It's already two weeks since my Dad died. It's been strange. I haven't exactly been overcome with grief - Dad had a great life and his death didn't come as a shock, but I've been feeling run down, tired, and finding it hard to concentrate at work. I left early on Friday with a headache and fell asleep when I got home.
Last Wednesday I played a tune for him at the jam. He wasn't really into my music - he used to call my stereo a 'noise machine'. But the first time he saw me play with White Hot and Blue several years ago, he was beaming with surprise and pride. I think now I'll always play a tune for him. He taught me much - like: Life is change.
We played with a great local bass player and drummer last week, both happy to play with us, but committed to other bands. I think it finally dawned on us that we don't need to be so desperate about finding permanent members for the backline. Really good players just fit anyway, without weeks of practice. For now, we'll just use the best guys who are available for whatever gigs we get. I think the first step will be to play a freebie at the Dunedin Muso's club, just to get our set into shape. That'll be fun.
So this week, instead of jamming, Mike, Anders and I will go over the set list. We've jammed nearly 30 tunes or so already, so we'll take the best of that, shove in a few new ones, and some of our old original songs, and forge ahead. Who knows, some day soon, we may find a permanent drummer and bass player. Well, as permanent as things can be.
Then I'll be out of town for a few days around Easter. I'm heading to Australia to direct some interviews for a TV series. It'll give me a chance to catch up with my old mate Clay Hichens in Sydney. Clay and I got a great little 4 piece together for a while over there. It'll be fun to catch up with him.
