On Friday I played a gig at the Harbourlight Theatre in Littleton that I greatly enjoyed. Surely this must be one of, if not THE best venue in New Zealand! I have loved every single gig that I ever played there. It is celebrating its 20th birthday this year and New Zealand would be a much poorer place for musicians without the dedication of Helen and Tom. I was once again stunned at the capacity turn out and that is an indication of the wonderful atmosphere that they provide!
I now have a little rest until my summer tour starts, part of it with Gary McCormick on our successful second leg of The Road Ahead tour and some solo gigs. Gary and me will start off with a New Years Eve show in Cheviot which I'm sure will be great fun.
Have a look the the picture of a punter at the Harbourlight gig. The first one who can guess his name will win 2 free tickets to one of my shows. Email me at: admin@paulubanajones.com

I have been back for a couple of weeks from Europe now and straight back into touring. I'm currently in Australia so it's kind of ironic that I write about Europe now.
I spent 5 weeks traveling through France, visiting agents who organize festivals etc.
I also met with various French musicians who I might want to collaborate with in future. Overall it was a very good trip and I hope that many of the things that we talked about will come to fruition. I also met with Joni and Roland who want to set up a guitar workshop for me in the south -east of France. I stayed for 3 days at Joni's house to discuss things and what bliss it was! Have a look at her wonderful place. Just outside the gate is the village petanque court where the locals play. By the way the house is currently on the market so if you ever dreamed of living in style in France- here is your chance!
On the way to Provence I stumbled over Glanum near St Remy de Provence, the ruins of a Roman settlement that were excavated. You can see clearly where the baths and temples were, I can highly recommend visiting it.

In a weeks time I will head overseas to work on a few ideas with Tony Majdalani, the percussionist I toured with earlier this year. Tony is a great friend of mine, we met in the early 80s in Europe. We completed over 200 workshops in high schools together then and have been collaborating ever since.
Also I worked on a soundtrack for a New Zealand movie called The Map Reader directed by Harold Brodie. We just received news that it has been accepted for the International Fort Lauderdale Film Festival in Florida and some others yet to be confirmed. It will be released in the main centers of New Zealand on Waitangi Day 2009

It must be a good 15 years since I've toured with Gary Mc Cormick. he's still the master of wit and satire and his power of delivery helps to create a great crowd chemistry. I have fond memories of the earlier days, just after we arrived in New Zealand, when my and his family were neighbours in the same street in Gisborne. For me he has lost none of that sharp wit that really engages people. As you know he also writes good poetry and we're trying to develop a program that incorporates both poetry and my music. We're hoping to take it on the road towards the end of the year.