What a wonderful summer it's been here so far! I've taken some time off and been camping, diving/snorkelling and relaxing over the holidays, but full swing is about to start again :) - snorkelling.. what a great word! Over the last couple of months I've been doing a lot of teaching, in Greymouth, Oamaru,Timaru and Nelson, and got to work with some wonderfully talented kids! Here are a couple of articles from my visit to Oamaru..
and a photo taken by the sea in Oamaru, by the lovely Donna Demente of the Grainstore gallery where I played - it's the most magical venue!
Coming up in One week! is the world buskers festival! and I'm taking part this year for the very first time.. it's also the first time there is music as part of the event so it will be interesting to see how that all clicks together. I have to admit I'm a little bit nearvous about this too because I've never busked really.. *except the very first time I went to the arts centre with my guitar at 14 years old, and Brian who was organizing concerts there, let me set up and play for 15 minutes busking-style to prove myself :) it was pretty wonderful and I've been playing there every now and then ever since as part of the arts centre.
For as long as I've been in New Zealand, I've been going to the buskers festival, there are always amazing acts from all over the world doing amazing and sometimes dangerous things.. I have so many memories from my childhood seeing performers juggle fire and pots, pans, eggs, swallowing swords, balloons, bending their bodies in mind boggling ways, and at the late night performances -all the jokes I wasn't supposed to get..
So I am very honored and proud to be taking part :) and if you happen to be in Christchurch (or for that matter if you're in the country - it's very worth seeing..) Come and help me prove myself again ;)
This photo from my childhood was photoshopped by HellZiggy on twitter :)
If you're not on twitter, come visit :) it's a lovely place and I post a lot more over there, mind you some unrelated things too.. like this picture of my wee kitten Freyja, she moved in a a couple of months ago and is adorable, her and Brian (my other Sphynx cat - he's in the Feels so good music video) are inseparable now, wonderful for him to have some company too..
her nails are not pink naturally, these are called softpaws and are little claw covers, especially good for Sphynx hairless cats so they don't scratch themselves. (they come off)
Also coming up at the end of February, I will be doing a show in the botanical gardens as part of 'Lazy sundays' summertimes concert series.. This one will be super special as I'm doing half the set with my brilliant guitar teacher and friend Keith Petch. We will be doing a 40 minute jazz set together. Fingers crossed for good weather (*my last summertimes concert was during a thunderstorm...) it's the perfect set-up to bring a picnic to and sit in the sunshine..
Anyway, am now off to rummage through some drawers and dig up some of my forgotten songs for the buskers festival (you can send me requests through twitter if you want to hear a particular song) I'll be doing an hour a day for 10 days, during week days very close to cathedral square by the wheat sculpture, and on weekends I'll be outside the art gallery. the schedule is in the live section here on the website, and also on the Buskers festival website here. *click here to see what else is going on during the festival.
One more thing: here is a raw live version of a song I posted on youtube a few months ago and forgot to post here.. I think it's called 'Nothing but time' at the time it was untitled..
[youtube]http://youtu.be/OGWaQ2X_vKs[/youtube]
Bye for now... a late new years resolution: more frequent blogging.. promise ;)
Love xo