News from Annette & Kim

Hi Folks

The main event for May was our tour to Norfolk Island to the 18th annual Country Music Festival. It’s hard to believe another year has gone by already.

Once again we met up with our tour group at Auckland airport. We had 16 people with us for this tour. Six had been on tour with us previously so it was nice to see familiar faces back for this years festival. We also had one of the Trans-Tasman contestants with us also, our good friend Grant Reha-Timoti and his partner Rose Vallance. There was a lot of excitement in the group with Grant in the competition and Annette to M.C. the New Zealand Showcase.

We arrived on Norfolk around lunch time on the Sunday and everyone had the afternoon to settle in and relax a little. The evening saw us all meet at the local RSL for a welcome dinner and a chance to become acquainted with one another and to listen to the Norfolk Island band to kick the week off.

Monday we were up early for the half day tour to introduce everyone to magical Norfolk island. We also added in something special with a gospel sing along in the awesome St Barnabas Church. Which was well received by everyone in the church including a few Aussies. A couple of tears were shed as well.

Monday evening we were off to the New Zealand Showcase night featuring junior Khona Va aga Grey, Gina Keating and Roger Tibbs with Headliners The Coal Rangers and Aly Cook. The artists were backed by the Galley Slaves and lead this year by Mr Music Man himself Mike McCarthy with B.V.s by Echo in Harmony. Annette did an awesome job of compeering the evening and keeping the show ticking along and also slipping in the odd joke. Everyone was very impressed.

Tuesday was the regular mini golf competition where a lot of fun was had by all. Agnes and her team have put a lot of work into the new mini golf course. Once we had completed the golf we had the traditional cutting of the cake and morning tea. In the afternoon a few of us ventured down to Emily Bay for a quick dip in the ocean. It was very invigorating in deed. One of the cruiseliners managed to off load visitors onto the island also on Tuesday and we managed to run into Ian and Norma Venables and Margaret from Whangarei in the local food mart. Just goes to show you never know who you are going to bump into on a tiny Pacific island. It was the most people I have ever seen on the island in all the years I have been going there. Then in the evening we dined at Puppies Point at the Island Fish Fry. It was a chance to sample island style food as well as the local Trumpeter, King Fish and Groper. Then we were delivered back to Rawson Hall for the Australian Showcase which featured Margie-May Hockey, Jim Haynes, Mitchell Shadlow, The Smokin’ Crawdads, Rod McCormack and Gina Jefferies. It was alright.
Wednesday was the big day for the Trans-Tasman contestants with rehearsals during the day and the big show in the evening. Our group had a free morning to relax and do some shopping before we all met at Hats place for our regular wine and cheese afternoon and a chance to chat to one of the local identities, well two really, Hats and Leo, Hats dad. Between them both there isn’t much they don’t know about the history of the island. We are very lucky to have them as two of our dearest friends and for Hats to put up with us for a week every year since about 2002. We really do appreciate it.

Before the evening show most of the group took in the Trial of the Fifteen which is a 45 minute or so show covering how Norfolk was initially settled as a penal colony and starring our friend Lucy. Some of us enjoyed a couple of shots of sherry after the show which warmed your toes I must say. We all then headed up to Rawson Hall to watch the Kiwis take on the Aussies in the Trans-Tasman competition and cheer on Grant. It was a close competition with every one putting on great performances. In the end it was Australian Melody Felder taking out the top prize. Our own artists did well also with Keinan Ngapo runner-up and Pheobe Ball receiving the Dead Ringer Band Encouragement Award. Hayley Smith, Neil McKenzie-Hall and Grant all did us proud.

Thursday was an exciting day for Annette and I as it was our RSL lunch time gig which began at 12:00. Lunch was provided for our group and we had reserved tables. We had a great two hour show with a bit of a sing along thrown in for good measure. We were blown away by the support we had and sold more cds than we imagined we would. So thank you to every one for making it a great afternoon for us as well.
Thursday evening we had booked the group in to attend the Mutiny on the Bounty show at the outdoor theatre. Every one rugged up for the evening and it was an awesome show. Our host Hats was also in the show as one of the ships officers which made it even more interesting. Following the show we all headed back to Up Country for the jam session and a chance for the group to let their hair down and party on.

Thankfully Friday was FREE all day so the group could venture out by themselves and explore the island at their leisure. Saturday was also FREE all day just time to catch up on that last minute shopping for family and another quick swim for those that managed to get down to the beach or a bit of horse riding or a trip on the glass bottom boat out over the reef for some of the group.

We finished the tour off with a farewell dinner at the Seaworld Restaurant as we had on previous years. Joining our Tour group were our friends, Brent & Leo & the Harris Family ( Campbell, Lucy, Sophie,Tasmyn ) who entertained us with jokes. A couple of our Tour Group members gave a lovely thank you speech and surprised us with a token gift for each of us from then all. We ended the evening with a Port and then off to the RSL to finish off the night with singing and dancing.

Sunday saw us head home to NZ.

We would like to thank everyone who chose to travel with us to Norfolk Island this year it was great to have you with us and we hope you all had a great adventure. Look forward to seeing you next year for our 2012 tour.

Take care: Annette & Kim

March / April 2011

Hi Folks

Gig wise March and April have been pretty quiet. We entertained at the Kamo Club Dance Section 11th birthday on the 2nd. It is always a good night with these guys.

The rest of the month was spent organizing the Dargaville concert on the 30th April. We visited Big River Fm on the 19th March and spent the morning with Phil Godfrey on air promoting the show.

In to April and on the 22nd we were at the Whangarei RSA entertaining the regulars and friends that support us when we play this venue.
The following week saw us in Dargaville on the Friday prepping the hall for the concert on Saturday. Annette had made an awesome glittery moon and stars to dress the stage backdrop and with cowboy boots, saddles and bridles and plants supplied by the garden centre the stage looked magic. Thank you to stan and his crew for setting out the chairs for us. One less job we had to worry about. We hired extra lighting and set the hall spots to where we wanted them. On Saturday Stan set the sound up and we attended to all the other tasks required to make the show run smoothly. The band had all set up by 12:00 and at 12:30 we were in to rehearsals.

We kicked off the show at 7:00 with “Guitar Boogie” from the band and were into it. Ken Foster the M.C. did a great job of the Merle Haggard classic” Swingin’ Doors” and then introduced Double Trouble consisting of Reba and Taylor Ryland who are 16 and 14 years old respectively. These two young ladies did an awesome job of their songs. They covered Mylie Cyrus, The Dixie Chicks, Carrie Underwood and Sarah McLachlin with ease. It was exciting to back Reba and Taylor watch out for them in the future. Our good friend Graeme McCardle was his usual brilliant and funny self with a mix of traditional and modern country to get the crowd going. We must thank the Mountain Mist Band for all their hard work. These guys are amazing and are too good to us. Just brilliant muso’s and so easy to work with. Thank you guys. They make it so easy for Annette and I to perform. We finished the show with all the guests on stage singing “Country Road”.

Thank you to everyone that came to the show to support us and the Christchurch Earthquake Appeal. We raised over a $1000 for this cause.
Congratulations to Richard Tahu for winning the Western Guitar kindly donated by Wards Music in Whangarei. Also thank you to everyone that helped us during the weekend. There are too many to name but please know that we thank you all very much. Your support is appreciated. We hope you all enjoyed the show.

We now look forward to May and our Norfolk Island Tour. Annette will be compeering the New Zealand Showcase this year which will be exciting. We will meet our tour group at Auckland airport on Sunday the 15th. I know they are really going to enjoy the week on Norfolk. Not many sleeps to go now and don’t forget to pack your swimming togs.

Regards Annette & Kim

February 2011

Hi Folks

Well, the second month of the year has come and gone. I had a great day on the 5th of February at Tiny and Loie Heathcotes music day at their property near Paparoa. Along with a crowd of country music lovers from Auckland and Northland as well. The weather was hot and some took advantage of the swimming pool to cool off during the day. Thanks to Tiny and Loie for their hospitality.

On the 11th of February we headed off to Barham, NSW , Australia. It was an early start on the Friday as we headed off from Whangarei to drop the car at the lock up near the airport. We were shuttled to the international terminal and after checking our bags, paying the excess baggage and reshuffling our hand luggage to get them both under 6kgs we headed through customs and into the duty free shops to chose our selections and get them put aside to collect on our return.

Then it was into the plane for the three and a half hour flight to Melbourne. It was pretty uneventful considering we were flying Qantas. I managed to watch Jimeone on Ice during the flight what a crack up he is I had tears in my eyes, not too sure what Annette was watching Mrs Bucket I think. Oh by the way we were about an hour behind schedule so we knew when we landed that it was going to be a race to get to the bus which would take us to Barham. Luckily the customs guy took it easy on us and our stack of cds he said they were having an amnesty on cds that day and let us carry on through. All we had to do now was find the bus. A harder task than you may think considering no one in Melbourne speaks English or so it appeared. The bus was late which gave us some extra time to find out where it actually stopped, which we finally did. So, we loaded all our baggage and took our seats for the four hour bus trip up through Victoria to Kroondrook and across the Murray river into NSW and the town of Barham just on the other side where the festival was being held. The floods had just been through the area and there was still flood water on many of the farms. A lot of crops had been damaged and hay bales ruined. We both could not believe how flat the place was. There were no hills for as far as the eye could see and the roads were straight and flat. A little narrow in some places I thought not much room if you happened to meet someone coming the other way.

We had left Whangarei at about 6:00am that morning and arrived in Barham at around 8:30pm their time. Ruth was there to meet us and take us to our accommodation for the first two nights which was right next to the golf course. I can’t recall if we had dinner that night I don’t think it mattered much as we were both pretty beat.

Saturday we just took it easy as we knew we had a big week coming up. Ruth and Joyce took us to the RSL to show us where we would be performing. We went to dinner at the golf course’s Chinese restaurant Saturday night which was a short walk down the road and then prepared ourselves for the week ahead. I also must mention that on the Sunday Ruth took us to our permanent accommodation for the rest of the week. It was an amazing brand new apartment type house which was finished and furnished immaculately. We couldn’t believe our luck. It had three double bedrooms a bath and shower, air conditioning, plasma tv, dishwasher and a sauna. So we were set for the week well and truly. Any doubts or fears we may have had about making the trip were totally put to rest just with the accommodation. The rest would be a bonus.
The week was full on so I will try to be as concise as possible and try not to waffle on too much. I will explain the set up of the RSL first. At one end of the building was the stage and dance floor which was one venue. At the front of the building was a café area quite big with a small stage and seating for about 50 or 60 people maybe more which would be the second venue. Between these two areas was the main club area with the bar and gaming machines. The club also had its own restaurant and small bistro. It is one of the largest clubs in NSW due to its close proximity to the border with Victoria. This is where we would be performing three to four half hour sets every day from the Monday through to the following Sunday.

Our good friends Barb and Dale Goldsmith travelled all the way up from Adelaide to spend the week with us. They looked after us making sure we were well fed and watered during the week. Thank you so much for that guys. They also shouted us a ride on the Murray River which was very interesting and gave us a nice break from being stuck inside the club all day. We also ventured out to a place called Kerang one evening for dinner with them.

We met some awesome people during the week and had a great time entertaining all the folks who attended the festival. In the main venue they were on the dance floor from the time the music started until it finished every day. We really appreciated the way in which they accepted us and the music that we played. Everyone made us feel welcome and asked if we were able to come back next year which was a real buzz. We must thank them all for buying our cds also. We look forward to seeing you all in the future.

Some of the other entertainers we met were; David and Heather Hoffman who are a duo act like ourselves and are very popular at the festival. They gave us a lot of help and encouragement. Tom Maxwell and his wife Lynn, Tom is a full time bush ballad singer with a great sound and selection of cds. Tom Routledge and his partner Patsy who also shared the apartment with us, Tom does an excellent tribute show to Marty Robbins, Gene Pitney and Roy Orbison. Zane McKenzie a young man with cerebral palsy who sings and plays key boards, just amazing and his wife Kylie who is expecting their baby soon. Stephen R Cheney and his soon to be wife Nerallie, Stephen is a regular performer at the Bay of Islands festival and a popular one at that. We were privileged to be able to attend Stephen and Nerallie’s commitment ceremony held during the festival. Royden Donohoe and his marketing manager Micheal, Royden was the winner of Australia’s Elvis impersonator competition in 2010 and does country just as well. We hope to see him at the Bay festival in the near future. Cameron Mason and Tim Farren two great singers from Victoria. Tim is also getting married soon and we wish you both the best for the big day. George Farnham and his wife Lillian, George was one of the sound men during the week and is Australia’s answer to Johnny Cash. Thanks for all your help during the week George much appreciated. Thanks also to sound man Anthony Tenace for working so hard during the week to give us the best sound he could. We look forward to seeing you all next year. One of the highlights of the week was the Jim Reeves Tribute Show featuring Jim’s nephew John Rex Reeves. John performs a four hour show in which he talks about his life growing up with Jim and performs some of his greatest songs. He had the crowd mesmerised with his stories and songs. We could have sat there for five or six hours just listening.

As I said the week was pretty full on and before we knew it it had come to an end. That is not before the finale show on the Sunday evening where everyone had to dress up and do a variety act. Considering that they sprung it on us only a couple of days before hand I thought we came up with a pretty good act. I’ll just say

we did the song “The Happy Wanderer” and you can see the pictures for yourselves.
Thank you so much to Joyce Yates and Ruth Morpeth for inviting us over to the festival and looking after us so well we had a ball. We are definitely available to do it again.

All that was left was the four hour bus trip down to Melbourne the three and a half hour flight back to NZ and the two hour drive home and that was that.

The following Friday saw us back with our friends at the Dargaville RSA talking about our trip to Aussie and singing up a storm. And that was the month.

Take care and keep it Country

Annette and Kim

January 2011

Hi Folks

We hope you all had an awesome Christmas and a Happy and safe New Year. We are definitely looking forward to 2011. We have some exciting things organized for the year and hope you all will be a part of them in one way or another. The year has already started as on the 1st and 2nd we were guests at Phil Godfreys Wy Worry Woolshed Country Music Festival held at his property at Aranga. What an awesome spot it is. Just a stones throw away from some of Northlands most popular tourist attractions i.e. Kai Iwi Lakes, Trounson Park, Monganui Bluff and Waipoua Forest to name just a few. The weather and music were fantastic and Des and Sharon Fatt did an awesome job on the BBQ keeping everyone fed throughout the two days. It was great to catch up with Rewa MacGregor again. I remember meeting Rewa for the first time last century, which would have been about 1996 or ’97 at the Masterton Awards if I’m not mistaken. That’s one of the great things about country music you just never know when you are going to bump into old friends. It was also nice to meet Kathy Little who is originally from Te Kopuru but now resides in Perth. Kathy has been playing our music on her radio show through Perth Community Radio Station 95.3fm. Anyone wanting to listen to her show can log on to www.6eba.com.au and follow the links. Kathys on air name is Kaz. It was great to do an interview for her during the festival as we really do appreciate her support. It’s nice to know our music is getting air play in another country. We must also thank Phil and everyone at Big River fm for their support as well and look forward to repaying that support later in the year.

We had a great afternoon at the Kawakawa Railway Station on Sunday the 30th in support of the Vintage Railway. They need the funds more than ever now since the storm on Friday 28th washed out a lot of the track they had just recently laid. It was hard to imagine the amount of water that went through the township and many others in the north as well in the 12 to 18 hours and the damage it left in its wake. A good crowd turned out even though some of the roads were still blocked or only just opening again on Sunday afternoon. They were very appreciative of the variety of talent which Shirley had organized for the concert. We must thank Robbie Martin and his band Mirage , Wattie, Riff and Thomas for backing us for our set it was much appreciated guys. The concert was well emceed by John Carter who once again kept the show running smoothly and on time. Thanks to all our friends that came along to support us and the vintage railway .

Well, we are really getting excited about our Aussie trip. Not long to go now just hope it stops raining before we get there. We have been practising flat out for this festival and want to put our best foot forward. The 11th will be a long day though with travelling to Auckland a flight to Melbourne and a 4 hour bus trip up to Barham all in the one day. We arrive in Barham about 8:30pm. Then from Sunday it is a week of country music. Will let you know how we get on next month.

Remember we still have places left on our Norfolk Island Tour in May but seats are going quick. Please contact us if you would like to join us for an incredible week on Norfolk Island listening to some great country music.

Take Care and Keep it Country

November / December 2010

Hi Folks

Well, 2010 has come and gone and we are into a new decade and looking forward to a great 2011. We will just back track for a moment and review November and December 2010. We had a great weekend with Val and Ray Thurgood at the charity concert in Te Awamutu on the 13th of November. They looked after us splendidly and made us feel as if we were at home. It was my first sojourn to Te Awamutu so it was all new to me. It was also nice to catch up with Roger and Denise Tibbs who we hadn’t seen for quite awhile. They had just returned from a trip to North America where they had toured the mid west states, with great success I might add. We also caught up with our very good friends Graeme and Lynda McCardle. The show was sold out and although we went a little over time I don’t think anyone noticed. They were all singing along right till the end. We must thank everyone for supporting the show and for buying our cds it is much appreciated.

On the 21st November we were Guest Artists and judges at the Little Tennessee Country Music Club Awards held at the Kawakawa Primary School. A great afternoon of competition and fun was had by all. They know how to enjoy themselves up there that’s for sure. Congratulations to Warren for taking out the Overall Award. Thank you also to Shirley May for inviting us along. We hope to see all these guys on the 30th November for the Vintage Railway Fundraiser Concert to be held at the Kawakawa Station from 3:00pm.

Our two main gigs in December were our regular Kamo Club Dance Section and Dargaville RSA Christmas breakups. It is always nice to play for these two engagements. They both like to have a good time and really enjoy a night out dancing and singing. We look forward to seeing them all in 2011.

October 2010

Hi Folks

The 2nd of October saw us in Rotorua at the NZCMA Entertainer of the Year Awards held at the civic centre. We headed off on the Thursday and spent the night with my cousin Colin and his partner Barb just out of Tauranga. They have an awesome spot up in the hills overlooking the bay. Colin was working on his new hotrod, a 32 3 window Ford coupe, which he was preparing for the Nationals on the 23rd October. It’s going to look and sound amazing. On Friday we shot through to Rotorua for rehearsals in the afternoon and to settle in to our motel. Saturday morning the weather was clear and sunny so we decided to take a paddle on the lake in one of those peddle boats. They are a bit wobbly to get into but once you are sitting down it is full steam ahead. It was nice and relaxing out there with the swans and the ducks. Saturday afternoon we went to the first show which was great. We then managed to grab a quick bite between shows with Susan and Richard Pinny who had come down to support us. Which we really appreciated, thanks guys. Then it was off to the evening show which was sold out. It was a fantastic show everyone sang well and the overall winners were hard to pick. The headline act for the weekend was The Warratahs and they were awesome. Barry Saunders has written some great country songs and they performed most of them on the two shows. It was also good to catch up with many other friends we had not seen in a while. Before heading home on Sunday we took a look at a model train expo being held at the race course. Annette’s nephew, Alex, is building one with his dad so we were looking for pieces for him. I didn’t realise there were so many different sizes of model trains but we got a good run down from one of the exhibitors, a fanatic I think they call them. After that it was homeward bound.

On the 16th October we were part of the Whangarei Country Music Club artists who helped with the “Kids with Arthritis” charity concert. This was to raise funds to send families to the United States for the International Convention which assists them in dealing with arthritis individually and as a family. They are then able to bring that knowledge back to New Zealand to teach others. It was an awesome concert. Our club members did a great job and were very professional. The arthritis society was blown away. The headline act for the show were The Hamilton County Blue Grass Band. A great show which was enjoyed by everyone in the audience.

The 13th November we will be in Te Awamutu for the prostate cancer charity concert run by Val and Ray Thurgood. It will be the first time to Te Awamutu for me so I am really looking forward to it. The other guest artists joining us are Roger Tibbs and Graeme McCardle.
On the 21st November we will be guest artists at the Little Tennessee Country Music Club awards to be held at the Kawakawa primary school. Thank you for the invitation it should be a great day as well.

We have just received our contract for the Barham festival which runs from the 13th to the 20th February and can begin making travel arrangements. This is going to be very exciting. We fly into Melbourne and travel by bus 4 hours up to Barham which is just across the border in NSW. It is a week long festival and we will be performing every day. Apparently it will be very hot at that time of year. I hope there’s a swimming pool handy and no snakes.

e are full on organizing our tour to Norfolk Island in May. We are looking forward to this one as we know all the contestants competing in the Trans-Tasman Award next year. Hopefully there will be a big NZ contingent supporting them as well. If you haven’t already you can down load the tour package from this website and join us we would love to have you there. Any questions just drop us a line and we will be happy to help. It’s an awesome week of country music and relaxation. Don’t miss out!

That’s about all for now we will catch you later.

Take care and Keep it Country

Annette and Kim

August / September 2010

Hi Folks

Well, what can we say, we just weren’t that busy during August and September. We would, however, like to thank everyone who voted for us in the Kiwi Pro-am national Country Music awards. We really do appreciate your support. We will have to get more of our fans onto computers to help boost our chances for next year. We would like to congratulate our good friends Michael and Ashley on winning the Duo/Group section. Well done you guys and all the best for your future endeavors.

We were booked to play the Kamo club twice in September and always enjoy the Wednesday night Dance Section gigs. Unfortunately we had to cancel our Saturday night gig on the 25th due to illness. We hate doing this and try to honour all our commitments and only cancel if we are physically incapacitated which one of us was. We apologise to all those who decided not to go out on the Friday night thinking they would have a great night with us on Saturday. We will try and be twice as good next time we see you.

We are looking forward to the Entertainer of the Year on October 2nd and will let you know how that goes at the end of October.
The contract for the Barham festival in Australia during February 13th-20th next year shouldn’t be far away. We can then start to finalise the travel arrangements. That will be exciting stuff as well.

Will catch you again next month. Take care and keep it country.

Annette and Kim

June / July 2010

Hi Folks

Well another couple of months have gone by and here we are in the second half of the year. We have been performing at various functions over the last couple of months. These have included the Dargaville and Whangarei RSA’s, the Kamo Club Dance section and a private 90th birthday party for a big fan of ours, Knocker Wells. This was a great party with some every touching speeches for a man who is every well respected by his family and friends. It was a privilege to be a party of the celebrations.

Our good friend Freda Kena also celebrated her 70th birthday recently with a dinner at the Kamo Club. Everyone enjoyed a wonderful meal and an evening of dancing and entertainment. Freda was a member of our first Norfolk tour. Thank you for the invite Freda I had a great time.
We would like to congratulate our friends Neil McKenzie-Hall and Grant Reha-Timoti for being the Senior Overall Winners of the Auckalnd and Gisborne Country Music Awards respectively. Both Neil and Grant have gained entry to the Norfolk Island Trans-Tasman Entertainer of the Year Award 2011. Best of luck to you both and we will see you there. Which brings me to the next item. We are now organizing next year’s tour to Norfolk Island. So, if you would like to be on our tour please contact us either by phone or e-mail or if we get it right you can down load the information package from our web site and come and spend an awesome week with us on Norfolk Island listening to some great country music and experiencing the attractions of this magical island. We would love to have you with us.

We would also like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who voted for us on the Kiwi Pro-am National Country Music Awards nominations we appreciate your support. We haven’t made the top three finalists this year but would like to wish all those artists who have the very best of luck.

Annette and I will be heading to the Entertainer of the Year on the 2nd of October. We will be singing my original song “Before You Say Goodbye” which won the songwriters section at the Auckland Awards held in July. Some of you may remember this song as we have performed it at some of our shows. It is the one that I couldn’t settle on a name for and which I sometimes called “Mist On The Mountains”. It is registered with APRA as “Before You Say Goodbye” so that may be how it will have to stay. Another song which I also wrote was runner-up at the Auckland Awards it is titled “Runnin’ On Empty”. I was pretty pleased with that effort.

We must also apologize to all the people who were expecting to see us at Taukau Club on the weekend. We are very sorry we weren’t able to make it down with the Whangarei Club as I had come down with the flu and could not travel. We hope to catch up with you all in the near future.
Well that’s about all for now. Take care and Keep It Country.

Annette and Kim

May 2010

Hi Folks,

Well, where do I begin with May. I’ll start at the 1st perhaps. Saturday the 1st of May saw Annette and Alex, Annette’s nephew, fly out to Canberra for Australian National Boccia Championships. They flew out of Whangarei at 7:00am to connect with their flight from Auckland to Canberra for a week of boccia. Alex played well and learnt heaps from his Aussie counterparts. He placed 4th in the teams event, each team consisted of 2 Aussies and 2 Kiwis, and placed 8th in the singles. Well done Alex. Apparently he also had a hot date with two, that’s right, two lovely ladies. Must be those dashing good looks and that charm.

The Bay of Islands Festival kicked off on the 7th of May. As Annette was still heading back from Australia it was up to me and the boys in the band to tackle the Friday night set at Haruru Falls on our own. We decided that it would be a good chance to perform some of my original songs. Which went down surprisingly well. I must thank Ian, Tiny and Richard for making them sound like country songs. A couple of the songs hadn’t been performed live until that night. Saturday morning I was in town listening to the street entertainment and had breakfast with Lorraine and Maureen our line dancing friends. Just in passing Maureen happened to mention that she used to have breakfast with the Beatles before they were really famous, now that is amazing, she also said that it could be no different to having breakfast with me, before I am famous, how would that be. Anyway I digress. Annette made it up for the Saturday show at the Cruza Bar, where we caught up with our good friends, Michael and Ashley, who have just returned from Nashville. Had a good show there and then headed off to the big venue, the Copthorne, where we had a 45 minute set to do. The audience was fantastic, actually all the audiences we played to were fantastic, and we would very much like to thank you all for coming along to listen to us. We really do appreciate it. It was also great to see people dancing as well. On Sunday we finished off at the Paihia Pacific, which is a great little venue, Carleen Still was on before us and James Ray followed us so it was nice to catch their acts as well. Sometimes it doesn’t work out and you miss seeing acts that you would like to hear. Our drummer, Richard Pinny, was a busy man during the weekend playing for Reg McTaggart and his local band Enertia. It was good to listen to these two acts as well. Over the weekend we managed to see Michael and Ashley perform as well as our friend Kylie Austin both talented acts in New Zealand country music.

The following weekend we were heading off to Norfolk Island for the annual country music festival. We had a group of fourteen joining us on our tour. Half flying out with us on the Saturday morning and the remainder arriving on Norfolk on an afternoon flight. Both flights made it to Norfolk, which meant the weather was good. It can be a bit scary when you haven’t met some of the people on your tour before. Des had finally counted off the last sleep and was raring to go. Sharon, Makuini and Len had all been on our previous tours. But we needn’t have feared because we had a wonderful group of people join us. They all had some amazing backgrounds and it was a pleasure to meet them and show them around the Island. Well, we didn’t personally show them around the Island we had some help from Eddy and the other drivers. We were also joined by Brendan Dugan and his tour group on some of the organized events. Brendan even joined us on the Monday to do a lunch time gig at the RSL which was a real honour for us. The weather was great with only one or two showers during the week but nothing to disrupt the organized entertainment or dampen the spirits. The music was great as well. The New Zealand stars were Tami Neilsson, Jodi Vaughan, Barry Saunders ,of The Warratahs fame, Entranzet, the South Islanders and Philip Winter. The Australian contingent was headed by Catherine Britt and comedian Jim Haynes with Kristal Collins and Lee Brittan.

The Trans-Tasman was won by Angela Easson from Australia with Helen Van Der Linden from New Zealand taking 2nd place. The Dead Ringer Encouragement Award went to Breanna Gerritsen from Australia. The Original Song Award was won by Lance Coassin also from Australia. A big mention must go to Arianna Baker who was very unlucky in our opinion not place or even win the title as she sang and entertained particularly well. Hayley Smith was also a strong contender for the Kiwis she never fails to lift her game for this competition.

We must thank our photographer Barry Rabarts for all his hard work and constant support of our abilities as tour hosts. He was recommending us to all and sundry, so thank you Barry. Thank you also to his wife Sonia for being so patient it was a pleasure to meet you both. Barry and Sonia also convinced their friends Stan and Pat, and Colin and Lois to join our tour as well. We hope to see them again next year perhaps. We also had two lovely ladies from the Pukekohe area join us, June and Marlene, who were so easy to look after. They had their own things organized to do and just enjoyed the Island and the week of country music. We hope to see you gals back next year as well. Regulars to the Island Wayne and Jo Greig who usually tour with Dennis Marsh also joined us on our tour as Dennis and Yvonne were otherwise engaged and it was a pleasure to have them with us. We hope they may join us next year.

A big thank you to all our friends on Norfolk who made our tour group feel at home and always welcome us back each year. Brent and Leo for opening their home to us, they are the best friends we could ever have. Chrissy for helping to organize the tour and for making sure it all ran smoothly. Terrence at the RSL for supporting us and allowing us to entertain and to Kim and the band for their awesome musical abilities. We had a great time once again and were sad to have to come back to reality. It was nice also to catch up with Lucy and Campbell and their two wonderful daughters Sophie and Tasmyn.

Thanks also to all the people that purchased our cds we appreciate your support very much.Well, we are nearly at the end of May, but not quite. The weekend of the 29th saw us heading to Kerepehi for the Kiwi Magic Charity concert which commenced at 1:00pm. To save ourselves time we headed down to Patamohoe on the Friday to stay with Aunty June and Uncle Leo. Then went to Kerepehi for the afternoon concert with guest artist Kylie Austin and then headed north to Dargaville to appear at a concert there with guest artist Marian Burns. Both were great shows but it made for a long weekend of travel. The things we do for our music.

And that was the end of May. One of the busiest for us for awhile. We will catch you somewhere in June.

All the Best and Keep it Country

Annette and Kim

March/April 2010

Hi Folks

A pretty quiet March with Kim performing at the Relay for Life Cancer Fund Raiser while Annette was away on a course. A very worthy cause which we are always happy to support in any way we can. Well organized by Eddie Hemara with a great sound man, namely James Franklin from JD Sounds, making us all sound good.

Early in April we entertained the exhibitors from the Creative Fibre Festival at their closing function. An enjoyable and humorous couple of hours for everyone and an enthusiastic audience even after a very long weekend for them all. Kim met some long lost relations just for good measure.

We also had a great afternoon entertaining the ladies at the Whakapara Gardening Club birthday celebrations. Not much cash crop being grown here though. However, the spread was awesome especially the apple cake. Thanks to Betty for the invitation. It was a great sing-a-long afternoon. With everyone going home tired but happy and a bunch of flowers for mum.

The 23rd of April saw us at the Dargaville RSA for the first time this year. A few birthday parties going on here as well and a good number of people sticking it out until the end. Always nice to catch up with these guys.

The following week we were at the Whangarei RSA where a big crowd had gathered. Hopefully we thought to listen to us. Another good crowd on the dance floor right ‘til’ the end as well. Great to see our friend Larry again stirring things up. And also friends from the country music club, the rock ‘n’ roll club and the line dancers. Sounds like most will be at the Bay of Islands Festival. Hope we see you there too.

We still have a couple of places left on the Norfolk Tour. Joining us for the third year in a row will be Des and Sharon Fatt from Dargaville and Makuini Ututonga and Len Field all the way from Kawakawa. They must either be devils for punishment or they really really like us. No matter we really really like them. Des is counting down the sleeps. We look forward to meeting everyone on our tour on the 15th.

I would like to thank our friend Phil Steans from Nelson for recording two of my songs on his latest album “ Give Me One More Shot” they were “Wide Open Spaces” and “I’m Living With A Memory”. He has made a great job of them and just over the weekend he made it to the finals in the New Zealand Song category with “I’m Living with a Memory” at a South Island Awards plus winning the Male Veteran and Gospel sections, so well done Phil.

Catch up with you all next month. May is going to be full on.

Take care and Keep it Country

Annette and Kim

January/February 2010