The Scene - Local Entertainment News

S Sense

It's Friday afternoon and Nimbin is flooded with that liquid yellow sunset that is autumn's signature. It's MardiGrass.

The village is packed already. Cars line both sides of the main road right up to, and beyond, where I'm parked outside the hospital. Police cars are also pouring in from all around and milling in the front yard of the police station across the road. There are people and cars everywhere. Big party.

I'm sitting on the bonnet of my Camira waiting for a friend (as the Rolling Stones would sing).

While I wait I watch. A young Japanese couple walks by heading into town. He has long hair, a 'no war' t-shirt, lugs a backpack and carries a map. She wears spray-on three-quarter length jeans, a shirt with a glitter marijuana leaf on the front and is drop-dead gorgeous. She pulls a case with a handle and wheels. One wheel is broken so the case limps behind her. They walk slowly, casually bumping into each other as they walk and, I reckon, enjoying the contact.

Local teenage girls are hanging on the hospital corner where I'm parked. They seem to know just about everyone who walks by. One girl in particular is very loud. She runs onto the road and calls friendly obscenities to four baseball caps in a Commodore with a noisy exhaust and doof pounding from inside. The car rumbles down the road slowly.

Someone I know comes up to me and nods across the street. "Look at all the cops," she says. "They're okay," I say. Someone has to control the traffic.

Suddenly there's a roar as a car speeds up from town. At the corner of Cecil and Cullen streets, this speeding sedan hits the brakes and does a squealing U-turn. About 10 people have to jump away. Then, skidding under heavy-footed acceleration, it races back along this crowded street like some drug-crazed maniac. The Japanese girl shrieks as she leaps for safety.

With the smell of burning rubber hanging in the air, I look to the police to see their reaction. They look away. What can they do? The offending vehicle is a police car.

A young man who was nearly hit by the car calls to me in a heavy French accent, "Did you see that, man? That was stupid. Just stupid."

I agree. Lots of strange things happen at MardiGrass. But this display by those cops in that car was the most immature, testosterone-fuelled, dangerous thing I saw the whole weekend.

And I saw some things.

Big Federal Laugh

These three comedians - Fiona McGary, Alan Glover and S Sorrensen - will fill Federal Hall this Saturday night with laughs, chuckles, giggles and those embarrassing tears that form when the fun is just too much...

Fiona McGary, one of Queensland's funniest chicks, is driving down to Federal next Saturday night to join forces with Alan Glover (the Hunter Valley's finest export - even tastier than a shiraz-merlot) and S Sorrensen (I know him and he's brilliantly funny - and modest. True.)

This three pack of comedy cleanskins will mount a humour attack on the formerly peaceful little village of Federal this Saturday, May 7, at the Federal Hall (School of Arts).

Fiona McGary's comedy star continues to rise. Her dry insights into modern life turn the mundane into the insane and mad cackling is the inevitable result of her observations. Fiona has worked most of the comedy clubs in Australia, has been a feature of the Woodford Folk Festival the last two years and believes John Howard is a discarded ventriloquist dummy that no-one wanted on their lap.

Alan Glover will headline the evening. Alan has done stand up in the UK, the US, Europe, Asia and Nimbin. His mug has been seen on many television sets during his career. He's big, he's green and he's funnier than Michael Jackson's face.

And what can you say about S Sorrensen? Nothing.

These three comedy bushrangers will also enlist the wry talents of local Federate, Sharon Fraser, who was a national finalist in the Triple J Raw Comedy Competition last year.

There will also be a joke comp, great food by the Goonengerry School and all sorts of weird funny stuff next Saturday when Glover and his merry mates hit town with gags cocked. The show starts at 7.30pm.

Tickets are $15/12 pre-booked and $18 at the door. For more info and bookings phone 6688 2450.

Revamping art

Kolinda Gallery in Alstonville is showing Revamped - the latest exhibition from local artist Ildiko Hammond. This artist with her lush and unique style has reworked some of her paintings.

"Some works to me are never finished - they are works in progress," said Ildiko. "I feel my Revamped paintings have a more vibrant edge about them."

And her new works have taken a surprising new direction. You can check out these works at the exhibition opening at the gallery this Friday, May 6, at 7.30pm.

Revamped will run until May 19.

For more info phone the gallery on 6628 0297.

Hands on soul

Lovers of classic soul music, The Hands, will feature at the Jazz & Blues night next Tuesday.

The Hands are not your average four-piece band. Take instrumentation. This band has bass and drums - so far, fairly normal - plus an old style Hammond organ and a Honer D6 Clavinet. Two keyboards and no six-string guitar! When the keyboards (played by brothers Clayton and Lachlan Doley) start duelling you have the unique soul sound of The Hands.

The Hands formed out of a love of classic soul - from Bobby Womack and Curtis Mayfield through to D'Angelo and Jill Scott. The band plays original songs that glow with the soul spirit of the sixties.

The Hands have a purpose - to re-invent the genre of soul music in the modern context. Soul lovers on the North Coast can enjoy this re-invention when The Hands feature at the Jazz & Blues night at the Rous Hotel in Lismore next Tuesday, May 10, from 8.30pm. Entry is $9/7.

There is a real buzz around town about this band - they have made a huge impression on the national music scene.

Dogs in Nimbin

Doug and Biko (undercover as a cop and a ganja faerie) hold their new CD My Dog.

North Coast duo Doug 'n' Biko launched their new CD My Dog at the Rainbow Café in Nimbin last Sunday. Punters were introduced to the new line-up for their band, Mona Lizard.

Their last recording Choral Spawn highlighted the musical arrangements, tight (but lusty) harmonies and creative songwriting that are the hallmarks of this duo. My Dog has moved even further in those directions.

Doug, winner of last year's Marijuana Music Performance Award was delighted to make this year's final, despite increased competition, both locally and from overseas. This year he received first prize in the Best Comedy Song category and a place in the Best Marijuana Song section for his entry My Dog (title track of the new CD).

Keep your eyes out for this act either as the quirky duo Doug 'n' Biko or as the band Mona Lizard. And have a listen to My Dog, which is available from Rainbow Records in Nimbin.

Freebie: The Echo has one copy of My Dog to giveaway. To go in the draw to win phone 6622 2888 between 10.15 & 10.30am next Monday, May 9, and tell us how many people are in the duo. (Now there's a brainteaser!)

Visual speaker

Elizabeth Ann Macgregor is director of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney and will be a guest speaker at the upcoming Forty Eight Hours Of Visual Arts in Byron from July 2-3. Last year this festival of the visual arts was a huge success and this year promises to be even better.

Early Bird tickets are available until May 30. For more info and bookings visit the website at www.fehva.com.

Plays for schools

Kaspajack - a play for young children by Richard Tulloch (acclaimed playwright and Bananas In Pyjamas writer) and Our Town - a play with live music for secondary students by Rowan Greaves - have been produced by the NORPA Actors Company and will be performed in regional schools during terms two and three.

For information about the plays or how to get them at your school phone NORPA on 6622 0300 or 0416 220 307.

Please sir, can I be Oliver?

Bryce Kennedy will play Oliver and Fergus McDermott is Dodger in the upcoming Ballina Players' production, Oliver. It is based, of course, on the Charles Dickens novel.

This is a huge musical with a cast of thousands (um, 65 actually) and is being directed by that theatrical powerhouse pair, Sue and Paul Belsham. Oliver will run from June 10 to July 2 at the Ballina Players Theatre in Ballina.

Tickets are $22/20 for adults and $10 for kids. For more info or bookings phone 6686 2662.

Lismore's freakin' freaky music

Monster Zoku Onsomb are off their faces and are guaranteed to blow your head off this Friday in Lismore.

There's an interesting new venue in Lismore. It's the old butter factory in Taylor Street, South Lismore. And this Friday, May 6, it will host Astro Freakin' - a night of non-stop beats and visual delights.

This freakin' event will feature Monster Zoku Onsomb (from Brisbane), Puss, Si-clone (both from Byron), Namshub of Enki, Aniki, Paul Abad (all from Brisbane), Iki Jima, De'anarky and Morphonic.

Monster Zoku Onsomb is a band that, according to them, "are bent on the destruction of music as we know it." Well, there you go. So what do they play? Their producer reckons, "I just try and recreate the music in my head. It just so happens that the music in my head is a bikini girl cutting up records with a chainsaw." Hmmm, interesting. Entry is $10.

Country road to stardom

The Telstra Road To Tamworth competition is a nationwide talent contest with heat winners from 35 regions throughout Australia competing in the finals at the Country Music Festival in Tamworth next January.

The NSW Far North Coast heat will take place at the Casino Primary Industry Exhibition Complex (Primex) on Saturday, June 18, from 11.00am. Heat entries are now available at www.telstra.com/countrymusic and close on May 29.

There's $80,000 worth of prizes on offer including a trip to the home of country music, Casino - only joking, Nashville! There the winner will record a single.

National Band Comp

It's time again for the National Campus Band Competition! 18 bands have entered.

Heat one is being held at the Unibar at SCU in Lismore next Thursday, May 12, from 9pm (doors open 7.30pm). It will feature the Anna Hulten Band, Sita, Tim Sladden & the Satellites, All Gone and Zoe & the Sweet Boys. Members are free, guests are $5.

Reggae Saturday

The Coorabell Hall Reggae Club will present local reggae outfits Lion 1 and Raz Bin Sam with Brisbane guest, Ruby Blue. Oh, and the big sounds of Rub A Dub sound system and DJ Lennox Dread (love that name).

The Rasta music all happens this Saturday, May 7, at Coorabell Hall near Byron.

So, if you like roots reggae, dub or some hard, live ragga, get along and hear some of Byron's best upcoming talent. The bass riffs start at 7pm.

Entry is $15 or $10 for members.

Byron Vista Social Club

Ewingsdale Hall will host the inaugural Byron Vista Social Club this Sunday, May 8. The club will feature local original music writers, singers and players, drawing strongly from the bottomless well of regional musical creativity.

The venture is being promoted, managed and hosted by Ewingsdale residents and senior local musicians Mook and Shanto (remember Bahloo?) and their many talented musical friends.

The weekly shows will be digitally recorded for release on a series of CDs, along with DVD productions of filmed special nights.

The entrance fee is $10 and the music starts at 7.30pm. Food and drinks are available. For more info visit the website at www.byronvistasocialclub.com.

Fairy folk

Luca, featuring two girls and two guys (all under 25), is a new local folk/roots band. This band combines traditional folk and gypsy with a more contemporary style, playing instruments like cello, banjo, acoustic guitar, tin whistle, drums, stomp box and four-part harmonies to create what Luca describes as "fairy folk music".

To hear this fairy folk music check out Luca at the Keen Street Carnival in Lismore this Saturday morning, May 7, and then that afternoon at the Rainbow Café in Nimbin.

Film fundraiser for women's health

Vera Drake, the latest film by Mike Leigh, will be screened in Lismore as a fundraiser for the Women's Crisis Fund. Vera Drake (played by Imelda Staunton, who was nominated for a Golden Globe and an Oscar as well as winning a Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival for her portrayal) is a selfless woman who is completely devoted to, and loved by, her working class family. But she secretly visits women helping induce miscarriages for unwanted pregnancies. This practice was illegal in 1950s England (the time in which the film is set) and the authorities eventually find out.

This fundraiser is to raise awareness of the need for legal, safe and affordable terminations.

Vera Drake will screen next Thursday, May 12, at Birch Carroll & Coyle in Lismore. For $15/12 you can enjoy tea and biscuits (included in the price) at 5.15pm, with the film starting at 6.15pm.

Tickets are available from the Lismore and District Women's Health Centre, 25 Uralba Street, Lismore, or from Caddies Coffee Shop in Lismore. For more info phone 6621 9800.

Doing it with lace

The Richmond River Historical Society is displaying the beautiful and enduring handiwork created by generations of women from this region in its exhibition Tracing Our Threads: 150 years of Embroidery and Lacework in the Northern Rivers.

You can admire these feminine skills at the Lismore Regional Museum, 165 Molesworth Street, until June 30.

For more information phone 6621 9993.

See the light at Byron

Ian Scott looks the part as a lightkeeper in the touring play The Lightkeeper.

Verity Laughton's play The Lightkeeper, currently playing at the Griffin Theatre in Sydney, will be presented at the Byron Community and Cultural Centre next Thursday, May 12, as part of its national tour.

Set in the late 19th century on a lighthouse somewhere along the southern coast of South Australia, the production by R.I.O.T (Regionally Inspired Oz Theatre) has received excellent press.

The play, directed by Teresa Bell, stars Ian Scott as Jack Power - a seaman turned lighthouse keeper.

Melbourne's Age described the production as a 'theatrical gem... Scott's performance is masterly. Scott's marvellously nuanced and physically convincing performance creates an original and unforgettable character.'

The Lightkeeper plays at the Byron Community and Cultural Centre for the one night only. Tickets are $20/15 and $10 for children. For credit card phone bookings call 6685 5659 or you can buy tickets from the Community Centre between 10am and 4pm Monday to Friday.

Heart to Hip Hop

Dance teacher Sue Whiteman has just returned from Thailand where she visited many areas in the south that were devastated by the tsunami. Sue is now running a four-week hip hop dance course as a fundraiser for people in these areas.

The course runs every Thursday (May 5,12,19 and 26) at the Alstonville Dance Studio. It's for boys and girls with junior and senior sections. It's $25 for the course with all proceeds going to tsunami victims. For times and further info phone Sue on 6686 2520.

Mara Music World

This year's Global Marijuana Music Awards held during Nimbin's MardiGrass were a blooming success and a heap of fun.

The Herbillest, from Philadelphia, are the winners of the 2005 Live Performance Award with Doin' Things Right. Lip Service (Noosa) took second place with Choice. John Elliot came third with Freelancer.

2005 Song of Year Recorded Track went to Spliffmasters for their self-titled track.

Doin' Things Right by The Herbillest was runner up and Nimbin band Mona Lizard took third place with My Dog (which also won the comedy catergory).

Other category winners are:

Hit After Hit by Marijuana The Band from California (Album of the Year);

How We Do It by The Individuals from Chicago (Rap);

Blaze It Up by The Individuals from Chicago (Reggae);

Marijuana The Band by Marijuana The Band from California (Rock);

Steady High by Rich Hardesty from Indiana (Pop);

The Dooby Song by Rich Hardesty from Indiana (Country);

Dakka Damage by The Stealth Beats from Tasmania (Experimental);

Symphony in Grass by Andy & Tim from Sweden (Instrumental);

When I Get Low by Karen Abrahams from Texas (Blues);

Man From Harlem by Karen Abrahams from Texas (Jazz);

Car Pool Mom by Paul Bullock from Texas (Poetry); and

My Girl by The Individuals from Chicago (Video).

Check out www.rainbow-records.com for full details.

A cappelling art

The Acapelicans, a (mostly) a cappella group, are looking for new singers - a tenor (or three), a bass and a soprano. They sing a varied repertoire and rehearse on Wednesday nights in Alstonville, Ballina or Lennox Head. Ability to read music (for any instrument) is highly desirable. If you're interested phone Lisa on 6628 7518.