out of hibernation

with my impending departure i break radio silence.

tomorrow, weather permitting, i fly to the east coast.

there, i meet the fellas and we play what is this year truly

the mid winter festival.

apparently there are feet of snow on the ground.

2003 anyone?

takes me back to this time last year in the catskill mountains.

shovelling snow, splitting wood,

keeping the wood stove stoked, often in the very wee hours of the morning.

a great experience but i am happy to be here now.

we have some bracing weather for sure,

but it doesn't take my time and energy.

in this time of hibernation and preparation

i have been blessed to be with my family.

asa does just about everything as soon as he can.

and with incredible passion.

what he can't do, he practices over and over.

he is my inspiration.

his early inclination to laugh has blossomed

into a wonderful bubbling chuckle.

my favourite sound in the world.

of course he grows incredibly.

his understanding of himself, us and his world does too.

and so we communicate better every day.

an increasingly rewarding experience

as he happens to be the most fascinating human on the planet to me ...

and so, as i contemplate the road again,

i do so committed to making this life of music

complement life with my family.

as we look to fill the rest of the calendar,

it will be with a view to having my greatest inspiration along for the ride,

wherever possible.

this weekend however, i'll be braving the snow alone.

some good hard playing with dalbo and drew. and a beer or 3.

then valentines, a day late, with the love of my life ...

the next day we drive to LA, meet up with the fellas again,

and see how our new live album sounds.

it's been a couple of months now.

fresh ears always helps.

stay warm out there ...

angus

i wonder

winter solstice has just passed.

as far as the earth is concerned it is a new year.

i spent the last few hours of the shortest day

playing in my new music room - the green room.

it is coming together nicely.

it is a good space to work on and to work in.

the the aim is to have it bizarre and inspiring

for all who enter ...

i've been thinking about our coming new year show.

and it feels like a good way to celebrate

our recent time living in the mountains.

and so, i have been looking again at some of the songs i wrote there.

i chop wood

i make fire

i feel good

a little higher

she makes bread

with special flour

we drink wine

any hour

gluten free for me.

appropriately it will be t on drums.

t, our neighbour in the catskills,

introduced me to many of the mountains secrets

on our regular cross country walks as the seasons passed there.

it already feels like so long ago.

an amazing chapter in our lives.

one that gave us a baby.

and so, new years eve will be an evening to reflect on

and say good bye to my time as a mountain man.

i wonder, will i shave?

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

now, we have done it

home at last.

2 weeks is

too long to

not have you around ...

i am

sublimely happy to be with my family again

after an intense, very full, very memorable time.

there was much planning and work to get to the coach house.

then suddenly we were there.

with brian back on live sound

and guy(pax romana producer)

recording the evening with yossi and shai.

we even had a few cameras rolling.

and leels and james were there from arizona

making sure everything ran smoothly behind the scenes ...

we had a wonderful audience.

very touched that so many people came from so far.

some across the country ...

i hadn't heard my brother play live in many years.

he sounded great.

keeping it in the family,

jack had dalbo on drums and guy playing bass.

dare i say an arse kicking band?

dare

dare ...

we'd decided to be more rehearsed than usual.

more than we've ever been?

after listening to some of the recorded music of the night

with the fellas the next day,

i am very glad we did.

it is certainly the peak of a steady evolution

over the last 2 and a half years.

the plan is still to have a live recording available sometime ...

so, how did it feel,

playing onstage again with my brother?

heart warming. surreal.
and the reaction of everyone there

made it all the more poignant.

jack joined us for the end of the set

for a few of the old favourites.

making music is a blessed thing,

especially with a brother.

jack had suggested the idea earlier in the year

when he and family met my son.

now, we have done it.

and we shall do it again ...

(photos by lisa callamaro)

a happy giving of thanks to you all.

angus

a horse called rob roy

back in LA with dalbo and drewski,

and coach house rehearsals are underway.

we haven't rehearsed this much in years.

i am enjoying the tweaking ...

after tuscon celtic last weekend

- and a bloody wonderful reception it was -

we got together with brother jack.

it had been so many years since we sang together.

but i suppose it's kind of like riding a bike.

or a horse.

mine was called rob roy, but that's another tale ...

today we're back in the alley, our rehearsal room since '94.

it's good to feel at home when making music.

i miss my lady and my bold little lad ...

angus

i can see the mountains

from our new home we can see the mountains.

covered in golden grasses, just like where i grew up in oz.

we left the catskills a blaze of autumn colour,

arrived to find our new home town equally as stunning in the peak of fall.

nice one luther burbank.

we were 6 days in the truck, keeping one day ahead of the weather.

asa, now a seasoned road warrior, did us proud.

and his share of the driving.

asa was a small lion for his first halloween.

i, a lion tamer ...

this morning i find myself on the road again.

in arizona with the fellas.

rehearsal today for the weekend.

our first festival in these here parts in many a long year.

we'll be catching up with brother jack here too

to plan the coach house further.

a busy couple of weeks ahead.

put on the kettle and let's get the day rolling ...

angus

half a world away

today we leave the mountains.

we arrived at the tail end of winter a year and a half ago.

and as i loaded the truck yesterday a light snow fell,

heralding another that we won't see here.

i will remember incredible tasting water.

the smell of fresh cut wood.

lighting fires in the big old wood stove.

gardening. chopping wood. snow shovelling.

being very physical. feeling it in so many muscles.

like being back on the farm.

like being camping.

i feel muscles again now, from lifting and loading.

thanks to t and big john for helping move the backbreakers.

thanks to lichey's mom for helping pack up the house,
for looking after asa, and being friend to steve the magical blind cat ...

satisfaction in getting the pack as good as possible.

years of loading a van on the road have made me a pack master.

i astound myself at how our whole lives can fit into such a small space ...

it has been a time of extremes.

a grey world. a green world. a red gold world. a white world.

bears in the backyard.

fresh native herbs from the forest in lichen's incredible cooking.

sun warmed berries straight out of the garden.

lichen's home made cobbler.

local maple syrup.

playing music with brother t again ...

thanks to bess, t, sar and their families for being our community.

for giving us a place to have a baby ...

our beautiful son is 6 and a half months old and always ready for the new.

he has been mobile a while now.

always pulling himself up to stand on ever steadier little legs.

always looking for a better view. coasting. crawling.

he is robust and precocious. (2 delightful words)

2 teeth have emerged. and an increasingly voracious appetite.

the little fella eats a good 3 meals a day.

and always ready to be happy, to be one of us.

the obvious recognition the last time i came home from a few days away

brought tears to my eyes. he is a simple profound blessing.

i thank my wife for all she gives him ...

and now, the last of the packing,

a fond farewell, then we hit the road to begin a new life.

half a world away.

see you on the other side.

angus