Hello hello. Just a quick note to say that if you like words, my poem Alpine Ghazal has been published in the most recent  Shot Glass Journal (an online poetry journal based in New Jersey).

Fraser

I met Terry Shore at The Fringe Bar’s open mic night a few weeks ago. He does a weekly show on Wellington Access Radio, showcasing new singer-songwritery types.

Terry kindly invited me to play on his show. I did so, and you can listen to the resulting recording on the show’s webpage here.

As well as playing the first three tracks off the E.P, I played a couple of newer songs live: “Particles” (which you’ve heard if you’ve been to one of my shows) and “Keeping Out the Cold” (which you haven’t heard, so go listen!) I also took the photo above of the studio – I guess I should have got one with me in it, but it was early in the morning and my brain wasn’t at its best.

Fraser

First of all, understand this: I’m not a natural blogger. I have to do serious battle with all manner of internal editorial voices every time I decide to post, so this blog is a labour of love and frustration; a hardship I endure on your behalf, kind readers, because you deserve to see the mindmap I drew two weeks ago when I first installed my all-governing whiteboard:

At this point, I’ve crossed off every item on that fine diagram (I told you about the marmosets last week), except for “Find a damn job you hippy”, which I promise you I’m working on (If you’re thinking of hiring me, I think that is an excellent idea and you should do it).

I’ve lucked out with my flat; I’m living with fantastic, friendly people who are almost never home. It’s the perfect combination of fun and quietness. I even have a courtyard, which is pretty dank and subterranean at the moment, but I’m working on a reforestation project, look at it!

Now, as far as Cavalcades goes, I’ve played at a couple of open mic nights: there was the Baobab Cafe‘s monthly “Baobab Roots” night on August 5th, and The Fringe Bar on the 10th. I’m constantly looking for more opportunities, I’m like an owl who prefers gigs to mice.

Send a comment or a tweet my way and I’ll be your owly friend forever,

Fraser

[Edit: I forgot to mention Broken Social Scene's show at the San Francisco Bath House last Saturday! It was wonderful. The friendliest moshpit. A sweaty sea of instant friends. The very best gig I have ever been to.]

Hi everyone (assuming I have readers). Here’s a snapshot of my life at the moment:

I’m moving to Wellington in three weeks. I finished my job a week ago, so I’ve got a lot of free time – I’ve got lots of good intentions to write songs and work on general administrative-meta-music-career-stuff, and I have made a bit of progress, despite sleeping ’til noon and watching a lot of TV.

What else? Well, I’m in the last couple of weeks of The Artist’s Way, which is a course designed to help unlock your creativity and instil good work habits. I’ve been working through the book with a group of friends over the last three months, and it’s been pretty helpful, especially the practice of writing three pages of stream-of-consciousness every morning (okay, most mornings (okay, afternoons)), which I’ve found really does help me to clear my head.

There’s one more gig in Christchurch before the big move: Saturday, July 17th, as part of The Harbour Sessions at The Wunderbar in Lyttelton. Come along, if you can!