To the Island... Hoki ki Aotearoa

Kia ora,
              It has been a long time since I was in touch but I know, like good old friends, we are able to weather long absences and be free of any feelings of obligation. I just received a collection of kind thoughts and messages of appreciation from several of my Fangradio listeners. I’m very grateful for the affirmations and personal reflections about those shows. They were special and inspiring for me through the weird early months of lockdown, a meaningful way of feeling connected every day with the world, especially intimate through the absence of gatekeepers or commerce. 

I have been pondering a return to the airwaves, it's bound to happen, perhaps in my 2 weeks of quarantine as we head back to NZ very soon. In the meantime, we are packing up, dressing up our new music with pictures, making some plans for how to deliver Crowded House to you in good style. In spite of the pandemic, we feel a vitality in this new lineup and the new songs that is genuinely thrilling and can’t wait to share it with you. Stand by for word, good people! 

As I get ready to leave the U.S., I am feeling mixed emotions. On the one hand, the pull of home is strong. NZ appears in my dreams as the sweet scented garden it is, the bright summer colors, the coastline never far away. I miss the ocean on gentle evenings and on the wildest days. In a few weeks, I’ll be walking towards the waves across the black sand dunes and the whispering grass, and all around the shades and echoes of childhood. My home country is an open society, both politically and socially. I’m grateful and excited to be going home. 

On the other hand, I have always felt welcome in the U.S. and inspired by our experience living and working here. It's such a dynamic country, creative, diverse, aspirational but right now, once again, staring down the deep and painful history of struggle and inequity, much of its wealth and hierarchy built and sustained by slavery and injustice. In the midst of that ferment, there have emerged huge cultural and philosophical revelations and watershed moments for the world. I’m fascinated by this place and love America. With so much division and anxiety in the air, I want to thank the thousands of good, kind-hearted Americans I have met. It's because of them I believe America will transcend and heal its wounds. 

Life is in transition. Thank you one and all, music is magic, let yourself be carried away towards kindness. 

Nga mihi

Neil