ENTERTAINMENT MANDY NOLAN’SS
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
No-one likes talking about dying. Once you start talking about dying you think, shit, I’m going to die now. It’s not just superstition. You will die. Not because you tempted fate by scandalously talking of death. Because everyone dies. It’s the only guarantee we have in life. We delude ourselves that we are immortal. We try to stay young. We inject Botox and use words such as longevity and age-defying. We use creams to ‘fight the effects of ageing’ but while you might fight superficial effects such as wrinkling, dimpling and saggy arse, you can’t apply creams that stop
you dying. No pharmaceutical company has yet mastered a topical cream that can claim to be ‘death-defying’. We get old and die. We stay young and die. I could die right now. I could have a heart attack and never finish this article. I’m having a panic attack just thinking about it. It’s terrifying. So I don’t think about it. I don’t think about it so much I actually forget. So every time someone dies I get a shock. But if I think about it rationally, someone’s dying is the most natural thing on Earth. It’s like being in a raffle where everyone’s number is
THE FUNNY THING ABOUT DYING
eventually up. I imagine the grim reaper less like a hooded guy with a scythe and more a tophatted bloke in candy stripe at a carnival on a loudspeaker spruiking ‘Everybody wins a prize’. The prize is death. So why are we surprised? Or traumatised? I guess because it’s random. Unfair. Painful. But not entirely unexpected. In comparison, our life-entry point ‘birth’ has mundane uniformity; death is like lucky dip. So how will you die? Car accident? Cancer? Snake bite? Stroke? Choke on your tongue? Will you fall off a mountain? Get lost on a bushwalk and never return? Plane crash? Shark attack? It’s so random that when you think about it
too hard you freak yourself out with the numerous options. My father died in a car accident when I was six. As a midget spectator on this drama of grief and loss I concluded that only stupid people died. My father was drunk and drove into an oncoming car. I figured that as long as I didn’t take risks I would live. It wasn’t until I was eight that I learnt everyone died. I call this period of my life The Woody Allen years. I was the only kid in year two who wrote an essay after summer holiday called ‘Whats the point?’. I became obsessed with death. Mainly because no-one spoke to me about it. In fact we weren’t allowed to speak of death. It made my grandmother nervous (possibly because she felt the dark shadow of her own demise
was nigh). I often imagine how one would live one’s life if one knew one’s exact departure date and method of departure. I think perhaps it’s our primitive fear of dying that has held us back from properly living life. I wonder if one embraces death one also embraces life? It would be a revolutionary mindset, because right now our approach is pretty well the opposite. I am thinking of creating a ‘death plan’. It will be in a folder on my desktop and it will host the usual things such as a will, when to turn off the machines… but most importantly it will house the photos I want shown in my Powerpoint – the ones where I look good, not you. I mean,
Live Music
They do mantra chanting. Yes, that’s right. These bad boys of mantra are a yoga-based band that does not drink, smoke or take drugs. All their events are drug and alcohol free.
BUSK YOUR WAY TO BLUES! Every year Byron Bluesfest holds a busking comp which shines the spotlight on new talent and gives them an opportunity to play a world class festival. In the lead up to Bluesfest, talented singers, songwriters and bands are giving it their best shot. The general busking is Tuesday 11 and Wednesday 12 April at the Beach Hotel from 5pm with a grommet busking Comp at the Byron Youth Centre from 10am on Saturday and Sunday.
DAN HANNAFORD AT THE MULLUM GOURMET STREET FOOD PARTY AT THE MULLUM FOOTY GROUNDS ON SATURDAY
HULA GIRL DANCING WITH ALOHA BABY AT THE TREEHOUSE ON SATURDAY
ALOHA WITH HULA GIRL
Aloha Baby are wrapping up a four-week residency at the Treehouse on Belongil this Saturday. The restaurant folk are sad to see the Hawaiian trio go as their cruisey island vibes are just perfect for their alfresco dining experience. To help celebrate, graceful local dancer Gisela Conechado will be performing some Hula dances – two sets from 7.30pm. Wiki wacky woo!
DREAMBOAT Brisbane-based soul-jazz fivepiece Captain Dreamboat head out on tour in support of their latest single Modern Love, stopping in at Byron Bay to showcase their R&B-inspired groove. Ofa Fanaika, a staple of the West End music scene and a member of well-loved local dub/reggae act Chocolate Strings, fronts an assembly of some of Brisbane’s and Australia’s best emerging jazz musicians to form Captain Dreamboat. After gelling their talents together they have formed a formidably tight
North Coast news daily: www.echonetdaily.net.au
If you want to get engaged with talking about dying go to the Byron Hospice Service (formerly Amitayus) for an evening of music, poetry and storytelling. Death doesn’t have to be all dark and gloomy. They are going to have cake. Drill Hall Mullum on Wednesday 19 April at 7pm. Please RSVP to info@byronhospice.org.au or 02 6684 3808 for catering purposes. Thanks.
Vox Caldera Choir
MOONFIRE NOT ILLEGAL DOOFERS The other day I got an email from a mantra trance band Moonfire. Most recently they were incorrectly reported by the Northern Star as being associated with illegal doof parties. While the editor of said paper did offer to make an emendment, the only thing they did was remove the mistake from the article. Moonfire would like it to be known that the quotation from the original article: ‘A Moonfire event was planned and advertised on Facebook for 1 April, with DJ Om bragging that illegal doof parties had been held at the Byron Lighthouse for the last 15 years’ misrepresented the band who, in fact, have nothing to do with illegal doofs.
don’t trust the living with your Powerpoint! And there will be a playlist banning Hallelujah, all Jeff Buckley songs, and definitely no Eva Cassidy. I’m going for KHIA’s All You Ladies Pop Your Pussy Like This. It’s inappropriate and it’s shocking. That way I’ll still be there.
Sunday April 9th A&I Hall - Bangalow - 3pm
Tickets at Mullumbimby Bookshop - Art Piece Gallery - Barebones Artspace & at the door. Tickets $25, concession $15 & children $10.
force, able to achieve complex sonic concepts in the studio and impromptu creations live onstage. You can catch Captain Dreamboat performing their new single Modern Love along with plenty more of their numbers, this Saturday at the Byron Bay Brewery from 7pm. Free entry
SACRED EARTH
Sacred Earth are one of Australia’s musical success stories. Having sold more than a quarter of a million albums, they’re Australia’s top-selling artists in the ambient music genre, and the second you hear their sound, it’s easy to see why. Sacred Earth’s music is nothing short of spellbinding. Prem’s captivating vocals have an other-worldly quality, encapsulating the depths of human emotion with striking clarity as she sings sacred mantras and heartfelt lyrics that resonate with people of all ages and from all walks of life. While Prem plays her keyboard with a gentle touch, Jethro adds vocal harmonies and soothing instrumental melodies, playing shakuhachi (Japanese flute), Indian bansuri, Irish tin and low whistles and acoustic guitar. They perform at the Byron Community Centre on Saturday 29 April at 7.30pm. Tickets at byroncentre.com.au.
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CONTINUED p35 The Byron Shire Echo April 5, 2017 33