Lachlan Dew was a 23 year old bloke who worked for me at the farm. He was the caretaker at a growing out property we have so his job was principally concerned with the health and welfare of the cows, however his other job was the care and maintenance of a 40 acre block of tree's we planted around 4-5 years ago. Lachie as he was known, had a degree in forestry, he was a sweet and funny guy who knew how to do a days work. He came up to the farm one day because he'd heard in the village that I was looking for an extra hand to help out the manager.
After he had finished his degree he had applied, he said, for over 100 jobs to do with forestry, the only thing he ever got offered was tree planting, something he'd already done a massive amount of while doing his course. He wanted something more challenging. In one of life's ironic turns, with no job in his chosen career materializing, he found himself doing the only job he could get in the area for a decent wage, working at a sawmill.
How incredibly frustrating that must have been, someone who was dedicated to the care and protection of tree's cutting lumber.
With a touch of desperation in his voice, he told me he was the only bloke at the sawmill who still had all his fingers, and he'd really like to keep them, but working at the mill, it was only a matter of time.
I gave him a job on the spot and told him about the eucalypt plantation, he was very excited about that part of the job.
He set about examining them, tree by tree, uprooted 1000 or so he thought hadn't quite struck well, went into the bush, collected the seeds of the types of trees he wanted, and replanted, they are all doing fine.
Tragically, while I was in Canada, Lachlan Dew lost his life. A car accident, late at night on a country road, a tragedy all too common in the bush.
I enjoyed his company so much I took it very hard. I was a long way from home and I knew the whole valley would be grieving, he was very well liked. His mum and dad are pillars of the community and he had a brood of loving and affectionate sisters that he would sometimes talk about. I've been told it was the biggest funeral the valley had ever experienced.
So that's where I was when I started writing Raewyn.
I started thinking about Lachie's sisters and the senseless loss of their baby brother.
I started to think how awful my life growing up would have been without my brother.
I realised, something I knew, but perhaps had never connected.
Both my parents had lost a sibling.
My mother's sister Raewyn committed suicide at 21.Slashed her wrists in the bath.
My Father's younger brother, the youngest of four, Charles died at 17 in a scuba diving accident. He was with my grandfather Jack at the time.
I started to understand how my father might of been able to comfort my mother because of sharing the tragedy of losing their younger siblings, and also how powerful a bond it must be.
I started to understand the guilt that must of racked my grandfather for the rest of his days.
And the simmering anger that a lot of the women folk in my family seemed to feel for Jack whenever he was around, my mother included.
And, I realized that I too had that anger toward him, I'd not been too fussed when he died, we had not spent that much time with him for years. He was very provocative company. He would always manage to get my mother upset, make jokes about her cooking etc,she was a caterer, used to serving hundreds at a very high level and it would irk her that he always found fault. Other people have told me that it was his sense of humour that my mother didn't understand. I've been told by many relatives that I attack my life in a similar way to him and may have inherited the same sense of provocation in my humour.
The first time I really saw and heard my Father cry was at Jacks funeral. One of the reasons we had moved back to New Zealand was to be closer to our relatives, but he died soon after we had got back, a matter of months perhaps, so we really hadn't gotten into the rhythm of life in New Zealand yet ,new school, living in a house for the first time since we had left New Zealand, and we just hadn't spent that much time with him. Then one day he was gone. No warning, heart attack while mowing the lawns.
That funeral has haunted me throughout my life. Here was someone who I didn't feel I knew or understood, he was dead and his death was tearing apart my father, literally tearing him apart in front of me, the deepest soul wrenching grief that made me cry for days afterwards, and I felt so guilty that I didn't feel love for my grandfather. I knew I had loved him once, when I was little, he was always full of stories, but between 6 or 7 and 14 I had hardly seen him.
Suddenly after all this time, something had changed in my life and my grandfather and I, he being dead for 26 years , had something in common, a son called Charlie.
I'm not sure of the year of my uncle Charlie's death. It may have been before I was born or just after. I'll ask my Father again tomorrow, It's too late at night, he'll be in bed now.
Charles Spencer Crowe was christened on the 7th of April 2005 at the chapel on the farm in Nana Glen. The congregation sang "Raindrops keep falling on my head". The Baptism was performed by Bishop Phillip Huggins.
NEW MESSAGE FROM RUSSELL
Hello,
So as usual the media and some sad types have picked up on what I've
written to you and turned it, but also as usual the vast majority of you
get it and understand and thanks for all your positive feedback.
And no matter what Bruno says, if you've got a question, ask him, or Ray
for that matter. Apart from the I-tunes stores, over time we will have
information for you as to what service you will be able to use in
Australia
etc all the places you ask us about that I-tunes doesn't cover.
Maybe I shouldn't write to you in this manner because it certainly gives
lazy and petty people something to do with their days, however, all the
other options are quite simply tainted.
We don't demand anything of the sites we offer things like this too. They
are independent and can post or not. For those of you asking for official
corporate structures, for minute to minute minutiae and for things to
never
change or evolve, please go away.
My enthusiasm for these new songs is in no way meant to denigrate Tofog or
anyone who has played in the band or anyone I have written songs with. I
love the guys in Tofog and have had some amazing experiences with them.
I have always written from the heart, but is it too hard to imagine that I
might have always felt I was capable of more, as a composer, as a
lyricist; that I could simply do better. I thank all of you that have
expressed love for certain songs and hope you find something in the new
ones.
I took the advice of some well known colleagues and turned down the white
noise that can come with a band with a 20 year history. And allowed myself
in the studio to concentrate on the simple tasks of composition and
singing, not being a den mother, designated driver, referee, father
confessor or travel agent as my job in the band seems to include.
I wrote a song called Raewyn with
After a couple of weeks of writing, we called some guys up to the farm,
spent two weeks in the padded cell, popped down to the pub at Coff's to
try out some songs, lived and breathed recording 24/7 and here's a
record.
There is nothing sinister or strange, it was all in the moment. If you
will
recall I did say in my buried reply to the telegraph, after their coverage
of the demise of Eucalyptus became about vilifying me, that it would only
serve to make me write more songs.
Once again, just telling it how it is.
If there is a strange thing about my friendship with Alan, it’s that for
two
guys who spend most of our time together laughing and talking, s**t we
write some serious stuff.
Sensationalizing this is just pointless.
As usual the press are using phrases like "embarking on a solo
career".
No I'm not, I’ve just made a record, we will try very hard to set it up
in a
way you can get it without you having to resort to illegal means, and if
you'd like us to,
this record, would love to meet you in a venue somewhere and sing you some
songs.
That is all it's ever been about - music is its own reward.
But as I said I need to chat this through with Dani and understand her
plans with her new record and if any of this traveling can coincide
because I can only go a certain amount of time without seeing my family,
about 45 minutes apart and panic sets in.
As I said, we are doing a lot of talking about things and appreciate your
input re towns and venues.
Would somebody go over to Necie's place please and cheer her up.
April 19th.
Cheers,
RC.
Mid Life Thesis by R.Crowe.
Dear Music Lovers,
Well you will be pleased to know it
looks like I will release an album soon that doesn't have
"What's Her Name?" on it.
What you possibly won't be pleased
about, nor understand fully until you hear this record, is that tofog
would seem to have dissolved/evolved.
while that holds certain
disappointments, they pale in comparison to the joy of writing
unrestricted, of talking from my heart and mind simultaneously about
things that are important to me now, right now, in this time of my life,
not when I was younger or dare I say it less world weary/wary, but now, as
a 41 year old father/husband/lover/man.
The band on this record is Dave Kelly,
Stewart Kirwan, Pb Berton, Bones Hillman (bass) and Stuart Hunter (piano).it
was produced by Alan Doyle and is being mixed by Nathaniel Kunkel. At this
point in time, we are calling the record "My Hand, My Heart”, as in
what I have written comes from there. Ray thinks it’s too soft, but he
hasn't heard the whole record yet, and quite frankly it is soft, gentle,
expressive, thoughtful...soft.
the album touches on varying subjects,
my beautiful wife, past relationships, my son, people I know, family
tragedy, immigrant cane cutters, vilification, a choral requiem for a dead
friend, my contribution to the genre of drinking songs(the title track, My
Hand, My Heart), optimism, and perspective. It is without doubt the most
satisfying record I've ever made, and I know when you hear it you will be
seduced by its beauty.
On April 19th Raewyn, the song
mentioned in the GQ article, will be released as an I-tunes single.
We will begin to pursue a traditional release when we see how that goes
and hear your reaction to the song.
Our relationship with Artemis has not
been a successful one. We need to find a champion in a company with wide
distribution to simply make the record available, an individual or group
of people who are as much in love with the music as I am.
If we don't feel a real connection is
possible, we will go back to mail order, which I'm also happy with. Bruno
less so, because he has to lick the stamps.
The I-tunes release is an important
first step to finding a home for this record .please be cool about giving
up your two bucks and not file sharing. We’ll take a straw poll on
making the lyrics available prior to hearing the song, or simultaneously,
let Bruno know your feelings.
I've chosen to release this song first
because it is the first song Alan Doyle and I wrote together and it is the
only song I've ever written that has made both men and women cry, think,
and call their parents, usually in that order. I have e-mails from Sting
and Billy Bragg, two of my song writing heroes that give testament to the
quiet power of the song.
We will post those closer to the date
of release, and when you read them I believe you will understand what a
breathtaking validation they felt like to me.
This record is fresh, revelatory and
graceful.
I know over time there have been a lot
of fans who don't seem to understand that fitting the music in and around
my day job is very tricky, and sometimes the expectation of formalized
corporate structure for my music is just unreasonable.
For me, music is its' own reward
.anyone else's enjoyment of it is purely an extension of the experience
I've already had as a writer. I’m not out to foist my music on anyone,
but I would like a clean and simple way for you guys to get it easy. Maybe
that is I-tunes?
I've taken the opportunity that the
postponement of eucalyptus gave me and I've poured my heart into songs
instead. Alan Doyle is the first magical music collaboration I have
experienced, the type of synergy that I experience all the time with other
actors or directors or screen writers like Akiva Goldsman has always
eluded me in music, with only snatches of time spent in the white light of
veracity in creation. Writing painted veil comes to mind.
There are 5 crowe/doyle songs on this
record, 5 examples of seamless, resonant, common ground collaboration. One
of Alan's songs that tofog murdered regularly, is here in it's true to
lyric state. Slaid Cleaves, a young genius from
I'm typing and yawning, studio hours
don't really suit me. I like waking before the dawn, not going to bed
after it. Yeah, call me a fuddy duddy, I don't care. You may have noticed
I've been called worse.
There is no real master plan for world
domination, if you guys like the record we will do our best to tour in the
summer. It's been too long I'm missing your crazy, obsessed faces. And
here's another thing, I hope I get to hear you singing along to this
stuff. We have the best sounding audience around. I am in negotiations
with Dani and Charlie. By the way Dani is in the studio as we speak, I
think they were doing bass tracks today.
Wow, just thinking of a summers night
in Austin, a whole new world of music to play you, all these new stories
to tell, the glisten of your laughter, your voices rising to meet the
Texas moon, sweat pouring off my fingers...well, we will see huh? Let
Bruno know if you want us to tour to your town.
RC
'OTHER WAYS OF SPEAKING' INTERNATIONAL
Other Ways Of Speaking is set to be released around the world on August 2nd.
The album will be released by Rykodisc.
The release will include the music videos for Never Be Alone Again and for Mission Beat.
The countries where Rykodisc will be releasing the album are:
UK
Ireland
France
Germany
Holland
Belgium
Spain
Italy
Austria
Croatia
Czech Republic
Serbia-Montenegro
Greece
Hungary
Iceland
Poland
Portugal
Russia
Denmark
Norway
Sweden
Slovakia
Slovenia
Switzerland
Turkey
Ukraine
Chile
India
Israel
Taiwan
Korea
Mexico
South Africa
The album can also be purchased via the Rykodisc website www.rykodisc.co.uk
The Soundstage episode featuring 30 Odd Foot of Grunts will air during the Second Season of Soundstage, which begins on local public television stations in June of 2004. WTTW11 (the producing station) will begin airing Soundstage Season 2 with Fleetwood Mac on June 17 at 9:00 p.m. Since every public television station airs Soundstage on different days and at different times, in order to find out when a Soundstage episode will air on a particular station you should either call your local PTV station directly, in the late Spring, or to keep checking the airdate checker at www.pbs.org/soundstage. Click on "airdates" and scroll down to the bottom of the page and select your state...all of the PTV stations carrying the show should list on your screen with their airdates and times. It's still too early for any info to be posted on the airdate checker regarding season 2, so you might want to check it again in late Spring.
NEW PICTURE OF THE 'WEEK'
Do you know how long a week is on Pluto??? Neither do I but it's a hell of a long time... I mean... it's all relative really.