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11 years of doing The Thing & The Tale of the fish van

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Guys played well last night. Shout out to Linda :-)

Stage sound was great, we took a trip down memory lane for a few tunes.

Rosie and I were remembering old road stories on the way up to Newcastle.

The Tale Of The Fish Van.

Ahem.

Once Upon a Time my trusty, fully packed with gig gear, Holden Wagon broke down just as we were leaving for a gig.

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Ok, not that bad but not working.

Oh crap. We gotta get to NEWCASTLE!!!

Luckily, Balmain rentals was close. A phone call later, yes! they still had an Automatic Van. 1.

Whew.

Launch into frantic ninja high gear - we gotta go get van, rent van, drive back home, unpack, repack, Go Team!!

Thank you Balmain rentals.

Zap down there. Sweet. Do paperwork. No worries. Grab van.

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Driving van off lot, on a mission.

Sniff.

WTF.

The last people to hire that van had been moving Fish Products.

The Van had not been cleaned.

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There is no alternative. We're due in Newcastle. It's a 2 hour drive.

Bolt back, transfer gear, start driving.

Rosie and I lasted about the first 20 minutes OK.

Then, as the glorious afternoon sunshine baked the non airconditioned, absolutely-no-suspension-left, rattling-can-of-rocks-and-stank, it got Bad.

Realllllly bad.

Rosie and me, windows open, heads out the window, alternately coughing and retching and kvetching as we swore and cussed the smell, hurtling up the highway.

On the one hand, grateful for the van. On the other, welcome to the 15th layer of Hell.

But wait. there's more.

Finally I couldn't take it anymore. I was coughing and retching. I wanted a gasmask.

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They didn't stock those at the Service Station.

Instead, I pulled the van in, went into the shop and bought 5 of those scented car things and a can of Glen 20.

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I sprayed the van liberally, inside and out, attached all the air fresheners.

Ahhhhh. bliss.

For the first 5 minutes.

The Fish Odor was not giving up. It was still happily there, and as the sun once more toasted the outside of the van, it returned....

now, with 5 added Car Freshener Scents and Glen 20 Original.

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Welcome to the 16th level of hell.

Did I mention we had to drive that van home as well?

Yeah.

Good times :-)

Small movements, little fish

ANZAC day.

May I suggest steering clear of overly nostalgic war shows on Cable, extolling the concept of Australian-ness through death and suffering.

Those that have done it would opt for peace, where possible.

I'm reminded of Owen -

' My friend, you would not tell with such high zest

To children ardent for some desperate glory,

The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est

Pro patria mori.'

I'll be lighting a candle for Dad.

Small Movements

God bless Rosie for Data Thoroughness. Setlist time. It's a process.

We have data sets. Spreadsheets. Song cards.

It's nerd-a-riffic.

And as we have observed, utterly despatched into chaos by the events of any given evening.

Not Waldorf Salad Without Walnuts

As the mutations have abounded, in order to do all of our songs, as recorded, we now need:

- Fiddle

- Accordion

- Banjo

- Cello

- A small violin section

- Additional acoustic guitar

- A small choir

- Additional Percussion

- Saxophone

- Trumpet

- A Tuba Section

- Piano

- Additional Mandolin

- A Mongolian throat singer

- Duet vocals.

- Backing vocals.

- not to mention all our guest lead vocalists

I look forward to the show where all of that is present :-)

The logistics alone are staggering. The scheduling, impossible.

I love it.

We called the idea 'the show we want to do' which is, if we had our druthers, what we'd do.

Step by step, we're working towards something in the ballpark. Having Michael Hawke and Jo there was just what the doctor ordered.

Now, how do we do more of that? Hmmm...

The Cross Fire Project - Stormcellar & Friends

When we did KC Gold, we wrote songs for Millage, Danny, DC and Ron.

To get Jo out front more, we've been writing for her....well...trying to ;-)

In a way, writing for other folks gives us more options.

After six fallow months, we finally got a new one out, written to suit two of our talented mates.

Now all I gotta do is get a demo together and see if they're up for it.

From there, it's given us the idea to do a little more of this sort of thing.

With luck you may start to see some of the development from this process.

The Songs Leave The Nest

I was stoked to learn that someone down south was covering one of our songs

I still reckon the best version of a song may not be by them's what wrote it :-).

Stormcellar at the Wickham Park Hotel, Fri Nite 26 April

ANZAC Day Long Weekend, Friday Nite we're at the Wicko.

Live video stuff, project work and pa testing part 4...5?

On the one hand, video cameras are smaller and accessible and you can send the files to one another over the magic airwaves.

On the other hand, the cameras are now 4K resolution and the data so big that we're back to handing each other physical media.

Unless the macintosh won't speak to the external hard drive.

Or the jerry-rigged memory stick.

Thus requiring a trip to office works for a brand spanking new USB stick.

This is the glamorous world of video making.

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After attempt #1 went um...the way it did...attempt 2 is now at file swapping stage.

This is taking so looong omg.

Working on it.

Meanwhile, new projects are forming.

I have the greatest love for my colleagues in the muso world. Just a small couple of minor notes.

1. answer your phone/email

2. no I am not going to wait for Muso Time to get on with stuff LOL.

(sigh)

Tonight we're running another test on the array PA.

I'm already in the Yes camp for the array PA, but another usage test will not hurt.

Work continues.

Live video attempt 2 went OK

YAY!

Thanks to Denys & Svetlana.

Shout outs to Sue, Paul, Lindsay, Richard, Sam, JT and his missus, Dr Rock, Di and all the cellar dwellers who joined us.

With Michael Hawke and Jo there, we did a 3 part version of Helplessly Hoping ahhh....so nice.

It's going to take a few goes to get this right.

Also a big thanks to Pete at Rentacam. You crazy man.

This show marked another step towards the Show We'd Like To Do, a project where we put together all the guests we like to work with and do the songs that only really sparkle when we add that extra element.

Having additional acoustic, Mando and Sax made things pop. Having the extra vocals was also nice.

I continue to be amazed that I get to do this, and when the sound comes together, it's quite wonderful.

We continue to mutate. Excellent.

As the live video moves through editing, I'll post some bits.

I'm an Artist, but I would prefer if you treat me like a Plumber

When you hire an Artist, Band or a Performer, have agreed to a price and they turn up on time, do their job and act as a professional supplier of service, what they earn belongs to them. Not you.

Paying what you have agreed to is not 'optional'; it's their money. They have earned it.

Holding out the promise of future work, or future benefit, is not material. It's their money, in your pocket.

Reach in, take it out and hand it to them. It's simple.

If you can't, talk to them about it. Work out a deal like you would with any other supplier.

Treat a Band, Performer or Artist with the same professional courtesy you would provide to a plumber, electrician or your own staff. Bands, Artists & Performers are not second class citizens.

Artists, assert your rights.

#selfpropelledartists

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