20 JANUARY, 2005 NEWSLETTER

January has not yet finished, yet here we are with the second 'Self Tort' newsletter for the year.

Things have been fairly hectic, musically of late. Had the first 'Mortie' gig of the year which was a fun night. Even Fraser stayed till about 11pm, which I take as a compliment (although 'the Moth' will undoubtedly say it was his company). My old mate from Lugarno Over 35's soccer and cricket, Roger Craft, even dropped in during a brief period of respite from the rigours of Bribie Island.

For those who haven't been to the Mortie in a while it is a good fun night.

On 11 January, 2005 I bit the bullet and did a solo unplugged set at the 'Bat and Ball' Hotel at Moore Park. They hold an 'open mike' night each Tuesday. Each performer has a three song bracket and then the night ends with a featured band playing a 45 minute set.

I made the mistake of arriving early on the night and as a result was given the first set. I wasn't overly pleased with my performance. My acoustic guitar playing was a bit out of whack, and the problems were exacerbated by a pickup that seemed to vary between a desire to fall into the hole of the guitar or to get caught up in the strings. I played three songs: 'Mid Life Crisis' (the semi country version), 'Tonight' (which I hope to record next month) and 'Hardies Men'.

The audience were prepared to forgive 'first night jitters' and gave a response which was pleasing in the circumstances. I was especially pleased with the review I got from Mike Cook's website (Mike organises the nights). The review can be found at http://www.redeemingfeatures.com.au/11.02.05.htm . It even has a flattering photo (ie taken from a distance with the head shaded)

Last Tuesday night I was the featured act at the Songwriting Society of Australia's monthly concert. That involved a 7 song set and was not unplugged. At least it wasn't meant to be. I used my normal sound system and instruments, but my keyboard decided to play up and vary volume indiscriminately. What with the guitar at the Bat and Ball and the keyboard at the SSA gig, I think my instruments are trying to tell me something.

Notwithstanding technical glitches, the SSA night gave me a chance to showcase a variety of my original material. I played 'Hardies Men', 'Frankenstein's Bride', 'Get it Right This Time', 'Fetish', 'Light the Flame' and 'Mid Life Crisis' (the original version) and even got an encore to do 'Time to Train the Horses'.

As I mentioned in earlier newsletters I am looking to avail myself of open mike nights and songwriters' gigs to work up the original material. There are quite a few of these nights around and they provide good entertainment at little cost.

I was particularly impressed with the Bat and Ball. The venue is great for this sort of night and the evening was really well run. There were 11 solo performers followed by a band. Even if you don't like a particular performer they are limited to 3 songs each and I was personally impressed with the majority of them. They're all out there performing their original material before an audience that, in the main, doesn't know them.

Last week Jenny and I had one of those weekends from hell. I won't go into details now, but am in the process of converting it into an article which I will place on the Opinion page of this site in the next few days. No doubt in future years we'll look back on it and laugh.

An early reminder that the next Mortie gig is on FRIDAY 4 February, 2005 STARTING AT 8.00pm.

I am back in the studio that week as well and hope to finish 'Harlequin' and 'Best Man' and start on 'Not Quite Kelly' and 'Scratching at Scars'. Will have to rethink the lyrics of Harlequin. It was inspired by a set of trousers I saw a girl wearing once. However, on deeper reflection it occurred to me that Harlequin was the male and Columbine was the female. I don't want anyone to get the wrong idea. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

By the way, thanks to all subscribers who have visited www.mp3.com.au/selftort. I've been blown away by the number of hits I've had on that site. What is even more pleasing is that about 50% of people who have heard the songs have actually downloaded them rather than just listen. I have noticed that there has been a corresponding increase in the number of visitors to this site as well.

After the initial impetus I note that all of my songs have dropped down the charts most recently released. However, there has been some new activity since the release of that chart and with some luch we might see a resurgence next week. If you haven't been there please do check it out. All of my recorded original work is there in full to be listened to and/or downloaded.

Best regards till the next newsletter

Brian Ralston

aka Self TOrT