This is an interesting one to compare to the entries from one and two years ago... overall it's been a very good year. After two years' gradual disengagement, I finally broke free of Wellington. There was the artistic vindication of winning best music award with Ascension Band in the Fringe Festival; then my first overseas trip as an adult, spending four months in Melbourne; I found a girlfriend there; took up the banjo; completed my professional qualification in journalism; moved to Nelson; got the new & improved www.fiffdimension.co.nz website (which I mostly designed in Melbourne) up & running; and have some strong goals for the next couple of years. No wonder the readership of this weblog's declined - where's all the angst gone? Don't worry, I still have my days...
The only downer of the year was - funnily enough - the three months between Melbourne and Nelson spent back in Wellington. Shorthand was an unpleasant burden, though thankfully I managed to pass it. And there was Ascension Band's dissolution due to lack of funds and the stupid hugging incident. We failed to build on the Fringe Festival win and it looks like there won't be a summer tour this year. But I don't think this is the end of the band - it's too good an idea. It's a temporary hiatus. Ultimately we should take it to Europe in 2007 - people are keen on the idea but who's willing to put the work in? Will be interesting to find out...
In the meantime there's 2006, which will be a year to lay plans and gather strength. It amuses me to think that at 27, the classic rock star death age, I'll be at music school picking up what Fran, Mike, Nigel, Jesse et al have known all along. I'm still just getting started really - 'he not busy being born is busy dying'* and all that. I played Cynthia The Marion Flow album yesterday and she pointed out that I actually knew what I was doing back then. That album really does capture an authentic individual style. I've got to find my way back to the source of it somehow. Hopefully being in a smaller town (with great beaches and bush nearby) where I can be a big fish in a small pond will help, rather than getting intimidated & distracted by Wellingtonians like Peter Jackson, Jeff Henderson and Campbell Kneale. The thing to remember is, if none of those guys existed I'd still have done my own thing and it's something they can't do.
In the near future there are some trips out of Nelson coming, to make sure it doesn't feel constrictive. Damian's arriving this afternoon so we can have a jam etc and then go down to Christchurch for the weekend where he's playing at Massive's Summer Soulstice at Little River. Then on December 22 Cynthia & I are going back to Australia - Sydney this time - for a fortnight over Christmas & New Year's. Hopefully we can still hook up with Mike & Fran while they're in NZ until Jan 8. Then a North Island trip to Wellington, New Plymouth, Auckland, and hopefully Great Barrier Island in mid-late January (to see the Stooges at the Big Day Out - first time I've wanted to go to one). And music school starts on Feb 7.
Here's to the next 27...
* - Bob Dylan, 'It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)'
Posted by fiffdimension at December 8, 2005 10:36 AM | TrackBack