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Scroll
down to the start of the month |
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1)
Mike takes the blues to the crowd at the Mornington
Peninsula Brewery (Jude) 2)
Bill ruins the pic of Karyn and me
3) Keaton's first Spectrum gig was mega - even
with ear muffs 4) Robbo has a chat with Shane, his
teaching mate
gig report
Sun. 27.1.13 The Mornington Peninsula Brewery
Keaton's
first Spectrum gig goes OK
29.1.13 - Sunday was
a pleasant enough day weather-wise, so we were looking
forward to another Pleasant Valley Sunday arvo at
the Mornington Peninsula Brewery. The first point
of interest was the recently opened Peninsula Link
on the way there. It was OK too - mostly it was
free, although I'm not sure if it saved us any time
on this occasion.
We set up our gear and enjoyed some Brewery pizzas
along the way and we could just as easily shared
some BBQ food outside. (Jared said it's always a
good day at the Brewery). I was trying out a couple
of my new toys I'd lately acquired from eBay - a
balanced vocal delay pedal and a Marshall Guv'nor
for my guitar. As it turned out I ditched the Guv'nor
after the first number, (always try before you buy),
but the delay was effective and I enjoyed hearing
my vocal tone sounding true, instead of thin and
nasty through the old Boss guitar delay.
There was a big crowd in attendance and even if
some of the younger crew didn't entirely 'get' the
Spectrum stuff, everybody got off on the blues set.
Keaton was flat-out unconscious by the end of the
arvo but thought the band was 'awesome'. I had a
beer with Karyn (pic 2) and her friend
Francine at the end of the day and Karyn said she'd
been following the band 'forever' and that she'd
try to make it to the St Andrews gig. We're back
at the Brewery on Sunday the 17th of March -
hooray!. |
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gig
report
Sat. 19.1.13 Wild Thyme Café Warburton
Second
gig of the year goes even better..
20.1.13 - Perhaps
unsurprisingly we experienced the same temperature
drop phenomenon on the way up to Warburton as we
had the previous night in Olinda, so I wasn't too
thrilled initially that Alan Seppings decided to
have the band play al fresco out the back
of his Wild Thyme Café. I was somewhat mollified
when I found that there were quite a number of tables
with 'reserved' scrawled on them in chalk and already
a fair sprinkling of patrons in place watching us
load in and set up - and have a bite of Alan's tasty
menu along the way.
Everything was in readiness for us to take the stage
when I felt urgent stirrings in my nethers and had
to retire to the toilets - where I found the blokes'
toilet occupied and had to make a quick decision
to use the girls'. It gave me the ammunition for
an opening gambit once I did hit the stage, but
it was a case of too much information for some of
those who were still eating.
Undaunted we commenced the opening set and found
the sound was surprisingly warm and tight, probably
due to the casual corrugated iron roofing over the
stage that prevented the sound dissipating totally
unreflected into the clear evening skies.
It did get chillier as the evening went on and by
about 11.00 we decided to call it a night. The crowd
was buzzing and a good time was had by all. There
were a number of our good friends in the house -
Baz and Pam, Martyn Sullivan and Mark Rogers, (for
whose birthday we're playing at the Wild Thyme in
April), but I have no pictorial eveidence. I left
my camera at home, so if any of you who were there
took a reasonable pic, please send me a copy and
I'll publish it.
Martyn
Sullivan took this shot of us at the Wild Thyme
Café and I published it.. |
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Rockin'
Ron Glover and Heather occupy the sofa at The Ivy |
gig
report
Fri. 18.1.13 The Ivy Lounge Bar Olinda
The
trio's first gig of the year goes.. OK
19.1.13 - It was surprisingly
chilly up at Olinda, but we warmed up as we loaded
in - and as an audience began to accumulate. Sunday
arvos are our preference and I wasn't too sure how
a Friday night was going to go. Rockin' Ron's (pic)
gloomy tales of previous Fridays at The Ivy didn't
help, but as it turned out it was quite an acceptable
turn-out.
The restaurant was busy so our pizzas arrived late.
I gobbled a few mouthfuls of my very tasty capricciosa
and took it home after the show
We were a bit rusty, but some songs went very well
and balanced the odd blemish.. |
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1)
Emma survived an audio explosion 2) Mike and George
fight the good fight at the Whispering Hills Winery
3)
Jude and Marg cheerfully front-up for another pic
4) Mike chews the skinless sausage with his roadcrew,
Chris Kay
gig report
Fri. 11.1.13 Whispering Huills Winery Seville
Second
consecutive 'ville' gig for 2013
12.1.13 - It was still
stinking hot on the way to the Whispering Hills
Winery, but I was reassured that a cool change was
on the way - and indeed, by the time my support
act Emma (pic 1) had started to play it
was a very pleasant temperature with a cool breeze
wafting through the room. I'd offered Emma the use
of my PA, which she might've regretted when a bad
contact with my guitar lead suddenly took off in
an unnerving audio explosion that everybody could've
done without. But overall the night went very well,
and it was a full (and chatty) room, so owners Murray
and Marie were cheerfully run of their feet all
night. On a personal note I got up the nerve to
play OMG, only its second airing since the Earthquake
Relief Concert, and generally got more of an idea
of where I should be heading with the repertoire.
Murray's confidence was such that he suggested a
duo gig could be next in the offing. |
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A
hot, hot day..
1)
Vesbar owner and birthday girl Beverly Fraser and
happy Mike 2) Maria and her new friend, Frankston
girl, Martine
3)
Vesbar resident artist, Steve Romig 4) Long-time
Spectrum fan Scott Spencer aims a big smooch my
way |
5)
I had a really nice chat with Annie and Trevor after
the show |
gig
report
Fri. 4.1.13 Vesbar Wine Lounge Somerville
First
gig of the year meltdown..
5.1.13 - As we all
know it was uncomfortably hot in Melbourne last
night, but fortunately the temperature in the Vesbar
Wine Lounge was just right. I've not been to Somerville
before so Maria and I got there a couple of hours
early, which meant we had plenty of time to enjoy
an Indian meal with our hosts, Beverly Fraser (pic
1) and her partner Lee, who only took over
running the Vesbar three months ago. I'm not usually
a candidate for Indian food, but Bev and |
Leigh ordered
only lightly spiced for us and it turned out to
be the best Indian meal I've had - ever.
By this time I was getting impatient to get playing,
but the Sellers' still hadn't shown up so I waited
for them to arrive before I started the first set
- still a few minutes early - and the room had filled
up nicely by then.
I'm still learning what works best as a solo performer
and I think the first set can stand some work, but
the second set seemed to go pretty well, especially
when the birthday cake came out and we all launched
into a rousing version of Happy Birthday
for Beverly. Lots of people came up after I'd finished
and said how much they'd enjoyed the show and there
was a good vibe in the room all night, so I'm looking
forward to doing another gig there soon.. |
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