A Muso Life: April 2006

Friday, April 28, 2006

Week 8

It's already week 8?!?! Since when?
And so, it feels like I've been here for AGES....yet, this week has gone by quickly. I think I'm just confused.

The ANZAC day holiday was greatly appreciated, as I got most of the rest of my Music & Ideas essay done. The day was fantastic in its 'feeling'. I suggested this was what living at college if we did distance education would be like. We'd have work to do and all, but we'd be hanging out with each other. I like it. And we wouldn't have to actually go INTO uni for classes, thus the 'distance' part of 'distance education'. I could do that!

We went that evening to Belle, Cathy and Matty J's housewarming in North Carlton. Haha. It's supposed to be close...yet we took a while getting there because we weren't quite sure HOW to get there! We finally did....thankfully! It's a really really nice place! And it was really good to catch up with them. :)

I had a fairly good piano lesson on Wednesday. I think I'm a bit scared of my lessons, because I'm always afraid that I haven't done enough work (def. what I think!). The piece I think to be the hardest was the one that she had the best comments for.....weird........but good....still, weird! Unfortunately, Eran James has not started playing at VicHarbour Restaurant yet, so we didn't go for dinner. Instead, I watched the JCR vs. SCR debate, which had the topic "Australia should become the 51st state of America". It was most entertaining. The SCR definitely deserved to win, in the sense of the debate - definitely more prepared. This is not to say that the JCR debators weren't good, just outclassed on the night. Definitely Ben with his spiel ending with "Australia, I want you!" (complete with the pointed finger, a la Uncle Sam) was the highlight.

Last night was the 1J Corridor Party/Crawl. The theme was Rubick's Cube - the decorations were fantastic (Thanks Judy!) and we were decked out in the oddest assortment of clothes in the six colours prescribed. Balloons, resembling those pits that parents leave their kids in while they go shop, filled part of the corridor. Coloured squares adorned our walls and the ceiling. It looked awesome! Pictures will come later....once I've managed to steal, erm, no....HAVE photos from others :) We played fun games, revealed stuff about ourselves, drank and ate ourselves silly. Danced to music, turned up the music, visited another corridor that had their crawl on as well...and got to bed really late. I'll just say that waking up this morning was not incredibly easy (well, waking up isn't easy at any time, I think...! At least for me...!)

So, what does the weekend hold?

Sunday is the start (again) of choir. While I love singing with the choir, it is a huge time committment...I sometimes wonder how long I can really keep this up for. Still, if I don't sing in the Queen's choir, I won't be singing in anything (just look at my violin playing!)
Tomorrow we're going out for my birthday dinner/dessert/drinks. I'm excited, but also quite anxious...I don't have any idea how it's going to go, so hopefully it's good...! Photos from that will come as soon as I get my hand on some as well!

For now, that's it...I think...!

Sunday, April 23, 2006

Back In Melbourne

First up, thank you to everybody for a wonderful birthday. This ranges from people who called/messaged/emailled/sent e-cards, to the people who helped me celebrate on the day with the dinner we had at our place!

So, back in Melbourne...

My holidays really did consist of doing work, sleeping and eating. Really. That was about it. Whatever. They were kinda productive.

Flight was this morning, at 6.10am. Yes, this involves getting up at about 4.20am. Urgh. I did manage to sleep a bit on the plane, though. Although I don't get why my flights are always FULL!!! Listened to some awesome CDs on the plane, having made sure that I had ample supply of good music considering I was travelling within the same month on the same airline (same music programme....)

Was exciting to be back in Melbourne - it's good to see friends again....it's weird, because I find it weird when I don't see them for more than about two days...! Yet, I'm away from home for several months at a time.....

I had less than 30kgs, you should be proud of me. I did, however, come back with more stuff than I went home with. That should be expected.

Stuff to buy.....:
Speakers. So I can listen to awesome music (a la Idea of North, Mark Sholtez, Jamie Cullum. My latest 'hot' list. Not to discount other music or anything.....but they just happen to be in my head recently....I wonder why..!)
3 frames from Idea. To frame Switchfoot, Idea of North and Jamie Cullum tickets/photos and other associated memorabilia (little that exists in my possession....)

Ciao!

p.s. and thanks to all those who facebook-ed me too!!!! You know how facebook sends and email everytime somebody posts something on your wall? Well, in just ONE day, there were 21 messages about people writing stuff on my wall! Woot!!! Thank you all! :)

Wednesday, April 19, 2006

By popular demand

Ok, by "popular" I mean one person. That's not the point.
So, back home in Perth. I get the comment "What are you doing here?" Oh yay, thanks....the answer to that is "I'm just here for the one-week Easter break. Yes, just one week. My mum booked my flights. Either way she's paying for flights or accommodation."
So, Friday was rather hectic. I thought on Thursday night that I could sleep in. Alas, no! A 10am service for Good Friday reminded me that I was going home REAL SOON. The service went for a while...2 hours. I didn't realise it'd be that long!
I was described earlier that morning in terms of toasties....a tomato and cheese toastie was my type (thanks, Bambi). Something about being simple yet classic. You know, everybody wants a piece of me, everybody wants to eat me. Yeah............................
Anyway, Funky drove us (Mel and me with Renee also coming along for the ride) to the Tullamarine airport. Which was really really nice of him. Nearly left my phone in my room...would have been INCREDIBLY stupid! Of course, I was real stressed. I am naturally stressed. Whatever. I thought I was going to be very late. Thankfully, there were those self check-in terminal thingos. What fun! But what a full flight.....why everybody wanted to be going to Perth was totally beyond me. The lady next to me asked me this (had a nice chat to her!) and we put it down to two things: 1) all the Perth people heading home after the Rolling Stones concert or 2) people heading back home to Perth for Easter (like me).
Our flight was so full that they had mountains of paperwork. The pilot didn't feel comfortable flying the specified route, so we had to re-route the entire flight. PLus complete extra paperwork. So, our flight was delayed a WHOLE HOUR! Yes, we sat on the plane for an additional hour. What boredom. So, Funky needn't have rushed, I needn't have stressed myself out. Oh well.

So, being at home has been quiet (as my life in Perth tends to be). I've been doing mostly work...have slept quite a lot. Been given yucky herbal teas by mum in order to try get better (I claim they just make me feel sick). We had lunch with our cousins on Sunday. It was nice....there are only a few times a year that all the cousins are together, at home, at any given time. We gotta make full use of that kind of time.

Went shopping yesterday....got a pair of white heels (to go with green dress...couldn't find silver shoes, I think white is quite versatile...can wear with several things, such as skirts and pants that I already own, so hopefully will find good use for them). Have to think about a 21st present for Amy...anybody got any ideas??? Tried to get a few books out of the State Library of WA (which you can borrow some things from). Found out that I can't (well, those two books anyway). Got really annoyed. One Tim Rice book is the only one in WA....and I can't even borrow it for a week. Pooh. That really annoys me.

Am making a Plane CD#2 with fave tracks of the moment....yes, they centre around Jamie Cullum, Mark Sholtez but also include other songs I have heard live, including some by The Idea of North. Have also put the Numa Numa Song. Just for kicks. Hehe. :P

But next week, I was thinking of heading down to VicHarbour Restarurant and Bar, to have $12 roast (or other meal that isn't too expensive) and hearing Eran James play. If you're interested, please let me know. I'd like to have some compnay....and I don't currently have a date. :P Hehe.

Right, back to some real work.....(getting bored with Bulgaria assignment. Managed to do half of Econometrics Assignment #3 last night...stayed up till 2am playing around with Equation Editor...grrr!!!)

Friday, April 14, 2006

the rushed review

As i rush to devour my noodle-lunch before heading to the airport....
I'll give a quick rview of the concert

So, Elise, Xing n i headed down to the tram stop. we think we have a fail-proof plan, after last friday's tram stresses! We figure we'll give ourselves a buffer of half and hour, which was good, because we missed the tram we thought we were going to catch. But never fear, the next one wasn't far away. Elise had her sister's digi cam, which she'd never used before. So, she's experiementing, and i'm doing some weird pose....and this random old guy comes over and puts his arm aroun dme and asks "Are you taking photos of beautiful people?"

Omg. I was so surprised. elise thougth i migth have known him, but i slowly turned my head to look at this very random guy.....friendly, but weird at the same time. we made small talk and i started to fear when he got on the same tram as us. that's ok. he came over and said "ladies, I'm sorry, i can't be your boyfriend....I'm too old". Hehe. it was really cute.So, that was my tram story. I crossed my threshold for furthest been on tram! Yay! Made it down to St Kilda!! (Finally...but not during the day, so my mentor-mentee date is still on! hehe :P )

Ok, so we get to the Palais theatre, and get our tickets.
talk about strict entry conditions...checking bags for alcohol and cameras...we were allowed small cameras. elise had this debacle concerning her supposedly professional looking camera. finally, got over it.
gosh, the theatre is soo nice! it's all old and grand and stuff....very suited to (larger) acoustic acts. So so beautiful...[see below for photos]

Mark Sholtez opened the concert. He is soo awesome! He is a brisbane jazz/pop-infused pianist/guitarist/singer/songwriter. what an act. he is seriously such a rising star. He's playign about 3 times at bennett's lane on fridays in may, so we should def. head down, becuase he's really awesome! ok, and he's hot too.... hehe :P (it's all about the suit man! hahaha). anyway, he's got a really awesome sound.....really really good. i'm gonna have to get his album, Real Street.

so then jamie cullum comes out to this amazing audience!!!
he started off pretty much how i expected from a concert....but things livened up when his band were drinking on stage...hehe. and he started talking to the audience....started taking off layers (as one should wear in melbourne).........got really excited......stomping on piano, using everything on the piano, using piano stool on piano...!

he played stuff from his entire repertoire, not just Catching tales, which was really aweomse....TwentySomething songs featured a bit! The band was soo awesome, made up of a bassist (playing electric bass as well as electirc double bass...totally aweosme!), a HOT drummer (i use the term 'hot' to denote how aweosme he is!), a trumpeter/guitarist and a saxophonist/percussionist/mixer. ALL TOTALLY AWESOME!!! they are an aweosme band...i don't think he could ask for a better band behind him! man, if i had a band like that..!

there was lots of fun during the concert....
* Jamie stepping up on the piano
* Jamie jumping from piano
* Notting Hill carnival sounds infused to the end of a song....complete with street drums, whistles and shrieks! Talk about the party atmosphere!
* Jamie on guitar
* Jamie on drums
* Cool piano things...ok, they probably hurt the piano.....stopped strings, percussive noises (banging the lid against the piano)
* Jamie percussion-ing....on the piano
* Jamie beat-boxing
*The sax solo.....amazing!!!!
* The drum solo........whifch went for a good five minutes...like, he was drumming EVERYTHIGN on stage.....including the piano...and its strings...shoulda seen jamie's face....of almost horror at the piano being treated like that hehe! :P
* the party atmosphere
* Jamie yelling out "Everybody come down the front! You pay as much for the ticket already!"
* Interactive concert....everybody singing a simple harmony thingo whikle jamie did his thing.
* jamie telling everybody to get up and on the count of 4, to jump. Yes, the whole theatre was jumping in time. like a mosh pit. totally aweomse
* all the girls yelling out "I love you jamie!!" in high pitched squeals.....then a low growl going "I love you jamie". Haha. jamie was playing piano at the time and totaly pakced it. haha.
*jamie coming down to the audience (the bassist following him). he sang this awesome version of Nature Boy.
* Jamie coming right by me. yes, he walked RIGHT BY ME. yes, i stuck out my hand to have a high-five or whatever. and yes, HE GRABBED MY HAND. now i'm sounding like an obsessive fan (you woulnd't be far..) yes, he actually grabbed it. he walked RIGHT past me a number of times. he sang so close to me. i could have hugged the bassist from my seat. (i almost did..! haha)

totally awesome.
so manyextra songs at the end...i'll find the time later to list more things, maybe...?

MY GOODNESS ME, WHAT A NIGHT!!!!! WHAT A CONCERT!!!

at the end, we were RAVING for ages!!!! xing wanted macca's, so we were like, "let's go there!" but i spotted a rather large crowd round the corner..
so we decided to join the obsessive fans to wait for him to come out. it was freezing. we waited about an hour with 60 other fans....

we were going to leave at 12 for fear of missing the tram, but soon after (we're really indecisive, so we stood there tyring to decide whether to stay or go), we heard screams and jamie had come out. yes....
and he said "I'm not leaving until i've met all you guys and you've all got your autographs and photos". he obliged to meet EVERY SINGLE person. we were last.
we got autographed tickets..(xing..programme..), a photo with him (see below) and a HUG AND A KISS! heheh :P
he is a real shorty (for a guy...) but still taller than me...pity!
haha. my camera didn't work, so it's in digital format thanks to xing's camera. as a friend fumbled for the next camera, i just kinda stood there next to jamei with his arm aroun dme. hahahaha. totally aweosme. i'm sure the grin on my face was sheer ecstasy.

so, we got to meet him. i told him i was from perth. hah.
we tol dhim he was totally awesome. we watched him get into his car, we waved to him...and blew the kisses (obsessive fans we are..!)

HECK, IT WAS DEF. ONE OF THE BEST NIGHTS FOR A LONG TIME!!
wow wow wow wow.

see below forphotos...

gotta chuck out the trash, go get ready to leave for the airport to head to perth!!!!!!!!
see u all either at home...0or back in mebourne!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(sorry so messy and crazy!)