Hiya - Well Jonathon the latest on Chris is that he had a good week last week - in theory his medication issues are beginning to resolve - but I feel like a bit of a twit saying it cos we've had so many up/down/sideways/aboutface moments. There I was thinking we'd been wrestling with his meds for 4 months & someone said 'no about 8 - 9 months' - so sheesh, poor Chris. But here's hoping ......

Aaron - I don't know how you'd get hold of the epic version of 'Nothin' .... ummm other than through me really, if yer really keen to hear it send me an address and I'll fossick through Chris' CDs and see if I can get you a copy.

I tried to bully Chris into starting work on putting the compilation together but got a whithering sneer which I interpreted as 'leave me alone you little bugger, I'll work when I'm good and ready, not when you are' - his sneers always were quite eloquent.

Roy

Hi All - Well 'twas a crap week for Chris - a seizure, feeling crap, medication out of whack. Still, we went to see 'In The Attic' on Saturday which Chris enjoyed.

Hey, nice to hear from the Aussies!

Hiya - Chris had a good week last week. Feeling a bit clearer and more awake. We went to Strange Powers - The Magnetic Fields film & he spent the next few days trying to communicate to me that he'd recorded a track with Stephin Merritt for one of his other projects The 6ths - it wasn't easy to work out but we got there.

Hi All - Chris is holding steady. It was Shane's birthday yesterday so we sat around drinking & cavorting & Chris was having quite a nice time. He got tired early however & ambled off to watch a DVD. Seizures seem to lurk on the periphery but he hasn't actually had one for a while.

Cheers Mike & Barry.

Hiya - Chris had a crap week last week. Near seizures & feeling grotty. Blah.

Hi - Yeah I've seen 'District 9' Barry - I enjoyed it but maybe it's a touch overrated? I'm not sure if Chris has seen it. We dragged him along to iMAX 'Avatar' in 3D but he was pretty sneering - which is fair cos it's an amazing moment in technology along with a  completely crap film but, on the other hand, he made me watch iMAX 'U2 in 3D' - and who really wants a thirty foot 3D Bono gesticulating to them? I tried to smuggle whiskey into the theatre to ease the pain but Chris stopped me. Horrible experience.

What has happened in film land ya gotta ask - it's crapped out worse than music land! 'Prince of Persia'!!!??? 'Robin Hood'?????!!!!!

And ...... Chris had a small seizure on Friday so there goes our hopes of the medication stablilsing ....... darn. He's ok & didn't need hospitalisation but a bit woozy.

Hey - Oh I thought I had posted about the compilation album (my memory is sliping too Barry!). With the encouragement of the ever-great Pete Baker from Rhythm Method we thought it was time for a compilation of Chris' work from over the years - Toy Love, Tall Dwarfs, solo, & The Nothing. A few months ago Chris & I went through the process of whittling down his c450 songs to around 40 for a double CD. Shayne's helped out too - but they're all of Chris' choosing. We've got the track listing pretty much sorted but now we need to get all the tracks together & look at mastering. It's not a big job but there are some questions around mastering that are hard to communicate with Chris about at this point.

Even being a Chris fan, I was floored by the breadth & quality of the 40 tracks. I've heard the criticism made that Chris did not self-edit enough - and it's certainly easy to miss some gems in his catalogue due to fatigue. It's odd to think that the person I consider NZ's best & most diverse song-writer is really only known locally for a bread ad/love song.

Going through the 40 songs is a real adventure & brings out many sides of Chris as a composer & artist. It's a bit like when I was going to be playing bass with the Tall Dwarfs for the MGMT show & Chris gave me a disc of songs to practise - listening through the songs & getting to know them was more like watching films & cartoons than listening to music; the tracks struck me as very visual & vibrant, each one it's own small universe.

I'll be very curious to see the response to the album from people that are less familiar with Chris' output.

Cheers

Roy

Hiya - Chris was a bit perkier on Tuesday night. He had a glass of wine and we watched PT Anderson's 'Hard Eight' (1996). Who knows, maybe we're turning a corner with the medication? It's been a while since Chris has felt ok so that would be nice. I'm still itching to get the compilation album together, but Chris still feels too groggy to do any work.

Roy