Greetings everyone!

This morning, shortly after being awoken by my loyal housekeeper Monutu and whilst enjoying breakfast out on the terrace, I was watching the local fishermen returning to the harbour with their catches of tuna and flying fish. As usual, I could hear them singing traditional Tuvaluian fishing songs as they emptied their boats and laid their nets out to dry - when suddenly, it occurred to me that I was still on the Coathanger payroll and that I hadn't issued a Ross Ryan/Coathanger Newsletter since December '09.

Not that anyone's actually noticed.

You may recall that the last time we spoke, I was representing Coathanger and Glen Iris at the Copenhagen Climate Conference (see pertinent newsletter) and Ross had just finished Spring Tour '09 - with gigs in Victoria, New Guinea and Western Australia.

It was a big year and one of seven busy years since Ross's return to live performance in the wake of the release of his 'One Person Queue' album. Since then, Ross has toured extensively and we've also released 'My Name Means Horse' on CD plus 'The Difficult Third Compilation'.

Over the Christmas break, I chaired a strategy meeting at Coathanger House with our merchandising, marketing and touring teams to examine our progress and to map out Ross's career for the next seven years. Foremost, it was agreed that we needed an album of new RR material to spearhead whatever agenda we eventually came up with. We then retired to the bar.

Thus, plans for Tour 2010 were terminated and Ross, as we speak, is bunkered down in his studio here in Fongafale - once again in full blown songwriting mode; a much, much slower process than it sounds.

As for me, I decided that this was the perfect time to take my long-service leave! Hell - who knows how long this album will take? '1PQ' took 20 years! Sweet!