I just got back from dropping off Matt and Andra Fink at the airport for their long journey home to Minneapolis. This past 10 days has absolutely flown by - so many wonderful memories to hold onto, particularly last Saturdays awesome Housecall event, where I got to see some of my favourite local musicians playing with one of my favourite international musicians. Huge thank yous are due all around, so bear with me - its time for a long post. Firstly, a big thank you to Karen Parrish for her tireless work in the weeks and months leading up to Housecall, as well as of course over the last couple of weeks. Thank you also for inviting me to be part of the team all those months ago. Having barely rested from her last event, Karen set things in motion for this one back in February (if not earlier) and she hasnt stopped since! All things considered, a monumental effort. To Adam Rudegeair, who has been involved in every aspect of this project from the very beginning (including, but by no means limited to, much-needed comic relief!) In addition to working with Karen and myself on all of the planning and organising, hes also been the musical director, curating the band and the setlist, doing all the charts, arranging the rehearsals and then of course doing a fabulous and funky job - as always - on stage. Adam, thank you so much for dreaming this into reality. Thank you of course to all of the outstanding (and lovely!) musicians that have joined Matt on stage over this past week - rightfully described in Beat as some of Melbournes finest funk exponents, its a privilege to get to work with you all. Thank you to our wonderful venues, The Toff In Town and of course to Allans Billy Hyde, who also provided Matt with top-notch keyboards to play whilst he was here. Thank you to our sound guys at both venues, our photographer Kim Lajoie from Obsessive Music and to our cameraman, Ryan McRobb, for each doing an outstanding job. Big thanks to our delightful and awesome publicist, Lou Ridsdale from Lance Rock Publicity, and to everyone who helped us to promote the events, be it online, on radio or in the press. Thanks also to Red Like A Fox for our funky website! :-) Thank you of course to everyone who came to the gig and/or the workshop, who sang, danced and partied with us! To the lovely Andra, thank you for your company and for sharing your delightful humour with us all - I thought about you on the way home when I nearly had to chuck a u-ey because of roadworks! ;-) And finally to Matt, aka Dr. Fink, thank you for making all of this possible, starting with saying yes when Karen initially asked you to come to all the way to Australia! You are lovely, funny and so easy to work with. We love your stories (and your voices!) but most especially, youve truly shown us all why you were chosen to play keys with the funkiest band in the world for over 10 years, and how youre still as funky now as you ever were. Its been such a ride and Ive learnt so much. Now its time to rest, debrief, enjoy the sunshine before the weather turns again and then get onto the next project! :-) (...and if youre still reading this, thank you for indulging me!)
Posted on: Sat, 30 Aug 2014 01:38:12 +0000