Greetings from a warm and humid Queensland as Summer starts its coming-in. This post is being written during a short break from important lying in the pool duties.
1. The Circus of Desires Video Clip
We raved about the Neurum Creek Acoustic Music Festival, but what we didn't mention was that we used the opportunity over the weekend to make a film clip in that beautiful setting. With the help of the wonderful Jeff Licence and a whole heap of folkie friends, we put together a video of the title track of our latest CD, The Circus of Desires.
You'll find the product of this labour of love on our webpage, www.cloudstreet.org.
We love it!
2. Christmas Céili this Saturday in Maleny - come and dance!
If you're going to be in South-East Queensland this Saturday, pop up to Maleny for the Christmas Ceili at the Maleny Primary School Hall, 16 Bunya Street, Maleny.
The Maleny Tunes Class (every Wednesday) and the Maleny Celtic Winter School (every June), are having a Christmas Ceili to have a load of fun and do a little bit of fundraising, so we can continue to foster the talents of traditional folk musicians across the coast and hinterland!
The music will be live - its the Maleny Céili Band! - and the dance callers include the wonderfully clear and experienced and simply lovely Davydd McDonald.
Its a family event, every age is welcome, $10 for grownups and kids are free. We'll have a cafe with tea, coffee, water and importantly, cakes, available and we're looking forward to a great community dance.
3. We're Teaching Singing in January
We'll be running a 5-day singing workshop on Traditional Singing in January as part of the Music Under the Southern Cross camp in Central Victoria (January 15-20, 2012).
This well-established week of music is a great way to acknowledge yourself as a musician, network with like-minded singers and players and focus your attention on your music for five glorious days.
This year's singing class will be taught at two levels, including an Advanced Development Workshop for more experienced singers who want to build on their skills.
Cost for the week is $680 including accommodation and all meals. Classes without accommodation cost $300. Concession rates are available for under-16s.
For further information on the singing classes, contact cloudstreet at mail@cloudstreet.org or on 0416 032 573.
For enrolment details, visit the Music Under the Southern Cross website at http://www.celt.com.au/summer.html#info
4. John Went West
John has spent much of the last few weeks travelling through Western New South Wales with Fada (with bandmates Jenny Fitzgibbon, Jeremy Dunlop and Steve Cook) playing Irish music for eager young primary school students. (With the occasional exception - John recalls one high school student asking, "Are you a leprechaun? Because you have freakishly small feet".) With counselling, he is expected to recover fully.
5. Nicole's Art and Music Combine
Nic's been working on a new commissioned morris dancing painting, but took time to go to Boxwood, a week-long workshop in New Zealand, where she studied flute and fiddle with three acclaimed teachers, Chris Norman, Alasdair Fraser and Natalie Haas.
An exciting concept which had been simmering in her mind achieved clarity at Boxwood and she has started a new body of work called "Fiddle Icons". She's planning a series of portraits of influential fiddle players and their instruments, borrowing some of the iconography of traditional Byzantine icon painting.
For more information, including a sneak peek of the first work, check out Nicole's art blog: http://nicolemurrayartblog.blogspot.com/
6. UK 2012
April, 2012 will see us back in the United Kingdom for a seven-week tour with our schedule almost full, thanks to the wonderful work of Jacey Bedford Tour Management.
You'll find an up-to-date schedule of our gigs for this tour on our gigs page. We'll keep updating it as more come in.
7. It's Blogtastic!
An Australian Folk Song a Day (ozfolksongaday.blogspot.com) is powering on, with 5000 visits in October and already more than 6000 in November. A couple of illness-induced gaps have been filled, with more and more songs coming out of the woodwork. Visit the blog, marvel at the music, ooh and aah at the extensive lyric library which is growing by the day.
8. Yes, We'll Be At Woodford.
cloudstreet will make a couple of stealth appearances at this year's Woodford Folk Festival, performing as part of a special presentation on the Green Bans movement. An Unlikely Alliance will also feature Peggy Seeger and a host of local talent. You'll find this show in the Greenhouse from 6.30pm on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.
We'll also be taking part in The Green Man Quest with the combined Queensland Morris sides (Saturday, Folklorica, 6.15pm.)
And of course, John will be joining the crew for the smash-hit game show, Game On in the Greenhouse, and no doubt leading his team to victory once more in the Great Comedy Debate on Saturday afternoon.
Nic is planning a full programme of workshops and will join the line-up with the fabulous Maleny Céili Band on Thursday afternoon.
9. And the National!
If you're really keen to mark a spot in your diary, cloudstreet are booked for the 2012 National Folk Festival in Canberra at Easter.
10. Morningsong for Brisbane Singers
We run the Morningsong Choir in Bulimba every Friday if you find yourself at a loose end on Friday mornings. Check out the website and come along to stretch your voice, meet some lovely people and make beautiful music together. We'll be singing through til December 16.
11. CDs make great Christmas Gifts.
For that special person in your life, what better gift than music to fill their hearts with joy, beautiful harmonies to lift their spirits and a simple way to show your good taste and support for local music. Cloudstreet CDs are available in a variety of colours, but only one shape or size. Visit the cloudstreet shop for the gift that sings.
12. Subscription
As always, we aim to keep our mailing list up-to-date. If for any reason wish to be removed from our mailing list, simply reply to this email with the word "Unsubscribe" in the subject field. Alternatively, if you prefer, you can unsubscribe yourself from our list by going to our Subscription Page and following the instructions there.
If you would like to respond to this email, simply hit reply and your mail will come to us. Or just email us at mail@cloudstreet.org.
And remember, music makes everything better.
See you soon down the road,
Nicole and John
cloudstreet
