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West Coast Blues and Roots Festival (very long)
Okay, so it’s now three days after the fact and I’m still feeling rather run down after this event. But to back up, this is a festival that’s been running successfully from Fremantle for several years now. I’ve never been to the event before but when I heard Crowded House were headlining, there was no question as to whether I would go. I think the definition of blues and roots must be really stretched to include Crowded House (or a few of the other acts), especially as headliners. Anyway, I bought my ticket the day they went on sale.
This was something of a new experience for me in more than one way. I’ve never been to a festival of this nature. What seems a lifetime ago, the Scientist and I did attend a concert festival at Carowinds in Charlotte where Stevie Nicks was headlining. But in that case, all the acts played on the same stage. This festival had four stages of various sizes with acts playing throughout the day. But the biggest new experience is that I was on my own for this one. It ran from late morning until 10pm and we weren’t really comfortable with the idea of leaving the boys for such a long time on their own. Before this event was announced, we’d already booked tickets to see the musical, Chicago, for Saturday afternoon, so the boys were already going to be on their own all Saturday afternoon. So the Scientist decided he’d stay home and I would go by myself. It wasn’t an ideal situation but I went along with it.
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Tim Finn, take two
Last month, the Scientist and I attended our second Tim Finn show of the year. We saw him at the end of February at a music club about an hour away. That was a nice show and the support act, Meg Washington, was very good. We came away quite pleased at the time although it wouldn’t rank as a particularly magical one. Fast forward to November 21st and we had tickets to see again him at the Quarry Amphitheatre, a small and intimate outdoor theater near the coast.
We’d never been to this venue but the rave reviews all are well-warranted. We arrived well before the gates opened and stood in line for what seemed like ages. When we finally got in, it was no problem getting right up to the front of the venue for prime viewing. Despite both of us being well into our forties, we were some of the youngest attendees there. I guess the older folks prefer to have more comfortable seating rather than sit on the ground at the front. We managed reasonably well although the Scientist did describe a certain amount of discomfort after the first hour or so. We packed a small picnic dinner to avoid the exorbitant prices of the cafe only to find they had panini at a very reasonable price. Later on we ended up buying gelato ice cream and that was rather dear…but very tasty.
Anyway, the show opened with Andy Bull, a singer/songwriter whose voice still hasn’t completely broken well into his twenties. He addressed this trait early on with great humor and presented a very entertaining set filled with songs and the stories behind them. We like him enough to buy his cd during the intermission.
Tim Finn appeared on stage not long after 8pm and the night became truly magical. I think his performance really benefitted from having a full band this time around as opposed to being an almost solo performance in the February show (with only a guitarist for accompaniment). The songs seemed to really come alive this time. This tour was supporting an anthology album andthe show provided a good mix of all the stages of his career from his Split Enz years to his most recent solo album. Both the Scientist and I were treated to our favorite Tim Finn songs, I See Red and Dirty Creature, respectively. On the three previous shows where we’ve seen him, we’ve had to settle for one or the other. Dirty Creature has always sounded great but this had to be my favorite version yet. It was an outstanding performance.
At the end of the night, we both were quite satisfied and left with a souvenir tea towel, which seems to be in “thing” to take away from just about any Finn related show. It now hangs nicely from the bookcase next to my desk. On the way home, we stopped at the beach for a little while before coming home, which topped off such a wonderful evening.
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Meh!
I’ve been wanting to post but then I haven’t been able to be bothered. I seem to be endlessly having too many thoughts and not enough focus lately. It’s a feast or famine when it comes to writing here. Was going to try to do a whole month of writing every day but that’s obviously not going to happen. :)
We are having flashbacks to winter with wet and windy days lately. I think we’re getting a break and it’s going to warm up over the weekend. I was sitting on the sofa in a short sleeve t-shirt while playing a game on the Wii and I was literally shivering. I’ve taken to wearing slippers and and my warm robe again. It kind of reminds me of when Game Fanatic was a few weeks old and his crying seemed to go on and on no matter what we did. Came to find that he was cold. Usually November is pretty warm but there are some days that are chilly, of course. Felt so stupid at the time for not realising he was cold but probably shouldn’t have since I was so new to taking care of babies and all.
The homeschool moderator is coming out in two weeks and I still don’t know what I will show her. Nothing ever seems to go to plan, even the more viable ideas. I will come up with something and it will just have to do. Will have to go out and buy the workbooks for Lego Lover for next year. Won’t buy too much because we didn’t end up using very many of them this year. As he gets older, I am sure we will move away from the book work completely.
The Scientist and I went to see Augie March on Monday night. I enjoyed it very much but I found the crowd way too silent. It was so quiet you could hear the rain on the roof of the theater in-between songs. The crowd became a bit more livelier around the time of the encore but it was still pretty quiet. Musically I thought it was great aside from one song that really sounded too much like the recording. While I really enjoyed myself, I must admit it wasn’t that awe and wonder I’ve felt at other shows. It’s been suggested it was the Monday night show problem. Just not a good day for concerts in Perth. As it was we were feeling rushed to leave by the end to pick up the boys from my friend’s house.
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Augie March
We are off to see Augie March play as headliners for a concert next month. Last year we saw them open for Crowded House and while we loved the set, we were left wanting far more. We’re hoping the next show will go further to satisfy our listening pleasure.
Meanwhile, I’ve heard rumors that Crowded House may be playing some shows before a festival in December. I don’t know if Perth will be included but I am sincerly hoping…I should have more information before long.
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Quiet day
Today was rather quiet compared to yesterday. The storms have moved out and we cleaned up some of the mess from the broken fence. We also cleared out some mess from what originally was the no-dig garden (that never got going). The Scientist cleared out a bunch of rubbish in the area so it looks less ugly than it did. Without the cloud and rain, it’s now been quite chilly and will drop to nearly freezing tonight. Brrrr..
Earlier in the afternoon, we went to a music shop to take a look at guitars. Game Fanatic has wanted to try playing for a while. He really wants to learn to play bass but decided he would learn the acoustic guitar first. With the help of the Scientist’s younger brother who met us at the shop, we found one that was suitable with a reasonable price so we decided to go ahead and get it. The salesman tried to give us the floor model because they were out of new ones but we declined and had him order another one in.
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Oldies
We have two small cd towers filled with albums that we almost never hear. I think it’s kind of an out-of-sight, out-of-mind thing. I mean, they are quite visible to me on a daily basis but I never seem to look there to augment my usual musical soundtrack, which consists mostly of Finn-related recordings and local (to Australia) music. I decided to venture into my musical past recently and pulled out a couple Beatles albums that I’ve not listened to in a very long time. I often list the Beatles as one of my favorites artists but then I never listen to their music now. Weird…
So last week, I was driving home late in the evening and feeling really stressed, anxious and tired at the time. But listening to the radio turned out to be a good distraction for me because the show was playing some great old songs that I remember from my childhood and teen aged years. The last song I heard played was Question, by the Moody Blues. I enjoyed it so much that the next day I went to seek out my one Moody Blues cd, a compilation of some of their “greatest hits”. I have their Long Distance Voyager album on lp somewhere but we don’t have a decent turntable so it’s not likely to be played any time soon. I didn’t find the album immediately but did run across some albums that I haven’t even looked at in years.
So I’ve been listening to some “old” music. I’m listening to Stevie Nicks and Fleetwood Mac, Peter Gabriel, Elton John, Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. I may even drag out our one Madonna cd before long because I think it’s been fifteen years since I’ve heard it. I’m pretty sure I’ve got a couple other albums that are even more forgotten but can’t even recall the artist now…
I did eventually find the missing Moody Blues disc, sitting on the shelf next to Fleetwood Mac. Our discs are ordered alphabetically by artist, so I’ve no idea how it came to be there unless it occurred accidently while cleaning one day. Anyway, I loved hearing the old music and I am even tempted to buy more music now.