australian rozie

Well, it’s not much of a story, I wasn’t in New York or even America at the time. I was living at home in the burbs of Sydney, my mum had passed away six months earlier, so life wasn’t that great anyway. I was studying for my Certificate III in IT (Web design) course. It was night time in Australia and my brother or my dad told me to have a look at the tv. Needless to say, I was freaked out. I began thinking that perhaps this terrorism was going on all around the world and I just wanted to speak to my fiancé, Dave. At this stage, only one plane had hit the towers. While I was watching tv, the second plane hit as well. Dave was hanging out with his friend in Darlinghurst and didn’t know about the attacks until I told him on the phone. That night, I went to sleep feeling very shocked and sad. My dad, being dad, decided to video-tape the news (he always did that for important things). The next day I went to college/work in the city and everyone in the office was quite numb. Dave said to me, that I should come over to his place and stare at our pet goldfish, somehow it seemed like a good idea. The rest is history…

Considering how far back up on the balcony our seats were, this is a pretty good shot!
Debbie Harry – Blondie & The Pretenders, Enmore Theatre, Sydney 09/12/10

Hey kids – it’s that time of the year again!

The Bandaged Bear Appeal – is the signature public fundraising appeal for The Children’s Hospital at Westmead.

The highlight of the annual month long appeal is Bandaged Bear Day™ – Friday 25 March. On Bandaged Bear Day™, hundreds of volunteers assemble at train stations, shopping centres and major business areas, such as Martin Place, Sydney, to sell merchandise.

This is where you come in friends… if you are free before work on the morning of Friday 25 March, please volunteer to help me at Central station, where I will be Bandaged Bear Day co-ordinator! Alternatively, come visit me in Martin Place at lunchtime to buy a bear and show you care.

Help celebrate the 22nd anniversary of The Bandaged Bear Appeal™!
Buy merchandise, donate money or hold your own Bandaged Bear Breakfast during March and raise vital funds for The Children’s Hospital at Westmead. The Hospital relies heavily on the support of the community to make this day an overwhelming success.

Funds raised by The Bandaged Bear Appeal help care for sick kids needing a range of medical treatments. Donations will be allocated to areas of the greatest need within the Hospital, including research into childhood diseases, the purchase of vital equipment and the provision of patient services. Community support contributes significantly to The Children’s Hospital at Westmead being a world-class centre of healing for sick children and their families.

I did not manage to cross off many things from my list of 10 things I wanted to do by the end of the 2010. I try not to make new year’s resolutions, but I’ll substitute for Chinese new year’s resolutions just for motivation.
1. Blog more – I may set a challenge to blog every day for a month again, or upload a picture every day.
2. Have dinner parties and play more board & video games
3. Use my new Kitchen-aid
4. Attend yoga and/or meditation classes (yes, yes, I know you can do it for free at home, but I need to pay someone to make me do it)
5. More organic and ethical shopping.

Wow! So many nerds, so little time! The ratio of women to men is 1:100 here – single ladies get down to QUT, QLD

On Saturday night I dragged R&R and Honka Princess to an event called Midas Touch. Billed as:
MIDAS TOUCH – A HUGE SALUTE TO THE 80’S!

2 hours of the finest 80’s funk classics from the masters including Earth Wind & Fire, The Mac Band, De barge, Rick James, Luther Vandross, Whitney Houston, Midnight Star, The Whispers and many more!

I thought this would be a lot of fun. I love 80s music as it is and 80s funk is even better! Unfortunately when we arrived, the vibe was more Hen’s night than funky town. The venue was called Notes, I think it’s pretty new, I didn’t even know it existed but it’s just across the road from the Enmore Theatre on Enmore Road. It kind of reminded me of The Basement, but a bit newer and cleaner! They even do the dinner and show thing! The flyer claimed that Notes was a sexy venue, it’s not that sexy! Anyway, by the time we arrived the band Harlem Knights lead by vocalists, Mike Champion & Berni Love had already started. They dropped some great tunes from Luther Vandross, Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, Chaka Khan, Lionel Richie, The Pointer Sisters etc etc. Nasser T was the support DJ, apparantly Sydney’s #1 80s DJ, I thought I was #1 ha ha (or is he Sydney’s best 80s funk DJ?). Anyway, the first track he dropped (yes, on vinyl) was Billie Jean, remember what I said about dropping a Michael Jackson track? He played some cool 80s funk tunes (Forget Me Nots) and some really bad 80s tunes (Rick Astley). Random. Anyway, seemed everyone had a fun time and by the end of the night all the band’s friends had jumped on stage to sing and dance with them!

Saturday night of the week before was quite a contrast. We went to The Forum at EQ to checkout Surgeon. Sub Bass Snarl were on when we arrived dropping their classic, crunchy beats. Surgeon played a hard, banging techno set. It was pretty full-on and I have to say that although Ms Obsessed with Lots of Things was in ecstasy (in, not on, he he), I just kind of felt… old. The only track I trainspotted was Jeff Mills, could do better. I’d seen him before at a big rave in Melbourne about 7 years ago when I was a bit more up-for-it. It was nice to see lots of old faces and catch up with friends. I used to love going out to parties with hard, banging music, but now I prefer to go back to the old old school tunes!

Here’s the complete set list and a download from Surgeon’s blog if you are up for it:
http://dj-surgeon.blogspot.com/2010/10/surgeon-at-forum-sydney-australia-23rd.html

1. Get my driver’s licence
2. Attend a trivia night
3. Have a dinner party
4. See Eat Pray Love
5. Get another pet fish
6. Conquer my clutter
7. Get Dave to do his tax
8. Have a picnic
9. Have a market stall (see #6)
10. Bake a cake

I recently finished reading Disco Boy by Dominic Knight, of The Chaser fame. I bought it a while ago for $1 from a stall at Redwater Markets in Redfern. Looks like it was a review copy.
I’m not a great book reviewer, so I’ll just list some points about it below:
1. I really enjoyed it
2. Name checks lots of Sydney locations we know and love.
3. Name checks lots of awesome pop songs esp from the 80s and 90s.
4. It’s chick-lit for dudes.
5. I actually quoted the character Paul as MobyDisc DJ in real-life while DJing at Rob’s 40th.
6. It feels like it was written by someone I know – it’s so Sydney!
7. It has a happy ending

I’m participating in this Buy Nothing New Month challenge, it’s a promotion for the Salvation Army. I know, it’s just like The Compact, but hey – it’s put a new spin on an old concept.

Old is the New New this October, with Salvos Stores’ first ever Buy Nothing New Month.
Get on board for more money in your pockets, time on your hands and a lighter carbon footprint.
Buying nothing new doesn’t mean going without. Make a Buy Nothing New Month pledge and you can buy, barter and swap for whatever you need, as long as it is pre-loved, but with the exceptions of necessities you can’t buy anything new.

So far, I have gone to the fab Surry Hills library to borrow some books & mags instead of buying new ones. OK, it’s not the biggest library with the best range, but it’s local, has free wifi and is well designed. The library chooses books that are appealing and appropriate for the local community.
I haven’t been near a shopping centre, so far, this long weekend. It’s easy to avoid buying new things when you avoid temples of consumerism, such as Westfield. Anyway, hoping I can really save some money and cut back on my clutter & stuff this month.

Here are some tracks I played at Rob’s 40th birthday party. I was using Mark’s CD decks, not vinyl or scratch live (which I prefer). Had a few technical difficulties with MP3s on disc and I didn’t bring enough music. It seems that I now do only one DJ gig per year (I’m very exclusive ha ha), so book in for 2011 now .

Anyway – a fun time was had by all, great to catch with lots of old friends and drop some 80s glory. Mark played some nice house and disco tunes too.

In no particular order and not a complete list:
Come Back and Stay – Paul Young
Girls on Film – Duran Duran
Pull up to the Bumper – Grace Jones
Heaven is a Place on Earth – Belinda Carlisle
Mad World – Tears for Fears
Let’s Go Crazy – Prince
1999 – Prince
What have you done for me lately – Janet Jackson
Loose Fit – Happy Mondays
Blue Monday – New Order
Loaded – Primal Scream
Naughty Girl – Beyonce
SexyBack – Justin Timberlake
Bulletproof – La Roux
All Night Long (All Night) – Lionel Richie
Hung Up – Madonna
Music – Madonna
Vogue – Madonna
Holiday – Madonna
Dress You Up – Madonna
Cherish – Madonna
Suburbia – Pet Shop Boys
Don’t Stop ’til You Get Enough – Michael Jackson
Somebody’s Watching Me – Rockwell (feat. Michael Jackson)
Got to be Real – Cheryl Lynn
I’m Coming Out – Diana Ross
Can’t get you out of my head – Kylie
Send Me an Angel – Real Life
and sorry I didn’t have any P!nk @#$%

Oh and Happy 40th Rob!