Ok. In light of a flood of emails concerning my wellbeing, I should clarify that my last post was a vain stab to try cover the fact that I have no comedic ability, and was in an effort to try and subtly imply that I’m going on holiday. In fact I’ve gone on holiday. Actually, I’m on holiday right now.

Why am I blogging when I should be drinking a bevearage with an umbrella in it by the pool out there?

Damn Jet lag.

Stay safe, stay proudly Australian, realise that White Supremacist fucktards will try and brainwash young beach-going fellas over the next few weeks, take care of yourself and your family and have fun. See you soon, well at the Gold Coast BDO I shall see you.
Best email for any response…pool looks good..I’m off. In fact I am off. xx a

Hey. In light of certain circumstances I’ve been advised by my lawyers, my psychic, my spiritual guide, and my Mum, that it would be best to get out of the country for a while. Please do take care of each other, look out for white supremacists,use condoms if you’re shagging, and have fun on Christmas Eve/Day and New Year’s Eve/Day. I’ll see you at the Big Day out. All my lovin’ like Johnny Young… xx andrewg

Sorry, as an afterthought, I believe I should tell you that I managed to find time to slip into the Kubrick exhibition down at ACMI in Federation Square in Melbourne the other day. Here I am with a Moloko girl. It’s a mind blowing exhibit. If you’ve ever liked a movie for more than a one-liner, go see it. Originial props, scripts, cameras, lenses (!) and heaps more. Well worth it. xx a

I’ve got a dog squad in my driveway, a road block at the end of my street and about two hundred cops all over my suburb. I stopped and chatted with lots of them while I walked down to get lunch and a juice yesterday. Pretty much every person was saying the same thing..”thanks for being here”.
It’s the first weekend of school holidays, and there’s about eighty people on the beach, which includes the nippers action on the north end. It’s so quiet and peaceful here. I wonder if it will stay that way all day. I’m off to Brisbane for christmas dinner. Have fun.
P.S. Can’t find the lint fliter in my laundry machine. Where would it be? Around the back? Or is one of you sneaking lint into every box of laundry powder that I buy… hrmm… xx a

What is this?
I live there… What am I supposed to do? Hide under the couch? I’m an immigrant!! Who should I be afraid of? Skips or wogs? I don’t look skippy but I’m damn sure I’m woggy! Arrrgh!!!+!
Breathe andrew, breathe in and out… xx g

Ok. So The Bus Show yesterday was cool. Coolish. It was full of young fellas all revved up and looking for the bit when the drums kick back in during ‘West End Riot’ from about 3pm. So it was kind of hard work for us on stage, keeping everyone ok for the three hours until TLE were going to play. I love the Living End, they’re the greatest Australian Rock band in the universe at the moment. Awesome guys, awesome songs, awesome live show. Awesome crowd that come to see them, too. I was trying to keep in the front of my mind how it feels to be sixteen and with five of your mates all pumped up at a rock show. You get this wierd tunnel vision thing going on when the excitment gets to a certain level. Then when you’re pressed into the crowd, and surrounded by hundreds more little groups of guys, something in the basal part of your brain, way back in the hunting party bit of your brain kicks in. You get this tinny taste in the back of your mouth, and you suddenly find yourself no longer making decisions, just moving with the pack, like when you see a herd of stampeding cattle suddenly change direction, they didn’t all decide ‘turn left now fellas!’, but an unspoken communication runs from the leader of the pack to the rest of them and the just follow along.. It’s quite thrilling and scary and fun and terrifying all at once when you’re in it. Sometimes it turns nasty, sometimes it’s just ok. Yesterday we were lucky that it was ok, and just a little bit edgy. All day I was asking people to move back, relax, take a break, look after each other, and slowly, the pack of young guys in the middle got larger and larger, until I just gave up and hid. There’s only so much that we can do to keep people safe at these shows. I try not to come across all school teacher, I try and talk on the PA about respect for each other, I try and talk about looking after each other, but all it takes is a few hecklers and then my calls fall on deaf ears. Another day of watching fuckwits thinking they’re cool by crowd surfing (soooo 1994) and kicking young girls in the head on the way over the barrier, small brained virgin boys throwing bottles that hit girls in the back of the head, then they duck thinking I can’t see them. Listen buddy, if you don’t like what I’m doing, tell me. I can take it. You don’t need to be such a fucking coward as to throw things at me. Be a man and say it to my face.
That goes for the young guy who pegged a full one-litre bottle of water at my head from about 2m away. After the show, I was trying my best to return lost wallets and phones and things that had come over the barrier, and was on the way to give this one guy in the front his wallet back when security stopped me. All day I hadn’t gone up to the barricade, for fear of people stealing my hat/mic pack/sunglasses (all of which has happened before). Security put his hand in my chest offering to go up to the guy for me, but I kindly thanked him and said, no, I’ll be cool. No sooner had I taken a step forward to give this guy his wallet back when this bottle came over the barrier and hit me so hard, my vision split in two. Straight away wallet guy and his ten mates laughed out loud. I lost it, pegged the wallet at him and left. Sorry mate. I know you didn’t throw the water at me, it had been a big day and I had let it get to me. Sorry I made you responsible for what some small dicked guy who still lives with his Mum did to me. Hope you’re not too mad. Hope you got your Maccas discount card back and everything.
At the end of the day, I think everyone got away ok, and TLE rocked the joint so hard my head is still spinning (not from the bottle thanks very much). I guess I love doing these bus shows so much, and just want everyone to have a safe time. There’s ways to dance to a band without using girls as trampolines. There’s ways to enjoy a show so hard that you’ll never forget it because the songs are great, rather than the person in front of you never forgetting that show because you cracked their rib coz you were trying to dance like that guy in the Pennywise video.

It’s about respect. Remember that seeing bands, is all about Respect. Respect the people around you, respect the band, respect the crew, respect the security, respect the venue, and every one will live to rock another day. Thanks for the 4600 people who turned up to enjoy themselves and dance their arses off. We work hard to put on great shows for you and we’re always stoked that you turn up and enjoy it. To you 200 others, I hope your Mums weren’t too mad when you came home all torn and messed up from your big day in the city. I hope you didn’t have to do too many extra chores to make up for the fact that you wrecked the brand new Hurley t-shirt you made you mummy buy you when you threw a kiddy fit in General Pants last weekend. See you next show. xx andrew

G’day. it’s rather late and I’m quite tired after eating a massive vegan feast at Soul Mama’s in St Kilda, but I have a quick question…
I empty all the pockets out of my jeans and shorts when I do my laundry, yet all my black t-shirts continue to come out of the wash covered in lint. WTF? Where does the lint come from?? The same parallel universe that my underpants dissapear to? I hope you can help. More on the living end later…
xx a

But I’ll see you in Federation Square on Thursday to see the greatest guitar player in Australia right now, Chris Cheney rock your arses off so hard you’ll need a new pair of pants. Here’s what happened last time we played there with Shihad back in March.
Also, after many email requests, here’s the shot of the mountain from the lake (rather than the lake from the mountain).
There you go, two NZ references in the one post! Choice!! xx g-fresh

Ok so yesterday at Cronulla, which is a beach in Sydney’s south, there was possibly the most despicable and openly racist proceedings that have happened in my country for years. I am gobsmacked that it was even allowed to escalate to the level that it did. There’s so many news stories online that you can look up the facts for yourself, but I just couldn’t comprehend the blatant, thuggish, thoughtless racist acts that occurred.
If I’m not mistaken, a few weeks ago wasn’t everybody up in arms about supposed Muslim propaganda pamphlets being handed out, and weren’t there laws passed to prevent the distribution of hateful material? If so, why were there people from neo-nazi parties happily handing out leaflets in public with no reprimand?
If 5000 drunken Muslim men beat shit through a few whiteys (100-1 and pelting beer bottles like yesterday) the country would be in an uproar. I will not sit idly by and watch this country that I love and adore so much descend into violent hatred. Understanding and respect of other cultures is what made this country great. It’s why my grandparents sought refuge here, because the horrific fascism of Europe drove them to find a place of safety. That is what Australia is.
Being Australian is not openly and violently provoking people trying to have a peaceful day at the beach. Being Australian is not about disgusting ‘hatriotism’ and using it as an excuse to destroy people’s lives and violently assault other Australians because they look ‘Middle Eastern’.
This is a complex issue, but I know one thing’s for sure. It’s been brewing a long time. For a government to allow a society that they are responsible for to descend to this point is just rubbish. It’s a government’s responsiblity to feed, clothe and care for it’s citizens. I don’t feel particularly cared for with this kind of uprising happening in my city and not much seeming to be done about it. While I applaud Mr. Howard’s condemnation of the situation, for him to deny that there in underlying racism in this country after yesterday’s events is completely beyond me.

P.S. I do hope you like the nice photo of Lake Wanaka in New Zealand that I took a few weeks back. I like to think of peaceful times in the mountains when things like this happen.. xx andrewgthatguyfromv@yahoo.com

WTF happened in Cronulla yesterday? What country do I live in? A country where a racist mob can openly bash people in public just because they have an apperence of ethnicity? What decade is this again? This problem is a big one, and it’s going to take a massive change in community views to tackle this.
If anyone that looks vaguely Middle Eastern is bashed by a massive, violent mob in Cronulla because three surf lifesavers were punched up by Middle Eastern looking guys, what’s going to happen to anyone that looks vaguely Indonesian when the Bali 9 get shot by firing squad? More mobs? I’m so mad. I’m going for a run to have a think about this.. xx a