Now, if it was left entirely up to me, the travel arrangements would be based around concerts, wineries and the odd social call, but there are other interests involved, so I tend to put in my two bob's worth, hand over responsibility for the rest of the itinerary and then see what I can squeeze in around Madam's agenda.
With Easter relatively late this year we had the option of going before or after the holiday period, which also happens to contain Bluesfest at Byron Bay, so while we weren't likely to be going to Byron itself, there was the possibility of catching some of the acts elsewhere either before or after the long weekend.
The problem is they don't announce all the acts at once, and when they announce a bundle of new names they don't announce all the associated tour details at the same time.
From mid-December the 2011 lineup looked pretty damn good, and the prospect of catching some subset of Derek Trucks & Susan Tedeschi, Robert Randolph, Elvis Costello, Irma Thomas, Trombone Shorty (to pick out a tranche of the most likely suspects) had me licking my chops and waiting for further details, which came in the form of Derek Trucks & Susan Tedeschi with Robert Randolph as the support act at Sydney's Enmore Theatre on April 21.
Tickets were duly bought, and we sat down to wait for further announcements, which failed to appear before Madam emerged wanting to know when we could start booking flights. Predictably, we'd booked seats to and from Sydney for Derek, Susan and Robert, arriving the day before the show and heading back on Good Friday, when they announced Elvis Costello & The Imposters playing Sydney on the Tuesday.
Madam's not a big Elvis fan, and had seen him once (solo) but investigations revealed it wasn't that difficult to bring my booking forward twenty-four hours, so adjustments were made, and I was off to see EC.
With this year's Anzac Day coinciding with Easter Monday, which is already a public holiday, the Easter long weekend got stretched a day longer, and the regular five day Bluesfest blew out to six.
Those changes had to be approved, however, and once they had been there was another announcement of artists which included Little Feat, who turned out to be playing Sydney on Good Friday, Byron Saturday and Sunday and Melbourne on Monday, all of which looked like candidates for the too hard basket since we'd have to change flights again, and stay an extra night at long weekend rates if we wanted to catch the Feat in Sydney since Saturday and Sunday at Byron were already sold out.
Still, I thought, the band would arrive in Sydney Wednesday or Thursday, when we would be there, and there might be some possibility of saying G'day. A polite inquiry emailed to Bill Payne produced news the road manager would be in touch, but as I sit tapping these notes out in a Gladstone motel room, that hasn't happened, so it's a case of wait and see.
Anyone ordering about this apparently mystifying connection between a retired music fan in Bowen and Little Feat is pointed to a brief spell between 1998 and 2000 when I administered the band-approved Highway 95 tape and CD tree, a permanent structure for distributing amateur concert recordings. That was part of a conscious attempt to set up a grass roots support movement for the band, who've flown under the radar of commercial success for most of the past forty-plus years,
Those matters were something I was keen to have a yarn about if I managed to catch up with Bill Payne or Paul Barrere, but with the band's schedule (play Sydney Friday night, Byron 2:30 Saturday and Sunday afternoons and Melbourne Monday night) I wouldn't be holding my breath, would I?
On the other hand they have to arrive in Sydney some time, and that some time is likely to be while we're there, so there might be a possibility in that direction.
Whether the largesse directed towards artists playing an early afternoon slot at Bluesfest is substantial enough to include passes for hangers-on to get into the festival or gain access to the backstage area is a fairly dubious proposition, but:
(a) If you don't ask, you don't get;
(b) I'm a member of the Former Bowlers' Union (Extremely Limited Talent Section), so I'm no stranger to asking, even if you don't get many opportunities; and
(c) If there was a chance of getting into an event that has already been sold out for free to see Little Feat, Mavis Staples, Irma Thomas, the Blind Boys of Alabama with Aaron Neville, Robert Randolph & The Family Band, Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi fronting the new Tedeschi Trucks Band you'd be asking, wouldn't you?
But that outlines the musical side of the itinerary, giving the sort of detail that can be avoided when the concert reviews roll around, and if the opportunity to extend the musical aspect of the next eight days (he said, tapping away in Gladstone around 5:30 on a Sunday morning) that'll be more grist for the mill over at The Little House of Concrete Music.
