Anyone who’s interested in water and the Australian landscape will be fascinated by
It was so much fun to be involved in Tim and Sam’s radio show. The whole process of choosing songs, trying to find stories for each of them, burning them to CD.. and then driving off without the CD. As we were leaving Elphinstone, Tim drove off without an essential set of headphones. Then we got caught behind a learner driver, already behind schedule. Ah yes.. all part of the adventure.
The open mic can be a little terrifying.. even though we suspect there’s an audience of somewhere between 1-6 people. However these two wonderful people do their very best to make their guest feel comfortable. They are hilarious together, and are building up such a lovely new radio show.. i heartily recommend you listen in (fortnightly Wednesday evenings, wmafm.com).
Okay, here’s the set list i finally selected for Tim and Sam’s Junk City. Read the rest of this entry »
Been listening to Tim and Sam on Castlemaine community radio. They have a delightful session of stories about melancholy and joy, called Junk City. Each fortnight a guest will come on and talk about their top 5 songs in each category, songs that moved you or touched you in some way. Helen’s an artist in Castlemaine, and i loved her choices of Cat Empire, Paul Kelly’s Billy Baxter and yes Tim Deee-lite Groove is in the Heart.
..and now they’ve asked me to join them. The show is coming up: 9:00-11:00 pm AEST Wednesday 21 September. [you can stream live at
And the next day – after the Castlemaine festival madness – we all supported the legendary Sam Downing in her Sew Funky event “Beasty Beats” at the Elphinstone Hotel.. an awesome day of monster-making. Around 80 people, children and their parents, designed and created their own monsters in all shapes and sizes. At the end we had a monster monster dance. Fun.
One of the highlights of the Castlemaine festival was the Baroqu-eoke performance, “So you think you can Prance”. This was a very fun event. We’d seen them dressing up in the early part of the day, and i was looking forward to finding out more. The costumes were magnificent, as were the instruments and their players. Genuine harpsichord, viol-de-gamba, mediaeval flute and fiddle.
For the first part of the show, the MC taught us a range of emotional expression, Baroque-style. When expressing emotions in the world of Baroque (restoration?) one must always place the weight on one foot or the other. Never evenly balanced.
After teaching us the basics, we were asked to dance these emotions to a series of classic karaoke numbers: Dancing Queen, Don’t you Want me Baby? and You Should be Dancing. Classic! At one point, there were no volunteers for the karaoke, so Tim in his role as Barry Fluff the festival host pointed at Sam and me, calling out, “They’ll do it! Choose those two!” Nice one Tim – clearly we were being too shy. Sam and i belted out a raucous version of ‘Don’t you want me baby’, and were awarded a free jug of Pimms next door at Madame Brussels. Sam mentioned later on that perhaps we might have attempted to sing in a more refined way, however i’d been following the lead of the “Village Idiot” character who would sing in the most tuneless and hopeless way.
Tim made a quick video, you’ll get the idea. Oh boo, it doesn’t work. Why not? Oh well you’ll have to go over to their site to watch it.
It’s always good to remember how incredibly lucky i am, living in a developed country, having a roof over my head, access to public transport, and some kind of employment, as well as amazing social support networks. Many people around the world don’t get this lucky.
There’s been so much going on in my life lately:
But telling stories here on the blog.. haven’t had the follow-through lately. Too busy enjoying life, too nervous about writing in public, too stressed about moving house and finding new workplaces.
So there’s the overview.
Maybe i’ll come back with some detail, one day soon.
photo credit: cloud_nine
Sam Downing as Agent Smog was delighted when she heard that one audience member had asked, “Who was on the door? She was such a bitch!”
Job well done Sam!!
Tim gave us the brief to be casual and dismissive in our authority as customs agents, interrogating and searching immigrants to the Wealth of Nations Nut Economy by Sanctum Theatre.
Of course Tim has the expertise as Sergeant Blank from the Watch-house. He knows all about tormenting people who refuse to acknowledge his authority or try to play funny games.
Nice to be directed by a master of his craft.
i am very envious.Here is a pic of Tim, Fiona, Sasha and Paul on the train in New York City. i’m following their adventures over on samandtim.blogspot. Their blog is like a fun game, where the reader has to make up what’s going on, from the pictures and the headings.
ok, here goes: SamandTim and PaulandFiona are on a train, with Sasha, and the train is in New York. They are all travelling from the bronx zoo back to the hotel where they’ll have dinner. And Sasha is drinking from his favourite red cup. Just after Sam took the photo, Paul sighed and said, “Are you ever going to stop taking photos?” Which nearly made Fiona snap at him. But she took a deep breath instead.
Tim is grinning because he loves seeing Sam do funny things on the subway; she’s being zany while she handles the camera. Sam made a joke after taking the shot, and everyone laughed. Then Sasha looked up and smiled, saying, “Was i in the photo?”
PS Funky Shirt, Paul!
Latest Updates at samandtim.blogspotvery exciting news this morning at 7am, Nathan Godkin drove Tim and Sam out to Tullamarine Airport, for the first leg of their trip to New York City !!! i can’t believe they’re going with only a handbag worth of luggage between them. Most of the space in tim’s backpack is taken up by paul’s new blundstones ..
Here’s wishing the best of travel times for these two amazing people. i’ve heard a rumour they’re going to visit Paul and Fiona in the land of Halifax. Hey Four Fingers Gang, i’ll be following your adventures .. much love michael the thumb
it’s friday night, so michael joins Tim and Sam on the Edward St. couches for some friday night football. The western bulldogs look like they might lose to essendon, who are fighting to avoid the wooden spoon. Tim is annoyed because the Dogs are not playing well enough.
The highlight of the evening is this crazy dvd called ‘The Critic’, about Jay Sherman, NY Film Critic. Jay, a cartoon character, is bald fat and unpopular. His boss hates him because he cans all the holyhollywood films, and his highest rating is a 7. i loved the show. Jay is dark, depressed and funny. Must have been made last century because the twin towers loom over the NY cartoon skyline.
The bad news is Tim and Sam house being sold from under them again. Bloody property owners.
