Mark Hodgetts

When you embrace darkness it takes you in, welcomes you and then when you’re comfortable,starts to bite. Collateral Damage- Postcards From Hell I’m on more than nodding terms with darkness.…

Ritchie Blackmore just turned 76. It doesn’t feel right writing that. Heroes are larger than life. They’re not meant to grow old. Blackmore has always been my hero. Well at…

Over the past five years so, I’ve spent a lot of time writing about politics. I don’t see the point anymore. There’s a lot of money to be made doing…

One of the great blessings of working from home is that I get the opportunity to correspond with a range of people whom I otherwise would not. Two of those…

“Salt of the earth” is one of those phrases that doesn’t get used much anymore. It conjures up images of hard work,true toughness, integrity, dignity, respect, loyalty and courage.The phrase…

I arrived in Ararat with 3 guitars, a broken bed, a sound system, a couple of thousand dollars worth of vinyl and a massive chip on my shoulder. I wasn’t…

Regular readers know that I’m a passionate supporter of Julian Assange and his efforts to expose the criminal underbelly of all governments. This morning I’ve been blindsided by the British…

I know success. Or so it would seem. Before I was thirty I was the Accountant at a small country branch of the Commonwealth Bank. By the time I’d reached…

The first time I heard Eddie Van Halen, I thought it was a joke. My best friend at the time played me Eruption. I couldn’t believe my ears. It didn’t…

I’ve been coming home to football for a while now. It’s been a long journey and there’s been more than a few stumbles along the way. I am almost there.…