any day now

any day now

i become a dad again.

and asa a big brother.

the little bloke has me smiling and laughing,

and changing my point of view. a lot.

and that's the medicine i want.

so glad to be home in this time.

just being with the family.

tending the garden.

we have a deer proof fence this year,

so we're planning on having a lot more veggies.

keeping the business rolling along too. thanks leels.

amazing things are happening in this time.

20 years since i came here from oz,

with my 2 brothers,

and BROTHER began.

yes, it is quite the time...

we have a busy summer coming.

our busiest since we became 3.

i will enjoy it all very much.

but for now, there's a new human coming ...

angus

how does your garden grow?

we had a long wet spring here in southern oregon.

but after so many years in LA i always enjoy the rain.

it feels like summer is just now about to spring. so to speak ...

our boy is not really a baby anymore.

it's only brief moments tho we miss the tiny one he was.

most of the time the vital, industrious, tough, smiling,

surprisingly gentle little lad he is now has us captivated.

every day he becomes more. everyday he fascinates us more.

every day he inspires us more. every day he is more fun to be with.

he is fascinated with every instrument i play.

didges, guitar, whistles, even the bagpipes.

and insists on playing them himself in his own unique way.

often he'll drag the big yucca didg over to me to play,

holding the other end to him to feel the vibration

or lifting it high over his head,

stamping his leg maori style.

then he'll hoot into the didg himself,

eyes serious and determined,

his library of sounds growing daily.

he is a great helper in the garden,

carting the watering can from pot to pot,

moving handfuls of earth from one planter box to another.

and always taking time to smell, and sometimes eat, the flowers.

i smile and i laugh all the more because of him.

and i take time eat the flowers myself now and then ...

i have been in the green room a lot more.

making music. getting the callouses hard again.

remembering old songs. learning new ones.

looking ahead to a busy week.

a lot of flying. a lot of playing.

wisconsin and pennsylvania have welcomed us many times

but wyoming is new to us, and BROTHER new to wyoming.

i love being at home and part of me could stay here happily,

playing with asa, growing vegetables, making music.

but another part of me looks forward to being on a big stage,

in front of a big, smiling, pulsating crowd,

making music with my mates.

let the summer begin.

angus

the future is now

we don't get snowed in here
as we did in the catskills.
but the morning frosts are thick and white
and the fogs fill the valley.
then by midday, the days are usually crisp and clear.
the feel of these days take me back to winters on the farm.
to the olden days, as my niece gracie would say.
back to the mid nineteen hundreds.
long before cel phones and laptops.
back when much of what we take for granted now
was science fiction. i read 1984 before 1984.
now suddenly it is the end of 2009
and i am a father ...

we make our new home here.
a most enjoyable work in progress.
we watch our son grow and change and explore.
he is the most incredible mirror ever.
so this is what it was like.
and this is what it's meant to be like still.
this endless energy and curiosity.
this ongoing joy in discovery.
and he continues to make us laugh. hard, and often.
the funniest little creature i know.
and the most amazing inspiration i could have imagined.
and so, with asa as our example,
we imagine, and prepare for, the coming year.
what do we want it to look like?
how do we want it to feel?
family and making a living. one must balance and inspire the other ...
i feel a potential wholly different from times past.
and, when the hour is upon me,
i shall resolve to have a damn good time next year.

angus

it is a humbling and uplifting feeling

to soothe my son with song.

asa is my favourite audience ...

he is calmed too and entranced

by the sound of my didg,

falling asleep to the vibration.

for so long a didg dabbler,

leaving the serious didging to hamish and drew,

asa now has me buzzing regularly.

thank you little matey ...

angus

visualizing

back home for a while now.

i am loving being a dad.

it is something i hadn't truly envisioned

until relatively recently.

but now the visions come all the time.

i am in the moment with him. and i am visualizing ahead.

it is a captivating, mind blowing state to be in.


as a new parent different things catch my attention now.

this link was sent to me by a good friend. thank you elizabeth.

http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/66h

this bloke had me laughing, reeled me in with his humour,

and thereby made his points all the more memorable.

good food for thought

as one anticipates having a child to educate.

the idea that we can have an education system

that nurtures, rather than kills, creativity ...

the grass is longer still.

another thunderstorm's on the way.

a sleeping baby lies in my arms,

and a new tune plays in my mind.

i am enjoying the spring ...

angus

what an honour

                                         asa teaches me the art of relaxing

what does it mean to help bring another life into this world?

the total reliance this new person has on my wife and i.

the wonder that he will be a grown man like me, or not like me? one day.

the privilege of us being able to watch him grow and change,

discover himself and his expanding world,

make decisions about who he is and what he wants to do.

how can thoughts like this not overwhelm?

it is a feeling i consciously surrender to.

what an honour ...

angus

archive photos, sentimental fool, costa mesa

 i stepped out with the bleach look sometime in the year before the accident that took us off the road for 9 months. so this must be late '98, early '99? thanks to leila for this shot. i particularly like my joe cocker interpretation.

this was at the vegas renaissance celtic festival. it was so hot the war paint was running into my eyes. i could hardly see. my old bagpipes too, before they fell apart. i'd like to get back to this festival. anyone?  also from leila. what year here leels?

hamish's dreads, not long off the starting block. thanks for this one jude. 2002?

i have had it pointed out

that most archive band photos are most likely not digital,

requiring tiresome format changes, scanning or some such wizardry.

they may also be hidden away somewhere in boxes, in closets, in storage. 

not to worry. 

we shall make this search for classic BROTHER 'looks' an ongoing enterprise. 

when you stumble upon the one that gets you smiling tho,

do send that puppy our way ... info@brothermusic.com

here in the mountains. man, woman, child.

i am very grateful to be around in these early days.

he's still so tiny but growing and changing every day.

it is a privilege to be an eye witness to the evolution of a whole new human.

inspiration for another song today. 

'sentimental fool'. a hint of zeppelin in this one.

which of the new ones to do with drew at the colonial games next week?

a warm up for our return to costa mesa the following weekend with dalbo ...

costa mesa was the first celtic festival we played.

and we ended up having a dream run there from 1994 to 1998.

the only non traditional entertainment. we had quite the monopoly.

costa mesa witnessed our early evolution as a band.

they were incredible days. incredible crowds.

and we? we were pretty clueless. well, i know i was.

there's gotta be some classic archival photos

floating around from those days, n'est pas?

onstage or behind the scenes. 

ladies and gentlemen you have 2 weeks to find your favourites.

spring is truly here. 

new colour - gold, purple, red, white, and a very virgin green -

has pushed thru everywhere.

kind of like the insistent thrusting limbs of a new little human i know.

what a time to be in the moment.

angus

favourite BROTHER coiffs competition

there it is. my brother's new head, 

7 years of dread locks recently lopped for a cancer research fund raiser.

to all who have donated to the cause, our heartfelt thanks. 

many of you have been with us since the early days.

it means a lot that you stay in touch actively ...

i remember the day hamish began the dreads, 

at a college campus we were playing somewhere in the midwest,

after getting in depth advice from some local dreaded ladies.

much as he has loved the dreads,

i know he had thought about a shaved head for a long while,

waiting for the right reason to come. good reason.

and i'd say it's a good look for him.

he always did have more the soccer ball head.

i believe when i shave mine, some distant day hence,

 it will be rather more bizarre looking  ...

so the photo had me reflecting that over the years 

there have been many interesting heads of hair in the BROTHER camp.

i would like to see the quirkiest of them together.

to that end i initiate a competition -

what is your favourite BROTHER coiff?

was it bleach blond? spiked? long and wild? mohawk? touch of mullet? 

you name it.  let me know. better yet, send us a photo and a memory. 

to info@BROTHERmusic.com .

the best we will post, the very best we will reward mightily. 

prize yet to be determined.

i begin with one of mine. a relic from our days with paul mitchell.

this was at a hair show at caesar's palace in vegas. 

those heady days saw us finally stepping up in the fashion stakes,

in ensembles by alona hamoy, designer extraordinaire.

from plaid to leather and beyond ...

in other notable news my son turned one month on monday. 

and turned himself over to commemorate the occasion.

he also gave us his first big smile.

suffice to say he continues to make us very high and very happy.

angus

a show with kirk and the boys

   Drew, Struby from 7 Nations and Angus enjoy the spring sunshine pre show

monday morning at drew's folks place in PA.

getting ready for the show with 7 nations tonight.

i am excited for the new songs we'll be airing.

a song for lichen, a song for asa.

excited too for the new sound drew and i are creating with just the 2 of us.

also for the first ever double bill with the nations boys.

i hear tell kirk is playing his pipes again. we may have to jam.

asa is on the road for the first time.

the little fellow powers on, 

getting to know his new body and life on the outside

more and more each day.

and he shows me a new world, constantly ...

for now he sleeps. 

i change my strings for the show tonight and watch the rain fall outside.

angus

some things i'm noticing ...

it's snowing. admittedly not a lot, but there they are,
cheeky white flakes engaging in a flurry outside my window.
feels strange after the warm tease mother nature has given us recently.
you never know what that foxy lady will be up to next in these here parts ...

my eleven day old son is out on his first trip to town with mum and auntie.
i know he's a very brave little fella but that doesn't make it any easier for dad.
i finished a song for asa last night. feels good to sing it.
i may have to quicktime it soon and send to drew in PA
so we can play it at brittinghams. and that's the other thing ...

drew and i just confirmed a double bill show with 7 nations.
the first time we'll be sharing a stage not at a festival with the lads.
having first crossed paths in 1995 at a nashville college showcase,
we've found ourselves playing many of the same festivals.
long we've talked with kirk of doing a show together
but it has never worked out. until now it seems.
brittinghams is an irish watering hole both bands have played often
and i am particularly excited for this meeting,
having not heard kirk and the fellas play in a long while.
drew and i will be unveiling a whole new sound following on the heels of drew and dalbo's groundbreaking shows at the sonora celtic festival last month. BROTHER re imagined. with a hint of nations perhaps.
and this will be my first time performing as a father,
already the source of much inspiration.
it will definitely be a large celebration of a night for me ...

so there they are. the things on my mind.
or those things i can actually interpret.
and now i will continue to smell the gluten free bread baking,
strum my guitar
and await the return of my son.
my sun.

angus

world of asa

10 days i have been a father ...

words don't begin
to cover what i'm feeling.
when i look at him
i'm gone.
one little thing
born early in the morning.
bigger than anything i know.

... lichen and i are wonderfully weary, learning as we go.
it is asa's world. we are here to make sure he feels good.
it is indeed the best job in the world.
and to share this job with the one i love.
nothing better ...

it will be a while,
but i look forward to having the little family on the road,
sometime down the road.
for now, i hold my sleeping son and listen to john lennon's 'beautiful boy'.

angus

how can something so tiny be so huge?

march 30

today we begin our first full day at home with asa,
our beautiful son.
we brought him home yesterday,
a year to the day that we arrived here ourselves.
the elements combined to welcome him.
gentle rain then a mighty evening thunderstorm.

after being told to be ready for more than 2 weeks,
and with a drawn out and exhausting false start behind us,
the labour was blessedly quick.
we arrived at the birth center at 4am friday morning.
he was in this world by 5.

last thursday evening - actually the official due date -
i was thinking about shaving when i had the urge to write.
a song for our unborn child followed.
labour began soon after.
glad i left the razor for another day ...


... you're due today
your mum's been long in the family way
- we know you're worth the wait

so here we are
as everything falls apart
feels like a good place to start

we don't know your name
we'll know when we see you just the same
and our paradigm will shift again

everything will change because of you everything will change
we cannot wait i'm telling you
for everything to change

you're due today
but you will come in your own way
we'll be here
we will stay ...

lichey catches up on some sleep.
i type one handed with asa nestled in the other arm.
he sqeaks in his sleep.
that one thing so small can bring so many smiles
and be the cause for so much wonder
is indeed miraculous.
i give thanks.

angus