I didn't do it!

There's a lot of angst in my hometown lately about classic music venues shutting down, and rightly so.
The big news this week was the closure of The Tote in Collingwood, followed a few days later by an announcement that The Arthouse on Elizabeth Street would also be closing.
It got me thinking about the great bands I'd seen at The Tote, like the Dirty Three and SixFtHick...and then I remembered that I had also played at The Tote!
As well as The Arthouse...
Hmmmm...
Other places our band had played included the Punter's Club in Fitzroy (closed), the 9th Ward in Flinders Lane (gone), Joey's in South Yarra and St Kilda (both shut), the Greyhound in St Kilda (no bands anymore), et cetera, et cetera...
We did have our CD launch in the Espy Gershwin Room, though, and that's still kicking on.
I, uh, hope I didn't just kill it, though...

Back to the Future's Past...Today!

OK, OK, OK!!! (the last "OK" was a yell, but sadly my acronym was already in capital letters).
One of my few readers got a little uppity recently, saying something like "Why don't you write on your blog any more?"
I KNOW. Uppity to the max!
The answer is clearly something to do with laziness, but my New Year's Resolution is...oh, I can't be bothered going through that. Anyhoo, here's my latest post-age (Pauly Shore-style) re: things that stick in or about my craw-area.
First, Nicholas D. Kristof recetly wrote about Religion and Women in the context of the recent "Parliament of the World’s Religions" right here in the land Down Under:

“Women are prevented from playing a full and equal role in many faiths, creating an environment in which violations against women are justified,” former President Jimmy Carter noted in a speech last month to the Parliament of the World’s Religions in Australia.
“The belief that women are inferior human beings in the eyes of God,” Mr. Carter continued, “gives excuses to the brutal husband who beats his wife, the soldier who rapes a woman, the employer who has a lower pay scale for women employees, or parents who decide to abort a female embryo.”
Mr. Carter, who sees religion as one of the “basic causes of the violation of women’s rights,” is a member of The Elders, a small council of retired leaders brought together by Nelson Mandela. The Elders are focusing on the role of religion in oppressing women, and they have issued a joint statement calling on religious leaders to “change all discriminatory practices within their own religions and traditions.”

Nice one, Old Un-Sexist Dudes. And for all those thinking "Why should I ever listen to Godless Heathens and/or Jimmy Carter":

"The Elders are neither irreligious nor rabble-rousers. They include Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and they begin their meetings with a moment for silent prayer."

Ahhhh. So they're still a bit MeNtAl.
But at least they're on the right track.
In another article designed to re-disestablish (please don't get on your anti"disestablish"mentarianism high horse) one's faith in this crazy old world of ours and the...what's the best way to put it..."vermin" that populate it: 'Greed culture' killing planet, it appears that the average American consumes more than his or her weight in products each day (and we all know the average American is quite rotund, so we're talking a lot of products here):

"In its annual report, Worldwatch Institute says the cult of consumption and greed could wipe out any gains from government action on climate change or a shift to a clean energy economy."

Nice one, world.
Unsurprisingly, I've got some ideas, at least for our neck of the woods.
I'll get to that another time...