When I arrived in Melbourne, I was feeling a sense of spiritual calm from my week in Tasmania. At first I was planning to write "energized", but that wouldn't be quite accurate, since I had done as much as possible both day and night, and now needed some rest and relaxation. It was setting up to be an interesting time: after months on the road, here I not only had Annie and Lee, but my friend Tammy. I played horn for one of Tammy's gigs back in Canada, and now I was on tap to play a show with her band, opening for Jason Molina on the 19th of November, as well as a slot at the Queenscliff Music Festival the following weekend, meaning the length of my stay here would be three weeks. Furthermore, my timeline was supposed to overlap with a few other travellers I'd met along the way, so I was looking forward to touching base. Finally, after weeks of packing and unpacking, bussing, flying, losing things, I was looking forward to having a base for a bit, stretching out, and sinking my teeth into a place. Melbourne oozes art and music. One person (Beno) has described it as not so much an industry, but a culture, and I was keen to absorb as much as possible. I wanted to be inspired, participate if possible, but mostly try to answer questions I had regarding the role of music and creativity in the context of my life.

My first week in Melbourne was a whirlwind. Tammy had arranged for me to rent a little bungalow (pictured) out back of the house of friend (and bandmate) Eliza and her boyfriend Leon in the burb of Brunswick, about a half hour's ride north of the city centre, and about a 20 minute ride from the funky artistic hub, Fitzroy. Architecturally, this area is very pretty, as the majority of the houses are old have fascades which have been preserved since their construction in the late 1800's.

I arrived the day before the Melbourne Cup, the horse race that stops the nation, the first Tuesday in November. This creates a funny work week, some have a 3-day week, some a 4, and the entire week is essentially a write-off anyway because of the festing that takes place.
I had originally planned to attend the race itself with Dave (Sydney), but he and Mandy just purchased a new house, meaning that he had more responsible things to do than drink and bet on horses. Instead, I attended a barbie that Leon and Eliza threw, made some terrible bets (an amazing aptitude for picking the horses that finish last five), and danced into the night to Duran Duran and Ennio Morricone spagetti western soundtracks, destroying numerous wine glasses. I had lots of offers to be shown various aspects of the city, as well as learning that I guilty of "oot and aboot" after all.

During the day, I began to develop a basic "normal" routine, sans work, of course. Essentially this consisted of swimming, horn practice, blog catch-up (and learning to use a Mac a bit better) and cooking non-instant meals. I was also trying to brainstorm and organize the things for the Asian leg of my trip. I had the vague feeling I should be seeing the city more, but in truth, I didn't want to feel like a tourist at the moment. Everyone I knew here worked during the day, and at first this was fine, it gave me the blissful solitude I was seeking.

I would head into the night with my horn, just in case. I found myself on stage with Don't Mess with the Pony, an all-female trio (great musos!) with a groove like Luscious Jackson; another night I went out with Tammy and a few people to The Tote (though I'm supposed to add "upstairs", much more respectable than "downstairs"), where I met producer/ percussionist/ friend Beno and a few other folk, and ended up jamming with the DJ, as well as giving my number out to those interested in a jam or some recording. My first Friday in Melbourne saw me at a warehouse party full of art students entertained by several bands and DJ's, waiting for Tammy's boyfriend, whom I was supposed to meet there. After two hours of hanging around by myself, I realized that the Canadian guy had been ditched, and went into survival mode, since it seemed too fun to leave. I did some chatting and some improv (yep, had the horn yet again), and ended up staying until the wee hours. I had new-found knowledge of the ovulatory cycle of alpacas, as well as excitement of more folk who seemed to want to get together and do some playing. This is the kind of experience that I'd sacrificed a trip to the Red Center or the West Coast to have, and couldn't wait to see how the next two weeks prior to Queenscliff would play themselves "oot".