It only took 4 hours to get there! 
2 hours on a Sunday afternoon on the Central ferry pier with a large group of party-people waiting... waiting for a boat, for a boat that crawled it's way to a gig on Lantau. Many of us decide to have our Sunday nap on the boat. 

Happy faces!
My friends’ happy faces! I like to think they were happy to see me! But, they were probably already happy anyway. They’d been at the party since Friday and they looked like they needed a bath and a hot meal. 

Me and the trees!
I try competing with electronic music pumping out at full volume from 6 ft amps. All I gots is a guitar, a voice and a 2 ft amp. If it wasn’t for my dishevelled friends, I would've been performing to the trees.

Death ride!
The quickest way back home is to cross the death channel by sampan. The jet foils speed along here at twice the speed of light, the possibility of being cut in half was 2:1. Taking the safe way round would mean another 4 hour journey back. We have NO CHOICE! 

We survive the death channel!
By a strange twist of fate, as we attempt the crossing there is no jetfoil in sight. However, immediately after we cross they come charging down the channel again. I think the sampan driver knew exactly what time those jetfoils would appear. 

Hallucinations!
We are now chugging along in pitch dark. I start hallucinating: my sense of space is distorted, ships appear out of nowhere, waves lash the sides of the boat in a fatalistic frenzy. I'm sure the driver is falling asleep at the wheel! Why is everyone so calm???!!! 

Home!
Finally, I can see Lamma. I feel soft and fuzzy on the inside. 

I'll be playing an acoustic set with just me and my guitar on Sunday, 12 May at the Secret Island Party.  I'll be on at 5:00PM.

This is a two day interactive art, performance and music festival at a secret location in Hong Kong. There will be live music, DJs, African drummers, stilt walkers, light show performers, magicians, chill-out spaces, installations, workshops, massage, meditation, yoga and more. There will also be, "...organic, healthy food and exquisite cocktails by one of Hong Kong's most prestigious and well-known Polynesian Cocktail Bars." Sounds good to me! - Sue

Admission: Weekend $700 / Sunday $250
Tickets: email, info@hushup.hk 

Bank Job and New Tonic Press are playing at Makumba's new venue (Ho Lee Commerical Building
2/F, 38-44 D'Aguilar Street, Lan Kwai Fong). Jimbrowski will kick off the evening and fill the in betweens. Show starts at 8:30PM. - Sue

Tim invited me to play a set at Peel Fresco. Last time I played there was 2011. It's been refurbished and the stage is where the bar used to be and a much better place for it too. Anyway, Saturday night was a real treat. If you ever get a chance to catch Tim Elsinga or Tilly, please do go! They wowed me with their songs, singing and guitar style. - Sue

It was great to have Magnus Norberg (drums) and Adam Barty (piano) play with me tonight! - Sue

It was a privilege to play at this show and support our friends, Dark Himaya, on their first CD release. We played this SOLD OUT show at the new hip Hong Kong venue, Beating Heart. - Sue

Kumi Masunaga, Tamara Norris and I did a three-gig tour of Ontario, Canada in December 2012. Kumi played the cajone and Tam was our all in one booking agent/tour manager/PR girl/roadie.

Jasmine’s, Port Dover, Ontario -13 Dec 2012

I look at Tam with serious concern. “Do they know what kind of music I play? It’s not tinkle-tinkle little star stuff.” “Don’t worry, they heard your music on the site and they said you can play.” That didn’t make me feel any better. 

My thoughts drifted back to the last time I played in front of a crowd of eaters. Reign and I were in a burrito bar in St Louis, Missouri playing to college students. You could see some of them attempting to look towards the stage, but panic was in their eyes. I could hear what they were thinking. “What if the insides of my burrito squish out all over my face and all over my friends’ face too?” I understood, of course. It’s a real challenge eating a burrito the size of daschund while watching musicians play. 

I check out the menu at Jasmine’s. Baked brie, gnocchi, pan-fried salmon with seasonal vegetables. This was a fine dining establishment! What if my songs of lost hope, desperation and despair turn the diners off their dinners. Will they make it all the way to dessert? Kumi and I have to play three sets!

First set: people paying attention. Nobody retches or gags on asparagus. Second set: eaters manage to multi-task Food and Music. All fine. Nobody chokes on crab cakes or purges their main course. Third set: a quick look over at the tables near stage left. The plates have been licked clean! 

Diners hang back for coffees and chat amongst each other. They look… relaxed!

The place got pretty rambunctious. Some guy yelled out “Hey, you play a good song there, girl!” And a lady came over to our table to say she liked our music. Turns out my songs didn’t ruin anyone’s appetite.

Slainte’s, Hamilton, Ontario – 16 Dec 2012

Kumi and I play at Steve Strongman’s gig. Steve’s a bluesman and I love the blues so it was a privilege to be able to play a few songs on his Sunday night slot at Slainte’s. The last time Tam and I saw Steve play was in 2007. Since then Steve got signed up, won the 2011 Maple Blues Award for Guitar Player of the Year and now tours the world. For the first time in a long while I’m feeling unnerved. 

We order food and drinks: buffalo wings, fish and chips, hot chocolate, Rickard’s White and we settle down to listen to Steve. BB King says, “…that the blues means when a man has lost his woman. Which is all he had.” Well, Steve’s voice sounds just like that. It’s full of soul. Steve is a great lead guitarist too and he uses a loop box so that he can play those leads.

Kumi and I are on after Steve’s first set and we play a few songs. I play my alt-blues songs, Pocket and Sunny  so I can fit in with the style of the night. My voice seems so loud – raucous. I’m not used to playing in quiet places where people sit and listen. 

Steve plays his second set and he dedicates a song to Tam (because she’s getting married). He starts singing Al Green’s Let’s Stay Together, which just happens to be Tam and James’ song! Steve calls Kumi up on stage to play a song with him and we dance. 

The Cat and the Fiddle, Hamilton, Ontario – 30 Dec 2012

Our last gig of our miniature tour! Tam’s friend, Jackie, helped get us this gig cuz she works here. Kumi and I have three sets to play again. We have some dinner first: shepherds pie, liver and onions, a salad and a plate of fried food (I don’t know what that is, but I thought they’d ordered fried fruit!).

Half way through the third set I feel the floor shift. Tam starts fading in and out. Something hot and furious is taking over my insides. First, my stomach, then my heart and then my brain. I start talking and talking. Talking fast, just saying anything. The words keep coming out of my mouth. Next I’m telling stories about earthquakes in India. Then I say “And look at the snow! Have you seen all the snow out there? It’s just lying around all over the place.” 

So, that’s what happens when you do a shot before your last set. - Sue

We get to play LFD again. We want to play so bad. We get to play 10 songs and we also have a ready audience plus we're playing on a beach. And not just any beach, it's the Power Station Beach, where all manner of good times have taken place. These are precious things that are dear to our hearts. 

The wind blows hair across my face, the crowd is right up to the stage. I try to shout out my lyrics and be that rock n roll chick I wannabe - I only got 50 minutes to be her. I make sure I give it all I got cuz I want Malte and Kevin to play hard so I got to do that too. Then of course that vibe goes out there to everyone too. 

Last song - I Wish I Was You, this is a fast one. Remember to start off at a decent pace - sometimes I get so excited I play way too fast and Malte's drum sticks are hitting everything at 200 bpm. I strum down and a string breaks, can't stop now. Hey, it sounds alright. Coming to the end of the song, my pick doesn't work! It's snapped in half. Have to swivel it  round to get some surface area back. There really is beauty in imperfection. - Sue

Lamma Fun Day is in action again after a one year hiatus and we're all glad it's returned! As usual all proceeds from the event will go to the Child Welfare Scheme www.cwshk.org , so come along and join us for a great day at Power Station Beach.

There are some great bands playing too, apart from all my fave home-grown Lamma bands there is favourite funk band, Bank Job, plus Velvette Vendetta are playing! I saw them play at the Fringe this summer and they rocked the house - shame I was sitting in a theatre seat cuz I could have done with getting up and kicking my heels, which I definitely intend to do when I see them.

Malte and I did our first NTP gig at LFD 2010. I hadn't graduated to the electric guitar yet and Kevin hadn't joined the band. We're playing again. This time with Kevin and an electric guitar. - Sue

New Tonic Press are playing at the Fringe for the first time. Also playing: Sketch and Quasar.

Venue: The Fringe
Event: Listen Up! 75
Address: 2 Lower Albert Rd, Central
Date: Friday, 9 November
Time: 10:00PM
Admission: $100 advance / $125 at the door