Alex Whitmore: News

I've been back home in Texas for the last week with a short jaunt to Little Rock Ar and Tulsa Ok to play some music. There is a new video on the music/video page...check it out.
Things are coming togther for my next tour to New Zealand in November. Although nothing is showing on the calendar between now and then, I will be busy with my music. I'm going to a small festival in Iowa the weekend of the 18th, back to the Kerrville Wine and Music get together over Labor day weekend then private showcases at Broadhead Wi, Columbus Oh, Wayne Me, and Paso Robles Ca. Then it is the Regional Folk Alliance in Austin the first of Oct, more music festivals in Ozark Ar, Terlingua Tx and then off to New Zealand. Right now I only have the last weekend in Oct open. Watch the calendar...something may pop up.

It has been a good week. I recieved my brand new 12 string Papoose from Tacoma. I feel like I was influential in convincing them to go into production on it. After I high strung my 6 string Papoose I sent them a copy of a song I wrote for the guitar. They wanted to see it for themselves so I went to the factory and played it for them. I told them it would make a great 12 string since most the strings on a 12 string are high strings it would make sense that a small body guitar would sound better. I was right. You my download the song I have now recorded on the 12 string for free by clicking here http://www.2aw.com/mp3/wind12.mp3

It was a tearful departure with friends we had made driving to the airport to catch us as we changed planes for the flight back to the US. We are back, we are tired, but still on an incredable high from the trip. The last two gigs did not loose any momentum. It looks like we may be going back in November for more...stay tuned

The last two nights have been fantastic. We actually played an afternoon gig today after a wonderful tour of the Southward Museum nearby. In addition to some of the most rare automobiles in the world they have a Whurlitzer (sp) Pipe Organ that was built in 1927. We got a special performance from Len Fifield who plays for special events including many silent movies. Check him out http://www.lafmusic.net The entire theater is like a transformer model. It transforms from a flat dinner floor for weddings to a tilted theater floor with theater seating and a movie screen. The organ disappears into the floor. If you are ever near Wellington in New Zealand this is a must see place.
The show today was sold out again. We are going to do another show again tomorrow night for the folks that were turned away....what a way to end a tour. See ya'll back in Texas later this week.....

Wow..what a surprise. 140 seat theater sold out. What an awesome night. Marton is a small town about 3 hours North up the west coast from Wellington. Someone did above and beyond to promote this show. It was a great audience and we put on our best show to date. boo hoo we have our last show in New Zealand tomorrow (Sunday here) then it is back on the airplane on Tuesday to go home. I guess well be seeing everyone back in Texas soon. It is going to be hard to come down from this high....

It has been a couple of days since we have had computer access and much has happened. We played to the largest number of people Wednesday night at Taurunui (not sure about the spelling or pronounciation of this one)..about 90 paying. It was really fun. We spent the next day driving around the Lake Taupo area and seeing increadable breathtaking sites. Check your map for this one, it is the large lake in the center of the North Island...about like lake Tahoe with beautiful mountains and clear rivers. The photos will eventually be up on the photo link (below) sometime next week. We have a show in Napier tonight and it is expected to be well attended. This is the one town where the radio station covers the whole town. Dang it, there is less than a week to go and I'm not ready to go back.....

We are heading south now. Our show last night went very well. It seems like the smaller towns go best for us because they don't have as much exposure to live music. It is getting cooler, but still comfortable when the sun is out. Today we are doing touristy things again. We went to see living Kiwi birds and learn about their vanishing habitat. We are on the the Waitomo Caves and then a regular club gig tonight. Less than one week left on the tour...boo hooo.....

This is our last day in the Auckland area. We played to a pretty full house last night at the East coast RSA. The show is getting smoother and tighter. The weather is still surprisingly warm, even the locals are saying this is unusual for this time of the year. We leave Auckland tomorrow for shows further South. If you want to look at the schedule to come it can be found at http://www.countrymusic.net.nz

Well last night some friends put together a music jam and party with lots of other musicians. We got to hear some great local musicians. Today we did an outdoor show at Puhoi about an hour north of Auckland. It went well and I sold out of coozies. Still having a ton of fun...

We have been staying with some lovely folks here in Auckland. Last night we went to dinner with friends and listened to a very talented musician by the name of Kip Tipuna. He graciously let all of us get up and do a couple of songs. Today we climbed the Rangitoto volcano across the bay. It was good exercise and greatly needed after the way we have been pigging out of food here. Tonight we will be jamming with local musicians at a neighbors house. We have shows tomorrow and Sunday then we will be southbound for gigs enroute to Wellington. The Weather is still awesome with mostly clear skys and temps hovering in the low 70's.

Ok, finally I've uploaded a couple of photos here, but there are lots more on the web at this link http://www.flickr.com/photos/pshaw/

Last night we played a concert. Wow, what a thrill. After the country clubs and a couple of bar gigs it was very special. Tickets were sold, promotion in the paper etc. We had quite a respectable turnout for a mid week gig. We have another one on Saturday and in the mean time we will be just shopping and relaxing around here with a couple of jam sessions with local musicians. The people we are staying with this week are both musicians and the husband is an outstanding finger style guitar player...we have bonded :-)........

After two really wonderful days and a house concert provided by Kevin and Melissa Wallace in Wellsford, we returned to Auckland to do a couple of promo things for our concert tonight. We busked in the local mall and handed out flyers and then did a short show for the local country music club in Drury...finally, a name I can pronounce. Tonight we will be doing a concert at a theater in Titarangi (Auckland suberb) We are hoping it will be well attended of course. I did not understand before I came to New Zealand what a country music club really is here. They are clubs that form around the common interest in the music. They have a band that is made up of members plus nearly everyone in the club either sings or plays something. They meet once a month as a social get together with the familys...usually in a local RSA club (equivilant to our local VFW halls) or some community building. Everyone either sings something that the band knows by heart or they have charts for the band. They also pay an admission to cover the food expenses and guest artist they pay periodically to come and perform. It is really a great idea and I don't understand why we have nothing like it in the US. It is a built in audience that is very receptive to our songwriter material. Most have been doing the same "oldies" for years. It is quite refreshing for most of them to hear some new songs. They still like a few old standards thrown in and will gladly sing along with us. Tonight's show is one that we have promoted on our own, so we don't know if it will sell out or if we will be entertaining a handful of people....more on that tomorrow.

The hospitality of these people is incredible. We have just finished 3 nights with our "billets" people we stayed with in Kaitia. They fed us, ran us around to our rehearsals/radio interviews etc and gave us a place to sleep. We had a great gig to boot. Today we returned to our good friends we met on the way up to the Northland. They will put us up for 2 nights and have a house concert for us tomorrow. It doesn't get much better than this. The weather is still wonderful...so no complaints....

The last two days have been days off and we have done some really fun touristy things. We took a boat ride out to Hole in the rock. It is an island that actually has a hole not only through it but deep enough to take a rather large cruise boat through it. It was breathtakingly beautiful complete with large fish and plenty of dolphins jumping around the ship.
Today we went on a tour up to the very North tip of the country and returned by way of 90 mile beach. Visualize Datona beach when it was first discovered by the Spaniards (absolutely no development) and then make it twice as wide and more flat and then be able to drive down it at 90 miles an hour....pretty impressive.
Tonight we are being treated to a BBQ by the local Country Club...should be fun. Tomorrow we have a show here and a radio spot...we are really having a great time...

Probably the only down side on this tour is the lack of access to the internet. It is not very common to find "wifi" here. We have been able to log on a few times through the goodness of the folks we have stayed with. The shows are going great, but photos will probably have to wait until we can get high speed access next week when we are back in Auckland. Whats most impressive about this country is the unspoiled look of the land. Almost eveything we have seen has been breathtaking. I've been surprised at how mild the weather has been for their "october." We haven't had to have a jacket yet during the day.
The shows have been fun. People here in the outlying smaller towns don't get to see live music as a rule....so when they do, it is a big deal. Our friend who is driving us has a tour business and we are riding in the tour bus...I'm talking tourist tour...Its been awesome...we haven't missed any point of interest, but we had to put our foot down yesterday in order to get to the gig in time to set up. You can look for major updates after Easter Sunday when we get back to high speed access. Until then......

Well, after our second day and third gig I can say I'm ready to move here. The people are the best! The shows are thrilling for us. Most people out here just don't have any access to live music other than the local Karyoke at the RSAs. They are just so engaging and have a wonderful sense of humor...fertile ground for me. I can see why the movie companies spend enormous amounts of money to come here to film. When skys are clear it is unbelievable, when it rains, there are the most beautiful rainbows....so far we have been treated to one each day....more tomorrow

Well things are going pretty well for us. The flight to LA and then on to Auckland went smoothly and we got a little sleep on the plane (12 hours in the air from LA to NZ) Fortunately, the load was light and we had room to stretch out. We arrived here on Saturday morning with Peter Shaw and Robert Dew to meet us. Peter is the driving force that made this trip happen for us and Robert is the tour director....literaly. Robert has a tour company that hires out to visitors to New Zealand in his 10 passenger van. He takes them to all the sights. Both men are very commited to the music and doing this for us out of the goodness of their hearts. All the people we have met so far has been awesome.
Saturday we spent driving around Auckland and practicing with our artist companion and headliner Charley Groth. Our first show was Sunday the 9th in the afternoon at a local community center. It was a real sit down concert and it went suprisingly well concidering the jet lag and the minimal rehearsal. We went from there to our evening gig at the local RSA (equivalent to our VFWs) It wasn't exactly a concert, but the people there really enjoyed the show.
I'm totally impressed with this place. It reminds me of the pacific northwest with frequent showers followed by periods of bright sunlight. Everything is super green and the trees are very large and stately.
Today we start traveling North from Auckland and will be gone a week doing shows North of here. Our show tonight is sold out....a concept that is new to my music experience.
I brought the software to install in the local computer, but so far we haven't been able to upload any photos. I hope to remedy that soon.....stay tuned, Alex