________ ________ ________
2019-07-07 / \/ \/ / \
/ __/ /_ _/
Sit your ass down son, let me tell you / _/ / /
about my week because it's been a real one. \_______/_\___/____/\___/____/_
/ \/ \/ / \
In the last FAX SEX file I mentioned my / _/ /_ _/
uncle passed away suddenly, it was upsetting /- / _/ /
but over the last week it has become \________/\________/\___/____/
genuinely surreal. Let me fill you in on a
few details first. He was found unresponsive in the bathroom and an ambulance
was called, either in the ambulance or at the hospital they were able to
restart his heart but said he was unlikely to make it through the night and a
couple hours later he passed away. Cause of death was cut and dried we
thought, he drank until his heart or brain or whatever gave out and that was
the end of that.
Apparently not so.
The hospital was reluctant to sign off on a heart attack as being the cause
of death so needed to do an autopsy. Ok. Sure. So my family consented to that
and then they could claim the body and organize cremation.
Again, not so.
The autopsy was inconclusive so the hospital had to go further and sought
permission to remove the brain to check that and then some bruises appeared on
his legs and then suddenly the police were at my 80-whatever year old
grandmother's home asking questions about who know's what. It's been a real
clusterfuck.
So that's been the bulk of my stress this week, there have been a couple
good bits, however.
On Tuesday a team from work did one of our "not mandatory but very highly
suggested if you catch our meaning" volunteer days. This time we were
volunteering at the warehouse of a program that takes and redistributes
donated gifts like toys and clothing to people in need on Christmas. The work
was really good, mindless unpacking, sorting and repacking and was a really
interesting look into the way those kind of programs operate behind the
scenes.
It was a nice, wholesome way to spend a day and really derailed me from the
mental funk caused by everything that had been going on. I'd gladly volunteer
my time there again.
Then on Friday I had the privilege to see Merzbow play live, an actual
dream come true, and he didn't disappoint. He was loud and visceral and
confronting, it was an excellent show.
The crowd was fascinating, almost an even split between between young artsy
types and older artsy types, and we saw a few people we recognized, including
the singer from Melbourne band Whitehorse which, if you've heard them, is no
surprise at all. The venue was also quite amazing, I hadn't been out there
before. It's built in an old power substation so it's huge, like an industrial
cathedral, and sounded amazing. I thought Adelaide group Winter Witches are
playing out there later in the year and that would have been really nice but
it looks like that's fallen through maybe, the listings have disappeared.
A Melbourne artists named Cat Hope opened for him and she was interesting,
though didn't really gel with me that much. During her set, in comfy swirl of
alcohol, dissociatives, heat lamps and artificial smoke I scribbled down the
following:
"We all speak different languages, music is a way to translate our
language into a something others will find easier to understand but
noise is pure language and can be understood only through experience.
You listen to a noise artist long enough and you begin to understand
their language and become in tune with it, you listen to a new noise
artist and you are reminded that noise can be dissonant and
uncomfortable."
EOF