27...Dead

I don't know what it is about me..I've always had a fascination with two things; crime and dead musicians, particularly those with the names starting with J: Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Jeff Buckley. My bookshelf houses many interesting musings from a plethora writers on the lives of these mostly 'troubled' deceased musicians.

So, it wasn't a surprise to me when my passion for dead musicians was reignited with the recent tragic death of pop sensation Amy Winehouse. What made her death even more prolific, was the fact that she now belonged to a very significant group of influential musicians,The 27 Club.

The 27 Club apparently consists of two phenomena, both fixed in the universe of popular culture. The first lists seven musicians who died at the age of 27-the man who sold his soul to the devil Robert Johnson, the misunderstood Brian Jones, the husky Janis Joplin, the guitar god Jimi Hendrix the LSD ranger Jim Morrison, the grunger Kurt Cobain and the troubled soul girl Amy Winehouse. The second is the fact that there is a 'statistical spike' for musicians who died at 27.

Here's a short list of other unlucky musicians that I didn't compile earlier:
27) Amy Winehouse - Many young people desire fame having no idea what it truly entails. Once there, they will do anything to avoid its pressures. Throw in the illness of addiction and you've got a staggering, slurring Molotov cocktail waiting to explode.

26) Les Harvey - Harvey was the co-founding guitarist for Stone The Crows and a member of the Alex Harvey Soul Band, the Blues Council, and the Scottish group Cartoone, who opened for Led Zeppelin. He was electrocuted by an ungrounded microphone.

25) Sean McCabe - Lead singer for the alternative rock band Ink And Dagger, McCabe pulled a John Bonham/Bon Scott and choked to death on his own vomit.

24) Helmut Kollen - Bassist and singer for German progressive rock band Triumvirat, Kollen died from carbon monoxide poisoning while listening to studio mixes in his car while running the engine with the garage door shut. Especially odd, since Kollen was an auto mechanic and race car driver.

23) Roger Durham - Percussionist for American R&B group Bloodstone, Durham fell off a horse.

22) Jesse Belvin - Belvin was an American R&B singer who wrote the classic tunes "Earth Angel" and "Goodnight My Love." He was killed in a head-on collision in the ironically named Hope, Arkansas.

21) Gary Thain - Bassist for the Keef Hartley Band and Uriah Heep, Thain died of a heroin overdose.

20) Richey Edwards - The rhythm guitar player for the Manic Street Preachers is said to have committed suicide, though not everyone agrees. He has been missing since 1995.

19) Malcolm Hale - Lead guitarist and trombonist for Spanky & Our Gang, whose hits included "Sunday Will Never Be The Same" and "Lazy Day," Hale died from carbon monoxide poisoning from a crappy space heater.

18) Bryan Ottoson - Guitarist for American Head Charge, Ottoson died from an accidental prescription drug overdose.

17) Mia Zappata - Singer for the Gits, Zappata was raped, beaten, and strangled to death. Her assailant was convicted and sentenced to 36 years in prison.

16) Kristen Pfaff - Pfaff became the bassist for Hole in 1993 and died from a heroin overdose in 1994.

15) Jeremy Michael Ward - The "sound technician" and "vocal operator" for the Mars Volta and the dub group De Facto, Ward died of a heroin overdose.

14) Alan "Blind Owl" Wilson - The singer, guitarist, and harmonica player for the blues band Canned Heat, Wilson sang that "Going Up The Country" song and died of a drug overdose, though the two are not linked. Many suppose it was suicide.

13) Pete de Freitas - Replacing the drum machine, de Freitas became Echo & The Bunnymen's first drummer. He died in 1989 in a motorcycle accident.

12) Jean-Michel Basquiat - A member of the noise-rock band Gray, Basquiat went on to appear in the video for Blondie's "Rapture" and to briefly date Madonna. He was also a successful modern painter who died of a heroin overdose at his art studio.

11) Pete Ham - Depressed over being screwed out of the money he earned as a member of Badfinger, guitarist Pete Ham hanged himself in 1975. His bandmate, Tom Evans, also depressed over missing money, followed suit and hanged himself in 1983.

10) Ron "Pigpen" McKernan - Keyboardist and founding member of the Grateful Dead, McKernan died of a stomach hemorrhage caused by years of heavy drinking. He had left the band the previous year.

9) Dave Alexander - The original bassist for the Stooges, Alexander died of pulmonary edema after being admitted to the hospital for pancreatitis brought on from years of drinking. Mike Watt of the Minutemen replaced him in the reformed Stooges.

8) D. Boon - A broken neck killed the singer-guitarist-songwriter for the Minutemen when the van he was sleeping in ran off the road. The band disbanded immediately.

7) Chris Bell - The guitarist for the legendary cult-pop-rock band Big Star had left the group and struggled to begin a recording career. He worked in his father's restaurant. His car struck a pole and killed him instantly.

6) Jim Morrison - Is he really dead? He was "allegedly" found dead in a bathtub in Paris. Listed cause of death was heart failure, but others have suggested otherwise.

5) Brian Jones - "Death By Misadventure," aka he drowned in a swimming pool. Others say it was a conspiracy and he was left to die in the pool.

4) Kurt Cobain - Shot by his own gun. Cobain killed himself after battling heroin addiction and not feeling it like Freddie Mercury.

3) Robert Johnson - Legendary bluesman who inspired British boys to play blues. The legend says he was poisoned by a jealous husband.

2) Janis Joplin - Said to be a heroin overdose. Joplin was also noted for downing staggering amounts of alcohol.

1) Jimi Hendrix - Hendrix choked on his own vomit while being brought to the hospital to be saved from a mix of drugs and alcohol.

There you have it! It's truly startling that many more musicians also belong on this list. The immortalisation of these musicians through the media has enabled our society to envision these often troubled and successsful musicians as they were at the peak of their careers. They are forever young; Jimi Hendrix etched in my psyche as a guitar god of the psychedelic era, Jim Morrison singing 'LA Woman' in his roaring voice, assisted by a few swigs of potent alcohol.


Following the media storm, that was the death of Amy Winehouse, I read many comments on how her death was far from the surprise of the century one comment read: Not Surprised that Amy Winehouse joined Janis Joplin, Kurt Cobain, Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison the DEAD-AT-27 STUPID CLUB'.

I was saddened by her death, I really was. Such a rare talent and such a waste. I guess some people just aren't meant to die old. I really thought musician Ryan Adams summed up the way I felt about her death in its entirety:

"It makes me angry to think after years of being a punching bag in the press that it takes the death of Amy Winehouse for her life and art to be treated with any amount of respect. For every slurred line or stumble paraded in newspapers or across the interent and TV, there was a real person with real issues whose life and works were marginalized in order to exploit her sickness. What a shame".

This also applies to many other members of this 'stupid' 27 Club. RIP

Bolt: GUILTY of being an idiot!

I have been interested in the recent trial surrounding right-wing scribe Andrew Bolt and his publisher Herald & Weekly Times who yesterday were found guilty of a serious breach of the Racial Discrimination Act.

Let's face it though, in my eyes I don't have much of respect for the man who slams his right-wing agenda down the throats of the Australian public and delivers hypocrisy tenfold. He is a liar and an unprofessional journalist, but, Bolt appears to have a large following.

For many years I have been listening, learning and researching about the absolute atrocities committed against Indigneous Australian people since the time of European settlement. I have a reasonable understanding of the past actions committed against Australian Indigenous people, which has personally been recounted to me by various Indigenous elders I have met since studying Aboriginal Studies at high school. It is not only these reflections that have given me an insight into the horrible actions of the past, but various media articles, books and films. Since becoming interested in the plight of the Australian Indigenous people and the ramifications of the horrible way in which these people were and are treated, I have been reading, watching and following many Indigenous stories within the media.

So, I don't think it was much of a surprise to me to see that Andrew Bolt had been taken to court for racial offence. It appears that Pat Eatock an Indigenous campaigner, who brought the case on behalf of nine-fair skinned members of the Indigenous people, is and was the perfect woman to make history and 'compund career carnage for Australia's most popular columnist'.

What is exactly is it that Bolt wrote and had published I hear you asking? Well, one article titled: 'It's so Hip to be Black' and 'White Fellas in the Black'...need I say anymore. Bolt writes:

'Not yet convinced that for many of these fair Aborigines, the choice to be Aboriginal can be considered almost arbitrary and intensely political, given how many of their ancestors are in fact Caucasian?

Then meet Tara June Winch, who is just 26 and has written only one book, Swallow The Air, yet is already an ambassador for the Australia Council's Indigenous Literacy Project. Yes, indeed, because despite her auburn hair and charmingly freckled face, she, too, is an Aborigine, who claims her "country is Wiradjuri".

Yet her mother, who raised her in industrial Wollongong, is in fact boringly English, and her father has both Afghan and Aboriginal heritage. She could call herself English, Afghan, Aboriginal, Australian or just a take-me-as-I-am human being called Tara June Winch. Race irrelevant.
Instead, she's an official Aboriginal, and hired as such in a nation which now institutionalises even racial differences you cannot detect with a naked eye.

Larissa Behrendt has also worked as a professional Aborigine ever since leaving Harvard Law School, despite looking almost as German as her father'.

Do I hear you say idiot! I can personally say that I have met Larissa Behrendt. She attended a Reconciliation Assembly I held at my high school and spoke about what it means to identify as an Indigenous person today. I have never met anybody who is so proud to be an Indigenous woman. However, Behrendt is also proud to be of German descent too.

Bolt has clearly missed the point here and it relates to country and place. Indigenous people have a strong link to culture and country. The place or land in which their people live (there are hundreds off Indigenous languages and groups within Australia), is of great significance and importance to these people. I understand from hearing Larissa Behrendt speak, that the importance of her Indigenous culture was passed down from her mother. How can Bolt question these individuals (and many others), if he doesn't know a thing about them! Sloppy sloppy journalism! Do some research for once Andrew! I believe we need to educate the rest of the Australian public on the importance of establishing a treaty and try and move further forward towards reconciliation! Articles like this only serve to reinforce an uneducated society and deliver a stereotypical message to Australian 'lefties' that all 'right wings' are of this opinion. Well, it appears that many are now!

To sweeten the deal for me personally Bolt was found guilty of destruction of racial tolerance! Bolt's articles were also found to contain errors of fact and distortions of truth. To put it plainly though, he is a deceptive and manipulative man, pushing and pushing his own agenda. I particularly liked blogger Gohan451's description of the man in question: 'his support for our illegal wars and his opposition to social welfare programs that don't help rich people should say all thay is needed. Yet he has a following, this man who represents everything that is vicious and cruel about the Australian character'.

Wise up Australia! It's time, it really is!


*Bolts first article: http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/opinion/its-so-hip-to-be-black/story-e6freal3-1225698790774
*http://gohan451.wordpress.com/2011/03/27/andrew-bolt-the-fuckheads-choice-since-1999/
*Bolts second article: http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/opinion/its-so-hip-to-be-black/story-e6freal3-1225698790774 (this is pretty much the same article! Couldn't think of anything else to write that day Andrew?)

Masters and Me

It seems like this blog has taken so long to come into fruition! But finally, here we are!

My name is Ingrid and at this exact moment in time I’m feeling a little anxious, possibly even a little frightened at the concept of creating for myself a career and a life. Last December, I completed a degree in Communication and Media Studies and thought to myself, I am WAY too scared to venture into the real world and become part of a five day working ritual in which my parents and many friends have been closely following so...

HEY! Let's just do a Masters in Commerce (majoring in E Commerce) this will be fun, I can stay in part time work and enjoy the poor uni life existence in which I have been abiding by for the last three years!

I WAS WRONG, SO VERY WRONG!

I started it...Had various anxiety attacks and realised this just isn't for me! I'm a writer, not an accountant or economist and I certainly don't have much knowledge on how to create entire web pages from scratch. I will contribute to these pages, not create them!

Not only did I waste six months of my life studying, I wasted money and valuable time in which I could have been gaining an important insight and experience into my actual passions!

However, I forged valuable friendships, I learnt more about myself, my strengths and my weaknesses and the world of accounting, management and economics.

The friendships I forged in the semester I was studying for are invaluable. This is based on the very true fact that I come from a small seaside community in which multiculturalism in my eyes is virtually non-existent! Even in high school I felt I was living in a bubble, protected from the rest of society, unsure and frightened of venturing outside in other words, I was afraid of gaining a little life experience!

Since beginning study at the University of Wollongong, my bubble burst! Never before had I seen such a vast array of cultures, religions and opinions! However, the majority of my peers were Australian and as always I was the part of the MAJORITY, so generic and normal.

However, the Masters of Commerce showed me that being part of a MINORITY group is invaluable to learning about oneself and appreciating and understanding different aspects of culture and society.

When I sat down in my first lecture at the beginning of this year, I will admit I felt uneasy and even cautious of my actions. I sat in silence and hardly moved the entire lecture.

I looked around...
I looked at my hair...
I looked at my position within the crowd, smack bang in the middle…
hair...
platinum blonde!

It appeared that most of my peers were of Chinese and Taiwanese descent. I will admit it took a couple of weeks for me to even have the courage to speak to someone in my class. It was challenging and if you ask my closest friends I am far from the shy and unassuming type!

But...in the end, even though I decided to discontinue my Masters in Commerce at the end of this semester, I secured a lifetime of invaluable friendships, late night Skype dates and free accommodation upon arrival in Taiwan. I met the kindest, non-judgemental and beautiful people I have ever met in my life. I even acquired basic accounting and economic skills and was even asked to mentor students in one of the subjects!

I guess the moral of the story is that nothing is a waste. It is such a cliché, follow your passion, learn and grow! Through this blog I plan to explore my passions, pastimes and opinions! I want to do this in order to help myself understand my thoughts and the things I feel, say and do.

In the near future my fiance and I plan to move to Melbourne and attain a position within the field of communication and media. I am so terrified, but am so ready! I have to remember I'm more suited to marketing, media and communications not economics or accounting! Phew! 

Hello world, I am ready and waiting…