After an exultant, yet exhausting, weekend - that involved farewelling the wonderful denizens of the Hotel Hollywood one night and then hosting an emotionally rich dinner/dance at Great Club the next (it was so beautiful to hear songs like Chicago and Maps on a dancefloor again) - it is fortunate that, by some absolute miracle, I at last get to travel south and experience Dark Mofo in Hobart this week.


Thursday June the 17th ~

It's looking like temperatures in Tassie will be mid-way beween the Hawkesbury (pictured top-and-tailing this edition) and Braidwood (the frozen centre). This is good news as I'm playing X-Cathedra in the Hanging Garden, which appears to be a rain-sheltered but open to the air, fire-saturated oasis.

Even just the smell of smoke transforms life for me, let alone the scent of the sea. If you are travelling to Dark Mofo please join us between midday and 5PM. Entry is free, subject to capacity.


Friday June the 18th ~

You wouldn't believe how many Fly Agaric mushrooms were beside the road (and a famous winery) when we journeyed to a sub-zero wedding reception recently.

Damn it was tempting to take either of two routes (one, surprisingly, legit). But I had work to do.

Will I behave as well, further from home, especially on my second day spinning trashed 7" vinyl and utterly unheard of emerging fare? Time will tell.

Same time. Still free. Pope Alice after me.


Saturday June the 19th ~

I'm aiming to arrive back in the big smoke to transmit signals of elemental awe on Jack Off betwixt 3 and 5 on Saturday. My aim is true!

Precious little to share beyond the fair, free air.


Wednesday June the 2nd ~

Just a solitary public gig this week, playing on into the wee hours after The Dovetails shake theirs for Swingin' at the Speakeasy.

They perform, with Pia Andersen on decks between their three sets, from 7 til 10. There's no cost.


Saturday June the 5th ~

Jack Off will be back in the hands of a special guest this week, as I'll be away to play the wedding of Alisha and Ash outta town.

Wherever you are you can catch the program live between 3 and 5 or revisit past episodes on-demand at yr leisure (here is last week's whole show - and here is a serendipitous and haunting improvised mix of a Youtube monologue by Lhasa de Sela alongside a stunning Max Richter composition). Please listen.

I want to send my love and gratitude out to my mum Mary to wrap up this week: both for every act of steadfast love over a lifetime and also for this beautiful picture she took of folks fishing at sundown on the Noosa River (which ended up accompanying the weather on ABC News up there).

Delirious from lack of sleep and wary of AstraZeneca side-effects from my shot this morn I'm barrelling through this busy week with too few words to start.


Wednesday May the 26th ~

Traverse the slick city streets to Swingin' at the Speakeasy and discover Brad Child's Quartet playing several sets for the dancers for free from 7 til 10. I spin til at least 1AM directly after.


Friday May the 28th ~

Wash away the inertia and misery of the daily grind of living and caring and tap in to the profound healing power of memory and music.

Today sees the launch of Forever Young - a debut Dementia Disco created through the passion of Lana Zilla, the encouragement and documentation of Liz Ham and the facilitation of Betty Grumble.

I am honoured to be able to select sentimental songs of days gone by for people to enjoy and relive. If you are a carer or sufferer you are welcome to join us between 10AM and 1PM at Wattle Grove Dance Hall.

This is a free event and refreshments are provided.


Saturday May the 29th ~

Jack Off doffs our hat to Jonny Seymour for last weekend's sterling job of hosting (whilst I was up in Byron for another wedding) and gears up for only our second international guest in over a year - a man of such grace and talent he really requires no introduction. Please tune in between 3 and 5PM to hear the marvellous Marlon Williams live.
Later that evening Good Space - the astonishing cultural facility (created by Perran Costi and Cameron Little) that hosted both of our Recovery events in The Rocks - is going out with a bang.

Check this insane line-up and get cracking on tickets as all will be gone in no time. There will be hundreds of people dancing between the building, courtyard and park and I've the pleasure of playing the final 2 hours with Perran through that wicked soundsystem once more. Midday til midnight.


Sunday May the 30th ~

What things we'll have heard and seen by Sunday! How is it possible to contain such multitudes - and survive without bursting? I guess there's still time (only an aching knee as I write). JOKES (sorta).

Well either way I'm keen, as ever, to make the most of each minute, hour, day, week, month or year.

By Sunday arvo you'll find us winding down (between 2 and 5) with beings of all ages, out by the greens of the Petersham Bowlo. It's always sweet, lively, peaceful and free. As are we.

Little to express beyond heartfelt thanks this time.

Anyone who wants to relive some of the wonders we experienced down on The Rocks - or indeed those who may have missed out on Good Space altogether - would be well advised to purchase the limited remaining tickets for the final Block Party on Saturday week.

The attractions are too insane to name, though I'll try next edition once more is in the public domain (however it's almost certain to have sold out by then). I can tell you I'll be going track-for-track with Perran who co-directs the place for the final two hours til midnight. It is gonna be loose!


Wednesday May the 19th ~

Slip through the secret alleyway portal to Palmer & Co. and discover Swingin' at the Speakeasy moving freely once again!

Paula Baxter's band is live between 7 and 10, with Pia Andersen on the decks between sets. I bring it home from 10 til close in the early morning. All for free, every Wednesday.


Saturday May the 22nd ~

Thankfully that's it for me in terms of gigs this week. As you'll see from the sidebar to the left there's plenty coming up in the next little while so I'm happy to head north to relax and just be a guest at a wedding for once!

As has become something of a tradition of late, listeners to Jack Off between 3 and 5PM on FBi Radio will again be treated to the joyous selections of the illustrious Jonny Seymour. Tune in, kick back and text love his way on 0409945945. Thank you!

Well we knew it wouldn't be easy. We understood it may not even come to pass. But right now it appears that we might just get this event over the line.

Our final Recovery On The Rocks takes place on Sunday. Pretty sure I've eqiupped everyone with enough info to make their plans - but perhaps Liz Ham's pics (from the last one, below) might still sway a few of you. It's free to attend but you need to register online here. As I write there are only 67 tickets left.

It's rather a miracle that we've come this far. Not only are we slated to still be able to do this thing despite the extension of restrictions, by virtue of the outdoor courtyard where all of our bands and deejays will play we'll be one of the only places where people can dance in Sydney. Get to it!


Wednesday May the 12th ~

Unfortunately Swingin' at the Speakeasy tonight has dancing on hold til next time but you can still catch The Faculties for free between 7 and 10, when I'll take over from early interstitial deejay (and curator) Pia Andersen to play through til close.

The upside is you'll be able to take in the detail of lyrics and arrangements whilst lounging around - and one man whose work (often spun by me there) really warrants that is Vic Simms, pictured above. 


Friday May the 14th ~

It may not cut as deep as Maya Petrovna's profound existential agony (above) but I am mildly disappointed not to again be dishing up a whole five hour set at the Allawah Hotel as Friday sets in.

However I am stoked that local fella DJ Soup will be doing the hard yards instead from 7 - and the minute the footy is over I'm gonna go crash that for some free track-for-track malarkey around 8.30 til 10.30.

If yr in the area swing by. It's absolutely free!


Saturday May the 15th ~

Jack Off bends in beneficence to the natural world and all of it's creatures and forms.
Betty Grumble (above and below) knows this is where life truly resides. Tune in between 3 and 5 for a pantheon of palpable praise and possibility.


Sunday May the 16th ~

Get thee to Good Space for a fully-legal, all-ages, free party to celebrate and commemorate this time like no other.

From midday you'll hear the soothing sounds of Jackson Fester from the pristine speaker stacks in each corner of our sheltered, sunny courtyard.

Then at 2 Aunty Rhonda returns with her equally esteemed daughter Nadeena Dixon in tow to conduct a Smoking Ceremony and Welcome To Country.

As Eddy Diamond and her dad Tony Hughes (whose family home was in The Rocks until the State Government evicted public housing tenants) accidentally double-booked with a vital charity ocean swim in Mollymook, I'll be deejaying from 2PM onwards - possibly assisted by the stars who were so rudely interrupted by multiple rangers on public parkland last time: Robbie Buck and Soup.

Come 3 you can choose between Community Radio performing outside or the extraordinary Max-Headroom-meets-Tim-and-Debbie culture, projections and live music clusterfuck that is The Vidiot (in his debut public show) within.

Around 4 Cheryn Frost brings Hydraulic Fucking to bear on the naked Earth inside, Stressless start their swansong in the yard and The Dancing Accountant gets down in inverse proportion to household (and government) debt!

I'm never gonna play Robin Hood with public funds via official channels again, so please avail yrselves of art and entertainment of such scale and resourcing while you can. Last chance. Let's dance!

Today I'm sharing some startling photographs taken by the lustrous Liz Ham at our first Recovery On The Rocks (above you see the legendary Vic Simms and his All Star Band of storied peers and great mates).

They are timeless depictions of shared humanity, taken on tragically loaded land, after an an awful recent interval for our species worldwide.

We conjured these two events to galvanise and empower our communities at this crucial juncture - and to bouy our collective spirits. Please keep the afternoon of Sunday May 16 free for the final one. Initial details are here.


Wednesday May the 5th ~

A few hours after we kick off at midday that Sunday we'll again be honoured to experience a Welcome To Country from Aunty Rhonda Dixon-Grovenor and this time also her daughter Nadeena Dixon.

Together they'll be ceremonially setting cleansing smoke free amongst us, directly after a sumptuous set of subtle sound by Limbs Akimbo's Jackson Fester. That's Rhonda above, cutting a rug with the irrepressible Rose Mastroianni (to Vic's band).

Remember if you ever wanna move yr feet mid-week you can do so just a few blocks up George St from our Rocks location, as Swingin' at the Speakeasy unfolds at Palmer & Co. Tonight you'll hear Queenie and The Cavaliers playing several sets live for free (with interstitial DJ spots from Pia Andersen), then I'll spin all the way til close sometime in the early AM.


Friday May the 7th ~

On Friday I'm to play the first DJ set ever at the Allawah Hotel. If you, like the astonishing Betty Grumble (pictured above at the conclusion of her stunning dance across the Quay, footage of which you can see here), hail from down that way, please avail yrself of this free five-hour set, upstairs from 7.


Saturday May the 8th ~

Jack Off remains a mystery even to me. The trials, tears, terrors and triumphs of everyday life - manifest in music. Wired or wireless: 3 til 5PM.

I guess many of us miss the sheer depth of scale whilst busy doing 'other things'. Then there are a good few of us who can barely shake hourly awareness of both impending loss and the elusive movements of the transformational mirror that is love.

Maya Petrovna rarely departs from either domain, manifesting such beauty, terror and hope in the first Recovery's final last act that people are still processing their experience of this intersection of talent, experience and courage.

Hold on to those you hold dear. Share yr dreams and feelings frankly. See you back here next week for more glimpses of the possible, then perhaps we'll gather together once more a few days hence.

Dancing lights skim the surface of terrible tides.


Wednesday April the 28th ~

Swingin' at the Speakeasy exists deep beneath the city streets, inches above what was the key watercourse for the nascent colony imposed here. The ghosts of the past are present when I play. Listen from 11PM til the witching hour and you'll see.


Saturday May the 1st ~

Jack Off floats endlessly above the Pacific. Last week visitors from overseas serenaded us. This week it's all a mystery. Ends at 5. Starts at 3. Support Sydney, us or even just me. Stay wild. Stay weird.

Light layers glowing and growing, free of foul play.


Wednesday April the 21st ~

Swingin' at the Speakeasy sees Pia Andersen DJ between sets from Paula Baxter and Dan Barnett's Organ Trio from 7 til 11, before I bring it all home til close. Dancing is uplifting, entry free.


Friday April the 23rd ~

Get deeper down below ground and unfurl as the weekend descends, via my first set in the reopened Imperial basement in eons. 9PM til midnight. Free.


Saturday April the 24th ~

On our return from the fertile dirt of Northern NSW Jack Off goes hard - bringing you multiple live guests from here and overseas!

First hear Philly to Canberra transplant John Sharkey III (accompanied by the latter city's Nick Craft), then catch New Zealand's fast-moving Merk, fresh from the travel bubble opening at last.


Sunday April the 25th ~

Come Sunday we'll enjoy the perfect autumn air out by the greens of the Petersham Bowling Club between 2 and 5PM. Animals and kids caper about as our beautiful, peaceful community comes together.

That remains entirely free. Then, if you feel the urge to party on inside for a small fee you can, as from 7 The Western Distributors Anzac Day Dance Spectacular kicks into gear. Let's twist again...

Curly cars and sand bars. Bending with the breeze. Off to recite nursery rhymes in northern climes.


Friday April the 16th ~

Gonna get cosmic from the outset with a free nine til midnight bracket at Byron Bay's brilliant new cocktail bar Spott. Join us if yr up that way hey? 


Saturday April the 17th ~

Jack Off transmits from 3 til just shy of sunset despite my absence. It brings me peace and joy to know that Jonny Seymour is forever on hand to relay love and light to all our loyal listeners.

In the interim I'll be spinning sweet tunes at the wedding of Katie and Kahlil up in the hinterland.

My eternal respect and gratitude to all who made our first Recovery On The Rocks such a perfect manifestation of healing and community. Aunty Rhonda seems to have summed it all up better than I could ever hope to - she sent this text just now:
Just wanted to say Thank you 😊 For inviting me to do the Welcome to Country It was such a lovely event very thoughtful Loved everything about it The Energy was Ethereal yet Up Lifting something that I feel needed during these trying times 🌈🙏🏽🌞❤️🐳🐙🐞🌈 Stay well Cheers xAuntyRhonda