Laura Seabrook's Ramblings

Sometimes I'm wondering under prehistoric skies.
I feel it's all beginning right before my eyes.
I must go back, reexamine my love.
Here she comes with the penetrated stare.
I don't know when, but I wish I knew where.
Quick calculation, there's not nearly enough.
Because we're lost, because we're lost.
Cold desert stars, feel them sparkle and frost,
They are so lost.
Follow her down to worship some god.
Who never speaks to me, I wonder if that's odd.
Then he says you're never listening.

The pursuit of adulation is your butter and your bread.
It's an exquisite corpse and its lips are red
And its teeth are glistening.
But you are lost, but you are lost.
Now hang up 'cause the lines are all crossed,
You are so lost.
If you're alone and you're feeling blue,
Everyone in Persia probably feels like that too.
I just hope they don't believe like you do.
Here she comes with her unforgiving web.
Almost forever I've been drinking these dregs.
It must be time to change our brew, cruel, view.
Before we're lost, before we're lost.
Look at the map, add up the cost,
Before we're lost.

This image is based on Welcome, from The Church on the Magician Among the Spirits album. I created it for the end sequence of a Youtube video I created for the song. And here's the video (revised version):

It was Awesome!!!

It took me about four hours to get there, riding from home to Cardiff Station and then (mysteriously but correctly) taking a rail bus to Broadmeadow in order to take an express bus that only stopped at Chattswood (itself a mystery since the train it replaced doesn't go there) and Central. I had a late lunch at Haymarket. and caught bus to the Factory Theatre were the gig was. I was early so I read a book in a nearby park and then queued to get in.

While I did I met Yves who knew all the members of the band (and in fact seemed to be on first name terms with a lot of performers) and the ins and outs of various things. We got in slightly late but that was OK.

In addition to The Church, the gig also featured astreetlightsong and Blackchords from Melbourne. First up was Blackchords followed by astreetlightsong. The chords were OK, but astreetlightsong seemed much more intense with interesting lyrics. I could see echoes/influences of The Church in both bands.

Attendance increased as the night went on. There were less than a hundred audience at the start but by the time The Church came on it was packed solid with standing room only. I stood 1 metre from the stage directly in front of Steve Kilbey (main singer/writer, far right in photo above) which was a cool spot to be at. I was also right next to a professional photographer who must have got some really good shots from there.

The last time I saw the band live was at the Metro in 2000. I'd forgotten how dynamic they were live. They rolled up on stage looking like they'd all knocked off from Tom's Tyres and hadn't changed out of their work clothes yet (and Marty Wilson-Piper has really let his hair grow!). And you know what, no one in the audience cared less. This was most definitely a "fan's tour". They opened with Tantalized and closed (after three encores) with Hotel Womb. In between it was shear bliss for me. They also played Dead Man's Hand and Pangaea from their latest album Untitled #23. This time around I had the money to buy two albums (Untitled #23 and Shriek: Excerpts from the Soundtrack) and a T-shirt with the cover from Hindsight on it.

The gig started at 8pm and finished at 12:33am and for $25 was the best entertainment I've had for in a long time. Steve Kilbey though, did not look at all well.

Afterwards I walked back to Newtown Station and caught the nightrider bus into Central Station, entertaining a drunk in the process. It was a long train trip back to Cardiff and by the time I rode back home it was almost 6am. But the whole thing had been well worth it. One of my favourite bands seen and heard close up and loud. What more could I want?

Working my way through getting to and fro that Gig featuring The Church. OK, The Factory Theatre is sort of between Newtown and Marrickville as per this map.

If I ride my bicycle to the station, then these routes (via Transport Infoline will get me there. The one that leaves (from Cardiff) at 4:03pm and arrives at 7:57pm might be a bit too close, since the gig starts at 8pm, so the one that leaves at 3:48pm and arrives at 7:25pm will have to be the latest. Getting back, well these seem to work, though there;'s a big gap between leaving at 12:59am (and arriving at 4:23am) and 2:51am (and arriving at 6:29am).

Not riding the bike, going directly from and to home by bus gives different results. The latest I can leave is 1:49pm (arriving at 5:52pm!) and for coming back it's either leaving at 12:51am and getting home at 6:48am (with a 2 hour wait in Cardiff) or leaving after 4am from Marrickville! 

The difference is that these pages calculate connected travel. The first set doesn't include time spent riding from Barnsley to Cardiff Station or vice versa. I have some time to think this over, but riding the bike's looking good. It'd simplify things if I was going with someone and staying with them that night, but that's not an option.

And of course I still haven't bought a ticket to the show yet - that's going to involve a trip to a Ticketex agency sometime today (can't do it over the net as no credit card).

I have discovered that The Church are playing at The Factory Theatre next Sunday. The information at the web page says:

Get your gold afternoon fix as one of Australia's most influential rock bands the church create dreamy pop songs and textured soundscapes for you to traverse.

There's a couple of other bands playing too, though I know which I'll be waiting for. I will be going to that gig. Don't know where I'll stay afterwards, but I'll be going all the same!

What I feel like sometimes.

DIGG radio just had an acoustic version of this on, and it made me feel sweetly sad.

Gasp, check out all the versions of this on youtube!

This is the original and is from the Starfish album, as were Destination, Reptile, North, South, East And West, and Hotel Womb.

Other Church songs I love include Already Yesterday, Tantalized, Magician among the Spirits Part 1 & Part 2 (which is all one part on the album of the same name), Shadow Cabinet, and of course Metropolis (which I saw them perform way back in 2000 at the Metro in Sydney). Actually, I love most Church songs, and when I've missed them live in Newcastle, it's been a real Grind and a real Comedown and I just feel like Fading Away.