anything can happen.

Hi strangers. Hope you’ve been doing well. I pop in and out, not as in as often as I like. Things have been busy. Wednesday, I still have music to send you. It’s like that. I am working on it.

I am currently based out of Dunedin, working on a show about the toque macaque monkeys of Sri Lanka that will premiere on Animal Planet later this month (unless they shift the date again) called Dark Days In Monkey City. My name won’t pop up til the 5th episode or so, lest you wonder why I’m not in the credits of the first one.

As part of my goals of redeeming 2009 after surviving an abysmal 2008, I am declaring this the Year of the Awesome for myself, and anyone who believes that there should be more Awesome in the world. Details are available at the blog where I’m documenting this endeavor.

This weekend, being the end of one month of awesome, has come to a fittingly awesome end, as I returned to stage playing drums for the first time in 5 1/2 years. I was scheduled to do so next month with my two bands that I’ve formed in Dunedin, Gelatinous Blue Vampires (a Guided By Voices cover band) and The Randoms (a semi-improvisational three piece with acoustic and electric drums, guitars, vocal loops, and whatever else we can throw against the wall.

(As an aside, I haven’t moved to Dunedin for good; that will also be my swan song in town, for now at least.)

But anyway, neither of those bands played Friday night. Nor was I scheduled to play. I was merely headed to Chick’s Hotel in Port Chalmers to see Robert Scott (of the Bats and Clean) and the Moreporks (two members of Dunedin band Onanon; Donald, the guitarist of Onanon and bassist of the Moreporks, also works on the monkey show and is participating in both bands).

Anyway. Chick’s Hotel is an awesome neighborhood venue. It instantly became one of my favorite venues ever, atmospheric, great beer, friendly. Robert Scott lives around the corner, and the show was more like a covers night by somebody who just happens to be a living legend of NZ music. He and Don both had big cheat sheets on the floor as they wound their way through covers of Gillian Welch, The Ramones, Velvet Underground, Neil Young, The Buzzcocks, Joy Division, CCR, and classic Clean and Bats songs. “North By North”, in particular, got a rapturous response.

Between the 2nd and 3rd sets, a long break was had. Finally, Robert and Donald took the stage, and wanted to start, but the drummer was nowhere to be found. Someone jokingly asked if there was a drummer in the house, and then Don remembered there was.

And that’s how I wound up playing drums with Robert Scott on a Clean song – a song, “Dunes”, which I’d never heard before.

I’m told I acquitted myself decently for the one song (the drummer returned halfway through the song, but unsurprisingly let me finish); I can’t confirm (other than that I only had one minor playing flub), as I do not have footage of this. I do, however, have footage to share of my associate Alastair’s just-released-to-Internet live video shoot of Wellington band This City Sunrise. I myself am credited as associate producer on this, which means roughly as much as it does in STATE & MAIN; nonetheless, I’m proud to be associated with it, as I think it’s very well done and I like the band quite a lot. You can check out the whole thing here; I’ve embedded my favorite tune, “Oh Shit”, below.

This City Sunrise – Live At Good Luck – 03 – Oh, Shit from Alastair Tye Samson on Vimeo.

So, all told, the Year of the Awesome is starting well. Perhaps I will be back at the end of the month to share news of the Gelatinous Blue Vampires/Randoms gig. If anyone’s bored, come down and see it! I’ll buy you a beer! It’s a good chance to check out a great venue (it’s also at Chick’s), the NZ dollar is plummeting so you’ll get great value, you can escape winter for summer, and from what I understand of the US economy you’re all unemployed now and have plenty of free time, right?