Colin Hay at Woodford Festival

Colin Hay was superb at Woodford Festival this year. Funny, reflective, droll, and later backed by his achingly beautiful wife Cecilia Noël (what a mover!). The unaccompanied guitar work was crisp, for the old Men at Work songs (like 'Down Under'), and for the later works - every one a highlight. One extraordinary and novel piece of accompaniment from Cecilia at the end was her pretending to play a flute, voicing the notes in perfect pitch. The whole hour went too quickly, but left me with an urge to buy Colin's later CDs. Thank you guys - you made my Woodfordia Day.

Renee Geyer at Woodford Festival

The one event I really wanted to see at this year's Woodford Festival's opening day was Renee Geyer. And what a sad performance from an Aussie Fem music icon. She came on stage saying: "I am really over this..." (or words to that effect) then moaned about the heat and the timing (3pm: I guess she would have preferred an evening). The body and the voice have sagged, and she often looked as if she was wracked by a stomachache as she bent over. She had enormous trouble removing shoes and stockinettes, trouble replacing the dark glasses, trouble avoiding obstacles on stage, and overall gave the impression of being substance affected.
She ruined several old favourites including 'Moon River' and 'Funny Valentine' (which as it headlined the bass player it was sad she could not remember his name - he looked crestfallen but played brilliantly). The set came to a somewhat abrupt ending, as if she had just had enough. The band tried to cover for the problems, but overall I felt their pain, and that of the audience who began to leave really early on.
I fear this special lady may need some help.

A Christmas Haiku

My wish for you all
Is that peace sneaks its way in
To your hearts and minds

A Haiku on the Cure for Depression

Complex music swells
Deep Brain Stimulation
The Phoenix rises

A Haiku On Diagnosis

That DSM book
Pathologises our lives
Suggests we're all ill

Haiku on Delusion

I know I love you
You think it's all delusion
But I know I'm right
LOL

Seeking Solutions to Self-injury

One copy of our new booklet 'Seeking Solutions to Self-injury; a Guide for School Staff' has been sent to principals at all catholic and private schools in Queensland, free of charge. We have had some surprising and really lovely feedback. This really quirky thing has happened, and I wanted to share it with you. Two schools have asked for 100 copies and are willing to pay the small price ($2.00 each +pp) !!!. Woo-hoo....
Within a day or so you should be able to download a copy from http://www.suicidepreventionstudies.org/index.html