Back in Bowen community radio duties ruled out anything much in the way of out of town concert activity, but when I wandered into the QB one Friday afternoon in 2003 for the regular session with The Actor, The Rod Man, the Merry Frockster and various other regulars I had little idea of the surprise lurking around the corner.
Publican Brownie called me aside with a little question.
Hughesy, he inquired, I know you're into music. I've got a chance to book this guy called Jeff Lang. Heard of him?
Bearing in mind Everything Is Still was getting fairly heavy rotation on my radio show, an affirmative response was a foregone conclusion.
But wait, there's more.
There's this other bloke, Brownie went on. Bob Brozman...
You mean, I countered, that you've got the chance to get Jeff Lang and Bob Brozman playing here? Book me two tables front and centre.
You're kidding, may or may not have been Brownie's response. That good?
By the time show time rolled around he'd managed to sell out the room, which was a good start, and we arrived on the scene to find an impressive array of guitars and other examples of the luthier's craft on display along with a drum kit which suggested the presence of one Angus Diggs.
So, for the next couple of hours we had two outstanding players working individually and playing off each other with some sympathetic percussive interaction thrown into the mix for good measure. Apart from Angus Diggs' contributions, Brozman's use of his instrument as a percussive device was, to put it mildly, jaw-dropping.