Keith Jamieson has advised the Finalists for the 2013Gidgee Coal Bush Ballad Awards.
Female Vocal. Dianne Lindsay – Leave Him in The Longyard Bec Hance – Albert Campbell Patti Morgan – The Old Cattle Dog
Male Vocal. John O’Dea – If Only I Was Young Jeff Brown – I love Australia Rex Baldwin – As Leichhardt Saw It Then
Album. Ernie Constance – The Songs I Wrote For Slim. Jeff Brown – Hard To let Go Dianne Lindsay – All Things Country
Songwriting. John O’Dea Next To Slim Shirrelle Jackman/Dean Perrett – Brumby Ernie Constance – I Worship the Water He Walked On
Instrumental. Ray Pratley – Cow Waddle Johnny Kaye – Pickin Country Terry Bennetts/Ginger Cox – Medley
Comedy/ Novelty. Pete Smith – Sunday Calling Bec Hance – The Good Song Trevor Day – Lady Luck
Group/Duo. Ron Milliner/ Sharon Benjamin – Spirit Of The Bush Dianne Lindsay/Anne Kirkpatrick – Akubras in the Snow. Terry Bennetts/Ginger Cox/Evan Platschinda – Band Of mates
New Talent Rex Baldwin – Champions Kate Hindle – Beautiful Circle Ged Hintz – Playing Good Old Country Music
The 2013Gidgee Coal Bush Ballad Awards will be held on November 16/17th 2013 at Pittsworth Town Hall, Queensland. Submitted by: Keith Jamieson
This weekend will be your last chance to catch a performance of The Winter’s Tale on the USQ Toowoomba front lawn.
Emily & David Burton
Enjoy a stylish interpretation of Shakespeare’s sweeping tale of jealousy, regret and redemption in the great outdoors.
Directed by David Burton, Kate Murphy and Emily Burton and featuring a cast of emerging actors from the University’s Bachelor of Creative Arts, this exciting adaptation draws on the style and glamour of a 1950s Mad Men world, recreated by Set Designer Josh McIntosh and Costume Designer, Carolyn Taylor-Smith.
Gather a group of friends, pack a picnic dinner, bring a chair or blanket and settle in for the thrill of live theatre under the stars at the tenth annual Shakespeare in the Park Festival.
BYO or purchase food and drinks from the on-site Shakespeare Scullery.
Clifton Country Week is a very special event on the calendar, bringing the local community together to share good company, great entertainment and plenty of laughs.
Running from October 18 through to October 26, the festivities cover all manner of interests and topics, culminating in the ever-popular Clifton Annual Race Day.
There will be plenty of interest in the Garden Competition as well, with prizes for Best Novelty, Best Business/School, Best Novice, Best Rental, Best Home Garden, Display Gardens. Winners will be announced at the Iris and Rose Show(Sat, Oct 19).
For the great events scheduled during the celebrations go to www.cliftonpa.org
Clifton’s Annual Race Day: Gates open 11am: Entry $10, Pensioner concession, Five races, evening entertainment, kids are welcome and Mrs Cupcake has races, a piñata and face painting planned (Sat, Oct 26).
Submitted by: Darren Burton Media Relations Officer Stakeholder Engagement & Communication Toowoomba Regional Council
As NSW comes to terms with the fire disaster which affected the Blue Mountains and other areas, it is important to recall the the last three summer seasons has seen disasters impacting our local communities, with many people suffering personal loss or hardship.
Emergency Services prepare each year by reviewing procedures and plans. However, individually we need to prepare ourselves and our families and assist our community to get ready for the storms, cyclones, floods and fires that can affect us during the summer season.
Those who have suffered the impacts of a disaster know the importance of being prepared. It is important to not only be self-reliant, but encourage those around you to be more self-reliant so disaster management authorities can focus on the more vulnerable members of our communities.
All community members are encouraged to know your local risks and how a disaster could affect your suburb or town and your life. To do this you should prepare a plan; and aim to work with friends and neighbours and local networks to help each other through extreme weather events.
The annual Poets’ Breakfast is to be held on Sunday, October 20th at Highfields Pioneer Village, with guest poet Jack Drake. The full cooked breakfast costs only $15 per person, and includes all day entry to the Village and an optional Poetry Writing Workshop at 10am with Jack.
There will be recitations by Jack Drake and others, and musical entertainment from Rae Blinco. Take part in the Budding Poets Competition with a $50 Value Prize Best Youth (under 18yrs) and $50 Value Prize Best Adult (over 18yrs). Competitors must recite their poem on the day. There will also be a Trophy for People’s Choice.
Bush Poet Jack Drake
Jack Drake is a product of the bush who has lived the life he writes about. He has straightened up at the end of eight hours on a shearing board and twisted his handpiece off ready for a well earned beer.
 He knows the satisfaction of riding a horse he has bred and broken-in with a saddle he has made himself for a day’s mustering. Like most bush boys, he can handle shoeing tools, fencing gear, carpentry and welding equipment, and turn his hand to any of the hundred and one tasks necessary for survival in the bush.
Born in rural New Zealand in 1950, he is now a naturalised Aussie and proud of it. He has loved words and bush poetry ever since his father gave him a copy of Banjo Patterson’s verses when he was 10 years old.
Cost: $15 Adults/Seniors, $7.50 Children under 15 years. (Fundraiser) Raising Money for Highfields Scouts/ Guides & Highfields Pioneer Village.
Tickets available from Rhonda’s Refits (07) 4637 8933, Highfields Pioneer Village (07) 4696 6309 or Chapman’s Entertainment (07) 4698 2815
7am to 10am at the Village, 73 Wirraglen Road , Highfields, Qld
(just 15mins drive North of Toowoomba
Julie Grace-Rix has missed only one show in the USQ’s decade-long Shakespeare in the Park Festival.
A trip to Europe in 2006 prevented her and her family and friends gathering for their annual picnic under the stars as they enjoyed the talents of USQ’s third-year acting students – but it won’t happen again, she says.
Julie Grace-Rix (far right) with her family, enjoying the Shakespeare in the Park experience.
It’s such a relaxed and inexpensive night out,†Ms Grace-Rix said. I’m not a Shakespeare expert and I don’t go along with high expectations, but I am always very impressed with the fabulous job they do – seeing those students do that makes you feel proud. We missed The Comedy of Errors, but there have been so many good shows over the years, like The Tempest and Romeo and Juliet.â€
Ms Grace-Rix is no less impressed with this year’s offering, The Winter’s Tale. One of Shakespeare’s last works and quite different to many of his other plays, it tells the story of a king whose jealousy destroys his family.
It really is a play of two parts,†Ms Grace-Rix said. I appreciated how it focused on the darker issues of jealousy and regret, but with redemption came the wonderful comedy.
A scene from The Winter’s Tale
The Winter’s Tale is a good one to see for people who are nervous about Shakespeare, because it is easy to follow, has relevant issues and has a contemporary feel.”
An annual dose of Shakespeare began almost as an accident – a comedy of errors, if you will – for Ms Grace-Rix. Growing up as a student in the 1970s, her school memories of lessons about the Bard’s works were not exactly fond, and having lived in the country for many years, her cultural opportunities were somewhat slim.
Really, we just went along to the first one because it sounded like a good night out – it wasn’t so much about Shakespeare but more the chance to drink a bottle of wine under the stars,†she said. My husband didn’t want to go, but we both ended up enjoying ourselves so much that we just kept going back each year.
And over time it grew. I took members of my family, and my friends, and we would make a big night of it.â€
This year’s show was tinged with a little sadness due to the recent passing of Ms Grace-Rix’s father – also a fan of the annual outing – but a group of eight still went along and toasted his memory.
Ms Grace-Rix does not know what show is on the USQ Shakespeare in the Park Festival agenda for 2014, but is very confident she will be packing up her blanket and picnic basket to go and watch.
The final performances of The Winter’s Tale will be held this week on the Festival mainstage (USQ Front Oval) on Thursday, Saturday and Sunday evenings beginning at 6.30pm. Tickets cost $36 for adults, $28.50 concession, $20.50 student, $13 children, $82 family and are available from the USQ Artsworx Box office on 4631 1111, online or at the gate from 5.30pm each night.
If someone had told you ten years ago that geeks would one day rule over us all, you would have laughed.
Well, laugh no more, because that day has come. And it won’t be long before we’re all singing a song about it. In harmony. With a few dance moves. The Glee phenomenon has swept the world in recent years, with Gen Y in particular caught up in the renaissance of things once considered dorky such as show tunes, harmonised singing, and matching outfits – together with a few modern twists like mash-ups and anything ever performed by Lady Gaga.
Audiences have enjoyed connecting with their own inner ‘Gleek’ for the past three years at the To Glee or Not to Glee event held each year as part of the USQ Shakespeare in the Park Festival. This event gives school and community groups the chance to take part in a one-night spectacular of song and dance, and celebrate all that is wonderful about young talent and the unbridled joy that can come from performing.
To Glee or Not to Glee is all about having fun – it is light-hearted and non-competitive,†Project Co-ordinator Alison Riethmuller says. Performing together in a group can be a really uplifting and joyful experience – it’s hard not to smile and sing along when there are lots of voices joined together with harmonies and great rhythm and movement.†Glee is now in its fifth season on our television screens, and the decision to tap into its success at the annual Shakespeare in the Park Festival was well supported right from the beginning. To Glee or Not to Glee has evolved into an event increasingly driven by the young performers themselves, which fits perfectly with the ethos of the Creative Arts program at USQ.
Jess Berwick, a third year vocal student out here, has totally organised the USQ performance in the event, and that’s very fitting because the event is geared towards that generation,†USQ Music Lecturer Melissa Forbes said. And that sort of collaborative approach really matches what we are doing in our music program.â€
Groups from Warwick and Oakey will also take part in the Glee showcase. The song list for the night is a closely guarded secret, but organisers say to listen out for Adele, Whitney Houston, Cindy Lauper, Pink, Cold Play, Beyonce and even something from Greaseâ€.
But even those not singing on stage will have fun, with plenty of crowd participation planned.
So what makes a good Glee song? It needs to be catchy, encourage movement, and have harmonies,†Ms Riethmuller says.
 To Glee or Not to Glee will be held on Wednesday 16 October at 6.30pm on the Shakespeare Festival mainstage at the University of Southern Queensland. Tickets are $5, and are available through the USQ Artsworx Box Office on 07 4631 1111 or at the gate on the night.
Submitted by: Michelle Fox Marketing Manager USQ Artsworx | University of Southern Queensland Web: www.usq.edu.au/artsworx
The USQ Shakespeare in the Park Festival season of “The Winter’s Tale” opens tonight on the USQ Toowoomba front lawn.
Enjoy a stylish interpretation of Shakespeare’s sweeping tale of jealousy, regret and redemption in the great outdoors.
Directed by David Burton, Kate Murphy and Emily Burton and featuring a cast of emerging actors from the University’s Bachelor of Creative Arts, this exciting adaptation draws on the style and glamour of a 1950s Mad Men world, recreated by Set Designer Josh McIntosh and Costume Designer, Carolyn Taylor-Smith.
Gather a group of friends, pack a picnic, bring a chair or blanket and settle in for the thrill of live theatre under the stars at the tenth annual Shakespeare in the Park Festival.
BOOK NOW – Tickets available at the gate each night from 5.30pm this weekend – and through the USQ Artsworx Box Office for next week’s shows – 4631 1111 or ONLINE
