Sydney Blues and Roots Festival 2017

Sydney Blues and Roots Festival 2017 was scaled down from the previous year but still a great selection of bands.

Minnie Marks was Festival Ambassador and gave some stirring solo performances.

Ghost Road opened the Festival as the first band on Friday night.

Guitar wizard Kevin Borich at his 70th birthday performance. I first photographed him 35 or 36 years ago.

David Rowlands dancing with Cathy Vaughan as Bonnie Kay and the Bonafides play.

Bonnie Kay (Bonnie Kay and the Bonafides).

The trombone of Kaiki Suzuki, reflecting the crowd. Playing with the very accomplished Rhythm and Blues band Bonnie Kay and the Bonafides.

And then on Saturday afternoon, the heavens opened. People scrambling to cover equipment or push it out of the rain. The band is Great Dane, who were prominent in the early 80s and their talent and experience showed.

Luke Ligtenberg has left the stage and he has an enthusiatic audience as the rain pours down outside the tent. He is with a dynamic young band, the Swamp Stompers.

Kane Starkey playing with Cornstalk.

Stefan Sernek playing accordion for Psycho Zydeco.

Leesa Gentz from the band Hussie Hicks. Having great fun and also producing a great sound.

Julz Parker, also from Hussie Hicks.

8 Ball Aitken, originally from northern Queensland, now living in Austin Texas.

Bob Gammage, painting the 8 Ball Aitken set.

Next morning, here is Doggin It at the George St Loft Café.

Chris Turner and Alex Smith.

Lyn Hinds playing bass for Bounty Hunters.

P. J. O’Brien.

The inimitable Davo Fester playing with P. J. O’Brien Band.

Jason Dowse, playing bass for Lizard.

The Mezcaltones (here Colo Padre, Neralita and Filthy Lucre), Tex/Mex with visual flair.

Mimi of the Mezcaltones.

Wes Harder with Kate Lush Band.

Kate Lush.

Ali Penney with Women of Blues & Sould Showcase.

Kerrie Sweeney and Michelle van der Meer, Women of Blues & Sould Showcase.

George Rigatos, Women of Blues & Sould Showcase.

Dai Pritchard, here playing Hendrix.

Foreday Riders bringing up the climax of the festival in their 50th anniversary year. Jeff King, Ron King, Stan Mobbs, Shane Pacey.

Rosscoe Clark, the other member of the Foreday riders.

Ron King.

Jeff King.

…

There are many more images. On the Sydney Blues Festival Page, you will find links to images from the 2017 Festival, as well the previous festivals from 2009 . For 2017 there is Top 100 Images and links for each band.

Alternatively, there is also a direct overall link to all Sydney 2017 images in JAlbum (with overview images and images by band organised by folder).

For other live music images of a particular band since 2006, see the Musicians and Bands Page, which lists links alphabetically by band.

Sydney Winterfest 2017

Jul3

I was asked to cover the first Sydney Winterfest, a mini Blues Festival over three days but all acts on the same semi-outside stage. Usually I have to chase around to cover a Festival but in this one, and particularly since I was staying at the venue, I was able to reserve a table at the front of the stage and operate from there.

The first band was The New South, talented and very young. This is Harry Tompsett.

This is a guitarist from the Mescaltones, a Tex/Mex Blues Band with a flair for performance and costume changes.

The climax for Friday night was the Pat Powell Super Blues Band, playing the Muddy Waters “Hard Again” album. This is Pat Powell, formerly of England and earlier Jamaica.

There were many eminent musicians in Pat’s band. One was Clayton Doley on keyboards.

This is Beau Lloyd in the Keith Hall Band, the first band on Saturday morning.

Bill Kervin, bass player with Cristina Crofts.

Christina Crofts’ band, Christina and Bill out front, playing vibrant blues rock originals.

Christina’s drummer, Mick O’Shea.

Lizard: Matthew Charnley on the left and Roy Ruckman on drums.

Jason Dowse, bass player for Lizard.

Starting a mini-series of drummers: Roy Ruckman of Lizard.

Apparently this youngster expressed an interest in playing the drums so Peter Fricker (one of the organisers) placed him briefly on stage during an intermission.

Tony, Boyd, playing for the Simon Kinny-Lewis Band.

Simon Kinny-Lewis.

The keyboard player in the same band, whose name I do not know.

Simon Kinny-Lewis Band, playing Blues in blue light.

Emma and Gary in the kitchen.

Steve Bennett of Ghost Road, a band that has been playing for 25 years.

Stan Mobbs, playing with Chris Cain.

American guitar maestro Chris Cain, the headline act for the festival.

Dancing for Chris Cain…

The first band on Sunday was the Imogen Clark Band. This is her father, playing bass.

Jason Garwood with the Imogen Clark Band.

Imogen Clark, only 21 and highly accomplished as both a guitarist and a singer.

Lloyd Spiegel, an amazing performer of clever lyrics and stunning acoustic guitar solos.

19 Twenty was the next band, as always playing very tight with amazing energy and compelling engagement with the crowd. Kane Denelly and John Gwilliam.

Young and old up and dancing.

Kane undertaking a soaring riff, hiding drummer Syd Green.

19 Twenty dancefloor again.

Mal Eastick and Milena Barrett. Milena is English and a wonderful singer.

Maestro Australian guitarist Mal Eastick.

…

There are many more images. On the Sydney Blues Festival Page . you will find links to images from the 2017 Winterfest, as well the previous festivals from 2009 . For the 2017 Winterfest there is Top 75 Images and links for each of 13 bands.

Alternatively, there is also a direct overall link to all Sydney Winterfest 2017 images in JAlbum (with overview images and images by band organised by folder).

For other images of a particular band I may have taken since 2006, see the Musicians and Bands Page, which lists links alphabetically by band.

Sydney BluesCruise

Apr11

8 April 2017, Sydney Harbour.

With the next post we will resume to journey to South Georgia in the South Atlantic. First, though, we will have a brief interlude with the BluesCruise on Sydney Harbour that we attended last weekend at the invitation of organiser Tony Cini.

We drove down from Canberra, stayed the night at Cremorne on the north side of the harbour and caught a ferry in the morning to Circular Quay, in the city near the Opera House. From there we walked but got confused by another Pier #6 on the way and nearly missed the ferry (thanks to Jools for working it out!).

This is the first band, the PJ O’Brien band.

We were sailing around the harbour for four hours so there was plenty of thime to observe sights on the way. This is a curious boat-launching dock on the side of a Navy ship, maybe a destroyer. The seats in it are also curiously high.

Sydney Harbour Bridge of course in the background.

Some of the more interesting sights are always the older, somewhat more derelict-looking ones.

Finger food was plentiful and gratefully appreciated.

Michelle van der Meer’s band is now playing. She is looking up to the people around the opening on the upper deck.

Some people who live at the side of the harbour do not appear to be impoverished.

An outpost of an exclusive Catholic private school.

Nearby boatshed, yacht and canoes.

There were many yachts on the water, many with children in them.

Here there is a launch with parents mixed in with the yachts with children.

Enough wind to fill a spinnaker.

And then some were in the water rather than on it.

The third and final band – Tony Cini backed by PJ O’Brien’s band.

Some colourful workshops.

And now we are heading back to the Darling Harbour wharf.

Back on the dance floor…

…and back with the band…

… as the audience appreciates the last numbers….

For those that might want to see more images, there is a JAlbum slideshow here with 17 more, including a few before and after the cruise.

Sydney Blues and Roots Festival 2016

Nov26

I had missed this Festival the previous two years due to being overseas but this year I was able to cover it. It is held in Windsor, an old town now part of Sydney, and this year it was out of the main part of town and in a very compact location. There was a particularly fine array of bands, the lighting was much improved on previous Festivals. Here are some of the images…

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Urban Chiefs

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Tomcat Playground

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Claude Hay

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Jimmy Bee, Cyril B Bunter Band

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Lesz Karski, The Hippos

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Kane Denelly and John Gwilliam, 19 Twenty

Australia, Blues, Blues Festivals, Live Music, Photography, Sydney, Sydney Blues Festival, Travel

Christina Crofts

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Michelle Van Der Meer, Michelle Van Der Meer’s Midnight Ramblers

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Robert Susz, Continental Robert’s Soul Kinda Feeling Revue

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Phil Manning

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Marshall O’Kell

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Glen Cardier, Glen Cardier and the Sideshow

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Jeremy Edwards, Glen Cardier and the Sideshow

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Mal Eastick, The Stars

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Bob Gammage, The Stars

.
Chris Cain

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James Southwell Band

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Tanya Bethune, Sugar Bowl Hokum

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Lyn Hinds, Bounty Hunters

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David Hinds, Bounty Hunters

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Mitch Anderson, Harry Brus Band with Mitchell Anderson

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Mario Millo

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Greg Hatton and Christopher Wilson, Psycho Zydecho

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Elizabeth Anne Stocco, Gail Page Band

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Zoltan John Budai, Gail Page Band

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Chris Wilson, Manning Wilson Southwell Band

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Mark Kennedy, Manning Wilson Southwell Band

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Gail Page, Manning Wilson Southwell Band

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Rebecca Davey, Dreamboogie

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Diesel

…

There are many more images. On the Sydney Blues Festival Page you will find links to images from the 2016 Festival, as well the previous festivals from 2009 . For 2016 there is Top 100 Images and links for each of 39 bands.

Alternatively, there is also a direct overall link to all Sydney 2016 images in JAlbum (with overview images and images by band organised by folder).

For other images of a particular band I may have taken since 2006, see the Musicians and Bands Page, which lists links alphabetically by band.

Queen Mary

Sep1

New Orleans, USA, 2nd to 3rd November 2014.

Our time in New Orleans has passed and we are now heading back to Australia by plane. The above and following images are somewhere over the skies of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona or California.

Floating above the sea of clouds….

A mysterious desert landscape that includes a solar power grid.

Another mysterious desert landscape with no solar power grid but the edge of a town or city.

That must be the top of a mountain just poking up above the cloud.

Los Angeles. Cars, freeways and suburbia.

We had six hours between flights in LA and LA airport is not the most congenial place to hang around. We had in mind to go to the La Brea Tarpits but it was too close to closing time, so we jumped into a taxi and asked him to take us somewhere. He took us to the Queen Mary, retired and converted to a hotel fixed to the coastline at Long Beach. This is inside a cafe looking out.

One of the mighty funnels.

The Captain’s cabin.

Panelled in maple and mahogoney and off-limits to everyone except the Captain’s Steward who kept it ship-shape, this area served as the Captain’s retreat from the demands of running a vast luxury liner. Even here, the Captain was on call at all times in case of an emergency.

The Captain’s Dayroom

Twice a day, barring heavy weather, the Captain entertained the elite of world travellers. Throughout the ship’s disinguished reign, cocktail parties in this room were attended by nobility, statesmen, financiers and stars of stage and cinema.

The wheel house.

Looking forward as the ship prepares to gather steam and lurch off into the city.

Radio operator’s room.

This is the switchboard of the Queen Mary’s mobile phone system.

In other words, when the ship was mobile, there would still be a phone system. This wouldn’t include the ability to call the shore (other than ringing the telegraph operator) unless the ship was trailing a very long cable.

Even if you click on the image for a larger version you won’t be able to read the labels on the board because that requires the full-sized file. The plug holes on the wooden board on the far left are for various stewards or are blank. The rows of hole on the wooden board at the left of the main console are for shore exchange or coin box (whatever that is). Then at the very top of the console there are plug holes variously marked shore lines, radio services, radio order wires, service, transfer and staff. The rest are all ordered by deck for individual cabins. Presumably only the more expensive cabins had phones. The operator had just stepped out some decades earlier and therefore was unable to provide further information.

For those unfamiliar with this system, you would call the operator who would plug your line into a specific hole according to your request. These days, this service is provided by very small people hidden inside mobile phones. They are not unionised and have very poor conditions of employment, especially at the time of termination of services.

Looking towards the bow from the “gangplank”.

Many hours later, we have landed in Sydney, taken off again and are heading for Canberra. This is still in Sydney, somewhere around Botany Bay.

Botany Bay.

Countryside not far from Canberra.

This has been the last post for South-West Canyonlands and New Orleans. There have been 35 posts with 590 images and 6,500 words for South West Canyonlands, and 34 posts with 640 images and 8,500 words for New Orleans. It has been ten months since my first post for South-West Canyonlands but I have been to and posted on Hawaii and Boolcoomatta in the meanwhile.

Next I go back to my North Atlantic trip in 2013. It’s been eleven months since I finished posting on Scotland prior to my trip to South West Canyonlands. I will pick up again with the Lofoten Islands in northern Norway and then move on to Spitsbergen, Greenland and Iceland. We will see how far I get on that before the end of September. I’ll definitely complete Lofoten and Spitsbergen. Maybe I’ll finish Greenland and not start on Iceland.

Geoff Achison and the Souldiggers

Jun20

Bridge Hotel, Balmain, Sydney, 13 June 2015

Here are some images from a concert last Saturday night. Guitar maestro Geoff Achison is accompanied by violin maestro Adrian Keating and very ably supported by Julia Day on drums and Tim Sampson on bass.

Geoff Achison.

Adrian Keating, Julia Day, Geoff Achison, Tim Sampson.

Geoff Achison.

Tim Sampson.

Julia Day.

Adrian Keating.

Geoff Achison.

Julia Day.

Tim Sampson.

Geoff Achison.

Adrian Keating.

Tim Sampson.

Leroy’s Layabouts

May23

Leroy’s Layabouts, CD Launch at Petersham Bowling Club, 17 May 2014

Leroy’s Layabouts

Leroy’s Layabouts are a rhythm and blues band with their roots in 50s swing. They were originally based in Balmain in Sydney, though some of the members now live elsewhere.

Gary “Guitar” Dale

The band originally played from the mid 70s to the late 80s and the name was shortened to The Layabouts in 1977. They reformed in 2011 and played at the Patonga one-day festival. When it came to produce the new CD, they realised a British band had appropriated their name and so reverted to the original Leroy’s Layabouts.

Dave Wray

Not so much here, where there was no dance floor, but they are a great dance band sure to get an audience on its feet.

Tony “T Bone” Flint

Mick White

Tony Brown

Brian ‘Leroy Suave’ Wakefield

Bruce Allen

Brian ‘Leroy Suave’ Wakefield

Charlie McMahon

Later in the set they were joined by Charlie Mc Mahon, formerly of Gondwanaland.

Charlie McMahon

Charlie is here playing a didgibone, a cross between a didgeridoo and a trombone.

Leroy’s Layabouts

The lighting was very uneven so there are some burnt-out areas in the images, particularly for images of the whole band. Normally I can avoid this, here I could only minimise it.

Dave Wray and Bruce Allen

Dave Wray, Dale Barlow, Bruce Allen

Dale Barlow also sat in for a while on sax, though not normally part of the band.

Gary “Guitar” Dale

Charlie McMahon

Leroy’s Layabouts

Dave Wray

Here is the promotional synopsis for the new album: Smokin’ :
“The album you’re holding in your hand is smokin’. Really smokin’. While bushfires singed the outskirts of the Big Smoke, the recording session got so hot the fire brigade had to be called or the whole joint would have gone up. Flames poured out of the bells of the saxophones, the rhythm section boiled over, sparks flew from the piano man’s fingers, the lead guitarist got blisters up to the elbow and the singer was jumping like a cat on a hot tin roof. Seriously, it’s rare to capture in a studio the full passion and spontaneity of a raging live gig but this was one of those magic moments. Hearing is believing.
And that’s not all. Along with nine freshly recorded songs, there are seven long-lost vintage Layabouts tracks from the vaults, unearthed and painstakingly restored – extraordinary tracks, never before released but well worth the trouble of getting them up to scratch. Overdubs have been added where the original recordings were incomplete, in some cases involving a current band member playing or singing along with himself of some decades ago – before the astonished recording engineer was even born! Time travel is possible, folks.”

Gail Page

May22

Gail Page Band, Sydney Autumn mini-Festival, May 2014

Adam Pringle, Gail Page, Gail Page Band

On my way back from Sydney last weekend, I stopped off at a mini Sydney Blues Festival at Windsor to see Gail Page, the last act.

Adam Pringle, Gail Page, Gail Page Band

Gail Page, Gail Page Band

Gail Page Band

Adam Pringle, Gail Page Band

Adam Pringle, Gail Page, Gail Page Band

For more images from this gig, see this JAlbum slideshow.

Macquarie Lighthouse (Sydney)

Apr21

I took these images of Macquarie lighthouse in Sydney from 5th to 7th November 1987, months later than images in preceding posts.

Macquarie lighthouse and cliffs by day
6 November 1987
Arca-Swiss monorail 5×4″
90mm Linhof Schneider Angulon
Low-res scan from book

The original Macquarie lighthouse, built in 1818, was Australia’s first lighthouse, although an iron basket had been erected nearby on a tripod in 1794, initially burning wood and then coal from 1797. The lighthouse was commissioned by Governor Macquarie and designed by convict architect Francis Greenaway, who warned at a very early stage that the sandstone used would soon crumble. Several large stones fell from arches in 1823 and starting from that year, a succession of iron bands were wrapped around the lighthouse for support.

Macquarie lighthouse and cottage by day
6 November 1987
Arca-Swiss monorail 5×4″
Low-res scan from book

When it became necessary to instal a larger optic, they replaced the lighthouse, building a new one beside the old. This is what you see today, dating from 1881. The design closely follows the original lighthouse, apart from a larger lantern room at the top. My guess is that the lighthouse cottage behind it also dates from 1881.

Macquarie lighthouse at night

The lighthouse at night, as lit by various lights. The original slide was technically compromised, fogged and with banding in the sky. Rescuing it produced some strange colours so that a high-contrast black and white was the only feasible option.

The first lighthouse keeper was Robert Watson, who had been a bosun on one of the ships of the First Fleet.

Macquarie Lighthouse in Fog
5.35am 6 November 1987
Arca Swiss Monorail 5×4″
90mm Linhof Schneider Angulon
f11 30 seconds, Fujichrome 50

Here we can see that when the weather closes in, visibility is low and it is difficult to see the lighthouse. I wanted this image to go into the book to make that point but was overruled.

In 1857 the sailing ship Dunbar foundered at the base of this cliff, notwithstanding the presence of the earlier lighthouse. A total of 121 passengers and crew drowned. There was just one survivor who managed to reach safety at the foot of the cliffs and he was not discovered for two days.

Brass and marble flag on lighthouse floor with staircase, 12.45pm 6 November 1987
Arca-Swiss monorail 5×4″
f45 6 seconds, 65mm Schneider super Angulon, Fujichrome 50.

The lighthouse contains a few remarkable architectural embellishments. Here is the New South Wales flag on the floor at the entrance of the lighthouse.

Macquarie Door handle
6 November 1987
Arca Swiss Monorail 5×4″

This is a brass door handle inside the lantern room.

Macquarie lens
Nikon FE, 16mm f3.5 fisheye

Here is the bulb and fresnel lenses inside the optic, which was large enough to stand up inside. Lots of fisheye distortion here.

Macquarie and Cliffs during night 6 November 1987 Arca Swiss Monorail 5x4" 90mm Linhof Schneider Angulon f6.8 20 minutes, Fujichrome 50

Macquarie and Cliffs during night
6 November 1987
Arca Swiss Monorail 5×4″
90mm Linhof Schneider Angulon
f6.8 20 minutes, Fujichrome 50

The weather had greatly improved during the day and this was an important lighthouse so I stayed to try again for another night. This was the night of the full moon, which is the source of light for these exposures.

Macquarie and Cliffs during night 6 November 1987 Arca Swiss Monorail 5x4" 90mm Linhof Schneider Angulon f6.8 40 minutes, Fujichrome 50

Macquarie and Cliffs during night
6 November 1987
Arca Swiss Monorail 5×4″
90mm Linhof Schneider Angulon
f6.8 40 minutes, Fujichrome 50

The white lines in the sky are star trails. In the distance are ships anchored or moving. The waves are washing in and out during the long exposure.

Macquarie and Cliffs during night 6 November 1987 Arca Swiss Monorail 5x4" 90mm Linhof Schneider Angulon f6.8 30 minutes, Fujichrome 50

Macquarie lighthouse and Cliffs during night
6 November 1987
Arca Swiss Monorail 5×4″
90mm Linhof Schneider Angulon
f6.8 30 minutes, Fujichrome 50

To get to this position, I climbed over the railing and down to a platform where I had been the previous night and where I was not visible from above. I stayed there the whole night, trying different exposures from time to time.

Macquarie and Cliffs at Dawn 5.20am 7 November 1987 Arca Swiss Monorail 5x4" 90mm Linhof Schneider Angulon f11 1 minute, Fujichrome 100

Macquarie and Cliffs at Dawn
5.20am 7 November 1987
Arca Swiss Monorail 5×4″
90mm Linhof Schneider Angulon
f11 1 minute, Fujichrome 100

So here we are, and it’s half an hour before dawn on the morning of the 7th of November 1987. This is the image displayed on the front cover of the book.

Barranjoey

Apr16

On the 15th June 1987 I came to Barranjoey lighthouse, at a small peninsula near Palm Beach, on the very northern edge of Sydney. The lighthouse was built in 1881, primarily to protect the entrance of Broken Bay, which while never a significant port, could be used as a refuge by ships in a storm. The lighthouse was automated as early as 1932 and the houses let out from 1960 to 1997. Since that date the houses and headland (though not the lighthouse itself) have been managed by the New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service.

Barranjoey Lighthouse and cottages
5.15pm 15 June 1987
Nagaoka field camera 5×4″
f11, 1 minute, 90mm Linhof Schneider Angulon, Fujichrome 50

It was late afternoon when I got there and I went a bit cross-country, climbing up a small cliff to get there. According to The Photographer’s Ephemeris, the time I have recorded here for this location and date is 20 minutes after sunset. The tree with the red blossoms is an Illawarra Flame Tree (brachychiton acerfolius). The lighthouse and cottages are unpainted sandstone.

While I was taking the photograph, I got to meet Jervis Sparks, who was renting out Assistant Lighthouse Keeper’s Cottage No 2, at the left here. He had been living here for nearly twenty years at this time and had to leave ten years later when the Parks and Wildlife Service took over ownership. He had restored the cottage from a derelict state to authentic nineteenth century condition and invited me in for a cup of tea. The internal walls were also unpainted sandstone and he had eschewed electricity for gas lamps and a wood-fired stove. It was like living in a natural museum and a great privilege to visit.

It was three days off the full moon but the moon did not rise until 8:30pm. I walked back along the lighthouse road and because the road was completely surrounded by trees, it was completely dark there and I did not have a torch. The complication was that the road was exceptionally rough, even for a four wheel drive track. For each step, I had to balance on one leg and carefully lower the other one to find out where it would land. The drop for each step was quite variable and sometimes considerable. It must have taken me quite a while to walk out.

Murray Foote

Tag Archives: Sydney

Sydney Blues and Roots Festival 2017

Sydney Winterfest 2017

Sydney BluesCruise

Sydney Blues and Roots Festival 2016

Queen Mary

Geoff Achison and the Souldiggers

Leroy’s Layabouts

Gail Page

Macquarie Lighthouse (Sydney)

Barranjoey