Monday, November 12, 2007

Current mood: ehausted!
Category: ehausted! Music

It's such a crazy schedule and I don't know how I find the energy to do this except for you guys. So many people turned up to the Phoenix instore - it blew me away. Some had been waiting for 7 years to see me sing live - others had driven 8 hours to shake my hand.

This morning was ROUGH. We had arrived at 12 midnight from L.A after our flight was delayed by 5 hours. We had to get up at 5 to be on morning television at 7 and then we had our instore tonight. Tomorrow I'm up at 5 again to fly to Dallas for radio promotion and then on to who knows where after that. I'm trying to keep my head down and focus on the work ahead but seeing all of these smiling faces makes it all so worth it.

I'm so lucky to have this connection to you guys.
Don't ever doubt it.

xD

Saturday, November 10, 2007

First stop Hollywood
Current mood: Hollywooded

I'm at the Mondrian in Los Angeles.
It's a 'new' Hollwood instiution really - think Britney Spears meltdowns and door people with attitude turning hoards of wannabes away from the Sky Bar. And it's been that way for a decade or more.

I remember first staying here after shooting the video for 'The Animal Song' in 1998 or 1999. Back then I was completely unaware of the shi shi element and managed to form an attachment to the place in spite of the 'in crowd'. Now there's a familiar comfort to the walls of this place and I manage to breeze in and out without ever partaking in or being subjected to any of the hype. It's simply the hotel that's near everything that I need.

Objects of my affection
Current mood: reminiscent
Category: reminiscent Music

Random thoughts.

I sat down to get a haircut today and the hairdresser asked immediately.. 'What do you do?'. I was perplexed and said 'I, err, make music I guess'. Suddenly his eyes lit up and he was playing the fame game. 'Are you someone famous?' he asked. I sighed. He continued..'Forgive me, I don't keep up with the charts'. Clearly he did. I found myself at a crossroads. Do I dutifully explain my life's work or simply shrug it off? Did it matter if he knew who I was or what I did? I stopped the line of questioning by saying 'I could be, but probably not.. Where are you FROM?'.

He was from San Lous Obispo.
I told him I was from London.
Via San Francisco.
Via New York.
Via Brisbane.

Are we just what we 'do'?
I hope to be more than what I do.

Wednesday, November 07, 2007

He's leaving on a jet plane
Current mood: halved
Category: halved Music

Pedestrian thoughts.
He left today to be back in London..
Love is strong but work won't wait..
And although we've been side by side for months..
Although we can't always travel together..
We both hated saying goodbye.

As he drove away..
When I walked back in the hotel room..
I looked at half the chaos that remained..
Half the luggage..
Half the mess..
Half the socks..
And thought that a half of me had just left too..

Thursday, November 01, 2007

Interesting Aritcle
Current mood: curious
Category: Music

FOUND THIS ON THE FOX WEBSITE
Definitely struck a chord in me!

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Bruce Springsteen: New songs are refused Radio Play

Bruce Springsteen should be very happy. He has the No. 1 album, a possible Grammy for Best Album of the Year for "Magic," an album full of singles and a sold-out concert tour.

Alas, there's a hitch: Radio will not play "Magic." In fact, sources tell me that Clear Channel has sent an edict to its classic rock stations not to play tracks from "Magic." But it's OK to play old Springsteen tracks such as "Dancing in the Dark," "Born to Run" and "Born in the USA."

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Into the Arms of America
Current mood: ready for a break
Category: ready for a break Music

So much has happened since I last blogged.
Mostly I collapsed with exhaustion from the tour - well I didn't
really have time to collapse as I had a few things to do like present an award at the Arias in Australia and spoil my nephew rotten by hiring out a whole cinema so he and his friends could watch 'Transformers' as a birthday gift.

Where to begin?
Melbourne was ROCKIN'.
BEFORE THAT - we had a day of Sydney amazingness out on a boat as a thankyou to the band and crew. Me - slathered in sunscreen and a hat and not talking (resting my voice again agh!) and the band and crew all gettin' down to the sounds of P Funk and Prince whilst enjoy the Sydney Harbor View and gorgeous food and drink.

Sydney show - amazing.
Melbourne, I've touched on - even more electricity than last time at Manchester Lane.
Brisbane amazing in the end but so much drama getting there with storms, set and equipment delays and poor 'She Said Yes' missing out on their set due to the time restraints.

Thursday, October 25, 2007

The Time Machine Tour - At the End of Time
Current mood: Serene
Category: Serene Music

Well, it's over.
The Time Machine Tour, as we knew it, has come to an end.
The Stage, The Sets, The Costumes, The Origami Bird and the Lasers have all been put into storage and who knows if they'll ever be set free again..

It was an amazing undertaking and I just want to take this opportunity to thank the incredible band and crew who made it all possible.

I knew, going into this album, that the tour for this kind of music had to be presented in a certain way that wouldn't necessarily make the accountant happy - but it was a risk I wanted to take in order to see a dream come to fruition. We honed our skills from Glasgow, to the Royal Albert Hall, from Perth all the way to my home town of Brisbane last night where the show was filmed in glorious High Def for a future DVD.
And I'm so glad.

I don't know if I'll get the chance to put on a show as elaborate again and I'm certain I couldn't have done it without the blood, sweat and tears of this amazing troup of magicians.

Monday, October 22, 2007

On the mend
Current mood: Rejuvinating
Category: Rejuvinating Music

I'm in Melbourne and on the mend.
The 'lurgy' ended up being the full blown throat infection that most of the crew and band got but luckily I got some pretty powerful antibiotics and am resting up well and good until the Melbourne show.
It's a blessing having this time, and to be honest I have not even left my hotel room today. I'm here in a dressing gown and have spent the last two days writing everything down and not talking.

It's crazy, but it works.
A speech pathologist said to me that your voice is a muscle like anything else and just like an athelete, if it's sore rest is the only thing that will allow it to recover.
It's amazing what a couple of days of down time does for my vocal chords.

Saturday, October 20, 2007

Who would have thought the tiny courageous?
Current mood: zen like
Category: zen like Music

Isn't it always the way?
The runt of the litter is always the strongest.
We played to our smallest theatre audience on the tour tonight in Adelaide and it was, once again, such hard work for the crew to try to find a way to fit our huge show into the magical but cramped stage at the legendary Thebarton Theatre.

But oh how magical the show turned out to be!

I was called at 10 am to be told the ceiling was just too low to fit the origami crane in. This, obviously, gutted me as the crane as you've guessed by now is a crucial part of the show. The boys worked incredibly hard to make sure the bridge and the tower and the projection screens would be present and we arrived at the venue.