25 Nov 2013
by Debra Manskey
in Biography, Composition, Festivals, Inspiration, Inspiration, Lyrics, Music, Performance, Recording, Singing, Teaching, Writing
Tags: Australian music, Griffith University, Inspiration, live music, Malcolm Battersby, mature age study, mentoring, NaBloPoMo, online learning, original music, performance, Tasmanian music, Tasmanian original music, Tasmanian songwriters, The Fringe Dwellers, Writing
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
Debra 🙂
22 Nov 2013
by Debra Manskey
in Biography, Business, Inspiration, Music, Performance, Singing, Writing
Tags: Australia, Australian Songwriters Association, Cassie O'Keefe, Debra Manskey, Inspiration, Jax, live m, Malcolm Battersby, NaBloPoMo, original music, Richmond Festival, Tasmanian original music, Tasmanian songwriters, The Fringe Dwellers
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.
I couldn’t be prouder!
20 Nov 2013
by Debra Manskey
in Biography, Produce, Urban Farming, Vegetable Gardening, Writing
Tags: container gardening, kale, NaBloPoMo, seed collecting, spring, Tasmania
Amidst all the bunny porn I’ve been posting lately (a friend’s description – not mine!) there’s been other things happening.
Up until yesterday’s rain, the weather was lovely and warm. The Basil is starting to take off in the greenhouse and I’ve been trying to pot up a few more each day to increase the crop.
On the balcony garden, which is primarily a winter salad garden, I’ve started sorting out the planter boxes and I’m thinking baby carrots along with the usual mustard greens and Coriander for the summer and autumn.
Also I gathered a large amount of Kale pods to dry. This much maligned vegetable is one of my favourites, as well as being one of the hardiest plants for my climate. Finely shredded, it’s the mainstay of my winter salads and stir fries, and the flavour is definitely improved by a good frost. My favourite variety is the Italian Black Lacinato but I grow Russian Red in the backyard too for the tender new leaves and Broccoli-like heads – the chickens get plenty of it too!
Collecting seed can be tricky as Brassicas cross pollinate easily but it’s worth the extra effort for the satisfaction of growing your own. It’s an investment in the garden of the future.
Wherever you are, have a great day in your garden 😀
19 Nov 2013
by Debra Manskey
in Biography, Inspiration, Music, Writing
Tags: Griffith University, Inspiration, NaBloPoMo, online study, Open University Australia, reinventing yourself, Tasmania
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.Â
Let the reinvention commence!
18 Nov 2013
by Debra Manskey
in Biography, Rabbits, Urban Farming, Writing
Tags: home made hutches, NaBloPoMo, rabbit sex, rabbits, spring, Tasmania
Today, the last hutch was finished and finally set up under the chestnut tree. This meant that our pretty Boudica (British Giant cross) was introduced to the handsome Barabas (Californian cross) for a morning of frivolity and yes, bunny fornication!
They’ve been giving one another longing looks across the yard for a few weeks now, and with spring in full force, it was high time to let them have some fun – and make some more rabbits!
It was a torrid affair – but unlike a lot of bucks I’ve observed in the past, Barabas was a most gentle, albeit persistent, suitor! Boudica responded in kind and although she played hard to get for a while, she was grooming him and playing her rabbit games within minutes. In fact, she was very cross when we took her out of the bachelor pad and into her new nesting pen.
It’ll be a few days before we can find out if she’s pregnant, but with a gestation period of approximately 30 days, we should have babies by mid December.
Rabbit sex is hilarious, but I think all sex is pretty funny – or it should be. I think human beings as a rule take it all too seriously.
Maybe if we all wore furry coats, we would laugh more……
17 Nov 2013
by Debra Manskey
in Biography, Chickens, Music, Rabbits, Recording, Singing, Urban Farming, Vegetable Gardening, Writing
Tags: chickens, growing garlic, NaBloPoMo, rabbits, recording, singing, spring, Tasmanian music, urban farming
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.
16 Nov 2013
by Debra Manskey
in Biography, Merchandise, Music, Recording, Singing, Writing
Tags: Australian music, inspiring places, NaBloPoMo, recording, Tasmanian music, The Lucky Six
It’s a beautiful still morning down at Murdunna on the Tasman Peninsula. I haven’t had any phone reception until now to write but I haven’t minded at all. It finally stopped raining yesterday and I feel like I’m living inside a pearl on Mal’s veranda.
Yesterday, I finished the last track of my latest recording project, The Lucky Six, and did an initial mix of all the songs. It was a long day!
This has been a tremendous learning experience for me, despite my many years as a recording artist, because I’ve reinterpreted six songs by other people that have been part of life. I’ve never done a covers recording – it’s always been original material up till now – and it was surprisingly tricky to find the right arrangements.
The songs I’ve chosen are diverse but meaningful to me and range from well known (Fats Waller’s Ain’t Misbehain’) to the obscure (Patrik Fitzgerald’s Little Fishes).
Depending on how the mixes sit, I hope to have this little EP available as a download on Soundcloud by the new year.
Meanwhile, it’s time for breakfast. Have a beautiful day wherever you are 🙂
13 Nov 2013
by Debra Manskey
in Biography, Composition, Inspiration, Inspiration, Music, Recording, Urban Farming, Vegetable Gardening, Writing
Tags: Australian music, Australian National Broadband Network, container gardening, Debra Manskey, growing basil, Inspiration, NaBloPoMo, original music, professional musician, rain, reading, recordings, singer/songwriter, Tasmanian music, Tasmanian original music, Tasmanian songwriters, urban farming, Writing
My Drowning Plaster Bird
It’s raining – again or still – my brain is suffering from rising damp I think. The chickens are lurking under their shade table or in their coop to dry and keep dry and tempers are short in my little bunny kingdom.
Meanwhile, I still have no solid internet connection but I’ve still managed to keep NaBloPoMo going – haven’t missed a day so far! And I’ve just uploaded my final assignment to a Preparation for University Study course through Open University Australia. I’ve been really surprised and heartened by my results – but the real fun starts later this month when I begin my first proper online unit through Griffith University in Queensland.
I had a phone call yesterday, and the NBN are booked to come to my house tomorrow to wire in our new fibre connection. I cannot to begin to tell you all how happy that makes me! Above all, this will enable me to teach via Skype to anyone who has a solid internet connection. As well, I’ll be able to do my online uni studies without having to resort to leaching net connections from family and friends or docking to my mobile phone connection. (I hate to think what my bill is going to be this month!)
In the greenhouse, I’ve been incredibly pleased with how everything’s still growing despite the ridiculous weather we’re having here in Tasmania. I planted Basil seed some time ago and pricked out seedlings into egg cartons to grow them on quickly and give me a chance to pot them up without any further disturbance of their roots.
Basil from Egg Cartons
It’s a neat method and I find it gives seedlings a better start. As you can see from the picture below, the Lettuce Leaf Basil has certainly taken off well!
How the Basil Grows!
But sadly, the front balcony, which serves as my winter salad garden, is suffering badly from the wet weather. I think the only plants that are thriving are the watercress – funny that! Hopefully, we’ll get some more seasonal warm (and dry!) weather soon, so I’ll be able to collect the seed for next year’s crops.
The Balcony Garden
There will be little or no gardening today. Reading, songwriting (another song about the rain?), more recording preparation and plenty of cups of tea for me I think! Have a great day folks wherever you are 😉
11 Nov 2013
by Debra Manskey
in Biography, Business, Merchandise, Music, Recording, Singing, Writing
Tags: Australian music, debut recording, Facebook, Inspiration, NaBloPoMo, original music, professional musician, Tasmania, Tasmanian original music, Tasmanian songwriters
Just a very quick update today about my friend and fellow musician Jax.
The Gorgeous Jax
Her debut Mini Album “These Things” is selling well and now there’s a Facebook Fan Page for her! And, southern Tasmania readers please note, Jax will be performing at the Australian Songwriters Association Tasmania big bash in December. (Details coming soon!)
As I’ve said to a few people this morning, get in early, be ahead of the trend, like this page, buy her music – this woman’s got it 😉
Jax – “These Things” Mini Album
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