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Lyricbuster:

where hyperbolic lyrics are lovingly dismantled...

Unbeknownst to many,  Marvin Gaye created an Orwellian nadir that brought him to the brink of madness.  Few realise that Justin Timberlake spent twenty-five years in the woods, 

constructing a makeshift dam to punish his ex.  Fewer still are aware "Teddy Bears' Picnic" is actually a call to ursine arms that guarantees a carnage.  And history has (mercifully) drawn a veil across the unsettling romantic tendencies of Gene Pitney, where not even the grave could keep him from his lover.

Until now.

Enter the world of Lyricbuster: where fifteen seemingly innocuous lyrics are dissected, using a blend of physics, mathematics, biology...and a deep affection for the peculiarities of the English language.

Whether it's the temporal defiance of Wang Chung, the disturbing lengths Whitney Houston would go to get her man, or the unremitting horror at the heart of "It's Raining Men", you'll never listen to these songs the same way again.

 

 

"Walk with humility and a good heart...do that, and you can walk anywhere in this land."

- Uncle John Long, Ugarapul Elder

 

 

The Black & White Braid Vol I (Cairn Tor 2021), is a fully-illustrated hardcover collaboration with photographer Carin Garland. 

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Walking out the door on a winter’s morning in 2019, author Benjamin Allmon and photographer Carin Garland are about to discover just how far the road - the black & white braid - will take them. For the next 30 days and nearly 700km, they roam across Queensland’s Scenic Rim on foot, learning the stories of the roads they follow; who they are named after, who walked them first...and who walks them now.
In this microcosm of Australia, they uncover the past and discover the present alongside Indigenous Elders trying to secure Lore in the next generation; 4th-generation farmers at breaking point in the worst drought on record; proud South Sea Islander descendants of Queensland’s first “blackbirded” workers seeking to have their voices heard; incredible women and men who banded together during the devastating Black Summer bushfires to save their community; sisters trying to save their town from extinction, and many more.
From farmer-preachers in Australia’s Bible Belt to environmentalists trying to preserve prehistoric wilderness, young mothers to 102-year-old great-great-grandmothers, traditional custodians to recent immigrants, Benjamin and Carin discover how we are all connected - by the roads that brought us here, by the roads we travel every day through this country we share...and then ask:
where is the road leading?

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Vol I covers Tamborine Mountain, Beechmont, Binna Burra, O'Reillys, Kerry, Christmas Creek, Chinghee Creek, Running Creek, Rathdowney, the Mt Barney region, Maroon, Carneys Creek, Croftby, Coochin, Moogerah, and the Spicer's Gap region amongst others.

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The Black & White Braid is supported by The Queensland Government through Arts Queensland, and Scenic Rim Regional Council through the RADF Program.

 

 

"Walk with humility and a good heart...do that, and you can walk anywhere in this land."

- Uncle John Long, Ugarapul Elder

 

 

The Black & White Braid VOL II (Cairn Tor 2021), is a fully-illustrated hardcover collaboration with photographer Carin Garland. 

​

Walking out the door on a winter’s morning in 2019, author Benjamin Allmon and photographer Carin Garland are about to discover just how far the road - the black &