Al fresco

..column
over the years and regular readers will know it’s a love/hate thing anyway.
Regulars will also know that the year drawing to a close always bothers me as
my naturally sunny disposition is occluded by the clouds of general dissatisfaction
with the state of Christmases past, present and future. (And I’m not a
fucking Grinch – I’m a Scrooge).
The Drs Sellers popped over this evening on the way home from eating fish ‘n’
chips on the Mentone foreshore. The subject of Wikileaks came up and we agreed
that while the revelations themselves weren’t all that surprising, they
were somewhat disappointing and dispiriting. We wondered at how much longer
the Quixotic Julian Assange might be allowed to continue breathing, let alone
publishing, and whether he could continue to count on his notoriety for his
ongoing survival.
Regarding survival, I mentioned the recent story I read in The Age of a young
Mexican female lawyer who has taken the job as police chief in Práxedis
Guadalupe Guerrero in Chihuahua. (It’s alright, I had to look up the details
– my memory’s not that good). Twenty year-old Marisol Valles Garcia
took the job a few weeks ago eighteen months after her predecessor was beheaded
and there was an understandable reluctance to fill the vacant position
One has to admire her spunk, but equally one can’t help but think her
famous new career might be short-lived. I mentioned her in the context of the
Assange story, but also because I received a rather odd e-mail recently from,
you guessed it, Mexico.
It was an enquiry as to Spectrum’s availability to play a show ‘in
an amazing old theatre downtown’ in Mexico City for ‘an eager crowd
of people interested in seeing and listening to you guys live.’
I’ve canvassed the other ‘guys’ as to their thoughts and I’ve
just sent back a rather querulous response. The economics of travelling all
that way and back for the one gig aside, I wondered if they had the right Spectrum.
Presuming there is an eager crowd of Spectrumidos in downtown Mexico City, a
trip there by this version of Spectrum could well be the adventure of a lifetime.
On the other hand, it could just as easily be the last adventure of a lifetime.
I can see the headlines now: Angry Mexican mob exacts revenge on hapless
Aussie band. ‘Thees ees not the Spectrum we were expecting,’ claimed
an angry machete-wielding music fan.
Oh well. I guess if it all looks kosher and the tickets are booked etc.
I could do no worse than get my affairs together before I go. After all, I did
get a DIY Will Kit a few weeks back and I just needed some incentive, other
than the incremental onset of old codgerdom that is, to get it done.