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.

Mr Watson

If you don't already know of Darren Watson, tunnel over here and check out his Facebook page.  I've been a fan of Darren's ever since his days in Chicago Smokeshop, about the time I was starting out playing with the Mudflat Houserockers in Dunedin.  He's an extraordinarily versatile and able guitarist and a wonderfully gifted singer and songwriter.  You can hear his new album "St Hilda's Faithless Boy" on his page.

Do youself a favour, check out the album, buy it.  And if you're ever in Wellington, go see the man.  You'll thank me.

New Class

Welcome to my 10 new harmonica students at Otago University's Recreation Services!  It's going to be a fun four weeks.  Just remember to practice!

In other news, in the wake of our gig in the Botanic Gardens, it looks like BlueStone might be playing the Octagon New Years party.  The lads are rather excited at the prospect.

Blues in the Gardens

Bluestone will be playing in the Dunedin Botanical Gardens this Sunday at noon until 3.00pm.  We're planning to have some special guests.  So far we've got the wonderful Tahu Mackenzie to sing with us.  Stay tuned for more.

Sadly, I just heard that Phoebe Snow just died.  Phoebe had one of my favourite voices.  Check out her fantastic version of Etta James's "At Last" with Donald Fagen et al at the New York Rock & Soul Revue:



I know this Sunday I'll be playing one for Phoebe.

To Teach Or Not To Teach?

Just finished this semester's harmonica class for the Otago University Students Association on Monday night.  I love doing that class; it lets me pass on some of the cool things I've learned, as well as my enormous enthusiasm for the blues.  Hopefully some of my students will form their own bands one day.  It was great to see so many of them at the Dunedin Muso's club the Friday before, so I could show them what it looks like when you bring it all together with a live band.  I always bring my mic and amp setup to the last lesson to give everyone a taste of electricity, but you've really got to see blues in the wild to really get it.

I also have to pass around evaluation forms on the last night, so the Students Association can tell which courses are worth running.  I got a call the other day saying that the feedback was universally good; that it's actually one of their most popular courses, and would I consider running two in a semester?  It's so gratifying to hear that.

But I'll have to think long and hard about it.  If you read my photography blog, you'll know I occasionally need to head out of town to work, sometimes at very short notice, like as soon as the weather comes right for a shoot.  I love to teach, but I love my business as well.

Of course there's one thing I'll definitely try to be in town for: band practices and gigs.  The new Bluestone lineup is smokin'  We're ready to do some serious gig hunting now.  I just have to get a new photoshoot organised!

Last Blast for the Boogiemen

Bad news Dunedin, the fabulous Boogiemen have played their last stand.  The enormously talented Boog Roberts is leaving town for personal reasons (no he's not going to jail this time).

I went to see them one last time at the Waterloo Tavern, with my good friend and Blues Brother Dr Mike.  They were at their raucous best.  I'm not sure what Mad Dog Dooley, Ropes, Steve-O and Jack will do without the Boogster, but I know I'll miss him greatly.

In other news, Bluestone has a private party to play this weekend, and will be appearing at the Dunedin Muso's Club on April 8th.  Light blue touch paper and stand back, we're going off like a firecracker!

Coming Up...

Stand Back!  We're unveiling Bluestone's new lineup at Cableways Tavern, Kaikorai Valley on Sat Feb 12.

New Year, New Lineup

Dr Mike and I went down to the Dunedin Muso's club last night with our latest drummer Geordie Dave.  The mission was to audition John Mackie on bass.  It didn't take long to decide we had found the right man to fill Sid's spot on the bandstand.  We did four or five songs from our set that I'd given John to listen to, then a few more we just picked on the spot.  Great success.  I don't even think the crowd of usual suspects at the bar realised it was an unrehearsed audition until we told them - John and Dave communicated so well together, it was tight, every groove in the pocket.  Our new rhythm section is firing hot on all cylinders.

Bring on the year.  Bluestone is back in business.

In other news, my 4-week harmonica classes start running on March 21 and May 12 this year.  Sign up at Otago University Clubs and Societies or Recreation Services if you want to learn to play the blues.