musings

slowly moving towards refocusing on music. and reading back on that sentence, it does look ridiculous. to need to put so much effort into ‘refocusing’ on the one thing that has been the center of my life since I was a teen seems on the surface, ludicrous.

but it’s a long, slow journey, and one that I need to take in small steps. everything’s easier when one is younger, although we always thought it was much harder at the time. but now, the pull of bills, mortgages, work, children, family, friends, social obligations and other so-called “mid-life responsibilities” is very strong.

so this week, in spite of struggling with a resurfaced flu bug, I’ve managed to update my press kit, assemble a new bio for gigs and compiled a list of aussie music festivals to apply to. I’m also looking at possible uk gigs for next year and trying to put together a master plan for 2010. I always seem to find excuses to not finish a new album, this time I figure if I start lining up tours, I’ll have no choice, eh?

and we’ve closed the cafe, well closed as far as the actual ‘cafe’ side goes. we’re hoping to reopen in a few weeks as a coffeehouse / roaster / wholesaler, with the doors open to the public on weekends. kind of like what wineries do with their cellar doors. it may bring in a little cash, and I don’t need to be pulling the long, sweaty, stressful hours in the kitchen. I wonder what it’s like, not having cuts and burns on my arms and fingers…

rehearsal tonight, my monthly gig at the local pub tomorrow. in august I’ll be kicking off a sunday session there similar to the one I used to run in balmain.

happy b-day to kim (my co-cordinator for this year’s jamm for genes bash), journo luke, radio rob, anne ‘mrs hank’ cooper, and kacy.

still finding it difficult to clear a decent block of time to get rolling on writing/recording. the cafe’s future keeps rocking back and forth as we’re trying to find a solution that works for everybody and keeps some sort of biz afloat. to be honest, it’s all starting to fall into the ‘too hard’ basket. I’m giving some serious thought to passing on my web/graphics clients as well, it’s still bringing in regular $$, but the amount of time I need to constantly devote to it is increasing to the point of utter distraction.

spent a day last week with the fab linda mizzi rehearsing for her spot at my annual jamm for genes bash in august. she’s in a similar boat, was very active in music years back and shelved much of her plans for work, family, other bands etc. she’s now eager to get back into it and we’ve been speaking about the possibility of my producing her next release.

I haven’t been active in production for a decade, and it seems (nearly) everybody’s gone protools on me. I suppose I’m too “old school”, I need to push a fader or turn a knob when I hear something that needs adjustment. but we’ll see. I’d enjoy getting back into the chair again, think I did okay in my 1990’s string o’ tracks; two cmaa-nominated tracks, one golden guitar winner, a few award nominations, a couple of top ten radio charters. I’d like to think that I was good at coaxing great performances out of others, we shall see if I still have the knack (apologies to mr. fieger).

r.i.p. to the very talented tim krekel. I’m glad I got to know you, albeit briefly during my nashville tenure. there’s a great youtube clip of tim’s angel’s share, think I’ll have a shot at covering it, it’s a magnificent tune.

congrats on a couple of births, trish lowson ( alittle late, not sure if I’d posted anything yet) on her first, and my bass player dave & his gal helen, with their first.

happy b-day to lynie from the orphans, jann klose, todd hunter, the big 6-0 to irish john, and probably a handful of others I’ve missed.

studio gear - well, what little there is of it - all set up and working. pretty much. I spent a couple of hours prowling thru the old demos that I’d started while in balmain over the past couple of years. some interesting things that I’d quite frankly forgotten about, and one or two ideas that are worth a revisit.

we’re again on the cusp of whether to keep the cafe doors open or not bother. in doing the figures this morning, we’re once again going backwards, and the oft-mooted “winter tourist season” seems to be a myth, at least for this year.

so I’ve got a handful of festival apps in front of me, and perhaps for the first time in years, I can actually participate.

more soon.

allison crowe, a wonderful canadian singer who used to be managed by a pal of mine, was detained at gatwick airport under suspicious new “legislation” regarding touring and visiting artists. story here.

hope they get all that legalese sorted out before my next visit.

finally getting the studio gear unpacked and set up today. it’s been all but impossible with the cafe, family, visitors etc, but I’ve got a window of opportunity now. I’m also going to be doing a few ‘live shows’ again on second life, if you’re into sl, look me up. I perform under the avatar name ‘billy thunders’. it’s a funny notion, watching this animated version of oneself ‘performing’ to fifty or so other cartoon dopplegangers. but it’s a nice way to quasi-rehearse, and I’ve picked up some fans along the way.

still working thru what to do with the cafe. we’ve stripped the menu way back for the weekend, big touristy one coming up and we can’t risk having the old kitchen gear collapse on us like it did at easter. I have two gigs the following week, it’ll be great to get this weekend behind me and move forward.

check out delaney c. walsh, especially her duet with leon russell on ’stranger in a strange land’. killer pipes, this gal.

happy b-day for tomorrow to chavaleh.

we’re reconsidering the cafe plans. we might continue trading with everything ramped back drastically, which would make it basically coffee, tea and light meals. discussions continue.

vale producer russell dunlop, longtime john paul young guitarist ian miller and former dots guitarist maurice frawley. three more reason for me to get off my ass and write/record/tour.

happy b-day to stewart peters and claire o’meara.

we’ve reached a verdict about the cafe, and as expected, we’ll no longer continue running this place as it stands. there’s far too many issues with the mechanics of the building and equipment, but mainly it’s the lack of trade. most other businesses in the village report substantial downturns over the past six months or so, and I don’t expect that to change much over the next twelve. so we’ll wind things down after the end of the month.

so there’s a plan b in place that involves the gypsy gal and her pal to set up shop over in the next village doing coffee. without food & room for music, I won’t be involved on a daily basis, just the overall marketing and biz stuff. so that’ll free my weekends up again for live shows, which I’m looking forward to.

what I’m really looking forward to is finally getting the studio set up and back to work. when we close the cafe, that will free up one of the rooms that has excellent acoustics a nice vibe. so I’ll have no excuses not to get to work on a new album. finally.

r.i.p. stephen bruton and poodie locke. just two more reasons to get back to what I’m supposed to be doing. great quote, bruton to kristofferson: “what are you going to do, just sit around and wait till they throw dirt on you?”

I don’t plan on it.

as autumn slides into winter here in the mountains, again the apron strings of nostalgia are pulled. the chilly evenings, the fireplace and gas heaters aglow all remind me of my halcyon days in oregon, where I’d stay up until dawn writing song after song… just to - as the lester bangs character says in almost famous, “just to fuckin’ write, man”.

there’s still much to be decided and dealt with as far as the future of the cafe goes. I’m already feeling a sense of disconnect which is necessary to move forward, or in a manner of speaking, backwards into my former life. I’ve pretty much given up the idea of commercially releasing the footsteps compilation, I just don’t feel there’d be enough interest to justify the expense. I’ll most likely wait until the new album is ready, then make all the older tracks available as free downloads.

in the meantime, I’m touching base with pals, fellow musos and contacts in europe & north america, testing the water a bit to see if I can get a feel for what’s achievable.

got two shows with the trio tomorrow and friday. had to cut tonight’s rehearsals a bit short as I’m fighting off the flu bug and dearly hope it doesn’t take hold before the weekend. I may well contract swine flu from slicing the ham & bacon….

still recovering somewhat from the easter weekend. had some huge problems with the cafe which has led us to mucho discussion about what to do. there’s a few carrots that have been dangling, something should surface soon enough. but I think our experiment with trying to rebuild trade in the place is coming to a close.

news: the rose came, saw, bought the teeshirt and ran up the bar tab. thanks to kristalla and vlasta for bailing us out over the weekend, staff-wise. thanks to jake for turning up on monday in time to commiserate over happy hour. the sendoff for outgoing publican karl was a nice event, best of luck to andrew who now takes the reins at my local.

in the wake of pete case’s heart surgery and dj’s passing, I’m pretty upset to learn about my old pal mick cocks’ cancer battle. if there’s any positives to be found out of all this, it’s that these events seem to be propelling me in a direction where music is again the primary focus of my life. I seem to have been sidelined for far too long.

happy b-days to kirk l’orange, louise, braden and roger c.

with all the ‘new’ social networking sites up, I seem to be sadly neglecting this blog o’ mine, started back before the word ‘blog‘ itself was common. but alas, myspace, facebook and twitter alone command a fair bit of my online time. add to that the cafe’s website, blog, myspace and twitter accounts, and you’ll see what I mean.

but fear not, this blog shall endure, long after the trendy must-post sites of the day dwindle, fade &/or are bought up by murdoch. this is my own personal blog, and i shall continue to feed her until the day I shake off this mortal coil. for whomever actually reads it (my webstats say a lot of you do).

news: the rose has descended upon our fair household for a spell. mary & youngest daughter have been & gone. we’re recruiting staff from our balmain crew for easter weekend. the roof still leaks (more about that in the cafe blog). the gypsy gal took the rose shopping today with our few pennies from a busy sunday. bills will wait. happy girls are the priority, in my immediate world. the weather’s cooling and it feels like the mountains again. stunningly beautiful. I’m still loving living up here.

yes, the studio renovations are still not underway. yes, I therefore have no set schedule for tours in europe or north america. yes, we’re still beyond broke. yes, we still don’t have a doggie as we don’t have spare $$ to build a new fence. yes, the pub’s still directly across the road, which is both a blessing and a curse. yes, the gypsy gal’s still gorgeous even though she’s pushing fifty and is freaking out about it. yes, we have no bananas as we bake banana bread freshly.

and yes, this blog will not be made to feel left out. and neither will you, gentle reader.

people like duane jarvis just don’t die. or not in a just and fair world.

christ, I’m sad. and pissed off.