Your Story

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Welcome To Episode 40 of Your Story.

Although only 21, Grace has had a lifetime of experiences as a sex worker in the few short years since she started at only 17 years of age.

As a prostitute she has worked both in brothels and independent as an escort. Now out of the sex industry and for someone of such a young age she already has and shares a fascinating and mature insight into her motivations of how the industry is for a working girl.

What is amazing and wonderful in this story is how genuinely proud Grace is of her work, who she has touched and the good that she has participated in with the people she has meet through being involved in the sex industry. Both with the clients and the other girls she worked with.

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Welcome To Episode 39 of Your Story.

Outrageous, vivacious and exuberant(along with some off mic cussing) is what you get when you meet Patty Beecham. It’s a name I haven’t heard for years but there it is in my twitter stream. Fancy that, you can meet celebrities on twitter, well you can decide where on the A to Z celebrity line she sits.

As someone who recognised her name I had to go and check out her site and see what she’s been up to all these years. That’s where I listened to her radio cross as she climbed the Story Bridge(long before the safety harnesses of bridge climb) and where I discovered her Funeral Photography and Living Wakes.

Being the daughter of an Anglican Priest, Patty respectfully captures the farewell moments of a persons funeral, that in time when the grieving relatives are ready can be viewed remembering the day they said goodbye with slide shows and DVD’s.

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As I’ve mentioned, in the beginning in why I’m doing this I wanted to shake up my life. I had been searching for 25 years for something that impassioned me. Then I discovered  and decided to start producing my own podcast. My intention was to dive in and see where it goes with little regard for the financial side of it. I see all of this initially as education. However in this world, finance is necessary and although I don’t actively ask for money I’ve had a couple of unsolicited donations.

A few months back I received a donation from the very wonderful and generous Adam Daniel  Mezei who you may remember for Episode 25 of Your Story. I  recorded that episode while I was in Prague last year, where Adam had generously invited me to visit, then proceeded to look after me for 3 days showing me the sites of the Golden City as only a local can.

At the time of his donation I was considering purchasing two mono lapel microphones from Giant Squid Audio Labs. That donation went a long way towards the lapel mics and power supplies. I have since purchased an additional stereo lapel mic, also from Giant Squid.

I want to put in a plug for Giant Squid Audio Labs as a small but remarkable operation that builds beautiful microphones at a price that is well below what you would expect to pay for the quality. I initially found out about them listening to Mark Jensen’s, New Media Gear podcast where he raved about them. Mark is the man when it comes to having this knowledge rather than me and his recommendation was correct.

I’ve also received another donation from someone who wishes to remain anonymous who appreciates what I’m doing and sent me enough to purchase a shotgun mic for my video camera. I was discussing with him how I was thinking of getting one and then a couple of days later there was an email saying that a donation was in my PayPal account.

I just want to say thanks to both of you for your assistance. I’ve heard many podcasters say and I agree, that it sometimes feels lonely producing episodes and we get little feed back (it’s all about percentages) but when things like this happen it heartens and encourages me more than any one can appreciate.

Thank you Adam and ???? for you financal help and thank you to everyone out there for the feed back, downloading and sharing the episodes.

Note: Yesterday a total of 10,000 downloads of the podcasts have been served. Everday back episodes are downloaded and new people come along. Welcome and thanks to everyone, particually the folk I chat with. 🙂

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Welcome To Episode 38 of Your Story.

Bernard King intrigued me when I first meet him 6 months ago. I’m sure you know the type of person. They are the quiet individuals who remain discreet, don’t say a lot but have a particular grace and efficiency with movement, words and thoughts that convinces you that there is more to them than is at first obvious.

Bernard is one of these people, quietly spoken but the waters run deep, but how deep?

That’s the reason for asking him onto Your Story and as it proved he shares with us a life of becoming the Junior World Ballroom Dance Champion at 15 and 16 years of age. Dance was eventually left behind but not before moving into professional stage and cabaret.

He tells of the life of Reilly in his youth as a qualified hairdresser living for years in Spain and Italy mixing with the European Royalty and the Glitterati  of the ’60’s. Amongst those he brushing shoulders with were  Grace Kelly and Jackie Kennedy. But not all is as wonderful as it may at first seem and there is a price to be paid both for the famous and also for him moving amongst them.

In the mix of a full life Bernard happened to be held hostage not once but twice, first by The Kray Twins in his teenage years and later by The Red Brigade in Italy.

Tragically later in life Bernard describes how difficult it was to lose his wife and soulmate to the slow slide of Alzheimer’s Disease. [click to continue…]

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Welcome To Episode 37 of Your Story. Today we talk with Adrian Fabila known professionally for his outstanding musical performances as Tjupurru. This is an episode that I wanted to produce two years ago, before the launch of Your Story, when I saw a live performance of Tjupurru at the Brisbane Power House.

Tjupurru plays a distinctive modern version of the traditional Didjeridu(Didjeribone) blended with the sounds of the FaceBass, distorted and looped through electronics and punched out in a style that would make any party or stadium rock. The sound is unique, organic and ever evolving with every performance different to all others due to the improvisation constantly evolving the sounds as they develop.

Tjupurru’s relationship as an audio engineer with Charlie McMahon of Gondwanaland fame led him to use both the Didjerbone and FaceBass, (both invented by Charlie) and now his involvement with the [click to continue…]

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Welcome To Episode 36 of Your Story.

Today we talk with Chris Booth artist and maker of things.

Chris is now starting to have real success in the art scene in Australia after years of being a struggling artist. We discuss the artist life, how difficult it is to make a success in the art world and the compromises that are made to get to that success. Chris mentions how Metro Gallery in Melbourne have given him a leg up, supporting him with a regular retainer income so he can concentrate on making the art rather than having to compromise his passion to find the income for his basic human needs.

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Welcome To Episode 20 of Your Story Addendum.

As today is Anzac Day I thought I’d do a recording of the dawn service to share with you a little of the atmosphere of the morning. If your an Australian and you’ve never been to a Dawn Service give yourself the experience, at least once, if your from elsewhere here is a little of what it’s like.

The Eternal Flame

I’ve been attending the Anzac Day Dawn service in county towns and city squares for fifteen or twenty years and I’m always moved by the spirit of the occasion however I don’t understand why I feel the need to attend and why it always brings a lump to my throat and a tear to my eye. I seem to have a deep intimacy with the spirit of World War One and find that attending the Dawn Service quite cathartic. It’s just one of those things that I feel compelled to do.

Brisbane Dawn Service

At 4:28 am the city is still asleep and although there are many thousands of people in the small Anzac square I find the quiet of the service extraordinary so much so that you can still hear a cough across the square.

I mentioned that the ABC has build an amazing site for Anzac Day which shows the events that happened on 25 April 1915.

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Welcome To Episode 35 of Your Story.

Today we talk with a married couple, Lucy and Willy who for the last half dozen years have been in the Swinging scene of recreational sex where they sexually share each other on occasions with other couples.

Wikipedia describes swinging as “non-monogamous sexual activity, treated much like any other social activity, that can be experienced as a couple.”

In this episode of Your Story Lucy and Willy describe how they discovered, discussed and the decisions to move into what’s referred to as “The Lifestyle”. With frankness they explain how they considered all possible bizarre situations, many of which eventually evolved and laid down ground rules for them to deal with too much intimacy and explain that contrary to the way it’s promoted, as harmless unemotional sexual fun, there is the danger that emotions do become involved and create the messy dynamics [click to continue…]