Welcome back
Welcome back to me. I haven’t put a newsletter out since late 2021 and even then it was infrequent. As 2023 starts to take shape, one of my goals it to write more and this is that writing. I’ve changed the name of this newsletter to Hammerhead. A bit sharper and this is the title to my upcoming Comedy Festival show which I haven’t launched yet, but you can grab a ticket to here if you want to get in before I barrage my social media with it. Hammerhead sounds cool, but I was also thinking like “hammer to the head”; bloody brutal.
Blender
I was given a new blender, a Christmas present from my Mum. It’s going to save me this blender, It’s going to make new this life of mine; this thing rips. I’ve made so many smoothies in it already, it can even make dough. Hell yeah. I was driving to work sipping on my fruit smoothie and had this nagging thought I couldn’t shake ‘Could I make a savoury smoothie?’. Instead of a breakfast burrito, I could sip upon a little gazpacho style drink. I did some research and it’s been done. Amongst the endless bonkers fitness and dieting blogs there was even an article from The Guardian about it; I was relieved, I’m not crazy after all.
I didn’t go ahead with the savoury smoothie in the end, mostly due to coming to my senses. I couldn’t shake questioning my enjoyment of the fruit smoothie however. It’s nice, too nice. I also want the smoothie to be something it isn’t, a thought out cooked breakfast that I have on a Saturday morning before I potter about the house for most of the day listening to new music before watching a classic era episode of the Simpsons. Could you ever blend together your favourite breakfast foods with the feeling of not having to be at work for more than 24 hours? A man can dream.
I eat a lot of wraps as well, wraps and smoothies go hand in hand. A wrap in a way is sort of a pre-smoothie, the Neanderthal form. The wrap is the food of the disorganised, grab a few essentials ingredients and put those babies in their blanket. You can’t go wrong with a wrap, or so I thought.
I went off wraps for a while, between November 2021 and February 2022. I was going through a particularly rough patch personally and I couldn’t face the wrap. To me the wrap started to represent my life, a quick accumulation of acceptable parts folded into something resembling substance. During that period I’d failed to see that I actually make quite good wraps! Oftentimes involving some kind of spiced protein, a Spanish rice component, fresh cherry tomatoes, lovely spinach, and man, you better believe I’ve got the condiments locked in! A tangy lemon tahini, maybe a chipotle bbq sauce, or perhaps a garlicky aioli. This is nourishment, this is life.
Wraps and smoothies can both be eaten on the go. I’ve been doing a joke on a stage for awhile about eating in the car and of the handful of stand up clips I’ve put up online, this has been the most popular by far. It’s relatable right, everyone is eating in the car. Everyone is feeling the economic pinch, clawing as much time back by eating while hurtling down the freeway is a way to be lighter, unshackle yourself from the breakfast nook and the dinner table. Car travel is now lost time, you can’t scroll on the phone, or check email, and maximising that time by eating seems only natural if you’re a productivity freak enslaved to the beast of capitalism.
It can’t be all smoothie and wraps, you have to roast some veggies in the oven every now and then. Make a pizza from scratch, and be drunk in the kitchen at 10:15pm as you pull out the pie because you didn’t start making the dough until too late. Time is the enemy, but enemies are best kept close.
Slophouse II
I put on a gig with some pals late last year and it was fun, so I’m doing a couple more in the lead up to festival. The Belfry is a sick new venue in Brunswick Street, Fitzroy owned by my mate Matt Want. The line up for the next one has some of my fave acts around. I was a bit burn on running gigs late last year, but it’s been super cool working with a venue where the owner is stoked to make it into something bigger and better. Grab a ticket here
Content Corner
Movie: Streets of Fire (1984) + Letterboxd
I can’t believe I hadn’t see this. Super fun 1950’s/80’s mash up with a ripper soundtrack. A sort of musical action film, reminds me of the Blues Brothers in tone at some points and the Director Walter Hill’s other film, The Warriors. The opening is killer and the rest of the movie is just as fun. Features a very young Wilem Defoe in a bonkers get up and Diane Lane who looks incredible.
I’m getting back into using letterboxd properly and wrote a quick thing on it over there. You can add me if you’re using it, would love to see what your digging!
Playlist: Chongo Bongo - Mix 6
Songs I was loving in late 2022.
That’s it for this edition, thanks for reading :)