Sez and The Buck hit Rads!

IMG_2713
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

Busy, busy, busy

very brave bunch of people
Originally uploaded by jaanus83

Damn. I was hoping to write this before I left for Sydney, but that didn't happen. So instead I'm going to have to do a quick rundown of what's been going on, before I head out and continue wandering the streets of Paddington pretending I'm a rich Sydneysider.

So in the past month I've been out quite a bit to see some bloody amazing Adelaide bands. First was The Audreys for their Adelaide leg of their tour. It was at Her Majesty's Theatre, a place I hadn't been to in forever, and forgot how gorgeous it was. It was all seated, so a bit different to their gigs of late, but it worked really well. They played awesomely, the sound was fantastic, and that's all I can think of to say. I also saw BrotherSister, another band that Ryan (drummer for Cookie) plays in. Man, these guys are incredible. There is a video floating around on youtube I think, but if nothing else, check out their Myspace to have a listen. Bloody brilliant.

A good friend of ours (and his band, The Mischief) came from Sydney last Thurs to Rads for some shows that Holly booked, which took up most of our time last week. They are the most hilarious bunch of guys, and they fit right in to our way of life. The biggest gig of theirs however was at Jive on Saturday night with a local band called Colonel Kernal and a band from Mildura called Jackson Firebird. The Mischief are amazing - I can't quite describe their style, but it's somewhere in between powerpop/country/folk. Anyway, that doesn't matter, because all that matters is that they're amazing. Jackson Firebird then came on, and it's one of the most organic, dirty rock I've ever seen. Just a drummer and guitarist, but they don't even need a bassist. Very, very good. And Colonel Kernal, well, there has been word on the street that they guys are incredible, but it's taken me until now to finally see them, even though I realised I have a couple of friends in the band (that's Adelaide for you). I'm just repeating myself here, but again, these guys are just insane. You've got jazz/rock/blues and mix in some metal and you are on your way to beginning to understand what I'm talking about.

Last week we also went over to Mildura to play at the Chef's of the Future competition. It's a week long thing they have in Mildura to find the best chef at the TAFE and surrounding areas. The food was amazing... the gig was great fun, and I got to fly on a tiny plain to get there. Not the best fun, but it's definitely made my fear of flying a little less horrible.

And then on Sunday we had our long awaited Adelaide Fringe encore show at TInCat Cafe. To have everyone together again really was something special. The afternoon show was great, and even though there were a few spots of rain, it managed to hold off for our performance. We were also blessed to have Joelie join us for these shows, who's violin playing really did add a little something that wasn't there before.

For the evening show however, the heavens were threatening to open up as we were setting up, and it was a bit stressful. It wasn't until the last minute that we decided we best be safe and move inside for the evening performance. It definitely made things a bit more squishy, but it was one of the most intimate shows I had ever done, and ended up being something really special. We (and I think the audience) had a great night, but it was tinged with a bit of sadness as Timmo was leaving for New Zealand for around 6 months. But that's cool - he'll be back and then all is well again. :)

So we're now in Sydney, staying in a bloody awesome place in Paddington, and we have our one and only show tonight at the Excelsior with Renny Field, Sarah Humphreys and The Falls. It really is going to be a bloody amazing night, and I will do my best to take lots of pics and vids. Ryan and Joelie made the trip as well, so it will be a Cookie Baker format we haven't done yet. I'm sure it will be great.

Health is alright... I realised in the taxi on the way to the airport that I forgot my hypertonic saline, which I use for physio (win for me), so I have to walk down to the hospital this morning to see if I am able to get some more. I'm sure it will be fine. So I'm going to try to take it as easy as possible, but I won't be too worried if I need an admission when we get back to Rads.

Rating: 6.2

What I'm listening to: BrotherSister - The Wundertales

Another 3 weeks, another bunch of stuff happens

IMG_2003
Originally uploaded by jaanus83

Don't you just love it when you get that feelings that things are really going along awesomely and you just feel so happy? Like, even if you are just cleaning the house or doing something completely mundane, you get this sense of total satisfaction with yourself and how your life is going? Well, I've been feeling that today, so I just thought I would share how awesome it is, and if you haven't felt that yet, you should. It's good fun.

So we had the Mixmasters gig at the grace I was telling you about last time. What a bloody amazing night it was. Holly, Joelie (new violin player) and myself were at Holly's beforehand just so we could go through the songs one more time to make sure we all knew what we were doing (since this was the first gig we had with Joelie). We got there around 7:30 to catch the second half of Delia's magical set. Delia is a local girl who is just bloody amazing. I thoroughly recommend you check her out (here). The place was already packed by the time we got there, but it was only the start of things to come. So we got on stage, played through our set, which was just amazing. The crowd were super responsive, everyone was drinking, but not messy drunk, and we just had a ball. Joelie was magnificent, and there happens to be a vid of a song floating around on youtube, so have a look if you wanna see it. There was also Radelaide's leading music reviewer there, so check out his space to see what he wrote about the night.



The next week was pretty quiet apart, but the weekend was filled with shenanigans once again. On Friday night, some good friends of ours Andy and Jess invited us to the Magill RSL club for dinner. It's something they try to do regularly, and after going there, I see why. The place is full of old diggers who are bloody hilarious, and the nicest/most genuine people you have ever met. There is all this old war memorabilia around the place, 20c pool, and you get a feast for $8. Bloody bargain. After dinner, we walked back to our place and showed them Twin Peaks. We had been planning to get them to see it for a little while, and after the pilot episode, they were hooked, so we followed it with another 2 eps. We endeavour to make this a regular thing, so that's something to look forward to each week. Suckers...

Saturday night we went to another friends house for his 30th. It was a night filled with food, drinks, music and karaoke. Can't ask for much more really. One particularly funny part of the night involved a couple of the party guests (who had come dressed as police officers) went outside to confront some punk-arse teens doing burnout's across the road. Needless to say the teens crapped their pants and fled. Funny stuff.

This weekend was again filled with fun stuff, including a bloody big night last night. Tom was having a birthday 'do at his place, so we got there around 11 or so, and found ourselves leaving by 3. We found out today that Tom didn't get to bed until 8, and that the party didn't actually finish till 12 the next day. Troopers.

On another note, I really need to get another job. Alpha has pushed me down to one shift a week, which doesn't really cut it. I have had a few options, so we'll see where they go. Hopefully I'll be able to get something soon and I won't have to live off Alice's pay.

We have started getting our stuff together for our TinCat show later this month. It's gonna be a fricken sweet day, 2 shows, 7 of us on stage, and some new tunes as well. Those who are thinking of coming really better ring TinCat and book their tickets as they are selling like hot cakes and I can guarantee that there will be none left at the door on the day.

And then straight after TinCat is Sydney! And we got word today that Joelie is coming as well, so all up it will be Joelie and Cara, Alice and me, Ryry and Holly. Not a bad troop I must say.

Health is going about the same as last. Not feeling 100%, but it's not getting any worse, so I doubt that I'll get myself admitted before going to Sydney. Instead I reckon I'll keep a course of orals on me in case things start to flare up, and then if the trip affects me a bit, I'll prob just admit myself once we get back. No biggie. :)

I'm thinking that's all there is to say. Don't you hate it when your G string breaks?

Rating: 6.8

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