The BB cafe

[Kazzl]

The BB cafe is open for business!
Welcome all to a new chill and chat place for everyone on the forum.

The BB cafe is whatever you want it to be. There are comfy sofas, tables and chairs, coffee machines, a kitchen stocked with everything. There's a pool outside, a bbq area, an annexe with comfy beds for a quiet sleep, tv, dvd, books and whatever else you would like to have here.

Most of all, it's a place to meet friends and fellow travellers for a bit of company. Talk over problems, tell jokes, share your day, escape into a world of your making. Grab a coffee and pull up a chair ... 

So, with a nod to the wonderful Carole King (Hard Rock Cafe) ...

Now if you're feeling just a little bit lonely
Don't sit at home just mopin'
Come on down to where the friendship flows freely
You know the door is always open

At the BB cafe
Come to the BB cafe
They will help keep your blues at bay
At the BB cafe

Important Message from ModSupport: 
The main intention of the BB Cafe is to encourage light conversation. Please look after your fellow community members by nuturing the BB Cafe as a place to escape some of the more pressing issues in life and save those conversations for personal threads. 

[Eagle Ray]

Hello smallwolf, Grandy, Paul, Matchy and Everyone 🤗

I think Comfortably Numb is a masterpiece smallwolf. I particularly like the live version Dave Gilmour did with David Bowie. I should listen to a few versions though as I’m sure there’s quite a few to watch on YouTube.

Grandy, you have made me want to go out and get some choc chip hot cross buns 😋 Yummy!

Paul and Matchy, I hope you are doing well!

Hugs,

ER

[smallwolf]

You are right there ER re Comfortably Numb .... not saying you should necessarily listen to thins one but there is a band called Body Count (the singer in Ice-T) and they recently did a cover with David Gilmore.

They typically sing (/rap) with a heavy guitar sound about social issues. 

In the above case they adopted the sound, melody but sing about things going on in the world. Nuff said.

(And Beyond Blue ... thanks for the option to load autosaved text!)

[Eagle Ray]

Smallwolf, I just watched the Body Count version of Comfortably Numb and I like their take on it. The original song has felt to me like it's about an individual person's psyche/mind, but they have turned it into being about society being comfortably numb. And they're not wrong about the way we have all these things to distract us and insulate us from the broader problems of society, while we also try to navigate our own individual problems. It's cool that David Gilmour collaborated with them and they put it all together with their rap lyrics.

I hope you and everyone are having a great day!

[smallwolf]

Hi ER.

Cool to hear you liked that version. it really shows how timeless and flexible some sounds are, and relevance with the lyrics. I recently saw a video on YouTube with Genesis' "Land of Confusion" and while from a much earlier time is perhaps valid today?

[Eagle Ray]

Hi smallwolf,

I remember Land of Confusion. I had the cassette tape of the Invisible Touch album it came from. I really like that song actually. It had that kind of idealism that was in quite a lot of songs in the 80s, reflecting about society.

I do think it has relevance today. It came from a time where there seemed to be authoritarian power, control and division as a big thing (Cold War etc), and the world seems to have gone a similar way at present. I hadn’t watched the video before except I remember seeing just an excerpt of the last scene where Ronald Reagan accidentally presses the button for Nuke instead of Nurse. I just never realised that was part of the video for that song until just now.

That period seemed to be followed by the collapse of authoritarian structures for a while and a more co-operative scene with regard to international politics. Things seem to go in cycles. So, yes, songs from the past can most definitely feel relevant today.

I love so much 80s music. It was the music I grew up with.

[smallwolf]

Hey ER... what were your fav. bands from the 80s?

[Eagle Ray]

Hi smallwolf,

There were so many. I loved Nik Kershaw, Cyndi Lauper, Talking Heads, New Order, U2, The Cure, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Suzanne Vega, Peter Gabriel, Robbie Robertson, Bruce Springsteen, REM, David Bowie, The Eurythmics… and so many more. Of course some of those artists extend beyond that decade in either or both direction, but it was the 80s when I discovered them. At the age 5 I loved Video Killed the Radio Star by the Buggles and age 6 I loved Mickey by Toni Basil. In terms of Australian and NZ artists I also loved the 80s songs of Split Enz, Paul Kelly, Hunters and Collectors, Crowded House, Midnight Oil, Men at Work and Noiseworks. The first album I owned on cassette was Paul Simon’s Graceland album which I loved and played relentlessly.

What were your fave bands smallwolf?

[smallwolf]

Hi ER,

I like most of those you mentioned. Music can be quite subjective! But you can also add, Dire Straits, Eric Clapton, Tommy Emmanuel, John Farnham.

And then broadly speaking, heavy metal (or what it was seen as then) - full of energy, raw emotion, and powerful riffs that left a lasting impression. Many average bands with cheesy lyrics. There were some good ones. Again, music is subjective.

After reading your lost of Aus music... reminded me of bands like Goanna, 1927, Pseudo Echo, Ice House and the like.

I remember where I was getting or listening to my first cassettes on a walkman but at this minute cannot remember what they were. 

[Eagle Ray]

Hi smallwolf,

I remember and like all of the above you mention. I completely forgot to mention Dire Straits. I played the guitar from age 11 and Mark Knopfler has always been my favourite guitarist. My first ever concert at age 13 was John Farnham. Solid Rock by Goanna is an all time favourite for me. 3 years ago Mick Harrington and Jessica Mauboy sang it on The Voice which is on YouTube. It had such a great energy but is only short because of how the show works. I wish it was longer as the energy of the performance is so powerful.

Yes, I remember liking the metal bands too, including some that were probably more at the soft metal end and cheesy. I still love You Give Love a Bad Name and Living on a Prayer by Bon Jovi - possibly more rock than metal.

I do remember music back then seeming fun and perhaps more innocent somehow. When grunge came in the 90s there was some good stuff but it also felt a bit more heavy and depressing at times and there was almost a breakdown in tonality where it was no longer cool to sound too tuneful. I started missing the 80s then. Ah, reminiscences 😌

[smallwolf]

So... I used to live in T'ville in the 80s. Big bands did not really go there. After moving to Brisbane...

My first concert was Motley Crue in 1990(?). Wife (then GF) and I went and saw Bon Jovi, Metallica and Faith No More. And we saw Tommy E before he was famous.

We are older now. Duh! And will be seeing Tim Minchin (again) later in the year.

But I also struggle with the cost of concert ticket prices as well. And I don't really follow the music scene to find out what lesser popular bands are hitting our shores.