It’s a biggie and we stand to lose by playing this one. The costs of the gig are not gonna be met unless there is a big turnout. 500 seats to fill. 02102592919 for ticket details. Update: Added some ticket buttons over here if that is more convenient.
Here are some faces from the road. Thanks to all these people. And see more down the page.
Robbie Barrow
Al from Moutere
Barry Lynch
One needs to entertain thoughts of the good old days with a pinch of salt. They often weren’t that good. Touring for instance. It was a nightmare. The gigs had to be planned well in advance. Posters had to be sent out. Newspapers and radio had to be approached and often wouldn’t respond.
Now it’s all easier. Social media gets the word out. Posters can be run off from a PDF and word can spread way easier. Sound systems are affordable and even transport costs are greatly reduced. So instead of losing you can almost break even but we still need help anywhere we can get it.
So please let folks know on social media and by word of mouth. Come to the gigs – get off the couch 🙂
Call me if you need more info 021 0259 2919
Here are some more stills of my journey so far.
Barry producer of “Make Room” which BTW we want to reissue on vinyl if enough interest?
Le Cafe. Picton. If you are reading this and know anyone in Picton who needs to hear my sounds please call them and let them know I am playing at Le Cafe Picton tonight from 7.30pm.
Tell them to ask for me. Or call 02102592919. It’s a big deal going without Netfix for a couple of hours but they can do it. I know they can
Last night played at a tiny gathering in Island Bay where you enter the venue thru a cupboard. I played a few from back in the day including Make Room which has always been a warning call regarding the distinct possibility of more un-civil wars.
I also played a new song called Crossing The Bridge. Life is a bridge. You cross it and you don’t look back. I played Mona Lisa as this is the Secrets Of The Mona Lisa Tour.
That’s how it started. I got asked to play the opening of the secrets of the Mona Lisa exhibition
Well what do you reckon about touring? It’s been more than ten years since last I toured these 🌴 islands. A tiny record company organised a tour for me and we did about 40 gigs.
It ran at a big loss as most all tours do. It was fun but sadly didn’t pay the bills. Why? Elementary dear Watson. It’s a tiny country. Geographically as big as the Britain but peoplewise it’s the size of Manchester. And this presents formidable problems. No matter who you may be.
There just aren’t enough residents to make staging shows all over the country a professional proposition. Not only that but the people are generally not that interested and if they are they certainly don’t wanna pay when they can get multi billion dollar budget shows on Netflix for nicks.
There is a slight challenge with that in the sense that Netflix isn’t live entertainment but who cares?The less real the more popular. Living breathing humans don’t count for much it seems.
And this presents a problem and only mad dogs and rebels would try to make it pay. That’s where I come in. I am touring again and unashamedly need your support. It’s impossible to tour without support so please ease the pain if you wanna see me more often than once in 11 years. Ha ha.
Fact is artists have to revert to the ancient support system of patronage coz selling their work isn’t so viable in the age of socially sanctioned kleptomania. What happened to copyright law? For instance. Why is my material all over the place freely available. I didn’t allow it. You did. Ha ha.
So please if you like my sounds give something back. Come to a show. Buy an album on band camp or Invite me to play at yours where I can sing for my supper. Call me anytime 02102592919. Here is my itinerary. If you see holes in it then those are dates I can play for you. Got it? See Gig Guide for more details
01. Marton. Concert 02. 03. Levin. Concert 04. Wellington concert 05. Le cafe Picton 06. Tui Community 07. Moutere Inn 08 Barrytown Hall 09. 10. Christchurch house concert 11. 12. 13. Invercargill 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. Sombreros Queenstown 19. Dunedin concert – Kings & Queens Tickets $20 – doors open at 7pm 20. 21. Arthur St Kitchen Timaru- daytime 11am-2pm 02102592919 22. Fairfield House. Nelson – evening concert 02102592919 24. 25. 26. Event is at Benedict’s Cafe, Dowse Drive, Maungaraki at 8pm on Thursday 26 July. Adults $10, children $5 tickets on sale on the door. Family friendly community event , will finish at 9.30pm. Call 02102592919
And 23 27th onwards is free so pls invite me someplace!
If you wanna go to any of the above pls call me for details 02102592919
So you see the holes in the itinerary? Help me fill them ok?and if you can please throw some bones. I got a thirsty car and a lot of expenses. We can’t let the stadium contractors dominate everything. Our fav stars only play one or two gigs and bugger off for a few years. Ha ha as for me. You are stuck with me on these happy isles
But wait. I can play anywhere. Invite me to China please. would love to do a continent now and then!
Just having a coffee at Olaf’s on the eve of my prospective tour.
So far we have bookings in a few offbeat venues. Perfect!probs run at a loss as all tours always do but it be fun and people be more important than things ay? If I were successful I wouldn’t have time to connect.
“This name on the latte is connection.”
It wouldn’t happen unless I were loyal if only to where I sip a pensive dish of caffeine. Ha ha. Let’s hope my loyalty presents itself to my sponsors. That’s you. If you read this blog and listen to my sounds then that’s great support already.
If you throw a few bones my way then even better.
July 2018 tour. No gig too anything. Call me now 021 0259 2919. First confirmed gig is 7th at Moutere. And The secrets Of The Mona Lisa concert July 30 in Palmerston North. Updates to come. Invercargill July 13th, 14th.
It’s been a long time. I had nothing to say. Frankly it was a tough time since the last post. The writing is on the wall for me and other impossible believers. There is only a tiny ledge to stand on and it’s a long way down. In other news a new album has been recorded so there is that 🙂
The studio is a marvel
278 and Mischief 278 on the right is a star cow.
But one things certain. There will always be die hard fans for simple acoustic music just as there are patrons for tiny fine dining cafes. We are not aiming to compete with Mac Donald’s. Ha ha. Hence the new album which was recorded here.
It took a few days to record. The studio is a marvel. It was designed around the superb microphones. It’s so good in fact that bare minimal mixing ensured to get the final result. THE BRIDGE. a song I wrote in 2005 was captured sooooo well. I don’t care what the critics say. It captured what I have wanted to convey since 2005. It’s 9 minutes long and breaks all the rules.
Then there’s FAR AWAY, TO PLAY OR NOT TO PLAY. which is a song based on a tune I wrote 40 years ago. Finally we captured that also. The recording quality is astonishing. Here is the studio.
Inside the studio where we recorded the album
Working title ONE TAKE “Ensured the final result” So simple. A tiny studio in the middle of a field perfectly sound insulated and proportioned to record one voice one guitar in one take where the capture is so good little needs to be done in post production.
Recording is the first step. Need to pay for that and also for mixing and mastering and other production logistics – hopefully with your help.
Pick an amount below to donate $NZ 5, 10, 20, 50 or $150 to Luke for the new album. A shopping cart will display immediately below ( or in the sidebar if that is easier) and this will allow you to make secure payments from your credit card via PayPal. So far the recording has cost $4k and a typical “no frills” budget is around $7k so it would be great if we get some help. We are thinking $20 and above gets you an early release of the album…
Donate $5 to new album (NZD) Donate $10 to new album (NZD) Donate $20 to new album (NZD) Donate $50 to new album (NZD) Donate $150 to new album (NZD)
On another front Crystal Chen’s movie TO BE OR NOT TO BE got a great response at the documentary film fest. Let me know if you want to see it. We can post it online now but it might be a good idea to use it as a fund raiser for the main feature we wanna make. Anyone interested in this project?we need all the help we can possibly get
If you feel inclined to donate to the realisation of impossible beliefs please do so.
Pick an amount below to donate $NZ 5, 20, 100 or $200 to Luke on behalf of Crystal. A shopping cart will display immediately below ( or in the sidebar if that is easier) and this will allow you to make secure payments from your credit card via PayPal. This gives us an idea of how much practical support there is for the film / extended video and will help it get made. We need to get permission from Crystal to show a copy of the clip but we are working on that.
Donate $5 for film (NZD) Donate $20 for film (NZD) Donate $100 for film (NZD) Donate $200 for film (NZD)
PRESS FOR MORE SONGS AND MOVIES
Subscribers to this blog have been a huge encouragement and it’s great to know there is support without the need to sell albums and flicks. No one wants to buy music or flicks. We have become accustomed to getting it free that’s why it’s ok for the creators of music and flicks to unashamedly ask for patronage and keep on regardless.
Just like medieval times. Artists had patrons. The only difference is the new patrons are the everyday folks. Let’s help each other.
Any of you readers with a good idea you wanna promote please send it to us. You might want to get the word out for support of your impossible belief also! Let’s have a look at it anyway. I have to go return my guitar to the warehouse before it closes.
FINALLY one last thing…
The month of July is tour month so please let me know if you have a gig for us. Houseconcerts a specialty. I can play at yours in return for accomodation and a nose bag. We pass the hat around at the gig. Best way to arrange that is for you to phone me on +64 21 025 92919 or landline +64 9 629 5179
It’s a low key working holiday and no one gets rich but we get to catch up in real life outside wwwland See over here for updates.
Bookings being taken now for July 2018 tour. No gig too anything. Call me now 021 0259 2919. First confirmed gig is 7th at Moutere. And The secrets Of The Mona Lisa concert June 30 in Palmerston North. Updates to come. Invercargill July 13th, 14th.
Download poster as an A4 pdf (about 10mb) to print for your event. Poster includes space at the bottom for you to write in your details.
‘To Be or Not to Be’ is an 11 min documentary Directed by Jing Chen, the 11-minute “conversation” takes its title from one of the songs from Hurley’s 1994 album Reha.
He describes meeting the documentary makers as “wonderful serendipity”, saying they approached him while he was out busking in Auckland. “As we were working on it, I was amazed at how they were able to understand where I was coming from.”
The full story is featured in the Stuff entertainment section just last week.
“The documentary also allows Hurley to pay tribute to the influence of his father Donagh. “He was very unusual. He had this whole middle-class cred because he was a surgeon but, at the same time, he was often heard to say that if he had had a choice he would rather have been a painter. I was very fortunate to have been brought up by someone who said, ‘if you want to be a musician Luke, go ahead and do it’.”
Hurley says he’s excited that, after more than 40 years, his father’s manuscripts are just about ready for publication, while he’s nearly finished his own latest acoustic album, which, he says, was “recorded in a shed in the middle of a field with a friend of mine”.
To Be Or Not To Be will debut as part of the Documentary Edge Film Festival’s shorts programme The Launchpad on Saturday, May 12 at 2.30pm at Wellington’s Roxy Cinema. It will also screen during the Auckland-leg of the festival on June 2. For more information, see docedge.nz
