Ahhhhh, music.... where to begin - these are (only just) a few of my favourite things. Be warned, the "Librarian gene" means I have to categorise everything, however, my categories for the following types of music and bands are completely subjective!
R&B & Soul(I don't mean the modern hiphop/rap interpretation!) I mean Stax, Atlantic, Chess, Motown - plus more recent, but pretty damned good, artists such as: Johnny Lang, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Dr. Feelgood...and one of my all time favourites: Tony Joe White, the "coolest" of them all!
Rock, for example: Creedence Clearwater Revival,Cream, Free, Deep Purple, Kinks, Led Zepplin, Black Sabbath, Rolling Stones, Bad Company - ALL TIME FAVOURITE male vocalist is Paul Rodgers-, Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty, Steve Miller...
Well crafted pop/rock (any era)And that means everyone from the Beatles to Blur, the Monkees to Mink DeVille, the Bodeans to the Bingo Boys - and all points in between! IMO "a good pop song is a good pop song, regardless!" so I am unashamedly a big fan of both Green Day and Hanson!
Late 70s and 80s "Powerpop", "Industrial pop" & "New Romantic" - Elvis Costello, Graham Parker, Nick Lowe, Robert Palmer, Joe Jackson, Boomtown Rats, The Stranglers, The Cars, The Undertones, Blondie, The Only Ones, Plastic Bertrand/Elton Motello, Ian Dury, The Jags, Duran Duran, XTC, Depeche Mode, ABC, Heaven 17, Human League, Simple Minds, Pretenders, B-52s, The Jam, Style Council, Mink (Willy)DeVille, Belouis Some, the Housemartins, and modern successors such as Green Day, Blink 182, Bowling for Soup, Ben Folds, Smashmouth, Oasis, Blur...
Punk: for example: Ramones, Sex Pistols, Saints, Radio Birdman, Buzzcocks, Iggy Pop, Lou Reed, Flamin' Groovies, Devo, Clash, Damned, Richard Hell, Stooges, MC5, Patti Smith, Rancid... etc.
"Glam Rock": Queen, Mott the Hoople, David Bowie, T-Rex, Sweet, Alvin Stardust, Gary Glitter, Suzi Quatro...
Folk rock (usually political!): Billy Bragg, The Men They Couldn't Hang, Swill and the Swaggerband, The Pogues, Eric Bogle...
The "Gals" - Indigo Girls, Pink, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Alison Moyet, Hole, The Donnas, Amazulu, Belle Stars, Joan Armatrading, Erykah Badu, Pat Benatar, Bangles, Belinda Carlisle, Joan Jett, Diana Krall, Julie London...
And last but certainly not least - A bucketload of AUSSIE & KIWI rock, pop, R&B, punk - too numerous to list...but I'm going to try - NOT in any sort of logical order! - Dynamic Hepnotics/Mighty Reapers/Rinky Dinks/Continental Blues Party, Pete Best Beatles/North2Alaskans/Frank Savage and the Citizens/The Armchairs/The Cruel Poddies, Leisuremasters, Pelaco Brothers, The Routinos, (Le) Hoodoo Gurus/SuperK, Sunnyboys, Dancehall Racketeers, Swinging Sidewalks, Straight 8s, The Stems, Huxton Creepers, Lime Spiders, The Models, Teenage Radio Stars, Beatfish, The Sharp, Jo Jo Zep, The Triffids, The Sports, The Elks, Split Enz/Crowded House, Living End, Jet, Shindiggers, Eskimo Joe, Wolfmother, Captain Matchbox, Hunters and Collectors, Matt Finish, The Melody Lords, Whittle Family, Clip Clop Club, Billy Baxter's Big Fans of Jesus, Glen Waverley and the Mentones/The Jack Lords, Painters & Dockers, Badloves, The Church, Cat Empire, Kev Carmody, Archie Roach, Tiddas, Warumpi Band, Yothu Yindi, Ruby Hunter, Christine Anu, Coloured Stone, Troy Cassar Daly, Jimmy Little, Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs, Weddings Parties Anything, Pseudo Echo, Ol' 55, Stars, Ferrets, Rose Tattoo, Hush, Cold Chisel, Skyhooks, Sherbet, Little Heroes, The Angels, Boom Crash Opera, Ian Moss, Loaded Dice, Masters Apprentices, Mi-Sex, Scandal, Redhouse, Dragon, Lash, Mother Goose, The Groop, Zoot, The Radiators, The Reels, Mental as anything, Bachelor Girl, Grace Knight, Wendy Matthews, Axiom, Madder Lake, Carson, Spectrum, The Johnnies, James Baker Experience, The Cruel Sea, Beasts of Bourbon, Daddy cool, Mondo Rock, The Strangers, The Easybeats, AC/DC, Rabbit, Town Criers, Fabs, MLC, Divinyls, Australian Crawl, Loved Ones, Noiseworks, Irwin Thomas, Midnight Oil, INXS, Cattletruck, Baby Animals, Taxiride, Jimmy and the Boys, Flowers/Icehouse, The Aliens, Taste, Texas, Red Jane, Snap, anything with or by "the poet of our nation" Paul Kelly... And of course, Perry Mason and the Suspects...
-Could go on forever...(oh, I think I just did...) just love my "oz/nz rock"...
But don't just take my word for it... check out some of my favourite tunes - The first Mixpod below contains a heap of much loved international music, the second.... Australasian rock and pop at its finest!!
The Castle, Rocky Horror Picture show, The Blues Brothers, Phantom of the Paradise, School of rock, Hi fidelity, Zoolander, Repo Man, After Hours, Bend it like Beckham, Bride and prejudice, Monsoon Wedding, Eraserhead, Baghdad Cafe, Strictly Ballroom, Moulin Rouge, Kill Bill, Pulp Fiction, Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, Muriel's wedding, A clockwork Orange, O Lucky Man, If..., Tommy, The Wall, Hairspray (original John Waters), Cry Baby (& pretty much anything else with Johnny Depp!), Little shop of horrors, Better off dead, The Lost boys, Clueless, Pirates of the Caribbean 1-3, all the Ealing comedies, Billy Elliot, Full Monty, Arsenic and old lace, The Party-("Birdie num nums"!)Dr. Strangelove, most films with Audrey Hepburn, most films with Cary Grant, classic Hitchcock, The Wanderers, The Warriors (directors cut), Apocalypse now (directors cut), Blade Runner (director's cut), The cars that ate Paris, The Blue Iguana, "So bad, they're good" films: Attack of the killer tomatoes, The Toxic Avenger, Houseboat horror, Invasion of the bodysnatchers, Creature from the black lagoon, Death race 2000, Case of the smiling stiffs, Hammer Horror films...
Television
Pride and prejudice (BBC series), OK - any BBC dramatisation of Jane Austen!, Get Smart, Anything related to the D-Gen and/or "Working Dog productions" (D-Generation, Frontline, Late Show, Bargearse, The Panel, Funky Squad, Olden Days, The Hollow Men) The Aunty Jack Show,Sea Change (specially the wonderful soundtrack music by Richard Pleasance), Grass Roots,Dr Who (from Tom Baker to present day), Torchwood, Adventures of Sarah Jane and K9, Monkey (Magic), The Persuaders, The Avengers, Teachers, This life; "Old" music shows: GTK, Nightmoves, Rock Arena, Countdown, Uptight, Happening... Almost any UK crime drama - The Bill, Taggart, Wire in the blood, Murphy's Law, Spooks, Minder, Heartbeat, Marple, Poirot, Redcap, Silent Witness, Midsomer Murders, New Tricks....
Heaps of UK comedies - Monty Python, The Goodies, The Young Ones, Ab Fab, Black Books, Comic strip presents, Red Dwarf (who influenced my choice in kitchen appliances - what the "Smeg"!), Kenny Everett, Quark, Vicar of Dibley, Alas Smith & Jones, Not the 9 o'clock news, Hitch hikers guide to the galaxy, Little Britain, Catherine Tate, Tracey Ullman...
Books
Pride and prejudice (and everything else by Jane Austen), Lord of the rings, anything by the brilliant (and sadly missed) Douglas Adams, The Phantom Tollbooth, The Children of Green Knowe, Harry Potter, Dragonkeeper, Eragon, The Owl service, A Wrinkle in time, ANYTHING BY DR SEUSS!, Charlie & Lola, anything by Lynley Dodd; Crime and forensic thrillers preferably with a "feminist" twist: Patricia Cornwell, Kathy Reichs, Sara Paretsky, Minette Walters, Sue Grafton...
Books that make me laugh out loud: eg. Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series and Kerry Greenwood's Corrina Chapman series...
Heroes
My parents - the kindest, most supportive and caring people you could ever meet. They don't follow any religion but, in my opinion, are more truly charitable than most "religious" folks I know....They are definitely known by "their good works"...My sister continues this through her untiring efforts to assist migrants, particularly refugees and particularly refugee women to settle in the LaTrobe Valley. She has had to deal with death threats and rednecks but nothing daunts her!
Other heroes:
Mahatma Gandhi,
Martin Luther King,
Nelson Mandela,
Thomas Paine (thanks to TMTCH for "introducing" me to him, through their song: The Colours),
Gough Whitlam (except for East Timor!),
Noam Chomsky,
Howard Zinn,
John Pilger,
Arundhati Roy,
Mother Theresa,
Al Gore,
Tim Costello,
Dame Elisabeth Murdoch,
Cindy Sheehan,
(and, of course, the scourge yet saviour of the librarian - Melvil Dewey!!)
About me: I'm a Baby Boomer - the best generation!!
I am a school teacher (I specialise in Information Resource Management - that means I'm the librarian, "shhhhhhh" - and Information & Communications Technology - that means computers!)
My ethnic background is: Indian (dad), Kiwi (mum),I am married to an Australian born Greek, Peter, and the father of my beautiful and brilliant niece was Cambodian. Our Best Man is Chinese. I teach in a VERY multicultural school. As you can see, I have embraced cultural diversity and where better to do that than my beloved Melbourne!!
I was born in Richmond - proudly the first generation Australian in our family.
I have one younger sister, Lisa - a very cool person indeed!
I have the most wonderful dog in the world, Bonnie -an incredibly smart and beautiful Border Collie. Sadly, my equally wonderful Lab X, Bertie, recently passed away after a short, ferocious battle with cancer, leaving a gaping hole in the fabric of our family. (you can check out photos of my precious "Killer Bs" and their dog gang friends in the "Who let the dogs out" photo album)
I teach in a Government school with high socio-economic needs because I hope (and believe) I can make a difference, particularly to the lives of some of our very disadvantaged students and their families. Education can be the great leveller provided we can give equal opportunities to all students and not just the more privileged. I also believe that schools are sometimes the only safe places for students with very disadvantaged/dysfunctional family lives, places where we can demonstrate positive role modelling and encourage children to take advantage of a range of opportunities they might not encounter in their personal lives.
Who I'd like to meet: People with a strong social conscience, who really do look out for others and not just themselves. People who can see the "big picture" and take a "long view". Instead of "bitching" about "having" to vote, come election time, they understand that "voting is a responsibility as well as a right" and they are proud to take an active part in the democratic process. Such people vote for a party or candidate who will do the most good for the most people, and not for the good of their "hip pocket". I hate the selfishness that seems to be creeping ever further into our modern society -The "I'm alright, Jack, bugger you" mind set that refuses to acknowledge the struggles and hardships of those less fortunate than themselves or the serious problems of global warming, "majority world" poverty and the many other issues threatening our planet. I would like to see more people join grassroots organisations such as Move On and Get Up because together we CAN make a difference.
Hey Mindi sweety pie~~ Wishing you a FUN Sunday our beautiful friend And also wishing you and your family a great Christmas and new year. It's always a good excuse to get hammered...lol Luv&Cheers....Steve & Nice As Pie.xxxx
Thank you for the gift of your friendship and support, hope you enjoy the music and video clips. Peace and love. Love Bart & Jody KOSMIC EVOLUTION Here is our video clip Mystery.
HI THERE THANKYOU SO MUCH FOR HAVING ME IN YOUR WORLD AND ALLOWING ME
TO INTRODUCE YOU TO MY MUSIC...IT MEANS A GREAT DEAL TO ME...PLEASE KNOW HOW
MUCH I APPRECIATE IT AND ITS GREAT TO MEET YOU…..MY MUSIC RANGES FROM ROCK..TO
BALLADS…I HOPE YOU CAN FIND TIME TO DROP BY MY SITE TO CHECK IT OUT..BUT IN THE
MEANTIME ENJOY MY VIDEO BELOW OF A SONG TITLED “IN MY OWN WAY”….AT THE MOMENT I
AM CONSTANTLY WORKING IN THE STUDIO ON NEW MATERIAL..SO PLEASE KEEP A CHECK ON
MY SITE FOR NEW RELEASES...IF YOU HAVE A MOMENT CHECK OUT THE GRACE ON VAUGHAN
BLOGS WHICH ARE RUN BY GRACE ON A REGULAR BASES AND KEEP PEOPLE INFORMED ON
WHAT IS HAPPENING WITH ME AND MY MUSIC...WELCOME ABOARD PLEASE ENJOY...I WOULD
REALLY APPRECIATE IT IF YOU WOULD TELL YOUR FRIENDS TO STOP BY...AND IF YOU
HAVE TIME DROP ME A LINE AND LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK, THE FEEDBACK WOULD BE
MOST WELCOME..PEACE LOVE AND LIGHT...VAUGHAN
I figured it would be easier if i requested you.No probs on the Keyring or the calender.Enjoy them both.Thanks for you're kind words on my running of RJs street team.Much appreciated but if it wasn't for you guys (the fans) we wouldn't have a street team.Myself and the the guys and girl in Red Jane are very thankful and grateful for everyone's support both of them and the street team. I wont be at the brunswick hotel unfortunately due to the fact that it's a friday night and i have to work.Butt i'll see ya real soon. In the meantime we can talk on here.
Hope yourself,Christine and Kelly had a great time. Take care
No problem.Enjoy them both.Yeah it was a pretty great night. Daniel opened all his presents after we'd packed up and seemed to like them all.I have had another request for a keyring now and someone else wants to know how they can get a mask. See you soon
Hi Mindi!! Thanks for coming down! I thought you said you couldn't come because you weren't feeling well? Well it was great to see you there! It was great to see Kellie getting into it as well! :D
