Great band shot. Not at all forced, real natural. Nice one boys. And Shags - socks with thongs? We've never met, but I like you already.
The sound is guitar-driven pop with tight vocal harmonies and melodic counter-points and not a mean bone in its body. A fresh take on the 60s aesthetic, it puts me in mind of summer crusin' in a big convertible.
Hope to make it to the Corner in a couple of weeks and hear them churn it out live and in costume.
The weekend before last was indeed a busy one. We had Paddy's wedding on Saturday and Marie's birthday on Sunday. In addition, I had a big family gathering for lunch on Sunday. In case you missed it in the society pages of the Sueddeutch Zeitung, here's the rundown:
Saturday lunchtime, I met up with Paddy and his brother Tim in the city. Concerned about Paddy's flagging vitamin levels, he was allowed one Bloody Mary, purely for the nutritional benefits of the celery. We headed out to Maribyrnong (20 mins from city) to the little church where Paddy and Kate where married. The ceremony was quite simple, as far as Catholic weddings go, and the priest Father Dim (who was brought out of a five year retirement for this) clearly enjoyed his opportunity to practice the liturgical arts one again.
We had some nice baroque music (Bach pieces) on acoustic guitar and the bridesmaids were nearly outshone by the groomsmen, resplendent in our matching suits and ties. Kate of course looked beautiful in a white skirt (from her mother's wedding?) and a sort of red-ish top part (?? someone help me here ??) with a red necklace, consisting of precious stones. (Rubies maybe?)
Anway, we headed to the nearby Maribyrnong River for some photos and then the bride and groom were chauffeured away to the Fairfield Boathouse (see panorama photos). There, they stepped into a small wooden row boat wonderfully festooned with flowers and proceeded to row downstream towards the boathouse. After about 15 minutes, they alighted on the banks to a musical welcome (especially composed for the couple by their friends). To be honest, I wasn't sure Paddy was going to land the boat and may have over-shot, but he jammed the oar in and pulled it hard to starboard and impressed us all.
We then had more readings (poems and biblical excerpts), some more guitar music and cello and then Paddy and Kate renewed their vows with the priest in front of ~120 people. More photos and nibblies and champagne and then we headed inside the boathouse for the reception. We had buffet-style dining - various meat and fish dishes, salads, breads etc laid out on a table. And of course more drinks. And speeches, with Tim MCing. There was a Brazillian Jazz band playing and energetic somewhat-syncopated dancing. After dessert (pavlova of course) we had the final round of speeches with my speech/toast being third last and Paddy and Kate having the final "right of reply". They seemed to go down pretty well with audience and more wine was drunk. Things sort of finished up about 11pm and Paddy and Kate went to a 5 star hotel in the city. I caught up with them for brunch in Brunswick St on Monday morning, and they flew out to Vietnam on Monday night. I expect they're now halfway up the coast - maybe diving at Nha Trang? But having a great time no doubt.
I was very pleased that Paddy and Kate invited me to play a role in their wedding, and I'm sure everyone was happy with the outcome. My other major responsibility (organising the buck's night) went well too. Hopefully we'll be able to put the photos from that up soon, once I can get Paddy to sign the indemnity form. Importantly, most of his hair regrowth took place before the wedding. Only Kate will ever know the full extent of it though.
On the day after (Sunday) Marie and I headed down to a pub in Carlton for what was quite possibly my largest family gathering EVER. Not least of all due to the number of recent additions. There was my Mum and Dad; Katy and her partner David and my nephew Luka; my older Vietnamese brother Hoang and his wife Phuong and my niece Claire; my younger Vietnamese brother Thanh and his wife Khanh and my niece Caitlin and nephew Martin; my Mum's sister Aunty Merla; Merla's daughters (my cousins) Heather, Rhonda and Judith; Judith's husband Peter and daughter Brooke and son Liam; my older sister Alison; and my Dad's sister Aunty Dexter. That's pretty much it as far as the extended family goes. The partners of Alison, Dexter and Heather (Kenny, Doug and Ron respectively) were absent due to work or illness and I have an uncle and aunt in the US, but that's pretty exhaustive. We had some lunch and just sat around talking and watching the littlies play for a few hours. It was very pleasant.
Also, there was some lengthy discussion on the day about relations between people: Brooke is my second cousin (offspring of my first cousin), and Luka is Brooke's second cousin once removed. Ie one generation removed from Brooke's second cousin (Katy). (Nothing to do with divorces or people getting banished from the family!) It all hinges on common ancestors - more info at this chart which includes a "cousin calculator" (!!). (As an aside, googling on cousin relations etc seems to bring up a lot of advocacy sites for cousins marrying in the US. 300 million people and you have to marry your cousin? Sure, maybe it is convenient. But it does seem to be a practice most prevalent amongst those who live in trailer parks and mobile homes - presumably the people who can most easily avoid having to "marry kin" by moving! Something of a paradox there.)
In the evening, we went to Brunswick St with Marie's Mum and Dad and sister to celebrate the fact that Marie has once again made an integer number of revolutions around the Sun. Basically, Marie spent a satisfying three hours stuffing her face full of yummy Thai food while having presents heaped upon her. The birthday celebrations continued later in the week on Friday when we went for a special date night plus movie. I'd thoughtfully gone into seafood training the week before so that we could enjoy a slap-up seafood gala. Antony cooked cod on the Thursday, so I was (pardon the fishing reference) off the hook. Unbelievably, Marie had more Thai food.
Tomorrow night I will hold firm and insist on Indian.
Hang loose,
-Greg.
ps. BTW, what's wrong with "Hallo. Kann ich mit Gerd sprechen, bitte?", anyway? Or was it just that the "interesting" Australian vowel sounds first thing in the morning were hard to cope with?
