Tag Archive: touring artist

Dawn Barrington > touring artist

Final words for 2022

December 14, 2022 0 Comments

Upcoming Gigs!

I hope you are all well and enjoying the final few weeks of the year. I have well and truly got myself settled into life in Melbourne and I love it!! It’s December 15th 9am in the morning and the temperature is 13C outside with much rain falling from the sky …..no no I am not complaining but ….does the sun actually ever come out here 😂 😂 😂 

Jokes aside the gigs are starting to happen with the first one being just over a week away at the Moe RSL which is a town in the Latrobe Valley just an hour and half South East of Melbourne. This gig was secured by radio presenter friend Alan Edwards from the Music Australiana show at Gippsland fm 104.7. who has been a playing my tracks on his show for a number of years now. So it was a lovely surprise when he asked if I would come on the show and then play at the RSL that week too. There are so many more places to play here and even though I have been slow of the block I am starting to find the venues that are most suited to my style of music. I will be playing at the CERES Organic Markets & Bakery on Sunday 14th January which I am very excited about. 10.30 am is the start time so please come down for a coffee, cake and some groceries. I am assuming it’s going to be a bit warmer by then 😂 😂 😂 although not counting on it 😂

Me at Humph Hall in 2017

My next stop is Sydney in February I will be playing at Humph Hall in Allambie Heights. The last time I played there was April 2017!! I can’t believe that much time has passed already!!  Then March is when I will be playing a 2 hour set at The Thornbury Local on Sunday, March 5th and you can see all the times and dates on my “upcoming gigs” page right here or just follow me on Facebook or instagram. I am currently spending my time getting familiar with Melbourne and checking out that venues that support original live music.  I am keen to find a few band members to form a duo or trio while here in Melbourne so if you have any friends who you think will be interested please send them to me. I am in Parkville currently but looking to secure accommodation in Brunswick long term. 

Wishing you all the best for the holiday season and the New Year and I look forward to sharing more shenanigans in the New Year. 

 

 

Airplay, Gigs, Melbourne, Photos

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2022 Where did you go?

October 29, 2022 0 Comments

Recent Shenanigans in Melbourne

It’s coming up to that time of year again when we all start to get into a mad panic about the holiday season and the pending New Year and I haven’t event updated my blog on my month in Melbourne. Not through lack of trying though, I have just been busy as usual and feeling like I am not really getting much done. I had the best time in Melbourne back in August which started with a house concert at my very good friends home in Parkville. Cate Taylor joined me and we played solo sets to an incredibly appreciative audience. My friends Jo and Dave lavished us with the most delicious food and drinks too which was so generous. Just about one hour before the house concert Jon Von Goes from 3RRR fm Melbourne called me to talk about my Melbourne gigs and my latest release “Pledge my Soul” and he also wanted to know more about my involvement with the refugees that were sent to Manus and Nauru in 2013. We had a great chat and he also asked me about my amazing mentor Angie Hart. 

Me and Angie at Open Studio

A couple of days later I played at Open Studio in Northcote, it’s a beautiful intimate venue and some people who heard me on the radio came which was amazing. I played a solo gig for two full sets which was actually quite confronting, it’s been a while since I played for that long to an attentive audience. But I had the most beautiful surprise when Angie Hart and her sister Rebecca Hart showed up to watch me play. I actually even felt a bit nervous and found myself working hard to maintain my cool…..oh the life of overthinking and worrying about what others may think. I knew all along that Angie would never in anyway judge and would be sending nothing but good vibes my way. It was an amazing night and so nice to catch up with friends who came too. 

A few days later I went onto 3CR Community Radio to talk to Aine McAllister about about a few things music and issues that inspire my songwriting like, Ned Kelly who is an Iranian refugee still locked up in Perth Immigration Detention Centre and about other refugees still waiting for a permanent pathway. I also played a song live in the studio.

My last gig was at The Lomond Hotel where I played as part of the Writers Block evening. Three artists get up on stage and play a song each and so we go round again three times. It’s a very special evening organised by Barb Waters. Barb mentioned that there would be a Viola player there and that I should ask him to play with me. So I asked him if he was interested and he was. It was quite scary though because I had never met him before and I was playing original songs that he had never heard before. It takes an  extremely skilled musician to be able to accompany someone that they have never heard before. Anyway I took the plunge and wow he was amazing, he played beautifully and came in on each song and just played perfectly with me. I found out after that he was Jason Bunn who is an amazing viola player that plays for Orchestra Victoria which was a total OMG moment!!! On my arrival back from Melbourne the months of Sept and Oct have been quiet but a few weeks ago I was invited to play at the Garden Party for St Paul’s Beaconsfield which was a lovely last gig in WA for a while.

What’s Next?

I am at a turning point and since covid started I haven’t not gone back to my usual format of the previous 8 yrs. I  had quite a system going where I would write songs, record and release them and then tour those songs. It has been so much more difficult to plan in the past few years and much of the music industry has taken a hit for the worst. But there are signs of life again and I am seeking out new options. So I am going to Melbourne for an extended period, I am not sure for how long yet. I want to play music and I am hoping to make some music connections and maybe be inspired to write some new material, but who knows what is going to happen. I have not made any plans except that my flight is tomorrow and my car is already on a truck going across the Nullabor. So watch this space folks. I am going to leave you with a pic of me and my son that I took yesterday when I left.

 

Activism, Airplay, Gigs, House Concderts, Melbourne, Photos, Refugees, Touring

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It’s a wrap – 2020 awaits!

December 31, 2019 0 Comments

Canberra

It’s been an incredible year and if I sit down for 5 mins to recount what I have done in 2019 I might feel like I need to go into hiding for a year.  So I’m gonna just recap on my trip to Canberra recently where I played at a “Walk for Refugees” concert. It was great 5 days in Canberra and I actually got to go to Parliament House for the first time ever which was awesome. The the concert I played alongside two great female artists Dorothy Jane Gosper and Mileyna Cifali and thanks to Evita story for taking these photos. She also gave us an insight into her exquisite story telling.  I really surprised myself because I never imagined that I would enjoy Canberra…I had always been told that it was a very boring non eventful place filled with politicians and government employees. I actually really liked the city and went to some to of the best pubs I have ever visited in Australia, one being the Old Canberra Inn and another one that the name I can’t remember but it was in Lyneham and when it opened in the 70s it was a womens only bar! Awesome!!!

A Little Bit of Filming

Something else that I got up to in 2019 was a little bit of filming. Rob Castiglione is an in incredible film maker and he asked me if he could make a short documentary about me and my art and it’s involvement in the Refugee advocacy that I have been engaged in. Of course I said yes, he had already produced one with my friend Ruth Halbert (Textile Artist) and he wanted to do another one with Renee Pettitt Schipp (Author and Poet). All three of us have produced art that has become a voice for the refugees detained offshore on Christmas Island, Manus and Nauru.

Here is the video with my story:

Busking across the Nullabor 

I will be busking from Denmark WA to Melbourne to raise awareness about refugees being held offshore and onshore. So I will be taking my songs, signs and car and talking to as many people as I can about the issue.  In the midst of bush fires burning out of control across Australia right now I have even questioned my need to do this. However, I am an artist and it is my job is to push the edges and ask the difficult questions. I believe that the very character of our government has been crystal clear in the way they have treated refugees and it was only a matter of time before people here in Australia would also be affected by their lack compassion and leadership. As we watch Australia burn, people killed, animals dying, ecosystems decimated, home destroyed our government and mainly our Prime Minster continues to lie and deceive us. For them it is about ownership and power and not about the people. I never thought I would hear myself say this but I don’t think the government of Australia gives a shit about the people and quite frankly I think they have totally lost the plot.😔

I am fortunate that I can play my songs and create a safe space for people to feel something. I won’t be celebrating the New Year in my usual style.

I WILL NOT BE SILENCED
BUT I WILL LIGHT A CANDLE AND SIT WITH SILENCE.

2020 AWAITS

 

Gigs

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Keeping it cosy this winter

May 13, 2019 0 Comments

So it’s almost winter and I can’t believe that 2 months have just passed me! However, I certainly have enjoyed the break and I’ve actually had time to relax and do nothing somedays….which is always something or course.

I have still done a few of my usual gigs and my next performance is at the Denmark Festival then I will be playing at the Albany Boatshed Markets on Sunday July 7th and then it’s Townsville Festival again but I will talk more about that in my next update.

Denmark Festival is coming soon 31st May – 3 June 2019. This is when the whole of Denmark comes alive with music from all it’s venues.

It’s a great honour to be selected for the Denmark Festival of Voice and I always look forward to this weekend because I can throw my guitar over my shoulder and walk down the road to the venue.

There will be people from all across the world and Australia and the past few years have cemented this festival on the map of Australia. I will be playing on Saturday at 2pm and Sunday at 12 noon at Freehand Natural Wine. I will be facilitating a skype talk with refugee and award winning journalist and writer Behrouz Boochani at 12 noon too. Behrouz is still being detained on Manus Island with approx 500 other men in the most in humane conditions under the Australian government. It’s disgusting and I can’t believe they have been there almost 6 years.

It’s been quite a gruelling couple of months after my trip to Manus Island and getting deported didn’t help. I am still embroiled in this story as it continues to unfold and it will be a big part of my life until all of the refugees are free. You may ask me why get so involved and why put this pressure on yourself? For that I have no answer except for, ‘it is just something I have to do’ just like when I was extremely concerned about the environment and destruction of our planet for so many years in my teenage years and on through my 20s, 30s and 40s.

Although back then my work in activism was separate and on it’s own whereas now my music overlaps with my concerns for human rights, social justice and the planet we are all destroying at a rapid pace. So in effect the work is never done but I get a huge amount of satisfaction knowing that my art can participate in the solution to all these problems.

I do have a few other things happening behind the scenes and one of those is a small documentary in collaboration with 3 other artists; a poet (Renee Schipp), a textile artist (Ruth Halbert) and a film maker. Rob Castiglioni is the film maker and he has asked the three of us if he could make a short documentary about each of us and show how our lives and our art practice have been impacted by our work in the area of offshore detention.

Of course I jumped at the chance, any opportunity to be in front of a camera or microphone …… lol …..We have done a lot of filming and in the process we also made a music video for one of the songs that I wrote on Manus. I collaborated with one of the refugees there Kazem Kazemi who is a heavy metal fan and an amazing guitarist and musician for that matter. He wrote the melody and I wrote the words so we put the two together and came up with the song below. It’s called “We live and we die”. I wrote these words at 3am in the morning while on Manus. I had been visiting some very sick men at the local hospital in Lorengau which barely has the facilities to take care of the local population let alone an extra 600 refugees. The two men I saw were very sick and were both on hunger strike and had lost the will to live. I sang a few songs to them and one of the guys actually spoke on the 2nd and 3rd visit (he was probably sick of the singing lol) but he did sit up and we had lovely chat. His name is Qassim and he is still there now in the camp languishing and has no idea how much longer it will go on for.

Gigs, Recording, Song writing, Videos

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New Year ….. New Releases

January 14, 2019 0 Comments

We’re already half way through January of 2019 and what a great beginning to the year. I hope you all had a fantastic break and festive season and that it wasn’t too hard to get back into things again. I am having a bit of trouble getting going but I figured it was time to start the year with a blog post.

It was very quiet over the December/January break in my neck of the woods but I really enjoyed it. It gave me a chance to spend some time with friends and generally relax. My son is almost 17 and he’s quite indifferent to the whole fiasco but likes to have a few presents and some nice food which we did.

So what has been happening Musically?

Well I played at the Denmark Arts Markets on January 5th which is one of my favourite gigs because it’s just down the road and I reckon it must be one of the biggest market stages in the southern hemisphere. The sound is awesome and it carries all across the town. Sorry no photos to prove I was there though this time.

I also spent a lot of time listening to my new tracks which I will be releasing this year. We had to go through the process of listening to the tracks and checking to see if there were any final changes that needed to be done. I am very grateful to Tony King and Al Smith from Bergerk Studios for all their time and work into this project and also Luke Tulloch for his beautiful violin work. Three very professional and wonderful human beings who are always a delight to work with and so generous with their time.

New YouTube video uploaded

Back in September of last year I spent a day standing in for Ruth Halbert Textile Artist at her Exhibitions “Castaway” and “Witness” which was part of the Great Southern Art Trail. Rob Castiglione (Film maker) turned up to do some filming with Ruth but there was a mix up over dates and Rob suggested that he record me playing my song “Fly Free Little Bird”
instead.
It was a special moment because I wasn’t feeling my usual bubbly cheerful self and Rob was able to capture the essence of my mood and I was very excited about the results.

Fly Free Little Bird – Performed at the Sanctuary Denmark WA
Filmed by Rob Castiglione

So what’s happening over the next few months?

Well I have a few gigs lined up and the next one is at Gallery 152 in York WA and it is an evening of stories through song. Chris Gibbs is the person organising and he is a professional artist too so I am looking forward to meeting him and maybe even getting him to play some of my songs with me. I love these types of gigs because the audience are usually very attentive and I get to play in a line up with other great artists. I then have Albany Boatshed Markets gig before of take off on my 3 week trip overseas. I am also planning to go to Papua New Guinea to play music and even do a bit of teaching which I am really looking forwards to.

I’m almost ready to release my EP which will consist of 5 tracks. After much deliberation I have chosen a track to release first and it will be the title track of my EP and that track is “Can’t Let Go” . I am very excited about this one because we tried a different format in the studio. We worked on the vocals first and the music was created around the vocals and the vocal melody and I am sooooo happy with the results.

I think I have covered everything to date and I hope you all have an enjoyable next few months and see you all soon.

Gigs, Photos, Recording, Videos

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