The Scene - Local Entertainment News

S Sense

Every day over 100 species of plants and animals disappear from this planet forever. Gone. It's incredibly sad. Many of the species cease to add their bit to the lot because of man's (I mean human's - well, maybe I do mean man's...) actions - usually an unintended consequence of greed.

That's just negligent. Sure, some may seem ugly and apparently useless but what do we know? Some of the ugliest and most useless beings I've ever seen are in the newspapers every day. And that's just the front and back pages.

But some threatened species are drop-dead magnificent even to our eyes - like whales. They are the pin-up beauties representing the battle for preserving diversity. Dolphins are magnificent too I guess, but, exposure wise, I'm over dolphins. Sure, I hope they increase and prosper, especially the beleaguered tuxuci, baiji and vacita, but if I see one more dolphin candle or dolphin incense holder or dolphin detergent or dolphin steak knife or dolphin tattoo on the flawless left shoulder blade of some beautiful Byron angel nibbling on a tuna focaccia... I'll scream.

Okay, maybe I could handle seeing just one more dolphin tatt on the shoulder of...

But whales! There's still bugger-all of them. The humpbacks nearly went the way of the Tasmanian tiger and the honest politician but thanks to a sympathetic act of humanity, whales now cruise pass Byron, an old whaling station, in slowly increasing numbers. And far less nervously.

Japan is like Australia. The government rarely expresses the feeling of the people and rarely has the well-being of its people, let alone the planet, at interest. Governments have other less-evolved agenda. Most Japanese people don't eat whale and most don't want to. They prefer Amazonian beef in their burgers from McDonalds-san.

Whale meat is not that traditional in Japan except in a few small communities. And even if it was traditional, I doubt a large diesel-powered ship carrying explosive harpoons scouring the Antarctic with electronic tracking devices was involved.

Helping whales survive into whatever world we're creating is a positive thing for all humans - all species. It is a revolutionary act of intuitive planetary respect initiated by the people (not the governments) of the world. Anyone can eat whale - you can eat your grandmother if you're that keen, but why?

Let these watery nomads roam the oceans freely, singing up the seas.

Three cent piece

The Threepenny Opera, a play with music (not an opera) by Bertolt Brecht, will be presented by Lismore Theatre Company in July.

Bruce McNicol is the music director and will be putting a bit of the ooomph back into the songs by Kurt Weill.

Bruce wants to restore a bit of the grit to the songs that were sanitised in the 1955 Broadway version - unlike the original 1928 production. It was these great songs - Mack the Knife comes from this play - that helped make The Threepenny Opera the longest running Broadway play ever.

Lismore Theatre Company is offering schools three special matinees - Thursday and Friday, July 21-22, at the Star Court Theatre in Lismore at 12pm and Friday, July 29, at the Byron Community Centre, also at 12pm.

All tickets are $10 and accompanying teachers will be admitted free. For school bookings phone Jennie Hicks on 6687 9167 or 0431 958 991.

There will, of course, be evening performances of The Threepenny Opera on Thursday and Friday, July 21-22, at the Star Court Theatre in Lismore at 8pm and on Friday and Saturday, July 29-30, at the Byron Community and Cultural Centre at 8pm. Tickets available soon.

Hot auction night

This ceramic work is by Lindsay Muir, who lives on Queensland's Sunshine Coast. His work has been sold all over the world but locals can admire and even acquire some of his art at the Fine Art Auction in Lismore this Saturday.

This Saturday, June 25, Lismore Workers Club will play host to a fine art auction where art from national and international artists will go up for polite grabs in an evening of artistic splendour with the musical virtuosity of string ensemble, Tapestry, combining with the titillating auctioneering talents of S Sorrensen to raise dollars for the disabled.

Up for auction will be works by Leonard Long, Michael Taylor, George Pardon, and many others whose works have been collected over the years by avid art collector Ray Legge. 10 per cent of monies raised will go to the Riding For The Disabled people.

The evening starts at 6pm with a viewing of the artworks and registration (you have to register to bid at the auction). Then at 7pm the auction action commences.

For more info or to register to bid phone Armistead's Gallery on 6622 8011.

Ngaiire not idle

Ngaiire looks pretty... and is pretty happy that her new single will be released in the country of her youth - Papua New Guinea - where she will tour after her big gig in Lismore this Friday.

Ngaiire's new single Luv sa Giaman (which means "Love Tells Lies" in Pidgin) will be the first single ever released for the PNG market (which is still predominately cassette sales - and you don't do cassette singles) and the first time a music product has been nationally released on CD only. Ngaiire will fly to PNG at the end of this month to promote the recording with a series of performances.

But before she heads north, Ngaiire will lift the roof off the One Bar & Nightclub (Mary Gilhooley's) in Lismore this Friday night, June 24, with her soaring, soulful voice accompanied by her hot seven-piece band R.E.N.T., who backed her at the East Coast Blues & Roots Festival this year. They will also tour with her in PNG.

Having grown up in New Zealand and PNG, Ngaiire has lived in Australia for the last five years, graduating from Lismore's Kadina High School in 2002. She is currently studying for her Bachelor of Jazz Studies at the Central Queensland Conservatorium of Music. And writing songs. And recording. And touring. Busy girl.

Check out her website at www.ngaiire.com.

Winning art

This painting of Mt Warning and the delicately painted vase are the works of Broadwater artists George and Rosalyn Pardon (Ros did the vase) who have donated them to be raffled to raise funds for the Northern Rivers Community Art Gallery, to be located in Ballina.

Tickets in the raffle will be available at Alstonville Plaza next Thursday, June 30, from 8.30am-4pm, and also at the upcoming BACCI (Ballina Arts & Craft Centre Inc.) exhibition from 12pm on Friday, July 8, at Ballina RSL Club in Ballina. The exhibition will run until Sunday, July 10.

Living culture

This painting by Debbie Edwards is part of the Indigenous Art and Culture Exhibition, which opens this Saturday in Nimbin.

The Nimbin School of Arts, in conjunction with the National Parks and Wildlife Service, presents the third annual Aboriginal Art Award - for the first time in Nimbin - at the Nimbin School of Arts (the hall) from this Saturday, June 25.

Indigenous artists from all over the region have contributed an intriguing range of artworks celebrating this year's theme - living culture.

The official opening will take place this Saturday at 10.30am where winners in the various categories will be announced by judges Digby Moran, Ron Herron, Judy Atkinson and Cath Fogerty.

The Nimbin School of Arts is open every day from 10am-4pm. The exhibition will run until July 17. For more info phone 6689 1577.

Local lad blows it

Nick Hewett (pictured) doesn't need to blow his own trumpet - well, he does actually, otherwise audiences would never have delighted in the musical skills that this young musician (18 years) has been developing since a very early age.

Nick began playing trumpet at age seven. He is currently studying for a music degree at Sydney University but was a student at Kadina High School in Lismore.

Nick will feature at a special concert at Lismore City Hall next Thursday, June 30, when Musica Viva Lismore presents the Southern Cross Soloists Chamber Orchestra, featuring some of Australia's leading musicians, together with emerging young artists from the Queensland Conservatorium.

Jayson Gillham, the brilliant young Australian pianist, will perform in a show that highlights young people's involvement in fine music. It's not every day that Lismore is graced with a big orchestra and such an array of talent (Margaret Schindler will sing). This is an opportunity for North Coast's young people to experience the emotional power and phat sounds of orchestral music.

This concert also launches the Ballina Grand Piano Fund - because Ballina does not have a concert grand piano. (Big Prawn but no Big Piano.)

The gig starts at 7.30pm.

Tickets are available from Dymocks in Lismore (6622 4987) and the ABC Centre in Ballina (6686 2436).

For more info phone 6624 7807.

Big + Big = Bigger Jazz

After big gigs at the North Coast Jazz Festival in Bangalow and at the Grafton Regional Gallery, the Northern Rivers Conservatorium Big Band will join forces with the Clarence Valley Conservatorium Big Band for a concert at Lismore City Hall this Saturday, June 25, at 5pm.

Both big bands will perform individually, then combine for a set of music ranging from swing to rock and funk. A further feature of the concert will be a six-piece jazz ensemble made up of big band leaders/conductors Greg Butcher (Grafton), George Urbaszek (Lismore) and select members from both bands.

Tickets are $15/$10 at the door. For bookings phone the Northern Rivers Conservatorium Arts Centre on 6621 2266.

Pic art

Artist Belinda Madden has collaborated with four New York residents who all immigrated to the US from various other countries. The result is Temporal Juncture - a site-specific installation incorporating video stills with sound.

Belinda spent the last 10 years in New York. During this time she had photographic exhibitions at the Australian Consulate General in New York and the Manhattan Graphics Centre.

Temporal Juncture can be experienced this Sunday, June 26, at "Maizegrove", 2 Crawford Road, East Lismore, from 2-4pm.

Cabbage Tree art

The exhibition People of the Reeds at Blue Knob Hall Gallery showcases the work of indigenous artists from Cabbage Tree Island - an island in the Richmond River where a community was founded over 100 years ago.

The 20 exhibitors, all from the Bunjum Arts & Crafts group at Cabbage Tree Island, work in paint and textile media. The textiles incorporate batik, silk screen and various dyeing processes. The paintings in the exhibition tell stories told to the artists by their elders and recall the memories they have of growing up on the island.

The Blue Knob Hall Gallery is on Blue Knob Road near the corner of Lillian Rock Road. Just out from Nimbin. Oh, and there is a cool café. For more info phone 6689 7449.

Beauty born

This Saturday, June 25, is the anniversary of the birth of one of the most gorgeous women ever to grace the disco dance floor. Her gracious nature and unlimited empathy have made all who know her glow in her light. Some of us even get a bit... you know, excited. All hail the Cat!

Mandies' happy return

Last week I wrote about poet David Hallett's loss of his two rare mandolins through a theft from his house at The Channon. This caused him some pain as these instruments, apart from being quite rare, were loaded with sentimental value.

Well, the good news is that David has recovered them! After reading about the theft in The Echo, someone who had bought them from the thief (unknowingly of course) phoned David, who recovered them. David is happy (for him) and thanks The Echo and has promised to bring in a few tasty bottles of cabernet sauvignon to the office as soon as he can.

Don't buy stuff from dodgy people.

Some great night music

This Saturday, June 25, the choral ensemble Nouveaux Singers will present Eine Kleine Nachtmusik. (That's A Little Night Music to youse what can't speak German.)

This night of song at the Uniting Church in Lismore will feature the talented tenor of Paul McGeown, the cool contralto of Cathy Mooney and the smooth sounds of a string quartet.

Tickets are available at the door for only $10/8 or $20 for a family. For more info phone 6624 7807.

Longest party night

Vanessa Wagner (pictured) loves to dress up and get down. She's a party queen and invites North Coasters to her Swinging Solstice Party at the Great Northern Hotel in Byron this Saturday, June 25.

Straight, bent or broken - all are invited to share in the festivities during this longest night of the year.

There'll be DJs (DJ Stephen Allkins from Sydney is one), prizes for dressing up, go-go dancing - all sorts of fun and sexy games.

Tickets are $20 pre-sale (6685 6454) or $25 at the door. Party starts at 9pm and goes until 3pm.

Flaming flamenco

This is not line-dancing. This is passionate, sexy and big buckles are not involved. This is flamenco and dancer, Simone Pope, shows the hot Spanish style that is Flammenco Fire. Pic by Stephen B. McAlpine - SBM Studios.

Flamenco Fire is a collaboration of 11 of Australia's finest flamenco artists under the direction of Spanish guitarist Andrew Veivers. The performance this Sunday, June 26, at the Byron Community and Cultural Centre will feature singers, dancers and musicians from all over Australia in a show that celebrates the flamenco artforms.

Andrew Vievers says, "Flamenco Fire is a fully orchestrated and choreographed production that will recreate the experience of a flamenco club with two singers, three dancers, three guitarists, violin, double bass and percussion." Ole!

Tickets are $40/35 and are available by phoning 6685 5659.

Three men and a joke

Tripod is three blokes with problems. Actually, I've never met a bloke without problems... but Tripod deal with it through song and stand-up comedy.

Gatesy, Scod and Yon are your classic comedy three hander - the geek, the cool dude and the weirdo. From soft, passionate ballads about um, anything, to onstage antics with power tools, Tripod go to great lengths to poke fun at each other.

They've been together for nine years now and their star is rising still. Last year they released an album of their songs called Middleborough Road and have been touring the country with sold out shows at the Melbourne Comedy Festival, Adelaide Fringe, Perth and Brisbane Powerhouse. They've appeared in TV's Skithouse and on Rove. They've been heard weekly on Triple J. Yeah, yeah, but are they funny?

The Herald Sun in Melbourne described them as "the funniest musical comedy act in the country." There you go.

Tripod will perform at the Bangalow A&I Hall next Thursday, June 30, from 7pm. Tickets are $25 and are available from Barebones in Bangalow or at the door on the night if any are left.

Alchemical dancing

Anne O'Keeffe (pictured) is a Melbourne-based dancer, choreographer and teacher who will present her workshop, Alchemy... from Impulse to Expression, at Durrumbul Hall near Mullumbimby on Saturday and Sunday, July 9-10.

Anne's great passion is dance and movement improvisation - and the opportunity it provides to more strongly connect with the present moment, the self and with creative impulse. (Her work is imbued with Buddhism, meditation and yoga.)

Anne provides an open, safe, generous space for beginners and experienced movers, with participants exploring their unique expression with support and encouragement from the group.

Cost is $140/120.

For more info and bookings phone Anne on (03) 9505 3376 or 0411 218 101 or email aok@teksupport.net.au.

You can visit her website at www.alchemydance.com.au.

Roald into one

These actors are having heaps of weird fun with the works of Dr Seuss and Roald Dahl.

Dr Seuss and Roald Dahl are names that bring a smile to faces both young and old. We have been brought up with their magic and our kids have lived in their special world. Now North Coasters can share the fun with Theatre-Theatre's double bill of Dr Seuss II and Oh Dahling at the Masonic Hall in Lismore (opposite the Lismore Library) playing Saturday, June 25, at 7pm.

Re-live the exotic thrills of Seuss's One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish and The Lorax or Dahl's Revolting Rhymes like The Emperor's New Clothes and The Three Pigs.

This mad, funny, energetic production is for the young and the still-young-after-all-these-years with tickets available for $15 at Caddies Bean Shop in Lismore or at the door.

Vital LINC in the community

Lightsabers are excellent for clearing gum trees in a film made by Star Wars fans called Broken Allegiance.

Broken Allegiance is a new film featuring on The Short Film Show produced by Melbourne film producer Tom David. The Short Film Show is currently screening on our very own community television station, LINC TV, which is now back on air from 5-11.45pm each night.

LINC TV will be airing grass roots programs that are not getting an opportunity to be seen on mainstream television. (Hey, Big Brother Uncut is important, man.) So, LINC TV can air documentaries on controversial subjects that would not be allowed on the more conservative networks - like depleted uranium use in Australia or the aerial spraying operation being conducted over Lismore by the US Air Force. Frightening eh?

LINC TV can be found at UHF 68 - not far up the band from NBN.

Enough sculpture

Merran Morrison, a trustee of the Cape Byron Reserve and co-director of artsCape: the Nature of Sculpture, invites Andrew Denton to open the sculpture exhibition this Sunday at Cape Byron.

Andrew Denton, television and radio wit, has visited Byron many times, holidaying with his family and grooving to the East Coast Blues & Roots Festival. This Sunday, June 26, at 11am, Andrew will be there again to open artsCape: the Nature of Sculpture at Cape Byron (next to the lighthouse cottages) where the works of over 50 artists will be exhibited.

artsCape, Cape Byron's first outdoor sculpture exhibition (with nature and its conservation as a theme), will then run until July 11 and is free to the public.

There'll be a shuttle bus available from the Beach Café bus stop (Clarkes Beach), and if you plan on catching the shuttle make sure you're there at 10am to get to the Cape by 11am.