Wednesday, January 29, 2025. Gigging started with only a day’s rest in between my last blog. Started on Wednesday, January 29, 2025, at the Botany Park food truck event, only to arrive, set up, and find they had double-booked another artist. I sat back and enjoyed the markets in all their glory, relaxing with Shirley and her friend Tasha, with the most adorable little baby named Ocean. We sat and listened to the artist that was scheduled to play, and she was very good and provided the acoustic soundtrack for the evening.
I headed for home and slept well, and the next day enjoyed a day off.
Friday, January 31, 2025. I made my way to the Old Court House Fremantle with my good friend Dave riding shotgun. We arrived in the Transit around 6:45; we checked out the artist that was playing the early slot. The scene was set for a big night, with the place vibing well. Stuart had the audience cheering and applauding to his acoustic music. He finished his set and quickly packed away his setup. With less than 20 minutes, I had my Bose S1 and my little mixer plugged into the big tree and was strumming before the stroke of 8pm.
The same night, an ABBA tribute band was on in the main room at the courthouse. The crowd was there to enjoy me playing for a short while until they made their way to the function room for a night of dancing and ABBA music. It left a skeleton crew of punters and staff enjoying and applauding my music in the beer garden. The most memorable thing about the night was Dave and Shirley drinking and having fun, slinging banter with lots of laughs on a trip of music and fresh Fremantle’s air.
After packing up and ready for home, Dave suggested we go check out the Honky Tonk bar around the corner on High Street. Emily Joy was playing with her band. They entwined the punters with well-played covers that rocked them into the late evening. I enjoyed an alcohol-free beer, and Dave sucked on his eleventeenth pint and couldn’t wipe the smile off his face if you tried.
We headed for home, arriving back in Jarrahdale around 1:30am, February 1, 2025. I dropped off a very relaxed Dave at his house and headed for home myself, not far away. Later that morning, only a few hours later, I had to wake myself up around 6am and head to the Dawesville morning markets after a quick breakfast and coffee. I arrived around 7:40am and quickly set up my Bose S1 and my Roland Street Cube for a stereo XY configuration that drifted the sound through the markets, mixed with the smell of coffee and donuts. I rendered a good earn and packed up at the stroke of 12pm. The next destination was the Exchange Hotel Pinjarra for a 2pm gig. I arrived with 50 minutes up my sleeve to set up my Bose S1 inside the venue. I plugged the mixer into the house system and plunked away to an intimate audience of friends and punters. It must have been the week for tribute acts because in the area out the back of the hotel was the Fleetwood Mac stage crew doing a sound check with the full production shebang towering above the tree line against a backdrop of Serpentine River. It’s a tight-knit music community around Perth, and I get to meet some of the musicians on the circuit. The percussionist Mark from the Fleetwood Mac tribute band came and said hello whilst I had a break. He remembered me from a test and tagging job he organized for me in 2019. It was interesting talking with Mark. He also played drums in other tribute bands.
The gig went well, and I had half a pepperoni pizza left to take home and devour once I arrived home around 7pm. I enjoyed a beer or two with the leftover pizza and watched some TV before falling asleep in the recliner, only to wake up minutes later to drag myself off to bed and enjoy a sleep-in before heading to Pemberton for a long drive.
January 2, 2025. I arrived in Pemberton around 3pm after a nice, cruisy drive and checked into my hotel room at the Best Western. Had a lay down and decided it was time to set up on the pub veranda. I trolleyed my equipment up the steep ramp and chatted to the punters while setting up my Bose L1. It’s the big brother to the Bose S1, with a tall column speaker that spreads sound around the outdoor area, paired with my Roland Cube, which seems to be a better option as a fold-back through my Soundcraft mixing desk. The mixing desk has 8 channels that give you more input options. Even though I only use two of the channels, the sound is better than plugging straight into the Bose L1’s two channels. I commenced playing at 5pm.
The sound was immaculate and had the crowd eating out of my hand as they requested song after song. I delivered a performance that was at the top of my game. I enjoyed a few pints of mid-strength beer whilst playing, which made me relax and have fun engaging with the audience between songs, hanging lots of laughs and giving it back as they dished out some banter that had us all laughing hysterically. My Maton 808 performer acoustic guitar delivered the goods as it always does and seems to get better each time I pull it from its road case.
I finished the gig that had me playing encore after encore. To top it off, my first stand-up comedy act involved reading jokes to the punters from my smartphone, and then left them wanting more. The highlight for me was letting a girl from the audience use my guitar and sing three songs in my break. She had her two children and husband in the audience cheering her on. I recorded each of her songs and sent them to her phone via WhatsApp so she could watch them back later. She really shone as a performer, and I was proud to let her have a go at playing in front of a live crowd.
I packed up and was enjoying a beer in the hotel room. I watched Rage on the TV whilst texting an engaging conversation to a friend until early Monday morning. I dragged myself out of bed an hour before check-out and enjoyed a complimentary cooked breakfast in the hotel dining room before hitting the road for a long trip home. On the way, I called in to Pete’s place in Bunbury to break up the journey and chatted with him for a few hours before heading the rest of the way home. My eyes heavy and the last leg of the journey from the highway to home seemed to take forever. After arriving home around 3pm, I unloaded the van and crashed out in my bed until 7pm when my alarm woke me up, reminding me to tune into my favourite radio station RTR FM for the programme hosted by my good friend Tamara called Spoonful of Blues. She gave me a shout-out, and I listened until the show ended at 9pm.
That concludes my blog entry, ending Monday, February 3, 2025. Have a great week, and I’ll see you next time at a gig near you.