fifteen years ago, rowland s. howard (and new estate) at the tote

There's nothing to read, just some crappy pictures, but RSH had less than two years left to live, he played an amazing set and of course I wish I'd recorded it (though no doubt someone did). 

the curse of being interested

So I am more or less better, with still some fevers, fatigue but obviously it's not going to kill me this time. I am still having some weird nights but I can handle it and today has been the best yet. Going to have a light week (as light as you can have with five hours of lectures - ! Over four days though). 

Yesterday I listened to a few episodes of the new series of the Oh Brother podcast, the podcast done by the Hanley brothers out of The Fall. They're an interesting pair and I like how they themselves continue to be interested in the group even though they were completely gone from its ranks decades ago. I decided I should listen to it because The Fall were really starting to get on my wick, and it's silly, I really liked them for a long time and I mean Mark Smith himself was really good to me the one time I met him, what's my fucken problem. I think it partly came from this issue not only the n-word itself but a very pat comment posted by one anonymous passer-by who pushed all the wrong buttons for me. But that's extra to the argument isn't it. I am trying to put it all to bed and get on with things.

Oddly enough the real thing that brought this to a head for me was an article somewhere - god knows where I read it - along the lines of 'yes, there are actually people who prefer the recent Simpsons', testimony from mainly young people who found the initial seasons of the Simpsons to be too harsh and retrograde, and I was sort of like - well, yeah you have to see it in context. Then I was like, what kind of world is it when you can't see the context? (Not that, mind you, the context of the song 'The Classical' really justifies the use of that word). This afternoon when we watched Monkey Business and the ongoing joke of Harpo chasing women, like, literally chasing them, kind of brought it home to me. My mind instantly went to: what would he do when he caught one? OK, maybe I'm not actually 100% better yet. I can't really think this through. 

By the way that Cherry Red ad came up in my feed (said the rooster) a few times and I have to say that if I didn't recognise Mark E Smith in those faces I'd assume that they were generic heads and I'd be very confused, because yeah, I don't recognise any of those people, lol, except him. But I note it's 4/5 fellers. Maybe it's a late period line-up of The Fall? Come to think of it that's the most likely.

freedom

So I am now technically no longer infectious and I am permitted to walk amongst you, the community. But I have to say I do still feel just as ordinary as I did yesterday and indeed this morning I had a horrendous headache which somehow was not helped by some machinery operating in the street outside for about an hour (or rather it was helped, to continue to be a headache). I suppose I will apply the reasoning that what I really need is some fresh air though, and I will actually leave the house, soon.

phil freedman

Melbourne Age 'Green Guide' 17 May 1979 p. 9

So I was wondering about the Homicide scriptwriters and did a search on Phil Freedman, there was a great article about him in the Green Guide in May '79 by John Teerds. Teerds was, oddly from our perspective now perhaps, more interested in Freedman's earlier work as a radio scriptwriter but Freedman's preference for TV busts out. Freedman was 64 when the article was written so I guess he was born in 1915 and now he's around 107. He started work in 1933 doing short stories for various magazines eg New Idea and I gather from another article that he had a short story in a collection in the late, um, I think 1930s. Interesting tidbit - Freedman lived in Walhalla in the late 1940s but who knows why! That was when Maurice West of all people persuaded him to write for radio. 

The direct quotes about Homicide are the most interesting to me though. He says of the show, 'We had a lot of criticism. It was a lack of slickness that was criticised by some. It might have been phrased differently but that's what it was - a lack of polish.

'People complained about the Australian accent and critics were unkind.

'I felt there was a lack of sympathy to the effort because we were teaching ourselves. There was very little encouragement.

'But the public loved it. They were obviously hungry for Australian stuff and they loved seeing things like the trams.

'Oddly enough, when it was shown to the people Metro Goldwyn Mayer they liked it too.

'They liked the sort of homespun look about it.' 

I must say I am still getting a huge amount out of watching these shows, not only historically in terms of the built environment, or social attitudes, or seeing actors who later became huge or were just very interesting and unusual actors, but also because often the stories are pretty good - at very least, tightly scripted and economically and imaginatively executed, and at best, compelling drama. I was watching one today I think called 'The Black Book' though now I come to think of it I can't imagine why it would be called that, with Sonia Borg and Leonard Teale on a pier at Black Rock and it was very early Polanski, and I was thinking, well we really missed out in many ways from this talent not having the opportunity to thrive in great film drama etc, at least a lot of it didn't have that opportunity, that didn't come until the 70s. But then many of these people were obviously often very versatile and apparently in constant theatre, radio, television work - it was surely a pretty satisfying life for many of them. 

The other great thing about Crawfords in the 60s (and beyond?) was their willingness to take on non-Anglo actors - they did this a lot - and people like Sonia Borg who was at least a triple threat if not more, acting and working as a scriptwriter and I think a kind of commissioning editor for the show. I see she later wrote the script for Storm Boy. 

I could ramble on. Obviously. 

fcuwm6: homicide 'end of class'

This is a mildly interesting episode of Homicide apparently first broadcast 16 August 1966. The pictures I took have uploaded in reverse order but that doesn't really matter to me. First, a picture of Leslie Dayman who just seems every bit as perfect in a Homicide regular detective role as Leonard Teale - he has the appropriate cragginess but also a guppy spark.

Brian Hannan and Chris Christensen received a Logie that year in the category of 'men closest in age to be cast in father and son role'. 

Here's Leslie Dayman as Bill Hudson rescuing the schoolboy Gary (Hannan) from the fey but malevolent killer schoolboy Alan (Roland Heimans). Good water work guys. 

I couldn't find much about Heimans although he is in another Homicide episode, from the following year, I'm guessing playing another troubled youth:

Possibly the most interesting thing about this clipping is that it's treating Homicide episodes as 'plays'. Anyway, looking forward to 'The Destroyer', but back to 'End of Class'. The sea arrest/rescue above takes place after an exchange in a beach box at which Alan reveals he killed Lorraine by pushing her off the roof because she made him angry. The conversation in the beach box is funny because it has to be contrived to be in a beach box because outside scenes in Homicide couldn't be filmed with sound (the sound is overdubbed often very unconvincingly). So Alan has to say to Cheryl, 'let's go to the beach box, I have something to tell you' or similar. But there was no reason I could see that he couldn't tell her on the beach itself, no-one else was around. 

This was an odd scene, with Lorraine's father calling the police to tell them he wasn't going to pay for her funeral because he'd disowned her at the age of 12 and that was that. William J. Adams plays 'Mr. Purvis'. I hope for his sake this was not a good angle. Imagine if this was his best. The inclusion of this little scene is presumably intended to remind us that girls like Lorraine, who tell multiple men/boys that they have made her pregnant and have to marry her, are not born bad but made bad by shitty fathers like Mr. Purvis. I just liked the notion that Purvis assumed the police took care of people's funerals, though now I come to think of it, for all I know back then they did everything. 

These are probably the best things in this episode. Alan made a bunch of drawings which he gave to Lorraine. We see quite a few of them, the only one that the detectives are interested in is the first in the series which we see twice in the show, but this is the last in the series and oddly we don't really see it at all - the camera catches it but the edit is so fast it's only because I photographed it using the 'live' function of my phone that we can now see it in all its glory. 

This one does not fit in with any cats and dogs metaphor I've ever heard, but carry on Alan. 

So this is the drawing that makes Lorraine go up to the roof. I just want to say that the only reason that she is enabled to go up to the roof during class time, and her killer to follow her there, is that the teacher unexpectedly leaves the room. This is a serious plot fault. 

The drawings being handed over to the detectives by the teacher Howard Brennan. 

The detectives interviewing Cheryl Reade, a fairly uninteresting schoolgirl character played by Joy Mitchell an actress with a very impressive body of work up till more or less the present day. Mitchell and Roland Heimans had both been members of the University of Melbourne's Union Theatre in the early 60s (as had Sheila Florance, just by the by). 

Exciting

Lorraine and Cheryl in class. 

Sometimes, when Homicide eps are particularly deep social issue ones, they'll get John Fegan to introduce with a kind of pipe-in-the-hand chat. In this case it's all about how today's teenagers face problems never before known and need some understanding and empathy from parents. What I don't get is whether this is meant to be John Fegan, or Inspector Jack Connolly? He never says 'in tonight's episode', or 'here our assembled players present a tableaux within which...' 

Note the phone handset which all the detectives get a go on in Homicide. I can just imagine some bright spark in the postmaster general's office figuring out how to make a new type of phone exciting - give a couple to Homicide. 'Everyone will want one!' (I think they did). Update: I was completely wrong about this and I really should pay attention to the end of the end credits:

It's an Ericofon. I was so beholden to my memory of the amazing time (mid-80s?) when Telecom (?) allowed us to buy our own phones rather than rent them from Telecom that the intricacies of the Ericsson Ericofon escaped me (and still do). I mean I definitely remember the phones - my grandparents had one, it rocked and rooled. Also, in case you're obsessed, the Moreland Plant Farm was at 45 Sydney Road Coburg. They also had a branch at 7a Military Road Avondale Heights. 

fcuwm5

I'm about half way through watching this Finnish thriller on SBS - for English-speaking markets it's called East of Sweden which is a pretty ridiculous title (admittedly I'm only half way through but it has no connection to East of Eden though I suppose yeah you have to admit that Finland is east of Sweden and it's true one of the characters does apparently at one point aspire to go to Sweden but still...). The original title is Kääntöpiste which means 'turning point' which I guess is about as non-specific as you need it to be. 

So far it's quite well-constructed (bizarrely like about half of the Finnish films I've seen in the last year it also features Laura Birn!). But what's really strange is the amount of shots where the boom is visible. I guess if this happened once you'd go, well, once is ok. But this is so frequent I'm almost wondering if it's deliberate! 

It's not always as obvious as above but it can still be pretty flipping obvious, particularly once you start noticing. Weird!!!

Anyway, not a terrible film and it does feature some things I love like Finland, trains and... that's about it. Actually it just occurred to me that most of the action is taking place in Oulu, which is a city I love, though we haven't seen any notable streetscapes yet, I hope we do. 

A lot of it is in English I'm not sure why. 

fcuwm4

Word is I should treat this illness as though I needed more rest than I feel like I do, which is hard. This morning I felt dreadful on waking but now aside from a mild headache I feel completely fine. So figure that out. Yesterday I watched a lot of Homicides. Saw some interesting people. I'm not even going to ask you to guess these two because the two people I showed them to who were very au fait with their body of work a few decades later, were unable to place them at all. OK, one little clue (aside from the one dropped in the previous post) just in case you want to play: They were famous together. Bizarrely, they were in consecutive eps of Homicide. 

'Ray Fox' in the episode 'Wasp Nest'

'Alice Baker' in the episode 'Let's Get Together' 

OK it's Ian Smith and Anne Charleston. Well I was excited. 

I wonder if they regret making that record. I would. 

Someone I am really loving in these Homicides Gerard Kennedy. He's fabulous. He had bit roles in Homicide four times in 1966. Here he is as the jive talking boxer Eddie Stevens in 'Knife and Beads'.

And here he is as 'Peter O'Brien', the deluded escapee who shoots Bronson in Elsternwick. He's 90 years old this year, fabulous actor. 

One more thing in 'Knife and Beads' is this funny little moment when the three detectives get out of the car with their guns ready for a shoot out in a suburban house and this little kid waddles down the street. I wonder if they even noticed she was there (I mean, the camera crew). That kid is my age lol. 

Along with my comfort watching of old Homicides I am indulging in comfort listening to the new series of Just a Minute on the BBC app. I'm conflicted, because although (or because?) it's well-stocked with all the favourites from the last decade plus, and while the last few years of Nicholas Parsons was a little awkward as there were clearly moments when he didn't know what was happening and the others indulged him, now without him they do seem to be floundering a little. What's odd is that Paul Merton, who was definitely in cahoots with Parsons as the kind of second-in-command, and would in other circumstances make the move up to being the new host, clearly doesn't want to because he can't then do what he does best - be funny as a contestant - and so others like Sue Perkins (who's always good) and Jenny Eclair (ditto) and Gyles Brandreth (who despite myself I find hilarious) are doing it. I actually think that NP's great value was that, while he could be funny himself, he really just took a schoolteacher role, trying to reign in the mayhem, and being strict with the rules. I think there is a slight air of desperation here with JAM at the moment, and this series certainly sees a lot more interruptions that NP wouldn't have tolerated - of the 'What's your challenge?' 'I just wanted him to stop' kind of variety. 

The show still has not secret weapons exactly, but definitely weapons. I love Sheila Hancock, and I certainly hope I'm half as switched on as she is when I'm 89 (I'm not even sure I am now). I actually really enjoy almost everyone on the program. But I suppose I would have to say that it's not as good as it was with NP, and it won't have a chance of getting there again until they instal a new chair who is either slightly less funny and slightly more clueless than the rest of them - or can fake being so. 

missed the bus - 2012

I spent 45 minutes waiting for a fucking bus this morning. It appears I just missed one (though since I didn’t see it, I am pretty certain it was early). After twenty minutes I started on a meaningless round of calls to various numbers to try and get some satisfaction from the bus company or if not satisfaction, at least some information. No-one was ready to take any responsibility. The bus driver wasn’t either but at least he took it personally (blaming traffic and traffic lights). Fuck the lot of them.

Oh and the final insult was having to listen to James Brown singing ‘I feel good’ on the radio in the bus when it finally did come. And Bruce Sfuckpfuckrfuckifucknfuckgfucksfucktfuckefuckefucknfuck.

fcuwm 3

Age TV Radio Guide 17 May 1966 p. 1

I had been having trouble with my Homicide discs and one was proving to be pretty unplayable really so I put the next one in and it seemed worse if anything, but this morning I tried it again and got to play the first episode 'Prove it' which I actually didn't enjoy much but perhaps I'm just not in the mood to enjoy things. This episode has absolutely no twist in its tail at all, the police think the man is guilty and they just spend an hour going through procedures with fake blood and films of them crawling over each other to get out of a car, and then they prove it. 

One thing that does mess with me in Homicide is whenever they do a line-up, it's not behind one-way glass or anything - witness and accused meet each other in person. I guess that's how they did it then. Seems very weird though. 

Age TV-Radio Guide 19 May 1966 p. 2

This is an interesting show less for the storyline (average) and more for the setting. It's all Moomba parade, and Herald Outdoor Art Show. 

Just a random Princes Bridge shot. Then a sort of random State Library (actually, at the time it was also the Art Gallery and the Museum) shot. 

This is the building opposite the library/art gallery/museum. The Oddfellows Building, 339 Swanston. 

This the Herald Outdoor Art Show, and some of the art.

And this is the parade. The last image is about as confusing as Homicide gets. 

fcuwm 2

Remember when Greg Wadley wrote (anonymously) the amazing novella Diary of a Cold? Well exactly. All this has meant thus far is I have slept a lot - this morning between about 9 and 12 in particular very heavily - and also this afternoon, and I have a bit of a headache. It's not even really as bad as a cold or a hangover. I do appreciate that I am a bit ditzy and muddled, but that's nothing special. 

Helmi and Nancy are being very good companions as well of course, by which I mean to me, not to each other, they provide the eternal dance of hostility and jealousy which is as old as time as they sit/lie either side of me on the bed. Sometimes Helmi will get up and with a small whimper move towards Nancy presumably to attack her, and I put my hand in front of her face, and she realises she didn't really feel like doing anything after all. 

finally caught up with me

 

So I finally got covid, from an unknown source but obviously it could have been from any number of sources, although unlike many people I have still worn a mask on PT, in shops mainly, in the library etc. But it was always going to happen and it is not so bad (so far). It's just a nuisance to have to be at home for a week, although the cats are going to be happy about it I'd say. 

Everything comes at once, I don't mean covid, that's just one thing, but I got the final proofs of my DeGaris book, I got two journal articles published online this week, and another accepted by an international journal - it's amazing how everything comes at once. 

new buzzcocks songs

I don't have much to say about this but there is an article in today's Guardian about a new Buzzcocks album, the first since Pete Shelley died, and the first to be composed (I assume) entirely by Steve Diggle. Let's be real, Diggle has his moments but he wasn't the songwriting genius Shelley was at his peak. Let's also be real about the fact that the Buzzcocks' output since their reformation in um 1990? hasn't really produced anything of great value, certainly nothing as good as their original three and a half albums (well, four and a half, if you include Singles Going Steady and why wouldn't you since it's one of the greatest pop records of the 20th century). So I was intrigued by the idea of new post-Shelley Buzzcocks and I was kind of ready to be exposed to a load of shit when I searched for the new single on YouTube, 'Senses out of control'. Well. It's actually not as terrible as I thought it would be, I mean, if I was the producer I'd do a bunch of things differently but perhaps it's not quite time to write Steve Diggle off. Perhaps my low expectations have warped my sense of it. Not sure. I'm also just kind of really impressed by Steve Diggle at 66, the guy looks old, I mean he perhaps even looks older than he is really, but he doesn't give a fuck about that presumably and I have to respect it, by which I mean, whether I have to or not, I do. The image above is from another video for another song, called 'Gotta Get Better'. Which is also not appalling. So... props. 

early helmi

So just for interest's sake (mine) I went searching for evidence of early Helmi on the Cat People of Melbourne site. Helmi was presumably born in 2017, and by the time this ad was put online she'd weaned her litter and was ready to move on (I'm only guessing that she was a very young mother, and might be confused by her smallness). But even the way she is sitting in this picture is confusing to me, she seems atypically very confident, once again, I'm probably projecting. 

These are two of her kittens, in a series of photos and a video put online a month earlier (February 2018). In the video we are told that 'Mittens' had put her kittens in this basket and then hidden behind the couch - that last part certainly sounds like the Helmi I know.  Also the Helmi I know would, very considerately, put newspaper down first. 

And screenshots from *that* video wherein Helmi (as she was to become) is happily washing herself and not giving much of a shit about her surroundings while in the room with her kittens and...

this little dog, who's playing with one of them. The dog-in-the-room bit blows me away. 

Anyway that's just how it was. By the way, sherlock, the 2018 date on the top image does not indicate that I have no idea of time, but apparently she was adopted somewhere and the person who took her on ultimately had to find another home for her because they were unable to stay in the country - that at least was how I remember the story. Point being she had another home between 2018 and 2019/20. There might be clues the mystery of her strangeness in that episode but I don't really know. She is in any case very highly-strung and I have a strong suspicion that, were I to put her in a room with a small white dog, she would not be like 'whatever, dude'.