So one of you took me seriously yesterday - got jealous, got on a plane and came! Well done Dimitri!

Dimitri and I have done over half a dozen festivals together; and it doesn't feel like fest without him!

Now that's who arrived. What disappeared were the SunshiP posters - replaced by some other schlongs' who took mine down and put up theirs. Sneaky sneaky. The Gtown 10-day poster wars have begun. And while we all jockey for wall space and attention, the festival juggernaut hurtles forth at high speed. 'High' being the operative word, because fest's is one of the greatest natural highs on Earth!! There's a creative buzz that permeates everything! - Even the ubiquitous all-year-round beggars are miming, singing and pulling faces for their money this week.

TRAFFIC!!! Now that's insane! Combine bamboozled out of town festinos looking for their shows and for precious parking spaces, with Eastern Cape locals that wouldn't break 60km/h in a Concorde, and you have life in the slow lane, slowed down to snail's pace. I saw two tortoises come whizzing past between the jazz and the Village Green.

The Village Green is what one might call the social hub of fest - beer tents, food stalls, a massive flea market, kids playground, a gig-rig with free shows and a ton of buskers of every ilk. Wonderful! As for the jazz; well as the song says, "where do I begin?" Double Standards last night was fantastic! Two piano trios - drums, double bass and piano - playing together. How marvelous to see two amazing jazz drummers play off each other! I went home and practiced after that!

At lunchtime I took my nephew Ilyo to see some free street theatre - a lovely production with amazing township performers for whom fest - just like with all us Gtown locals - is a chance to put yourself out there before a national and global audience. There are a billion shows I want to see! But who's had time to draw up show lists and make the ticketing arrangements. Not me. Yet. For now, the journo's hat gets shelved for the night and the drumsticks are whipped out. I'm off for set-up and sound check. Tonight SunshiP gigs! At a venue called the Lowlander, just after the acoustic guitar genius of Guy Buttery and Nibs vd Spuy; and tomorrow night at our beloved Champs - the most rocking music venue in Gtown! And as the fest's musicians come pouring in, so does our line-up fatten! Tonight we have the inimitable Mr. Matt Sabine do a set with us on electric lead guitar; and tomorrow night the outrageously talented Mr Adam Howard blows trumpet. We've never played with a trumpeter before and I can't wait! Festival is here and I'm enthralled. Come and play! Come one, come all!         

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