Hello again – its been a long time.
So much has happened in recent years. The most sobering thing-quite literally- was my brother Chris’ passing. It happened Sept 20 2023 about 9:30pm on Bridge St in Nelson.
It was his habit to take a cab home but for some reason he indicated that he would take a stroll and he waved his driver friend on and walked the relatively short distance from the Rattle and Hum to his home … Thats the last time the driver saw Chris.
He walked to within 80 metres of home and was either struck down or tripped. The fatal wound to the back of his head was ‘as bad as it gets’ according to Dr Will his ICU doctor…. an inspection of the terrain where he fell didn’t explain how he could have sustained such an injury…..The coroners report had no clues either.
The night it happened i was woken by two cops very late in the evening alerting me that Chris was seriously injured. They were let in by my flatmate and just walked into my bedroom. The curious thing about it was i had gone to bed early (which i calculated later was about the time Chris fell) and experienced a profound intense sleep such as I have never experienced before. Wham! Gone. Just like my bro except my “NDE*” was the ‘phantom’ of two cops. * NDE stands for Near Death Experience
It really felt like what i imagine as an NDE. I took their advice and got to Nelson on first flight in the morning. I stayed in Nelson for weeks in a state of shock mixed with the acceptance of the inevitable.
Stayed at a hotel called Postboy at the invitation of Chris friend Craig the owner. Got to meet his companions and share memories of my brother with delightful characters. They were very kind to me and I expressed surprise at how helpful and kind they all were. I was told. On expressing this thought”its not so much that… “It’s because you are Chris Hurleys brother”. They loved him to bits.
I think we all did but we were also aware of the toll alcohol played on his life and how it caused him to live many lives
There was a constant restless urge in him to support the habit in ways that would help him forget his dependence on the good graces of others who unwittingly enabled his life in that terror of an alco-bubble. He was always on the move from bar to bar and when abroad country to country and hotel to hotel. From a lunch of champagne and oysters in a top Parisian Cafe to a greasy pie in a local pub.
And everywhere he went he was watched over by the loving graces of friends old and new.
He was generous charming and greatly admired on the highway but to be honest he was a handful at home between bouts of the highlife. I have been reflecting on my recalls of Chris ever since the bad news and of course ever since he got profoundly addicted to alcohol back in the early 1960s.
It’s haunted me lifelong and just as that sleep the cops woke me up from seemed like a precognition into my brothers fatal knockout so the music I wrote some years before capture the mood around this tragedy long before it happened. Walking to the bridge which is a portal to another order of being.
Its unlike anything I ever wrote but as yet its unreleased.
Why is this songs and a few albums as yet not released?
Well in the case of The Bridge it comes down to the fact it needs tweaking and when anything needs tweaking theres always a cost involved. Also there is the daunting prospect of no marketing therefore no sales therefore no honey and that brings me to a place like my brothers.
I too have an addiction. It’s as fierce as alcohol. Its called art. “life is short art is long” and we are in a hard place now since the digital preference of the people is largely towards shortform content and not epic songs and albums.
The Bridge is an epic song. Lets hope when we lovingly place it on here: bandcamp.com/lukehurley u will click. Here are the lyrics.
Standing on the bridge
Between two lives
The one that we think we lose
The one we survive
There’s continuity
It is taken as read
Beyond belief
You’ve heard it said
Beyond belief
On the bridge
And the way that we live
Distracted most (of) the time
If only we would do
The things that we need to do
Not distracted by want
Standing on the bridge
Back to Flinders
I see the flame
Money is shit
Burning in the name
All of these games we play
On the bridge
On the bridge
Came out of imagination
So called reality
Came out of imagination
As we live on the bridge
Everything you know
Do you know it for sure?
How about for today?
You’d imagine
You know nothing
You know nothing
You won’t be that far from the truth
And we live
Crossing a bridge
This tiny little moment in eternity
Where we came from
Holds no fear
And yet we’re going back
To the same place that we came from
So do look back
Know no fear
On that bridge
Standing on a bridge
I would really appreciate your feedback. Write to me here. Happyislesnz@gmail.com
Without feedback all we have is short-form madness. Lets choose instead to revert back to long-form reflective authentic comms
Ps i have much more to tell regarding my brother and Baccus and steps we are taking to help people get a sane perspective on drugs in general.
I think we need to become adults over the issue of chemical fantasy. Its entirely out of control and we need to do something and we have done something… Of which more later.
“Bandcamp Friday returns Friday, March 7th! On Bandcamp Friday, we waive our revenue share, so every purchase goes straight to the artists. Support your favourite artist”
https://lukehurley.bandcamp.com/
Also this week the Live album is released on Spotify .
BTW – you can also order that live album as a CD if you prefer a CD version.
Also working on an all instrumental album which needs to be mastered. Mastering costs are around $1700. The idea will be to release some unmastered tracks first as a preview to see what support there is.
