The best gig of my life. No, srsly.

jessikast says that I am no longer showing obvious signs of stage panic - the nervous laughter, looking away from the audience, rattling out pre-rehearsed lines - and am starting to relax as a performer. See, I told you taking on a hostile comedy audience on a regular basis would be good for me. For the first time ever, I am beginning to believe that I am actually good.

Although in future, I will never believe a sound guy when he assures me that we can plug my rig in in 5 minutes before I start playing and it'll be sweet. Tonight, for going on half an hour, there seemed to be no way for them to get my keyboards and my backing tracks going at the same time. In desperation, I started playing bawdy Irish sea shanties. This may have, on balance, been a good thing as it calmed my infamous stage nerves (see above). I'm pretty sure I made quite a few fans, and even a couple of professional contacts.

In future, I think I will start giving gig reports on my MySpace blog - the bits that I want the casual fans to know about, anyway. It's an effort in actually trying to build links with my small but apparently enthusiastic and growing Auckland audience.

Anyway, for you who have been following the Vostok Lake saga for a while, the big news is that the other famous singer-songwriter from Welly called Daphne, late of Berlin, is making an appearance in Auckland in late January - and it may just be a two-Daphne gig. Stay tuned to the MySpace blog for more developments.