It may not look fancy but a spread of messy camping food hits the spot on the first day away. The long drive is over, tents are up, and the weather forecast looks good. Now we toast a fun weekend to come at the National Folk Festival. Photo @victorian_wyvern
I love the power of music to set the tone for the day. I listen to music in the shower (a little habit picked up in a share house in Brunswick in the late 1990s) and this morning's choice was Peggy Lee's Walking Happy, recorded in 1967. It starts simply with a walking bass line
Finally I have my home recording studio set up. It took rather a long time to sort it out and for that little red box to arrive in the post. Now that I've set it all up, it's ridiculously easy to record - plug in and go. Not only that, but it's small enough that
Ellington seems an appropriate subject for a post on the eve of International Jazz Day. Such Sweet Thunder is a 12-part suite written in 1957 as a tribute to Shakespeare. Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn (composer/ arranger) wrote the music in three weeks, each piece inspired by a character or idea from Shakespeare's works. I
I haven't yet solve the problem, but I have finally solved the riddle of my digital mixing desk. After several weeks of trying to get it to talk to Garage Band, I typed the magical search words into googled to uncover the truth. The next model up will do it, but not mine. One riddle
The kids decided we should all learn some songs so we can play together. This in itself makes me extraordinarily happy. They wrote a list on the kitchen blackboard and over the last few days we've all been practising the very cheery 1935 tune "I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself A Letter." And
There's a guitar in floating around my house. Not that I can play it - too big and too many strings for my little hands, I've always said. I have it so guests can play if they feel the urge. It hasn't been played for a while and I thought it needed to come out
Apart from having a fabulous name, Derek Gripper is an amazing guitarist. He's playing in the cracks. In the gaps of various African, Western and just plain beautiful musics. The resulting sound that is intriguing and compelling, and while at first it seemed he wasn't going to talk much, as the concert went on he
Rehearsing is always a pleasure. Especially when it's for one of my favourite small festivals - Melbourne Ukulele Festival - and one of my favourite songwriters - Leonard Cohen. I was going to post a clip of Leonard singing Come Healing live in Dublin, but the musical wormhole is a rich place. So much material
Snail mail is becoming increasingly rare these days, so when I open the flap of my mailbox and there's actually something in there, it's quite a treat. Today's mail was a five star rating in the happiness stakes: Corin Raymond's long awaited CD and book AND a ticket to see Amanda Palmer in Perth in
