Opesh

More guests join in on the conversation about identity and the secret to 'the animal question'.  

In part 2 of our Hair of the Dog mini-series, we discuss 'the' question: what are your favourite 3 animals?  The answers define you...listen in to find out how!

In part one of the Hair of the Dog mini-series, I sit with veteran nomad Ulrich from Germany and discuss the one rule he thinks overrules them all!  The Golden Rule.  But how does it measure up to scientific thought?

Be go controversial after Hunyar shares his thoughts on looking after a very old man here in Budapest.  I pose tough questions.  We hear about stamps.

Plus, two lovely women from Kazakhstan teach us a little of the mother tongue, describe your typical steppe, and discuss a new wave of politics in one of the biggest country's in the world.

And we don't even bring up Borat*

Local historian and gamer Robbie, a regular at the wonderful Kis Uzem bar in the 7th District of Budapest, steps in and poses very delicious questions, based on medieval history, about the way viruses shape, and perhaps manipulate, society.  An example of history having power over current events.

For my first official podcast from Kis Uzem Budapest, I sit down with resident gamer/historian/all-round distinguished gentleman Robbie to talk about how viruses affected medieval societies, before being joined by a rowdy group of young men who discuss East and West politics in Europe, followed by discussions about mixing races, nature killing old folks and what their value is to society in Corona days and lastly ending with a pair of girls from Kazakhstan who teach us the ways of the most misunderstood country in the world.  

Was a gas.

Two years after meeting Kevin at Sunflower Hostel in Berlin, I find him again in Budapest and we sit down at a bar in in the city to talk about his latest venture into Cryptocurrency and how it's related to Energy, human and environmental.  We're joined by one random walk in, Gasper, and Irish Gypsy extraordinaire Dean (without his 6 dogs).  

The last podcast from Budapest before some nasty little virus started to lock the world down...a long time coming, but this is a conversation between myself and Zubi, a musician from Nigeria but based in Budapest, fresh after playing around with some filming for a bit of music video fun.  We chomp down on some very hot and spicy noodles with mysterious Georgian girl in the background, chat about the Open Mic scene, Zubi's approach to music and listen in to some of his tracks.

I sit down with Arnoud, a French film buff who works in the industry while living in Budapest, and we get all fanboyish about arguably one of the most underrated films of all time: Strange Days, directed by Kathryn Bigelow and written by James Cameron.  We talk about why the film is So amazing, from the incredible cast to the far-ahead-of-its-time storyline.  Could this be the beginning of future movie-related podcasts with the great man Arnoud?  Stay tuned...

I sit down with legendary Bandi, an Aussie who has lived in Budapest for many years and has still maintained his Aussie connections to pies, Vegemite, football and the political situations occurring back home, especially during COVID.  We sit down, munch on some pies at 1066 bar, and have a yarn.  

The day after Halloween, in 2019, I hide at the best Barber Shop in Budapest and sit with a shy and mysterious Dane while her boyfriend has his beard shaved for the first time in years...plus a special guest Amin, best tattoo artist in the city!  Learn why the Danish don't like small talk, how Joka's marriage ended and more delightful insights on what would be a very auspicious day...

The last official podcast from Europe sees us time travelling to the weekend of the Queen and Joka's escape to Bruges, sans Queen, who left literally hours before to catch her bus.  Sir Lancelot, a local scaffolder who is seriously a real knight in shining armour after guiding Yas and I to the bus station on his bike, chats DJing in a Spiderman suit before I recap some of the music I recorded from Berlin.  Then the Panamanians come and so does Panama's biggest secret: what is the BEST nightclub there?

Tune in to find out...

I sit down post-incident with Catwoman (more on that later) with a sexy hippie called Nikita and her travelling buddy Oliver, both from Auckland, NZ.  After a tour of the Tool song 7empest (recent Grammy winner) we discuss more deep and meaningfuls while Sunflower plots to have me removed...

Here's a chance to set the record straight: this was me waiting for my German sister Nadine to arrive at Sunflower and already the seeds were sown for more trouble for Joka when a hipster manager of the hostel got in my face about wanting to arrange a kareoke night.  From this came the infamous 'barring' that marred my time at the best hostel in Berlin.  The Queen has some words of wisdom for me but do I listen?  

What a wild one this turns out to be.  With 10 euros to my name, I arrive in Amsterdam for one night only on the way back to Budapest.  There I meet Jos, self-proclaimed King of Amsterdam (and one of the first guests on the podcast months prior in Budapest).  Along the mission to get into Bulldogs Bar (where it's always 11pm) we pick up a stray: Melina, a mysterious French woman who dances for a living (know what I mean?).  She really spices things up at the Bulldog...poor Jos didn't know what was coming!  And neither did I.

I sit with Ben, former student, at Peaches in Melbourne one week out of a very interesting...interaction with the world-renowned comedian Jim Jeffries after his opening performance of his European tour in Budapest.  I basically reveal everything that happened...as honestly, and as entertainingly, as possible.

By the way, I'm not a heckler...I'm a prompter.

By the other way...nothing against Jim Jeffries...I'm sure he's a funnier person in person.

Kevin Martin, a tall, black, handsome Italian talks his current favourite topic: energy that exists between human beings.  Another pod from the Berlin days...

Fresh off a plane, jet-lagged and looking forward to xmas with the family (haha) I sit down with a young man who sings at pizza shops, tours Malaysia, had 70,000 subscribers on Youtube and happens to be a former student of mine.  

We sit under the sun at the rooftop bar called 'Peaches'.  Come for the sour beers.  Stay for the views.

Highlights:

1. Overspending Pigs

2. How to speak Esperanto?

3. Using Google Translate Mics to talk to a Russian kid in Prague

4.  How would you get Siri to respond to sex commands?

5.  Apple's lack of imagination post Jobs

6.  Projections of the future

7.  Jack Skeptico - bigger than Pewdie?

8.  How Ben got 70,000 subscribers on Youtube

Hopefully by the time this podcast is distributed, Cookey is still alive. He’s meant to be dead, according to Doctors, and each morning the scrawny, raspy patriarch of Prahran struts and staggers down Chapel street, weeping at another morning and declaring to bypasses each: ‘I’m still alive!’

That’s how I came across Cookey, in exactly this manner. Within hours I was in his ramshackle single bedroom flat in the projects tucked conveniently behind the curtain of glossy cafes, shiny shopfronts and funky bars. He greeted me with a rasp and we manoeuvred ourselves into a position to chat about his life, amongst the spartan paraphernalia of his life.

“I’ve had one of the most interesting lives anyone can experience,” he tells me.

An hour is a pittance in a lifetime, and how can one of the most colourful stories out there be squished into that time frame?

We tried. We talked about his first memory, about how the world has changed for better and worse, about his favourite love story, shared his favourite song by John Lennon and why he thought, as a musician, he never had children.

This is a story that hopefully we are gifted the time to capture more of. For now, we’ll just have to settle for this first insight into the razor sharp humour of a man dying of terminal cancer; a man more alive than most people you’ll meet in the street.

“It’s not really in my hands when I go,” he told me at the end of the chat. “Or where I go. But if there’s anyone you really hate, I’ll die on their doorstep for you.”

Gigi and Mattoosh return from our smoko after our love talk and then get an injection of romance from the Queen of Budapest...only for her story to upstaged by Joka's marriage proposal.  Well, at least he thinks so!  A quick one but a classic one....days before the drama of Sunflower.

Highlights:

Freestyling about Nans

Teaching yourself how to sing, freestyle and hold conversations

'Seducing' pretty women

Why I call Queen of Budapest the Queen of Budapest

The most romantic proposal of all time*

A  finely-tuned mannered English Italian Gigi and his Czech buddy Mattosh sit down and intend to talk about movies...but we end up anywhere but, and some deep and meaningful discussions about love and relationships from the perspective of men in 2019.

Highlights:

Movie Talk

Introducing Gigi and Mattosh

Love and Relationships in 2019

Pressures of growing up as a man

How to deal with Break Ups!

In the middle of the night, I sit down with Costa, the Night Bar Manager of Sunflower Hostel who comes across as a slightly drunken Jeremy Irons, and we talk about hostels conversations, beautiful women,  and receive a call from the Queen of Budapest herself.

Highlights:

Sunflower Ideas

Beautiful Women

About the Queen of Budapest

Hostel Conversations are the best in the world

The Queen Returns...

On the second night in Sunflower I sit down with Ineedto (phonetically spelt) from Denmark, a master of accents and inappropriate sound-checks, and the poetic and hilarious Joshua from Canada.  Listen to what happens when two Joshua's are confronted by a woman who details deep and meaningful discussions in a mock Russian accent.  

Highlights:

3:00 - Pill Addiction

8:00 - Sex Clubs in Berlin

10:00 - Hell vs Podcast Heaven

11:30 - Ineedto Accents

15:45 - Return of the Mysterious Russian Girl

18:30 - Polly Relationship Advice

24:00 - the name Joshua

27:00 - Denmark Interviews Canada

28:30 - Talking like a Reasonable Human

32.30 – Joshua's Berlin Poetry

37:30 - Favourite Physical Thing/Louvre 

45:00 - Joshua and Ineedto Freestyle 

My first night in Berlin I jump straight into it with a call from the Queen of Budapest, then joined by a hippie from Miami, a gay Argentine and a typically rowdy Brazilian along with Aisha, a girl from Morocco filming a documentary about the female orgasm.  Berlin was just getting warmed up...

Post a brilliant piece of jamming from the congregation of musicians in Neistadt, we gather and chat, interspersed with impromptu performances and a special guest appearance by Dave Chappelle himself (a random walk-in from Africa who just happened to look and sound just like him!).

A quick one...had to capture this classic character from Berlin, Neils, in Dresden recalling our 'run in' with the local dealers and his 'unpleasant experience' with a Tunisian flicking nuts in his face.  True story...

Two locals, a twitchy loud-mouth and a sly goateed hustler, discuss the problems of Murphy while checking out hostels better than the one we're in.  Good clean fun.

This is Russian Russel...aka Loghin.  He met me randomly at a miserable bar in Prague, the only two sitting in the basement nursing beers and looking for green.  He got talking via Google Translate and he wanted me to show me my podcasting gear.  Moments later, we did some music recording and production.

This is him in a nutshell...and me.  

Walked into a bar called Misery looking for weed.  Got denied.  Ordered beer and walked around corner of basement to area with one other soul: a young, green-eyed Russian lad who engaged with me in conversation...without knowing a word of English.  Or I Russian.

Google translate duel-microphone to the rescue...

In Dresden I stumble upon a very tall, very ginger, very handsome drummer/tattoo artist who was cleaning at the Lolli's Homestay in Neustadt.  He reminded me of one of my best mates back home, Jarrod 'Bigbird' Hill...one of those weird connections.  

I sit down in DRESDEN at Lollis Homestay with Sam from Chile and eventually Marco from Argentina and we talk about language, music and la revolucion de Santiago!

She was packing in the dark hours of the morning and woke me up, so I started a conversation, naturally.  Next morning, I try and pry through the mystery that lies behind Anna, Enigmatic Blondie from Mother Russia...