weekendz
with my pals valdi and julie's wedding set up in the blue mountains, the gypsy gal and I decided to head out a day early and beat the weekend traffic. having the lend of a pal's house helped make the weekend look more appealing, so we set off on friday.
the plan was to head to the local pub for a couple of quiet lagers and sample the bistro, then return to the house and enjoy a lazy night with the spectacular views. next thing I knew, I was playing a set with the house band, we'd won the raffle and ended up sipping whiskey with a couple locals well after closing time. this seems to happen to us a fair bit....
as weddings go, this one was very enjoyable. they avoided the cumbersome quasi-religious ceremonies and instead featured a well-humoured celebrant who kept the proceedings moving along quickly. as julie's scottish, with a fair few of her clan out from the isle, there was a distinctly scots overtone to the whole shindig, complete with bagpipes and kilts aplenty. the band rocked til late, and the affair wrapped up well after midnight - not bad for a 2pm start.
traversed our way back down the mountains for my weekly sunday gig, which was good fun as usual, though a little light on the crowds this week. I'm thinking the switch to daylight savings threw some people off, as one of the regulars said he'd woke thinking it was friday.
happy b-day and many thanks to dave for the great house. set amongst the forest with stunning views over the valley, I'm thinking a writing week in the mountains may soon be in order so I can knock some of these new songs into better shape. I cut about a dozen of them last week, and listening back, I think some of them still need work. combined with the upcoming holidays, I'd wager that I won't be starting the new album until after the first of the year now.
rummaging through some old demos I'd recorded at warner/chappell about ten years ago, I came across a cute lil tune called "strangers". it's available for free download on my myspace page for a while.
misc music nooz
the new internet radio station, big rock radio should be up by the end of the week. it'll feature a lot of my older tracks, along with hillbilly moon and blues pirates tunes, alongside the big rock records catalog. details shortly.
speaking of, well, typing of hillbilly moon, paul norton's website has finally hit the net. go have a look.
no, we still haven't started work on my new album yet, a few delays in everyone's schedule has pushed the startdate back a bit. but soon. no, really.
the evil C claims another one - sandy west of the runaways, probably the most influential female rock drummer of all time (apologies to mo tucker, who didn't really play like a rock drummer) has died. the runaways paved the way from the likes of the go go's, the bangles, and pretty much every female rock band that followed (apologies to the g.t.o.'s, who were really just fronting a zappa experiment). the first time I played the whisky a gogo in los angeles was with sneakers, opening for a runaways spin-off band called the orchids.
np - jerry lee lewis / last man standing
kenny!
no, not the dude from south park who always gets killed every episode.
the film, which nabbed no less than six nods for the afi awards. have a look at the trailer here. good to see that amongst all the terrorism, global warming and celebrity rehab visits, there's still room for the quintessential quirky aussie comedy.
np - michael hedges / rickover's dream
wasted days and wasted nights
the legendary freddy fender passed away today after a year-long bout with lung cancer, aged 69.
we lose yet another to the insidious 'big c', and I shall perform his biggest hit in his honour this afternoon.
great video moments in rock n roll
this would have to be the tackiest 70's cover version I've seen in a long while. makes abba look like philip glass.
beatlefest
so I dragged myself out of bed at 3.30am to take part in the first of two shows celebrating the music of the beatles by performing with about eight other artists globally. except our virtual stage, second life was 90% down, and I only managed to login at 1 minute til, showtime.
the fun didn't stop there. about halfway thru the third artist, the whole simulation crashed, followed by the audio stream server. so if you were listening on winamp or similar and got a lot of dead air, that's why.
eventually all came good and the first show finished on a good note. b flat, I think it was. now all I've gotta do is stay awake til the second show at 1pm this afternoon....
another second life article here, by the by.
in other motorracing news, the gypsy gal got back from her overseas junket friday night and wanted to be taken straight to the pub. as you do. saturday, after catching punky's gig, a bunch of us came back for a late night jam that went on til the wee hours. it's no wonder my sleep patterns are messed up. note to carnsey - bring yer dobro next time.
my sunday residency has taken on a life of its own now, which I'm especially pleased about in the wake of a few lost gigs that some of my pals are experiencing. next week should prove interesting, as val gray is my guest, and his buck's night party is the night before...
np - john lennon / I am the walrus
that's why they call them 'long weekends'
we've just had labour day here in the antipodes, and I think all I did all weekend was watch football, drink beer and eat lots of bbq'ed food. sounds like typical western hedonism. but it's back to work now, and I'm having a hard time getting back into the swing of things.
this virtual beatlefest show that I er, suggested seems to be taking over my spare time at present. the show is next monday, usa time, but for my time zone, the first show is at 5am... anyway, details later, or go to the website.
