Merry Christmas from DOWN UNDER

MERRY CHRISTMAS and a HAPPY NEW YEAR to everyone out there. I have put together a small video of Albany ( a town in the south of the state that used to be a whaling station in days gone by) Please do not tell the Japanese!!! Kidding.

Double's Web Site

Well am getting the idea that perhaps a web site is better than blogging so I have created one with this url.

MacCDouble.com You can click here to have a peek or if you got here via the site then click to return. http://maccdouble.com/

It contains some video clips, photography, poetry, songs which you can play and of course words of the songs. It also contains some mathematical worksheets which you can ignore if you are not at school and trying to excel in this area.

For the story this time I would like you to go to the URL listed below. Page 31. I write the ULSTER SECTION for a magazine here and I was explaining about Christmas in Ulster in this article. If this is not a good way to view the article .... please let me know.

http://www.irishscene.com.au/images/pdf/nov_dec.pdf PAGE 31

Neptune

If like me you are not real good at finding things you want to see in the night sky, you might like to try to see Neptune as it is close to Jupiter at present (late October early November 2009).
Neptune is the 8th planet from the sun in our solar system but with a magnitude of 7.8, it is only visible with a small telescope. Remember the higher the magnitude, the more difficult it is to observe. A magnitude of 5-6 is about my limit. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neptune

Nanga Music Festival

This was the second time the festival was held at this location. An outdoor camp in the middle of the bush near a town called Dwellingup in Western Australia. It began on a Friday evening and ended sometime Monday morning. I was only able to attend Sat. and Sun. a.m. But what a fabulous few days it turned out to be. From Fiddle Chicks - a girls group who imitated many instruments on their three fiddles (including bass) to Matt Gresham (a blues, roots and reggae artist) and then on to the Spooky Men of the West (15 male singers) and The Lonely Brothers ( 3 girls! singing folk/jazz items). See http://nangamusic.org.au/ for more details.

At the UNICORN FOLK CLUB

My sister Vicky has been running a folk club in England for almost 30 years (see an earlier post). I was very proud to be one of the first appearing there. This is a short video of my recent visit to the club. A good night was had by all.

Eating out Spanish style

A wonderful evening in a spanish restaurant organised by my good friend Suanne. We spent it with Jeanette and her beautiful family and afterwards a musical time with her lovely daughter Leutitia in a recording studio. A really memorable event. A BIG Thank you to everyone.

Sunny View School

If you went to the 2009 reunion, you would have found the school quite difficult to find. There used to be only one way in; now there are three roads you may take to get there. Parts of the school have not changed that much as the photographs here show but there are 3 or 4 new buildings which I have not shown here. You will have to go there if you want to see them. Have a look at the video below if you are interested in the students who went there in the early seventies.

Sunny View Reunion Class of 73-77

What a fantastic time we all had as I hope the video shows. A BIG THANK YOU to Mrs. Pettis who organised a scintillating, sizzling BBQ for us. We really did apreciate it. We had our last reunion in L.A. in 1992 but our next one is planned for 2012. Maybe in Australia.

Back in England

It is a little strange to be back in England. Already I have visited 4 or 5 different Counties. Shropshire, Wocestershire, Staffordshire, Warickshire, Oxfordshire and Hampshire. Well it looks like I can't count! Yesterday I took a ferry to the Isle of Wight. Someone asked me why. Well I had not been before and why not. Interesting as always with history items dating back many centuries. Off to Spain soon and will add some new items soon.

UTUBE

If you have not tried utube, you simply MUST. Just type in utube or youtube and a word after it like Irish or sonething that takes your fancy. Then just load down the ones you want to look at. But beware! You could spend nights in admiration. Clearly there are a few dodgy ones but some are absolutely fantastic. I tried the word Irish and got of course Ronnie here playing the Irish Washerwoman with Andre Rieu! Give it a go. You won't be be disappointed.

Tennis

Wimbledon fortnight has begun ( it is 23rd June 2009) and with modern technology it is as easy to view in Perth Australia as it is in Newport Shropshire England. However, the latter is the destination I am heading for in 5 days time. Then on to Spain. Torremolinos to be exact for a reunion with students I had the pleasure to teach over 30 years ago. I am sure I will be closer to their age group now that when they were 15 and I was 23!

Variety

Well they say Variety is the spice of life and certainly over the years I have been lucky enough to try many things. (Bungee Jumping excluded!) In the last few months I have been playing a few gigs, teaching photography, maths, science and computer studies. The latter of course I am learning. I first started a course on this in University in 1966. MY how that has changed. Will not even go there! At present I am writing a few web pages. If you have advise or criticism on the pages please let me know. They are at the middle stage of development. Have a look at http://www.hdpmss.com.au/

It includes projects in mining sites as you can see from the photographs above. This is of course in Australia.

Unicorn Folk Club

I confess when I looked up this site and found that I was supposed to be playing on the 3rd July, it gave me a bit of a shock. I had mentioned to my sister Vicky that I would be passing through England on my way to Spain for a reunion and the next thing I know I am billed to play there as you will see if you look up this site. http://www.unicornfolkclub.co.uk/ It takes me back to 1980 when I was one of the first to play at the club AND IT HAS BEEN GOING EVER SINCE. A lot of work goes into organising this sort of thing every week. Well done Vic.

GIG

Yesterday I performed for 10 people with Huntington's disease. http://www.ahda.asn.au/content/whatishd/index.asp

Luckily, I have played for these people before and I now am familiar with the kind of response to expect. I really like this gig though selfishly so. I leave all the real oldies behind and sing Beatle numbers, Hotel California, I can See Clearly and Brown-Eyed Girl. Some of them try to clap along. If you are ever depressed, look up the site above.

The Alexandrian Quartet

I have just started reading "JUSTINE" (the first book in the quartet) again. I think this is the 6th time. It really is a very worthwhile read if a little difficult at the beginning. I read it for the first time when I was recommended it while in a shop in Torremolinos. The site below might help expalin a little about it. http://www.mellenpress.com/mellenpress.cfm?bookid=6100&pc=9

I did read James Michener's "THE DRIFTERS" at the same time. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Drifters_(novel)

After twenty five years of waiting, I managed to travel to Alexandria. It had all the charm I had imagined. I actually wrote two songs about Egypt. Will have them on another BLOG later.

REUNION

Just recently I have had a lot of emails about a reunion with students from around 1973. This is to be held in the school which is situated in Torremolinos in the South of Spain.

It might turn out to be a bit different as most of these students are around 50 years old. The difference between 14 and 24 was probably a lot greater than between 50 and 60. The Photies above show us at the first reunion in L.A. around 20 years ago. I wonder if they are all still playing basketball to-day. In the early days the staff always won the sport! I suppose they might just clinch it this time around. It was an important time of their lives for these students and I hope they will again take back fond memories of Torremolinos and the staff.

A memorable Gig

I set off today to do a gig for some 70 (upwards) year olds. They were a good attentive (no not asleep) audience and I had some fun persuading them that Obama was Irish ..... Tooral o Tooral u Tooral s Tooral ama There's no one as Irish as Barack Obama. I started off on an Irish note..... a medley then a bit of religion with The Unicorn Song and Lord of the Dance. Then into The Garden where the Praties Grow and Shake Hands with your Uncle Mike.

I then tried out for the first time I Just don't Look Good Naked Anymore. Have a look at how Stan does it. http://heraldnet.com/article/20071221/MULTIMEDIA/283841756

They seemed to love Oh Lord its so hard to be Humble but I don't think they quite got the point with I Don't Remember Blues.

I followed up with Going Back to Dublin which I do with a reasonable backing I made for myself then Maggie and Frank Sinatra's version of Swing on a Star.

I ended up with a real medley of Oldies. Carolina Moon, If You Were the Only Girl in the World, Red Roses for a Blue Lady, If I Knew you were Coming I'd a Baked a Cake... A You're Adorable, Making Whoopee, Don't Bring Lulu, Bless em All, Five Foot Two, When Irish Eyes, Barrel of Money, Yes Sir thats my Baby, Hello Who's your Lady Friend, Are you Lonesome to Night, Lilli Marlene, Bunch of Coconuts, All the Nice Girls Love a Sailor, I Do Like to be Beside the Seaside, My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean, and ended up with Show me the Way to go Home. As I was packing up I noticed my unplayed flute so I performed a quick Danny Boy encore. I do hope they had a good time. I certainly enjoyed myself.

The Boat That Rocked.

I DO remember listening to Radio Caroline which I presume what the movie is sort of named after. We lived through a very fortunate time in the 60's. The culture was changing, the world was getting smaller and lots of people appreciated everyone else! The music was scintillating in the quality of the rhythms. Perhaps the structure was a little simple ( i.e. 3 or 4 chord changes) but the beat was right on. Here is what Bill had to say

Bill Nighy: "All the usual suspects... I'm a big Stones man, I've never really recovered from that, and The Who, and from the movie I particularly dig those two tracks. I like American black soul music, that was my first big enthusiasm, and I like Marvin Gaye and Aretha Franklin and all of those people - Otis Redding, Atlantic Records, Tamla Motown when it came along. I love them all I guess. And more than anyone, Bob Dylan. I listen to Bob Dylan on most days and he remains the single most important artiste in my life. Van Morrison also is big on my list."

He forgot to mention "THE BEATLES" and all those groups from Mersey side. We even had a little jazz .... Acker Bilk etc. and Skittle Groups like Lonnie Donegan. Donovan also deserves a big mention as do many others. I was a fan of Leonard Cohen. Still am. Have a look at some of the items on Utube. Just type in Utube and his name. Some fabulous stuff. Have included one link if you need it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJAcACBMa70&feature=related

We maybe did not use the espression then but hey THAT"S COOL.

St. Patricks Day

Sorry about the time it has taken me to write about this but with FIVE gigs during the great St. Patrick's Celebration, I was understandably a little tired. Not only did I sing about Barack Obama being Irish but I included a new song written especially for the occasion. The words are as follows and the chorus is the words of the verse repeated with a different melody.

I am a little leprechaun I come from far and near

I'm welcome in the parlour where I sip me pint o beer

I am everybody's hope I am everybody's dream

I am a little leprechaun who wears the emerald green.

You Can find me in the woods You Can see me through the trees

You can hear me in the cornfields if you get down on your knees

You can see me in a flash you can try and chat to me

And I'll tell you that old story of how we came to be.....

You can ask about that pot of gold that people seek to find

But the only gold that's valuable is deep down in your mind

And the story I will tell to you It's one you've heard before

That leprechauns are real and the rest is just folk lore.

A Catholic Wedding.

I was at a wedding recently and was not only impressed by the ceremony but also by the multicultured nature of the ceremony. The groom was originally from Uruguay, the bride from Australia and I believe her family were from Wales. The priests were from Vietnam and Ghana as perhaps can be seen from the small photograph. Small here because of confidentiality! I read some prayers and as you might know I am originally from Ireland. I was aided my a lecturer who was originally from (in his words) Persia. I think in modern terms he was from Iran. At the reception they had relatives from England, friends from Thailand ( I pretended I was from T'ireland .... well it was quite a few toasts later!) I love meeting people from other countries especially when we all get on so well. Yes the Thai people DID have an Irish sense of humo(u)r OR they were very patient listeners. As the song goes "I am, your are, we are AUSTRALIANS.

A Strange Gig

When I was told a few days before the actual gig to sing a few songs other than my usual Irish repertoire, I did not realise the audience was going to be different. They all had Huntington's disease.

Huntington's Disease is a progressive, degenerative disease that causes certain nerve cells in the brain to waste away. As a result, a sufferer may experience uncontrolled movements, emotional disturbances and mental deterioration.
More information and support is available from
Australian Huntington's Disease Association (NSW) Inc. [Australian Huntington's Disease Association (NSW) Inc.].

Of course it turned out to be a good concert for all of us. They accepted my "new" songs about Barack Obama being Irish, " oh Lord it's so hard to be humble when you are perfect in every way", "Underneath a Scotsman Kilt" and an appalling song namely "If my nose was running money I'd blow it all on you".
I overcame some apprehension to play five songs with a backing I had recorded on the keyboard. "Grandma's Feather bed", "Hotel California", "Brown-Eyed Girl", a Beatles Medley and "Would You Like to Swing on a Star". I included two original songs about the Bali Bombing and 9/11 and ended with an average version of "King of the Road". I think they enjoyed it! One or two were even able to catch on to the rhythms. I am not sure whether they wanted encores or not but I did three (as the careers turned up late and it seemed the right thing to do).

If you are a little bit down, remember ALL the parts of you that are going well.

Victorian Fire Disaster Feb 2009

Twenty five years ago I was doing a gig in Sydney when the house next to the pub went up in flames. The speed of the fire, the sound of the flames and the immense heat generated was most terrifying. Nothing to what is happening in Victoria at present. To lose your life in this way could not be described accurately. To lose your possessions or be burned must be truly horrific. Over one hundred people have been killed; much worse than the Bali Bombs. (see my blog a few below "Closer to Home". We have to do more than give the survivors our sympathy. We will all have to act to help them.

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1878114,00.html

Remembering items.

As I was leaving the tennis club yesterday, I had trouble with all the things I had to remember. When my Grannie was alive 50 years ago, she had two things she did not like to forget. Her glasses and her walking stick in that order! That number has increased significantly over the years. Besides the obvious items like sneakers, racquet, racquet cover, clothes, towel etc. you now have to remember keys, mobile phone, ipod, wallet, card holder, sun glasses, water bottle, sun screen lotion, hair brush and in my case my photographic equipment. As I am the web master for the club, I need the camera nearly every time I go there. Murphy's Law is quite applicable here. If I forget to bring it; sure enough someone or something demands a picture. My daughter turned up yesterday with a $900 mobile complete with some sort of bluetooth box for the car. (My phone was $90 and it performs many more functions than I require). I wonder what you can do with a $900 phone? Perhaps send an f mail to Outer Mongolia. I can only look foward with amazement and anticipation for the gadgets of 2020.

Fireworks to Food

I wonder how many of you out there agree with me when I say I cannot quite see the value of spending thousands of dollars on fireworks when we could spend it on something more useful like food. We have Australia Day here on Jan 26th ( see old blog from last year below). All the capital cities have very large firework displays which lasts about twenty minutes. Of course it may be seen by some to be quite spectacular and I suppose lots of the kids enjoy it but I think we could use this money more wisely on other things. Perhaps each city in turn could have a different show and donate the money to a better cause. Maybe I am just being naive on this point but most of these shows look very similar to me and once I had experienced one show, I was more than happy not to repeat the event.

Many of my friends do not give generously to charities any longer as they believe ( rightly or wrongly) that their donations do not go to the right people.

But surely a government could sort this one out. Has our society changed that much or were we always like this?

Sport in Australia

Now that the Australia Tennis Open is running in Melbourne, I thought it appropriate to state how lucky we are in Australia when we consider sport. Last year I was able to play tennis three times a week at a beautiful club near the sea. http://www.northbeachtennisclub.com.au/

I was also lucky enough to play golf at another great club. http://www.wgc.net.au/security/login.msp

A few years ago I played both soccer and basketball. The facilities were top notch at both the venues.

Of course Australia is a very large island which gives us a great variety of beaches.

The temperature today (Jan 21st ) is a pleasant 30 degrees C which occasionally becomes a little uncomfortable when it reaches 40 C. So as Australia Day approaches (Jan 26th) it is time to reflect on just how fortunate we all are in this splendid island with its superb facilities.

Tune of Song:"Closer to Home"

The video below is a shortened form ( verse 2 only) of a song I wrote after the Bali bombing in 2002. I blogged this before (see older blogs 4 pages below 21st Nov 2007) but Lettie asked me for the tune and this was the easiest way to go.

If you are interested in more details you might like to look at the following site:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/gall/0,,811178,00.html

Barack O'Bama

I hope 2009 sees you all well. I did my first gig of the year and of course had to try new things. I wrote an Irish story interlaced with lots of different songs. I ended up with a tribute to Barack O'Bama who (luckily) they had all heard of. When you are 80+ you are more inclined to remember Winnie etc. or even Stalin! The song claims that Barack's granddaddy's daddy came from Moneygall, a small village in Co. Offaly. The chorus goes thus:

O'Leary O'Reilly O'Hare and O'Hara There's no one as Irish as Barack O'Bama
From the old Blarney stone to the green hill of Tara there's no one as Irish as Barack O'Bama

Lots of fun verses but I added a few for Australians including:

Every Country you know and that includes Australia are singing their song their Hava Naglia

From Prime Minister Brown & the old Dali Lama even Kevin Rudd is cheering for Barack O' Bama.

Well putting it simply, there is a lot of pressure on this one man to change the world into a better place for most or at least some of us.

It seems that the U.S. will not be the power it has been but it would take a brave person to predict what the future will hold for this little planet in the next 200 years.

To listen to the song click here for Utube. http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=4Xkw8ip43Vk