Blogpost – Better late than never?
Greetings from the bottom of the world! We’ve been staying with Bob’s gorgeous sister Chris, in her delightful home in Mount Maunganui New Zealand, for the past 10 days. We’re so glad to be here with her, only 4 months after her lovely husband Ken, died in November. How we miss that wonderful human being! There is solace in talking, laughing and crying together about shared memories and hearing how his passing, as with his 94 years on the planet, was filled with people who loved him. His beautiful presence is still felt.
Before this part of our Antipodean adventures began we had two glorious weeks in Sydney with Jo, Mike and our gorgeous girls – blessings, upon blessings! And before that … two weeks in Perth with not only my lovely brother Paul but we traveled down with Mum and Dad who have the enormous privilege of staying for three months! Good times in deed!
In between all these familial connections I’ve been beavering away at Visa applications and song selections for a handful of shows with guitarist extraordinaire Michael Fix, in Australia – all coming up in a few short weeks! My Visa was approved and issued on Monday. Hurrah! And song selections are more-or-less chosen. There’s just the little matter of learning them now – gulp! Wish me luck dear reader!
If any of you happen to be know anyone in Brisbane and/or Sydney (ish) please do steer them in the direction of one of our shows – thanks! Here’s a list of dates with relevant links:
April 10th – Magda Artz Brisbane
April 21st – Petersham Bowling Club Sydney
April 22nd – Illawarra Folk Club – Digger’s Wollongong
And last but by no means least:
April 27th through May 1st – The Glen Innes Celtic Festival
The Isle of Man is the featured nation this year and it’s my privilege and honour to be the Island’s representative. I’m thrilled to be giving workshops to school children, sharing Manx history, folk-lore and songs. And on Thursday 27th we’ll be showing Davy Knowle’s fabulous documentary Island Bound – the premiere in Australia no less!- with a special performance by myself and Michael following the film plus a question and answer session with the audience.
Michael and I are working with a wonderful agent in Australia (thanks to Chris While and Julie Matthews!) who is working on a more extensive tour of Festivals in Australia next year (2017). Whatever transpires I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to perform once more in the Southern hemisphere especially with such a great guitarist as Michael.
Bob and I have another 10 days here in New Zealand before heading back to Australia and gearing up for our flush of dates. I’ll try to capture snippets of songs for your listening pleasure as we rehearse together … a few weeks away yet.
For our Video/song selection this Blogpost I’m going for a montage of photos and video taken in Perth, Sydney and here on the Mount, accompanied by my version of Paul Simon’s poignant song “Quiet” which was released on “Into The Light” on Topic Records in 2003 – gulp!
I’ll attempt to keep a bit more up-to-date in the next few weeks and maybe share songs in preparation for the up-coming shows … I can but try.
Thank you as always for dropping by … I do appreciate you!
Till next time
Love, light, peace and joy!
Christine xx
Christine Collister 