Summer Bloody Solstice
Tamworth, NSW - 18 Dec 2023
I’ve never enjoyed this time of year. It’s like an enemy. When I was a kid in the dying days of the school year, the classroom windows would all be open, ceiling fans would beat the soupy air, wasps would fly in and terrorise while the sweat from my left hand would stop the Bic ball-point from copying out the damn spelling list. It was the same at home, trying to do anything other than swimming progressed through a veil of sweat. But a hot day back in the 1970s was 36 deg C. Any more than that was an anomaly. Then in 1982 I’ll never forget a Christmas spent with our then extended family up in Northern NSW as the temperature climbed up to 42. I remember that figure exactly. The cars had no air-con and ran perilously close to overheating the entire time. I recall standing in a field of giant sunflowers wondering why they weren’t dead. In Tamworth at least, katabatic winds would arrive with the night and let you sleep. Then it would happen all over again. The last four years of the La Nina cycle have been a blessing, but that’s over now. It keeps me inside, away from the death-rays, but I find the whole thing obstructive for allowing anything creative or inspirational to flow. It requires some kind of strategy or nothing comes of it. Earlier today I was putting the finishing touches on a new pedal board I’ve been building especially for pedal steel, but it was a fight as the sweat kept pooling on the inside of my glasses. I got that one out of the way, but the music part will have to wait. I’ve been watching endless Scandi-noir TV and I’m envious of their muted light, their cloud cover and an entirely different kind of stark beauty. The vast Pilliga fires of the last few days account for the ashen view of Tamworth. Nonetheless, as I write this, the change has come after a fortnight of radiation and haze - rain is falling and the fires will die for now. Broken Hill on Saturday night… Adelaide the day after. Merry Christmas >>> re-mains.bandcamp.com/track/is-it-ever-gonna-rain