So we went down to Barwon Heads on Saturday for the purposes of witnessing the joining together of Mark and Bianca in holy matrimony at, appropriately, the Holy Family church in Hitchcock Ave Barwon Heads. The ceremony performed by Father Mick was entirely appropriate. FM is a guy who knows how to play to his crowd, though whether anyone felt personally singled out by his apparently impromptu riffing on the topic of the prostitutes of Corinth is between them and god and Father Mick. The reception afterwards was a big bash and the speeches, not least by the redoubtable best man Matt Green were a smash. The food was good and the wine flowed freely. Continued proof that I am getting old or wise came when I voluntarily abandoned a 3/4 full bottle of cab sav that I had been (without really thinking) determined to finish. We went back via the Barwon Heads Hotel at which we saw a bald-headed old man cover band closing their set with Ben Lee's hit single, and a bouncer (hmm, I accidentally typed 'bounder') onstage who not only surveyed the crowd with a steely glare but also had a bit of a bop.
The next day we awoke in our hosts' very cosy granny flat - actually, I awoke long before Mia probably a little worse from the effect of the let's-just-call-it-claret and went for a stroll up Sheepwash Road before being driven back by light rain that threatened to become heavier. We were reunited with Michael, Nicola and Laurie in the Barwon Heads car park and had a big breakfast at Beachnik's before driving back via Ocean Grove and etcetera.
We got back to our house and baby things had to be done (by MN&L) but I had the pleasure of taking Laurie out to see Millie and Charlie who liked to sniff his face and I will long have fond memories of sitting with Laurie up at the back of our property on the spool with Millie by my side and Laurie grabbing little fistfuls of Millie's back hair. I was patting her too just in case his attentions weren't enough.
I had had a fitful sleep the previous night so I slept some more fitfuls in the afternoon and then we went down to the Old Bar for the Grey Tapes/Jessica Says/Human 6 Billion show. Grey Tapes played pretty well I think. We had three new songs and I had not (why this is even worthy of comment I don't know - I haven't written anything close to complete let alone decent lyrics in about three years) really completed my side of the bargain but whatever. At least if you're a drummer and a singer when you're not singing you can look like you're very involved in your drumming (qv my cover for the Sleepy Township/Cannanes 7", 'I'm not drumming I'm eating chinese food') and no-one will hold it against you except those who were already predisposed to holding something against you. Jessica Says was basically Jessica (I don't know her second name; when she was filling out her hobbyist form afterwards to get paid I tried to focus my eyes on her surname just because I need to know everyone's name if I possibly can, but I couldn't see it and I didn't want to seem nosey even though obviously I am) with a keyboard and Geoff with some shakers, so kind of the Sly Hats but the dynamic was different. Afterwards Mia and I discussed the similarity in sound to Kate Bush but decided this was probably an organic process and in no way deliberate or probably even an influence. She was apparently very nervous but why is anyone's guess as she clearly has an incredible future (as I said to her afterwards, in a spiel that probably sounded as patronising as it looks here but was meant to be slightly more Sunday-night-in-the-Old-Bar philosophical, 'you'll go a long way - I've come a long way and I've ended up here' or something similar.) Alright, that does read pretty wanky but praise for others has never been my strong suit.
Human 6 Billion were also amazing. I had heard an earlier recording they'd done (not with the present band) and I said to Peter 'it's exactly the kind of music I love - literate, philosophical [shit, there's that word again, and I use it in the dumbest way] and also funny' which it is. I might also have put the word 'wordy' in there too, maybe not, but it would have been appropriate. Anyway, the addition of the rhythm section was a genius move as they really add to the dynamics of the whole thing. H6B actually won the crowd over, something I have rarely seen done at any level of performance. People were talking through their first couple of songs because I guess of the tried and true attitude of 'who are they? I don't know. Better use this opportunity to chat to my friends loudly' - kind of territorial chatting I guess. Anyway they'd all shut up before long.
By the end of the night I felt nauseous. Actually I had already felt nauseous earlier and had devoured a pack of quick-eze but it hadn't done much good. Mia thought it was an after effect of the claret combined with non-stodgy food the night before (although our breakfasts had been pretty rich). Anyway we came home and ate a bowl each of Kraft macaroni cheese deluxe, which just goes to show, life is good.
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