Caught some great music at the Easter blues festival at Byron this week. Always a great lineup- something old, something new and always something to surprise when you least expect it. Bob Dylan was the headline act as befits a legend, along with some favourites- Michael Franti, Xavier Rudd- missed the great Elvis Costello who I heard was fabulous- loved the weirdly named 'A French Butler called Smith' complete with dreads and fuschia top hat! Wish I had seen Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks from Canada- another new one to me, she has a beautiful voice on their song 'Midnight in Harlem'. Gurrumul was there, a legendary Aboriginal singer receiving major interest overseas (he performs a spinetingling rendition of 'Every Breath you Take' with Sting.) Australian indigenous talent is slow in getting the interest it deserves- just witness the amazing Torres Strait Islander dancer Albert David on the Street Warriors clip below.
Back in downtown West End I was watching a busker outside Coles supermarket 'from the communities up north' and asked him to come up to the centre where I work to share his natural infectious love of music. He got immediately involved and has got everyone singing for 'Uncle Bobs Talent Show'.
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