The road trip that was going so well......

It was the start of the long weekend. Three friends and I decided to drive up to the country, through the gold fields region, take some back-roads and enjoy the gloriously beautiful sunny winter's day.
Triple D (Country D, City D and Italian D) and I, set off from Melbourne and guided by freeways, fast left the cityscape behind. Low lying clouds piqued our excitement as we marveled at the lush greenery that met the blue sky at the point where the rolling hills gently and constantly shifted the horizon.  Triple j's hottest 100 countdown of the past twenty years, played over the radio and we were shocked to realise that songs we loved and recalled like yesterday were 15 or more, years old.

We took an exit off the freeway and caught the end of the Wesley Hills/Red Hills monthly market. We browsed and supported the local economy. It was us four and my reliable car 'Stacey' ( Named by my sister Leanne, who since passed the car down to me!). We then headed through Castlemaine towards Muldon for a coffee. There is nothing as exhilarating as doing a 100KM along country roads that wind and turn, or is that just a boy thing? I wanted to stop a few times to photograph the landscapes that changed from lush farming, to green undulating hills and to bush scrub and then back again, but we had a mission and that was to go to Bendigo.

First though was Maldon and it was beautiful.

 The hard hitting headlines in the local paper:

Are you really asking $249 for this? I don't know why, but I was reminded of our recent hard rubbish collection.....

 Old gold rush buildings:

 Cute kittens in a  shop window:

Maldon had been full of beautiful buildings and a few cute kittens, but we left it all in good time and headed along country roads, snaking our way to Bendigo. A town that had many a beautiful building and was a bit like Melbourne. Country D explained that it's resemblance to Melbourne was because it was a 'university town'. I guess you do learn something new everyday!

We strolled through Bendigo's very English gardens, walked the streets, took photographs and found a Melbourne-Esq cafe to escape to... yes we wanted to get out of Melbourne for the day, but there is no place like home!


The gardens:

The afternoon sun dipping behind the main spire of the Sacred Heart Cathedral in Bendigo:

Soon came the time to leave. We loaded Stacey back up and hit the road. Radio up, full of cheer, exhausted and reminiscing about our just had, very lovey day, when all of a sudden Stacey's electrics go haywire, we pull over and then the car won't start back up! Thank goodness we have phone reception, so I call the RACV and Brian arrives to save us... well, more so to tell us that the car is buggered! I won't bore you all with car talk, only because I don't understand a thing myself... and all I knew was that we were 120-130kms out of Melbourne and the car couldn't be driven home. Stacey was to be towed to the nearest town and we were getting a cab to Castlemaine train station to then catch a train back to Melbourne (if there was one).


We did have a crazy cab driver, whom one of my friends said 'smelt fresh'?  Mind you this was after he almost wiped us out going the wrong way on the freeway and fish tailing whilst saying 'you didn't see this'  umm yeah we did, infact, we experinaced it and SHAT ourselves!

Finally we arrived at Castlemaine station and hoped there was still a train to Melbourne. Panic overtook me as we realised that the train station was closed, however the platform was open! At this point it was freezing cold and the temperature was around 4 degrees. Luckily there was a train and we only had to wait 30 mins for it (it was the second last train of the night and it was only 7pm). Thank goodness we didn't stay in Bendigo for dinner as I had suggested, because we may not have been able to catch a train back till the next day.

Anyway, all the while I was a bit stressed and worrying about how a lovely day out have been spoilt for my friends and how I couldn't financially afford this problem.. but Triple D were supportive and positive about it all and kept me sane, even with it taking us four hours to get back home!... thank goodness for good friends.. and might I say that these three are the best!

Yep, we are almost stranded in Castlemaine and we can laugh about it.
Here is the station sign, missing the 'C' for Castlemaine, but you all know that we were there!:

All photographs copyright matthew schiavello 2013

Lines in my work: Pt 2 - Lines in lanes and on walls

I love lines. Man-made straight lines and natures not so straight lines.
Here is a collection on some of my photography work which is all about lines.

None of these are photographs of paintings and none of these are a sole tagger or street artist's work. They are usually bits of graffetti/tagging/street art that have been layered by many others tagging/graffeting or doing they're own street art over the top. I focus in on one small area which has elements of many peoples contributions and as such, I capture something new and unique. Something transient and unlikely to be as it is tomorrow or the next day. By then the space will have had more layers added to it and will have become something else. Just like last week here is another side note stating that I have previously published some of these photographs online.


Lines in lanes and on walls:

All Photographs copyright matthew schiavello 2013

Lines in my work: Pt 1 - Lines in public and private structures

I love lines. Man-made straight lines and natures not-so-straight lines.
Here is a collection of some of my photography work which is all about lines.


None of these are photographs of paintings. These are all images found walking down the street. Or in entering private and public buildings. Photographs taken when I took a moment and looked about. When I allowed my eye to lead me. Most importantly,  these are photographs of what I had seen and liked. As is my want, I usually focus on one small area and capture something that upon being present out of context, comes into it's own. No longer just an area where aspects of a structure converge, but now an image that (i find to be) pleasing to the eye and something I can hang on my wall. Even though I love capturing lines in public and private spaces, I also love taking photographs of  lines found in lanes and on walls... but more of that next week.  as a side note, I have previously published some of these photographs online.


Lines in public and private structures :

all photographs copyright matthew schiavello 2013.

new music - June 2013

 I bumped into a mate a few days back after having just brought a new record and his response was something along the lines of  'don't you have enough records'?  pfftt  as if all records are the same, silly man! I then realised that I hadn't shared any new vinyl purchases in a while....

So, here are some new albums and some not so new albums:


The Strokes- Comedown Machine:

I have this lp on my ipod and rarely shuffle or skip tracks, the whole Lp works. I loved it so much I brought the vinyl. Here is the track 'slow animals'.

The Strokes- 'Slow Animals'




Billy Bragg- Tooth and Nail:

 Off his new LP (which is very consistent in its quality), the one cover off the album is of course a Woody Guthrie track called 'I ain't got no home'.

Billy Bragg- 'I ain't got no home'



Beatles- Let it be naked:

If you have just arrived on Earth, you may not know that the Beatles Lp, 'Let it be', was re-released without Phil Spector's overdubs, strings and with a slightly different track list, and was re-titled 'Let it be...naked'.
Here is a track off it:

The Beatles- The long and winding road:



Yo La Tengo - Fade:

Off the new Yo La Tengo album, which I mentioned in a recent blog post, here is the last track titled - 'Before we run'', with visuals by Emily Hubley.

Yo La Tengo- 'Before we run'




and yes there is more!  It has been a while after all!


Quiet Heart: the Best of the Go-Betweens

The Go-Betweens are a great Australian band. Iconic even! There are so many songs from this compilation that I could have chosen from and some I had already posted on this blog over the years, so instead of one of their more known tracks or 'hit's', I've chosen to post this lesser known track originally from 2005's LP "Oceans apart' called 'Darlinghurst Nights'. with opening lyrics such as:

"I opened a notebook, it read “The Darlinghurst Years”
I snapped it shut but out jumped some tears "

The Go-Between's- Darlinghurst nights