The Opening of An Empire
The Empire in Mullumbimby has been pumping out the love for some time now but in the haste to get food on the table they missed their grand opening! So they’re doing it this Friday! With live music by DJ Crucial D, be there to celebrate the new owners and their excitement about being behind the wheel of an iconic Mullumbimby cafe. Well over 70, the Empire has been a fixture in the Mullumbimby food scene since 1945. Come to the Empire for good food and good times on Friday from 6pm.
Trouble is brewing . . .
Spirited Doctor Isla Fenwick is determined to work at the coalface of medicine in India before committing to life as a dutiful wife. With hopes of making a difference in the world, she sails to Calcutta to set up a midwifery clinic. There she will be forced to question her beliefs, her professionalism and her romantic loyalties.
On a desperate rescue mission to save the one person who needs her the most, she travels into the foothills of the Himalayas to a tea plantation outside Darjeeling. At the roof of the world, where heaven and earth collide, Isla will be asked to pay the ultimate price for her passions.
From England’s seaside town of Brighton to India’s slums of Calcutta and the breathtaking Himalayan mountains, The Tea Gardens is a wildly exciting novel of heroism, heartache and healing.
Fiona McIntosh is an internationally bestselling author of novels for adults and children, including The Chocolate Tin, The Perfumer’s Secret, The Last Dance and Nightingale. Fiona roams the world researching and drawing inspiration for her novels, and runs a series of highly respected fiction masterclasses.
Join Fiona and Friends of Libraries, Byron Shire for an evening of treats, tea and discussion. Tuesday 21 November at 6pm. Bookings essential. For tickets visit www.byronbayfol.com or call Bookworms & Papermites 6687 1396 aka Bangalow Newsagency.
Stories in the Club
We all love a good story, and this Sunday another diverse line-up of tellers will gather for Stories in the Club: Athol Compton and Gurulbu (also known as Uncle Magpie), Des Bleasdale, Kageni Njeru, Neil Amber, Jack Murray, Lachlan Belleville with storyteller and story curator, Jenni Cargill-Strong as MC. Gurulbu and Athol Compton were both featured in the Arts Northern Rivers book Our Way Our Stories: told by Indigenous elders of the Northern Rivers which was edited by Dale Simone Roberts and launched at the Byron Bay Writers Festival. Athol, a former screen actor and Mi n yinbul man, will give welcome and tell a story. Gurulbu, a song man, will also share from his culture. Ninety-year-old, Des Bleasdale knows he is on the home straight and is putting everything into it. Des will tell the tale of the last dog he owned and the adventures he had along the east coast of Australia when he lost him. Kageni Njeru left Kenya to train in Australia as an electrical engineer. After graduating, she worked on rigs in Western Australia. A year ago she moved to our shire and began working in aged care. Over a cup of tea with a client, she was gifted the life story of a wise elder and her adventurous, fascinating life. Jack and Lachlan, students of Mullumbimby High school and members of the Mullumbimby Gavel Club (Junior Toastmasters), will tell a personal tale together. Jack Murray, 13, is a huge exponent of young people learning public speaking as a healing tool and particularly loves storytelling of the Fantasy genre. Lachlan Belleville, a star of Spaghetti Circus, this year MCd at The Byron Writers Festival and won a session of Table Topics at Mullum Magic Toastmasters. Jack and Lachlan will tell Selfies, a series of snapshots from their boyhood growing up here in Mullumbimby, touching on the highs and lows, bullying and drugs. Neil Amber is a member of Toastmasters and the Ngara Institute. He loves gardening and integrates his life experiences by writing short stories, many delivered as speeches in toastmasters. His story will speak to parents of the perils of raising kids, adapting to unexpected dramas and finding comic relief to calm the nerves.
Stories can be factual, fictional or factional – which is a blend of the two. Stories in the Club is supported by the The Ngara Institute, Creative Mullumbimby, Toastmasters, The Story Tree Company and Stories on Foot. More information about this event and Jenni’s storytelling workshops at www.storytree.com.au or call Jenni on 0403 328 643.
Stories in the Club Sunday 4–5.30pm the Mullum Ex-Services Club. Suggested donation $10. Doors open 3.30pm and food available at the Club Old School restaurant afterwards.
Mystic Nimbin
Nimbin has always been legendary for its counter culture. And now there’s more mind-altering magic in store with the Nimbin Mystic Festival. Palm reading, clairvoyance, tarot readings, channelling, numerology and astrology are just some of the modalities on offer.
Set at the glorious Nimbin Town Hall, the real star of the event is Nimbin. An iconic and stunningly spiritual location it’s sure to get you in the mood to connect with your inner self. Choose from a fabulous showcase of mystics, psychics, tarot readers and the like to get answers for yourself and into the future.
Be entertained by belly dancers, buy some crystals and jewellery, and even indulge in a massage. Enjoy scrumptious food from the cafe throughout the two days and also into a candlelit Saturday evening.
Jazmin Theadora, co-organiser of the fair, has a long history in the business of mysticism – she has worked as medium, astrologist, tarot reader and clairvoyant, and has also immersed herself in psychometry and herbal lore since the ’60s. A skeptic? For a gold coin donation, go experience the mysticism for yourself! You don’t have to believe to enjoy a little cosmic coincidence!
Nimbin Town Hall November 11 and 12, Saturday 9am–9pm and Sunday 9am–5pm. Enquiries: Jazmin 0427 822 128
Hubble’s Bubbles
Everybody loves bubbles and Dr Hubble is back to show you why! Dr Hubble (portrayed by world-renowned circus and sideshow performer Shep Huntly) will be on hand to take you on a magical journey behind the bubble, as he shows you bubbles in all their glorious shapes and sizes, including the famous ‘exploda-bubble’ and possibly the biggest bubble you have ever seen! Saturday and Sunday at the Brunswick Picture House at 2pm!
Bradbury in America
David Bradbury’s latest film America and Me is having its local and World Premiere at the Old Drill Hall in Mullumbimby on Wednesday 8 November at 7pm. America and Me documents the filmmaker’s observations over three months in the US during the lead up to the shock election of Donald Trump. A one-man band and always travelling with his camera, David Bradbury was easily able to slip into gear and start filming while on tour of his antimilitarism documentary War on Trial.
Eight US cities later he chronicled what was happening on the streets of America; 40 years after Ronald Reagan introduced the economic theories of Milton Friedman and the infamous Chicago Boys to the world.
He interviews veterans of America’s failed wars to maintain Empire, gets down in the gutter with the homeless to find out what life is like on the streets, speaks to a nun who was violated by the military junta in Guatemala under the directions of a CIA operative, goes to the US/Mexican border where Trump plans to build the Wall, visits the rust belt of middle America where factories are closed and people are hurting… and ends up at the Standing Rock protest camp for Election Day.
These vignettes give context to his critique of the American penchant for Empire, using telling moments from his earlier films shot on the edge of the American colossus – Nicaragua No Pasaran, Chile Hasta Cuando?, Frontline, South of the Border and Public Enemy Number One.
Hosted by Kerry O’Brien and presented by the Frontline Film Foundation this is a fundraiser to take the film back to the US. $20
Tickets on americaandme.eventbrite.com.au
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