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A suitable way to conclude our gigs for 2012 with a trip to The Entrance and a gig at the Royal Hotel, Bondi.

I managed to fill up my camera the other day at the allphones arena gig (HA! I managed to sneak a reference in again, see how I did that? LIKE A BOSS!) so mid way through last nights gig I was trying to take some vids and then the phone bleeped about being full and in an effort to quickly make some space I may have deleted the vids I took the night before at the Lakes.

ARGH!

Anyway, I salvaged what I could.

And now for a Community Service Announcement.

On our way up to the lakes, Single Bill found out that the new Police License Plate Scanner is fully operational as he was pulled up by a Mad Max Fan flashing his lights and holding the butt of his Large Gun as he gave Single Bill a ticket for an unregistered car - Bill had let his rego lapse by a few days and bang, it's Christmas Revenue time. Now that the RTA or whatever the heck they are called now have decided you don't need to affix a sticker to your window, there is one less reminder that you haven't done your registration, so watch out. It's your personal responsibility to make sure your car is registered and the fine is $540. Gotta abide by the laws, the technology is snooping on you and the fines are not cool.

Despite such minor legal wrangling, Single Bill managed to get there by the 2nd set having found a late night mechanic to pink slip his car and an online rego service. So I guess the technology also works for you.

Friday was Tony Boyds first night deputised to the drummer seat and it must have gone well based on the dancing. Cheers to Jacko and Rowena, Steve, Gina, Sharn, Jay, Andy, Billy and all the folks up at the Lakes. We'll be back there soon, due to public demand :-)

Our final gig for 2012 was at the Royal Hotel Bondi at it built from a quiet start to a frantic last set with non stop dancing.

Mr Wizard Made some new friends.

Here are the President and Secretary of the Swedish Chapter of the Mr Wizard Fan Club.

We love playing the Royal for the fabulous cosmopolitan mix of people who hang out there, from backpackers and travelers to dyed-in-the-wool Bondi residents, Sydney-siders out for a night, Christmas Party goers, the usual.

Last night was huge. People came up and talked to me during the song, high fives, quite some hugging and a few tears (and that was just the band) LOL...heh. I could explain all that but frankly I like the mystery and if you want to see what it's like, come to a gig :-)

(UPDATE - just reviewd this vid and watch out, some random says a rude word at the end)

The dude with the feather through his nose won 'most committed to national party costume' :-)

John Mc and Frank popped in for the first few sets and John was kind enough to come and mess with our PA. It's not every day you have one of Australia's most bad ass sound engineers tweak your stuff :-) Thanks John, sounded great. We were trialing a Bass Bin and some speakers last night and were a little unfamiliar with the buttons. John got it sounding very sweet indeed. I should also send a shout out to the guys at DJ Warehouse who sorted us out so nicely all year for our lights and random stuff we have tried. Cheers to Gerry and the guys.

Also a big thank you to Double Bill Williams for some solid Bass work and general all round good guy-ness. We have been blessed by some fantastic musicians choosing to come hang out with us, like Noodles, Double Bill and the T-Bird. (BTW if you want to know what's with all the nick names, we have a constant doubling up of first names related to this band, with up to 4 michaels, 2 carls, 2 bills, and so on...the nick names help to sort your Bill V from your Bill W :-)

Shout outs from last night to Suzie K, Claudette, Heather, Alan, Kevin, our Swedish House Mafia and all the folks enjoying the end of year festivities.

That was our third gig for the week and an auspicious way to close out a big year for us.

Thank you, Dear Reader, for sharing your time reading our blogs. The events of the past few days are a reminder of how precious that time is and we're honored to be included in how you spend yours.

We're back on deck in early Jan at the Bald Rock on the 5th and the Kent on the 6th, but we'll be working through the holiday season doing some videos and suchlike, so stay tuned for more stuff as we get ready for 2013, that is unless the Mayan Apocalypse/Zombie Apocalypse arrives, in which case we'll review our future bookings :-)

A good way to finish up 2012, three gigs in a row, the last one tonight at the Royal Hotel Bondi, from 8:30pm.

Ho ho ho indeed!

Howdy Folks, we're back on deck tonight  for a full three setter up the coast at The Lakes Hotel at The Entrance. T-Bird will be stepping into the drummers chair tonight and we're still pumped up after last nights gig, so it should be a good show.

201 The Entrance Rd, The Entrance 2261

Leelu Dallas...Multipass? No! It's the special get-backstage wrist brace for our wrists so we could get...err...

Backstage! Yeah!

Well that was fun. We did a gig tonight at Allphones Arena, where tomorrow night J-Lo will be playing.

Cheers to Sue for inviting us to come to a big party and play with lots of sound equipment, lights, and a big crowd. 

We're not yet jaded enough yet to be unappreciative of a Big Venue with Big Stuff. and in all likelihood, it will be quite a while before we go 'meh' about such things. Every now and again ya gotta stop and soundcheck the roses, to lay waste to a metaphor.

On certain days, we feel grateful to receive a free soft drink from the places we play at, and full soundo service plus dressing room? Ok, put on your best Monty Python/Welsh accent and say it with me:

Bloooooody Luxury :-)

Mr Wizard setting up

Double Bill, Single Bill in motion and Mr Wizard setting up.

I took a look around as the guys set up for sound check and found myself drawn to the media servers (funny that eh?)

McIntosh as media servers? There's only 1 mouse button!

Go BINARY you latte sipping, beret wearing, OS-X using, single mouse button...err...oops. Looks like a PC vs Mac rant slipped in there some how...Err..it's late.

Still......GET TWO BUTTONS ALREADY!! Moving on...

Down the hall, away from the stage and look...a Dressing room, LUXURY!

And yea Veriily, on the wall of our dressing room, was the Itinerary of the Wiggles from their gig there on Sunday.

We're not worthy. Bow before the masters.

On the walls of the backstage area are pictures from famous artists who have played there, and the occasional instructional sign , such as.. 

What? WHAT??

After our sound check, we luxuriated in our stately dressing room, drank free softdrinks (OMG!) and generally swanned about.

This is the life.

We could tell when the first act of the night had started, the subwoofers began to shake the whole place and it was at that point I went in search of coffee.

Finding coffee is my super power. No matter where I am, I seem to be able to locate the java. It's uncanny.

Here's the crowd for the 1st act of the night, filmed from the vantage point i found whilst in search of said coffee.

After a while, it was time for us...

As per usual, my blogging stops when the Audience's start.

Cheers to Jason for helping us pitch our cd's to the crowd (hey, who can blame us?).

After our set, I grabbed some footage from the floor area as the DJ's finished the night off.

Now I gotta say, we might have been reasonably well received, but there's this one Korean Guy with some dancing song that just seems to be the thing of the moment...:-)

A happy end of year celebration to all!

Sad news today from our mate Bobcart, a friend of Freddy Wilson. Freddy passed away a week or so ago and his wake was last night, making me a bit late on the news. Freddy wouldn't have minded, we were rehearsing, he liked a work ethic :-)

Freddy taught me more about performing in a few weeks than I gained from years worth of lessons with other folks. It wasn't just that he knew what he was talking about, it was his ability to convey it.

He cussed like a sailor, smoked like a chimney, played Sax like a Boss and swung with the best of them. 

Freddy made a difference in countless lives and the best obit he can have is that his Google references are not articles about him, they are the mentions on the CV's of so many singers and performers stating with confidence that the reader will be impressed, that they once attended a Freddy Wilson Jazz Workshop.

Vale Freddy, you were one of the greats.