Smokie muses on the wrongful arrest of one of his mates at the 1985 Boxing Day Test match.
Almanac Life: The Crystal Pool
August 7, 2020 by 18 Comments
Smokie Dawson longs for the summer, and a visit to the Crystal Pool. Its charms have been passed down through the generations of his family.
Almanac Life: Talking Crap
July 31, 2020 by 10 Comments
A few months ago, Smokie was talking crap, as the guest on a community radio show.
Almanac Life: Special Subject – ‘Revolver’
July 24, 2020 by 17 Comments
Smokie Dawson is bit of a trivia buff. How and why he remembers all the ‘stuff’ is one of life’s great mysteries. With the ‘Revolver’ album as his special subject he’d cream any question Jennifer Byrne would ask him. [Perhaps a Footy Almanac Trivia night is on the cards? – ED.]
Almanac Music – Aussie album review: The Triffids ‘Born Sandy Devotional’
July 17, 2020 by 12 Comments
After a hiatus, Smokie is back with the fourteenth in his look-backs at classic Australian albums. This time it is the Triffids’ 1986 masterpiece ‘Born Sandy Devotional’.
No Footy!
July 3, 2020 by 8 Comments
Smokie laments the cancellation of local footy. He’s missing the Fearon.
Almanac Life: Blunt’s Room
June 26, 2020 by 16 Comments
Smokie recalls the glory days of a sanctuary called ‘Blunt’s Room’.
Round 2 – GWS v North Melbourne: Off-Broadway
June 15, 2020 by 8 Comments
Smokie’s bit-part players and character actors adorned in blue and white stripes put in a performance worthy of a Tony as they accounted for the Giants – will North Melbourne provide some new household names come the end of the season?
Almanac Life: The Vancouver Weekend
June 12, 2020 by 5 Comments
Smokie and his mate Macca once spent a lost weekend in Vancouver.
Almanac Life: Cricket With My Sons
June 5, 2020 by 9 Comments
A flashback to almost 11 years ago when Smokie first posted this piece about playing cricket with his sons.
Almanac Life: On Safari
May 15, 2020 by 5 Comments
The Netflix series “Tiger King” prompted in Smokie childhood memories of the old Bacchus Marsh Lion Park.
Almanac Life: Skater Boys
May 8, 2020 by 12 Comments
It might be difficult to comprehend, but Smokie once rode a skateboard – on the West Gate Bridge of all places!
Almanac Life – Paying Homage to the great DK Lillee
May 5, 2020 by 26 Comments
‘Smokie’ Dawson takes us on a tour of the statues of his adolescent heroes, DK Lillee and Malcolm Blight, and relates a close encounter with the great fast bowler.
Almanac Life: Horses and Mini-bikes
April 24, 2020 by 4 Comments
Smokie rides neither horses nor motor-bikes. In this memoir, he explains why.
Almanac Memoir (and Poetry): ‘An Avocado’
April 17, 2020 by 12 Comments
There was a time when a young Smokie wrote poetry, with one being good enough to win a literary award – in a roundabout fashion.
Almanac Life: ’30 for 30′ – Who’d make the Aussie cut?
Instead of watching the news on TV, Smokie Dawson is now watching American sports themed shows on ’30 for 30′. He wonders which Aussie sporting greats would make the cut on an Aussie version of the show.