the kids in tonga are little legends

these kids are awesome. what a place to grow up!

everywhere we went the kids seemed to think they were little homies which is a bit of a worry.

in general, i feel that the people of tonga are really sweet, hospitable and caring.

seems there is a real cultural lock-down on them. it’s a church run society and they have only 3 radio stations. (which only seem to play UB-40 which is funny because the tongans are prentending to be black and they listen to, and are influenced by, the music of white boys who are pretending to be black – figure that one out.). their choice of films at the cinema is also heavily censored.

i look at these beautiful kids and wonder how many of them will end up coming to australia or nz to work in security or construction. no problem with that, it’s just that a disproportionate amount of pacific islanders end up in court for stomping on peoples heads for ‘fun’.

i don’t want that for these little fellas – they are too awesome to become that. what should change?

Below is part of the soundtrck to Tonga:

Edited: August 8th, 2010

the brutal poodles chariot

wtf? seems to be something around lately with vehicles with pink highlights.

the pink is a bit crazy, but the little cherub bolted (well i hope it is) onto the bonnet takes the cake for me.

the brutal poodles are a sydney band, well duo, who are pretty keen to get noticed. nothing like a bloke pulling out some falsetto. prince did it so well, but took himself too seriously. i’d give you a link, but he pulled the prince official website off in 2006, when he became a born again christian.

we can thank flight of the conchords to make the man falsetto thing fun again, i think.

you can check out the brutal poodles music on their myspace page. below i’ve posted one of their clips – a song called ‘star’. check it out, i think they could be good fun to see live.

good luck boys, oh and maybe wash your car, the birdshit eats the duco.

TAGS: art, brutal poodles, cars, music, Sydney

Edited: July 12th, 2010

ben looks dead

i shot The Marines today. had great fun too.

you can check out their music here.

and you can see what he looks like when he was alive in a previous post here.

Edited: April 2nd, 2010

try this trick and spin it, yeah

who cuts your hair man? your head will collapse..  met these guys in the line for the toilets at The Pixies tonight. they were having a great old time getting pissed and stumbling about. awesome to see the pixies play sydney’s hordern pavillion. great band, great venue and great show as well.

funny to see all these kids seeing a band that I was enjoying while they were still crapping their nappies – though i’m sure some of the crowd at the AC/DC show in brisbane last week would have said exactly the same thing about me!

Oh dear, I am getting old!

If anyone knows who these guys are, please let me know, so that i can send them a copy.

How is this for a cover? Fuck yeah!

and the original tune:

Edited: March 14th, 2010

benny rocking it

The Marines played at the landsdowne tonight and it was great to see them. the boys played a tight set and it was great to see them all together again. their story is like one of a long marriage – over ten years together with break-ups and reconciliations all the way. if you like the sound of pavement and radiohead, you will definitely get into the marines. check out their facebook page here.

Edited: October 10th, 2009

come fly with me

yep, back at the airport again.

After waving hello/goodbye to the passengers in this plane preparing for take-off, I took this shot. I might come back here wearing fluoro leotards, headband and bedazzled tank-top a-la-nu-skool Richard Simmons and do this for them next time:

Just an idea.

I can’t believe how close you can get to the aircraft here. So much for tight security – it’s almost laughable.

Edited: August 3rd, 2009

inside deepest suburbia

this was taken somewhere in Liverpool/Moorebank.

looks peaceful enough, but according to some of the locals this place turns into something out of the Thriller video at night. packs of kids roam the streets at night, tagging up, smashing up and setting fire to things all over the place. When dusk falls, the neighbours start to worry.

check out the urban equivalent of bad town planning and social meltdown here.

i know this may be an exaggeration, but i imagine that rather than Thriller, it is more likely to be like Come to daddy, see below:

glad i don’t live around here.

TAGS: liverpool, moorebank, music, social, social disaster, suburbia, Sydney

Edited: July 29th, 2009

paddo busker

This guy is great – plays tunes from Elvis Presley movies like Blue Hawaii – also, he plays tunes like this:

Drop him a goldie or two if you see him out front of IGA supermarket on Oxford St, Paddington.

Edited: July 8th, 2009