Horrorshow's 'The Party Life'

Here's an insightful example of drug-related media (this blog is not promoting any external websites, but lyrics sites don't seem to permit "cutting and pasting" - apologies): 

HORRORSHOW F/ NICK LUPI - THE PARTY LIFE LYRICS
[Solo]
They say you can't buy love right?
I just saw some guy outside
Reckons he's selling it for thirty bucks a piece
(Love is the drug!) But anyway

It's clock off time, and some friday night decadence is heaven scent
Now your working week worries are irrelevant
to the task at hand, of the master plan
of getting so far plastered you can hardly stand
Shit, I know it's gross
You'll still catch me at the bar with my glass steady getting comatose
And don't front, I'ma see you there too
as all the thoughts of staying sober disappear into the awkward small talk
It's crystal clear, even with the beer goggles
Is it half empty or half full when you've drunk the whole bottle? (which is it?)
It's no wonder, drunk girls make punch-drunk love confessions
Boys get drunk and throw punches
So let's just all get bent, watch it unravel
Maybe that'll break down the walls of make-up and dress sense
(What's your poison?) cause it ain't just booze these days
Shit, you can sniff, bong, smoke or munch your money away
Set your brain on fire chasing a chemical heaven
You look like shit but you never felt better
And shit, I hate dancing, more power to the wall flowers
But in nocturnal mode, it's the main attraction
So from the house parties looking like a scene from "Kids"
to driving green Mitsubishis down the Kings Cross strip
Pour out a little liquor on the street
for all the nights that you passed out without brushing your teeth

[Chorus]
We live the party life, so get drunk, take drugs
Make love, and we'll do it all again tomorrow night cause
Rain, hail or shine these are the days of our lives
Let's waste 'em away one day at a time
With that party life, so get drunk, take drugs
Make love, and we'll do it all again tomorrow night cause
Rain, hail or shine these are the days of our lives
Let's waste 'em away one day at a time

[Nick Lupi]
See it's clock off time but my work has just begun
Two days off from real life, we gon' touch the sun
Party like we don't trust the sun (ay Solo?)
Now let me show 'em how the fuck it's done
See where I'm from part of the weekend never dies, it just lays low
While we preoccupied with getting by but
When it arrives we all getting live
All heading to the same place, whatever you ride
We living for the now, not concerned with the future
Kidding ourselves like we're gonna slow down
But all this real life talk will only kill my buzz
So I put it to the back and slowly fill my cup
Cause I know reality, it can't be faced when I'm high
That's exactly why I got this bag of kush and some papers, let's ride
Escaping through them late nights, trekking it home
to the unpleasant glow of daylight
These kids are dancing down the fine line between trendy and junky
and when the music stops, it gets ugly
Chemical romance, slow dance with heaven
Shit, I don't like the drugs but they love me, trust me
Uh, pour me another, uh, maybe a couple more
So I can disconnect until all my troubles call
Remember all's fair in love and warfare
Oh yeah, this is for my whole team of midnight juggernauts

[Chorus]

[Solo] + (Nick Lupi)
It's like this city never sleeps, simply turns into a nightclub
where your love ain't as important as your money or your drugs
Here, try some, you only live once
But some of these people acting like they ship already sunk
(So, let's get it while we still forever young
 Before the sun sets on yesterday's buzz
 Before adolescence catches up with what's left of my lungs
 Left wondering how it ever begun)
In this world wide ashtray like any other Saturday
We got the social smokers in with the pack-a-days
(I stay hammered straight with no chaser
 Any other way, mate I wouldn't have it)
It's like what goes up (till gravity calls me
 back from cloud nine for the plunge)
"And I hate all my friends cause all my friends are taking drugs" - Suffa
But shit I'm guilty as charged (so who the fuck am I to judge?)

[Chorus] 

{*Scratches*}
"All we wanna know is 'Where the party at?'" - Notorious B.I.G.

LyricsBay | HORRORSHOW F/ NICK LUPI - THE PARTY LIFE LYRICS

Listen to it here.

Students For Sensible Drug Policy Victoria University

This blog hopes that it is not dreaming, as it seems like some significant people are learning about the significant flaws attached to government funding when the drug war is involved. In the state of Victoria, Australia, an autonomous sex worker group called Vixen is holding a festival this year, and you can find the Students For Sensible Drug Policy Victoria University chapter here (you might need to be logged onto Facebook to see it, unfortunately). At this stage, I highly recommend supporting both.

Transparency

Anyone who bothers reading this will most likely accuse this blog of malevolence and counter-productive negativity. However, it is a sentiment borne of having one's life co-opted by exploitative parties motivated by something other than genuine interest and care. I don't expect the majority of people to understand, but maybe it is what 'gay' people feel under criminalization. I spent many years in intimate confines with people who, in all fairness, not only had no idea about illicit drugs, but, at the end of the day, couldn't care less about the people who use them. I just wish people would admit it and be honest, rather than making things worse by allowing their delusion to impact on actual lives. Maybe women in Canada will feel it if abortion is re-criminalized. I'm not trying to be divisive; just transparent. People should be honest, admit that they need a paying job and the sector is where they landed - this would be an example of integrity. It's not ethical to profit from an inhumane war, but at least people would be recognizing their decisions for what they really are.

So let's be frank - this paper from Melbourne-based NGO, Anex, is one that needs to be read with a well-developed intuition. I also recommend that readers based in Australia spend some time with the people who are employed by the organization, as you may well find that there is no substance to my opinion. As far as my fairly intimate experience goes, this is an organization that is not comprised of illicit drug users, nor do its employees engage in activities related to illicit drug use beyond their paid employment. From a significant period of time understanding this organization, there is a complete absence of passion for the welfare of people who use illicit drugs beyond ego, travel and the next funding round.


Therefore, I can only conclude, based on both intellect and intuition, that this paper is motivated by a fear of future funding cuts - not a concern for people who use illicit drugs. In all fairness, though, how can we expect someone to be genuinely concerned when they have no personal connection to the topic they are working on?

A sense of humor

"...(and a sense of humor, properly developed, is superior to any religion so far devised)..."
 
                                                                                             - Tom Robbins, Jitterbug Perfume (1984)

Would a little progress be alright?

Maybe in order to improve matters somewhat, we need to understand that there is 'self consideration', 'self absorption' and 'selfishness'. Once the difference between the three has been established, I think it is then possible to comprehend that firstly, humans are, by necessity, always motivated by their personal needs and there is nothing wrong with this; and, secondly, that in order for humans to be genuinely fulfilled and happy, we need to live in an environment where those around us have equal opportunities to satisfy their personal needs. It may seem paradoxical, but in coming to terms with our innate self-interest, we can then understand the essential importance of empathy/sharing/compassion/altruism etc.

I said "maybe".

A refreshing breeze and Monica Barratt

Whilst this miniscule bit of internet 'real estate' holds no illusory beliefs regarding its influence or status (and quite happily continues to serve its humble original function), it is good to know that the much wider world feels the coolness that those behind it regularly experience from standing in the passages of humane awareness. Rejuvenation is vital in a climate where heated debate, abusive coercion and manipulation, intense desperation and relentless delusion is forecast every... single... day.

At the very least, this piece of online media from Victoria, Australia's The Age newspaper should be commended for its gentle soothing effect - in meteorological terms, it is possibly akin to the 'Fremantle Doctor' of Western Australia or the rain during the Indochine monsoon season. On a grander scale, Monica Barratt's collaboration with Ormsby et al may be the sign of a new horizon entirely.