Every day I get up check the weather.

Not the temperature, the Air Quality Index.

Based on how breathable the air is, I plan my day.

There's a thick layer of dust on my blinds, my bookshelf.

We had a few days of clear air. This morning I looked outside and shut the window again.

'Moderate' particle count.

Sad about Cobargo

Saw pictures of Before and After in Cobargo.

Cobargo is a pretty, 'quaint' small town that Rosie and I have stopped at many a time, for many a cup of tea and a snack while on tour.

There's less of it now.

That makes me sad.

Facebook Divorce

Facebook have refused to change their approach to managing propaganda.

I have no beef with lines of code, or servers, or computers, or the folks that program them.

I definitely have beef with people who give matches and a petrol can to children and say 'experiment' while running ads about how fun playing with fire is.

Since Twitter banned political Ads I have made an effort to use that platform instead.

https://twitter.com/stormcellarband

We are not immune to propaganda.

Even little old yours truly spends time thinking about what I post.

For our mates and family who have been serving our society on deployment, we have focused on the things we do that remind them of home.

For our friends who need a mental break, we focus on the positive, on sharing the great peace and satisfaction to be gained from music and creating things.

I refuse to accept that a billion dollar company puts less effort and less consideration into the effect that Propaganda plays in shaping public discourse.

Facebook is now the vector for the virus of state based actors running propaganda, and as it has been documented, the intelligence services and trolls of State based players are becoming sharper, more clever and better at hiding their tracks.

I continue to try to reconcile the need to do my job for the band and my realisation that continued engagement with the platform is adding energy to a bad situation.

Tour Planning

One day, when our work is Declassified, I might say a few more things about tour planning and work.

For now, let's just say that being a Self Propelled Artist means understanding that no one is coming to rescue us, no manager (except maybe Roger), no record label, no bag of cash attached to a chicken running in circles.

If something gets done it's because we do it.

It has taken a group effort to get US Tour 5 underway and the fires have directly hampered our efforts. I lost a few weeks of momentum due to Chest Infection from the smoke and from managing other stuff that arose from its effect on family.

Thanks to our good Mates in the States, some luck and some pluck we are moving towards a worthwhile tour with some very positive events lined up.

There is quite an amount of work to be done, and still to be done, to get this together.

First Show Of The Year Was Great

Thanks again to the musos who had volunteered to join us for last Thursday. It was originally meant to be our US fundraiser but that went by the wayside.

Despite a few hiccups in timing, the first show of the year was a cracker. Mr Wizard had a particularly good night, with the exception of forgetting his solo in 'Julie' :p

We have 2 more shows before we go o/s, come join us if you get a chance.

Meanwhile the work to get ready for the 2nd half of the tour continues. Gear, logistics, you name it.

If it's quiet on the blog you know why :-)