EP Recording

From May 10-12 I headed down to the beautiful surrounds of Tallebudgera with seven musicians, two sound engineers, a producer and a catering crew (aka Mum and Dad!). We recorded at the amazing Recording Oasis and being able to stay down there in the band house meant the whole team was really concentrated and focussed.

This is my first studio recording and boy, was it an experience. Being so used to ‘live’ performance where everything happens in the moment and on the spot (after careful preparation of course) it was pretty wild to take each of those elements and unpack it layer by layer. Of course it wasn’t all hard work and there were some shenanigans. If you’d like to see bass player Jeremy O’Connor trying to make it, fully clothed, across the pool on the flying fox ... you'll have to wait until my next email installment! Suffice to say we did have to wait a while to re-commence recording after that incident!

We managed to record six songs for the EP. Stay tuned for more information on when the EP will be launched.

 

Skitch Tease & Wake Up Fi

I was delighted to perform as musical support act with a recent comedy double bill at the Brisbane Powerhouse. Liz Skitch and Fiona McGary were both wonderful performers and played to sold out crowds. What a great idea to have a little musical warm up before the show and at interval. More of that we say, more, more, more!

 

 

 

 

As a balance to the sometimes introspective journey of song writing and recording, I took up a project Producing gig with Brisbane City Council’s Creative Communities team. I produced the program Saviours of the Lost Arts and have had a truly wonderful experience creating and delivering a program of free craft workshops and a craft fair. Over 55 workshops, 60 organisations and 14 craft-filled days later I am the proud owner of many new craft skills, crafty objects and great new relationships. It’s been wonderful to meet so many talented crafters and I’m quite enamored with the world of crafting. You can read about what you missed out on by clicking this link: Bleeding Heart or you can see some delightful pictures at Mish Photography or the Saviours of the Lost Arts facebook page. One craft I did want to get into is the little known, but fantastical art of Sparkleballery. Perhaps I could start my own Sparkleballery meetup? Anyone interested?!! ...

 

 

In early November, Tnee and I are getting hitched. We're right into the plans for our big day and I can't wait to party with our friends and family. As a seasoned wedding goer (singing at ceremonies and receptions) and an expert event organiser (yes, I am BOSSY!) it's a bit of a dream come true to have this event to put my energy into for the next few weeks, though the real dream come true is Tnee who I can't wait to marry. More news (and pics no doubt) in the next email.

I've recently received some funding to help promote my debut CD. It's very exciting times and over the next four months I will be writing, arranging and recording my CD. Yep, it's been a while coming but I am looking forward to working with some great musicians and arrangers to make the CD the best it can be. Stay tuned for more news.

On August 3, Tnee and I jumped on a plane heading for London via Singapore. I must say that every time I go to Singapore I like it more and more. For four days we basically ate ourselves into a frenzy in the countless foodhalls found in the basement of every building. We also found a grungy little rehearsal room and started getting up to speed with the mammoth task of Edinburgh ahead of us. We arrived in London on August 7 and drove straight up to Edinburgh. With one day to check out the venue and finish rehearsals we then stepped onstage at the Jazz Bar to a nearly full audience. Phew, the next few shows were a bit tough as we tried to massage the show around the Edinburgh jazz audience, and we came good after about show #4! In week two I began Ella, Marilyn, Marlene and Me, my one woman musical theatre show. Again shows went well and the afternoon time slot worked a treat. We also began The Dinosaur Show at 10am. All in all I performed 36 shows in 31 days. There were three days in a row where I performed all three shows each day and amazingly, by show nine of those three days I think I turned in my best performance yet! Funny how things go.

A week in beautiful romantic Paris staying with my aunt was delightful. Tnee and I wandered around the city lost in its beauty. We even recorded "J'ai deux amour" for an upcoming doco about Paris.

Back in the UK we started the UK rural touring part of our trip. We performed in six villages in the Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire areas for the UK Rural Touring Scheme. These were beautiful places with real senses of community and some pretty amazing, eccentric people to boot! We performed in whatever the village centre happened to be, a church built in 1132, a renovated scout hall, a fully fitted out proper theatre ... they were all different and all a great experience.

A little time in London and then it was time to head back home. 42 shows, 9 venues, 14 beds, 6 planes, 4 hire cars, over 2000 audience members and many thousands of kilometers later we were back in Brisbane, ready for the next chapter ...

June was filled with crazy cabaret for the A-Z of Cabaret produced by the Brisbane Cabaret Festival for the Queensland Arts Council. Working alongside Sandro Colarelli, Alison St Ledger and Bryan Probets was a dream not to mention the top notch band headed by Helen Russell on bass and comprising the wonderful musicianship of Jamie Clark (guitars), Sue Porter (keys) and Kym Ambrose (drums). The shows were great fun and I enjoyed hamming it up with Earth Kitt-style sex kitten moves in I Want to be Evil, trying to channel Lena Horne for a beautiful rendition of Stormy Weather and trying my best to hold the longest note possible for Johnny One Note. I had a great time trekking through the Qld west, drinking beer, fossiking for sapphires and eating the same pub meal dozens of times (no sushi in the outback I'm afraid!). It did get absolutely freezing at times, though that didn't stop Sue and I going for an early morning walk, frost and all. We did come home to shouts of 'you townies are crazy' from the open windows of other tour members still cosy in bed! The country folk were delightful and all in all it was a blast ... though my bottom was glad to see the back of the tour bus.

In May we travelled to the beautiful Port Villa, Vanuatu. As you can see from the front page Newspaper article, we were in pretty good performance company! We arrived in Port Villa to meet our charismatic and million-miles-an-hour host 'Mack'. Having brought the double bass on the plane we proceeded to pack the massive white roadcase precariously into the tray of the ute and garner drap-jaw stares of amazement from every person we passed! We performed in cabaret style in Crystals on the Saturday night and then a Sunday sunset show overlooking the pool. The backdrop was amazing with top to toe glass overlooking the bay. Yep - it was a pretty tough gig (ha!). We even got to drink specially made shots in the Voodoo Bar where Mack's special marketing ploy is to periodically set the bar alight ... the photo says it all. We've been asked back and plan to head over in May next year ... fingers crossed!