Peace On Earth- November 1993

[cass]

Lemonade Stand is a forum to talk about hobbies. Embroidery was a hobby of mine. **cass orders a glass of lemonade and settles in to tell a story**
Mid-1993
I could hardly believe the good news. U2 were going to bring the ZooTV to tour Australia, and this time......I could go!!!
After securing tickets for myself and 3 friends, the next big question was....what to wear?
The concert was only a few days before the official start of summer in Australia, so the day could be hot, but it might turn cool in the evening. I decided on a lycra dress( fashionable at the time, lemon of course) and a jacket, just in case. I decided to embroider the jacket with things that were dear to me. I worked on it each evening for the couple of weeks leading up to the concert. It helped me contain my excitement.
I portrayed a character who is very beloved by me, Dr Suess' Lorax..." I am the Lorax, I speak for the trees..."
So across the bottom it says " A Tree's A Fine Something All People Need, You Need A Tree". That's the Lorax standing on the stump of a truffla tree. It also says "pmara kutata" a term I learned from a wonderful Australian artist, William Ricketts, whom I had the privilege of meeting just before he died. I love his work and don't think it receives enough recognition. "pmara kutata" is an aboriginal word meaning "spirit of place" , having a sense of belonging to your country, the place you are from. I really feel it.
It also says "ta meri" a term I got from Wilbur Smith. Apparently it is an ancient Egyptian term meaning Mother Earth.
And the central part of the embroidery was reserved for a term that had long been dear to me and something I prayed for daily
"Peace On Earth"

you could have knocked me down with a feather when I bought the ATYCLB album and saw the song titles. I remember vividly the first time I listened to that album. Bono's performance of that song was so raw, it was so agonised, it tore my heart out. From that day I stopped writing Peace On Earth on my Christmas cards.

anyway , the jacket is one of my U2 heirlooms and now I know how to use a photo site, I thought someone might like to see it.

 

[U2girl]

Looks cool!

 

[cass]

and now my tale of two churches. I've been wanting to tell this story for a while.

the day of the concert arrived and it was HOT HOT HOT!. I had bought concert tickets from Summerland Coaches. I took my three friends to stay with my parents and we caught the bus at Byron Bay. Our car overheated a couple of times on the way up there and I was so worried we would miss the bus....we didn't.

On the drive to Brisbane there was black clouds and lightning starting to build up...an ELECTRICAL STORM!! Luckily it held off until the last song of the concert. Little did we know what was happening 300 kms away, back in the small town near where we live.
As I was in Brisbane, watching U2, having the night of my life( that was until I attended the Popmart concert) our friends and neighbours were back home being blasted by what is now considered a tornado. They weren't common place back then, but they are moreso now( grrenhouse gift maybe?). The little town was ripped asunder. Some people's houses were totally blown apart, they were terrified. The primary school had damaged buildings and was closed for days, the newly built fire brigade shed collapsed, people were terrified. Apparently the noise of it was horrendous and some people still get the heebies jeebies when they see a storm brewing up.
Sadly, the little old Union Church building was totally destroyed. It just disappeared like matchsticks. My friends and I were asleep safely back at my mum's place after the concert. The phone rang at about 6 am. It was my friend's 12 year old son "Mum, come home, there's been a storm, the fridges are off, help". They owned a general store in the next little town. The electricity was cut off to a huge area and their stock was spoiling. At the time, we had no idea how bad and extensive the damage was. It was a shock to come home to.
So that night seeing U2 Zoo Tv, was memorable in more ways than one!!
I used to make a joke about "Bono sang up a storm...he owes me a church!"
Lo and behold they decided to sell the St John the Baptist church back in my home town. The population up there had exploded and they "figured on biggering". I would have loved to have bought it and had it moved to where I live now. St. John's is very dear to me. They still don't have a church where I now live. I thought of writing a letter to U2, but thought , nah, silly idea. I was saddened to hear St John's sold for $525,000...slightly out of my price range, so I let it go.
I went along to the deconsecration service of St John's last year. I was Ok until they pulled the old wooden cross off the wall and carried the big old bible down the aisle...it had been in the building for 100 years I was even more saddened when I heard it was only the land under the church that was sold for half a million dollars. The church building itself was sold by tender for $5,000, to a woman who uses it as her kids playroom. $5000!! that was doable. But you have to let it go...still and all...it would have been nice.

So, the Greatest Show On Earth!!..it sure was a night to remember

ANZ Stadium Brisbane- waiting for U2

 

[Mullen-Girl]

That's cool cass

 

[cass]

hi maja- I can't sleep, I'm in story telling mode

My home town church. I was christened in the catholic church around the corner. My claim to fame...first person christened there. But once I started school and met my scripture teacher, I preferred to go to her Anglican church. They say"going home" because it was originally built up on the hill, but was moved down near the beach at some later point, to be more accessible. It is now back up on the hill. My sister was one of the few people who were married in it. St Johns...I mean

and this is as far as they have got re-building the Union church where I live now. Ugly eh? My son reckons it looks like a toilet block. Just one old couple were re-building it, and I think they have run out of steam. If it ever is finished, maybe they will they me paint a mural on it

 

[EPandAmerica]

Cass, I love reading your stories.

I wish you would have been at the Love Town concert in Brisbane.

 

[Popmartijn]

Stories...



Marty (promises to start storytelling soon)

 

[cass]

Cass,
I wish you would have been at the Love Town concert in Brisbane.

So do I mate, so do I. The day I saw the bus with the U2 sign in the window heading off to Brisbane for the Lovetown show, and I wasn't on it!!!
was the day I made the vow that I would never miss another U2 concert in Brisbane again. I pray they play there on this next tour....if I win the lottery I'll go to Perth too and maybe Melbourne.
dream
LARGE
imho

u know what i think is funny? .......well I'm gonna tell you.
Those links that come up at the top of the pages here. The one for this says "Embriodery Thread"
...it is an embroidery thread, a thread about threads

Ouch...I'm doing my own head in

there's more to this tale....I'll be back ...( like Arnie)

signed cass
who hopes marty keeps his promise
and U2

 

[~*Buffalo*~]

That's a neat story Cass!

ANZ Stadium looks very nicely suited to a U2 concert (hint, hint) ... I don't think there's been a concert there for many a year, sadly Oh well. There's plenty of other venues in Brisbane!

 

[Angela Harlem]

Cass you are gorgeous.

 

[U2girl]

toilet block

Great story The church coming back after all those years.