Awkward Conversations About Music
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Ah, such fresh wounds with this one! While visiting my family in upstate NY, I came across an Australian foreign exchange student who, after graduating high school in Australia decided to come here to upstate NY for a year. She’s a really good singer and very friendly and I liked her immediately when she coerced me into trying vegemite for the first time. (Okay is it just me or does anyone else immediately get that Men at Work song Down Under stuck in their heads when they hear the word vegemite?) I was further encouraged when she told me how much Rabbit Proof Fence meant to her as a film and was familiar with the works of Australian author Elliot Perlman, whose epic novel Seven Types of Ambiguity I am in the process of reading (I just reached page 500 today.)
So, with all of these successes and considering her obvious interest in music (she sang a solo at my parent’s church service), I figured after receiving encouragement from others that it might be safe to ask her what Australian bands she likes. I wasn’t aiming too high. I mean, for her to say Radio Birdman would have been nice and The Devastations certainly should be at the forefront of her mind considering their recent stellar release Coal. But I would have been thrilled had she said Nick Cave for example. Or, I would have also been more than happy to listen to an adoring ramble about how much she loved Australian born Angus Andrew of The Liars.
Who did she choose as the pre-eminent Australian musician to represent her entire country to the world? Keith Urban.
(You better run. You better take cover.)