Longing for the day ...

About time, guys ...

Just read about R.E.M and Van Halen making the Rock 'N' Roll Hall of Fame nominations. Why has this not happened earlier?

Van Halen are one of my all-time favourite bands (though perhaps not personally inspiring ...) and I think they've well and truly qualified for HOF status.Of course, they may not make it, depending on who's voting, but that's life. They don't have to be inducted by the industry to earn my respect. Que sera sera.

Disturbing to note that there's not been much activity on their website lately ...

Lovely stuff, Tracey

A couple of weeks ago, at the Big Sound conference, I met the lovely Tracey Saxby and have been playing her CD, "Barefoot Accoustic" regularly ever since. She's an interesting girl - grew up in Bundaberg but based in westen Canada.

Great accoustic girl-singing stuff, with a few mates thrown in to add bulk and interest. I especially like "Truth" and "Snow Goddess". Might even have a go at a version of "Truth", GBs style.

Tracey was also kind enough to help out with my research, so hope she does brilliantly and wish her all the best. Can't wait for the next instalment of recordings, since she did't play in Australia and I won't get to Canada any time soon.

Lisa's gone?

Well, there you go ... how wrong can I be? I guess that's what I get for not really paying attention - only tuning in occasionally.

Still, it's all the more pity becuase I thought the last two times I saw Lisa Mitchell perform were the most interesting I'd seen her. Her original songs was definitely worth another listen and her arrangement of the Veronicas' "Revolution" as a swing number was surprisingly suited to her. As I've said of many Idol contestants before: I hope we get to see more of Lisa Mitchell away from the unnatural environment that Australian Idol imposes on performers. I'm sure she'd do much beter as an original artist.

Now that she's gone, I'm tipping Dean Geyer and possibly Jessica Mauboy - though I haven't paid attention to who's been in the bottom three recently because my son likes to watch Mythbusters on SBS when the Idol verdict show is on. I only get to see the very end.

Huey's cooking show

I've noticed in my server logs that people are finding my site by looking for "Hughie's cooking show". I apologise for disappointing those people, but my cooking is not worth eating, let alone making a TV show about.

What you are probably searching for is the TV show featuring the cooking of Ian "Huey" Hewitson who, as I understand it, is a great cook. (I've not tried any of his recipes - partly because I don't have time to watch his show and partly because I'm sure I'd murder them, which would be disrespectful :-)

So, for those of you who would otherwise be disappointed, a search for "Hughie's cooking show" should probably lead you to "Huey's Cooking Club", which I've found and linked to here.

Hope this helps and enjoy your cooking.

Happy birthday, iPod

Just read that it was five years ago today that Steve Jobs launched the iPod, which well and truly changed the digital media landscape and set the standard for digital music.

Apple's iPod, and the iTunes store that came shortly after, and even the DRM that those use, have permanently altered the way people think about music and the music business. They even eventually forced the record company dinosaurs to changetheir ways, and that takes a lot of doing ...

There's a more fulsome article looking at what we can learn from the iPod experience here, and those of you who are interested in history might like to watch this video of Steve Jobs launching the iPod on this day in 2001:

Good to have a win

Played in the NTRA State of Origin touch tournament in Coff's Harbour on Saturday. The day was hot and windy, very tough conditions for the players, and we played three games, at 8.40, 10.40 and 13.20.

Queensland lost overall, but our division (Men's 35s) won all three games: 6-2, 4-1 and 7-1.

I was again selected for the Australian team to play against New Zealand in March. I'd love to go but the last thing I herd was that we'd be over there for 10 days and I'm not sure I can get that long off for a touch tournament ... not to mention child care, etc.

More to come on that one.

Lavina Fan Club

Can't believe the best voice in the competition has been voted off already. So much for Idol being a singing contest. Still, Lavina's shown what she's got on the national stage and should be proud of what she's done. You go, girl! Hope we hear more about Lavina Williams in future.

Also can't believe that Lisa was not even in the bottom three after that awful, off-key, atonal showing. Strangely, this makes me think that she'll win the competition. She's obviously being backed by the same fan base as Casey Donovan was, so it doesn't matter how she performs, she's sewn up the underdog-teen vote and it will carry her across the finish line.

Of course, this is not good for the show's industry backers, if Casey's experience is any indicator. Won the contest, flunked the career, as I recall. But, as I said last year, the best singers rarely win the contest and plenty of the early reject have gone on to sell very well as independents. I'd like to see more of some of them after the show finishes.

The only people I see getting close to Lisa are Jessica and Dean. Bobby also has a solid fan base, as he should, but I don't think it's as big as some of the others'. Jess has the teen thing working for her but not the sooky attitude thing. Dean is gorgeous but vulnerable if his fans take him for granted - lots more mums in that group and they're not as dedicated to voting.

Chris Murphy might get there on the back of the Christian vote but ... welll ... I'm not sure how big that is exactly. But it probably got Anthony Callea to the final ...

What I'm really looking forward to is seeing them sing in their own style. Watching Bobby and Lisa sing material and genres that they're obvously not right for is painful. Let them be themselves ...!!

Getting sick of seeing the CD promotions of previous Idol contestants on the show, too. A few is understandable but they're almost up to one each week. Overkill!!

So close, Hockeyroos ...

For the Hockeyroos to lose the World Cup final is a harsh way to exit - though there's only one good way to exit a tournament like that :-)

Still, it's a great comeback from fifth at the Champions Trophy and a great result considering the criticism they got at the start of the tournament. Next time, girls. We're proud of you! Australian hockey is in great shape.

Go Broncos! Go Broncos! Go Broncos!

Isn't it nice to have a win! And what a win. As Wayne Bennett said, it wasn't pretty but it was effective. A great Grand Final - plenty of back and forth, plenty of opportunities for both sides, gritty and desperate defence, brilliance in attack ... it had it all.

And Webby went out the way he wanted, which is just fairytale stuff. Well done, boys!

Go Broncos! Go Broncos! Go Broncos! Go Broncos! Go Broncos! Go Broncos!