Adventures on Australian Radio

I have been on Australian radio!

Last night Dzido and I were driving along, listening to the local Sydney radio station, minding out own business, when we heard that they were having a contest to win the last two tickets for The Killers concenrt that was happening in Sydney the next day. For those who are unaware The Killers are OUR band. Back in Montreal during the summer we used to listen to their album Hot Fuss while we sat on the balncony drinking beers and watching the world go by. Even now when I hear songs from that CD I am transported back to Montreal. Their new album Sam's Town will always make me think of working in England, and of this trip in general, as we have listened to it non-stop since I got it a few months ago. I think we all know what it feels like when we associate songs with a particular time and place. The Killers take us top our happy place.

The contest for this station was to call in and plead you case as to why the DJs should give you the tickets. Most people had really lame reasons like "I love the Killers, they are great" then when they were asked to name the members of the band, they couldn't. Not true fans. We figured we had the perfect case to make. We have always wanted to see them live, they are our favourite band, we are driving around Australia in a camper van with a single CASSETTE which is Hot Fuss and we are so far from home it would make us so happy.

By some miracle I actually got through to the station after redailing the number for about half an hour. At the time, Dzido and I were on our way to a party. The guy we ran with the bulls with (Louis) has a sister who is in Sydney and who invited us over to meet some of he friends. It was a stressful time- we were lost, comppletely unable to find the apartment and just then the phone started ringing. We pulled over and I pled my case LIVE on the air. My heart was beating out of my chest. I told them about our love of the Killers and living out of a van witha single cassette, which got a laught. The female DJ was reluctant, saying that she wanted to give the tickets to an Australian because the show would be on Australia Day. I told her that Australians are known the world over for their generocity and hospitality and this would be a great way to show their true colours. I told them we wanted to see our favourite band in our favourite country. I think I did all I could.

So we drove around for another half hour trying to find this apartment and listening to the radio as other people made their case. Even though it was night time, I swear the temperature rose to above 40 degreees. We were so nervous. But sadly we were let down. The fact that we were foreign was too much of an obstacle to overcome. They gave the tickets to some guy who said he looked like Jesus (that is funnier if you have heard their songs). We were so dejected. But we finally ended up finding this partment and had a really nice time with Emile and her 3 friends. They are all from Quebec and were very nice...though the whole night would have been made a lot sweeter if we had been going to a Killers concert the next day.

But it was cool being on the radio! And at least we gave it a try.

Happy Australia Day everyone! We are off to a BBQ and then to a party at night. I don't know how we made so many friends down here, but we are just going to go and have a good time! And as an Australia Day gift to all of you I have put up some pictures on my last post and added a story about an emu. G'Day All!