The wild and vivid dreams and the spinning of my soul continue. Vibrations. Something is stirring here. There.
Do you feel it, too?
Moving around is nothing new for me. Housesitting. I venture into the bush as much as I can. But circumstance (and kindness) has me in my ‘hometown’ of Sydney. My mate Paul asked me if Sydney was that for me. As it did adopt me, or vice versa, 42 years ago, you might say we share a close bond. Yeah, when I come here, just like where I was born, there is no need for navigational technology.
I will be living out of a bag for a few months now. Landing here over a week ago, sleeping in Tony’s spare room a few nights, sharing tales and being in his company is always easy.
Freya, 28 years young and off to Cornwall, passed through and we spent some days together. Father and daughter wandering the streets of our mixed memories and looking into mixed businesses.
The Inner West was a big part of our lives. Stanmore, Newtown, Lilyfield, I won’t name them all.
“These aren’t my people anymore”, Freya remarked as we strolled down King Street.
Her love of the outdoors and her recent van life living will find her in a small town. Building a community and creating a family seems to be what will fill her soul. Dream on and live it large. I wish that for all of my children.
Dinner with Pepi and Freya, seeing my son George perform (‘he’s got something,’ my mate Nello said) with his band The Dress, have all created a pocket of sweetness in my soul.
Things are turning, just like the planet. They always do.
What can you want more for your children but a sense of happiness and excitement in their days? As we age, we see them less, but we love them increasingly. What a paradox.
Distance has made friendships harder to tend to. Lack of proximity means phone calls and messaging and the stories from the past become foggier. Not all of them; some of them are so strong they will be locked into this elephant’s memory of mine until I lose my marbles or take my last breath.
But each step I take here, every corner, every shopfront, from the Opera House to Lazybones Lounge, brings up a story. The beauty is that more are created in this present tense. I know I am not saying goodbye forever to this place, but I don’t know when I will spend this long here again. I am soaking it up. I laugh, I cry, and I watch the jets land and take off.
You know what else is fabulous? It is Spring now. The weather over the next few days is going to be like Summer. My spiritual home of Bronte Beach is calling out. That is on the cards for today.
Making room for human connection. Doing the pushing to make it happen and try to herd some cats. Who will come to the party? I can’t be lazy as my time here is finite. Who will pass the Busch visitation test? No matter, my love for the people who are my friends is endless and no judgement enters my head. What will be….will be.
Flow, no Eddie.
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A sunny Sunday in 1986 found me discovering new music in my adopted hometown. Jumped happily off the ferry at Circular Quay (with an illegal smile) and walked to The Hopetoun, where some guy named Paul Kelly was playing with an outfit called The Coloured Girls. In the stack of records in our Manly flat, Jenny had a copy of Manila by Paul Kelly and The Dots. I liked a bit of what I heard, so why not wander the streets of Sydney and have a Sunday Session.
My love affair with Kelly’s music began that day. 3 sets of glorious songs and rock and roll that had me coming back for more over the next number of weeks. I’m not sure how many afternoon sets they played there, but I was there to drink beer, dance and soak it all up on many an afternoon.
(Check out the video of a performance captured at the bottom of this writing; maybe you can find me dancing.)
We all have our PK memories—the soundtrack of a generation from St. Kilda to Kings Cross.
Another Sunday, another gig on the 30th of August. Tickets for a special performance with Paul and his nephew Dan at The Potts Point Hotel in the Cross were offered to fans via a lottery system if you bought some merch.
Nice racket: make some money, build some excitement.
I didn’t win, but I was still going to head down to the Cross. As I neared the hotel, I saw people in the street and heard the tail end of Hoagy Carmichael’s Stardust coming out onto the street. People were packed inside where Dan and Paul were performing on a small stage; the doors and windows were open, and a PA played the music to the dozens of people outside.
Shit, how long had they been on? Later I found out I had missed the first ½ of the set, but I was not disappointed. Well, only slightly; I would have loved to have heard the first song, which was a tribute to Dolly. (“I Will Always Love You”).
Really, I was luckier than Nello, who arrived after the last notes had disappeared down Darlinghurst Road. Alas, beer made it all better.
Hearing these songs with two guitars and vocalists was all that you needed. Singing along with people on the street, some who had stumbled by post running the Sydney Marathon, without knowing what they were hearing, stopped. Others had made the journey like me, just to bask under the mural of Paul and relive the memories of the streets of our time.
I’ve been lucky enough to see Paul Kelly in St. Kilda and Kings Cross, from Werribee to Byron Bay, and many places in between. Kelly talked about the old haunts of Selinas and The Manzil Room and the guitar solos of Steve Connoly that have remained as solid as concrete within his music. I miss the ringing of that Strat; the ringing of that Strat made me shiver, gone too soon.
This love affair will never pass.
I shed a few tears and raised my voice in song. This was Sunday Mass and Pope Paul made it right. Down in the Cross….I was there from St. Kilda.
You should have been there.
https://open.qobuz.com/playlist/69495645 This is the Qobuz Playlist and below is Spottoo.
Before I knew about this Paul Kelly gig, I had decided to listen to Paul Kelly’s discography during August.
Synchronicity. Little bits of magic.
Now I am here in Sydney, yes, in other people’s houses. I don’t know what else to say right now.
There will be much to reveal and uncover as I move around. So, don’t start me talking; I will talk all night. I hope to be talking to you.
Meanwhile, Bronte is calling.
Setlist-Potts Point Hotel 30th of August 2026
Paul Kelly (with Dan Kelly)
I Will Always Love You
Tell Us a Story (Part A)
Tell Us a Story (Part B)
Sydney From a 727
Rita Wrote a Letter
Keep on Coming Back for More
Before Too Long
Happy Birthday, Ada Mae
Double Business Bound
Deeper Water
Northern Rivers
Stardust
Little Decisions
From St Kilda to Kings Cross
Randwick Bells
Harpoon to the Heart
Take It Handy
Dumb Things
To Her Door
How to Make Gravy
From Little Things Big Things Grow
Darling It Hurts
Leaps and Bounds