Malcolm Stewart

Born 21st Sept.1959 and raised in Port Fairy, guitarist Malcolm Stewart has made a significant contribution to the music industry in the Warrnambool Region. He was president of the South West Musicians' Club and a committee member of the Blues Club. Nicknamed "Nucky", he has sometimes been quoted as Mr. Nucky (see Musicians jam it up at Killarney). He did considerable sound engineering work at the Criterion Hotel and played in the following bands.

    Montana
    Midnite Steal
    The Alligators
    Maintenance Crew
    Blind Joe's Blues Band
    Slide Area
    Yarpturk Ramblers
    Dead Livers
    Big Walter and the Rhythm Shifters
    Threeza Crowd
    Nine Day Fortnight (TAFE staff band)
    Rugcutters
    Rock Wallaby
    Second Line
    Hot Tamale Baby

Photo from 10th July 1991 - Nucky Stewart and Wally Edney with Denny Freeman

Saved -- St. Brigid's session -- November 21st 2009

 

Irish dancers

 

Amy Saunders

 

Peter Daffy

 

Peter Daffy

 

Don King

 

Marty ruane, Tommy Carty

 

Don King, Corey Henderson, Leamon Chambers

 

Shane Howard

 

Shane Howard

 

Marcia Howard

 

Marcia Howard

 

Pigram Bros

Our best musos help out

Warrnambool Standard June 18th, 2009 - ©Copyright Warrnambool Standard  2009.  All rights reserved

 The Crossley community’s battle to save its church and hall from being sold off has served as a musical inspiration for local musician Shane Howard. Howard is one of the many artists who will take to the St Brigid’s Hall stage on Saturday for a fund-raising concert to be headlined by Archie Roach and Ruby Hunter. Not only will the event raise funds to go towards the community’s attempt to buy the church and hall, it will also provide a setting for Howard to unveil his ode to the buildings and their importance to the people. ‘‘It’s called The Church Up On The Hill,’’ the Killarney singer-songwriter said. ‘‘It tells the story (of the buildings) and why that little place is so important.’’ Howard certainly knows the St Brigid’s story. His great grandmother and great grandfather moved to the area after escaping the Irish famine. They were married in the church and lived nearby. Howard continued his family’s connection to the St Brigid’s Church and Hall by marrying his long-time partner Teresa O’Brien there in January. ‘‘To go back and use the church and to honour the spirit of our ancestors in that way was really beautiful,’’ he said. ‘‘A lot of people in this area were baptised there. They were married there. They were buried there.’’ Shane won’t be the only Howard playing at Saturday’s concert. His siblings Damian and Marcia are also on the bill while his daughter Myra will make her musical debut. Also on the bill are Roach and Hunter, AmySaunders, Lyn Eales, Pete Daffy, Brett Clarke, Oriel Glennen, Lex’s Shed, SamMcNeil and the O’Shea Ryan Dancers. The concert starts at the St Brigid’s Hall from 7.30pm with all funds raised going towards the ‘‘buy back’’ effort.

 

Archie Roach, Shane Howard

Music festival begins and ends on a Japanese note

Warrnambool Standard 5th Oct. 2000 - ©Copyright Warrnambool Standard  2000 All rights reserved

Port  Fairy’s Spring Music festival will open with a bang this Friday night. A spectacular display of Japanese drumming, performed on the village green on Friday evening will kick off this year’s festival of events. The drumming, a 1000-year-old performance art, will set the scene for the Japanese-themed festival. A highlight of the festival will be Electronic Waves presented by composer-in-residence, Karen Tanaka, using computer technology. Soprano and flute combine for the presentation of music by Ikuko Teramoto and Yachiyo Nakanura on Saturday evening. Festival artistic director Len Vorster first heard the two perform at the residence of Japanese consul general in Melbourne last February and travelled to Japan to work with soprano Ikuko Teramoto and flute player Yachiyo Nakamura. Festival chairwoman Jennifer Whitehead said the weekend would end on a Japanese note, winding up on Sunday evening with the screening of Japanese film Tanin No Kao. Ms Whitehead said Tanin No Kao was a fascinating drama about identity and appearance with music by renowned composer Toru Takamitsu.

Dave Dawson review of "Free John Zarb" by John Flanagan.

Published NuCountry-TV website 25 June 2018

It was just a roll of the birthday dice that saved some sixties survivors from fighting in the historic but ill-fated Vietnam War. But not Pascoe Vale postman John Zarb, a conscientious objector, who was sentenced to two years in gaol in 1968 for his refusal to be conscripted because of his beliefs. Another John - Melbourne country folkie John Flanagan - was too young to recall the Free John Zarb campaign that polarised post World War 11 Australia and kick started a graffiti flood on well- known local landmarks. But the multi-instrumentalist, aided by suburban research, has picked up the baton 50 years down the Lost Highway with his anthemic social comment tune Free John Zarb on his third album Honest Man. More of that soon after this short pregnant pause. Former teenage rocker Normie Rowe became the poster boy for Vietnam War conscripts when he lost at marbles and was flown into the killing fields. Meanwhile behind the scenes a vast cast of other local musicians, far too many to be listed here, were called up. Peter Bird, co-founder of Warrnambool country bands Nevada and more recently Lost In Suburbia , was sent into overseas battle and returned home and re-mastered the Dead Livers Greatest Misses with bonus tracks for their 40th anniversary at Thornbury Theatre in May. Lost In Suburbia sidekick and Dead Livers bassist Michael Schack has dined out for many moons on his conscript chef duties for fellow Nashos including VFL champ and record breaking Essendon coach Kevin Sheedy during their training at Puckapunyal. But Schack has not claimed credit for Sheeds love of country music that has culminated in his free country music festivals in Yarra Park for the annual Essendon-Geelong MCG country game. This reviewer may have dissuaded Sheedy from choosing a pop music passion during a stint as a DJ and Gong Show host at the trendy Toorak Hotel in days of yore. Kevin and his posse declined my kind offer for them to participate in the talent quest that lured two sons of multi-millionaire trucking tsar and St Kilda football club benefactor Lindsay Fox to chance their voices. They were gonged in a fashion not dissimilar to this judge's decamping from a Puckapunyal school cadet camp when told he could not grow his beard at 14. Luckily, later in my teens I was toiling as a cadet journalist on the Launceston Examiner when my birthday marble rolled me out of the ballot. The Australian Army was spared a colour blind conscript whose aim would not have been true. Meanwhile back to Flanagan's song that he researched at the Moreland city archives - not far from the original Dawson farm estate at Phoenix Park in Brunswick.
John, expat Canadian singer-songwriter Tracey McNeil, Geelong born guitarist Jeff Lang and one time Geelong student and long-time St Kilda supporter Mick Thomas were asked to inspect council records and write a song based on local history. Flanagan chose the John Zarb saga that decimated the Zarb family when his beliefs led to him being relieved of his postal duties and sentenced to Pentridge. Pentridge may now be peddled as an historic housing estate but back in 1968 it was a hellhole that held no escape for Zarb whose plight was explored in the recent Going Back theme concert.

Cooper Lower back in Warrnambool

Warrnambool Stndard November 30 2017
WARRNAMBOOL singer-songwriter Cooper Lower has chosen a home-town gig as his first back in Australia following a European and UK tour. Lower spent three months overseas, playing shows and busking on the streets of some of the continent’s and the UK’s biggest cities. His first show back on Australian soil will be on Thursday night at The Loft. Lower said his European and UK adventure had been an eye-opener. “I did four or five shows and the rest of the time did freelance busking through Europe and the UK,” Lower said. “The people were so lovely and generous, I was able to pay my way while I was over there through my busking. “The thing I really noticed was how supportive people were. They would stop and listen, they really embraced good music. It was great fun playing to new audiences.” Lower arrives back in Australia with his eyes set on not only performing live but also getting back into the recording studio. Lower already has two albums in his back-catalogue.