read and/or listen to this essay from the fabulously talented singer-songwriter mary chapin carpenter.
it’s only a couple of minutes, but it may help you get thru your day. or days.
with the colder months now upon us down here in the antipodes, I seem to be getting pulled in hibernation mode. too much sleep is never enough, and I’m eating more than I normally would. and I don’t seem to be alone, judging on what others tell me, unless they’re thinking to themselves “just agree with him before he finishes that pizza and nods off”.
at any rate, I’m trying to juggle all the current projects, both music and work-wise. both the blues pirates and the wolftones have return dates for next month, and I’m moving my sunday residency to another pub from next week. the annual jeans for genes fundraiser is coming up in august, and I’m hosting an all day show for that.
speaking of, I need to assemble a volunteer squad for that event. who’s dropping in from out of town? mary? annii? batman?
and somewhere amongst all that, i need to find time to organise the new office space, do my taxes and get some general household maintenance in order.
but I’m not complaining. the depths of ‘winter’ here is about like a typical autumn day where I grew up. it just means that one has to wear a jacket in the beer gardens….
that pretty much sums up the weekend. I arrived at my saturday night gig early, as I do, for a leisurely set-up and soundcheck. when I opened my black bag full of guitar and mic leads, I discovered a can of coke that I’d throw in there the weekend before. it was now crushed and nearly empty.
as you’ve probably guessed, the rest of it was in the bottom of my bag, completely saturating all of the leads with a thick sticky coating. and that’s how the night began.
there were a handful of people out back for a james joyce reading. innocent enough, except the alcohol had clearly taken its toll on several, who decided to invent a new form of dance, which involved stumbling over sideways into the drums, guitars and microphones. add a dozen severely drunk amateur football players (and amateur drinkers, I must add) into the mix, and I spent at least two sets with one leg poised in the air, redistributing the whirling dervishes to a somewhat vertical position.
eventually, the more animated were escorted off the premises, and the last set finally clicked. sunday’s gig at the untidy with the new lineup of the wolftones went well, a little rusty around some edges, but definitely lit a fire under the seats of the regular fans who’d grown used to the softer style of the original band.
and the rains have continued, though not as delugeful (deluging? delugery? help, mr wizard…) as the previous storms. but my office leaks are consistent at least.
I’m considering digging thru the stacks of demos I have recorded at warner chappell’s sydney studios in the mid 90’s and releasing some of the better ones. I doubt they’ll see the light of day now, I’m not really performing them, and they’re no longer being pitched to other artists. but they may be interest to you handful of collectors out there - gimme some feedback please.
to anyone that’s ever explored the metauniverse that is second life, you’ll find this video hilarious.
the rest of you may simply be bewildered.
… falls mainly thru my window panes. we’d had some pretty severe storm weather here over the past day or two, and the southwesterly winds have been blowing rainwater straight at my office window… which, I’ve discovered leak more than a scooter libby luncheon.
I’ve been trying to get some work done today, but keep getting distracted by bits on youtube. amongst the better ones is this collection of re-dubbed episodes of the cartoon tintin, bizarre footage of bob dylan and kinky friedman live at a jewish fundraiser, and a hilarious parody of james joyce & samuel beckett playing golf.
happy b-day to my rockrgrl pal sharon. I’ll be at your show tonight, and will bring presents and earplugs (not neccessarily in that order).
anyone around sydney for the long wet weekend, I’m holding down the fort alone tomorrow at my sunday session. it’ll be good opportunity to roadtest some of the new songs, many of which seem to suit just resonator and vocal. whether that’s setting the tone for the next album shall be seen.
I’ve got some back catalog available again, and am reintroducing the cafe press tee shirts on a new ’store’ page on my website. it should be up soon, providing I can get off the friggin’ youtube site and back to work.
my deepest condolences and sympathies to my buddy and occasional band-mate mark evans, whose daughter died in a tragic accident in europe yesterday.
it’s every parent’s worst nightmare, we should never have to outlive our children.
if you have kids nearby, hug them. even if they’re not yours.
been hearing rave reports and messages of “you shoulda been there” for this weekend’s sold-out benefit show at the exit/in in nashvegas for perry baggs, drummer & wildguy from jason & the scorchers. the lineup was to die for, the scorchers were always a big fave of mine in the early 80’s, taking the idea of country rock into joe strummer territory.
with all the new-found adulation for 90’s cowpunk hybrids such as the jayhawks and wilco, it’s important to remember that it really began with the scorchers on the east coast and rank & file (with a nod to green on red) on the west.
yesterday’s d5 digital future conference had an interesting moment, with both bill gates and steve jobs interviewed together. the video link is here, I enjoyed seeing these two cutthroat competitors and lifetime friends joke it up some.
thanks to all for coming down to the pirates‘ gig last night, it was a much better turnout that we’d expected, and certainly far better than the new jaded pub management expected. let’s see if this becomes a regular spot now.