So it's come around again, and slipped away again. Half-way through January and can't even remember if there was a fuss to wonder about.

Updating a few things on the website (new improved video archives, the germ of a photo gallery, etc) but still not planning to blog more than once a month. So I'll miss the social media boom - go ahead and shoot me now.

Rehearsing for a little gig at Tamworth (City Arcade, 1-2pm, 21st January) during which I'll go through a few songs from the new album, but more importantly it'll be a prototype of the new Red in the Centre travelling roadshow. At last, a shape to the thing!

Couldn't get mainstream free-to-air television interested in anything this time around, which is not really surprising but still a pain in the arse. And not even sure if I'll have Australia Network behind me this trip, so it looks like it's come down to the place I always though it would: me, flying solo. But at least I can create now as I choose to create, no restraints beyond the limitations of my own imagination. So let's go!

See you down the road aways.

Monte

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Finished the vocals on the CD and one audio book this week, waiting for Craig Calhoun (Music Domain) to mix and master in time for printing and delivery before Tamworth Country Music.

Songs have come up much better with new vocals, though there will be sonic differences between those produced by Beesneez Studios and Music Domain. Unfortunately without the original files from Beesneez that can't be helped. 

Book (Crooked Lens) scrubbed up well, I think, though the proof will be in the pudding. Hard to strike the balance between reading life into the stories and going over the top. Hopefully I've found somewhere near enough.

Currently preparing Urban Eyes for reading early in the New Year, working on some music and drafting sketches for the next trip. More comedy this time, more Monte madness. You've been warned.

Merry Xmas if you're into that sort of thing, best wishes if you're not,

Monte   

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I went to school in Newcastle. Can't say I enjoyed it much back then with the BHP in full cry, but these days the city is surely one of the unsung delights of the NSW Coast. I'm staying with an old mate I've known since we trained together as Psych. nurses a hundred years ago. So it's all really a bit like going back to my origins. 

Beavering away on the projects and getting through then one at a time. H Chord DVD now cut and ready for production, working on a new CD, about to make audio version of the first couple of books, and, of course, slowly getting all of Claude's ailments attended.

Seems odd not working on a book this time (though I am playing with a bit of fiction just to keep my hand in - working title The Age of Irrelevance; so form your own conclusion on that one). I do seem to have more time to get the rest done, though, which is gratifying. And especially enjoying getting into swimming again, which this city is perfectly suited to.

All in all things going okay.

Self?

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Okay, so I promised you an update in under two months and I lied. So what?

About to leave Darwin after another market season. If you missed me you can get the books & DVDs from the site here. More DVDs and talking books by the end of the year, and, of course, I'll be doing Tamworth and Darwin again next year. Unless fate intervenes.

Sorry I banged on so long.

Monte

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Christ Almighty, I just updated the news banner; surely that's enough today. I'll get to the blog next month. Maybe. And if you're getting to yours more than once or twice a month may I suggest politely you get yourself a real life? If you're already tweeting you're obviously beyond help; go hard, tweet yourself to inanity. And you might as well add the 's' while you're at it.

Mont

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Is it still called a mercy dash at sixty-five kilometres per hour?

Claude has been trying to do me in again. Started playing up on the Roper Bar- Borroloola road and hasn't let up since. Tried to ignore the spoilt bastard but in the end had to cave in and take the detour from Borroloola to Mt Isa via Barkly Highway at a heady 65 klicks (no power), rather than through the Gulf Country as I'd planned. Found a good diesel mechanic in the Isa who isolated it as a broken wire on the electronic throttle motor unit (called a Venturi unit, for the record, and it'll cost you $600 ex-Japan if you want one).  So he gave it a bush band aid and soldered it up for me, but en route to Karumba (ie almost at Karumba) the problem returned. The solder must have broken. Also developed a plumbing problem and a snapped tortion bar! Bloke told me the other day they never break. They suspend bridges off that steel, he said. But not Claude's fat arse, apparently. Anyway, so then I had to detour 700 kms from Normanton back to Cairns, again at 65 klicks per hour, but this time I felt every bump in the road.

So today I took the Venturi unit out again (mechanic in the Isa made me do it out there as well, which proved a good lesson to learn) and got some auto electricians to solder, brace and glue the broken wire so it shouldn't come away again. Tomorrow we're off to the Toyota service agents to see about a few other issues. Still trying to track down a tortion bar in Australia, and if I can't find one I'll have to sell another child and get one ex-Japan. Problem is I've only got one child. Anyone out there got one they'd like me to sell on commission?

At least Cairns is a gentle place to be stuck for a week or a month.

I'll keep you posted. Or maybe not.

Mont   

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So it's come to this: I now get prompts from site visitors to update my blog (thank you Frances).

Been a wild month or so since my last entry. Went out to Nhulunbuy with the intention of getting into Garma and got sent away on my bike by an overly officious gatekeeper who decided my work was "inappropriate".  So I had a bit of a lash at them in the press and got a run in the NT News, which generated some like-minded feedback from their readers. Seems people are getting fed up with the "private party" mentality of Garma and suchlike. The Australian newspaper picked up on the story and did a phoner but the story didn't get a run. One thing I did glean from the journo though, was the Chair of the Yothu Yindi Foundation conceded that my unceremonious treatment "may or may not have" had something to do with a "black face" weather I did over twenty years ago. Which got me rethinking that ridiculous old assumption that if you paint your face black you're being disrespectful. Isn't imitation the sincerest form of flattery? And haven't the Chooky Dancers' Zorba the Greek dance shown us so elegantly how using cross-cultural influences to generate a laugh is a good thing? Or maybe you think I'm just being inappropriate again. Whatever the case I hope the publicity put the wind up the organisers and we'll see a more inclusive attitude from that publicly-funded event next year.

Then I drove across to Wyndham to do a favour for a mate over there and came away with a reminder of the old proverb, "No good turn ever goes unpunished." Gig was to make a promo video of the race weekend/music festival for them but my mate isn't good at dotting "I"s and crossing "T"s. Consequently, when I arrived the committee knew nothing about it and the job had to be cold sold (and knocked down, I might add). Then for reasons unbeknown to me the band turned precious and treated me like a leper. Then half the locals gave me grief over a Sunrise piece I did on the town a couple of years ago. And to be honest if there wasn't more to lose in reputation by walking that's exactly what I'd have done. Shame, because I like Wyndham, too. But I won't be putting my hand up for another job like that in a hurry.

Since then I've been holed up back in Darwin, doing markets and trying to catch up on editing. The next book draft is also way behind and I need to attend to that - which is why I'm up at 2.30am - and Claude needs a few jobs done as well.  

I'm also trying to plan a trip out to Maningrida and hoping the NLC will be kind to me since I've been such a good boy so far, but there are no guarantees with this ridiculously clumsy permit system. But if I get approval there's a couple of good stories waiting to be told.

Then come October I'm getting out of heat and heading east, maybe via the Alice. Have applied for a stall at the Woodford Folk Festival this year so if that comes through I'll need to be in SE QLD by Xmas, and if not I'd still like to be back down south by New Year.

How's that, Frances?

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Okay, so I've extended my usual one month lag between blogs to two months; go ahead and report me to the Blog Board. Yes, I'm in Darwin, selling a few books and DVDs at the markets. Arrived a fortnight ago after crossing through the Kimberley, and several people have seen my bus around town so I've been left with no choice but to update the blog. Though you know my feelings about blogs, that they're for people with too much time and too little to do. And that probably applies to people who read them, too, so now we're both losers.

Trip so far has been tough going. Claude has behaved pretty well, though I have had to sell my first born to fit him with new tyres all round. Had the mother of all blowouts driving in to Darwin and because I couldn't get the spare off its cradle - the dills in the last tyre workshop tightened the nuts with a rattle gun to within an inch of their lives and I couldn't budge them - I had to change the case on the side of the road like a truckie. That's a bitch of a job, let me tell you, and not one I'd recommend to your average blog reader/writer, myself included. But aside from a few minor repairs the motoring has been uneventful. No, the main problem with this trip has been finding enough good stories out there. Seems every remote road in the outback is now a main thoroughfare for grey nomads, backpackers, tour buses and solo cyclists for Christ's sake. The whole country is crawling with tourists! Which means the fringe dwellers and originals I prefer as subjects have now either gone mainstream or fled, and trying to find a story that hasn't already been covered by the media is getting more and more difficult. I'm thinking of interviewing myself next - I may be the last genuine nutter left in the country.

Plan to stay here for the month of July before poking around in Arnhem Land for a month - the NLC were kind enough to grant me an open permit and I'm looking forward to having a good look around, hopefully tracking down a few miscreants in the process. Garma is scheduled for early August so I should be able to hit that target, but beyond that I've no idea.

Books are selling well and Crooked Lens has been received well, thanks to my readers for the feedback. Working on the next book as I travel, as per usual, though what overall direction it will take has yet to come to light.

Not much more to report. Life's okay though I could do with an editor with benefits - I'm about half a dozen stories behind at present and no sign of getting on top in the near future.

But at least I've done a blog, so there!

Monte   

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By natural inclination I've determined monthly blogging is enough.

I'm in Esperance, WA. Since I last blogged I've crossed the Great Victoria desert through what they call Spinifex Country. Visited the old Maralinga bomb testing site, dropped into Oak Valley and Tjuntjuntjara communites, left the desert via Ilkurlka and the Anne Beadell Highway. Came out the other side with a few reasonable stories, a flat tyre and a busted shock absorber. Sorted that lot and then developed a fuel line problem, which I'm still nursing. Stories haven't been thick on the ground since, but I live in hope. Closest I came to a good one was in Kalgoorlie, where I ran into a bloke driving a Rolls Royce with a bull bar. But he didn't want to be identified, which is a bit hard to avoid on video. Not due in Perth till next month so I've still got a few weeks to scratch around for more stories before I leave the less-populated areas.

It hasn't stopped raining for a week down here and the forecast tips another week of the same.  That's the only reason I'm updating this blog: to give myself a break from editing. Haven't quite caught up with the latter yet, or kept pace with the book chapters, but any more rain and I'll be up-to-date with both.

Take care,

Mont

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Still procrastinating with the editing of this DVD - Final Cut Pro issues have me up against a wall and winded, but help is on the way. Hope to get it cut in the next fortnight so I can get it to print and move on to the music. Did manage to get the music clip cut, though, which you'll find in the video offerings of my latest projects.

By the way, this is my second blog for the month, which must be some kind of record. Can't imagine how people have time to keep these things up to date. Nothing better to do, perhaps?

Off to Canberra for the weekend to see a mate, then back to the city for another week, then I'm going to the coast somewhere, anywhere, to get this work done and do some ocean swimming. Can't keep focused with all these city distractions. You know what I mean.

Go away and do something useful now please.

Monte 

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