The Scene - Local Entertainment News

S Sense

It's hot. It's Woodford Folk Festival - and you know what that means... heat. Or mud. Sometimes hot mud.

It's pretty chockers... waves of people wash by - thousands of 'em. I stop at the pizza stall and order one with chilli and pretend it's a Mexican summer. I pretend it's a peyote pizza and my sweat is chemically induced. A 12-foot Scotsman playing bagpipes wanders by, followed by a clan of cavemen. Wow.

But I'd rather be at the beach. Imagine lying on a tropical beach somewhere with a cold native drink balanced on your belly and a cool breeze wafting in from an ocean which isn't Pacific. No gigs, no heat. Heaven.

It's tough, Woodford life. It rained on the first night, there's a drummer camped next door and women are slowing progress in the men's toilets. When will they get a urinal in the women's toilet? I'm hot.

But people are happy here. They like each other. In all their diversity.

I stroll to the bar, grab a cold Guinness and well, I feel better. Funny that.

All that fear of each other, an essential ingredient in the play of politics, alienates us from each other.

This festival is a rebellion - a subversive positive action that reaffirms humanity. In numbers humans buzz. You can feel it and it feels good. Like home. You can sing to it. Dance to it. Play guitar to it. (Not bagpipes though...)

I like the creamy foam of the Guinness. I like the blues and there are 12 bars. I like tall women and there are stilt walkers. I like to laugh and there's Morris dancing. And when I want to cry, there's always bush poetry.

A guy with a face burnt so badly from the sun, there's a blister on his nose, sits down beside me and, with a big smile and extended hand, tells me he's from England. He wears a knotted handkerchief on his head.

A man in a "Phuket. Love It" T-shirt and a sensible hat offers him some aloe vera cream. Burnt guy takes it and buys us all a pint. Cheers.

Next day, news filters through and a new word forms on people's lips - tsunami.

The people at the festival, connected with all people, grieve and donate generously.

I don't complain about the heat anymore.

Hip hop poets

Believe me, Joel Turner & Modern Day Poets are really quite happy to be playing the North Coast...

"Dude, that was awesome," Mark Holden said when Joel Turner performed at last year's Brisbane auditions of Australian Idol. "I think you're fabulous." He didn't win but they were looking for pop stars not hip-hoppers with a conscience.

Now, Joel Turner, 17, has teamed up with his brother, Dub LT and their cousin C4 (interesting book of baby names the mums were using...) to form the Modern Day Poets.

"We're like a totally new sound," Joel says. "We're hip hop, but with a human beatbox. And we add guitar to make it real."

"It's all over the place, it's mad," adds C4.

They have released their first single, The Kids - a song about the justice system.

"I wrote These Kids after one of my mates committed suicide," Dub LT says. "That's what I was thinking about."

Joel was a special guest at last year's Idol Grand Final at the Sydney Opera House and was also voted Most Popular of "The Unforgettables".

Joel, 17, grew up listening to Tupac, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Eric Clapton and B.B. King. He started playing drums at the age of seven - beatboxing on the bus to practice keeping the beat.

"People know Joel as the beatboxer from Australian Idol," C4 says. "But when we go out live, people will see Joel's guitar skills. He can beatbox and play guitar at the same time." Impressive.

Joel Turner & Modern Day Poets will perform at the Ballina RSL Club next Wednesday, January 11.

The concert starts at 8pm. Tickets are $20 and are available from the club or phone 6686 2544.

Hansel & Gretel? No worries

Lizzie Lizard helps Hansel and Gretel on their Australian outback tour in the latest Firetrax production.

Firetrax Theatre Company has been producing interactive theatre for children for 11 years. They've honed the process to a fine art. Their latest production is Hansel And Gretel - with an Aussie twist.

Writer Shirley Gay has added a new dimension to the fairy tale with Hansel and Gretel finding themselves in Australia as a result of the Witch's spell. Stumbling across the pair, Wanda Wombat and Lizzie Lizard need lots of help from the audience if they are to keep Hansel and Gretel out of the Wicked Witch's grasp.

And when all the fun of the show is over, you get to meet the cast for the 'hug' session - a favourite of young and old alike.

Perfornances are next Thursday, January 13, through to Tuesday, January 18, at the A&I Hall in Bangalow at 2pm. Tickets are $8/5 and are available at the door. For more information or bookings phone 6687 1998.

Hard clubbin'

The seeing hand of DJ Abel el toro will be part of the dance action in Byron this Friday.

There's a big dance gig in Byron to celebrate the successful completion of the first week of the new year. Whew, just made it. Only 51 to go...

Teclectic offers new sounds from some of the country's top dance music producers. This will be dance heaven on a stick with sets from DJ luminaries Groove Terminator, Abel el toro and Chin Bindi. As well, there will be a live set from Byron's own funk/punk/electro outfit, Puss.

Groove Terminator has had some huge gigs in the last year. He supported the artist formerly known as Prince (and before that Kevin) and then produced and toured across Australia with the Ministry of Sound Clubbers Guide to 2004. After that, he popped over to Europe to grab some of the latest sounds happening there. You can hear his new acquisitions at Friday's gig.

DJ Abel el toro is a legend of the Aussie dance culture and is chuffed to be a part of the Teclectic experience. He created the Happy Valley festivals and is a producer of world renown. (He's currently working with Sophie Monk.)

A live Byron sound will be unleashed when local band, Puss, purr onto the stage. Currently a three-piece ensemble with songs ranging from political to environmental to just plain outrageous, the wild live set of Puss is not lacking in passion.

Starting the Teclectic show will be DJ Chin Bindi, the mistress of the underground party scene. Formerly a Byronite, she now lives in Melbourne but is happy to be back to share the beats and inspire locals with her new sounds.

Teclectic transforms the backroom of the Great Northern Hotel in Byron, this Friday, January 7, from 9pm until late.

Tickets are $15 if booked (phone 6685 6454) or $20 on the door (if not sold out).

Tipsy Gypsy

The band, Waiting For Guinness, shows how to do it while waiting for their next North Coast gig.

Andy McLean a Sydney journalist, wrote of Waiting For Guinness in The Brag, "How eight white kids from Sydney ended up sounding like this is a mystery. That they manage to retain a modern pop sensibility throughout is little short of amazing."

This seven-piece band blew away a lot of people at the recent Woodford Folk Festival with their cabaret style gypsy-punk. They released their second album, The Show, in August last year and have been touring ever since.

Their music is a sort of inebriated folk that's highly contagious and irresistably danceable. They had the dust rising from the dance floors (grounds?) of Woodford.

You can see them at the Rails in Byron this Thursday, January 6, at 9pm; at the Chincogan Hotel in Mullumbimby this Friday, January 7, at 9pm and at the Great Northern Hotel in Byron this Sunday, January 9 from 8.30pm.

Surfing the bush pit

Dan Rumour has a new band and will surf the beats at Hanging Rock Hall this Friday.

This Friday, January 7, the kings of love rock, the Durga Babies, will headline a gig called Surfin' In The Bush at the very groovy Hanging Rock Hall near Cawongla. This hall, built a few years ago by the local community, is stunningly beautiful. It replaced the old Wadeville Hall which was burnt down in the mid-80s during an epidemic of old halls mysteriously burning down. (Backlash against the hippies?)

Anyway, this hall has already built up a history of fine gigs.

Supporting the rockin' Durga Babies will be Dan Rumour (from the Cruel Sea) and his cool new summer band. As well as Dan's guitar, the band has twin turntables, funky organ, bass and drums. The only thing the band doesn't have yet is a name...

Also appearing are the glass blowing maestros of groove, Mystic Beats. (Yes, they do blow glass while performing... it is the age of multi tasking you know.)

Hanging Rock Hall is on Williams Road just off the Murwillumbah-Kyogle road in Barkersvale, not far from Cawongla.

Gig starts at 7.30pm.

The Durga Babies and Dan's band will also be playing at the Gollan Hotel in Lismore next Thursday, January 13.

Remember Ember

Ember is an exhibition of artworks and ceramics by students of Southern Cross University.

This exhibition can be enjoyed at Pogels Wood Restaurant and Gallery in the charming little village of Federal. Pogels Wood management has donated the usual 10 percent commission on all exhibition sales to the Rural Fire Service. (The menu at Pogles Wood is also well worth looking at...)

The exhibition runs through to the end of January with many works up for sale. The gallery is open from 10.30am - 2pm.

Busker comp at Bluesfest

Look out for the 2005 Byron Blues Busking Festival and Competition from Saturday, March 20, through til Friday, March 25. Big prizes and a gig at the Bluesfest!

Plug into Re-mains power

The Re-mains are country boys at heart and love to kick up the dust in a hoe-down.

After the success of their Woodford Folk Festival gigs (Woodford loved 'em) our favourite country rockers are back on the North Coast to get those thongs tapping.

With an all-new rhythm section (well oiled from intensive touring through the Northern Territory and outback NSW) the lads will play the Lennox Point Hotel this Friday, January 7.

The following night, Saturday, January 8, frontman Mick Dalley will perform solo at the Urban Café in Bangalow.

The Re-mains return to the outdoor stage when they play the Billinudgel Hotel on Sunday, January 9, for an early evening show (2pm) that will bring the sun down!

The band is then off to Tamworth to show the cowboys how to do it right.

Ngaiire not idle

Ngaiire will expose her soul and shake her braids in Ballina next Tuesday.

Ngaiire is only 20-years-old but her soul is much older. You can feel it when she sings. No matter what style she sings, she sings from the soul.

Ngaiire calls Lismore home now, having been born in Lae, Papua New Guinea, and then moving to New Zealand. She battled cancer at the age of five (which resulted in her diminutive stature... and her commitment to God) and then returned to PNG.

In 2001, her mother, Miriam, received a scholarship to do a PhD at Southern Cross University in Lismore. Ngaiire finished her schooling at Kadina High. She is currently in her second year of a jazz vocal degree at the Uni of Central Queensland in Mackay.

From singing in church to doing heaps of gigs at pubs, resorts and festivals - and that high profile gig at the Opera House just recently - Ngaiire has come a long way and there is a huge future in front of her.

You can see the shining soul of Ngaiire for yourself at the Ballina RSL Club next Tuesday, January 11 at 8pm. Tickets are $15 and are available from the club or phone 6686 2544.

The night before that concert, on Monday, January 10, Ngaiire will perform a mini-concert in the Riverside Lounge at the club from 5pm. Fans can meet with Ngaiire at this gig where she'll sign CDs upon request.

Uni art gets a tan

This work, Cons Gravey, by Cornelius Delaney is part of the exhibition at SCU's Next Contemporary Art Space - in Byron!

Byron Bay residents and visitors to the region will have the chance to see a selection of works from Southern Cross University students and staff when the university gallery relocates for the summer holidays. 

SCU's Next Contemporary Art Space is temporarily relocating to Byron Bay for six weeks until February 12.

"This is an exciting extension to the gallery's regular exhibition program. It is hoped that this inaugural summer relocation will become an ongoing annual event that will contribute to and complement the region's arts calendar," gallery director, Shelagh Morgan said.

The first exhibition, titled Sampling One, opened on Tuesday, January 4, and will include work by recent SCU graduates - Jan Oliver (sculpture), Kristine Ubergang (photography) Sheri Bird (ceramics) and Cornelius Delaney (Painting).  Co-exhibiting SCU visual arts staff are Byron Shire artists Fiona Fell, John Smith, Shelagh Morgan, and photography lecturer Chris Meagher.

There will also be an artists' talk on Saturday, January 9, starting at 2pm.

The second exhibition, Sampling Two, opens on Tuesday, January 22, and will run until February 12.

The Next Contemporary Art Space will be located at 4/59 Centennial Circuit, Byron Arts and Industrial Estate.

 For information phone Shelagh Morgan on 6680 8003 or 6688 4386, or email nextart@scu.edu.au

Acting up in playshops

The kids are up to high dramas in their holiday workshops. They will display the fruits of their workshop fun at Rochdale Theatre in Goonellabah this Friday, January 7, at 7pm.

Emma Wappett, a teacher of drama for children, is running drama workshops over the summer holiday period at the Northern Rivers Conservatorium. The first workshop, with a diverse range of participants aged from 6 - 14 years, nears completion with a performance this Friday.

The second series of workshops begins on Monday, January 24, and runs for a week. They're heaps of fun for the kids (aged from 6 - 16) and are a creative respite for parents. For more information or to enrol phone Emma on 6628 3663 or the Conservatorium on 6621 2266.

Puppetry of the paper

A scene from Krinkl Theatre's Suit Yourself - it's a paper world.

Because of Krinkl Theatre's production of Tightrope, a crowd favorite at the 2002 festival, the company has been invited to return to the One Van International Festival of Puppetry in Blackheath, Blue Mountains, with their new show, Suit Yourself.

The One Van International Festival of Puppetry is the only one of its kind held in Australia. Audiences and puppeteers from around the world visit this unique festival.

Based in Kyogle, Krinkl Theatre is an award winning company who crinkle, wrap and sticky tape newspaper, plastic bags and other discarded objects to create delightful visual images before your eyes. Innovative and engaging, Krinkl's puppet theatre is directed towards adults, yet is still accessible to children.

Suit Yourself is set in a shop front window, with audiences viewing from the sidewalk. With an absence of dialogue, the performers and props help to recreate the essence of the overwhelming activity present in metropolitan Australia, conveying through movement and puppetry how rushed, busy and engulfing city lifestyles have become. The newspaper city and puppets take the viewer to the brink of reality and fantasy, a particular world that only puppets can bring into existence.

Krinkl will perform at Manor House Antiques in Blackheath on January 22-23. Good luck to the team - Lara Cruickshank, Padi Bolliger, Gabrielle Smith, Emma Newman and Shane Nagle.

Lismore swingers' camp

This couple has been doing the Lindy Hop and the Shag (It's true - there's a dance called the Shag!) in preparation for the Lismore Swing Dance Camp.

For the fifth year, the Lismore Swing Dance Camp will dominate the dance floor at Lismore City Hall from Friday, January 21 - Wednesday, January 26.

"The Lismore Swing Dance Camp has a firmly established reputation in the Lindy Hop/Swing Scene for being the best in Australia. It gets everyone across Australia out of their home town, mixing and making new friends", said Brian Whelan, the camp co-ordinator.

"Many have been returning since the very first camp and would not dream of missing it. Lismore is seen as a great opportunity to improve one's dancing."

The Lismore Swing Dance Camp caters to all levels and experience in Lindy Hop and benefits dancers from all the various swing styles. Camp classes include Lindy, Charleston, Jazz, Shag and Blues dancing (the root influences of Lindy Hop & Swing Dance), as well as Balboa.

The camp includes 5-6 hours of classes each day, dancing each night and performances by the teachers and Lindy groups represented at the Camp.

"Spending five days with such teachers and dancing till early morning each night is what guarantees people grow in the dance and this is so for all levels of experience and ability at the Lismore Swing Dance Camp," explained Brian Whelan.

The camp boasts some of the best teachers around including Steven Mitchell, Virginie, Kevin St Laurent, Carla Helney, Joel & Alison Plys, Peter Strom and Caitlin George.

Fees are $370 for the full camp, $265 for the weekend only and $180 for high school students.

For more information phone 6622 3633 or visit the website at www.swingconnection.com.au.

Off the Rails

These boys from Wagga Wagga formed a funk band and called it Bedlam.

They are currently spreading their gospel of funk/rock across the North Coast. They have a debut CD, Cosmic Breakdown, which can be bought online at www.mp3.com.au/bedlam and also at Music Bizarre and Choppers (both in Lismore).

Check out Bedlam at the Rails in Byron next Tuesday, January 11.

Morph up norph

Melbourne based five-piece live trance outfit, Morph, will perform at the Rails in Byron, this Saturday, January 8 and at the Byron Youth Activity Centre (with Skin and Freaky Lou) this Sunday, January 9.

Morph do live psy-trance music with funky variations.