AC/DC agnostic celebrates the ultimate live wire

This article appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald Today. (Thanks to Vanessa for spending $1.30 on a newspaper and taking a photo of it on her back lawn for me…)

See the whole article online here (it’s also mirrored on The Age).

I had a nice chat with the journalist, Clare Morgan, yesterday. She really seemed to pick up on this “agnostic” idea. I have to admit, it wasn’t me who first came up with it. It was the witty Shaun over at Rock n Roll Damnation who wrote:

Agnostic to AC/DC, Sydney artist Lucas Ihlein has immersed himself in all things Bon. It will be interesting to see what he makes of all this in the end.

I liked that. Agnostic:

*An Agnostic embraces a worldview in which the existence of deity is unknown or unknowable. Derives from the Greek agnostos, a = without, gnostos = known or knowledge. …

*A person who claims that they cannot have true knowledge about the existence of God (but does not deny that God might exist)

*A word first used by Professor Huxley, to indicate one who believes nothing which cannot be demonstrated by the senses.

See, some media outlets had mysteriously gotten the idea that I was a “die-hard fan”. Others had said that I was a “self-proclaimed non-fan”.

Neither was really true.

To clarify, when I began this blog, I knew very little about AC/DC and Bon Scott. However, I was open to the idea of becoming a fan.

“Non-fan” implies that I would never change, or even, that I was closed off to the idea of becoming a fan (for instance, I believe I would be telling the truth if I were to utter this statement: “I am a non-fan of Matchbox 20“).

“Die-hard” status, by contrast, is only earned after many years of dedication. It has to get deep into your blood, and I’m just not there yet.

So “agnostic” describes quite well the position I was in when I started this project. I like the religious significance of “agnostic” too. It implies that the thing you are agnostic about is a deity.

I think that’s appropriate. The fervour of many AC/DC fans is undoubtedly something borders on the religious (with Bon as God the Father).

Be that as it may, “agnostic” is hardly the way I’d describe myself now. After immersing in the waters of Bon, I’ve well and truly been baptised (in fact, I can pinpoint the exact moment!), but there are many sacraments to go before I am a fully fledged acolyte.

Thanks to everyone who read the article in the Herald or the Age, and emailed me, or sent a message for the TXT BON NOW! project! Some great messages came in, I can’t wait to see em up on the big screen!