The Massive Update Post...

Hmmm. What has been happening in the last month that I have not blogged about? *slaps hand* Bad Rose.

Firstly, and most importantly... I hit 50 songs yesterday!

There was much rejoicing in the village. The village of tiny people. In my head. But yes, it's a fantastic feeling of accomplishment, and I am quite proud of myself.

Secondly.... my dear friend Valerie emailed Hubbards Foods about "Dick Hubbard Is Batman". Consequently, I received a message from the Chief Financial Officer of Hubbards. The song has entertained the office and has been sent to Dick for his listening pleasure. Also, I spotted a "Diana Hubbard" signed up on the 50/90 page... I'm going to assume that's his wife. This is really, really quite hilarious.

Thirdly.... there was birthday gig.

It was fantastic :)

We opened the night with The Farmer's Daughter, aka the lovely Rachael. It turns out that Rachael is the older sister of a guy I went through high school with - how's that for a coincidence? I was really, really impressed. She has one hell of a voice and her confession about how nervous she was after the gig really surprised me because I found her really confident. Pretty voice, pretty guitar and she's just so nice :) She gave me a big hug for my birthday. Despite the fact that we'd only just met. I like people like that.

I then did a longer than usual set, which included some rather stellar moments. Such as dragging Libby onstage to sing harmonies for "Bill Stickers", singing "When The Fire" and apologising to my mother mid-song for the reference to a boy in my bed and dropping my pick at the most hilariously appropriate moment in "No Expert":

"He buys a drink
It's pretty quick
You must think you're awful slick"
*drops pick*
"I dropped my pick... hey, that rhymes!"

It was also the debut of "Better Than You Know", verses 1 and 2 because I forgot the lyrics midway and it's a pretty long song. I have also discovered a way to fix my lost set list problem. Post It note. On the top of guitar. The mind boggles.

We finished up the night with Jimmy Stearn and Nick Burfield - I think the highlight for me was a really unusual cover of Stairway to Heaven. It was one of those things that initially makes you go "huh?" but it was actually really, really cool. My brother and my father were entertained... my sister didn't get it. Poor kidlet. But yes. Jimmy and Nick combo for the win, as far as I'm concerned. They really sound quite awesome together. Have I mentioned in the past that Jimmy plays a mean harmonica? Because he really does. It's all kinds of awesome. I hadn't met Nick previously but he's got one hell of a voice on him. I'm looking forward to hearing the Nick/Jimmy combo again. Good stuff.

In general, though, an amazing birthday. Heaps of friends there. My entire immediate family (Mum, Dad, brother and sister) - which is awesome, because Dad moved to Sydney on Tuesday so it was a great chance to have the whole family together. Friends and I went out for late food fillup after the gig and managed to cram all eight of us in the 4 person booth. Then we headed back to my flat for a rather glorious carrot cake, courtesy of my lovely flatmate. All in all... a really, really great day.

I will hopefully update more late, but for now that's a pretty decent overview. I am taking a small break from the songwriting, as I must clean flat and cook foods sometime today. We are having a party to farewell yet another traveller (this is the week of departures). I need to go buy pastry because I'm too lazy to make it.

Basking in that 50 song glow,
Rose