Gig last night with Craig

I haven't kept too many people in the loop on my cajon playing. There's a tonne of stuff about them on my website. And I have been playing a lot of gigs lately with the cajon. But last night was something else.

Craig, the legend from St.George Shire (hahahah), has a bucket load of good old fashioned Australian folk songs he recorded just as good old vinyl was being phased out, and CD's were the latest fashion. Sadly, he spent $4,000 on the record when it would have cost $40,000 to produce the same thing on CD back then.

When he got all the copies to distribute, people were buying CD players and throwing out their old record players on the street.

He later put his songs on CD, but the spark had fizzled, and people were listening to other stuff by then.

If you were to ask me "What's Craig's music about?" It's Australian folk. Good, honest songs about Australia's past and present.

I'm not in this video, but here's a sample of Craig's stuff.



Last night we played a couple of songs at Allawah Pub, which holds an open mic night courtesy of a good friend of mine in a neighbouring music school, Village Guitar. Which you might remember I spoke about when looking for a new career about 8 month or so ago.

Well, Craig and I were up there and we played two songs. We played them well. We played them so well than we won People's Choice award. And we were called up for not just one encore, but we did two more songs, finished up, and we were encored again.

People couldn't get enough of us. I wish someone got a recording of the night, but no one did.

What they did do however was sing along to the songs during the encores. There are two things a performer loves to hear the most. Applause and the crowd singing along. Amazing stuff.

Ah well. The night was enjoyable, and that's an understatement. Everyone was pumped up.

I love it when a gig goes that well.

Drum Circle

I was asked to facilitate a drum circle on Saturday. I was excited about it, being my first one on my own, as Revolution Guitars.

I had the help of Aurora Percussion who provided me with a great deal of the percussion instruments that I tried my best to provide, but ran out of money and time to get everything.

Fortunately one of the music shops I went to gave me a significant discount on some drums and hand percussion once I spoke to him about what I needed.... lots of drums, cheap as possible.

I got talking to the guy and found out he wanted more cajones, which is the plywood box drums I mainly play that originate from Peru.

He said he's been looking for an Australian supplier. So I told him I'm the guy, here's my card. I'll call him next week for a catch up now that I've spoken to my cajon supplier who is bumping up their system to have more in stock.

I went to see them yesterday and we worked out some issues of stock control, handling, shipping, etc. Also more on drum circles too because I had a muslim woman ask me about facilitating a drum circle, to which I said yes to. However, since being a man might be an issue surrounded by scarfed women, I suggested my cajon supplier might like to do that one. Don't you love how after so much progress, there is still segregation amongst human beings? Regardless of background, belief and culture.

Anyway, back to my drum circle I did on Saturday. It was great.

I started off introducing myself, then I asked everyone if they had ever been in a drum circle before. No one had. I wasn't sure if that was a good thing, a bad thing, or just not a thing at all. I decided to take the latter. It didn't worry me.

So I started to play a rhythm on my cowbell and asked everyone to join me when they were ready. They did, but there was no rhythm. I completely expected this, so I continued, un-phased.

5 minutes into it, 55 minutes to go.... Someone picked up on the rhythm I was playing, and then it spread like wild fire. Everyone got into the groove and off we went.

We played around with various drum circle games and before I knew it, my 60 minutes were up.

I thanked everyone for participating and hoped they all enjoyed themselves. Everyone appeared to love it. I called it a success, packed up my stuff and let the rest of the day continue.

My first official drum circle, on my own and 22 people in a circle around me. This is on the larger side for a single person to facilitate.

Looking back at it, I remembered a bit half way through when the beat started to fizzle out, but I stuck to my rhythm, strong and steady and let it all come back. It recovered well and carried on until my time was up.

A fantastic event, a good turnout, the feedback was positive and I enjoyed myself. Made a few dollars on the side which pretty much covers my time and setting up of the whole thing. There will me more, much much more.

My planet

Further regarding the BP disaster.

This link to a time lapse of the spill courtesy of NASA, and lets not forget, none of this would be possible without the help of BP and the ignorant, money greedy people running it.



Thanks BP, for fucking up my planet.

When the signs are right in front of you

Ever so often, there are disasters that make you sit up and pay attention. Disasters are always just that. A disaster.

Sometimes disasters cannot be avoided, while others can.

One of the biggest disasters to have occurred in recent times is the oil spil in the United States. I'm not going to go into the details, as it has been welled covered over the news and Internet. Hovewer, I came across this website today with images from the area affected by the oil.

http://www.newsweek.com/photo/2010/06/21/road-signs-of-rage-against-bp-oil-spill.html

The first image shows a sign with the writing "God help us all".

If there is a God. I think they are the only one who can help. But if there is a God, why would they when greedy bastards have their own agenda and care little about others.

From the outside, and I mean that by being in a country not the U.S. It would seem that those in responsible in the United States for the United States care little about it.

If they did, New Orleans would have been cleaned up by now. And I'd imagine this BP oil spill, as it has already been, will continue for quite some time.

People responsible aren't being that. And the only one left, since no one is taking the heat that will be left to fix it all is probably God.

While I'm not a religious person, I have belief. And I believe the sign in that first photograph is all there is since one one else is raising their hand.

I can only imagine the devastation of this disaster. The rest of the photos show peoples lives and businesses that have failed due to their livelihood relying on the fresh coast, now tainted with an inconvenient leak that no one is really stopping.

I may not be hearing or seeing the full story living all the way down in Australia. But what I have heard, read and seen is enough for me to be distraught with humanity and there isn't much that's happening that will restore that for me. Not in relation to this anyway.

Why enough isn't enough

As humans, we always want more. More is better. More is more. Less is crap. The person with more always wins. It's not a human condition, it's a social one. Society tells us that more is better. Bigger is better.

I see this all the time. Being an ex-motorcycle mechanic, I always take notice of automotive marketing blurbs.....

"Our new model is faster, lighter, handles better......"

The same goes for cars. "Our most powerful model yet"

You know, even if that were the case, and each year since an automotive manufacturer made their cars increased the engine power , the theory states we should all be driving super fast cars that weigh nothing.

With motorcycles, you hear it all the time, "We made a weight saving of 5kg." And they seem to do this each year, at the same time the swing arm is longer too. So how come the bike isn't tipping the scales at 45kg and producing 400 Horse Power?

I think a lot of it has to do with more bullshit. And I think it plays on the heart strings of modern humans who automatically think more is better. Even if you're not getting more. You'll pay for thinking it, and being able to tell your friends.

How far can this go? It goes far enough. Same as shops who have those great SALE! signs up, all the time. When isn't there a sale?

I'd like to have a sale one day where I put up signs that say "No SALE today! Try next door"

I think I'll probably get more attention because it's so different.

There is some light, and while the end of the tunnel is still a while away. I think a minority of people are starting to realise that less is better. More is excessive. I won't lie. I'm one of them. More was always better. Now less is. I want less. I want everyone else to have less.

Why does a house have to cost half a million dollars? Why not $20? Who decides that my land rates are lower or higher than the neighbour in the next suburb?

Why does my water cost more than your water?

How come I get taxed higher because I make more money? Even if you tax someone who makes more, at the same rate, you still end up with more money.

Is it just me or has the world gone mad?

I know what it is. It's greed. People always want more. Because more is more. More is better.

Well if more is better, I'm happier being worse off.

Alternatives

People often look at how much they consume. This is generally brought on not because of the environmental impacts but because of the impact on their hip pocket.

However, when I read an article that has been published on an online environmental website I enjoy reading both for the informative and stupid, wasteful ideas. I get worked up.

The article, here, is about oil consumption, specifically in the US. The question it asks is, where does oil go? Based on the graph the article displays shows that passenger transportation, freight and heating are the biggest factors in oil consumption. In fact, they account for over 70% of all oil consumption based on this information.

How can something so simple consume so much oil?

I posted a short answer in the comments section of the article which made me start to think, how hard is it?

The comment I made referred to passenger travel. Most people travel quite short distances. Since this accounts for the major part of the graph, I'd say walking or riding a bike would be beneficial. And I can relate because I do walk and I do ride. I understand there are times when you can't. You have a heavy load to bring home. Weekly grocery shopping is hard on a bike. Then again, I use to ride a motorcycle and didn't have a car or a license to drive one only a few years ago. I did my weekly shopping on my bike, everything fit in my backpack and it also made me buy wiser. Buy less, which meant that less was thrown out. If I ran out of something, the large and convenient shopping centre was easy to ride down to and pick up the items I need the most.

Since I picked up less items, and I did it locally, I didn't have to purchase things from far away. Since then I've become even more conscious of freight and buy from local farmers. There's no double (or triple) handling of goods. They're not frozen (6 months ago) for my freshness. I pay less for it, and they haven't been freighted around the world or from interstate. If something is out of season, too bad. I just have to wait. Instead of buying imported pineapple or strawberries.

So, I've covered oil consumption for passenger travel. I've covered oil consumption for freight. What about heat. It's a comfort, sure. But is it necessary?

I'm going to say yes. Heating is important. It gets cold in some parts of the world. And while it doesn't snow where I live. It does get to -1°C. 2 weeks into Winter and I'm waking up to 3°C mornings. I turn on the heater only when it is ultimately necessary. Otherwise, and more usually I dress for the occasion. There was once a time when dressing for the occasion, hot or cold meant I wore shorts and a t-shirt. The shorts got a bit longer but usually never past my knees. My winter apparel consisted of long shorts and a t-shirt. Now, as I get older, I still don't turn the heater on unless the house is freezing. But with my place it is never that cold because of the aspect on the block of land. While it's an old house and has inefficient insulation, it goes okay for Winter. Summer is a stinker. It gets hot.

Though for heating, using electricity, oil or gas, which all ends up consuming some form of fossil fuel, I try and keep it to a minimum by putting on a jumper and some jeans or pants. I stay warm, and I haven't turned on a power consuming heater.

Wow. Three simple things I can, and do and I've consumed 70% less oil. I wonder what would happen if everyone did that?

On the move

Retirement is something everyone wants. Who wants to work? No one. Why do we work? Money. We all need it in todays society. It's rare in built up areas to be able to head down the grocery shop and say "I'll clean the floors if you give me some eggs, carrots, potatoes and onions."

When I look at people who live off the grid or on the land, away from it all, there's a level of comfort that I can see. You can grow your own fruit and veg. You can have your own chickens for eggs and meat for the special occasions.

But what about the life of a vagabond? My wife and I like the idea of retiring and hitting the road for the rest of our lives. We like the idea of a motor home or something like that. Though I like VW Kombis. She likes the fully kitted out caravans that I wish not to tow.

What can you do with regards to food when it comes to a life on the road?

I thought long about this and only came up with one thing. Money.

The vehicle needs maintenance, fuel, servicing, unscheduled breakdowns, and there's no where really to grow anything you want of substantial significance that you could live off. You'll have to pay for food too.

Paying for it isn't so much the problem as much as more and more people these days talk about never retiring because their pension won't support them once they stop receiving a regular income from fulltime work. That is, if there is a pension when they retire, and by "they" I mean "me".

While you can live quite frugally, and I know I have had to in the past. I do believe it would be quite difficult at times.

Watching the River Cottage series, the main guy starts off living on the road, but that soon changes and the "cottage" turns in to a full blown farm/restaurant thing with a full production farm that comes with beef, milk, chicken, eggs, fruit and veg. Sure it cost more than a van, but this is where I can see obvious signs of self sufficiency. On the road, I just can't see that and I'm curious how it works.

How does life on the road differ to life on the land?