August

Faux-Down - (n) [Foh-Dowhn] - to play folk & roots music (country) at the same...
also known as a FoDown

Pugsley Buzzard Show

Meston Band Show

What I've Been Listening To This Month

Gratuitous Self Promotion Corner

-Amy Kendall

Hello!

There was a Ukulele, a Banjo and a Guitar. The Guitar said 'But I'm a fancy lovely guitar, play me allll the time.' The Banjo said 'I'm fun, and fresh and new. Play me all the time.' And the Ukulele said 'I'm turquoise and covered in sparkles. I don't like staying in Ukulele tuning one little bit. In fact, I'll even go out of tune when you play a single note in Ukulele tuning. But you know what, I'd really like to be a banjo. Banjos are fun!'

Aside from being a chatty little fellow, the Ukulele sat dormant and was glared at for his penchant for staying out of tune. Until one day, his Ukelady tuned him as a banjo. After an initial eyes-closed-hold-ukulele-away-from-self-in-case-of-snapping, the Ukulele was oh so happy to be a UkeBanjo. And then, the Ukulele and his Ukelady became great friends.

As with the banjo, the Ukulady learned pub rock songs and Sufjan Stevens songs on the UkeBanjo, and the odd Kermit the Frog song. Then they began writing original songs again.
And they live happily ever after looking out the window at the green paddocks and the river and trying not to hear the logging truck traffic.

It's been a strange, wintery, introverted month down here. The cold has been so lovely, with wood fires and raisin toast and moo cows in the paddock next door. The fog envelopes my house in a big warm hug for most of the day and occassionally I see snow on the mountains WAY down south.

And then there was Amplified announcements, and flurries of emails. The kind folk @ Amplified chose 'Second Storey' to be featured on their 'Sounds of Tasmania 2009' CD industry sampler. And, if that wasn't fun enough, they chose a song by my lovely partner/producer/engineer's alter ago Silvereye. And if that wasn't too much fun at all, the line up is hot! (I want to say 's**thot' and be a bit rock and roll, but I try to keep this SFW. And, my mother reads this. No Mum, I do not swear. Ever.)

My friend Joe Nuttall is nominated for some awards, as is my book-friend Adam's band, All Fires the Fire. Go and check it all out at Amplified HQ.

The band and I will be playing a show with Enola Fall and Nathan Wheldon & the Two Timers at the Republic Bar on July 16th, 2009 as part of Amplified. We'd love to see you!

And also coming up soon, Abbey Doggett and I are playing a show @ Republic Bar on Tuesday, 23rd June. It's a Tuesday... come on out and enjoy some fun!

Also, I can't get various songs of Washington's out of my head - to the point where Andy will holler at me from the other room 'PLEASE find a new song!'... Go and check her out - hers are some of the loveliest songs I've heard in a really long time.

See you soon,
Amy

Hello again Internets!

It's always quite a while between posts, but really, this will be rectified.

I've been busy putting  together the information for our Brookfield Vineyard gig on May 22. Brookfield is a stunning little vineyard down in Margate (5 mins from Kingston) and have a great venue set up for live music. I'm doing a show there with the Kitchenhands, with Abbey Doggett and Dominic Francis. It's going to be a lovely evening. Come along and support your local musicians - $8/door, fun, games and all manner of shenanigans. There'll be a lucky door prize too...

There's updates over at Amy Kendall HQ and Facebook. I'm also now tweeting on a regular basis. Go and follow me - bite sized bits of information, 140 characters or less. For instance, last night's tweet was about the amazing steak I had at the Ball and Chain Grill in Salamanca. (Scotch with Forestierre Sauce, mmmm!)

I've also been writing some more songs, and playing them with the band at Irish Murphy's. It's such a joy playing with a band after being solo for so many years. It's a completely different vibe and so enjoyable. Don't know what I'm talking about? You'll have to pop along to a show shortly... say... May 22...

I hope you're well - I'm looking out the window at the autumn leaves and the hills bathed in fog. And sunshine. What a day.

So hopefully we'll see you down at Brookfield Vineyard on May 22!

x Amy

Hi again Internets,

A move to the country, where internet is thin on the ground and everyone has a pair gain phone line. A few phone calls, a few 'I'm not paying your bill until you fix my phone' calls, getting on first name terms with the Telstra linesman (Hi Richard!) and alas, all is well. Thank you internet service provider, you have restored my faith. But alas, my days of NakedDSL in the city are over for now.

I had a weekend of 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's vinyl revival over Easter, the cd stereo was in a box somewhere, so we did a tip shop run and picked up an amp and speakers for $30. And then, there was vinyl. My pick of the weekend was Joan Armatrading, Andy's was 1927's '...ish'. Then he left the house and I could indulge my Bette Midler vinyl obsession. :)

A few gigs coming up with my band The Kitchen Hands. Together we are Amy Kendall and the Kitchen Hands. And we are having a blast playing around the place at the moment. Come and check us out - we've got banjos, mandolins, drums, tambourines and a hearty dose of good fun!

Brookfield Vineyard on May 22 is going to be great - there's Dominic Francis, and Abbey Doggett playing as well. Tickets at the door - more info soon.

In the meantime, head over to ABC Statewide Evenings blog - they did a lovely piece with me last week and they recorded 'Grains of Sand' that you can listen to (and download). The quality isn't awesome, but it gives you a new track to listen to. Exciting eh? Annie Warburton rocks my world - she was so lovely, and when I turned up, she was wearing an Amy Kendall button. Nice. :)

I'd best go and tend to the fire in my lounge room that really doesn't want to stay alight.

Head over to Reverbnation and grab a banner widget to put on your blog, webpage. There's lots of fun things to grab over there - help me get the word out about the music. There's goodies in it for you. Send me an email with your link, and I'll send you the link for downloading some special fan-only exclusives. Fun yes?

See you at a show soon!

x Amy

So I've uploaded the photos. Over here. Go have a looksies.

x Amy

Hello there internets!

It's been quite a while... this I know. There's big changes here at Amy HQ, and that's meant that there's less time for fun internets to make enough time for other stuff.

Amy and the Ken Dolls did a show at Irish Murphy's last Wednesday night. Lovely Donna Bergshoeff happened to show up, and I thrust my camera in her somewhat shocked arms ('But I just came to see you play Amy!') and she worked magic. :) Behold - Amy and the Ken Dolls, in medium resolution!



We had a great show - Tore folked on the bass, Andrew kept us all in steady rhythm, while I fussed about with my stomp boxes and tried to hold the banjo upright. (it's a heavy instrument compared to my Maton. Truly.)

We'll be appearing at Irish Murphy's again on April 16th, but in the meantime you can head over tohere and see for yourself. While you're out and about - sign up to the Reverbnation list -you'll get goodies! Click below...



Okay, that's enough shameless self promotion for tonight!

We'll chat soon internets, I promise!
love,
Amy

So, Internets, finally an update on the Australian Blues Music Festival. There's been a whole other world going on at the same time since I arrived back - and suddenly it's three weeks since I got back!

I've never had as much fun as I did at the Blues Festival. We arrived in Sydney with an extraordinary amount of gear in tow. Andrew's carry on was a giant box of merchandise. Mine was several microphones and stomp boxes. We arrived in Sydney to the rain pouring down as we tried to find the hire car terminal. (Turns out, there's not a door to the outside world near the hire car bit in Sydney airport. It's a walk up and around and out the door across the road to the OTHER hire car terminal.)

Driving to Goulburn was a relatively uneventful trip - lots of rain involved and grey summer days. After settling in at Chateau Amy's Mum's House I fancied up and went to the Chain Awards evening. I met loads of the musicians also playing that weekend and saw lots of people I haven't seen for years - Goulburn being the home town and all.

A lovely evening was had by all, but eventually the 3am start caught up with me and I Yaris'd* home safely.

*We hired a Toyota Yaris. Compared to driving my musician Subaru Outback around home, a Yaris felt positively like it had wings. It became a verb to Yaris to drive zippily, with speed and gusto.

On Friday morning an early morning was had - we took the Yaris to Canberra for an interview on ArtsCafe on ArtSoundFM. Was lovely to meet Phil and have a chat about the album and the festival. Then we had drive through McD's and Yaris'd back to Goulburn for my show at the Bowling Club. (The sign out the front says 'XXXX GOLD THE BOWLO')

It was a great show - lovely crowd and a great venue. Competing with the announcements over the PA system downstairs 'Edna, please report to the front bar. Legs 11. Legs 11.' and the trains was unique! As there's no trains down here in Tasmania land (freight trains don't count!) this was a novelty for me.

Friday evening saw Family Kendall converge on a local restaurant and then head out to see Brian Fraser and Benny Owen play at the Workers Club - and I was blown away! Such a unique sound.

We then went on to see KNiki at the Bowling Club with her new band - a great big sound - the crowd loved it.

Saturday morning saw me playing in the Rotunda at Belmore Park, with the entire Family Smyth there as well - it was so lovely playing to both sides of my family and so many friends I haven't seen for so long. My mother volunteers for the Blues Festival every year and she spruiked my cds and took charge selling the merch for me. I really enjoyed the vibe of the park with the markets going on as well - and seeing people wander in and out of the show. Andrew took loads of photos (to come) as well.

Lunch with Family Smyth and cup of tea with Family Kendall and it was time to get ready for my last show at the Lieder Theatre. The Lieder is a lovely old theatre that's been a staple of the Goulburn arts scene for as long as I can remember. It's a small theatre with original flip up leather seats and wooden stage - it's glorious. And haunted.

I was completely blown away to see two special friends show up - one of the best musicians I've ever met Grant Burkitt and Cath Crawford. Grant and I met at music school in 2000, where he could be seen playing any instrument he could get his hands on, at any given time. He turned up at our house one day with a guitar he'd just finished making, for something to do. A resonator. *nod* Grant now makes guitars on spec for peeps all over Australia. He showed up, I asked if he had his harmonicas - he did. I played a song for him for approximately thirty seconds, and then he jumped up in the show and played one of the best harmonica tracks I've ever heard. Bless! Grant has also accepted our offer to become an honorary Ken Doll. :)

The Lieder show was very special - words fail me. It was the last show of the festival, the show where I felt the most connected with the audience, and where it all seemed to 'click'.

Jonno Zilber played there after me, and he tells me he loved the venue also. Mr Zilber is currently in Tasmania - you can see us together at the Republic Bar on Wednesday 11th at 9pm.

Back to the festival - on Saturday evening I had one of the worst meals I've ever eaten at a local Chinese restaurant, we waited two hours for our entrees. The food was relatively inedible and the proprieter didn't care. That bothers me. In a town packed with tourists and festival goers I think you should be on your game. Word of mouth is a powerful thing. However, that was the only blip on the horizon.

Sunday morning I went to the volunteers and performers breakfast and got to catch up with a lot of the performers and see Brian Fraser perform again. Go and check his cd out - www.brianfraser.com - you won't be sorry.

All too soon it was over - thank you to Sarah, Jenny, John and all at the Tourism Centre - you made my weekend so seamless and easy - and I've heard the same all over. Goulburn, you put on a fine welcome for visitors, I can't wait to come back and play again.

Photos to come!

x Amy