Hello it's me.
Substack tells me this is my playground
Apart from songwriting, I haven’t written much and am pretty shy about it all. But if I push myself, I enjoy it.
I have written articles for the great Noisy Library of NZ Music—Audioculture. I burble on about music through my perspective on our national broadcaster, RNZ. People seem to enjoy that perspective. - and the burbling.
What spurred me to write a little more and try doing this on Substack was an invitation from Jeremy Taylor of Slowboat Records to write a piece for their blog on an album that has affected me and why.
I wrote a small piece on Neil Young’s album Tonight’s The Night very quickly, sent it off and immediately FREAKED OUT BECAUSE IT WAS SO PERSONAL!!
But maybe that is a good thing. I’ll share that soon.
Why did I call my substack Finding The Love?
My wise and gentle Mum (Janice Swann, nee Garton, RIP) gave me some advice once when I was struggling: Find the love in the situation. Dig Deep.
That advice has stayed with me. Sometimes, it is not very easy to do that. But when a memory, a song, or an image catches you, you are finding the love. I want to write about those things. I want to show those things if I can.
I am struggling to find love in the policies of the current NZ Guvmint, but I am no political commentator. I do have things I care about. I might talk about that if I get riled—or (hopefully) impressed. I live in hope.
If you subscribe, I will send you a newsletter about upcoming releases and shows I am doing in Aotearoa, New Zealand, or maybe even the wider world. You never know.
I was recently hacked on Meta, which was a very invasive and unpleasant experience. My Instagram page has been disabled. It's not the biggest problem in the world, but I enjoyed Instagram for my collection of photos and the stories they told.
I like taking photos. Things catch my eye, and I point and shoot. I am not a technical whizz, but sometimes things work out and look good. I have a bad habit of taking photos of sunsets.
I’ll share more soon, but please follow or subscribe and let me know if you are out there.
In the meantime here is a photo of the best purple and pink sunset taken from the porch at our house in Waitakere Township.
I wrote a song for The Bads featuring FIND THE LOVE and sunsets. It is from our first release as The Bads way back in 2005.
HAVE A LISTEN:
Bushfire Sunset
Have I wasted my life
Oh my Life
Chasing nothing through time
What is time
Please hold on to the line
Oh babe
Find The Love
……..
I’ve Seen the green grass
Over a lot of fences
How the bright lights shine
On beautiful faces
But I need to be
Where I am right now
……..
While the vines of regret
Slowly creep
I do my best to forget
That was me
Do I give what I get
Oh babe
Find The Love
….
Through a Nikau Silhouette
Bushfire Sunset
I look to you and the west
And still I blessed
It always come back to this
Find the Love
……….
Think I’ll get up first light
walk to the lake
Feel my skin come alive
what more does it take
To make the best of a life
Oh babe
Find the love.