OH! YE DEAD by KEVIN McDERMOTT and RALPH RICHEY. Story by Annette Signorini
The great writer would have been impressed. He was the subject of all discussion, around which everything circled.
SPLENDID ISOLATION by WARREN ZEVON. Text by Vin Maskell
A song for the times. "I want to live alone in the desert/I want to be like Georgia O'Keefe/I want to live on the Upper East Side/And never go down in the street"
Roadtrip stories
Who doesn't like a roadtrip? And who doesn't like a roadtrip story? Matt Quartermaine, Justine Sless, N.T.McQueen - and others - hit the highway and listen to R.E.M, Clairy Browne & The Banging Rackettes, Karen Carpenter, Boy & Bear, Lana Del Rey...
EVERYBODY HURTS by R.E.M. Story by Matt Quartermaine
Shirl did sort me out and I swapped my licence plates with a screwdriver I remembered to bring, because I was an organised adult now.
CENTRE STAGE Salvatore Romita
Salvatore Romita plays weddings, parties, anything. Since 2014 he’s also been playing at literary festivals.
HOUSE DEPOSIT by HOUSE DEPOSIT Story by David Oke
It’s a close-knit community and there’s lots of crossover in band members from one group to another. The kids are always welcoming and delighted to see me.
RUN by SNOW PATROL Reflection by Lucia Nardo
At home and still in my funereal black, I do the obligatory YouTube search for the track. The internet soon shepherds me away from The King’s back-catalogue to a tear-invoking power-ballad from a band I’d followed since the 1990s.
Contemporary songs
Stereo Stories is building a growing catalogue of of stories based on contemporary songs. Recently we have runs stories about songs by Baker Boy, Tones & I, Rufus du Sol, Jason Mraz, and Boats & Birds.
SHADOW BOXER by THE ANGELS Story by Kevin Densley
It was a typical example of a poky old corner pub with a strong local identity; often, it was packed out on band nights. Usually, we’d play from 8.30 till 11.30 pm, with a couple of small intervals, and the price of entry was $2 – yep, $2!
MUSIC IS THE MEDITJIN by BAKER BOY. Story by Jane Leonard
Before I moved South, the young people I often worked with in remote communities in Central Australia would listen to local Indigenous musos singing in the many languages of the Territory over whitefella stuff any day.