Real support for local music!

Bill Brown just sent this email out, and I'm sure he won't object to us reproducing it in full here:

"Hi All

ABC South East Music is all about promoting live music in the region – the musicians, festivals, and venues -  and as this is all about connecting you with our audience I thought I’d pass on some really good results that have developed over the last few months.

ABC Awards

Last month ABC South East Music was runner-up in the ABC’s national local radio awards in the Best Use of Online Media category – losing out to ABC Sydney. We were the only regional finalist in the category – so we did OK for the bush!

That’s s all fine, it’s an ultra high profile event attended by the NSW Governor, Premier, Opposition Leader, and Fed and State ministers, etc;  and the food and champagne was great – but the meaningful part was the opportunity of getting the attention within the ABC from the Managing Director, all the various network chiefs, and so on, with the message that out here in the bush there is a terrific community of musicians doing great things.

From the ABC point of view it has been highlighted as a significant example of the ABC supporting the arts in a regional area.

This is a big win for all of you – the feedback is all about the breadth and quality of your performances that comprise the content of ABC South East Music; and all about how in this remote part of Australia there is such an interesting music scene.

National ABC Local Music Online

We have demonstrated what ABC Local can do in supporting the arts in the regions and that we can create music productions that attract a national and international online audience – so this creates new thinking and new opportunities.

The latest development has been the establishment of a national ABC Online site: ABC Local Music – where one of the content streams is “Live to tape”, films and recordings from around Australia.

Have a look and you’ll see how well represented is South East NSW in the site’s national context.  Currently the site’s home page features videos of Garry Carson Jones and the PBGB at Pambula; Lucie Thorne and Kate Burke at Candelo;  Captain Matchbox at Tathra; Kade Brown Trio at Candelo; Six Feet Under at Tathra; (and no, I don’t select any of these – its done by the site’s producer)

This kind of media ‘traction’  means that between you all and us we are expanding our presence nationally, and expanding the audience for the performance videos that we make.

Four Winds Festival

Earlier this month ABC South East Music and ABC Classic FM partnered to dual broadcast recordings of the festival on Classic FM, while publishing a multi-camera coverage of the Festival on a dedicated ABC Four Winds Festival web site.

It took three years and multiple funding submissions to secure the budget to do this, and the outcome has been highly successful.

It is also another model for the ABC of the way things can be done in the bush – producing high value content suitable for online, radio and TV. Its the first time anything like that has been done – ABC Local Online partnering with a national radio network to film and record a regional festival.

Again, new things create new opportunities – so lets see what happens.

The future

Its just a matter of time before more clips find a way on to ABC 1 or 2 or 24 once the ABC’s TV Arts funding cuts and changes settle down.

The Four Winds Festival production has given iView a serious nudge; and we keep pushing for a regional music stream;  so we’ll keep knocking.

Work together and put it out there

The foundations are well established now. So its now all about continuing with new productions and building the buzz.

Please stay engaged with ABC South East Music:

-  musos: please use your web sites and Facebook to link to any clips we’ve created with you
-  festivals and venues: on your web sites and Facebook please use ABC South East Music clips of any artists your are programming
-  musos, venues, and festivals: please add your gigs to the ABC South East Music gig guide and help us promote you online and on radio"

Thanks for all the brilliant work in support of local music Bill!

PBGB Tee Shirts a WorldWide Phenomenon

PBGB T Shirts seem to be popping up with increasing frequency all over the globe.

Latest sighting has been reported from Mundaka in Spain, a wave that many regard as the best in Europe.

Due to a massive tide shift, the break at Mundaka goes completely flat on a high tide, no matter how big the swell – exactly as you see in the attached photo.

But............Mundaka does fire big time.........have a look at this Youtube clip for proof

OK,when Pete surfed it earlier this month it was not quite the size you see in the clip. Nor was there such crowd lunacy, but Pete rates it amongst his all time surfing highlights.

Would you like Tapas with that ??  Si por favor !!!

Garry's "Kumeka" video clip

We've been waiting a while now for Bill Brown's video of Garry's song "Kumeka" to appear on YouTube so we could put up a direct link, but, alas, still no sign ........................ so, here's the link to the ABC South East Music page for Kumeka.  You can watch the vid there in full quality using the ABC's viewer - just click on the pic below, or you can click on the link on the right hand side of the page.

Garry Carson Jones' ABC interview

Bill Brown's interest in The Shed has paid big dividends for PBGB.

In September 2012 Bill shot two videos of Garry, Ken and Dave playing Garry's original songs 'Whatever You Say' and 'Kumeka'.

Bill loaded up the vids of 'Whatever You Say' and 'Kumeka' as concurrent Videos of the Week on the ABC South East Website. That led to Tim Holt inviting Garry into the studio for an interview.

You can hear Tim's interview, along with a couple of tunes Garry played live in the studio, by clicking here.

And you can view the vids by clicking on the titles on the right of your screen.

Our heartfelt thanks go out to Bill and Tim, in fact all the good folk at ABC South East, for their continuing support of local music.