Our First Beeswax Candles
The boys and I made our first beeswax candles today, in product trials for our new business, The Kids Candle Company. Check out the video!
G’Day World #335 – Mercy Ministries Survivor “Vickie”
Today’s show is a continuation of the examination I’ve been doing around the relationship and practices of Gloria Jean’s Coffee, Hillsong Church and Mercy Ministries. Today’s guest is a former resident of Mercy Ministries in the United States. She spent 7 months inside Mercy about 8 years ago and is still today too frightened of them to use her real name, so she is using the alias “Vickie Lucas”. Vickie tells me about how she entered Mercy trying to find help for her bulimia nervosa condition but instead of psychological and clinical treatment, she was subjected to exorcisms, neglect and emotional abuse. She talks about how she was chastised in public by Mercy founder Nancy Alcorn, who claims to be a lifelong celibate, for getting her haircut – apparently according to Mercy that’s a clear sign she is possessed by demons making her into a lesbian.
The quotes contained in this show by Nancy Alcorn and Peter Irvine are taken from this video by The Cynic Sage.
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The G’Day World theme music:
Conquest
“Secrets of Life” (mp3)
from “End of Days”
(Dark Star Records)
G’Day World #334 – Leo Sayer
In 1980, at age ten, I bought my very first LP record – “Living In A Fantasy” by Leo Sayer. I listened to it constantly – 20 years later I bought it on CD and today it’s always on my iPod. Leo has had several Number One hits around the world, “You Make Me Feel Like Dancing” (a U.S. Grammy winner for the year’s best Rhythm and Blues Song), the romantic ballad, “When I Need You” (1977), which reached number one in both the UK and U.S.
He also had remakes of Bobby Vee’s “More Than I Can Say” (his fourth UK number 2 hit, and in the U.S., number 2 pop and number one in the adult contemporary chart), and Buddy Holly’s “Raining In My Heart” (1979) and “Orchard Road” in 1983. In the U.S., three of his singles – “You Make Me Feel Like Dancing” (1977), “When I Need You,” (1977) and “More Than I Can Say” (1980) – were certified gold.
This morning he chatted with me for an hour from the city he now calls home – Sydney, Australia.
Check out his official site, LeoSayer.com, for updates on his touring schedule and to read his blog updates.
Buy his new album “Don’t Wait Until Tomorrow” and “Living In A Fantasy” from iTunes:
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Hey… I’m still here
Yeah I know I’ve been quiet for a few weeks. I expected to have more time / bandwidth in France than I ended up getting. And I’m currently editing a podcast that I recorded in Ajaccio with an Israeli historian Allon Klebanoff about J. S. Bach which will be up soon. Meanwhile, I’m crazy busy with client work and family stuff.
This week I’m also interviewing pop star Leo Sayer (who’s “Living In A Fantasy” album was the first LP I ever bought and it’s still a favourite) and I want to do a show about American anti-war activist Howard Zinn who I was recently introduced to by a new friend I met in Ajaccio.
My trip to France was AMAZING by the way. I should do a show on that as well at some stage. I wish I’d kept my video camera on all the time so I could record the “Buskers Of Paris” podcast. I met loads of new friends, many of whom you’ll meet via the show over the coming months. I met a couple of Israeli historians (in addition to Allon) who will come on to discuss the roots of anti-Semitism and a Swiss-Cuban ballet journalist / historian who will come on to debate the legacy of the Castro regime with me. And much much more.
Of course I also recorded all of the Napoleonic Society’s congress in Corsica and shot a bunch of video in Paris with my Napoleon co-host David Markham, all of which will be coming out on a DVD pack in the near future (yes, you’ll have to pay for it you cheap bastards).
So…. I’m BACK with a fury, ladies and gentlemen. Get ready to rumble.
My Legion of Merit Award
So while I was in France I was presented with the quite-prestigious “Legion Of Merit” award by the La Société Napoléonienne (aka the International Napoleonic Society) for my “contribution to the promotion of Napoleonic history” via the Napoleon podcast I produce on TPN.
As you can see, I’m the 97th person to receive the award. It’s quite a thrill for a long-time Napoleon enthusiast such as myself, especially considering I’m neither a scholar nor a historian.
On my first trip to France four years ago, I visited all of the Napoleonic sites and dreamed of one day making a contribution to Napoleonic history. That was before I’d even heard of podcasting. So to be presented with this award four years later is pretty cool. Let that be a lesson to all you kids out there – you too can wear big gold bling around your neck. No wait, wrong lesson. Hmmm, let me refer to “CAMERON’S BOOK OF LESSONS”… oh yeah, here it is – “What You Conceive and Believe You Can Achieve”.
I think there are some videos and photos of me receiving the award which I’ll post up when I get them. Currently I’m still sitting in Changi Airport on my way home. It’s a SEVEN HOUR stopover. Unbelievable.