High lights of spring in Santa Monica, the Isle of Man and Meltdown!

As promised I'm back with a few more memories from our spring trip, though I've decided to cut back on the enormous amount of information I gathered at that time as … quite frankly … you really don't need to know it all! So here are a few more high-lights and anecdotes:


Our first week or so in the States were taken up traveling to Vancouver, Portland and Seattle as we followed Corinne and the band on their first flurry of shows supporting The Sea. For those first handful of dates, she had a young all male acappella band from South Africa opening each show – Overtone. Their enthusiasm and openness, not to mention their raw talent … made them many new friends and converts. The story of how they came to be in America in the first place is an interesting one: Overtone were first noticed by Dina Eastwood, none other than Clint Eastwood's gorgeous wife. Mr Eastwood was so impressed that he decided to use them on the sound track to his wonderfully inspirational movie, Invictus which he filmed in South Africa last year. Dina was so enthused by the boys that she offered to help manage the band to get a foothold into the North American market.


Dina and Bob got along like a house on fire – of course! When we returned to LA and Corinne and the band carried on touring further afield, Overtone had their own gig at the Hotel Cafe in West Hollywood. Bob and I and several of our friends went along to show our support. Little did we know at the time that Dina's other half would also be attending! Eek! Not only that but sat in the dark recesses of the dimly lit venue sat Mr Morgen Freeman!! Though I managed a little Flip footage of the boys strutting their musical stuff, it was far too dark to capture Mr Freeman or Mr Eastwood – I tried! In the throng of excitement at the end of Overtone's wonderful performance, Helene Muddiman (an extremely talented - and recently nominated for an Ivor Novello award! - film composer and also I'm delighted to say, new bosom buddy) and I, literally bumped into Morgan Freeman as he was leaving – honest guv! Helene, being much more up front and unfazed by this exciting experience, immediately shook his hand, thrust a copy of her film score "Skin" into his outstretched palm and introduced us both! My tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth and I'm sorry to say all I could get out was a very girly giggle! He was amazingly calm and collected and genuinely happy to meet us – no really! I think playing God and Nelson Mandela has had a very positive effect on him!

Overtone rock the Hotel Cafe LA! from Christine Collister on Vimeo.

As we moved ever closer to the exit, the seething mass of humanity that is a gig-going audience, swept us along, right into the path of Clint Eastwood's smiling face … and just at that,moment as-if-by-magic, Dina turned up … and introduced us – just like that! Wow. He too was all twinkly-eyed smiles and understanding and I was quite over-awed. I did have the foresight to give Dina several of my cds as we were leaving, with no real thought to the notion that Clint himself might actually hear them! And in my utter excitement to tell Bob who we'd just met, I called Mr Freeman ... Norman! Then several days after these momentous meetings, Bob and I received emails from Dina saying that they were both listening to one of my cds and that Clint was soaking it all up! OMG! They both like my voice – I'm stunned into humble silence … ;-)

At the first CBR show in LA hosted by KCRW (as blogged in my last installment - see below) I met some rather wonderful women who produce shows themselves on KCRW: Ariana Morgenstern – a passionate, musical mover and shaker and long term broadcaster/producer of Morning becomes Eclectic and Liz MacDonald one of the regular producers who contributes enormously to the general running of this highly successful college radio station. Both extended an invitation to witness a live broadcast of Morning Becomes Eclectic – one of their long standing and most influential shows. I looked at their list of up and coming performers and picked out what looked like the most interesting to me while I was there.

The first session I went to was for Pepi Ginsberg and her wonderfully eclectic and fabulously energetic band. Interesting heart-felt songs sung and played with real passion and fire. I loved her! And several weeks later Josh Rouse … subtle and sweet and utterly mesmerising, I could have watched and listen to him and his super talented band all day! It was a real privilege to be in such close quarters with both these connected and creative musicians. Thanks go out to both Ariana and Liz.

For some of the trip Bob flew off to the east coast to catch up with Corinne's tour which left me free to explore Santa Monica itself and do a little writing. I had several sessions with Mike Slamer, in which we wrote a couple of short songs for tv libraries he's involved with. I loved the experience and hope to do more before I leave this time as well. We also managed to finish a song we'd been working on over the past 18 months! It's called: "Edge of the World" and We both love it … I'm hoping to include it, along with 2 other songs we've written together on the next tour cd.Whenever Bob was back from his touring duties we'd stroll along Santa Monica promenade just to see what we could see and sometimes it was quite a lot!

It was a wild and windy day in Santa Monica ... from Christine Collister on Vimeo.

Another highlight for me this time round was the discovery of Yogaworks – a fabulous yoga studio right round the corner from where we were staying. I went along to a Kundalini session one afternoon and came out a complete convert! It is truly amazing and I can't get enough of it. The fact that the teacher, Kia Miller, is stunningly gorgeous and radiates pure joy with her wonderful smiling presence … probably has something to do with it. I've spoken to a number of other yoga enthusiasts about my experiences and some of them really dislike the chanting, breath of fire and singing that are the backbone of a Kundalini practice but for me – obviously! - it's perfect.

I'd also learned about a gig Richard Thompson was doing at the Rhino Records pop-up store – a charity fund raising event run over a month long period, during which many notable artists were performing. I offered my oohing and aahing services and was taken up! Richard and Nancy – RT's lovely wife – also took Bob and I out for lunch at Shutters on the beach in Santa Monica as a celebration of our nuptials. It was a delightful and much appreciated gift.

After our little soiree at Rhino, RT asked if I was available to take part in one of the fabulous shows he'd put together for Meltdown at the South Bank in June … wow! Yes I am! And so I was invited to sing half a dozen songs on the Six Strings night, along side such guitar playing luminaries as: James Burton, Martin Simpson,Nokie Edwards, Dennis Coffey, John Etheridge and of course Richard Thompson himself! And the “house band” consisted of my pal and brilliant bass player, Rory McFarlane (standing in for Jerry Scheff who was ill – bless them both!), an amazing young drummer, Jay Bellerose, fabulous percussion from Debra Dobkin and the incomparable Danny Thompson on double bass! To say I was thrilled is a ridiculous understatement. I was, of course, very excited about the prospect and then … completely daunted when the song titles kept coming in … really you want me to sing that?! Wow.

Before the Queen Elizabeth Hall beckoned … back on the Isle of Man ... I was asked to take part in a strange but thoroughly enjoyable gig on a boat, destined to roll around Douglas bay for a few bouncy hours … anyone easily seasick look away now?! I joined Anna Goldsmith, Christy Dehaven, Simon Rae and Paul Teare – aka Truman Falls, plus Dave Armstrong (bass) and Mark Brabbs (cajon)- my Manx musical ship mates for the event. Here take a look:

Beginners to the Boat please! from Christine Collister on Vimeo.

Anna G Mark B Christy D

For Meltdown I was required to be ready for rehearsals the day before the show – Sunday June 13th – which meant leaving the Island towards the end of TT week! This proved a difficult task due to the enormous amount of bikers moving on and off the Island and meant that we had to leave later than we wanted and also required us to stay in Liverpool over night before taking a train on Sunday morning which landed us at the South Bank with rehearsals well under way! Regardless of the mess up in time, everything went really well and it was wonderful to witness great player after great player take to the stage! A privilege to say the least.

Six String meltdown! from Christine Collister on Vimeo.

Ed Haber 'n' Rory McFarlane, John Etheridge and Debra Dobkin - yay!

Hello Mary Lou, I'm a Steam Roller baby! from Christine Collister on Vimeo.

The day of the gig itself was incredibly long and stuffed full of great musical moments and a lot of laughter. It included a full day of rehearsals prior to the concert itself – for which I had to quickly learn 3 new songs! - which only added to the general state of energetic nervousness associated with being totally challenged! But the ultimate reward was being a part of the most amazing show I've experienced in a very long time. To start the event rolling,Albert White and Beverly "Guitar" Watkins took to the stage and proceeded to wow the capacity crowd with their utter charm and fabulous musicianship. After Albert's delightful opening 20 minute set, he introduced Ms Watkins as a “72 year old cancer survivor”! She was sassy, sexy, soulful and absolutely wonderful! We are not worthy!

Albert White and Beverly "guitar" Watkins - ROCK! from Christine Collister on Vimeo.

I have tried to capture the essence of the day with these few short videos and hope you get a taste of the wonderful experience. Enjoy!


Nokie me 'n'James! everyone! me, RT, Dennis Coffie 'n' Nokie

me and Simon Tassano sound man in so many ways! ;-)

I truly hope I get the chance to collaborate on many more such fabulous artists on other great musical extravaganzas. There's nothing quite like it!


Jesse Thompson BJ Cole Martin Simpson! ;-)
OK that's your lot for now. I still have loads of great moments to share with you before the tour starts in October so keep your eyes peeled for the next installment and make sure you check out the gig list and get your selves down to a show in the autumn! Hurrah.

Take care and hope to see you out there very soon.


With much love


Mrs Christine Collister Miller XX

Nuptial Blogging and other adventures

It's hard to believe eight months of this year have already flown by. I really need to get a grip!Look, here's proof of New year Kiwi fireworks and snow ... and a little daftness:

New Year ... better late than never right?! from Christine Collister on Vimeo.

For those of you with the time and inclination there are various photos I took of the Isle of Man in Winter here

The cornucopia of adventures I am able to share with you this Blogging session is overwhelmingly bountiful! It might be that we separate the adventuresome nature of my life into easily digestible nuggets but I have to start somewhere and where best to begin than on a high point.

The most fun filled and exciting adventure of my life – so far – happened on February 13th at Gretna Green, where Bob and I finally took the plunge and tied the knot! Jo and Mike – now my step-daughter and son-in-law!- were our only guests and witnesses. We stayed at a favourite place of ours in Troutbeck near Windermere in the Lake District, an hour away from Gretna - The Queens Head - where we enjoyed amazing hospitality, sumptuous accommodation and fabulous food. A few weeks before our great big nuptial adventure, the country had been gripped by a snowstorm frenzy and many roads, villages and towns were seriously cut-off and though much of the seriousness had lessened, we wondered if we'd be able to a) get to the hotel at all and then b) drive to Gretna and back without being snowed under!


Thankfully everything went even better than planned and it was a joyous and delightful occasion. Lucky for us Jo and Mike did a brilliant job of capturing the whole event in a mass of lovely photos and Flip video which I am very happy to share here with you. Don't worry … you don't have to watch HOURS of it just a modestly edited version which lasts all of 10 minutes – I promise it will make you laugh out loud … really! ;-)

Bob and Christine's great big Nuptial adventure! from Christine Collister on Vimeo.

You can view photos here

At the same time as planning our small but perfectly formed nuptials, Bob's wonderful artist Corinne Bailey Rae was launching her second and truly masterful album “The Sea”. So Bob was ridiculously busy right up to the event itself and immediately after. It all added to the excitement and was our excuse to “honeymoon” in Paris where CBR and her band were performing for promotional purposes in the city centre the following Tuesday afternoon.


We flew to Paris on Sunday evening Feb 14th (oh hang on isn't that Valentine's day?!) and stayed near The Champs Elysee. Though I managed to get food poisoning that night and felt less than wonderful the following day we still had a marvelous time. I made a valiant effort and rallied late Monday afternoon, so we braved the vagaries of the ridiculously complicated Metro system and the bitter bone-numbing cold, to view the Eiffel tower ... well that was our intention. The queues were far too long to stay out in the freezing temperatures the length of time it would take to actually get in a lift, so we carried on walking and ended up at the Louvre which was just shutting as we arrived!

Tuesday was glorious and though still cold, was a much lovelier day. We viewed Notre Dame in the morning and meandered through beautiful Parisienne streets to finally meet up with CBR at her appearance in a city centre music store. We were met with a flurry of applause and congratulations from herself, band members and the crew. Ah.

Gay Paris - a brief Honymoon for the newly weds! from Christine Collister on Vimeo.

Bob and I returned to the UK in style on board Eurostar and managed to get a great deal including a 3 course meal in first class - oo la la! Oh we know how to do things right. The whole experience, from the Lake District to Gretna Green to Paris and back was truly wonderful, memorable and joyously lovely. We are blessed!

Corinne's album was receiving amazing reviews around the globe and there were many trips to the USA, Europe and the UK purely promoting the album's release which Bob was often a part of. So I didn't see my husband (ha, ha, ha!) very much the first month of our marriage. We've made up for it since! Once the bulk of promotional tv/radio/etc was done, work began on touring proper … and so to the first few CBR shows which I was privileged to see.

Leeds was March 27th and a wholly exciting affair with a full house totally enraptured by Corinne's beautiful and mesmerising performance. At one point a guy shouted from the back … I think I have to change my opinion of you … you might be a genius!We don't know what his opinion had been before that comment of course but I agree with him! This album is full of genius moments of inspiration.

We skipped the gig in Edinburgh to spend a day with our lovely friends Diane and Bryan Ansell so we could celebrate our nuptials once again,in high style at their beautiful home, before catching up with CBR in Leamington Spa.

From there we flew to LA and took up honeymooning where Paris left off … but this time no food poisoning! I think I'll stop this first batch of memories with the first CBR show in LA; a wonderful concert for KCRW in a fabulous old Church called Vibiana in Downtown Los Angeles.

CBR at Vibiana downtown LA for KCRW from Christine Collister on Vimeo.

I'll continue with our amazing American adventures very soon … watch this space! It's still possible to watch the full KCRW internet broadcast here - well worth it!

Thanks for stopping by and hope to see you again in a week or so with more musings on my fairytale life ;-)

Much love

Mrs Christine Collister Miller XX ;-)

Let's talk about walkabouts … Ozzy Wanderings …

Antipodean Adventures ...

Keeping up with my retro nature, I'm only now writing about my time in Australia and New Zealand … at the end of 2009. You couldn't accuse me of being speedy when it comes to my Blogging life! Hey ho and here we go:

Bob and I flew out to Australia together on October 15th – ah – and spent the first 4 or 5 days at the very first One WorldMusexpo Asia Pacific conference and Festival in Perth. It was a wonderful experience and a great opportunity to meet musicians,writers, producers and performers alongside promoters and business people alike, all in one great big user friendly and very well organised place, situated in the heart of this delightful and bustling city.

Famous songwriters and fervant rock stars ... in the making?! from Christine Collister on Vimeo.

Davy Knowlesand Back Door Slam were invited to play at several stages over the weekend and made – as I'm sure you've all come to expect – a great impression. Bob was also asked to take part in one of the many and never less than interesting, business panels as a guest speaker. I was so proud!!! He was great … and more than kept his own in some pretty illustrious company!

Musexpo Perth 2009 from Christine Collister on Vimeo.

The weather was unseasonably SCORCHIO over the weekend and made for some interesting lethargicly jet-lagged moments … none of which I can relate but believe me they were very strange at the time!

Late night rock and roll - Davy K rocks the kazbar ... well ... ;-) from Christine Collister on Vimeo.

Bob left to continue his ever productive managerial life, organising the run-up to Corinne's second album launch and Davy's onward musical march on the world. Which left me – in between writing and editing – to visit my brother Paul and his gorgeous family. A rare and unmissable experience! Mum and dad flew out a few days after Bob left and the 3 of us settled down to some serious familial catching up!

Perth and friends ... from Christine Collister on Vimeo.

Sadly, Rebecca my sister-in-law, had to fly back to the Isle of Man for her father's funeral just as we all arrived. Her dad was Clinton Ford of Music Hall fame … and a huge influence on his children's lives and is of course, very sadly missed. It meant that for the first 10 days or so of our stay we became an essential part of family life, taking Poppy and Oscar to and from school each day while Paul got on with training to become a Policeman!


To mark their Grandad's passing, on the day of his funeral, we all went down to the local beach about the time of the ceremony taking place back on the Isle of Man and Poppy, Oscar and their older brother Bailey took a few moments on their own to think about him. As a symbol of their goodbyes, they each threw flowers into the Ocean. It was a beautifully simple and very poignant experience.



Hanging out with Poppy and Oscar was an absolute delight. We had a great time at the cinema … mum and dad enjoying the amazing 3D effects of the brilliant Pixar animation “Up!” for the first time … me, Poppy and Oscar for the 2nd! Hurrah!We had a few days out too …shell collecting on the beach and a wonderful evening at the wonderful Gingin Observatory about 50 kilometres outside of Perth where we were able to view ridiculously distant Galaxies through the various assembled huge telescopes, made available for visitors like ourselves to use … a truly awe inspiring experience! We also saw on numerous occasions, kangaroos, koalas and any number of colourful bird-life … along the way.


Once Rebecca was back and family life returned to some kind of normalcy, mum, dad and myself went for a weeks adventures a couple of hundred miles further south of Perth, in what we thought was the Margaret River region. Let me explain: my mum's name is Margaret and she had wanted to visit the wine region of her namesake ever since their first visit to Perth 3 years previously. So I … being the helpful daughter … searched the internet for places to stay in the Margaret River area. This took quite some time but eventually we all agreed on a delightful looking 2 bed wrap around verandah type cottage in it's own grounds. Lovely! Just before we left I thought I'd better get directions so we wouldn't get lost trying to find it, only to realise that our home for the next 7 days was in fact … 100 miles away from where we thought we were going to stay! Oops!

As it turned out we were exactly where we'd have the most fun and memorable experience … and we all loved our little house with it's own huge pond full of black swans, ibis, ducks and kookaburras. Not to mention the big black angus beef cattle that roamed freely about the place.We were staying in the grounds Diamond Tree Farm Stay, Pemberton Western Australia.

A slow train to nowhere for no reason ... none needed! from Christine Collister on Vimeo.

We visited several vineyards on our trip, including Lost Lakesand Silkwood both serving delicious food too.We also discovered many a vertiginous gum tree plus, we got to “walk in the sky” in the Valley of the Giants; take a trip on an old train through beautiful forests and had a wild time getting lost in another forest looking for a walk-through gum tree! All in all a handful of wonderful adventures.

Valley of the GIANTS!!!! from Christine Collister on Vimeo.

The second night in our little cottage we had a power cut which lasted till mid morning the following day and proved an interesting event to say the least. For one thing (many actually!) the entire water system used by the place was totally dependent on electrical pumps … so once the electricity went off we had no water! Eek! We had plenty of bottled water (and wine) to drink but no water to wash … ourselves or dishes … or to flush the one and only loo ...you can imagine I'm sure!

Lucky for us the farm manager Bruce (yes really) was a sweetheart and tried to make the situation as bearable as possible.The electricity board fixed the break pretty quickly all things considered. What made the event all the more exciting was the fact that we had to drive 5 miles to get a phone signal, which meant getting in touch with the owners - who were thousands of miles away in Victoria anyway - to alert them to the situation, was a mini adventure in and of itself! All was well in the end and it only added to the general excitement of our visit. There a several video clips to illustrate our experiences. My favourite one is of the immense thunder storm on our last night. Enjoy.

Dioamond Tree Farm - there's a storm a comin' from Christine Collister on Vimeo.

Four-legged, furry friends ... and a few pouches ... from Christine Collister on Vimeo.

Back in Perth we resumed our fun-filled family excursions with the kids and Paul and Rebecca but all too soon our time together came to an end. On December 1st Mum and Dad flew back to the Isle of Man and I flew onto Melbourne” Victoria where I met up with my lovely friend Terry Crockett – originally from the UK - who now lives an hour or so outside of Melbourne only 7 minutes from The Great Ocean Road. Terry has lived in Australia for over 40 years and somehow has hardly a trace of an Ozzy accent. She's amazing!

I spent a wonderful few days in her energising company and was treated to several fabulous Bush Walks, complete with her excellent Bird Watching skills and expertise alonside wild Koala spotting! All brilliant and exhillerating experiences and I hope to repeat them all as soon as humanly possible.


I caught the train back to Melbourneto meet with a very dear friend from Canada Angela Hryniuk, who was getting married to her long time beau Steven Seaton in Noosa on the east coast, a few hours north of Brisbanewhere they now live, the following week. Turns out I was her “best woman”! Yeh.

Angela's mum and brother had flown out from Canada to Melbourne the week before her ceremony, in order to go to a very special convention there: Council for a Parliament of the World's religions. Both Angela and Michael her brother, live spiritually well-informed lives – she's a practising Tibetan Bhuddist, qualified to teach meditation and a fully honoured Celebrant able to legally marry people of all faiths; while Michael works within the Christian community, also teaching, writing and leading weekends in contemplation and meditation. They're all together an amazing family.


We had a wonderful few days reconnecting and catching up on each others lives before flying on to Brisbane and the exciting run-up to Angela and Steve's nuptials!While in Brisbane I took full advantage of the situation, basically enjoying the hospitality and generosity of my friends in their gorgeous home in the suburbs of Brisbane.

I drove off to Noosa a day ahead of the wedding party and thoroughly enjoyed the drive up the Gold Coast. Noosa itself is a lovely one street tourist resort with beautiful beaches and warm, crystal blue waters (complete with sharks!!) and any number of great restaurants and up market shops to indulge in. I had a great room in a small hotel at the end Hastings Street overlooking the river – blissful.



There was of course a rehearsal of the, personally designed, wedding ceremony in Hidden Grove just off the beach, the day before the BIG day, when the wind was so forceful we thought everything might simply blow away! Thankfully, when it came down to it, there wasn't a breath of wind and the usually scorching heat was at a delightfully warm simmer. Rehearsal was followed by the rehearsal dinner of course … an amazing feast at the most exquisite Thai Style restaurant I've ever experienced, in it's own beautiful gardens centred round a small but perfectly formed lake.

The day of the wedding itself was spent in girlie excitement as Angela was pampered and prepared. She looked absolutely stunning and I had fun capturing it all on camera. Angela and Steven had asked me to sing a lovely Eric Bibb song as part of the ceremony … Dance Me To The End of Love … so I had to put my camera down and be in the moment. It was all beautiful and quite lovely.



A few days later it was time for me to fly off to New Zealand and the final leg of my Antipodean adventure and more importantly … meet back up with Bob … yeh! Dec 16th had me getting up at 4am in order to get to the airport … 3 and a half hours drive down the coast … and onto Aukland where Bob and I were happily reunited. We'd been apart for 2 whole months! It was sooo good to see him. Bless!

We'd not stayed in Aukland before so decided rather than head straight for Mount Maunganui and the pre-Christmas family frenzy … we'd acclimatise ourselves there and have a good look around. We loved it! Got a great deal online at a 4 star Hotel right in the centre of the city and explored every which way we could. Watching Avatar in 3D, going to the top of the Sky Towerwas amazing and wandering the wonderful halls of the City Museum were all high-lights. Plus we managed to find some great places to eat … always a joy!

Mount Maunganui and all things family was – as ever -fabulous. We feel right at home there these days. Indulging in walks round the mount, sessions at the Hot Pools, massages, great food, family connections and a while lotta fun. We are surely blessed!!

Unfortunately ... due to technical cock-ups and the fragility of external hard drives all data has been lost from our lovely Christmas Kiwi excursions ... I'm still trying to recapture my photos and flip clips but so far no joy ... ho hum. They are still delightful memories of course but a little harder to "share" with you all.

Thanks as ever for your fortitude, patience and forgiveness! All very much appreciated. I will endeavour to be a bit quicker off the mark with my next installment which will include a little nuptial experience of my own! Promise!!!

Much love, peace and joy!

Christine Collister Miller ;-) XX