Perth Words… exploring possibilities.

‘There are guides and spirits all along the way who will befriend us’

Guides and Spirits. We all need them.

Pilgrims all, we need Way Markers reassuring us that there is indeed a Way and that we are not the first to have set off in this direction.

Guides and Spirits are all around.

You find those with whom you feel a certain sympathetic kinship.

You think, ‘Here’s someone who speaks to me.

Here’s someone who knows what they’re talking about.

Someone worth attending to’.

So, for me; Thomas Merton, Erich Fromm, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Seamus Heaney, Emily Dickinson, Anton Chekhov, Samuel Beckett, Russell Hoban and Buster Keaton.

In music Hank Williams, Howling Wolf, Nina Simone, Bob Dylan and .. Van Morrison.

One of Van’s ‘lesser songs’ but one which has always spoken to me.

Get into it like a meditation.

Taking it further.

Taking it further.

Further.

Van…

A few favourite skyscapes of recent months…

Ewen Leslie was just nine years old when he started acting professionally.

It was on a popular children’s television series called Ship to Shore, filmed in and around Rockingham – a small coastal town about forty minutes south of Perth.

After graduating from WAAPA in 2000, Leslie’s first feature film role was in Matthew Newton’s Right Here, Right Now. A year later Leslie nabbed the lead in Tony Krawitz’s Jewboy and that’s when people really started to recognise his talent as a serious actor.

Since then, Leslie has gone on to star in many productions across screen and stage including Kokoda: 39th Battalion and Sleeping Beauty. 2015 saw him cast in one of Australian cinema’s greatest acting ensembles which included Geoffrey Rush, Sam Neill, Odessa Young, Paul Schneider and Miranda Otto in Simon Stone’s powerful family drama, The Daughter.

This month Ewen joins Reg Cribb and Cappi…

Let’s remind ourselves what’s A1 on The Immortal Jukebox and why!

Some songs have a brutally simple primal perfection.

Usually these songs are recorded at the very beginning of an artists career before they start to look into the rear view mirror and become conscious that they do indeed have a career, a legacy and a reputation to protect.

These are records that come at you full bore and demand you listen now!

Think of the primitive perfection of the last song recorded on the day the Beatles recorded their first LP.

You want to know what The Beatles sounded like in Hamburg? Listen to the raw bleeding magnificence of John Lennon’s vocal on, ‘Twist and Shout’ and the eyeballs out commitment of Paul, George and Ringo.

There was no way a second take could top that!

Think of the stupid beauty of the Undertones debut single, ‘Teenage Kicks’ –…

‘The Jukebox. I lived beside Jukeboxes all through the Fifties … You want to hear a guy’s story, and if the guy’s really seen a few things, the story is quite interesting’ (Leonard Cohen)

‘Oh I know that the music’s fine,
Like sparkling wine go and have your fun,
Laugh and sing, but while we’re apart,
Don’t give your heart to anyone.’

(Doc Pomus/Mort Shuman ‘Save the Last Dance for Me’)

Once in a very Blue Moon you turn on the radio and a song comes on that you know, know, from the first instant you hear it, is a song you will love for the rest of your life – however long that may be.

It’s a song you’ve never heard before yet at once you feel familiar with it.

Somehow, it seems you’ve been waiting for this song.

A song that you know, know, is true.

You know…

It’s been a busy few weeks (months, actually) for me between work, trying to write, and just, you know, stuff, that I haven’t had time to do any blogging, so apologies for not posting anything in a long, long while.

But now is as good a time as any to return because I’m excited to announce that I have had another short story published in the Irish Times.

Illustration: Brendon Deacy

It is a privilege to be included in Hennessy New Irish Writing for the second time. I was included a couple of years ago for this story.

My new story, “The Light on the Water” is one I worked on for some time; cutting, moving bits around, and cutting more until I got it where I wanted it to be.

The absolutely gorgeous illustration to accompany it is by artist Brendon Deacy. It captures the mood…