Sleep On The Streets : 24 July, Gold Coast

Captain Australia’s Crime Fighting Journal, Entry#73

Firstly, let me announce that next weekend on 24 July, I will be spending the night sleeping on the streets for a charity supporting homelessness.  It is a very noble cause, and I’d urge you to get along if you can, or alternatively make contact with the charity and organise a donation.  If you watch their video, you’ll see that often young battered wives wind up homeless, so you can have young kids living on the street .. and they need your help.

Learn more by following this link, it will also lead you to resources, video and supporting information: Sleep on the Streets Website

Yesterday I auditioned for the X-FACTOR and it was a very exciting experience.

Needless to say, the strangled gurgling that I call singing was not enough to get me through to the next round of the contest, but I do feel that the Elvis-style kungfu kick I executed in the chorus really added to my performance.

I got a text message afterward from a fan who was in the audience and who said “You were robbed !  You sang like a bird !”.  I guess if he’s referring to the territorial honk an emu makes just before it kicks you in the goolie-bags … fair enough.

I think it will be televised in August, and am excited because they took quite a lot of interesting video of me leading up to the performance.  The staff  & crew were quite lovely and professional, especially the young man who interviewed me.

Guy Sebastian (who I’ve liked since he started out on Idol) gave me a big reverse bearhug .. I may never wash my costume again: I’m a real fan.

Natalie Imbruglia was very gentle yet engaging & I have to say she is a very strikingly beautiful woman!  I told her so during the audition, but I think she interpretted it as vote-grabbing, not sincere flattery !

Ronan Keating seemed to me to be the larrakin & smart-arse.  He was very inquisitive and engaging.  He urged me to take off my mask – but he might as well have asked me to drop my pants and moonwalk through a cactus patch.  There’s just : no way !

Kyle Sandilands was an unexpected surprise – he said some very kind things, which I found to be quite moving : said the C A could also stand for Caring Australian, and that what I’m doing is wonderful.  I should have spent more time practicing my singing and less time trying to prepare snappy come-backs for insults that never came!

Matt Newton was as bouncy and energetic as a pre-schooler whose just chugged 5 cans of red-bull.  Great fun.  He was full of energy and enthusiasm, which really helped shock me out of my own nervous introspection.

It was a great experience.  It took a great deal of courage, and I’d like to thank Rodney for challenging me to do it.  Mate, I think you were tongue-in-cheek and didn’t expect me to follow through.. I hope you’ll remember when you see me on TV in the next month or so – some people in this life tell the truth, there is goodness in this world, and you should do your best to try and shine.

If you want to get an impression of how my singing went, this is my original response to Rodney’s challenge.  Note the gut !