Monday, November 7, 2011

Ten bands for $10

26 November · 10:00 - 22:00
1330 ~ 1330 FERNTREEGULLY RD SCORESBY VIC
DOORS OPEN AT 9:45 AM
CAFE OPENS 9:45 AM
CAFE PERFORMANCES
MERCHANDISE STALLS IN FOYER ~ BUSKERS ~

AFTER THE CURFEW
STEEPLEJACK
MEET ME IN COGNITO
ROSANNA PALMER & BAND
RIVERTRIBE
WONROWE VISION
ADRIAN AUSTIN
KATIE HARDER & THE GENTLE FOLK
e11even
BLUES JAM
EDDIE COLE & BAND
ANDROO CROTHERS
SIMEON
MARTIN FAWKES
SARAH-ROSE MCIVOR
RICHELLE BOER
 

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Home is...

The picture that springs to mind when you mention 'Homeless' is the older man who sleeps near a dumpster, wears layers of smelly old clothes and rambles incoherently about paranoid fantasies.

In reality, being homeless can encompass many states of living. You may be couch-hopping, staying with friends for as long as you or they can stand it. You may be sharing part of a room, living behind a curtain to mark your space. You may be camped out in a caravan or bungalow, one step off the street. Being homeless has many faces.

People who are homeless are stereotyped as 'losers', long-term unemployed, addicted to drink, smokes and illegal drugs. In reality, many homeless have tertiary educations, a long history of reliable employment, families and friends. Life can take a turn and cast you into a precarious situation in very short time.

Employment problems, often outside your control, can make you lose your house. Relationship problems can escalate into marriage breakdowns, forcing you out without accommodation or secure income - bingo, you're homeless!

Anchor Inc recently asked me to get involved in a project about homelessness. The idea was to give 20 of their clients (who are 'at risk if homelessness') a camera, and get them to 'document' what they thought 'Home' meant.

These participants were from all ages, all demographics, and all were living in a variety of homeless conditions.


When they received their cameras (Panasonic Lumix DMC-S1) some were familiar with such a compact, while others said to me "this is my first camera, I've never had one before in my life".

I ran a session on how to operate the camera, another session on rules of good photography, then a last session on how to break those rules. 

After getting their photos over the next few weeks, I had to choose images, get them printed (thanks Croydon Camera House) and frame them all.

The exhibition that resulted is not an 'Art Exhibition', although if art is what moves you, then many of the images may be termed as art. Many of the photos, when they are put with words, open your mind to understand the impact on everyday life that such hand-to-mouth living makes. 

The exhibition is on at the Yarra Ranges Regional Museum in Lilydale until Nov 4 2011. I urge you to visit. You can also see the images on the website, or check out the presentation on YouTube.

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Now on YouTube!


The Bat Cave (Yarra Valley FM 99.1 Mondays from 9 pm to midnight) have a fair few local artists in playing live and being interviewed. So the logical thing was to get those interviews onto YouTube for all to enjoy.

I'm uploading them under the name BatCaveRadio so you can probably hunt them up that way.



Genevieve Holmes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kICk6z2LAgg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uf3dupMFWEs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHMELMltJpE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxyYgkbs8II

Shaun Kirk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJlwGU162Vs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLT89nQY4j4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fg_VJiu9M6I
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzdmju_mmH0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnY_IxcpZEE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xojn8VlUSG0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNbinCCguXE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrSflS5FOdQ

Doc White
http://youtu.be/kqsU7en6nsg
http://youtu.be/1YdhSLISMRw
http://youtu.be/cBe3U24vyL8
http://youtu.be/TP0j-DSfc9I

Rod Fritz
http://youtu.be/dDcxuZPggnA
http://youtu.be/6tV1_I9BBls
http://youtu.be/momXo1YQ-Gw


Ben Kelly
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFtAI0z52b8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EG26gwCkxT0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPhUP_7acnA

Stephen McCulloch
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuQ1Ma-CHIk


Grace Knight
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9-E3Ih1BFI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqIR1dtXHmU


Tom Rule
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcpY44lsmYw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FJ19JmDODA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wCiXAwGiQc


Franc Smith
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3gC5MljM3Y
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCl9e4xs1WQ


James Wade
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6XgcVQjKK8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0Cej-S8Gf4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mC-lNaxXRQE


Jessica Isgro & Dean Morley
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mMgX9MFu00
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4THTc98cac
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9KVet4rlfk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tInnVyXJOgg

Marisa Yeaman
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8zkt7VL-QM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-m42gCo_ws
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssGfFV7eZJ8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXeFEYB6l5k


Marina Prior
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxtkhtDG9B4

Eddie Cole
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hS5EYe5PmVk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGViJnjSlBo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cgrr49cgdS8

Dom McKay
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eX3oO9uAxc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JLv21t59dA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnZZXJD3dgQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucpWSz2-pRE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0UViXqteDs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzl5N27DuW8

Dom BB Troughton
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fku1vMgdAVw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbCYzl8ooT4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0B0isulb0QY

Leigh Sloggett
http://youtu.be/slgIVU30bq8

Catfish Voodoo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4iGYU1Zpp4

Zeptepi
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaOKIBjP60s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTujyF-4pkc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5h4bJDI-ODA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsWGCklzGqU

Dave Diprose
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkgrcoDQowQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Taj3KUBel0U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WG8X3Wb7jgQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjMlEUd6lnA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_QT9KE1qP8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=reshFZ_hkYE

Holly-Jo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ugOEsW6uxg&feature=relmfu
http://youtu.be/7iGgDRf-I7Q
http://youtu.be/54K8uqnqjCQ
http://youtu.be/k_7l_nNzuq8

Barry & Rob Dickins
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDiSMQVDeBs
http://soundcloud.com/gregcarrick/sets/barry-dickins-on-the-bat-cave

Adrian Austin
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZ2-mNGeshA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tThNa76bpag

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCys5VKEcj4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8ja-2o3v_0

Ash King
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzAFNDYKkuQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZyq2qaopBM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOKpLIyQe4E

Dylan Redman (and Jimmy)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUUI94RBJW8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ciG-KVP7Vk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLcfYgfxjDY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsDKIsqaPm0

David Knight
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwtEigeWjP4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMz1_WjtfM4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3H_VsIhneU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpXr75lDKbw

Cr Tim Heenan - Homelessness
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cVp_sPzyzQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXXZx-gzhzs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pr-i2Pr80Kk

Greg Carrick - Art & Photography
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtf-Kmf9PF4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxq9f18PJac

Hiding With Bears
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QofGdUO06H4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rg_Ght-tU4Q

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oem1Rgas1Zk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOJaii_2cv0

Tozo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5P8FEPEKsk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oL33JrNyMIU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHi6gqddlFI

Leticia Maher
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpKIecm553g

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aKWyJkaJ-A

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFcIwxPNdKI

Emilea Jayde (& Phil)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8tjEE8mr04

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z07ODvYOHqA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vro7mgoqLE0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RoB7a88fFes

Tabasco Tom Rogerson, Tim Hackett & Kaitlin Rogerson
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bP3pIrYhnNQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWp5UKmOfsk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdVPONJz21I

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2W0Uj3TdoU

Levi McGrath
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9Vl3IcF090

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6LO2jHcB5k

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFs7SwX5cSU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFMFSi_si0w

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcxAUhnpf7s

Compliments of Gus
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSzhfVQfuwM

Joel McKerrow
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVu8bbwOMi0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiF00lPiNqw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRo5TSuXvNU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vD5RZDPuj9Q

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I21Ksd-E_fE

Katie Harder and Band
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7qTqDyeLRw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExmUaVCDTOk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJk4oHotBuI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoBbfhfHht8

Simeon
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZCnbRwTMBE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inpPZc6in4c

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wT7_QW9wLr4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzYQ_z35EjA

Madeleine Mei

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGMqx8Os9AY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfUrZ3C6EGg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsGZ9Iz4E9Q
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIlQT79E34k

Carolyn Oates
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZ7Sud3byVs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Olt_R0pT8Xs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpMs7d_NlvA

Buffy Sainte-Marie
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Up4vDoWJriA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZjbidjIivY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ni9XoLbmxrA



As more interviews take place, I will post them here on Point & Shoot... Watch this space :)

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

The Bat Cave

Sometimes great ideas don't come in a flash of insight, but insinuate themselves into place until you simply can't ignore them anymore.

So the 'new' show on Yarra Valley FM 99.1 each Monday from 9 pm has been a slow but sure process that has grown into existance over the last few months. Dom Troughton, Greg Carrick and Dave Ashworth have been steering the Folk/Roots/Blues show into a new direction mainly without even a solid plan in place.

'The Bat Cave' will still start from the base of Roots/ Folk/Blues music, and, as usual, will probably get hijacked and taken to strange and new territory within the first hour! The culprits for this may range from Iggy Pop, to Lou Reed, to some obscure Reggae artist... but the ride is always worth it.

We will also be trying hard to kidnap some unsuspecting local muso and grill them in The Bat Cave, forcing them to play live for us and tell their life story. We've recently had DYKO, before he gets on the plane for Germany, Jesse Mitchell, and Carolyn Oates who played songs featured on her latest cd.

Coming up will be: April 18, Madeleine Mei; April 25 Buffy Sainte-Marie interview; May 2 Simeon; May 9 Emilea-Jayde; May 16, Katie Harder.
Above: Buffy Sainte-Marie signed our Bat Cave signature guitar 
and posed for a photo after the interview.

So tune in to YVFM 99.1 or get it streamed live from the station website every Monday night from 9 pm. If you are a local muso who would like to come in and play, then email me at gcarrick@gmail.com

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

"I eat up at the Logan"

Just back from a weekend at the Logan Pub. Logan is near St Arnaud, Victoria. In Logan, apart from the pub, there is.... nothing! 

So why go there? A friend of mine, Jim (pictured below) has this strange hobby where he likes to play music through a thumping big sound system, and he needs to find places remote enough to crank it up... so Logan Pub is perfect. The Pub is also famous in its own right, being quirky enough to win the Best Aussie Pub award at least once.

So we go there and set up two stacks of speakers, powered by a bank of three to five 1000W amps.
 

The weekend was actually a Bike Show, and we went up to provide music. Quite a range of bikers turned up, so there were nice sleek modern German numbers...
 

 ..to marvellous British machines from the past.

This triumph was pretty much all original, and looked and sounded great.

Some dude started playing honky tonk jazz on the piano in the pub, but I never did get his name...

Among the 'shop-bought' machines was this home made chopper, with a Yamaha engine, very minimalist.

Of course, you have to have a bunch of Harley's at a bike event, so there was a good range.

This is what they think of car drivers...

A lot of the riders brought their swags with them for overnight.

There's a lot more drinking room outside the Pub than in.

This Harley was one monster of a bike, huge, heavy and powerful.

Here's the Logan Pub, where the meals are worthy of a song:
"I eat up at the Logan
the meals are really big,
you don't get any health food,
Just Bacon, Pork and Pig"

Very Australian.

Jim and I, during our 12 hour marathon of playing lots of LOUD music for the crowd.

The bikers set up their swags wherever they parked their bikes.

This Harley was ridden by a biker lady called 'Crackers', whose standard response to things was to calmly take a penny bunger from her pocket, light it up from her fag, and toss it at you.

This Easy Rider mural was set up behind the stack of amps, and although it looked pretty cool in the daylight, at night it was lit by ultra violet lights, and turned very trippy.

I was trialling a new camera, with a 36X zoom. This is it at the widest angle...
 ..and from the same spot at it's greatest zoom. I really should have used a tripod, but didn't bring one.

Here's the mural at night.

All in all a great weekend. Everyone behaved and had a ball. I recommend dropping in at the Logan next time you're anywhere near, it's quite an experience.

Monday, February 14, 2011

Yeehaa, I'm Country

Not being a musical man, I look in awe at people who can play instruments, sing and even write songs. A number of my friends are talented musically and have done the hard yards to make it all look easy, and it's a joy to hear them play their music and see people listen and enjoy it.

I'm pretty eclectic in my music taste, it's probably easier to say what I don't like, rather than list what I do. My 'don't like' list is pretty short: Disco, Country and 'doof-doof'. 

Now I know I've already put some people off-side and you may be thinking 'What's wrong with Disco/Country/doof-doof?' Well, it's all a matter of taste. And you don't need taste to like Country!

Whenever I hear the strained voice of a country singer, my insides clench, my brain tries to shut down and I look for an escape route. It's even worse when the singer is Australian and the sound coming out of his mouth is fake American.

Now, I will admit that some country songs have pretty good lyrics, praising love, faithfulness and a good dog, its just they sound like they are being sung by a constipated clothes wringer. Yet country music still evokes many of the backwoods, uncultured and uncouth sides of life, where the men are unwashed yokels, and the women are hard done by slaves. 

So I figured the best way for me to express what country music brings to my mind was to write a country song. And if you like it, feel free to sing it. If you don't like it, remember its satire :)

Ten Gallon Hat.
All lyrics by Greg Carrick:

I'm a simple country bumkin,
The banjo I did learn,
I play all kinds of musics
Both Country and Western.
yeah I'm Country
Yeehah, I'm Country


chorus:
    Got a 10 gallon hat on my 1 gallon head,
    I had a lobotomy,
    I go boot scootin' every night,
    I'm proud to be country.


I got me a hoss, I got me a dog,
I married me a girl,
her name was Tiffany Moonbeam
but I just call her Merle
yeah I'm Country
Yeehah, I'm Country


chorus

I grew up in a trailer park
Got a gun rack in my truck,
I'd bulldoze all those greenies,
cos I don't give a stuff.
yeah I'm Country
Yeehah, I'm Country


chorus

I drink my moonshine whisky
That I make in my still,
I drink it by the gallon,
but 1/2 a pint's my fill.
yeah I'm Country
Yeehah, I'm Country


chorus

I hang around the pool hall,
In my check shirt and my boots,
I hang out with the good old boys,
We get back to our roots.
yeah I'm Country
Yeehah, I'm Country


chorus

I beat up on my woman
Just like my old Papa
She's black and blue and pregnant too
Just like my dear old Ma.
yeah I'm Country
Yeehah, I'm Country


chorus

I drink up lots of bundy
And I'm drivin' me a tank,
I'm ashamed to be an Aussie
Cos I'd rather be a Yank
yeah I'm Country
Yeehah, I'm Country


chorus

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Queensland floods

A quick note to let you know that all proceeds from January sales of my 2011 calendar will go towards the QLD flood relief.
The calendar features lovely photographs from all around the Yarra Valley and the Dandenong Ranges.
You can check it out and buy on-line here:

They make great gifts too :)