MT MEE NEWS July 09
By Ian Wells
The season continues to treat us kindly. By the time you read this, the winter solstice will be behind us and we will be looking forward to the new spring and summer.
Let’s hope that El Nino is otherwise occupied. Wouldn’t it be nice if prices for our cattle recovered for the new season too? But this depends on the international recovery from general recession and seems a little way off yet.
Attendances at the Mt Mee monthly dances have picked up lately – especially when Mike Woollett’s “Rhythm Plus” is playing. Mike plays swinging honky tonk piano, and with his lively young drummer working behind him the “joint really jumps” – as Fats Waller would have said! It is refreshing to have simple music played really well, without any electronic aids, and the crowd has loved it. “Rhythm Plus” performs for us again for the November dance and we plan to use them more frequently next year.
Meanwhile, Hall Committee has decided to trial the idea of a traditional rock and roll dance. This will be quite unrelated to the monthly New Vogue/Oldtime dance on the first weekend of each month. The first R&R date has been chosen – Saturday night, 22nd of August.
The band this night will be Greg Henderson’s four-piece “Stonehenge Lane”, which these days is working around the Sunshine Coast and hinterland playing good old-fashioned mainstream rock and blues. And that’s not all! Amazingly, we can promise a special appearance by “The King” himself, proving that his death really was an unsubstantiated rumour after all!
The entry charge will probably be of the order of $15 and will include a supper based on hot dogs and Coca cola. Note that presentation of a drivers licence at the door will not be required! The event will be licensed and the bar will be well stocked with the essentials.
Hall Committee hopes that this night will appeal to a broad cross section of residents who might park (or bring) the kids, and return to their youth for the evening. If it is a success, Committee will look to running three or four such events each year.
More information later, but put a ring around the date!
The St Lucia Orchestra’s annual Mt Mee concert was simply brilliant, and it is hard to avoid hyperbole in describing it. Playing to an absolutely capacity audience, the orchestra demonstrated just how far it has come under the tutelage of the affable young Andrew Robinson – and it was always good! While the concert was themed around Q150, there was plenty of variety.
One incredible item was the J.S Bach “Badinerie” – a classic flute player test piece, played superbly by conductor Andrew himself and his lead flautist Julie Pender- both on the one instrument! Andrew did the blowing and fingered half of the instrument with his right hand and Julie did the rest with her left. They performed this difficult item at full racing speed. Just amazing!
The “Pair of Matildas” was another remarkable piece of Andrew’s own work. As he said, he ‘doodled” the two traditional “Waltzing Matilda” tunes together into an extraordinary orchestral arrangement which also included subtle “quotes” from Bach, Andrew Lloyd Webber and goodness knows who else. The man is a genius!
The three young guest artists – Lloyd van’t Hoff on clarinet, the soprano Kiandra Howarth and the 16 year old pianist Alex Raineri were remarkable. When Lloyd played that clarinet gliss introducing “Rhapsody in Blue” and Alex responded on the piano, the hairs stood up on the back of my neck. It is a particularly difficult work for piano and orchestra and is seldom played for that reason. Alex’s treatment and the orchestral contribution were just riveting. Alex explored the themes, toyed with them, brooded with them, exploded with them and thundered with the orchestra to an amazing climax. Great stuff indeed!
What a concert! The smiling faces of the audience said it all!
The Savoyard Singers provide our next Sunday concert, on September 13th. The Singers always provide great entertainment for us and we already have bookings.
As I write, The Savoyards Musical Comedy Society, the Singers parent organisation, is running “Boy from Oz” in Brisbane, to great reviews. Your writer has seen it – and he liked it very much!
It has just been announced that the Hall Committee application to Moreton Regional Council for support for the Sunday concert series was happily successful – ensuring that we can continue to put on these popular concerts in the face of difficult financial times. Thanks Council indeed!
Our tame dogger, Rod Thomas, continues to prove his worth – as I write, his tally of Mountain dogs shot or trapped is now 74. Please renew your subscription to the supporting fund if you haven’t already done so – Rod is worth feeding and it is a very worthy community project. If you have livestock and you haven’t had problems with dogs, it is almost certainly because of the commitment of others.
Finally, a little gem from a recent church newsletter – not a local one I hope, that read as follows…. The Associate Minister unveiled the church’s new tithing campaign slogan last Sunday – “I Upped My Pledge – Up Yours”.
Attendances at the Mt Mee monthly dances have picked up lately – especially when Mike Woollett’s “Rhythm Plus” is playing. Mike plays swinging honky tonk piano, and with his lively young drummer working behind him the “joint really jumps” – as Fats Waller would have said! It is refreshing to have simple music played really well, without any electronic aids, and the crowd has loved it. “Rhythm Plus” performs for us again for the November dance and we plan to use them more frequently next year.
Meanwhile, Hall Committee has decided to trial the idea of a traditional rock and roll dance. This will be quite unrelated to the monthly New Vogue/Oldtime dance on the first weekend of each month. The first R&R date has been chosen – Saturday night, 22nd of August.
The band this night will be Greg Henderson’s four-piece “Stonehenge Lane”, which these days is working around the Sunshine Coast and hinterland playing good old-fashioned mainstream rock and blues. And that’s not all! Amazingly, we can promise a special appearance by “The King” himself, proving that his death really was an unsubstantiated rumour after all!
The entry charge will probably be of the order of $15 and will include a supper based on hot dogs and Coca cola. Note that presentation of a drivers licence at the door will not be required! The event will be licensed and the bar will be well stocked with the essentials.
Hall Committee hopes that this night will appeal to a broad cross section of residents who might park (or bring) the kids, and return to their youth for the evening. If it is a success, Committee will look to running three or four such events each year.
More information later, but put a ring around the date!
The St Lucia Orchestra’s annual Mt Mee concert was simply brilliant, and it is hard to avoid hyperbole in describing it. Playing to an absolutely capacity audience, the orchestra demonstrated just how far it has come under the tutelage of the affable young Andrew Robinson – and it was always good! While the concert was themed around Q150, there was plenty of variety.
One incredible item was the J.S Bach “Badinerie” – a classic flute player test piece, played superbly by conductor Andrew himself and his lead flautist Julie Pender- both on the one instrument! Andrew did the blowing and fingered half of the instrument with his right hand and Julie did the rest with her left. They performed this difficult item at full racing speed. Just amazing!
The “Pair of Matildas” was another remarkable piece of Andrew’s own work. As he said, he ‘doodled” the two traditional “Waltzing Matilda” tunes together into an extraordinary orchestral arrangement which also included subtle “quotes” from Bach, Andrew Lloyd Webber and goodness knows who else. The man is a genius!
The three young guest artists – Lloyd van’t Hoff on clarinet, the soprano Kiandra Howarth and the 16 year old pianist Alex Raineri were remarkable. When Lloyd played that clarinet gliss introducing “Rhapsody in Blue” and Alex responded on the piano, the hairs stood up on the back of my neck. It is a particularly difficult work for piano and orchestra and is seldom played for that reason. Alex’s treatment and the orchestral contribution were just riveting. Alex explored the themes, toyed with them, brooded with them, exploded with them and thundered with the orchestra to an amazing climax. Great stuff indeed!
What a concert! The smiling faces of the audience said it all!
The Savoyard Singers provide our next Sunday concert, on September 13th. The Singers always provide great entertainment for us and we already have bookings.
As I write, The Savoyards Musical Comedy Society, the Singers parent organisation, is running “Boy from Oz” in Brisbane, to great reviews. Your writer has seen it – and he liked it very much!
It has just been announced that the Hall Committee application to Moreton Regional Council for support for the Sunday concert series was happily successful – ensuring that we can continue to put on these popular concerts in the face of difficult financial times. Thanks Council indeed!
Our tame dogger, Rod Thomas, continues to prove his worth – as I write, his tally of Mountain dogs shot or trapped is now 74. Please renew your subscription to the supporting fund if you haven’t already done so – Rod is worth feeding and it is a very worthy community project. If you have livestock and you haven’t had problems with dogs, it is almost certainly because of the commitment of others.
Finally, a little gem from a recent church newsletter – not a local one I hope, that read as follows…. The Associate Minister unveiled the church’s new tithing campaign slogan last Sunday – “I Upped My Pledge – Up Yours”.
