speaker-0: Well, it's been far too long, ladies and gentlemen, and good folks out there in Grumpy Jukebox land. We had to put it into hibernation for a little while. I went off to Darwin and Francis started a new job and Robbie, well, he was stuck down in the garden again. But we've got them all back here at the moment and ⁓ Grumpy Jukebox returns. Robbie. Francis, well
speaker-1: Hello.
speaker-2: People, high grumps.
speaker-0: Here we are, we're trying to do what's new, what surprised us, and what the bloody hell, what the fuck? And I've been out, I tell you what surprised me, is that I've been out three nights on the source at Big Sound in Brisbane and the live music scene in Australia, I tell you what, is in very, very good hands with all those young people out there making music for the same reasons that they've been doing it for so many years. So I'd really like to start with a couple of bands that I saw. Special features ⁓ is one of them. They've got a they they come blasting out of the ⁓ PA with the first song is called Shea Guevara T shirt, so you know where they're going from there. ⁓ and it's and another outfit, they're they're a Brizzy outfit and another outfit, a female singer called Queenie, and she was magnificent. ⁓ from Melbourne town. I don't know if you guys have ⁓ come across her at all. ⁓ Francis from down there or no?
speaker-2: Yeah, but ⁓ tell me more.
speaker-1: I I have stumbled across her music via community radio, actually. Two S E R has been playing some of her music so she's she's come across my desk ⁓ in the community sector which is awesome.
speaker-2: Yeah.
speaker-1: Say, hey guy, let's have a conversation. What's the deal with these crooked contracts? You're just like my dad, leave a trail of destruction. If there was a guide, I'd ask a lot of questions. And people tell me that I asked too many questions. And if there was a guide, he'd probably be in finance. And he'd take his coffee black and his sugar in halves. ⁓
speaker-0: Always.
speaker-1: Yeah, D. My sunshine on me.
speaker-0: Yeah, so she's got a great band behind her and she's got this shock of red hair. It is fantastic and it's ⁓ a little bit dolly, a little bit kind of back to black. Who was that? Amy Winehouse, a little bit Amy Winehouse. it's that sort of style of thing. She sh the first night we saw her was at the Wickham, probably I don't know.
speaker-1: ⁓ Amy Whitehouse.
speaker-0: fifty or a hundred people there and then we saw her again at Santousy Joe's or something like that. I think it's mainly a it's like a country bar, but it was absolutely packed. And as those things go, th word gets around that at Big Sound ⁓ most of the bands play twice. So if the vibe starts building y they get a you know a really good crowd ⁓ second up and that was fantastic and that happened for both special features and queenie. So if you've if you can get out there, have a listen to those two bands, special features a completely different thing. There's something I don't even know how you'd describe them. There's there's a little bit of rage against the machine in there. There's a little bit of you know a little bit of hip hop there's but just attitude and and fantastic ⁓ great musicians and and and great fun as well. And they packed out The first night we saw them at a at a smaller venue, ⁓ and last night saw them at ⁓ Crowbar, which is yeah, the old zoo, and it was packed. You couldn't have fit anybody else in there.
speaker-1: Tasha.
speaker-2: Isn't it great that there's a that we can still have a festival like this where ⁓ you get two new ⁓ bikes to the odd bicky and ⁓ it is about you know the very focus is to check out new music. It's not necessarily about when it is getting together with people and having a good time in a big field. That's a good day out here. But this is what definitely about seeking out new sounds and and ⁓ enjoying ⁓ something new, like it's an exploration which is great. That's still and that Brisbane's got the capacity to do
speaker-1: And Cosy, you've said that you've been involved in Big Sound or been going to Big Sound at least for its pretty much its full existence, which is what, 25 years. Yeah. Now I I'm really interested to know kind of what the the mood is like ⁓ around live music in Brisbane. ⁓ a at a time when of course we're seeing all these problems in i i ⁓ in in the live music ⁓ fabric because of cost pressures and venue closures and all those sorts of things. But conversely What I have noticed is that there is a I a kind of return to a real interest in the visceral, real connection with music. ⁓ at a time of algorithms and a time of kind of global bullshit with all of this sort of stuff. So I just wonder whether you've noticed anything in the last few years ab about those flows.
speaker-0: Well I think ⁓ Robbie, I think it's a really good question. I think it's probably a lot to do with the tenacity of these bands and the tenacity of the music industry. And for the most part, what I hope is that they're not gonna be cowed by those pressures. I think it's the venue. I think that the artists, yes, are are still in it for the same reasons that we all got into playing music or or being part of the music industry in whatever way, shape or form we could. I think the venues are having a problem. I think some of the promoters in Australia are having a problem. I won't make too much of an issue of it or mention any names, but I was speaking to one of the ⁓ promoters of one of the big festivals here in Brisbane at the Necrosonic Festival, which was a couple of weeks ago, which is a a metal festival at the Mansfield Tabern, and He was saying to me that they were happy with their number one, their headliner, whatever. They were g in negotiation with their number two and one of those big conglomerates from overseas came in and doubled their offer for their number two. So they lost their number two. I think the insurance pressures are a big thing for a lot of venues now, because that just seems to be going up and up and up and up. But ⁓ as far as the bands, as far as the artists, I think for the most part, and just judging by what I so I mean, I see them from ⁓ quite a distance these days. ⁓ I'm not involved like I used to be. ⁓ but I think they're all doing it for the same reason. They're getting on stage, they're practicing, they're paying to play, let's face it, let's be let's call ⁓ you know, a spade a spade. All these people at these festivals at Big Sound, they paid to play. They paid their own way up there. They you know, so but the payoff is you might put yourself up in front of anyone because there's all the Australian music industry there, but the world is coming as well now to Big Sound and has done for the last decade or so. So I think I don't know, you can, you know, don't I don't know which way you want to peel a banana, but that's kind of the way I see it.
speaker-2: Well I've got come next year. Thanks for the invitation this year, by the way.
speaker-0: You can come anytime, Frankie. It's just me and Rebecca my firstborn. She loves coming. She's been coming for the last ten years or so since she turned ⁓ eighteen. And ⁓ we have a great time and all the all the people that we, you know, generally bump into and ⁓ and it's a great place. I mean you bump into Ian Hobb from Powderfinger and I bumped into J C from Powderfinger last night as well. You know, and they all know Rebecca by name these days, so you know, it's a really good community and I think that's what music needs that community local music needs that community and it always has. ⁓ and whichever way you you you shape it, ⁓ two S. E. R, ⁓ three triple R, four Triple Z, you know, they are all stakeholders in it and and they're the breeding grounds. ⁓ and they're the first step and they can of course triple J is the s the next step. ⁓ But ⁓ without that grassroots radio following, without that those ⁓ venues taking the chance and without the passion from the musicians, it won't work. But I'm glad the passion from musicians just of course, yeah. Yeah. Everyone has to be there. So that was ⁓ that's probably kinda my, you know, ⁓ what's new and and my ⁓ and you know, what has surprised me. ⁓ I guess my what's new is is yet to come, but ⁓ Robbie
speaker-2: And the audiences too.
speaker-1: Okay. ⁓ what's new from me is ⁓ a record I picked up this week and I really was attracted to it merely because of the title, but thankfully I think the music's pretty good too. It is Sex Judas featuring Ricky and an album called The Book of Dreams slash After Sex. And that may make me sound very desperate, but it's actually ⁓ it's actually pretty interesting. It's a ⁓ a Norwegian producer called Torre Giedrum. His bio says has a love for comics, political satire, music history, eroticism, and above all electronic music. And so i i i it goes on to say if you imagine Damon Arban's Gorillas Project on Acid or the musical versions of the fabulous f furry freak brothers on well, whatever they are on, then you kinda get close to the the music of this. so yeah, it's ⁓ I I I I might even be able to play you a little tiny bit of it 'cause I've just s here here. Night I was So as you can hear from that, it it kinda does sound a little bit well, kinda like the Gorillas on Acid. But what I love about this is that that sort of electronic ⁓ texture that is sort of ubiquitous but is constantly being reimagined by different producers around the globe. And so, you know, the the title kinda got me sucked in to begin with, but then the rest of the music was pretty cool as well.
speaker-0: All right. Sounds good. ⁓ look forward to hearing a little bit more of that. Francis, what has been ⁓ your ear candy? Well
speaker-2: It is a local artist by the name of Miss Janina. Do you know her work? Her new album, Blackprint, is an absolute belter. thinking, young, indigenous attitude, with zero fucks to give to ⁓ to anyone else telling her how to live a life or what to do, and has that sort of missing alley at energy to it. And the first time I heard it, I was just like, Wow, this is this is the record for me for the next month or two. And the brought it home. And it just has a real party bounce to it as well with the attitude and the politics. And ⁓ and the production in Australian ⁓ hip hop is just superb. Like ⁓ we are world class. And yeah, we need to ditch the ⁓ the sort of like the cultural cringe cloak around ⁓ Australian produced hip hop ⁓ that some people still carry, not all of us, but some. But this is just a cracking record. It's getting close to my favourite record so far this year. Just hold it up there. It's called Black Ba Black Print. And it just from start to finish. It's just It's just at the top of her game and I love it. And ⁓ it just re rekindles my love of of Australian hip hop which sort of float in and out of. But when I hear a great record like this I go, I'm right back here again. ⁓ so yeah, I can highly recogn and I think she's doing some shows around the country as we speak. Might even be able to play people a little bit of what she does 'cause I think you've actually had the chance to see Miss Canina in action before.
speaker-0: Yeah, we did see her like two years ago and she just owned the stage. It was fantastic just to see her and it was only by chance kinda it was one of those things, again, another great thing about Big Sound is you can just wander around and you know, go go and check this out, let's see this, or let's hang here for like half an hour and wait for the next act to come on. And ⁓ no, she was fantastic, she really owned the stage, knew nothing of her and she really produced.
speaker-1: Place that you probably never heard about. Poppies be so too shit. I'm tryna milk you down. Roll roll roll Popped up so
speaker-0: Bitch, you never heard of me, I'm quick shit, I'm like a battery ch
speaker-1: I'm second rate class, like when the fuck did I ask? Real mouthy little bitch, odd sucks, big tricks, proper spit to this It's ⁓ reflect cheapness. Cause I was built for this. I'm on a sumper wait list. They be doubting me. Yeah, it's
speaker-2: ⁓ just ⁓ if you like someone who's prepared to just tell you exactly what they think, if you're not confronted by fairly confrontational lyrics and ⁓ a very strong and uncompromising political stance, ⁓ this is the record for you. It's just it's just feminine feminine energy through a public enemy lens. It's just awesome and I love it. And you know, I'd love driving around in my car with the windows down, driving around St Kilda like an old, you know, hip like B boy pretending I'm cool again.
speaker-1: Yeah, you're one of those guys.
speaker-2: It's not working for me, is it? No. I'm one of those guys, yeah. I'm gonna get I'm gonna get my car what I'm gonna do next is get my car underlit with some of those fluoro lights and just head down Chapel Street with Miss Janina blaring out the windows and the fluffy dice just, you know, rocking in the front mirror.
speaker-0: And the subwoofer shaking the side mirrors.
speaker-2: You reckon I can pull it off?
speaker-1: No no way. Not a chance.
speaker-0: Maybe a wig.
speaker-2: Straight to my straight to my weak point there, Cosy. Check out the album Blackprint Blackprint. It's it's close to my favourite record of the year so far. Absolutely belter.
speaker-0: My what's new is a book this time. I don't think we've really spoken much about ⁓ books. John Toogood have from She Had has a ⁓ a book out and it's called Home Again. And it got me thinking, and I I'm about halfway through it. I'm going to hopefully have a chat to him on ⁓ the breakdown dot net as well. And it got me thinking about biographies. Now this or autobiographies. This one's a great one. I'm I've I've enjoyed it so far. He hasn't ⁓ kinda hung around too much. on the the growing up thing. I I remember reading Slashes, it was a bloody slog. and but another one that I really enjoyed that I didn't know whether that I'd it had only come out last year was ⁓ Robbie Robertson. ⁓ and ⁓ his book called Insomnia. And ⁓ it's basically a memoir focusing on the years ⁓ 1977 to 1980, ⁓ de dealing ⁓ with his ⁓ friendship with ⁓ director Martin Scorsese. ⁓ following the breakup of the band and ⁓ of course Scorsese directed ⁓ The Last Waltz, ⁓ which was, you know, quite amazing. ⁓ so two books there. I think it's probably really worth ⁓ having a l read of Insomnia from Robbie Robinson. Like I said, I'm halfway through the John Toogood book ⁓ called Home Again. Of course John Toogood, the lead singer of She Had, who unfortunately called it a day. ⁓ but ⁓ yeah, Rob, you have you ⁓ are you an autobiography man? Do you read or biographies or?
speaker-1: Yeah, I am. I am. I and you know what I was thinking, I was trying to think of some of my favourite ⁓ memoirs and autobiographies, and there are a lot of great ones in from the music sphere. There are also a lot of really terrible ones. One of the really good local ones I think is Tim Rogers, who has a a tremendous sway with words, as he always has has had in his his lyrics with y for UMI and his own solo work. But his memoir is really beautiful and it's it's of more impressionistic than I went here and I did this and we met this person. ⁓ it's it's more kind of ⁓ emotional, I guess, and and sort of sketch based. And I it r it really works, I think. So and I can't remember the the name I'll find it for you, the the name of the ⁓ the book, but I'll get it for you. But it's yeah it's Tim Tim Rogers memoir, which is fantastic.
speaker-2: And Titon, it seems, is ⁓ carving out a bit of a spot for himself, not only writing good books but reviewing them. I hear him a bit on ABC Radio National's book show talking about your writing. He's got wonderful ⁓ insight in into quality writing and yeah, he's really interesting to listen to talking about books. His passion for it is obviously very deep. It's ⁓ it's a very real thing for him as as a writer and an artist. But yeah, love hearing him talk about books as well as writing them.
speaker-1: Yeah. ⁓ so yeah, ⁓ Detours is the name of the memoir from Tim Rogers, which came out about nine years ago. ⁓ Robert Forster had a great one called Grant and I, which came out around about that time as well. Yeah, r which is really terrific. And the relationship between the the two songwriters behind the go betweens. ⁓ about Grant McClennan. ⁓ Tex Perkins had a pretty interesting one that was I think Stuart Co Coop might have done some of the ⁓ the co writing for it, but his li his life is a pretty interesting one too. So You know, there are some really good local ones and ⁓ if you've you're somebody who's grown up through Australian music too, they're always fascinating to read because quite often they're talking about venues and people and characters and other bands, etcetera, that you've you've brushed up against over that time too, which can make it a bit more thrilling.
speaker-2: Yeah, Robbie's just going straight to the index to see if he's in there.
speaker-1: I never am, you know, never.
speaker-0: I forget. When when Andrew Stafford's Pig City came out, someone ⁓ said to me, Have you looked through it? D ⁓ are you in it? I went, ⁓ no. I'll read it, but I'm I'm not scanning for my name.
speaker-1: No, and that is a fantastic book and it's such an a an an amazing encapsulation of br ⁓ you know the Brisbane music scene and political scene in the nineteen seventies and eighties as well. Andrew just did a fantastic job. And then of course there was that Pig City ⁓ music festival that was put on on the back of it where the Saints reformed with Chris Bailey and Ed Cooper on stage for the first time in so many years. ⁓ and I remember being in that crowd watching that you know, that band but also that day unfold and it was just absolutely sensational. So
speaker-0: How good were they? They that the sound the Ed Cooper's guitar sound, ⁓ it's still with me. It really is still with me.
speaker-1: I agree. I a absolutely it was amazing.
speaker-0: You know, th that whole thing. And I love the fact that the Black Assassins wanted to play, you know, who is of course, you know, ⁓ Andy Neal and Tony Biggs and, you know, all old Triple Z, Triple J alumni and and Tony Collins and they wouldn't let them play, so they just did a gorilla pop up. They took their amps and drums and everything and just set up out on the on the paddock and and played out there. Yeah.
speaker-1: Good on.
speaker-0: Yeah. But that was a that was an incredible day. And it was the first time that ⁓ I've been at a festival and they've run out of beer. They actually w we managed to drink the place dry and and all that was left were these I don't know, those red or pink red drinks or or black drinks. So everyone's walking around with red stains or black stains all over their lips 'cause they'd run out of beer. That's Brisbane.
speaker-2: I've got a couple for you as well. ⁓ Niel Rogers ⁓ memoir called a Freak, ⁓ an upside down story of Family Disco and Destiny. Outstanding ⁓ ri rollicking ride through Niall's career and the heady days at Studio fifty four and and also working with Bowie in in Excess and others as well. ⁓ just fantastic, just ⁓ just to sort of get a his insight from inside the machine of the sort of New York disco scene in the late seventies and and into the eighties. And the other one that I really love, it's less than a memoir, it's sort of a memoir. This is a fascinating one. It's called Dan Through the Fire. It's Paul Weller. Obviously I'm a hu I'm a huge Weller fan. And it's the Authorised Oral History by Dan Jennings. Now Dan Jennings did a Paul Weller podcast for years where he just interviewed everyone or anyone who had ⁓ an association with Paul Weller. ⁓ and it was this great listen. And ⁓ in the end in for the final episode he finally interviewed Weller himself for the for the podcast. And at the end of it, Weller said, Gee, that would make a great book And so Dan went You're not wrong. So he's collated all the interviews that he did over the six, seven years of ⁓ the p the Weller podcast and put them into a book which is a basically Weller's life story in a first person social history kind of way. And it's fabulous. You get to meet his dad and his mum and his sister and and understand what life was growing up like in Woking, ⁓ with his working for his dad and, you know, doing petty pilfering with his dad from work sites and you get a real sense of, you know, how he grew up and then his dad became his manager ⁓ and the the sort of heady days of the jam and the sort of ⁓ upheaval when he split the jam and even at the age of twenty four and form the style council. It's all in there and it's ⁓ it's just fabulous if you're a well a fan. There's ⁓ a lot to enjoy and it you can hear the voices because it's all in first person. ⁓ you can you know you can hear the voices and their authenticity. So yeah, rollicking read. And the third one is Dylan Jones's ⁓ Bowie book I love as well, which I'm reading at the moment. Similarly, Dylan Jones has just put together a whole bunch of interviews that he's done over the years. He he'd ⁓ written a number of Bowie books and interviewed Bowie a lot over the journey and his people around in his circle. And he's just done a cr chronological take of ⁓ telling that story from different telling different parts of Bowie's story from different perspectives. So whether it's the ⁓ the spiders from Mars being formed and and then then Bowie ditching them as he went goes to America, he's got everyone's different perspective in the same time frame. Really great read too. Really enjoy that one.
speaker-0: I'm ⁓ what was the Paul Weller one called again, mate? Dance through the
speaker-2: Dancing through the fire. The authorized old history by Dan Jennings.
speaker-0: So it really surprises me that Paul Weller was only twenty four. I'm guessing the rest of the band were about the same age when the jam split. You know, they felt like they were around for a lot longer.
speaker-2: Well, they produced what, how many albums was it? Five albums, six albums in the space of five years? It was that crazy time where they were just, you know, expected to just keep producing re an and any number of singles and E Ps in between as well. ⁓ you know, they were just at pumping it out. And ⁓ I think you you know, you find in in this it just feels like he ran into a dead end with the with the ⁓ bass guitar and drums format of the band and, you know, was getting into you still discovering music at the age of twenty three, twenty four and wanted to do something entirely different but felt like he was being ⁓ maybe inhibited or expected to, you know, the jam had become an institution, you know, in very short space of time who's to be imprisoned in the in the walls of his own success and just thought he'd just break it all down and head off into the sunset head to Paris and wear some fancy clothes and get around with Mick Talbot in in a in a gondola with his shirts off. Why not?
speaker-1: Which they did, yes. It's I mean the style council has got ⁓ I ⁓ well and what a ⁓ what an amazing tune that is, Long Hot Summer. But, you know, some of the other tracks that they came up with I don't think have weathered the the mistress of time so well. But you know they
speaker-2: Summer it up, Always. I they were of the time. Look but I did buy the re they reissued Cafe Blur the the the booze style council album recently and that's a tragic I did go and buy the reissue and it sounds great. It was a thing that sort of I was at the age of that age, sixteen, seventeen, introduced me to the idea of jazz or the idea of the sort of cafe soul sound. It's sort of so exciting at the time. And, you know, Nima Fred Perry, you know, sitting around in Brody, looking cool. Drinking drinking drinking an international roast rather than a sort of like a proper latte or anything like that. But you know, try my best. Try my best in difficult circumstances to look mod chic in in a housing commission flat in Broadmeadows. It's a tough ass, boys.
speaker-1: You ⁓ would have done it beautiful. Yeah, you would have been great.
speaker-0: While you're there, Francis, give us a what's your what the fuck for this week? ⁓
speaker-2: What the fuck for this week is something that scared the bejesus out of me when I read it. So it's this crazy story. Now have you ever s received a text message and you've gone, ⁓ who said this? I don't know this person. What are they talking about? Well, ⁓ Google it was revealed this week, Google messages started dredging up old private texts and putting them into wrong conversation. Now users reported years old messages resurfacing alongside new ones, sometimes completely unintended recipients receiving them. ⁓ Google says it's fixing the the issue with with a new roller but it's an absolute nightmare fuel, the idea that your ⁓ your Google messages are just gonna sort of ⁓ pop up randomly again and could possibly pop up to somebody they were not intended to. ⁓ that is my what the fuck? Don't be doing that. ⁓ and it's also it's yeah
speaker-1: Yeah. No, no, I I've had I've I've got a friend who has had that happen to them in the last few weeks where th they and this is on a business phone where their clients were receiving completely nonsensical and sometimes t totally inappropriate messages ⁓ from them coming up on their phone and they had no idea what the hell was going on. So I take it that's probably what
speaker-0: I wonder whether the same thing's happening with Gmail because I've been getting like ⁓ my mum's messages ⁓ and ⁓ mum's been getting some of mine, you know, and yeah, it's been ⁓ a a little scary, let's say.
speaker-2: And I think it's just a reminder to everyone, a little digital hygiene, please, just go back through your messages. Make sure that you sort of like just give it a bit of a clean, a bit of a spring clean. ⁓ for everyone's sake. Delete, forget, move on. But don't pop up in someone else's messages. Bad idea, Google. ⁓ whatever happened to them, they're their steamer.
speaker-0: Be a good deleter. They got plenty of bad ideas, haven't they?
speaker-2: Gulf of America ⁓ Lake America, please spare me. Whatever happened to their motto of ⁓ do no evil? Has it just gone to Are they just taking the nowhere? Do evil
speaker-1: Yeah, we've Yeah.
speaker-2: Yeah, we fixed it too evil.
speaker-0: Well, I remember back in the olden days and I was in Sydney for some reason a and working at Triple J, I remember ⁓ Jenny Aldershaw, the wonderful Jenny Aldershaw, 'cause b back then we were all looking at, you know, Yahoo and I don't know what the other search engine was.
speaker-2: Netscape. Netscape.
speaker-0: Metscape, maybe. And Jen said to me, Have you tried Google, Coszy? And I went, Yeah, I've just stumbled upon it at the last couple of days. That's how old we are, obviously. And it was it was because it had no rubbish, had no advertising on it. It was just that clean sheet and you know, and look what it's become. Robbie, have you got a what the fuck?
speaker-1: Yeah, I d I do have a what the fuck, and I guess it's kinda connected to the ⁓ y the lens that we're looking at Google through, which is the entire things. But ⁓ it's the ⁓ the latest data which came out about ⁓ climate and weather, and sadly enough, ⁓ we have had the warmest summer in on the east coast i in history, really. In Sydney where I am, we've had the warmest winter since records began. In Melbourne you've had the equal warmest ⁓ record. So in in that context, I guess w what the fuck was how few news outlets really covered that, which I consider to be really pretty massive news. I mean looking at I I'm afraid looking at the ABC website I couldn't find any stories that really covered it. The Guardian covered it ⁓ a little bit and ⁓ the the Channel nine newspapers, The Age and Sydney Morning Herald covered a bit. But there is a an article on the ⁓ conversation which in combination with that is really infuriating. And for the first time, major ⁓ Australian ⁓ companies, multinational companies, resource companies, have had to release their internal dialogue and ⁓ analysis about ⁓ climate change and where we think we're heading. And so BHP and Rio Tinto have basically ⁓ released this data ⁓ which says that they are preparing for a world which is ⁓ around about two degrees plus two degrees of warming since industri industrial ages. And other companies are now preparing and saying that they are prepared for warming to 2.6 degrees, which is essentially an unlivable planet in many ways. And so it raises the question, okay, if this is what companies are preparing for, this is what they are considering is going to be the standard for them, and and at the same time they're pulling back on their efforts to try and keep those limits down. Then where is where is the responsibility? Where does it lie? And of course, the answer is it it lies with politicians and it relies with government. But this then ties into the fact that we are at the moment not seeing the kind of leadership that we should see in governments around the world at all. And I know it's a kind of boring conversation to have and it's a slightly negative conversation well, a very negative conversation to have. But it just made me realise it really is time to fucking agitate and sound the klaxen a little bit on a lot of this stuff, because it just feels like Despite the greatest efforts of so many people and we're all trying to do our very best, and you know, I ride an electric bicycle and I drive an electric car and I've got a a battery on my house and I've got solar panels and you're do trying to do all these things as individuals, but without that real leadership in government, you know, and we're we're seeing ⁓ again and again ⁓ the the government of the day, the Labour Party of the day announcing these huge fossil fuel developments that are releasing carbon bombs at you know, almost week after week we're seeing this kind of stuff. The Beateloo Basin, we've seen ⁓ you know, a Labour politician that has just been there being photographed, turning on the gas for that for the first time. We saw Labour pull put up in the ⁓ by election in Western the Secret Harbor by election that One Nation won, putting up a a a current lobbyist for Woodside as their candidate. And it's like, ⁓ for me, it's like, what the fuck? Is a are you all living on a different planet? I mean, do you not have children? So anyway, that's where I'm at. It's I I'm I'm pretty incandescent with rage about it this week and so I'm sharing it a little bit and apologies for that, but I also feel like, fuck, let's push back a bit.
speaker-0: And ⁓ I I got one for you here, just to top up the rage, the Christophili government has turned its back on environmentally friendly buses with plans to procure a new fleet of more than six hundred diesel powered vehicles to roll out across Queensland. So there you go. no idea what the thinking is. ⁓ They said when the the minister said when we came to government we inherited a thought bubble from Labour in the form of their zero emissions bus program. Under label Labor's policy, all buses from january one, twenty twenty five were to be electric and zero emission buses. However, they've done none of the work to upgrade the depots. Well, newsflash, they're not in power.
speaker-1: No, and you know what is so ridiculous about this, and and this is where it gets so perverse, is it's not just about climate change, about moving from diesel buses to electric buses. It's about emissions. And emissions ⁓ diesel particulate emissions are really bad for your health. So it's basically the state government in Queensland saying, well, F you to ⁓ you know to to the to our constituents because we're gonna be pouring all this particulate matter into the air. Francis, I know that you can't really talk about because you're an ABC employee at the moment, but anyway, that's that's you know, w where I'm sitting at the moment. I and I'm pissed off. There you go. I'm grumpy.
speaker-2: And what a on the buses issue I can say is that there's a huge manufacturing division in Victoria producing Australian made electric buses. So there's no excuse not to have more making them here. I'm starting to sound like Bonnie Tyler after a pack of Peter Stivesons, so I'm really sorry about it.
speaker-1: It's sexy. We love it.
speaker-2: Well you'd be happy, Costa, after Hawthorne's ⁓ big win in f in ⁓ Perth yesterday against Freeman, also ⁓ enjoy.
speaker-0: When the Lions played Hawthorne up here, I had my dad's Lions hat on and I had my dad's Hawthorne scarf on 'cause that was the first team he barked for when he when they first came over ⁓ to Australia. So ⁓ everyone's looking at me a little bit, you know, what what's wrong with you, mate?
speaker-2: Yeah, pick a line kid.
speaker-1: He's he's confused. Well, look, it's be it's been really lovely chatting to you guys about sport. Ugh, I snort. ⁓ I'm off I'm off to Sydney Contemporary, which is a ⁓ it's I think, you know, Sydney's ⁓ biggest commercial art show which runs over a few days. So that's where I'm off to, darlings. I'll see you next time.
speaker-2: Enjoy the cheese and wine, Robbie.
speaker-1: I will. Thank you.
speaker-0: Good on ya boys. Thanks a lot for ⁓ joining me on Grumpy Toothbox. Good on ya.
speaker-1: Second.
speaker-2: Chao, chao.
speaker-1: Hello.
speaker-2: People, high grumps.
speaker-0: Here we are, we're trying to do what's new, what surprised us, and what the bloody hell, what the fuck? And I've been out, I tell you what surprised me, is that I've been out three nights on the source at Big Sound in Brisbane and the live music scene in Australia, I tell you what, is in very, very good hands with all those young people out there making music for the same reasons that they've been doing it for so many years. So I'd really like to start with a couple of bands that I saw. Special features ⁓ is one of them. They've got a they they come blasting out of the ⁓ PA with the first song is called Shea Guevara T shirt, so you know where they're going from there. ⁓ and it's and another outfit, they're they're a Brizzy outfit and another outfit, a female singer called Queenie, and she was magnificent. ⁓ from Melbourne town. I don't know if you guys have ⁓ come across her at all. ⁓ Francis from down there or no?
speaker-2: Yeah, but ⁓ tell me more.
speaker-1: I I have stumbled across her music via community radio, actually. Two S E R has been playing some of her music so she's she's come across my desk ⁓ in the community sector which is awesome.
speaker-2: Yeah.
speaker-1: Say, hey guy, let's have a conversation. What's the deal with these crooked contracts? You're just like my dad, leave a trail of destruction. If there was a guide, I'd ask a lot of questions. And people tell me that I asked too many questions. And if there was a guide, he'd probably be in finance. And he'd take his coffee black and his sugar in halves. ⁓
speaker-0: Always.
speaker-1: Yeah, D. My sunshine on me.
speaker-0: Yeah, so she's got a great band behind her and she's got this shock of red hair. It is fantastic and it's ⁓ a little bit dolly, a little bit kind of back to black. Who was that? Amy Winehouse, a little bit Amy Winehouse. it's that sort of style of thing. She sh the first night we saw her was at the Wickham, probably I don't know.
speaker-1: ⁓ Amy Whitehouse.
speaker-0: fifty or a hundred people there and then we saw her again at Santousy Joe's or something like that. I think it's mainly a it's like a country bar, but it was absolutely packed. And as those things go, th word gets around that at Big Sound ⁓ most of the bands play twice. So if the vibe starts building y they get a you know a really good crowd ⁓ second up and that was fantastic and that happened for both special features and queenie. So if you've if you can get out there, have a listen to those two bands, special features a completely different thing. There's something I don't even know how you'd describe them. There's there's a little bit of rage against the machine in there. There's a little bit of you know a little bit of hip hop there's but just attitude and and fantastic ⁓ great musicians and and and great fun as well. And they packed out The first night we saw them at a at a smaller venue, ⁓ and last night saw them at ⁓ Crowbar, which is yeah, the old zoo, and it was packed. You couldn't have fit anybody else in there.
speaker-1: Tasha.
speaker-2: Isn't it great that there's a that we can still have a festival like this where ⁓ you get two new ⁓ bikes to the odd bicky and ⁓ it is about you know the very focus is to check out new music. It's not necessarily about when it is getting together with people and having a good time in a big field. That's a good day out here. But this is what definitely about seeking out new sounds and and ⁓ enjoying ⁓ something new, like it's an exploration which is great. That's still and that Brisbane's got the capacity to do
speaker-1: And Cosy, you've said that you've been involved in Big Sound or been going to Big Sound at least for its pretty much its full existence, which is what, 25 years. Yeah. Now I I'm really interested to know kind of what the the mood is like ⁓ around live music in Brisbane. ⁓ a at a time when of course we're seeing all these problems in i i ⁓ in in the live music ⁓ fabric because of cost pressures and venue closures and all those sorts of things. But conversely What I have noticed is that there is a I a kind of return to a real interest in the visceral, real connection with music. ⁓ at a time of algorithms and a time of kind of global bullshit with all of this sort of stuff. So I just wonder whether you've noticed anything in the last few years ab about those flows.
speaker-0: Well I think ⁓ Robbie, I think it's a really good question. I think it's probably a lot to do with the tenacity of these bands and the tenacity of the music industry. And for the most part, what I hope is that they're not gonna be cowed by those pressures. I think it's the venue. I think that the artists, yes, are are still in it for the same reasons that we all got into playing music or or being part of the music industry in whatever way, shape or form we could. I think the venues are having a problem. I think some of the promoters in Australia are having a problem. I won't make too much of an issue of it or mention any names, but I was speaking to one of the ⁓ promoters of one of the big festivals here in Brisbane at the Necrosonic Festival, which was a couple of weeks ago, which is a a metal festival at the Mansfield Tabern, and He was saying to me that they were happy with their number one, their headliner, whatever. They were g in negotiation with their number two and one of those big conglomerates from overseas came in and doubled their offer for their number two. So they lost their number two. I think the insurance pressures are a big thing for a lot of venues now, because that just seems to be going up and up and up and up. But ⁓ as far as the bands, as far as the artists, I think for the most part, and just judging by what I so I mean, I see them from ⁓ quite a distance these days. ⁓ I'm not involved like I used to be. ⁓ but I think they're all doing it for the same reason. They're getting on stage, they're practicing, they're paying to play, let's face it, let's be let's call ⁓ you know, a spade a spade. All these people at these festivals at Big Sound, they paid to play. They paid their own way up there. They you know, so but the payoff is you might put yourself up in front of anyone because there's all the Australian music industry there, but the world is coming as well now to Big Sound and has done for the last decade or so. So I think I don't know, you can, you know, don't I don't know which way you want to peel a banana, but that's kind of the way I see it.
speaker-2: Well I've got come next year. Thanks for the invitation this year, by the way.
speaker-0: You can come anytime, Frankie. It's just me and Rebecca my firstborn. She loves coming. She's been coming for the last ten years or so since she turned ⁓ eighteen. And ⁓ we have a great time and all the all the people that we, you know, generally bump into and ⁓ and it's a great place. I mean you bump into Ian Hobb from Powderfinger and I bumped into J C from Powderfinger last night as well. You know, and they all know Rebecca by name these days, so you know, it's a really good community and I think that's what music needs that community local music needs that community and it always has. ⁓ and whichever way you you you shape it, ⁓ two S. E. R, ⁓ three triple R, four Triple Z, you know, they are all stakeholders in it and and they're the breeding grounds. ⁓ and they're the first step and they can of course triple J is the s the next step. ⁓ But ⁓ without that grassroots radio following, without that those ⁓ venues taking the chance and without the passion from the musicians, it won't work. But I'm glad the passion from musicians just of course, yeah. Yeah. Everyone has to be there. So that was ⁓ that's probably kinda my, you know, ⁓ what's new and and my ⁓ and you know, what has surprised me. ⁓ I guess my what's new is is yet to come, but ⁓ Robbie
speaker-2: And the audiences too.
speaker-1: Okay. ⁓ what's new from me is ⁓ a record I picked up this week and I really was attracted to it merely because of the title, but thankfully I think the music's pretty good too. It is Sex Judas featuring Ricky and an album called The Book of Dreams slash After Sex. And that may make me sound very desperate, but it's actually ⁓ it's actually pretty interesting. It's a ⁓ a Norwegian producer called Torre Giedrum. His bio says has a love for comics, political satire, music history, eroticism, and above all electronic music. And so i i i it goes on to say if you imagine Damon Arban's Gorillas Project on Acid or the musical versions of the fabulous f furry freak brothers on well, whatever they are on, then you kinda get close to the the music of this. so yeah, it's ⁓ I I I I might even be able to play you a little tiny bit of it 'cause I've just s here here. Night I was So as you can hear from that, it it kinda does sound a little bit well, kinda like the Gorillas on Acid. But what I love about this is that that sort of electronic ⁓ texture that is sort of ubiquitous but is constantly being reimagined by different producers around the globe. And so, you know, the the title kinda got me sucked in to begin with, but then the rest of the music was pretty cool as well.
speaker-0: All right. Sounds good. ⁓ look forward to hearing a little bit more of that. Francis, what has been ⁓ your ear candy? Well
speaker-2: It is a local artist by the name of Miss Janina. Do you know her work? Her new album, Blackprint, is an absolute belter. thinking, young, indigenous attitude, with zero fucks to give to ⁓ to anyone else telling her how to live a life or what to do, and has that sort of missing alley at energy to it. And the first time I heard it, I was just like, Wow, this is this is the record for me for the next month or two. And the brought it home. And it just has a real party bounce to it as well with the attitude and the politics. And ⁓ and the production in Australian ⁓ hip hop is just superb. Like ⁓ we are world class. And yeah, we need to ditch the ⁓ the sort of like the cultural cringe cloak around ⁓ Australian produced hip hop ⁓ that some people still carry, not all of us, but some. But this is just a cracking record. It's getting close to my favourite record so far this year. Just hold it up there. It's called Black Ba Black Print. And it just from start to finish. It's just It's just at the top of her game and I love it. And ⁓ it just re rekindles my love of of Australian hip hop which sort of float in and out of. But when I hear a great record like this I go, I'm right back here again. ⁓ so yeah, I can highly recogn and I think she's doing some shows around the country as we speak. Might even be able to play people a little bit of what she does 'cause I think you've actually had the chance to see Miss Canina in action before.
speaker-0: Yeah, we did see her like two years ago and she just owned the stage. It was fantastic just to see her and it was only by chance kinda it was one of those things, again, another great thing about Big Sound is you can just wander around and you know, go go and check this out, let's see this, or let's hang here for like half an hour and wait for the next act to come on. And ⁓ no, she was fantastic, she really owned the stage, knew nothing of her and she really produced.
speaker-1: Place that you probably never heard about. Poppies be so too shit. I'm tryna milk you down. Roll roll roll Popped up so
speaker-0: Bitch, you never heard of me, I'm quick shit, I'm like a battery ch
speaker-1: I'm second rate class, like when the fuck did I ask? Real mouthy little bitch, odd sucks, big tricks, proper spit to this It's ⁓ reflect cheapness. Cause I was built for this. I'm on a sumper wait list. They be doubting me. Yeah, it's
speaker-2: ⁓ just ⁓ if you like someone who's prepared to just tell you exactly what they think, if you're not confronted by fairly confrontational lyrics and ⁓ a very strong and uncompromising political stance, ⁓ this is the record for you. It's just it's just feminine feminine energy through a public enemy lens. It's just awesome and I love it. And you know, I'd love driving around in my car with the windows down, driving around St Kilda like an old, you know, hip like B boy pretending I'm cool again.
speaker-1: Yeah, you're one of those guys.
speaker-2: It's not working for me, is it? No. I'm one of those guys, yeah. I'm gonna get I'm gonna get my car what I'm gonna do next is get my car underlit with some of those fluoro lights and just head down Chapel Street with Miss Janina blaring out the windows and the fluffy dice just, you know, rocking in the front mirror.
speaker-0: And the subwoofer shaking the side mirrors.
speaker-2: You reckon I can pull it off?
speaker-1: No no way. Not a chance.
speaker-0: Maybe a wig.
speaker-2: Straight to my straight to my weak point there, Cosy. Check out the album Blackprint Blackprint. It's it's close to my favourite record of the year so far. Absolutely belter.
speaker-0: My what's new is a book this time. I don't think we've really spoken much about ⁓ books. John Toogood have from She Had has a ⁓ a book out and it's called Home Again. And it got me thinking, and I I'm about halfway through it. I'm going to hopefully have a chat to him on ⁓ the breakdown dot net as well. And it got me thinking about biographies. Now this or autobiographies. This one's a great one. I'm I've I've enjoyed it so far. He hasn't ⁓ kinda hung around too much. on the the growing up thing. I I remember reading Slashes, it was a bloody slog. and but another one that I really enjoyed that I didn't know whether that I'd it had only come out last year was ⁓ Robbie Robertson. ⁓ and ⁓ his book called Insomnia. And ⁓ it's basically a memoir focusing on the years ⁓ 1977 to 1980, ⁓ de dealing ⁓ with his ⁓ friendship with ⁓ director Martin Scorsese. ⁓ following the breakup of the band and ⁓ of course Scorsese directed ⁓ The Last Waltz, ⁓ which was, you know, quite amazing. ⁓ so two books there. I think it's probably really worth ⁓ having a l read of Insomnia from Robbie Robinson. Like I said, I'm halfway through the John Toogood book ⁓ called Home Again. Of course John Toogood, the lead singer of She Had, who unfortunately called it a day. ⁓ but ⁓ yeah, Rob, you have you ⁓ are you an autobiography man? Do you read or biographies or?
speaker-1: Yeah, I am. I am. I and you know what I was thinking, I was trying to think of some of my favourite ⁓ memoirs and autobiographies, and there are a lot of great ones in from the music sphere. There are also a lot of really terrible ones. One of the really good local ones I think is Tim Rogers, who has a a tremendous sway with words, as he always has has had in his his lyrics with y for UMI and his own solo work. But his memoir is really beautiful and it's it's of more impressionistic than I went here and I did this and we met this person. ⁓ it's it's more kind of ⁓ emotional, I guess, and and sort of sketch based. And I it r it really works, I think. So and I can't remember the the name I'll find it for you, the the name of the ⁓ the book, but I'll get it for you. But it's yeah it's Tim Tim Rogers memoir, which is fantastic.
speaker-2: And Titon, it seems, is ⁓ carving out a bit of a spot for himself, not only writing good books but reviewing them. I hear him a bit on ABC Radio National's book show talking about your writing. He's got wonderful ⁓ insight in into quality writing and yeah, he's really interesting to listen to talking about books. His passion for it is obviously very deep. It's ⁓ it's a very real thing for him as as a writer and an artist. But yeah, love hearing him talk about books as well as writing them.
speaker-1: Yeah. ⁓ so yeah, ⁓ Detours is the name of the memoir from Tim Rogers, which came out about nine years ago. ⁓ Robert Forster had a great one called Grant and I, which came out around about that time as well. Yeah, r which is really terrific. And the relationship between the the two songwriters behind the go betweens. ⁓ about Grant McClennan. ⁓ Tex Perkins had a pretty interesting one that was I think Stuart Co Coop might have done some of the ⁓ the co writing for it, but his li his life is a pretty interesting one too. So You know, there are some really good local ones and ⁓ if you've you're somebody who's grown up through Australian music too, they're always fascinating to read because quite often they're talking about venues and people and characters and other bands, etcetera, that you've you've brushed up against over that time too, which can make it a bit more thrilling.
speaker-2: Yeah, Robbie's just going straight to the index to see if he's in there.
speaker-1: I never am, you know, never.
speaker-0: I forget. When when Andrew Stafford's Pig City came out, someone ⁓ said to me, Have you looked through it? D ⁓ are you in it? I went, ⁓ no. I'll read it, but I'm I'm not scanning for my name.
speaker-1: No, and that is a fantastic book and it's such an a an an amazing encapsulation of br ⁓ you know the Brisbane music scene and political scene in the nineteen seventies and eighties as well. Andrew just did a fantastic job. And then of course there was that Pig City ⁓ music festival that was put on on the back of it where the Saints reformed with Chris Bailey and Ed Cooper on stage for the first time in so many years. ⁓ and I remember being in that crowd watching that you know, that band but also that day unfold and it was just absolutely sensational. So
speaker-0: How good were they? They that the sound the Ed Cooper's guitar sound, ⁓ it's still with me. It really is still with me.
speaker-1: I agree. I a absolutely it was amazing.
speaker-0: You know, th that whole thing. And I love the fact that the Black Assassins wanted to play, you know, who is of course, you know, ⁓ Andy Neal and Tony Biggs and, you know, all old Triple Z, Triple J alumni and and Tony Collins and they wouldn't let them play, so they just did a gorilla pop up. They took their amps and drums and everything and just set up out on the on the paddock and and played out there. Yeah.
speaker-1: Good on.
speaker-0: Yeah. But that was a that was an incredible day. And it was the first time that ⁓ I've been at a festival and they've run out of beer. They actually w we managed to drink the place dry and and all that was left were these I don't know, those red or pink red drinks or or black drinks. So everyone's walking around with red stains or black stains all over their lips 'cause they'd run out of beer. That's Brisbane.
speaker-2: I've got a couple for you as well. ⁓ Niel Rogers ⁓ memoir called a Freak, ⁓ an upside down story of Family Disco and Destiny. Outstanding ⁓ ri rollicking ride through Niall's career and the heady days at Studio fifty four and and also working with Bowie in in Excess and others as well. ⁓ just fantastic, just ⁓ just to sort of get a his insight from inside the machine of the sort of New York disco scene in the late seventies and and into the eighties. And the other one that I really love, it's less than a memoir, it's sort of a memoir. This is a fascinating one. It's called Dan Through the Fire. It's Paul Weller. Obviously I'm a hu I'm a huge Weller fan. And it's the Authorised Oral History by Dan Jennings. Now Dan Jennings did a Paul Weller podcast for years where he just interviewed everyone or anyone who had ⁓ an association with Paul Weller. ⁓ and it was this great listen. And ⁓ in the end in for the final episode he finally interviewed Weller himself for the for the podcast. And at the end of it, Weller said, Gee, that would make a great book And so Dan went You're not wrong. So he's collated all the interviews that he did over the six, seven years of ⁓ the p the Weller podcast and put them into a book which is a basically Weller's life story in a first person social history kind of way. And it's fabulous. You get to meet his dad and his mum and his sister and and understand what life was growing up like in Woking, ⁓ with his working for his dad and, you know, doing petty pilfering with his dad from work sites and you get a real sense of, you know, how he grew up and then his dad became his manager ⁓ and the the sort of heady days of the jam and the sort of ⁓ upheaval when he split the jam and even at the age of twenty four and form the style council. It's all in there and it's ⁓ it's just fabulous if you're a well a fan. There's ⁓ a lot to enjoy and it you can hear the voices because it's all in first person. ⁓ you can you know you can hear the voices and their authenticity. So yeah, rollicking read. And the third one is Dylan Jones's ⁓ Bowie book I love as well, which I'm reading at the moment. Similarly, Dylan Jones has just put together a whole bunch of interviews that he's done over the years. He he'd ⁓ written a number of Bowie books and interviewed Bowie a lot over the journey and his people around in his circle. And he's just done a cr chronological take of ⁓ telling that story from different telling different parts of Bowie's story from different perspectives. So whether it's the ⁓ the spiders from Mars being formed and and then then Bowie ditching them as he went goes to America, he's got everyone's different perspective in the same time frame. Really great read too. Really enjoy that one.
speaker-0: I'm ⁓ what was the Paul Weller one called again, mate? Dance through the
speaker-2: Dancing through the fire. The authorized old history by Dan Jennings.
speaker-0: So it really surprises me that Paul Weller was only twenty four. I'm guessing the rest of the band were about the same age when the jam split. You know, they felt like they were around for a lot longer.
speaker-2: Well, they produced what, how many albums was it? Five albums, six albums in the space of five years? It was that crazy time where they were just, you know, expected to just keep producing re an and any number of singles and E Ps in between as well. ⁓ you know, they were just at pumping it out. And ⁓ I think you you know, you find in in this it just feels like he ran into a dead end with the with the ⁓ bass guitar and drums format of the band and, you know, was getting into you still discovering music at the age of twenty three, twenty four and wanted to do something entirely different but felt like he was being ⁓ maybe inhibited or expected to, you know, the jam had become an institution, you know, in very short space of time who's to be imprisoned in the in the walls of his own success and just thought he'd just break it all down and head off into the sunset head to Paris and wear some fancy clothes and get around with Mick Talbot in in a in a gondola with his shirts off. Why not?
speaker-1: Which they did, yes. It's I mean the style council has got ⁓ I ⁓ well and what a ⁓ what an amazing tune that is, Long Hot Summer. But, you know, some of the other tracks that they came up with I don't think have weathered the the mistress of time so well. But you know they
speaker-2: Summer it up, Always. I they were of the time. Look but I did buy the re they reissued Cafe Blur the the the booze style council album recently and that's a tragic I did go and buy the reissue and it sounds great. It was a thing that sort of I was at the age of that age, sixteen, seventeen, introduced me to the idea of jazz or the idea of the sort of cafe soul sound. It's sort of so exciting at the time. And, you know, Nima Fred Perry, you know, sitting around in Brody, looking cool. Drinking drinking drinking an international roast rather than a sort of like a proper latte or anything like that. But you know, try my best. Try my best in difficult circumstances to look mod chic in in a housing commission flat in Broadmeadows. It's a tough ass, boys.
speaker-1: You ⁓ would have done it beautiful. Yeah, you would have been great.
speaker-0: While you're there, Francis, give us a what's your what the fuck for this week? ⁓
speaker-2: What the fuck for this week is something that scared the bejesus out of me when I read it. So it's this crazy story. Now have you ever s received a text message and you've gone, ⁓ who said this? I don't know this person. What are they talking about? Well, ⁓ Google it was revealed this week, Google messages started dredging up old private texts and putting them into wrong conversation. Now users reported years old messages resurfacing alongside new ones, sometimes completely unintended recipients receiving them. ⁓ Google says it's fixing the the issue with with a new roller but it's an absolute nightmare fuel, the idea that your ⁓ your Google messages are just gonna sort of ⁓ pop up randomly again and could possibly pop up to somebody they were not intended to. ⁓ that is my what the fuck? Don't be doing that. ⁓ and it's also it's yeah
speaker-1: Yeah. No, no, I I've had I've I've got a friend who has had that happen to them in the last few weeks where th they and this is on a business phone where their clients were receiving completely nonsensical and sometimes t totally inappropriate messages ⁓ from them coming up on their phone and they had no idea what the hell was going on. So I take it that's probably what
speaker-0: I wonder whether the same thing's happening with Gmail because I've been getting like ⁓ my mum's messages ⁓ and ⁓ mum's been getting some of mine, you know, and yeah, it's been ⁓ a a little scary, let's say.
speaker-2: And I think it's just a reminder to everyone, a little digital hygiene, please, just go back through your messages. Make sure that you sort of like just give it a bit of a clean, a bit of a spring clean. ⁓ for everyone's sake. Delete, forget, move on. But don't pop up in someone else's messages. Bad idea, Google. ⁓ whatever happened to them, they're their steamer.
speaker-0: Be a good deleter. They got plenty of bad ideas, haven't they?
speaker-2: Gulf of America ⁓ Lake America, please spare me. Whatever happened to their motto of ⁓ do no evil? Has it just gone to Are they just taking the nowhere? Do evil
speaker-1: Yeah, we've Yeah.
speaker-2: Yeah, we fixed it too evil.
speaker-0: Well, I remember back in the olden days and I was in Sydney for some reason a and working at Triple J, I remember ⁓ Jenny Aldershaw, the wonderful Jenny Aldershaw, 'cause b back then we were all looking at, you know, Yahoo and I don't know what the other search engine was.
speaker-2: Netscape. Netscape.
speaker-0: Metscape, maybe. And Jen said to me, Have you tried Google, Coszy? And I went, Yeah, I've just stumbled upon it at the last couple of days. That's how old we are, obviously. And it was it was because it had no rubbish, had no advertising on it. It was just that clean sheet and you know, and look what it's become. Robbie, have you got a what the fuck?
speaker-1: Yeah, I d I do have a what the fuck, and I guess it's kinda connected to the ⁓ y the lens that we're looking at Google through, which is the entire things. But ⁓ it's the ⁓ the latest data which came out about ⁓ climate and weather, and sadly enough, ⁓ we have had the warmest summer in on the east coast i in history, really. In Sydney where I am, we've had the warmest winter since records began. In Melbourne you've had the equal warmest ⁓ record. So in in that context, I guess w what the fuck was how few news outlets really covered that, which I consider to be really pretty massive news. I mean looking at I I'm afraid looking at the ABC website I couldn't find any stories that really covered it. The Guardian covered it ⁓ a little bit and ⁓ the the Channel nine newspapers, The Age and Sydney Morning Herald covered a bit. But there is a an article on the ⁓ conversation which in combination with that is really infuriating. And for the first time, major ⁓ Australian ⁓ companies, multinational companies, resource companies, have had to release their internal dialogue and ⁓ analysis about ⁓ climate change and where we think we're heading. And so BHP and Rio Tinto have basically ⁓ released this data ⁓ which says that they are preparing for a world which is ⁓ around about two degrees plus two degrees of warming since industri industrial ages. And other companies are now preparing and saying that they are prepared for warming to 2.6 degrees, which is essentially an unlivable planet in many ways. And so it raises the question, okay, if this is what companies are preparing for, this is what they are considering is going to be the standard for them, and and at the same time they're pulling back on their efforts to try and keep those limits down. Then where is where is the responsibility? Where does it lie? And of course, the answer is it it lies with politicians and it relies with government. But this then ties into the fact that we are at the moment not seeing the kind of leadership that we should see in governments around the world at all. And I know it's a kind of boring conversation to have and it's a slightly negative conversation well, a very negative conversation to have. But it just made me realise it really is time to fucking agitate and sound the klaxen a little bit on a lot of this stuff, because it just feels like Despite the greatest efforts of so many people and we're all trying to do our very best, and you know, I ride an electric bicycle and I drive an electric car and I've got a a battery on my house and I've got solar panels and you're do trying to do all these things as individuals, but without that real leadership in government, you know, and we're we're seeing ⁓ again and again ⁓ the the government of the day, the Labour Party of the day announcing these huge fossil fuel developments that are releasing carbon bombs at you know, almost week after week we're seeing this kind of stuff. The Beateloo Basin, we've seen ⁓ you know, a Labour politician that has just been there being photographed, turning on the gas for that for the first time. We saw Labour pull put up in the ⁓ by election in Western the Secret Harbor by election that One Nation won, putting up a a a current lobbyist for Woodside as their candidate. And it's like, ⁓ for me, it's like, what the fuck? Is a are you all living on a different planet? I mean, do you not have children? So anyway, that's where I'm at. It's I I'm I'm pretty incandescent with rage about it this week and so I'm sharing it a little bit and apologies for that, but I also feel like, fuck, let's push back a bit.
speaker-0: And ⁓ I I got one for you here, just to top up the rage, the Christophili government has turned its back on environmentally friendly buses with plans to procure a new fleet of more than six hundred diesel powered vehicles to roll out across Queensland. So there you go. no idea what the thinking is. ⁓ They said when the the minister said when we came to government we inherited a thought bubble from Labour in the form of their zero emissions bus program. Under label Labor's policy, all buses from january one, twenty twenty five were to be electric and zero emission buses. However, they've done none of the work to upgrade the depots. Well, newsflash, they're not in power.
speaker-1: No, and you know what is so ridiculous about this, and and this is where it gets so perverse, is it's not just about climate change, about moving from diesel buses to electric buses. It's about emissions. And emissions ⁓ diesel particulate emissions are really bad for your health. So it's basically the state government in Queensland saying, well, F you to ⁓ you know to to the to our constituents because we're gonna be pouring all this particulate matter into the air. Francis, I know that you can't really talk about because you're an ABC employee at the moment, but anyway, that's that's you know, w where I'm sitting at the moment. I and I'm pissed off. There you go. I'm grumpy.
speaker-2: And what a on the buses issue I can say is that there's a huge manufacturing division in Victoria producing Australian made electric buses. So there's no excuse not to have more making them here. I'm starting to sound like Bonnie Tyler after a pack of Peter Stivesons, so I'm really sorry about it.
speaker-1: It's sexy. We love it.
speaker-2: Well you'd be happy, Costa, after Hawthorne's ⁓ big win in f in ⁓ Perth yesterday against Freeman, also ⁓ enjoy.
speaker-0: When the Lions played Hawthorne up here, I had my dad's Lions hat on and I had my dad's Hawthorne scarf on 'cause that was the first team he barked for when he when they first came over ⁓ to Australia. So ⁓ everyone's looking at me a little bit, you know, what what's wrong with you, mate?
speaker-2: Yeah, pick a line kid.
speaker-1: He's he's confused. Well, look, it's be it's been really lovely chatting to you guys about sport. Ugh, I snort. ⁓ I'm off I'm off to Sydney Contemporary, which is a ⁓ it's I think, you know, Sydney's ⁓ biggest commercial art show which runs over a few days. So that's where I'm off to, darlings. I'll see you next time.
speaker-2: Enjoy the cheese and wine, Robbie.
speaker-1: I will. Thank you.
speaker-0: Good on ya boys. Thanks a lot for ⁓ joining me on Grumpy Toothbox. Good on ya.
speaker-1: Second.
speaker-2: Chao, chao.
