As we headed towards Sydney’s Tom Mann Theatre on Friday night, we ran into a colleague of mine. “I need to warn you, there’s no bar”, he told us. And so with half-an-hour to go before the band was due to perform, we headed to the nearby Royal Exhibition Hotel.
It seems as though a lot of other people responded to the news in the same way, as the bar was full of similarly aged people, all of whom have a deep admiration for some legendary Australian bands, “The Go-Betweens”, “The Reels” and “Karma County”, as the band, “The Sandy Shores” comprises Lindy Morrison, Amanda Brown, Brendan Gallagher and Dave Mason.
Over the course of about 80 minutes, there were some moments of musical genius, as they re-imagined some awesome like “Cattle and Cane”, “Prefab Heart” and “Qasimodos Dream”.
Though I only knew these bands through their records and their performances on television, I was with my friend Kate who was very much part of the 70s/80s Sydney musical scene, and worked for a while as a rock photographer, and it was terrific to see her reactions to the combination of these three musical forces.
Kate and I caught up again yesterday, as we headed to the NAIDOC Week Arts Festival at Sydney’s Overseas Passenger Terminal. With an awesome backdrop, we spent a couple of hours wandering around. While Kate participated in some art workshops, I enjoyed some terrific musical performances, including some dance, and cooking demonstrations.
Later, Kate went back to her mother’s place and I came home for a brief afternoon nap, ahead of checking out the new Mardi Gras art installation at Taylor Square.
So far, an awesome weekend, though not much planned for the remainder, aside from relaxation, and catching up on some overdue blog posts.