Music

Today, a Sunday in autumn, I am due to put in an appearance at a local music festival. All morning I've been seeing large trucks carrying portaloos and other festival paraphernalia towards Birchgrove Park where the annual festival is held. Unfortunately, it has also been raining with a vengeance and there is a strong wind. So, either I or my companion for this arvo may well cry off and 'give it a miss'. Would be a shame as it's supposed to be a good music festival and, moreover, it's free.

People around here really seem to love their music. There are pubs that have live music, there are the big venues for the big stars, and almost every gathering of some kind has some sort of musical entertainment thrown in. One thing I didn't realise before was how big country and western music is in Australia. I suppose it makes sense with the whole outback culture; the buckaroos, the stations and so on, but I just wasn't aware of it. Having grown up in Europe I tended to regard country music as a bit naff but recently I was at a friend's house and we had a few drinks after which she played a few old country albums. Vinyl, you know, and it was wonderful. White blues, I suppose. There were some immortal lyrics sung by strong crystal-clear voices. Just fantastic. So there you go. Never judge an lp by its cover.