Please, if yr gonna take anything from these years of missives from me, take the chance to catch my wise old mate Vic Simms headline this extraordinary occasion that seeks to surmount the sordid history of Sydney and the stress of the past year via love, music, art and community. It was made for you.


Saturday April the 10th ~

Jack Off pleases itself on FBi Radio betwixt 3 and 5PM. Catch up on last week's chat with Peaches here.


Sunday April the 11th ~

The first proper party I've thrown for all and sundry in over a decade, Jack's Hit House - Recovery On The Rocks takes place this Sunday afternoon within Good Space and it's parkland surrounds.

We're hosting a free gathering that acknowledges all we lost during the pandemic, whilst beginning to rebuild individual spirits and our collective bonds.

It will be held on contentious land, where a penal colony was first imposed on the oldest living culture on earth, an area where displacement and dispossession of people in the name of crass commerce persists.

This is an intergenerational, multimodal exchange of music and performance - featuring a diverse array of local artists, bound by sincere intentions to emotionally engage and uplift after the acute traumas of the past year. It will be a safe and inclusive space that welcomes people of all ages, races and sexualities.

We seek to heal the harms endured in isolation by sharing culture in a creative repurposing of an historic outdoor/indoor venue. This involves a clear-eyed look at the stark shape of things: a determination to waste no minutes nor opportunities; to do better, together; to lay a fairer foundation for our future - in hope, gesture and deed.

It starts with us.

Head down to the harbour with yr loved ones to share in true stories, stirring Sydney bands, empathetic deejay sets and sacred/profane shows.

Enjoy life and each other.

Running times are as follows:

Pandemic Park (Bligh & Barney Reserve):

1-3 Jack Shit (DJ)
1-3 Venus Vamp (Tarot)
1.30-3.30PM Sunny Leunig (Magic)
2.15 Aunty Rhonda (Welcome To Country)
2.45 Betty Grumble (Show)
3-4.30 Robbie Buck (DJ)
4.30-6PM Soup (DJ)
6 til 7 The Snacc Pacc

Samson's Cottage Courtyard (Garden in front of both 102A and 106-108 George St, opposite Overseas Passenger Terminal):

3.30-4.30 Vic Simms and band

Sailor's Home Theatre (106-108 George St):

5.30-6.15 Maya Petrovna

Think you can remember how? Let's try now...


Wednesday March the 31st ~

Pop yr dancing shoes on and be ready in a jiffy as Swingin' at the Speakeasy goes live with Wes Pudsey & Sonic Aces Trio plus Sara O’Connor shortly, kicking off for the assembled itchy-keen swing dancers and friends from 7PM.

After 11 I'll slap some platters on the turning tables and we'll step up for free til the wee hours.

Thursday April the 1st ~

By the next evening, after all of that magical motion, things ought to be going swimmingly.

So join me back at Palmer & Co for a truly-twenties-style celebration of convivial community. Stand, prance or shimmy from 10PM til at least 2. Free!

Friday April the 2nd ~

By now you've ditched any hesitancy (and possibly yr pants), slipping into something more comfortable to sashay in style. Good Friday is gonna be fucking great, as The Great Club stages it's first-ever dinner and dance: a free affair with music from myself all the way from 6 til 10PM.

Book a table and cut loose under the mirror ball in this styling and spacious Marrickville paradise. It's Easter For Grown-Ups and there's even golden tickets, chocolate eggs and bar tabs to be won in the egg-hunt during the evening. Doors open at 4 so you can really make the most of yr new-found freedom this looooooooong weekend.

Saturday April the 3rd ~

I've a few more tasty morsels to share with you too, mainly music to get yr arse in gear live on FBi between 3 and 5 but also a couple of deeper exchanges that exist on-demand.

Middle Kids joined us ahead of their Great Club album preview and performance a fortnight ago - and both their live song and extended conversation was an absolute treat.
Then last week on Jack Off I had the privilege of speaking with Dublin's profound poet of male mateship David Balfe, on the occasion of the release of his debut album as For Those I Love.
I'm not sure I've ever heard a person take such care in choosing each and every word with such sensitivity and humility so as to honour his subjects. Dave's a beautiful human. He's already making a huge difference to those struggling on this Earth via his honesty alone. Please listen here if you get the chance.
Have a lovely holiday all. Please keep next Sunday free for the first major party I've staged in over a decade. It'll be a free, family-friendly, arvo affair right by the Quay. More info next newsletter.

Still as the night. Solid as a rock. What a crock!


Wednesday March the 24th ~

Succeeding live performances by Arthur Washington & Tilly Street Trio plus the Eamon Dilworth Trio (that run betwixt 7 & 11) I'll settle down to study sonic notation at my little desk til the early hours. Swingin' at the Speakeasy is always free.


Thursday March the 25th ~

I'll roll back down to Palmer & Co. the next evening for a more extended set from 9 til close (around 2).


Saturday March the 27th ~

Settle into the sheer scale of the signal/s on Jack Off this week and you will experience shifts of perception, time and place.

Six years after having had the untold privilege of being granted the only interview Pharoah Sanders conducted on his last tour of this country, we will hear the entirety of his sublime new album with Floating Points and The London Symphony Orchestra - a single piece of music five years in the making.

Listen carefully. 3 til 5PM on FBi Radio.

Afterwards it's off to Coogee to play a private birthday party but there's one more public event...


Sunday March the 28th ~

Get beside the vege patch out by the greens of the Petersham Bowling Club and enjoy nutritious tunes of every stripe for free from 2 til 5. All welcome.

Tiny frames and moving images that miss you too.


Wednesday March the 17th ~

Down in the depths below George Street Swingin' at the Speakeasy has Miss Pia's Trio from 7, then Clayton Doley's Organ Trio til 11, after which I spin lonely arts til the early hours. All is free.


Saturday March the 20th ~

Jack Off screens space for those out of the race.


Sunday March the 21st ~

Australian Broadway star and showbiz polymath Eddie Perfect is wrapping up the Sunset Piazza season out front of St Mary's Cathedral.

The show has long sold out. If you've a ticket and will be stepping out to the city come a little early to hear stages of sound staggered across the wires by way of warm-up.

Are we free yet?


Wednesday March the 10th ~

Swingin' at the Speakeasy rallies the troops with rousing sets from Eamon Dilworth’s Trio and Mescalero between 6 and 10. Afterwards I'll relay anthems of all ages for free til close around 1AM.


Thursday March the 11th ~

Come the next evening I'll again attempt to rattle the cage of our penal colony from it's founding few blocks. Success is relative. Effort counts. Witness the Shitness from 9 til hella late at Palmer & Co.


Saturday March the 13th ~

Jack Off electrifies our entrapment with the panopticon's penultimate soundtrack. Where else but Free Broadcast Incorporated? 3 til 5 while yr alive.

You know what else is gonna be live? Guests! After over a year of being unable to host musicians performing in the studio (a hard and fast rule for any visitor on our program) we've at last been granted a tentative dispensation to have no more than three select people in at a time.

This Saturday it will be my great honour to restart this rationale with Middle Kids (and married couple with a young bub) Hannah Joy and Tim Fitz. It'll be wonderful to hear them sing and play - but also to simply sit and converse with others about how we've survived this tumultuous time. Please tune in!

Remnants, or portents, of the beyond...


Wednesday February the 24th ~

As a fellow hermit I adore the immaculate space fashioned above. Valerio illustrated the span between earthly anchors, flowers and the stars.

Tonight I descend into another sandstone cave - Palmer & Co. - as the City heats up again. Live music begins with Miss Pia at 6PM, then Arthur Washington & Tilly Street from 8. I take it from 10 til close in the early AM. Entry is free.


Thursday February the 25th ~

The following evening I'll return to this hidden gem, spinning antique audio from 9PM.


Friday February the 26th ~

By Friday we'll be way down the South Coast to play a winery wedding for Anne and Jeremy.


Saturday February the 27th ~

Jack Off recycles waste between 3 and 5PM.


Sunday February the 28th ~

It's eminently conceivable that I might be a bit of a burnt-out husk myself by Sunday, so it is fortunate that I get to sit beside the greens at the beautiful Petersham Bowlo, relaying restorative music and imbibing fine ales from 3 til 6PM.

It's always free out in the fresh air there - otherwise there's a door-charge for We Mavericks and Steph Miller inside after 7.

We're back from the fertile dirt of Griffith and easing into the weekend with two select scenarios.

Thank you to our music-loving hosts at Mandolé Orchard for their generosity and hospitality.


Saturday February the 20th ~

After another sublime stretch under the auspices of radio star Jonny Seymour last week, Jack Off returns to the gutter with yours truly.

Tune in to FBi Radio, another emissary of local affairs too powerfully real for Fakebook, between 3 and 5PM. I've truckloads of tunes to share.


Sunday February the 21st ~

Sadly Mardi Gras' iconic Fair Day has fallen victim to COVID restrictions this year and will not occur.
To take up some of the slack the Imperial Hotel is staging a Not (A) Fair Day Party, with all manner of hilarity and hijinks both day and night.

You'll find me kicking off the music on the stunning rooftop with a four-hour-long set from 2PM. I'll be followed by Lauren Neko up there, as Drag 'n Dine unfolds downstairs, before headliners Taylor Fontaine & The Magda Szubanski’s hit the stage late.
Join us to carouse with the community safely, in stunning sunny surrounds. Entry is absolutely free!

The new year is set to be brimful of queer cheer. Let's muster music and mirth. Time to rebuild.


Wednesday February the 10th ~

Strong strains of ancient melodies unfold anew as Swingin' at the Speakeasy returns to Palmer & Co. The Faculties and Mary Heart Band are live from 6 til 10, I take it til close thereafter. Free.


Thursday February the 11th ~

Time is an insistent illusion, supposedly situating my set at Palmer (the next night) as beginning at 9, yet somehow stretching into infinity. Bring tea.


Friday February the 12th ~

Warming up Sunset Piazza for the first Comedy Gala last week was rather sublime, bats streaking across the Sydney sky at twilight. Part two is also sold out. If you've a ticket come early for the vista and hear a mix redolent with references to our perfect place in the world. 6.30 til 8PM.


Saturday February the 13th ~

I'm off to support my love at the unveiling of the Blake Prize this Saturday, so Jack Off will go to air under the sensitive stewardship of Jonny Seymour. Tune in to Free Broadcast Incorporated between 3 and 5 for seamless sounds from all around. In the meantime, listen carefully to this.


Sunday February the 14th ~

Valentine's Day sees two free outdoor options for those wishing to share and celebrate.

Begin at the debut Deco Park Picnic, a sophisticated extravaganza of entertainment put together by the indefatigable Pia Andersen. One look at this gorgeous poster (my later addition perhaps bringing the tone down somewhat) was all it took for me to sign up - that and the opportunity to share a bill with one of my broadcast heroes Greg Poppleton. Beyond my midday til 1PM set there's a huge array of delightful diversions, from vaudeville to live music and lawn games.

Afterwards reconvene by the greens of the Petersham Bowlo for a sanguine and sentimental journey through sound between 3 and 6PM, followed by a free screening of Dirty Dancing inside.

First draughts, blood baths and last laughs.


Friday February the 5th ~

There is nothing funny about being a one-armed deejay at the Sunset Piazza Comedy Gala in Cathedral Square. I'd prove it to you in person but it is sold out. If you are one of those weirdos with a ticket come early and be mocked by music from half 6 til 8.


Saturday February the 6th ~

Does my bomb look big in this? Jack Off takes flight for my last radio raid this fortnight. Bangin'!