Monday, October 14, 2002 4:08 pm 

Dr. Finbar Delivers a Calf


Hello there,

This week's edition of the Finbar Express contains information about 
Sam's graduation, our most recent performance, the Finbar competition, 
our new regular feature, "Voices from the Past", and Pete's moving 
house.

LAST WEEK

Last week, the magnificent Dr. Sam officially received his PhD. 
Sartorially, Sam struck a perfect balance by combining his academic 
attire with his Dr. Who jacket (a fact not ignored by the Vice-
Chancellor, who singled Sam out for special attention on this basis). 
After the ceremony, we adjourned to the philosophy department for a few 
celebratory champagnes and reds. Then it was off to the Yak.

Owing to the fact that we continued to celebrate on Sam's behalf once 
we reached the Yak, by the time we were called up to play we knew that 
we were up against it. Our first song was a little ragged, but after 
that we settled in and managed some roughly competent semi-pissed 
playing. Later in the night, the management were kind enough to ask us 
up to play again. We did an impromptu blues jam with the one and only 
Molly Molotov, and were then joined on stage by the indomitable Su 
Rogerson on sax. Some genuinely pissed playing followed, during which 
the bass guitar inexplicably lurched out of the hands of a certain band 
member and broke into tiny pieces on the floor.

Many thanks to all of you who came along to celebrate with Sam!

THIS WEEK

This week the Dr. Finbar Trio will be playing somewhere, sometime. The 
venue and date are still to be finalised, but we'll send off a brief 
note letting you know the details when they are settled.

THE INAUGURAL DR. FINBAR COMPETITION

Since we're going to win our ARIA award tomorrow, the competition is 
now closed. In fact, the guitar picks have already been despatched to 
the winner. We are still negotiating with the second-prize winner over 
how many of our broken strings he is prepared to take.

In some respects, it's a bit sad to see the picks go. They were solid 
performers. On the other hand, they were rather poor breeding stock. 
The guy we bought them from assured us that if we looked after them 
properly we would have a clutch of picklets in no time at all. But I 
had them pressed up against each other in my wallet for three months to 
no effect.

VOICES FROM THE PAST

This week, we are pleased to introduce a new regular feature. Each 
week, we will be asking famous dead people to say a few words about the 
Dr. Finbar Trio. Here are this week's respondents:

W.A. Mozart: "I can hear them all the way from Salzburg. I think I 
should compose them something quieter."

Benito Mussolini: "If you're just hanging around, you should be 
listening to the Dr. Finbar Trio."

It has taken us quite a while to arrange this segment. First of all, 
we had to find a good clairvoyant. And you'd be surprised how many 
charlatans there are out there. Unfortunately, good clairvoyants don't 
come cheap. It costs us $50 to receive a brief message about the Dr. 
Finbar Trio from a famous dead person. We're quite happy to foot the 
bill and consider every penny to be money well spent. But it would be 
nice to be able to bring you more than two quotes a week. And in fact, 
our clairvoyant has a special deal. For another $30 a week, we can 
contact a further two famous dead people.

We'd really love to be able to bring you more words of wisdom from the 
past, but we need your help. Please send donations to the following 
address:

Voices from the Past,
GPO Box 6453VFP,
Melbourne
Australia 3000.

Remember, the more you send, the more we can spend.

PETE CONTINUES TO MOVE HOUSE

On the weekend we helped Pete clean up his old house for the 
inspection. But it wasn't just us; Pete's other friend came as well.

Have a pleasant day,

The Dr. Finbar Trio.