Greetings glorious Ryanites - and a jolly, happy, festive season to you all!

This communication comes to you from a perfect white beach; hidden by a breathtaking mountain rain forest, nestled on the sheltered south eastern corner of the island atoll of Tepuka – a short distance from the Tuvaluan capital of Fongafale.

II won't bore you with tales of perfect weather, waves and wherewithal - except to say that there exists a serious argument for the concept of shameless self-indulgence.

Let's move on shall we?

In the latter part of ’07,  Ross  - with multi-instrumentalist and fellow Glen Irisian, Ken Stephenson - played a couple of casual gigs on the outskirts of Melbourne; gigs that they surprisingly both rather enjoyed!

Around about the same time, Coathanger’s touring division was contacted by celebrated music agent Kenny LeRoy who in turn, arranged Ross’s November, sold-out performance at New Capers in Melbourne (see previous newsletter).

The show - which was recorded and video taped - was by most accounts, arguably the best RR gig in years. There, with the addition of long time pal Roy Zedras - on bass, stomp-box and vocals -  the trio played a combination of old and recent Ryan material - including the new celtic flavoured 'Deeper Blue' and the never previously performed 'To Be Alone With You' from the 'Smiling For The Camera' album - plus a few cover favs.

So happily - a splendid night was had by all! But most importantly, it appears a viable live musical formula has fallen into place. Special thanks to Ted from Aztec, Lou from Lance Rock, Westside and the folks at New Capers.  Video from the New Capers gig.

Anyway, so we figured that whilst Ross was still enjoying one of his irregular rose-coloured-live-performance head spaces AND before Roy and Ken wander off into other projects, it might be a good idea to get our new buddy Kenny to frantically start booking gigs for a possible RR Mega Tour ’08!

Well, Kenny's certainly been busy and has already come up with a most varied (to say the least) selection of venues. Full details on our Gigs page.

January '08

  Sat 5th  Mulwala Water Ski Club - Mulwala NSW  6pm-9pm

The Mulwala gig on the 5th is part of a local water skiing festival on - I believe, Lake Malwala. According to my notes, the guys will be in some kind of outdoors/marquee environment at the ski club - which does seem to imply it’s a freebie. To add an extra incentive for would-be punters, following the Combo’s performance there will be a Robbie Williams tribute show – inside the club – at 9pm.

  Sun 13th   Mordialloc Sporting Club (Level One Bar) - Mordialloc VIC  3pm-6pm (Free)

The 13th sees Ross back at the Sunday afternoon session (3-6pm) in the Level One Bar at the Mordialloc Sporting Club in, indeed, Mordialloc – just south of city Melbourne. It’s a relaxed setting and hey, it's free!

  Sat 19th   Peninsula Lounge – Moorooduc VIC

Then, a mere six days later on the 19th comes the Peninsula Lounge show in Moorooduc. Although I’m not exactly sure where the hell Moorooduc is (I heard it was near a beach) - this gig was my idea. Thus, because we’re spending a bit money and effort in promoting this sucker, allow me to urge all you folks in the area to put together large parties of friends, hire buses, book on 03 5978 895 and so on – and make this a huge Ryan occasion. I’d personally appreciate it.

February '08

  Thurs 14th, Fri 15th & Sat 16th  Airways Hotel - Port Moresby. Papua New Guinea

Three nights in Port Moresby. Sound like an album title. Here, agent Kenny has pulled one out of a hat. As you can imagine, Ross – who generally prefers the comfort of his own postcode - is somewhat in denial about these Valentines Day & Beyond gigs at the Airways Hotel. If I can get a flight to Moresby from Fongafale – maybe I'll see you there!!!! (More info as it comes to hand)

  Fri 22nd  Friends Restaurant – Perth WA

Finally, Ross with Ken (and possibly Roy) will be making a welcome return on Feb 22, to Friends Restaurant at the Hyatt Hotel in Perth. The food and wine at Friends is superlative and the owners Clyde & Lesley Bevan make, not only their entertainers, but their customers feel right at home. Always a great night.

      (See Gig Guide for details)

As those of you who read this stuff are aware, we’ve been asking you folks to help us out with a couple of things.

Firstly, we sought your advice on selecting  tracks for Ross’s forthcoming compilation album. We’ve had a pretty good response so far and a final decision will be made when the Coathanger board meets in Zurich, early in the new year. So if you want to have your say in the matter – there’s still a couple weeks left.

Secondly, there’s our current ‘Hosre Competition’ – another of our infamous audience participation schemes. In this case, we are looking for a definitive list of errors in the CD packaging of the recently re-released ‘My Name Means Horse’ album. So far the response has been understandably limited but nevertheless overwhelming.

For more info about this competition (and there WILL be a prize of some kind) and why we're even bothering to run this competition, check out the 'Hosre' link where all is revealed:

   Hosre Competition

And so another year comes to pass. 2008 - it's like living in the future!

As well as the possible return of Ross to regular gigging, this year we plan to flood the marketplace with not only the RR compilation album, but also the remaining three EMI albums and a few other surprises. Stay tuned.

Many thanks to you all for your support in 2007 - and in fact over the past few years. Most appreciated. You all appear to be very nice people.

Go safe.

Connie Person
Blonde on Beach
Coathanger Fongafale
constance@coathanger.com.au