Music and travel – Backstreet Boys, Joni Mitchell, REM…
For Paul Chai, music and travel are inseparable. A photo might trigger a memory, he writes, but the right song will trigger a feeling.
Hurts So Good by John Mellencamp
SJ Rowland Sandwich factory, Auckland, 1995We had headaches from the overhead lighting, sore backs from leaning over the tables, and we were bored, bad tempered and depressed. There was one compensation, though: we could listen to the radio.
For A Short Time by Weddings Parties Anything
Paul Genoni's essay about the much-loved For A Short Time covers a lot of ground: sport in Melbourne (especially during Grand Final Week), the murder of Jill Meagher in 2012, the dedication of Weddings Parties Anything fans. It is a fine piece of writing: evocative, restrained, articulate, considered.
Step In, Step Out – Mick Thomas/Weddings Parties Anything
Kath Presdee The Gypsy Bar, Civic, Canberra - late 1999There are times when I need to say something that only Steve would understand and that's when I miss him most. Now is one of those times.
Seven Nation Army by The White Stripes
Nathan Johnson North Adelaide, Australia, January 2004A mate of mine was saying something, but I heard none of it. My eyes were fixed on the screen; my ears taking in every drum beat, every distortion, every melodic ebb and flow.
The Suburbs by Arcade Fire. Story by Nick Gadd.
Nick Gadd Sunday afternoon, Altona, September 2015We tape the L-plates to the windscreen and back window. Gen eases her way into the driver’s seat . I give instructions, trying to invest my voice with the gravitas of an airline pilot, more to calm my own nerves than hers.
You Shook Me All Night Long by AC/DC
Hugh Jones Launceston, 1980From about 10 houses down the street I heard Wrightee’s stereo doing overtime. The windows were wide open and tops were off the beer bottles. A voice with all the class of a freight train crossing points was screaming through the screen door.
WATERLOO SUNSET by THE KINKS Story by Rick Kane
Rick Kane Northcote, Australia July 2015 London July 2010Vicki and I scan the north side of the river, trying to imagine what window of what flat Ray Davies peered out to look at people swarming like flies down below. Is he looking at us now?
Totally Wired by The Fall
Maria Majsa The Marquee, Wardour Street, London 1984I headed for the place I’d seen him last, but all I found was blood on the floor. People had scrambled through it leaving sticky prints in every direction, like a contaminated crime scene.
Wavelength by Van Morrison
Vin Maskell Geelong 1979, Melbourne 1982We were talking and Van was singing. Tom, maybe you talked about your family, whom I’d never met. And maybe about your father, your distant, distant father.