Hik Hearts NY

6/12/08
If I didn't have anything to do (musically speaking) I would buy a one way ticket there. 't was an awesome week.






The night I arrived, my hostel was located a block from times square. Times square reminds me of Shibuya, with a lot less asians. Lots of bright lights and shops. I dug the M&Ms store..



The NY waterways cruise. Very cool (or should I say freaking cold) tour that lets you see the NY skyline, statue of liberty, brooklyn bridge, empire state building. There's also a tour guide onboard who talks about the history of the city.





Did a walking to tour to Brooklyn with Big Apple Greeter (http://www.bigapplegreeter.org/) My tour guide was David M who's a Brooklyn resident. It started off with the crossing of the Brooklyn bridge, the scenery was amazing!
David took me to some unsual places where I definitely wouldn't of discovered if I went by myself. Looked through some odd performance spaces (one had a a bunch of ponds where the audience stands, weird) and odd stores (there's a store that sells a pencil sharpner that's in a shape of a cat and you insert the pencil into its rear end, and the cat screeches while it sharpens)
We also walked through Dave's stomping ground which is Park Slope 'n Prospect Park.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Park_Slope
I strangely felt at home in Brooklyn.

Infact if I lived in NY, I would definitely live in Brooklyn. It's full of liberals!
Park Slope would be very nice, but it's a bit expensive. A few celebrities live there (Steve Buscemi, John Turturro, Jennifer Connelly, Peter Sarsgaard)
Dave's a personal friend of John Ventimiglia who's best known for his role as Artie Bucco in the Sopranos. Big thanks to Dave!

More to come..

NY

After a monster 20something hour journey, I'm finally here in New York!
This was definitely the longest flight I've ever been on. And I'm jet lagged a bit (woke up at 4am)

I noticed that the international qantas flight is better than the domestic ones. You get to choose a wide variety of inflight entertainment for the long flights. So during the flight I watched The Dark Knight, a Richard Dawkins documentary, a Stephen Hawkings documentary (which was a bit complex), an Akmal Saleh stand up show, Arj Barker show, Andrew Denton interviews, Michael Parkinson interviews and some other random stuff.

The security at LAX was pretty tight. Went through security screenings tons of times. The first music I listened to when arriving in the US was NIN's "Year Zero" which was kinda freaky. It wasn't that crowded luckily as it was 6am when we touched down at LAX.

By the time we arrived at NYC, I was pretty stuffed. Never have I felt so drowsy after a flight. My eyes were redder than a stoner's eyes.
The shuttle bus (which was more like a slightly bigger tarago) ride to my hostel was interesting. They drive like maniacs over here. Our Jamaican driver driving while using his cell phone, doing illegal turns and cursing at other drivers. He gave us a bit of a tour guide around the neighbourhood explaining where all the strip clubs are 'n stuff too. All the essentials.

H.

PURITY DEVICE

The past 2 days I recorded some cymbals, Snare drum and v-drums for Purity Device.
I kinda forgot I was a member of this group. Infact I don't really remember recording the drum parts for songs like "So Slowly"
But it's a killer group.

http://www.myspace.com/puritydevice

The songs up on their myspace isn't finished yet. The extra cymbals, snare and v-drums will be added to some of the songs. It sounds very groovy and more organic. Although Greg may edit the hell out of my parts and make it sound fucked up (in a good way) Regardless, it'll sound awesome.
Most of the songs have multi-layered percussion/drums. Some of it was a recording of me playing a groove during a separate session, some of it from a hip hop record, some of it programmed by Greg etc

It kinda reminded me of how Peter Gabriel records his drummers, except that Peter Gabriel uses guys like Steve Gadd, Manu Katche, Jerry Marotta and Ged Lynch...


Very excited with this group (as well as Departures)
H.

MEGA FUSION

Last sat, I played in this mega music collaboration between the Aboriginal dancers/musicians, Chinese traditional musicians and Dejan's shred music (which i play drums for) All Brisbane-based.

It's kinda hard to imagine what it sounds like, but it worked. We grooved 'n jammed in the key of D (which the note of the digeridoo) with no set structures, just gradually accelerated in tempo. Though I couldn't find beat 1 at times...
One of the Chinese musicians was playing a Guzheng (I think) which reminded me of the Japanese Koto (apparently there's one in every country)
The other Chinese musican was playing a small stringed instrument which is bowed upright like a cello.
My toms were also tuned in D, so I did this tom groove with mallets.
And ofcourse there's Dejan and Sonic's power-chord riffage (did I mention Shred?)

Daff Jam

DB's Greta invited moa to a Sufi music jam.
It was held in this Dodecahedronal house (yes 12 faces!, possibly more) which was in the mountains in northern Brisbane.

Met some Turkish and Iranian musos who played instruments I have never seen or heard before.
One of the instruments that I briefly got to play was the Daf. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daf)
I've realised that I've never played a percussion instrument that you actually hold on while you make noise with your palm and fingers. 't was quite awkward at first.

We got into a circle and played some tranced out rhythms while Greta was playing this instrument-> http://www.deepblueorchestra.com/images/people/greta.jpg
(I forgot the name, sorry)

I should definitely check out non-Western rhythms and percussion instruments more often.

H.

BUNBURY

The final show of the 08 tour!
The tour has been grreaaat I personally can do this for another month or so (maybe)


My "office"






The Bunbury crowd






Post-show, I had an unbelievable bubble bath in our hotel spa.

GERALDTON

Wayne's a pretty busy man..


The legendary gaff ball. It's very heavy.


Signing the walls. There were signatures everywhere in the venue.



Busking in the foyer during intermission.


The Geraldton crowd were awesome!


So were the tech crews. They encouraged us to party after the show at the venue for a bit.
Dane and I did some sick air-guitar/band.


Our veteran roadie, Speedy. He roadied for Led Zeppelin!


H.

DARWIN

Oh man. Touring is so stressful.


Had some oysters and prawns. It was nice.

Aah
H.

ps - I ate lunch at a restaurant called DUCK'S NUTS.

18/10/08 Araluen Centre fo Arts 'n stuff. Alice Springs

Another hot 'n dry place.
This place was surround by these rocky hills.
The Young Blue kids were hypo.Very energetic bunch..
4 of the kids who performed were busking in the mall the day after. They had the DB t-shirt on.

I was also surprised to see many locals at the mall approaching us to say the show rocked. Kinda feel like a rockstar :D




The day off at Alice was very sweet. We got to see some unsual desert wildlife at the desert park 10mins from Alice.












The nicest pie I have ever ate. And yes, it's Kangaroo.


A bit of air guitar/violin/cello/drum action. This whole desert thing reminds me of U2's Joshua Tree.




H.


I bought myself a boomerang. How tourist of me to do that.

16/10/08 Mt Isa, Civic Centre

The flight from Cairns to Mt.Isa was quite an experience.
It's like travelling to a different country.
Cairns was very tropical, with a lot of green. (and Japanese people)
We boarded on a Saab 340 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saab_340 (with Mac Airlines) and stopped at Normanton airport, which was basically a desert with a strip of tarmac and a shed. The moment I got out of the plane, my 300yen Tokyo umbrella disintegrated. It was so fucking hot.

Isa was hot too. My first ever time at a mining city. The mines are unbelievably huge.
Our first night was spent at the local buff club where there was... a KARAOKE!!. Never expected to do a session of karaoke at the Isa. Sallie and I did a duet of Gunner's "Sweet Child o' mine" and Eagles "Desperado"
Wayne's (and friends) Rocky horror "Time Warp" was crazy. We probably freaked out the locals a bit.

The Isa audience was also crazy. They were loud from the beginning to the end.
Something must've be in the water. How fun.


H.

8/10/08 MARYBOROUGH, Brolga Theatre

For the first time... We had the audience doing the nutbush dance in our show!
The atmosphere was crazy fun.

Wagga

Interesting place.

Wagga has..
A Sheriff's office
An 'Opportunity Shop'
A bloke who calls himself Trout, who served us pizza
A Pet store that sells Scorpions


H.

Road to Albury

I'm getting a bit sleep deprived.
Woke up early for the monster 6 hours journey to Albury (from Nowra)
I sat on the gear truck instead of the band bus for the journey. Which was a good choice me thinks. The ride was more fun and Brad V (the lighting guy/truck driver) had some music on.
Surprised I didn't sleep at all during the travel.
Nice scenery too.

I don't think i'll sleep much tonight in albury too. Formula One's on.


H.

Shoalhaven Entertainment Centre 27/9/08

I've never heard of Shoalhaven until now...
The town we played is actually called Nowra. The night before the show, some of the string players (plus Alex Hodgo on electric sax) started jamming inside this restaurant called "A wing and the pear" (after we ate) Played everything from autumn leaves to james bond theme..
't was quite an experience, it lasted for hours and everyone enjoyed it. The country folks are nice.



Shoalhaven Entertainment Centre is very new. 2 months old. Everything looks quite futuristic except for that Chinese Shaolin Bell in the foyer. (I want one)

Coles was open until midnight on Saturdays at Nowra.

I've decided to be more physical with my playing for the show and that kinda screwed me up a bit. Hopefully I'll get used to it.


Alice's yoga class overlooking the river

Sydney State Theatre 25/7/08

Sydney State Theatre.
Nice venue, it's a heritage listed place so it looks very classic.
Show went well I think.

Was very surprised with the amount of sushi and korean restaurants in the city. Lots of Korean people there in general. Had some very nice dolsot bibimbap and yukae jan (i don't think I spelt it correctly)

I totally dug this bull statue with giant testicles outside the ramen store..


Bill Bailey peformed there before us

Tour

1 more sleep until the start of the DB tour.

The dates:
SEPTEMBER 25 SYDNEY, State Theatre

SEPTEMBER 27 SHOALHAVEN, ENTERTAINMENT CENTRE

SEPTEMBER 29 ALBURY NSW, Convention & Performing Arts Centre

SEPTEMBER 30 WAGGA WAGGA, Civic Theatre

OCTOBER 2 ORANGE, Civic Theatre

OCTOBER 4 GOSFORD, Laycock Street Theatre

OCTOBER 7 BRISBANE, Redland Performing Arts Centre

OCTOBER 9 CALOUNDRA,The Events Centre

OCTOBER 10 MARYBOROUGH, Brolga Theatre

OCTOBER 11 GLADSTONE, Entertainment Centre

OCTOBER 12 ROCKHAMPTON, Pilbeam Theatre

OCTOBER 14 CAIRNS, Civic Theatre

OCTOBER 16 MT ISA, Civic Centre

OCTOBER 18 ALICE SPRINGS, Araluen Centre for Arts & Ent.

OCTOBER 21 DARWIN, Entertainment Centre

OCTOBER 24 KARATHA, Walkington Theatre

OCTOBER27 CARNARVON, Camel Lane Theatre

OCTOBER 29 GERALDTON, Queens Park Theatre

OCTOBER 31 BUNBURY, Regional Entertainment Centre


H.

tour 'n busk

Jono and I got the Queen st mall busking permit~! woohoo.
If you see a drummer playing funky stuff at the mall, that's jono. I'll be joining him when I come back from the deep blue tour.

Oh yes. The past few weeks has been all about preparation for the month long tour.
As much as we would like to just rock up the venue and play (among other things) We, the performers and crew has to sought out things like freight, promoting and stage layout. It's a bit of task (though my workload is significantly less compared to Peet, Tim McG, AndyA, DC and other emusicians)
But yeah, we're leaving brisbane for sydney next wednesday.

I'll keep posting (with or without photos)
my camera is still messed.

Two smashed up rooms

My favourite restaurant in Brisbane, is destroyed!!!

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,24293856-3102,00.html

We were dining there the night before it happened. Let's hope the shop gets fixed. The thought of not having their Creme Brulee ever again makes me want rip off my head.

H.

Sarah Palin

Is this for real!?


She's very conservative, very right.. To the right of her, is a wall.

H.

Broken Camera

Recorded myself playing along to Rush's YYZ.
Then the camera broke!

Fuck.

H.


At least YYZ got recorded and I don't sound too bad.

Steve Grady @ Ric's and YYZ

Played (bass) for Steve Grady at Ric's.
With special guest Dan Parsons again.

The turnout was great for a Thursday night and the gig was very fun. Very stoner-rocki'ish at times. hmm


Oh.. and
Rush's YYZ is super fun to play along on drums.

Valley Studios

Steve Grady and the wild pigeons (or Steve Grady, JD and the wild pigeon)
played at the valley studios last sat.
My very first time playing at this newish venue. I really dig it.
The gig was fun too. With Dan Parson, Chloe Turner joining in on some songs.

Birdee Num Num's sweet.

Unfortunately I caught the flu, thus I've been down this entire week.

Ice Skate

Went ice-skating.
The last time I went ice-skating was in the 1990's. Don't exactly remember when.
I only stacked once, which was a relief. Was very paranoid about hurting my hands and legs.

Butterfries and Hurrycanes

Forgot to bring the camera...

Recorded drums on deep blue's version of Muse' "Butterflies and Hurricanes"
Alex Hodgo arranged it, and it's going to rock. We definitely need a modern song for deep blue (It's the 21st century orchestra ain't it?)

H.

zoo

Went to the zoo to see Dan Parsons, Little Red Light, Jake Rush and Cindy and the croquet players reunion.
What's amazing about them is that all of the players (except Dave 'Irish' Joyce) went ot Hillbrook school. I bet the school suck at sports or something..



The after party was nice. Very low-key, low-lit, drinking stolen wine. Never expected to stay up until 3.00am on a Wednesday night.

Drumscene Live

This year's drumscene live was Horacio Hernandez, Billy Ward and Mike Mangini.
Didn't know what to expect with 3 very different drummers.
't was very impressive.

Meeting Billy was very cool. He invited me, Scottynos (fellow billyward forum member) and JD backstage and gave us his duets CD.
Also had a chat about his insane schedule and ofcourse, the korean drummer youtube clip... http://www.billyward.com/

H.

Satch DB

The past 2 days has been unbelievable. It hasn't sunk in yet (will it ever?)

Friday Night:
Opened for Joe Satriani at the Tivoli. With Dejan Toracki (www.surfmusic.com.au)
Never been this freaked out from playing music. Playing in front of a packed guitar freaks at the tiv. The audience responded nicely, lots of cheering..
Seeing Satch's set from backstage was simply surreal.

Surprised that we were treated well. There were lots of beer in the dressing room.

And Satch was very, very (x 30times) nice.



Saturday Night:
Deep Blue played to a sold out audience at QPAC. Definitely the best show we have done. We ALMOST created a mosh apparently. That would be cool.
Here are some rehearsal photos taken by Clare Hawley (http://www.asparay.com)








H.