December News

Greetings everyone.

I hope this post finds you all well


It's that time of the year again . 2011 was a great year and full of suprises . I had no tour planned but all of a sudden found myself back in Ireland which is always a treat. As a bonus I got to play at United Islands Festival in Prague(Praha). Prague is in the Czech Republic and is an amazing city with lots of little music hide-aways hidden from the tourist traps and filled with warm friendly locals. Some of the Musicians I played with at the Festival were amazing and I hope to return. Freiburg in Germany I also went to and got to play with the "best little band in the world" called Pony und Klyde. Freddy and Charly (friederike & Lena) are great musicians and we did a double bill in a little place that the owner opened especially for us, it was very hot I remember. Like summer here.



Fund-raiser

I recently played a fund-raiser for the Southport special school and they raised well over enough funds for what they needed to do. It was a real mixed bag of talent, Myself doing whatever it is, Kathleen Proctor-Moore and Charles Cooper doing opera/pop/celtic crossover singing. Alison Ahearn singing country/rock and Chris Harvey with some Jazz and easy listening.



Highlights for the last couple years were


Playing for John Spillane.
Being Involved in Cloughjordan Festival.
Playing guitar with Jim 'kimo' West.
seeing Michael Fix play again.
United Island Festival -Prague.
Freiburg-Germany.
Christchurch Cathedral - Waterford.
sneaking in a couple gigs at unplugged in the Basement.
Hanging out with Stephen Housden.
Drinking coffee in a little local Czech cafe.
Sneaking a tune or two in after Sunas.



and I'm sure there is more....



Keep an eye out in 2012 in Australia.
Guitarist Richard Gilewitz is returning, Mick McHugh is supporting the legend Ralph McTell on his tour and hopefully you will see me again too. Google away and find info on this!! I'll be in Tassie in January at the Cygnet folk festival and also doing some local work with the council here. also playing at my Friends CD Launch at Mandala Arts Mermaind beach Fri 13th. "Leopold's Treat" That Should be a great night. Pierre Bensusan is also returning to Australia.

~


I've updated my website and it's slowly getting filled with content and new info as the weeks go by.

Electric Guitar.
Just recently I've revisited my electric guitar.
I spent a few hours soldering new parts in to get the lovely lady up and running again. She's sounds sweet and have been playing a little with a local jam/ethereal/rock/everything band.

Acoustic Guitar.
My Main guitar, the Maton 808 had been playing up a little. I have some local friends here who are great guitar repairers. However, With a little coaxing though I decided to give someone in Brisbane a look at my guitar. Chris Melville a Luthier in Brisbane who has made guitars for Tony McManus, Tommy Emmanuel and many more totally changed my guitar into a performance wonder instrument. It has been tonally changed through some nifty work on the insides( I've been sworn to secrecy), Stainless steel frets. bone nut and saddle. It's a totally new instrument in plain clothed disguise. I highly recommend Chris to anyone who is a real fussy bugger. There are only a hand full of high-end luthiers like this in Australia. Karen Schaupp the classical guitarist recently borrowed one of his masterpieces for a show with Katie Noonan

~ Melville Guitars ~ in case you are interested.

Happy Christmas everyone, Especially my dear friends in UK,Ireland, Czech Republic, Germany, Colombia, Canada, Holland and USA.

And a tip of the hat to my Aussie pals too ( I hope I havn't missed anyone)

a Little Update

Hi Everyone.
We've put some more CD buy options on the store page..
Trying to find a price to compare with countries where CDs are not so expensive.
Added a new captcha protected contact page and are still working on a newsletter sign up box.
The flash website elements will not work on iphones and ipads etc. Apple's refusal to accommodate such a great format is really quite annoying... So many artist websites and applications are still made in flash, even some website stores from large sellers.

I'm off to Tasmania in January 2012 for the Cygnet Folk Festival and there is also a few little local gigs coming up.
Ralph McTell is coming to Australia in 2012 and my Friend Mick McHugh is opening for him.

I been having a little fun lately making sill pictures. here is one below.
I been spamming the facebook with some other meaningless sillyness,it gets a laugh

New website

Hi All we've been busy building a new website!
I hope you enjoy the new look
www.peter-miller.com : for those of you reading this from the blog page.

We are hoping to have some new content added as the days go buy.

June July European tour 2011

June/July Tour Ramblings Ireland, Czech Republic, Germany

1st Stop was auld Dublin town. 2 gigs here.
One at the Glor Sessions and it was great. Completely unplugged and a small room in a basement with everyone being ever so quiet and listening.
The 2nd was at Sweeney’s in Dame Street on a Wednesday night, good little crowd and I returned there a week later.
I rambled the busy streets of Dublin for hours at times.

2nd Stop
I did a fundraiser in Killiney ( just south of Dublin) for a local Church group to help some of the less fortunate than ourselves.
It was an honour to be involved. Thanks Ciaran and everyone involved and thanks for the lift to the Avalon guitar factory.
It was great to try some out...

3rd Stop
Czech Republic, Prague (Praha).
I played a couple spots at the united Islands Festival on the Yornet Stage.
There was a great crowd here and people of Prague all seemed to come out for the festival.
I met and got to play with some great Musicians from Carolina and TheNetherlands ( Prague too of course).
I have some new friends in Prague and beyond now, You can get good Asian food in Prague if you know where to go.
The Yournet stage was fantastic, Also I dropped by the world music stage had my feet tapping away for hours.
Thanks to the Yornet crew!! You are all great... We all went to late night music venues after the shows were finished.
And we Finshed the show with Ben Jordan leading all the participants into a unplugged version of ‘Helpless’...
The time limit was up and sound was cut, and the crowd Stayed for the whole last song and didn’t want to leave,
I never experienced anything like it. Thanks Bill and Co.

4th Stop
Freiburg, Germany. A friend I met in Dingle(Ireland) a few years back asked me to come to Freiburg for a gig.
She said Prague is close to there, pop over for a gig. So I did.
I double billed with the coolest little band in the world ‘Pony und Kleid’
Consisting of Freddy and Charly playing a mulitude of instruments.
We played in a little cafe that was specially opened for us on the night. I loved it.

5th Stop
Cloughjordan, Tipperary, Ireland. I was very honoured to be invited to Cloughjordan festival.
Thanks Liz and Everyone there ( they know who they are). I opened for Mary MacPartlan, Taught a workshop
Judged a busking competition and had my own gig as well. I left the town with a big wide smile.
I even saw an old friend in the park on a sunny Sunday,Only in Ireland

6th Stop
Dingle, Kerry,Ireland. I didn’t have a gig as such this year but did a podcast With Mazz O’Flaherty from the Dingle Record Shop.
We had a laugh, even my phone rang twice during the live interview, gee it hadn’t rung for two weeks.
I also caught up with some good friends while in town and played a couple tunes at a session and went to the Dingle Film club

7th Stop
Clonakilty, Cork, Ireland. I stayed with a great guitar player Stephen Housden for a couple days and was treated to some fine home cooking and free lounge room guitar shows.
I also for the 3rd or 4th time opened and also played for the great Irish Songwriter John Spillane. To think that such talent doesn’t mind me hanging around for a tune or two is quite humbling! I also bumped into a friend I didn’t expect to see, that topped off the little stay in ‘Clon’. and thanks to Richie for the pics, Awsome!

8th Stop
Christ church Cathedral, Waterford, Ireland. I hadn’t been at the Cathedral for 3 years and was looking forward to a special gig.
The show went well and some Folk who came three years ago were happy to see me again. Very Cool indeed.
Thanks Joan and also Brian for travelling quite a way.

Overall the whole tour went well, I had less shows than previous years but sold far more CDs of both the new and old one.
I also got to do some exploring on as I had a week spare, I explored Achill Island in Mayo, It was funny, spooky( you had to be there) Rainy, Sunny and a right treat and good company.
Also went up to West County Donegal and had a look around and joined in some music sessions.
The whole trip I caught up with people I didn’t expect to see, I did however miss some good friends in Tralee and Cork. We can’t be everywhere I guess...

Sorry Donnacha, Dave, The Henchman and Caroline to name a few.
Also to Martin in Hamburg, I just didn’t have time

I was very happy to hear that Richard Gilewitz’s first Aussie tour went well. I believe he plans to return..

Hope this wasn’t too long for ye all.
yours in music and other things.

I hope to return more regularly!!!

A special thanks to Peter Moore, take care Mr Moore!!