It's nearly the start of November and everyone I know keeps asking where the year went.
Who knows? One minute it's July and we're all amazed that half a year has gone, next minute you look up and there's two months till Christmas. Tempus fugit.

This is, however, the time when things start getting into gear on the musical front so this week I thought we'd take a quick trawl through a random selection of events that are coming up next month, both here and further a field.
It's certainly a busy month for Tauranga bands and a couple of our best and brightest are heading off to overseas festivals. Brilleaux are taking their patented brand of rhythm ‘n' blues to the Samoan International Jazz & Blues Festival while Bonjour Swing is off to Brisbane for a gypsy jazz festival.
Bonjour Swing can be seen around town quite frequently for those with a hankering for some 30s-style guitar that follows in the traditions of Django Reinhardt. Marion Arts and Robbie Laven – the two guitar slingers who make up the band – have been playing regularly at Mills Reef, No.1 The Strand and on Thursday nights at the wonderful French restaurant on Grey Street, Café Versailles. For their jaunt to Australia they will also be taking their son Oscar Laven, currently studying down in Wellington, and master of several wind instruments.
And on to some up-coming stuff…
This weekend recent New Zealand Music Award recipient Anika Moa is heading here on her ‘Solo' tour along with special guest Mel Parsons. It's been quite a while since I saw Anika live, except for her brief performance at the Music Awards which showed that she is singing better than ever and is incredibly happy and relaxed about both her music and herself. She plays at The Colosseum on Harington Street on Sunday, tickets from eventfinder.co.nz Tracs and the Brewers Bar at the Mount.
Looking ahead into November, another singing/songwriting woman is coming to town. Chanelle Davis will be at Alimento Café in 1st Avenue on November 19 with special guest Chris Cope. Chanelle originally hails from round these parts but has most recently been over in America where she has been mentored by and acted as personal assistant for Berklee College of Music songwriting guru Pat Pattison. One assumes this has done great things for her not insubstantial songwriting skills.
Pat himself, who has taught the esteemed likes of John Mayer and Gillian Welch, was here lecturing earlier in the year and proved an inspiration for all those who heard him talk. His most recent book, Writing Better Lyrics, should have a place on any serious songwriter's bookshelf.
Tickets for Chanelle's show are $20 from the café.
And moving further away, lovers of classic Kiwi music will be looking forward to the new CD from The Human Instinct, Midnight Sun. It features original drummer and vocalist Morris Greer along with Neil Edwards on bass and Joel Haines on guitars. Guest musicians Hammond Gamble, Stuart Pearce, Murray Grindlay and Eddie Rayner also appear on the album. It was launched this Wednesday in Auckland at The King's Arms and the band is playing a full show there on Friday, November 19.
Also on the nostalgia front, a few days before that (November 13) early 70s band Ticket, purveyors of blues-acid-rock, are playing a reunion gig there. Eddie Hansen was one of the local guitar heroes of his time, while the rhythm section of Ricky Ball (drums) and Paul Woolright (bass) have been powering Hello Sailor for the past decade or so. Singer Trevor Tombleson (later Trevor Keith) meanwhile had an interesting career in England with the Keef Hartley Band.
And coming back closer to home, there are a couple of dates in Katikati at the folk club that you may want to note.
Wednesday, November 3 sees a visit from legendary Australian singer/songwriter Eric Bogle, the man responsible for ‘The Band Played Waltzing Matilda' and other notable Aussie tunes.
And from an Aussie legend to a Kiwi one: Shona Laing and the Sparrow band will also be playing at the folk club, on Friday, November 19. You can see the full programme at www.katikatifolkclub.co.nz