NEWLETTER *

3 FEBRUARY, 2004

A belated happy new year to those subscribers with whom I have not yet been in contact since 1 January. I have had a break from live performance since mid December, 2003 and am really looking forward to my first Mortdale Hotel gig of the year this Friday 6 February, 2004. The gig starts at 8pm and goes till midnight - if you're in the area please drop in.

I have had some gear traumas in the last few months. The first problem came when some bastard stole my Marshall guitar amp. Then at the December Mortdale gig my favourite microphone decided to die on me. The next drama was quite ironic. People always make fun about my lack of care with my old white Gibson SG electric guitar. It spends most of its life out of its case, and rarely visits a guitar stand. Back in the Sirrah days it suffered spinal damage in the form of a broken neck when that zany Peter Scott decided, for reasons known only him and the substances he'd been using, to go dancing across the stage while we were packing up causing the guitar to crash to the ground. The first attempt at repair was pathetic - I think they tried Tarzan's Grip. When that came asunder within a matter of weeks it was taken to some guitar guru who lived in Ulamatta Road, Drummoyne. He did a sensational job, so good that it has needed no further work to it since then (about 1974). Unfortunately, over January, whilst I was on holiday, I acted contrary to my normal practice and placed the guitar in its case. The case is not the original, and it wasn't a perfect fit. In fact it was just a sufficiently tight fit for the neck to break again.

The Gibson is presently in intensive care. Two doctors have so far declined to operate, as they feel it is beyond their capabilities. I am hopeful that the present repairer may be a little more confident. If anyone knows the name of the guitar guru who lived in Ulamatta Road, Drummoyne during the mid 70's please let me know.

Fortunately, the domestic treasurer has allowed me to dip into consolidated revenue to replace the guitar and the amp. I now have a new PRS Santana and a Fender 30 watt amp. I decided against a larger amp as this one has a good sound, and the amp goes through the PA anyway. Friday night will be the first gig with the new equipment.

Many thanks to the domestic treasurer, particularly as my family kindly gave me a ZOOM 8 track digital recorder for Christmas - how did they know I wanted one.

I've only fiddled around with the recorder for a couple of days but it is really user-friendly and, unusual for a piece of audio or musical equipment, comes with instructions which are capable of comprehension. So far I've recorded about 13 songs and have added a HOME RECORDING page which contains samples of these songs. It's a really mixed bag including a couple of instrumentals that I have written (Sanboss and Unnamed you can go directly to these samples if you can't be bothered going to the page) together with some Eagles, Jackson Browne, Hollies, Incubus, together with some swing style dinner music in the form of I Get a Kick Out of You and Funny Valentine.

The home recorder will give me the opportunity to put more material on the site without waiting for studio time to become available. Material will be added to the Home Recordings page as and when it is recorded. I aim to put new original material on to get some imput as to what subscribers think of the songs.

I have done quite a bit of writing over the summer break and have a good half a dozen or so songs partly written. Unfortunately, my lyrical muse seems to be still on holiday and the chord progressions, melodies and arrangements are all ready, just awaiting the appropriate words. I am allocating tomorrow to music and hope to complete at least one of the new songs.

Please note that the home recordings will not be of studio quality and once songs are completed the services of Stewart Havill at Sound Dog will be enlisted again.

I had a bit of positive feedback in December at a Songwriting Society of Australia bite the bullet night. The Society has these nights a few times a year where members bring along unlabelled cds or tapes of a song, and lyric sheets which are then played to a panel of two industry types and a society member. Sort of like a blind wine tasting.

As is my fashion in circumstances like that I turned up with the wrong CD. I had meant to take a CD of 'Mid Life Crisis' but in fact turned up with a blank one. On discovering this I ran back to my office and found the correct CD, returning to find that one of the industry people was leaving. He had apparently in my absence expressed some interest in my lyrics and took a copy of the CD on his departure. I eventually got feedback from him to the effect that he liked the lyrics but was not overly fussed with the music. He thought that it would be better as a country song and invited me to get some further lyrics to him. I have fiddled around with the song and come up with a 'country' version which I will record tomorrow and post on the site. I would appreciate subscribers giving me their views as to which version they prefer once it has been uploaded.

That's about it for this newsletter. I will keep you posted of further developments. Your feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Best regards

Brian Ralston

aka Self TORT