It's a long way to the top, if you wanna rock'n'roll *

Music features this week on Sunday Stamps, so I thought I would go a bit rock'n'roll on you all. In 2006 Australia issued the above stamps that pictured iconic posters from rock gigs. I think the posters make good stamps, as the images are bold, eye-catching and colourful. I am not sure if many of the festivals or bands would necessarily be recognisable to audiences beyond Australia - with the exception of the poster for the Rolling Stones tour.

Midnight Oil are a legendary Australian band - who had some international success, and had a massive hit with the song "Beds are Burning." To remind you all about the song, I have included the video below. It was taken during the 2009 Sound Relief concert - not a gig immortalised in the above stamp release, but an amazing gig that I happened to attend, which was in aid of bush-fire victims.

The little mini-sheet of rock posters belongs on the page of my stamp album with other rock music related stamps (and some bug stamps that kind of fit colour-wise).

The other music stamps on my album page include these ones from 2001 (but I only have five of the eight stamps in the series):

The 2001 issue celebrates legendary songs, and the artists include Kylie Minogue, INXS, silverchair, Yothu Yindi and (puke) Savage Garden. Midnight Oil's song 'Power and the Passion' also features in this series, but  it is one of the stamps I don't yet have.

Australia Post also paid homage to local Rock'n'Roll in a 1998 issue, which featured Johnny O'Keefe, Daddy Cool and, as pictured above, the legendary AC/DC and Skyhooks. And I wanted to finish off with the ACCA DACCA stamp, so I could conclude this post with the very apt declaration:

It's a long way to the top... if you wanna rock'n'roll.

I heart acca-dacca. It's true. People who know me might be surprised by that. But seriously, how can you go past them?

Bagpipes: Tick.

Angus Young in his school uniform: Tick.

AC/DC on the back of truck driving through Melbourne: Tick.

My Sunday was just totally made, with that little dose of AC/DC. Hope you enjoyed it too, Sunday Stampers. :)

 

* With apologies to Bon Scott for appropriating his legendary rock'n'roll adage to the title of this week's post on a nerdy stamp blog. Sorry about that.

Games of the Olympiad: Sunday Stamps

I think the word "Olympiad" is sadly under-utilised these days.

The opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games are just around the corner: 5 days, 9 hours and 51 minutes away, to be precise. This week through Viridian's Sunday Stamps, we are very-fittingly sharing Olympic themed stamps.

I have chosen to share this lovely set of four stamps issued when my own home city hosted the Games of the XVIth Olympiad in 1956. The two coloured stamps present two fairly iconic images of Melbourne. The 1s stamp shows Melbourne's green and yellow trams, which still trundle through our streets today; and the 2s stamp shows the Yarra River, with Flinders Street station in the background. Both scenes have changed somewhat in the intervening 56 years, but both remain identifiable.

A large part of the reason cities choose to host the Games is to showcase the city's appeal to a worldwide audience, and I think the above two stamps would have been issued with that objective in mind. The last stamp in the series is a monochromatic red stamp that features Melbourne's Coat of Arms.

As always, I have once again learnt something through choosing stamps to share. This week I learnt that the City of Melbourne has a Latin motto: Vires Acquirit Eundo. It is apparently a line taken from Virgil's Aeneid and means "We gather strength as we go". I have said it before, and I'll say it again: I love a good Latin motto. And I think perhaps the pomp of a Latin motto sits well with the pomp and ceremony of the Olympic Games, so I will just leave it at that, for today.