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What’s on Celebra ng Youth Week - Currents at Moruya on Apr 9th

Currents is back! Celebra ng Youth Week in the Eurobodalla with a ba le of the bands compe on and live music performances - all ages and substance free

LIVE MUSIC FOOD TRUCKS GIVEAWAYS FRIENDS OF THE SOUTH DJS FREE – all ages Drug and alcohol free Date and me Sat., 9 April 2022 3:00 pm – 8:00 pm Loca on Moruya RSL Hall,

This year local bands will ba le it out live on stage with a huge a ernoon of tunes and beats. Each band will perform a fi een minute live set - the winning ar sts will win a huge trophy and a guaranteed performance slot for Currents 2023. A er the ba le, local support acts will hit the stage and local DJs will close out the night. Tickets are FREE via Eventbrite: h ps://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/currents-live-music-2022- ckets265467669947

Apr 9th - Alexie Pigot at the Batemans Bay Soldiers Club Apr 9th - Simon Kinny-Lewis at The Bend and Sip Bar in Narooma Apr 9th - Flock of Haircuts at Club Catalina Apr 9th - Robin Simpson at Tomakin Social Club Apr 9th - Steve Mar n – Tuross Club (7.30pm) Apr 9th - Giiyiong Fes val (between Pambula and Eden) Apr 9th - Currents at Moruya RSL Hall from 3pm Apr 10th - RiveRok – Club Narooma (3pm) Apr 10th - Two Dogz Pluckin at Tilba Pub Apr 15th- Jacii Leigh at Club Catalina Apr 16th - Chris McGrath at Club Catalina Apr 16th - Flock of Haircuts at the Batemans Bay Soldiers Club Apr 16th - South Street Duo at Tomakin Social Club Apr 17th - Flock of Haircuts at the Batemans Bay Soldiers Club Apr 17th - Mick on Wheels at Club Catalina Apr 17th - Joe Quennell – Tuross Club (9.30am) Apr 17th - RiveRok – Club Narooma (3pm) Apr 23rd - Totum at Club Catalina Apr 23rd - Flock of Haircuts at Tomakin Social Club Apr 23rd - Fred Smith and band at Batemans Bay Soldiers Club

What’s on Fred Smith ANZAC Weekend Concert at Batemans Bay Soldiers Club

Fred Smith and band will be presen ng this extraordinary song cycle on Australia’s involvement in Afghanistan at the Batemans Bay Soldiers Club on Saturday 23 April. The concert will begin with songs from Fred’s acclaimed Dust of Uruzgan album which draw on his experiences working alongside Australian soldiers in southern Afghanistan. It will culminate with material he wrote a er working on the drama c evacua on from Kabul in August 2021. Fred Smith was the first Australian diplomat to be sent to work alongside Australian soldiers in Uruzgan Province in 2009 and a last to leave in 2013. While there he wrote songs about his experience and put on regular concerts on the base with band is made up of Aussie, US and Dutch soldiers as well as Afghan staff. Returning to Australia, he recorded these songs on an album Dust of Uruzgan. The CD was described in the Weekend Australian as con nuing “a tradi on of profoundly affec ng Australians-at-war ballads that includes Eric Bogle’s And the band played Waltzing Ma lda, Don Walker’s Khe Sanh and John Schumann’s I was only 19.” The tle track was covered by Lee Kernaghan on his top selling Spirit of the Anzacs album. Smith also wrote a book called The Dust of Uruzgan about his experiences, published by Allen and Unwin in 2016, and is subject of an ABC Australian Story documentary. In 2020, Smith went back to Afghanistan to work in the Australian Embassy in Kabul. As Kabul fell under Taliban control, he found himself working from Kabul Interna onal Airport (KIA) on Australia’s mission to evacuate passport and visa holders. His experiences at the horrendous human logjams at the gates of the airport are expressed in this new single, “Gates of KIA”. “Seeing such human despera on of my own eyes changed me” said Smith. Since returning, he built a final version of the Dust of Uruzgan stage show that toured to 80 theatres around Australia. Does a remarkable job of explaining Australia’s 20 year involvement in Afghanistan, culmina ng the evacua on. “The percep on is that the evacua on was a failure, but in fact the Australian team managed to get 4100 people out most of them are now living in Australia. Their girls and boys are going to school and having swimming lessons. We’ve changed people’s lives” said Smith. “This is a story worth telling” Fred is seen by many as the unofficial historian of Australia’s involvement in Afghanistan. His book The Dust of Uruzgan was described by Channel 10 Poli cal Editor Hugh Riminton as “as convincing a picture as we will ever have of the tragedy, hope, oddness and courage of Australia’s Uruzgan enterprise…an astonishingly vibrant piece of reportage from the heart of our longest war.” The lyrics to his song Sapper’s Lullaby are engraved in marble at the Australian plot the centuries old Bri sh War Cemetery in Kabul.