Pat Drummond tribute concert, Merry Muse, Canberra
Pat Drummond interviews
The day after the tribute night before
Pat Drummond has built up a formidable musical legacy. And he’s not done yet.
So while he could attend his own tribute concert, sit in the front row, and inevitably jump up and provide a fair slice of the entertainment himself, he did just that.
The brain-child of long-time friend Craig Dawson, the night was held at The Merry Muse, Turner Bowling Club on Friday 18 May 2012.
For more details on the actual night, see the ‘A Punter’s Perspective’ column in the May edition of ‘Trad and Now‘ magazine. $4.90 in newsagents and considerably less online.
And for the audio of the actual interviews, click below. My apologies for the quality of the audio; my MP3 recorder is taking a holiday somewhere without me and has resisted all entreaties to Saint Anthony to show itself. So the audio tracks are on a very average voice recorder on my soon-to-be ex-phone.
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and
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Thanks, Pat, for the last 35 years. Looking forward to the next 35.
Pat Drummond starts the evening as a mere spectatorPat Drummond, Fred Pilcher and Geoff Drummond — video to follow!
Last Sunday, about a week out from Sorry Day 2012, I had a not-so-chance interaction at the Aboriginal Tent Embassy on the lawns of Old Parliament House, Canberra, ACT, Australia.
It galvanised for me two of the things that are most core to my being:
1. My favourite word in the English language (and several others I either speak or have some capacity with) is ‘diversity’.
Diversité. Diversiteit.
We can identify, celebrate, and understand our differences.
The more we can resist saying, ‘I don’t understand’, and the more we can say, ‘Help me to understand’ when it comes to differences, the better off we can be.
In my very humble opinion.
2. Never assume. I offer this as a serving suggestion. You can do whatever the hell you like. I suggest that to assume anything is to cut off so many fruitful opportunities.
The older I get, the more I have grown to dislike the word ‘assume’ and all the connotations around it and others like it.
‘I assume, I presume, Obviously, As you are aware’: they’re all illegal in my book. It’s like aversion therapy just being on the planet some days, hearing these repeated ad nauseum. Keep some tally marks today as they’re trotted out around you.
I can hear the words of my late father ringing in my ears: ‘Don’t jump to conclusions, Billy; you’ll break your leg’.
Intruder
On Sunday evening 20 May 2012, I was walking back from Manuka qnd Forrest, after catching up with some friends. It was one of those wonderful, clear, crisp Canberra nights in late Autumn when the air is still; and so long as you have a warm jacket on (preferably in an outrageous 1950s pattern) and an over-sized beanie, you’re sound as a pound.
Sorry Day Bridge Walk poster. I tried to resurrect it but couldn’t find anything to hammer it into the ground with. Sorry.
As I walked through Parkes (the Parliamentary Triangle) and passed the statues of former Prime Minsiters Chifley and Curtin, I got to thinking about reconciliation, the Aboriginal Tent Embassy, and the coming Sorry Day.
Earlier, while walking from the city out to Manuka, I’d happened upon a sign advertising the Bridge Walk this Friday and had spent some time (ultimately unsuccessfully) trying to re-plant it by the side of the road.
So this was all buzzing around as I approached the tent embassy along King Georges Terrace at about 8pm. I could have stuck to the path and the streetlights and headed off towards Commonwealth Avenue, but something drew me towards the ceremonial fire and I’d just descended one or two steps when a resident called out from the shadows:
Speaking in Tongues finishes at Theatre 3 today (Saturday 19 May)
Speaking in Tongues
Last day today at Theatre 3, Acton (ACT)
Lots more to come in 2012 from the Canberra Rep
I love Canberra and its arts scene.
And I love the many examples of how we truly do have one degree of separation in this town.
I occasionally swap arts notes at my desk or in the corridors of democracy administration at the Australian Electoral Commission with my colleague Ben. When he mentioned his role at the Canberra Repertory Society, and how they were doing a play called ‘Speaking in Tongues’ (the fore-runner to the film Lantana), my interest was piqued and I contacted the Rep to ask about an interview.
About an hour later a message bobbed up on our in-house messaging system from a bloke I deal with sometimes in our Strategic Capability Branch. Sam is an actor in the play and as the director was out of town, what did I want to talk about?!
A few hours later, Sam Hannan-Morrow and I were sat in the foyer of Theatre 3 in Acton. Sadly my prayers to St Anthony were fruitless and rather than the crisp clear sound of MP3, we have this rather gritty, muddy Samsung phone as a medium. My apologies. There’s no normalisation, editing or sound balancing — it’s raw, baby. And it’s a downloading nightmare, which is why the late delivery.
So with mere hours to go before you get yourselves a last chance to see ‘Speaking in Tongues’, you can console yourself in the fact that Sam apprises you in the audio of all the good things coming up later this year with Canberra Rep.
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And here’s where you can book tickets and find out more about Canberra Rep:
Let’s hear it for doing new stuff. CS Lewis opined that you should do six impossible things before breakfast. Well, here’s one new thing to do next month. And here are six things you can do there:
Try some of the most delicious, nutritious vego soup with chick peas and awesome bread
Try some home brew from Albury mayhaps
Listen to/watch some of the best acoustic music that Canberra’s independent music scene has to offer
Meet some really amazing gals and guys who are passionate about community and sustainable futures
Browse an incredible array of organic and ethical products, and finally (wait for it, brace yourself)
Poo in a bucket!
OK, there’s method in the madness of that last one. In fact, before this post is done and dusted, thou shalt have a link to what that’s about. Continue reading →
24 Hour Concert comes to an end2:30am, apparent temperature of -6.8 degrees CelciusQuestions?Practice start for WIN TVThe protest spreads out into the city (with petition forms)
Mikelangelo and the Tin Star, ANU Bar, Friday 11 May 2012
Mikelangelo and the Tin Star
ANU Bar, Friday 11 May 2012
Mikelangelo talks about sun, surf, western and sprouting new growth in the Melbourne autumn
Mikelangelo and the Tin Star will be making a much-awaited appearance at the ANU Bar in Canberra on Friday 11 May 2012. The night before, Mikelangelo joined Bill Quinn on Nikolai Blaskow’s Disc Drive show to chat about the gig and many other things.
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Click the link to hear the interview and get all the links to all the support bands.
That’s the official video, and a lot smoother than the very rough one I took on a dodgy camera phone last year at Tilley’s. My version DOES however feature a Go Girl Gadget Go dancer falling into the front row, so there’s that! CORRECTION: the pitching into the front row was on a previous track. No Go Go dancers were harmed in the making of this video clip.
‘Footprints’ by Pete Akhurst (photograph by Somewhere Photography)
Pete Akhurst
Beyond Q bookstore and cafe
Support: Minh Ha
4pm, Saturday 12 May 2012
I recently had the pleasure of doing my first guerrilla interview with the very savvy, very switched-on and very talented Pete Akhurst.
So it was great to see that he’ll be doing a gig, up close and personal this Saturday in the very intimate surrounds of Beyond Q bookstore and cafe, downstairs in the Curtin Shops.
Pete will be playing songs off his EP ‘Footprints’ plus some new stuff, plus introducing his colleague in song and music, Minh Ha.
It’s free, but you can show your appreciation by throwing some money into the jar and maybe buy a copy of Pete’s very fine CD, ‘Footprints’.
Listen to my guerrilla interview with Pete here:
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And see you on Saturday afternoon at Beyond Q in Curtin.
Paul Greene is making his way around Australia, and on the digital version of two cans with a bloody long string between them, Bill Quinn caught up with Paul on the road as he motored from Port Lincoln, South Australia towards Melbourne for a TV appearance.
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Random observations on the wide, weird world of folk from the side of the stage
#32 Take one large shed, add art and music. Mix and serve.
First published in Trad and Now magazine, February 2012
At a time when venues are closing and festivals are either taking years off or simply disappearing off the calendar, it’s heartening to hear when a café/restaurant throws open its doors to live, original music or another venue opens.
A relative newcomer to the Canberra/Queanbeyan melange of venues is The Artists’ Shed, a large ramshackle and rustic barn of a place plonked in the middle of an industrial estate on the eastern side of Queanbeyan (or Quangers as it’s affectionately known in some circles).
It’s not exactly where you’d expect to find a home for music and the arts. Even the directions to get there raise an eyebrow or two: ‘Head up Yass Road, turn at Magnet Mart, go left, go right and look for the big shed with the Bogong moth on the side’.
Right.
Kicking off in April 2011, the Shed Sessions brought a trickle of local talent in which soon became a torrent and they’re pretty solidly booked into 2012. With the burgeoning numbers has come a rise in press coverage, and the profile of the artists performing, but always with a place for home-grown Queanbeyan and district talent. Continue reading →
Overheard Productions 