What have you been up to lately?

For some reason this question inevitably causes me to freeze up. I find my mouth opening and closing wordlessly as my brain tries to work out some things I've been doing lately, significant things that other people might find interesting, and then to work out which things I might have already told this particular person, and which things might be appropriate to tell them. And often all I can think of is the content of my lists - call x, y, and z; finish projects a,b and c; wash some clothes for work; clean the shower.

Thursday night was the opening of Gormley's School for Lion Tamers. Lots of people came to the opening, including Mum and Dad all the way from Newcastle. It was a great party and of course a wonderful exhibition. It's on til 13 November (Wednesdays to Sundays 11am to 5pm). Go. See it.

Earlier in the week, thanks to J's visit, I discovered Magna Carta Place near the Old Parliament House. Apparently it was a Centenary of Federation project and a joint Australia - Britain effort. What we liked about it was the acoustics, and we stomped around in it making different echoes. I also liked the rich timber construction but fear it won't wear well.

I'm listening to the new Wolfmother album. I use the word album deliberately. The CD booklet has gorgeous Frank Frazetta art. All the print in it is really small, as if it's a much older album that has started out with a full size LP cover and later shrunk to fit a CD. What really brought a smile to my face was the way the tracks are laid out in two separate lists on the back, it doesn't actually say 'Side A' and 'Side B' but that's the flavour. Old school. I was amused to hear about Justin Burford from End of Fashion taking potshots at Wolfmother - apparently he called them 'another fucking retro band cashing in on what everyone's done years before them'. Not very gracious, given that End of Fashion beat Wolfmother to win in the Breakthrough artist - single category.

Maybe that's why I like Wolfmother, cause I am a bit 'musically slow', and I get what they're doing. Not a few trends - Oasis et al, Nirvana + grunge, the list goes on - have totally passed me by at the time, only for me to finally GET IT several years later. Because of these experiences, I haven't been willing to completely write off this stoner rock thing. I still don't think I'm really ever gonna love it. But I went to see Sons of Kyuss last night with Kam (their final show in fact) and it was a great show! I really enjoyed it. I think I was in a mellow mood, and that helped.