The Beagle Diary
A
fascinating (perhaps) insight into Streamer's life with and without Mistress
Hellen. The diary is updated frequently.
JULY 2003
Sunday 27 July 2003
THIS is my WARD "C" Semen-ahhhh Review!!!
You may wish to check out the WARD "C" website to more fully
understand the happenings I'm reporting about. (update! WARD "C" have abandoned Planet
Earth and returned to Sanatorius)
We met the Sanatorians before the official start to the night's events and enjoyed a
fabulously spacious backstage area at The Star Hotel. The line up of bands for the
night had changed from the original offerings to be mostly hip hop - including a hip hop
CD launch - with WARD "C" as 'special guests'.
It had been decided to present the Research Findings (that's SONGS to us earth creatures) in
two segments, with our hip hop friends hip hopping between sets. When it was time for
the show to start, I chickened out of being in the crowd and stayed backstage, while Mistress
Hellen and the Lovely Cin ventured out to the audience area.
Ahhhhh, the Semen-ahhh begins.....Arrrgh, the sound was distorting, something was wrong,
feedback, ugly noises. Not what we are used to hearing from WARD "C" at all. A
few instructions to the sound bod after the first song brought small improvement and our
favourite Sanatorians ventured on. (WHAT can one expect of a hotel that does not stock
Green Ginger Wine????)
It soon became evident that the mostly hip hop crowd ('crowd' is perhaps an overstatement at
that point of the night) weren't really into SONGS, but apparently were sneaking peeks at
the spectacle being presented. It also became evident that the sound quality was just
not going to improve - murky, distorted, feedback.....YUK!!! Nothing we could do about
it short of hijacking the mixer bod and fiddling with the nobs ourselves!
Anyway, WARD "C" soldiered on and it came time for the NAUGHTY CHAIR segment - where a
NAUGHTY person from the audience is brought up on stage and placed in the abovementioned
chair and sung at for the duration of the song 'Her Royale Thighness'. Maletron-X
(newly arrived from Planet Sanatorius as a temporary substitute for the sadly absent
Matron-X) found a very very very willing candidate somewhere at the back of the room.
This NAUGHTY person turned out to be quite a whizz at manipulating the NAUGHTY chair (which
resembles an earth wheelchair) and he nearly escaped!!! From my vantage point behind the
scenes I was growing worried that he would cause injury to himself and others with his
activities. You may remember my description of what someone else got up to with the
Naughty chair at the last Semen-ahhh I attended. Since then, a Naughty chair person has
run over the bunch of grapes that are used with the song - making necessary the purchase of a
brand new bunch!
After this it was time for the break between sets - which went on and on and on (which was
OK because we had lots of room to play - and someone had thoughtfully left a basketball
and lots of other toys lying around) and eventually the organiser of the event came
backstage and suggested that in light of the atmosphere 'out there' and the disruption it
would cause to set up WARD "C" equipment again - perhaps it was best that WARD "C" not do
their second set.
While this was initially very disappointing, we decided that it was probably for the best all
round - so we packed up and exited discreetly. Back to Sanatorian Headquarters for some
refreshment before heading southward to home.
A very interesting night, with Doctor Apollo presenting me with three more High Dicstinctions
for service to WARD "C" and also giving me more WARD "C" music on CD!!!!
Saturday 26 July 2003
Mistress Hellen and I baked a special ginger cake to take with us today when we travel to
Newcastle to see WARD "C". We also gathered a lot of other ginger things to give to
our favourite Sanatorians. Ginger is a close equivalent to a special delicacy on planet
Sanatorius and WARD "C" are especially fond of Green Ginger Wine - which is astonishing,
because so is Mistress Hellen (this was discovered on our first visit with the Sanatorians).
Roxy had a big day outside so that he'd be all pooped tonight and not miss us while we
were gone.
Friday 25 July 2003 (back to top)
Bit chilly today - stayed inside for most of it. I forgot that I wanted to book studio
time for tonight to record a new long standby tape - well, a short-ish tape - only 3 hours -
for use after my show on Wednesday mornings. Guess it just wasn't meant to be!! (not
yet, anyway)
Been listening to Mistress Hellen and Roxy play chasings in the back room. Mostly to
Mistress H really, who so far has yelled "come back here you little gronk", "ouch", "oh
REALLY and HONESTLY". Guess Roxy is winning!!! She also said "YURK!" (I
think that was her treading in Roxy poo - incidentally, did you know that Guinea Pigs are
affectionately known as BEAN MAKERS???? - stay tuned folks, you'll learn something new every
day)
Had a wonderful phone conversation with Doctor Apollo - just discussing a few things about
tomorrow night and about the music industry.
Thursday 24 July 2003
Lovely day for airing blankets so I emptied my outdoor kennel of all blanket sort of things
and spread them out on the grass.
Later: Had a lovely time chatting online with Doctor Apollo!
Tuesday 22 July 2003 * * * MICHAEL's BIRTHDAY * * *
Happy Birthday to Michael, who unfortunately could not be with us to experience the amazing
weekend we had. I rang him early in the morning and sang 'Happy Birthday' to
him. Not sure if that was smart - I do have a lovely speaking voice...but the
singing.....?????
Later: Suggested to Mistress Hellen that maybe I could take singing lessons - she just rolled
her eyes and said "maybe later".
DON'T FORGET!!!!! WARD "C" have a gig coming up 26 July at the Star Hotel in Newcastle,
taking in 'Star Radio' Double CD Launch, Illergic MC and Bass Dynamix, with DJ Maniak,
Quest, Rising Doubt, Bric a Brac and
OF COURSE.....WARD "C"!!!! 8:00pm - late ... $7 (not sure what time WARD "C" are on yet)
Monday 21 July 2003 (back to top)
Been listening to the Brian Cadd album off and on all day - as well as Ray Beadle and some
other blues - reliving the weekend. Discovered that we could do some of our tap dancing
steps to Brian's Keep on Rockin' - so we did! - AND we managed to not tread on each other!!
Sunday 20 July 2003
Made special arrangements with a very big establishment so I could get in to see Brian
Cadd - I've loved his music since I first heard it as a puppy and Mistress Hellen was
playing it one day. He really knows how to put on a show. Bought his live
album and he signed it for me! <excited squeaking>
If I wasn't such a chook about interviewing people I would have asked if I could ask questions
such as "30 years ago did you ever think that your musical endeavours would continue and that
you'd travel the path you have in regard to the music industry?" and "where did you get
that jacket?"
Saturday 19 July 2003
Off to the Empire Hotel for the Sydney Blues Birthday Bash - what a night!!! Mistress
Hellen, Missus Elizabeth, a friend from Mistress H's work and Maïté (who presents 'Trampoline'
on 2RRR on Tuesday night).
What a lineup!!! Ray Beadle, Bridie King, Stephie Marchant, Darren Jack and the
Continental Blues Party! (and if I type Ray Beagle one more time instead of
Beadle....) Spent time watching the interesting people in the audience too - AND there
was party food - YUMMMMM - and ...... Birthday CAKE!!!! (Except I couldn't have any because
it looked too much like chocolate for me to risk my health - but Mistress H said it was
divine and was hazelnut or something flavoured.)
Friday 18 July 2003
Big weekend ahead!!!!!
In trouble for once again leaving nose prints on the front of the fish tanks -
I thought I'd managed to do my close up fish watching today without leaving tell-tale evidence.
Wednesday 16 July 2003 (back to top)
Spent the early hours of today smelling like a gum tree after Mistress Hellen spilt
eucalyptus oil over me while we were getting ready to leave for 2RRR. Hasty emergency
wipedowns did not remove enough!!!
Arrived at RRR to find Leigh* filling in for Richard who normally does the show
before mine. I finally obtained my copy of 'Eternal Chapters' - the double
compilation CD of Gothic Music! It's a fund-raising-for-2RRR CD put together by
Leigh* (who presents Sacrament Radio on Wednesday nights between 10 and Midnight). If
you want your very own copy - go to
Sacrament Radio website and
choose 'Eternal Chapters CD' from the menu at the top.
Later: After being driven bananas by the constant presence of the strong eucalyptus smell
I gave in and had an unscheduled bath.
Saturday 12 July 2003
Spent time with zeRellies doing a working bee thingy at a place I'm forbidden to name.
Was lots of fun - I helped by getting in the way! I found a tennis ball so the humans
spent time throwing it around for me to chase.
Spent time later cataloging the new CD arrivals for 2RRR's Music Library.
Thursday 10 July 2003
I saw Barney and his human when I was at the park today - he's quite depressed because it's
been so cloudy recently.
Listened to some great music while working on website things - WARD "C", Mean Spiral,
Ray Beadle, Harry Wears Trousers...and of course MANY MORE! One of the great joys I
have from doing 'Streamer Never Sleeps' and cataloging the CDs that arrive for 2RRR's Music
Library is that I get to hear such GREAT MUSIC!!! - or have I said that before just recently?
Wednesday 9 July 2003
I've decided the site needs something more - like a 'Frequently Asked Questions' page and
perhaps a 'History of Streamer' page. I've started work on the latter.
Also spent a bit of time cleaning up earlier playlists, which were generated using Word and
are an HTML nightmare!!! Much much nicer to paw-code things so they're neat and valid
code!
Sunday 6 July 2003
Played in the garden for a lot of the day, enjoying the warmth. Roxy was also out and
about for a while snuffling around in the undergrowth and presumably having a wonderful
piggie time.
Saturday 5 July 2003
On with the best Collar and off to Kelly's birthday party. Of course I was very silent
because there were lots of strangers there who don't know I can talk. Overheard a lot
of interesting conversations - one being that people born in cold weather should postpone
their birthday parties until summer temperatures roll around again.
Of course, despite everyone being told "don't feed Streamer" I still managed to score some
very yummy food. There was also the obligatory 'breathe the helium then talk' session
which I departed from smartly when I heard some fool pondering to everyone what a beagle
sounds like after breathing helium. INDEED!!!! WHAT a cheek!!!!
Friday 4 July 2003
Doctor Apollo from WARD "C" sent a recipe for a very interesting Sanatorian Cold and Sniffle
Cure. I didn't think they had those sorts of things on Sanatorius - much less the
ONIONS that are involved.
Later: House now pongs of onions - and so does Mistress Hellen. Also listening to lots
of WARD "C" music because it's very good for healing things like colds/coughs/muscle pains.
Thursday 3 July 2003 * * * Happy Birthday KELLY * * *
Oh Dear, Mistress Hellen is coming down with a cold or some such thing - just great on top
of her constant companion - the guinea pig allergy.
Wednesday 2 July 2003
EVEN MORE Great Excitement! DOCTOR APOLLO (from WARD "C") rang me towards the end
of my show. (All the way from Newcastle!!!) It was a great show too with all that
new music and made especially special having my favourite Doctor on the line.
I played 'If I had a Sackful of Cats, I'd See You in San Francisco' to celebrate this
event. This song is one of WARD "C"'s entries on the Newcastle ABC Music Awards.
I also played a very interesting rendition of 'Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head' - by some
musical bod called 'Catfish' - played on glasses of water, or bottles of
water. Wahha! Just realised the appropriateness of the tune - considering it's
been raining very hard for the last day or so. Anyway, this little number is from an
album called 'Cavalcade of Spurts: Varioty Show Newtown Town Hall' and yes, that is how they
have chosen to spell Varioty - and it seems to well describe the event!!
Tuesday 1 July 2003 * * HAPPY Financial New Year Everyone * *
Watched the world from the safety, warmth and most importantly - dryness - of Command and
Observation Post 1.
Did an extra round of Dogaeorbics since it's too cold and wet to take in my usual walk.
The Beagle Diary
A
fascinating (perhaps) insight into Streamer's life with and without Mistress
Hellen. The diary is updated frequently.
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