Tradness & Madness

Hello!

I think that may be the longest between posts...

Anywhoo, where to start...


Ah yes! We went to Melbourne, we lost another night sleep. But it's the way of the cheap backpacker: Travel overnight to save on a nights accommodation :)

We weren't happy to find our flight delayed though:



But after watching a beautiful sunrise stretch across Victoria from the plane, we were ready and very excited to be heading back to Melbourne:

- that's an excited face on Dave I assure you!

We checked into a backpackers around the corner from where I used to live, and after a short nap, we were out taking pictures and wandering the streets in search of the ghosts of our time here:

Some things were finally finished too, like the Eureka tower(One of the tallest in the world I believe) and Southern Cross Station (The buildings noises from this one kept us awake for a few months)


I revisited a few old picture sights:

And saw some of the old buskers too:



Twas time for me to go around and see if I could wing my way into the old apartment block...







I did! But I couldn't use the lift, tis key operated. But still, twas nice to waddle in this far:



In our room in the hostel was a Samoan guy, now these fellas are huge by nature, and extremely strong! He seemed fine at first, but things got a bit hairy. He started dealing drugs out the bedroom window. He would sleep all day, and go out all night. He shall also remain nameless. Let's call him Don. Don was nice to us, and basically seemed a bit lonely really. We felt a wee bit sorry for him. I even lent him $15 when he ran out of money. But after he said 'I get paid tomorrow in my account, I'll sort you out then' - I knew I would never see it again. As 'tomorrow' was a Saturday, and wages don't go anywhere on Saturdays.
A long story short, the Friday night, he went out, came back in with a prostitute halfway through the day, using his key to bring here around the hostel, trying to get lads to come the where she worked. Obviously Don got some money for doing this.
I headed to bed, put in my earplugs and hoped the rest of the night would be fine.
It was in way, but he came in at 6 in the morning, hammered.
He proceeds to phone his Mum in Adelaide, which is an hour behind.
Don was simple, we chatted lightly, and slowly.
On the phone to his Mam, he told her how he loved Dave and I...
Strange.
He also told her how he had bet the shit out of several people that night and got a really good phone out of one of the beatings...(Which was part of his plan to pay me back, he said the next morning)
Don had also beaten up Harry Potter and cut his hand???... (Dunno what that's about, must have been some poor dude with a bowl haircut and glasses)
She didn't sound to bothered(She was on loudspeaker by the way)
Don told his Mother he was going to come home and beat the shit out of his brother for doing so much heroin...
But that he didn't want to spend anymore time in jail...

....you can see where all this is going.
After an hour of this sort of talk, he finally hung up the phone, and fell asleep. Probably the only place he can find peace you may think? No.
Don liked to beat the wall with his fists in his sleep and roar abuse in between bouts of Sleep Apnea.

Enough about that!
On to brighter subjects! :)

Sessions.

One of the main reasons I miss Melbourne, is the people I met at the trad sessions.
John Fitz moved out here in '59 with his two brothers, Paddy and Joe, they are the centre of the trad scene in this city ever since. John can play more instruments than I can name:


The Corkman was another session I went to, but I missed the most part of it this time:


I went down to the old bridge outside where I worked that we used to run over the top of, a bit mad really we were!
I sat and played some music for my wee friend here:


Twas then time to hitch a tram out to the Dan O'Connell for a belter of a session:

- we started at six, and went on for about 5hours! Luckily I had stayed in bed very late before this. We headed down the road to see some old timey music in the railway bar.

I headed off pretty soon after getting there so as not to miss my tram back into the city centre. Some musicians were here from when I used to play, and some new ones, everyone is great here. I'd love to live here...

Anywhoo, just got a text for session happening in a house out in the suburbs, gotta go! :)