Acoustic Dirt

Here's a grainy cellphone photo of Dirt Box Charlie performing their first all-acoustic show. It was for the Palmerston North City Library's NZ Music Month gig series, and was an absolutely fantastic set!
Hayden adapted himself to djembe, tambourine and kick drum; Mike moved seamlessly to double bass and acoustic bass guitar; Chris went all Tommy Emmanuel on his Maton guitar; and Brandon glided (glode?) on top with silky sax lines.
Plugged in or not, Dirt Box Charlie bring the funky blues to you in style.

Free downloads for NZ Music Month
Remember that at TurkbyTone Rekkids, we're celebrating NZ Music Month by putting rare old Bing Turkby albums up for free download at turkby.bandcamp.com.
They have been posted as "Pay what you like", which means you can take them for free, or make a donation to the "save the BTE" fund, whatever you prefer. So when you go to download, you'll see a message asking how much you want to pay. If you enter "0", the payment thing disappears and it'll let you download for free. Don't worry - it won't force you to pay anything!
After May there will probably be some rotating free downloads, but nothing on this scale, so get in now if you're thinking about it!
So far the first three albums are up there, as well as the uber-rare "Sword of Xanthros", the song that inspired pretty much everything else I've done since. Thematically, anyway...


Turkby tour diary
Speaking of which, I'm back to working on a novel, which has lain untouched and unfinished for many years. It started as a tour diary, but as it went along, more and more things got made up, so now it's a novel, featuring: the Sword of Xanthros, a walrus polisher, rancid yak butter tea, geomorphic immunity, and more! Tentative title: A Turkby tour diary. Or maybe The Sword of Xanthros. Or What Goes Up Must Come Down.
Once it's in a slightly more polished state, chapters will be made available online for you to deride in the comfort of your own home.

OK compadres, thanks for your time.
Now go play your guitar.
Bing

Shufferin' and shavin', Free downloads, etc.

Using a new razor blade can be tricky. After using an old one for ages it's too easy to cut yourself with a new one. Jim K promises that once I've written a hit song, he'll hire someone to take the first shave for me. Seems like a good solution.

In continuation of May's NZ Music Month madness, I've just posted the album "Have You Seen Me Vanquishing People Lately" for free download at http://turkby.bandcamp.com/.
This quirky beast dates from 1999, and should probably carry a warning like "May cause disorientation".
Enjoy!
Remember, all the old Turkby albums are free to download during May, after which they'll skyrocket to a shocking $5 or so probably. Get in quick or get used to rueing the day.

Hayden from Dirt Box Charlie is doing AMAZING stuff with designing the cover and booklet for the Bing Turkby Ensemble's 'Summon Forth The Mangonel' CD! I really really want to show you some stuff, but it ain't quite done yet, and I don't want to spoil the surprise!

I'm also in the editing stage of my story/book/not-quite-a-novel. The hardest part now is thinking of a title for it.
And also reading Jasper Fforde's "The Last Dragonslayer" and feeling inadequate...
Oh well, keep on chooglin'.
Bing

44th Manawatu Jazz Festival

I'm privileged to have been asked to play bass with Erna Ferry and Shufti for the 2011 Manawatu Jazz Festival cafe gigs. We have one gig in Feilding and one in Palmerston North.
Here's the lineup, with Shufti gigs in large font.
Hit the button with the 4 arrows in it (top right of document) to view it full-screen so it's easier to read!

Jazz Festival cafe gigs