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Love Music

One of my great pleasures and ways to relax is listening to music, it’s been with me all my life, a great pastime which I love. I’m not a musician and don’t necessarily understand the technicalities of chords, harmony, rhythm or lyrics etc. but for me it’s in the listening where the music completes me (Sorry Tom!) I try to have a broad range of music in my life instead of liking a certain genre (Rock, Blues, Jazz etc.)  it’s more so if  the music stirs some pangs of emotions inside of me which do the trick. Alright! I love ‘love songs’, there! I said it,  wasn’t so hard was it?

It’s funny how we as humans crave love but are often reticent in expressing our thoughts and emotions to others in our life, often ending up expressing ourselves through the words and music of other people, I myself on reflection have many favourite love songs that take me back to an old flame, relationship breakdown or place of happiness in my life and these songs transport me back to those times and places upon listening.

Have you any songs that you carry with you through life? Special songs that mean something to you, leave a comment and let us know and we can all share and enjoy the music.

Here’s a starter:

All My Life – Linda Ronstadt & Aaron Neville

Here and Now – Shane Howard

I Can’t Unlove You – Kenny Rodgers

Lately – David Gray

Love Don’t Live Here – Lady Antebellum

One Day I’ll Fly Away – Randy Crawford

Since You’ve Been Gone – Billy Thorpe

She Cried – Frank Yamma

Bridges – Tracey Chapman

Can’t Stay Away From You – Gloria Estefan

Can We Still Be Friends – Todd Rundgren

Do You Remember – Phil Collins

Escape – Rupert Holmes

Goodbye Girl – David Gates

Hand in Hand – Dire Straits

It Might Be You–Stephen Bishop
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Every Passing Day

Every Passing Day was a favourite song from Goanna’s ‘Oceania’ album, unfortunately the album is not available to buy today, and I haven’t heard it (the album) since my young formative years, alas if you know the lyrics there’s a hollow achingness inside of me, a sense of loss as I remember back to those days. Sentimentally I catch myself drifting from Goanna, Shane Howard, Solid Rock, White man, White law, White gun and invariably ending up with the ‘Unlucky Australians’ the Indigenous Australians our own people, our mates, our history and culture and their struggle to survive Every Passing Day. Then my sense of loss for some fantastic music of the past compared to a 50,000 years old  culture being ‘unavailable’ puts it all into perspective  and I believe White Australia and myself included needs to stand up and be counted,  it’s time to join together and contribute to the long-term survival of our Indigenous Australians by just doing something, lets put their suffering front and centre of our mind, we can’t just ignore it and hope it goes away as that will be the end result, lets be proactive and talk about the issues, focus on the positives, education and community are key factors, communicate your feelings, you can even ‘scream from the rooftops’, there is so much we all can do as the time slips away. The following is a quote from Shane Howard from a recent article I read (can’t remember which paper, as I didn’t do my research very well on this one. Sorry!!!)

”There’s much greater awareness of indigenous culture,” he said, ”but it seems incredibly frail, possibly hanging on by a fingernail. In my travels of the past three or four years, the sense of anxiety is growing stronger inside me that we are potentially on the edge of losing something incredibly precious – the continuous living cultural memory of 40,000 to 50,000 years.”Part of me wants to scream from the rooftops, ‘Don’t let this disappear before our very eyes.’ My fear is that by the time we appreciate it in our non-indigenous society, it’ll be gone.”

I’ll give you a starting point get the ball rolling, do yourself a favour and check out Shane Howard and his band, Ross Hannaford (Daddy Cool) and Australia’s answer to ‘Bob Marley’ in Bart Willoughby (No Fixed Address) as they make a special appearance at the Caravan Club in Oakleigh on February 23rd 2012, don’t miss out on a night of great Australian music for only $35-(Value) and maybe this will be the start of something big.

Sh-Eflyer-Caravan Club-2

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Spot The Difference

What a week in business with Westpac shedding jobs to protect their profits, personally it’s not a great way of treating your own, I would suggest maybe shedding some of senior managements royalties and therefore retaining the jobs, and then Westpac’s greedy  profits are protected. The Westpac management are paid ‘accordingly’ to make the big decisions in running their business, well this week I feel they have failed their own people and the community in their decision-making processes, so before they check their account balance for this week, I would suggest a time for reflection on their performance by watching this short video  about other ways to run a business, providing a win/win outcome for everyone. Can you Spot The Difference?

Westpac Please Note
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What a Wonderful World

David Attenborough 1

Image via Wikipedia

What are wonderful world we live in, it’s always refreshing to sit back and have a reality check, escape the stress and anxiety of daily life, so this morning I’m enjoying this video featuring our wonderful world with David Attenborough. Enjoy

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Guess What? Wrong Again!

This time last year I decided to take note of end of the year predictions (Guesses!) from a handful of our various Psychics on the forthcoming Year of 2011. I will leave you  to decide if this is some type of special talent, or just some wild random guesses which everyone can do. Hate to influence your thoughts but maybe give it a try, predict something yourself and we will check out your efforts in a year. My own contributions is as follows starting with earthquakes in New Zealand around April/May 2012, Tony Abbott replaced as leader of the coalition, Hawthorn to win the AFL Premiership, Manchester City to win the EPL in soccer and Matthew Newton to find a new love and get engaged. Please feel free to leave any thoughts and comments.

Yearly Predictions for 2011

  • David and Victoria Beckham’s marriage will be on thin ice, with rumours that they’ll split. But they stay together. Mitchell Coombes
  • Precious metals such as gold and silver will perform well throughout the year. Stacey Demarco
  • Russell Brand and Katy Perry stay together despite all expectations and their careers continue to soar. They star together in a movie made in Mexico that will show that Katy has comedic talents too. Madeleine Marie
  • The debate for an Australian republic will arise again as it becomes obvious many people favour the change. Despite a last minute resistance appearing, the motion in favour will be carried and Australia will become a republic. Jason Betts
  • Prince William and Kate Middleton will confirm they are expecting not long after their wedding – and it looks like twins. Brett Vollus
  • Several healing miracles occur and are attributed to Saint Mary MacKillop, with several in Sydney and Adelaide being reported. It won’t just be Catholics reporting them either. Elisabeth Jensen
  • The health system will undergo major reforms and waiting lists will be shortened. This will be partly due to migrant doctors being given more support when they come to Australia. Francis Bevan
  • Major flooding will occur on the eastern seaboard of Australia and in Indonesia. I also see Madonna having a health scare mid-2011. Jade-Sky
  • Brad and Angelina will recruit Hollywood celebrities into a foundation to benefit adoption in third world countries. There may e a We Are the World type sing fest, with Madonna enlisting young musicians for this worthy cause. Billy Hill
  • The debate for an Australian republic will start again as it becomes obvious many people favour the change. Despite last-minute resistance, the motion in favour will be carried and Australia will become a republic. Jason Betts
  • US president Barack Obama’s popularity will rise in 2011. His government’s financial policies will improve the US employment, medical and housing sectors. Expect the US dollar to rise in value, decreasing the Aussie dollar after March. Milton Black
  • Schapelle Corby will be brought back to Australia to serve the rest of her prison sentence. However, new evidence will prove she is innocent and that she was set up. As a result she will be set free. Bonnie Parsons
  • Hugh Jackman will become an ambassador for a new foundation for sick kids. A new film he makes in Australia will be a huge hit. Julie McKenzie
  • Brad and Angelina will recruit stars into a foundation to benefit adoption from Third World countries. There may be a We Are the World type of sing fest, as Madonna enlists musicians to a worthy cause. Billy Hill
  • The Australian government will be shaken by a major scandal and Julia Gillard’s actions and judgement will be called into question. After a prolonged and expensive investigation, a new prime minister may be elected. Jacqui Lees
  • Australia will receive international recognition for a breakthrough heart surgery technique. The technology will involve creating an artificial part of the heart from cells. It causes controversy, with certain churches claiming that the procedure is playing god. Brian Oldfield
    From March onwards, the world economic crisis centred in Europe will settle down. Countries that have been less than open about their true financial positions will come clean, allowing for the healing to begin. Simon Turnbull
  • A major cyclone will travel along the eastern seaboard and land much further south than is usual. La Nina will bring a much cooler winter than normal, along with unusual cyclonic activity. Western Australia ay also experience earth tremor damage in mid-2011 but this will not affect highly populated areas. Heather Alexander
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Women Can Write Too!

Ann Friedman has developed a site Ann Friedman’s Ladyjournos! which promotes the work of women journalists as they are disproportionately outnumbered by their male colleagues throughout the publishing world,  http://vidaweb.org/the-count-2010 hopefully you can support and restore the imbalance. So to the editors around the world from the largest publications to your local newsletter please be conscious of the fact that ‘women can write too’.

We have to close the gap by producing fair and balanced works , I dare say women read as much as men, so reading more articles produced by women can only be a positive to everyone including men by gaining a another perspective on the world from a women’s point of view, they have the same ability as men to form ideas, have opinions, be creative, and to produce insightful commentary on our world through writing. For more info on Ann Friedman please visit her website: http://www.annfriedman.com/

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Personal Care Workers–My Respect

Portrait of old woman sitting by a window.
Image via Wikipedia

Thought I’d give a shout out to all the Personal Care Worker(PCA’s) who work with the elderly and disabled people throughout the community, their efforts are mostly overlooked and they go under-appreciated in monetary terms with such low rates of pay for a hard, physically and mentally demanding occupation. I will admit I tried my hand at this for a short time a couple of years ago and honestly I was found wanting, I loved the interaction with everyone I met during my time though it was an emotional roller-coaster as I felt pain, joy, helplessness, pride, sadness and happiness constantly throughout my shifts, by the end of the day I was completely drained of energy and a spent force. Although I must say if your thinking of a career in this occupation, please explore the possibilities and don’t be put off by my words, as personally this wasn’t the vocation for me, for you it maybe what you’ve been looking for as a career change and security of long term employment as they always need people, and with an ageing population more people are required to meet the demand into the future. The reward for your efforts will come in the smiles of the people you care for, especially those who are lonely and rarely have friends and family dropping by, therefore you fill that void for them being around everyday. My respect to all the PCA’s  both past and present and their efforts in difficult circumstances at times, caring for others, and to the future PCA’s enjoy what you do and look out for my smile coming your way. ( still a few years away I might add though!)

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It’s Over-Rapture & Religion

Well with the rapture rantings over for another day, I thought it appropriate to show a video on Billy Connolly‘s thoughts on religion in general, this video does contain the odd swear word or two but it’s message is the important feature, it’s time for us as humans to grow-up, stop harming others, no need to keep carrying this immature behaviour around all our lives in the guise of religion and faith. There’s no need to fear the dark, death and dying as the reality is life is here now waiting for you to live it, don’t miss this opportunity wasting time with a man who lives in the sky, that he’s watching your every move, think back to before you were born, remember? no! why not?, well most probably there is nothing there that you can remember. The marvellous thing about this is you can still be happy, love your family, friends and community, care for others, forgive, find the strength to move forward and live a full life without the need of a book to guide you through

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Tough Land Breeds Strong People

Alex Lloyd a boy from Balmain in Sydney is a 4 time ARIA winner, he had a huge hit with Amazing from the album Watching Angels Mend released in 2001, that went double platinum. The Pigram Brothers are Alan and Steven who originate from the Broome, along with a musical family of five brothers they have produced wonderful music for years, picking up a Deadly Award – Best Debut Album (Saltwater Country) in 1998, among many other achievements. So put these three great musicians together and you have the Mad Bastards Trio who provide the soundtrack to a new movie called ‘Mad Bastards’. Check your local guides for session times and to get a feel for the movie please enjoy the video.

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Shane Howard & Band @Tanks Arts Centre in Cairns

Looking for a great night of music, look no further than the Tanks Arts Centre in Cairns on Friday 6th May 2011, a chance to see Shane Howard and his band performing plus special guest David Hudson, who’s one of the locals from Ewamin (oo-rah-min)/Western Yalangi (people of the north-east coast of Australia). David is also a great musician in his own right and a tireless worker in promoting awareness of Aboriginal culture and tradition throughout his travels in Australian and internationally. Don’t miss this one night only event, you won’t be disappointed, so for your tickets and further information contact www.tanksartscentre.com  or phone 07 40326600.

SH GD - eflyer2-Cairns

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The Race That Starts A Nation-Japan

I thought I’d show this video of the recent win of a Japanese horse called Victoire Pisa who won the Group One US$10 million Dubai World Cup, the most valuable race in the world, this 4-year-old horse is trained by the Japanese trainer Katsuhiko Sumii and ridden by an Italian jockey Mirco Dimuro. In light of the fact that Japanese horses haven’t got the best strike rate when they race on foreign soil, this was an unexpected  victory, it gives the Japanese people a reason to be hopeful, that all is not lost in their world considering the devastation surrounding them with recent events. It’s only a horse race in reality that’s all it is when you line it up against the destruction and deaths of so many people, but sometimes it’s these small events that we as humans can hold onto for comfort, to realise there is hope, to find out what it’s like to feel again, we must do whatever we can to provide for our friends, the people of Japan, so they can find the impetus to move forward and live again.