Comedy on this week at Whangateau Hall

“The Thwarting of Baron Bolligrew”

Local drama group “Work in Progress Players” are presenting a Monty Python-esque comedy this Wednesday, December 10th, at the hall. Entry is by gold coin donation. BYO refreshments. The show begins at 7pm. I can say without a hint of bias* that these performers are brilliantly hilarious, particularly the young man playing the Baron. If you need a bit of live dramatic comedy in your life, come check this out.

Tickets now available for Tattletale Saints

http://www.eventfinder.co.nz/2015/tattletale-saints/auckland/leigh

I’ve been quite heartened about the chatter around the area about folk club. I think it’s going to be a thing. We won’t have one this month, because DECEMBER, but we’ll see you back at the hall on January 22nd at 6:30pm for award winning folk duo Tattletale Saints (plus extra band members!) for a very special new show. This will be a concert-only night at the hall. We’ll have a club night again in February with floor singers and a jam session.

If you would like more information about Tattletale Saints, check out their website, www.tattletalesaints.com. Ask anyone who has seen them the past two years, they are amazing and not to be missed.

Whangateau Hall Country Faire

The Sunday after the Tattletale Saints show is the Whangateau Hall Country Faire, 9am-2pm, 25 January, which is the main annual fundraiser for the hall. Car boot sale, bouncy castles, yummy food, lots of quick fire raffles and heaps more. It’s a great day out and a great way to support our hall and the wonderful committee that looks after it. This past year they used the money to refinish the floors and aren’t they just stunning? We owe them a debt of gratitude for their stewardship of this community treasure. Come on out and support them on the day.

Please drop me a line if you have any questions. Or you could have a poke around whangateau.co.nz for general information about the hall and music concerts there.

Yours,

Jenine
* ok, I might be just a tiny bit biased.

Whangateau Hall
Wednesday, November 26th
7pm Start time (doors open 6:30 pm)
Tickets $10. (Buy tickets here)

Whangateau Folk Club debuts on 26 November with guest artists folk duo “No Bones About It.”

Folk club opens at 7pm with an hour of “floor singers.” All musicians are invited to put their names down to perform two numbers. Make sure you’re there by 6:45pm to put your name down before the hour fills up. Musicians should be prepared to play acoustically, though some amplification for singers will be available. No “back end” (drum kit) will be provided.

Our local area is rich with both musicians and immigrants from diverse foreign shores. Folk music is a broad category, and while most clubs tend to stick to traditional forms of British, Irish, Scottish and Americana folk styles, the Whangateau Folk Club will welcome all folk traditions.

After a short intermission where snacks and drinks will be available for purchase (tea and coffee are provided free) our guest act will perform.

You can request advanced tickets here, but there will be plenty available at the door on the night. Your $10 covers the cost of hiring the hall and printing of posters, the rest will go to our guest artists.

We have confirmed that Tattletale Saints will be returning again this year with their amazing form of beautiful acoustic folk. The show is on Thursday, 22 January, doors open at 6:30. Tickets will be $20 and go on sale December 1st. I’ll update this post with the link.

From Vanessa:

“We’ll be recording a new single to release digitally and as a 7” before the next tour and will hit the road with drummer/percussionist Tom Broome (Anika Moa, Hollie Smith) who we were playing with a lot in Auckland as part of our honky-tonk band Bolo before we left for Nashville. The shows we’ve played so far as a trio have always included a portion of the night as the duo still and on the NZ tour we plan on doing the same, with parts of the sets the acoustic duo as the NZ audiences are used to hearing us.”

Really looking forward to this great show!

Ticket sales are now open for Rachel Dawick’s “Boundary Riders” concert with FULL BAND.

http://www.eventfinder.co.nz/2014/the-boundary-riders-show-with-band/auckland/leigh

I am SO EXCITED about our next act booked for the Whangateau Hall. We will be having Rachel Dawick performing her 2 act historical musical stage show, “Boundary Riders,” tales of New Zealand pioneer women. Rachel will have the full band backing her up, only one of two such shows to be held! Supported in part by the New Zealand national library and archives, Rachel has performed these stories in libraries, halls and clubs all around the country, but usually not with the full band. We are very fortunate that we will be getting the Full Monty, with her supported by such amazing performers as Dave Khan and Jon Sanders, amongst others.

This isn’t just a concert, it is theatre. It is history. It is amazing!

From the US, Acoustic Duo “No Bones About It” are coming to Whangateau for one show on November 26th. This night also sees the inauguration of the Whangateau Folk Club.

“No Bones About It” are American guitarist Alex Rubin and “Pride of New Zealand” banjo player, Catherine “BB” Bowness. Together, Alex and BB explore the roots of acoustic music, playing a collection of folk songs, bluegrass tunes, and their own compositions which reflect their wide range of influences, including bluegrass, jazz, old-time and celtic music. Using diverse styles of banjo, guitar, vocals, fiddle and mandolin, they seamlessly blend genres in their arrangements of traditional and original tunes.

Before Alex and BB’s set, all local musicians are invited to come and sign up to perform 2 numbers “open mic” style. Folk Club memberships will also be available at this time, $15/annually for a family, $10 for an individual. Your membership gets you discounted concert tickets, priority billing for “open mic” club nights, and many many more fun benefits! THIS IS TOO HARD. WE AREN’T DOING IT.

Tickets will go on sale in October. Price TBD.

As part of the Auckland Heritage Festival Rachel Dawick (www.racheldawick.com) brings you her musical tales of NZ Pioneer Women for two special one off shows with full band to celebrate the launch of her new album and book “The Boundary Riders”. The premiere will take place on 2nd October at 8pm at The Vic Theatre in Devonport (Tickets available at http://www.thevic.co.nz) with the second show on the 11th October at Whangateau Hall at 5pm (Tickets available at EventFinda)

‘The Boundary Riders’ show follows the journey of a range of infamous characters whose names largely unknown in our history pages reveal stories that would slip easily into any Wild West Adventure Book. From prostitutes to missionary wives, goldminers to magicians these beguiling tales are of conquests, survival, persistence, and the merging of peoples and cultures from far distant lands into the birth of New Zealand as we know her today. The music like the characters moves across the genres adding to the musical landscape of the stories as our narrator unfolds their tales in one magical journey.

Tickets available at: http://www.eventfinder.co.nz/2014/the-boundary-riders-show-with-band/auckland/leigh

No details are known yet, but last night we had a terrible tragedy in Whangateau when the Rodney Rams Club rooms, just across the field from our dear Hall, burned to the ground.

The Rams Club has provided an important community focal point since the closing of the Pub and Top Shop in Leigh. The food provided by the kitchen improves all the time, and has been great on nights when we have events on at the Hall. It is heartbreaking to have lost this community resource.

Hopefully there will be a local effort to rebuild and reopen, and rest assured when there is, the Whangateau Music Hall committee will be there.

This is a Sunday show, so we’re having it nice and early in the afternoon so y’all can get home before dark. Bring a drink and something to eat, we’ll set out the tables and have a nice casual “afternoon tea and a show.” We’ll have tea and bikkies for you at half time as usual. Spread the word, and see you there!

Bill Morris and Hyram Ballard Show.

Because of the proximity to the Tattletale Saints/10 String Symphony show we are hosting this next act at a different venue, but for our purposes we’re still including it with our “music series.”

All the way from Australia, we have Mal Webb and the Formidable Vegetable Sound System!  Their combined sound defies description, but I can tell you it is FUN.  Ukuleles, trombones, beat-boxing like you’ve never heard it, and SO MUCH MORE.  This is going to be a great show, a perfect celebration of all that is summer and joy.  They will be at Heron’s Flight Vineyard, SUNDAY 2 FEBRUARY, the family friendly show starts at 4:00 pm.  $15 at the door, under-14s free.  There will be pizzas, platters, wine and juice available for purchase, or you can BYO picnic.  Don’t forget a rug or lawn chairs!

Mal and Charlie at Heron’s Flight