Dave Warner's Blog, page 10

DECEMBER NEWS LETTER

Twitter: @suburbanwarner

Instagram: davew.author

Website: www.davewarner.com.au

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Dave-Warner-370719336278939/

Post: Anthem Pty Ltd, p.o. box 580,
Balgowlah, NSW 2093

Hi there
Suburban Soldiers,

A Merry
Aussie Christmas to you all.

Thank you again
for your continued support. It is very much appreciated, whether it is buying
merch, borrowing a book from a library, playing a cd or even commenting on line.  I just wanted to let you know of a few
exciting things happening in my musical and book world.  

These last few months I have been flat out with various music projects so please let me update you.

MUSIC

First, as
many of you know I have finally filled in the last gap of my musical CV by
releasing a Christmas single.  I know it
is a departure from Old Stock Rd etc but I always loved a good crooning
Christmas song and don’t see why Australia shouldn’t have one.

It will cost
you virtually nothing to download on CD Baby, stream on Spotify, or view on YouTube so please give it a go, and if you enjoy it – share.

But don’t
worry you rampant SUBURBAN SOLDIERS there is more than enough of the
traditional Suburban fare heading your way – and here is the really big news

I am
reissuing MUGS GAME AS A DOUBLE VINYL ALBUM. Expected release is JANUARY 2020.

Not only
will all the original tracks of the album be included but you’ll get a bonus
record with never before released tracks from 1977 including Johnny Leopard
performing ‘Ballad Of Coyote Pass’. The album will also include a number of the
London demos that were made available on the current Mugs Game double CD
re-issue, plus ‘Clarke’s Bolero’, only ever released on vinyl as flip to ‘Suburban
Boy’, plus ‘Free Kicks’ the follow up single to ‘Suburban Boy’.

This a
LIMITED EDITION and if you wish to make sure of your order, please click here and order your copy for $45 plus POST. The album should be
despatched early January, although there is a slim chance you may get it by
Christmas.

This is a
REDUCED OFFER for PRE-ORDERS. Once the album is on the market the cost will be
$50 plus post.

IN ADDITION
– for those who like streaming and downloads, I will be making available for
the first time SUBURBS LIVE AT THE VICTORIA AND SHENTON PARK HOTELS 1977.
All the tracks from the original 3 unlabelled tapes will be included.

I will post
on FB, Twitter and Instagram about this so please get ready.

ALSO
PLANS ARE AFOOT TO REFORM FOR ONE TOUR THE REMAINING MUGS GAME SUBURBS – Paul, John, Tony, Howie and
myself.  This will be late May early June
2020.

One hopes it
won’t be, but it may be the only chance we get to do this again.

But there is
a strong chance of Perth dates before then with the normal outfit.

And to
complete the MUGS GAME EXCITEMENT I am doing a whole new batch of the popular MUGS
GAME TEE-SHIRTS.

OTHER
RELEASES

In a very
exciting development. I am also working on an audio-book autobiography of the
early Suburbs years. Expect that around March next year.

For SPORTS
FANS who enjoyed my DARK SIDE OF THE SCRUM album, for about
$5 you can download the whole album on CD Baby or stream on Spotify 

And for those fans of the great EAST FREMANTLE FOOTBALL CLUB the footy songs I have written over the years are also available. Download four tracks for less than a coffee from CD Baby.

One of the
tracks ‘THE YEAR EAST FREO WON THE FLAG’ is a universal song about the bonds
made among fans following a team. It is not restricted to East Fremantle and I
think it’s a really touching song.  You
can find the very modest clip I made using personal photos – just click here. A lot of my time over the last six months has
gone to finishing off the album for my wife Nicole. With Martin Cilia I have
written all the tracks. Former Suburb Neville Dowling helped on keyboards as
did ex Loaded-Dice Jon Zielman from Holland. My regular Suburb Phil Bailey was
a great help and Tony Cooper who used to play with Neville in Visitor helped
enormously on the production side. ‘Junkies Drunks and Robbers’, the first
single from the album FOREVER AND A DAY will be out in January. Please
give us your support. We think the songs are really great and Nicole’s voice is
super.

BOOKS

My latest book ‘River of Salt’ came out in April and I’ve
been very pleased with the reaction of readers out there, many of whom took the
trouble to contact me.  So, if you are
one of those who has read ‘River of Salt’, I really hope you enjoyed it.  For those who haven’t taken the plunge it is
a crime novel that starts in 1961 in Philadelphia where we meet a young
contract killer, Blake who wants out of that life. He wants to surf and play
twang guitar. Things go badly wrong and he winds up on the north coast of NSW
in 1963 playing guitar just like he wanted. But when a murder happens up the
coast and he and his friends might be implicated, Blake has to track down the
real killer.   As a special addition I
wrote and recorded with Martin, a song ‘No Good Can Come From This’ that Blake
sings on p 33. Download here or watch on
YouTube.

Since then I have
been hard at work on my next novel which is set in New York in the current day.
It is a crime novel but very different to my usual style.  I know already that some readers are going to
find the contrast a hard adjustment but I’m hopeful that ultimately, they will
enjoy it just as much.  I think it’s a
really good story.  It is a little early
to give too much away but stay tuned.

BTW if you ever would like to buy a copy personally
inscribed to you or a special person, email me at dave@davewarner.com.au and
we’ll work something out.

AUDIO
BOOKS

A number of my titles are available on Audio Book now.

You can buy the physical audio books via Wavesound, or download from sites like Audible or ask your library to get
them in. It is a wonderful and exciting new medium and I am planning a lot of
new projects in this area.

That’s it for now.

Have a Merry Aussie Christmas and remind the world it’s a
Mug’s Game!

Yours in Mugdom

Dave Warner

NEW SINGLE: MERRY AUSSIE CHRISTMAS OUT NOW

After 40 years of recording Dave has done his first Christmas single

I love Christmas: Christmas songs, Christmas movies, Christmas decorations. And I’ve always loved a novelty song. Even in Pus days I’d slip into a little torch song now and again. Two years ago at Christmas while in Greece staying with ex Pus guitarist Nick Geronimus, I wrote this song. My good friends Martin Cilia and Tony Cooper then came in and helped construct and polish it with their own personal touches. My original idea was to see if somebody else might do it and I do hope that a David Campbell or John Farnham might record it in future. For now though you are stuck with me. I hope you love it, put it in your Xmas playlists, share and use it as a Christmas card.

Here are the links you need for your full Merry Aussie Christmas experience: Spotify, YouTube, CD Baby.

If you’d like to try my Spotify ‘Dishyest Wishyest Christmas List for Lovers’ click here.

Books and Songs

Sometimes in my brain the link between a book I write and a piece of music is incredibly strong. The strongest was this year when I wrote the song No Good Can Come From This after hearing it in my head as I wrote a passage in River of Salt. I recorded the song and encourage any of you who are reading or who have read the book to listen to the song. It goes with p 33. You can find the song on Spotify or download it for about a dollar (CD Baby).

The reverse happened with Before It Breaks. Set in Broome I wanted the oppressive atmosphere from my track Waiting For The Cyclone. Again, it is available on Spotify to stream or you can download. Sit back, have a cool drink, read a few pages with the song in the background.

Waiting For The Cyclone was on this. Preceded This Is Australia and Cattle And Cain in its brooding tension but you never hear that in any Aus rock history .

There is nothing specific for City of Light but I reckon Old Stock Rd might be a good match. Any other suggestions from somebody who has read or heard both? Old Stock Rd can be found on Spotify, downloaded individually or from the album Free Kicks. Exxxpresso likewise, no specific match but Rick’s obsession with his Ex Marietta is close to Craig Nelson from my play The King and Me and his obsession with his Ex. On the soundtrack album of The King and Me is a track I Don’t Need You Now. You can order the CD from my website. It’s not expensive. I’m thinking of recording the whole play as an audio book so stay tuned.

CD available from www.davewarner.com.au

Anyway, the link between prose and music can be fun to explore – try it sometime.

XXXPRESSO

Can’t believe it is coming up for twenty years since I penned this triple-crossing story of gold, coffee and psycho shylocks. http://a.co/aWZpSi3 One of my fave novels. Available on Kindle and Ibooks. https://itunes.apple.com/au/book/exxxpresso/id

DARK SIDE OF THE SCRUM

My 1990 comedy Rugby League album has been digitally remastered and is now available for download from CD Baby. Under $4 (U.S.) for fourteen tracks is I think as good a value as it gets. http://store.cdbaby.com/cd/davewarnerandthehappyhookers

Missing off the original release is I Wanna See Wally Play and Single Hope because it would have taken too long to go back and clear the songs. All the others are there however, like

THE BALLAD OF MARIO –

Oh little Mario he plays for Rabbitohs

Along with Davo he forms a tough combo

He runs from dummy half Mario is really tough

Don’t confuse with boxer bloke though Mario can really poke

Mario wears headband to show he’s a Pat Cash fan

He’s true Australian though his family started alien

Now he owns a restaurant he’s a model for young ethnic punks

When they are feeling low they follow Mario

But there was a contract out and Mario he was in doubt

If he wear green and red could wind up with horse’s head in bed

That’s one scenario don’t appeal to Mario

To end up like Brando Godfather Rabbitoh

HOME TOWN UMPIRING 2019

An amazing thing happened this year as the season passed
the half-way point and pressure built with many teams jostling for a place in
the top four or top eight, the players on AWAY sides – particularly Non-Victorian
AWAY sides, began to panic and give up a lot more free kicks than they had in
the first part of the season. Or maybe they just stopped contesting the ball
because their own free kick numbers tailed off.

Or I suppose there is one other possibility … the umpires
began to revert to their time-honoured tradition of FAVOURING HOME SIDES! 

Yes, after a promising start in which 2019 began as a year
of change where home-town umpiring began to shrink, it blossomed and bloomed
like weeds in an untended lawn as the season drove on.

Here is the final overall statistic:

OVERALL FREE KICK PERCENTAGE TO HOME SIDE          51.65

TO AWAY SIDE                                                        
   48.35

Many people find these overall percentages hard to digest –
on the face of it that doesn’t seem like a HUGE difference but let’s look at an
easier to grasp concept: Free Kicks in Games Of Large Differential
(G.O.L.D.)  I define G.O.L.D. games as
ones in which one team receives 56 % OR MORE of the frees, the other 44% or
less.

In 2019 apart from games which were played in neutral
areas with no obvious home crowd advantage there were 96 G.O.L.D. games. Of
these 96 games the HOME side was the beneficiary 61 times, the AWAY side just
35 times.

So around 63.5% of  G.O.L.D. games see the HOME side favoured and
THAT is a significant percentage.

Those of you who read this annual article of mine will be
aware that I also split games into 4 categories to test bias for or against
Victorian and Non-Victorian sides. Thus games are split into:

HOME VICTORIAN V AWAY VICTORIAN

HOME NON-VICTORIAN V AWAY VICTORIAN

HOME NON-VICTORIAN V AWAY NON-VICTORIAN

HOME VICTORIAN V AWAY NON-VICTORIAN.

Traditionally over the last fifteen years the sides who suffer
the worst free-kick bias against them are the AWAY SIDES in the third or fourth
categories mentioned: the Non-Vic sides. 
While Vic sides also suffer when playing away, with remarkable
consistency, they do not fare as badly as their Non-Vic counterparts.

Did 2019 follow this trend? Well Yes and No.

Here is the table for the categories in G.O.L.D. games.

HOME VICTORIAN V AWAY VICTORIAN : 29 G.O.L.D GAMES – Home side favoured 20 times (69%)

HOME NON-VICTORIAN V AWAY VICTORIAN 23 G.O.L.D GAMES – Home
side favoured 14 times (61%)

HOME NON-VICTORIAN V AWAY NON-VICTORIAN 15 G.O.L.D GAMES –
Home side favoured 9 times (60%)

HOME VICTORIAN V AWAY NON-VICTORIAN. 27 G.O.L.D GAMES – Home
side favoured 17 times (63%)

So in G.O.L.D. games for the first time since I have been
recording, it was Away Vic teams playing fellow Home Vic teams who came out
worst.  As usual though, Vic away sides
playing Non-Vic home sides weren’t as badly off as their counterparts.

Surprisingly the overall percentage of free-kicks in ALL
games in the above categories (not just G.O.L.D.) was more traditional.

HOME VICTORIAN V AWAY VICTORIAN 51.8 % to Home Teams

HOME NON-VICTORIAN V AWAY VICTORIAN 51% to Home Teams

HOME NON-VICTORIAN V AWAY NON-VICTORIAN 52.33% to Home
Teams

HOME VICTORIAN V AWAY NON-VICTORIAN. 51.9 % to Home Teams.

So, the overall frees in the categories reverted to default
with the Away Non-Vic sides faring worse whether they were playing Vic Home
sides or Non-Vic Home sides.

We can all speculate on the reasons for this clear
umpiring bias towards Home Teams. I’m pretty confident it is the simple desire
for umpires to be liked so they tend to NOT PAY free kicks to Away sides that
they ought to get. It is understandable that Vic teams get the bias because the
majority of footy media is based there. 
Remember the outcry over St Kilda, Richmond and North Melbourne not
getting the frees they should have against The Eagles while the same media
ignored worse and more persistent bias against The Dockers and Swans when
playing in Melbourne?  In one game against
the Bulldogs, Freo received 4 free kicks for an entire game!!! But not a word
was spoken of it in Melbourne.

Umpires also train there and have their HQ there.  But regardless of the reason it is extremely
poor from the AFL that the home bias persists.

Solutions: I believe we should train overseas umpires from
Ireland or America or wherever and fly them in and out. The locals clearly can’t
cut it, maybe a foreigner will.

HOME TOWN UMPIRING VOL XV1

Okay it’s now about 15 years since I started to check out stats on home town umpiring and about 10 since I did some assiduous stats work on it. Those of you who have followed me over the years will know that in general the stats show two significant things 1: HOME SIDES ARE FAVOURED BY UMPIRES 2: VICTORIAN SIDES PLAYING AWAY INTERSTATE ARE MUCH BETTER TREATED BY UMPIRES THAN INTERSTATE SIDES PLAYING AWAY.

2016 GF will live in infamy for its biased umpiring

The two stats I use are pretty simple – I’m not in the business of correlating every side in the AFL though there are a few well-worn trends there. Anyway, here’s the process. I break games into these 4 main categories VIC HOME V VIC AWAY, NON-VIC HOME V VIC AWAY, NON-VIC HOME V NON-VIC AWAY, VIC HOME V NON-VIC AWAY. I also have two smaller additional categories – games played on grounds where there is no home crowd advantage (eg Alice Springs or two Vic sides playing in Bendigo etc) and Non-Vic Derbies ( syd v gws, freo v west coast, crows v port).

Having broken games into these categories I tally up the frees and look at two stats: OVERALL PERCENTAGE of frees (optimum would be 50-50 in each category) and then GAMES OF LARGE DIFFERENTIAL FREE KICKS. This is the best stat to show home town favouritism. Essentially I flag any game where one side gets 56% or more of the frees and the other 44% or less. This I consider to be a significant differential. This stat has usually thrown up a huge discrepancy – in simple terms, an AWAY NON-VIC side will virtually never get a bucket more frees than the home side, while AWAY VIC sides will occasionally get more large differential frees when playing interstate and frequently get a large differential of frees when playing other Vic times in Victoria.

Now this year for THE FIRST TIME EVER at this time of the season there was VIRTUALLY NO SIGNIFICANT HOME UMPIRING ADVANTAGE except in, can you believe it, games in Victoria between two Victorian Teams.

So firstly let me say WELL DONE to the AFL UMPIRING DEPARTMENT. HERE are the basic stats.

OVERALL PERCENTAGE OF FREES

HOME VIC V AWAY VIC : HOME 51% AWAY 49%

HOME NON-VIC V AWAY VIC: HOME 50% AWAY 50%

HOME NON -VIC V AWAY NON-VIC: HOME 51% AWAY 49%

HOME VIC V AWAY NON-VIC: HOME 51% AWAY 49%

Games Of Large Differential (GOLD GAMES) IN FAVOUR OF –

HOME VIC V AWAY VIC : HOME 11 AWAY 5

HOME NON-VIC V AWAY VIC: HOME 6 AWAY 4

HOME NON -VIC V AWAY NON-VIC: HOME 4 AWAY 3

HOME VIC V AWAY NON-VIC: HOME 9 AWAY 7

This is an astonishing turnaround from the nadir of fair umpiring 2016, when of 23 GOLD games played between Victorian Home sides and Non-Victorian Away sides the split was 20 -3 in favour of the Vic home sides. It was also of course the year of the most unbalanced grand final umpiring ever seen when the umpires were clearly sucked in to the underdog momentum of the occasion.

Anyway, whether the fairness continues as the season reaches the pointy end remains to be seen. Already there are signs (Essendon v GWS) that this umpiring epiphany may be short-lived but let’s hope not, and once again well done to those umpires and their coaches who have found the fortitude to go against a barking crowd.

no free

Nothing To Lose

Geoff Buttsworth has asked me to include the lyrics of Nothing To Lose which I am happy to do. A big thanks to John without whom I wouldn’t have the attached photo. John knew I didn’t have a copy myself of the single so game me one. I had forgotten all about the little story I wrote my concerning my dear Mum, no longer with us, and the late John French.

NOTHING TO LOSE  dwarner.

Marlowe stood outside the house at ten to nine a shot rang out

Marlowe burst in through the door kept firing as he hit the floor

Against his head he felt a gun a voice said Bud, why did you come?

He said I – I had nothing to lose x2

They waited for the third roll call then Audie dashed towards the wall

A guard called on the figure “halt” Then fired, Audie gave a jolt

A screw appeared grabbed the mate, said `What’s the point tryin’ to escape?’

He said We (we) we got nothing to lose x2

8 bar break

The bride and groom began to fight he insisted that the bride wear white

She told him if it wasn’t blue another bride he’d have to choose

That’s the final straw, he said, give someone else your maidenhead

She laughed, I (I) I got nothing to lose x 2

Alan Ladd turned to John Wayne and pointed out across the plain

A thousand injuns filled the screen it seemed that this must be the end

Alan said, We better run John shook his head and cocked his gun  

Said, We (we) we got nothing to lose x2

Stop breakdown 8 bars solo

Fletcher Christian called the crew to discuss the thing to do

Said, I feel we’re gonna die less I replace old Captain Bligh

But I will not take command unless you’re with me to a man

They said, We (we) we got nothing to lose x2

The batsmen met between the pitch discussin how to win the match

Ten to eleven said, I’ll swing you run like hell and hope we win

Eleven said, Mate I’m with you it seems the only thing to do

They (they) – they had nothing to lose x 2

Breakdown 8 bars

And so my love I hope you see how this relates to you and me

From loving me you can refrain and it will save potential pain

But I’d rather risk a broken heart and have your love than be without

Hey, we got nothing to lose x 3

LIFE OF CRIME NOW ON YOU TUBE

A video of my library talk with @tonydurant is now available on my You Tube channel so if you couldn’t make it you can get to hear it anyway. The event includes readings, songs by both me and Tony (you’ll be racing to buy his Fuchsia CDs after this) poems, and a discussion by me about how I fell under the spell of crime fiction and the process for me in writing a crime novel. Find here https://youtu.be/wMyqWFY7a1I Such a shame that City of Sydney libraries never bothered to get back to me and Gold Coast libraries couldn’t find a few bucks to pay our expenses.

A Great Tour Ends

Yesterday at Woy Woy Library marked the end of a 16 date tour of author-talk blended with readings, poems and music. It was a fabulous success largely due to my “helpers” especially Tony Durant on guitar, vocals and morning-tea consumption, Nicole on vocals and at various times Lloyd Gyi, Martin Cilia, Phil Bailey. Libraries are a wonderful resource and I thank all the librarians who hosted my talks, plus all the booksellers who turned out to sell River of Salt. The night at The Backlot for Around the Sound with Bob Gordon interviewing me was very memorable, as was the booklaunch at the Manly Distillery. But none of this can be a success without those who attended. Thank you all so much. I met so many new interesting people, re-acquainted myself with some long-losts and shared a laugh with perennials.

One of the things about such a tour is it raises my public profile and as a result I got a call about appearing on a True Crime Podcast re my tangential involvement with the Claremont Serial Killer Investigation. Here is the link for the podcast: https://australiantruecrimepodcast.com/the-serial-killer-premonitions-of-dave-warner/