I took yesterday off, a Wednesday, and it was so stimulating. This is an account of how I spent my day off, ’spent’ being the operative word. I have a lot of disposable cash at the moment, I don’t want to offend people not in the same position, I know how that feels. But this day brings up a lot of issues if you think about how we live, what we value, what makes life easy or hard, and where a person needs to be – what kind of person you need to be to find the following day satisfying. And then you can watch this video and think how trivial my life is.

I spent the morning reading a Max Barry book called Company and listening to RRR. While I finally did the dishes, the lady on RRR was talking about ‘community’, that we should be talking to people behind counters about meaningful things, and we are allowed to have days where we just don’t want to talk to anyone. Community is a complex issue, I usually feel completely cut off from any form of community, it does bother me.

I started the day going to the local Readings to pick up Jennifer Government by Max Barry, I’d ordered it the Friday before at Borders after spending $60 (with 40% off) on three expensive books I could never otherwise afford, or justify.

I went to the post office and returned an expensive tee-shirt i’d ordered online which stained itself on the first wear. Bought from a local maker who only uses local materials, no slave labour etc. Hopefully she’ll send me another one, it was really nice.

I went to the little cabinet maker at Malvern Station but he was closed until next week. He is always closed when I visit, I have never been inside. I am becoming bitter.

I went to Greville street, couldn’t find anywhere to park, refused to pay meter parking at $2.30 an hour, two hour minimum, esp since i didn’t know how long i’d take. drove round and round and found a free 1 hour park.

Went to Revolver and ordered a glockenspiel, not a good one, not a bad one, have to wait for it to arrive. I’ve wanted one for a very long time. Ever since 1992 when I saw Laura MacFarlane of Ninety-nine on her knees in Polyester Records playing Velvet Underground’s Sunday Morning on a Glock.

Went into Friends of Couture, all the clothes reminded me of the most vacuous Gen X friends I have. left feeling self righteous.

Went to Greville St Records, couldn’t find a cd i wanted, bought an Akira Kurosawa dvd, because i couldn’t leave without getting something and it looked good even if it was $35, disappointed Steve didn’t recognise me even if it had been 5 years since I’d visited, I’ve gone there since I was 16 for fucks’ sake.

I went to Greville St Books, Urata did recognise me, I didn’t think she would. I used to buy design books and Lemony Snickets, basically half my wage went there. We chatted for ages, I found some things I didn’t really need (T.S.Eliot and Dylan) and bought them to help her business and make me feel purposeful spending so much time in there.

I raced back to my car thinking I’d have a parking fine, I didn’t. I took my secret shortcut and parked outside Alternate Worlds, I stopped in at Fat Helen’s but almost I never buy anything there, I’m just reassured that it’s still there, unlike many of the nice stores from the past, unlike the Tote which is closing this weekend. The comic book store guy was significantly younger than me which was weird, but he gave me good advice. I bought two graphic novels, after literally going through every shelf in the store looking for something to get.

I walked up to Penny Syber’s secondhand book shop to tell her the book she recommended was awesome, but she wasn’t there, all her cats were curled up in the window in tiny boxes or between books on the register. like large furry coffee scrolls. I looked for a similar book but there wasn’t one, and she wasn’t there to help me. It’s not the same. People who say internet shopping rocks, may have forgotten how awesome it is to have record, comic and book store staff who know their shit so well and know your tastes so well, they can thrust things in your hands which you will form a life long bond with.

I jumped in the car it was time to get home, my new mattress would be delivered between 5 and 8pm. They came at 7:58 but took away my 18 yr old futon mattress as a favour, it’s like a chapter of my life i’m saying goodbye to.

I frequently buy something in a store I like, or something extra in a small but vital business I don’t want to close down. I feel guilty for spending the money and often the business owner probably is rolling in it and doesn’t need the money as much as I do. But life without these businesses would be a struggle of internet shopping and having to return every other purchase in the post.

And a final question, I got this idea from the radio…

What song do you NOT want to die to?
ie you’re walking along, iPod on shuffle
and a runaway street sweeper careens
round a corner and lands on you crushing
you to death.
and the last thing you hear in this world should NOT be…

discoveries thru last.fm so far…
bachelorette
electrelane

as a music lover, i do still go thru phases of “there’s nothing good out there”. sometimes for year after year. I love the discovery of a band seemingly noone knows about but me and makes just the kind of music i wanna listen to in my little headphone world.

what i’ve learnt is that there’s ALWAYS great music out there but often it’s a lot of hard work to find, keeping up with blogs, befriending ‘cool kids’ or record store clerks (whom i always end up crushing on). or traipsing through other peoples collections which are similar enough to my own to offer some new listening possibilities.

ANYWAY… this is why i pay for radio. I pay for RRR-fm because if they ever went anywhere i’d have nothing to listen to in the car (old car, just radio and cassette). It’s not cheap and I probably get an understanding of what’s out there more than discover that magical secret thing I’m alway seeking, but i’m supporting the local community which always makes me feel pious and ‘cool enough for the cool kids’.

But then I heard a lot about people listening to custom radio on their iphone/cancermaker through pandora or last.fm, it goes by what is in your collection and finds stuff you’ll like. Unfortunately after listening up my 30 free songs on last.fm I realised I had to pay if i wanted any more, but it’s cheaper than RRR-fm, and gives me the thing I most cherish in life, new music without all the shit. a radio station that will NEVER play ben lee or hole at me making me nearly have a car accident in order to turn the volume off before my ears bleed.

ps. comments at my blog are now OPEN!

i really haven’t bought much music in a very long time. partly a ‘poor student’ money thing but also it’s a lot of work to sit and discover good stuff… having a car is especially good because you can drive around listening to the radio and enjoying the spoils of some djs hard work.

hence two weeks ago…

i subscribed to rrr-fm again for the first time in year. i’m loving having a car!

one week ago…

i went to Polyester in the city (how convenient!) and bought the new Ratatat, two of Au Revoir Simone’s, and the Brunette’s new one.

Ratatat are awesome vintage synths in funky dancey irresistable pop not completely unlike Daft Punk. in a way the new album may be a bit of a rehash, less magical than the first two. These guys and The Notwist were the only things I bought in 2008…. sad i know. The Brunettes one is a bit weird, i’ll come back to it in a year when i have no expectations, i really just wanted songs rather than experiments in mono and stereo…. Au Revoir Simone play casios, so I should automatically love them except they’re a bit polished, both in look and sound. Three unnaturally tall, model-skinny girls all with long straight hair.

Actually this is a peeve of mine lately… how polished and ‘Styled’ bands seem to be, even the indie ones… you think you’ve found something really genuine and beautiful and then find out they’re signed to a major, major, major label and their song is used in a car ad…. it all just feels a bit cheap and nasty. i prefer the old days when bands had to pretend they hadn’t sold out in order to sell a record…. mmmm the nineties!

and today….

today I bought Lali Puna which is playing now and i LOVE it unreservedly, it’s all related to the German family of The Notwist along with Ms John Soda and a bunch of other artists. and the new Yeah Yeah Yeahs which i’ve only heard the single Zero but I love that it’s more electronic, I think they do that well, plus they use my beloved Microkorgs!

next it’s the adventures of last.fm