Lake Argyle Part 1

I arrived at Lake Argyle (which is in WA, just over the NT/WA border) on April 24.
At the moment I play music three nights (Wednesday, Friday, Saturday) and one afternoon (Sunday) a week.
During the day I work at the resort/caravan park. Most of the time I work as a deckhand, cleaning and setting up their boat for the morning and sunset cruises, but I have also done a variety of other stuff around the place as I'm needed.
Initially it was quite strange to be thrust into this manly, manual labour after spending all my working life behind a desk but I've really enjoyed the challenge and change to physical work.
When I first started, I was banging myself on everything and had bruises and cuts here there and everywhere but thankfully I'm becoming more coordinated and I think I'm actually getting physically stronger which can only be a good thing, right?
The landscape and scenery up here in the Kimberly really needs to be seen to be believed - photos do not do it justice.
I do have to pinch myself every day as I drive down to the boat to work thinking "Am I really here, doing this sort of work, in such a beautiful place with such wonderful people around me?"
All the staff here are great and the managers are so welcoming and accommodating that it really feels like a big family (as corny as that sounds).
Apart from 4 gigs a week, I also played at the wedding of the daughter of one of the managers which was really cool.
The day went off so well and the location was spectacular - I felt very privleged to be a part of it.

Nice place for a ....white wedding

Bride and groom = champions

On the Mother's Day weekend I was stoked to have my Mum and her friend Karen come up for a visit.
It was good to show them around the place and meet a few of the friends I have made.
They did a sunset cruise on the Lake and saw a couple of my gigs on Friday and Sunday before leaving on Monday.
One of the managers keeps asking when Mum is coming back so he can give her a job so she must have used that old "Case charm" that works so well for me! haha!
The audiences here have been slowly building since I got here - but each night is different. Some nights it can be a small crowd and I'll get heaps of tips and Cd sales and on other nights the crowds can be big and dancing about and I can end up not making a cent. The ups and downs of being a musician - I don't think I'll ever work it out.
I've been out of the loop since being here but my new CD "Somewhere Where I'm Not" has been sent out to ABC Radio stations and is about to go out to community radio stations throughout Australia. ABC Radio seems to be supporting it well and I have been in Top 10 in the AirIt community radio charts for the past 3 weeks in a row. Bernard Fanning has held the top spot down since my song "Living The Dream" entered the top 10 and I'd love to knock him off but we'll see what happens.
I haven't heard his new song but if it's anything like the songs on his first solo album, it is no doubt a cracker.
Feel free to request my music on the radio or if you're interested in getting a hold if it, just go to my new music website www.stevecasemusic.com
Also, if you see any reviews (good, bad or indifferent) on websites or in the print media (street press and like), please let me know as it's hard to keep a track of such things here.
I was initially meant to leave here after the long weekend next week however I have been asked (bordering on begging) to stay so I have decided to stay on a little longer.
It's such a wonderful place to live and work that my arm didn't take too much twisting and with crowds picking up in June and July, hopefully I can sell a few Cds which is my major goal for this year.
So that's about it for now - I'll write again when or if circumstances warrant it.
Cheers,
Steve

Lake Argyle gets four Wagga thumbs up from Fiona and me