It starts here

Ok, here it is: my blues life. Occasionally you'll see there's a crossover with my day job and my home life, and of course, there's a fair bit of backstory, which I'll cover occasionally. But here's where I'm at right now:

I'm sitting in front of the telly, post dinner. My wife Ali is beside me, commenting on how old David Bellamy looks. Georgia, my two year old daughter is plucking the guitar I got her for her birthday. Now she's asking for a pick. It's a constant battle to hang on to my picks, at home and in the band.

I say in the band, but right now I'm not really in a gigging band. When I was, Boog, one of our guitarists, tended to borrow picks and lose them. Now it's my daughter. At least she's discovering music young. I wish I had. It would be so much easier. My last band was called White Hot and Blue - after the Johnny Winter album. We played together for about 15 years, on and off, but since our bass player Gordy spends half the year ski patrolling in Scandinavia, and the other half out of town at a ski resort, and since Boog kind of left town without telling anyone, it's time for me and Dr. Mike to rebuild.

Dr Mike and I have played together for over 20 years, him on guitar, me on harmonica. Our drummer Graham is still around, but with White Hot and Blue not gigging, he's found himself other work, and since he relies on music for a living, we're not going to tie him to a part time blues band. So we're looking for a whole new back line - bass and drums.

The good new is, Boog has been easy to replace. Guitarists are easy to find, but good bluesmen aren't. Luckily, we met this Norwegian kid at a jam last year and he's great. The three of us just clicked musically, so we've been jamming semi regularly, and looking for other players. Anders is like the anti-Boog, a mirror image, opposite, but equal. Boog was all natural talent and small-time crime. Anders is a trained musician, clean-cut, and studying social work here in Dunedin. They've both got a great feel and dedication to blues music.

So, tonight I'm off to the weekly jam at the Empire pub. I'll read Georgia a bedtime story, pack my amp and harps, and we shall see what happens.