This is gonna be a long post folks, so click on the read more below to get an update on the Weather Advisory Tour 2008! Update 2!

What goes on tour stays on tour, right fellas? You'll help me explain this hickey as totally innocent? Right? Right? Fellas?

So the idea originally was to use MRose's nifty wireless thing to blog on the run...what with us being into the web tubes and such like. Lets just say that coverage is slightly less than 'everywhere man'.

Thus here is the Mid Tour Update #2! Including piccies and things. Its a long post so get a coffee, kick back and enter the world of the Weather Advisory Tour 2008

WEATHER ADVISORY TOUR 2008 ROADBLOG!!! UPDATE 2

* Disclaimer: I reserve the right to use the term WGOTSOT where any revelation of actual facts would cause me to be assaulted or sued.

Tour Planning 

We were hoping to get down to the Narooma festival this year, but circumstances were not with us. We were bummed until Louise (Hi Louise) invited us to come down and play at the Nighthawk in mentone! Woo hoo! Our First Blues Gig In Melbourne. Home to afficianados, footballers, underbelliers and a strong blues scene.

We were fortunate to find another few places that were willing to let us play and lo and behold, when you string dates together and get moving, you have a tour! All right.

So, here's challenge 1.

How do you transport Bass, Drums, Guitarists, Amps, etc etc. Logistics. Hmm..cant afford roadies....hmmm..cant afford tour company..

Paul and I were driving down the road when Paul spotted this:

A TOUR bus Says Paul! My sanity was obviously fragile because we pulled over to look...

Ready to go - semi converted - what a concept. 5 men, 1 bus. No bathroom. 40K to refit. Sanity prevailed. Thanks to Jason (Hey Cousin!) who has fitted one out for a Grey Nomad couple and some words of wisdom from Donald Deep Jeffs, I gave away my fanciful ideas (NO I HAVENT!!!)..ahem...great concept...still..not practical. Thanks to Pete for showing us around and for making it hard for me to stick to a logical decision. Ye gods I am still tempted as I write this (sigh). Ahem

Anyway. So How about...Option 2! A Camper!

Paul checks the accom in a Campertruck 

Not a bad option, but 5 men sleeping in the same place, sharing 'facilities' and looking askance at me when I suggested there would be some bed sharing....ok...maybe not so much.

So we opted for the Ye Olde Traditional Personal Vehicles. My beautiful, lumbering station wagon and Mal's LPG converted Sandman. 

So, with the trip planned, vehicles repaired and readied, budgets done, accom booked, gigs booked, we got ready to set off.

Mal Gets A Fright

Mal got a word from his medico to spend a few extra days in sydney to get himself properly checked up. The end result was a stomach bug, but they put Mal through a bunch of machines and blood tests to come to that conclusion. It was zero hour and a disaster for the tour, but there was no question of Mal going anywhere until he got the all clear. Bummer. What do we do now?

The Deputy Rides to the Rescue 

Pete Solinzky (AKA Slinky Pete) joined the posse as Deputy when Mal had to go to San Fran for Leroy's funeral, and Slinky once again rode to our defence. He rearranged his schedule to help us out. Muso's, Slinky is the go to Bass guy for when you've got to go. I'll post a link here as soon as he gives it to me.

Uh oh - how ya gonna fit that junk in your trunk? 

Ah yes. next question. Down from 2 carrying vehicles to one....how ya gonna do it?

Simple! Get someone who has played tetris a lot. No problems. We fit the entire band gear in the station wagon, whilst maintaining rear visibiltiy, and piled troops into Mroses Four Cylinder Toyota.  

On The Road

We hit the road on the evening of the wednesday. As soon as we passed through Liverpool and hit the M31, the Weather Advisory Tour had begun!

Dinner In Coolac

The Coolac Hotel is a trip back into the pubs of the 1850's and its a great time warp.  It was hard to access from the main road, but well worth it. 

GPS - or Why Google Cant Map

In order to stop, revive survive etc, we planned opted to break the drive overnight in Wodonga.

The only problem with using Google Maps for directions is that it works better on the computer (GOOGLE are you listening? We've come to expect perfection from you and frankly, we're pissed off). You cant click a hyper link or zoom on your printed page.

The consensus was 'NEXT time we get a GPS' after we missed various turn offs, found roads labelled somewhat differently to expectations and generally got a bit lost.

20K past the correct turn off, on a side road in the dark and calling Optus to get the address for the accomodation, I said bad things about Google. I may not have meant them. Or did I??? 

Good Night John Boy

Night one, 2 rooms, 5 men, 4 beds. WGOTSOT!!!!!! 

Good Morning Officer

Our accomodation had a special wake up call for non paying visitors which included room service from Victorias Finest. We watched as their entry to the room next door was announced with 'Room Service'. Why dont the NSW police bring you breakfast???

Breakfast Art Wodonga

Wondonga's Pretty. Welcome to Victoria. Nice Breakfast

Bad Branding, Great Cookies! 

Stopped at a Bake Sale down the road, little old ladies making fantastic cakes and scones, pikelets and Fruit Fingers!

MM....Fruit fingers so good. Had to buy some for road munchies. Should have read the sign for the bake sale first.

I think they should shy clear of selling 'fruit fingers' . Perhaps we can suggest a better term. Far out good cookies though.

Gambling Fool

Daylight. heading for Melb. Still trusting Google. Listening to Jim Finn and 'Gamling Fool' from new album. Riotous.

Road Playlists

Paul and My playlists differ. Free. Free Live. Free not Live. Free at last. FREEE!! OMG  already. I get the feeling Paul likes Free. Canned heat (great), Little Walter (great) Random CD's from various sources, great.

Jim gave us a copy of his latest CD 'Stop your bitching its all too late' and we were bopping down the road to songs including various Expletives.

Googling Fool

Left. Right. Ring roads. Melbourne. Art adorning the sides of the freeway. Its gathered together in one big city, in a way that Sydney could never be. You can see Melbourne from melbourne. You cant see Sydney from Sydney. You have to go somewhere else.

We went to Laverton in order to get to Mentone. We dont reccomend anyone else follow our example.  Google Shmoogle. Its not their fault we cant follow instructions.

Paula Guides Us In

Mark took over the navigation and guided us in via mobile phone contact with his Little Sister (The gorgeous Paula).

This Is Nice

Groover grabs for the Wireless Modem! 

Vivian (I accidentally frenchified her name, now corrected) at Balcombe Serviced Apartments put us into a ridiculously nice place near the gig. According to google, 1.8k's away from the bar. Cooking facilities, enough beds for everybody. Great place. Boys all felt very Rock star. Cheers Vivian. I made sure they cleaned before we left!

Slinky and Paul Chillin' In the Garden 

Mrose - when the accom gives you your own bed, Surf porn! (He's gonna kill me :-)

Feeding the Love

The benefit of having a place with a Kitchen is you can...cooK! Yup. Marks little sister dropped in to see her Bro, Slinky reconnected with someone special (hi Angela!) and we had a family meal before the gig. It was a touching way to start the night. 

Gig 1 - Nighthawk Mentone

Everywhere in the blues is the same. From bangkok to Oahu, Blues Jam Nites are connected in some sort of quantum/string theory way. You feel the same vibe, the same appreciation for the music.

Nighthawk is a serious blues bar. We stayed, played, packed up, dropped our gear off and then came back and shut the bar down with the jammers.  Big thanks to Louise, Paul and Lyndon for making us so welcome.

Midnight Meatballs

Now I know we're not the first band to offer a receipe - Collard Greens have got one on the inside of More Gravy...so here's ours:

1 KG Mince

.5KG Veal mince

1 big bunch continental parsely 

Fresh basil - torn

Dry oregano - to taste

Salt and pepper to taste

1 clove garlic, minced

1 bag of mushrooms, fine chopped

Chop, mix, form into balls, fry gently until cooked allthe way around and through. Serve on bed of pasta with your favourite sauce (Cherry tomato Arribiata) and serve with homemade garlic bread. 

Myrtleford Here We Come

With the newfound navigational skills of Mark Groover Graeber and a blatant disregard for our Google Instructions (HA!) we set out for myrtleford the day after.

 Whats Wrong With Those Guys?

Slinky, Paul and Mrose in the vehicle behind us noticed some degree of headbanging. For their information, it was some Faith No More.

 Some Names Need No Further Explanation

Green Day Anyone?

To Be Continued!