[Brisbane, 6/4/24] I’ve reentered the Anglosphere. My fellow passengers out of Saigon were mostly Indians. Claiming three seats each, several dozed at Tân Sơn Nhất. It was just after 10AM. Since India has Wellington, Dalhousie, Canning, Landsdowne and Port Blair, perhaps there’s a Brisbane, India, so fine, I’ve booked a wrong flight. Lots of biryani and samosas for the next three weeks then. Pie floaters will have to wait.
Welcome! Angus Scott and many other prominent Australian musicians was born in the UK. John Farnham, Australia's greatest pop singer was born in England
Anyway, the Australian 'type' was usually thin and wirey whether tall or short. This was a very hard country to survive in for much of its history. The men were often very tough. They stopped the Germans in North Africa (The Rats of Tobruk) and the Japanese on the Kokoda Trail. Not so much in Vietnam as they were conscripts fighting a war they had no place in and were from the next, softer generation unlike the Vietnamese. Lets hope our recent crop of nineteen year olds don't have to test their mettle in foreign battlefields.
peggy bean picture with Isha Drew name and then a peggy bean comment below with a new picture altogether. Is peggy becoming a psyop? Do I have to unfollow one my favorite commenters on Linh Dinh?
There may be a software glitch. The photo that is on screen for you is the one I normally see for peggy bean. And she has another photo than usual. It could be my dyslexia or something. Like Babwa Wabwa 'never mind'
Thanks for noticing Paul. And dont doubt yourself but i know what it is like, i am not dyslexic but certainly some degrees of neurodivergent and often put odd things down to my own probls (and lets face it they often are).
Wonderfully evocative essay. I learn more about a place or a country in twenty minutes from Mr. Dinh than if I had visited the location myself. My proclivity now as an old geezer is to simply pull up a bar stool and order a bottomless glass of the cheap local beer. Not to mention the always ubiquitous burger and fries which can be had everywhere I go. (The only difference I can recall was they had banana ketchup in the Philippines. But it tasted the same as regular ketchup; maybe even a little sweeter.)
Then after several days of staring at the same scenery I wonder why everything everywhere is all the same? I guess I'm just a boring person? Oh well, at least I don't start fights.
"Too thick" wasn't a problem for Bon Scott,. Angus and the band.
Blood and Thunder: The Albert's Sound is a good documentary about the birth of Australian rock n' roll. Some touching interviews with some salt of the earth types. Thank you Linh for these first hand accounts of a place that's always intrigued me.
Now I see why those guys used to wear all the clown make-up. (No offense! Just an observation.) After years of cutting my own hair to save a few dollars I don't go anywhere without a hat in order to avoid the usual "did you cut your hair with a lawn mower?" comments.
My response is: "No! But I always get drunk before I cut it. Kind of like Jackson Pollack before he painted."
"Oh yea?" They say.
"Yes." I say. "I had a distant ancestor named "Pollack" who was purportedly a Scottish sea captain who hated to be on dry land."
"Oh yea?" They say.
"Sir" I say. "While you are not much to look at, your vocabulary is stunningly impressive. Have you been reading 'Boswell's Life of Samuel Johnson'"?
At which point the conversation is brought to a deafening silence and I can return to drinking my beer in peace.
Pollack was a drinker, an alcoholic I guess. Out to sea. Did his action style (paint flinging) evolve out of that? Probably. It's just that I happen to like how those splashes landed. (Don't) look at his wife's attempts to recreate his style. Stunted. His brand of abstract expressionism was a one-off. Had he lived, he'd have evolved out of it. Gotten off the boat. He wasn't a one trick pony.
Now, what's that snarky remark about AC/DC wearing clown makeup? You must be thinking of someone else. The schoolboy w/ shorts and satchel was the only artifice they employed. Look, old doggie, it's only rock and roll but we like it.
Again as to Pollack, obviously he's not Durer, not even Bosch let alone Constable. And I suppose he actually listened to beatnik jazz for inspiration and hated rock and roll, the people's music. But he's still the only ab-ex I seek out in a museum. Count yourself honored to bear his lineage
I'm old enough to remember the Easy Beats and Friday on My Mind. Super single w/ a charismatic singer who helped his younger brothers in AC/DC. I'm quite a fan of Australian culture, both music and movies.
Midnight Oil was the Aussie band that impressed me the most. Tried to see them every time they were in the US. Even tho they started in the pubs doing raw/punk/garage rock, it was their later melodic pop rock that knocked me out. Co-incidentally I felt the same way about George Miller and his Mad Max Trilogy. Found the first film too crude for my taste. The second was way more entertaining and by the third, Beyond Thunderdome, I'd found cinematic El Dorado. The fourth was quite good too, even w/o Mel. The latest I may not ever watch.
There's a lower budget Australian post collapse/dystopian movie The Rover which I really enjoyed. Proposition was another good one. There's something about Australia , it's Outback and origins as a country that I've always found kind of strange and captivating. I can hear a didgeridoo calling...
I never knew about George Young, Stevie Wright and The Easybeats until I watched the Blood and Thunder documentary. What a story. I don't think that the Alberts were Jewish. I got the sense that the malign Talmudic influences which we all know about in the American recording industry weren't as prevalent for breakout acts like AC/DC until they hit it big in the States. I could be wrong.
There's a hugely popular (East) German industrial metal band Rammstein. I believe they were deliberately kept away from success w/ American audiences. When they finally came on tour I saw them at Madison Square Garden, a 20k indoor arena. The crowd was as impressive as the band's pyro show. They joined in singing the choruses in German. The music is quite militaristic: music to listen to in your Panzer while advancing on Moscow.
I dont know if you know that Midnight Oil's lead singer Peter Garrett was a member of the Federal parliament for quite a while and for some of that time was a Minister in the Federal cabinet, which is pretty high in the political heap here. I believe he trained as a lawyer before becoming an entertainer, like Zelensky.
I know Peter was a controversial pol, and has been criticized by the left for compromising his former principles. Personally I find some of the band's lyrics too woke for my politics which shifted by the late Nineties. However, I can still listen to all the old stuff w/o embarrassment as I still share their anti-corporate enthusiasm.
The Stones starting out were vocally and lyrically bluesy not pop, and they never really adopted pop in attitude. They didn't have the requisite light breezy cheerful mood. If you'd thought Beatles, you'd have been in the ballpark. 8 Days a Week was their calendrical ode.
Coincidentally, last night -- I think motivated by my above comment -- I was watching the Rolling Stones playing "Can't Get No Satisfaction" on a video available on line. John Lennon was an enthusiastic member of the audience.
I'm old enough to have a memory of a summer day on the beach in Fairfield (Connecticut) and hearing "Satisfaction" on the jukebox the summer it was released. That must have been around 1964?
I think it is amazing that most of "The Stones" are still among us living. How long has John Lennon been gone now? 43, 44 years?
From the ads I'm getting in my email I seem to be targeted by marketers as a "stupid person" or perhaps a "low-grade idiot." All sorts of absurd gimmicks and scams to "enhance your sexuality" and "increase the size of your member[ship]."
That's what got me in trouble when I was young. Now all I ask for is some peace. Not the king's piece.
Remember that scene in "Braveheart" when the young guy (was it the King's son's gay lover?) got "defenestrated"? That's when I learned there is actually a name for someone being pushed out of an upper story window to their death! Who knew?!
Say all you want about Mel Gibson being a flaming drunk and a "Jew hater"; he made some good movies. The best involving acute vengeance against arrogant *ssholes who deserved it.
Good stuff, Linh! Fascinating! Your interaction with others (aka "everyone else") reminds me of me. I'm always interested in the particulars of the lives of others (aka their happinesses), and like to share. Excellent! (Would you consider permanent residency in Australia?)
I still have my room in Vũng Tàu and will be back there soon enough. The article reflects my four days in Brisbane, much of those inside, since I've been so sleepy. I will certainly walk around much more, and get on the subway to see far flung neighborhoods.
One drawback to Australia is its cost of living. Rent, food and beer are expensive. I don't smoke, but a pack of cigarettes here is the highest in the world, at around $26!
I know! Like Switzerland, its fine if you are paid local wages but i knew you would get a shock. What about the $5 coffees. My husband used to smoke tailermades which was doable when he was working but when he had to give up due to illness not age, he saw me looking very down one day and asked. I explained his fags were equal to my pension. So he agreed to roll his own and i found a slightly illegal source of loose tobacco. He didnt like it much but smoked on. A lot.
Welcome! Angus Scott and many other prominent Australian musicians was born in the UK. John Farnham, Australia's greatest pop singer was born in England
https://youtu.be/x4Wwq9_zn_c?si=2tMeMNkAjrFcaf_9
Jimmy Barnes of Cold Chisel - Glaswegian.
Anyway, the Australian 'type' was usually thin and wirey whether tall or short. This was a very hard country to survive in for much of its history. The men were often very tough. They stopped the Germans in North Africa (The Rats of Tobruk) and the Japanese on the Kokoda Trail. Not so much in Vietnam as they were conscripts fighting a war they had no place in and were from the next, softer generation unlike the Vietnamese. Lets hope our recent crop of nineteen year olds don't have to test their mettle in foreign battlefields.
peggy bean picture with Isha Drew name and then a peggy bean comment below with a new picture altogether. Is peggy becoming a psyop? Do I have to unfollow one my favorite commenters on Linh Dinh?
?
There may be a software glitch. The photo that is on screen for you is the one I normally see for peggy bean. And she has another photo than usual. It could be my dyslexia or something. Like Babwa Wabwa 'never mind'
Thanks for noticing Paul. And dont doubt yourself but i know what it is like, i am not dyslexic but certainly some degrees of neurodivergent and often put odd things down to my own probls (and lets face it they often are).
Wonderfully evocative essay. I learn more about a place or a country in twenty minutes from Mr. Dinh than if I had visited the location myself. My proclivity now as an old geezer is to simply pull up a bar stool and order a bottomless glass of the cheap local beer. Not to mention the always ubiquitous burger and fries which can be had everywhere I go. (The only difference I can recall was they had banana ketchup in the Philippines. But it tasted the same as regular ketchup; maybe even a little sweeter.)
Then after several days of staring at the same scenery I wonder why everything everywhere is all the same? I guess I'm just a boring person? Oh well, at least I don't start fights.
"Too thick" wasn't a problem for Bon Scott,. Angus and the band.
Blood and Thunder: The Albert's Sound is a good documentary about the birth of Australian rock n' roll. Some touching interviews with some salt of the earth types. Thank you Linh for these first hand accounts of a place that's always intrigued me.
https://youtu.be/CHo2EqDpK7g?si=igZDH5_jsCOZvXyV
Now I see why those guys used to wear all the clown make-up. (No offense! Just an observation.) After years of cutting my own hair to save a few dollars I don't go anywhere without a hat in order to avoid the usual "did you cut your hair with a lawn mower?" comments.
My response is: "No! But I always get drunk before I cut it. Kind of like Jackson Pollack before he painted."
"Oh yea?" They say.
"Yes." I say. "I had a distant ancestor named "Pollack" who was purportedly a Scottish sea captain who hated to be on dry land."
"Oh yea?" They say.
"Sir" I say. "While you are not much to look at, your vocabulary is stunningly impressive. Have you been reading 'Boswell's Life of Samuel Johnson'"?
At which point the conversation is brought to a deafening silence and I can return to drinking my beer in peace.
Pollack was a drinker, an alcoholic I guess. Out to sea. Did his action style (paint flinging) evolve out of that? Probably. It's just that I happen to like how those splashes landed. (Don't) look at his wife's attempts to recreate his style. Stunted. His brand of abstract expressionism was a one-off. Had he lived, he'd have evolved out of it. Gotten off the boat. He wasn't a one trick pony.
Now, what's that snarky remark about AC/DC wearing clown makeup? You must be thinking of someone else. The schoolboy w/ shorts and satchel was the only artifice they employed. Look, old doggie, it's only rock and roll but we like it.
Again as to Pollack, obviously he's not Durer, not even Bosch let alone Constable. And I suppose he actually listened to beatnik jazz for inspiration and hated rock and roll, the people's music. But he's still the only ab-ex I seek out in a museum. Count yourself honored to bear his lineage
Perhaps I'm mistaken about AC/DC wearing heavy make-up? If so I apologize.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiss_(band)
"Kiss" is the band I was thinking of. I apologize for the careless error.
I'm old enough to remember the Easy Beats and Friday on My Mind. Super single w/ a charismatic singer who helped his younger brothers in AC/DC. I'm quite a fan of Australian culture, both music and movies.
Midnight Oil was the Aussie band that impressed me the most. Tried to see them every time they were in the US. Even tho they started in the pubs doing raw/punk/garage rock, it was their later melodic pop rock that knocked me out. Co-incidentally I felt the same way about George Miller and his Mad Max Trilogy. Found the first film too crude for my taste. The second was way more entertaining and by the third, Beyond Thunderdome, I'd found cinematic El Dorado. The fourth was quite good too, even w/o Mel. The latest I may not ever watch.
There's a lower budget Australian post collapse/dystopian movie The Rover which I really enjoyed. Proposition was another good one. There's something about Australia , it's Outback and origins as a country that I've always found kind of strange and captivating. I can hear a didgeridoo calling...
Yes While all speaking English they have very terribly different origin stories as nations.
I never knew about George Young, Stevie Wright and The Easybeats until I watched the Blood and Thunder documentary. What a story. I don't think that the Alberts were Jewish. I got the sense that the malign Talmudic influences which we all know about in the American recording industry weren't as prevalent for breakout acts like AC/DC until they hit it big in the States. I could be wrong.
There's a hugely popular (East) German industrial metal band Rammstein. I believe they were deliberately kept away from success w/ American audiences. When they finally came on tour I saw them at Madison Square Garden, a 20k indoor arena. The crowd was as impressive as the band's pyro show. They joined in singing the choruses in German. The music is quite militaristic: music to listen to in your Panzer while advancing on Moscow.
I think Lin has posted some of their performamces.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSaa3vC_n2k
I dont know if you know that Midnight Oil's lead singer Peter Garrett was a member of the Federal parliament for quite a while and for some of that time was a Minister in the Federal cabinet, which is pretty high in the political heap here. I believe he trained as a lawyer before becoming an entertainer, like Zelensky.
Otherwise dissimilar.
I know Peter was a controversial pol, and has been criticized by the left for compromising his former principles. Personally I find some of the band's lyrics too woke for my politics which shifted by the late Nineties. However, I can still listen to all the old stuff w/o embarrassment as I still share their anti-corporate enthusiasm.
"Monday I've got Friday on my mind..."? I thought that was the Rolling Stones?
The Stones starting out were vocally and lyrically bluesy not pop, and they never really adopted pop in attitude. They didn't have the requisite light breezy cheerful mood. If you'd thought Beatles, you'd have been in the ballpark. 8 Days a Week was their calendrical ode.
Coincidentally, last night -- I think motivated by my above comment -- I was watching the Rolling Stones playing "Can't Get No Satisfaction" on a video available on line. John Lennon was an enthusiastic member of the audience.
I'm old enough to have a memory of a summer day on the beach in Fairfield (Connecticut) and hearing "Satisfaction" on the jukebox the summer it was released. That must have been around 1964?
I think it is amazing that most of "The Stones" are still among us living. How long has John Lennon been gone now? 43, 44 years?
"Monday I've Got Friday on my Mind" The band was "The EasyBeats", 1967: https://www.google.com/search?q=Monday+I%27ve+got+Friday+on+my+Mind.+Pop+song&rlz=1CAACGA_enUS1105&oq=Monday+I%27ve+got+Friday+on+my+Mind.++Pop+song&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOdIBCTE2NjMzajBqMagCALACAA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:c3e84b20,vid:NSowZcvoqr4,st:0
"How long has John Lennon been gone now? 43, 44 years?"
The Stones didn't scare the CIA.
Australia is still punch-drunk from the COVID scamdemic.
From the ads I'm getting in my email I seem to be targeted by marketers as a "stupid person" or perhaps a "low-grade idiot." All sorts of absurd gimmicks and scams to "enhance your sexuality" and "increase the size of your member[ship]."
That's what got me in trouble when I was young. Now all I ask for is some peace. Not the king's piece.
Remember that scene in "Braveheart" when the young guy (was it the King's son's gay lover?) got "defenestrated"? That's when I learned there is actually a name for someone being pushed out of an upper story window to their death! Who knew?!
Say all you want about Mel Gibson being a flaming drunk and a "Jew hater"; he made some good movies. The best involving acute vengeance against arrogant *ssholes who deserved it.
Wow! Somewhere entirely different! I wonder if regular Aussies have PTSD from all the covid crap they had to endure!
I don't know, you mean unlike the US? It was different here, that's all i can say. I doubt that it was worse.
Good stuff, Linh! Fascinating! Your interaction with others (aka "everyone else") reminds me of me. I'm always interested in the particulars of the lives of others (aka their happinesses), and like to share. Excellent! (Would you consider permanent residency in Australia?)
Hi James,
I still have my room in Vũng Tàu and will be back there soon enough. The article reflects my four days in Brisbane, much of those inside, since I've been so sleepy. I will certainly walk around much more, and get on the subway to see far flung neighborhoods.
One drawback to Australia is its cost of living. Rent, food and beer are expensive. I don't smoke, but a pack of cigarettes here is the highest in the world, at around $26!
Linh
I know! Like Switzerland, its fine if you are paid local wages but i knew you would get a shock. What about the $5 coffees. My husband used to smoke tailermades which was doable when he was working but when he had to give up due to illness not age, he saw me looking very down one day and asked. I explained his fags were equal to my pension. So he agreed to roll his own and i found a slightly illegal source of loose tobacco. He didnt like it much but smoked on. A lot.
The question posed to me was: "How often do you drink yourself into an alcoholic stupor?"
My return question was, "How big is your bottle?"
John T. Sanctimonious responded, "Tom, you need to get some help."
My response was. " You need to eat sh*t."
Some people don't show respect for other people's managed habits.
Yo why are you in Australia?
Because he likes koala bears.
The shop lifter resembles the movie star Demi Moore!
This might be fun for you at night:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/pP5noCUwHeRyZJVc8
No idea how bougie it is tho