I used to live in Sydney, and to cut a long story short, I was relocated to California against my will. Sob story aside, I was recently made aware that it's been a year since I've lived in Australia. Maybe it's fitting that I've recently been thinking about every little thing I used to love about living in the ambiguously laid back metropolis. It's funny the things you find yourself missing, when your staring headlong into nostalgia's wispy allure. I miss taking the bus and the train (admittedly to someone very special), walking at night through Town Hall station, mind wandering, weaving automatically through people hurrying in their suits. I miss Woolworth's, and just walking down the aisles with muesli and milk in my basket (the extent of my cooking abilities was based on my skillful use of bowl and spoon, which ultimately chose for me what I ate on the regular). I miss the way nature was seamlessly intertwined with the granite and roadways, how the beach was a stone's throw from stoplights and shopping malls. Looking back, I appreciate the balance of modern city and the undermined subtlety of nature more than I ever did when it was a simple bus ride from the poster adorned walls that made up the tiny apartment I rarely slept in.
Random things will force themselves to the top of my subconscious, and I scoop out these memories delicately, like those green nets you use to scoop up a brand new goldfish - precious and carefully, yet intently focused. I miss scrubbing the dishes after being treated to a home cooked meal (an event that I ashamedly feel happened to often, but was never unappreciated), and hastily putting them away for a certain someone, with the only thing left on the agenda was to watch whatever was on TV. For me, I would've been happy if the screen was broadcasting snowy static - it was just being there that made me feel content.
The more I scoop, the more I feel like things that were so miniscule are the most important things - trips to the park, sharing a pack of chips from Homer's (ok that was always the most important thing to me!), shifting your girlfriend's gears while she drives through the suburbs with the sun setting low, being hyperactive and shouting the Red Hot Chili Peppers' nonsensical lyrics in the same car ride.
The more I scoop, the more I realize every little thing was important, and I'm sorry I overlooked every waking, important memory.
...phew! To get back on topic, I remember watching this kid, Matt Corby on Australian Idol, and being impressed with his natural talent at a very shallow level. After being shown this video yesterday, it makes me glad to see his sound so...mature! Definitely a throw back to Justin Vernon's style of heart felt folk music, with finger plucking that calls to mind Jose Gonzalez, Letters is a great tune. If this track is any indication, its great to see that Mr. Corby isn't resting on his laurels and the fame his brief stint on Australian Idol has brought him - he's produced a track a true artist would be proud of - heartfelt, emotional and NOT commercially formulated to encompass the masses.
Letters are a powerful thing - if you send one make sure you always mean what you say. I know I do
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