Oils for Waves

Midnight Oil 9/29/03
DNA Lounge, San Francisco

benefit for the Surfrider Foundation

Surfing With A Spoon
Feeding Frenzy
Brave Faces
Wharf Rat
Wedding Cake Island
Back On The Borderline
Burnie

Sound quality kinda sucks -- definitely below average, unfortunately. Vocals are often lost in the mix but it's still listenable. My highlight, besides hearing songs from way back in the earliest days of the Midnight Oil (there's like nothing between 80 and 93!), is the UBER-rare performance of Wharf Rat. The Oils recorded this for inclusion on the 1991 Grateful Dead tribute album: Deadicated. Even though they made that recording, the tune has been incredibly absent from their lives shows I guess here in San Francisco, home of the Good Ol' Grateful Dead, Peter Garrett wanted to pay tribute to the city's most famous band and they break it out for the fans. Of course I have no idea how many in attendance may have been a Deadhead and gave a crap about Wharf Rat, but this Deadhead typing this loves that it was played. I wonder if Garrett even listens to the GD but even if not I'm sure he appreciated what they've done as a band in their career. He makes a half-joke about the Grateful Dead saying, "They're all kind of overweight now but they're still very decent people," and goes on to say about the Deadicated album, "If you haven't got it in your collection, you should pick it up 'cause it's pretty neat."

Have a listen to the live version of Wharf Rat from this show...

At around 8 minutes in length, the Oils' version here almost approaches Grateful Dead-like territory as the band gets into a bit a dreamy jam through the last few minutes. Very cool and it's a shame they didn't keep it going for another awhile longer. Oh well.

Overall, a cool little show from this amazing Aussie band. I may have hopped on the bandwagon when they got popular here in the U.S. with Beds Are Burning but exploring all their albums and shows is a music treat and being a Deadhead, this one's gotta be the tastiest of all!

9-29-93 a.k.a. 09-29-93 a.k.a. 9/29/93 a.k.a. 09/29/93 a.k.a. 93-09-29

Download The Show Here unknown audience recording @ 320 kbps Midnight Oil - DNA Lounge, SF - 9/29/93

The Surfrider Foundation is a non-profit environmental organization dedicated to the protection and enjoyment of the world's oceans, waves and beaches for all people, through conservation, activism, research and education.

Donate and/or check out their website at:

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Running With The Oils

· Run Time -- 14 minutes 36 seconds (+0:19)

· indoors

· Total Running Time for December --- ______14 min 36 sec
· Total Running Time for November -- 2 hours 18 min 45 sec
______________________October ---_______57 min 06 sec

____(starting Oct. 1)
· Weight Loss Goal -- 24 pounds (11 kg)
__________· So Far -- 9 lb... still havin' a difficult time getting to 10

Hit the gym at the Rec Center, I did. Life often shuts down kinda early on Sunday and I got there at 6:40 this evening, with 20 minutes to spare before they closed. I'm not exactly in the upper levels of training for a marathon... yet... so that was all the time I needed.

Basically it was a really good run. Coming up on three hours that I've had since getting back to just rest and chill and veg and life's not too bad. Feelin' funky, groovy, swell, dandy, and just plain bitchin' gnarley.

Alrighty, I may have missed December 1, but December from now on is off to a good start... but it don't mean jack-squat if I can't keep it going.

4 below tonight (-20° celcius.) Still waitin' for that ten below. Hasn't happened yet, I don't think. Man, this is cold but just wait for when the freeze gets even deeper. Gonna be a long winter. I'm glad I decided to utilize the indoor running track or else I'd hardly get any exercise at all. Way bad. Trudging over there in these temps ain't a walk in the park, but it's so worth it!

Running tunes
from this, the Album of the Day...


Midnight Oil

self-titled debut

1978








Powderworks
Head Over Heels
Dust
Used And Abused
Surfing With A Spoon
Run By Night
Nothing Lost, Nothing Gained

In honour of Peter Garrett, lead singer for the currently disbanded Midnight Oil, being named last week as Australia's Minister for Environment, Heritage and Arts, I decided to go today with this great bands very first album. Actually... it's just coincidence. I had picked this over a week ago in planning out my next couple of runs. Today, about a week after Garrett's appointment, just happened to be when I'd make my run for this album (it's all about run times and picking certain songs that equal the mark I wanna achieve.)

Anyway... I've been a fan of the Oils for quite a long time. But only now am I getting into their oldest material. The band had been together for a few years prior to recording this album in the year (1977) before its release. In a time of punk rock in the U.S. and England, this ventures near that territory but not headfirst into it. Often at times it has more a Led Zeppelin feel, sounding almost nothing like how millions of fans would come to know them years later with their Diesel and Dust album in 1987. The use of guitar, even a couple layers deep at times, is pretty heavy throughout. While they stay near a punk sound, you can also hear how they'll evolve into an "alternative" or modern rock band down the line. It's a short collection of tunes but for my money, each as cool as the next.

To see these guys in some pub by the beach, back in their early days, pretty much before they ever played a single show off the continent, that woulda been somethin'. Wrong time, wrong place; got to see 'em later on, in the '90's... but no early Oils. Oh well. Great albums, though! Too bad they're not still a band. I mean, give that up to become a politician? Mr. Garrett, what the hell? Wishin' you luck, big guy, nonetheless... but I do hope Midnight Oil comes back to life again someday. Maybe in the next election the Good Guys will win and you'll decide to hang it up, pick up a guitar, play some music again! If not then clean up Australia well! Cheers.

320 kbps dload Right Here
Midnight Oil - 1979 debut