Sez and The Buck hit Rads!

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Originally uploaded by jaanus83

So this past week was yet ANOTHER one filled with totally awesome people and totally awesome good times. A good friend of mine from Sydney, Sarah Humphreys, along with her good friend Sam Buckingham, have been on a tour the last couple weeks which included a week long stint in Adelaide. I hadn't met Sam before, or even heard her stuff, but I am now a life long fan of both.

The week included quite a few shows, which just seemed to get better and better as they went on, trips to the Pancake Kitchen, Ying Chow and Cibo for gelati, as well as a couple of days of pretty much vegging out, watching bad TV and chatting.











The final show was at the Wheatsheaf Hotel, which pretty much guarantees a brilliant night. On the bill for that show were Sarah, Sam, Xavia (from local outfit BrotherSister) and Cookie Baker. It was such a special night, tinged with a bit of sadness knowing that this was the last time the girls from the east were playing in Rads for who knows how long.









I seriously doubt that I can handle so much awesomeness. The last month has really been a whirlwind of emotions, mostly amazingly good, but it's all a bit too much. I'm hoping that the coming weeks will slow down a bit and I'll be able to find my footing again.





Some other things that have been going on the past week: I had a clinic appointment on Tues, and I really wasn't looking forward to it. I still don't think I've recovered from Sydney, as I'm pretty much tired all day every day, and my chest is quite a bit clogged up. However, as it has happened before, I did my lung function and the results showed something quite a bit different - the best readings for a couple of years. So go figure... I went on some oral antibiotics anyway to see if they help me start to feel a bit better. If not, I may then just admit myself for another 2 week stint, especially since towards the end of the year things are gonna get a bit nuts with Cookie Baker stuff, so I wanna make sure I'm good for that.

I also went up the hill to record my last guitar track for the album, so that went really smoothly and sounding rad. If all goes to plan, the recording should be completed by this week! Then there's the mixing... so it won't be available for a little bit yet, but still, progress is progress.

STILL needing a job, but I'm thinking maybe the reason I haven't got anything yet is because of my health stuff, and once that clears up, some doors may open.

This weekend is the Coopers Alive event, which is a ' new initiative that aims to encourage local artists to actively participate in planning, promoting and evaluating their live performances, as well as providing an entertaining and creative showcase for all music-lovers to enjoy'. Basically it goes over 2 nights and 4 venues, with each venue hosting a different genre. We're playing at the Wheatsheaf as part of the folk 'n' roots showcase, along with The Fiddle Chicks and The Huckleberry Swedes. It's gonna be a fricken awesome night. I'm also going to the Jade Monkey the night before to see Mr Wednesday and BrotherSister. Big weekend me thinks...

Rating: 5.8

What I'm listening to: Sam Buckingham - My Own Horse

Sydney and post

cookie baker @ the excelsior, surry hills
Originally uploaded by jaanus83

What an absolutely insane past couple of weeks.

The Cookie Baker train went to Sydney for a week, where amazing times were had by all. Alice left jewellery shops in a spin with her awesome designs, we saw some incredible bands, made some bloody close friends and to top it all off, played a friggen sweet show. Poor Cookie had a devil of a cold though, so her poor throat suffered greatly from the one show, but being the trooper she is, she passed with flying colours.

The one gig we had was at The Excelsior in Surry Hills, where a good friend of ours Renny Field was doing a residency for the month of June. He kindly invited us to play at the final show, along with the gorgeous Sarah Humphreys and The Falls. It really was an amazing night. It was so good to hear Renny play again, especially with his band. They are the shit. And I hadn't heard Sarah Humphreys with her band before, and it really blew me away. Lucky for us she is coming down to Rads next week for a couple of shows. Yeeha!





We also went to the cd launch of our good friends 'The Mischief'. What an awesome night. They played brilliantly, the sound was great (luckily so since the sound guy was an absolute twunt all night and I was scared the boys would have shit sound for their set), and Joelie (violin player that plays with us) even got up to do a song with them! It really was a special night and I feel quite privileged to have seen it.

The rest of our week in Sydney involved staying out late ever night drinking and hanging out, getting up early every morning to get together with everyone for coffee, a few little touristy walks, a birthday party, and some emotional high's and low's that were worthy of a B grade movie. What more could you ask for in a holiday?

On Thursday we had a gig at The Gov as part of Winter Warmers, a new thing they have going in the front bar during winter. Open fire, great food and wine, and of course great tunes. It was fantastic!! Just what we needed after such an intense week, and it was so good just to play again. Then on the weekend the lovely Joelie had her birthday party, so it was another late night of shenanigans and live karaoke. Brilliant.

We had to get up kinda early the next morning though as we were due at Mixmasters to record hand claps, clicks, random shouts and hitting things. It was also the first time I had heard any of the material since that first weekend away in September last year, and may I say, it is sounding absolutely brilliant. Even though it still has to be mixed and all that, the way it's sounding at the moment, it's only going to get better, so I'm quite pumped for it. And believe it or not, there's not a whole lot to go - mainly the strings, which if I remember correctly, are booked in for Sunday this week. Sa-weeeeet!

I'm still in need of a job, so that's a bit annoying. I've been applying for more and more places though, so I'm hopeful something will turn up. My mind is still in a race from Sydney as well, so prob best that I'm not doing too much at the moment anyway. The Sydney trip did take a bit of a toll on my health, as I had expected, so I have a clinic next week to see how much damage was done. Strangely though, as soon as we got back home, I started feeling good again, and as of right now, I really don't feel too bad at all. But we'll wait till Tuesday to see how everything is.

Rating: 7.3

What I'm listening to: The Mischief - Sixpenny Scrapbook