Phantasmagoria

A fleet of Dion buses, Wollongong, 1948. I have been traveling on buses a lot lately. That's fine - it saves me money, gets me from A to B through to Z. Having got rid of a second car and looking to get a motorbike, the bus serves me well in the interim. Sometimes it just IS, i.e. I go from here to there and back again, mostly between Wollongong and the northern suburbs, but I have ventured as far west as up over the Escarpment to Campbelltown, and into the deep south of Stockland Shellharbour. Usually I just pay my fare and sit quietly, comfortably, if possible. Other times the whole experience can be a real pain, like when you walk to the bus stop and see the bus pull out, realising you have to sit around waiting for the next one in half an hour or so; or late at night when I am tired and just want to get home, have a shower, and hop into bed, and the bus trip seems interminably long; or when a noisy drunk gets on the bus and you don't know what they are going to do; or a

Welcome to phantasmagoria in red and black.  Michael here. You many be wondering about the title of this blog : Phantasmagoria in red and black? Well, the answer is simple, really -  I love the word PHANTASMAGORIA , arising from its connection with American singer songwriter and guitarist Tim Buckley's exquisite song Phantasmagoria in Two , which I always refer to as Phantasmagoria in Blue  due to its melancholy mood and connection with another artist of incredible sensitivity and emotion who wrote a song called Way to Blue . Tim Buckley, Phantasmagoria in Two , London, 1968, duration: 4.41 minutes. The song features Buckley's incredibly moving vocalisation, the rich textures of his twelve-string guitar playing, and the mournful electric guitar of Lee Underwood .  I first heard  Phantasmagoria in Two one cold, dark and misty night many, many years ago, at the turn of the new millennium, introduced to it by a friend, Ariane Lewis. She had invited me over to listen