It’s your lucky day with Ash Grunwald
Following his top ten-ranked collaboration with Josh Teskey, 2020’s Push The Blues Away, Ash Grunwald delivers his most personal album yet with Shout Into The Noise.
Working with Grammy-nominated songwriter and producer Lachlan Bostock from Mansionair, Ash has crafted the finest album of his career.
Ash Grunwald is now one of Australia’s most successful blues musicians ever, with six top 50 albums and two APRA Awards. In addition, he’s been nominated for five ARIA Awards and four AIR Awards, and he was named Best International Act at the LA Music Critic Awards in 2014. In 2019, Ash published his first book, Surf by Day, Jam by Night, which combined his two passions – music and surfing.
And you’re in luck, because on Friday 13 May, Ash plays the Mullum Ex-Services Club at 8pm.
Sing to thrive
A fun weekly community singing circle is starting up in May in Ocean Shores with Maddy Monacelli. These weekly mini workshops will teach you how to connect to your power voice and radically improve your tone, pitch and colour. So, if you want to sing in freedom, learn vocal technique, get better at singing harmonies and feel confident to improvise – then get your beautiful self to these weekly classes, because they are designed to help you become a confident, charismatic and powerful singer.
Now, more than ever, we need to be raising our vibration and staying positive to boost our immune system and improve mental health. Singing in a group triggers the communal release of serotonin and oxytocin, the bonding, happy hormones, synchronising our heart beats and connecting us to a strong network of like-minded people, which is a powerful antidote for depression and anxiety.
There will be no judgement, no ego and no comparing.
Maddy also offers private tuition for all ages. You can choose from mobile singing lessons – where she comes to you – or sing up a storm at the Byron Music School or online via Zoom.
Weekly Adult Group is held every Thursday, 1–2.15pm in Ocean Shores. Casual rate is $18 per class.
Visit the website singtothrive.com to find out more.
Wollumbin Art Award entries open
The Wollumbin Art Award (WAA), worth $30,000, is the Tweed Regional Gallery’s new biennial award open to artists living in the Tweed, Ballina, Byron, Kyogle and Scenic Rim Shires, as well as Lismore and Gold Coast City. The Award, named after the mountain the Gallery overlooks, celebrates the calibre and diversity of artists of the region. There is no theme and artists may submit works in any medium.
The Wollumbin Art Award winner will receive a $15,000 prize, which includes a two week residency at the Nancy Fairfax Artist in Residence Studio at Tweed Regional Gallery & Margaret Olley Art Centre.
The WAA Bundjalung Award is a $10,000 prize for First Nations artists and includes an exhibition at Tweed Regional Gallery & Margaret Olley Art Centre, and this award is sponsored by the Tweed Regional Gallery Foundation Ltd. The WAA also offers an Emerging Artist Award of $5,000.
The 2022 WAA Judge is Alison Kubler – she has over 20 years’ experience working as a curator in museums and galleries in Australia. She has held full-time curatorial positions at QUT Art Museum and Gold Coast City Art Gallery, and in a freelance capacity developed programs for the Art Gallery of South Australia, amongst other institutions. Alison is a Member of the Council of the National Gallery of Australia, and an Ambassador for the Institute of Modern Art. Alison is a regular contributor to art journals and magazines on the subjects of art and fashion. She is currently the Editor of VAULT.
The WAA Pre-Selection Panel for 2022 includes the TRG&MOAC Gallery Director and Exhibitions Curator, and a First Nations representative.
40th Anniversary of The Wall
It’s time to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the film adaptation of Pink Floyd: The Wall, where a confined but troubled rock star descends into madness in the midst of his physical and social isolation from everyone.
Based on Pink Floyd’s 1979 album The Wall, this live-action/animated psychological horror musical film was directed by Alan Parker in 1982. Like the album, the film is highly metaphorical, and is full of symbolic imagery and sound. The film is mostly driven by music and features little dialogue from the characters.
Despite its turbulent production and the creators voicing their discontent about the final product, the film received generally positive reviews and has an established cult following.
Earning two British Academy Awards for Best Sound and Best Original Song, film critic Roger Ebert reviewed The Wall on the television program At the Movies in 1982, describing it as ‘a stunning vision of self-destruction’ and ‘one of the most horrifying musicals of all time… but the movie is effective. The music is strong and true, the images are like sledge hammers, and for once, the rock and roll hero isn’t just a spoiled narcissist, but a real, suffering image of all the despair of this nuclear age. This is a really good movie.’
Presenting the event are Byron-based entertainment company, Three Lords, who host local events with locally-based artists. Their aim is to provide a wide range of experiences to bring people together and celebrate popular and iconic culture.
Hano Kotevski from Three Lords, says ‘the film will forever be culturally relevant, and as the ongoing effects of recent worldwide events continue to change us, perhaps a wall or two does need to “come down”.’
This is a stunning piece and you can see it at the Byron Theatre, Thursday 12 May, 7.30pm. Tix: www.byrontheatre.com.au
Who let the Sniffer Dog out?
The new single from Sniffer Dog sees the anarchic masked canine running amok through his own backyard. Sniffer Dog hails from the Northern Rivers area of NSW – West Mullum to be exact. Having misspent his youth in various Australian inner city regions pissing off authorities and rallying against the relentless dumbing down of art and culture, Sniffer Dog took his young litter up to the hinterlands of the Byron Shire where he has continued to challenge those who put profit before community and fear ahead of tolerance and love.
Previous incarnations of Sniffer Dog include: Be Kind To Beavers, Fred Nihilsts, Non Bossy Posse, PuSs, Vibe Tribe, Organarchy Sound System, Fatty Acidz, Fatty Vs Mo and Economy Class Syndrome.
After the successful fundraising track ‘Greta Calling’ which threw some attention and dollars the way of the fire-stricken community of Wytaliba in the North Eastern part of NSW, his latest track ‘Underground’ continues to raise awareness and funds for locals currently devastated by the Northern Rivers flood event.
All proceeds from sales of the track will go towards Sniffer Dog’s local Kohinur Hall relief fund in an attempt to get the updates required to help the venue back on its feet.
Dance floor friendly acid breakz mixed with an acerbic post punk snarl make this new release a must for conscious groove hedz, whilst showcasing a potpourri of beats and tweeks aimed at the giddy heights of the peak dance floor experience.
Every dollar helps so please head over to Bandcamp and make a donation and all proceeds from the sales will go to the Upper Main Arm Kohinur Hall Flood Appeal.
Please support the rebuild of this devastated area in a small way by heading over to Bandcamp and buying the track.
Much love and thanks – WOOF!
Bandcamp Download: https://snifferdog.bandcamp.com/track/underground-2.
CINEMA
Morning of the Earth
Celebrating 50 years of the film that inspired a generation, Albert Falzon’s 1972 Classic, Morning of the Earth, has been meticulously remastered in 4K. This film is internationally renowned as one of the greatest surf films of all time, consistently in the top five in the world. Its psychedelic imagery and audio-visual tour de force captured the spirit of a generation and became an instant benchmark of avant-garde cinema.
A fantasy of surfers living in three unspoilt lands and playing in nature’s oceans, Morning of the Earth tells the story of a group of friends exploring the measures of all things beautiful: searching for virgin waves in Bali, Hawaii and Australia, shaping their own surfboards, building their own homes and living off the land in harmony with nature. With G. Wayne Thomas’ billboard- topping soundtrack (the first Australian soundtrack to go gold, that has just been re-released) and surfing that features some of the world’s best, Morning of the Earth is a must-watch for any surfer or cinephile worth their salt.
Morning of the Earth was the first film to capture surfing in Bali, and its two surfers, Stephen Cooney and Rusty Miller, became the first to ever surf the now world famous point break, Uluwatu.
The film stars some of the world’s best surfers, including champions Nat Young, Terry Fitzgerald, Michael Peterson, and Gerry Lopez. But the film goes far beyond personalities.
Special Guests at the event are Albe Falzon (Zoom Q&A), Stephen Cooney and Rusty Miller. Music from the film will be performed by Beau Young, with Rusty Miller, Gyan, Simon Greaves and Tim Gaze accompanying.
Tickets from the Byron Bay Community Centre website: byroncentre.com.au.
The Northman
The Northman is an American epic historical fiction film directed by Robert Eggers, who co-wrote the screenplay with Sjón. Based on the legend of Amleth, the film stars Alexander Skarsgård (who also produced), Nicole Kidman, Claes Bang, Anya Taylor-Joy, Ethan Hawke, Björk, and Willem Dafoe.
Alexander Skarsgård had wanted to make a Viking film for several years, and Eggers decided to make the film his third project after the pair met to discuss possible collaborations.
In AD 895, King Aurvandill War-Raven returns to his kingdom on the island of Hrafnsey after his overseas conquests, and is reunited with his wife, Queen Gudrún, and his son and heir, Prince Amleth. To prepare Amleth to one day be king, the two participate in a spiritual ceremony overseen by Aurvandill’s jester, Heimir. The next morning, masked warriors led by Aurvandill’s brother, Fjölni, ambush and murder the king. After seeing his village massacred and his mother taken away screaming by his uncle, Amleth flees by boat swearing to avenge his father, save his mother and kill Fjölnir.
Amleth is found by a band of Vikings and raised among them as a berserker. Years later, after an attack in the land of the Rus, Amleth encounters a Seeress in the temple of Svetovit; the Seeress predicts that Amleth will soon take revenge on Fjölnir, and that his path is intertwined with a Maiden-King. Amleth finds out that Fjölnir was overthrown by Harald of Norway and lives in exile in Iceland. Posing as a slave, Amleth sneaks aboard a ship headed to Iceland.
What follows is a story as epic as the names of the characters in it.
The Northman is screening at Palace Cinemas this week.
The Bad Guys
The Bad Guys is a computer-animated crime comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation. The film was directed by Pierre Perifel (in his feature directorial debut) from a screenplay by Etan Cohen, and is based, generally, on the children’s book series of the same name by Aaron Blabey.
The voices behind The Bad Guys are Sam Rockwell as Mr Wolf, a pickpocket gray wolf, Marc Maron as Mr Snake, a sarcastic safe-cracking eastern brown snake, Awkwafina as Ms Tarantula, a sharp-tongued expert hacker, Craig Robinson as Mr Shark, a childish and sensitive master-of-disguise, Anthony Ramos as Mr Piranha, a Bolivian red-bellied piranha, Richard Ayoade as Professor Rupert Marmalade IV, a pompous guinea pig philanthropist, Barbara Goodson voices an old woman that Mr Wolf intended to pickpocket, Zazie Beetz as Diane Foxington, Alex Borstein as Misty Luggins, the hot-tempered human chief of police, and Lilly Singh as Tiffany Fluffit, a local human news reporter.
The Bad Guys tells the story of the group of criminal animals who, after a lifetime of legendary heists, get caught. To avoid a prison sentence, the animal outlaws must pull off their most challenging con yet – becoming model citizens. Under the tutelage of their mentor, Professor Marmalade, the dubious gang sets out to fool the world that they’re turning good.
Marmalade invites the Bad Guys to his home, but his lessons prove a struggle, with them seemingly unable to adapt to the concept of good behavior. After a ‘heist for good’ to rescue a herd of guinea pigs from a research lab fails – owing to Mr Wolf’s second-in-command, Mr Snake, eating them – the experiment is called off and lots of fun ensues.
You can see The Bad Guys at the Ballina Fair Cinemas.
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