Lorraine Pink The Netherlands, 1974Bowie had opened my eyes to the world of art and creativity and the possibility that I could be anything I wanted to be. I could reinvent myself. Suddenly the world was an exciting place.
For Paul Chai, music and travel are inseparable. A photo might trigger a memory, he writes, but the right song will trigger a feeling.
Fiction by Tom Lodewyke Eazy-Clean Laundromat, Sydney, 2015Steven checked his phone. Nothing. Sometimes Rachel still texted him when there was no way around it. He craved the loud bling of his message tone. He was careful not to reply straight away, though.
J Negri's recent Almanac Music story looks at Dolly Parton's Coat Of Many Colours while also looking at grief, vulnerability, singing, persona, tassles and spangles.
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.
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.
Stephen Andrew Yarra River, Warrandyte, 8 December 1980Word comes from a car radio in the riverside car park. Calling out, surreal, to nobody, “John Lennon has been shot”.
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.
School cadet camp, Australia 1967Epiphany, complete with a solo trumpet fanfare, emerged from my transistor radio as I lolled beneath a big old gumtree in a forest, munching Fantales and wearing jungle greens.
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.