Australian comedian Aidan Jones laughs at his own jokes and stories. Every Tuesday, forever.
This week on the pod I chatted to Aurora Campbell, she's an artist I know through comedy friends and from being around Melbourne, but she escaped back to Brisbane before lockdown. We spoke about art, creativity and why we do the work that we do. Great chat, good vibes, strong heart.
Follow Aurora on Instagram @aurora_campbell
And follow the podcast @sittingunderpodcast
I forgot it's the 200th episode!! Hahaha well there you go. I've been thinking a lot about how useless it is to get angry about things we can't control. Anger is a painful thing to hold on to, and no matter how much we hold onto it, there are some things we can't change, so in being angry we're really just hurting ourselves. The one thing we can control is how we react to things. I spoke about that, and then read an email I wrote to a rapper me and my mate loved in high school who, as far as I can tell, has disappeared from the internet. Lots of searching in here.
Spotify link for Arecee's album 'Beating A Dead Horse'
https://open.spotify.com/album/7xP9IgDIc7CMCKtogHosSB?si=XN2Zj7KXSqOpMw_RC30Fow&dl_branch=1
The Mighty Mighty Bosstones are widely regarded as a pretty uncool band. All of ska music even, it's just not what cool people listen to. But I listened to it, I went deep when I was a teenager, and I loved it. Then in my early 20s a guy who I thought was really cool said that ska is "just white boys playing fast reggae", and it was never the same for me. This week I've revisited them and the guy was right, it is just white boys playing fast reggae. But man - I still love it!
This week to distract myself from how fucked our lives are, I spent some time diving into Nas' 1994 classic 'Illmatic'. The album was huge for me when I discovered it in my teens, but this week I dug into some old reviews and interviews from when the album came out, and also went back and watched 'Wild Style', the 1982 movie sampled in the opening track of the album. That led me onto 'Style Wars' from 1983, and I feel like with those two, and a bit more knowledge of Nas' life growing up in the Queensbridge Projects in NYC in the 70s and 80s, I have a new understanding of where this album came from. I never really thought about it too much, I just knew I loved it, so it was cool to dig in a little.
This week in another attempt to dig myself our of the emotional mire that is extended lockdown, I decided to talk and tell stories about something I love very much. The album 'The Calling' by The Hilltop Hoods was released in 2003. I first heard it in the summer of 2003/04 when I was 12 years old, at the Australian Scouts Jamboree, and it changed everything for me. After listening again this week from the perspective of someone who - like the Hoods when they recorded The Calling - has been chasing after an artistic dream for more than ten years, I felt a new appreciation for the music. I talked about that, and did a bit of a deep dive on one of the guest verse rappers from 'The Certificate'. Lots of fun!
August 15th marks ten years since the first time I ever did stand up comedy. This week, rather than wallow in the mess that is our collective experience, I reminisced about starting out as a comedian, read the messages I sent to book my first ever spot, and talk about what comedy means to me. I honestly find it difficult to go too hard at the sincerity, but I really enjoyed this. Just what was needed today, I reckon.
I am absolutely hating this lockdown. I feel sad, hopeless and bored. The one thing I can take from this week's podcast is that hopefully I've hit somewhere close to rock bottom so we now have something to build on. God this podcast was so bad hahaha.
I've been asked for a lot of advice this week, which feels really nice! Feels like people respect me enough to ask for directions on the journey that is their life. Then again, whenever I've asked for literal directions in the world, I'm not ever too picky who I ask, I just ask whoever is nearby, and then based on how certain they are I decide for myself whether I'm going to ignore their directions or not. So I'm either well respected, or nearby. I'll still take that.
I booked a beautiful retreat in the Glass House Mountains an hour or so out of The Sunshine Coast, and turned my phone off. I thought it'd be a nice way to unwind and reconnect with myself, whatever the fuck that means. I was wrong.
I've had a pretty tough week, if I'm honest. It is funny to me that the act of admitting that, and in doing so, implicitly asking the people around you for help, is also a sign that really, you're going to be okay. Someone who is truly having a rough time would never admit that they were because they wouldn't want to make the people around them feel bad or worry about them. So I want you to know that, while I am fine, I have had a pretty tough week. I could think of much worse places than Cairns to have had it in though.
