June was filled with crazy cabaret for the A-Z of Cabaret produced by the Brisbane Cabaret Festival for the Queensland Arts Council. Working alongside Sandro Colarelli, Alison St Ledger and Bryan Probets was a dream not to mention the top notch band headed by Helen Russell on bass and comprising the wonderful musicianship of Jamie Clark (guitars), Sue Porter (keys) and Kym Ambrose (drums). The shows were great fun and I enjoyed hamming it up with Earth Kitt-style sex kitten moves in I Want to be Evil, trying to channel Lena Horne for a beautiful rendition of Stormy Weather and trying my best to hold the longest note possible for Johnny One Note. I had a great time trekking through the Qld west, drinking beer, fossiking for sapphires and eating the same pub meal dozens of times (no sushi in the outback I’m afraid!). It did get absolutely freezing at times, though that didn’t stop Sue and I going for an early morning walk, frost and all. We did come home to shouts of ‘you townies are crazy’ from the open windows of other tour members still cosy in bed! The country folk were delightful and all in all it was a blast … though my bottom was glad to see the back of the tour bus.