Speaking in Tongues — all finished but more to come from the Canberra Repertory in 2012

May 19, 2012September 22, 2014 Overheard Productions Interviews arts, Canberra, Canberra Rep, Speaking in Tongues, Theatre, Theatre 3

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.

*** THE AUDIO OF THIS INTERVIEW HAS BEEN DELETED FROM SOUNDCLOUD DUE TO SPACE LIMITATIONS ***

And here’s where you can book tickets and find out more about Canberra Rep:

http://www.canberrarep.org.au/

Acoustic Soup at the ANU Food Coop, Canberra City (Acton)

May 17, 2012September 8, 2012 Overheard Productions Music general Acoustic Soup, ANU Food Co-op, Canberra, performance

Acoustic Soup at the ANU Co-op Food Shop

Third Wednesday of the month

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 →

ANU School of Music 24 Hour Concert ends with a marching band, Monday 14 May 2012

May 14, 2012August 21, 2012 Overheard Productions Music general ANU, Canberra, march, performance, protest, School of Music

ANU School of Music 24 Hour Concert

Ends with a marching band

Monday 14 May 2012

http://www.facebook.com/AnuSchoolOfMusicSaveYourDegree

2:30am, apparent temperature of -6.8 degrees Celcius

The protest spreads out into the city (with petition forms)

Mikelangelo and the Tin Star, ANU Bar, Friday 11 May 2012

May 10, 2012September 22, 2014 Overheard Productions Interviews, Music general ANU Bar, Canberra, Mikelangelo and the Tin Star

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.

*** THE AUDIO OF THIS INTERVIEW HAS BEEN DELETED FROM SOUNDCLOUD DUE TO SPACE LIMITATIONS ***

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.

See you at the ANU Bar.

Pete Akhurst plus Minh Ha at Beyond Q bookstore and cafe, Curtin (ACT)

May 9, 2012September 22, 2014 Overheard Productions Interviews, Music general Beyond Q, interview, Minh Ha, performance, Peter Akhurst

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:

*** THE AUDIO OF THIS INTERVIEW HAS BEEN DELETED FROM SOUNDCLOUD DUE TO SPACE LIMITATIONS ***

And see you on Saturday afternoon at Beyond Q in Curtin.

Here are some more links:

Pete Akhurst on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/peteakhurstmusic

Pete Akhurst on MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/peteakhurst

Beyond Q bookstore and cafe on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Beyond-Q-Books-Bar-Barista/151201208289970

Paul Greene guerrilla interview: on tour around Australia

May 8, 2012September 22, 2014 Overheard Productions Interviews, Music general Culburra Beach, folk, interview, Paul Greene, performance, The Front

Paul Greene on tour around Australia

In Canberra on Thursday 10 May

The Front Café and Gallery

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.

*** THE AUDIO OF THIS INTERVIEW HAS BEEN DELETED FROM SOUNDCLOUD DUE TO SPACE LIMITATIONS ***

Kim Churchill guerrilla interview: on the road and out of the surf

May 8, 2012September 22, 2014 Overheard Productions Interviews, Music general blues, Kim Churchill, performance, Transit Bar

Kim Churchill (image by James Looker Photography, http://www.jameslooker.com/)

Kim Churchill is on the road and coming to Canberra

Thursday 10 May 2012, Transit Bar, Canberra

Bill Quinn caught up with Kim Churchill on the road and on the phone, and fresh out of the surf.

Hear what Kim’s been up to and what to expect when he lobs into Canberra (or to your part of the world, for that matter).

*** THE AUDIO OF THIS INTERVIEW HAS BEEN DELETED FROM SOUNDCLOUD DUE TO SPACE LIMITATIONS ***

A Punter’s Perspective #32 — The Artists’ Shed, Queanbeyan

May 4, 2012June 29, 2012 Overheard Productions Interviews, Music general folk, performance, Queanbeyan, The Artists' Shed

The Beez at The Artists' Shed, February 2012 — The Beez at The Artists’ Shed, February 2012

A Punter’s Perspective

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 →

Spam alert: John Woodhead is a hoaxer

May 1, 2012September 8, 2023 Overheard Productions Miscellaneous ads, email, Spam

Spam alert: John Woodhead 3 is a hoaxer

Fight fire with fire

I’ve been trying to sell my van via social media and allclassifieds for a few days, and the last time I did something like this, I got attention from a spammer.

But today as I was motoring down the Hume Highway, feeling good about the world and having a full-on sing, I pulled over to the side of the road in the Southern Highlands and read the text message that I thought might be a solution to off-loading my van.

What distracted me was the surname is the same as a very fine guitarist/vocalist friend, so sub-consciously I might have connected the two.

The text read:

I’m interested in d quick purchase of d car u advertised and i will like to know if the ad is still available. Please email me at (johnwoodhead3@gmail.com) John

Now, the savvy among you will already be rolling your eyes and looking to the heavens saying, ‘What was he thinking?’ Continue reading →

Greg Quinn: Time to Me or ‘He’ Is Calling You But You’re Probably Not Listening

April 30, 2012April 2, 2020 Overheard Productions Miscellaneous folk, Greg Quinn, music

Ainslea's Secret found in Beyond Q bookstore, 2011 — Ainslea’s Secret found in Beyond Q bookstore, 2011

Time to Me by Greg Quinn

He* is calling you, but you’re probably not listening…

* Yes, that’s a reference to the Christian version of a deity – one of countless tens of thousands, but this is not a story about religion per se. Promise.

A colleague and I were mucking around and bantering on Facebook today, and the subject of our old alma mater came up. We share a similar sense of humour, and the mention of ‘bona fides’ led to ‘Fortes in Fide’ (from our old school motto: Strong in Faith).

In the course of our online conversation, my colleague mentioned the school anthem, which I confused with the popular hit of a hymn, ‘Eagle’s Wings’.

And it prompted a bitter-sweet memory.

I spent the first 18+ years of my life in the Canberra suburb of Downer. My mum referred to where we lived as ‘Upper Downer’, which was beautifully ironic, as I’m fairly sure that our property was at the exact lowest point in the rather large suburb. Mum always said she was going to start up a movement called, “Downer Is A Beautiful Suburb”.

Our family started its time in Canberra at #20 Wheelbarrow Street, Downer. Elder sister M. was born in 1965 in Camperdown Hospital just as mum and dad were relocating from Harris Park, Sydney to Canberra, allegedly for one year for dad to move from the NSW TAFE system to the then new Commonwealth Teaching Service.

In 1970, when I was three years old and just about to start pre-school, we moved a whole seven doors down the road to #34 Wheelbarrow Street. We may have all carried some of our goods and chattels, and I have a dodgy memory of dad loading up his old box trailer with stuff and getting some neighbourhood friends to help push it the 130 metres (I’m reliably informed by Google Maps).

The next year, in November 1971, my little brother Greg burst forth into the world to complete the fivesome of we Quinn siblings. Yes. Five Quinns. NO, STOP. We have heard all the jokes about five quins, I mean, Quinns.

Greg was a Daramalan College, Dickson Class of 1989 graduate. He then returned to the school to be a teacher’s aide in computing. Greg was also heavily involved with the legendary annual Daramalan school musical/play productions. Any time I hear the strains of any part of the seminal recording of Evita with Julie Covington urging Peronistas to not cry for her, Argentina, I’m back in Downer, with Greg doing lighting, mentoring performers, and even sewing some costumes.

Greg died of brain cancer at 4am, Saturday 22 August 1998 in Clare Holland House hospice which was situated in the grounds of the then Royal Canberra Hospital. It’s now been supplanted by the admin building for the National Museum of Australia, after a Commonwealth/ACT land swap moved the hospice east along the shores of Lake Burley Griffin to 5 Menindee Drive Barton. Continue reading →