Balta and Blue Balloon appeared last week. Notation and mp3 files are now available. Balta is a fast Romanian tune and Blue Balloon a gentle Russian waltz.

Had a night at Simpatico. There was a roaring fire at one end of the room. No-one was cold. But no-one wanted to sit in the seats near the fire. It was hot! A modest turn up (Pete, Neil, Mary, Danny, Jill, Jill, Ange, Geoff, Alana, Mary, Abby = 11) had trouble fitting in. Where we would have fitted one or even two bass players, forgetting any percussion, is a mystery. Perhaps putting out the fire would have helped. But then we would have had the KASPA problem of frozen fingers.

Tried one new tune... Uskudara Giderken. Our first Turkish spot in the repertoire.

The management at Simpatico was very welcoming, even to providing some free nibbles and a drink or two. They are very keen for us to return, and perhaps we will on an irregular basis. But as a permanent venue it has some real problems for us.

Next week we will try out the Red Hill Hotel at Chewton. I wonder if they know of our track record?

Choosing Caspa as an emergency venue in the middle of winter has its problems. I let the photos speak for themselves.

In our continuing quest to turn Kastlemaine into a dry town, we have sent the Northern Hotel into closure. That is three hotels since Geoff and I began this quest.
Seriously, the liquor licensing laws punished the current manager for the sines of the previous. We were caught in the crossfire. At this stage (Teusday 11pm) we have no planned venue.

After the success of the play list last week, I have written an extended play list for next week. It starts with five or so standards we can warm up on, then follows a list of quite a few tunes which we have passable competence with. Then there is a shorter list of suggested tunes for learning. I suggest the following structure for a try.

1. The warm up tunes
2. Play through the general list (its alphabetic order) until we decide to stop.
3. Choose a couple of tunes to learn or practice from the third list later in the night when the punters at the tables have been driven away.

Unless otherwise stated, lets play each tune at least three times. If someone wants to keep going on a tune, just keep playing as a semi solo and see what happens. The rest of us can listen and think like musicians.

Gora Jeci. I have added a page to the site about this tune. I have the lyrics and links to a number of performances on YouTube. The Vila Ensemble is well worth a listen. Its the version I transctibed from and the one Ange has been listening to. Its a powerful performance! Of course, you will quickly see the limitations of my transcription.

I will be speaking at a seminar in South Gippsland on Thursday, so will quite likely be late again this week. Don't wait for me!

Not everyone was able to get to Bendigo, and as it turned out, quite a few things came up.
Concerts came from all directions. This is also on the home page.

• Sunday 8th March 6.00pm: Fringe Opening Bridge Hotel Kastlemaine. Somewhere between session and performance. Mystery really. Neither Geoff nor Eric will be there.
  
• 29 March Kyneton: tentative proposal from Jayson to be part of a bushfire relief koncert. No kommittments yet. Geoff can't come on the alternative date of the 22nd and we thought guitar important.
  
• Sunday Wednesday 1 April evening: Kastlemaine Fringe Koncert at Theatre Royal Kastlemaine. Someone booked us for half an hour on stage. 
• Saturday 25 April afternoon: Malmsbury Festival. Pete is organising the chalkboard music. Looks like we play.

Tried some new tunes and rejigged some sets.The new tunes are on the web site now. Will put some sounds up later.

• Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen. Spent quite some time arranging this Yiddish swing classic as we enjoyed it. Hopefully will become a standard for the April concerts.
• Belasichko Oro. Got the chorus working at slow speed. The verses will take some time. Consensus is its a great tune.
• Ana Lugojana (Hategana) Not hard
• Played the Goldensteyns set with three times through Belf, Three times through the G Freylekh and twice through the Gasn Nigun.
  
• Johanneksen Polka. Danny Geoff and I worked on this after everyone else had left. As good as Ebba Polka.

I have added the tunes others had suggested to the site. Leberdik, Mary's waltzes and Russian number amongst others.

I have added some extra tunes to the 'Learning list'. Joc Oltenesc, Makedonsk Devodje, Gora Jeci, Igre?. Some of these tunes are not going to appeal to everyone or be playable on clarinets. If we start doing 30 minutes bralets such as at the fringe, I think its time to think about some tunes being played by smaller groups. It adds a different sound colour and broadens the repertoire without everyone having to learn everything.

A session of correcting tunes, adding a few that were missing, adding Bb versions, a couple of complete new tunes for post Newstead, and some tune books.