Covers theme last night, travelling with a twist next week

Last night (Wednesday 23/01/2013) on a mixed bag we played cover songs, including a version of Band of Horse's "No-one's gonna love you" by opera singer Renee Fleming from her album of "Indie" songs called Dark Hope; Rufus Wainwright's version of the Beatles "Across the Universe"; and Jimi Hendrix and his cover of The Leaves song, "Hey Joe".
We also heard local musician Daniel Champagne's cover version of Don McLean's "Vincent" from his Real Live album.
I'm not sure if it counts as a cover song, but we did hear a different version of "You're so vain" by Carly Simon from her album Never Been Gone.  Eva Cassidy (may she rest in peace) has covered just about everyone's tunes.  One of my favourites is her version of Sting's "Fields of Gold".
Blondie's cover of The Nerve's "Hangin' on the Telephone", Jeff Buckley's version of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah", Todd Rundgren's take on Robert Johnson's Crossroad Blues were also given a spin.
We played a couple of Cold Chisel covers including The Waif's version of Four Walls, and Sarah Blasko's fabulous cover of Flame Trees.
Next week our theme is "Travelling with a twist!!"

Have just been to the Circus at Candelo

(Today is Thursday.  I started to write this post last weekend, but got a little side-tracked.  Life just gets busy sometimes).

I had wonderful time tonight at Candelo Town Hall in the Bega Valley.  The "Almost Exactly Circus" Circus Cabaret was SO much fun.
The performers were incredibly skillful with their range of tricks (juggling, hula-hooping, clowning, balancing acts etc), and the Candelo crowd happily engaged with the performers when they were plucked out of the audience, and pulled up onto the stage!  I feel I had a very lucky escape as I was sitting in the front row, feeling very relieved that I wasn't targeted!

Local magician, Rhys Davies the Trickster was the support act for the evening.  He put on a very impressive magic show, and joined the circus troupe for their juggling finale.  I'm looking forward to seeing more magic shows from Rhys in the near future.

If you get the chance to see "Almost Exactly Circus", I can highly recommend their act.

Here is a link to their facebook page:-

https://www.facebook.com/AlmostExactlyCircus

and a link to Rhys Davies the Trickster's facebook page:-

https://www.facebook.com/RhysDaviesTheTrickster

The Circus

On Wednesday night on A Mixed Bag with Chris B on 93.7 Edge FM in the Bega Valley, our theme was the circus, and we heard from Jamie Bretman from "Almost Exactly Circus" about their upcoming visit to the Bega Valley this weekend.

Some of the songs included in our playlist on Wednesday night were a selection of songs from Cold Chisel's Circus Animals album, The Cleo Laine version of Send in the clowns, Tears of a clown (Smokey Robinson), Cathy's clown (The Everly Brothers), Pavarotti singing " Vesti la guiba" from the opera Pagliacci, Bring on the dancing horses by Echo and the Bunnymen, and Hey Pachuco by the Royal Crown Revue from the movie The Mask; and Wild Billy's Circus Story from Bruce Springsteen's The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle album.

The first presentation of "Minimum Stay" by Almost Exactly Circus kicks off at Club Sapphire in Merimbula on Friday 18th January.  Doors open at 4.00 pm for the first show, and for the second show the doors will open at 8.00pm.

Here is a link to some information about "Almost Exactly Circus".

http://istart.org/startup-idea/services/almost-exactly-circus/8756

The troupe will also be holding a circus workshop in Candelo on Saturday 19th January 2013 from 10.00am Saturday, and a circus cabaret in the evening at 7.30pm.  So, if you love amazing acrobatics and would like to see a high energy show, make sure you check out at least one of these performances.

Should be fun!!

Listen to the interview with Jamie Bretman by clicking on the link below:-

https://soundcloud.com/chris-b2/interview-with-jamie-bretman

Corey Legge

If you read 2 posts back on this blog, you will see I wasn't able to upload my interview with Corey Legge (from Corey Legge and the Swamp Stompers) due to some technical issues.  I had to revert to an old fashioned tape recorder, which was fine until the actual cassette became jammed in the player!!
A good friend of mine was able to rescue the cassette, and I'm now able to upload the interview.

Here's a link to my chat with Corey Legge, live in the Edge FM studio on Wednesday 2 January 2013.

https://soundcloud.com/chris-b2/interview-with-corey-legge-on


Some of the gigs Corey speaks of in the interview have been and gone, but keep an eye on the Swamp Stomper's Facebook page to keep track of what's coming up for this great band.

https://en-gb.facebook.com/theswampstompers/info

And, to check out their music, have a look 2 posts back on this blog for the links and photos.

Hope you're managing to stay cool if you live in the Bega Valley.

Family

Last night, Wednesday 9 January 2013, our theme on A Mixed Bag with Chris B (on 93.7 Edge FM), was "family".  We heard tracks from various musical family groups, including local band of brothers, The O'Donnell Brothers and father and daughter duo, Kate and Alan Watts who make up The Blue Ruins, as well as The Partridge Family, The Pointer Sisters, and The Doobie Brothers (although they're not really brothers).

We also heard songs with a family member in the title or in the song, such as "Son of a preacher man" (Dusty Springfield), Tucker's daughter (Ian Moss), "Crazy Mamma", and "(Daddy you're a) fool to cry" by the Rolling Stones.

We started the show with a classic disco number by Sister Sledge, "We are family", and finished with the theme from The Partridge Family.  Other tracks played were "Ode to my family" by the Cranberries, "Wonderwall" by Oasis, and a couple of songs by Paul Simon ("Mother and child reunion, and "Father and daughter").

On Tuesday, in the Bega Valley, we saw the temperature soar (in Bega) from 15.8°C in the morning, rising rapidly to a very hot 41°C by 11.30am!!  Our friends in Brogo were threatened by bushfire, many having to pack their bags ready to evacuate, as they watched firefighters battle the blaze in hot windy conditions. Other parts of New South Wales had the highest level of fire rating, "catastrophic", and authorities were expecting the day to be the worst fire conditions in the history of New South Wales. The Bega Valley Shire Library closed it's doors for the day, due to the heat.  Temperatures cooled down considerably yesterday, but we have to be prepared for more hot weather to come.

Please stay safe, and stay cool.

Last Wednesday night, 2nd January, 2013, local Bega Valley musician Corey Legge joined us in the Edge FM studio for a chat.  It was great to find out what he's been up to musically over the last 12 months.  He's been studying hard at Southern Cross University in Lismore, and making music his main priority in life.  At only 20 years old, he's climbing the first steps of the "long way to the top (if you wanna rock 'n' roll)."

Corey has been busy with his new band Corey Legge and the Swamp Stompers, (made up of Corey Legge on electric guitar, lapsteel, lead vocals and bass; and Mitch Broadhead on drums, percussion and backing vocals). Below is a photo of Corey and Mitch playing their dirty slide guitar and heavy grooves live at the Dromedary Hotel in Central Tilba recently.

We heard some fantastic tracks from the EP on a Mixed Bag with Chris B.  The album title is simply, "The EP".  Corey wasn't feeling great on Wednesday night, so wasn't able to play live, but it was cool that he made the effort to join us in the studio for a chat.

Here's a link to some of the tunes from the album (all original songs).  There's also a link to Corey Legge & the Swamp Stompers, playing at the National Campus Band Competition SCU Final at the Lismore Uni Bar in September 2012.

www.soundcloud.com/theswampstompers

www.youtube.com/swampstompersmusic

I had a little bit of trouble with technology last week, and ended up recording our chat on a cassette tape recorder (remember those?).  I can usually upload my recordings from cassette onto my computer, but at the moment the cassette itself is stuck inside the machine!  If I can work out how to get it out, I will upload my chat with Corey to the blog.  Hopefully, I will have my usual more modern methods of recording working again next week!

In the meantime, enjoy some of Corey's fabulous music, and you can go into the Triple J Unearthed link below, and rate and review the songs to help this band get airplay.

http://www.triplejunearthed.com/Artists/View.aspx?artistid=60880

Next Wednesday night on A Mixed Bag with Chris B on 93.7 Edge FM in the Bega Valley, our theme will be "Family/Families".  So, if you live in the Bega Valley, tune in between 8.00pm and 9.30pm next Wednesday night.

Corey Legge on a Mixed Bag tonight!

Tune into 93.7 Edge FM tonight between 8.00pm and 9.30pm for a Mixed Bag if you live in the Bega Valley. Tonight the music of local musician Corey Legge will be featured. He plays dirty slide guitar blues and heavy grooves. Corey is coming in to the studio live for a chat.
Find out about his latest EP and the album launch for Corey Legge and the Swamp Stompers!