Melbourne Loft

It was my first day back at work that I learnt that I had a trip to Sydney coming… in 2 days.  Now I’m in Sydney for 2 weeks.  So I decided to use the time to catch up with some of my friends.   So I organised dinner at a Thai restaurant in Sydney followed by beers at the famous Newtown Hotel.  I haven’t seen a drag show in a very long time…  so it was cool to see Amelia Airhead, Mini Cooper and another drag queen (who I can’t remember) perform a couple of shows when we arrived.   I also bumped into a friend who I hadn’t seen in about 8 years.   So it was kinda a weird night.
So I start work at Circular Quay tomorrow and will move into an apartment in the Sydney CBD.

I am hooked on Craigslist!   I have spent an enormous amount of time pawing over the uncensored ads placed on this site based out of the US.  And tonite I found this ad in Melbourne.   It’s pretty recent too if you’re interested.

“Flamboyant ex convict, early 20s, with nut allergy, seeks old womaniser who is all out of options for brutal times together in a dark, damp wine cellar or basement (you supply).  Must have thick cock, ink and piercings, and a willingness to tolerate a few cuts and bruises about the head and face from my occasional mauling and brawling outside public bars in Carlton.  Fetishes for lycra, spandex and glue-sniffing are good with me, and a willingness to re-enact scenes from “Oz” a big plus. And if you’ve got weekend movie tickets to “Hairspray” then hook me up.  Marilyn Manson fans, come’n get it. This is daddy time, your place or mine. Ice ice baby.”

So now that I’m back home it’s back to work and back to shooting for the Private Room.   With summer just about upon us now the weather is perfect for shooting outdoors.   I’m hoping to do more shooting at the beach and out of town in the bush over the next few months.   I need to find myself a shoot assistant to help out with some of the grand shoots I have planned.

I have some very sad news.   We’ve had my mum’s car in our family for 25 years.   I remember how bright and shiny the red Nissan Skyline (with the sports pack) was the day mum brought it home.   I remember she left it parked at the end of the drive near the street so that all the neighbours could see it.   We had some pretty amazing long car trips in the Skyline when we were kids.   It took us to our grandparents in Wagga and my sister’s place in Queensland so many times.
Late on Friday night some people (who we don’t know) took iron bars to the car as it was parked out in the street.  They then marched down to the road to my parent’s house and threw the iron bars through the front windows of the house before taking off.   We have no idea of their motives.  But there has been bunches of teenage kids hanging around the streets late at night causing trouble and vandalising cars and houses.  
Unfortunately my dad hasn’t been able to find a replacement glass piece for the back hatch.   So he is shortly going to put the car on Ebay.   It’s really sad since the car holds so many memories for my family.   If you click the picture above you can watch the video clip I made about the Skyline 2 years ago.

I can’t begin to tell you how excited I was tonite when I searched YouTube for the band “Blue Ruin” as I do several times a year.  And I found this video clip (which I had no idea existed) !    It was lifted from ABC’s late night music video show “RAGE”.   I was deeply into Blue Ruin in the late eighties when they ruled the Melbourne pub band circuit…  and occasionally the Kardomah Cafe in Kings Cross in Sydney.   This clip features probably their most successful song “Bad Gin” and the very original line up.   You may remember that over 1 year ago they put on a reunion gig at the Corner Hotel in Richmond.   During the late eighties I had a major crush on the lead singer Ian “Quincy” Mclean.   I once came to Melbourne to watch him do a Tom Jones review in a small bar…  best night out ever!   Click on the video above to make it play…   the clip is really cheesey…  nothing at all like the gigs they played.

This would have to be one of my favourite photos from San Francisco.  You can’t tell from the photo but I’m actually at the very end of the LoveFest Parade after have sat on the road photographing the party people in my undies.   I figured I would join in on the fun.   But I didn’t expect the bag lady to jump into my shot as I got Bill to take a shot in front of the police cars which were clearing the street at the end of the parade.   The LoveFest Parade is probably the most fun parade I have ever been to.   It’s almost worth going all the way to San Francisco to take part in.   And as you can see you don’t need to pack much.

My friend Marc claims to be the best mall parker as he pulled our rented Seabring into a spot at the Seattle Premuim Outlets mall.   We did an amazing amount of shopping in our 2 day trip over the US border to Seattle.   I sent home 2 large boxes of clothes and shoes to Australia so I wouldn’t have to cart them onto the plane…   and that costed a fortune!   But it was pretty amazing how cheap stuff is in the US now.   Especially shoes for some strange reason.   Anyway, I actually started this post to talk about US customs…  they really are quite full on.   Especially when I compare them to the Australian and Canadian border control officials.    These guys were yelling at car drivers to stop for no reason at all and marching all over the road initimidating people waiting in the long car lines.   And god help you if you got out of your car to walk to the nearby toilets!
I can understand the job they are doing….  but some of these guys are not human.   I really do feel sorry for people who commute regularly in the US.

Going home always seems to take longer than the trip to your holiday destination.  From door to door it took 26 hours to get home from Marc’s place in Vancouver.   At first it was a bit tricky getting through US customs at Vancouver airport, and then I seemed to be a bit lost at LAX.   I actually had to walk down the road from one terminal to get to the Qantas connection at the Tom Bradley terminal.   Very strange since I was not meant to stop in LA.   If I had have known that I might have spent a couple of days there.   
But the flight on Qantas home was quite nice…   a couple of sleeping pills and I was out for 8 hours of the trip.   And then I fell asleep on the couch when I got home.   A short time later I woke up and looked around the room thinking….   my place looks just like this room.  
I will put a gallery of my holiday snaps up soon.

Over the weekend Marc and I rented a car and headed south to Seattle…  which meant driving into the United States again.  We had a 25 minute wait at the border to be questioned by US customs and to get visa waivers.  Then we went south about 2 hours to the Seattle Premium Outlets to do some shopping.   I bought a tonne of gear.   My shoe collection has risen to 9 pairs.   The shopping in the US is so cheap right now with the value of the US dollar decreasing.
Then we headed further south into Seattle.   Seattle is such a beautiful city!   We had the nicest seafood dinner at the Flying Fish restaurant and then an amazing breakfast at Lolas.   The food in Seattle is really good!   Oh….  and we did some more shopping.  And later at night we checked out the Seattle Eagle and Manray bars.   Everyone there seems to be really friendly.   I kinda wished I had more time to spend there.  But Seattle was a last minute addition to this trip.
Tomorrow I start the long trip home to Melbourne via LAX.

I had such a nice time in San Francisco.  I met so many nice people, some I hope I can keep in contact with.  On the last 2 days I was by myself as Bill had left to go back to Ohio.  On the last day I met local guy Steve who took me all around San Francisco to see some amazing sites.  We went down the steepest hill in the city, the crookedest street in the world (??), through the Golden Gate Park, around the Mission District and past some of the most expensive mansions in the city.   San Francisco really is a beautiful city.
On my last night I hadn’t really planned much and ended up eating at Denny’s downtown and wandering through Bloomingdales looking at all the gear I coudn’t afford.
Then I Tuesday I headed out early to the airport to get my flight up to Vancouver.