Zion’s drive-in show
Lockdown has changed a lot of things for a lot of people. Particularly the artistic community. Zion Levy Steward had a new show planned, but it’s been postponed. In the meantime his work will adorn the windows of the BSA Project Space Drive-in Gallery at 112 Dalley Street Mullumbimby, from Saturday 27 June until Thursday 16 July. Swing by and check out his latest ceramics and paintings. You can also make contact to purchase one of Zion’s unique pieces. zionart.com.au
Music at The Beach
The Beach Hotel has music every night with Two Moons on Thursday from 7pm. Friday has Scott Day Vee at 3pm, and you can get a little boogie on to Pink Zinc Trio at 7.30pm. Saturday sees Fernando Aregones at 1pm, Matt Hanley at 4.30pm and The Dirty Channel at 8pm. Sunday it’s an arvo in the sun with Dan Clark’s solo spot at 1pm.
Together in art we are never alone
When COVID-19 social distancing measures came into place, Lismore Quad and Lismore Regional Gallery countered with a rapid response program to support Northern Rivers artists. Together//Alone space offered micro-grants for artists to explore ways to creatively respond to adversity and keep connected to community in a socially distanced world.
The resulting 11 inspiring projects included everything from loungeroom dance-offs to translating song into Bundjalung language, from a deaf loungeroom to a ‘moving art’ piece added to by a succession of artists in isolation.
The Together//Alone projects are available for audiences to view via www.lismorequad.org.au.
Next year’s Splendour
Splendour organisers say, ‘After a great deal of consideration, and with the interest of our beloved fans front and centre, Splendour in the Grass will move the 20th Anniversary event forward to July 2021.
‘If you have bought a ticket to the 2020 celebration and want to come next year instead, simply retain your ticket and it will be valid for 2021.
‘For anyone wanting to secure tickets to #SITG2021, pre-loved tickets will be available from this week.’
The Vibe is on for 2020!
Island Vibe Festival first round tickets are available now. The festival is held at North Stradbroke, over 4 days, 29 October–1 November. Organisers are encouraging those who are keen to get in early, as tickets will be limited for this socially distanced event. The good news though is that it is definitely happening!
First Round tickets are available from:
events.humanitix.com/island-vibe-festival-2020
She’ll be right mate
Exhibiting at Lismore Regional Gallery this week is Dissonant Rhythms; a touring exhibition by Brisbane artist, Ross Manning. He is exhibiting alongside Paulette Haye’s thought provoking exhibition CONTROL. ABUSE. KILL. She’ll be Right, Mate which is the result of years of thought and art making about women. The exhibition honours the women who were murdered in Australia in 2013, using data from Counting Dead Women, an awareness campaign that researches, records and publishes every reported femicide in Australia. The artist invites the viewer to confront what cannot be said, and brings light to heal the wounds around what has been kept secret. Hayes uses two powerful symbols to signify women and men, and to speak about where the violence occurs. She takes the home as a symbol of women’s safety and daily life, and highlights it as a site of ongoing and accumulative violence. The blue singlet, casually called the ‘wifebeater’ in Australian vernacular, is a poignant and brutal motif, with the child’s singlet pointing to when this behavior is sometimes learned in starting a continuous cycle of violence.
Her work is on show at the Lismore Regional Gallery, open Tuesday to Sunday 10am–4pm. Thursday 10am–6pm.
Uke in iso
Stu Eadie presents his final Uke Night in iso this week.
Stu, this is your final iso gig – how have they been going?
We have had a small and diverse following of Ukers tune in with our iso Uke Nights. People from all over the world. Even though it has been fairly stressful having everything prepared in time to go live, the feedback has been great, and has given us a focus during these strange times. The nights have been by donation, and there are some very generous people out there. We are very grateful for the support and encouragement. We’ve been getting a thrill to know that our regulars are still hanging out with us, and we feel them singing and strumming along with us. It has kept us going. Daughter Rose (yes that’s her stage name) has been revelling in the performances… she’s comfortable in front of the camera.
Was it challenging for you to adapt to an online format?
The technical learning curve was immense and I am yet to get it just right. The first one had a terrible echo as I had left the sound on my mobile phone switched on. We hadn’t worked out how to see the comments from our viewers… so we did some lovely performances, though unfortunately it sounded bloody awful. The last one we did was pretty close, apart from me not turning on my lapel mic… again I missed the comments – Bahhhh! Luckily the new mic we had picked up just enough.
Apart from all the technical stuff, playing to no response at the end of a tune was the weirdest thing to get used to. Luckily someone pulled out some whoops and cheers off camera, and we just look at each other for some kind of sense of approval.
What are you going to continue that you changed during the COVID lockdown with your creative practice?
Strumalongs are not quite as wonderful as when we are all playing in a room together, though I have found teaching via Zoom is actually better. I can use the camera to my advantage with close ups on my hands. Having to mute people when I play or talk because of the lag is an advantage as well. While I’m demonstrating, those who need to hear the instruction do so, while others can noodle and practise at their own pace without disturbing the other students. The teaching is actually more efficient. We have livestreamed our Uke Nights before and will possibly continue, as long as I can find a volunteer to take care of the technical stuff!
Tell me about this last iso gig?
Now the restrictions on gatherings have lifted, we are very excited to have our friend, multi instrumentalist Kate Gittins, back in the band on clarinet, flute and accordion, and we can’t wait to play some tunes with our dearest country music queen, Clelia Adams. Rod Coe has been with us on bass the whole time, and we are very grateful for his contribution. Roddy is the glue that holds Uke Night together. We’ll be playing some of the favourites from previous Uke Nights, though this time it will be on Sunday afternoon at 3pm for just over an hour. The songbook is available for Uke Mullum patrons at bit.ly/JuneUkeNight. Otherwise we do scroll the songbook in the live feed so you can strum and sing along. All donations gratefully received via bit.ly/DonateUke
Final Iso Night – Sunday on screen from 3pm, with special guest Clelia Adams and multi instrumentalist, Kate Gittins.
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