7/5/12

Very cruisy and laid back day today.
The Festival organisers throw the gates open today for anyone who wants to come in, free of charge.
This morning I went over to the Blackboard Stage to watch Steve Tyson play as he said he was going to road test a few new songs.
This gave me the idea to also put my name down and try a new song called "Older, wiser" which seemed to go over pretty well.
I was then joined on stage by Rob and Frank and we played through a couple of my songs in an impromptu fashion which was fun.
Surprisingly enough, the rest of the afternoon was spent hanging out and listening to music.
After dinner I went around to Matt and Nick's camp and we had a nice little jam around their camp fire until 1am - a great way to finish what has been a wonderful week of music, new friends, laughs and good times.

There's nothing quite like a campfire jam - that's Matt with the guitar - a real fine fellow

6/5/12

This morning was spent at the Blackboard Stage watching Dj perform a few songs and listening to a few other people get up and do their thing. I then went to another songwriting workshop which was interesting and well attended. I pretty much just waited around then until the final of the songwriting comp started at 2pm. I was on fourth and performed "Ballad of Joe" which seemed to get a good response. After everyone played their song, the judges deliberated for a few minutes then it was announced that I had won the competition with my performance. Everyone was very complimentary of the song and my performance which was really nice. A lot of people in the crowd came up to me that afternoon and at night telling me how much they enjoyed the song and how they said I was their pick for the winner. So after going through so many ups and downs with my music, this was definitely an up which I hope I can build on in some way. It felt really good to finally be recognised for my songwriting which means so much to me. We went back to Fred's camp for a celebratory beer and finished off the night listening to music. Tops day.

5/05/12

This morning I did a blackboard set which seemed to go over pretty well. Even though I'm not playing on the main stages at these festivals I'm still making the effort to do any blackboards that are available in the hope that it may lead to some sort of opportunity down the track.
I also signed up for the songwriting competition which will be held this afternoon.
I then went to a songwriting workshop run by Roger Corbett from the Bushwhackers as well as checking out some music including a couple of the blokes from Redgum.

Redgum dudes

It was then time to do the songwriting comp.
I gave my camera to Fred to take a pic of me up on stage but he only managed to get this one before the battery went flat.

Me about to play

I knew the battery was low so I almost told him not to turn the camera on until it was time to take a pic but thought, "No, it will be right".
So you can imagine my horror when I saw him and Claire taking random pics while I was over the other side of the stage and unable to stop them.
Here is a slideshow that my snap-happy mates managed to kill my camera battery off with - haha!:




Anyways, I got selected as one of 6 finalists for the songwriting comp. We get to perform our song on one of the main stages tomorrow afternoon - cool huh?
Just when I think the week can't get any better, it does.