Hello and welcome. Now hear this…

They’ve laid around,
Played around
This ol’ town too long.

Winter’s all but gone
And summer’s coming on.

Yes, they’ve laid around
And played around
This ol’ town too long.

And they feel like
They’ve gotta travel on.

I’m speaking about a couple of local musicians, Vic and Joal Pascoe who feel the time has come to mix it with the big league up north along the Gold Coast. We wish them well. We’ll miss them of course, and their raunchy guitars but they’ve been entertaining the people of the Snowy Region for a decade now and deserve the success that comes from hard work, dedication and raw talent. With Joal’s amazing dexterous feats on lead guitar (a Gibson for those in the know) and Vic’s encyclopaedic repertoire of songs from the present and back through to the birth of rock in the fifties, how can they miss?

Joal is in USA on tour with Missy Higgins
-he has done good!

I strongly suspect that Vic and Joal may sometime in the future get that old feeling, that yearning churning burning deep inside of them, and slip back into town for the occasional gig.

Speaking of gigs, I was fortunate to supply the music for Kate Macduff and Paul Macrae Speedy’s wedding on Saturday 13 th November at Crackenback Cottage. The two crack skiers wanted the emphasis on Frank Sinatra and the Swing Era. I mention it because budding bass player, Sue Sell, and myself on keyboard/vocals were joined by five top musos from the Canberra based, 18 piece big band, “Spectrum” for the occasion. You may recall that “Spectrum” played for the Jindabyne Lions Club “In the Mood” Charity Ball, last May. It was a huge success and there will be a repeat performance next May 14 th. So keep your musical ears to the ground for the ticket release. At only $60 a ticket you’d be mad to miss this one.

This column is aimed at raising the profile of music and musicians in the Snowy Region. In future columns I’ll be reviewing CDs and performances (especially local) so don’t hesitate to let me know about a performance, CD, or point of musical interest and I’ll do my best to cover it.

Keep swinging, grooving or whatever you do and be happy.

Paul Dion