July/Aug/Oct 1997

The Local Rag on the WWW

The exciting news for all the net-capable web freaks is that the Local Rag, plus heaps of other neat stuff is now available on-line from our Internet Home Page at:

http://www.lisp.com.au/~ patdrum

Yes, Folks, The Local Rag is now in Cyberspace.

It was all my Honourable No. 2 brother Danny's idea. Danny, whose company Lateral Logic does a few homepages, decided it was time for me to make the next leap into high-techdom. It sounded good to us, particularly to Carol and my Dad who stuff an awful lot of envelopes each year. It also sounded good to our friends who had started avoiding visits to our house during 'mail out' week and it also sounded good to Meghan, our budding environmentalist, who has calculated how many forests have been decimated as a result of our direct mailouts. So if you are concerned about the paper wars and are computer literate and Web Capable, drop in to the home page, register on the e-mail, and we will move your name to the electronic side of our database. You get the same info; plus lyrics to songs, a songwriting seminar, reviews and colour photos which are all downloadable. Albums can also be ordered direct through the Web and e-mail is answered nightly.

If you haven't the faintest idea what all that stuff in the last paragraph is about and your idea of electronic interactivity is yelling at your TV when the referee makes a bad decision on the footie; don't panic! The Local Rag will just keep coming via your friendly 'postie' if you don't register.

The Port Fairy Folk Festival was brilliant this year. I 'discovered' a top Canadian Singer Songwriter by the name of James Keelaghan. A couple of his songs, particularly 'River Run, 'Cold Missouri Waters' and 'Kiri's Piano' deserve special recommendation for lovers of story-telling songs. Again, 'webbies' can check out James at The Nth American Music Alliance Homepage on http://www.canoe.ca/JamMusicPopEncycloPages/keelaghan

Judy Small was the featured act at Port Fairy this year, according her the status she so richly deserves as one of our finest writers.

After the festival I spent three wonderful days camping out by myself in The Grampians, which the Aboriginal people call Gariwerd. I stayed at Jimmy's Creek and staged some walks to the top of Mount William from which I could see almost to the coast. I spent one afternoon in the quiet company of a couple of large eagles, obviously the lords of their domain; who thrilled me with their constant majestic sweeps across the enormous synclines that form the Park. The story of Hissing Swan, the Aboriginal Chief who faced the arrival of the White Man is told in the unique Brambuk Centre there, and was particularly touching. I will be returning to Victoria and South Australia in September and October for the Mildura, Karoonda and Victor Harbour Festivals.

Meanwhile back in Sydney there are a couple of notable Gigs in the offing. The Galston Country Music Festival featuring, The Dead Ringer Band, Felicity Urquart, Stephen Cheney and myself, will be staged to raise money for local charities by the Galston Rotary Group on at The Galston Gardens on September 14th. 'The Ringers' and I will also be working with Allan Caswell and Tania Sullivan at Blacktown Workers on the 2nd of August and The Shellharbour Workers Club on the following Afternoon.

A rare chance also to work with my band at Guildford Leagues on Friday, 8th August. Congratulations to Tania Brown and Mikla Lewis who ran very successful fundraisers this last quarter on behalf of St Pious X School Unanderra and The Wildplant Rescue Service in The Blue Mountains respectively. The fundraiser concerts give me a terrific opportunity to meet new people and see them within the context of their communities. It is certainly the best part of my job. If you are interested in running a show in your community give us a call at home and we can show you how it works.

Thanks to those who fronted for the recording of the new Live Album to be called 'Australian Voice' All the songs on the CD are previously unrecorded and the project is presently in post production. More about that next quarter.

'The Toilet Paper Linedance' has been released as the third single from 'Wheels and Wires' and is currently charting well following 'The Cable and the Wheel' which peaked at 17 on the Country Charts.

On The Homefront.

Our children...well, I'm not sure how much input our 3 year old Josie had into things...staged a surprise party for us to mark the occasion of Carol and my 25th wedding anniversary. They raided my database and sent invites to all sorts of folks, some of whom we had not seen for twenty years. Held in the Parish Hall, to which they lured us on the pretext of picking up some boxes with the station wagon, it was a very Dimboola-like event, complete with party balloons, fluorescent lights and a list of guests who were press-ganged into performing at various times by the band which consisted of Meghan on saxophone, Matthew on electric guitar, Peter on drums and my youngest brother Stephen on acoustic guitar plus sundry temporary members. I think, daughter in law, Naomi's, rendition of the puffy fifties heartbreak hit 'Stupid Cupid' was the crowd favourite which tells you a lot about both the crowd and the mood of the event. A huge thanks to those who travelled often large distances to share this event with us. I'm not sure how my children chose the list but it did seem a sizeable part of our history was crammed into one room for a few hours; and so it certainly was an emotional evening for us. I'm very proud of the kids for spontaneously organising it all.

A special thanks also to all those who sent cards and the Mt. Kembla Folk who brought the cake to the gig on Sunday,11th May. Speaking of special events, Rick and Penny Workman, the Canadian Couple who have become such regulars at the gigs in the last three years are returning to their home near Ottawa in July. We will be sharing a few drinks to say goodbye to them at The Jamberoo Hotel on the 13th of July.

God Bless, See you all soon

Pat