Brian’s ramblings about travel and life and stuff. » Events

Getting lost with Brian Thacker.

Brian Thacker — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 22:53:10 +0000

I’m just back from the Singapore Writer’s Festival, which was a blast. My sessions went well, I drank quite a few Tiger beers, ate the best dumplings I’ve ever eaten, hung out with a great bunch of writers and editors, caught up with a friend living in Singapore and checked out a shop called Naughty Sex Toys on Orchard Road. The crowds were great and at one of my panels they even had to close the doors 10 minute before because it was a full house.

Mind you, at another event of mine they put out about 40 chairs and 10 people turned up. That event was ‘Meet the Author’ and it took place in Malaysia. Okay, it wasn’t Malaysia, but it was at the Woodlands Library in the far north of Singapore island near the bridge to Malaysia. I’d been in contact with the head librarian and we had this big event planned with a powerpoint presentation followed by an interesting Q&A session. I arrived at the library, which was full of locals, and my room for the presentation was all set up – including a table full of cakes and food and drinks. Then at the four o’clock starting time we had… two people (well, five if you count to two librarians and Clara my personal liason girl who travelled with me from the city). We eventually rounded up a few more more punters, even though half of them were young kids and I had to quickly skip the slides about the ‘SUPER PUSSY’ club in Patong and the gay hotel in Bangkok. At least I didn’t get lost like I did at the Ubud Writer’s festival the week before.

One of my ’sessions’ at the Ubud Writer’s Festival was a Jalan Jalan, which was supposed to be a lovely walk out of Ubud across Campuhan ridge and ending up at a villa for breakfast. Except the two writer’s festival volunteers didn’t know where the villa was and we got lost. Then it started pouring with rain and we squeezed under a very narrow awning of someone’s house. While one volunteer rode around in the rain on the back of a scooter trying to find the villa the other volunteer rang for a lift. We did eventually get to the very nice Villa Keliki in time for breakfast, although some of my flock were drenched through. At least my talks are exciting!

Here are some shots from the Singapore Writer’s festival and a few shots I took when I checked out the very flash indeed Marina Bay Sands Hotel…

Where’s Brian? The writer’s wall.

There I am…

The very flash walkway between venues.

Standing room only!

At least my fellow panelists were funny!

The Marina Bay Sands Hotel (with the an infinity pool on the roof stretching longer than the Eiffel tower laid down!)

Not bad, eh?

Some arty bridge near the Marina Bay Sands Hotel.

Look out for my next blog - I will running a competition to win one of three signed copies of Tell Them to Get Lost!

I’m off to the sunny smile isle.

Brian Thacker — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 20:52:18 +0000

I’m just about to jump on a plane to Singapore for the weekend. I’m doing three sessions/panels/talks at the Singapore Writer’s Festival where I’ll be waffling on about travel writing and my new book Tell Them to Get Lost. I’ve got a, what could be interesting/wacky session talking about travel and philosophy with Julian Baggini, plus a panel with a couple of local travel writers including Wee Cheng, who makes me look like a travel novice. He has been to 206 countries and territories over the last two decades and is is listed in the 2008 Book of Singapore Records as the most well-travelled Singaporean. And I finish off with a very 1974 slide show about my travels for Tell Them to Get Lost. It was in Singapore where I finished my travels in the same room at the Palace Hotel where Tony and Maureen Wheeler put together the first Lonely Planet South East Asia on a Shoestring. or as Tony Wheeler describes it: ‘This book was entirely put together, typed, proof-read, designed, laid out, and pasted up in room two of the Palace Hotel in Singapore. Any mistakes I blame on the noise from the motorcycle repair shop downstairs and the less than ideal working conditions.’ Except the hotel is now called the Madras Hotel Eminence and room No.2 is now half-room No.2 because the room had been divided into two smaller rooms and I didn’t know if I was room No.2 or half of room No.4.

Well, gotta fly. If you happen to be in Singers drop in for a sling.

P.S. That magazine ad for Singapore above is from 1974. Here it is up big…

Magical Ubud.

Brian Thacker — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 01:12:13 +0000

The last two weeks have been tough. I just got back yesterday from the fabulous Ubud Writers and Readers Festival in Bali and before that I was staying with my brother in Queensland for a week (who just happens to have a holiday house on Fraser Island). I love the Ubud Writer’s Festival. It really is one of the best writer’s festivals in the world (okay Janet, it IS the best!). There was the usual abundance of great authors and speakers accompanied by large and appreciative crowds all taking place in one of the most beautiful settings in the world (I’ll write more about some of my events on my next blog). And of course I do have quite the soft spot for Ubud and the writer’s festival because It was where I met my American Girl Beth three years ago. It was also nice to catch up with some of the lovely locals who featured in my new book Tell Them to Get Lost.

I had lunch a couple times at Canderi’s Restaurant on Monkey Forest Road where in 1974 ‘the whole travelling population gathers at night to see Canderi perform miracles in her tiny kitchen’. Canderi was still in her tiny kitchen performing miracles 37 years later (although the kitchen is a bit bigger now). When I first visited Canderi three years ago she told me that she was 78 years old. ‘How old are you now?’ I asked when I met up with her this week.
‘I’m seventy-eight,’ she said.
‘But you were seventy-eight three years ago!’
‘I’m still seventy-eight,’ Canderi said with a big grin.
Also when I visited three years ago Canderi’s mum, Niketutmerti, was the oldest person in the village at 108. Sadly she passed away this year at the ripe old age of 110.

Canderi was very excited when I gave her a copy of my book and went around showing it proudly to the other lunchtime diners.

Canderi and my book.

Canderi is still cooking in that kitchen 37 years later!

I also dropped into Oka Watis (who featured in the book), but she was in Denpasar visiting family, so sadly I didn’t get a chance to catch up. I did leave a copy of my book for her though…

I’ve only been back a day and I miss Ubud and Bali already!

My book launch and key party.

Brian Thacker — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 08:34:30 +0000

Okay, I may have looked a little like a pimp, but that’s how the cool dudes dressed in 1974. And that’s how I dressed for the book launch of Tell Them to Get Lost on Thursday night. I did get a few stares walking to Readings Bookshop in St Kilda, because St Kilda is also hooker central and I looked like a pimp (or a cliched 1970s pimp at least). The launch was fab and a good crowd of cool dudes and groovy chicks turned up to watch my very 1970s slide show followed by a key party. The only things missing were devilled sausages, Harvey Wallbangers and a few tabs of LSD. Here’s some photos from the night (I left out a few because I didn’t think think the orgy photos were appropriate for my younger audience)…

The nibblies (and my saggy 1974 bottom)

The pimp on his green velour throne and the slide show.

The crowd – well, my family members and a couple of strays.

The book signing (although my quill seems to be in my hat).

My fans love me so much!

These fans flew in that morning from Minnesota, USA for the launch

Happy book buyers (although Mark on the left was a bit confused and purchased the wrong book)

My pants are high aren’t they?

And for those of you that missed the launch here’s me waffling on in the ‘official’ Random House TV video (that’s me before my recent haircut)…

Party food, 1974 style.

Brian Thacker — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 23:32:22 +0000

It’s the book launch of ‘Tell Them to Get Lost’ tomorrow night (which you can order here!), so I thought I’d give you a taste of the food we might eat if we were in 1974. Although you probably wouldn’t want to eat it, because those hip cats in 1974 ate some weird shit. I found some recipe cards from 1974 and looking at the things on offer was enough to turn me off my dinner. Even some of the names would make you reach for a bucket. I mean who would eat something called ‘Fluffy Mackerel Pudding’ or ‘Chilled Celery Log’. Here are some of my favourite recipe cards…

Food should NOT be this colour!

I had no idea frankfurters could be so spectacular.

They must come from some big fish.

No comment.

I don’t what you do to cabbage to get it that colour (perhaps something to do with the shower curtain on the right!)

With a frog and an alien on the side (and bong water in the middle!)

Enjoy your Chicken Liver bake with nanna’s ashes.

I feel queasy just thinking about fluffy mackerels.

Just like vomit (but without the carrots)

Just cook in a nuclear reactor for 35 minutes.

What was the inspiration – open-heart surgery?

And here’s the blood clots!

And finish it off with… another mackerel dish (a snappy one this time!).

You can buy ‘Tell them to Get Lost’ online here or buy the e-book here.

Coming up next: Snappy music from 1974 (but not the mackerel variety)

1974 fashion tips for the cool dudes.

Brian Thacker — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 23:30:48 +0000

Hey man, it’s only three days until the book launch of ‘Tell Them to Get Lost’, so here are some way-out fashion tips for the cool dudes. You’ll find threads that are, according to a 1974 Myer catalogue, ‘ready to relax and cut to really swing’ and where ‘Shirt plus pant add up to a wonderful east life’. And who wouldn’t look good, and perhaps sweat a little bit, in ‘dashing slacks in crimpolene and hand-washable polyester.’ But before you dress up you’ll need some underwear that combines ‘Comfort AND fashion with heat resistant waist band’…

Hello ladies!

Turn up Barry Manilow and let’s parteeeeee!

When lumber jackets were cool (and so was blow-drying your hair!)

Carn the….. red, stripey, brown, grey, white team!

You can buy ‘Tell them to Get Lost’ online here or buy the e-book here.

Coming up next: Some tasty morsels from 1974

1974 fashion tips for the fab chicks.

Brian Thacker — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 23:30:50 +0000

It’s only one week until the book launch of ‘Tell Them to Get Lost’, so I thought I’d share some 1974 fashion tips on what to wear on the night. I’ve actually got a Myer catalogue (an Australian department store) from 1974 where (according to the copy in the catalogue) caftan comes with ‘flair and a bubbly interest in nylon’ and ’skirts swirl and lurex shimmers’. And, even more impressively, you can look glamorous in ‘voluptuous velvety velour’. I’ll start the fashion tips show with some fab looks for the groovy chicks.

Like a technicolour dream (or a technicolour vomit)

Which one is a dress and which one is a table cloth?

That voluptuous velvety velour!

You should see the crocheted underpants.

A devilled sausage ladies?

…and if it’s a cold night I’d recommend something like this underneath your caftan.

You can buy ‘Tell them to Get Lost’ online here or buy the e-book here.

Coming up next: Fashion tips for the cool dudes.

Tonight we’re going to party like it’s 1974.

Brian Thacker — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 06:39:38 +0000

Yeah man, all you cool cats are invited along to my far-out 1974 slide show and fab book launch. Get on down to the grooves of David Essex, Paper Lace, Blue Swede and Barry White while eating brightly coloured Cocktail Onions, Pigs in a Blanket and Deviled eggs and downing a few Creme de Menthes and Harvey Wallbangers. BYO joints. And don’t forget your car keys for the bowl.

It’s at Readings Books 112 Acland Street St Kilda starting at 6.30. Can you dig it? It’ll be a real trip, baby.

You can check out all the details on my Events Page here – plus my upcoming Writer’s festivals in Bali and Singapore. Peace, dudes.

A video of me sleeping at Byron Bay.

Brian Thacker — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 03:27:11 +0000

The lovely folk at the Byron Bay Writer’s Festival have just posted a video of one of my talks from the festival (see below for the video). It’s from the ’Family as Fodder’ panel that I did with Tony Martin, Susan Maushart and Justin Sheedy. I’m quite happy with it – people are laughing in the right places and I only said ‘um’ 27 times. And I didn’t doze off to sleep. The lovely folk at the Byron Bay Writer’s Festival have also posted a whole bunch of photos from the festival on their Facebook page. And out of all those photos there is only one of me and its a shot of me asleep on the grass. And just so you know I’m actually not asleep, but deep in thought about my next panel. I just want to make that clear.

The Brian Thacker Radio Show.

Brian Thacker — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 07:45:16 +0000

I have my own regular travel show on the radio! Well, it’s not entirely my show. I will be a regular guest on MTR 1377 with Steve Vizard on Tuesdays at 12.30pm talking all things travel (that’s me in the pic on the left). This week we’ll be talking about wacky festivals – which is handy seeing as I’ve written an entire book about wacky festivals. We’ll also be talking about… I’ve got no idea yet. You’ll just have to listen on Tuesday at 12.30 to find out. You can catch me on the wireless (if you’re in Melbourne) or you can listen online here. And I’m sorry for all my new Slovenian fans – you’ll have to get up at 4.30 on Tuesday morning to listen live.