I feel like I’ve lost a couple of months somewhere, it’s been so hectic and now I realise that spring is here and I haven’t done half the things I meant to this calendar year. But I have managed a few that I wasn’t expecting!
The university experience has been wonderful so far although I won’t pretend I’ve enjoyed every unit. At the moment, I’m preparing papers on two of my favourite things – Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds and the personal still camera. And I’ve had to watch classic films such as Rear Window and Citizen Kane. Yes, I’m loving my units this semester!
But today I’ve been distracted from study. Tomorrow night I’m playing at a House Concert in Hobart with wonderful Queensland singer/songwriter Francesca de Valence and Hobart duo Butterscotch Pony in one of their all-too-rare live shows. However, instead of doing a solo set or playing with the wonderful girls in Straddlepuss (more on that next time!) I’m doing a special set with dear friend (and half of Butterscotch Pony), Matt Sertori.
We’ve been friends for a long time and decided early in the year that we wanted to do a music project together that included a documentary about our personal process and the creative world that we inhabit. We’ve done some filming already but will be adding to it at this gig. Meanwhile, our trusty doco guru, Josh Troy put this little gem together to promote this event. I hope it makes you laugh as much as it did all of us!
Please note, there’s some bad language at the end 😉
And we really did decide to call it ‘All at Sea’. The moral of the story is Matt has the attention span of a flea………… ❤
I realised today I haven’t posted anything here for such a long time! My life is incredibly busy with study, teaching and creating, but today I really want to stop and share a moment to take a whole heap of pleasure – and a lot of pride – in Straddlepuss‘ latest achievement.
Sara (Drums) Kirsty (Guitar/Vocals) & me (Bass)
Today we lauched our three-track demo on SoundCloud and so far, people seem to like it 😀 We recorded it down at The Belfry Studio, with the amazing Malcolm Battersby and we’re so pleased with the results.
On a personal note, I have to share how proud I am of my fellow band members, Sara Stevens on drums and Kirsty Leaf on guitar and lead vocals. About a year ago, Kirsty came to me for some singing lessons and she was just about to give up. I don’t know if I’ve ever had anyone come to me who was so unsure of themselves. Then she played me this incredible song that she’d written and I was completely sold on her, her voice and above all, her songwriting. She is an truly unique talent in the making and I feel incredibly privileged to be on this mad ride with her and Sara ❤
Have a listen and see what you think, I’d love to hear your feedback!
Meanwhile, it’s back to study for me, stay well everyone!
It’s been way too long since I posted anything, but life habitually gets in the way of blogging!
Meanwhile, a quick post to hopefully make you all think about supporting something really worthwhile…….
A musician friend and fellow singing teacher, Rachel Taylor has put up a Pozible crowd funing campaign for her project, The Green Album
The incredibly talented Rachel Taylor
In itself, this is a pretty big deal, as Rachel is a performer and writer I’ve known and admired for many years and this is her first solo recording. But I think the really big deal here is that she wants to make a sustainable album. I’ve known Rachel since she was a young girl, I actually met her through her parents. Her father Alan is also a fabulous musician and gifted poet – in fact her whole family are pretty wonderful!
Rachel performing with her father Alan
Wherever you are on the planet have a look at her proposal and if you like the idea as much as I do, please get behind it. There’s a Facebook event page ‘Make “The Green” Album Pozible‘ with news and updates. Also, I highly recommend having a listen to her previous work on SoundCloud. She is a very talented performer worthy of notice – Tasmania has so many – and I’m so pleased she’s doing this!
After six months with just my trusty mobile phone, I’m extremely happy to announce that I’ve got a home broadband connection again. Despite having the WordPress app on my phone, it’s just not the same as this interface on my laptop.
It’s good to be back – but now the big job of catching up begins! So much has been happening this southern summer, and as always, some of it’s been good and some of it’s been really bad.
On the “utterly brilliant” end of the spectrum, I’ve finished my first fully online unit through Griffith University. Despite only having my mobile for connection, I managed a surprising high distinction and I have to thank some beautiful friends in Hobart for letting me leach their net regularly to stay on top of things. Thank you Lauren and Patsi ❤ you two are wonderful! I’m well into my second unit now and starting to really enjoy the challenge of study again.
In the next few weeks, I’ll be finalising digital stuff for my most recent recording and playing catch up with getting cd’s out and about. And for those of you in southern Tasmania, I’m playing at the next ASA show on Wednesday, 9th April. Once again, we’re at The Night Owl in Liverpool Street, Hobart.
I’ll also have details to reveal soon about a new songwriting/recording/documentary project, plus a live, all-girl punk band I’m playing with called Straddlepuss.
And finally, being back online with a fibre connection means I can at long last offer Skype music lessons to you all. I can’t believe it was October last year when I first wrote about this and it’s taken until now to get it off the ground! If you’re interested, fill out the contact form – and the first lesson is free 😉
There’s been sadness too but I’m not dwelling on that today.
To begin with, irrespective of what you believe (or don’t believe) I wish you all a peaceful, relaxed holiday season. I’ve been having a great time, taking some time off with family and friends. But I’ve been pretty lax with keeping up with my blog – sorry!
Probably one of the best presents I’ve ever had was dumped in my lap recently. As a mentor and music teacher, you always wish the best for your charges but this is just outstanding 🙂
For those of you outside of Australia, this is something to truly celebrate, I really can’t begin to describe how proud I am of this up and coming artist! The song she’s uploaded “Swallow” is a really excellent pop song with quite a mature, dark lyric. This young woman is an inspiration to us all, to stick at it and follow your dreams!
I encourage you all to go to the site and have a listen – “Swallow” is available for free download.
Meanwhile, play nicely, stay safe and have a great end to 2013!
It’s been an exciting year for me but I’m really looking forward to 2014.
For starters, I’m on track to have The Lucky Six ready for release as a digital download early in the new year. If there’s enough interest, I’ll consider a CD release later in the year 😉
And, my previous digital release,The Woman on the Edge of the World has been so warmly received, that plans are well underway for a limited CD version. Each copy will contain full liner notes, my original artwork and photography and will be numbered and signed by me.
We’re planning this to be 100 copies only available through me. So if you’re interested, get in touch to pre-order!
Also, next year I’ll still be teaching privately in Hobart and taking some distance students via Skype. Plus, I have a wonderful session I run each week, writing and making music with a group of disabled people.
Well, today is momentous. I am now officially back at University! I’m a little scared still but very excited about getting back into scan reading mountains of papers and books for references, making coherent arguments in essays and referencing it all correctly – oh dear, what have I done??!!! No, seriously – it’ll be fun once I get back into the swing 😉
Thanks to my beautiful friends Lauren and Patsi, I’ve been able to log on and join in the discussion board and download extra material that Griffith University didn’t post to me. Yes, I still don’t have a dedicated internet connection at home and sadly, I haven’t been able to keep up with my NaBloPoMo committments, but I’m doing my best.
Over the weekend, I also had some great times with other beautiful friends, namely Jax and Malcolm Battersby. Mal and I played a really nice gig at the Richmond Festival. It was the inaugural Songwriters Concert at the festival and we got to work with some great local artists and the organiser – champion of original music, Roger Joseph.
The other truly beautiful thing is I heard a new song Jax’s written (as yet untitled) and it’s just gorgeous. I understand she’s going to debut it live at the ASA December 11th gig and I can’t wait to hear it again! I heard a rough from Belfry Studio but once the mix is finalised, it’ll be up on Jax’s Triple J Unearthed page. It’s so satisfying to see someone with so much raw talent start to blossom into a confident and accomplished writer and recording artist – it’s really inspirational!
All in all, a very satisfying time in my life – despite the lack of home internet.
Take care everyone and have a wonderful day too, wherever you are
Now that I’ve finished recording The Lucky Six, it’s time to spend a little attention on two live shows I’ve got in the immediate future.
Firstly, this Sunday 24th November, my partner in mayhem and music – Malcolm Battersby – is joining me for The Richmond Festival. We’re performing as The Fringe Dwellers at the Songwriters’ Concert and we’re both looking forward to it immensely! There’s some great Tasmanian songwriters on the bill with us, Marc Smith, Peter Hicks and the wonderful Wolf Arrow Rain.
If you’re in southern Tasmania, it’s worth the trip out to Richmond. It’s a lovely little hamlet and I have it on good authority that the weather should be fine after a damp morning…….
In December, it will be ten years since the Australian Songwriters Association (Tasmania) reignited at The Telegraph Hotel. Apart from making me feel really old, it’s fabulous to see how many performers from those days are still playing in venues here in Tasmania as well as interstate and overseas. In honour of the occasion, a very special ASA night is planned for Wednesday 11th December at The Night Owl Cafe in Liverpool Street, Hobart. The best part for me is that students of mine, Cassie O’Keefe, Kirsty Leaf and the fabulous Jax will all be performing, along with myself and Mal.
Seems like there’s no end to the things I discover through life. One of the major problems I have is never enough time to do everything. This is not just a day-to-day thing but has a much broader context. As I get older I discover there’s so much I don’t know that I want to know! And the other major issue I have is a short attention span. Call it a character flaw but if I’m not fully engaged with something, or don’t have a solid deadline, I tend to put it aside for a rainy day. On the upside, I seem to have developed a flair over the years for reinventing myself. It seems like I find a comfortable place to be in the grand scheme of things and then start rearranging the furniture. This is very true of my musical career as well as my personal life – and I like it! I find it inspires me creatively and musically, I am never bored, and (I sincerely hope) never boring!
So, I made the decision earlier this year to return to study. I’ve enrolled in a Bachelor of Communication at Griffith University, studying fully online via Open University Australia. This is going to be a bit hairy considering I have no Internet at home until January – all my recent blog posts have been done on my mobile phone (god bless the WordPress mobile app!) but I’ve got some contingencies in place to stay up to date.
I’m taking just one unit at a time so I can still fit in all the other things I want and need in my life
And today, my first unit arrived in the post. I’m feeling scared and excited all at once – a fabulous way to be! So, I’m off to a quiet spot in the garden to start my first week’s reading and discuss it with the bunnies.
Let the reinvention commence!
After a wonderful couple of days recording and mixing at Belfry Studio, I really felt a need to get out in the garden and get my hands dirty today. I wanted to get some space before listening to the CD again.
Hobart turned on a fabulous spring day for me and I had a great time. Lots of playing with the rabbits, who had their hutches cleaned out and then planting sunflower seedlings and climbing beans, mulch courtesy of the rabbits. It was a perfect day for cutting Tarragon for drying too.
All the time I kept thinking about the recording, even sang a few bars to the chooks, who didn’t mind at all – they had silverbeet and kale leaves to peck at.
As I was finishing up for the day, I noticed some garlic at the front of a bed. Now, I have garlic everywhere in my garden, I love it and can never grow enough but it tends to get overlooked as it dies down. I realised these were cloves I forgot to pull last summer. So tonight’s stir fry had fresh garlic – and I have about a dozen or more heads to cure and plait for keeping.
After dinner, I sat back and put the CD on – yes, there’s minor tweaks that I need to make but wow – I’m very pleased and proud.
Debra Manskey 