Longing for the day ...

Songwriting as expression

Just found Patti Witten's nifty story about her experience at a songwriting workshop run by Rosanne Cash (Johnny's daughter, among other things). I've never been much of a one for these sorts of workshoppy gigs - I recognise the lonliness of my songwriting and do my best not to wallow in it - but Patti's description is just amazing.

It all rang true to me. But I especially appreciated the second point "your responsibility is to tell the truth". This is why I can't and don't bother writing on a whole range of subjects - they just don't ring true to me when so many other things do. But I have a bult-in detection mechanism: when what I'm writing starts to feel cheesy and cliched, I stop and throw it away.

Patti's article is worth reading all the way through - the quotes at the end are the best bit!

Recommendations and fans!

The Genre Benders' debut is now available for sale from CDBaby and I've uploaded it to Last.fm and Amie Street, where the opening track has been recommended - how cool is that!

I'm working on getting it to Garageband.com, but that seems to take a lot longer - one track at a time and lots of conditions on the uploads ...

Also on Amie Street, Bun' Ber E has picked up a fan! One at a time will do the trick, think. We'll see what grows from there ...

Well, there you go ...

Since I finished "I am leaving! I am leaving", I've sent it out to a lot of people and places. Some of them have completely ignored me, but to date all of the feedback has been positive. Until today ...

I'm trying to figure out how to describe the project to mainstream media - trying to write a media release, basically. I've known about Stephen Green's company, Australian Music Biz, for some years, so I e-mailed him to ask for help. He replied within the hour:

Hi Hughie, Thanks for contacting us. I have had a listen on your site but unfortunately I don't think there's anything we can work with there. Best of luck with the project though.

Cheers
Stephen
_______________________________
Australian Music Biz Pty Ltd
PO Box 1042
Fortitude Valley Qld 4006

Ph: (07) 3854 0945
Fax: (07) 3854 0734
www.musicbiz.com.au

This is a ?quietly stated? rejection. Take that! Ouch! :-)

Just as well I was only fishing ...

Well done, Netballers

Always good to beat the Kiwis and especially good to exact revenge on them for previous losses :-)

Also, the manner of the series win - big first win, narrow loss, then tight but solid final win - bodes well for the World Cup. A team that can win like that clearly has the character to do well at a big tournament ...

You go, Girls!!

Sensational weekend ...

Last weekend I went away for our 10th wedding anniversary to Treehouses of Montville. We had the most wonderful, indulgent weekend we could have asked for ...

Totally recommend them to anyone who wants to get away from the rat race and relax ... without gettting too far from humanity. It's out of mobile range but has great TV reception and all the essential comforts. During the drought you can still have a spa (it's got its own water) and comes with a cosy fireplace ...

The service is brilliant - we got everything we asked for with a smile. Ask for Vicki and tell her I recommended the place.

We also had the pleasure of dining at Le Relais Bressan, which is just fabulous. Great food, great service, with a smile and conversation .. awesome!

All in all, a wonderful weekend that I'm glad we had - but now there's more work to be done ...

Bureaucrats

One of my pet hates in this life is bureaucrats who see their existsnce and jobs as an end in themsleves. I have no problem with the need for bureaucrats - someone needs to take responsibility for delivering administration services and so on - used to be a bureaucrat myself ...

But there is a class of bureaucrat (all too common) that seems to think that they exist purely for the sake of their own existence - ie, they are less interested in doing their jobs that seeing that their importance is respected. Now, that becomes a problem because it means that their job is performed inadequately, if at all, and they seem devoted to finding reasons why things should not happen, rather than making things happen. This quote is dedicated to them:

"Bureaucrats are the cholesterol of society".

I got it from Malcolm, who runs Bun' Ber E. He says it's part of a much larger and more elaborate quote (probably written by a bureaucrat :-) but we like the short version. Says all there is to say, really.

The Album is up on Last.fm

OK, I've uploaded it to http://www.last.fm/music/The+Genre+Benders/I+am+leaving%21+I+am+leaving%21 - that's the album page.

I've embedded it it here:

I hope. Just for the purpose of the exercise ... it's also embedded in the MySpace page and my Facebook page

More to come ...

Music and dancing ...

Got this one from my supervisor, Steve Dillon, the other day. He's not sure where it came from but it's a beaut. Perfectly captures the futility of most forms of cultural critique:

"Writing about music is like dancing architecture"

Damn straight!

Vale, Mark Gillett

Got the saddest news yesterday. My good friend Mark Gillett, writer of Dancing With the Stones and many other great tunes, died last April of cancer. He is sorely missed in the folk music community of the Sunshine Coast hinterland.

He was one of the founders of the Maleny Folk Festival, which grew into the Woodford Folk Festival, and provided the title track for teh festival's 10th anniversary compilation CD. He had a wicked (and subversive) sense of humour and was always willing to lend an ear to me. I miss him, even though I'd not seen him for more than a year.

Apparently, his widow, Narelle, is keen to maintain the legend of Mark, so I will endeavour to record more of Mark's songs and put them out there for the world to appreciate. I will see her next weekend and discuss the future.

Got an international gig!

Just got confirmed as performing at the Independent Music Conference in Philadelphia in August/Sept. Not sure of the exact dates yet.

I'm hoping this will be an accoustic set of about 1/2 hour as a "showcase" (IMC hates that word - because it connotes exploitation) performance. I'm not sure whether I'll buy a guitar in the USA or whether I'll take mine with me - I don't have a flight case ...

Still, it should be good fun and hopefully good exposure ...

Genre Benders album is nearly here

OK, it's being replicated, so if you want to pre-order the CD, please do so here using the PayPal shopping facility. If you'd like to hear it before you buy, go to The Genre Benders' website.

For people ordering the CD who want it posted to an Australian address:

For people who are ordering and want it posted to an overseas address (sorry, the postage is more expensive):

To see what you've ordered in your Paypal shopping cart:

With a bit of luck the CD will be available from CDBaby very soon and from iTunes, etc soon thereafter. I understand if you want to wait, but this is a chance to get in early and get one of the first copies ....

Another WOFTAM

Apparently I got nowhere in the QSong awards. The finalists have been announced and none of my three entries is present. The finalists list looks like the usual suspects ...

Still, I comfort myself with the knowledge that the greatest acts in the world never won a competition, either: AC/DC, The Beatles, INXS, Elvis ... in fact, most of those had to fight long and hard to be recognised by the industry. I guess they were too busy being out there doing it to worry about winning competitions. Perhaps music fans look for different things in songs than judges of songwriting competitions ...

Time will tell ...

Oh, well ....

So close, but nobbled at the last hurdle. The mighty Maroons should have won that one but didn't stand a chance once the injuries depleted them. 14 men just can't beat 17 in the modern game.

Mind you, the Blues did their best to lose it, and the Maroons put in an extrodinary effort to almost snatch it - but the ball didn't bounce their way and the ref missed a critical knock-on by a Blues defender ... such is life.

Certainly, it was NSW's night but, as Gus said, there were two winners on Wednesday night.

Well done, boys. I'm proud of you and I'm sure the rest of Qld is, too ...

Go Maroons!

Make it 3/3 boys! We wanna Maroon-wash of this State of Origin series - especially at home.

But beware the Blues. They'll come out hard and fast like they always do - and might last a bit longer this time, since they have a point to prove ... stick with them and stick it to them. Have to concentrate extra hard because of the recent interruptions ...

Queenslander!!!

BTW - if we must have the national anthem, can we please have Guy Sebstian sing it again???