Legendary rock showman Dave Graney takes us on a journey about self-discovery. As a young man fired up by punk rock he sets off on a road-trip from small-town Australia, outside of life and looking for a way in. When he loses the map Graney discovers his groove, then twists and turns through three decades as a working artist. When Graney takes the wheel, you don't know where you'll end up - or if you'll get there safe. This ain't no standard rock'n'roll trip; it's an education. This is Graney up close, out there and on his game. Turn it up loud.

Legendary rock showman Dave Graney takes us on a journey about self-discovery. As a young man fired up by punk rock he sets off on a road-trip from small-town Australia, outside of life and looking for a way in. When he loses the map Graney discovers his groove, then twists and turns through three decades as a working artist. When Graney takes the wheel, you don't know where you'll end up - or if you'll get there safe. This ain't no standard rock'n'roll trip; it's an education. This is Graney up close, out there and on his game. Turn it up loud.

Though one of the most popular genres for decades, the western started to lose its relevance in the 1960s and 1970s, and by the early 1980s it had ridden into the sunset on screens both big and small. The genre has enjoyed a resurgence, however, and in the past few decades some remarkable westerns have appeared on television and in movie theaters. From independent films to critically acclaimed Hollywood productions and television series, the western remains an important part of American popular culture. Running the gamut from traditional to revisionist, with settings ranging from the old West to the “new Wests” of the present day and distant future, contemporary westerns continue to explore the history, geography, myths, and legends of the American frontier. In Contemporary Westerns: Film and Television since 1990, Andrew P. Nelson has collected essays that examine the trends and transformations in this underexplored period in Western film and television history. Addressing the new Western, they argue for the continued relevance and vibrancy of the genre as a narrative form. The book is organized into two sections: “Old West, New Stories” examines Westerns with common frontier locales, such as Dances with Wolves, Unforgiven, Deadwood, and True Grit. “New Wests, Old Stories” explores works in which familiar Western narratives, characters, and values are represented in more modern—and in one case futuristic—settings. Included are the films No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood, as well as the shows Firefly and Justified. With a foreword by Edward Buscombe, as well as an introduction that provides a comprehensive overview, this volume offers readers a compelling argument for the healthy survival of the Western. Written for scholars as well as educated viewers, Contemporary Westerns explores the genre’s evolving relationship with American culture, history, and politics.

Legendary Australian showman Dave Graney returns to the page and reveals the lengths he has gone to avoid anything that really feels like work. In his inimitable style, Graney veers from a feckless childhood in blue-collar South Australia, to the punk rock scene of 1980s London, and beer-soaked nights touring Australia where he worked very hard at not working at all. But in slacking off, Graney became one of the hardest working musicians in the industry, constantly evolving, reinventing, staying one step ahead of everyone - even himself. Workshy is half written by Dave Graney the consummate and tireless performer, and half-written by Dave Graney the bludge. The magic is that you're never sure which is which.

With appeal to more than just punk history obsessives, Orstralia offers an unprecedented snapshot of an underacknowledged segment of Australian life and history. Far from punk’s more modish North Atlantic core in the late 1970s, discontented youth in Australia were enacting similar musical and cultural reckonings. Yet in spite of the Australia's purported “laid-back” national demeanour, punks there were routinely met with insult, fist, or the police baton. More subterranean than the national scandal that was punk back in “homeland” Britain, Australia’s own bands nonetheless came to be heralded internationally. Orstralia represents the first definitive account of the country’s initial years, from progenitors the Saints and Radio Birdman in the mid-70s, through the emergence of hardcore in the 1980s, to the stylistic diffusion that accompanied transition to the 1990s. Based on over 130 interviews, Orstralia documents the most renowned to the most fleeting and obscure acts the nation produced. Included are equally engrossing and shocking personal narratives befitting such a passionate and intemperate cultural form, as well as punk’s placement within broader Australian society at the time.

Although born in Britain, Clarke emigrated to Australia and married an Australian actress. He had a short life, dying of pleurisy at age 35. Nonetheless, he wrote several books including histories of aspects of Tasmania and horror stories set in Australia. Australian Tales includes a number of biographical sketches, describing the circumstances of his life.

The following book, as the title suggests, revolves around early Australian history. It starts from the First Fleet era, which referred to the fleet of 11 ships that brought the first European and African settlers to Australia. It was made up of two Royal Navy vessels, three store ships and six convict transports. On 13 May 1787 the fleet under the command of Captain Arthur Phillip, with over 1400 people (convicts, marines, sailors, civil officers and free settlers), left from Portsmouth, England and took a journey of over 24,000 kilometers (15,000 mi) and over 250 days to eventually arrive in Botany Bay, New South Wales, where a penal colony would become the first European settlement in Australia.