i went to castlemaine this easter weekend, well this good friday, and as a blatant casual, for the country lifestyle, and this faux country lifestyle filled with city living people sick and tired of city living, i still found it as enjoyable as the last time i went to castlemaine as a blatant casual

the similarities between this time and the previous time are pretty present — both times i went to a gig, at the royal theatre castlemaine, both times i stayed a modest walk away from the town, both times i went to the garfield water wheel, a former water wheel now pyramid-style monument, both times i went to some sort of used goods market (last time, castlemaine bazaar, this time, wesley hill market) and both times we listened to great music  in the drive

only the faces and the names had changed, and also i took the train up, but that in itself reminded me greatly of the time i went to gisborne/macedon for my friends 21st (the only other time i’d taken this train, i hadn’t remembered) and sophy’s dad was to pick me up at macedon, at least i thought, but i was meaning to say i would give him notice when i was at gisborne to be picked up at macedon, which on a train route lacking in much reception, was met with not the most favourable response.

anyway, it’s cool that in our isolated experiences when we visit old coutnry towns, and places, the reoccurence of our experience, whichever way we choose to consume it, really enunciates our understanding of that town in a sense, its probably not th ebest that this occurs, in this particular way, but alas.

last week, it was angel olsen week, angel olsen week is a musician from Asheville, TN, and she played 5 shows in victoria, 4 of them being at the same venue, the tote, an iconic venue that, just in 2010 was in fear of being closed down, flash forward to last week, where renowned artist angel olsen plays 4 solo shows that sell out costing $51 each, crazy

anyway, as someone who can no longer viably count the amount of times they have been to this iconic, unique and rather brutal venue, I must say this angel olsen week at the tote, in which i was present each night, seeing her play three of those nights, it really pushed my ties with the venue, i know too much about it and it’s nothing peculiarities, the upstairs bandroom sucks to see bands but has the best toilets in the house, the pool table is so very forgiving to any interested parties, and when angel olsen is playing a solo show at the tote, hush, and deal with the low levels and ignore the white noise of the ever present air conditioner.

it made me realise that when the tote does close, it without a doubt will garner the same nostalgic value that i commit to other things i miss that are now closed, as symbolically i have said plenty of times to people, including my friend anth, that when you leave australia, the two things that you won’t be able to find, are bisquits that are as delectable as shapes with the same level of crunch, and then a venue that is quite like the tote.

something about this grunginess i guess, miss u kurt c0ba1n xxxoOX