Let The Good Times Roll

Bluestone got the year off to a great start, with a gig in Dunedin's Octagon at New Year's Eve, followed by a wedding party in Leith Valley and another little trip to the Maheno Tavern.

Here's a little sample of the New Year's show.

Down time

No more harmonica teaching for the year and BlueStone isn't gigging until New Years. I am heading to Sydney this weekend to play with my old mate Clay Hichens and his band, Vinnie and the Moonlighters for Clay's birthday party, so that's going to be plenty of fun.

Meanwhile, here's a little taste of Bluestone's last gig in Dunedin's Octagon during the Rugby World Cup.

Talent runs in the family

It'll come as no surprise that most of the guys in Bluestone have kids with musical leanings.  I guess with dads so into their music, a little of that obsession has to rub off. Plus the kids will have been exposed to quality music from their earliest days. Not that we expect them to be Blues nuts. Geordie Boy has spawned a couple of hard rockers while Miss C(7) is just learning the 1812 overture on her violin.

Meanwhile, Mack's daughter Lizzie is taking on the world from her bedroom, composting scores for Hollywood. She's also the brains behind the Bluestone Android Ap - soon to be out on iphone.  Check out Lizzie's story at Otago Polytechnic's site.

Mr Watson On Tour

Dates for Darren Watson on tour this August are here.  Darren is a huge Kiwi blues talent: Singer, songwriter and guitarist par excellence.  He's playing 2 dates in the Dunedin area, Aug 9 at the Careys Bay pub and Aug 10 at the Church Cafe, Dundas St.  I'd consider catching them both if I were you.

Happy New Year

I just received confirmation of something we're all very much looking forward to: We're booked to play the New Year's Eve celebrations in Dunedin's Octagon. We follow The evergreen Oxo Cubans at 9.30 and after us at 11.00 pm the veteran Argus rock show kicks off. We'll be working on 90 minutes of knock-em-down R&B.

Lounge Party

Played our first lounge party (with this lineup) at Joyce Lepperd's B&B in Opoho last night.  Great fun all 'round. White Boy Slim and his keyboards were AWOL, so we performed as a four piece, which is just as well, otherwise the whole audience would have had to have been in the kitchen.

Geordie Boy played on drum pads instead of his Ludwig kit.  They took up much less room and sounded great - except maybe for the Indian tabla preset.  Not quite blues, y'know?

Tonight's The Night

Stand back!  We're tearing it up at Chicks tonight.

If you don't already know, Chicks is at 2 Mount Street, Port Chalmers and is a busy little venue for music and arts with a slight 'alt' bent.  This is going to be Bluestone's first gig there, but the lads are greatly looking forward to it.  Bring $5.00 for the door.  Dress code:  Light, comfortable clothing, possibly a fire extinguisher.  It's going to get hot tonight.