Moving Amazingly

Blackstump 2007 Report

2007-10-05T14:05:00.000+10:00

Jono and I got a great spot at the supper club at stump this year. In what was a first for The Amazing Joel Hockey Movement, likely a first for The Supper Club, and possibly a first for Blackstump, we did the show as an arena spectacular!

You can see that there were some audience members behind us as part of the arena spectacular performance. It was certainly not without challenges. I believe that I was getting a little feedback through the foldback at one point with my electric ukelele as I tried to turn around and ensure that all of the audience were involved. I've had very positive responses though and so in future I will be thinking about other new directions that we can take.
I want to say a hello to Elise (from Newcastle if I remember correctly) who didn't make it to stump. And also another hello to the girls from Epping Baptist.

Since it's been so long since I've recorded an album, I'm going to try and find some live versions of the new songs I've written like 'Levi Loves Trains' and put the MP3s up on this website. I'll also try and get some more MP3s from my 'Late Night Shopping' album because I've sold out of it now.

Gee but it's great to be back home

2007-06-05T13:15:00.000+10:00

I'm playing at Brisbane City Church on Friday night for the young people. It's good to be back in Brisbane and I think it will be a lot of fun to play back at my old stomping ground. They tell me that they've got a Christian magician who will be there. Hopefully I'll be able to do my Christian hypnotist routine - it is quite surprising.

Australian Gospel Music Festival 2007

2007-03-28T14:44:00.000+10:00

I'll be playing at AGMF 2007. I'm at the Vision Radio Metro on Sunday at 5pm. I've written a jingle for Home ice cream, and the word on the street is that they will be giving out 100 ice creams to share to randomly chosen artists who do a jingle.

So to get a head start, here are the lyrics:

On the same day, every fortnight
I can't believe my luck
I hear a 'ding, ding' and I look out the door,
It's the Home Ice Cream truck

Practice up, and let's see if we can't score some ice creams to share.

Fiday night at the Supper Club at Stump

2006-10-01T08:28:00.000+10:00

I always like it when Jono can join me for a gig. Perhaps I should have given more thought to our band motto before I told Jono that it's 'band comes last', because I can hardly be dissapointed when Jono can't make a gig because he has something else on.

After seeing both Rhubarb and Wishful perform their last ever shows on Friday night though, I can confirm that our lackidaisical approach to the band has contributed to our longevity. We certainly are 'here for a long time, not a good time'.

I hope you had a good time if you were at the Supper Club to see us play. I'm hoping that my wife and kids (Natalie, Levi, Matilda and Esther) will join me for the gig today and Levi might even join me to sing 'Levi Loves Trains' - I believe it is one of his favourite songs.

Gr@nite rocks

2006-10-01T07:26:00.000+10:00

Sunday night was lots of fun thanks to everyone at Georges River Community Baptist Church. I was playing at their Gr@nite Cafe. Actually, it just occurred to me that 'gr@nite' is possibly a play on 'great night' while I was deliberating on whether to write 'granite' or 'gr@nite'. Am I a bit slow? Does everyone else already know this? Am I trying to read too much into it? I have to admit that I'm not a fan of words using numbers or symbols in words. It is probably mostly due to how much I disliked the band 5ive, which I liked to pronounce as 'five-ive'.

Getting back on topic, it was a very enjoyable night. Thanks especially to Rhian (and everyone else who helped whose names I don't know) for making some lovely chicken kebabs.

I really enjoyed Mike Frost's talk about the future of the church. He made a point about the god of this world being consumerism and how there is such a big expectation to worship this god (at the altar of Westfield I would add). I've been giving this some thought during the week. It's really easy to get caught up in a mentality of consuming. I remember hearing or reading recently how tithing and charitable giving is such a subversive act against the consumption establishment. This is definitely true. I really like the feeling of rebellion that comes with giving tithes and sponsoring kids overseas or giving to help the many worthwhile charities that are around. You're basically saying get stuffed Messrs Packer, Lowy, Moss, Norris, and others of their kind, and saying that you trust God to provide everything you need.

Remembering Grandma

2006-04-30T13:37:00.000+10:00

I had fun at AGMF. I tried out a new song that I wrote called "Grandma Taught Me How To Kill A Cockroach". The song is about my Grandma Hockey. She died 4 years ago - just after Easter, so I was very glad to finally finish this song that I've been thinking about for a long time. I think the song went pretty well. I'll definitely try it again at the next few gigs that I do.

I haven't been writing many songs in the last few years, so I'm always very happy when I do write one just for the fact that I've got another one done.

Hopefully they'll let me play at AGMF again next year so I'll see everyone there again then.

TAJHM at AGMF

2006-03-25T21:11:00.000+11:00

Yes, it is acronym city this easter when TAJHM play at AGMF. I'm not sure if you count either as true acronyms, so perhaps it is just initial-ville.

I'm playing at what I believe is called Compassion Base at 3pm on Sat and then later on Saturday night at 9pm. I think it is called the village stage.

At the Courtyard

2006-02-05T16:15:00.000+11:00

Hi to everyone from Chatswood South Uniting who was at the courtyard cafe last night. Thanks for having me there. Hopefully I'll be back again this year and have some more delicious nachos.

125 Years Old

2006-01-28T22:30:00.000+11:00

Thanks to Ruth and everyone who organised the 125 year celebration of Christian Endeavour and having me there last night. I'm not sure whether you are meant to spell things using the American spelling when you link to an American website, but I've stuck to the good old British 'endeavour' with a 'u'. I have to confess that I've been under a rock for the last 125 years and I have never heard of Christian Endeavour before.

It was great to see all the crew from Emu Plains who I met at Back-2-Basics. There was a great choir there as well. They were singing 4 part harmonies with guys and girls singing counter-lyrics and melodies. I'm sure they must have had Brian Wilson doing their arrangements.

I was standing behind the merchandise table at the end of the night when who should come up and say hello but the Reverend Honourable Fred Nile, who I believe happens to be the president of Christian Endeavour (Australia) as well as a member of the NSW Senate. He said that he enjoyed my songs and wished me well in my ministry. It was really strange to meet him and chat a little. I think whenever you see someone on TV before you meet them, you don't really expect that they exist as regular people in the flesh.

I didn't really think about it at the time, but I regret that I didn't ask whether Gordon Moyes was around during the evening. I suspect that he was, given that we were at the Wesley Theatre in Pitt St. I'm sure it would be inspiring to talk for even a few minutes with a man who has acheived and given so much to everyone else. This guy has more than 30 letters after his name, and I'm sure he's added more since they last updated his website.

MP3s added

2006-01-21T14:03:00.000+11:00

I've just added some MP3s for 1 and a half out of 3 ain't bad and The Octopus Lovesong. I'll try and put some live songs as well some time soon.

MC Duffy

2006-01-15T17:41:00.000+11:00

I had a great time last night at Back 2 Basics. I really enjoyed hearing Duffy Robbins talk. When he started off saying that he was going to rap, I thought he meant 'rap' in the sense that I have heard Americans refer to what I would call a D&M or deep and meaningful. But, then when he asked the drummer to come up and give him a beat, I realised he meant rap as in 'You Can't Touch This'. He actually did a rap of the books of the bible - it was very good.

Thanks to everyone who was there for having me. I hope I can come to another Back 2 Basics some time this year.

Feb 4 at The Courtyard, Chatswood

2006-01-14T12:56:00.000+11:00

I'm playing at the monthly Chatswood Uniting Church cafe - The Courtyard. We'll be there on Feb 4.

All Reformed

2006-01-12T21:43:00.000+11:00

Thanks to everyone at the Reformed Church Youth Convention for having us play on Tuesday night. I hope you guys have fun for the rest of the week. Jono and I were a bit disappointed that Alan Meyer wasn't there when we were there on Tuesday night. Jono's been telling me for ages that his family are old friends with Alan.

Back 2 Basics

2006-01-12T21:40:00.000+11:00

I'm playing at Back 2 Basics. Back 2 Basics is the Sydney Baptist Youth combined get-together. Jono says that he can make it and we're looking forward to a fun time.