Dave Warner's Blog, page 8

DAVE’S AUSTRALIA DAY ADVENT JUKEBOX #5

LONELY SAILOR was one of my earliest songs, written I think about 1974 or early 1975 on my Tiesco in my Bicton bedroom.  Is it particularly Australian? Well, I think the line ‘I’m a rockout from Blackwall Reach’ qualifies.

click on title above for the track

I’m a lonely sailor just like any Albert Finney

With my hair greased back

Just like any Laurence Harvey

I’m a rock out from Blackwall Reach

But I don’t have any Elizabeth Taylor

And I won’t be the groom of Princess Caroline

And I don’t even have

A Saturday night tramp to call mine.

I’m a lonely sailor just like any Laurence Harvey

No Lizzy Taylor

No eyes like Albert Finney

I’m a rock out from Blackwall Reach

Ten years behind my time

Twenty years ahead

What good will it do me if girls love me when I’m dead.

I’m a lonely sailor just like any Albert Finney

With my hair greased back

Just like any Laurence Harvey

I’m a rock out from Blackwall Reach

But I don’t have any Elizabeth Taylor

And I won’t be the groom of Princess Caroline

And I don’t even have

A Saturday night tramp to call mine.

DAVE’S AUSTRALIA DAY JUKEBOX #4

It was 1980 and I found myself in Los Angeles looking for inspiration for my fourth album. My third album 'Correct Weight' had been largely ignored by media and radio, although 'Wimbledon' had done quite well off the back of the video clip. The joke was that later when I appeared in Melbourne for the Mushroom 10th anniversary all these rock media people told me how much they loved 'Correct Weight'. Yeah, right.

So, off to L.A. it was and there I indeed was inspired. To get to back to my roots. Music had got too wishy-washy. It was the era of synths and computer drums and I wanted back to when rock was exciting: Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, Elvis. I saw a fabulous group in L.A. The Blasters playing a modern style rockabilly, and I thought that was the style I wanted on this next album, back to basics, rhythm, blues, rock and fun.

One legendary rock producer who did love my stuff was Kim Fowley. Introduced to ‘suburban boy’ in Melbourne by David Pepperell and Keith Glass he had responded immediately when I had called him from Tony Durant’s place in London where I was staying, telling me to drop in to see him in Hollywood.

I did, and we spent a couple of days going through many of the songs he’d produced and his records. I told him my vision for the album that was about the suburban boy heading overseas trying to find his roots. Fowley was terrific coming up with song titles and themes on the spot.  He gave me the titles Million Miles From Home and this one, Buried In My Own Backyard.

He had plans to record me in his ‘punk’ studio at Venice Beach but he was erratic, flying off to get relief from his hypoglycaemia and I just didn’t have the funds to stick around LA so I had to leave.  But I did get an education in a short time about the U.S. industry and two great song ideas.

Buried In My Own Backyard was one of them.

BURIED IN MY OWN BACKYARD

I’m going to be buried

Buried in my own backyard

I’m going to be buried

Buried in my own backyard

Gotta get my own back

Never gonna phone back

Buried in my own backyard

Well I just got back from Babylon

It was long on the bottom but short on the fun

The girls weren’t pretty and they didn’t want to know

Bout the witty Walter Mitty with the Denis Lillee mo

My mum was right she told me not to go

But I’m back for good and I tell you that I know that

I’m going to be buried

Buried in my own backyard

I’m going to be buried

Buried in my own backyard

Gotta get my own back

Never gonna phone back

Buried in my own backyard

I did the round of Los Angeles

To the cocaine groves that pose as record companies

I didn’t like them and they hated me

They said not to call them they’d call me

There was a nibble of interest from an A’n’R queen who said

I don’t like your songs but I love your jeans

 I’m going to be buried

Buried in my own backyard

I’m going to be buried

Buried in my own backyard

Gotta get my own back

Never gonna phone back

Buried in my own backyard

Well I kissed goodbye to pretensions of fame

Felt so damn low I nearly changed my name

Guess it’s funny when you think of it

All that money down the dunny just to take that shit

But I’m back for good and I’m fighting fit

I’ll die where I lived and be proud of it.

DAVE’S AUSTRALIA DAY ADVENT JUKEBOX #3

For those of you just joing my advent Jukebox, the idea is that every day up until Australia Day I will publish a Warner song that is Australian in content or theme. Seeing as it is a Friday – albeit New Year’s Eve – I reckoned it would be worth putting this song up. Written with Greg Macainsh back about 1988 you can find it on the Surplus and Dearth album. You can download the album from Bandcamp or CD Baby, stream from numerous places. The physical albums sold out years ago. (Click on Title to hear/see song)

LUCKY COUNTRY (Macainsh-Warner)

Friday 4 PM  one of those brasseries where the waiters all have pony-tails and the chefs have an obsession with pine nuts and pesto sauce and there’s a table load of women or “girls” as they prefer to call themselves been there since midday and now their tablecloth looks like it’s had a traffic accident happen on it, one terrified bottle of wine has pissed itself and dived head-first into the ice bucket and it’s no Porphery Pearl for this generation of Australian women nothing less than a Richmond grove Chablis as they gaze at the coagulated traffic into the afternoon which has dissolved into the colour of yellow which also happens be to the colour of decay and the colour of the chunky gold jewellery which they flash at one another, each link on their bracelet symbolising a husband’s infidelity and as they talk about pergolas and  tube operations each one prays for something different to happen this weekend and at the same time each one is terrified that it might

Just another Friday night in the lucky country

Just another Friday night in the lucky country

Just another weekend start it’s a script we know by heart

Just another Friday night in the lucky country

Riff x 2

In King’s Cross the rattle of the tattoo gun punctuates the traffic, Madame Myrna pulls her shawl gazes into her crystal ball and tells the young woman opposite that into her life will shortly come a mysterious dark haired stranger, the young woman floats down to Kings Cross Railway Station  where Myrna is proved extremely perspicacious for the young woman is mugged by a mysterious dark haired stranger, grabbing the girl’s handbag he dashes through the traffic almost coming to grief on the prostrate body of a 68 year old stockbroker who lost all his money in 1987 crash and who is clothed only in a greatcoat with crystallised snot hanging from it like war medallions and his mattress is compressed cardboard packing crates with Sanyo Vacuum Cleaner stamped across the side and the whole of the Cross looks like TAB carpet on Melbourne Cup night and that’s when you know you must be hallucinating because nobody in the Cross possesses a vacuum cleaner and it’s not a good ad for Sanyo but what it is is

Just another Friday night in the lucky country

Just another Friday night in the lucky country

Just another weekend start it’s a script we know by heart

Just another Friday night in the lucky country

Riff x 2

5.26 pm and the boys at Mike’s Perth Body Smash Repairs are already well into their second celebratory end of week carton. Only the young apprentice Clayton is missing, still in the workshop tinkering at the suspension of his own Mazda 626.  One of the guys has brought along a library of porno videos and as the cheers and whistles reach their zenith no one hears the pleas from Clayton trapped under the suddenly collapsed 626. As the life is crushed from him the last thing he hears is a distant yelp for “big bazookas”.

A couple of blocks away and after six years together Cheryl and Todd have finally decided to call it quits. Todd must admit he got his nuts tightened when Cheryl confronted him about his affair with Gail from Records. And as they rage at one another over who is entitled to the Beatles Boxed Album Set they are momentarily distracted by a screaming ambulance siren beneath their window but it’s only for a moment

Just another Friday night in the lucky country

Just another Friday night in the lucky country

Just another weekend start it’s a script we know by heart

Just another Friday night in the lucky country

Solo 8 bars

So I wonder what will become of these words spewed out into the atmosphere like so much excess sperm will they daisy chain and dance and intermingle with the sounds of Milli Vanilli, will they revisit the planet at some future time on a distant radio beam or will they just fade in the ever increasing expanse of Friday nights in the lucky country.

Just another Friday night in the lucky country

DAVE’S AUSTRALIA DAY ADVENT JUKEBOX #2

Bicton Breezes – an early one.

Wrote this one in my little room in Brixton in 1975. It encapsulated my whole idea of creating original music that sprang from the mundane features of Australian suburban life, mingling with autobiographical stuff like the Kouzinas Brothers fish and chip shop in Hislop Rd, Attadale. The physical distance and removal from Australia helped clarify and intensify my concept. Tony Durant played on this demo way back then and later came to Australia to join the band.(click on title below to run video).

BICTON BREEZES

Of course I remember the service station

And the boys who roasted chestnuts

Out the back and told dirty jokes of a Saturday.

No I don’t recall the tram to Point Walter

I wasn’t born then and by now it’s all altered

A band I understand would play by the river

And boys off to war would hold girls who would shiver

Ah, even Bicton suffered

If they hadn’t died there never would be

Boys coming home late from football training on the 159

And housewives who contemplate a suicide by the washing line and

Love their children

And their husband

And their car

And their family tree.

Do you recall the FJ

And the trips to school?

Stephen Bizacca always won the loose football

And Sister often read to us

Stories ’bout the saints

I was an altar boy at benediction.

And if there’s one thing that I learnt there

It’s be always what you ain’t

That applies to all beliefs and all convictions.

‘Cause what you are is meaningless as things described as quaint

Especially if you’re born a kid in Bicton.

Oh we all congregated

At the fish and chip shop

Nicely situated

Just by the 148 stop

While fish were frying we were eyein’ each other

Cooked, salted, vinegared, goodbyin’

 And your mother was watching              

Then a new car was something (Special it seemed)

Adopted our money                  (Fostered our dreams)

Of tropical isles                        (but Kouzinas is Greek)

And Mediterranean smiles         (but that was last week)

While fish was cookin’ I was lookin’ ahead

Sometimes I missed my bus but then I got my fish and I toured Athens instead.

Oh the Kouzinas Brothers, Jimmy and Don

Had a fish and chip shop

Nicely situated

By the 148 stop.

DAVE’S AUSTRALIA DAY ADVENT JUKEBOX # 1

Many acclaimed `Australian’ artists have never written more than a handful of songs about being Australian. Most probably not even one. I on the other hand, can run a whole month of songs of mine about Australia and Australians with plenty in reserve. So for fun, I’m setting myself the task of an original Warner Australian song all the way up to Australia Day. Let’s hope I remember to post.

The first track goes back to 1976 Australian Heat

The Perfect Opportunity For Aussie Rules State Of Origin Footy

It may have happened only because of Covid but this lay-off week before the AFL Grand Final is something I’ve been arguing for a few years now.  Why? Because it presents the perfect opportunity to have a return to State of Origin Football, which for those of us old enough and lucky enough to have experienced it, is simply the best of the best.

The break before the finals start never made sense and disempowers higher ranked teams but here’s how this pre-grand final break can be a boon to football.

At the end of the qualifying round, squads are selected from the pool of available players (ie: the 10 clubs knocked out already). I suggest 4 squads for Vic, S.A., W.A. and N.S.W.  but as in the old `Carnival’ days, I would not discount Tas and Qld teams, even if those teams had to be bolstered by players from local competitions.

But for now, assume we have four squads. After each final round, two more AFL teams are eliminated, and from these teams more players are added to the initial squads. This means that when we arrive at the point at which we are currently, the two grand finalists in waiting, we have 16 teams contributing to the state squads.  This would give us an opportunity of playing ROUND 1 this weekend: For example Saturday Victoria v W.A. , Sunday  S.A. v NSW

The winners then go onto play in the final next week, either on the FRIDAY NIGHT BEFORE THE GRAND FINAL or on the SATURDAY DAY.  Optional that losers could play off too.

Without Covid such games could be played at venues like the SCG, Adelaide Oval or Optus Stadium. I know the frustration of fans in Perth who cannot get to the MCG for a grand final and I guarantee you’d get a sell out at Optus, and I’m sure in Adelaide for such games.  Instead of a boring long kicking contest across the Yarra, the lead into a twilight or night Grand Final at the MCG could be the interstate game. Or play it on the night before if that’s what broadcasters prefer.

The end of the season means that players have more freedom and clubs cannot ban them as would happen pre-season or mid-season. It is perfect timing to see wonderful football. Finals football is a pressure cooker but in these state games players can be more free-wheeling and attacking. Some of the clashes I saw in the 70s and 80s are the best quality of footy I have ever seen.

For those who think that NSW would not have a competitive team, have a look at the side selected this year by the NSW Australian Football History Society.

Reading from backs: 

Cunnigham, Howard, Perryman

Duryea, Rampe, Cumming

I.Smith, Mills, Gulden

Breust, Himmelberg, Wicks

Schultz, Hawkins, Marshall

Flynn, Hopper, Heeney

Lloyd, Spargo, Buckley,Koschitze.

Only a few of these players would be unavailable right now to play in a game this weekend.

I believe this system would also give us a chance to better evaluate the ALL AUSTRALIAN SIDE which could then be announced after the Grand Final based on the performances of players in the state games and the Grand Final. Of course, Tasmanian and Queensland and injured players if not given the opportunity in a state game or the Grand Final could still be evaluated on their other performances. The original All Australian sides were determined by players performances in state games. This I believe is a far superior test to determine who deserves to be All Australian than qualifying round club games. The finest players play best against the best opposition.

That’s my suggestion anyway. The Broadcasters would love it, non-Victorian fans who find it prohibitive to get to Melbourne for the Grand Final week would love it because they could still have footy in their state right to the end.

Let’s bring back the best footy of all State of Origin!

Who would you have in your state’s side right now?      

HOME GROUND ADVANTAGE VIA UMPIRES

“Gutless umpire!” Fact or Fiction?

For about 20 years now I have been keeping stats on how umpire bias plays out with home ground advantage. The AFL and other stats sites began to do this too a few years ago but they omit the critical VARIABLE that involves whether the AWAY TEAM is from a different state, or the same state as the HOME team, or whether both teams are in fact `Away’ Teams playing on neutral ground.

The reason I began doing this at all was because whenever I saw the AFL Teams that I favour (Sydney Swans/Dockers)  playing away, it seemed that they were massacred by the umpires. Yet when they played at home, they did not seem to get this same advantage. Was I imagining this?  Was I just so one-eyed my brain was distorting the reality?

The stats answered with a resounding NO.

The stats in fact showed EXACTLY what I thought.

On average:

Teams playing AWAY get less FREE-KICKS than HOME teams. No real surprise there.Non-Victorian teams playing AWAY get a worse deal than Victorian teams playing AWAY interstate. That is, while all teams playing AWAY interstate are worse off, the Non-Vic teams whether playing away to Victorian teams or other Non-Vic Teams, are worse off than their Victorian counterparts.When Victorian teams play one another there is a SMALLER DIFFERENCE in free-kicks paid over the course of a season. But there is still a strong advantage in blow-out games to the Home side.

Generally, the difference OVER THE SEASON for teams of different states is:

HOME Victorian Teams playing AWAY non-Victorian teams over the season get around 53.5% of free-kicks versus 46.5%.   7% bias all up   

OVER THE SEASON the other way, non-Victorian Teams playing at HOME get around 52% of frees versus Victorian AWAY Teams 48%  –   4% bias..

Victorian Teams playing each other normally come out around 51.5% Home to 48.5% Away. 3% bias

When analysis is applied to BLOW-OUT games: games in which one-side gets A SIGNIFICANT AMOUNT MORE FREE KICKS THAN THE OTHER (defined as 56% or greater of the free-kick count) then the advantage to Victorian sides is made clear. 

To explain, if there is a blow-out free kick game played in Victoria between a Vic Home team and a Non-Vic Away Team times it will be the Vic Home team that benefits more than 78% of the time. That’s massive.

But while Non-Victorian teams also usually get a strong advantage in blow-out games it normally isn’t AS GREAT as the Vic teams get.  More like 65% they will be the beneficiaries of blow-out games. Still huge.

DISCRIMINATION AGAINST NON-VICTORIAN TEAMS reached its zenith in 2016.

In 2016 Home and Away games there were 15 blow-out free-kick games in Victoria/Tas between Home Victorian Teams and Away Non-Victorian teams. 14 of the 15 blow-outs were in favour of the Home Victorian team. In comparison that same year there were 18 blow out games where Victorian teams were the away team playing interstate.  Those blow outs went only 7-11 against the Vic sides.     

The bias culminated in the atrocious umpiring of the 2016 Grand Final.

In more recent times things have improved a fair bit for the Non-Victorian teams, so let’s see how 2021 is going.

OVERALL FREE KICK PERCENTAGE TOTALS 2021 – MIDSEASON Vic v Vic in VicVic v Non-Vic in Vic/TasNon-Vic v Non-Vic on Home groundNon-Vic v Vic on Non-Vic Home GroundDerbies/Showdown etc between Non-VicNeutral Ground GamesHOME50.3652.9748.8152.8451.7849.01AWAY49.6447.0351.1947.1648.2250.99       

The only real surprise I suppose is that half-way through the season Non-Victorian Away teams playing Non-Vic Home Teams are actually IN FRONT! But isn’t it interesting that the neutral ground games are running near 50/50, like games between Vic teams in Victoria. This clearly demonstrates how biased umpires can be when they feel the pressure of a whole state.

Now let’s look at

BLOW OUT FREE KICK GAMES 2021  – MIDSEASON (GAMES WHERE ONE SIDE GETS 56% OR MORE OF FREE KICKS)Team that is beneficiary of blow-outVic v Vic in VicVic v Non-Vic in Vic/TasNon-Vic v Non-Vic on Home groundNon-Vic v Vic on Non-Vic Home GroundDerbies/Showdown etc between Non-VicNeutral Ground GamesHOME794811AWAY633302

As usual the BLOW OUT TABLE above shows that when we’re talking blow-out games between teams from different states you don’t want to be playing away; whether you are Victorian or Non-Victorian.

SOME HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

In BLOW OUT FREE KICK GAMES (or Games with Significant Differential) if we take the last 7 years: 2014-15-16-17-18-19 (to mid-season – sorry I went on holiday and never finished!) 2020 (no stats covid corrupted) and 2021 (current mid-season) the blow out free kick games breakdown is

BLOW OUT GAMES BETWEEN VIC HOME AND VIC AWAY 160 blow out free kick games. 98 blow outs to home side. (61.25%)

BLOW OUT GAMES BETWEEN VIC HOME AND NON-VIC AWAY 139 blow out games 109 blow outs to Vic home side (78.41%)

BLOW OUT GAMES BETWEEN NON-VIC HOME AND NON-VIC AWAY 75 blow out games 53 blow outs to home side (70.66%)

BLOW OUT GAMES BETWEEN NON-VIC HOME AND VIC AWAY 129 blow out games 84 to home non-Vic side (65.12%)

BLOW OUT DERBY/SHOWDOWN GAMES 22 blow out games 17 to home side (77.27%)

BLOW OUT NEUTRAL GAMES  9 blow out games 6 to “home” side (66.33%)

The figures are an indictment on the concept of `neutral’ umpiring but they also show that while any AWAY side is vulnerable, Victorian sides playing AWAY IN A DIFFERENT STATE are not that much worse off than playing away to other Victorian sides in Victoria or in a “neutral” situation.   But Away Non-Victorian sides in Victoria get an even worse deal than when they are the “Away” team in a Home City Derby/Showdown.

CONCLUSION

Most of the usual trends are evident but at this point of the season not as pronounced as normal. (That may change, usually as the pointy end of the season approaches the bias becomes worse.)

Umpires are clearly biased when they have to umpire games in front of biased home state crowds, although unusually this year, not in games between Non-Vic teams. 

So far this year, Victorian Away teams playing interstate are faring just as badly as their rivals, so that’s some kind of level playing field. 

STEPS TO RECTIFY

Teach AFL umpiring to non-Australians, keep them in quarantine from the game and bring them in for the games.

No Good Can Come From This

When I was writing my 2019 novel River of Salt, I had a scene where main character Blake is playing his guitar in his club, rehearsing a song he has written while focussing on the real object of his desire Doreen, his club-manager. She is doing the same thing, each unaware of the other’s interest. In writing the scene I started to hear this imaginary song in my head. When I finished the book and it was off to the printer I suddenly realised how dumb I had been to not finish the song, record it and put a little link in the book on page 33 (where the scene plays) that would take the reader to the song, thus giving an all encompassing 4D experience. Better late than never. I recruited fabulous surf-guitarist @martincilia to help. He produced. @nicolewarnersinger Bill Beare and @lloydgyi helped with vocals and “voila”. So now here we go. Below is the section from the book with the song link. BTW the audio book does have the song as a bonus. Just click on the highlighted title below to listen.

RIVER OF SALT P 33

Blake had started playing. It was the new song, No Good Can Come From This, a sweet ballad, really different to the normal instrumental surf stuff. He began to croon: She holds my heart in her fingertips. Traces my soul with the sweetest lips.

`I’d love to see you wipe the floor with that bitch.’

It’s bliss each we time kiss but we know.  No good can come … of this.

`You’re still at school, right?’

`Nadine’s only just finished.’

She holds my soul. In those eyes divine. Heavenly body, lips the sweetest wine

It’s bliss each we time kiss but we know …

 No good can come … Of this.

Part of her wanted to imagine Blake had written the song for her. The rest of her was indifferent. He was her boss, never the twain and all that.

`Alright, Kitty. You’re still on holidays, right? Meet you back here at two and we’ll put in a couple of hours.’

`I’ve done ballet.’

`I can see. The steps aren’t what you have to work on.’

`What do I have to work on?’

`Sex.’

He loved this middle part, didn’t know from where within him it had come. First to the F, Though her love is a waterfall … then to the G and C  …This man’s heart is but sand …  He wondered what Doreen was talking about with the young girl. Maybe explaining she was too young for the competition … And here it was, the part that really kicked, where it goes to the E minor … She still thinks she can have it all and right on up to the D … But she’ll rue the day …and back to G … Love came to stay …

2020 – A YEAR IN REVIEW

JANUARY 2020 – the year is flat out from the get go. I arrive back in Sydney from NYC after doing last minute research on my next novel OVER MY DEAD BODY.  The first murder in the book takes place on Roosevelt island and there’s an exciting climax too on a houseboat down by the Hudson.

Here’s some photos of my NYC reccy. .

The amazing Mysterious Bookshop NYCI was on Brooklyn Bridge when the artwork came throughRoosevelt Island where murder kicks off

As for released product the big item is the long-awaited MUGS GAME double vinyl album. Only 500 pressed so it will be a collector’s item. It contains never before released tracks from 1977. Listen here

My usual hard core of a hundred or so Suburban Soldiers swoop early and the fabulous shop What’s That in Augusta Western Australia takes a bunch. I had planned to sell the rest on the 40th anniversary Suburbs tour but –

Mugs Game Double Vinyl Out Now. Original album plus bonus LP.

FEBRUARY 2020 –   Nicole releases her single FOREVER AND A DAY off the album of the same name. Martin Cilia, Nicole and I had worked for 20 years on the songs and demos and Tony Cooper did a great job of helping lift some original recording from that time.

I release SUBURBS LIVE AT THE VICTORIA AND SHENTON PARK HOTELS 1977 as a streaming and download album. The album contained those tracks that were on the original blank cassettes. On CD the album is SUBURBS IN THE 70S. Listen to the album here

We do a sensational sell-out Valentine’s Day gig at the Django in Sydney – Suburbs plus Nicole.  

We tour WA for the legend that is John Starr, and do a couple of wonderful gigs for the Festival of Perth’s Highway To Hell extravaganza.  The Clancy’s gig in Fremantle is superlative with many of the original Suburbs fans turning up. Next day we have a totally enjoyable gig at Mojos with Winterfold in support.  But COVID is coming fast.

In Perth Feb to March and what a fab time.

MARCH 2020 – Sensing the plague I cancel our reunion tour. Though it is with a heavy heart I am sure it is the right move. But on the recording side there is more fun. Out by now is a streaming and download release of DARK SIDE OF THE SCRUM my 1989 Rugby League album of comedy songs. Listen to the album here

But with AFL about to kick off comes the monster release BALLBURSTER. Martin Cilia and I wrote and recorded many of these 50 tracks in the 90s. Some are dance tracks, some tributes to yesterday’s heroes. Like this one about Kouta. Although there are new ones too like this one about Coniglio

A highlight comes when Nicole’s album FOREVER AND A DAY is finally released  but the sold out launch has to be Covid cancelled at the last minute. I think there are some terrific songs on here and Nicole sings so well. Listen to the album here.

APRIL 2020 – As we are all huddled indoors and wear masks outdoors I start recording recording a bunch of short-stories I’ve written as audio short-stories. Tony Cooper produces. The first is CABIN PRESSURE.

A mid-air thriller on Kindle and Audio Book (Audible, Google Play etc)

I begin work on the exciting biography of indigenous footballer Marlion Pickett whose story has captured the hearts of the public. A true story of redemption, from inveterate prisoner to proud family man who overcomes incredible hurdles to finally make the AFL, and then becomes the first man in more than 60 years to make his debut in a grand final.

MAY 2020 – My publisher Fremantle Press decides to push back the release of Over My Dead Body to October. That is disappointing, however, I begin work on a new musical play, IN SEARCH OF THE SUBURBAN BOY and continue work on the Marlion Pickett biog BELIEF.

I also bring out my second audio short story ARTSPRESSO which features the return twenty years on of Rick Boski and Goose Gordon from my novel EXXXPRESSO. Listen to Artspresso here.

Exxxpresso lads Rick and Goose make a comeback – on audio and Kindle.

JUNE 2020 –  I am a very grateful recipient of a grant from WA Arts and Culture that allowed me to push ahead with writing a first draft of the musical IN SEARCH OF THE SUBURBAN BOY.

I continue talking with Marlion and other people associated with his life story for the book BELIEF.

Nicole releases a video for FLATBED FORD off her album thanks to Mark Gould, sensational director and editor.

JULY 2020 – I am knee-deep in interviews and writing up BELIEF but find time to do a very detailed Master-Class for Writing Victoria.

AUGUST 2020 – By now it is time for DEAD CERT the third of my audio-book short stories.

SEPTEMBER 2020 – IN SEARCH OF THE SUBURBAN BOY my new stage musical is delivered to the stage of draft 1.  The play sees Derek, Sandra and Zongo plus a host of other Warner characters like Joey Black, try to convince me to continue performing.

I begin recording the audio-book of BELIEF.

OCTOBER 2020 – OVER MY DEAD BODY is finally released to great reviews. 

The AUDIOBOOK follows.

NOVEMBER 2020 – BELIEF the Marlion Pickett biography I co-wrote with Marlion hits the shelves just five months on from the start. Out also the AUDIOBOOK that I voiced with Meyne Wyatt.  I am absolutely thrilled to have the respected Noongar author and football administrator Sean Gorman say the Marlion Pickett biography reads ‘like a Steinbeck novel cum Tarantino film due to the vividly unfolding drama on almost every page’. You can find it here (hard copy, audio, kindle).

DECEMBER 2020 – It’s Christmas a season festive and spiritual.  The fourth of my audiobook short stories CHARITY deals with the spiritual side of life. I was intrigued by the idea of what would happen if somebody found today that they had the ability to perform miracles of healing. I begin to release my short-stories as Kindle reads too for under $1.

The festive side of things sees me dust off MERRY AUSSIE CHRISTMAS the Christmas song I wrote and recorded last year with Martin Cilia and Tony Cooper.  Being a cynic myself I can understand that a lot out there might despise it, but then there are others maybe like me, who at least for one month of the year abandon the cynic for the wonder of the child. I have always and will always love Christmas time, especially the lead up to the big day.

2021: Plenty more Warner stuff heading your way. Most importantly the new Dan Clement novel is being written and I’m hoping may be ready next year. The musical auto-biography MUGS GAME: A SUBURBAN ODYSSEY will be out at least as an audio-book.

I am also working on a book that will contain the lyrics to all the 600 songs I’ve written, plus my poetry from schoolboy to Australia 2 and beyond.  And in addition to that book another that will contain my main stage plays including the recent IN SEARCH OF THE SUBURBAN BOY plus all the comedy revue sketches I used to do with Johnny Ryan.     

There will be a gig over the June Long Weekend in Glen Innes and who knows what else.

Stay tuned and have a wonderful Christmas and brilliant New Year.   

We Need A Little Faith Hope and Charity

2020 has been an awful year. While the shadow of Covid has covered the year in darkness it’s not been the only blight. I think of Sydney at the time of the 2000 Olympics and how wonderful the city was, how welcoming, how festive, and though we all knew that high-gloss couldn’t last forever, I’m sure we all wished it would linger. By the next September however the twin towers were in rubble and so were those hopes.

A year or so ago I began writing a bunch of short-stories, just ideas that occurred to me. Most were crime based but not all. Some I hope are humorous. One, Charity, is more spiritual – a big departure from my normal style. An idea popped into my head. What would happen if somebody today found they could miraculously heal the sick? How would their lives be affected? Would they be hailed as hero or charlatan? And what if this power came at a personal toll? It seemed to me a terrific ethical dilemma and therefore worth a story. But no sooner had I written it than Covid hit, and my whimsy began to play out in real life as front-line health workers were faced with virtually an identical dilemma.

short story approx 30 min available on Kindle and soon an audiobook

If you are a fan of my crime-writing you might not find this to your taste and maybe Cabin Pressure, Artpresso and Dead Cert will be more up your alley. They are all available as audio-book short-stories and Cabin Pressure is also on Kindle as an e-book short story. The others will be shortly available on Kindle too but you can get all three via various audio-book distributors.

If you do like the idea of a Christmas story that focuses on humanity and saintliness, that looks at how a plague might show our most noble and selfless qualities, not just our worst, then you might want to give Charity a go. It will cost you less than the price of a cup of coffee. Find it here

Or if you want a quick read while you await the dentist or the kids finishing squad you can get Cabin Pressure on Kindle

For all my AUDIO BOOKS including these SHORT STORIES (run time 15 mins – 30 mins each) try GOOGLE PLAY

OR AUDIBLE

ARTSPRESSO

CABIN PRESSURE

And my latest novel OVER MY DEAD BODY is also out as an audiobook on audible