Charlies OFFICIAL Subcontinental Adventures

Schindlers lift.....

2011-11-28T06:44:00.001+08:00

Coming out of a gig in the convention centre the other night and noticed this on the escalator,I thought this guy mainly did elevators?

Making spaceships with Finn

2011-11-27T07:43:00.001+08:00

I have been putting aside as many cardboard boxes as I could for the last few weeks for Finn. We had a few options the other day, a train, a castle, a robot suit, but Finn finally decided on a super fast spaceship complete with wings an everything. Today im going to try to mount it on/around his bike so he can cycle it around the place.

Full Rainbow

2011-11-09T09:28:00.002+08:00

Not often you get a chance to see one of these, this is the view out our back door from yesterday afternoon

Barrel conversion

2011-11-05T07:24:00.001+08:00

I had an idea a few months to convert a wine barrel for home theatre and hombrew purposes. Its on three castors and is ideal for outdoor cinema activities. We watched the snapper on it the other night, what a blast from the past. If you fancy doing this a few obstacles are the fact that there is not a single adhesive element in cooperage so be sure to reinforce the entire thing from the inside before cutting. There can be up to 5 litres of wine soaked into the wood so either sand it back (loose structural support) or just seal it with varnish or a paint like I did. Also, make sure your projector is well ventitd as the hot air can split the wood and in extreme circumstances cause the whole thint go up in flames.

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Mel-burn-cup

2011-11-05T06:57:00.001+08:00

There is an annual horse race, grand national-esque, which is accompanied my many local traditions including the novelty bonnet. This was our departments attempt at school last week, we came second, scoring points for innovation......

Airway congestion....

2011-11-05T06:55:00.001+08:00

Some attribute the recent qantas grounding to union issues, truth is the annual graduation of the year 12's here at school, along with its ritual releasing of balloons may have something to do with it......

Shillelagh Law new spring/summer catalogue

2011-10-10T07:57:00.001+08:00

The lads from The Law have a new look...

Shillelagh Law new spring/summer catalogue

2011-10-10T07:56:00.001+08:00

The lads from The Law have a new look...

The worlds most modified gig stand

2011-10-10T07:55:00.001+08:00

Mike, beer holder and now a personal air conditioning unit.....

Fionn....

2011-10-10T07:54:00.001+08:00

Since my back has been at me I find sitting in the car for long periods very difficult, so I have a new chauaffeur....

Atticus and the chicks

2011-10-10T07:53:00.001+08:00

Finn meets the chicks

2011-10-10T07:52:00.001+08:00

Finn in the giant ball

2011-10-10T07:50:00.001+08:00

Royal Show with the kids

2011-10-10T07:46:00.001+08:00

We took the lads to teh royal show (big agricultural and fun-fair annual activity here in Perth) last week. It was good fun but Atticus was a bit too young to really get what was going on, except for the sheep, he loves sheep. Here he is intruducing his favourite teddy "Lamby", to one of the sheep in the shearing que

Waterboys Transcription

2011-10-04T13:17:00.001+08:00

A brief transcription of the instrumental sections from the Waterboys song "A Man Is In Love", for anyone looking to learn the tune in the middle.

Finn learning the ropes......eh....springs

2011-09-26T08:42:00.001+08:00

Trampofinn

2011-09-26T07:11:00.001+08:00

Finn discovered the trampoline next door last week and pursues any opportunity to visit again. Yesterday he was perfecting his face-planting techique

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2011-09-26T07:09:00.001+08:00

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Atticus Morris

2011-09-26T07:06:00.001+08:00

Here is Atticus form yesterday hooning around the back garden on his firetruck, he can really move on that thing

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2011-09-26T07:05:00.001+08:00

Daniel Larusso aint got nothing on me

2011-09-23T22:41:00.001+08:00

So.....got back from a gig, early, was tidying the kitchen and had in my hands a bowl, a soup spoon, an empty wine bottle and some chopsticks when i noticed this fly on the wall. Being an eternal 80's fuelled optimist (teen wolf/karate kid/star wars (the real ones) back to the future etc.) i decided to go all Myaggi on this fly and went for it with the chopsticks......as you can probably guess i missed, then somehow I remembered a skill I never learned before, some sort of inherrant genetic instinct to pinch the chopsticks about 2 cms above the flys locus and would ya believe it, there he was trapped betwixt the sticks of chop!...and I though the day peaked when one of my viola students was invited to play a the 2012 olympics!!!

There is a fly in my soup...

2011-09-23T08:28:00.001+08:00

Check out this wee fellah bathing in my pint last night, reminds me of that joke about a guy who drowned in a vat of beer at a brewery, police were surprised to hear he got out five times to go to the loo....

The bard has his own fashion label

2011-09-23T08:27:00.001+08:00

Ger Starr, singer, guitarist and now a fashion icon...

2011-09-20T13:04:00.004+08:00

I have a new outfit I am playing with called Shillelagh Law, and have set up a blog in order to promote the band etc. Check it out here http://shillelaghlawband.blogspot.com/ comments/suggestions/donations welcome :)

Off to the tower to rescue fair maidens...

2011-09-18T14:24:00.001+08:00

Arrow selection was an arduous process, Finn has very high standards.

Searching for treasure

We wrapped a box of smarties up in tinfoil and then burried it whilst Finn set off on a treasure hunt with his new set of garden tools Tristen got him for his birthday recently.

The scoville report.....

2011-09-18T14:19:00.001+08:00

The scoville report.....

..he robs from the rich and gives to the poor...

Check out Finn and his new hobby. We were chopping up a few branches from the mulberry tree the other day and out came the leatherman, a few tactical cuts and some jumbo elastic band wrangling later Finn was taking pot shots all over the garden. William tell watch out!

The worlds greatest roadie

2011-09-10T19:23:00.001+08:00

The milk moustache master

Very tom selleck

Darts with spiderman

2011-08-29T18:04:00.001+08:00

2011-08-29T17:56:00.001+08:00

2011-08-29T17:50:00.001+08:00

Finns birthday surplus balloons

2011-08-29T17:43:00.001+08:00

More balloons

Finns Cake

Jane does an amazing job at making cakes and every year Finn gets to decide what kind of cake he gets for his birthday. This year he is playing a lot of that Angry Birds game so Jane put together this masterpiece.

Ceiling no 3

2011-08-27T10:10:00.001+08:00

The back is back

I have been out of action for the last week and a bit with a slipped disc and a dislocated facet joint. It has been an interesting week of reading books, insane boredom and observation of ceilings. Highlights included Ann smuggling guiness into the overnight observation ward, Liam with his womans gossip magazines and of course the ambulance ride. Word to the wise, look after your back, you only get one.

Australia & Guinness, the definitive decision

Australia (along with any landmass 50 miles from St James'gate) is often tarnished with the "it doesnt travel well/made from different water/its the way they pour it/different shaped glassess/flow on the line/phase of the moon etc." tags. Well, after 6 years of intense investigation and research I can put my hand on my heart and say its exactly the same over here, taste, texture, consistancy, flavour, head retention, mouthfeel etc.. Well done guinness, and Tim here, for delivering three of the finest to the band last saturday night.

Ceiling no 1

2011-08-27T10:05:00.001+08:00

Ceiling no 2

Observation room

Happy Birthday Mick

2011-08-21T08:41:00.001+08:00

Happy Birthday Mick

Micks Suprise birthday

Twas Micks birthday the other day and Fiona organised a suprise party in the city. It was so funny, he was ringing around looking for someone to go for a beer with and we were all forwarned to have "other appointments" at the time, he got a great suprise when he walked around the corner and we were all there.

Tools of the trade...

I have started playing with a new band here called Clover. Its a 3 piece, irish folk and ballad band, guitar, banjo and fiddle and we all sing, thats right, im singing in public now, wonders will never cease.

The young Jedi

Finn and I spent a good 3 hours on the lego project over the last few days, here he is on saturday morning in his Jedi costume/uncle Charlies hoodie ready to use the force

revolutionary new dog-yoga technique...

2011-08-06T09:24:00.001+08:00

The Falcon

2011-08-06T09:19:00.001+08:00

Jane got me a present about two years ago of this COLLOSSAL lego mellenium falcon, over 5000 individual pieces of lego and for a lot of them, there is only ONE of each. So yesterday we cleared the ping-pong table and got right into it for a few hours

Find the grey piece Finn......

Portable pint glass

2011-08-03T20:54:00.001+08:00

Begone are the days when you rock up at a party with your cans of guinness and there is not a pint glass in the house so you are reduced to drinking your glorious bounty of stout from a teacup, filling occasionally and bereft of the visually mystifying settling sequence, behold the latest in fancy stuff here on coode street, the portable pint glass. A quick flick'o'de'wrist and away ya go. Great stuff.

Portable pint glass

a blast from the pas....future

Here is Finn and his partner in crime Oliver after a hard evenings playing around, kicking back watching a movie with a few pints of uncle Charlies homebrew. Somehow I can imagine these dudes in about 16 years doing the exact same thing....

Lego breakfast with the padawan

2011-07-30T15:00:00.001+08:00

Lego breakfast with the padawan

Lego, starwars and smarties

2011-07-30T07:35:00.001+08:00

Finn stayed over last night, it was great, we got to make lego star wars vehicles for hours! Here he is after dinner with his smiley smarties

More solo gigs

2011-07-30T07:29:00.001+08:00

I did another solo violin gig the other day, playing at an awards ceremony and reception afterwards. This time I went old-school and didnt use any backing tracks, loop pedals or anything. Here is the settup, music stand with suzuki books 3-8 and a few show tunes, fiddle clip and the all important glass of wine holder

How would you like your solo today sir?

Check out the controls on the sandwich toaster at work, I have the exact same controls on my viola....

More spice

2011-07-24T09:50:00.001+08:00

the chilli sauce collection grows and grows, not only does it make food taste great, it also boosts your metabolism by 25% so its great for weight loss etc.

Bike in a bag

Check out this bag i got for my bike. I have done a few gigs recently where I have cycled to the gig and had to leave the rothar outside, the last time i had some stuff stolen from it so the last two gigs I cycled to I took the bike inside the venue's, but it looks wierd to have to do that, so I got myself this bag, so now it just looks like I am taking in PA equipment. Sorted.

gigometer

I was playing at a sesion during the week and the battery light on my pre-amp came on, this yoke is rated for 2000 hours per battery, thats a lotta jigs'n'reels!

Roland mobile cube`

2011-07-15T07:43:00.001+08:00

I did a gig last night for a home open of a palacial gaff in Dalkeith (fancy area of perth. The place was masssssive, several social areas, pool, ten bedrooms, little kitchenettes all over the place, however, the funniest thing was all the punters checking it out ( the place was over 5 million dollars) were baffled as to the lack of elevators in the place, one lady commented "well i SUPPOSE i can take the stairs...". Hilarious.

I played in the foyer by the door and used my roland speaker, but this time i didn't use the electric and didnt plug the accoustic in either, which was quite nice to be able to wander around the place and still jam along to the most croonable , alphabetically sorted jazz playlist imaginable.

The lego master

Finn is really getting into the lego now, making his own spaceships and racing cars. Here is one from yesterday with its own torpedo launcher and superspeed button. Its great when Finn visits, he is great company AND i get to play with lego for hours!

The Knights Attack

2011-07-14T08:21:00.001+08:00

Check out these two medieval miscreants who were pillaging their way around the house last night

Sir Finn, Sir Oliver and their wardog

Bye bye sydney

2011-07-04T06:47:00.001+08:00

So our tour came to an end, one last group shot then straight onto the next plane to perth. It was a great experience for all and we are already looking forward to the next one

Pops concert at Darling Harbour

2011-07-03T06:36:00.001+08:00

pre-gig-planning

Here I am introducing the pieces, i dont think anyone understood my accent....

Singapore muso's

2011-07-03T06:31:00.001+08:00

We got a chance to do a workshop with the chinese orchestra from singapore, all manner of fancy instruments to investigate and explore. My favourite was the chinese violin, the urh-hu (pardon the spelling) two strings, tuned in 5ths, so kinda like half a violin really. I had a go off one, and tried to play a pentatonic system but it ended up being a jig (lannigans ball) much to the puzzzlement of the owner.....

Charlie burger

Here is that gourmet burger place again

Charlie burger co.

2011-07-01T23:13:00.001+08:00

Had a burger in this place today, WOW! Imagine comparing a ferrarri with a rollerskate, this burger was like it was from a different food group/planetery system. Wagyu beef with all the trimmings. YUM!

Backstage at the opera house

2011-06-30T22:16:00.001+08:00

Bumped into Dan backstage

Guess who I met

So , wandering around the sydney late night markets, custodian of 64 teens and guess who was there to greet them all.....

Celllooooo

Here are the cello section backstage.. It was a fantastic performance, the girls played out of their skins and the feedback was excellent. Thats it now. Top 3 all ticked, berlin koncerthause, amsterdam concertabau and sydney opera house. Roll on next weeks gig in a field somewhere......

2011-06-29T16:36:00.001+08:00

Traditional chinese orchestra at the festival

We are doing an exchange with this orchestra on friday and we all get to swap instruments

Water taxi

Mouth of sydney harbour

2011-06-29T16:24:00.001+08:00

The orchestra under the bridge

Last minute cramming in the corridore

2011-06-28T16:20:00.001+08:00

The bridge

2011-06-28T14:30:00.001+08:00

My new burger joint...

2011-06-28T10:48:00.001+08:00

Government house

2011-06-28T05:41:00.001+08:00

Some bridge thing

We get to play here on thursday

Touchdown

2011-06-27T06:18:00.001+08:00

So here we all are, 84 of us in sydney airport, here for a week of concerts and workshops with the main one being a performance in the sydney opera house on Thursday. Speaking of the opera house, if you get a chance check out a movie called "mrs Careys Concert", its about a privage girls school doing a concert in sydney, and its exactly what this week is like.

What would MacGuyver do?

2011-06-23T21:14:00.001+08:00

So you got home from orchestra, fancy a beer and sitting in front of the fire and light a few candles and cant find the matches? Well try this, pop a wee magnet in the box and attatch it to any metal surface. When the matches run out just keep the magnet and pop it into the next box. This will also work for dish towels, just sew a magnet into one corner and stick it to your fridge/bbq/artificial hip. Easy. Magnets....the velcro of 2011!

Canine Synchronised Snoozery

2011-06-22T22:39:00.002+08:00

As i blog this the dogs have taken formation on the rug in the shed. These guys should join an olympic swimming team...

Junior School

2011-06-22T22:32:00.003+08:00

The JS string quartet played with the year 5/6 choir last week at a inter-school festival at the convention centre. The quartet played fantastcally, it was their first time playing a concert with stage lights, they were mesmerised

Junior Morris Book Club...

Spot the Viola

The quartet accompanied the choir at another concert and if you look very carefully you can see one of my viola students 'flying the flag'

1,3,4,1,3,4,

2011-06-22T22:26:00.002+08:00

The irish waltz they call it 1.3.4.1.3.4. I could havebeen conducting anything last thursday as my year 3/4 orchestra (ages 6-8) took to the stage and proceeded to perform out of their skins. I dont think science will ever quantify the percentage increase of skill/attention/tonality between last rehearsal and concert, i reckon they played 300% better that night and were suddenly 400% worse the following day. Well ya win some ya loose some i guess

haaaiiiaaaa

The only was I could keep my year 2 (6-7 year olds and 28 of them) string orchestra quiet backstage and in concert order was to train them for the three weeks previous inthe arts of ninjitsu. We figured out a few years ago that the quietest thing in the universe after a total vacuum was a fairy ninja. Here are a few of the girls being as quiet as they can. They tried very hard but after approx 4 seconds, the one at the front felt it prudent to inform me that she has 4 cats and it is her uncles birthday next week and one of her shoes she tied a different way to the other one......

Back to bloggery

2011-06-22T22:08:00.002+08:00

Apologies for the delay readers, have been incredibly distracted with the whole work thing, I have a slightly different new position this year and it requires a bit more planning as it is its first cycle. Anyhoo pretty much back to normal now. Here is Ambassador Doyle and myself enjoying a 1 litre beer a few weeks ago. Consumed with ghusto I can assure you

Finn-ja the Ninja

2011-06-06T08:32:00.001+08:00

We had a ninja vs geisha party the other night and Finn stayed over. The following morning we had arranged to go for dim sum in town (asian breakfast) and Finn came dressed as a ninja. Turned a few heads in the the place....

Afterwards, we went to town and here we are at lunch making lego race-cars. I wish I was 5 again!

Winter brewing

2011-06-04T08:03:00.001+08:00

Finally got time to move the brewing operations out the the shed, but the only thing is the shed is too cold during the winter to maintain an ambient temperature between 18 and 30 during the night, which wasnt really a problem in the old house as I brewed indoors. I bought three 5W heat pads from Neills and set them up out the back.

It was then necessary to construct some form of insullation for the fermenters so as this is all supposed to be on a budget of zero, out came the leatherman, the duct tape and a few cardboard boxes

And here we have it, a perfectly functioning incubation chamber to maintain all that fermentationary shenanigannary

New doorbell

2011-06-01T22:01:00.001+08:00

After several dodgy cheap doorbells expiring on us I decided to go old-school and nail a xylaphone to the wall where the button used to be. Finn loves it and I have yet to challenge my students to play the piece they are learning on it to gain entry...

Finns new lego box

Finns lego collection is increasing so it was time to commission a new box.

I can park nearer to shop doors now......

I have taken the plunge and am going for percussion lessons, specifically the cajon, i found this girl who studied with a cajon flamenco master so i am learning the ropes from scratch, this is my homework this week, boom-a-bang-a-boom-a-boom-a. As much as I consider it a demotion from being a pro-violist, I do see the advantage of being able to claim the title of percussionist and get to park in those special parking spots...

Christmas present request....

Samurai Umbrella....HAI!

Alpaca madness

2011-05-29T18:35:00.001+08:00

We did a gig at a farm festival yesterday and these guys were everywhere, they are like lama's but have wooly hair like sheep and are a bit smarter than sheep too, which makes them an attractive alternative over here for farmers.

Winter mats for the dogs

Fionn is almost invisible on his mat, Rielly is trying her best to blend in....

Fionn loves his new toy

Look what fell off the tree

2011-05-29T07:47:00.001+08:00

I picked around twenty kilos of grapefruit yesterday from one of our fruit trees, they are really fresh, I hope they can help me shift this cold I picked up at work.

Lulo Rienhardt

2011-05-22T15:31:00.001+08:00

We went to a gig last night, meal then concert type of deal, it was Django Rienhardt's grand-nephew and his band. They sounded great, we, by luck of the draw, were sitting pretty much on the stage so had opportunity to chat to the fiddle player and to see Lulos left hand which is composed entirely of index fingers, seriously that guys pinky was more agile than spiderman after a red-bull and caffine marathon. Our old friend Hamk Marvin got up for a tune at one point also.

Lulo Rienhardt

2011-05-18T22:11:00.001+08:00

We called up to John in the hills last weekend and helped build a wall out the back of his place, I have never done anything like this before, it was good fun but I felt it in the fingers the following day, my trills were not so trilly at violin that morning...

the wall

Dogs new toys

2011-05-18T22:04:00.000+08:00

We re-purposed a few things in teh house recently, one of which was a pair of bears which got donated to the dogs, some of you may remember teh zombie pox chicken that Rielly had a few years back, well she is looking after this one much better, Fionn has managed to completely dismember his in 3 days...

Cinema night with the Finn Man

Finn stayed over the other night so after dinner and a bit of lego spaceships it was cinema time. Here he is in his bunk with jane and the dogs below watching a movie on the wall of his bedroom, thats the projector over there on the far left. He really loves his movies, and is getting better at not telling you whats going to happen next.

Leon and John hard at it

Tabasconette

2011-05-08T10:42:00.002+08:00

This is the current range of chilli sauces in my collection, ranging from weak to molten lava strenghts, the two green ones are my favourites at the moment, that nando's peri peri has a bit of a kick but maaaaan that habanero tabasco which rings in at 200,000+ on the scoville scale sure has a lot of oooomph!

It has arrived

2011-05-01T09:40:00.001+08:00

Finally got around to getting myself one of these, its a cajon, a south american percussion instrument which played correctly can sound like an entire drum kit, Im gonna bring it along to the session next week and see what happens...

Flash banjo player

2011-04-27T22:35:00.001+08:00

Doing a gig Last sunday when paul says 'hey charlie, check this out, this'll get'em going'. I expected some sort of blistering banjo lick or the intro to the next tune, instead he flicked a switch and activated his luminary tricolour beacon of a banjo, hilarious!

Finn learns the ropes as grandad sets the bar high...

Check this out

2011-04-19T15:37:00.001+08:00

Just got back from a gig which I played entirely with one finger, my line was the third one down.

Finn learns ping pong

2011-04-19T08:22:00.001+08:00

New tap's first outing

Here is the new tap on its first official outing, success all round.

retiring the old fleet

2011-04-18T16:55:00.001+08:00

Finally, i got around to replacing my old instrument cases, so its off to the case repositary in the sky for these chaps

Kegerator room

Here is the latest settup in the shed, kegerator with standing desk for the computer.

New venue at Club Coode: The Ping Pong Lounge

2011-04-18T16:49:00.001+08:00

What has Fionn been up to.....

Keg upgrade

Every year I try to make an upgrade to the homebrew settup, well today i splashed out on a fancy tap for my party portable keg. Very smart looking.

Easter present

2011-04-17T07:40:00.001+08:00

Got this from a student today

Awwwww poor ground.....

I was in school last week on the way to the maintenance office to report an issue when I came across this terannian quick fix, it was very early on the last few days of school, the hilarity was lost on most of the staff......

Charlie the easter chick

Check out this easter egg/chick I got from a student, i need to explain to them all at spme stage that I like beer, not chocolate

the latest in canine footwear

Soldiers with Finn

2011-04-13T07:09:00.001+08:00

New pencil

2011-04-11T21:50:00.001+08:00

Its stout season again

2011-04-10T09:31:00.001+08:00

Yup, its getting into the long harsh perth winter here again ;) so it was time to break out the old stout recepies, here are the two currently on offer Formula X and Brand Z, both similar recepies appart from one key ingredient.

Pepsi challenge....

Last friday we got two pizza's, one from Stones and one from Hero's and did a pizza challenge. Stones is a gourmet pizza place in north perth run by a serious chef and has all sorts of international awards and Hero's is a place where if you show up with your underwear on the outside you get a free pizza, so two pretty different sides of the spectrum. Have to say it was pretty close but Hero's came out on top this time,

Symmetrical canine snoozery

Hovawart in action

2011-04-03T00:31:00.001+08:00

Fionn's breed is a hovawart, german hova = house, wart or ward = guard, so houseguard, and you can see it in everything he does. Here he is checking for anything suspicious out the back door.

Happy birthday Atticus

2011-04-02T23:59:00.001+08:00

Atti was one year old last week so we had a wee birthday party, here is Finn blowing out the candle on Atti's behalf

The stout is back

2011-04-02T23:53:00.001+08:00

Interesting places I have left my bike at gigs part 1

part 2

Delivery Express Service

2011-03-23T07:30:00.001+08:00

Finns bike got outfitted with a basket last night, here he is delivering guinness to the table

Greatest hits.....

2011-03-19T22:19:00.001+08:00

Here are all the stouts I have made over the last few years, most have been repeated many many times. At the moment the uisce dubh and the icbing (i cant believe its not guinness) are bubbling away downstairs, should be ready by april.

Finncomm

Check out Finn's onboard bike communication system.

Beer burps

2011-03-19T09:08:00.003+08:00

It is prime brewing temperature at the moment, I took this video about 30 mins after sealing the fermenters, fired up almost instantly. Two stouts (its gonna be stout season soon) and a kicker of a lager, my best recipe.

2011-03-19T08:25:00.001+08:00