News - July
Sacred Harp Singing
Have you ever heard of Sacred Harp Singing? I hadn't until recently, so based on a recommendation, I visited Melbourne's Sacred Harp Choir on the 1st of July. The Melbourne group meets regularly at the Brunswick Uniting Church Hall on the first Sunday of every month, from 4-6pm. Shawn and Natalie have been running this group for about 11 years now and I'm surprised I hadn't heard about it earlier. The sound is unique and is based on acapella traditions, hundreds of years old. Apparently this style of music was used in the soundtrack for the film - 'Cold Mountain'. If you like acapella music with a traditional base, that gets your body resonating like a tuning fork, you should check it out. Click on the heading to go to their website.
Folk Uniting Nights in Cranbourne
In its second year, there is a little known concert in Cranbourne, hosted on Saturday evenings, every three months. The concert is held at the Uniting Church Hall in Lesdon Street and is used to celebrate music, dance, poetry, develop community and raise funds for charity. It's a growing thing and more and more people are finding out about it. I'll be acting as MC for the next concert on the 18th of August. If you're interested in performing, contact me! You can check out their new website by clicking on the heading above.
Have you ever heard of Sacred Harp Singing? I hadn't until recently, so based on a recommendation, I visited Melbourne's Sacred Harp Choir on the 1st of July. The Melbourne group meets regularly at the Brunswick Uniting Church Hall on the first Sunday of every month, from 4-6pm. Shawn and Natalie have been running this group for about 11 years now and I'm surprised I hadn't heard about it earlier. The sound is unique and is based on acapella traditions, hundreds of years old. Apparently this style of music was used in the soundtrack for the film - 'Cold Mountain'. If you like acapella music with a traditional base, that gets your body resonating like a tuning fork, you should check it out. Click on the heading to go to their website.
Folk Uniting Nights in Cranbourne
In its second year, there is a little known concert in Cranbourne, hosted on Saturday evenings, every three months. The concert is held at the Uniting Church Hall in Lesdon Street and is used to celebrate music, dance, poetry, develop community and raise funds for charity. It's a growing thing and more and more people are finding out about it. I'll be acting as MC for the next concert on the 18th of August. If you're interested in performing, contact me! You can check out their new website by clicking on the heading above.
Around the traps
Christie Heart, Andrew Schrape and I performed at a few venues this month, trying our hand in performing together. We sang a mixture of Christie's originals and other songs, using two guitars and mandolin. Andrew joined us on double bass at Selby and Henry joined in with violin at Emerald. Whilst places like Burrinja and Selby Folk Club were fun, I think we sounded best at Emerald's Gemco Hall. Without amplification, the harmonies worked out really well and we had the benefit of having played at a few prior venues to hone the songs. I really like Christie's originals, in particular 'Sugarloaf' and 'Heartbreak on the Land'. Christie has released a second CD 'Leave The Wake Behind' which is a companion to her latest novel with the same title. Click on her name above for more details.
The Victorian Jazz Archive runs workshops and after some encouragement from John, I'm taking part in these to expand my musical horizons. It's a lot of fun and I have a new found respect for jazz musicians, those chord progressions and keys are just something else!
'Fathers In the Chapel' was a very full venue for July with several new performers. My two favourites for the night would have to go firstly to Mr. Walker for his classic recital of Banjo Paterson's 'The Man From Snowy River' and for his ability to fend off puns about Aeroguard; my other favourite is Chris Newman who I seriously think would give Neil Diamond a decent "run for his money".
I played some songs at BAD Folk, as I do from time to time and would you believe it, there was a Swiss couple who saw me busking just a few days earlier in the city. The feature act this month was Greg Champion. Greg was extremely funny and injects a strong sense of Australian humour in many of his songs. After many years of professional music and radio work, he has the process of performing and working the audience down to a fine art. Many a prospective musican could learn a lot from watching him.
The German Club or more correctly 'Club Teutonia' had an acoustic jam session which was a lot of fun on a Friday near the end of the month.
The Victorian Jazz Archive runs workshops and after some encouragement from John, I'm taking part in these to expand my musical horizons. It's a lot of fun and I have a new found respect for jazz musicians, those chord progressions and keys are just something else!
'Fathers In the Chapel' was a very full venue for July with several new performers. My two favourites for the night would have to go firstly to Mr. Walker for his classic recital of Banjo Paterson's 'The Man From Snowy River' and for his ability to fend off puns about Aeroguard; my other favourite is Chris Newman who I seriously think would give Neil Diamond a decent "run for his money".
I played some songs at BAD Folk, as I do from time to time and would you believe it, there was a Swiss couple who saw me busking just a few days earlier in the city. The feature act this month was Greg Champion. Greg was extremely funny and injects a strong sense of Australian humour in many of his songs. After many years of professional music and radio work, he has the process of performing and working the audience down to a fine art. Many a prospective musican could learn a lot from watching him.
The German Club or more correctly 'Club Teutonia' had an acoustic jam session which was a lot of fun on a Friday near the end of the month.
Newport Folk Festival
Max and Michael join me at Newport
Newport - Victoria, was filled with music from the 6th-8th of July. The Newport RSL was the most crowded I'd ever seen it and it was especially full when the Adelaide based band - The Timbers, played. I had a solo gig booked on the Sunday but decided to use it as an opportunity to have a couple of friends up on stage for a few songs. Max and Michael did an awesome job playing a very new setlist. Now that I know we can "fly by the seat of our pants", we might try to rehearse some of these songs and make a proper go of it. The crowd was fun and even joined in with singing at times. Thanks go to Alex who we grabbed from the crowd to help us with the classic 'Rawhide'.
The music continued on way after the festival officially finished, into Sunday night. There was some good jamming going on, and I took part with a few songs. Once again, I managed to get some members of the audience up onto the stage, it all worked very well. I love the spontaneity, although it is sometimes risky, as you are never quite sure who you'll get up on stage with you. Jan Dandridge who does so much for Newport RSL had an accident at home, and so could neither manage the stage or perform as scheduled. We all hope she gets better soon! Thanks go to Liz and Tiny who stepped in to fill the MC and sound roles. Susan Lily performed admirably with a borrowed guitar to take Jan's place.
The music continued on way after the festival officially finished, into Sunday night. There was some good jamming going on, and I took part with a few songs. Once again, I managed to get some members of the audience up onto the stage, it all worked very well. I love the spontaneity, although it is sometimes risky, as you are never quite sure who you'll get up on stage with you. Jan Dandridge who does so much for Newport RSL had an accident at home, and so could neither manage the stage or perform as scheduled. We all hope she gets better soon! Thanks go to Liz and Tiny who stepped in to fill the MC and sound roles. Susan Lily performed admirably with a borrowed guitar to take Jan's place.
Tim Hannan's CD launch & Contra Dances
On the 28th of July Tim Hannan launched his new CD near his home turf at Upper Beaconsfield. I was honoured to be part of his band in this launch. There was a Contra Dance the following day at Northcote Uniting Church, where for a change I didn't abscond and run onto the dance floor, but instead just played the guitar.
