music

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

Overheard Productions Music general, Trad and Now , , , , ,
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 19 — Christmas Tidings

Overheard Productions Miscellaneous, Music general, Trad and Now ,

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

Overheard Productions Festivals, Music general, Trad and Now , , , , ,
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 →