It has taken far longer than 3 days, but Kate Bush has resurrected, sort of like Jesus….

‘Hello Old Lady, I know your face well. I know it well.‘ – Kate Bush, Jig of Life, 1985

In the early 1980s, music critics used to write really dumb things about Kate Bush, such as that she had failed to live up to her early promise. After all, her debut single, Wuthering Heights, had gone to number 1 on the charts in 1977.

Now, thanks to it featuring in the Netflix show Stranger Things, Kate Bush’s haunting 1985 single Running Up That Hill has given her another number 1 hit, some 37 years after its release, and 45 years after her first number 1.

When you put this in context in time, this is really freaky. If you go back 37 years before 1985, you are in 1948, at the start of the Cold War and seven years before Rock Around The Clock redefined music. If you go back 45 years before 1977, you are in 1932, not all that long after Yes We Have No Bananas became the first ever documented Number 1 hit song, and where Weimar Germany was in its death throes. Either comparison takes us back to a very different world, far different than 1985 is from us now, for all that we have smart phones and internet on tap.

I am very happy about this resurrection of Kate Bush. I have been a fan of hers since my teen years, particularly since the release of Hounds of Love, the 1985 parent album that featured Running Up That Hill.

Between Wuthering Heights, which came off the 1978 debut album The Kick Inside, and Hounds of Love, she had put out another 3 studio albums, making for the respectable output of 5 albums in 8 years. Whilst some of those albums were a bit uneven in quality, they all featured at least one fantastic song.

After that, her output slowed down, with The Sensual World in 1989 and The Red Shoes in 1993. Then she disappeared for a long time into a life away from rock music, resurfacing with Aerial in 2005 and 50 Words For Snow in 2011.

She’s been quiet since then, until this pleasant surprise of an unexpected revival.

And let’s face it, for all that the moronic music critics of the early 1980s used to claim to be disappointed with her, Hounds of Love is a brilliant album (and a very solid comeback for her after her frenetic early productivity), and a great entry point for a new generation to discover Kate Bush.

For a while there, I thought that her more mature work, The Sensual World and The Red Shoes, were better albums. But last night, I lay back on the couch and streamed all my old favourites from those albums, and I was reminded as to exactly why I thought Hounds of Love was such a great album.

Pulling out my CD of that album now, I can confirm that the original B side to the album was named The Ninth Wave, and the slip includes a quote from Tennyson’s The Holy Grail:

“Wave after wave, each mightier than the last

‘Til at last, a ninth one, gathering half the deep

And full of voices, slowly rose and plunged

Roaring, and all the wave was in a flame.”

And perhaps that it is a hint to us from Kate Bush, that she felt that the six songs on that B side of her album, whilst none of them are exactly singles worthy or particularly suited to the lowest common denominator which is radio, are perhaps her greatest work.

I certainly think so.

I’ll Tell It To The Net: Why Martha Davis Failed As A Solo Artist

I recently joined the Kelvin Club, one of the more inclusive and quirky of the private members’ clubs in Melbourne (they are inclusive because aside from welcoming women as members for the past 30 years, they accepted me as a member).

Last Friday after work I hosted several of my colleagues as my guests at the Club for a few drinks, which turned into a few more, and then we were still then when an acoustic duo showed up next to our table and started performing some classic Australian songs.

Being of the countdown generation, we knew and loved a lot of the songs (1980s classics) and after a while, as the vibe got very merry, we sang along.

It was quite a lot of fun, and we had a chuckle about the evening on Monday morning when we next assembled.

Which is a good way to explain why I have particular tastes in music.

As I was a teenager in Australia during the 1980s, I have a significant affection for American band The Motels, who were more popular here than anywhere else in the world. [I remember being told that Martha Davis, the leader singer, was 37 or so, and to me, in my early teens, that seemed positively ancient. I can laugh at that now forty years later.]

Recently, I have been listening to The Motels a fair bit on Apple Music, and also to Martha Davis’ long forgotten 1987 solo album Policy. Policy was a bit of a commercial failure, even though Tell It To The Moon was a song I enjoyed very much at the time of its release, which goes a long way to explaining the impossibility of finding the album online in recent decades/

Comparing Tell It To The Moon to some of the classic Motels songs I know and love so well, such as Total Control, Cecilia, Shame On Me, and Bonjour Baby, I think I can see why Martha Davis did not enjoy great success when she chose to go solo when The Motels were about to start their next studio album.

Put simply, the music is over produced, it is too perfect and lacks any of the quirks in the songs The Motels did when they were a band. It was Martha Davis getting her own way, and somehow, the soul of the band was lost.

When listening to it, I was reminded of the scene in Bohemian Rhapsody where Freddie Mercury explains to the rest of Queen that he needs them, that when he just paid session musicians to do his solo album exactly the way he wanted it, he only got what he wanted, not what his band could contribute.

Martha Davis, for all her great talent as a chanteuse, was far greater at the front of a good band, rather than a solo artist.

And I tell that to the net.

Broo’s Exit From Mildura Brewery

My smallest shareholding, which is worth less than pocket change, is in Broo Ltd, a craft brewery enterprise.

I have been writing about it occasionally in recently months, firstly when there was a stoush between the Founder/Exec Chairman and a recently appointed new director, which was resolved in favour of the new director’s interests, and secondly when the new board suspended trading on 9 May pending some restructuring of the company.

I would be lying if I said that I was awaiting developments anxiously. I am only an investor in Broo for the fun of it, and my retirement does not hinge on my shareholding in Broo (nor, if I am honest with myself, on my substantial share portfolio mostly held in blue chips and ETFs and REITs etc).

Late last week, finally (!), we had a public announcement. The long and the short of it is that several holding companies owned by Broo Ltd were put into voluntary administration. The part of the business (two holding companies) relating to the Mildura Brewery Pub is in the process of being liquidated, and the Sorrento Brewery will also be wound down (to my discredit, I am not sure as to what, if anything, is run down in Sorrento, except perhaps the original microbrewery).

None of this surprises me particularly much. The main assets the company owns, after all, are the Mildura pub, the land in Ballarat, the brand & recipes, and the public listing. Getting rid of Mildura (and Sorrento) and Ballarat are logical steps, but leave me wondering at what price the company is really intrinsically valued at right now.

The company remains in a trading halt for the time being. I look forward to seeing this company trade again at some point, and even am happy to participate in another rights issue (after all, the last one only cost me $0.36) to see it keep on going.

Lisa Wilkinson Provides Conclusive Proof That An Australian Republic Is A Very Bad Idea

We have had some unfortunate incidents at awards shows this past few months. First, we had action hero Will Smith give a slap to not-so-funnyman Chris Rock at the Oscars, just before he picked up the award for best actor.

And now, in the past few days, we have had talk show host Lisa Wilkinson, at the TV Week Logie Awards, spit on the principles of due process of the law whilst making a smug and self-serving speech accepting the Logie award for best chat show host.

I don’t have a law degree, and nor am I particularly good at Latin (despite recently investing 4 years of adult education on trying to learn it), but I am familiar with legal concepts such as sub judice (before the courts) and extra-curial (outside the court) punishment.

Lisa Wilkinson, in making a widely televised speech covering the topic of the alleged rape of her now friend Brittney Higgins by a co-worker in Parliament House, has derailed the rape trial for that accused man. It has now been delayed for the time being, because the court accepts that the speech was prejudicial to the chances of the accused of getting a fair trial.

Due process of the law is a long established right and legal protection afforded to people under English Common Law jurisdictions such as Australia. It stems from the one clause (chapter 26 in its original form) of the Magna Carta which has not been repealed in any jurisdiction.

The Magna Carta was a treaty between King John and his rebellious barons signed in 1215, and which was reissued by subsequent kings over several generations.

What started as a contract between the king and his barons has become the established cornerstone of our constitutional law and legal protections and rights.

It is this, the protections that have emerged as contracts between crown and people, which have made me a supporter of the Australian constitutional monarchy. [Please note that after seeing Turin, former seat of the House of Savoy, I was so disgusted that I could not support the Italian royals and hence support the Italian Republic – although as I so far decline to claim my Italian citizenship, that is a moot point.]

Lisa Wilkinson is more, however, than just a smug and overpaid Sydney TV chat show host. She is the wife of Peter Fitzsimmons, the bandana wearing (I truly hope he is balder than I am) current president of the Australian Republican Movement.

In recent weeks, with the swearing in of an assistant minster for the Republic as part of the new socialist government, wealthy republicans like Mr Fitzsimmons have been smugly emerging from their wine cellars to proclaim the second coming of a constitutional referendum to abolish the monarchy and replace it with a republic.

Leader of the Greens, Dr Adam Bandt, has started holding press conferences minus the Australian flag, as it causes pain to some people, and enables him to showcase his republicanism and lack of patriotic feeling.

But back to Mrs Fitzsimmons. This prominent republican is so uninformed about our long established legal rights and protections that she can proudly proclaim her ignorance in a smug and self-serving speech – a speech which has violated the rights of a fellow citizen to both presumption of innocence and due process of the law.

I think that this ignorance is not unique to Lisa Wilkinson and her husband, but extends right across the spectrum of Australian Republicans, who for some reason (lack of money not being amongst them) feel outrage at the current constitutional arrangements, and see injustice in everything except their own behaviour and ignorance.

And I cannot let this matter rest without a gentle nod at Australia Day. Whilst Dr Bandt would like to get rid of our current flag and Australia Day, the Fitzsimmonses do not see a problem with celebrating Australia Day. In their well heeled Sydney north shore mansion, they hold an annual soiree for fellow wealthy celebrities on 26 January.

The hypocrisy of that is almost as cringe worthy as the arrogance and ignorance which underpinned Lisa Wilkinson’s Logies speech.

Year of the Bear

This week, the share market officially entered a bear market. I am not surprised. Up to last Monday, I had lost 10% of the value of my portfolio since January, thanks to Putin’s invasion of the Ukraine. Now… I am down another 10%.

I do have to keep a sense of humour about this. After all, losing value in my share portfolio is not as bad as living in the Ukraine right now or having Putin as one’s political leader.

And I think that, after all that has happened in the past few years, selling off my entire portfolio now would not be a wise idea. December was a good time to leave – and if I could predict the future, I would be winning Powerball tomorrow night.

Crowd-funding as a way to invest in Breweries, Distilleries and Wineries

Ok… the five weeks that Broo Ltd has been in suspension from trading on the ASX has not really taught me much of a lesson about investing in small craft breweries and the like, and I am still keen to try it if the right opportunity comes up.

A friend of mine knows the owners of Bakery Hill, a distillery making high quality whisky in suburban Melbourne (despite the name being a famous location in Ballarat). He told me last week that they are looking for investors.

I followed the link he sent me to a site http://www.birchal.com which serves as a platform for all sorts of businesses to seek investors via crowd funding so as to grow their business.

Not only was Bakery Hill there, but also Bridge Road Brewery Heathcote, current open for expressions of interest in investing.

And this crowd funding platform allows people to potentially invest far less money than what you might put into a IPO for an ASX listing (I did dodge a bullet big time on the Broo IPO 6 years ago after all!).

So it does look not only like a fascinating way to see what companies are out there seeking investors, but a fun way to invest. I do not mind losing a few hundred dollars if something goes pear shaped, and if I already know of a brand, it is probably because I have seen it in a licensed premise and possibly drank it before.