Jeff Dowsing Inverloch, Victoria 1978An abiding childhood memory is of sitting at the kitchen bench in a holiday house at Inverloch, munching Coco Pops as Mull of Kintyre played on the radio.
Dawn Corrigan Salt Lake City, Utah, October 22, 2003Kelly’s job was playing hostess to those Aerosmith fans who paid $600 for The Velvet Rope Experience. “You know how some people have always wanted to go to Paris? This is their Paris.”
Brian Nankervis Driving To North Balwyn, July 2002I'm staring at strangers, wondering if their dads are alive. How often do they see them? Do they find their dads wise, embarrassing, or supportive? Reverie and envy turn to alarm when I realise the horn from the white ute behind is directed at me.
Jeff Dowsing Melbourne, August 2013 – June 2014At a team meeting I dared to question the new strategic plan, in particular its laughable vision statement. I circled my wagons and management circled theirs.
Stephen Andrew St Andrews, Victoria, March 2009Windows open, I ramp up the volume and feel an intensity in the band’s playing that suddenly seems new to me. This opening of my senses is one of the unexpected gifts of the bushfires.
Matthew Mastricova Lake George, New York, July 2012After spending most of my first two years in college constantly reviewing music, I thought I would never truly feel music again.
Jeff Dowsing Fairfield and other Melbourne locations, 1998The meaning of the song was lost on me until that moment, when it belted me in the face before the chorus punched me in the guts.
Vin Maskell Eureka Hotel, Geelong. Late 1981Can a fan be a journalist? Can a journalist be a fan? I found out I was just a groupie, with a notepad and a pen.
Mattski No through road on the Surf Coast, Victoria, January 2008 Mildura, inland, a dusty spring, 2008I had hit my mid 20s and was on another no through road. Out of desperation I had picked up an acoustic guitar and tried to teach myself to extract a tone from the gravel and dust of it all.
Brutas Mudcake Fairfield train station, 2007Walking home from Fairfield station not long after Penny called it quits, Josh Pyke’s Private Education came on my iPod.