The Scene - Local Entertainment News

S Sense

The post-Xmas and post-New Year period.

Friends dropping round, (livers dropping out. My liver, which sponsored my new year resolution, was disgusted at the brevity of my resolve. Anyway, Mr 'I'm-So-Moral' Liver is now too weak to argue.)

And of course, this is the time of the family beach lunch. An Aussie tradition.

Now, my idea of going to the beach is to wear an Hawaiian shirt and sip something Caribbean whilst watching the cricket on TV from a cool shady lounge/bar area.

The family lunch on the beach is another proposition. Its honoured traditions lie in a sunburnt past (before ozone depletion made the sun a downer) where lunch is taken on a wind-blown desert tract beside an unpredictable, dangerous sea. Great.

No roof, no air-con, no caparingas, no Iraqi Report on the radio.

And it's for lunch! (Lunch is the midday meal. Midday. Middle of the day. Hot.)

So I park the Camira amongst a bloat (gloat?) of 4WDs - I don't lock it. No-one wants it. I set off down the track to the beach, wearing a straw cowboy hat, large Starsky and Hutch sunnies, a long sleeve white shirt and baggy hemp pants. I look like an American oil broker checking the pipeline. But I don't like the sun. (Directly on me, I mean. I like the way it grows plants and that.)

Popping out onto the beach is like walking into hell. Ground zero. Don't get me wrong. It's, um, picturesque but, holy fan-forced, Batman, it's an oven and the wind is chucking fine sand so I half close my eyes like a Kurd in a Mesopotamian desert. The only shade is reserved for the eskies.

"Hello family!" I shout at the pink half-naked smudges approaching me through the glare. These are family blurs. One wears a Gold Coast beach towel wrapped Arabian style around his head to protect against an angry sun. I love these people.

It's a dangerous world. It can happen any time. Just regular people blinking at the glare, then WHAM!

Not much you can do about a tsunami. Natural catastrophe and many thousands killed. That's a lot of people. Not as many as killed in Iraq. But that was no tsunami - no act of God. That was a deadly wave premeditated and promulgated by us. We're better at tragedies than even God.

"Run!" I yell.

Techno teachings of an urban Christ

Matthew Szczotko is Jesus (who seems very happy to be rid of that hippy look favoured by the original) in the Trinity Catholic College production of Godspell.

Everyone knows the musical, Godspell, by Stephen Schwartz. Remember the songs? Day By Day, All For The Best, Light Of The World...

Now, Trinity Catholic College in Lismore is presenting an updated version of the musical. Directors Peter Derrett, Genevieve Lewis and Mark Robinson have moved away from the hippy version of the 1960s to a contemporary, urban youth approach. Young people in a techno environment are confronted by a figure who looks at love, God and relationships.

The production uses video projections and graphics to enhance the theatricality and to make the point that the messages can be the same despite the focus on technology. (Hey, you can text a parable...)

Year 12 drama students make up the apostles and a large supporting ensemble of Year 11 drama students work with the dancers and band to bring this dynamic work to life.

Godspell is on Thursday to Monday (not Sunday) January 27 - 31 at 7pm with an extra show on Saturday, January 29, at 2pm.

Performances are at the Champagnat Centre for the Performing Arts in Lismore. Tickets are $15/10, available from Caddies in Lismore or from the

Trinity College St Mary's site office.

Funk me stupid

Is it a group of rebels? Is it a green corps group? No. It's Mighty Pragmatics, the super funk band.

The Mighty Pragmatics is a 10-piece outfit (economically un-pragmatic) whose extended line-up enables them to play 'deep' funk. Many attempt funkiness with only a skeleton band but anything less than a big band will not take the punter to the hip swivelling soundscapes of deep funk - they only get shallow funk. Which is okay for kids and the non-mighty. But the Mighty Pragmatics push you into funk's deep end.

After a great show on New Year's Eve, the MPs are ready to go again (only took 'em two weeks to recover) with a big show at Coorabell Hall this Friday, January 14.

The night starts with DJ Shuffle slipping a few disks followed by the Mighty Pragmatics. Then later, Fatter Than Nusrat keep the grooves a'comin' in what will be a pragmatic way to spend a Friday night if you love funking and dancing.

Entry is $15.

Tsunami auction

This artwork, titled 'Place, Placement, and What Place Meant - Somewhere a Dog is Barking' (wow, is that a title or a novel?), has been donated by Shelagh Morgan for silent auction to raise money those who need to rebuild their lives after the Boxing Day tsunami.

Shelagh was born in Malawi but currently lives on the North Coast. She has a PhD from Southern Cross Uni and has exhibited in galleries all over Australia.

This work is currently hanging in the Sampling One exhibition being held at the Next @ Byron Gallery at unit 4/59 Centennial Court, Byron Arts and Industrial estate, where the work can be viewed from now until February 12.

The auction will take place over the next five weeks by a silent bidding system. What does that mean?

Well, bidding can be done either at the by entering your bid and contact details in the book provided at the gallery or by emailing tonextart@scu.edu.au.

Bidding starts at $500.

All proceeds will be given to the aid agency of your choice or to Care Australia (and thanks to the artist for such a generous donation to a good cause.)

For further information phone 6688 4386.

His dad's to blame

George Smilovici hitched up his pants for some pre-emptive comedy in Baghdad last year.

Comedian, George Smilovici, is dealing with his father issues in his production, My Father's Hands, which shows at the Byron Bay Community Centre this Thursday, Friday and Saturday, January 13-15, from 8pm.

The show traces George's father's amazing journey from Romania to wartime Palestine and onto Cuba where he finds his spiritual home as an artist, chef and musician, amongst the colour, the passion and the music of that beautiful island.

Then fate, in the form of the Cuban revolution, cruelly intervenes and turns his world upside down. He has to move to Australia via El Salvador and Guatemala and their revolutions. What follows is an unforgiving and relentlessly comic tale of how children can never escape the fortunes, foibles and ultimately the haunting of their parents' lives.

The show is a truly multi-media experience and features the talents of New York pianist and composer Jivan Diwano. Jivan has worked with such luminaries as Phyllis Hyman, the Harlem Dance Theatre and Alvin Alley Dance Company.

Robin Wookey conjures gorgeous cinematic effects and Alexander Sima provides the stunning audio ambience. The unique visual design for the show was created by Aleshia Manning who for many years was the lighting director for Peter Allen and whose visual designs featured at the Sydney Olympic ceremonies. The show was co-written and directed by writer and anthropologist Mark Winters whose ongoing obsession is the myths and symbols of kinship and family.

The show is all inclusive - it's for parents, surrogate or otherwise and also for those people, like George, afraid of being parents. George can be heard nightly in the Byron hills screaming himself to sleep because everything you hear in the show - it's all true.

My Father's Hands is for adults only.

Tickets are $20/15 and are available from the centre (6685 6807) or Soundwaves in Byron (6685 6762).

Freebie: The Echo has four double passes to be won. To go in the draw to win phone 6622 2888 this Friday morning, January 14, between 10 -10.15am and tell us the name of the capital of Cuba. (Come on - surely you've smoked one.)

Get up. Stand up. Stand up in the lights.

Mandy Nolan will compere the Raw Comedy heats and is calling for budding stand-up comedians.

Byron-based comedian Mandy Nolan is calling for registrations for the Raw Comedy heats. If you're game (and funny) you can register to do five minutes of stand up comedy at Mandy's comedy club at the Bowling Club in Byron Bay.

There will be two heats - Monday, February 14 and 28. These are the only heats in the area (including the Gold Coast) and should unearth some comedy gold.

Raw Comedy is Australia's biggest and only national comedy competition and talent search. Quite simply, you have to be in it to win it. Last year's winner, Nick Sun, went to Edinburgh as part of his prize, won their new talent competition, and was last seen preparing to take that prize, which was a flight to the Montreal Just For Laughs Comedy Festival.

At each heat a panel of industry judges selects performers most likely to become the stars of the future to go through to the semi-finals, state finals and, finally, the national final in the Melbourne Town Hall in April, during the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.

And if you're not ready to stand up yourself, come along and check out the gigs from the audience. It's always great fun.

To register for the heats, go to www.comedyfestival.com.au and click on the Raw Comedy bit for details on how to enter.

Kora! Kora! Kora!

Jali Buba, a master musician from West Africa, will play the North Coast next Wednesday.

Jali Buba Kuyateh is the complete musician (yes, he earns enough to feed his family). He was born in Gambia but resides between Casamance in the southern region of Senegal, and Bakau in Gambia.

Jali Buba comes from a griot (hereditary musician) family, where he has played kora since the age of ten. He is a descendant of the famous Kuyateh family of Medina Wandifa. All his brothers play kora, sing and dance. Jali Buba is a master of traditional kora tunes.

He has the ability to captivate an audience on his own or with a band.

He's a brilliant entertainer and to watch him play as he gets lost in his music is a delight to behold. He not only plays and sings, but he dances while he plays.

Doug De Vries, an Australian guitar great, saw the show and said, "Jali Buba Kuyateh is a captivating performer with exceptional skill and emotional power. He combines florid arabesques on his kora with virtuosic melismas from his voice... Added to this is his dynamic range of styles and spontaneous flourishes of improvised passages that can hold an audience spellbound. His is a unique marriage of kora and voice stylings of his region that forges new horizons for the Mandinkan tradition from West Africa."

Jali Buba Kuyateh will be appearing at the A&I Hall in Bangalow next Wednesday, January 19. Tickets are $15 and available from Barebones Artspace in Bangalow.

J Freebie: The Echo has two double passes to be won. To be in the draw to win, phone 6622 2888 between 10-10.15am next Monday, January 16, and tell us the name of that big desert just east of western Africa.

Gilbert and Sullivan and Valerie

Jon Avila, normally opening bat for Lismore Workers cricket team, hits a big note for his role as a (cricketing?) member of the British House of Lords in the upcoming production of Iolanthe.

Do you love Gilbert and Sullivan? Or musical theatre?

The Young Opera Workshop Lismore, (YOWL) is performing Gilbert and Sullivan's Iolanthe.

YOWL is a group of young adults (25 or younger) organised by local opera singer and teacher, Valerie Tamblyn-Mills.

Last year YOWL put on the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta, Gondoliers. This year they are putting their young hearts and voices into this other Gilbert and Sullivan operetta. The cast of 33 was chosen in December and given their roles to study at that time. Iolanthe is being co-directed by Dean Lotherington and Cameron Wenn. Valerie is the artistic director.

Iolanthe was written at the height of Gilbert's and Sullivan's creative powers. Gilbert makes fun of the British (especially Queen Victoria and the House of Lords) while Sullivan does the same to Wagner's ponderous opera scores.

There are three performances - Friday, January 21, at 7.30pm, and Saturday, January 22, at 1.30pm and 7.30pm, at the Uniting Church, corner of Keen Street and Woodlark Street in Lismore.

Tickets cost $15/10 and are available from Caddies Bean Shop Lismore and at the door. But numbers are limited so get your tickets as soon as you can.

Mamma Mia - here we go again

Oh my God! I love that band! It's Bjorn Again!

In 1989, four people got together to make their own music and by some incredible fluke ended up sounding and looking like Swedish super group, ABBA.

At first no-one could believe their eyes as to their resemblance to those 1970s Super Swedes, but they were not ABBA - they were Bjorn Again. With their action packed show delivering some of the best pop songs ever written, Bjorn Again have become one of the most popular and busiest acts in the world today.

Since their first show in Melbourne in May, 1989, they have performed over 2500 live concerts in over 45 countries worldwide - ranging from the USA, Canada, China, Uganda, India and Sweden.

And they have sold out three Royal Albert Hall performances in London.

ABBA was a pop music phenomenon during the 1970s and early 1980s and was the first ever Swedish act to be taken seriously in Britain and America. ABBA comprehensively conquered Australia in 1976/77, at one time having five hits in the local Top 10, and even filming ABBA - The Movie here. Bjorn Again take special care in their re-creations of the ABBA phenomenon, both visually and in their accurate reflection of the ABBA sound which dominated much of the world when the Swedish quartet were active.

As Benny Anderson, an original ABBA member said in 1999, "Fans had better make the most out of Bjorn Again because that's the closest they are going to get to seeing ABBA."

Bjorn Again will perform at the Ballina RSL Club on Friday, January 21, at 8.30pm.

Bookings can be made by phoning 6686 2544 (after 10am daily).

Plenty of Frente

Angie and Simon from Frente rug up for a North Coast summer...

Well folks, it's been nearly eight years since Frente played on Australian soil. With Angie Hart and Simon Austin living in Los Angeles and New York respectively (but not respectably) for the last few years, the opportunity hasn't presented itself.... until now.

Frente won a place in the nation's hearts with a string of hit singles in the early 90s - Ordinary Angels, Accidentally Kelly Street, Labour of Love and their beautiful acoustic take on New Order's Bizarre Love Triangle - all receiving heavy radio rotation.

Earlier this year Simon and Angie tentatively dipped their toes back in the musical pond together with some rapturously received shows in Los Angeles and New York.

For their gig at the Great Northern Hotel in Byron, next Tuesday, January 18, Bill McDonald and Pete Luscombe will join them to complete the band.

There'll be a special tour EP featuring new tracks, live tracks and a very special cover version - only available for sale at the shows.

Tickets are available from the venue, Music Bizarre in Lismore or the ABC Shop in Ballina.

Billy Jack does wave aid

He's young. He's skilled. And he's on a mission. He's Billy Jack.

Billy Jack is 12 and has talent in bucket loads when it comes to his piano playing. He also has enough compassion to want to contribute to the welfare of the victims of the tsunami.

So what does Billy Jack do in his quest for aid?

He has been busking for the Tsunami victims and has so far raised $1216 for the Lions Club (who then pass it on. Of course.)

Billy Jack will be doing a concert of laid back piano music from 7:30 pm at the kiosk at Riverside Park in Evans Head this Sunday, January 16. The Mid Richmond Lions Club will be selling glow sticks and collecting donations on the night. Good kid, good cause.

Go, Billy Jack. You're a champion.

Artistic Flare

Artist Lionel Gailer has always been attracted to light - and the quest to capture light in his paintings. His light obsessed inspirations are Turner, Van Gogh and Monet. Lionel's challenge is to transfer the quality of Australian light to his landscapes and seascapes. Though he originally used oils, Lionel is now using watercolours and pastels.

His exhibition, Flare, runs from Friday, January 14 - 28 at Kolinda Gallery in Alstonville where the viewer can see 67 small, brilliantly coloured works featuring rural and coastal scenes from around Australia. His water scenes are especially powerful.

Gallery hours are 10am - 5pm, seven days a week.

For more info phone the gallery on 6628 0297.