DEAR TROOPER RATTLESNAKE: IS DEDICATED TO WESLEY LAWRENCE WILLIS (MAY 31, 1963 – AUGUST 21, 2003). WESLEY WAS A MUSICIAN AND AN ARTIST FROM ILLINOIS, CHICAGO. WESLEY SUFFERED FROM SCHIZOPHRENIA. HE’S RUNNING HIS INK PEN IN HEAVEN NOW. ROCK OVER LONDON, ROCK ON CHICAGO, SKITTLES, TASTE THE RAINBOW.

THANK YOU: JORDAN WHEARTY, PORT, CYD JOYCE CORNALL, KYLE MURRELL, ALFIE JEAN, JAN CORNALL, LOUIE JOYCE CORNALL, SHIKHA SAHAY, MIKE MCSHANE, KATHLEEN GRAHAM SCOTT, THOMAS HADLAND, KATE MILLER, PETER, SULLY, THE DADDY OF ROCK ’N ROLL WESLEY WILLIS, TILLMAN AND DOGS EVERYWHERE.

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M I K Ec s h a n e

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M I K Ec s h a n e

Hey mike, how are you today?G’day, going well thanks.

What’s happening in Forster today?Today’s been a nice and quiet Sunday. There’s not really any waves around unfortunately, so I’m spending the afternoon inside working on some new art.

Hows the surf been down there?In the last few weeks there’s been some really fun waves around. Just 2-3 foot, glassy and wedgey. I’ve been surfing just out of town quite a bit lately and its been well worth the trip!

What’s your earliest memory of art?I remember when I was really young, my brother & I would eat 2 minute noodles and watch Art Attack in the afternoon, haha. We just thought that guy was a wizard.

MIKE MCSHANE IS A 25 YEAR OLD ILLUSTRATOR / DREAMER BASED IN NSW, AUSTRALIA. WITH A STRONG PASSION FOR SURREALISM, HIS WORK OFTEN EXPLORES THEMES OF PSYCHEDELIA, CONNECTIVITY & THE NATURAL WORLD. I SAT DOWN WITH MIKE LAST WEEK TO ASK HIM A FEW QUESTIONS...

“I remember when I was really young, my brother & I would eat 2 minute noodles and watch Art Attack in the afternoon, haha. We just thought that guy was a wizard.”

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Describe your work space at the moment...At the moment its just a small desk in my room, where I create most things from hand, etc. I have this tropical island painting on my desk which I like to imagine as my window. Once I’m ready to work on my computer, I move upstairs where my Macbook lives.

How did you get into art/design?My mum’s always been really passionate about all kinds of art, so I think she definitely influenced me a lot as a kid to get involved. I’ve just always enjoyed the freedom in creating something from within my imagination from scratch, its an addictive feeling for sure. I was always drawing as a kid and I think when I finished High School & considered University, Graphic Design just seemed like a no-brainer.

What influences your work?Music is a powerful influence on my work. I’m always listening to all kinds of music whilst making art. I think it puts me in a really creative frame of mind where ideas just seem to often flow nicely. I grew up surfing on the coast, so I think the ocean and nature in general have always played a vital role in my work as well.

“Music is a powerful influence on my work. I’m always listening to all kinds of music whilst making art. I think it puts me in a really creative frame of mind where ideas just seem to often flow nicely.”

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What music are you listening lately?I’m always trying to mix it up a little, but lately I’ve been listening to a lot of Kurt Vile, JJ Cale, The Growlers & Tycho.

Is rock and roll dead?Gee Whiz, I hope not! I think it might not be as popular unfortunately now as it once was, but its definitely still alive and well from where I’m standing.

What’s your opinion on the digital revolution?I think its cool, in that its opened up so many new avenues of exploring art. Personally, I’ll always feel strongly about creating things with my hands or on paper prior to using a computer though. There has to be some kind of combination between digital & manual process work for me. I’m really interested to see where digital art goes in the future, but I’ll always have a soft spot for manual arts.

“Personally, I’ll always feel strongly about creating things with my hands or on paper prior to using a computer though. There has to be some kind of combination between digital & manual process work for me.”

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Is there still value in analogue?Absolutely, so much value. I still shoot film for the aesthetic & I feel like this choice has impacted my attitude and approach towards my own Art and Design. I’m a firm believer in the saying, ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.’

Who are some artists who have inspired you over the years?There is so much inspiring art out there today, everyday I’m stumbling across interesting artists! My favourite artists whose work has impacted me the most though would have to be Salvador Dali, ReneMagritte & Jean-Michel Basquiat.

Where can we expect to see mike designs in the future?At the moment I’m just trying to make as much art as possible and am always happy to take on any freelance graphic design work. I’m kind of just taking it step by step at the moment and enjoying the ride! I think its important that my art always feels fresh and exciting, and that I really enjoy creating every piece. I’m all about that natural flow for now!

To see more of Mike’s work head to mikemcshanedesigns.tumblr.com Mike’s Is Sometimes the Beginning can be seen on the back cover.

“I still shoot film for the aesthetic & I feel like this choice has impacted my attitude and approach towards my own Art and Design.”

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m u s i c a l j o y r i d e

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m u s i c a l j o y r i d e

A n o p e n a r t s u r g e r y .

A t w e n t y - f i v e m i n u t e l o n g s u r g e r y w i t h n o a n a e s t h e s i a r e q u i r e d . F i r s t a n i n c i s i o n t o t h e b r a i n l e a v i n g w i d e o p e n f o r i n f o r m a t i o n t o s p r e a d i t s e l f a l l o v e r y o u l i k e a b a d c a n c e r c e l l t u r n i n g y o u r h e a r t t o l e a d . F i n i s h i n g w i t h a q u i c k b e e z b a c k w a x f r o m t h e l o a n s h a r k h i m s e l f . T h a n k y o u f o r e x i s t i n g P i n c e r s . L o v e a d o r a b l e b u n y i p .

P I N C E R S - M O L T

F o u r x x x x A u s t r a l i a n l a g e r m a t e s s e l f d e s c r i b i n g , “ B o o z i n g P s y c h o p a t h s a n d H o o c h i e s ” .S l e a z y b e a t s , s t o n e r r i f f s , h i p h o p r h y m e s a n d s o m e J o h n L e n n o n i n s p i r e d w o r d s s u c h a s“ T h e d e v i l s g o t a p u s a a a y y y y y ”

Y o g o n w i s h y o h a d y o d o g d e s e x e d .

T H E C R U T C H D U S T M O N K E Y S - W E G O N P U T Y O D O G O N H E A T

# D e b u t A l b u m # D e c i d e # S y n t h # P e r c u s s i o n # O r g a n -D r o n e # O l d b r o w n # S i r - v a l i a n t# 6 y e a r s # M i n d B l o w n # R e - R e m a s t e d # S u r f S c h o o l # -F r a n c e # H a w a i i # R e t r e a t # S t i c k y R i c e # L i f e # F r a z -z l e d # 2 5 0 g r # A n s w e r s # F l u f f y # R o d S o n g # L o u d s p e a k -e r # T o t e s # L i f e s w i m # O r i g i n a l # M i c r o w a v e P o t a t o e s # -H o u s e f i r e # S l e e p d r i v e # T a p o u t #

J M A N A N D T H E P I G S - D E C I D E

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You arrive.

And it’s not the same.

Where palm trees once swayed in the hot jet fuel breeze, bill boards have sprouted and taken hold; every little crack and cranny selling something, but not the thing you need.

You need to recover, from what you’re not sure. It worked last time — last time you were soothed back to life by rice field green; all-around-you-green, everywhere-you-looked-green, as-far as-the-eyes-could-see-green. Now you have to cut your way through a forest of advertising, a mangle of metal, a sea of shiny fat bumper-to-bumper SUVs, joining you on your search for the pristine green sawah that will help you retrieve that something you think you have have lost - if only you knew what it was.

Last time you met a driver who took you in, took you home to meet his family, offered you a room. You felt so happy within the walls of his family compound, so well looked after, so safe every time you up and downed the steps of the traditional entrance gate to his house where all the slithering, ground traveling demon spirits couldn’t follow.

Then the whole island was in recovery, picking up the pieces after Bomb One, performing endless purification rituals and self-examinations and coming up with ingenious ways to convince the world that Paradise would be retrieved from the wreckage. And it was, just look around you, the place is booming, everything bigger and better than before; “even the Balinese are getting fat” you remark as you watch them rolling out the doors of the Hungry Jack/Kentucky Fried/Dunkin Donut/Macca’s fast food by-pass strip, trying to heft themselves onto their motorbikes. Where once you could fit a family of four, not even two fatties can fit.

 “I’d rather eat babi guling any day,” your taxi driver chortles, “every day, if I could. The place might be booming but it hasn’t helped my pocket. I’m working three times as hard, stuck in the macet all day for same money as before, and then if some family member has to go to the hospital… well, it’s all over.”

You mutter some words of commiseration as your driver leaves the macet behind, taking the back roads through small fields and villages. You wind down the windows and let the smoke from afternoon gutter fires fill the car. Its carcinogenic fumes make your nostrils run and your eyes smart but you don’t care, it feels like coming home.

  Last time you were recovering from the big one; the big break up, the big divorce, the one that

left your outline filled with a thousand tiny holes, like someone had used you for target practice (you suspect that someone was you). Bali’s green patched you up, healed your scars, injected its chlorophyll into your veins through your eye-sockets. You went home with a new spring in your step, determined to do all the things you once said you would, no holding back this time, no holds barred.

Only now it seems that this idea of ‘living your dream’ has gotten much more complicated. Not only do you have to live it, but also announce it, blog it, boast it, crowd fund it, write it, film it, sound-bite it, you-tube it, market it, win an award for it...

JAN CORNALL IS A WRITER AND PERFORMER WHO REGULARLY SPENDS TIME IN BALI ON HER WAY TO LEADING WRITING RETREATS IN INSPIRATIONAL LOCATIONS AROUND THE WORLD. HER NOVEL TAKE ME TO PARADISE (SARITAKSU) WAS LAUNCHED AT THE UBUD WRITERS & READERS FESTIVAL IN 2006 AND TELLS THE STORY OF MARILYN, A WESTERN WOMAN ARRIVING IN UBUD A YEAR AFTER THE FIRST BALI BOMBING. THE EBOOK VERSION HAS JUST BEEN RELEASED ON SMASH WORDS. IN THIS PIECE, A MINI SEQUEL TO THE NOVEL, JAN IMAGINES MARILYN’S RETURN SEVERAL YEARS ON WHEN BALI’S RECOVERY IS IN FULL SWING.

RICE FIELD RECOVERY

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 “Where did you say you want to go?” your driver asks.

 “Kaja,” you reply, “kaja, as far north as you can go...”

 “You want to go to Agung?” he laughs.

 You remember fondly how kaja means to face the mountain and kelod to face the sea, but you tell him, “I just want to go to the sawah, the best duck-eating, bug-eating rice field you can find, where I can sit for a week or two and reclaim, recoup, re-calibrate, realign, repair, redeem, re-salvage, restore... a little bit of stillness to my over-mailed, over-tweeted, over-shared, overwrought, underdone dream life.”

 Your driver grins in the rear-view mirror. He understands, as drivers always do.

 “Oh, too much traffic in your brain - you got mind macet! Ok, we go north all the way, no macet there…my family lives in a small village near to Singaraja, they have small bungalow in the sawah - only you and the swallows.”

 “Perfect,” you tell him, “no wifi?”

 “No wifi.”

 “Bagus sekali!” you exclaim as you lean out the window, drinking in the early evening cool, not in the least bit worried that once again you are putting your life in the hands of a complete stranger.

 “What your name?” he asks. “I am Nyoman.”

 “Marilyn,” you reply.

 “And tonight Mar-a-lyn,” Nyoman adds,  “we have very important ceremony in our village temple. I am very lucky that your fare brings me home or I would not be able to attend. Would you like to come? You have kebaya? My wife has plenty, you can borrow...”

 You reach into your bag and turn off your iPhone, iPad, iPod, stow them in a secret inner zip lock pocket and throw away the imaginary key.

 Cold turkey in the sawah, for as long as it takes. If you run out of money you can always sell off your electronic devices one by one, or better still rent them out, that should keep you in nasi bungkus for a good few months. Maybe even start a support group, iAnon, “I am a recovering iAddict and I have not turned on any of my screens for seven days (everyone clap).”

 One step at a time, one step at a time…

(c)Jan Cornall 2013

Glossary

sawah - rice fieldbabu guling - young pork cooked in banana leaveskaja - northkelod - southmacet - traffic jambagus sekali - very goodkebaya - ceremonial blouse worn by women to the templenasi bungkus - rice and chicken in banana leaf, cheap street food

JAN WILL LEAD HER NEXT BACKSTAGE BALI WRITERS RETREAT IN JULY 2015.

JAN’S BOOKS TAKE ME TO PARADISE AND ARCHIPELAGOGO - LOVE SONGS TO INDONESIA PLUS DETAILS RE ALL HER INTERNATIONAL RETREATS ARE AVAILABLE ON WWW.WRITERSJOURNEY.COM.AU

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Kyle Murrell and Cyd Joyce Cornall met at a party on MDMA 2 years ago. They danced,

they pashed, they talked shit. At the end of the weekend the drugs wore off but the lust

didn't. The lust turned to love and the 2 turned to 3 with the arrival of their daughter

Alfie Jean. The little family now reside in a farmhouse on the Macdonald River 2 hours

out of Sydney. Kyle paints. Cyd makes jewellery and other crafts that take her fancy.

What is the best thing you’ve learned so far in life? Cyd: To just be where you are and enjoy that. Kyle: Patience, not that I practice it very well. But having a daughter really gives that importance. Also to live in the present, always.

What is the coolest thing ever?

Cyd: When Alfie wakes up and looks at Kyle and I, the way she smiles. Kyle: I’m getting this big gnarly tattoo on my chest of Alfie as a cowgirl riding a rearing horse, so that’s gonna be pretty fuckin cool... And tough!

If you could make 1 piece of jewellery/art for your daughter over her lifetime what would it be? Cyd: Haha, a chastity belt. Nah, probably some kind of tapestry or weaving that I’d make over the years. Then I’d give it to her on my deathbed. Kyle: Such a hard question, because I’d want to make heaps of things for her but probably an ongoing painting/assemblage that I would make over her lifetime. My recent collection of found, discarded and buried objects from our yard which we are constantly unearthing would definitely contribute to it.

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What one artist and/or culture are you most inspired by? Cyd: I couldn’t pin down one specific culture but indigenous folk art and jewellery I’m most interested in. I first got interested in South East Asian tribal jewellery when I was traveling round Lao, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia when I was younger. From there I explored further and found so many interesting cultures all stemming from similar beginnings. Kyle: Not so sure of a culture as such but to me Modernism seems to have inspired a lot of my painting process thus far, but that’s keeping it pretty obvious. We also have Gaugain’s Matamoe in our bathroom which I stare at whenever I take a piss and I’ve been taking heaps from that, I even included parts of it in recent paintings. What do you love most about living in the country? Cyd: Our huge garden. Heaps cheap rent. Noticing seasons changing. Having fires when its cold and swimming in the river when it’s hot. The fact that it’s a completely new experience to the rest of my life so far. Kyle: Fuckin everything!

“Since Alfies been born I’m a bit less productive I suppose, coz playing with her is pretty awesome but if she’s off in nap land I duck into the studio and tinker around with some rings or piece together some necklaces till she wakes up again.”

What do you like to wear in the studio? Cyd: Pyjamas. Or overalls. Old clothes. Kyle: My paintings jeans always, with varying combinations of t-shirt or flanno depending on the weather but they would have to sacrifice themselves to getting paint on them. But if I don’t have my painting jeans on well that means that I have stumbled in there and been caught up in making something, but they could possibly then become future painting jeans. But if it’s my suede pants or white chord flares then I’d probably go and change them.

What’s a typical day for you when you’re at your most creative?

Cyd: Since Alfies been born I’m a bit less productive I suppose, coz playing with her is pretty awe-some but if she’s off in nap land I duck into the studio and tinker around with some rings or piece together some necklaces till she wakes up again. Or clean. I’m being pretty relaxed about it all at the moment.

Kyle: wake up early, like really early, 4 or 5 o’clock. Coffee n ciggie outside the studio. And then have a solid 3 hours painting studies and drawing, usually.Then when Alfie wakes up spend an hour with her. When I see her wake up my day is made when she smiles at me. Depends if I’ve got a show coming up, I’ll fumble around the studio or yard or house sitting and drawing in my environment. Otherwise just painting solidly in the studio, break-ing for lunch, dinners, joints and wine then finishing around 10/11pm.

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m u s e u m o f o l d

a n d n e w a r t

M O N A

m o n a . n e t . a u

Procrastination is in my strut, I’m fine with that, so I go ahead and slip further into my day.The suns morning whispers tickle at my sleeping eyes they call out and remind me to restart my day. I always thank them with same childish smile, the stamp of my life. I kick off my covers and prepare for my anticipated black coffee and smoke. I rumble around grinding beans proclaiming, “I’m an industrious woman” and hope one of my cosmic souls will care to join me. I pour the coffee out: milk in some, sugar in few. There was something else on the list of today but it’s fallen past noon,So I open my arms and wail into the world “oh well, the days already done.” With no echo to doubt, I stumble to the streets.

The mechanisms of man surrounding my grounds, I embrace it all and imagine the electric boxes on the dirty side streets are the hidden society’s time machines, they glow with a touch of pink. I step on in and close my eyes.

I’m in. I transform into the first morning cloud, light, free, and nowhere to be, this is the dream of me. Taking in the elements and showering what the seasons have mentioned to me.I can only offer what is already inside: blood, guts, and gore… Or I’ve been mistaken and it was really, rain, sleet, and snow. Either way, I’m always prepared for whatever massacre may be in the way.

I float back home, still with light in the sky; I sink back in to what had started my day. The mechanics of my body take me back through to my black coffee workshop; I grind and proclaim, “You are my closest of friends.” I gently sip what’s left of my day as I push the

smoke back out through my nose and dream of tomorrows tomorrow.

The Gasp

Kathleen Graham Scott

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port-dawg.

2014:WILSONS CREEK

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dog-town.she done did it…ok if you know me at all you knew this was coming. the port photos and here to spoil your day…or make it, depending on your mood and your opinion of dogs and my dog port in particular. if you are not a dog person you may want to cover your eyes and hold your nose…you may feel the urge to go find a cat to try to make friends with…GOOD LUCK! i know i know you love cats…there so easy to look after cause they look after themselves. but have you noticed they shit in your house…i did. did you notice that your cat looks at you with the stink eye, like “what the fuck are you doing in my house”. i did. did you notice that your cat kills birds and leaves them decapitated on you pillow…i’m not saying that dogs don’t kill stuff…but my dog doesn’t, cause he is the coolest. and here he is to melt your heart and heal your soul.20

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dear trooper rattlesnake : drink dairy milk to be happy as can be.

with love, bluejay heron