why I'm not going to see the fall tonight

1. Because if someone had said to me, or anyone, the night I first saw the Fall in 1982 at the Seaview Ballroom, 'I'd rather see a band from 28 years ago (i.e. 1954) because they're really happening', we would all say 'that is the worst attitude you could have, new music is where it's at.' And I still believe that.

2. Because all those people, except me and four of the five people who played as The Fall on that night, will be there.

3. Because if it was 'Mark E. Smith and [insert some random band name]' playing, no-one would go; and if it was 'Mark E. Smith and [insert some random band name]' and a promise that 'Mark E. Smith and [insert some random band name]' were going to play a bunch of old Fall songs, some people would feel like someone was trying to pull a con.

4. Because if it is him and my granny on bongos, well, she's dead.

5. Because the new album's not bad. I think I would rather hear the new album.

6. Because I am terrified of the prospect of someone coming up to me and saying 'I knew you'd be here'. (This happens sometimes on the rare occasions I go to reunion/sentimental shows).

7. Because there is literally and conclusively and irrefutably no way it could be a better show than the shows they played in Melbourne in 1982, and I saw (a couple of) those shows.

8. Because even if they play a great show, they're not edgy any more. They're establishment. (I mean, so am I, and I was never even edgy. But the world where it's a statement to like The Fall is long gone. I think the world where it's a statement to like any band is gone. I don't think that really bothers me, either).

wet day

(1) It is going to be an incredibly wet day apparently. Brace for it (if you live in Victoria). I woke up just in time to get the washing off the line. The first lot of washing was quite dry and by the time I got to the last bit it was quite damp. Hope our roof doesn't leak further - it may.

(2):

this is my book

Well, that's a lie. It's half mine as an editor and 1/6 mine as an author. But this is the book I've been working on for the last four years and it is going to be available next week. I hope you will buy three or four copies for xmas presents. University of NSW Press. Nice paper.

stock

We only went to Perth for 36 hours but for some reason our various vegetables in the fridge let themselves go as a consequence and we came back to slimy asparagus and yellow broccoli. So I am making stock with the addition of potatoes with the shoots cut off and some of that massively expensive garlic. When I put it in the pot I thought, god, I might just as easily go out and spoon crap out of the compost bin, but in fact it has been cooking gaily away for an hour or so now and it smells excellent.

Yesterday was overheated but today is a nice cool (if still a bit muggy) day and I think it will be OK. As the dogs are outside I am the focus of attention by cats. Asha is sitting to my right looking perturbedly at Bela who is approaching me from the left. Bela is like a dinosaur, huge and impractical, and when he sits on the floor it's like a small 4WD has been left there. Asha is a trifle overweight due to the fact that she sleeps almost the entire day well into the night, usually in the bed like some kind of hypochondriac duchess, but her nervousness has stopped her from descending entirely into obesity. Asha sees herself as part of a pack of three: Mia, me and Bela. Anyone else is an enemy. Bela has no time for her at all, though they will sometimes sniff each other's faces, but it is as likely to end in him cuffing her with his claws as anything else. She also doesn't really trust her humans either, and considers anything they do to be potentially life-threatening and vicious, so she is always running away, and in that really irritating way of getting underfoot while doing it.

I am going to take Charlie and Barry on a walk to Glenroy, to take a swag of books back to the library there. That will be my main activity of the day I feel.

just trying to get the taste of field of dreams out of my mouth

This is such a brilliant film, still far and away my favourite of all time. Even the thumbnail here is wonderful. I have been dipping into a bio of T-T (Graham McCann's Bounder!) and all it says about MMM is that it is an 'enjoyable but uneven crime farce'. (p. 100). I mean really!