Author Archives: justin
August 25. Melbourne Writers Festival. Songwriter Speaks w/ Dave Graney. Bella Union Bar, Trades Hall, Carlton.
Songwriter Speaks: I’ll be interviewed by Dave Graney while playing tunes with the Awkwardstra.
Tickets: http://www.mwf.com.au/2013/?name=Writer-The-Bedroom-Philosopher
September 22. Wesley Anne 10th Birthday. Wesley Anne, Northcote. (solo)
More details to come.
The Bedroom Philosopher’s Hippest 100 (2012)
The hippest 100 was a 2012 competition where I asked peeps to send in their coolest sounding, most obscure, and generally made-up bands.
twitter was at the height of its powers.
HERE is the Full list below.
Congrats to Giles Field (@GilesField), Mat Ward (@MatWard66) & Andy Hazel who all scored five entries apiece. What a result! The number one spot went to the only band that didn’t actually enter. Ironic? Thanks for all the support and retweets, and especially to those who sent in bands. I’m sorry I couldn’t fit everyone in. Take heart. Based on the results, I don’t have to play outside Safeway…but…we have a year to write and record all of these songs. Surely?
I’ll be launching my first book of tour diaries soon so stay tuned.
BP (aching back hidden dinner) x
1: Men Who Stare At Gotye – Fugg (from Ralph Malph c/o http://www.messandnoise.com/discussions/4413608)
2: Long Division – Love Recurring (feat. members of Pose Tattoo & Rage Against the Sewing Machine)
3: The Sixties Fixies – Left Second Hand (from @GilesField)
4: Soul Doubt – Sold Out (from @MatWard66)
5: Rage Against the Sewing Machine – There’s Trackwork On My Heart (take the bus in my jeans)
6: Gadget Widget Smidgen – Flummoxed! (latest art-rock combo from Brooklyn, heavily influenced by Talking Heads and early period Kelvinator machine spin cycles. Send their parents to do interviews for them – from Andy Hazel)
7: Known Artist – Fauxhemian rhapsody (Metacritic’s most popular outsiders – refuse to do interviews, play live or record)
8: Morning Wish Pants – A Rummy Chum Chum (The Rum Chum Chum Song) (from Lachlan)
9: The Two Soups – Wednesdays in the Key of Maude (from Jim)
10: Boreds of Kandahar – Herd away from the telegraph lines, there is very little grass there (from Dorothy Wanda Cliff)
11: Sex vs. Winter – You Never Said It Wasn’t An Open Relationship (from @GilesField)
12: The Tafe Modern – Agog (One of Who Weekly’s ‘bands to skip’ 2011)
13: Minimalism – The Amazingly Beautiful Girl You Met Last Night And Who You Had That Awesome Conversation With About Pasta And Reggae Doesn’t Remember You Ever Existed (from @MatWard66)
14: Pose Tattoo – Rocket Flan
15: The Black Animals – Photoshop of Horrors (Keytar orchestra featuring kicked out members of YokoBono and Denim Chair)
16: The Wrinkly Splits – Retire those running shorts, uncle, they is too small (from Ledanksi)
17: The Dollarmites – Commonwealth People (Rupert Murdoch’s house band. #1 in Pirate Bay’s Ripped 50)
18: Vice-Captain Beefheart – Amstrad loading (Quadriplegic who mashes auto-tuned whalesong with 50’s Welsh porn soundtracks)
19: Jodie Foster The People – Sunset Dreamz 4 U Life (from @TimShiel)
20: Texxtas – Rhododendron (Sydney’s answer to Ratcat)
21: Donnie Downcast (jnr) – Nobody to play hand tennis wif (Grade 4 lunchtime blues) (from Ledanksi)
22: Zed Abrahams – Jaguar Jocular jugular (Miami producer, taken from mini-disc boxset The Mangina Monologues)
23: Children Overboard – FTW! (Electroacoustic indietronica 3CR regulars from Dennis station)
24: Boobook Vs Mopoke – Owly to bed (owly to rise)
25: Food Fighters – Cantaloupe (from Frank Louis)
26: Pen Pencil Pistol – Decisive Bollocks (Wynyard’s answer to Bros, following an article in The Advocate asking everyone to vote for them – from Andy Hazel)
27: And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Debt – Carry the one (French horn crew playing Tankerville residency Mondays at 3am)
28: Boy & Bogan – Bush Doof
29: Poozles: We Can Work It Out (crazy little thing called lunch) (Iceland’s #2 desert rock / delta G-funk cartoon band)
30: Tweet That – @FBI I’m Going To Kill The President (@matward66)
31: Hungry Hungry Hipsters – Sorted for Z’s and Biz (Williamsburg no-core accumulation)
32: Bukowski Goggles – Ironic Misogynistic Hermaphroditic Chick Flick (from @davecallantwit)
33: The Andy Warhols – Daytona beginner level (Tokyo’s Dandy Warhols tribute)
34: iBand – Product Placement
35: Freddy And The Nietzsches – When You Gaze Long At Your Shoes, Your Shoes Also Gaze At You (from @MatWard66)
36: Jon Battler Roots Infusion – Aqua Profonda (Heritage listed soul-grunge unknowns)
37: Ernie Budget’s Nouveau Palimpsest – Schroeder’s other cat (First entry from artificial intelligence program developed at RMIT)
38: Greg Fleet Foxes – Media Watch Theme Remix
39: Can’t Play / Can’t Sing – We Never Get On Anyone’s Top 100 (from @MatWard66)
40: Autumn or Tron – Text Message Essay (from @GilesField)
41: Rage Against the Sewing Machine – Too many leechers not enough seeders
42: Lydia Thrift – Dreaming is flossing for your brain (Noir-folk NEIS scheme darling from Thornbury Heights)
43: The Professional Student Union – Didn’t Ask For A Lecture (from @GilesField)
44: ArseWhiskey – Genuine Crumpet (obscure Wisconsin blues rock band, produced by the legendary Gordo – from Andy Hazel)
45: What Would Bowie Do – Ratest hit (LA time-travellers release stems best-of for iBand app-stream)
46: Bangkok Cartoons – Baht Simpson (from Frank Louis)
47: Coast Busters – Start the Boats (I’m on one) (Dub & bass freaks from Warringah)
48: Olympia Du Cougar – Nazi synthesiser (Released on white cassette, available at The Vinyl Solution, Sydney)
49: Boreds of Kandahar – Tell that homing pigeon to hurry up (from Dorothy Wanda Cliff)
50: Shakira – Hips don’t lie (from Zoey Coombs Marr)
51: Bear, Bat, Wolf & Lion Cub – Take the l out of llama and it’s lama (from Piotr Fufi Malbaru)
52: Len Pancake – I can’t stop falling (down the stairs of your lies) (Hobart’s metalgaze troubadour)
53: Everybody Still Hates You Pauline Hanson – My Land Is Not Your Land (from Frank Louis)
54: Ansett – God Gave Chillwave To You (ninth single from Greece Megamix)
55: Personal Effects – Dot matrix (Switzerland’s answer to Poozles)
56: Band, James Band – Did you mean? blues (Glam accapella concept ensemble from the East-West coast of Scotland)
57: (LED) Quadraphonic Explosion – Girls & Skateboards (from Hugh M)
58: Dhalsim – Ain’t no Voldemort (just Dumbledore when he’s drunk)
59: *** feat. !!! – No disc
60: Mass & Nose – Starved for retention (Prog-blog acid-posters from Bed-Sty)
61: Pose Tattoo – Country Women w/ Attitude (Hip-pop Fitroyalty)
62: Fill-in Teacher – You Know They Won’t Mark It (from @GilesField)
63: Wonk – Roger My Federeh
64: Maximum Chips – You’ve got to X for your Y to Z (15 year old French trip-hop sensations from Townsville)
65: The Gustav Mahler Project – More Cowbell (from @PrestonTowers)
66: Modcast – Vince (First 11 on Bitchfork)
67: Phillip Morris Miner – Mysterious cities of coal (Perth’s first lady of crunk)
68: Bludgeon Pigeon – Where’s My Weiner Dog, Steve? (American frat boy band recently killed in a submarine toilet malfunction – from Andy Hazel)
69: Mr Tea – Rosehip (to be square) (London twee-tween consortium)
70: The Furphy Water Carts – Glockenspielarama (from @PrestonTowers)
71: Grug and the European Debt Crisis – Yahoo Can’t Be Serious
72: Virginia Ham and the Pork Barrellers – Meat me halfway (Tropical death-core from Ashfield – from Breeny)
73: Pity Sex – Cusp (Winner of Israel’s Grindcore Idol)
74: Alice Riice – I’m sad (I made a salad)
75: Cosby, Stiller, Desh & Yon – Dog hates figs (Comedy-jazz supergroup, currently recording a triple album on King Island)
76: Johnny Deppression – Hock, loan & sucker (Canadian nu-wave Hall of Famer’s debut single, released in three parts)
77: Other – Other (from Andy Hazel)
78: Sissy & the Exoskeletons – Twine perks
79: Sheath – Bum rush (Eurotrance sportsbar collective from Newcastle)
80: Free Lance – Dark fringe photo blues (Wellington 0-piece)
81: Rage Against the Sewing machine – Chicago Bulls On Parade (Melbourne post-Indie)
82: Anonymous Bananas of Freedom – Downtown Baghdad (It’s the only song I can think of that has a mime solo – from Klarex/Brendan @klarex1)
83: Helvatican – Font pipe (Texan surf-glitch)
84: I Can’t Believe It’s Not Better – Flame retarded (Krautrock jug band from Penrith)
85: N.E.R.F. – In your face (Nan) (Acoustic K-pop duo from Adelaide)
86: Admiral Ackbar’s Dishonourable Discharge – Hip-o-cracy (from Toffer)
87: Texxtas – Fad Square
88: Gaydar – Arantxa Sánchez (Hong Kongian rockabilly psychobilly family band)
89: Winona’s Rider – Velocicopter (Fresh from their breakout appearance at South by South West Tasmania)
90: Harvey Normal – Who’s yr dada? (From the collection of itunes previews 12 Hour Arty People)
91: The Canteen Robbery – Sandwiches, Foiled! (Pop-punk fresh from Dairybin Battle of the Bands – from Hannah Paige)
92: The Bathroom Philanthropist – Prog novelty is where I hide
93: Dogs of Frasier – L.I.B.C (Lactose Intolerant Baby Cow) (from Lachlan)
94: Sticker Kill – Glue gun (Milwaukeean thrash jazz 36-piece)
95: Grythwallyn Abvat – Emptis Byrrwsolasdfike! (Welsh electronic pop duo, 90 second blast of sped up polkas and rural farm machinery samples – from Andy Hazel)
96: The Lonesome Googlers – Digital Happiness (from Joyce Missy Conrad)
97: Schwarzeniggaz – Avon calling (Barksdale) (Caribbean math rock from Devonport)
98: Cheese Louise – Unfinished symphony (in me) (Celtic Operacore recluse from Las Vegas)
99: Belching Cupcakes – Bloated Beats (from Joyce Missy Conrad)
100: Text Perkins – BMX-Ray (Space Folk 1-piece from Canberra)
ORIGINAL POST-OUT BELOW. PLEASE NOTE COMPETITION HAS KINDA CLOSED. please start a band with one of these names and let me know.
On Australia Day, I’ll be counting down the Hippest 100 songs on Twitter. Bands so cool you haven’t heard of them. No-one has.
Do you know a buzz band so fresh they only formed this morning? Get in on the action.
Email your band and hit song title to:
justin at bedroomphilosopher dot com
(Enter as many as you like.)
Or tweet to: @beddyphil #Hippest100
Or leave as a comment below.
Include your name and location. Please state if you wish to remain anonymous, or provide your rock star name. (Your Nan or Pop’s name, your second pet’s name and second street name.
ie Leonard Snowy Totterdell.)
Deadline: 12pm, January 25.
On Australia Day, follow @beddyphil #hippest100 to see if your act is hip enough for the list. They’ll be competing with my bands, so they’ll have to be sharp. I’m looking for the witty, the weird and the well-realised.
Examples:
WITTY: The Laneways – Sit On My Crate.
WEIRD: Sossy Inbred – Attitude & Longitude.
WELL-REALISED: Ten Colour Yen – Golden Frost.
Or it could be a twist on an existing band: Infrastructure in Bindi Bindi, Rodeohead.
Singer/songwriters welcome: Skip Breakfast, Lily & The Digits.
For inspiration, you could visit this anagram generator:
http://wordsmith.org/anagram/
If your band breaks into the Top 10, they’ll win a Bedroom Philosopher prize including CD’s and new ‘Ultimate Worrier’ Tshirts.
If more than half the list is made up of your entries, I’ll do a free gig outside Safeway.
Go forth and amplify.
Check out new single Northcote (YouTube Comments).
New T-Shirts (NOT) available at the BP STORE.
Artist Olympics (2012)
ARTIST OLYMPICS
GOLD – 100m Social Butterfly – Bridget Gourley.
SILVER – Parallel Universe Bar Routine – Angie Hart.
BRONZE – Discus Jockeys – (DJs who fling their records away after use) – Eamon Hanna.
4th – Equalestrian – (The horse does one lap of the jumps course with the rider on its back, then they stop, switch positions and do a second lap) – Nick Godsell.
5th – Shot Put-Down – (Judging all the other events) – Al Blease.
6th – 50m Brushstroke – Erica Renee.
7th – 100m Print – Al Blease.
8th – How High Jump – (For commissioned artwork) – Peter Cave.
Thanks to everyone who entered. Winners, can you please submit a small vial of urine to:
PO BOX 79, Fitzroy, 3065.
From me:
Dolevault
Syncronised Sinking
Fencing (part-time)
East Coast Tour starts soon feat. The Awkwardstra.
Facebook invite and booking info HERE.
Aug 29 – Black Bear Lodge, Brisbane – w/ Benjamin Law & Candy B
Aug 30 – The Loft, Gold Coast – w/ Candy B & The Melotonins
Sep 6 – Good God Small Club, Sydney – w/ Zoe Coombs Marr + Sabrina D’Angelo – Body Poet + SPOD (DJ Set)
Sep 7 – Zierholz @ University of Canberra – w/ Omar Musa & Leisure Suit Lenny
Sep 8 – Yours & Owls, Wollongong – w/ Zoe Coombs Marr + Sabrina D’Angelo – Body Poet
Sep 9 – Clarendon Guest House, Katoomba – w/ Zoe Coombs Marr + Sabrina D’Angelo – Body Poet
LapTopping – 88 – “Gold Claw”
LapTopping – The Bit Long, Official E-zine of The Bedroom Philosopher.
July 11, 2012
ISSUE 88
**East Coast Tour, Mel/Syd/Brisbane. Click on pic for FB invite**
ARTIST BOOK
I’m writing a book about being an artist in Australia. If you work as a creative in any field, including producers/managers/organisations and feel passionately about the subject or can recommend someone who is, get in touch. I’m after colourful tales of how you survive, attitudes you’ve encountered, anecdotes you’ve heard and links to good articles.
E-STREET TEAM
I’m touring the east coast over the next couple of months. You may wish to invite your friends/frenemies. Here is the FB invite for the tour. HOUSE GIG? If you live between Brisbane/Canberra perhaps we can play at your house? Drop me a line. Sorry to cities not included this time.
LT BIRTHDAYS
Happy Birthday Andrew Bird 39 today!
Happy Birthday Suzanne Vega 53 today!
Happy Birthday Mick Molloy 46 today!
Happy Birthday Gough Whitlam 96 today!
WHAT’S POPULAR? (FB likes)
1. Garlic – 127, 304
2. Potatoes – 47, 786
3. Mushrooms – 30, 798
4. Carrots – 25, 813
5. Broccoli – 18, 799
6. Lettuce – 18, 621
7. Asparagus – 16, 432
8. Pumpkins – 14, 504
9. Sweet potato – 11, 469
10. Cabbage – 7, 878
11. Eggplant – 7, 845
12. Onions – 6, 721
13. Brussel Sprouts – 6, 227
14. Ginger – 6, 071
15. Capsicum – 3, 065
16. Turnips – 3, 006
17. Cauliflower – 2, 329
18. Parsnip – 2, 299
19. Peas – 2, 008
20. Squash – 1, 785
21. Radish – 1, 707
22. Bok Choy – 1, 436
23. Silverbeet – 15
LYRIC POLICE
From Casey Bennetto, Melbourne.
Billy Joel – Piano Man
“I still can’t get over the old man sitting next to Billy Joel making love to his tonic and gin. Tonic and gin? Do I drink Coke and scotch? No. No, I do not. Well, okay, technically I do. But I don’t EVER F&$#K MY DRINK IN PUBLIC. It’s just bad manners, especially when you’re requesting a song from the pianist at the same time.”
DO YOU KNOW A BAD LYRIC THAT NEEDS POLICING? SEND IT TO:
laptopping at bedroomphilosopher dot com
MADE UP WORDS AND THEIR MEANINGS
From Allan Sko, Canberra.
FAUX-SETTO: Special high pitched octave that enters the voice when running into someone you don’t really want to converse with and yet still need to be polite to, such as your sibling’s ex girlfriend.
DO YOU HAVE A MADE UP WORD AND MEANING?
SEND IT TO: laptopping at bedroomphilosopher dot com
TIME IS CHEESE AND MOUSE IS HUNGRY!
TRON DANCE performed by Wrecking Orchestra.
Do you like Australian comic strips? Can’t think of any apart from SNAKE? Well, can I recommend The Bret Braddock Adventures by genius David Blumenstein. It you’ve ever had a crap boss, this is the series for you.
NEWS
• I’m touring the East Coast, acoustic Awkwardstra in tow in late August. It’ll be smart, sober & racy. I’ll be previewing songs from a new album and looking Hot/Sad. I’m playing a Thursdays in July residency at the Wesley Anne in Melbourne.
• The Bedroom Philosopher Diaries is available as an Ebook. You can hear me perform an excerpt from it on Soundcloud.
• I recorded a new album with SPOD & Richard In Your Mind. I love it / them. It’ll be out next year.
• The High School Assembly went ace. Four stars in The Age. I saw more stars upon reading the financial breakdown.
• There are Croxton High Hoodies, Tour Diaries & 86 Tram albums in the BP Store.
• My manager and I have amicably parted ways. She is a legend and I wish her all the best for the future.
• I’ve updated a swag of stuff on my website. New photos/reviews/columns/lifestory.
• I can grow facial hair properly for the first time. I’m wearing a woollen cap and going for a 70’s Nilsson thing. *becomes man*
• Jane Campion’s ‘Sweetie’ is one of the best Australian films I’ve seen. I’ve often wondered if Australia could do the kind of humour shown in Taika Waititi’s ‘Boy.’ What became of Karen Colston? She out Gyllenhaal’s Gyllenhaal in ‘Secretary.’
• Beck is touring. I’m nervous.
GIGLIOGRAPHY
EAST COAST EBOOK TOUR
All shows with the acoustic Awkwardstra and a fantastic array of spoken word / performance artists.
Facebook invite HERE.
MELBOURNE
Wesley Anne Residency, Thursdays in July
July 12 (w/ Sean M Whelan & Isnod)
July 19 (w/ Emilie Zoey Baker)
July 26 (w/ Sabrina D’Angelo – Body Poet)
$15. 8pm. Tickets available on the door.
BRISBANE
Black Bear Lodge
Aug 29 (w/ Benjamin Law & Candy B)
$15/$12 (plus b.f.)
Bookings
GOLD COAST
The Loft
Aug 30 (w/ Candy B & The Melotonins – Barber Shop Trio)
$12. Tickets available from the door.
SYDNEY
Good God Small Club
Sep 6 ( Zoe Coombs Marr & Sabrina D’Angelo – Body Poet + SPOD DJ Set)
$15/$12 (plus b.f.)
Bookings
CANBERRA
Zierholz @ UC
Sep 7 (Omar Musa & Leisure Suit Lenny)
$15/$12 (plus b.f.)
Bookings
WOLLONGONG
Yours & Owls
Sep 8 (w/ Zoe Coombs Marr & Sabrina D’Angelo – Body Poet)
$12. Tickets available from the door.
KATOOMBA
Clarendon Guest House
Sep 9 (w/ Zoe Coombs Marr & Sabrina D’Angelo – Body Poet)
$15. Tickets available from the door.
STORYTIME

THINGS THAT HAPPENED TO ME
I Bought A Hey Dad DVD And Was Offered A Job.
I bought a Hey Dad DVD on Ebay. After receiving the DVD (a gag gift from last year’s Xmas residency) I was sent a follow up email from Shock (the company that put out 86 Tram, went broke and lost my royalties.) They offered me a job in the payment processing department. (Average income $1500 a month, 1-2 hours a day.) I should have taken it?
I Broke A Man’s Heart By Telling Him To Stop Playing Bagpipes.
We were filming sketches for the Old Fi Lo School sketch show at Penders Park in Thornbury. We had just begun filming when a man learning the bagpipes started up at the other side of the park. The piercing noise carried hundreds of meters to us and we could not record. As producer, I had to make the long walk over to him and ask politely if he could play somewhere else. The young European man, about my age, looked at me with Eeyore eyes. I have never seen someone so dejected.
I Was Hit On By A Girl Who Doesn’t Know Me. (I Don’t Know Her.)
On 30/05/2012 2:09 AM, Celena Burchell wrote:
“I am interested in talking to smart, pretty man, have nice time together, relax for a while, it could be create something great in bedroom or other places all over my apartment!
Now, let me tell u something about me at first. I’m cute neat brown haired beauty with brown eyes and white smile. My name is Celena. Friends tell that I am attractive, and u know, I’m not against. I like nature and different channels about animals. Love sport!”
Check up my pics and let’s start talking closer (smiley face omitted – Ed)
I Made An Intellectually Disabled Boy Move Seats.
I was flying to Hobart to play at Get Ups pro carbon-tax rally. I had requested a window seat as I need them to nap properly and I like looking out the window (even if it’s just the wing…it has a warning sign ‘No Step’ and I think how funny it would be if it said ‘No Pets’ and imagine a cat stranded on the wing mid-flight. It would be so frightened, poor thing.) When I got to my row I found a mother in the middle seat and her intellectually disabled son of about fifteen (his age, not how many there was of him) in the window seat. I looked to my ticket and said “Uh, I have the window seat.” The mother looked up at me with an expression not unlike the bagpipe man, perhaps intensified by about three, with some sprinklings of profound weariness and a dash of fury. After holding my gaze for moments, in slow-motion she turned and coaxed her lad from his daze.
I Was Beaten Up In A Sushi Bar.
I had just done yoga with my favourite teacher in the city. I was getting in-line at my favourite sushi place. (in a queue, not rollerblading.) I had my big red backpack on. The man behind me in-line (in a queue) started pulling down sharply on my backpack. I turned around and saw an alternative transient with an eyebrow ring. “Dude, you’re smacking me in the face with your backpack,” he said in American accent. I mumbled sorry and turned around. I moved ahead in-line (not RBing) and was almost at the front when the dude behind took his rucksack and smacked it into my jaw, really, really hard.
“What the f%$k are you doing?” I exclaimed.
“Suck on it,” he said, grinning.
No-one did anything.
Completely stunned, I ordered sushi and moved outside. I sat down outside and the dude came and sat opposite me.
“I just didn’t see you there before,” he said playfully yet sarcastically but also menacingly.
I balled my rage, picked up my tray and moved inside without looking at him.
I ate my lunch, paralysed with fear. I wondered if he would wait for me and try and hit me again. At some point I heard him come in and tell someone “that guy hit me with his backpack” and then leave again. I tiptoed out of there, put on my skates and rollerbladed away.
I Offended A Mother By Referring To Her Kid As “Sh*T”
I was on the plane, coming back from the Hobart gig for Get Up. I was sitting in an aisle seat next to a whiny three year old and his Mother. I was annoyed by the child. I got out my notebook and started writing these lyrics: (for a punk song, similar in melodic composition to ‘Mock Trial’ by William Hung & his Hung July in Arrested Development S3E10 ‘Fakin’ It.’)
Sh*t kid – They’re annoying at this age
Sh*t kid – He’s got his fathers brain
Sh*t kid – Could be retarded
Sh*t kid – Oh look he’s crying again
After the flight, I was walking out of the gate when I saw the woman chatting to her mother who’d come to meet her. I overheard this exact snippet:
“There was this passive aggressive wannabe poet sitting next to us writing sh*t kid, sh*t kid.”
People Keep Asking Me If I’m All Right
It started last year. After a Triple R interview on spoken word program ‘Aural Text’ where I was blabbering mock-negatively/faux-facetiously and telling people not to bother coming to my shows. They received calls from people checking to see if I was okay or not. Now, I’ve had about four random mental health spot-checks in a month. Halfway through my Northcote Leader interview I had the woman say “Are you okay? You seem really down.” Then, a phone chat with a potential manager ended with “I just want to give you a hug.” Then, after last weeks Wesley Anne gig I had a girl write “I don’t usually message people I don’t know but I was at your gig last night and I left feeling sad. I would ask if you were ok but you shouldn’t have to explain yourself to anyone.” And then yesterday during a meeting with a booker he said: “you’re not selling yourself very well, you’re really down.”
This phenomena is bemusing, surreal, fascinating, abysmal, spectacularly embarrassing and a bit post-irony-gonzo-Kaufman wonderful at the same time. I guess people aren’t used to performers, especially comedic ones taking off the mask and just being brutally honest about their life not working out. I guess you’re supposed to keep your woes hidden away and pour them into your art, so that people only see the filtered emotions, trussed up with hype & creativity. I can’t really be bothered anymore, and to me, BP has always been about celebrating vulnerabilities. OOPS! It’s lovely that people are so concerned. Abhorrently emasculating from an Aussie bloke perspective, but lucky I don’t care about that for too long. It would be worse if people didn’t care at all, right? It was always my pet hate in high school when girls would put a hand on your shoulder and say “what’s wrong?” when you were just sitting there. That is just my default expression. I suppose people look to performers to be a role-model of overcoming adversity in life. You don’t want to hear PERFORMERS saying ‘I’m struggling and the industry is killing me’ because that isn’t very optimistic, and in a way, I’m not entitled to complain because I’m a sharehousehold name and I am rewarded with the kind of praise and admiration that people working in offices and doing PHD’s do not get. Also, I charge money for people to bear witness to my emotional devolutions under the guise of entertainment. Who knows.
It’s like any relationship, you can’t control how you will be perceived to the other side, so you may as well be yourself. One person’s creepy is another person’s enchanting. You say depressing, I say inspiring and so on. Yet again, there’s no guidebook. No correct etiquette. No higher power or experienced figure. No real answers.
“If home is where the heart is, then I wear my heart on my sleeve so everyone is welcome to visit.”
I Had The Most Beautiful Dream Of My Life
I was in a top storey apartment and some trouble was brewing. A man was coming up the stairs with a gun. I escaped by jumping out of the window and flying. I flew out over the sea. It was a gorgeous colour, like marble-denim. At one point I screamed “I can do whatever I want.” Then, the sea water began taking shape. A large mass came up and out of the water. It was a phoenix bird, made entirely of water. The semi-transparent blue of its body was swirling around, like the sky in Van Gogh’s ‘Starry Night.’ It came towards me and I wasn’t afraid. It flew so close that I could pat its face. I awoke with a shiver. I had received a profound vision. Unlocked a secret level within myself. It was a strange, wonderful gift – from myself, just for me.
THE END
LAYTOPING IS MISPELLED, AND FREE! WHAT A GREAT GIFT IDEA, AND IT’LL CUT YOUR ENERGY BILLS IN HALF! SEND IT TO A FRIEND!
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NOTICE AND DISCLAIMER
The slapwert in this hugly may be timmiwibble and/or quazzed by lopey polaxed dinotitus, and is vodamoan only for the swob or guggoon to whom it is parralessed. If you are not such a jerm, you are powned that any fishlitting, cackminting or grinsemination of the puble is existenz. If you have reblabbed the fak in weemoo, please bleedy-crunk this cakemoon by telephant, fux or eswig, to infoam us of the weemoo and to ancipang umberances to be mawn for the gastricificaction of the transwigout, or its retune at our cat. No liaweenee is cleftuxed for any unmarginalised fluce of the planranget constackment in this terramuppet.
Bidet,
Jasoon Hassleworth. PHD (Personal Hard Drive)
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The Bedroom Philosopher Diaries (2012)

Written by Justin Heazlewood.
Illustrations by Leigh Rigozzi.
Designed and typeset by Chase & Galley.
First published by A Small Press in 2012.
Ebook published by Affirm Press in 2012.
Second edition published by Affirm in 2013.
1 – Summer Festivals (2010/11)
2 – Buddy & Me (2010)
3 – Brown & Orange National Tour (2009)
4 – Big Day Out Report (2007)
5 – Songs From The 86 Tram National Tour Diary (2010)
6 – Tripod Tour Report (2005)
7 – Beddy Phil Monash Carnage (2011)
8 – Comedy Festival Roadshow (2009)
9 – Peter Combe National Tour (2007)
10 – Wit-Bix Psychological Analysis (2011)
The Art of the Novelty Song (JMag – 2012)
All comedians want to be rockstars, all rockstars want to be comedians and everyone wants to be Flight Of The Conchords. By this theory, musical comedians should have the best of both worlds right? Yeah…nah. Musical comedy is the estranged uncle of the stand-up scene and the ‘special’ cousin of the music industry. That said, it’s a rich and troubling genre that I’m wont to share with acts such as Tim Minchin, Tripod and Ben Lee.
Musical comedy started when sad clown took up the lute. Inside every musical comedian is a serious balladeer trying to write the great Australian folk song. Structurally, funny songs are the opposite in that the lyrics overshadow the music. That is why many comedic songs have watery chords, so they don’t get in the way of the jokes. I once had a friend tell me my music was too good for a comedy song.
How does a prog-novelty practitioner know if a song is working or not? You give it the laugh test. Straight stand-ups argue that musical comedians are cheating, because even if no-one is laughing you can still enjoy the music, and you get a clap at the end. (Guitars are six-string clapping machines). Muso-comics have a cat-like state of awareness that allows them to hear the crowd over the music – the Cack Foldback.
You can tell when a funny song bombs, because afterwards friends will say ‘the audience were just concentrating on the lyrics.’ I once played I Think My Cat Has Got Depression which ran through different kinds of mental illnesses and related them to cat behaviour. (Depression – sleeping all day. Schizophrenia – meowing at nothing. Eating disorder – throwing up lizards). If I’d delivered the idea as stand-up it would have succeeded. Instead, I played a Radiohead-esque ballad, subverting the genre, and leaving poor Sydneysiders confused. It’s hard being a pioneer.
Yon from Tripod describes their bomb-out moment: “We had this song called Food on the Table. The first lines were: You’ve got to make a living/So here’s our show. We were going with the comedy maxim: Just Tell the Truth. No matter how up the vibe was and how much choreography we injected into the song, we came across as ungrateful assholes.”
Josh “Train-Cakes” Earl describes: “I had a song about a girl who has a nut allergy, eats a peanut and then goes into anaphylactic shock. As she was trying to grab her epi-pen I was lecturing her about the fact that a peanut is not actually a nut but a legume. I thought the comedy would be in how men can’t admit they are wrong, and have to argue the point, but the audience just looked at me like I was a dick.
Inspired by Weird Al, I once tried a parody of Pulp’s Common People, called Awkward People. No matter how much spit and sweat flew from my face, I got the impression that kids didn’t want to hear a sacred song bastardised. I think we are in a decade where music has never taken itself more seriously, thus my parody of Do You Realize? (That You Have The Most Food On Your Face) went poorly at Harvest Festival. It’s hard being ahead of your time.




