Dispatches from Australia: part three
Hello dicks, welcome to my 2nd dispatch from Down Under, written in the dramatic period manner of Sir A. Conan Doyle until my Lilliputian attention span fizzles and I return to my usual style of Party Pete Hochbaum.
My destination today is the Syndey Observatory and Astronomy Museum, a quiet Victorian edifice suffused of brass and oak that one can imagine was once the jewel of Sydney Harbour, now relegated to a postscript by the behemoth Sydney Harbor Bridge and the towering financial district that crowded it out of the limelight so many years ago.
I map out an intentionally meandering route that takes me first to the Australian Museum, where a marquee exhibit chronicles the all too familiar story of the birth of a colonizer’s nation at the expense of an entire and immemorial indigenous culture (the city is built on Cadigal land). It’s a brief but powerful archive of humans held in shackles, enslaved and displaced, stripped of their languages, their customs and, as in Canada, their children, all for the supposed greater good of a superior civilization that has gone on to make a name for itself by completely trashing the entire planet. I’m certainly no primitivist, but for fuck sakes my dear ancestors, could we seriously not have figured out how to document the sidereal motion of the Southern Pleiades without having to destroy everything and everyone else on earth? I mean, really now.
From the Australian Museum, I weave my way through the Botanical Gardens, pausing at a memorial to Joseph Gerrald, one of the “Scottish Political Martyrs”, sentenced to 14 years in the then prison colony of New South Wales in 1794 for advocating equality, free speech, democracy and universal suffrage. What a madman. His words on the plaque read: “I see through the cheering vista of future events the overthrow of tyranny, and the permanent establishment of benevolence and peace”. A few yards further down the path I pass one of the ubiquitous state billboards encouraging Australians to report the suspicious activities of their fellow citizens to the authorities. Well played!
I cross the Harbour Bridge on foot and apparently activate a time machine that transports me back to Sept 12th, 2001, as the Harbor Bridge anti-terror security guards do their best to intimidate 39 year-old men in Bön Jovi t‑shirts taking pictures of the Sydney Opera House. I guess countries killing children in other countries just can’t be too careful these days eh?
Eventually I wind my way back towards the observatory, it’s copper-domed chamber housing the oldest working telescope in the southern hemisphere, built to observe the historic 1874 Transit of Venus. It is here that I find a public toilet and take a crap.
Thank you for reading.
ps. speaking of the ascendancy of science on the backs of the vast majority of the planet’s population, allow me to suggest an interesting book I’ve been reading recently: A People’s History of Science: Miners, Midwives, and Low Mechanicks by Clifford D Conner.
Dispatches from Australia: part two
Wow! Australia has been good to the old Propagandhis!
Our whole trip has been a non stop good time. To leave Winnipeg where it’s ‑30 C all winter and come to Australia is a real treat.The last time we ever went anywhere in winter was the last time we were here 12 years ago! This time has been even better than last time. Everyone been has very nice and a lot of people have come out to multiple shows. This tour has felt more like a holiday than anything else even though we’re doing 2 hour soundchecks. We have done a lot of exciting things. The fact that we practiced like crazy before we left Winnipeg and don’t have to spend every waking minute worrying about sucking the bag helps a lot too. haha.
Sydney was a real highlight for me. At the show I told the crowd at the show that Sydney sucks the bag but, between you and me, that place is wicked! We saw giant wild bats hanging from the trees like bags, I was bitten by a cockatoo a bunch of times, and we went to an unbelievably good Thai restaurant and we walked all over the place. Now that’s a good time! The Sydney crowd was great for us as well.
Today in Wollongong we tried our hand at surfing. We were lucky enough to have a woman named Souli helping us with the tour and her brother is a surf instructor. Believe it or not our decrepit bodies all managed to stand on the boards and ride the waves. Beave took home the prize for being the surf champion. I had some goggles on and scared the living shit out of myself when I thought I saw a stingray coming my way. I had to be a little bit careful on the surf board due to the fact that I popped three tendons in my knee a few months ago. Somehow I survived to play another show!
On our way out of Wollongong we ended up at a huge, huge Buhdist Temple where they sold Vegan food. I would never think there’d be a temple like that in Australia. When I say it’s huge I mean HUGE. So I said my prayers got wild and agitated punched a few people and ate the delicious goodies!
Another cool thing about this tour is that we’ve hooked back up with our good old buddy Robbie O’Brien who’s driving the van, selling shirts, and telling us hilarious stories. Last time we came to Australia Robbie took one for the team in our huge brawl agains a bunch of out of control security guards. He had to go get stitches. So far, except for a few dregs fighting, the violence at the shows hasn’t been too outrageous, Last time it was a little out of hand.
And so, that brings our little story to Canberra. We are preparing to give ‘er 100%. Me and Chris have even invested in ginseng to give ourselves that mental advantage. haha.. See ya everybody. Thanks for reading this. Have a good day. Say Hi to your Mom, dad, cat, sister,granddaddy or whatever..
…From the land down under!!!!!!
Australia!
We, Propagandhi, are in Adelaide Australia right now. We have already been at the beach attacking and biting sharks in crazy underwater fights! We don’t eat them though so it’s o.k. Don’t worry. So far this Australian tour has been very, very great. Everyone has been so nice and cool. We have surfed, we have seen bats, and cockatoos in the parks. We have done it all, ye.
Have good and peaceful day, Mates!!
Dispatches from Australia: part one
So let’s just get it out of the way: New Zealanders completely live up to their planetary reputation as profoundly gracious, friendly and hospitable hosts. There. I said it.
Alright, so out of all the possible things to know about New Zealand, from its pristine natural wonders to its rich indigenous culture to its sad colonial history, i’m sure we can all agree that the one thing that truly distinguishes this great southern island nation from all others is the fact that Timberjack’s cover of Black Widow’s “Come to the Sabbat” became a top-ten hit in 1971. Now that, my friends, is the kind of country I could pledge allegiance to.
Every television in New Zealand is tuned to broadcasts of either cricket or rugby and I watch intently, trying to deduce the object of the games from the body language of the players and officials. For those who remember the most popular mainstream newspaper comic strip of the late 80’s, sport Down Under tends to bear a striking resemblance to “Calvinball”, where whistles and stoppages in play seem to have no apparent external cause and gameplay itself appears as little more than of a spontaneous series of physical non-sequiturs. as the confusion mounts with beave and I trading wild speculations about how one actually accumulates points in a cricket match, I wonder if the world’s patently greatest sport — ice hockey — would seem as curious and absurd to a New Zealander? No, i decide. It coudn’t be.
One of the highlights of our 3 painfully short days in New Zealand has virtually nothing to do with us being here: in June of 1986, the day before i left rural Manitoba for a life in the big city, i paid a final visit to Busy Fingers Sewing Shop, a beloved and bizarro emporium of needlework and early 80’s speed metal located in the heart of downtown Portage La Prairie. My last purchase there was Kreator’s “Endless Pain”. I remember the transaction well.
I can’t tell you how many hours i spent immersing myself in Kreator’s recordings from that day forward. The complete and utter pandemonium of Pleasure to Kill, the galloping thrash of Out of the Dark Into the Light, the crushing precision of Terrible Certainty and Extreme Aggression, the devastating tribute to Raw Power’s “State Oppression” that closed the Cause for Conflict LP. I literally grew up with the sounds and the words of the German thrash pioneers scorched into my psyche.
So when our German record label, Grand Hotel Van Cleef, let us know by email the other day that Mille from Kreator had submitted a press blurb acclaiming the record we just made, “Supporting Caste”, i just sat there staring at his words on the screen, in a state of surreal, suspended animation.
Maybe that seems a little dramatic. But the truth is the things that have most closely resembled a justification for my existence on this planet have been these subtle claspings of lifes little loops, where the people whose music and words accompanied me on my journey from a bewildered childhood to a much more bewildered adulthood, disclose an awareness and interest in our paltry contributions to the heavy rock diaspora.
What does this have to do with us playing shows in New Zealand? Not much, eh? Well, just wait till you read about what i don’t write about us playing shows in Australia. It’ll blow your mind.
Supporting Caste pre-order/ download two songs (string attached)!!!
Hello nuts,
So we’re doing this thing where if you make a small donation to one of three possible activist organizations, we will give you two advance songs from our new yet-to-be-released record “Supporting Caste”.
Click here to check it out, you crazy fuckfaced freak!!!
Sweet and wicked tokes!
2nd Winnipeg Show added
Hey goofs,
We’re going to play a 2nd night at the Garrick in Winnipeg on March 21st as part of the cd release thing, so get your snowsuits and balaclavas on and trudge on down through the blistering wind-chill to Music Trader (Osborne and River) or Into The Music (245 McDermot Ave) and get them.
This show will be a benefit for Sage House (Street Women’s Health, Outreach and Resource Services) and the Canada Haiti Action Network.
So yeah, there is a rumour going around that the 2nd show is sold out already. It’s not. So far about 5 people have bought tickets for it, so you’ll have plenty of room to run around like a total ass. haha.
Crazy Larry's "Supporting Caste" UK Pre-Order Deal!!!
Hi fucks, the kindly folk who are putting out our new record in the UK are offering up this little dealio if you pre-order it. I guess you get the record *and* a limited edition non-sweat shop/fair trade/organic cotton t‑shirt.
You can walk around like a total goof in your shirt holding your record! Ha ha! It’s what i do.
Great movie.. "Triage"
No, Barack.. George W. Bush wasn’t a ” Good Man” doing “the best he can.” He is a war criminal who’s criminal failures have led to extreme death, cultural destruction, and poverty. That ‚however is not the reason I post tonight. I am here for a better reason. To show you the link to the movie “Triage”
Come, Come, Come to the Sabbat!
Friday, March 20, 2009 at 7:00pm at The Garrick Theatre in Winnipeg:
Propagandhi Kenmode Kursk Putrescence Tickets available at www.ticketworkshop.com, Into The Music, Music Trader.