random notes

the cellphone wars continue. after discovering that my latest one wasn't funtioning as well, I moved on to model #3 of that particular brand. it failed as well. I'm now onto model #4...

the sydney rain cultural cringe has kicked in for 2007, it started bucketing down on sunday which left my sessions with less than half our usual numbers.

the oscars sucked, but not as badly as the grammys.

speaking of, it's interesting that actors have become politicians (arnie, reagan) and politicians can accept oscars (al gore). art & life, the lines are further blurring, no?

and did you realise that "peter o'toole" is a double phallic?

happy b-day to my big sis cheryl.

this reminds me

any nickleback fans? turn up yer speakers (hope you have stereo), and have a listen to this.

apparently mobile blogging is now all the rage, or so we're lead to believe. considering the amount of time it takes me to reply a simple "yes, meet at 4pm" in sms, this page'd be mighty empty were I to rely on yet another technological move sideways.

my deepest condolences to my pal and fellow barfly mike, whose wife meg has passed away overnight. she's been suffering cancer for three years now, and wasn't expected to see out 2006, so it's not exactly a surprise. but it's a sad relief for mike & his family. I'd hate for anyone to have to go thru that.

I've been a little startled to learn that my daughter's still sleepwalking a bit, as she did when much younger. it's an odd thing to be confronted with, this semi-sonamulistic behaviour. I wonder if she remembers any of it. anyone else have similar stories?

one word about britney's new look: at least now we know the curtains match the carpet...

baaaa... humbug

still ain't seen much that can top sam kekovich's classic ad for aussie lamb. great stuff.

el no-a posto

haven't been in the mood to post lately, can't say why exactly. sorting out various children's problems (and adults) has left me feeling a bit flat and uninspired.

had a photo shoot for the blues pirates album over the weekend. my daughter came along to hang out and the photographer caught a nice snap of the two of us. I've sent it to a few family & friends, if you didn't get one and wanna see, lemme know.

np - the bodeans / she's a runaway

vee dee

happy valentine's day to all and sundry, whoever sundry is, although I knew a gal named sunday once upon a time.

but that's another story entirely....

it's raining, it's pouring

and I mean a lot of rain. hopefully some of it will find its way into our thirsty water catchment areas and dams. this is a pretty dry country at the best of times, and a five year drought, combined with global warming and a hole in the ozone the size of alaska directly overhead ain't a good combo.

had a fun sunday session yesterday with mick neville fetch, who finally made it after a couple of false starts last year. his new dvd, live at the duke is out now, I appear in a couple of songs. not sure about sales info, but a few tracks are probably on youtube, I'll have a look.

my daughter headed off for a three day school camp this morning. she seems to be really enjoying her new school, and city life in general, which I'm happy about. the rose is now at her new school as well, it seems to suit her needs this year, and the gypsy gal's begun her new job. so back to routine, I hope.

anyone who knew me in my brief tenure in the country knows how often I manage to get involved in community / charity events. the city's proved no different, as I've just come onboard the exec committee fot the 2nd annual acoustica festival, held here in balmain in april. question for annii, pinny &/or shawree - how do you folks manage on so little sleep? I'm gonna need some pointers, me fears...

anyone bother watching that debacle known as the grammys? not I. but I read that jon bon jovi, of all people, won an award in the country category? wtf is up with that?

np - be good tanyas / when doves cry

yeah

got more technohell problems solved this week, my cellphone now seems to be working properly (6th in 3 years), finally got the modem I was promised early january from my isp, and my alarm clock apparently works, as I now crawl out of bed at 7am to wake my daughter for school.

spent the day with mr. turner sifting thru the hours of tracks for the blues pirates album. it's the first chance we've had since november to regroup and look at where we are, which is about 3/4 way thru recording. the album's taking good shape, tracks can be heard at the myspace page, and we'll hopefully wrap it up in a few weeks.

have had my pal gwyn here on n off for a bit, since he's on the budget tour this trip. he's off to queensland, south australia and texas before returning to blighty, check here for tour dates. warning: cindy in austin, we gave him yer number....

I only have the usual Sunday sessions for a few weeks, which may give me a chance to catch up a bit, now that school's settled in, etc. anyone I've neglected of late (hiya annii), I'll be back in closer touch.

np - yusuf islam / maybe there's a world

without getting into a "seinfeld"....

... what's with people opening bottles of spring water, and then resealing them? I was watching tv tonight, an old buddy of mine was playing, the inimitable ross wilson. ross took a few swigs out of his bottle of water, closed it and I thought, "why does everyone put the cap back on? it's not like it's gonna go flat, or get any colder."

anyway, the weekend went well. thursday night's gig with gwyn was fun, but poorly attended, thanks to lack of promotion. still, it was great to catch up with a few old pals from the bikie club days I hadn't seen in yonks, plus a few various rock luminaries. gave me a chance to work out my new resonator with a proper concert p.a. system... got some fine tuning to do...

both saturday and sunday's shows were a bit down on numbers too, but only cause that happens this time of year. this too, shall pass.

np - eric clapton on youtube.