The bits of stuff that fall in the cracks between Life, Music and outrageous fortune.		  
 
 
 
February
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1) It's come to this - a bloody decaf cappucino 2) Trev checks his laptop to find me the incipient Chants' website
Meanwhile, I was still thinking..
21.2.08 - Melbourne will do that. One day it's as hot and sticky as, and at night you have the fan on and not much else, the next day it's chilly and drizzly and you put on your electric blanket before you go to bed. Trev and Lyndsay were staying in Clarke St Northcote, and when I got there I realised why the address seemed familiar - it was the same place Ray Arnott had stayed at all those years ago with Randy Bulpin. Lyndsay was grey with the cold and regretting not bringing down something warm to wear, but the café was warm and she made me feel less geekish by ordering a decaf coffee as well. Trev and I studied the Norton contract and made some adjustments and discussed the whys and wherefores of another Chants' tour in NZ. We both thought that May was getting a little too close for comfort and decided on September. I rang John Baker, who was in transit in steamy Auckland, and handed the phone to Trev, who seems to enjoy the bartering process, and they chatted away for quite some time. It didn't occur to me till later this might be an expensive phone call. Trev said he'd send me the modified agreement by e-mail, we said goodbye and I drove off into the gloomy grey towards Camberwell.
 

1) Fellow judges Visnja and Wendy Ealey 2) Competition winners Nicole Livingstone (youth) and Brad Wing-Quay
Limelight Song Contest
18.2.08 - I may as well have booked a motel room in the Yarra Valley on Saturday night, as the next afternoon I was to be one of the judges on the Limelight Songwriters final at the Upper Yarra Valley Arts Centre, where Bill and I did our songwriting workshop a few weeks back. I'd had a big night watching The Bill and most of the Super 14s rugby match from South Africa, so was pretty much on auto-pilot on the way up, but got there in good time. One of the other judges, Wendy Ealing , intercepted me as I was dithering out the front of the Arts Centre, and then Limelight's Dave Walker was giving us our clip boards and pens and the show had started.
It was broken in two halves, with the three youth entrants in the first half, so Wendy, Visnja (pron. Vishna) and I sorted out the youth section's winner in the interval and established the best of the open section to that point before resuming our bum-numbing seats in the theatre. (pic 1) Thankfully we all agreed on the outright winner (pic 2) without too much discussion, Visnja and I voted Wendy our spokesperson for the presentation - and it was over. I drove back to Camberwell in a daze and sat gah-gah in front of the telly for several hours unable to move a muscle. This is what it's all about, children.
 

1) 2) Humania projection (see large pic)
The TF Much SmallRoom
15.2.08 - It took me a couple of minutes to figure out I was at the right place - the posters in the foyer were too small for me to discern what floor the Blue Diamond was actually on - so I just jumped into the lift anyway hoping there was more legible info inside. There was, and I confidently sailed up to the fifteenth floor of what used to be the RACV building in Queen St, and stepped out into a space that immediately made me feel comfortable and took my breath away at the same time. I was intercepted by Deb Halpern, (pic 1), whom I sort of remembered from some time in the distant past, and whose invitation had prompted my rather uncharacteristic nocturnal visit to the heart of Melbourne. Li'l Fi introduced me to her friend from Qld out on the balcony and we discussed Deb's idea while watching Hugh's whirling projection flit from building to building. Then Deb, and the room's owner, Henry Maas, joined in and expanded on her vision for the sort of shows she'd like to have there. In brief it's rather like an almalgamation of the TF Much Ballroom and the late-lamented Continental Café regularly featuring the best local and touring musicians and artists at this spectacular location - and if that sounds fantastically alluring I'll keep you posted about the concept's progress over the next few months. I have a feeling it's an idea that's bound to find a ready audience.
 

Kerry gave me this token chocolate in honour of the day

Sorry, it's Valentine's Day
14.2.08 - It wasn't that I was totally oblivious to it - I heard at least part of Kev's Sorry speech on the radio, and, of course, like most other fair-minded people, I approved whole-heartedly. But I was preoccupied for most of the day, and didn't really appreciate how big and important an event it was till I met Natasha at the end of the gig last night at the Clifton Hill Hotel, and she related to me how how she'd d spent the day at Federation Square and how emotional it all was for everybody.
And today is Valentine's Day - last night the BBC was rapturously telling its audience how Kenyan flowers were swamping the European market, as if it were an antidote to the extreme prejudice that's been going on there lately...
 
Chance encounter
13.2.08 - I was just putting away The Age and preparing to leave Choclatté, when I felt a womanly presence approaching and heard a familiar voice calling my name. I looked up as Enza peeled off a gaggle of women making their exit and charged towards me. When she's not singing up a storm, Enza has a steady job in Camberwell, so it's almost bizarre we haven't run into each other before now. Anyway, she's well, and her hubbie Ronnie's hooked up with John Swan and is doing well, and Curtis, well Curtis is about to celebrate his thirteenth birthday! Sigh!		  
 

Ed Nimmervoll and David Flint at the Richmond Larder		 A clean bill of health - almost..
12.2.08 - My endocrinologist said I should come back and see him twelve months hence, or sooner if I detect the symptoms returning. My iodine levels are still high and my thyroid has gone from hyper-active to slightly hypo-active, but otherwise I'm pretty OK.
After my appointment I wandered across Bridge Road and met up with Ed Nimmervoll at the Richmond Hill Larder. I told him about the CD releases, which he was pleased about, and which prompted him to invite me to the ABC one evening to join him on his regular broadcast to Darwin. Then he announced he had a mystery guest coming, who turned out to be none other than the Thumpin' Tum's David Flint! Now, there was a venue..
 

Mike quaffs the last of Pam Cleary's NSW pinot		 Natural order restored
9.2.08 - I'm going through a bout of not sleeping well. I realise that it's a phase and probably something to do with all the mixing I'm doing at the moment - pobably explains the corresponding increase in tinnitus as well. I went up to the Rudds' last night and spent a very pleasant evening eating, drinking (pic) and chatting as usual. (The reason that it was a Friday rather than a Sunday is due to their habit of popping down to Torqay every weekend over the summer). I took up a nearly complete version of Xavier Rudd Is Not My Son for their approval, and I'm pleased to say it got a good reception. I plan to do a video for it and upload it to YouTube, so it will have a separate trajectory to the Breathing Space project.
 
 
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