Born in 1986

Jen and I met the young gentleman from the photo whilst giving him directions to find the Opera House so he can photograph the steps. He explained it was his first visit from Melbourne, that he lived in St Kilda, that he used to be a metalhead until one time he listened to Crowded House and they became his favourite band ever and now he's making a visit to their final resting place.

"And have you heard of a band called The Smiths?" he says us tentatively, as if it will be too obscure. I tell him I listened to them when spending warm summer days indoors. We explain that we are much older than him and knew them when they were still releasing. The kid was born in 1986. He sings different glimpses of songs, as he tries to work out his favourite tune. I confuse him by mixing up This Charming Man with How Soon is Now.

"Yeah, so my three favourite bands are Crowded House, The Smiths and Icehouse" he says, and that's when I decide I need to take his photograph to prove that he is real, and not a figment of imagination that I hallucinated as a way of staying connected to Generation Y.

The Songs of Sydney gig was quite good, quite interesting, Jen confirmed that her old school mate (who was performing) was an arrogant f****r "but he's my arrogant friend!" and Nat and I admired the attire of his bass guitarist and keyboardist, tweeds and gentlemans shoes. Girl from redsunband was great. Simon Day can still sing, which is reassuring for my 1990 self and the bold statement I made to Pete about Ratcat preempting both Nirvana and Sonic Youth....