Once again, Karon and Larry provided a fabulous feast for us at their lovely home in Waimate North. It was a great day with great food, great wine and great company. Life is good.
I made a cameo appearance on stage with The Pipi Pickers at the official launch of their CD "As Is Where Is" in the rustic Sawmill Cafe in Leigh. This is an album that I engineered and co-produced with the band. If you like bluegrass then you will like this.
Wires & Wood traveled to Australia to perform at Mountaingrass in the beautiful alpine village of Harrietville. It was the first time in decades that i had been to a strictly bluegrass festival and my first time ever to visit Australia. The standard of musicianship, especially in the jam sessions, was very high which was humbling and inspiring and very enjoyable. It was great to catch up with some old friends and make a few new ones. As always, it was a pleasure to perform on stage with Wires & Wood.
It was yet another lovely weekend at the Oparau Acoustic Festival. Highlights were the gumboot swim competition, the Saturday night concert, the bonfire and the jamming. I was happy to be performing with Rainberry Pie in the concert, along with The New Millennium Beatniks and Hard Candy.
I'll be pondering for a while as to why these class reunions are so enjoyable. In the meantime I'll just keep basking in the afterglow. 
I'm headed to the class of '73's 40th Mexico High School reunion in Mexico Missouri on October 19. I've been out of touch with most all these people for forty years and thought I would post a synopsis of my life so they can know a bit about me before the day.
The external journey:
Born in June 1955 in Mexico Missouri. Spent first and second grades in a one room school house in Molino, a small village north of Mexico. Shifted to Highway R3 for grades three through seven, then eighth grade at Hardin Junior High.
Four years at MHS, Class of 1973.
Five years at Central Missouri State University. Ended up with a wife and two Bachelor of Science degrees: Mechanical Engineering and Electrical Engineering. Class of 1978.
First job with Honeywell in Dallas Texas for two years designing control systems for high rise commercial buildings. Five years at Docutel in Irving Texas designing the worlds first ATM's.
Divorced.
Seven years at DSC in Plano Texas designing the digital telecom infrastructure. Took up sailing and racing Hobie Cats and boardsailing.
1993: Sold everything I had, bought a sailboat and took off on a five year plan to sail around the world. Fell deeply in love with the South Pacific and instead of continuing around the world, we spent five years sailing in circles around the South Pacific. Ran out of money, had to go back to work, decided that New Zealand was the best place on the planet and settled there in 1998.
Read about it here: http://michealyoung.com/sailCruise.htm
2001: moved off the boat and into a house in Devonport, Auckland.
Eleven years doing design work for various IT companies in the Auckland area, mostly for Navman/Navico, designing computer controlled marine boat management systems.
2009: Playing music has been an integral part of my life since high school. Gave up the IT world and took up music professionally – doing recording engineering, teaching, performance.
2010: Had an awkward fall and suffered a horizontal fracture through my C6 vertebra. Was in a brace for months and am very lucky to have recovered with no nerve damage.
2011: won a Tui Award (the New Zealand equivalent of a Grammy) for an album that I produced, engineered and performed on.
2011: motorbikes have also been an integral part of my life since childhood. Fulfilled a childhood dream of touring the USA on a motorbike, taking four months to travel nineteen thousand miles.
2013: still smiling as a starving musician, although I'm getting a bit weary of the starving part.
2014-2023 - Became a founding member of the band Albi & The Wolves and have been busy building a following for us. We have released three albums (won another Tui for the first one), had many tours of New Zealand, Australia and the Cook Islands. We signed with a label for our most recent album and are hoping to crack the North American and European markets. Watch this space...
The Internal Journey:
Was raised in rural settings around the outskirts of Mexico. Up until high school I had very little social life apart from family and school. I was the oldest of four children with three younger sisters. I was an avid reader and developed a rich internal life and learned to entertain myself. I envied the city kids with their activities and opportunities to just hang out with other kids.
Key moment: joining the high school football and track teams. It was my first opportunity to really socialize with peers. It also taught me discipline and that I was capable of pushing my body much further than I ever imagined I could. Another revelation was the power of teamwork.
Key moment: My sophomore English teacher, Mr. Douglas, after reading some poems I had written for his class, campaigned to get me reassigned to the advanced track of classes. I was such a naive country bumpkin that I hadn't even realized there were different levels. I went from bored to stimulated and found myself with kids that I could better relate to intellectually. It was the beginning of my lifelong interest in philosophy.
Emotionally, high school was full of the typical teenage angst. Having grown up in relative isolation in the country I didn't have the history the other kids had with each other nor did I have the socialization skills to make up for it. Having really strict parents felt hard at the time as it was nearly impossible for me to just hang out for unstructured time with friends. I tried to cover up my insecurities and limitations by being something of a jerk.
Key moment: 1973 - Steve Usnick showed me how to play Stairway to Heaven on the guitar. Such a cliché I know, but the guitar has been a constant friend and therapist ever since.
Partied hard the first half of freshman year at University in Warrensburg. Then took up with the Jesus people, learned how to love and that it is OK to be a nice guy. Married Cindy just before graduating in 1978.
1984 – Could no longer abide the irreconcilable differences between my intellect and Christianity as I knew it. Separated from Cindy, spent two years searching in earnest for the meaning of life, the universe and everything. Learned how to Be. Came to a few conclusions and emerged a different person.
1986 – Divorced Cindy. Took up sailing in general and the Hobie Way of Life in particular. For the next fifteen years sailing would be "It" for me. If i was floating i was happy. It was eight years of working hard, playing hard and intense bonding with like minded souls. Decided to forgo children and aim for an early semi-retirement.
1994 – after eight years of scrimping and saving and planning with Trude, we sold up, bought a sailboat and took off the see the world. It took more courage than I anticipated to walk away from a successful career in the middle of my peak earning years. Then, not long after resigning I was wondering why I had waited so long.
1994-1998 – Experiencing the South Pacific places and cultures as a traveler rather than a tourist was a transformative time for us. Seeing life in general, and America in particular, from other world views was humbling and enlightening. The emotional peaks and valleys of exploring the world via a cruising sailboat were way more extreme than I had imagined.
2011 - Ever since watching the TV show "Then Came Bronson" as a child, i had dreamed of touring the USA on a motorcycle. All the signposts of my life were telling me that if i didn't do it now i never would. So even though it was fiscally irresponsible, i took four months off to do it. I made a priority for the trip of renewing bonds with family and friends. I made a list of about thirty people to visit, plotted a zig zag path across the country and finished the journey feeling like the most fortunate person in the world for all the wonderful people in my life. I got to spend some good quality time with my dad on that trip and he died about a year later. You can follow this trip on this blog, starting in June 2011.
2009–2023 - Encouraged by the memory of the world not ending when I walked away from a good paycheck back in 1993, I decided to have a go at making a living through music. Recording engineering is perfect for me as it blends both my technical and artistic passions. As is my style, I've immersed myself in that world and have achieved results that I am proud of. I also teach music in private lessons. Playing in several bands rounds out the package. I am almost paying the bills with music. Financially it's like being back in University, just scraping by, but i'm smiling a lot so it's OK.
The last few years of my life in photos:
http://picasaweb.google.com/t.micheal.young
A very outdated blog (from the days before that word was invented):
http://michealyoung.com
Carl Newbrough and Pauline (Mom) Young got married today in a ceremony attended by immediate family. It was a beautiful autumn day, a lovely ceremony and everyone was smiling. I am really fortunate that i could be here for it. Here are some photos of the day:
Mom is getting married tomorrow. Tonight, Sharon (my sister) and Fred are hosting a dinner party at their lovely country home. Most of both families are here, including the bride and groom. For me, it is a great way to reconnect with the extended family all in one shot.
Kevin Welch and the lovely Jamie stayed at our house while Kevin was doing songwriting workshops in Auckland. It was very nice to hang out with such lovely folks and to share a cozy Walt Wilkins jam by the fireplace in The Bunker. Any time, y'all!!
Spent an intense weekend tracking the Pipi Pickers for their album "As Is Where Is". After a bit of editing, mixing and "Micheal Magic", i reckon it turned out to be a very nice album.
Ayi Soloman, percussionist extraordinaire, after performing with a band at The Bunker, was stuck in Auckland due to bureaucratic BS while the rest of the band departed for Europe. We made the best of the time by hanging out at Roger and Hilary's place, sampling whisky and exploring the philosophy of music. Fortunately he was on his way home the next day. Twas a pleasure to hang with you, mate!
My mate Dave Warren and I spent nine
days blatting around the North Island of New Zealand on our
motorbikes.
Next day we are headed north up the
east coast, via the wind farm, Peter and Mary's place, Napier and
ending up in a cabin in Gisborn for the night.
Last day. We said goodbye to Larry and
Karon, took the ferry from Opua to Russel and rode down the east
coast of the North Island back to home, via Tutakaka. Final stop
before parting ways was at the Puhoi Pub to toast the completion of a
marvelous week of great riding and companionship. Thanks Dave!!!
We had exceptionally fine weather this year which seemed to lift everyone's mood. Not being a booked performer this year it was nice to relax and not have to worry about having too much fun, which i didn't and did.
A group of ten of us spent a week traveling via five canoes through Whanganui National Park. Jenine did a fantastic job of planning the whole thing, including meal plans, purchasing the food, sorting out who was going to do what, when and where, as well as acting as general tour guide. Thank you!!!
We blasted out of Wellington in the early morning and headed up the west coast with good views of Kapati Island. We had breakfast in Levin at the nice cafe that i can never remember the name of. Then it was on to Koitiata and Turakina Beach to visit our dear friend Pizy and stretch our legs with a long beach walk.
Wooden bones (driftwood) were scattered for kilometers along the beach, making photography irresistible. We had a nice catch up with Pizy and got to explore her new "Red Bach Gallery" where she sells her amazing copper creations.
We packed up the tent, said our goodbyes and sadly left Tui Farm. We had lunch in Nelson and stopped by for a cup of tea at our friend Tony Stephens' place. Tony and his family had also been at Tui Farm and we had a sort of catch up and debriefing. We had to get ourselves on the Picton to Wellington ferry by 6PM so we said goodbye to Tony and his family and took the less scenic route to Picton.
We departed Wellington at 2AM on the car ferry and arrived in Picton to a misty dawn. The drive to Nelson was another twisty, up and down, road but with beautiful views of The Sounds. After having breakfast in the sleepy fishing village of Havelock, we continued on to Nelson were we stocked up on provisions. From Nelson it was just under an hour to the Tui Farm Music Festival site. We had camp established by 1PM and were seeking shade to get out of the blistering sun. We didn't know that would be last we would see of the sun for the entire five days of the festival.
