d

onto waiheke for a night of music, friends and a massage chair.. then to whangarei heads for the week long Gaidhealtacht summer school of gaelic music & dance. this is a cool annual gathering of folks who are passionate about their music & arts of a celtic nature. great weather, people, music, food etc amoungst inspiring surroundings with the massive back drop of Mt Manaia. the finale concert with mazey, the robertson girls, fiddle lore, bob mc neil, dave khan and jon sanders was wicked!!

the following night it was back to waiheke for a most cool jam with old  friends Carp, Shayn Wills, Freddy Limbert and Al.. this was the most enjoyable blues jam i’ve had this year and it’s always great catching up with these giants of the sonic realm..

coming up we have concerts planned with Sanders Alley, Dave Khan and various others so check ye old gig guide and we’ll see you about!

have a great year

d

thanks,  jon sanders, rod redgrave, al griffith, jono lonie, dave khan, toni geiling, pacific curls, myles o’reilly  & aidan , chris priestly, ben reel, ted & ro, bex, eoin & ilonca, scott O, martin, jerry, steve bro, kila, roger & hilary, seldom sober co, ian simpson, gina, bede & carp, mark & kelly, the beattie family, brodie, the robertson family, dave smith, mazey, bluekeys, rick & dori, todd & pip (all the best!), caley, cat tunks, wazza, ben, robbie, gordy, the rest of my friends and family (and many others) for makin’ it a year well worth remembering for i…

highlights have been numerous and had i not lost my diary in the UK  somewhere i’d be able to recount more faithfully more of them. the main ones that spring to mind however are - the pacific curls tour in march, a very cool mission with some great people - tour de franklin, again a great bunch of crew giggin around the franklin district - and the tour of UK, Ireland & Germany with jon and toni..

the recent series of shows with Jon -Sanders Alley- back here in NZ has been great (thanks to our hosts and venues in the coro-kerikeri micro tour) and the sunday 13th  show at ‘the bunker’ in devonport with Dave Khan & Jon possibly rated as one of the most enjoyable gigs i’ve played in this lifetime though there of course have been many of those..

anyways.. to all of ye out there, all the best for the festive season and a mighty 2010 to yaz. look forward to seeing y’all out there

dave

A maestro in front of mee taps tinkles types

yet again yet another master piece un recognised but for the young unjaded unfaded a terrier cancer ridden soundly sleeps peace is hers.. a museum tells of stars of constellations of millenia passed of Neanderthals of erectus robustus a weiss beer blends but for a want of word to a pilsner compose my friend compose for if we don’t who knows who knows? Charicitures mature to become they what they were… spent wee time at the hoose of me brother in far north land we visited maeve she neath her grave piled stones stacked high bove the mountain standing still thru the years unturned…. Spent we then times with ted and his lady magic south coast feast we feast with food divine she shows us ‘moungst the vines the garden herbs abound the trees birds cries resound create create

sailed we ‘way with the wind to the north west we sangd for the folks of the bluzone a wine place a pizza good patrick arm twisted and gathered the gifted unrifted divine sang we deep to the night good martin doth join us a rhythm entwined back beat 6 on four four on floor I implore explore explore godd bye say we next day limerick heads our way an the night is so wayward it blends night with day… I meet with the blackberry bush close up an personal she digs at mein arms and leaves tracks I’d not asked her to… to Dublin we traipse a town old and derived black pool that once was has dried up it’s demise still they sing of the days of the town they once knew and we roll out a camra and bring on something new with some friends who are blessed and give blessings to wonderers through… we meet with ryan air having not slept not a wink we head off to germany giving not a think.. our maestro friend meets us sausages in mind thanks I say true I’m not the sausage eating kind we amble in mazda down autobahn long the hatch back tried cutting it but is left far behind… we get there in time for time is our friend we settle un ruffled we sleep sleep sincere… show us round this dist place where the language is strange where the girls look amazing where the bicycles range… we play for the children we play for the fair we play for the folks who come listen to hear… we wonder the streets the cafes and eateries the world is laid bare at our feet not discreet here we vague unexplained give our all in the name…

on the way to the holyhead ferry we visited the  home of Dan in Colwyn Bay, North Wales. Mr Hegarty has bought a great old church which he’s slowly renovating and making into a venue. after a couple of beers and what have you we got out the guitars and played a couple of tunes in in this amazing place and wow!! the acoustics were truly amazing and we decided it’s truly got the makings of a superb music venue… with the mezzenine and the floor level, all done in fine old wood and the stage back drop of massive organ pipes… brilliant!!!

the 2 am ferry crossing saw us in Dublin at a lovely 6am where Myles roused himself to open his home to us… Myles is an old friend from the Dingle days who writes great music under the name of Juno Falls and is a magician in the realms of film & photography… the craic was mighty!!! that night after doing a show on Dublin south radio (go & havva listen) jonny, myself and roisin joined myles down at the spiegel tent where some local acts were playing… the coolest of whom was a chap from an outfit called the villagers… truly superb. the ensuing session back at the house saw the cracking open of the Glen Garioch single malt we’d brought and many tunes were played and many laughs laughed til we realised the sun was rising yet again and sleep could be a good idea…

up to Cavan via the hill of tara, where the protestors, it seems, are sadly losing the battle to divert the approaching M3 motorway construction. a curious and tragic insight into some of the decision making in the political world here. in Cavan we stay with Jons good friend Gerry and his family and the following afternoon after a great session we were off to play a forgettable show in Mohaghan… however, after the show we headed off to catch up with the Blaney folk… Castleblayney!! yeeeehaaa!! this town laid it on!! the guiness flowed like a river in flood. and the night back at anthonys pad listening to steely dan and the likes on vinyl was again great craic.. the following day after watching the all ireland final… as you do, and repairing a busted speaker cable we set up to play the horsmans bar in ‘blaney. all the local crew we’d met the night before were gathered with high expectation (almost everyone there was an outstanding musician of some description!) no pressure lads! some places have something, a warmth, an inaudible resonance of great times had and of times to come and with a fine blend of characters blended to the mix the horsman bar turned out to be the finest gig on the trip to date… magic!

the morning came dull and wet, a song yearning to be written… we piled the gear into the trusty tour wagon (jons Lucida) and we hit the road to Sligo through some of the most beautiful scenery in Ireland (Dingle takes a bit of beating).. a simple wow!! is all i can come up with… during his time living in the beautiful area that we drove through Irish poet William Yeats aparently was inspired to write many great works… little wonder…

the hospitality and the great times we’ve had on the road so far has been incredible. the generostiy and the great craic, homes, hearts &  fridges opened to us and some great music played… a massive thanks to all the friends who’ve put us up, and to those who’ve come along and enjoyed the music…

dave, Sligo - to be continued

 the months that have flown by since last i wrote have been of a haphazard nature… trials tribulations… the odd occasion of musical majestic mayhem. two recent shows spring to mind as having been of note.. One was the finale of the ‘tour de Franklin’. the show at Harrington theatre Pukekohe featured, Earthworkz, Flow, Niall Martin and myself with my merry bunch of sidekicks aka the Dave Alley Band. a ball was had by all and the ‘all on-stage’ finale of the evening was something special… yeeehaaa could be some footage coming to a website near you soon… The other show of particular note for i was a recent gig with the ‘the blue Mullets’ at the dogs bollix.. ‘the blue mullets’ is what happens when jono can’t make a mulleteer gig and we ring in blues/rock guitarist Warren Mendonsa to fill in (we also play as a designated blues band on occasion).. seeing as a local tekkie Arjan had just repaired my trusty ‘fender lead three’ guitar i had a ball jammin with the guys (and Lorina Harding made an appearance on vocals too). keep your eys peeled those of you in Europe as a wee trip over your way is in the pipeline… onwards!

 d

 saturday night had treats in store as well… booked to play molly malones on the island i set up in the arvo feeling a LITTLE!!! on the jaded side whilst thinkin ‘man this is gonna be a long long nite!’. but come show time i was pleasantly suprised to find none other than old jamming buddy, now Waiheke resident, Andy Blue at the venue and keen to jam.. so through out the nite we launched into every style off music we could muster from reggae to flamenco to the blues and then some… joined by Mel, Bede and Aron on vocals we had a ball and i almost completely forgot i was hung over and exceedingly in need of sleep… the party we went to after the show (as you do when you’re beyond exhausted on Waiheke) was a cool affair around a fire while the oonst music oonsted inside i struck up a jam with a rather talented belly dancer by the fire with my trusty darbuka… wow, what a cool sesh! happy birthday Jase…

 we awoke overlooking Onetangi beach my townace & i… after coffee at the lazy lounge, a brief visitation to Carp’ for cd signing i headed slow back to the ferry, farewell yet again the island and the islanders i’ve come to know… what a weekend… Long Live The Horse… see you saturday night…

d

 music, people, chemistry, ahh the elements!!

thanks to ‘you know who you are’ for inviting us to play at your night…

d

 ’yep’… the north island leg of the tour started in Gisborne on a Wednesday and moved on through Opotiki, Whakatane and so forth till we wound up here in this idyllic paradise that is Heathers place in Opononi, in the Hokianga, after the last show in Waimamaku last night..
 the waves break on the bar,  the cicadas sing staccato..
 to have been involved in the rich tapestry that is the Pacific Curls has been a treat of the highest order..
  to hear night in night out the finely crafted melodies worked and honed to perfection by this trio of talented women…
   to bear witness to the hard yards of intensive touring… then to enjoy the pulsating cajons, twirling thappity thap of poi, soaring majestic violin, koauau, funky ukelele, guitar and kalimba…
astounding soothing three way harmonies…  absolute bliss… thanks curls… ;) 

 still the waves break on the bar, the cicadas sing staccato…

aroha nui

 d

 a weekend or two prior to that, good buddies jonny and eoin and my good old self jumped on a wee plane and hedded for gbi (great barrier island don’t ya know) for a delightful weekend of music and seen-ary.. after a nice little show at the legendary currach (second best pub in the world next to ‘the rising sun’ in newcastle {the one in england i guess after a wee googling} so i’m told by some dude that works at charlie farleys on waiheke..) on the friday night we shot off on saturday to lunch with some friends and a shwim at possibly the coolest swimming spot on the island… complete with ye ol piece of rope hangin from a pohutukawa tree this spot was bliss, cheers emma & grant… then we toddled off to hang out with Sean & Nerissa, the lovely folk who first invited me out to barrier many years ago to play at Stray Possum.. i was pretty keen to go for a spin on the new jet boat and that we did.. spectacular was the word i guess… as we came around a headland into yet another bay we spotted lo and behold a pod of 20-30 dolphins feeding.. eager to be involved i leapt joyously into the fray and milled around with them… though none of them came to say hi real close up it felt pretty cool to be swimmin amounst ‘em… i practiced my dolphin speak humming tunes under water etc then swam in the most gangly awkward and laughable (to a dolphin) fashion back to the boat… after watchin an immaculate sunset the likes of which i’d not seen since ibiza & a quick visit with friends of friends on a beautiful super yacht ’round the next bay we throttled it back towards the jetty at which point (being just after dark) the phosphorescence began really going off… nothing quite like ploughing through the pshychedelic floating organism in a jet boat, quite mind bogglingly spectacular one must say… so of course yours truly had to take the plunge again and get amounst it.. nothing quite like swimming in phosphorescence on a clear starry night… absolutely mad shtuff!!

 so completely in awe of what we’d witnessed on this most beautiful evening we hedded back up to the house for an amazing dinner of fresh snapper, hapuka & mussels etc (i plunge from vegetarianism into pescetarianism {reasonings of which & why i could devote another whole chapter to} on occasions such as these) followed by a few tunes… as you do…

 the next day saw a chilled day of reflection & lounging followed by a wee sesh at the currach in the arvo.. then after farewells and promises of seein the great currach crew again next summer we hedded back to the claris runway to hit the skies again…

weekends such as those make me grateful i’m a muso… thanks to all the great barrier island folk…

 as per usual i invite you all to peruse the gig guide and come visit my buddies & i at a gig or two…

…d