I have a piece about waterslides in the current The Big Issue.
Category Archives: News
Decades of the decade (2010-2019)
1. The 90s (Millennial girls dress like my friends’ Mums in high school.)
2. The 80s (Stranger Things / Glow / Arpeggiated synth bonanza).
3. The 60s (Never left! 50 year mooniversary & The Beatles on Spotify mate).
4. The 70s (Influenced the 90s so get a double comeback. Ariel Pinko yacht rock whippersnappers like Drug Dealer sound like 10cc).
5. The 00s (Thanks for reality TV (you can have it back now) / BoJack Horseman’s 2007 episode) Let the Myspace nostalgia begin!
Weekend of Reading Hobart
photo: shannyn higgins
- Get Up Mum is discussed at length in this Readings Bookshop podcast.
- I’ll be yarning up a storm with good pal Elizabeth Flux about mental health and Get Up Mum biz at the Weekend of Reading festival in Hobart Oct 12.
- I’ll make a cameo at the Mental Health Week Comedy Roadshow Oct 11 at the Hobart Brewing Company
- Get Up Mum is discussed at length on cool new 90s TV Show THE BOOK ZONE! Cool dude.
Life Flux
- There are signed copies of Get Up Mum + Funemployed available on my shop.
- Following the success of the Get Up Mum radio show, it may be developed into a one-man theatre show. 12 year old me will be played by me or Shane Jacobson.
- I’ll be presenting the book at a forum for Mental Health Carers Tasmania in Glenorchy, as you do.
You know, completing a project as dense and intense as Get Up Mum sure does have you falling into a light to moderate ‘empty underground carpark’ of self. Also, for much of this year I’ve been in Burnie caring for Mum who has rheumatoid arthritis. Suffice to say, I arrive back on the mainland a little light-on for personal infrastructure.
Now I’m on the road for an abode in Melbourne. If you happen to have any tips on a spare room / holiday shack / granny flat / mountain villa for a weary writer to dwell – feel free to electronic mail.
While I’m there (here, everywhere) – I am also interested in some 2-3 day a week work activities. Perhaps your swingin’ online hydroponic brewery / nursery / children’s organic zine workshop is seeking additional funky gen-x’s to write the world’s tightest copy for your social integration platforms. Or, I can make a mean iced milo with almond milk and no milo.
CV
MODELLING
VOICEOVERS
UNLICENSED COUNSELLING
Finally, my exquisite, delicate goal in the forthcoming future is to pursue my ‘Sensitive Beck’ esque songs. I’ve been writing them since I was 16 but recorded zilch. Nick Drake, Radiohead, Kings of Convenience et al – If anyone is interested to record or (stop) collaborate (and listen) and has a mean set of fingerpicking / vocal harmonising tendencies – or digs on a particular open mic / songwriter variety showcase to get the ernie ball rolling, make yourself known to staff at my reception counter.
WATCH THIS SPACE (message to self).
*Stares into middle distance. Assumes best*
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Is ‘Frankston’ Electric?
I’ll be presenting Get Up Mum at Frankston Library July 27 at 1pm. It’s free but bookings can be made HERE. The vibe will no doubt be a bit Tubeway Army meets Tasty Toobs.
The adventures of Get Up Mum
💔 Collect the whole set! It’s a matchbox jigsaw cube solved by inspector astro boy. Choose your own fighting fantasy featuring cassettes, caravans, catastrophe, crackups, acoustic noodles and a country practice. Best served in a beanbag.
TAKE ME TO THE TAPES!
⛔️ Excess consumption may cause gut wrench.
(Flush effected area with Deep Forest.)
The tape orbited smoothly inside a case when docked inside the carriage of a machine. A time machine, with a knack for blasting the past.
Each morning I recorded the Get Up Mum episodes on my cassette deck.
Now I have two more tapes to add to my collection.
Thanks TDK!
Get Up Mum Series Finale
Today is the series finale of Get Up Mum – “Burnie Time Park.” It’s still one of my favourite places in the hemisphere. The headquarters of the bond Mum and I keep. When in doubt…ducks.
Here is Uncle Nigel & I avin’ a laff:
Perhaps you’d like to gaze out the window while listening to a selection from The Synthesizer Album?
** End titles / Opening credits **
Mum’s been listening to the series
🔴 She tunes in for a 4:30am repeat I didn’t know about 🔴 She laughed when we laughed at Pop’s polka dot pyjamas 🔴
🥄🥄🥄Mum had a very specific way of stirring her coffee. This is the only time it was captured on tape. Taken from ‘Nan gets back from South-West walk. GOOD’ – January 1993.
I dug my chat with Taylah on Perth’s RTRFM. A dude wrote after “It’s good that you reiterated that schizophrenia is not a full time illness. I remember a Mum who would take me to sporting activities, cook dinner and take us for swimming lessons at the beach.”
Me & Nan & Pop & Jody, Nan & Pop’s, 1992. Transferred from Kodachrome slide. Shot on self timer. Note: fluro green laces in my Lynx.
Half-time Entertainment
We’re halfway through the Get Up Mum series, airing weekday mornings on RN’s Life Matters. Now for some half-time entertainment. Wait for ‘the drop’ at 2:12.
And consider this the Tassie version of a super bowl ad.
A Burnie Rainbow
A Burnie rainbow, seen from Montello Goat Track.
Taken by my good friend Dion.
Ken: Who’s he want to play?
Me: Pearl Jam.
Ken: Who?
Me: Pearl Jam.
Ken: Who?
Me: Pearl…Jam.
Ken: Pearl…Jam. Is it good music or just a bunch of crap?
Nan: Bunch of crap.
Me: Good music! Nigel’ll tell ya.
Nigel: Nah, it’s good music.
Ken: I’m pleased to hear that.
