[The May Home]

Well, first of all, thank God I got to see them when they were here last
year!!!!  And thank God I made the ridiculous road trips to see them several
times!!  And thank God I went to all lengths to be in the front row every
time I saw them!!!  It's so strange to think of a world without Midnight Oil
in it.  No more CDs to look forward to.....they're really the only thing
I've ever been fanatical about, so it's definitely disconcerting!

It must be a very strange thing for them....to be a part of something for so
long and to have it end.  I just quit my job to free myself up to do
something I'm more passionate about and the feeling is both surreal and sad
and exciting.  It takes guts to leave something safe and secure (not to
mention successful, as those things are often measured) for something
unknown and I admire that he's done it.  I hope Pete has a great time and
that the rest of the guys do, too.  God knows, I'll buy any music they put
out!!  

I guess one of the best things I can say about the band is how they have
kindled my interest in and passion for Australia.  I didn't know a thing
about Australia before I discovered the Oils and in trying to understand
their music, I have learned so much.   Over the years there's always been
one more place or person or book or piece of history to learn about and it's
been a total pleasure.  Land rights, Australian involvement in world wars,
aboriginal history, Ned Kelly, Henry Lawson, what and who Kosciusko is/was
and how you pronounce it (LOL), environmental destruction, nuclear activism,
what a didgeridoo is and how much I LOVE the sound of it (Charlie McMahon
made a mint off of me!  My husband late one evening:  "Honey, what are you
doing?"  Me:  "Faxing Australia trying to get a bunch of didgeridoo CDs"
Husband:  "How much will that all cost?   Me:  "uh, I really can't
tell...."), the blue sky mine,  Capricornia, and so on and so on.  I've also
discovered so many other cool Australian bands.  Hopefully someday I can
scrape together the cash to come and visit and see Oz for myself.  See
Uluru, gaze on this Goat Island you all keep talking about  :), swim in the
ocean and walk in the desert, and just be there and play my Oils music and
just BE there.  

So, I guess what I feel most  for the Oils is gratitude -- for making my
world bigger, for making intelligent music (there is so, so little of it in
the world), for transcending their genre and creating music and a movement
for 'good', for refusing to settle for 'success', for filling so many of my
hours with really loud driving music, for ensuring that I will be deaf
before my time (LOL), for rejecting so much of the bullshit, really.  So,
thanks guys!!!  May the road rise up to meet you......

Sharon Nearhoof May
Scottsdale, Arizona  USA