from the ridiculous to the sublime

How could these both be music?

Saturday night: National Junk Band. A chance to be silly and proud of it. Some hot uke licks and some excellent gags. Sorry Marcus - we weren't laughing AT you ...
After the show, so happy it hurt. And then I heard two guys sitting at the bar talking about the gig:
"Watchya think?"
"Yeh - it was different. "
"Yeh."
They reminded me of the two hecklers in the Muppets and in fact I had a quick check for big Jim Henson hand but couldn't see anything (puppeteers are clever these days).

Sunday arvo: Waverley Bondi Beach Band's tribute concert to Cliff Goodchild. Most of the concert was conducted by Paul Goodchild, but Cliff got up at the end and took the band through "Black and White Minstrel Show" which was really what the audience had been waiting for. He formed the band in 1959 nd only passed the baton in March this year. A well-deserved standing ovation. And I must say that the tenor horn section was sounding pretty hot in spite of my absence for the past eleven years. Actually, because of it.

I was excited to read that "the Black Rider: The Casting of the Magic Bullets" is coming to the Sydney Festival. I wonder whether there'll be fisty-cuffs to get tickets or whether the audience will be twenty-or-so people whose venn diagrams cross Tom Waits and William Burroughs.

o frabjous joy

The three of us headed out with some other Conway-philic friends last night to see Mic Conway's National Junk Band at the Empire in Annandale. Sheer anarcho-musical wizardry (and some new jokes too)!
It was the NJB's first gig since the sad loss of Ukelele Lola. Azo Bell from the Old Spice Boys stepped capably into the breach, wooing us with his virtuosic Uke and Saw playing (including a solo rendition of The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face - Ha!). We're now seriously considering joining Rob Willis in Port Fairy next March for the Uke concert - hmmmm.
Here's a shot of sousaphone-savant Cazzbo Johns and Philthy Dunnyseat dancing too fast for the camera...

back in the world

Just back in Sydney after spending a week in SA with Blindman's Holiday. How was Adelaide? The first thing that comes to mind is that Sydney appears to have more jackhammers. Or maybe one of the neighbours just planted a tape loop of jackhammer noise outside my window this morning. Thanks a yahoo.

The drive from Adelaide to Sydney is an ordeal. Mainly because the "are we there yet"s started after the first hour and we still had seventeen hours to go. The best driving music we have found for open country driving (especially through the Hay plains) is anything by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. On the way down to Adelaide we had close to a religious moment. Or maybe it was just the film-set looking sky, road, the falling dusk and the rising moon. And Nusrat voice, the soundtrack to the journey.

Adelaide itself was a bit of a blur. We only had three days to perform for school children ranging from Kindies to year elevens. Hats off to the students at Mary McKillop's College - a more intelligent and good humoured bunch you couldn't hope to find. We added a new song to the repertoire - a song from Calabria about a man who loves his donkey (now now kids, no sniggering). We get to make donkey sounds as part of the song. And that always reminds me of Polly Garland who introduced us to her lovely family of donkeys in Cobargo. And that always reminds me of the fine times we have spent with our other Cobarg0 friends David Lowe and Jane Foggon and their lovely menagerie of dogs, cats, rabbits and draught horses. It's a wonder I can get through the song with so many thoughts crowding in. As the Paul Kelly song sings, "it's a like a party line".

On our final night we sang at our host Jossie's 50th birthday party. It was a lovely gathering and the food was outstanding! We three gals were sitting in our room working out what we'd sing. Linda was rapidly losing her voice, so a lot of the songs were beyond us. A young friend, Amy, was sitting with us. Linda had sent her copies of a demo BMH made some years ago. Amy had not just enjoyed the CD but had memorised many of the parts! So our quartet was complete. The highlight of the trip was singing "Living Beyond Our Means" with Amy singing the lead, including a fantastic and beautifully sung bluesy impro. Everyone was blown away! Amy was also able to teach me the top part of "Embala Eu" which I'd never sung before. Amy is part of a couple of performing groups in Adelaide. One is "Tutti" and one is "Umbrella A Cappella". If you;re in Adelaide go and catch them! We look forward to singing with Amy again next July when we return. Actually, I look forward to her teaching more high parts.

Christina

adventures in cyberspace

Welcome to our blog home in cyberspace. This is where we'll be posting regular updates of our travels and other adventures - mainly singing, but with occasional diversions into our other many and varied areas of interest.
If you're after our CDs, or information about upcoming gigs, visit our web home at www.touchwoodweb.com.

Christina's currently on tour with Blindmans Holiday in Adelaide, and she's taking this opporunity to tee up some gigs for our trip to West NSW, SA and the NT in the middle of next year - you'll be hearing more about that as time goes on.

Cheers!