May 2004

Andrew Clermont’s World News & Birthday Party Tour!!
– via Dya Singh Group, The Lawnmowers, Kavisha Mazzellas, The Borderers and The Supper Club

Please come celebrate my birthday in Sydney, June 5 at The Harp, Tempe (just down Princes Highway from Newtown) with The Lawnmowers, JigZag (see links below) and Waiting for Guiness! A big night indeed – and a rare year to actually be home and share a ‘Hoppy Birdy’ – hope you can make it! (Sorry! a bit short notice! Just back from a month in USA). You’ll also have a chance to pick up our latest CD releases from The Lawnmowers & The Supper Club.

The Lawnmowers will then appear at Harrigans out from Newcastle in the Hunter Valley wine zone!

The Supper Club Tour for mid 2004 is the following weekend (Queen’s Birthday long weekend) in Tamworth, Armidale and a garden party in Barraba.(see Gigguide below)And these are the latest CDs we are launching!

Latest CDs!

If you have internet, we have E-Movies about to appear on the home site of recent concerts!! (Tell us your Email!)

Ahead is the Clermont Touring Festival run: including “The Franciscan Montz of Brigalow”, “LawnMazzellas of the Hot Club”, “Borderering on Gourdgeous”, “Dya Singh on the The Borderers of Kavisha” and other remarkable encounters in the ‘lala’ land of musical clermontology! Also World Tour peace making with Dya Singh Group – see below.

“The Franciscan Montz of Brigalow”
23 years ago or so, before moving out of home, I wandered up to the Kapunda Celtic Festival for my first festival weekend of soaking in tunes galore. My brother, Alex, took me and we learnt of Ian Simpson, a phenomenal kid banjo picker in Perth via a cassette tape played in a next door tent; discovered the marvels of mass fiddles in reverberent, enclosed spaces; bought some very swish 2nd hand turquoise coloured glassware; and saw the Tritt family play & win on most of the instruments visable that weekend. Oh and we saw that the saxophone could really rip up a fiddle/pipe tune!

Well young Ian Tritt who won most prizes that weekend (those that John Munro hadn’t!), sat down with me after imploring him to teach me a fine tune he’d made up.

Now over 2 decades later I returned to the same festival, as a headline act, featuring the very same tune in a few flavours and segways into the many other tune realms I’ve since then tampered with.

The weekend went a step more wonderful by being joined by Japanese banjo man, Montz Matzumoto, who I’d met at the Frances Folk Gathering a year earlier.

Also re-met at Frances was John Francis. As fate & fortune would have it, we have each won the Frances Musicianship Award! Fine design by Kym Fulgrabe, Kapunda Festival meant John also joined us with his award winning voice & charm.

However folks, yes indeed it didn’t stop there either. The links and wonderment just kept going, for not only were John Francis and I also member to the illustrious group, Brigalow, but the other grand half of this much cherished group were also performing at the Festival as Tamerisque!

Thus with just a short step of influence, we were able to conjure a rare Brigalow Reunion. And what a hoot it was. A large slice of the Gordon Family together with John & I covering the classically twisted Bulgarian Gypsy Bluegrass & Enya’d Celtic music we so enjoy! Potentially there will be a CD available from the night!

“LawnMazzellas of the Hot Club”
A very short week later came the Easter National Folk Festival in Canberra, ACT. A very timely arrangement because a dear friend’s mother had just passed away and I was coincidentaly flying in, exactly on time, for the funeral & wake. Our condolences to Nick Dooley & Family. Also running on the Saturday was the Griffith Wine Festival (near Narrandera) in the midst of NSW.

The recently formed Lawnmowers were meeting up to play/ jam and CD launch (The Good Road) at the National all weekend. Just prior, I discovered dear Kavisha Mazzellas was also coming up. She had been Pt Fairy’s ‘Artist of the Year’, where we had last soared together and we were certainly keen to continue the flavour.

“Borderering on Gourdgeous”

It is Victoria’s year at the National but my Melbourne realm, Totally Gourdgeous, were omitted. No sadness though, because Griffith was very keen for the band plus good buddies The Borderers – who are generally looking for a band to augment them – and we discovered that TG makes a fine compliment to Alex & Jim. Hearing Carl Pannuzzo on full drum kit with Mal Webb getting lowdown on his Steinberg Bass was a real treat.

( TG will shortly return to Austria, late June, with material for our 3rd CD coming along well – the fun and life exploration continues! )

Alas the 8hr round trip – but thanks to Dave Hellens (Banjo in The Lawnmowers) for the car loan. I get back just in time for the midnight to dawn jam in the session bar with many folk including players from ‘The Waybacks’ USA. With any luck I’ll catch them shortly here in California. All this plus mixing sound & sharing wild melodies with the Gypsy Hot Club, see some of them at the next Supper Club in Armidale, June 11.

Suddenly, before you could say, “HHeLiBeBKNOFNeNaMgAlSiPSKArCa”, Fremantle, Western Australia, was in view. Fine friend John Reed and co-player with Kavisha offered some video editing expertise & tools and soon I was buried in the process. I’d brought the video footage from my Supper Club concerts during the Tamworth Festival last January and proceeded to produced 19, 2 minute clips from 17hrs of concert recordings! (Soon to be up on the web)

“Dya Singh on the The Borderers of Kavisha”

All this was done while touring 2 weeks with Dya Singh as well. Sleep debt took on an extra zero or two. Thanks to all who came to the concerts, our CD sales tell us you enjoyed them – we had none to take home! The Fairbridge Folk Festival – my third visit – and looking forward to coming back – perhaps with Totally Gourdgeous next year (looks promising). We had a great time with Dya Singh Group, sounding particularly holy in The Chapel (see montage pics).

The Sunday morning Gospel segment was again very special. A mingle of the many festival performers. I had the joy of a funky bluegrass version of “Talk about Suffering” dueting with the ‘Fair’gospel-queen, Jenny, and a solid audience choir part in my version of “Weary Land”.

At one point The Borderers thought they were going to have a quiet night. But come the first bars of beat, the trusty Fairbridge crew appeared out of the night and were fully into it till the last drop. (see B&Wpics in montage) Alex & Jim gave all and I enjoyed some good thrashing fiddling together with the solid Mike Pigeney on drums plus special guest also from Dya Singh, Quentin Eyers playing bass (on low strung babyTaylor guitar)?!

The night jams, were in part, a continuation from the National with ‘The Waybacks’ not letting the strings get too cool.

John Reed (ex-Sensitive Cowpersons) and I trio’d with dearest Kavisha Mazzella covering north mediterrainean flavours with heart & soul. It’s been an absolute bonus joy doing the trio of Festivals with them as well – Pt Fairy, The National & Fairbridge. A big thanks from the performers to the organisers there of. (see montage above)

2

MAY – to USA

An all too brief time at home with friends & family before the train to Sydney & Liz Frenchams beautiful bohemian evening supported by Kate Fagan – casting melodies & lyrics like balmy evening sea breezes. (the Glebe “Chapel” venue)

An over night jet and it’s California – and straight into the thick of it.

Local TLC, Beverly Hill style. A dear friend of the Dya Singh Group, Simeran, while about to pour some just boiled Chai tea, doesn’t notice the pot has twisted as it releases several cupfuls of steaming tea down her left leg & foot. A large area of 1st & 2nd degree burns, follow the screams of shock. Skin has already blistered as we seek water & ice cold items from the freezer to ease the pain and further damage. 911 is also rung in the panic. It is made clear that it is only a saucepan of boiling tea but were asking advice.

We had to leave for a performance organised by the unfortunate lass. As we head out the door, two fire engines and crew appear with sirens and give serious first aid. No problem too big or small in them thar hills. We hope recovery was as speedy.

It’s a concert a day and sometimes three; between temples (Gurdwarras), Inter-faith events along side Peace & Justice affairs (see first picture) and even a few schools. The ramifications of Sept 9/11 have reached deep into multi-racial considerations and the Dya Singh Group has been grateful to be part of the peace making in these times.

San Francisco & Dallas, USA now, with a return trip to launch the Sikh exhibit at the Smithsoneum Museum, Washington DC then Toronto, France, Germany & special invite to The Royal Albert Hall, London late September.

Here we have the San Diego Peace & Justice Building in the background , Parvyn dancing in the garden in front and Dya Singh Group in concert at the last OZ concert in an Arts Centre, Perth.

PICTURES – see the groovy montages in colour on “Latest News” off the Homepage on the Web or in “Newsletters”

The Outro!

Do check in the the GigGuide on the Home Page which features ‘The Lawnmowers’ CD cover & pics with brand new links to latest tour pics & sites – we will be nearby some time soon for sure! One band, carnation or another!

Some last words of insight (below) come from your emails and letters, drop a line anytime,

Regards in that magic of music , Andrew Clermont
***********

They say it takes a minute to find a special person, and hour to appreciate them, but then an entire

life to forget them. Send this phrase to the people you’ll never forget. It is a short message to let

them know that you will never forget them. If you don’t send it to anyone, it means you are in a hurry

and have forgotten your friends. (a reality check for sure)

“You’re always alone, but you’re only lonely if you don’t like the person you’re alone with”. (Thanks Jas)

“Every so often, I like to go to the window, look up, and smile for a satellite picture” – Steven Wright (via Joe Dolce)

Praying Mantis below Mt Warning – Most photos from Andrew (and certainly assembled by!)

Update November 2004

BETWEEN THE BANDS mentioned in the subject line we’ve been to: California; Sydney; the New England zone of Tamworth, Barraba & Armidale; over to Austria; Slovenia; then Washington State; Michigan, USA; Toronto, Canada; back across to Central & Southern England; Berlin, Hamburg & Bremen, Germany; Copenhagen, Denmark; then homeward through Singapore into Central Queensland! Phew! Now last update I featured a world of photo page links to Cyber-hop through (you’ll find them now first up under ‘ LINK’ on the homepage). This time it’s back to some info and Gee! Guess what happened on the way to……… So yes there has been a bit to mention (from Meteorites to Bumble Bees!), but I’ve made it reasonably easy to spot the various band sections if you are flicking through: But first:-

Immediate GIGs in Australia (let your friends in the area know!):

In BRISBANE as FIDDLERS FESTIVAL
(Marcus Holden/ Mark Oats/ Clare O’Meara/ John Connolly/ Garry Steel/ Willie Qua/ Andrew)
Brisbane Energex Arts Festival Queensland, Australia, Sept 21 – 25 :
Tue 21 12.30pm Queen Street Mall
Wed 22 8pm Fitzy’s Loganholme
Thur 23 North’s Leagues Club, Kallangur
Fri 24 Ipswich Civic Hall
Sat 25 The Greek Club , West End
and

In ADELAIDE as DYA SINGH WORLD MUSIC GROUP
Saturday 2 October 8pm Nexus Cabaret Space, Lion Arts Centre, Bookings 8212 4276
The group will be Dya Singh vocals and harmonium, Dheeraj Shrestha – Tablas, Keith Preston – Bouzouki and Santoor, Harsel & Parvyn Singh vocals, Andrew Clermont – didgeridoo, violin and mandolin plus Quentin Eyers – guitars and didgeridoo (coming to Barraba, NSW, early Nov!)

In NEW ENGLAND as THE SUPPER CLUB returns
featuring Harmonica Master, Christian Marsh (See the Emovies on Homepage) with side man Dr
GoodVibes(Eddie Valk from a band with Andrew in 1988!). Special Harmony guest Belinda
Walmsley, plus regular favourites, Parris & PuYu Macleod with their beautiful Piano & Flute.
Oct 15th Benvenue Primary Morning Workshop & School Concert
Oct 15th Armidale’s Cattlemans Motel ph 1800 028910
Oct 16 North Tamworth Bowling Club ph 0267 661987
Oct 17 Fundraising for Women of Kenya Featuring Opera Star Annalisa Kerrigan
at the Tamworth Race Course. Book at Tamworth Country Capital Newsagency.
Oct 18 Somerton & District Schools Concert

TOTALLY GOURDGEOUS Yundabung Festival (Cairns, QLD) 21st – 23rd Oct

THE LAWNMOWERS at Dorrigo Bluegrass & Folk Festival,NSW, 29th-31st Oct

Ph 0407753809 for bookings or more info – particularly any contenders for the Golden Fiddle
Awards & NoHoldsBarred Fid Contest

However, back to the Story! End May to end September and beyond……..

FIDDLERS FESTIVAL
Today was Sept 13 in central Queensland, Mitchell to be exact, cultural centre and home to
healthful hot springs (only metres from the stage we performed on). The Fiddlers Festival had been invited to return to the Brisbane Arts Festival. Augmenting this, the Queensland Art Council saw fit to take the FF to the inner plains of this northern state. Did they really know who they were unleashing? HaHa. All superb in their fields – Marcus Holden from infinite studio sessions; Mark Oats – one of the funniest people to tour with together with Clare O’Meara both from The Bushwackers and playing like twins. Clare’s vocals are a dream embraced by her piano while John Connelly, from Galapagos Duck, launches deep into his rare 6 – string Bass and struggles not to fall off stage from laughing at the antics. I get to field my Guitar styles with stabs of Mandolin & Didgeridoo with the odd flurry of Fiddle. Chilly mornings with blue sky days, Bottle Trees and local Art Gallerys with the most exciting displays I’ve seen in a long time – Mitchell rules the outback so far, for impressing we ‘travelling folk’. Gourmet Food items like styles of Pasta, wild sauces, and jams that you just won’t find in supermarkets and Jeans which fit like a glove! Now that is very rare & special for this tall fella! The Australian Blue Dog Brand no less! A horse ride along the river (careful of the quicksand!) is certainly the way to get a real feel of these lands. They are looking to hold a Jazz Festival here before long too.

DYA SINGH WORLD MUSIC GROUP
At last update we had just been in Califorina with Dya Singh Group – Orange County/ San Diego/ San Francisco and finishing in Dallas, Texas with new beloved friends. There we had a very special (nearly dawn) concert / Sikh program beside one of the lakes. A rousing finish was provided with a wild Jet Boat cruise and visit from motor bike mate James (last seen in LA for my fun 40th down Sunset strip) and so again we headed off into the sunset.

Fine recording & hospitality was had at La Jolla Beach, and ever grateful to Bicky Singh, our chief of southern Californian operatons and his family, for making the world a friendlier place to be in! (And I’m promising his kids I’ll try not to grow any taller)

Now there could be a few of you who are, if not a tad intrigued, perhaps at least a little curious to the relevance of my world tours with Dya Singh (only 5 years of them already!). Well have a read of the following Review – particularly the last quote. I happened to find it wandering through my back emails; of an appearance we made in

USA, California,Yuba City: The 7th annual Punjabi American Festival hosted by
the Punjabi American Heritage Society

Bhai Dya Singh, from Adelaide, Australia, graced the occasion with his spiritual music accompanied by his two daughters Parvyn Kaur and Harsel Kaur. Also accompanying him were: Dheeraj Shrestha on tabla; Quentin Eyers on guitar, and Andrew Clermont on the fiddle. Dya Singh brings Sikh hymns to the masses in his own special style-allowing both the old and young to enjoy his offerings.

This year’s Festival attracted approximately 12,000 people.

This concept was well represented at the Punjabi American Festival 2001 and Yuba City. Bhai Dya Singh provided the spiritual aspect through his mystical, Sikh hymns. Dya Singh’s music pervaded the atmosphere at the fairgrounds, embracing everyone – the older people enjoyed the blissful music but what was surprising was how the initially cynical youth stood entranced by the rhythms emanating from this communicator. Dya Singh and his group of world-class musicians were able to raise the entire throng to a level of bliss and joy that most people do not associate with religious hymns and especially not in the setting of an outdoor mela. At least in our families his status is equal to that of a rock star – our children wake up in the mornings and then go to sleep at night listening to his music, not because they are forced to do so, but because they want to.
Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore once dreamed and prayed:

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow
domestic walls;
Where words come out from the depth of truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;
……..

Into that heaven of freedom, my father, let my country awake.

Sometimes we forget THE REASONS WHY, when often the view seems to be only the road ahead.
I don’t have the writers name but verily appreciate the warm hug from it. Even last night with the Fiddlers Festival and being pulled a side by one of the fine audience of Tambo (southern central QLD) who implored. Don’t you ever forget how important your role in inspiring the youth (and not so youth) is And so we do what we do and somewhere along the line, notice the twinkle in the eye, where the penny has dropped and another disciple to life, through music, is converted.
By the way. in Dya Singh we have Sikhs, Hindu, Christian and some perhaps a little less defined (but where the classic bumper sticker My God loves Your God comes to mind) – all merrily travelling together. I bid them a great gig at The Royal Albert Hall, London on the 26th Sept. Sadly I had to pass up that opportunity but my loss only, they will have fine success there for sure, in the 400th Year celebration of the assemblage of the Sikh Holy Book, the Guru Granth Sahib. The entire collected script is written to music in Raga melodies.

AUSTRALIA
And speaking of life through Music –
my June, Oz return BIRTHDAY PARTY weekend with The LAWNMOWERS and great friends, JigZag at the Harpe Hotel, Tempe was an absolute hoot. An afternoon picnic/ jam with near & dear family & friends, with both the Pyrmont & Sydney Harbour Bridges as a back drop in Glebe Park. And to have my fav folk band, Jigzag alongside our Bluegrass mania with the ‘Mowers. Ah another heaven on a ‘musical’ stick’. We wrapped up the weekend at Harrigans Pub in the Hunter Wine lands for a Sunday wind down – both days we joined by fine friend and Bluegrass Harmonica wizard, Tony Eyers.

The midyear SUPPER CLUB reached out to 7 schools this time round, plus 4 Concerts in 4 days. A whirlwind return to the 300km sided triangle of Tamworth/Armidale/ Barraba with music from around the world. Including sensational young Sri Lankan born R&B Soul & Jazz Singer Roshani Priddis, The Lawnmowers – Jazzy Bluegrass, The Fiddle Champions, ‘Gypsy Hotclub’ and our favourite lady from Taiwan, PuYu on Flute and partner Parris Macleod on Keyboards. All up, 10 musicians spreading the gospel of music. The next Supper Club shows are coming up in October as read earlier above.

E-MOVIES
Perhap you’ll never get the chance to see some of these concerts, alas, but have no fear, the Emovie site on my HomePage is running well now with Window Media to many and Quicktime to ALL 26 or more video clips. They range from the many Supper Club concerts last January (including the NoHoldsBarred Fiddle Contest) to Dya Singh in concert, and shorts of Totally Gourdgeous, Pauline & our meditation video – ‘Songs for the Soul’, the tuition videos, and a special full length treat from Fremantle guitarist, and dear friend, Simon Nield.

HUGE THANKS again,
first of all to Sunshine Poschinger for her remarkable eye for framing and steady hand in filming the Supper Club concerts and secondly, John Reed, way over in Western Australia, for loan of the Apple G4 Laptop & Final Cut Pro program to make the recent clips. I’m definitely converted and will pick up my own G4 at the end of the month to delve deeper into this wonderous media. (Thanks Satt in London for the big help there)

AUSTRIA & SLOVENIA with TOTALLY GOURDGEOUS – Mal Webb/ Penelope Swales/ Carl Panuzzo
& Andrew

Getting on TV can often be a task, but over in Southern Europe, Totally Gourdgeous had the media confounded and they just had to check it out. See the Emovie page in a month from now for that one. However our return invite to the Donauinsel Fest of 2.5 Million partying folk on an island in the midst of the Danube can only leave us saying – ya just had to be there! Vocal workshops in Vienna again as last year were well attended with much stretching of the larynx and melodic interpretation – plus a humdinger Vegan Taiwainese Restaurant over the road and Spanish Tapas around the corner! Ah, the tours of Food & Music for the heart & soul! Well done all attendees. http://www.totallygourdgeous.com

Carl Pannuzzo is our fav Gourdgeous vocal warbler, and for those who haven’t experienced him, here’s what some said:
You take the fear out of singing! – workshop student in Zakynthos 2004

One of the most amazing results i´ve ever seen happen in a week!
– Wolfgang Löhnert, organisator Summer Academy of Greece

I love this guy´s stuff – pure soul! – George Nussbaumer, singer, pianist and radio moderator.
You can hear and see some on my CD homepage under TG

KGB MUSICIANS CLUB!!
In Maribor, Slovenia we found the KGB Muso Club! (well it does actually stand for something else there) We will shoot for a gig there next time but had to make do with the round house cavern where they used to hang the witches ! A Lent Festival appearance! A very weird sensation to be sure but a packed house with Jazz to Dance fans. An enormous firework display after and more TV coverage.
A little bit of trivia – this country is rationed with 24km of coastline on the Mediterainean Sea!

One of our fav gigs in this part of the world is Pu:rbach, south of Vienna in the Sandhofer Vineyard Cavern. The host, Hubert and his extended family (the amazing kids) & friends make it another ‘Gourdgeous’ Gourmet Event’ – I always come away with an amazing photo collection. And for those into artistic ‘doors’ this would have to be one of the capitals of ‘door’ art!

At this point I’d also like to send our CONGRATULATIONS and support to Penelope Swales who has managed to get the very expensive visa clearance to tour USA/Canada for the next year. Her standing ovation at the North America Folk Alliance Convention in New York State last year led to great interest and we wish her safe touring and glorious success.

HOME PLANS – Gallery & Pauline’s Books/ CDs Art

The home front has been all go inspired by Pauline’s eldest daughter’s house building (‘cos she wanted her own room!) and now Pauline’s Gallery Studio is near completion in the backyard. A quest of Pauline’s to be sure, her art work from so many mediums – some visible on the CD/Book/Video page of my Homepage – will soon have a display home. I hope this will also initiate the further possibilities of a touring an Art/ Music/ Screen Show of her drawings/paintings/CDs/ Videos and crafts. It’s been a long time coming but a remarkable collection you can be sure from the most loving & peaceful soul I know.

DYA SINGH WORLD MUSIC GROUP through USA/ Canada/ UK/ Germany/ Denmark/ Singapore
From the amazing realm of the Smithsoneum Institute Museum where we launched the first Sikh exhibit there with a special concert in the Natural History Building – with a USA who’s who of this major religion. Onto Detroit, Michigan and very warm folk with a Major Feature Film in mind to include the Group in. An opportunity to hone my own film making thoughts and editing study – an inspiring stay.

CHARACTERS
I discovering a few interesting characters too, like Roving Ron, the Mandolinist and Boogie Woogie Piano King, Bob Seeley. His piano at Charley’s Crab Restaurant, Troy, MI is built into the bar! I found Roving Ron under ‘Musicians’ in the Yellow Pages. He advised me on a great Music Shop for a new Mandolin soft case, and we were soon jamming at the house I was staying at. A very nice retired engineer fella with a fun attitude to Life & Music. It was admittedly a touch strange, explaining to our hosts that my ‘friend’, which I was sharing music and laughs with and entertaining the household, had infact been but an amusing entry in a phone book, a few hours earlier! By this time next year he is likely to be hosting some friends from Australia I’m sending his way. The web-o-music is an amazing realm. And so it is with most groups of people who share a common passion, a passport to many fine new friends across the planet.

TORONTO – amazing views! Now this is intensive touring – August . Toronto with near 15 appearances and TV in 5 days, culimating with thousands of folk at the Harbourside Maasta Indian Festival. And still time for a good buddy to take Parvyn & I for a fine, drenching visit to the bottom of Niagara Falls – to feel that immense water energy face first. Big thanks to the Kobi Family & Friends for a perfect though busy stay. The Toronto Tower IS staggeringly high (about as high as you can get and still be connected to the ground – and you get to stand on a glass floor endless stories high looking perilously down! Or have a delicious meal while the world rotates gently around you, waaaaaaay below you). Oh! And unbelievably at this phenomenal height i see a BUMBLE BEE, yes truly, a Bumblebee, tumbling passed the window Pant, pant, pant, there’s gotta be a flower somewhere at the top of this wacko tree! Amazing view No. 3 is from high in the city. The Panorama Bar – a night vista with the mighty Tower centre view, and the lights of the city tumbing into tendrils around Lake Ontario almost till Niagara Falls is also absolutely breathtaking.

LONDON
Soon we are in London to the ol’ aircraft housescraping zone of Hounslow West. Amazingly I barely hear the 6am flights these days! It’s all pretty busy this time with mainly Temples (Gurdwarras) and some private functions. Many are full of warm familiar faces now and even some surprise visits from Tamworth friends – good onya Brookie & Beck. Refound ol’ mate and fine songwriter/player Craig Taylor formerly of Adelaide. Then there are the ever reliable for a fun catch up, Ev & Elliet – ya’ll rock! Elliet is fiddler to Kangaroo Moon in UK and has been collecting gig stories along the way.

BERLIN
A week in Berlin is next with a concert at the Indian Embassy – SOLD OUT! And with discovering a 3 day gap in shows I hightail it to Copenhagen via Hamburg & Bremen to see Family & Friends. A glorious trip reminding me that these Germanic Lands are like a second home with some of my absolute favourite people. Thanks Suzi for the sealion counting expedtion, and my cousins for the best spots to relax in Berlin town. I had a very groovy night at Polish/Czech party house that happens once a month with a 60s retro DJ spinning songs just like you remember them, but they are in foreign lyrics. A very funny and dancy night (the REAL Berlin I’m told!) – Diana you’re a Legend. Thanks also to Gabriel & the Berlin Sikh/ Yoga folk, we can’t do it without you. Never be surprised where your next best friend may appear from!

SOUTH ENGLAND
And so the south west of England with a friends Bluegrass gig way down in Dartmouth is the next tour gap. Meeting the biggest slug (at least 5 inches long and an inch wide!) in a most charming garden in a tiny village of but a few cottages. A lovely fire in an old washtub bowl while the full moon & wine brings all manner of conversation into the frey. Pity about the airforce base going at it into the night – ah well, you get that.

Tis always sad to leave a country, the fine friends and or family and all the more awkward when a tour overlaps. but keeping in contact is one way the distance & time between gets shorter. So I swap with the amazing Quentin Eyers, studio engineer and player of most instruments, and head ‘home’ to Australia and reunite with ‘Fiddlers Festival’ for our most substantial tour yet.

FIDDLERS FESTIVAL TOUR QUEENSLAND
So the Fiddle mob head off for another jaunt on the road to Roma. A mining truck transport is ahead taking over the entire roadway at 80 km per hour and a queue forms behind. Finally we pass the transport in a tiny town, only to be pulled over by the police! He tells us our trailer door is wide open! We dash around to see the damage and or loss of gear……….Unbelievably even Mark Oats’s Fiddle which teeters upright by the opening is still calmly sitting there! What a pack! 100 km of a wide open trailer AND not one person behind flashed their lights, honked their horns or ran over any gear – having miraculously stayed in the trailer! We all counted our luck stars that morning. And blow me down if we didn’t then see a staggeringly big, wide shooting star last night across most of the heavens and it glowed for ages after! Night sky watching is an absolute must in the outback. And Note: in the southern hemisphere we have dramatically more stars & Milky Way to see than in the north because we are actually looking into the heart of the Milky Way as compared to looking out of the outer tail of it in the northern hemisphere! But it was in fact an all round dramatic day with Brendan & Grant our Sound & Lighting personel had a 3m wing span Wedge Tail Eagle crash into the truck windscreen! Oh so lucky it didn’t break through,for they make a horrific mess! But at 100kmph and a truck coming at them as well – very lucky lads, and the Eagle…. just flew away! The truck limped off with a totally shattered screen. One hectic day in an otherwise peaceful, though nicely partying tour.

There’s still a few things I didn’t cover (!) and a treasure of notes to be shared – Love, Light and safe travel between your family,friends and work.