A week ago, it was the 15 year
anniversary of the death of Michael Hutchence.
Where were you 15 years ago? What were you doing? I was in the last few months of school. I remember that day quite vividly.
It was early Summer time in New
Zealand and it was hot. I was probably
either on study leave, about to sit my Bursary exams or I had finished and had
a long Summer ahead of me before I started Uni.
That night my boyfriend and I were down in Mission Bay, it was hot, it
was late and with a couple of friends we had been having dinner on the
beach. As I was 17, I was not able to go
clubbing as the age was 20 in NZ at the time.
But there was a club near the beach, and they were playing Never Tear Us
Apart. Loud. I remember the four of us sitting on the
beach, in the twilight, singing away to this moving song, by a wonderful man
who was now lost for good.
I always fancied this man who by
all accounts was an all round nice guy, but who lost his way in later
life. I recently watched a documentary
about him on Sky Arts – which is a revelation to me in itself, I love this
channel, but it took me down memory lane.
The music of my childhood was INXS, Barnesy, Cold Chisel… Aussie rock
was big in our house. And it still
is. My sis and I will rock out to Chisel
any day of the week. It made me sad that
such a talented, caring and sweet person is lost to the world. I was amazed a few years on from that, when
INXS travelled the world and found a new lead singer. JD Fortune sounded like Michael Hutchence, in
some of their new songs I had to remind myself that it was not him. Sadly, he succumbed to the same pressures and
left the band after their first album as he was dealing with drug issues.
Whilst I was wandering down this
memory lane, I stumbled on a doco about Nevermind, arguably the most famous
Nirvana album. That album is now over 20
years old. I had it on cassette and one
of my first CDs was Unplugged live in New York.
My parents can sing that word for word as I drove them insane with it.
Which got me thinking. My life has changed so much over those 15
years. The boyfriend is long gone,
however, through our mutual friends we still know what each other are up
to. And my life is due for another big
period of transition right about now. My
new job starts in two weeks. My visa
will be *crossing fingers* renewed in a months time. The next year sees a large number of my
friends heading back to kiwiland. It had
me thinking where I would be in 15 years time.
I hope that I am home in NZ, with a family and a home, and maybe just
maybe am writing for a living. Or I
could be living in any country in the world, still indulging my travel
bug. One thing is for sure, there will
still be songs that define my life.
Music that will speak to me and people who will share those memories.
Speaking of which – look out for
the next blog where I will be able to talk about my stage debut – first a
commercial and now the stage. Next
Monday night 10th of December, come on down to the Half Moon in
Putney to see me shake a tambourine for Abby when she plays a Christmas set.
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