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Oz-'Cats: New Year in Newcastle?
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Oz-'Cats: New Year in Newcastle? |
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Subject: RE: Oz-'Cats: New Year in Newcastle? From: John in Brisbane Date: 09 Dec 99 - 03:18 AM Bob, Jim was very kind to me in the very early 70's, and it was through weekly workshops he ran on Monday nights that I learned a couple of hundred bush songs. I later also ran them for about a year. We played in a couple of bands together and then I moved on to other things with some malcontents from The Colonials, Bushwackers and Mulga Bill's. I'd been trying to track down Jim for ages, only to hear very recently that he had died a few years ago.
A lot of people would agree with you about the heat, but most folkies are fairly hardy - you would need to be at Woodford last year as the camping ground got pretty soggy. My dreadful memory is that we got quite a few inches of rain in a few days.
Cheers, John |
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Subject: RE: Oz-'Cats: New Year in Newcastle? From: Bob Bolton Date: 09 Dec 99 - 01:40 AM G'day again: John, Acually, I now remember meeting Jim at some of the Victorian Folk Dance & Song Society functions around 1966/7, when I was between dams in the Tasmanian Hydro scheme and the Snowy Mts. I spent a few weeks back at Australian HQ of the firm I worked for and got around to Melbourne Folk clubs. Regards, Bob Bolton |
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Subject: RE: Oz-'Cats: New Year in Newcastle? From: Bob Bolton Date: 08 Dec 99 - 07:18 AM G'day John, I first met Jim at the first National I attended - Adelaide in 1971. I have a nice shot of him playing lagerphone that nearly got onto my photo site, except that there were so many for which I wanted names ... and I knew Jim. I know that it was used in Warren Fahey's brochure for one of the Sydney Nationals ~ mid-1970s. I think he played lagerphone in the original season of Reedy River, in Melbourne, before it opened in Sydney. Melbourne (mainly Shirley Andrews) did a lot to develop the dance side of the show but the Sydney production really polished up the song side. I think anything I say about Woodford has to set against my increasing aversion to hot climates. I swear it is just getting hotter ... and stickier ... every year. I think I'm going to have to organise a festival on top of a mountain somewhere ... I already organise the occasional "Fire Shed Hop" to raise money for Rural Fire Services, as well as the odd folk music camp at Clarence, about as high as the roads go in the Blue Mts! Regards, Bob Bolton |
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Subject: RE: Oz-'Cats: New Year in Newcastle? From: John in Brisbane Date: 07 Dec 99 - 06:55 AM All in good fun Bob, doing Woodford isn't exactly relaxing, at least not when you've got kids to manage as well. Nevertheless for me it's a great way to end one year and start another. Enjoy your chosen activity. BTW did you know Jim Buchanan? Regards, John |
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Subject: RE: Oz-'Cats: New Year in Newcastle? From: Date: 07 Dec 99 - 06:22 AM G'day All, yet again, Helen, your memory of Kuranda is also nearly a decade old. The National ran at Woodford in 1989 ... and was the first National to break even for several years, so Queensland got the nod two years running. The 1990 National was way up north at Kuranda, up the mountain behind Cairns. It's startlingly beautiful country - when the rain stops ... which it did not that Easter. Lass in the paper shop said: "Oh, it's always a wet Easter when you don't get a proper Wet Season." I commented that I thought the Wet was pretty wet ... Tully got one metre of rain in one hit ...! She replied: "That wasn't a Wet Season ... that was just a storm."! Anyway, Kuranda stayed veiled in light rain all Festival, but it was good fun anyway - I had gone up in a bus with the Illawarra Folk Club ... most of Wongawilli Band ... and Jim Haynes in the next seat for 2 weeks, so it was hardly dull. Kuranda's other claim to folkie fame is that it is the home of Ron Edwards, one of the most primal figures of the 1950s Folk Revival. Ron and John Manifold, then in Melbourne, although they both gravitated north, started publishing the Bandicoot Ballads in ~1952, the first publishing of the inchoate revival. Ron's address is in Fairyland Street, Fairyland! ("Suburbs' of Kuranda are named for Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream Oberon's Wood and Titania's Glade on either side, if I remember correctly.) John: I certainly didn't think I was "maligning" Woodford - it's a great event and countless thousands enjoy it. (However, I do remember being im Canberra for the National when one of the walking wounded from the Woodford/Maleny/Corporate stoush vented his leftover spleen to the National papers and tried to take the National down with him. The Canberra Times ran his whinges about "totally Anglo-Celtic closed event" between the photgraphs of a Mexican dance troupe and a Tibetan monk, but there was a lot of blood seeping down over the northern border for a year or two. Murray: I have an invite to a New Years bash inside a nicely placed North Sydney IT firm ... but I don't know about fighting 3 million mad revellers celebrating 999/1000 of a millennium ... and walking the last 3 kilometres, because it is all going to be blockaded by 6.00pm. The Blue Mountains (Clarence) sounds better every day. I might take my binoculars around to the middle of the Darling Causeway ... the ridge between Mt Victoria and Bell and see what the fireworks look like from 90 km. Regards, Bob Bolton |
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Subject: RE: Oz-'Cats: New Year in Newcastle? From: murray@mpce.mq.edu.au Date: 07 Dec 99 - 04:31 AM Go to the mountains, Bob! Actually I hope to spend the New Years holiday in Blackheath (no T.V., no computer, two guitars, and a handfull of harmonicas.) That is a good idea, Helen, for those Sydneysiders who are sick of the millenium/olympics hooplah to go to a different town for the period. Hey Bob. I know a few places along the train line up to Katoomba where you can look down on Sydney. I wonder if it would be possible to see all the fireworks locations at once. It might be better than being in the smoke. Murray |
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Subject: RE: Oz-'Cats: New Year in Newcastle? From: murray@mpce.mq.edu.au Date: 07 Dec 99 - 04:31 AM Go to the mountains, Bob! Actually I hope to spend the New Years holiday in Blackheath (no T.V., no computer, two guitars, and a handfull of harmonicas.) That is a good idea, Helen, for those Sydneysiders who are sick of the millenium/olympics hooplah to go to a different town for the period. Hey Bob. I know a few places along the train line up to Katoomba where you can look down on Sydney. I wonder if it would be possible to see all the fireworks locations at once. It might be better than being in the smoke. Murray |
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Subject: RE: Oz-'Cats: New Year in Newcastle? From: John in Brisbane Date: 06 Dec 99 - 10:18 PM Thanks Bugsy, yes the New Year Rock Dance/Concert run by Bernard is a real treat. Seeing seasoned folkies playing rock songs in an absolute hoot. Mind you this event only attracts geriatrics like me - the remaining 90% of attendees are doing other things - there are so many concurrent events for the 6 days that the choices become overwhelming. We will enjoy! Regards, John |
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Subject: RE: Oz-'Cats: New Year in Newcastle? From: Bugsy Date: 06 Dec 99 - 09:45 PM I've been promising myself, and a few friends that I will get to Woodford one day. My old mate Bernard Carney has become quite a fixture there. (I don't think he's missed being booked one year since the festival's inception)and his Rock 'n' Roll shows are a sight to behold. With the likes of Eric Bogle, doing Cocke doing, Heartbreak Hotel. Hope you all have a great festival. Cheers bugsy |
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Subject: RE: Oz-'Cats: New Year in Newcastle? From: John in Brisbane Date: 06 Dec 99 - 09:28 PM Well for all of the jealous maligning coming from New South Wales I'll be at Woodford again this year. Small it isn't, but it still has lots of intimate venues and the atmosphere is always friendly - and amazingly well behaved. I will miss not seeing the late Gordon McIntyre there this time around. Here are a few words about Woodford.
Woodford Folk Festival presents a very special Festival programme focusing on the glorious cultural richness that has shaped our community. Come share in the myriad expressions of the folk that call this country home... Over 2,000 Australian artists, 20 stages, more than 400 events: 140 arts & crafts stalls, 40 food stalls,an extensive array of visual arts, dance workshops,a fully programmed Children's Festival, unique New Millennium events,a fantastic new Fire Event, The Murri Festival,The Woodford Circus,The People's Forest Exhibition, Spoken Word,a dedicated Theatre venue,The Big Gig, Forums, Film Fest, Chalk Board venues,The Festival of Writing,The Emerging Artists Programme, street theatre and circus workshops,a Greenhouse and Tree Planting Project, on-site Art Works,a new Youth Venue,a Folklines Programme... and more... On-site camping, Festival sited in a beautiful valley, more facilities than ever before. Only 50 minutes north of Brisbane, public transport to site, professional child care available, licensed bars. Full colour 73 page programme. For tickets and information phone: 07 54961 066 Headliners: Featuring this year from overseas: Join the Woodford 2000 Choir, make Fire Event Parade lanterns, become part of the 10,000 Lights Project... Create a treasure, become a performer, learn an instrument, belly dance, help achieve a clean green future. Make a whip, shape a short story, stamp and clap, sing a song or tell a yarn, help us plant a forest, dance and rhythmatise, watch birds, go to a CD launch... New Year's Eve Events Chanting in the Millennium - Devotional Music Concert – featuring the Gyuto Monks of Tibet. An opportunity to move quietly into a new era in an atmosphere which encourages universal optimism, peace and harmony. Birth of the 3rd Millennium: Sunrise Ceremony with the Gyuto Monks. Experience the moment of the rising sun on this auspicious occasion – overlooking the Glasshouse Mountains with Sacred Chant, the intense and meditative mood of early morning ragas on sitar and the soaring and ecstatic singing of North Indian and Sikh traditions. Earth Dance – the Australian Premiere – a stunning one hour dance and theatre production base on traditional stories. Presented by Richard Whalley, one of Australia's leading Aboriginal performers and writers and the Middar Dancers, this show will be one of the special highlights of the Festival. Four performances at the Festival will culminate in its finale in the Amphitheatre on New Years Eve. Gypsy Extravaganza - hosted by Monsieur Camembert – a flashy night of ole!, dancing, stirring music and outrageous comedy for those with gypsy blood coursing through their new dawn veins! Mega Bush Dance – at the Pavilion. Grab your partners and hold them tight, this is the way to start the Millennium... alright! Take part in the dance workshops during the Festival and whirl your way in... great fun for the whole family. Celtic Dance Band Concert – Big Top. Traditional or contemporary, Celtic music you can't help dancing... see in the New Year with the Queensland Highlanders Pipe Band and then jig, reel and rage into 2000. Rock'n'Roll out the Barrel – with Bernard Carney. A Festival institution! Join the folkies, bring all your friends and sing and laugh your way out of the old... and into our special New Year meeting place. |
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Subject: RE: Oz-'Cats: New Year in Newcastle? From: Bugsy Date: 06 Dec 99 - 09:07 PM Have a great New Year guys! It's a bit too far to drive from Perth. We'll be at another folkie do in Cottesloe, after watching an orchestra playing on the beach in the early evening. Good luck in Y2K! cheers bugsy |
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Subject: RE: Oz-'Cats: New Year in Newcastle? From: Helen Date: 06 Dec 99 - 09:02 PM The last time I went to Gulgong festival was the day after the Newcastle earthquake - ohmigod, that was 10 years ago! Is it really that long since I was there? I was feeling pretty shaken up (pun intended), and then not so long after that Jimmy Crosbie died, (singer, guitarist) so that was the last time I saw him. Great wake in Sydney, though, in the grand old Irish tradition. Anyway, I went there two or three times and loved it. Unfortunately life got in the way of my festival going. Is it K for Kuranda? Where is that - anyway near Maleny & Woodford? Helen |
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Subject: RE: Oz-'Cats: New Year in Newcastle? From: Alan of Australia Date: 06 Dec 99 - 06:43 PM G'day Helen, Sounds great, wish I could make it, our band has a gig though - should be lots of fun. As Bob said Gulgong is still going, the street dance on NY eve is always a very special event.
Cheers, |
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Subject: RE: Oz-'Cats: New Year in Newcastle? From: Bob Bolton Date: 06 Dec 99 - 05:05 PM G'day Helen, Gulgong is still on ... a good festival with solid local support and an historic township. Originally a NSW Folk Federation festival, moved from Hill End (to get away from avaricious publicans, National Parks rangers with business degrees ... and a string of 38ºC/100ºF drought summers) around the end of my term as chairman. We (well, I) had an aversion to 'Sydney-types' coming in and running festivals in somebody else's town. Danny Watson, living more or less locally - ~80km/50 miles up the road in Coolah got it going with locals like the Norris family and it has soldiered on for some 17 years now. Lots of Bush Music Club people go to Gulgong because it has a strong dance thread. I will get there for a day ... if I spend my usual new year with friends on the top ridge of the Blue Mts ... but I may even stay in Sydney and take in the premature millennium fervour. Maleny is now at Woodford (no K ... you're just being haunted by Y2K bugs). Usually referred to as Maleny/Woodford. Wild world music and feral ankle-biters, but great fun for the North of Nimbin superannuated hippy set. A lot of friends go there and love it ... not quite my style. Regards, Bob Bolton |
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Subject: Oz-'Cats: New Year in Newcastle? From: Helen Date: 06 Dec 99 - 04:30 PM Hi Oz Mudcatters, If you want to escape the New Millenium Eve frenzy of the big smoke, or if you aren't heading off to any festivals (is Gulgong still going?, does Maleny happen at New Year? Hang on, is it still Maleny or somewhere else? A place starting with K??) or you just want a laid-back, folkie sort of celebration why not come up to Newcastle? We're having a street party - lots of friendly neighbours, friends & folkies, so if you are interested we would love to see you here. Plenty of places to stay within walking distance of the party (obviously) and it should be a really nice night - well, weekend probably - I'm sure the festivities will continue throughout the weekend. Send me a message on the personal pages for more details. Helen |
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