three weeks old my daughter is three weeks old today. yes, i have a daughter. a peaceful, tiny, perfect girl. she has an adoring, proud big brother. feeling very blessed and happy to be home. i am amazed again at the way being a parent makes me become more. just had my first long weekend away since the birth. llewella thrived. i survived. what a wonderful response tho, in costa mesa. we were back at the first ever celtic festival we played. 16 years down the road. and quite the road it has been. i look forward to a busy summer. being in the garden with my family. and playing shows all over the country. a time of change it is. and more change coming. i suspect things will look quite different come the fall. i suspect i will look quite different come the fall. angus  any day now
any day now
i become a dad again. and asa a big brother. the little bloke has me smiling and laughing, and changing my point of view. a lot. and that's the medicine i want. so glad to be home in this time. just being with the family. tending the garden. we have a deer proof fence this year, so we're planning on having a lot more veggies. keeping the business rolling along too. thanks leels. amazing things are happening in this time. 20 years since i came here from oz, with my 2 brothers, and BROTHER began. yes, it is quite the time... we have a busy summer coming. our busiest since we became 3. i will enjoy it all very much. but for now, there's a new human coming ... angus  today, 2 years ago, my son came into the world. changed everything. got my heart to expanding exponentially ... meanwhile, outside, there's a world on fire. can't imagine what people in japan are going thru. can't imagine what people in the middle east are going thru. earthquake, tsunami, rebellion, more war, another crazy celebrity, a royal wedding. what now? divide and conquer. yes, it's all a distraction, n'est-ce pas? and yet, more every day are waking up. seeing thru the illusions. the sun sets. the sun rises. and i'm talking to myself again. oh, my god. oh, my god. oh, your god. let them talk, shall we? drew's here. time to be making music again. anticipating my little boy becoming a big brother soon. truth and sanity there. and today? happy birthday little matey ... angus  egypt revisited as the uprising continues in egypt i think back on our time there and try to reconcile what is happening with my memories. warm and friendly people everywhere we went. an incredible mix of the modern and the truly ancient, which seemed to highlight the humility of the people. crazy taxi rides in cairo, straight out of an indiana jones movie. rich, bustling markets filling the alleys and squares of beautiful buildings many centuries old. finding the bargains with my sister and brother in law, ahmed.  the pyramids. words don't begin. riding horses around them with our dad, big dave. the big fella perched up on his steed, looking mighty uncomfortable, stirrups way too short for his long legs. a far cry from the farm - my last time on a horse, at seventeen. the ubiquitous hustlers, selling everything from camel rides to souvenirs, priceless antiquities all. visiting a place of abject poverty in alexandria, playing music on the street there. being welcomed with open hearts and beaming smiles. table and chairs brought out onto the streets, and a big pot of tea to share with us. communicating without words. the happiest children in the direst circumstances, following us like we were pied pipers, smiling and dancing til the end of their neighborhood, where they shouted and waved goodbye.  and of course, the military presence. most obvious when we went to do an interview at the government run radio in cairo. the only radio in cairo. with heavier security than the airport. but in spite of all the oppressions, the people were inspiring. may their will and their good hearts triumph in the days ahead. angus  egypt - rising like lions thinking of the people of egypt, with a million or more people on the streets as i write. our time there a few years ago was truly magical. an incredible place. wonderful people. the memories make what's happening all the more real. my brother in law's family is there in cairo, a part of it all. the stories we hear are astounding. of the multitudes shunning violence, but remaining resolute in their stand. protecting each other against the government's agents. doing their best to thwart false flag outrages. a human shield around the cairo museum. christians and muslims worshipping together en masse, protecting each other. my sister's brother in law, shot in the head with a rubber bullet. miraculously okay. others not so fortunate. the words of percy brysshe shelley come to mind. written in 1819 after the peterloo massacre, the poem they are from is said to be the first modern statement on the principle of nonviolent resistance ... rise like lions after slumber in unquenchable number. shake your chains to earth like dew which in sleep had fallen on you - ye are many, they are few. angus  BROTHER is watching you
and another year runs it's course.
more shows than last year and more again coming in 2011. i still marvel that BROTHER is now a 3 piece. i never would have imagined. but here we are and it feels damn good. we captured the new sound on a live album. happy with that but ready to be in the studio again. a good few shows with the 2 piece in 2010 too. tribal trance experimentation. and with drew on his way west soon, many more angdrew shows to come ... interesting times we're in. i was thinking of reading 1984 again. but it seems i don't need to. it seems we're living it. being a dad, this is on my mind. where are we heading? was it ben franklin that said he who forsakes freedom for safety deserves neither? but fear not. BROTHER is watching you too ...  getting on the floor and laughing with my son. walking in the snow with him as he watches it fall for the first time. imagining him being a big brother. these things are real, in a world that feels quite unreal sometimes ... but i feel a powerful year coming. it will be what we want it to be. and we want it to be happy, do we not? angus  chimney smoke
despite the challenges of these times i give thanks for an amazing year.
lots of good people along the way. some we've known a long time, some we've just met, and many we knew long ago who have somehow found us again. the feedback has been wonderfully uplifting, one of the things that keeps me on this path. being a part of the ever evolving animal that is BROTHER is a trip in itself. i've enjoyed the continuing focusing of the sound and show with the fellas. we are 3 different and quirky individuals but we like each others' company. and the vision is shared. here's to our last show for this year! back at the coach house for the 'out from under' release party. and back on stage with brother jack. another quirky individual. i give thanks for being able to make some music with him again too. and i give thanks too for my amazing little family, soon to be a little larger. the best paradigm shift ever. and thanks to you all for a great year. long may your chimney smoke ... angus  blown again
misty cold weather here in southern oregon.
warms the cockles of my celtic heart. good to be home again, tho only for a couple more days. far flung florida next. sun to spare there. we played dunedin with brother hamish years ago. the memories are good. of the people and the place ... every time i return home asa is more a person. bigger stronger faster. cheekier and funnier. and i am always more enthralled. by him. by the process. and now he is to be a big brother. he doesn't really get it yet but we certainly do. i know it will be similar and yet different in so many ways too. and so the world will turn. and our minds will be quietly(or not so quietly) blown again ... anxious to have that rascal drewski living here. somehow we've managed to keep the BROTHER beast breathing, across the years, across continents, across seas. but it is always easier to move quickly when we're closer. seems he will drive across the country early in the new year. here's to a safe journey mate. angus  in a church
our first neighborhood concert this past weekend.
BROTHER in a church. a near capacity audience. my son in the front row imitating dalbo, or dancing with the other small ones, or watching me, hand to his head in the sign for 'dada'. people there from the days of yore. one bloke who was at our LA show with colin hay 14 years ago. and the flyer to prove it. kids, teachers and parents from the school shows we did last week. a community gathering. felt good to be so welcomed our first time out ... we had to move a couple of months back. a pain the in proverbial but the first place we looked at suited us perfectly. a mountain view that takes me back to the farm. and lichen grew up here, so it feels like home for us both. big back yard, deer proof veggie garden, fruit trees and an old chicken coop. maybe next year we'll have chooks. that'll really take me back. nothing quite like collecting your own eggs. a goat perhaps? no, just kidding. one day ... sonora this weekend with andrew and david. gold country. they found it there, and the grasses are. gold that is. for now, time to soak in the view. and a brew. angus  
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