Mandy Nolan’s ENTERTAINMENT
SOAPBOX
S E E M O R E O F M A N DY O N E C H O N E T DA I LY W W W. E C H O. N E T. A U /S OA P - B OX
GOODBYE BANGALOW After another RTA marathon roadworks session the highway is open. Although something very peculiar has happened. Bangalow has gone missing. It was there last Thursday. I swear it. But Sunday when I was driving the kids to drop them at their dad’s place, it was gone completely. Vanished. Like Bangalow had never ever been there. Like there had never been a people who employed
urchins wearing brown paper to sell $30 soap wrapped in string to seekers of shabby chic. Fabulous, stylish, confident, middle-class and middle-aged, Bangalow is gone. Removed not by a cyclone, a bushfire or an act of god, but by an act of the RTA. You see, driving south there is no exit for Bangalow. Someone in head office decided there was no
need for people travelling south to go to Bangalow. They also decided it was unnecessary to erect any signage along the highway to explain the sudden disappearance of what was, until a few days ago, a bustling vital village. Poor Bangalow. Did they know? Did they know that they’d been exiled from the rest of us? That someone up top had taken an eraser and gently rubbed the draftsmen’s pencil so that the connection to our historic village was no more. What will happen to the people of Bangalow now the southbound exit is extinct? Will they have to breed among themselves? Who will buy their
fabulous rugs and designer sandals? Will they have enough baristas to go around? It will be like in the bubonic plague when they exiled villages. Noone in. No-one out. Eventually it ended up in some sort of weird medieval witch-burning incestuous killing spree.
get in it looks like it’s going to be billycart derby day every day. It’s how the Bangalese will get to the bowlo. Of course, they’ll have to drag their sorry arses, and their carts, back home up the hill drunk. Watching the traffic speed past high above them. A constant reminder of an RTA oversight.
Poor Bangalow. They weren’t expecting it. They didn’t even get enough warning to build their pool. Or a supermarket. I worry how an entire village will survive on just one weekly farmers market. What if they run out of white linen or shabby chic or rusted doors tied up with rope?
Dear Bangalow, the forgotten people. The people the highway cut loose. As for Newrybar, it’s gone too. Such a wonderful roadside village. Now just a bunch of lonely hipsters hugging their artisanal breads and fermented cheese for warmth.
Now that the petrol tankers can’t
I am still in shock about the whole thing. I have to admit I was so
looking forward to the removal of that nasty bitch St Helena and her penchant for sending me speeding tickets. Stupidly I thought that those twin tunnels would take me to Banga in just minutes. This whole thing has been very distressing for our family. You can’t imagine the torment of a mother trying to explain to her kids that they won’t be going to Dad’s place any more. I didn’t know how to break it to them, but as I zoomed south towards Sydney I managed a stifled ‘Kids, I don’t know how to tell you this, but Dad’s gone. We’ll have to find you a new dad in Ballina. At least there’s an exit there.’
What should we expect for you show at the Hotel Brunswick – does it feel a bit like a homecoming of sorts? I feel like it’s not that often I’m able perform live in the Shire, which indeed feels like a hometown show for me. I’ve always had so much support from the community whether it’s from the days of drumming on the streets to Skin to Blue King Brown, so to be able to come through with my new project is kinda monumental to me. I’ve been greatly inspired by the musicians and community in the Shire, part of which is reflected in my music, so it is right for me to bring this new branch of my musical expression and evolution to a place where my musical journey has grown from. In Australia it’s not often you get to see a full Jamaican band at the forefront of modern-day Jamaican sound and frequency, the next generation of great musicians out of Kingston; add me into the mix and you might start to get an idea of the kind of fire we’re going to be sparking at the Bruns Hotel – but you’ll have to come through with your whole crew on 3 January to really feel it! The Brunswick Hotel is the perfect venue for this show. We are conscious of being able to perform for all generations and it’s a free show! Plus special guests including Bobby Alu and DJ Rudi Quinzalez. So get ready for some heavy grooves, upfull reggae, real rebel music in a dub, roots, heavyweight rockaz style. One love family. Up!
School Holiday Show Byron Theatre 6th Jan 11 am Full $15, Conc $13, Family of 4 $50 www.amazingdrummingmonkeys.com Bookings www.byroncentre.com.au
JOHNNY CASH THE LEGEND – I HEAR THAT TRAIN A-COMIN’ – SATURDAY AT THE BALLINA RSL
’Beating HI 5 hands down’
ADELAIDE ADVERTISO R
’The Next Wiggles’ Nt Times
Tickets & info: nattalirize.com.
Live Music FERGO & THE BURDEN AT THE BREWERY ON SATURDAY
OOZ AT THE BREWERY ON FRIDAY
THE MUSIC OF OOZ
Ooz is an acoustic roots reggae artist with a large, eclectic repertoire of crowd favourites. His unique, laidback but lively style creates a relaxed atmosphere and his song choices have you remembering many of those forgotten classics. His ability to create layers with a loop pedal enables him to play bass guitar and lay percussion beats to accompany his performances and get the audience on their feet. Friday at the Byron Brewery from 8pm. Free entry.
CLASSIC AUSSIE ROCK GETS THING MOVING Moving Pictures have been having a blast out on the road with James Reyne. The Australian musical landscape in the 1980s was very heavily shaped and influenced by the band Moving Pictures. Formed in 1978 by Alex Smith, Garry Frost, Charlie Cole, Paul Freeland, Ian Lees, and Andrew Thompson, together they jumped out of the blocks with 1981’s #1 smash album Days Of Innocence and would go
on to release three original albums from 1981 through to 1988. Days Of Innocence, produced by Charles Fisher, delivered the energetic Bustin’ Loose and the empassioned – and often covered – charttopping smash hit What About Me? This song would go on to be awarded Best Single at the 1982 Countdown Music Awards and was the second highest selling single in Australia that year. What About Me? also entered the Billboard Top 40 and remained in the US singles charts for a massive 26 weeks. The song also made it into the illustrious Billboard Hot 100 singles list for 1983 – a rare feat indeed for an Australian band. Moving Pictures are touring national with James Reyne on his A Day In The Sun summer 2015/2016 national tour. Ballina RSL on Sunday. Tickets at the venue.
THE MUSIC BURDEN
Fergo & The Burden (formally known as JaFFer) are an exciting funky band hailing from Byron Bay. Fronted by local bass legend Fergo, who not only plays the bass like a demon but also possesses a soulful 5-octave vocal range!
North Coast news daily: www.echonetdaily.net.au
Fergo has played bass for many of Australia’s top artists including Pete Murray, Nicky Bomba, Marshall O’Kell, Jasmine Rae, Lisa Hunt Andy Jans-Brown and Cosmic and many more. Fergo is backed up by the funky fingers of Dan Brown on keyboards and the Amasian Jamie P on drums. Byron Bay Brewery on Saturday from 8pm. Free entry.
THE CASH MAN COMETH Dr Baz Ferrier and vivacious songstress Ilona Harker present a journey through the life and songs of Johnny Cash – a musical tribute to the legendary country superstar Johnny Cash, his epic life story and love affair with partner June Carter, threaded through with a tonguein-cheek look at Johnny Cash’s wild side and their stormy offstage and onstage relationship. The show captures Johnny’s looking back on his rise from humble conditions as a child on a poor cotton farm soaking up gospel and country music to tough times on work gangs, enlistment during the Korean war as a US airman, which got him to the honky tonks of Germany where he began to hone his characteristic style and began writing his unique songs, and on to his rise as a music sensation and a recording artist for the legendary Sun records alongside Elvis and Jerry Lee Lewis.
The show strings together all Johnny Cash’s great hits and signature tunes as the story unfolds, and woven through this rich musical journey is a fascinating glimpse into the darker side of his life, his outlaw image and the prison concerts, and the epic love story with lifetime soulmate June Carter, a child star and goldenhaired girl of the famous country music icons The Carter Family. Looking back on his tough origins, his rise to fame, and his drug addiction, they laugh, they joke, they fight and they harmonise, as they bring so many great songs to life, accompanied by the rockabilly rhythm of the Tennessee Two (with lush backing vocals from Slim Pickens on bass and Neil McCann on twangy Fender guitar). Ballina RSL on Saturday. Tix adults: $20, child U-16yrs $10. Group of 10 exactly: $18 per person. Show starts 8.30pm. Tix at venue.
SMALL IS BEAUTIFUL AT THE BREWERY Join us as Groove on Sunday kicks off again in 2016 with the formidable Hamburg duo, Smallpeople (Smallville Records). Embrace the sunshine and make the most of the day, so get inside the ride from 2pm, and get into the shit-hot lineup, it’s that simple. Byron Brewery from 3pm. Free.
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The Byron Shire Echo December 30, 2015 33