grate conversation

so, i had an interesting lunch yesterday. we had a special lunch as we presented a distinguished service award to Ruth, one of the older ladies in our congregation who has been doing stuff like sunday school for years (and years).
Anyways, it was awesome to meet 2 of Ruth's grandkids - Sam and John. John plays guitar for the grates, and Patience (the singer) was there too.

It was just terrefic to meet them, I'm not a huge fan (some past thoughts here and here), but they have been growing on me, radio does that. Anyways, I think there music ranges from ok to good, but as people they are just tops! We mainly chatted about music (yes, i like music) and i tried to convince patience to buy clare bowditch and emilian torrini. And, John again added to my "where have i been and why havent i heard about them earlier" in relation to the polyphonic spree - i have to mentioned them later as they are rocking my world...

anyways, big shout out to john and patience... shame i didnt meet alana (who by the sounds of things has terrific music taste)... have a good holiday, sounds like you really deserve it!

no, i havent moved to another planet

ahoy there...

in a month that could only be described as huge, i managed to have no internet at home for a good chunk of it, and be mega busy at other times... so i jump on here to say, im still here... i have not given up blogging, i am just busy and find it hard to put much up at times.

a few significant things have gone on in the last month or so, but i shall leave that for now, and let them crop up naturally somewhere else.
hopefully i can backdate etc...

one ripping line-up

recieved a phone call thins evening from grande who had to inform me of the line-up for this years bluesfest
you can see what they've anounced so far here

realistically, i just cant afford it, unless something bizarre comes out of nowhere... but to see john mayer, dave matthews, ben harper, the waifs, jbt, missy, xavier... and who knows who else in one weekend would be awesomely amazing... we'll see...

anyways, i may well try to sheck out dave this time, cause it was a bit of a mistake that i didnt go last time - all my mistake...

only abandoned

check this guy out!

i first met mr francis kneebone on su state conference this year.
awesome guy, who really brings out something in my writing and playing style that i like. thanx fancis, you're a champion!

anyways... fancis has an ep out call only abandoned, and i think you can listen to some tracks off it on his myspace (which is the link). so... you should do that.

a quick review of fancis' EP.
i really liked his stripped down approach. at first, it messed with my head... come on! where's the drum kit/bass/electric guitar... but i have to say im comfortable with it now. it really helps bring out the natural vulnerability in francis' writing style. a style that at times refuses to acknowledge writing cliches and standards... again, particularly with the first track (view from the moon), the timing messed with my head... but i took my muso hat off and just enjoyed it, let it flow, which it really does...
standouts for me? track 4 and 3 (in that order) Stairs (#4) is a great little love song, with a nice bright riff/arpegio that really is uplifting... Psalm 151 (#3) is a well writen piece that just flows nicely. having said that, i like all the tracks, and would recomend giving them a listen or see francis live sometime...

that's all for now on francis kneebone