Year: 2012

A Punter’s Perspective 24 — Q&A (John Schumann fields questions from the floor)

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John Schumann and the Vagabond Crew

A Punter’s Perspective

Random observations on the wide, weird world of folk from the side of the stage

#24 Q&A (John Schumann fields questions from the floor)

First published in Trad and Now magazine,  March 2011

How an artist builds a rapport (or not) with their audience on stage has always fascinated me. Especially if it’s an artist whose work has become very familiar, I find the gaze wandering from the stage to the crowd. Gauging others’ reactions becomes the main game.

Not everyone makes the audience the main game. I’ve never seen Van Morrison perform live, but his self-confessed lack of focus on, or regard for, those watching is legendary. Just plug ‘”van morrison” audience disdain’ into a web search and read for yourself.

On topic, I often recall a rock gig several years ago where two headline acts could only manage one complete, barely-coherent sentence between them that was roughly aimed in the direction of the paying punters. I left early and, passing one of the band cars, left a one-line critique in the dust on the rear windshield. Continue reading →

A Punter’s Perspective 23 — Sometimes You Can’t Make It (On Your Own)

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Sometimes, you can't make it on your own
Sometimes, you can’t make it on your own

A Punter’s Perspective

Random observations on the wide, weird world of folk from the side of the stage

#23 Sometimes You Can’t Make It (On Your Own)
First published in Trad and Now magazine, November 2010

In the last edition, I was bemoaning my decision to lay off the festivals for the rest of the year.

Next thing I knew, I was packing bags (or rather, a bag) for Kangaroo Valley Folk Festival (KVFF) – see elsewhere in this edition of Trad and Now for the match report on the festival itself.

It was at KVFF that I was reminded, time and time again, of a very recurrent theme in folk, as indeed in countless other art forms: payment.

We might be in this game for the love, the passion, the good times, the friends, and the memories.

But some of us (not all) are actually in it for the money. To make a viable living.

There’s nothing mercenary about that. I personally am rather fond of my eating habit, and intend to continue with it.

Various suppliers, vendors and ex-wives of mine (well, just the one of that last of those) do applaud when my cheques and money transfers come rolling in.

But I currently have a day job. I get paid quite well.

Meanwhile, there are many other people in the scene who rely on getting paid for their art to keep them standing upright.

Continue reading →

A Punter’s Perspective 22 — Festival Withdrawal Syndrome

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A Punter’s Perspective

Random observations on the wide, weird world of folk from the side of the stage

#22 Festival Withdrawal Syndrome
First published in Trad and Now magazine, October 2010

Q. What do air and folk have in common?

A. You never notice either that much – unless you’re not getting any.

OK, that’s a twist on an old joke, but this is a family publication.

I still contend that if you’re not getting any of either (or the other), the gasping and longing soon kicks in.

For various reasons, I’ve withdrawn from many folk-related activities for the latter half of this calendar year. And like quitting smoking or taking a month off the grog, I’m gagging for a puff or a dram of my favourite art form.

(Kids, don’t smoke.)

I know it’s around, it’s happening, and people are getting their fair share, but it’s on the back-burner for this little black duck until Illawarra in January 2011.

Abstinence does makes the heart grow fonder, and the pulse beat quicker, though.

I think the hardest part of keeping away is being hooked into social networking sites online with several hundred folkies. Watching your friends and acquaintances counting down to, travelling to, enjoying, and then reminiscing about this or that festival is a tough ask.

Especially when there are so many online albums full of photos that evoke familiar sights and sounds, recall favourite haunts, or illuminate new venues, performers and crowds. Continue reading →

A Punter’s Perspective 21 — Overheard at the National Folk Festival 2010

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Overheard at the National Folk Festival 2010
Overheard at the National Folk Festival 2010

A Punter’s Perspective

Random observations on the wide, weird world of folk from the side of the stage

#21 Overheard at the National Folk Festival 2010
First published in Trad and Now magazine, May 2010

Over the years, I’ve ambitiously set out to encapsulate a festival in 1400 words, but lately the first paragraph will usually include a disclaimer which states that to even attempt such a feat is ambitious at best.

So I’ll leave others to give their impressions of the performances and the event in general.

But as a keen observer and collector of minutiae, off-the-cuff comments and anecdotes, I’ve thrown together an assortment of quirky bits and pieces from the Easter long weekend in Canberra.

***** Continue reading →

A Punter’s Perspective 20 — Gypsies (Raggle-taggle and others)

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Mikelangelo and the Black Sea Gentlemen
Image courtesy of Mikelangelo and the Black Sea Gentlemen

A Punter’s Perspective

Random observations on the wide, weird world of folk from the side of the stage

#20 Gypsies (Raggle-taggle and others)
First published in Trad and Now magazine, April 2010

From flitting sporadically and erratically around the edges of the music scene, it’s possibly to form occasional observational and lightly-informed opinions.

I have hundreds. Many of them so self-evident they barely bear recounting.

One that seems worthy of at least a little light attention is the casual observation that gypsy music has been on the rise in recent years. There’s more on the radio, there’s more on festival programs and gig guides are swelling with their ranks.

Struggling to differentiate between Roma Music and Roma Street Station, I spoke to a number of exponents of the art-form.

My interest was piqued about a year ago when UK-bsed Paprika Reloaded (previously Paprika Balkanicus) came to Australia and whipped up a frenzy of punter acclaim wherever they went. I Canberra, just these five guys on stage, dressed conservatively in white shirts and black pants – no elaborate lighting or special effects – created pandemonium. There was dancing in the seats, dancing in the aisles, and every security’s detail’s nightmare, the crowd was invited up for dancing on the stage. Continue reading →

A Punter’s Perspective 19 — Christmas Tidings

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A Punter’s Perspective

Random observations on the wide, weird world of folk from the side of the stage

#19 Christmas Tidings
First published in Trad and Now magazine, December 2009

Greetings, salutations, merry whatever to you and yours and good luck to your family.

Typically a sign-off but I thought I’d get the nice stuff going first.

My thanks to all the great gypsy music artists (and faux gypsies) who have provided interviews and sound bites and input into what was to be a brief look at gypsy music in Australia and selected parts of the world.

Ah, plans and deadlines and dumb yet inconvenient luck. All my interviews are in myriad formats and various locations around Canberra and surrounding NSW and getting them together in time to be very late for a missed deadline.

Will get that going for February.

But for now, sitting in a superb little organic café in Nimmitabel, woofing down a superb big breakfast and washing down the first of a couple of long blacks, while the friendly, cheery staff play glorious Celtic music and helpfully ask if the music’s too loud and are helping out an indecisive customer: I’m just a wee bit contented and happy about my Monday morning at work on the road in the music industry. Continue reading →

A Punter’s Perspective 18 — Tuross Music Festival 2009

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Tuross Music Festival the first
Tuross Music Festival the first

A Punter’s Perspective

Random observations on the wide, weird world of folk from the side of the stage

#18 Tuross Music Festival 2009
First published in Trad and Now magazine, October 2009

While it’s been my pleasure over the years to attend the 20th of this festival, the 30th of that festival and the 40th of the other festival, it’s always nice to be there at the birth of one.

It was in these very pages of Trad and Now a few months ago that I read of a new festival cranking up in my second home, the quite stunning not-so-little hamlet of Tuross Head on the south coast of NSW. The festival had its inaugural outing on the second weekend in August, amid enjoyably warm and settled conditions.

Sandwiched between the jazzy township of Moruya and the blues stronghold of Narooma, it seemed a natural location to turn some new musical sods (er, no offence intended) with no particular labels or genres catered for specifically, save for an intentional focus on youth performances.

Festival director Ian Traynor has been very active in the Tuross Head community for many years, and also bobs up at many NSW folk festivals, most noticeably as a bush poet and MC. Ian laid the tools of his accountancy trade to one side for the weekend, which started as a birthday party on steroids and developed into a festival spread over multiple venues. Continue reading →

A Punter’s Perspective 17 – Kids in Folk pt II: Almira Fawn (Kentucky, USA)

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Almira Fawn
Almira Fawn

A Punter’s Perspective

Random observations on the wide, weird world of folk from the side of the stage

#17 Kids in Folk pt II: Almira Fawn (US)
First published in Trad and Now magazine, September 2009

Last year I wrote a column about two young performers from New South Wales (then aged 11 years old), and I had cunning plans to make a semi-regular feature in my monthly A Punter’s Perspective column in Trad and Now magazine to focus specifically on younger performers.

Plans are funny things, aren’t they? We have endless fun making them, and then so often simply file them under ‘F’ for forgotten.

Or ‘I’ for ‘I’ll get back to that…’.

And then a funny thing happened on the way to a singing session one cold Saturday night in Canberra.

The radio announced a burgeoning young star from Lexington, Kentucky and I was hopelessly hooked.

I was stopped in the carpark outside Woolies in Dickson (Canberra), and found myself unable to get out of the car.

Instead, I sat transfixed to the Woodsongs Old Time Music Hour program, and the story of Almira Fawn (aged 11 at the time of recording, having turned 12 in the intervening few months).

It’s quite a story, and one which could stretch over a year’s worth of articles, were there time to tell them all.

Six billion eccentrics wander the earth
To me right, file diddle i ay…

– Peter Morton, Northumbria

This is the story of Almira Fawn, collected over the phone while talking with Almira, her dad Don, and mum Umi in Lexington, Kentucky. Also patched through via conference phone to Almira’s manager of sorts, Beau, who runs a community radio station (The Penguin 106.7FM) in Wilmington, North Carolina.

Continue reading →

A Punter’s Perspective 16 — The Beez: Portrait of a band at the end of a very long road

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The Beez at the (Australian) National Multicultural Festival
The Beez at the (Australian) National Multicultural Festival, February 2009

A Punter’s Perspective

Random observations on the wide, weird world of folk from the side of the stage

#16 The Beez: Portrait of a band at the end of a very long road
First published in Trad and Now magazine, May 2009

‘Is there any point going on with this? I mean, should we just unplug and go acoustic?’

It was late December 2008, one of the first gigs for The Beez from Berlin at the start of an epic four-month tour. Fresh off the plane (and without their usual all-terrain sound man Georg for the first few gigs), things were not going well.

The speaker, Rob Rayner, originally from Sydney but a long-term resident of Berlin, was being polite and patient and professional, but the strain was beginning to show as Julischka’s acoustic bass seemed determined to stay unplugged. The audience was urged to move up front and cluster in the front rows.

Guitarist Peter D’Elia made some gag to help defuse the situation which got no response from the audience, except this from yours truly. ‘Try telling that joke again acoustically’.

‘Hey, I know you!’ D’Elia said, pointing into the second row.

And so was rekindled a friendship that left off in Cobargo in 2007.

This was the start point of the mammoth undertaking that saw The Beez travel to just about every point on the Australian compass, from Darwin to Hobart, from Byron Bay to Perth and many, many points in between. Continue reading →

A Punter’s Perspective 15 — We Couldn’t Do It Without You: The Pros And Cons Of Volunteering

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Volunteering
Volunteering

A Punter’s Perspective

Random observations on the wide, weird world of folk from the side of the stage

#15 We Couldn’t Do It Without You: The Pros And Cons Of Volunteering
First published in Trad and Now magazine, April 2009

Ok, this could get messy.

‘Messy’ is a service I do often provide.

And if the only ‘Messi’ you’re interested in plays for the Argentinean football team, it may be best to fast forward a couple of pages.

I’ve been thinking a lot about volunteerism lately. And in choosing to write on the topic, I realise this is not a new subject, and it’s been covered substantially. Including in the pages of Trad and Now magazine in the last 12 months or so by others.

But I’m choosing to delve and dive a little deeper, as the hypnotist said to the snorkeller. And look at motivations, experiences, and the treatment of volunteers.

It didn’t come out of the blue. It comes off the back of a couple of rather trying personal experiences.

And for that I apologise now for the use of personal pronouns. It’s something I (pardon me) usually shy away from, but it fits the subjective nature of the topic.

Volunteers come in all shapes and sizes, and in all levels of commitment, application and motivation.

Disclaimer: I am a volunteer. If you cut me in two, you’ll find a volunteer’s wristband and a couple of unused complimentary festival beer tickets. Always sad to find the latter.

There’s nothing necessarily noble or virtuous about being a volunteer. For serial helper-outerers, it’s just the way we’ve been hard-wired, often from an early age.

Volunteerism motivates us and drives us, sometimes in many worlds. For me it’s mostly (but not limited to) music, entertainment, and the arts.

I know there are hundreds of others who put in far more effort than what I get up to.

Continue reading →