Cranked Coffee and Mike de Velta – Next three weeks!
Hey guys,
Nice little residency for the next few weeks, nice laid back venue, come along would love to see you there.
Here is their blurb!
Sick of searching Leederville for that great meeting spot with that perfect cuppa? Look no further! Cranked is the trendy new venue, with leather banquets and comfy lounges you can get lost in, or the stylish alfresco seating so you can watch the world roll by, you’re garanteed to fall in love with our quality coffee and teas.
Wasting a morning will only get easier with a quick glance past our selection of local offerings from fresh baked friands, muffins and crossiants through to boutique baguettes and pannini’s.
Sounds tempting doesn’t it … So come on by, we’ll be sure to get your coffee started!
Address: 5/106 Oxford St, Leederville
Phone: 08 6161 0730
SMS Order Line: 0422 722 712
Sounds nice heh! See you there,
Mike
Quindanning Hotel

Quindanning Hotel
Awesome Thursday night at the Quindanning Hotel on 15th Jan 2009, the weather was warm and the mood was right. A few chilled ales, punters relaxing in the beer garden to a bush sunset, a perfect canvas to lay down some sweet acoustic action. Also playing that night was the young band Bonjah who’s grooves really hit the sweet spot and I got to say I really enjoyed them.
Glenn Mossop on Vocals with a distinctive, inviting and charismatic style , the echo and crack of timbales from percussionist James Majernik, the deep sub bass tones of bass player David Morgan and the clean tones of a reggefied stratocaster hitting those punctuations right on time by Regan Lethbridge.
Now remember this is a Thursday night but in Quindanning that’s a different story. Talking to Rowan the manager it seems Thursday nights is the go for these parts of the woods and not to be underestimated, I swear the party was going to the wee hours of the morning and with very little let up in site.
As I awoke (if I slept at all) I could hear a fellow in another room adamantly saying to his mate, “Hey man, wake up, you got to go to work, wake up man, you got to go to work!”.
I think that about sums it up
Yeh, there were a few headaches that morning but I reckon what the hell, this is the Quindanning, one of the best gigs in the country and definitely one of my favorites.
Perth Blues Clubs Festival of Fret Review by Marcus Schultz
Festival of the Fret
By Marcus Schultz
Yes, the annual Perth Blues Club’s Festival of the Fret came and went last Tuesday on the 18th of November but it was definitely a night that will not soon be forgotten.
The first act eased the Club into its biggest night yet with the solo acoustics of Mike de Velta. His set combined a handful of original compositions as well as a mix of traditional blues standards. In an unusual fashion Mike played a 12-string electric acoustic as if it was a lap steel guitar for a number of songs from his extensive repertoire.
He played a few upbeat songs such as Room with a View, Red Dress and The Sailor Song with an instrument not too often seen as the Blues Club, a ukulele. For Life’s Like That he produced a harmonica and proceeded to accompany himself with his 12-string guitar (now played normally).
Mike de Velta finished up with two blues cover songs, Tony Joe White’s As the Crow Flies and a traditional blues titled You Gotta Move.
The house band consisted of an all-star line up with Bob patient on piano an organ, Wayne Freer on Bass guitar and Ric Eastman on drums. Backing Gerard Maunick, Mal Eastick and Lindsay Wells all on the same night, the house band seemed to have had their work cut out for them, but they didn’t seem fazed at all.
The next act, always a crowd pleaser, was Gerard Maunick. He and the house band jammed out some reggae, rock and blues numbers.
Some highlights of the set included South Bound, Back to the Crossroads, a rolling blues tune which drew a large crowd to the dance floor and Suzy Q.
The 12 bar blues shuffle that is Across the Border illuminated Gerard’s mastery over the guitar as well as demonstrated the raw talent that Bob Patient possesses.
Just before the band played their last number, Bob Dylan’s All Along the Watchtower, Gerard announced that they actually hadn’t had time to rehearse their set, but who could tell?
Mal Eastick is widely considered as Australia’s premier blues musician and who could argue? His style is a marvel to watch and is even more amazing to hear.
Mal played a set of all instrumental blues off his two albums The Southern Line and Spirit with a few covers thrown in. Mal opened with a song for his song entitled Blues for Aaron, followed with The E St Blues and then slowed things down with the sensitive Times Like These.
Mal paid tribute to two of his biggest influences by playing Lenny from the catalogue of Stevie Ray Vaughan and Freddie King’s I’m Going Down to San-Ho-Zay.
After playing a few more of his songs such as Two Love, The Jungle Funk and Swept Away, Mal ending with the fast and distorted Jumping with Stevie.
Finally, the time had arrived that we’d see one lucky winner take home the Fender Squire guitar signed by Gerard, Lindsay, Matt Taylor and others as Mal drew the winning ticket. Unfortunately, Dennis Raditch (apologies if I spelt that wrong) was absent from the Club on the night, however, I’m sure he got the best phone call of his life a bit later that week.
Having just flown back to Sydney I think it’s safe to say that Perth audiences will be waiting anxiously for Mal’s return to WA next year.
Lindsay Wells, a favourite at the Perth Blues Club was back again to mesmerize the audience with his natural talent and incredible stage performance.
Some highlights of Lindsay’s performance included Sugar Coated Love, ZZ Top’s La Grange and Jimi Hendrix’s Red House and Hey Joe where he played his guitar behind his head and between his teeth.
The final song of the night was something very rare and a real treat to see; Lindsay Wells invited Mal Eastick on stage to wrap up the festival. Together they played through a brilliant cover of Crossroads (also called Cross Road Blues) written by the late, great Robert Johnson and as performed by Cream.
After the applause of the audience died down, Lindsay and Mal played a slow blues encore in E, I’m in the Mood by John Lee Hooker.
The only thing that went through my mind as I left the was how are they going to top The Perth Blues Club’s Festival of the Fret next year?
Live on Radio ABC 720
Live at the Perth ABC 720 studios performing, “I don’t mind at all” with James Lush’s Breakfast Show. Also on the show I had the pleasure of meeting and chatting with Ricky Grace formerly of the Perth Wildcats and Dale a chef who showed us how to cook the perfect omelet, divine. It was quite an atmosphere with the aroma and sizzle of eggs entwined with the sweet rapport of fun, music and pleasant conversation. A most enjoyable Saturday morning. This is a lofi audio recording captured on Panasonic NV-GS400 camcorder in 16:9 ratio.
Festival of the Fret at the Perth Blues Club
Awesome night at the Perth Blues Club playing the annual “Festival of Fret”. A full house of happy punters and the rocking sounds of Mal Eastwick, Lindsay Wells, Gerard Maunick and yours truly Mike de Velta.
I got to say seeing and hearing these other great artists was a real joy, what impressed me was the distinctive tone each of these artist possessed, , while each wielded their own stratocasters each was unique and deeply personal.
Tone, tone, tone….yummy!
Fairbridge Festival
Hi ya Campers,
What a weekend, and yeh, the rain held off, sort off. Was a close call on the Sunday. As I awoke to the pitta patta of rain in the roof of my panel van my greatest fears were upon me, will my show be washed out? My final show was held at the Wine Bar and it seemed only the brave were found on the muddy Fairbridge tracks in the earlier hours of Sunday morning but there was a break in the weather at about 10.30am, my show was at 11.00. Turns out the Sun gig was fantastic. Sweet memories, lots of smiles and great CD sales. Glad the Frontline album was ready in time.
Other gigs were at the Chapel on the Friday, wow! Acoustilicious! and the new Loft on the Thurs.
Really nice hanging with the other artists back at camp, jamming with Aiden Varro, Saz Lockyer and James (or Jimi).
Thank you to all the organisers and volunteers for a great time, brilliant!




