Tag Archive: touring

Dawn Barrington > touring

NSW and Tasmania tour and the Day before departure

February 27, 2018 0 Comments

The day before I left for NSW I did a performance at the Denmark Arts Markets, it was a fabulous morning and if you have never been to the Arts Markets you must schedule a trip to Denmark WA to coincide with an Arts Markets day. They have live music playing all day and lots of market stalls with hand made products, food and more.

I played a full set and at the end of my set I decided to dedicate the last two songs to the refugees on Manus Island and Nauru. I offered the audience an opportunity to get up on stage with me to stand with the Women, men and children in offshore detention, it was quite moving as people joined me and a very special moment indeed when I sang my new song “Fly Free Little Bird”

I was away for just over 3 weeks and I’ve been home a week or so and it’s been go go go. I had a fantastic tour and there were many highlights and a few lowlights of course but it wouldn’t be rock ‘n’ roll if  it was all plain sailing.  After spending a few days with my 2nd cousin in Gladesville (thanks Paul and Anne) I went to Gosford via Chatswood.  John Regan has been a great supporter of my music and it’s always great to go to the studio at Northside Sydney Radio 99.3 fm to see him for an interview and a quick catch up.  Then I met Father Rod Bower from the Anglican Parish Church for lunch in Gosford.  I have been following him for a little while now and I am very interested in the work he is doing to support the refugees in offshore detention and I just love all of his work and the way he goes about it. It was fantastic to meet him and have a chat about all matters needing our attention and compassion. Then I remembered that I had a radio interview booked for 2 BOB 104.7fm  to promote the gig in Upper Lansdowne. I managed to be ready at my phone in time for that then off I went to my next stop.

I headed over to the Rhythm Hut where I was booked to play that night and what a fantastic venue it is. Louise Sawilejskij is the lady at the helm of the Rhythm Hut and she and her team of volunteers bring it all together.  They have a fantastic venue where you can stay and a shared meal  is offered and you get to sit and chat with all the volunteers and other musicians. I was fortunate enough to be there when Nathan Cavaleri was playing so I got to have chat with him and see his gig on the Friday night, he’s a lovely young man and of course I had no idea of who he was until after the event.  Louise did give me a bit of his story just when he arrived but it really didn’t sink in until I googled him a week or so later and wow! what a surprise I had to see his incredible story.

The next day I made my way up to Upper Lansdowne where I was booked to play as a support act for Dan Walsh a great up and coming Banjo player from the UK.  I played a set and then he played and then we played a few songs together which was a lot of fun…I just love to collaborate and I can’t believe that he

let me improvise some lead on his song…he’s  a very brave man lol…. Upper Landsdowne Memorial Hall is a fantastic venue run by the local community it was a fantastic night, we had a full house and a lot of fun. The very next day I had to get back to Newcastle for a gig at the Lass O’Gowrie which was one of the low lights so I won’t talk about that one  grrrrr. Then on the same day I made my way to Glenorie where I stayed at the lovely Dimitra’s (a friend of a friend) for 3 days and for a bit of rest before I headed off to Tasmania. I was well looked after and really sorry that I missed my friends who usually stay there but hopefully I will get to see them soon.  They are also musicians and they are aways on the road.  I’m afraid the photos aren’t very good but they are just evidence that I  was there and having a great time!

I stayed for a night at a friend’s house in Sydney then I went over to Tasmania for 10 days which was organised by John Lay from Voice of the Midlands 97.1fm.

John organised the tour and initially he was planning on booking 5 to 6 gigs but it ended up only being 3 which was not the best but that’s rock and roll too folks sometimes things don’t go the way you planned. I played at the Colebrook Tavern, Midland Hotel in Oatlands and Ye Olde Buckland Inn in Buckland which was the high light and I also did a radio interview which is always a lot of fun too.

However, I managed to catch up with the lovely Dave Anger who is also a radio presenter at Voice of the Midlands and we got to spend some time together and he had his home studio set up where I recorded a demo of my song “Fly free little bird” which I have dedicated to the refugees on Manus Island and Nauru. It was a very special moment and I am very grateful to Dave for the opportunity to get a demo down.

What’s Next?

Next Friday 9th March I will be playing at the Bunbury Regional Art Gallery as part of the Bunbury Goodnights live music series.  I will be playing from 12 noon till 2pm and then I will be heading over the Mandurah to do a House Concert at Westy’s BnB which is run by the lovely Be Westbrook.  We met through House Concerts Australia.  House Concerts is another great way to listen to live music and get up close and personal with the musician, they are great fun and I always meet lovely people who really appreciate music.

The very big news is that I have been selected to play at the Townsville Cultural Fest in Townsville August of this year.  This is very exciting for me because it’s not easy getting into big festivals and I have been selected because the organiser likes my work which is fantastic.  This is an all ages all genres festival and a celebration of all cultures.  My songs reflect a lot of who I am and the things that matter to me the most, so to be selected based on what I write about makes it all worth while.

I do have some more very exciting news which I will share with you very soon. So watch this space folks!!

Gigs, Song writing, Sydney, Tasmania

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It’s time for an update

September 25, 2017 0 Comments

I thought it was time for an update on what’s been happening the past few months. As soon as I got back from Kalgoorlie I started getting ready for a House Concert which is the first one that I have booked through House Concerts Australia.

It was at Arcadia Wines in Kendenup which is only an hour or so away from Denmark.  Gaye and John are a lovely couple and they have only had the cellar door open for the past 18 months and they are doing really well. They have award winning wines and I would personally recommend the aged Riesling. Gaye and John are lovers of live music and they are really passionate about having regular live music events which is awesome. All the tickets were sold and we all had a great night. The photo isn’t brilliant but it’s just evidence that I was there lol!

Then a couple of weeks later I took a trip up to the big smoke for a couple of gigs.  One in York which is about an hour east of Perth where I played at the Settlers House York, which is a beautiful old heritage building. York is the the first inland town Settled in WA.  We had a few drinks at the end of the night and I heard a few good ghost stories which was a bit unnerving.

On Sunday I played at Jackadders Music Club. I had a really warm welcome from Carmel and Ron and we had a lovely afternoon. It was great to hear the audience sing along to my original songs and the whole gig was recorded which was fantastic.

Next was one of my regular gigs at the Earl of Spencer in Albany. Peter Caron joined me on guitar and I love playing with Peter because we have a lot of fun and he adds lots of fancy guitar work to my songs, and the covers, that we do.  I usually do an even mix of originals and covers when I do pub gigs which is pretty cruisey and generally good fun.  Peter set up the video so we got some great footage of us playing too.

 

Then last but not least I did another house concert but this time in Manjimup at a beautiful historic building called Dingup House Bed and Breakfast which is managed by Chris and John.  Dingup House is one of the first houses built on the original town site of Manjimup until they moved the town a few kms down the road. Chris and John do a fantastic job there and we had a wonderful intimate evening with soup and song.  The photo isn’t the best but it just gives you an idea of the set up there.  Half the guests stayed the night and the rooms are all beautifully presented with heritage style beds and lovely patchwork bed covers. I would highly recommend a stay there if you’re travelling through that neck of the woods.

 

WHAT’S NEXT

My son has gone to New York for a school trip so my husband and I have decided to go for a little holiday across to Augusta and Margaret River and I’m going to play at the Goodfellas i cafe in Margaret River while we’re there. I know what you’re thinking….can’t she just have one weekend without playing music…and the answer is most definitely not….lol! It just so happens our friends own Goodfellas and I just love playing there.

Then the following week I’ll be doing a double gig with Peter Caron which means we will be at the Albany Boatshed Markets in the Morning and at The Earl of Spencer in the evening.  I’m really looking forward to doing a house concert in Northam in October.  I’m also busy planning another Eastern States tour for Jan/Feb or next year which is very time consuming and fun at the same time.  I’ve also been busy writing songs for recording next year.  That’s it for now folks!  Stay warm and dry in this crazy weather if you live on this side of the planet and down this far below the equator.

 

Albany Gigs, Gigs, House Concderts, Photos, Videos

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Goldfields Adventure

July 29, 2017 0 Comments

I had a fantastic time in Kalgoorlie!

It was my first ever visit and it was soooo worth the drive. I took the coastal route to Esperance then the Coolgardie Esperance road to Kalgoorlie. If you do it in one hit it takes almost 10 hours but I stopped in Esperance for a night each way so I had a decent break.

I have been utilising Air BnB a lot lately because it’s a great way to go on the road and get low cost accommodation and to be honest it makes it possible for me to take my music further afield. However, there is a down side, you never know what you’re going to get. So you just have to go with the flow and be thankful that you have a bed and shower and it’s alway clean and tidy. I had booked in at the Forest House Air BnB and little did I know that I would be sharing the venue with 11 other young men and that it would be a hostel type setup. So you can imagine my surprise when I found out that the bathrooms were all shared which wouldn’t have been so bad if there had been other women staying. But I was on the only woman, so everyday I felt like I was walking into the men’s bathroom. They were all young guys (except for one) and they would stand at the sink half clad, having a shave or wash, and we would give each the obligatory nod “how you goin'” type thing and continue on our way.  All jokes aside they were very respectful and lovely guys, but another concern came to mind when I realised they were all young. Oh bugger! I thought, they’re going to be wanting to party every night and I really needed my sleep so that I could be awake and focused for my gigs, I mean I’m not getting any younger! Well it turned out that they were all fly in fly out (fifo) workers and they were working 12 hour shifts from 6am to 6pm and didn’t get home till after 6pm and they were all in bed by 9pm!  I was already out preparing for my gigs by that time and I was probably the noisey one not getting back till after midnight. So that was an interesting role reversal if ever I saw one.

E13 Session at Burt St Shop, Kalgoorlie, Photo courtesy Billy Ray Stokes

I found out at 5.30am the following morning that the train line was 50 metres from my bedroom window and the train station was a few doors down. The big diesel passenger and freight train idled in the station for around 20 mins and then every 30 mins after that another train whistled past for the next few hours. You can all see where this is heading can’t you? It’s all the things that rock and roll stories are made off….LIVING THE DREAM!! only it’s ‘FOLK N ROLL’ all the way for me folks! :O)

I didn’t get much sleep the first night to my surprise! — not — but it didn’t matter because I could sleep in for as long as I liked the next day the gig wasn’t till 7pm at night.  However, the phone rang at 9am the next morning, it was Betina from ABC Kalgoorlie radio and she had heard I was in town touring my album and that I had come all the way from Denmark WA. She wondered if I wanted to go in for an interview and to play a song.  I was like “yeah sure that would be awesome! What time did you want me in?”, “Would 10am be ok with you?” she replied.  “Yeah sure! I lied”, that would great! So I jumped out of bed got my act together tuned my guitar gargled some warm water so I could sing without croaking and headed off to the studio.  I found the studio in the nick of time after driving round town trying to find it only to find out that I had parked right outside on my first time round.

It was lovely to meet Betina the presenter and it turned out her parents were living in Denmark. That evening I had a great gig at 3b Boutique Bar where I met some lovely people and sold some CD’s which was awesome. It’s not easy going to a brand new venue to set up your PA and play and the 3b Boutique staff were fantastic and so accommodating.  The following night I played at the secret location on Burt Street. Ruben Wills from E13 Sessions has been doing some fantastic work up there in Kalgoorlie WA. He is passionate about supporting original live music and giving artists an opportunity to play their original music to an attentive audience.  It’s a fantastic event and we had the most wonderful audience, it was very much like a house concert, intimate and very engaging. It was a sellout and myself and two other great local artists played two 25 minute sets each. Ruben had organised a professional sound guy and photographer, so all we had to do, was show up with our guitar and plug in to play.  I did a lot of story telling between songs and it was great to have the whole room singing along to my songs.  I went away with a very warm glow that night.

All in all Kalgoorlie is very interesting place to visit, it’s quite a culture shock from the regular country towns and I don’t know if if was just me, or fact, but there seemed to be a lot of men there.  I mean a lot of men….like way more men than women :O)  Not only that but I couldn’t help notice the high volume of white dual cab ute’s with an orange light on top.  They all seemed to be driving around as if on a mission as part of a secret covert operation, ok my imagination is getting a bit carried away now……not to forget that they were all clad in the Aussie safety gear which is  fluorescent orange or yellow and blue blue in colour. The supermarkets were full of these solo men doing their shopping and I have say that on the whole they were very friendly too.  But I couldn’t help feeling that I was on different paradigm to the one that I have become accustomed to in Denmark. I mean we hear all about the mining boom and the hoards of money being made but I didn’t get the sense that people were drowning in wealth.  I got the sense that they were all working very hard and doing their best to enhance the community.  All in all I found Kalgoorlie people very friendly and I felt a real sense of community there too.

I had a fantastic time, I met some lovely people and I sold a heap of albums and all too quickly it was time to get back on the road.

My next stop is Kendenup next Friday where I will be doing a House Concert at Arcadia Wines.

 

Gigs, Photos

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