People don’t know what they’re missing, except for about 70 or 80 people who turn up at Foco Nuevo on the first Friday of each month. A yard in suburban Brisbane (Meanjin) backs onto the railway tracks. A windy day in winter becomes calm as the sun goes down. Ross Gwyther’s clarinet rings out like Acker Bilk and Sue Monk sings:
How the vision fades
How its shadow taunts me
Have dreams and plans just ended all too soon
The night it murmurs
A lost and lonely tune
Its July and the audience are all rugged up as the last breath of chilly wind blows through the bamboo above. The stars come out on a cloudless sky. Jumping Fences (Saltando Cercas) end their set. A short break while people fill up on Cienna’s pumpkin soup and Katherine’s mulled wine. The last guests arrive, Chileans, Racquel and her friend. Helen and Kate explain mutualism to me while I watch the door. Helen, an expert on butterflies, explains that it is a branch of anarchism but has very practical relevance to people’s lives.
Lachlan Hurse has already mentioned recent criticism of The Voice. The media play up how divisive The Voice is supposed to be. But Lachlan says that people forget how divisive Australia’s treatment of Aboriginal people has always been. The crowd murmurs in agreement. The stolen generation and black deaths-in-custody come to mind.
Jumping Fences played Sounds of Our Town and wrapped up with On The Chain about Borthwicks meat works near Colmslie Beach at Murrarie. One of the last people through the door was guitarist Michael Fix and I said but “you played last month, Michael.” He intimated that he was to make a guest appearance. Michael has to be one of the best guitarists around … as good as Tommy Emmanuel.
Sarah Calderwood comes on stage with her husband, Paul Brandon. The chanteuse says that she is dressed ‘like a skinned Muppet’. It looks like she is wearing a bright red fluffy dressing gown. Sarah is certainly not beige. Their 4-year old, Jamie, is being minded in the audience by another Sue. Sarah tells us that her set is about relationships. She sings a song about a man who avoided suicide after talking to her for two hours in the Brisbane City Mall at one of those ‘random gigs on Thursday’s at lunchtime’, Sarah explains. I think the song is called Wonderful You.
Sarah brings Michael Fix on stage to accompany them on a couple of standards.
Sarah sings:
I guess the brothers are driving down from Queensland
And Stella’s flying in from the coast
They say it’s gonna be a hundred degrees, even more maybe
But that won’t stop the roast – Paul Kelly, Making Gravy
We are celebrating Christmas in July and Michael promises to explain Paul Kelly’s ode to Australian Christmas to his German friends in the audience. They save the best for last.
Sarah sings:
Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew her
She tied you to a kitchen chair
She broke your throne, and she cut your hair
And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah – Leonard Cohen, Hallelujah
Unrehearsed Michael Fix plays in the key of F (I think) … the lyrics go: “The fourth, the fifth, the minor fall, the major lift.”
Graeme, a musician, beside me explains that Michael is playing up and down the scale of F; and so, as Sarah sings the lyrics and Paul plays acoustic guitar, Michael throws in the odd bluesy riff on his electric guitar. Then Sarah produces a red whistle from under her red dressing gown and plays along as Michael Fix improvises. Dave creates beautiful clear sound for every song.
It is a concert to the quiet of the winter moon.
Don’t miss Foco Nuevo in August, it will feature Jumping Fences and the amazing choir Australian Voices.
31 Arras Street, Yeronga
Doors open 6.00 p.m.
Music starts 6.30 p.m.
$15 admission
(Eftpos available)
For more information … https://www.foconuevo.org.au/
Ian Curr
8 July 2023