My love affair with Sydney continues as I spent last night dancing until dawn. The cruel sun is now reflecting off the water laughing at my painful squint while I sit on my balcony and self-medicate with coffee and aspirin. It is another beautiful day here and I am thankfully up before the sun sets... it is winter time here in Australia and it gets pitch dark by 5:30pm.
It is really important to get outside and walk and breathe fresh air before going to sound check and then hang out inside a spaceship for 10 hours. It is like being in another world doing this show. The Australian people have been a wonderful audience. They are fun, loud and energetic. It feels like I've been here a long time. Going from city to city and back again brings familiarities that are comforting being so far from home. We just crossed the halfway line of this tour of Australia. That means like 30 more shows to go... good thing I like it here! And now I am off to walk in the botanical gardens and visit the screeching cockatoos and big beautiful bats.

It is raining again but the sun is breaking through the clouds above the mountains as we drive to play a show in Newcastle. I've seen a lot of spectacular rainbows in Australia. And lots of bats! Big beautiful flying foxes so they are called here. They are fruit bats, they are huge and there are hundreds of them hanging from trees in a botanical garden right across from our hotel. It is so fascinating watching them I lose all track of time. Last night I found myself in the forest of trees at dusk. The bats climb around the branches like monkeys and occasionally stop and drop their oddly fox like face down to stare back at me. Suddenly a rumble of wings opening and high pitched shreaking filled the warm evening air as hundreds of huge bats blocked out the last light of day and flew off to find their fruit.

My journey through Australia with Pink and her fabulous troop has begun...
I am now looking out my window over the beautiful mountains of Adelaide. The rain just stopped but big dark clouds are hanging low waiting for the sun to hide behind them again.
I've had such wicked dreams since I got here... I saved elephants from drowning and flew without wings.. and I've only been here a week! Australia is a magical place.
Perth was the first city we played in. Jet lag held me down for longer then I can ever remember. All I wanted to do at first was hide in my hotel room and sleep!  Playing the first show woke me up though... the crowds here are amazing and there is a great energy between all of us on stage. Which is really good considering there are 56 shows left to go in Australia! Yikes that is a lot of shows!! We are here all summer... which is actually winter here (on the other side of the world!) but it is still beautiful.
I am working on new songs for my solo project. There's lots of great song material to be found on a journey such as this.
to be continued...

Come to me
the moon is closer then your eyes
I can barley see through the cracks
light shines out my scars
Sirens scream in vain
I have already died
a million times inside
I surrender
Shoot me down
No bullet could stop me now
My love does not depend on anyone or anything
It will never die.
I'm ticking like a time bomb
soon to blow away
I am not you
you are not me
but we can still play
I could say I love you if only for a day
My mind sunk this ship I am drowning in
I surrender
Shoot me down
No bullet could stop me now
My love does not depend on anyone or anything
It will never die.

I recently returned from Europe after playing violin and cello with the Foo Fighters!  Later this week I will accompany them to Vegas for the MTV Video Music Awards.  I'll continue to tour with them in support of their forthcoming album, Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace, due out September 25th on RCA Records. 


Here are a few photos and a video from the BBC session:

The truth is that life is hard and dangerous; that those who seek their own happiness do not find it; that those who are weak must suffer; that those who demand love will be disappointed; that those who are greedy will not be fed; that those who seek peace will find strife; that truth is only for the brave; that joy is only for those who do not fear to be alone; that life is only for the one who is not afraid to die.
-Joyce Cary

100 lifetimes ago I hitched a ride
out of a town I had imagined all my life
would be my death
and all my dirty secrets
would be carved onto the stone
wall
that ran down main street
and ended at the edge of the world
I got picked up early in the morning
swore I'd never see that town again.