Hi Folks
Welcome to the New Year. We hope you all had a safe and happy festive season and are looking forward to the year ahead. January 18th, 19th, and 20th saw us on the road and heading down to Martin for their three day country music festival. The weather played its part during the day and we only encountered torrential rain on the trip down through the desert road on the Thursday and a hail storm on the Thursday night at the informal walk ups just when Annette and I were about to sing. Luckily that was not an omen for the rest of the weekend.
On arrival we found our accommodation and settled in. Anne George the festival convenor had the guest artists booked in at a Girl Guides Retreat named Anahira, check out the photos to get an idea, everyone had their own room with en suite and there was a communal lounge where everyone could gather to talk and sing or watch a movie or tv. We had two good sing-a -longs on the Friday and Saturday nights with some outstanding talent being shown by Roger Tibbs on guitar and Lance on steel.
The guest artists for the weekend were Noel Parlane, who now resides in Australia, Rosanna Ruddick also from Australia, Jenny Blackadder, New Zealand’s premier Banjo player, Roger Tibbs, internationally acclaimed country singer and yodeller, Joy Adams, also an internationally recognized country singer, Kylie Austin, Graeme McCardle, Ann Pascoe, local singer Terry Moratti, young Taranaki based up and comer Abby and yours truly Annette and Kim, the Whangarei based duo act.
Friday night and Saturday morning was the walk up concerts which everyone could participate in and on Saturday night was the guest artist’s concert where we each got to do a 15-20 min spot. As I said earlier the weather played its part and although it was a bit nippy the sun was out and all were having a great time. Around 300 caravans and mobile homers had turned up for the weekend and were getting their money’s worth.
Friday we wandered in to town to watch the buskers do their thing in the busking competition and to check out the P.A.s in use. This year we will be busking at the BOI festival for the very first time.
It was great to catch up with long lost friends and maybe we will see you all next year. We must thank Pheonix and Shotgun for backing all the singers and Sandy and Mandy for providing B.V.s over the weekend. Also thank you to Anne for inviting us to perform. We are looking forward to having Anne and her husband, Len, join us on our Norfolk Island tour in May. There are still seats available as Air New Zealand has laid on another flight. So let us know if you are interested in joining us also.
On the Sunday afternoon we followed Lloyd and Nancy Muller to their home just out of Hawera where they had invited us to stay for the night. They have an awesome home which sees the back garden looking out to Mt Taranaki. Next day we drove to New Plymouth for the TSB Festival of Lights show. WOW, what an awesome venue. The evening was beautifully clear and a great crowd came in the hear us perform. They brought their deck chairs and blankets and food and refreshments and settled in for a great night. Firstly with Kylie Austin performing her modern country set followed by Annette & Kim with a mixture of traditional and modern country music. We certainly look forward to appearing at the festival again in the future. After we had finished our show Lloyd and Nancy kindly showed us around the park to see the light displays. The photos don’t do it justice but will give you an idea of the extent that council goes to produce the light display.
Tuesday we were up at 6:00am to head home. We had a short stop in Te Kuiti for breakfast then over to Te Aroha to see Annette’s Uncle Jim and then headed home. All up we did over 1600kms and saw some beautiful New Zealand scenery.
That’s about all for now folks.
BUT we have a VERY IMPORTANT MESSAGE for you all. On Sunday the 7th of April from 1:00pm until 3:30pm we will be putting on a country music show at the Kamo club. It will be called “The Patsy Cline & Jim Reeves Tribute and Country Show”. The first half of the show will feature Patsy Cline and Jim Reeves songs. Some will from our recent album “ Annette & Kim sing Patsy & Jim” followed in the second half of the show by some traditional, modern and original country songs. The show will also feature the very popular and talented “ Mountain Mist Band”. Posters will soon be out advertising the show and tickets will be available from the Kamo Club ph 09 435 1765 or Kim Copedo ph 09 459 6657. Tickets are $20-00 per person with under 15 years of age free. We would love to see you all there.
Take care and keep it country
Annette and Kim
