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Day 328 April 16th - Sydney

Posted by Dave Rat on

Even though I am writing about Sydney, I am actually at home staring at my lonely phone. The world stops, no I stop, and the world continues. Once again the rush of tour motion drops me in the place I live, I find myself once again fully responsible for my own humanly self, something I so easy to take for granted when whisked away. The resistance to change. A year ago I was ripped away from the stable patterns that made me smile at home and today I am once again plopped back where I started as if I have been left at a truck stop or dropped off to do homework after a month away at summer camp. The silence of a hotel room is an asset that I frustrate over when denied, while the silence of my home begs me to venture out and find momentum. Acclimation. It is easy to acclimate to a sunny pool side chair or a tropical beach with a daiquiri in hand, a bit harder to acclimate to rocking boat in rough seas and nearly impossible to acclimate to jumping off of a cliff, unless you are a lemming of course and even lemmings can only acclimate to it for a relatively short period of time before splattering on the rock below. It is not that there is a lot to do and it can be a bit overwhelming. Perhaps a bit of the "grass is greener on the other side of the plane ride" syndrome is in in effect.

Oh wait, lemmings don't jump off cliffs, that is just a myth perpetuated by our friends at Disney. Anyway, back to Sydney, where we are actually pretending to be right now as this is the day we are in. Imagine sunshine and beaches, imagine being in a state of happiness and relaxation where everything is ok and so ok that you don't want it to go away, imagine opening the door to your hotel room balcony and seeing

and walking down to the water for a run and swim to start your day or two or five. Imagine being at home 6000 miles or so away and thinking of all the the things you could have done with 20/20 hind sight and imagine that it is still ok anyway as that just gives you something to look forward to revisiting.

And in the mean time, are we thirsty?

Today, as will be the next three, is a gig here

And today is special. Over the two decades or so that worked with the Peppers I meet many people in the surrounding circles but it was not till fairly recently that I have really spent some time getting to know Peggy and Pat, Anthony and Flea's moms. With so many parallel experiences over the years with differing perspectives and having met many times in passing but never past the cordial and familiar hello's, this tour and perhaps the blog has brought the time and opportunity for me to get to know them and they came to visit me at front of house and it was fun!

Oh, and though I rarely take take bloggery requests, I who am I to say no to mom and especially two? So here is a shout out to "Our Dutch Friends" from Peggy and Pat, you know who you are!

Off and away to start my day,

Dave Rat

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Tony Peaker on :

Is that Bondi where you were staying? I did a show at the Bondi Pavillion years ago. It's a nice area :)

Andrew on :

Just read your email published in the NZ Herald re. the vecter arena in Auckland. Thanks for taking the time and making an effort to help improve our stadium - hopefully people that sign the cheques read it !! Thanks again mate. Andrew New Zealand

Rachelle on :

Ah yes - was just going to mention the same thing as Andrew: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10436243 Thank you for being so proactive for change. The building of this arena has been a complete shambles since the very beginning - and I honestly think, like you said - that it is not complete! I, myself, didn't have any problems with the sound - but I am no expert. I did however have problems watching numerous people smash their heads on the floor though ....

Christian on :

Hi Dave, I was just watching the news on telly and was really surprised to hear your statements about the sound in the new arena in auckland, as I read your blog for over 8 month now regularly. However, keep on writing it's really an awesome blog. See you christian a german in new zealand

Rattus Norvegus on :

well I had a great time, and no probs with the sound on Sat

old_shagger on :

Hello Dave, I was at the April 16 Concert in Sydney and I must say the Mix/Sound was pretty good ! I was expecting it to be extremely loud (it wasn't) Good Job. Thanks :-) BTW the photo out the Balcony is Bondi Beach. (not Sydney's best beach IMHO) The photo of the Arena is actually "Telstra Stadium" where the 2000 Olympic Games Opening+Closing ceremonies were.(next door to Acer Arena where the Red Hots played. Cant wait for the Chilis to come back to OZ .

emma on :

Hey Dave I just want to say thanks for taking the time to write that email regarding the sound quality at the Vector. Hopefully the Vector Arena management will take notice so something can be done about it. We loved having the chillis play here in NZ and hopefully all you guys will be back sometime soon because New Zealand loves ya!

Dave Rat on :

Yep, that's Bondi! Cool place and not even close to how cool the places there can be!

Dave Rat on :

Thank You Andrew, I too hope they fix the place up, I can't believe that my comments are getting enough attention to possibly make a difference, now it is up to all our Ne Zealand friends to follow through. That would be so cool to come back and find the venue all dialed in!

Dave Rat on :

Hello Rachelle, Thank you for the hook up for bungi jumping, we had a blast!! Great to meet you and your pals. I think the floor issue will get fixed quick and they will get those flats that most arenas lay down that help keep the floor from getting damaged and the heads from cracking open.

Dave Rat on :

Oh my, looks like I opened a can of worms, yikes! Who would have knew? Not me.

Dave Rat on :

Well, I think that for most everyone that was no farther than 1/2 way to 3/4 way back from the speakers to the back or side walls, the sound should have been well within the window of acceptability and as you get closer to the stage the sound should have improved considerably. From where I was mixing, it was all good but it sounded like I was much farther from the speakers than I actually was and for the people up in the rafters, well, they just pretty much got mush.

Dave Rat on :

Hello Shagger, Thanks for the correction on the photo caption and oh, I know Bondi quite well and yes, well aware that it is not near as good as beaches get there, but given the time frame of my stay, it was as I love to say "good enough!"

Dave Rat on :

Thank You Emma, I hope so too! I also hope that I do not get banished from the Vector for stirring things up, uh oh!

Lee on :

Hey dave your comments re:Vector arena made it to the front/second page of the New Zealand Herald! Cheers for the concerts, i was able to make it to both gigs and they were awesome

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