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Everything old is new again. I bought this old Gillette razor to replace the piece of junk I’ve used for years. Solid stainless steel. Beautifully machined. Gave it a thorough wash and then tried it out. It not only feels better in the hand but even cuts better due to a tried and tested design. Double-edged safety razors are great for people who don’t shave regularly, as they don’t clog up like cartridges. They also are meditative to use. And it doesn’t hurt that the blades cost almost nothing. Sometimes hipsterism merely fetishises the past. Sometimes old things demand to be used in a different way that’s far more pleasing.

Today’s the day for marrying old and new. The tiny lil 50W RMS class D amp from China for $25 with my dad’s old bookshelf speakers from the late ‘60s. And then my 90s Arbiter Fuzz Face guitar pedal - identical to the ones used by Hendrix in the late 60s - sporting a lithium ion rechargeable 9v battery that I got for about $8. Cheap modern stuff that allows me to get good use out of vintage designs. ...

Spring is dropping hints all over the place and these guys are especially enjoying having balcony access.

#throwbackthursday in more ways than one. This is the skin of the lion that jumped Harry Wolhuter - a hunter turned The Kruger National Park’s first game ranger. The lions ambushed him and he was thrown from his horse. He came to being dragged by the shoulder between the animal’s legs. He reached for his knife, praying it hadn’t been thrown clear as it had on two previous occasions. It was there. He then had to awkwardly reach around with his left hand as the lion’s jaws had completely incapacitated his right arm. He stabbed the lion thrice where, as a hunter, he knew its heart to be. It grunted and released him. After an awful night tied up in a tree by his belt, he was rescued by his retinue and they tracked the blood trail to the lion’s body. The puncture wounds are clearly visible. On a visit to England he went to buy another of these knives. He told the guy at the counter that he’d killed a lion with one. The clerk said sarcastically, “Yes sir. Here we use them to kill sheep.

A different kitter. Trinket has a new game of trying to catch her tail under the banister.

Mad kitter. I’ve shot a lot of wildlife footage over the years but I’ve never done anything with it. Maybe it’s time to actually cut some of it together - even though the gear I used is pretty primitive by todays standards.

I’m concocting a cheesy plan with @sad_ivan to use our SGs in the upcoming #deathofpop show we’re doing with @krakatoa_band. They need a bit of stage time, even if they’re not what you think of as surf guitars. On the other hand, Link Wray used one for a long time so…

Haven’t taken a minibus taxi in a couple years. Convenient though when I end up on Main Road. And a lot more comfortable than in the 90s.

The shuttered remnants of Gandalf’s - for about 20 years the main place for undergrads and other young people to go and enjoy cheap booze, crowds jacked up on youth hormones, and rock ’n roll music. Ian McKellan was once photographed hanging off the sign while shooting something in the area. I played a couple of good shows there though even when the place first opened I felt like a teacher chaperoning at a high school dance. Rock ’n roll is now on its last legs as a mass youth movement.

Off Lower Main Road Obz yesterday. Not much is holding out against gentrification now. The city is content for the few who weren’t already pushed off to distant wastelands by Apartheid to be pushed off to distant wastelands by rising rents and redevelopment. At top right is a mosque that I didn’t know existed. The daily call to prayer is emblematic for me of our diverse city and the history of that diversity in building it. Islam in SA began with Indonesian and Malaysian slaves being sent here by their Dutch colonists. Political prisoners too. The first book ever written in Afrikaans was the Qran, translated by a political prisoner from ‘Dutch Batavia’, Tuan Guru. ...