the ’sham

Now this is a rather functional entry, simply announcing that the winner of the upcoming north-versus-south bowls comp at the Sham Bowlo would be awarded a beautiful bowling trophy. (In the end, the trophy was withheld due to a lack of rivalry, the two sides were too friendly.)

Less friendly, however, was the comment from the MVC (MarrickVille Crew) who told me I should respect the territory that they control. I’ll reproduce the whole exchange here because it’s pretty interesting.
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A few vignettes. One about seeing a fire-safety demonstration at the railway, “I stand and watch through the cyclone fencing, my fingers clinging onto the wire.” The other from a few folks at the bowlo, a flasher reported in North Petersham, and the proximity of a couple’s house to the club enabling it to operate a bit like an extension of their living room.

Listen to the entry here [4 min, 1mb, mp3].

Read the original posting here.

A post reflecting upon, and comparing, the Petersham and the Kellerberrin projects. The difference between a residency where I was in someone else’s town (which I then had to leave) and a residency where I am already at home - I don’t have to leave. There’s no urgency to “finish”, get everything done, to wrap things up before I go.

Listen in here [2mb, mp3, 6 min].

Read the original posting here.

A small episode which combines sport and theatre. Alex, an extraordinary resident of the ’sham, tells me he’s a rugby journalist and a playwrite. We watch Mundine beating Green (Man beating Machine) on the big screen at the local pub.

Listen in here [1mb, 2 min, mp3].

Read the original posting here.

This is one of those days where I really meander. It’s not that I don’t have an intention to do something specific, it’s just that my lack of forward planning means that it doesn’t work out the way I imagine. Instead, other things happen, the changing of the plan leaves me open to the time being filled with other adventures.

In this case, I wander up to the Metropolitan Community Church, and head off on a digression about the history of the Mastertouch Pianola Roll Factory, which had occupied the site for ages before the MCC took it on.

In this historical vein, Anthony from the Bottlo fills me in on a few snippets of local (New Canterbury Road) history.

Listen in to the podcast here [3mb, 7 min, mp3].

Read the original posting here.

In which I announce my intention to deliberately leave the ’sham, to go and visit uncle Lester, the Aboriginal elder from Marrickville. He’d given me permission to cross the borders which were arbitrary and invented!

Listen to the podcast here.

Read the original posting here

Half an hour before the exhibition at Artspace opened, I managed to sit Reuben, the curator, down on a couch and we recorded Situationist Flan, the blog entry from a year and a few days ago. In this episode, Reuben came out to visit me in the ’sham, and we attempted to make up the recipe for the pudim flans which had been the source of much confusion on the blog. While we were waiting for the flans to set, we went out on our own flan, talking about situationism and the derive as we went.

In this recording, we’re joined by Tracy from Artspace, for some of the comment voices. At the end of the reading, Reuben and I chat about the nature of the project and its transition from the streets of the ’sham to the gallery in Woollomooloo.

Listen in here [10mb, mp3, 23min]
Read the original posting here

On Saturday, Sue came around to record the northern border walk episode with me.

We sat in the kitchen and talked about walking. She’s starting a project interviewing Vietnamese folks in Sydney about their long walking expeditions as they fled dangerous situations in their homelands. Walks on a much grander scale than our little saunters along the local suburb boundaries.

This visit from Sue was something like a re-enactment of last year’s event. We sat and talked, we drank tea, we read last year’s blog entry aloud, and then we walked. This time, instead of doing the northern border again, we just walked “around the block”. But slowly. I told Sue about how in mindfulness class we do these walking meditations, where you pay attention to the breath, and the sensations in the feet and body as you walk. You can’t help but start to slow down as you appreciate all the small movements that go into walking. Walking becomes a thing in itself, rather than a means to an end. She said, “lets do one now!” so we did.

We exited my gate, and slowly worked our way up Chester to the corner of Audley. There we took a turn and headed down the hill, with the sun on our backs. I focused my eyes on the shadow of my head, which was always a few metres in front of my feet. We both felt anxious about “what would the neighbours think”, and whether we’d get honked at by passing cars, two slow-walking weirdos. But that never came to pass. A lady pushing a pram skirted around us, apologising. We stopped and took a breather at the corner of Oxford, each secretly hoping that the other would want to quit and call it a day. But we launched back into it, heading down towards Livingstone, where we took off our shoes to feel the concrete better. Then back around to Chester. The slight upwards incline on Chester was a surprise and a pleasure on the backs of my calves. It occurred to me that if I did this every day, I would become “just that guy who does that strange walking, we don’t know why, but he goes around each day”, a mildly tolerated and slightly amusing local event. This helped relieve the anxiety.

Sue took a cutting of sage and we said goodbye.

The podcast has plenty of thoughtful discussion following the reading of the episode.
Listen in here [12mb, mp3, 30min].

Read the original entry here.

Recorded with Vanessa.

Listen in here.

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Recorded with Vanessa, Tim, Ben, Fiona.

Listen in here.

Read the original posting here.