‘I will be known’: A treasured conversation

Our last coffee was had beneath the gaze of Mary, mother of Jesus, on December 17, 2018, some months before she left. I didn’t know it would be our last one-on-one conversation. Neither did she. That’s the point—we rarely know. It’s only afterwards, in retrospect, that these final conversations find their light. Fortuitously, the conversation …

Tears for my sister of mercy

I'm not a teary man, not really. But I've wept more in the past few weeks than I have in my whole life. And it's all because of Darlene. My friend. Who's dying. I think it's that I've been caught out. I've faced tragedy before. Lots of it, actually. I've experienced the death of people …

I Am Easy To Find: A soundtrack to my latest long night

It's been difficult to know all week whether I've been depressed or just perpetually hungover. Which seems like the perfect emotional backdrop for a new album release from The National. The National are my ultimate "do I accidentally take too many pills/just listen to some music" kind of band. My darkest times of the past …

A Queen story: You buggers can sing harder than I can

Bohemian Rhapsody was the first song I remember being aware of as a kid. I have a clear memory of us kids singing it in the schoolyard and making up lyrics because, clearly, no one knew what the actual words were. Those memories are filed alongside other powerful ones from the time: the smell of …

The Seasons Wheels

I love my friends, believe me - I rarely say it though - For us they have their uses - But they also deal their blows - Daily I try to act more upon my dreams - How bright a soul forgiven bleeds - How bright a soul forgiven bleeds — Hothouse Flowers

Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness: A Bullitt train to the 90s

On the evening of March 4, 1996, I picked up my old mate Al and we drove through Hungry Jack's for dinner before the Smashing Pumpkins concert in Perth, Western Australia, and I say to him, 'What did you do today?' You know, as you do. He says, 'I went and bought the Steve McQueen …

Back to black: Amour and Amy

One movie ... every night ... for the next year ... Two pretty confronting movies the past two nights: Amour and Amy. Both of them devastating, and both very similar in their depiction of the slow degradation of health and life and love. The first is a French movie, superbly written, acted and directed, that …

Reissue: Achtung Baby is a double beef whopper

In the early 80s, the best live band on the planet was Queen. It was an undisputed truth, the sort of truth I liked, as a conservative fundamentalist who liked his truth to come in distinctly marked boxes. The liner notes of the double live album Queen Live Killers said that Queen were the best …

There be treasure buried here

Kamasi Washington's Heaven & Earth was already the album of the year for me, well before I walked into a record store on the weekend and saw a sign on the wall next to the album, saying there was a secret record hidden within the packaging.