1 00:00:01,760 --> 00:00:05,920 Speaker 1: I have been absolutely loving doing story Club every month 2 00:00:06,040 --> 00:00:08,280 Speaker 1: we are at the Factory Theater. At the moment. Story 3 00:00:08,280 --> 00:00:10,240 Speaker 1: Club has been a really important show for me because 4 00:00:10,920 --> 00:00:13,520 Speaker 1: I studied storytelling when I was in the States, and 5 00:00:13,680 --> 00:00:16,880 Speaker 1: getting on stage and learning how to tell my story 6 00:00:16,920 --> 00:00:19,479 Speaker 1: and learning how to tell my story better got me 7 00:00:19,520 --> 00:00:22,239 Speaker 1: better at my work in Telly, but also got me 8 00:00:22,280 --> 00:00:24,880 Speaker 1: on stage being able to communicate about things like mental health, 9 00:00:24,960 --> 00:00:26,840 Speaker 1: things about climate and things like that. And it was 10 00:00:26,880 --> 00:00:28,960 Speaker 1: at story Club the first time that I stood on 11 00:00:28,960 --> 00:00:31,280 Speaker 1: stage and talked about my mental well health, and that 12 00:00:31,360 --> 00:00:33,800 Speaker 1: led to things like a you know, a book and 13 00:00:33,840 --> 00:00:35,479 Speaker 1: a live tour and all kinds of stuff. So it's 14 00:00:35,479 --> 00:00:39,240 Speaker 1: a really important show for me. But everybody has a story. 15 00:00:39,280 --> 00:00:40,839 Speaker 1: You have a story. If you're listening to this right now, 16 00:00:40,920 --> 00:00:43,840 Speaker 1: you have a story. In fact, there's still an old 17 00:00:43,880 --> 00:00:46,479 Speaker 1: episode of a TV show called Front Up floating around 18 00:00:46,520 --> 00:00:50,200 Speaker 1: on SBS as an interviewers by the name of Andrew 19 00:00:50,320 --> 00:00:52,040 Speaker 1: Urban who just walk up to people in the street 20 00:00:52,120 --> 00:00:53,400 Speaker 1: and he would get them to tell a story. I 21 00:00:53,479 --> 00:00:55,400 Speaker 1: learned a lot from watching that show, and then when 22 00:00:55,400 --> 00:00:57,200 Speaker 1: I saw him on the street, I walked up to 23 00:00:57,240 --> 00:00:59,280 Speaker 1: him to say I loved his show. Sure, enough. I 24 00:00:59,360 --> 00:01:02,880 Speaker 1: ended up on episode because every person has a story. 25 00:01:02,880 --> 00:01:05,600 Speaker 1: Everybody listening to this has a story. You have a story, 26 00:01:05,600 --> 00:01:07,200 Speaker 1: but you might not be sure that you know how 27 00:01:07,240 --> 00:01:10,640 Speaker 1: to tell it. I'm going to tell you the secret, 28 00:01:10,840 --> 00:01:14,320 Speaker 1: all right. It's three simple questions. If you're going to 29 00:01:14,319 --> 00:01:17,440 Speaker 1: answer these three simple questions, you can tell any story. 30 00:01:17,480 --> 00:01:19,920 Speaker 1: It's exactly what I told when Georgia was twelve. She 31 00:01:19,959 --> 00:01:22,480 Speaker 1: made a speech when I married her mum Audrey, and 32 00:01:22,520 --> 00:01:24,920 Speaker 1: she said, how do I make a speech? I told 33 00:01:24,959 --> 00:01:26,840 Speaker 1: her you just answered these three simple questions, and that 34 00:01:27,040 --> 00:01:30,440 Speaker 1: her speech was amazing. And of course I'm going to 35 00:01:30,440 --> 00:01:32,960 Speaker 1: get to those three simple questions right after this break. 36 00:01:41,319 --> 00:01:43,720 Speaker 1: Good day, Welcome to the show. This is better than yesterday. 37 00:01:43,760 --> 00:01:46,440 Speaker 1: My name's Oshiginsburg Story Club. The next show is on 38 00:01:46,480 --> 00:01:48,360 Speaker 1: the thirteenth of April. We have a cracking line up. 39 00:01:48,360 --> 00:01:51,400 Speaker 1: Lindsay McDougall, you still plays guitar and Friends of Rum 40 00:01:51,440 --> 00:01:54,640 Speaker 1: does Afternoon Radio. I believe in the Ilawara Duncan Fellows 41 00:01:54,760 --> 00:01:57,840 Speaker 1: who you would have seen in Deadlock. And at Elise 42 00:01:58,080 --> 00:02:00,720 Speaker 1: Constable there's an amazing writer and can median as well 43 00:02:00,760 --> 00:02:03,600 Speaker 1: as Alex Lee. Brilliant alex Lee. She wrote with me 44 00:02:03,760 --> 00:02:06,160 Speaker 1: on NTNN and and N and a bunch of other stuff. 45 00:02:06,160 --> 00:02:08,600 Speaker 1: She's very very clever. And Zoe will join me as well. 46 00:02:09,400 --> 00:02:11,320 Speaker 1: Link is in the show notes for the tickets. We'd 47 00:02:11,800 --> 00:02:14,840 Speaker 1: love you to come. But yes, these people are going 48 00:02:14,880 --> 00:02:16,600 Speaker 1: to come on stage and tell a story. But everybody 49 00:02:16,639 --> 00:02:18,519 Speaker 1: has a story. Everybody you have a story, but not 50 00:02:18,560 --> 00:02:21,320 Speaker 1: everybody knows how to tell that story in a way 51 00:02:21,360 --> 00:02:24,880 Speaker 1: that resonates with people. But I'm about to tell you 52 00:02:25,120 --> 00:02:29,359 Speaker 1: the secret of this. It's three simple questions. You ready, 53 00:02:30,600 --> 00:02:35,240 Speaker 1: what was it like? What happened? What's it like? Now? 54 00:02:36,800 --> 00:02:40,240 Speaker 1: I think of any movie that you've seen My Anna, 55 00:02:41,000 --> 00:02:42,959 Speaker 1: she was upset. No one ever went over the reef. 56 00:02:43,560 --> 00:02:45,960 Speaker 1: She went on a big adventure over the reef. Now 57 00:02:46,000 --> 00:02:51,239 Speaker 1: everyone goes over the reef. Any TV show, Any Bluie, 58 00:02:51,280 --> 00:02:54,680 Speaker 1: an episode of Bluie. The kids are really struggling with 59 00:02:54,720 --> 00:02:57,919 Speaker 1: the fact that Bandit and Chili are going to sell 60 00:02:57,960 --> 00:03:01,360 Speaker 1: the house. The sale of the house fall through. The 61 00:03:01,360 --> 00:03:03,240 Speaker 1: healers are very happy now they don't have to leave 62 00:03:03,240 --> 00:03:07,120 Speaker 1: the house. And Sport is exactly the same. Both teams 63 00:03:07,160 --> 00:03:09,880 Speaker 1: had no points. This person on this team did a 64 00:03:09,919 --> 00:03:12,840 Speaker 1: heroic thing that ref did something that may or may 65 00:03:12,880 --> 00:03:17,360 Speaker 1: not have been heroic. Now this team has won. That's it. 66 00:03:17,960 --> 00:03:21,200 Speaker 1: Something changes from the beginning to the end of the story, 67 00:03:21,600 --> 00:03:23,720 Speaker 1: and you only have to follow that. There's a basic 68 00:03:24,160 --> 00:03:27,440 Speaker 1: three acts structure. And with that being said, I told 69 00:03:27,480 --> 00:03:28,359 Speaker 1: it to give you a bit of an idea of 70 00:03:28,400 --> 00:03:30,960 Speaker 1: what goes on at story Club. Let's do a little exercise. 71 00:03:31,080 --> 00:03:32,440 Speaker 1: I'm going to tell you the story that I told 72 00:03:32,440 --> 00:03:35,320 Speaker 1: on stage last week. If you've never been a story 73 00:03:35,320 --> 00:03:37,680 Speaker 1: Club before, it's to show that we're running in Sydney 74 00:03:37,680 --> 00:03:39,800 Speaker 1: for over ten years now. And there's only two rules. 75 00:03:39,840 --> 00:03:41,920 Speaker 1: The story has to be true and the story has 76 00:03:41,960 --> 00:03:44,840 Speaker 1: to be less than fifteen hundred words. I'm going to 77 00:03:44,840 --> 00:03:46,800 Speaker 1: tell you the story that I told on stage last week, 78 00:03:46,840 --> 00:03:48,960 Speaker 1: and in the end, I'm going to see if you 79 00:03:49,000 --> 00:03:51,280 Speaker 1: can spot the answers to the questions that I just asked. 80 00:03:51,320 --> 00:03:53,240 Speaker 1: And you know what, let's make it interesting. I'll put 81 00:03:53,240 --> 00:03:56,440 Speaker 1: a price if you can answer the questions. We'll give 82 00:03:56,440 --> 00:03:59,720 Speaker 1: away some tickets to the show. So the story I'm 83 00:03:59,720 --> 00:04:02,040 Speaker 1: about to tell was a part of a show where 84 00:04:02,040 --> 00:04:04,320 Speaker 1: the theme was the Lesser of two Evils. I thought, 85 00:04:04,320 --> 00:04:06,800 Speaker 1: we have we have a theme. I host the show, 86 00:04:06,840 --> 00:04:08,120 Speaker 1: so I stand on stage and I take it into 87 00:04:08,160 --> 00:04:09,640 Speaker 1: the face because no one knows what's about to happen, 88 00:04:09,720 --> 00:04:11,440 Speaker 1: so people don't usually laugh at My story was a 89 00:04:11,440 --> 00:04:14,960 Speaker 1: bit hard, but by the time the second and third 90 00:04:15,000 --> 00:04:17,800 Speaker 1: people are there, they're going for it because I don't 91 00:04:17,839 --> 00:04:18,960 Speaker 1: quite know what to do. It's like, why is the 92 00:04:18,960 --> 00:04:20,880 Speaker 1: guy who used to count the roses telling us reading 93 00:04:20,880 --> 00:04:25,839 Speaker 1: a big book? What the fuck is this? So here 94 00:04:25,880 --> 00:04:29,799 Speaker 1: we go. Just imagine me holding a comically oversized storybook 95 00:04:29,880 --> 00:04:35,120 Speaker 1: on stage. Anyone who's driven to Canberra will know the 96 00:04:35,160 --> 00:04:38,320 Speaker 1: feeling which overcomes you on approach to our nation's capital. 97 00:04:38,360 --> 00:04:44,120 Speaker 1: It's a feeling of bleak desperation. Driving around the edge 98 00:04:44,120 --> 00:04:47,200 Speaker 1: of Lake George, you start to notice that your emotion, 99 00:04:47,560 --> 00:04:50,279 Speaker 1: your empathy, these things which usually help you make choices 100 00:04:50,279 --> 00:04:52,360 Speaker 1: that are in alignment with your values, they just start 101 00:04:52,400 --> 00:04:54,800 Speaker 1: to vanish. And by the time you hit that first 102 00:04:54,800 --> 00:04:58,720 Speaker 1: big roundabout turning off to Fishwick, the space where your 103 00:04:58,800 --> 00:05:03,600 Speaker 1: heart used to be is now as stark, cold and 104 00:05:03,640 --> 00:05:08,080 Speaker 1: foreboding as the brutalist concrete architecture now rising up all 105 00:05:08,120 --> 00:05:12,479 Speaker 1: around you. But this feeling isn't isolated to Canberra. I've 106 00:05:12,520 --> 00:05:16,240 Speaker 1: experienced it in another seat of power in Washington, DC. 107 00:05:17,839 --> 00:05:20,599 Speaker 1: Much like the portion sizes offered in American restaurants, the 108 00:05:20,600 --> 00:05:25,560 Speaker 1: buildings in Washington, d C. Seem to be unnecessarily enormous. 109 00:05:26,240 --> 00:05:28,640 Speaker 1: Maybe it's to scare the shit out of foreign diplomats 110 00:05:28,680 --> 00:05:30,560 Speaker 1: who arrived there hoping for a better shake of the 111 00:05:30,600 --> 00:05:34,440 Speaker 1: sauce bottle, just to remind them how insignificant, unimportant they are. 112 00:05:35,360 --> 00:05:38,080 Speaker 1: But it certainly worked on me. Standing next to the 113 00:05:38,080 --> 00:05:41,479 Speaker 1: Capitol building, I feel about the size and significance of 114 00:05:41,480 --> 00:05:44,840 Speaker 1: a lego man standing next to a couch, That is, 115 00:05:45,120 --> 00:05:48,320 Speaker 1: if that couch also had snipers stationed on top of it, 116 00:05:48,440 --> 00:05:52,720 Speaker 1: covering the arrival and departure of the president. It was 117 00:05:52,760 --> 00:05:56,760 Speaker 1: among these mighty concrete sarcophagy that for three days I 118 00:05:56,880 --> 00:06:01,279 Speaker 1: waited for a very important meeting. At the time, I 119 00:06:01,279 --> 00:06:03,320 Speaker 1: had a job in music television and was on a 120 00:06:03,360 --> 00:06:06,840 Speaker 1: work junket across the USA. The artist that we were 121 00:06:06,880 --> 00:06:10,400 Speaker 1: in DC to interview wasn't some next big thing. He 122 00:06:10,560 --> 00:06:16,039 Speaker 1: was a very big thing. Maxwell's nineteen ninety six debut album, 123 00:06:16,160 --> 00:06:20,120 Speaker 1: Maxwell's Urban Hanksuite is largely seen as a pioneering work 124 00:06:20,160 --> 00:06:23,720 Speaker 1: in the neo soul genre. The tight Arrangement's exceptional musicianship 125 00:06:23,800 --> 00:06:26,039 Speaker 1: elements of jazz, R and B and soul, making it 126 00:06:26,080 --> 00:06:32,240 Speaker 1: a profound critical and commercial success. That and it was 127 00:06:32,480 --> 00:06:36,720 Speaker 1: absolutely one hundred percent the album you put on when 128 00:06:36,800 --> 00:06:42,599 Speaker 1: it was rooting time. M In fact, listening to this 129 00:06:42,640 --> 00:06:45,000 Speaker 1: if you are currently aged anywhere between twenty five and 130 00:06:45,040 --> 00:06:50,000 Speaker 1: twenty eight, there's a high possibility that one half of 131 00:06:50,000 --> 00:06:53,200 Speaker 1: you lay in your father's epididymus like a coiled spring, 132 00:06:53,520 --> 00:06:56,160 Speaker 1: biding your time until the middle eight of Maxwell's all 133 00:06:56,279 --> 00:07:00,159 Speaker 1: Time sex soundtrack song Till the Cops Come Knocking. And 134 00:07:00,200 --> 00:07:03,880 Speaker 1: when that final chorus hit, you exploded out of your 135 00:07:03,960 --> 00:07:06,760 Speaker 1: dad's ves deaf friends with enough force to hurtle through 136 00:07:06,760 --> 00:07:10,640 Speaker 1: the very center of his prostate gland before shooting out 137 00:07:10,680 --> 00:07:13,560 Speaker 1: of his eurethra at such a velocity that no cervical 138 00:07:13,640 --> 00:07:16,880 Speaker 1: mucus on earth could possibly be thick enough to hinder 139 00:07:16,920 --> 00:07:23,080 Speaker 1: the rampant forward progress of your dad's wrigly DNA. And 140 00:07:23,120 --> 00:07:27,720 Speaker 1: when the end of that song had finally come, your 141 00:07:27,760 --> 00:07:30,800 Speaker 1: parents bathe in the delicious afterglow of the song Reunion. 142 00:07:31,240 --> 00:07:34,920 Speaker 1: While it's softly played on the bedroom boom box, your 143 00:07:35,520 --> 00:07:39,920 Speaker 1: wonderful mother made her way to the bathroom. It's the 144 00:07:39,960 --> 00:07:44,800 Speaker 1: most interesting of all tactical wheys your father drifting into 145 00:07:44,800 --> 00:07:49,600 Speaker 1: a coma while she quietly annihilates millions of your would 146 00:07:49,600 --> 00:07:55,000 Speaker 1: be siblings with her post kotal ablusions. And yet you 147 00:07:55,000 --> 00:07:58,160 Speaker 1: you held on for dear life against any watery intervention 148 00:07:58,240 --> 00:08:01,880 Speaker 1: on her part, largely thanks to the ferocious motility brought 149 00:08:01,880 --> 00:08:05,240 Speaker 1: on by the rich cardal structures, an ecstatic falsetto of 150 00:08:05,280 --> 00:08:09,000 Speaker 1: Maxwell himself, as he promised your mother on your father's 151 00:08:09,000 --> 00:08:14,400 Speaker 1: behalfway imagine, sweet lyad there, don't you were rare? It 152 00:08:14,560 --> 00:08:18,360 Speaker 1: no end to what this ring wants to begin with you, 153 00:08:19,720 --> 00:08:23,360 Speaker 1: that lyric providing the final push deeper into her fillopian 154 00:08:23,440 --> 00:08:29,160 Speaker 1: tubes where the miraculous moment of your conception occurred. And 155 00:08:29,200 --> 00:08:31,679 Speaker 1: now we were here in the Chocolate City, getting ready 156 00:08:31,680 --> 00:08:35,920 Speaker 1: to interview this Washington based baby maker about his new album. 157 00:08:36,360 --> 00:08:39,120 Speaker 1: It's Sunday afternoon. When we arrive. We head straight to 158 00:08:39,160 --> 00:08:41,800 Speaker 1: the venue where he's playing that night. That's when the 159 00:08:41,840 --> 00:08:48,840 Speaker 1: phone call comes. Maxwell is unwell. The show is canceled, 160 00:08:49,600 --> 00:08:52,320 Speaker 1: so the innival will probably beat tomorrow fair enough where 161 00:08:52,320 --> 00:08:55,440 Speaker 1: professionals these things happen. Dropping our bags to the hotel, 162 00:08:55,480 --> 00:08:57,880 Speaker 1: I let my road hardened producer and cameraman lead the 163 00:08:57,880 --> 00:09:00,680 Speaker 1: way towards dinner, where I eat Vietnam These food for 164 00:09:00,720 --> 00:09:04,600 Speaker 1: the first time. I didn't know what to choose, so 165 00:09:04,640 --> 00:09:08,360 Speaker 1: they ordered for me, and slurping down my first ever 166 00:09:08,480 --> 00:09:11,760 Speaker 1: fur a relish in the soupy noodleness of it, the 167 00:09:11,760 --> 00:09:15,480 Speaker 1: immense flavor and crunchy vegetable delight swirling around my mouth 168 00:09:15,520 --> 00:09:19,520 Speaker 1: as I contemplate the immense geopolitical forces and deep history 169 00:09:19,520 --> 00:09:22,440 Speaker 1: of bloody conflict which allowed this restaurant to exist in 170 00:09:22,440 --> 00:09:27,440 Speaker 1: this city, in this country so I could eat this soup. Yeah, 171 00:09:27,440 --> 00:09:31,000 Speaker 1: this is how I think about food. The next day, 172 00:09:31,240 --> 00:09:35,320 Speaker 1: we just waited by the phone, couldn't go anywhere because 173 00:09:35,320 --> 00:09:39,720 Speaker 1: if we got the call, we had to go mid afternoon. 174 00:09:40,040 --> 00:09:44,680 Speaker 1: It finally rang Maxwell's manager, asking to speak to me. 175 00:09:45,559 --> 00:09:48,920 Speaker 1: Tell me about yourself, she asks. First, I didn't really 176 00:09:48,960 --> 00:09:51,040 Speaker 1: clock what was happening. I just had a lively chat 177 00:09:51,040 --> 00:09:52,960 Speaker 1: with a nice lady who asks about my work, how 178 00:09:53,000 --> 00:09:55,520 Speaker 1: long I've been doing it, tests me with some very 179 00:09:55,559 --> 00:09:58,320 Speaker 1: specific questions about the new album, to which I answered 180 00:09:58,320 --> 00:10:01,120 Speaker 1: with an extended and very nerdy about the brilliance of 181 00:10:01,120 --> 00:10:03,760 Speaker 1: the legendary guitar player Wah Wah Watson, who played on 182 00:10:03,800 --> 00:10:06,360 Speaker 1: the record and had been a longtime collaborator of Maxwell. 183 00:10:07,280 --> 00:10:11,200 Speaker 1: Eventually I figured it out. Never in any of the 184 00:10:11,360 --> 00:10:14,960 Speaker 1: interviews that I'd ever done, had I needed to do 185 00:10:15,000 --> 00:10:19,560 Speaker 1: an interview. To do an interview? And what Star saying? 186 00:10:19,640 --> 00:10:23,680 Speaker 1: Are you? Told her? I was an haarries. She said, 187 00:10:23,840 --> 00:10:26,280 Speaker 1: she enjoyed speaking with me, and she's sure that Maxwell 188 00:10:26,320 --> 00:10:32,000 Speaker 1: will to and she hung up. The waiting continued. By 189 00:10:32,040 --> 00:10:34,160 Speaker 1: the third day, the excitement of getting to chat with 190 00:10:34,200 --> 00:10:36,880 Speaker 1: the man who many believe was making better Prince albums 191 00:10:36,880 --> 00:10:39,600 Speaker 1: than Prince was making had been wiped from my mind. 192 00:10:40,120 --> 00:10:43,160 Speaker 1: Three days in a three star business hotel in the 193 00:10:43,200 --> 00:10:46,880 Speaker 1: outer suburbs of a town full of bureaucrats is hard enough. 194 00:10:47,480 --> 00:10:50,400 Speaker 1: And that's before you factor in how haggard we all were, 195 00:10:50,640 --> 00:10:54,480 Speaker 1: just from trying to survive being relentlessly hunted every single 196 00:10:54,600 --> 00:10:57,240 Speaker 1: night by the natural enemy of the traveling TV grew 197 00:10:57,960 --> 00:11:01,880 Speaker 1: the mini bar. Eventually, my boss called back to Sydney 198 00:11:01,880 --> 00:11:04,640 Speaker 1: and pulled the pin. The record company got us flights 199 00:11:04,679 --> 00:11:08,520 Speaker 1: out of there. But here's the quandary. Our flights went 200 00:11:08,640 --> 00:11:11,600 Speaker 1: until the next morning, and I'll tell you about what 201 00:11:11,600 --> 00:11:16,840 Speaker 1: happened the next morning. After the break, right, we continue 202 00:11:16,840 --> 00:11:20,160 Speaker 1: our story. The interview is not happening. We've got some 203 00:11:20,200 --> 00:11:22,920 Speaker 1: flights booked out of Washington, DC. They're booked for the 204 00:11:22,960 --> 00:11:26,600 Speaker 1: next morning, but the next morning would look like this. 205 00:11:27,559 --> 00:11:30,920 Speaker 1: Five am alarm, six am pickup, seven am check in, 206 00:11:31,160 --> 00:11:34,400 Speaker 1: eight am. Flight landing in New York nine am. Get 207 00:11:34,400 --> 00:11:36,200 Speaker 1: a rental van, get the camera gie into the van, 208 00:11:36,240 --> 00:11:38,960 Speaker 1: battle Manhattan traffic. Get downtown by eleven am to set 209 00:11:39,040 --> 00:11:41,720 Speaker 1: up interview the band incubus at one pm. Pack down, 210 00:11:41,800 --> 00:11:44,080 Speaker 1: Get back to the airport by three pm. Fly six 211 00:11:44,120 --> 00:11:46,280 Speaker 1: hours back to LA wait three more hours before getting 212 00:11:46,280 --> 00:11:49,880 Speaker 1: the midnight flight back to Cyney for fifteen hours. That 213 00:11:50,000 --> 00:11:52,240 Speaker 1: was going to be a long fucking day, and we 214 00:11:52,320 --> 00:11:55,080 Speaker 1: didn't particularly want to spend our last night in the 215 00:11:55,200 --> 00:11:58,680 Speaker 1: US in this mind numbing hotel that smelled of broken 216 00:11:58,720 --> 00:12:03,880 Speaker 1: political promises and the sad wanks of lonely lobbyists. We 217 00:12:03,920 --> 00:12:06,880 Speaker 1: took a vote. Okay, who wants to fly back to 218 00:12:06,880 --> 00:12:09,640 Speaker 1: New York in the morning, early start, terrible coffee and 219 00:12:09,760 --> 00:12:13,840 Speaker 1: poorly informed impulse purchases out of the skymall catalog? No 220 00:12:14,000 --> 00:12:17,320 Speaker 1: hands went up. Who wants to grab a fifty dollars 221 00:12:17,360 --> 00:12:19,559 Speaker 1: train ticket and be back in New York in three 222 00:12:19,600 --> 00:12:22,040 Speaker 1: hours from now to have one final night out in 223 00:12:22,080 --> 00:12:26,560 Speaker 1: the city that never sleeps. In making this choice, I 224 00:12:26,640 --> 00:12:30,640 Speaker 1: consider only one thing. Both modes of transport will get 225 00:12:30,720 --> 00:12:35,320 Speaker 1: us there, but only one is serving alcohol. It's important 226 00:12:35,360 --> 00:12:38,080 Speaker 1: to inform you that all going well at this point. 227 00:12:38,120 --> 00:12:42,319 Speaker 1: As I'm recording this, tomorrow, I will be fifteen years sober. However, 228 00:12:43,040 --> 00:12:46,040 Speaker 1: at the time that I'm telling you about, despite an 229 00:12:46,080 --> 00:12:48,160 Speaker 1: already large amount of evidence that I was doing my 230 00:12:48,240 --> 00:12:51,000 Speaker 1: best to ignore, I was in complete denial that I 231 00:12:51,040 --> 00:12:54,199 Speaker 1: had a terrible relationship with alcohol. My choice to take 232 00:12:54,240 --> 00:12:57,160 Speaker 1: the train was wholly and solely based on the fact 233 00:12:57,160 --> 00:12:59,360 Speaker 1: that this train had a well stopped bar car in 234 00:12:59,400 --> 00:13:02,080 Speaker 1: which I see it and drink full strength beers for 235 00:13:02,160 --> 00:13:07,559 Speaker 1: three straight hours. No brainer. Taking the Amtrak out of 236 00:13:07,679 --> 00:13:11,440 Speaker 1: Washington is like listening to the Chattanoogat chu Cho song 237 00:13:11,720 --> 00:13:17,120 Speaker 1: in reverse. We left the Union Station Washington around about two. 238 00:13:17,480 --> 00:13:19,880 Speaker 1: In the dining car by Baltimore. We'd had quite a 239 00:13:19,960 --> 00:13:23,280 Speaker 1: few We sang the rocky song in fairly in New Jersey. 240 00:13:23,320 --> 00:13:27,720 Speaker 1: It's bong Jovi for Pennsylvania Station. We can't remember how 241 00:13:27,760 --> 00:13:30,439 Speaker 1: many more syllables we needed to make the end of 242 00:13:30,480 --> 00:13:35,080 Speaker 1: the song. It was a solid three hour pre game, 243 00:13:35,320 --> 00:13:37,600 Speaker 1: and quite the ramp up for a big night out 244 00:13:37,600 --> 00:13:41,040 Speaker 1: in the greatest city in the world, a night which, 245 00:13:41,120 --> 00:13:46,640 Speaker 1: for various reasons, I cannot actually tell you about. I 246 00:13:46,679 --> 00:13:48,800 Speaker 1: can't tell you about it for the same reason that 247 00:13:48,920 --> 00:13:51,480 Speaker 1: I can't tell you about many other moments of my life, 248 00:13:51,760 --> 00:13:55,600 Speaker 1: including but not limited to, my twenty first birthday, my 249 00:13:55,640 --> 00:14:01,080 Speaker 1: twenty second birthday, my twenty third birthday, twenty fourth birthday, 250 00:14:01,480 --> 00:14:05,480 Speaker 1: twenty fifth, twenty seventh, twenty eighth, twenty ninth birthday, thirty 251 00:14:05,600 --> 00:14:08,720 Speaker 1: I know I can remember my thirtieth, thirty first, thirty second, 252 00:14:08,800 --> 00:14:12,040 Speaker 1: thirty third, thirty fourth, thirty fifth, and thirty sixth birthday, 253 00:14:12,520 --> 00:14:16,400 Speaker 1: my first wedding, and the entire second season of Australian Idol. 254 00:14:17,360 --> 00:14:19,320 Speaker 1: I can't tell you about that night in New York 255 00:14:19,480 --> 00:14:24,080 Speaker 1: because I can't remember any of it. I do remember 256 00:14:24,080 --> 00:14:29,400 Speaker 1: the next day, though, waking around eight forty five, I 257 00:14:29,400 --> 00:14:31,800 Speaker 1: think it's like the sound of a large truck going 258 00:14:31,840 --> 00:14:35,400 Speaker 1: over a roadplate downstairs where the roadworks are Yawn, get 259 00:14:35,480 --> 00:14:38,800 Speaker 1: up to p flick on the TV. I see a 260 00:14:38,880 --> 00:14:41,480 Speaker 1: gaping smoking hole in the side of the North Tower 261 00:14:41,480 --> 00:14:45,320 Speaker 1: of the World Trade Center. Flick around every channel's got 262 00:14:45,320 --> 00:14:49,040 Speaker 1: a slightly different angle of the same shot. I wake 263 00:14:49,120 --> 00:14:55,200 Speaker 1: up my producer and hey Ben, wake up Ben. Then 264 00:14:55,680 --> 00:14:58,040 Speaker 1: I don't think we're going to interview Incubus today. Mate. 265 00:15:00,440 --> 00:15:04,560 Speaker 1: One minute later, Ben, me and millions of people right 266 00:15:04,600 --> 00:15:07,440 Speaker 1: around the world watch on live as United Airlines Flight 267 00:15:07,480 --> 00:15:09,560 Speaker 1: one seventy five plowers into the South Tower of the 268 00:15:09,560 --> 00:15:11,880 Speaker 1: World Trade Center at nine hundred and fifty kilometers an hour. 269 00:15:13,000 --> 00:15:15,320 Speaker 1: The choice I'd made the day before was based on 270 00:15:15,400 --> 00:15:20,640 Speaker 1: the availability of beer. That choice meant that we were 271 00:15:20,640 --> 00:15:24,080 Speaker 1: not in the air when those planes were hijacked. Had 272 00:15:24,120 --> 00:15:27,320 Speaker 1: we been flying, we'd have been diverted to North Carolina, 273 00:15:27,680 --> 00:15:31,280 Speaker 1: Denver or Nova Scotia, where I mean we would have 274 00:15:31,280 --> 00:15:32,920 Speaker 1: had a few days of inconvenience. But if we were 275 00:15:32,920 --> 00:15:34,840 Speaker 1: in Nova Scotia, my god, there was a risk, high 276 00:15:34,960 --> 00:15:36,440 Speaker 1: risk that we would end up as the subject of 277 00:15:36,440 --> 00:15:40,520 Speaker 1: a Broadway musical. Eventually we would have found our way 278 00:15:41,400 --> 00:15:43,320 Speaker 1: back to Sydney. Would have been a bit of a hassle, 279 00:15:43,360 --> 00:15:48,120 Speaker 1: but that was about it. The choice that I made 280 00:15:48,520 --> 00:15:50,640 Speaker 1: put me close enough to ground zero that we were 281 00:15:50,640 --> 00:15:53,560 Speaker 1: all coughing up black stuff for about six weeks, and 282 00:15:53,600 --> 00:15:55,080 Speaker 1: it gave us a front row seat to the horror 283 00:15:55,080 --> 00:15:58,600 Speaker 1: and carnes of the largest orchestrated terrorist attack in history. 284 00:16:00,160 --> 00:16:03,720 Speaker 1: Never actually the same after that day, my mental health 285 00:16:03,720 --> 00:16:07,840 Speaker 1: declined rapidly. That choice led not only to a diagnosis 286 00:16:07,880 --> 00:16:10,360 Speaker 1: of PTSD, but also kicked off a ten year spiral 287 00:16:10,360 --> 00:16:13,440 Speaker 1: of drug and alcohol abuse and was a large part 288 00:16:13,440 --> 00:16:17,120 Speaker 1: of the destruction of two long term relationships. Are mostly 289 00:16:17,120 --> 00:16:19,160 Speaker 1: better these days, but it's fair to say that choosing 290 00:16:19,240 --> 00:16:22,800 Speaker 1: train over plane was a pretty pivotal choice, even though 291 00:16:22,840 --> 00:16:25,480 Speaker 1: I didn't put too much thought into it. Of course, 292 00:16:26,120 --> 00:16:28,480 Speaker 1: we can't. We can't think about every choice we make 293 00:16:28,480 --> 00:16:30,840 Speaker 1: as something which will radically alter our lives. If we did, 294 00:16:30,840 --> 00:16:34,640 Speaker 1: would never choose anything. But it's worth reflecting that we 295 00:16:34,760 --> 00:16:36,760 Speaker 1: never really know which choices will put us in the 296 00:16:36,760 --> 00:16:39,320 Speaker 1: path of an underpaid delivery rider on an overpowered e 297 00:16:39,440 --> 00:16:41,840 Speaker 1: bike who's fiddling with his phone, and then when he 298 00:16:41,880 --> 00:16:44,520 Speaker 1: and his bike smash into you, you get killed and 299 00:16:44,560 --> 00:16:48,680 Speaker 1: he gets a very low star rating. Nor do we 300 00:16:48,720 --> 00:16:50,760 Speaker 1: know which choice will put us in the same grocery 301 00:16:50,760 --> 00:16:53,600 Speaker 1: line as a person who turns out to be somebody very, 302 00:16:53,800 --> 00:16:56,560 Speaker 1: very worthy of being invited back to your home so 303 00:16:56,680 --> 00:16:59,680 Speaker 1: you too can fire up the bedroom boombox and seductively 304 00:16:59,720 --> 00:17:03,960 Speaker 1: unth Maxwell's urban hangksweep from the CD case before hitting 305 00:17:04,000 --> 00:17:11,000 Speaker 1: play and letting that magical music do its work. And 306 00:17:11,040 --> 00:17:14,840 Speaker 1: that's the end of the story. That's the kind of 307 00:17:14,840 --> 00:17:16,800 Speaker 1: stuff that happens the story Club. That one's a bit 308 00:17:16,840 --> 00:17:18,720 Speaker 1: more serious than the ones I normally tell, but the 309 00:17:18,960 --> 00:17:22,240 Speaker 1: stories along these lines. But can you answer that three 310 00:17:22,280 --> 00:17:24,959 Speaker 1: questions that I asked earlier? Oh, I'll make it interesting. 311 00:17:24,960 --> 00:17:26,959 Speaker 1: I've got two double passes. Two double passes. The next 312 00:17:26,960 --> 00:17:30,680 Speaker 1: story Club show email me, sendosher email at gmail dot com. 313 00:17:30,680 --> 00:17:33,000 Speaker 1: But you have to be able to make it. April thirteenth, Marrickville, 314 00:17:33,200 --> 00:17:35,199 Speaker 1: six thirty pm is when the show starts. Get their 315 00:17:35,200 --> 00:17:39,920 Speaker 1: boy six. What was it like? What happened? What's it like? Now? 316 00:17:40,200 --> 00:17:43,639 Speaker 1: Send us your email at gmail dot com. Now you 317 00:17:43,680 --> 00:17:46,800 Speaker 1: know how to tell a story. Thank you so much 318 00:17:46,840 --> 00:17:49,359 Speaker 1: to Adam Buncher, who's been sitting in the corner giggling along. 319 00:17:49,760 --> 00:17:53,880 Speaker 1: I appreciate your laughs. We've got a guest on Wednesday. 320 00:17:54,160 --> 00:18:03,160 Speaker 1: Come back. We'll see you then.