WHAT’S IN STORER
WIT H S E V E N GO L D E N G U ITAR S AN D FO U R BOYS YO U N G E R T HAN SIX U N D E R H E R B E LT, SAR A S TO R E R I S LIVI N G T H E D R E A M .
Sure she’s slowed down a little, but the music, just keeps coming ‘Since the family came along the actual performing part has slowed down quite considerably because it’s just too hard to be away from your children on the road, and when they are so little you just don’t want to be dragging them from town to town. I keep the fire alight by still writing and I still managed to put out one album in between all of them (Lovegrass) but I didn’t do a lot of touring at the time.’
your kids. I love performing at festivals because rather than being on the road for days and days I can bring the family along and they get to see what I do.’ While Storer’s life is very family focused, she’s mindful that her songs look beyond the domestic front.
It was something Storer regretted, as she is well aware of how much her country fans want a live show and how much that feeds a new album.
‘I have a few songs that mention the kids. I get really worried I am going to fill an album talking about my children. I write about personal experiences so I guess it’s only natural there are a few lines here and there. I normally need a story when I write. Something to really write about. If I don’t have something to write about it’s a bit pointless.’
‘I was really disappointed that I didn’t tour Lovegrass. It was a good album; I was really torn. It’s a hard line doing all this work and not touring it but you just have to balance everything. I have a supportive husband, and it’s a matter sometimes of being brave enough to do it. You worry you won’t be there enough for
Storer is currently working towards an album in September. ‘Today is my songwriting day. I have an au pair who looks after the kids all day and I go off and write. It’s a a real challenge because I am not disciplined like that. I will have three ideas in my head and I will just start one and if it happens then great. I
don’t normally write from titles. I need to have a feel, or to know it. I need realness – some country artists can sit around the table and come up with ideas, like how about writing a song about a bloke with dust on his boots, but I need to hear the sound of rain on the tin roof! ‘I love writing about rural things and rural stories about people from the land. Those songs draw so many images; I prefer it to just writing about emotions. The album I am writing now seems a bit personal again, like Silver Skies was. But I am creating a whole other adventure.’ Sara Storer will be headlining at the Murwillumbah Country Roots Festival, 2–5 October, joined by her brother Greg Storer. ‘He’s a brilliant writer. I think he’s better than I am,’ she says. ‘I have even stolen his songs and used them on albums because he’s so good!’ For tickets or information go to mcrfest.com.
SAME, DIFFERENT, EQUAL N OT T H E SA M E B U T EQ UAL I S T H E TAG LI N E FO R T H E N E W FI L M U N IT Y BY S H AU N M O N SO N (E ART H LI N GS).
Unity takes an in-depth look at what it truly means to be human, to be mortal, and to be incarnate in this world. With its message about compassion and reverence for all life, Unity is also a plea for the end of cruelty to humans and animals, and humanity’s hopeful transformation from living by killing into living by loving. It is a unique film about caring for all beings and going beyond all ‘separation based on form’. We live in the least violent time in history – why do you think we often perceive it as the ‘most’ violent? Every new age or generation could claim it’s the ‘most’ violent time. But since we weren’t there in the past during other violent times (for example, I’m sure those living during WWII would say it was, without a doubt, the
most violent time in history), comparing isn’t really possible. Most violent, least violent, it’s all a completely arbitrary positionality. Why do you think religion is so often the root cause of so much violence and conflict?
I don’t feel it is the root cause. Humanity versus religion is only an excuse we use. And if that excuse doesn’t work, we use politics. And if that doesn’t work we use money, or territory, or sexual orientation, etc. Do you think money is as the adage says ‘the root of all evil’? Is change possible in a financial system that relies on perpetual growth? How can this ever align with the ‘sustainable’ practice required immediately to reduce climate change? I believe it’s on the individual level, not a systemic level. All one has to do is work on oneself. Frankly, it’s all one CAN do. Can films change anything? Or are you documenting a shift in consciousness? Has our consciousness started to shift?
RETURN OF THE WAIFS
C oming Soon
GALAPAGOS DUCK
Sunday 23rd Aug – 3.00pm
DON WALKER & Band Saturday 5th Sept – 7.30pm
Mullumbimby Ex-Services Club | Club_Mullum 58 Dalley Street, Mullumbimby | 6684 2533
Is our capacity to suffer intrinsic to our humanity? I mean, without it, would we have ever had art or music or films? Van Gogh? Cobain? Woolf? Wouldn’t Living in Love eradicate art as we know it – just a bunch of people holding hands singing Kumbayah? A landscape is one of the most beautiful images the eyes can behold. No angst required to ‘create’ it. Besides so much of what we call art is more miscreation than creative. Suffering needn’t be a prerequisite. Does the reality that we all evolved from the one ‘speck’ still make us the same? It makes no difference – evolution or creation? Life is multitudinous. We are transitional characters either way, merely passing through. Not the same, but equal. Unity screens at Palace Byron Bay Cinema on Sunday August 16 at 12pm. Tickets $18–20. moving and grooving. Dancing Tommy Franklin and drummer Greg Sheehan will headline the launch event, which will feature everything from a kids toy disco and djembe workshop to a live dance jam band and global beats from DJ Groovyland.
The Waifs return to the Bangalow A&I Hall on Wednesday 21 October. They’ll be playing songs from their new album Beautiful You, to be released next week on 14 August. The wonderful Mia Dyson will be their special guest. Tickets sold out very quickly to their show in Bangalow last year, described by the band as ‘the best show on the tour’. Tickets go on sale at 9am this Thursday.
Earthlings seemed to change a few lives. A picture can be worth a thousand words.
THE WAIFS AT BANGALOW A&I HALL ON 21 OCTOBER
Ballina PLAYERS
Auditions Directed by Paul Belsham
ALL ABOARD FOR GROOVYLAND
The Groovyland Family Dance party debuts this Saturday with a one-day ‘mini-festival’ offering a space where kids, youth and adults can all get
Off the dance floor will be interactive fun for all ages including indoor market stalls, Indigenous weaving and a community art installation, with deliciously healthy food, chai and treats served all day long. The day is all about presenting a family friendly event that brings generations together. From 2 till 9pm at Mullum Civic Hall. Tickets are $20 for a family pass, $15 adult, or $5 for a kid. For more info search ‘Groovyland Family Dance Party’ on Facebook or contact groovyland@gmail.com.
Auditions by appointment Sunday 23rd August Principals 10 - 12.30 Chorus 1.30 - 4pm
A MUSICAL BY ROGER MILLER Show Dates: 13 Nov - 5 Dec To book audition Contact Mike on 6681 6797 or 0402 491 036
Mullumbimby Ex-Services Club practices Responsible Service. If Gambling is a problem for you or someone you know, call the G-line toll-free on 1800 633 635. NSW Permit numbers - All Lotteries - LTPM/13/00601, Wed Draw - 14/08984, Super 10 - 14/00478
32 Augus1 12, 2015 The Byron Shire Echo
DANCING TOMMY & GREG SHEEHAN GET YOUNG AND OLD BODIES ON THE DANCE FLOOR ON SATURDAY AT THE MULLUMBIMBY CIVIC HALL Byron Shire Echo archives: www.echo.net.au/byron-echo