Vin Maskell Moggs Creek, Australia, 1983 to 2013A three-part Stereo Story about family, a beach house, and its records. Part 1: from Glen Miller's Chattanooga Choo Choo to Roxy Music's Love Is The Drug.
Vin Maskell Melbourne, Midnight, November 29, 1982On a piece of foolscap paper, at my desk in my single-bed bedroom or maybe at the small table in the little kitchen at the end of the long hallway, I wrote a little poem. Nothing special.
Hazel Wood Yeovil, England, November 2010At 3am, alone in the alien landscape of medically-induced fear, I reach for the only comfort available: my iPod. With its unnerving intuition, ‘shuffle’ offers up a song I have, up to now, entirely misunderstood.
Colin Ritchie Bluesfest Byron Bay 2012It was stinking hot, humidity overwhelming with sweat dripping from our bodies. The lights were low and the expectation ever so high. Would Shane actually be there on stage or would The Pogues perform without him?
Rick Kane Perth, April 2006Someone asked, “Where’s the music?” This would be the cathartic moment. This would be where the pain flowed out as the love poured in.
Paul Kelly was always played in summer, the sunny endless holidays, the excitement of Christmas Day growing ever closer, ticking those days off one by one.It was only through my parents’ divorce and the breaking up of our family into smaller divided units that I realized the true nature of the song's story.
Vin Maskell Palliative care hospital ward, Melbourne, 2014The yellow line takes you to the Multiple Sclerosis ward. Green for Motor Neurone Disease. Blue for Parkinson’s Disease. You keep an eye on the yellow line as you side-step trolleys and wheelchairs, patients and nurses, volunteers and other visitors.
Darren 'Smokie' Dawson Various venues, Victoria, New South Wales, 2015, 2016Never in my wildest dreams did I envisage how my short tale of a doomed teenage relationship would give me such a great rush every time I took to the lectern to share it. At a Stereo Stories show, a writer's words are given greater depth and clarity by the excellent Stereo Stories band.
Paul Bateman Melbourne, 6 March 2010Our guests arrived in a state of heightened excitement, united instantaneously by their shared experience of the raging storm. We crowded together in the dining lounge, where Shirley and I took our vows beneath the specials board.
21 Swan Crescent, Pakuranga 1974Under all the fairy floss, trouble is lurking. There are wrong turns, regrets, situations that are easier to run from than face. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road is about escape and it wasn’t lost on me that the first place I heard it was my favourite place to escape to