Music coming out of the wazoo

Man time flies... it's almost been a month since I last wrote, and heaps has been going on. A quick rundown... 

We played another Sunday at Nepenthe Winery, which was even better than the first one. The weather was perfect, so we were outside on the lawn as opposed to under the verrandah next to the main entrance. 

That next week Renny Field (Sydney singer/songwriter who we played with when we were in Syd) came down to Rads for a few days, so Wednesday night we all went down to the Grace to see him weave his magic. It was such a bloody awesome show, and each time I see him he gets better and better. Our next meeting will be in June, so I'm super stoked for that. 

The following night Tim Moore (bass player for Cookie) was doing a solo show of his own at the Grace, and he kindly asked me to accompany him on the geetar for a couple tracks. Now, being as super organised as we were, we only got together for the first time on Monday of that week to run through a few songs and see what could be done. But the 2 songs we got happening were so much fun to play, and I'm extremely grateful for him asking me to play with him. Hopefully we can do it again in the near future. 

Then on the weekend, Alice and I went down to Victor Harbour for a few days of rest and relaxation. We had planned this a few months ago, and have been looking forward to it for so long. The weather was perfect, which was a bit disappointing since I was counting in cold and wet, but nevermind. We went to garage sales, walks, slept in, pretty much everything you would hope to do down there, except maybe go for a swim. But it was so nice to get away, especially spend some time with Al since we have both been so busy lately. 

On Thurs night the Cookie Baker collective are supporting Kate Miller-Heidke on her Adelaide leg of her tour, so all of you who can make it down to the Gov, I suggest you do so. It's going to be a fricken rad show, and I think it's only something like $20, so quite cheap really. We may be busting out a brand newy as well. It all depends on how the rehearsal goes tomorrow night. Fingers crossed!

As for health, it's been a bit up and down. I had a clinic last week, and to my surprise, my lung function was awesome. 66%, so only 2% down from when I was discharged in Feb, which was the best I've been in last 2 years. I was surprised since I really wasn't feeling that great. I still started a course of oral antibiotics to hopefully get rid of any niggling flu, so hopefully they work. I have another clinic in 2 weeks, so I'll let you know how that goes. 

Not much else to tell... since Alpha got taken over by new owners, I'm down to 1 shift a week, which is pretty poor. It's still something, so I'll try not to complain too much, but money wise it's made things quite a bit tight. Nothing else to do with my time at the moment other than to become a housewife. 

Oh, and one more AWESOME piece of news - we finally got a recycling bin today!!!!!! Seriously, we haven't had one since moving in, so there is this MASSIVE pile of boxes and bottles and stuff out the back that is starting to go bad, so we're all quite excited about that. 

Rating: 6.5

What I'm listening to: Ingrid Michaelson - Girls and Boys

Gigs, rain and wineries.

It's raining!!! Well, it has done, and it's been so bloody brilliant. I'm still finding myself completely amazed every time I hear the water hit the roof or the ground. Anyhoo, other than the cooler weather and rain, things have been going great. 

We supported Angie Hart (of Frente!) at the Wheatsheaf Hotel on Friday night, and it was a bloody corker of a show! The sound was perfect (thanks Brett!) and the crowd was great! Plus, we bought a new camera during the day, and got some nice shots that night, which always makes for a great time. If you want to check out any pics, just go to my flickr site. 

Then yesterday we were up at Nepenthe Wineries for the day, playing some tunes while people were popping in and out getting wine and pizzas (which by the way were bloody fantastic!). The rain would come intermittently, and the wind would stir up every now and then, but it didn't dampen anyone's spirits. Breaking a couple of strings didn't even get us down (and Holly even broke one). It was just a day full of rocking and rolling. It was a superb day, and good thing is that we get to do it all again next Sunday. 

Not much else going on. I'm feeling a little bit under the weather, but hopefully that will turn around in the next day or two. Start yoga again tomorrow night, which I'm really looking forward to as it's been ages since I was there last, and when I was doing it, I really was feeling tops. 

Rating: 7.2

What I'm listening to: Sarah Humphreys - Teapot Trees and Love Birds...

Mildura and Sydney

Bloody hell - what an amazing couple of weeks I have had. Hopefully I can remember all of it to tell you all...

I guess first port of call was our Fringe show. Every show ended up selling out, so you can imagine every performance was amazing just from the atmosphere alone. I can't thank everyone who came enough - you all make it the special event it was. I can tell you all that we were all quite emotional after the final show on the Sunday, especially Cookie. So much so that her voice was pretty much completely gone by the end of the show, but being the trooper she is, even gave in to the request of an encore, so what did she play? 'One More Time' by the one and only Britney. Brilliant.

There wasn't much time to get all sentimental though as on the Tuesday we had to drive the 4 hours to Mildura. By this time, there was a massive heatwave beginning in Adelaide, and Mildura is ALWAYS hotter than Ads, so we were blessed with temps between 37 and 41 for the entire week we were there. However, the heat aside, we had a bloody amazing time. We had a couple of side shows while we were there before the big final night one, and we saw some awesome acts that were part of the festival as well. But the big night was the Sunday night when we played at Music Under The Stars at the Perry Sandhills. Man, what an amazing place. Out in the middle of nowhere, they set up a stage in the midst of all these massive sand dunes, and thousands of people come, with picnic rugs in hand, and set up for the evening of music. Around 3000 people rocked up, but seriously, we were so blown away just by where we were, we didn't even notice them all while we were playing. It wasn't until we finished and walked out to where our friends were sitting that we realised the scale of the crowd. It was just insane. Then Ben Lee closed the night, and he was great! I have to admit that I haven't heard much of his stuff, and hence not the biggest fan, but I gotta take my hat off to him. He performed brilliantly, and the crowd absolutely lapped it up. And all done in acoustic mode as well, with just one other guy accompanying him on keyboard. And despite some of the negative reports I had heard about the guy, he was nothing but awesome to us. Had a few nice chats with him, and that's all I can really say about it.

So we came back to Adelaide for a few days before flying to Sydney. Cookie being the hard and tough musician she is, decided 'it would be best' to stay in a 5 star hotel for a couple nights upon arrival. Hey, I wasn't going to argue with that logic. So we made ourselves comfortable and tried to enjoy it all... ;) We played 4 shows during our week there, and they were all excellent, and all totally different. We did the first two supporting a friend of Cookie's (Renny Field) which were just amazing. He is the shit. Seriously, if he's ever in your area, you HAVE to check him out. He's actually going to the UK and Europe mid year, so just something to keep him in mind.

The last 2 gigs we did were at Balmain and Manly. The Balmain show was part of a night called 'Poptarts' which is a showcase of female songwriters, and it was here that we had the pleasure of seeing a girl by the name of Sarah Humphreys. We had met her a couple nights before as she was singing back-up's for Renny's gig, but when we realised we were both playing the same show in Balmain, we just about lost it. And I'm not kidding when I say everyone should check her out. Her album (which I bought on the night) is one of the most beautiful things I have heard in a LONG time. But yes, the whole week there was so much better than I had expected. We met some of the funniest people, and I think 80% of our time was spent laughing. And I just got a call from Cookie today that she has already booked another gig for us up there in June. Good stuff! But in the meantime, we have a couple gigs here in Ads that are going to be fun - supporting Angie Hart (of Frente! fame) at the Wheatsheaf Hotel, a couple of stints up at Nepenthe Winery, and we just got a call that we're supporting Kate Miller-Heidke at The Gov, which will be a full band show. Oooh yeah!

Well that's a quick rundown of the last two weeks. Oh, one more piece of news - Alpha Video, my place of work for the past 8 and a half years, got sold on the weekend, so come mid-april, I will officially be un-employed. Awesome... so if anyone knows of any casual jobs where they would be cool with me taking some time off every now and then (hospital and music) hit me up. :)

Healthwise I'm doing amazingly well. I definitely thought that I would be suffering a bit after the trips, but my lungs have held up fine. Hopefully that will continue.

Rating: 8.5

What I'm listening to: Sarah Humphreys - Teapot Trees and Love Birds...

Oh, and I’ve put pics up from all things the past month (Fringe show, Mildura and Sydney), so if you wanna see what things have looked like for me, check em out on my Flickr site. :)

Exciting times ahead!

Not even going to try and explain why I haven't written in so long. Just not worth it. Slackness is a wonderful thing.

I'll start off with I just got out of hospital in Tuesday. I wasn't that sick when I went in, but with all these gigs we got coming up, I thought I would go in and get pumped full of drugs so that (hopefully) I don't get too sick with all the travelling.

So what gigs are these? Well, it started last night with the opening of our Fringe show. Despite a couple of sound issues when we were setting up, it all turned out awesomely, and we had SUCH a ball. Thanks to all who made it out. Really looking forward to tonight's show. I think it's been dubbed the 'parents' night. About 4 of the people in the band have their folks coming tonight. Should be awesome! I think there are still a few tickets left for Saturday night's show, so you can either call Fringetix or just go to http://tix.adelaidefringe.com.au/ticketing/EventDetails.aspx?EventGuid=bfb97430-1834-481f-916a-3fd07508eb5e to book.

So we have a break on Monday, and then on Tuesday we drive up to Mildura for a week while the Mildura-Wentworth Arts Festival is on. We are doing a couple of shows throughout that week, and then we are supporting Ben Lee on the final night of the festival in the Perry Sandhills. It's gonna be massive. So pumped for that one! Then we get back to Adelaide for a day or so and then fly off to Sydney for a week for some more shows. We're doing a couple with Renny Field Band and also one in the Blue Mountains. We then come back home and we're supporting Angie Hart at the Wheatsheaf, which is gonna be a gorgeous show, so I highly recommend people come and check that one out. I have a feeling I may need another admission when all this is over, but that's cool.

So obviously since I was just in hospital, my health is awesome at the moment. My lung function went up to 68% while i was in there, which is pretty much up towards my best since going to the hospital when I was 18. Can't really complain about that eh?

Trying to think of what else has been going on... Oh yeah, it was my birthday last week as well, and while I was in hospital for it, it could have been worse. It was quite hot while I was in, so it was nice to be in an air-conditioned building all day, and not doing much aside from lying in bed watching tv. The nurses even got me a cake. Pretty sweet... Alice has taken me on 3 of 5 mystery dates, and they have all been awesome considering it's Fringe time and there are TONNES of acts to see. We went and saw Frank Woodley on the opening night of the Fringe, then Jimeoin the following night, and the best of the Edinburgh Festival on Sunday night. The next 2 are after we get back from Mildura.

Autumn has also hit with a vengance. I always forget that when it arrives, the nights get cold straight away. No grace period at all. Days are still quite pleasant, around mid twenties, but then the nights get down to low teens. It's so annoying because during the day you are all hot and not even thinking about needing warmer clothes later in the night. Yes, it is a difficult life I lead. But I'm strong - I can push through it.

Right - I think that's about it. Sorry again for not writing for so long. Ah well. At least you've had a break from my ramblings for a while. :)

Rating: 9

What I'm listening to: Sia - Some People Have Real Problems