G'Day LA!

It's Australia week here in LA. This is the first time that Australia has had an official "week" here in the US, and they are trying to promote their sophisticated selves to us Angelenos. They had a family BBQ, wine tasting (they've got good wine in Oz, my friends), an aboriginal art exhibit, and a film festival. They also had a game of Aussie Rules. If you don't already know what that is, just take the most violent parts of football and rugby, take away any protective gear, and make sure the large men playing can only grunt as a form of communication. And that they won't notice when they break a limb till after the game. That's more or less Aussie Rules.

I was lucky enough to get to go to Australia a couple years ago, and it was a wonderful, wonderful place. I only traveled a bit on the East Coast (Sydney & Melbourne and a spot here or there near those cities), but I think about it all the time. It was an easy trip. It was just like California. The country is about as old as this state, they speak English but there are a lot of immigrants (and the culture that comes along with them), there's a big gay community, the beaches are beautiful, the food is great, and the people like to party. And everyone is ridiculously friendly.

Of course, there are more things per square inch that can kill you in extremely nasty ways in Australia than anywhere else in the world too. And really bizarre wildlife. And desert for eons... just waiting for you to get lost in it. Australia is truly a fascinating place - filled with creatures that don't exist anywhere else. Of course, there are the kangaroos and wombats, the bandicoots and bilbies, echidnas and cassowaries... but the most amazing thing, if you want to travel to the west coast for it, is a living colony of stromatolites. You may have no idea what I'm talking about, but my dad is probably wetting his pants about now. Stromatolites are lichenlike formations that perfectly replicate what our little ole earth was like back in the day... waaaaaay back in the day, before anything slithered or breathed. They are sort of like living rocks. They gave rise to life on earth. Some of the oldest fossil formations in the world are fossils of these things. And they still LIVE in Shark Bay in Australia. (My dad is a science guy - this is why he may care about this more than anyone who may be reading.)

I went to Australia mainly because I liked a bunch of bands from there. And I never met an Australian I didn't like. One of my favorite bands ever, You Am I, had just played when I got there and I missed it. Damn! If you aren't familiar with You Am I (who are HUGE in Australia; friggin heroes, I tell ya) they started out kinda grungy in the early 90's and went the power pop route, and their love for the Rolling Stones (always evident in Tim Roger's lyrics) has presented itself in more rootsy rock offerings of late. I love them. They've been to California twice that I know of, and I got to go once. Tim Rogers grabbed me out of the crowd for a waltz - I guess he does that every show - it was just too bad I'd been in a slight car accident the night before and couldn't move my neck very well. But I still waltzed, baby!

The Australian film festival featured a movie called "Dirty Deeds," for which Tim Rogers did all the music and You Am I even appeared in the film as a sort of psychedelic bar band. I know, because I have the video. I found it for a dollar at a random store up the street. It came out in Oz in 2002 - I never thought it was gonna get released here. It was the "invitation only" screening for the film festival though - heh heh.

I think Australia is a bit of a forgotten country, so I hope that Australia week does a little for 'em. I mean, did you know that in 1967, they lost a prime minister? He went for a swim and never came back. I know that having all those cheap Australian wines at Trader Joe's helps for a little recognition, and the recent proliferation of big name actors coming out from down under is pretty amazing too (Nicole, Naomi, Heath & Russell - my favorite).

But how about those bands? How many bands do you know that are from Australia? Besides AC/DC? Well, I hope you know some. In the 80's we had Inxs, Hoodoo Gurus, and Midnight Oil.... Fans of the Oils were so into them that they once swam shark infested waters to crash a show being held on an island. But pretty much all waters in Australia are shark infested, so maybe that really wasn't a big deal to them. There's also Nick Cave, the Celibate Rifles, Regurgitator, the Church, the Earthmen, the Clouds, the Saints, Blue Ruin, Ben Lee, and Ed Kuepper. TOFOG - Twenty Odd Foot of Grunts. Russell Crowe's band. A bar band, basically, except with Russell Crowe singing and playing guitar. Someday, I'll tell you all about how I got to DJ at his gig in San Francisco. Guess what? He was an asshole.

Oh yea, and Kylie Minogue.

So music these days? My recommendations would be You Am I, the Vines (I think they're like the Kinks, and so cute!), and the Dirty Three (always beautiful). And I'm sure there's more that I just haven't heard yet.

And the other great thing is that Australian radio actually plays all this stuff.

Ah, I'll make it back there one of these days. Have some tasty seafood, swim far away from the shark nets, and go see some music. And maybe dance with Tim Rogers again. Without whiplash. Sigh...