Tuesday, November 17, 1998

Concert thrills Boggy Creek rocker

Warrnambool Standard 17/11/1998 - ©Copyright Warrnambool Standard 1998. All rights reserved

    
  
Boggy Creek keyboardist John McKinnon, left, being filmed during the Mushroom Records concert.

 SEVENTIES rock band Madder Lake  may have played at Sunbury and they may have supported The Doors but on Saturday night the band performed to their largest ever crowd as 75,000  music fans packed the Melbourne Cricket Ground. For south-west Victorian keyboardist and Boggy Creek publican John  McKinnon one of the most impressive things about Mushroom's 25th  anniversary concert was performing to an audience that spanned three generations. "There's people there of course that have seen you and you're working to a couple of new generations which is interesting," he said. When not playing to the crowd John was signing CDs and records - some of which were for fans who weren't born when the albums were recorded. "It's almost like the band's got its own mystique now," he said. As well as the opportunity to perform to a new audience, the Mushroom  concert provided the band with a chance to catch up with other industry veterans, many of whom cheered from the sidelines, John said.  After getting a taste of the big crowds again the band is considering taking  to the stage for a Sydney Mushroom concert and the Legends of Sunbury tour early next year. However, those events were very much in the  planning stages, he said.


(Report: KATIE HYDER. Picture: GEOFF ROUNDS)

Thursday, August 6, 1998

Culture night at the Bay

Warrnambool Standard 6/08/1998 - ©Copyright Warrnambool Standard 1998. All rights reserved.

A local arts group turned a disused nightclub into an impressive one-night gallery and artist performance venue last night. To coincide with youth radio network Triple J's unearthed program to find local talent in Warrnambool this week, the Kuureen Community Arts and Environment Group showed off the city's cultural side in the Lady Bay Hotel's Bayview room. Title "What do you call a man with a shovel on his head?", the night featured local poets, bands and solo musicians including debut gigs for unearthed runner-up Cherie Amor and band the Funstoppers - a combination of former members of the defunct local groups Hoedown Five and Project Artichoke. Coordinator Georgia Henderson said at least 20 etchings, drawings,  paintings, sculpture and screen prints were displayed for sale by current and former Deakin University and South West Institute of TAFE students and uneducated artists. The night was only a month in the planning and Ms. Henderson and fellow coordinator Kate Gane said it had become a reality with the help of many people. "It's getting the community involved in art" Ms. Henderson said. Kuureen, a word from the Peek Whurong clan language, translated as mist - represented cohesion, she said.