This blast from the past has just been sent to me by film-maker Sean Kennedy and so I rush it onto the web without delay. Mr Kennedy cut his teeth on this creation and it has stood the test of time though I had no idea what it was all about at the time. I do remember (as the footage affirms) that my acting skills were pushed to their limit – and that Elmo who’s a vegetarian, was a good sport to go along with all the meat caressing.

King Curly are to perform an original new musical comedy this September at Sydney’s prestigious Seymour Theatre. Staring Oz music legend John Paul Young and Steve Kilbey of The Church. ‘VAN PARK’ is written by brother Greg while Steve wrote the music.

Preparations are also being made to launch a brand new collection of King Curly songs named ‘Skeletons Of Light’ which includes some surprises eg some guest vocalists including Elana Stone, Mikelangelo of the Black Sea Gentlemen and Laurie McClain who the band meet in Nashville whilst touring the US last year.

KC

Heres a progress photo of the house Im cobbing. Pretty good huh.on other fronts the new songs (which in previous times would have become an album), have been mixed down now. Also, ‘Van Park’ has been booked to play the Sydney Fringe festival in Sept. so looking forward to that. JPY has signed on again and apparently Steve Kilby says brother Greg ….. will be very good.

Steve

It has been some time since I last wrote here – and I cant pretend it isnt hard bringing myself to it now after all these months. I have hermited myself away since we toured to the US in August/Sept 09. Necessarily so – It was fun but I had reached my saturation point after such a prolonged bout of the self promotion. My retarded social skills mean I exhaust myself easily and long to crawl back to my hole and hide. I cant even be bothered putting a photo up as there’s nothing to see – but  imagine me grumpy, fat and balding, wedged in the doorway of my igloo.

but for those who care, I have been happy enough beavering away on a new King Curly album of songs – along with my co-writer Dan and the rest of the band.  and I will mix it all down with my old collaborator Greg Walker in the next month or so. Money, as usual is nowhere to be seen so I am hoping for a benefactor in the old style of de vinci etc. (this is not a joke please email)

So – expect some kind of re-entry when we launch this new album into the world about mid year I guess. I have asked other people to sing some of the songs this time

happy new year etc

KC

PS here’s a taster of the musical play ‘Van Park’ we are getting off the ground. http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1361114860905&ref=mf

On our way to Water Valley, Mississippi. The Southern States of America are my favourite part of the USA – despite a brooding violence that seems to come with the territory.

What is it that makes this part of the world such a hotbed of weird-good stuff like UFO sightings, Leprechaun spotting, extreme Jesus lovin’ etc? I dunno, we just dont have enough of it back home (excepting the virgin-Mary fence post at Coogee beach). Interestingly, this is the same part of the world which has those massive tornadoes we see ripping little towns apart on tv. Our own tour vehicle only narrowly escaped one (see frightening video footage below)

You begin to see now how people around here might become accustomed to strange things (cows etc) dropping out of the sky. With all this in mind I ask you now to watch carefully this news report of southern folks gathered around a tree – possibly with a Leprechaun in it. I especially like the man with the gun – gleefully preparing himself in case the Leprechaun turns nasty.

God Bless America.

KC

We rehearsed and performed this special dance one afternoon to thank ourhouse hosts Tara & Brent who put us up in their 1866 built home in Media, PennysylvanniaThey seemed pleased with the dance.Posted on Behalf ofKing Curly

(Posted on behalf of King Curly)

Our tour driver Alec has turned out to be an interesting person (and a nice gentle guy). He lived on the street for 10 years and another 5 working in various new age communities so he has seen some things.

So far we have stayed at in his trailer home in Scranton PA 2 times since it is free and has been in the path of our crisscrossing travels.

We’ve found it very comfortable indeed.

With my special interest in the shower-heads of the world you can imagine my excitement when Alec showed me his bathroom ‘Rainmaker’ – I can tell you now, that it delivers water in such unashamed quantities and over such a large area, that it feels like you are in a rain storm!!

Such a contrast from the rotten little ‘Pixie 500′ I found a few years ago in an Adelaide home we stayed at (no reflection, of course, on the Good Folks who put us up).

We stopped in at Woodstock one day for lunch because Alec had always
dreamed of going there. Pretty country but otherwise a very tedious Byron
Bayesque tourist trap.

Alec adored every minute of it however.

KC

(Posted on behalf of King Curly)

It is safe to say that many Americans expect a super-sized helping of emotion in their songs just like they do with their food portions. They like it so much that that they are prepared to overlook the authenticity of it. Evidence for this wild generalisation can be found by watching American movies/tv and listening to their music.

Extreme Reverb has been taken up most keenly as a way of super-sizing the emotional content of any given song. To stay in the game we have learnt to find the amount of reverb we are comfortable with – and then to triple it
for the performance.

The nodding of heads and closing of eyes in the audience tells me we are in the ballpark.

Everything is big here as you have heard. The meals served are impossible to finish. We have also wondered at the huge number of cars on the road – disproportionate with the employment levels in the country -so where are
they going if not to work? John suggests American’s might think driving counts as exercise (petrol is very cheap).

But we can match the Americans when we feel like it. A couple of days ago we visited the Harry Houdini Museum in Scranton PA  He is a great hero of mine but I was disappointed to hear that he was only able to hold his breath for 4mins 16 seconds. When I was at my peak I could swim underwater the full length of a 50 metre pool. As part of our tour the guide asked the crowd to test themselves against Houdini and Zoe caused a great sensation by winning with a relaxed 3 minutes something (see photo).Like our most famous racehorse Pharlap, Zoe has the advantage of massively super sized internal organs.

Lots of good shows since last I wrote. Notably at Spikehill in Brooklyn NY where we had an enthusiastic crowd whichincluded people who actually already were fans reminding us what a massive population lives there.

It is a struggle for me to keep up my blog obligations at present – now 5 days into the whirlwind of our first proper US tour.

I am beginning to understand the gasps of terror from more seasoned performers on seeing our itinerary.

And I am yet to fully find my sea legs but not long now.We have left the stages of our first 3 triumphant performances in flames- though sadly there were only about 10 people to see it happen at our very first show off the rank- in Danbury, Connecticut.

But I have grown to love the ugly sadism of reality and the next two shows in Pennsylvania and Massachusetts were well attended in recompense.

I must make special mention of our ‘House Concert’ in the home of Don & Jan Slepian in the foothills of the Appalachians. A wonderful night of real hospitality. Don is a spectacularly talented musician himself and began the evening with a bell and then a stirring performance of one of his own compositions (made extra noteworthy because over the course of it he employed every sample available on his synthesizer keyboard). My hyperactive imagination couldn’t shake the feeling that we were in the midst of an occult gathering of some kind. There was a dog and also a fine cat named Fiddle which could talk.

After our concert Jan told me grimly that she thought I could be the soul-twin of her brother, the resemblance being so strong – and I was then obliged to pose alongside framed photos as proof. It was fantastically strange in the happy way that all great things are in America or anywhere for that matter.

But now I must go and do some laps of a pool or something….KC