0 Comments
Friday August 8 at TUF featured storytellers from the Byron Circle of Tellers, and what a treat it was.
Here is an account of the stories told, written by Jenni Cargill-Strong: On Friday, August 8, we told stories between musical acts. The audience were so warm, receptive and wonderful that we were all jumping out of our skin with brilliance- if I don’t say so myself! Teeya Blatt, looking exotic and graceful, told the frame story from Sherehezade, John Imbrogno playfully told the Irish fable “Luckless One”, Annie Bryant sang and told her exquisite rendition of the Celtic Love Story of ‘Belena’ and Bere, with great mana, told of his amazing experience in Hawaii of a brush with his ancestors! Jenni Cargill-Strong told “The Woman who Would Not Tell Her Story”, giving the context of the time she told it at the Bentley blockade and finished with an adult version of ”The Mulberry Tree”, which includes a lotus birth and a salty placenta that is not in the kids version. Byron Circle members, Catherine Frederick, Lynne Preston and Susan Perrow with her hubby John, plus Annie’s parents all came along to lend us support. The team who run Tintenbar Upfront are just amazing. Pete is such a warm, generous MC that he brings out the best in everyone. We all decided it is- without doubt- the best place to perform anything- story or music! You can read more of Jenni's blog here. In addition to the telling tales, were terrific tunes. Mystica, an a cappella chorus from Byron Shire gave us 4 delightful tunes, including The Beatles "Here Comes The Sun" and a pagan celebration of life. Sung with obvious enjoyment and relish the audience could not help but be captivated. Bronny and the Bishops, satirical pranksters, took on a country flavour to their offering, sending up the government's woes with a parody of King of the Road: "Budget for sale or rent, can't seem to sell it though the money's spent...". Then followed a farcical suggestion for another policy direction from the US: the right to bear arms. They concluded with a focus on Mr Hockey with "Joe Leaner, Joe Leaner, Joe Leaner, Joe Lean, We are warning you don't take our cash." Lots of fun. Regular Lee Kingston again moved us with personal songs about her loved ones (including her horse!) beautifully sung and with guitar accompaniment that ebbed and flowed with the emotion of the songs. The evening was well rounded off by Michael Brown and Ross Francis. Michael began alone, reciting his own poems. Especially moving was one about his visit to The Somme, which he visited with his family, but didn't understand why until after he'd been. Then he sang a beautiful original song, assisted on guitar by Ross. Ross concluded with one of his own, picking out the tune of the song while he sang it (quite a difficult thing to do). Superb stuff from both these performers. There are pictures of the evening in the gallery. Hi all,
To be assured of your Indian meals for this Friday's fabulous TUF, you must book here by Thursday. Check the program of artists here. (All new but one) The hall is heated, but bring a blanket if you like. Look forward to seeing you Friday. Peter and the TUF team.  Friday August 8 at Tintenbar Up Front sees a host of storytellers spinning wonderful tales and startling stories for you. Since Jenny Cargill-Strong wowed us a couple of months ago, we vowed to have a month that featured more story tellers.
In addition to the storytellers we have two fabulous choirs, poetry, song, and finishing the evening will be blues duo Hustle. Except for the satirical Bronny and the Bishops all the other artists are new to TUF. Check the Program. Remember you must book your Indian meals. You can check the Indian menu and book here. Your entry of $5 will go towards two charities this month: local The Heart of the Story and Population Services International. The hall is heated, but bring a rug just in case. 
July 11 TUF Tintenbar hall.
The evening was kicked into life by synchronous singing sisters, The Fry Babies. A Bernard Fanning song with beautiful counter melodies was followed by a delicate version of Jim Webb's Love Hurts. They went more uptempo with a choreographed Fernando by Abba to which the audience sang along and finished with The River by Laura Marling. Dennis Squires explored three genres he's been drawn to. The first was country music, with John Prine's Souvenirs. Then followed folk music illustrated by John Martin's May You Never. Blues. Dennis concluded with a version of 1946's The Drifting Blues. Fine fingerpicking and singing! Then came the surprise of the evening. Armonnia were four siblings on holiday who had put together over the last week three a cappella songs. They were sensational! The harmonies were exquisite and the timing and showmanship spot on. The audience wowed to their versions of Cold Play's RuleThe World, Royals by Lorde and a Bruno Mars tune. Telegraph Tower, solo guitar and vocalist performs originals with unusual melodies, thoughtful lyrics, atmospheric finger picked guitar and Tim Buckleyesque vocals. His three numbers were a treat once more. Two had been a response to reading Patrick White's The Vivisector. The World Music Ensemble took us to the break with songs from Russia, South America, Israel, and other places, performed on an interesting variety of instruments: guitar, bass guitar, violin, cello, mandolin and clarinet. One of the special things about TUF is the incredible variety of performances. We enjoyed the trip. Vocalist Shelly Hughes accompanied on keys by Dan Brown took us through different aspects of our own voices. She got us trying out our 'sob' quality by asking us to sing as if we were yawning. She then illustrated this quality with Save Your Love For Me. The next vocal quality to explore was 'twang', best illustrated by a duck's quack. Ain't Nobody Loves Me Better was used to show how this quaility can be used in a song. Shelly finished with a song about herself. Professional singer and singing tutor shone through in rich interpretations of each song. Dan's understated playing complemented her performance perfectly. The audience were privileged. Rod Sims took us through the golden years of West Coast American country rock with Neil Young's Heart of Gold, a Steven Stills tune, Sandman by America, and followed by a slow fingerpicked version of Men At Work's Down Under. Great fretboard work and harmonica added to Rod's delicate vocal stylings. Howie Hughes is hilariously entertaining, whether it be singing the folk tune Grandma's Lye Soap or a parody of Bottle o Wine about Barry O'Farrell or an original about climate change. The audience demanded an encore. Howie invited daughter Shelly up to duo with him. Wonderful. Liora Claff is an artist who always performs with heart. She began with a passionate song about Refugees. "When I design a bracket it takes on a life of its own," she told us. Then talked of singing Tom Lehrer songs in the car with her children. That's how Tom's We'll All Go Together, about nuclear Armageddon made it into her set. Liora concluded the evening with a haunting Jewish prayer song. Thanks to audience contributions, $530 was raised for the charity Opportunity International. 
At Tintenbar Up Front, Friday July 11, the quality of the music will raise the roof. We have newbies and old faves, solos and duos and ensembles, youngsters and the not so young. One of the highlights is sure to be sultry jazz soulstress Shelly Hughes who may or may not occasionally dress her child as a bear. New to TUF, Shelly is a performer of high renown locally and nationally, accompanied on keys by the fabulous Dan Brown. But really, all the acts will be of the highest calibre. A not to be missed show. You can check the program here. You know that's not all. Bev Singh's delicious Indian banquet is available as usual for those that book here. You can also check the menu. And again the hall is heated. See you there. For more details, go to our home page. 
 Sam Sabine and Ebony Stibbard. 11 out of 10 was the verdict of the audience at Tintenbar Up Front on Friday June 13. Not only were the performances of the highest quality, but the audience's entrance money and extra donations added $980 towards the total of $2826 for our charity of the month, the Sawer family. Paul Francis organised fundraising for this deserving family by collecting money at our Love Lennox Carnival stage, ($201) by going to the All Girls' surf contest ($277), by asking friends and businesses for donations and by making a sizeable donation with his wife and himself. Well done Paul and all the generous people who chipped in. James Webb started the evening's entertainment with Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah, emphasising the poetic quality of the lyrics. He then performed his own tender love song and finished off with a Jackson Browne number. Once again James's delicate finger picking and fine vocals brought out the best in each. Sometimes 7 followed with 4 part harmony a cappella arrangements of Van Morrison's Moondance, With Every Beat of Your Heart, I Got Rhythm, and a hilarious I Wanna Come Back As a Man. We were completely entertained by their fine vocals and clever antics. Andrew and Nick then changed the feel altogether with guitar, banjo and vocals doing fine renditions of Rock Me Like a Wagonwheel, a fast picked bluegrass style instrumental and finishing by getting the audience singing along to Arlo Guthrie's I Don't Want A Pickle. Fun and very relaxed. Mizbehavin are another offshoot of Headliners Chorus and showed their superb control with delicate vocal stylings of some old favourites: It Don't Mean a Thing, Unforgettable and Momma Done Told Me. They then changed pace with a humorous version of Abba's Take A Chance On Me. Joined by the other women from Sometimes 7, they performed a beautiful version of Eric Bogle's Shelter, an anthem to acceptance and compassion for refugees and immigrants to our country. What could have been more fitting in Refugee Week? After a break for coffee and a chat, Bronny And The Bishops performed three satirical pieces. The first overlaid 4 different songs to send up aspects of the Federal budget for great effect. The second used the tune of Lion Sleeps Tonight to satirise the shenanigans in Federal politics. The audience joined in the chorus of "doesn't matter who you vote for a politician always wins." They finished with another parody, using the tune from Age of Aquarius, to sing about the ending of the age of entitlement. Thoroughly entertaining. Paul Francis sang two beautiful originals: What's Going Wrong, and My Home Town, accompanying himself on acoustic guitar. Then he turned on the distortion and was joined on lead guitar by Nick Repin to do a terrific version of Neil Young's Like a Hurricane. It is always wonderful to hear new songs finely crafted and performed. Mim O'Grady and Paul Mulan interwove their guitars and voices to beautiful effect on four songs. Paul Kelly's Don't Stand So Close, a lovely piece by Bellingen artist Jack Carty, Sweet Baby James by James Taylor and If You Only Will. They both took turns with the lead vocal, the other adding harmonies. Superb stuff. Sam Sabine and Ebony Stibbard received a standing ovation for their performance, each song using different instrumentation. Vance Joy's Riptide featured guitar and ukulele whilst Greensleeves had Sam playing chords on piano with Ebony bowing the tune and improvisations of it on violin. Pete Murray's Saving Grace was accompanied by Ebony's superbly fingerpicked guitar. The audience fell in love with the pair even more with the evocative harmonies on Elvis's I Can't help Falling In Love With You. Simon Chate finished the evening, first with Bernard Bolan's Reality Changes. He continued with a tune written about his father: Send A City Sunshine, and one written with his 12 year old daughter: Listen To Your Heart. Simon showed fine control of voice, guitar and Irish Bouzouki. He brought the house to its voice with a powerful Bye Bye Miss American Pie. The audience were left joyous with such fine music from all the performers. It doesn't come much better than this, and the hall was warm with the new heaters just purchased by the hall committee. You can find pictures of the evening in the gallery. Next month's programme is already full, and full of more great performers.  Saturday June 7 Tintenbar Up Front showcased a variety of talent at the Love Lennox Carnival.
We set up a performance area outside Groovers Cafe and entertained many passers by with a wide variety of music, from singer songwriters to ukulele orchestras, from kalimba players to harpists, violinists, and more. It was a wonderful celebration on a gorgeous day in Lennox Head. Thanks to all those involved, the support of the crowds and the assistance from Groovers Cafe. More pics in the gallery.  Hi all you TUF nuts, there is a fantastic lineup of talent again at Tintenbar Up Front, Friday June 13, Tintenbar hall. Three great a cappella groups, singer songwriters, and the long anticipated return of the young duo: Sam Sabine and Ebony Stibbard (keys, guitar and vocals). Check the full program here. There's always a surprise or two! Show begins at 7.30, but Bev Singh's fabulous Indian banquet is served from 6.30. To be assured of a meal, you must book your meal here and check the menu at the same time. For all other details of the night, check our home page. And 'cos it's getting a little chilly, the hall will be heated! 
 Tintenbar Up Front was warm last Friday with hot performances and enthusiastic audience response. Jack n Pen, Bluesfest busking finalists, treated us to powerful vocals, subtle harmonies and tasteful guitar with a number of originals. This young duo is going to go far. Barnaby Smith aka Telegraph Tower followed with more superb originals comprising soaring vocals and delicately finger picked guitar arrangements. Gregory Pimm, a TUF regular, played and sang in his usual soft style a range of classic songs finishing with a sing along of Waltzing Matilda. Peter Lino teamed up with Nick Repin to perform songs from the south west of the USA including tunes by Santana and Little Feat. Nick's exquisite classical inspired guitar work was a highlight. After the break, Jenni-Cargill Strong had the audience enthralled with her ability to deliver an old folk story that she had rewritten. The heroine triumphed, the Devil was defeated and we all were morally uplifted! Flawless performance. In a first for TUF, hip hop duo Substance showed why this form is alive and relevant to all willing to listen. They did a couple of freestyle raps on topics chosen by the audience. Their fluency was jaw dropping stuff. They also performed a couple of their prewritten numbers, one featuring the local area. Thanks MC Dingo and MC Celestial Serpent, for great entertainment (despite the technical problems with our sound system.) Tony Koellner, resident performance poet, was so taken with Substance that he launched into a hip hop version of a poem about chocolate mousse taught to him by his mother. Hilarious! He finished the evening with a poem that brought tears of laughter to many in the audience. It told of a couple so given to piercing themselves that they got tangled up in a very compromising position in the middle of the main street! You can check out pics of the evening here in the gallery. And of course, Bev Singh once again cooked up her wonderful curries for us. Thanks to the entry paid by the audience members, charity of the month Interplast received a donation of $250. Look forward to seeing you next month. Already there are several fantastic a cappella choruses booked in. If you are interested in performing, send us an email. |
AuthorPeter Lino, amateur muso, Archives
November 2016
Categories |
RSS Feed
