This is the same festival up in Moulamein on the Edwards River he went to last year. He said he might run a couple of his Social Dreaming sessions while there. He’s into dream interpretation. He also said he might perform on the stage they have there. Or he’s at least taking up his guitar. His friend Izaak, the drummer and pianist at the Herd Open Mics, and one of his partners (he has two!) will be going up too. Sounds like it will be a good time. And with the good weather forecast there will no doubt be a lot of skinny dipping in the river.
On the way back to Josh’s place I played him a song I thought he’d like. It was FTS by Blackpink Jennie (I’d been listening to the album). When the chorus hit he did indeed laugh, because it goes ‘Fuck That Shit’. Despite the aggressive chorus line it’s actually a pretty mellow slow hip hop. He mentioned it reminded him of a poem he wrote when he was in High School (he went to Uni High – very prestigious). It was actually based on or inspired by TS Elliot’s Love Song of Alfred Prufrock. He actually wanted the line ‘Fuck This Shit’ with his yearbook photo, but they made it ‘Stuff This Shit’ instead. He didn’t like his senior VCE years. I wanted to see this yearbook, but he said he had it somewhere tucked away in the house. I mentioned how I got an A for an essay I wrote on The Wasteland in College. He said his mum had written a thesis on Elliot. So we were all down with old TS. The conversation moved to CS Lewis, the writer of the Narnia stories. We talked about the film, Shadowlands, the story of Lewis’s tragic relationship with his American wife. Anthony Hopkins played Lewis, Debra Winger played Joy Davidman, the wife. A terrific film and amazing true story. I’m always surprised by what Josh has and hasn’t seen since he doesn’t own a television.
Sunday, 25 May, 2025
On the way to Healesville I listened to a CD I’d made a while back of some live recordings from various EPs and 12 inch singles I have. They were by Kate Bush, Lene Lovich, Paul Young and Roy Orbison. A very mixed bag but all united by live performance. The first two, Kate and Lene, are the most cohesive. The Kate EP has four songs, Them Heavy People, Don’t Push Your Foot On the Heartbreak, James and the Cold Gun, and L’amour Looks Something Like You. The version of James has a nice extended instrumental ending and is a definite highlight. The Lene EP has some great banshee wailing from the Goth temptress, who really shines live. The Paul Young includes a nice version of his hit Wherever I Lay My Hat, complete with crowd singalong. Roy does Blue Bayou and Leah. I never really listened to the lyrics of Leah before, but they’re stunning. A south seas type (or ‘tiki’) song ostensibly about a guy diving for a pearl to give to his girl, Leah. But there’s a double twist: he gets a cramp and drowns; then turns out it’s just a dream and it was Leah who drowned. This makes sense, as I believe pearl divers in the south seas were usually women. There should be more songs set in the south seas.
Josh and I were at the pub and had much to discuss. Me with my news about the Steve Kilbey concert and London travels planning update, he with his recent jaunt to Confest and the latest open mic at the Herd that I missed. He mentioned Jim Cairns was the one who started Confest back in the 1970s. I remembered him selling copies of his books at Monash. It apparently went well, but Josh didn’t put on any sessions of his own. Songs he played with Isaak at the Herd: Sometimes When We Touch and that Jake Bugg song. I showed him some of my Jack Frost pics. I told him about wanting to go to Ireland and he mentioned a place in the south west there where there’s an island that was used by monks. It’s the same island that was used in the Star Wars reboots, where Luke goes in hiding. I told Josh about that report where Trump is cutting funding to that children’s network because it’s considered too woke. I mentioned Mr Roberts, whose program is or used to be on that network. Josh is a big fan of his and that film about him, A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood. This reminded Josh of a video he’d seen of Mr Roberts testifying to a government funding committee for more funding. He said he’d send me the link.
Back at his place we talked about the recent election. He was happy Labour got back in because they support the NDIS, which he relies on. I showed him the picture of Peter Dutton and Amelia Hamer in a pub, which he laughed at. They look so silly holding their schooners in beer warmers.
Later I got Josh’s link to that video about Mr Roberts. It was completely adorable. Mr Robert’s petition included reciting the lyrics of a song about children and how they needed hope. The guy who headed the committee looked like an older Clark Gable and couldn’t be more supportive of Mr Robert’s petition. He granted the funding to the tune of twenty million dollars on the spot. They were all adorable.
Sunday, 15 June, 2025
On the drive down to Healesville I listened to the Tron Legacy soundtrack by Daft Punk. It was actually a bit disappointing. Most of it sounded like generic soundtrack music. A couple of the songs, mainly Adagio, End of Line, and Derezzed, sounded like typical Daft Punk or were at least extended music pieces, but the rest were pretty short and unmemorable.
Josh has just been recovering from a bout of Covid. His symptoms were strange, though. He was walking home when he had an uncontrollable urge to move to the left, and subsequently he ended up in the middle of the road and nearly got hit by a car. Fortunately the driver stopped and took him to the local hospital where he was diagnosed. We talked about this and Josh still isn’t sure if it was because of the Covid or something else. He was given a catscan that showed clear. Anyway, he’s better now and was even able to attend a recent open mic at the Herd, which I didn’t attend. He’s still doing a lot of cover songs, this time being I Don’t Like Monday, a Jake Bugg song and Sometimes When We Touch. He said he might try some of his own songs again soon, but with a piano arrangement. I told him a bit about the Nmixx concert I attended and my recent viewing of Tron Legacy. I mentioned the surprising Zen elements in the film, and the way Jeff Bridges’ Flynn character preached stillness rather than action at times – completely negating the reason most films exist. Josh liked this and suggested I read a book about Zen that his father had. It’s a film I think he’d like. But he doesn’t have a TV or player.
Back at Josh’s place we stayed indoors in front of an open fireplace, because it was a cold day. I mentioned that book I’d gone over recently, 501 Essential Albums of the 1990s, and gave it a brief review, including the fact there were very few Australian albums listed. I asked Josh to guess the only Australian artists included, and he got all three of them right – Midnight Oil, INXS and Savage Garden. When I asked him what albums he’d include, his first pick was Little Earthquakes by Tori Amos, plus her next two albums, Under the Pink and Boys For Pele. He was right on the first two, but that’s all the Tori albums that were included. I thought they could have at least included Kate Bush’s sole album of the Nineties, The Red Shoes. I mentioned how being indoors in front of a fire on a cold wet day reminded me of old times doing jigsaw puzzles and playing games like Monopoly as a child. Josh said there’d been times when he used to play Scrabble or Chess with his dad. From his comments it sounded like he’s a bit of a Chess wiz. He said he’d read a book by Bobby Fischer that was terrific. And he was familiar with a bunch of classic moves, including the Queen’s Gambit, which was used in a novel (by Walter Tevis) and accompanying TV show. All of which I mentioned. Josh said he used to play against a computer, and beat it. I’m not much of a fan – maybe because I’m not very good. It’s too much like Math for me. My Humanities side don’t like it. But I don’t mind playing against a computer – because there’s no ego involved when you lose. Well, mostly (damn computers!). So, even though the setting was right, we didn’t play a game. We parted with the happy thought that maybe in between times Trump would be successfully assassinated – by Elon Musk.
Sunday, 6 July, 2025 (plus Open Mic at The Herd)
On the drive to Healesville today I listened to some Emmylou Harris from her amazing Wrecking Ball album. This was actually the Expanded Edition which includes an extra disc of demos and unreleased songs. One of the most interesting tracks was an early version of Where Will I Be. It’s just bare bones, stripped back, but Emmylou seems to have already worked out her approach to the song, sounding almost identical to the finished product. There’s also a nice fast Appalachian version of Deeper Well.
In Healesville, Josh and I were having another pub meal with a nice spot near the fireplace on this cold day. The pub is way more atmospheric than the Chinese place. Josh said he has another open mic at The Herd this week. He said there would be some surprise, so I should come. He wouldn’t say any more than that. I wonder what it is? I’ll have to go! I mentioned some of my plans for the upcoming England trip. I’ve decided I must see the Thousand Acre Wood, namely Winnie the Pooh country in Sussex. As soon as I mentioned it Josh perked up and said ‘Pooh stix!’ Exactly. He actually thought the world of Winnie the Pooh was an imaginary place that didn’t exist. But yes, it’s where AA Milne and Christopher Robin lived and everything is there as he describes it, including the bridge across the creek where Pooh and Co play their Pooh stix.
Back at Josh’s place, in front of another fireplace, we chatted on various themes but mostly sat in companionable silence. Josh mentioned the recent Confest he went to, how his car was stopped by police with sniffer dogs to check for drugs. There weren’t any, but his driver’s brother apparently smoked weed in the car from time to time. Josh said he patted the sniffer dog as it did its job. The cops didn’t mind, but I mentioned you’re not supposed to pat Worker dogs whilst they’re on the job. There’s something about the friendly gesture that throws them off their responsible task and confuses them. Josh then mentioned another time at Confest where he and his friends smuggled in someone who didn’t have a ticket. This reminded me of the time me and my younger brother got smuggled into a drive-in movie by our brother in law back in the day. It 
was for the Man From Hong Kong, an R-rated film. When you think about it, it wasn’t very responsible of the brother in law, but we had a good time. I remember the actress Rebecca Gilling getting her gear off for some brief frontal nudity. I guess that’s why it got the R rating. I also remember the theme song for that film was called Skyhigh by British Jigsaw, a good song that was popular at the time.
On the mantle piece above the fireplace there’s a sports award statue and I asked Josh about it. It was his dad’s for a Judo tournament he participated in. So he was not only a scholar but a sportsman. A man of many talents. I talked about my brief sports career, playing cricket in the Under 16s, then later playing baseball for my local team, the Rams. I’m not a sporty type, but I love baseball and wanted to experience it as a player. I think fondly of my baseball years, even though I wasn’t a great player. Josh recounted his time on the school relay team when they buggered up their chances with a missed handover because the signal was changed – but I think I’ve mentioned that before. So, neither of us are particularly sporty, but we’ve both served. But yeah, this afternoon was mostly about staring into the fire and dreaming our dreamy dreams.
I went to the open mic at the Herd in Healesville to see Josh perform. He told me he was doing a surprise and it turned out to be a cover of Bruce Springsteen’s Born To Run. He did with Isak on piano, and it went down well. During the middle section Isak used a synth sound on his electric piano for extra oomph, but he hit the wrong button at first. Despite that it worked a treat. Josh even did the count-in for ‘the highway’s jammed with broken heroes’ bit. It was cool. Later, a woman called Heather got up and did her rendition of Bruce’s Dancing In the Dark. I said to Tom, whom I was sitting with at the time, ‘at this rate we’ll get the entire Springsteen discography’. There were actually quite a few women who got up to sing tonight. Besides Heather, there was Junie (did a cover of Radiohead’s Creep – with f-bomb), Narelle, and best of all, Claire. I think I’ve mentioned her before, a young blonde in her early twenties with tatts on one arm. She has the best voice. I drove Josh home and we both agreed, apart from Josh himself (of course!), she gave the best performance of the night. There was an interesting element to her performance in that, during it, one of her shoes fell off as she sat on her stool, which caused her to giggle her way through a song. At the time I had half a mind to get up and put it back on her foot ala the Prince in Cinderella. I’m glad I stilled that impulse! I must’ve been on my second pint at the time. It was another good night. Watching the performances always inspires me to pick up my instruments and get back into music, but then reality hits and I realise I don’t have time. Maybe some day I’ll get there.
Sunday, 20 July, 2025
There seemed to be a bit of a Paul Simon theme to our talk today. It started when Josh mentioned, in our usual Chinese eatery, he might do a cover of the S&G song America at his next open mic. I wondered if this was a good idea as the song is very guitar-based and Josh would be performing it with Isak, who plays piano. And thinking of Simon in general put me in mind of the part he had in Woody Allen’s film Annie Hall. I especially loved that bit of business Simon’s West Coast producer character does in the scene where he invites Diane Keaton’s Annie to a party. So smarmy. Later, at his place, I talked about the Bangles biography I read, and their recording of Hazy Shade of Winter came up. Then we got to talking about the poets Roberts Frost and Burns who were referenced in a recent NYT mini-crossword and Josh mentioned how Simon referenced Emily Dickinson and Robert Frost in The Only Living Boy In New York. What a great song that is. I especially like Everything But the Girl‘s version. I even had a dream about it the other day.
Away from Paul Simon, Josh mentioned the 9/11 videos he’s been checking out on Youtube. I’m not sure what sparked that, but his interests do tend to go to many strange places. For my part, I saw on Youtube a video of The Beatles doing I Feel Fine that I hadn’t seen before. It was kind of cool for about ten seconds when Paul and John walked onto a set that looked like a small gym and John started singing. Then the camera cut to George looking confused and not singing along in time. He’s standing next to an upright punching bag that doubles as his ‘microphone’. Then Ringo runs on and proceeds to furiously pedal the bicycle on the stand there. It’s sort of funny because, instead of his drumkit, he’s ‘playing’ the bike. I see now why the clip has not been given wider circulation, however promising it looked initially. I also gave Josh a brief review of the Tori Amos book, Resistance, I finished the other day. He seemed appreciative, but I didn’t suggest he borrow a copy, because he just doesn’t read these days. So no Tori or Emily Dickinson or Robert Frost for him. He’s the only living boy in Healesville.
…And thaaat’s it, that’s all the Conversations With Josh I wrote about – although there have since been more. Hope you enjoyed the conversations…