Well, I have had a bit of a break and spent some time with the family at Coromandel (where we all came down with a stomach bug!!). However, the time away from Auckland was good... A slowish start to the new year, but Grand Central Band will be back at Grand Central from the 12th, which will be fun. Had an annual dinner with the old Blue Train members and other musos last night as bassist Matt Gruebner was over on holiday from Sydney. He's gigging quite a lot in various jazz groups over there, so look out for him if you're in Sydney.

We talked about the possibility of recording new material under the Blue Train name, so us musos on this side of the Tasman will get some regular rehearsals going. We plan to use people like Junior Turua (Grand Central Band) and Aaron Coddell to fill the bass role, but may look at sending mp3 demos to Matt as he could slot into a recording session when he's next over from Sydney. I'd be also keen to use other musicians such as Dixon Nacey on guitar, if he's available. It all sounds pretty exciting, but I'll keep you informed as to our progress.