Belated Greetings to All
Hi there everyone!
I can’t believe it is nearly Feb and I haven’t had a chance to wish everyone out there in net land a Happy New Year and Christmas and all that jazziness. so….HAPPY NEW YEAR and XMAS!!!!!!!
I hope you all had a super time over the holiday season. I spent Xmas with my family in Robinvale and totally relaxed for 5 days and I spent NYE at my good friend, Ted’s house. What was even better than having an ace time with my good buddies was that I had both my sister AND brother around to party with me!
Before I get too far into it, I want to say sorry to all those people who have been emailing me and have been getting bounced emails! Whoops!! There’s nothing worse. No, I haven’t disappeared off the face of the planet! It’s just been like an age since I have sat down at a computer….a good thing or a bad thing??? I dunno!!
Lately, I have been playing music live or rehearsing nearly every day with different projects, as well as working at the lovely hotdog cafe – not! Oh yeah, everything is in full swing! I’m quitting the hotdog business at last!!!! And it is official; I’m going back to UNI to become a music/art/drama teacher! It’s kinda scary going back to UNI but it’s gotta be better than being a rock’n'roller making hotdogs!
Ok. So. LOS DOMINADOS news is quite exciting! After 2 years in the bedroom, we have finally made into the public domain! We have played twice now at the Town Hall Hotel in North Melbourne to a rapturous audience …our friends, perhaps one or two strangers! Our final show is tomorrow night before the BIG ONE next Wednesday! This show is a ‘showcase’ at the Melbourne Casino as part of Australian Music Week. We entered in a competition to perform in front of the Music Industry Types- we are one of 22 finalists! As far as we know most of the other acts have been around the traps for awhile and are used to performing live! We, on the other hand, are still fumbling around! It’s going to be sooooo nerve wracking! Well, the prize of this comp. is a trip to the SXSW in Austin, USA, this year..(which I have played at a couple of years ago with Moler) and also the chance to play at the Music and Blues Festival here in Melbourne which features none other than the magnificent Bob Dylan! Well, I don’t know if we’ll win but I do believe we have ‘something’ going for us! Who knows??? Fingers Crossed!!
Speaking of the SXSW, my good compatriots, THE DRONES, are playing there this year and then they’re off to the Netherlands! WooHooo!!! They are sooooo fantastic they’re gonna set the world on fire. Well maybe not the mainstream charts but all of your hearts… best of luck guys and gal!!!! SEE THIS BAND!!! You can find out more about them on the Spooky Records website! I also have to mention that Gareth; the singer from the Drones did a very special solo show at Orange Cafe on Nov 20- his birthday and mine! Actually there were Scorpio birthdays all round that night…I ended up at Subverse Studios that night jamming with the LOS DOMINADOS boys…we recorded it…but I think we sounded better in our heads than on tape!!!!
Newflash no.2! Spencer P Jones has had an almost complete line up change after a disastrous gig at the Espy Hotel one night. There was kind of a mutual, mutiny, spontaneous combustion…. Now Harry (who also drums with Los Dominados) and Matt (who also played with Moler and now plays with The Sailors- god this town is incestuous…have I mentioned this before?) have quit the band and now Spencer has Andy (from FORT MARY, DIGGER AND THE PUSSYCATS and maybe 4 other bands- he is a bigger band slut than me) and Phil (the guitarist from DYNAMO) are playing…me…I’m still there!!!! I must say though, we have been rehearsing lots and it is sounding like a new band! You can catch us…. I don’t know if we are still called COW PENALTY or THE ESCAPE COMMITTEE yet… at the Tote this Fri 31st Jan with the fabulous DOUBLE AGENTS (also a competition finalist) and a band called STUTZ…never heard of them but I like the name!
MOLER news…. We is one lazy ass band lately but hey, we rehearsed 3 times last week and played a show at the Espy under the name of CAT TEAM! Why, I don’t know! It was fun except I had to race off stage afterwards to play another gig at the Empress with Spencer….ahhhh!!! Talk about cutting it fine. MOLER has another show as CAT TEAM at the Rob Roy on Feb 6th.
Ok, did I tell you about the SASS!!! We did our first ever show at the Pony last December with BABY 8 and JAPE SQUAD. We had another show coming up but it got blown out cos of noise complaints at the Empress….could it have been that the Spencer show was too loud and went over time cos I was 15 mins late!! Hmmmm.
We may never know!
Ok that’s it my band front… So what else is new? Well, I caught the last few songs of THE SURROGATE who were absolutely rockin’ at the Duke! They are kind of rock/ska/80′s new wave all rolled into one, retro but fresh at the same time. Very cool!!!
I had the absolute pleasure of seeing BRIAN WILSON live in concert at the Melbourne Concert Hall last December. I have to say that this was the best musical experience I have ever had. When they launched into the second song Don’t Worry Baby’ I had tears in my eyes, it was so beautiful and sublime. Brian may have hit some clanger notes in the singing department but considering his age; it was a sensational show. I have had BEACH BOYS songs going around in my head for the last month. I’ve now got sheet music to some of his songs and am attempting to learn them on piano and guitar…even the easy songs are hard to learn! LOS DOMINDADOS even did a version of ‘In My Room’ last Tuesday. What a song!
Speaking of old guys. I was lucky enough to score tickets to THE ROLLING STONES who will be here in Feb. I’ve never seen them before and I wonder if they will be as mind blowing as BRIAN!?! We’ll see.
Today THE BIG DAY OUT is on. The premier music event in Australia. Unfortunately I missed it again this year due to a lack of funds, oh well, can’t see everything in this world. I am still kicking myself that I never seen THE PIXIES, NIRVANA and SONIC YOUTH!! One band I know I’ll never see, maybe there’s a slight hope for the other two.
It’s been absolutely scorching hot here in Melbourne and just as I feared, because of the drought, half of Victoria and New South Wales are on fire. Some mornings I wake up and the Melbourne sky is a grey, pinky, yellow and you can smell the forests burning. It’s really scary. One suburb in the capital city of Canberra has totally burnt down. It’s sad that people have lost their homes but it’s the lives that are lost, the memorabilia and especially the loss of wild life that makes me really sad. I keep telling myself that it’s part of Australia’s natural cycle; forests will grow back, people will rebuild, animals will breed but what about the endangered species of animals? Is this evolution?
Speaking of evolution, I am really worried about this impending war with Iraq.
Lately we have had ads here telling us to, “be alert but not alarmed of terrorist attacks”. WHAT?!?! Is this so that the government can say, “well we warned you?” after the lack of information concerning the ‘Bali Bombings’! Is it because we can certainly expect something to happen now that we are about to be involved with the war on Iraq? Why is it that Iraq can’t have weapons of mass destruction when North Korea, China, Australia, England, America, France, India, etc. can? I don’t know what to believe in the media anymore. Is it propaganda or is it not? I just heard on the news that America is waging war with or without the support of the UN. Our foreign minister, Alexander -foot in mouth- Downer has said we would follow without the UN agreeing or not. I am not looking forward to February or March, even though I try to not worry and concentrate on my music.
2003, what will you bring? Let’s hope that things get better.
OK. cool ones this is the helcat signing off before I start waffling on about world peace, human rights, animal rights, plant rights !!!!
hasta luego amigos
love
el helcata
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