Howdy Folks, it's time for yet another instalment of 'Stormcellar Gig Reports'

Winter gave up control of the temperature last night, bringing people out into the street and to the pubs in town to drink, frolic and watch the All Blacks beat australia (3 wise men of Samoa are you listening?).

The lansdowne was busy last night as people drank, ate pub grub, played pool and spilled their drinks.

I almost broke some guys ribs as I stepped away from the bar with my 'Brand name' cola drink. A chap kindly inserted himself between my elbow and my direction of travel. Drink was spilled, I considered making a face, but as he was rubbing his ribs and going 'ouch' I figured we're even. Anyway, its not right to beat up the audience. Little did I know this was merely a sign of things to come.

Big Erle kicked the evening off last night. FYI, Big Erle is a Plural, as there were many of them. I tried asking 'who is erle' of the first three bandmembers I met, until I got it. Next time, I'll just ask 'which one's pink?' (quote: have a cigar, Pink FLoyd). Hi Pav!

As a harp player, when I grow up, I want to be the brass section. Big Erle had trumpet, conga, Cowbell (more cowbell!) slide, hooting, hollering ahd thumping and turned out a great set that got the crowd vibed up. Great work Erle(s)!

They put so much energy into their set that we opted to change our opening song to keep the level going.

Mark 'Groover' Graeber had a hole punched in the bass drum skin the other day, so he could get the mike inside properly, as result, it was a little less booming than usual, which was slightly disconcerting. Slinky Pete was on Bass for us last night, filling in for Mal who was up in Queensland doing a gig. Pete slotted in flawlessly and as he requested last night, whereever possible, I am to mention that he is a Bass Playing Slut who Is Available for Gigs! I did so on stage, and in his honour, I do so here.

We got through two sets in good order. For my money, our first set wasnt as well structured as I would like. We've been playing three sets or 1 set, so trying to get the balance right across two sets was somewhat of a challenge. I thought set2 was better arranged and we snuck a couple of extra tunes in, including a quick run through of Roscoe's Boogie, which we did straight after Yamanote Line - quite some movement, musically :-)

So whilst I descibe the internal musical angst that we manage, the audience were utterly, happily, inebriatedly oblivious. Hats are back in and people still had sunglasses, so we quickly had what appeared to be slightly dressed down version of the blues brothers dancing in syncopation in front of the stage.

Did I say front? Silly me. I meant - sitting on the amps, knocking the foldback over, turning up the desk when the soundo wasn't looking, leaping up on stage - at one point, I had some bloke in sunglasses Doing His Thing to my right mid song. When the song ended, Paul gently leaned over and said 'yeah, thanks mate' and he rejoined the blues crew off stage. We must seem approachable. Heck, I dont mind. At the end of the night, one of the guys came and apologised and said it wasnt disrespect, it was just...I interrupted, explained that if he was inspired to jump and shout, we'd done our job, no harm, no foul.

And it wasnt just Dudes Dancing 'neither. We had a few friends drop in (Hi Lea, Chris, Claire, Rachel,Janelle and Elsa Honey) and there was a little crowd diving, but that was more to do with one of the patrons trying to impress Rachel by diving face first into the table full of drinks. Not satisfied with the first beer Tsunami, he attempted it another three times until Rachel stated 'you have been told. now BACK OFF'. Props go to Lea for warning her girlfriends not to wear their expensive shoes.

We finished up there by mid evening and it was time for the next band to come on. The Lansdowne sure knows how to keep the action going.

All in all a good night. Mrose has got the Little Big Bird solo down pat, Paul needs a Roadie to hand him tuned guitars. Slinky was flawless, Mark was happy, I'm  exhausted, probably because I mistook Mrose's amp for mine, and his is made from depleted uranimum. I hefted it and went 'WTF' how did this amp get so heavy. he pointed out that it has wheels. I dont know how he does it. there are stairs where he lives.

Tired but happy, we recuperate today and we're scheduled for recording tomorrow night, depending on how Jim's feeling. We'll see. Until next time!

 MJEB