APIA TOUR

Every year in May, Cathy, Ed and I hit the Civic Theatre for the APIA Tour.

The APIA tour features older Australian artists, and it can be hit and miss, but is totally worth checking out.

This year the concert commenced with the divine Deborah Conway. I have worshipped at her alter since I was a teen grooving out to Do Re Mi. I fell in love with her sublime String of Pearls in my early 20s. She pretty much is the soundtrack of my life and I have seen her perform many times. I love her kick arse, feminist sensibilities and that amazingly large voice.

Her set was tight and amazing, sticking to newish songs, and only adding two hits, Alive and Brilliant and Man Overboard. But it didn't matter to me, as a fan, I knew each song back to front. She looked amazing and was having fun.

I must admit I thought someone as indie as her to do such a commercial tour was odd, but I guess they money was worth it, and thank goodness for that!

Next up was Joe Camilleri with the fabulous Bull Sisters. Billed as the Black Sorrows, it was a mix of many songs, with Joe being the consummate performer but the girls being the stars of the show. 

I've said it many times before, those girls are National Treasures. The joy they exude singing and their voices could be bottled and save all the problems of the world I think!

After a break, Colin Hay took the stage, just him and a guitar. He started off telling some funny stories, I swear he could take that show on the road and make money there too. He's a very funny man. With each APIA show, their is always one performer I am most curious about and keen to hear and for this concert Colin was it.

And he was magnificent, I was beaming the whole time. Hearing him sing Overkill, one of my all time favourite songs was a sheer delight. That distinctive and strong voice was even better than when he was at the height of his fame. His new stuff was great, his old stuff better than it sounded back then. He stole the show.

Mental As Anything rounded out the night with their hits. Although when I say Mental As Anything I mean Greedy Smith with some dudes . It was a little sad and I realised for every great MAA song, there are about 3 bad ones. But it was a spirited performance.

The finale is all performers on stage, performing together with each of them doing a hit, and then coming together with a classic at the end, this time, Friday on my Mind.

MARCH ROUND UP

I've been so busy I have not had a chance to write much up. This is mostly due to revamping my study, catching up on writing about Newcastle Writers Festival, and then the storms.

But March started beautifully with a fabulous afternoon at Bowery Boys in honour of our lovely friend C. A whole bunch of us ate, drank, and chattered and it was divine. Must plan the next one!

I finally got to the optometrist and yes I need reading glasses, I was not at all surprised. I am particular about such things, I told the receptionist helping me choose frames this, she sort of looked at me like, yep that's what everyone says, but after 30mins think she conceded I was, lol! I had a style in my mind, not one I had seen, but one I had made up, and some came close but not quite. She pulled out an amazing purple tortoiseshell pair, and I loved them, if only they were in blue...and they were and she ordered me a pair. When I went in to see them I nearly cried, they were EXACTLY what I had imagined, so I got the purple AND the blue, cause a girl has to have options!

March began the great study revamp and declutter, this is something I have had on my to do list for a few years. I got rid of the large old dining table I was using as a desk. It was simply too big, but had belonged to my grandparents, so I was sad to see it go, but hopefully The Salvation Army gave it to a needy family. I had already gotten rid of a smaller unit holding most of my CDs, culled and rearranged in drawers that fitted them perfectly in the wardrobe in that room.

I could now head out and buy a big bookcase, new desk, and a found a skinny tallboy that I could use as extra storage. Furniture ordered and desk sitting in flat pack in the garage I could now start to rearrange my books in readiness. I also had to remove blu-tac from my wall...this was far more difficult than I realised, but with the aid of a couple of tins of WD-40, all was resolved, I felt a bit like Banksy up a ladder with a spray can, lol, and I do think I was a bit out of it for a few days from the fumes!

I have a lot of books, so it was a huge job going through them and re-arranging them...but hey, I am a Librarian this is my job!

Alas, when my furniture was delivered the huge bookcase wouldn't fit in the house...long story, but they were lovely and they ordered a custom built piece, but with a long wait, thus the job was halted...so more on that next month!!

S and I had a great evening at Cardiff Library listening to Lisa Heidke talk about writing, life, love and everything in between. We then took her out for supper at Coco Mondo, what fun we had!

Earlier in the month my fabulous group of gal pals, A, J & L, met at Carrington Bowling Club with our Ukuleles for a 2 hour lesson. We were freaking awesome if I may say so. Rocking out all sorts of tunes including Rhiannon. Problem is we have been so busy we have yet to have a follow up practice. This we must fix stat!

I also caught Absinthe in The Spiegeltent with C after a fab meal at The Clarendon. Absinthe was remarkable, a little bit naughty, and definitely death defying. Lots of laughs and loads of gasps!!!

A few days later M and I saw a local production of Equus. I had not seen the play before, only knew of it's reputation, but it is so much more than that. I thoroughly enjoyed the performance, we have some great local theatre here in Newcastle.

Halfway through the month a bunch of us trekked up to Nobby's Lighthouse for Go Elsewhere, a concert with Paul Dempsey, Steve Smyth, Melody Pool, and some other local acts. It was a warm afternoon but up there the breeze off the ocean cooled things beautifully. The local bands were laid back and the perfect backdrop as the sun started to drop. We indulged in the best Nachos I have EVER had from the Casa de Loco truck, drank beer, and chatted. Melody Pool was lovely, a little bit country, a little bit folk. 

We were looking forward to Steve Smyth, I had seen him a few times before having 'discovering' him on Rockwiz, and think he is an astonishing musician and performer. As the sun set he came on and performed the most haunting version of Summertime. I nearly passed out, my love of Gershwin knows no bounds, but this was sublime. He played his usual blues, rock, ballad music including a heart wrenching version of The Air That I Breathe. Paul Dempsey was also outstanding, and a perfect finish to a perfect time.

A & I hit Merewether Surf House for a scrumptious lunch one sunny Monday, the views there are fabulous, if you have not gone, you simply must. And if you park over the other side of the road, you get to walk through the fabulous aquarium tunnel that takes you to Merewether Beach and the Surf House.

Work was pretty busy during March, with coming and goings of staff, and me doing a lot of recruiting. I also had another session of my baby reading group, this time including our ex-trainee who brought her gorgeous little daughter with her, so exciting. I also got back into my Taking it to The Streets program, where we go out into the community to talk about the library and visit our area. This time my colleague and I headed to Gwandalon and Nords Wharf. We visited preschools, schools, community halls, and just soaked in that beautiful part of our community.

We also had the extreme pleasure of Newcastle Herald cartoonist, Peter Lewis, attending the library to entertain us for Seniors Week.

The month ended with a group of us heading to Toukley, via Italian at Summerland Point, to The Beachcomber Hotel to see Mental As Anything for M's birthday. I've not been there before and let me say there was spectacular people watching at The Beachcomber!!! It was your typical RSL type club, but had the most magnificent 'shed' out the back for bands. It was a large hall type shed, wood surround, and tin roof, open to the side for views of the lake. The acoustics were great and plenty of room for dancing. So the Mentals are just Greedy Smith, Martin Plaza and a backup band. But they were tight and sounded great, they just lacked the eccentricity of the O'Doherty Brothers.

I had been lucky enough to see them live in their prime in the early 90s and it was great. But you know, this was equally as good. They just looked...you know...old. Martin looked like he could possibly die on stage, but sounded fab. Greedy wore a long, grey ponytail ,but again sounded great and full of energy. I did realise for every fabulous song, they had two ordinary ones, but that was ok. The fabulous ones made up for it tenfold: Spirt Got Lost, Romeo and Juliet, Berserk Warriors, Too many times, Egypt. They also covered some Elvis and other 50s pieces too. When they finished Greedy unplugged his plastic jug and shook it in the air to us - Rock N Roll!!!! So that really was tea he was drinking through the concert, lol!!!

Of course the highlight of the month was Newcastle Writers Festival.

As usual markets, walks, plenty of reviews, and photography.