| Canberra cosy, 'gong intimate |
|
| Wednesday, 07 September 2005 | |
|
This journey has barely started & it has already generated warm memories! We kicked off the tour last thursday after an awesome farewell concert at the Clifton Hill on Wednesday night. There was a core Dream Seat onstage of Steve Vella, Tim Downey on Drums & Clare Jephson on keys, with an added dimension of Matt Coy who set up some percussion on the floor. Then right as I kicked off with 'Make My Day' Vince Bradley just appeared out of nowhere in the middle of the crowd with his muted trumpet. He & Lisa Baird (trombone) gave me shivers of delight as they played through the brass arrangement of 'Sweet Basil' & I had NO idea Vince was about to pull out a French Horn for 'Jericho'. Janine Marshall (or as she will henceforth be known- 'Neen') sang some great harmonies & then shone on acoustic guitar duties as Steve moved onto SEBASTIAN for the very first time! Nice work Vella! Never before has he done THAT on stage. Next came our very first house concert & I tell you now- we realised the bar was being set high when we arrived to the smell of frying onions & set up our gear as we snacked on bread with olive oil & dukkah! Lish was a generous & memorable host, especially after she showed us a novel way of opening a bottle of champagne with a bread knife- don't try that one at home, kids! And then there was the lentil soup & the nutmeg cake & the jaffa brownies...oh & we did play music too. We even had a sing-a-long with the family cat & things got so rowdy there was a broken chair involved...hee hee. For those of you who were there- as soon as I can upload my digital photos I will start an audience gallery so you can see a pic to capture the beautiful spirit of the night. The Illawarra Folk Club Launch Concert had the odds stacked up against it- with a change to an obscure venue, a double booking with two other album launches, a clash with the national folk alliance convention & worst of all the Folk Club Newsletter advertised that it would be on SATURDAY the 2nd of September! Still, despite numbers being a little down, the venue was exquisite & the music magical. This was only the second time that 'Angels Wings' has ever been performed live by Nick Southcott & I. It flowed & was so beautiful! Steve Vella's song 'My Front Porch' was gorgeous as usual & I also invited the very talented young drummer from Happy Feet to play on 'Stronger the Tree'. Probably the stand out memory from this night was the beautiful solo my cousin Graham played on flugelhorn for 'Jericho'. Bravo Graham! And now it is late (or should I say excruciatingly early) & I should stop playing with my new website & crawl off into bed. Thanks Andrew for teaching me how to make a journal & a gallery. There's more to come... |
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
|
