Guest Howard
GuestForum Replies Created
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Thank you for sharing your story and photo Lisa. I’m not at all surprised about your experience. The same happened to me with my one and only surfing experience at Cronulla beach in Sydney just after I’d turned 15 in the mid sixties. My school friend had one of those huge ‘Malibu’ boards of the time. They were much longer and heavier than the ones in your day.
Like you, I struggled to paddle out through the waves, upside down mostly before eventually having to swim back to my board that had washed ashore ahead of me on the waves. We didn’t have leg rope in those days!
In the 1980s I took up sailboarding and stuck with it until I eventually became very proficient in moderate to strong winds. It helped when I purchased a wet suit and a harness. The harness meant I could sail longer without my arms getting tired and the wet suit meant I could windsurf in colder weather.
My recommendation to you and Mona next time you plan on surfing in cold weather is to purchase a wet suit. They do help to keep you warm and also help with buoyancy when swimming. Depending on the time of year in Adelaide, you could probably get away with just a vest, like I did sailboarding. Sounds like you didn’t have much of a surfing coach!
I don’t know how you managed to paddle out on that huge board of yours. They are better for beginners though as they are more balanced when you are learning to stand on them. As for your baby sister, she certainly looks the part with that sun bleached, messy hair surfer chick look of hers.
“We’d love to give it a go another time! Maybe next time we visit Australia (fingers crossed!)?” Well don’t forget your ten year anniversary is due this year. You could easily add a couple of concerts to your holiday itinerary to help pay for your trip. It would be wonderful to see you back again and we’d travel from all over Australia to see you! Just love that video of you singing at Uluru and just wonder what you could do at the Sydney Opera House!
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Well done Tomás. Yes, the MonaLisa Twins music IS great and you have just stated the many reasons why! I don’t think I can add to what you have covered but I’ll definitely give it more thought.
“The best I can summarize is that MLT music comes from the heart. They have clearly decided that the music they put out would be their own, unadulterated.” These have been my sentiments too, from the moment I discovered them just six months ago. They have a genuine and passionate love of music, especially the music of sixties harmony groups. It is something they do for the shear love and pleasure it gives them and they are also passionate about sharing this love of music with others. Unlike many other groups, for them, it’s not about the money.
I have been very passionate about MLT not getting involved with Eurovision and other music contests for the very reason that it would be a distraction from their current path which has kept their music so pure and genuine. It is a path that has required them to work very hard to keep total artistic and marketing control of their music. They have not signed a record contract for obvious reasons and hopefully their integrity will continue to work for them in such a positive way, with the support of their many fans and projects like the MLT Club.
Great topic Tomás. Perhaps you should consider doing a PhD on the MLT! I’m sure someone will one day, just as I’m sure MLT music will be included in school music classes one day!
This discussion makes me even more excited about the delivery of their next album of originals!
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Very nice Jung, and why not experiment with all those pens in a good cause. The Twins may think they’re out of fashion and style but they definitely have their own fashion sense and their own style, which I find quite unique in the music industry. Not following fashion trends. and just being themselves is just another reason to love them!
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Sounds like a great idea there Mike. I know their hand written notes included with various merchandise and surprises are quite always artisticly written, especially when you compare it to my handwriting. I’m sure there would be a market for nicely hand written lyrics using the appropriate fountain pen and paper and I’m sure they would enjoy spending time on this side of their art.
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“that big black slate would come crashing down upon his little head”.
I think with Lisa Jung, it might be more a case of, bang, bang, Lisa’s silver hammer came down upon his head, clank, clank, Lisa’s silver hammer made sure that he was dead’!
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Wow Jacki, that is an amazing story. I have a niece who didn’t weigh much more than you when she was born, and although she has been small all her life, she has grown to be a beautiful young woman. You have done well to develop as well as you have in spite of the lack of knowledge and assistance available in those days. That sounds like a wonderful teacher you had way back then to give you that extra support when you needed it. Your difficult start in life hasn’t seemed to hamper your cognitive skills long term and the words flow so beautifully from you onto paper, like raindrops falling into a paper cup. Thank you so much for sharing this with us. You indeed are a very special and inspirational person and, needless to say, a Top Fan of the MonaLisa Twins!
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“That yellow BAM 3 mug speaks to me”. They all speak to me Jung. Thanks for sharing the ‘4 Benefits of handwriting’. Haven’t had a chance to read yet but it looks interesting and I’ll definitely have a look when I get a moment. Unlike you, I stopped writing when I learnt to type about 25 years ago. I just find the editing and record keeping facilities of computers make life so much easier and my writing was always terrible and I couldn’t even read my own writing half the time. I put it down to a primary school education in many different schools and in two different states which had their own education systems and also had different writing styles, so mine became very mixed. However, love your collection and I did love fountain pens when I used them in the old days. You’ve inspired me into looking into fountain pens again with a view to learning to write properly (calligraphy perhaps). You are very persuasive!
Mona and Lisa would find it difficult to believe that in my first year of school, at the age of five, we learnt to write on slates with chalk. In my second year we had ink wells in our desks and used something like a pencil with a nib on the end. Of course blotting paper was also required. Yes, this was the 1950’s not the 1750’s where they used something similar, a feather as a quill. Not much progress. All those poor little girls who had their pony tails or pig tails dipped in black ink wells by the young urchin sitting at the desk behind them. Now can you imagine Lisa in those days with her long red hair! Speaking of whom, did you notice she isn’t using a MonaLisa pen in the photo you included (marketing opportunities Lisa!). I wonder what sort of pen she was using!
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Yes, lovely Jacki! Why do your poems remind me of the Beatles. Could it be ‘Across The Universe’:
“Words are flowing out like endless rain into a paper cup
They slither while they pass, they slip away across the universe
Pools of sorrow, waves of joy are drifting through my opened mind
Possessing and caressing me” -
Okay Jung, I have a similar story to tell, but I have to swear you to secrecy. Back in the early 1970s, two of my brothers and I (and a couple of friends), were at our mother’s place (she was out), listening to Pink Floyd’s ‘Dark Side Of The Moon’, in the dark and in quadrophonic (it was all the rage then). Of course we had the system turned up really loud and like many young people of our generation, had been smoking that hippie green stuff. Yep, just like the Beatles would have been doing in the mid sixties!
Well eventually someone looks up and notices two uniformed policemen standing at the open door trying to get our attention. As we managed to compose ourselves and turn the sound down, (we’d been lying on the floor), they said, ‘do you realise we can hear this down the other end of the street’? Apparently, unbeknown to us, that’s where they lived. When we assured them we would keep the level down they left. Of course we closed the door and then wondered how come they hadn’t smelt that rather distinctive smell in the room. We put it down to either they were being friendly neighbours, or all that incense we used to burn in those days. Now you know why incense was so popular in the sixties and seventies! Also, fortunately for us our mother never found out!
As for Mona and Lisa in their small village outside Vienna, with I’m guessing not too many close neighbours around, their eminently more sensible than me father would have had his studio appropriately soundproofed for both his needs and that of his two beautiful, young daughters who were equally passionate about music. Well that’s how I’d imagine it anyway, and like you, I just can’t imagine what sort of person would feel the need to complain about anything Mona and Lisa do. Apart from each other of course, just watch one of their Q&A videos!
Now if I was communicating with Lisa, I’d be suggesting that next time she experiences a blackout and was looking for inspiration, she try listening to ‘Dark Side Of The Moon’, preferably with headphones if she hasn’t already. I’m fairly sure papa Rudi has, being a ’70’s progressive rock kind of a guy!
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I’m with you Jacki. If I was a multi millionaire, the MLT would never need to wonder where their project funding was coming from again. Never mind, if enough of us can provide whatever support we can, they at least will be able to continue independently doing what they love doing so much and we will be able to continuing doing the listening and watching we love so much. Can’t wait for their next video!
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Thanks for the reminder Mike. I also love my two shirts, cap and hoodie. And lets not forget the two posters I have!
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This is my collection of MonaLisa mugs. Seven in all, including the one that has that famous Elvis scowl on Mona’s face. You can also see it in the ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’ video (Mona’s Elvis scowl that is).
I noticed the ‘Wide, Wide Land’ isn’t there. I’ll have to add it to my next order!
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Ah! Pen collectors. What do you call them? The following is copied from Quora:
“My comments are limited to Fountain Pen Folk–
Brilliant, witty folks with good taste and an appreciation for finer things. They are contemplative and yet ready with a quick riposte when needed.
While the mandorla of the Venn Diagram is quite large we come in two basic varieties…
- Collectors–who will search out a specific sort of pen maker and/or a specific model of pen and attempt to become both expert on and holder of as many examples of that particular pen. I know of a person who is renowned for his collection of Parker Vacu-matics. Probably the world’s expert.
- Accumulators–folks who enjoy using pens and really aren’t into the single-minded pursuit of one kind. Some of us have several pens of the same model because we like them–the feel or the look or the way they write. Generally, we just like pens and spend too much of our budget on the darn things…
As noted there is a great overlap…There are collectors who have very eclectic collections of a style of pen…the combo…fountain pen on one end-pencil on the other…”
That is a wonderful collection of yours Jung. Which category do you fall into? My guess is ‘Accumulator’, considering your collection of MonaLisa pens. Like with everything MLT, the quality is excellent!
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Well you got me there Jung. I also have the The Wide, Wide, Land mug plus five others. I also have heaps of pens. Nice feel and writing as well as great for introducing friends to the MLT. I also love my Mouse pads, of which I have four.
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Yes Jung, quite familiar with BTO. by the way, ‘You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet’, Bbbaby, you ain’t seen nnothing yet!
