Midweek Valentino 

Well what a month this has been! Apart from a sensational show with Suzette Herft and Pete Fidler at the Spotted Mallard last week (where we launched not one, but two CD's) it's been a crazy time of moving things around and generally trying to keep it all together. Hence.... no blogs. Things are a bit quiet on the gigs front too for the next little while so it's time to do get started on my version of the great Australian novel, in other words, my first solo album.
So, to get you up to date (as if anyone's really interested but I've noticed that successful people seem to live a life of never ending newsworthy events so I'm going to try and pretend I'm the same) me, Ann and our daughter Sofia (of "You're too fat to fly" fame) are currently living with Ann's parents in Coburg while our house is undergoing major surgery (renovation I believe it's called) and the last month has been pretty well taken up with all of that. Needless to say practicing is a bit of an issue when living in somebody else's place but I've borrowed my friend Ian Young's "silent" Yamaha guitar which is a real "boon" (as my Granny used to say). Now I can play as long and as loud as I like and maintain domestic harmony. Hooray!!! 
I've also been busy in the studio with Gordon hammering away at some pre-production versions of songs for the forthcoming album (which has a working title of "Now That's A City Lemon For Sure!" but I'm open to suggestions on this) and I thought I'd give you a little sneak preview of what will, eventually, turn into a pretty decent little song. This is "Midweek Valentino" which is the song that won me the Peninsula Folk Club Songwriting Competition. It has it's origins on a number of places and times but I think anyone who has either played at or been a punter at many of the midweek venues around Melbourne will recognize the characters in the song. You might even see yourself in there somewhere, I know I'm in there a bit. One of my favourite literary moments is in "The French Lieutenant's Woman" in which the author, John Fowles, writes himself into the novel as a character in a train wondering what to do next with the protagonist. This is what I love about writing. There really are no rules and you can go wherever you want to and be whoever you like. So, in "Midweek Valentino" there I am on a bar stool watching the scene unfold. Come join me and we'll have a drink for Valentino........
 

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