March April May

Happy easter everyone. It's been a lovely few days involving lots of dark chocolate. I met with Rae and Halee and they are putting the pattern on the back of the coat (that is the coat they made for the music video) Will post photos here when it's done..

I will be playing this friday (March 28th) in front of the cathedral in the city centre. Part of the CHCH City council friday lunchtime concert series and is from 12.15-1.15 This concert was originally scheduled for the 15th of Feb, but that day was rained away.. Toby and The Voice Booth have made a video for the Press 'Earth Hour' competition and it features a snippet of me playing guitar (this is from the last demo recording session over there, the song is called impossibly and is unrecorded.. no vocals in the video though) The Voice booth is a recording studio here in Christchurch where I go every now and then to record 10-20 new song demos.. I've also done a few podcasts with them there-here is a link to those ;) 

Something special goes up here on the blog on April Fools day.. come have a look ;) can anyone tell me how they have been fooled on this day? ;)

May events are being scheduled.. lots going on this New Zealand music month.. I will be playing at Al's bar on May 16th with some very special guests (will keep them secret for now but it will be different ;) more info soon)

xox Hera

St Patricks Day

I'm not playing today but I will be wearing green :) Hope you all have a wonderful day and don't drink too much green beer (I imagine it would not sit well in the stomach..)

Ray and Halee from Morphic Creations have a great new website up.. go have a look :) They made the black coat with the red lined hood in the Feels so good music video

Here are a couple of pictures, taken about 21 years apart.. I fell in love with that red tartan dress.. it was on the cover of the Not your type album.. then a few weeks later my mum sent me this scanned photo from christmas 1984..) And I still love tartan things as much as ever.. it runs in the family I think ;)

The Graveyard Book

Neil sent me his latest book the other day.. The Graveyard book.. It comes out on Halloween in the US..

And it's so hard to say this because I love all his books.. but I think it is my favorite so far.. I absolutely disappeared into it, and l cried when I finished it.. The characters are so real and wonderful.. and the scary bits are really scary.. It's about a boy who grows up in a graveyard, raised by ghosts..

You can follow it and even see the different ideas for the cover on Neil's Journal.. (If you haven't been there already) ;)

I'm off to an interview this morning on Plains fm.. it will be broadcast on Saturday if you want to tune in - 96.9fm :)

The concert at the Yellow cross last night was lovely, very different as the stage is on a mezzanine/balcony type thing and I found myself playing about two meters above the crowd which was strange..

Thank you all for the lovely comments :) Do keep sending :) and any questions too..

-and right now.. you can read Neil Gaiman's novel 'American Gods' online for free..

(it is one of my favorites.. I've given it away at least 15-20 times.. highly recommended)

Extreme weather concerts

This has been a long time coming, I have been on my way to blog something for years now and here I am.. It's been a wonderful few weeks, Wellington was lovely and it was nice to catch up with some old friends there too. The main divide concert was very memorable.. it rained almost the whole time but stayed warm.. (you can see the drops of rain in the picture.. even my guitar got wet..) It's nice to know in these extreme weather conditions, that the people who are there - really want to be there ;)

Here are a few others I remember;

Iceland - close to christmas time a few years ago, I played outside in the 'christmas village' in Hafnarfjordur.. There was a blizzard and no heating on the stage.. My guitar wouldn't stay in tune and the strings were cutting into my fingers... It was a guest spot so I was only there to play three songs or so but it was sooo cold.. (I actually tried to play with leather gloves on) But I remember the crowd so well.. everyone was huddled together with hats and scarves on and pink faces.. it was wonderful..

Greenland at the Arctic team Challenge 2006  The arctic team challenge is a multisport competition where teams from all over the world race in east Greenland, climbing mountains, kayaking between glaciers, biking and running in the extreme conditions..  I played on a beach in the middle of nowhere, it was basecamp where the teams got to rest for a little while. It was beautiful.. I sat on a rock with the water and glaciers behind in the evening sun.. It was cold but I played there for about 20 minutes before we moved the entire concert inside the big orange tent.. (also playing in thermal underwear, rain pants and hiking boots is not something I do very often) You may not believe me (I did not believe it when I was told) but the mosquitos in Greenland are very hard core (not sure how they survive in the middle of nowhere but there they are...)

Glastonbury festival 2005.. it was the year of the giant mud-bath.. Lightning struck the main stage and it rained so much.. I had to play with no shoes on because there was an acrobatic act on after and it would have been very dangerous with mud on the stage.. (although on the outdoor stage I was fine in my gumboots - that were one size too small because they had sold out.. squished my toes in for a few days..) I was standing only 10 meters from our tent when lightning struck right by the entrance.. THAT was scary! (I dived in and screamed.. it was a big loud boom)

I want to say one thing here. Some of you may know that Arabella Churchill passed away recently. She played a huge role in the development of the Glastonbury festival, and was a wonderful woman and  friend. All my love to you Jess and Haggis...

And then there is the complete opposite of the scale.. New Zealand in the summer time - And there  have been a few of these.. when it's almost been too hot to play, I've been sunburned just on one side from standing in one spot for an hour..

This blog is so new to me, there are a lot of things I want to tell you about and at the same time I don't know what to say.. So please do send me your comments (through the contact page) and feel free to ask any questions

xox Hera