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?