Edition 8, 21 May 2014

21 May ‘14

free

hello ladies!

ORDINARY WOMEN, EXTRAORDINARY LIVES

issue #008

LADIES OF GC

Hayley Bateup Michelle Merrifield Marina Orpen Katrina Ellis Sue Porrett Ana Marcela Regalado

LADIES OF GC Hussy Hicks Bree De Rome Sarah Frank Felicity Lawless Ella Fence Jesswar

MUSIC

Ladies of Splendour CC The Cat Kate Leopold Lilly Rouge Stonefield

ENVIRO

Sheila Davis Lyn Wright Boomerang Bags Jordyn de Boer

CULTURE

Kay Danes Phyllis O’Donnell Beck Cunningham Sian Bressolles Amanda Clark

Beyond Suffering 2014 Australian Tour

A Life-Changing Day of Self Love, Healing, Meditation & Qi Gong Melbourne Sydney May 24th

May 31st

Byron Bay June 14th

Gold Coast June 15th

Adelaide

June 28th

Perth & New Zealand Dates Coming Soon

Please join internationally recognised author, spiritual teacher and healer Blake D. Bauer for an empowering day of deep healing and profound spiritual awakening. Discover the simple but profound reasons why all of your suffering, illness, and unhappiness are merely cries from your soul asking you to:

early Bird

$79 iAL SPeC

• Fulfill your life’s purpose • Love, honour and value yourself in every moment, situation and relationship

The dAy wiLL iNCLude: • The Keys To Loving Yourself Unconditionally • Deep Emotional Healing and Release • Identifying & Transforming Limiting Beliefs • Understanding and Healing The Root Cause of Illness • Tools To Live Fully In The Present • Mindfulness Meditation • Qi Gong Healing Exercises • Liberating Blocks To Full Health and Happiness • Life Purpose Guidance • Group Discussion

For all event details & to reserve your ticket to this special event, please visit:

www.unconditional-selflove.com

“Blake Bauer’s You Were Not Born To Suffer is one of the best books on the planet for emotional healing & transformation. Apply these brilliant suggestions & enjoy the benefit of your life changing in beautiful, harmonious & loving ways.”

- Dr. Darren R Weissman, Developer of The LifeLine Technique and Best Selling Author

BlakeBauer_JetStarFP2014_V2.indd 1

Available on:

11/03/2014 4:15:42 PM

#008 21 MAY 2014 Guest Editor: Emily Hosking Editorial oversight: Samantha Morris Babysitting: Leontine Morris Design: Chloe Popa, Blunt Pencil Music Coordinator: Mella Bunker Distribution: Melanie Brennan Advertising: Amanda Gorman & Melanie Brennan Environment Editor: Mic Smith Sub Editor: Cody McConnell Cover photo: Ladies of the GC by Leisen Standen, Lamp Photography. Pictured L-R (top), Mella Bunker, Phillippa Wright, Pip Andreas, Jordyn de Boer, Emily Hosking, Ella Fence, Claire Cottone, Beck Cartwright, Jesswar (bottom), Samantha Morris with Marley Morris, Marina Orpen, Hayley Bateup, Lyn Wright, Sheila Davis, Anna Itkonen, Kate Leopold, Marj Osborne (sitting) Ana Marcela Regalado Other photographers: Kyle Butcher, Mic Smith, Gina Martin, Ron Perrott Illustrator: Kemii Maguire Writers: Emily Hosking, Marj Osborne, Pip Andreas, Keiren Bond, Andrew Scott, Jessie Ryan-Allen, Samantha Morris, Tari Petersen, Kyle Butcher, Christie Ots, Anthony Gebhardt, Nev Pearce, Catherine Coburn, Anna Itkonen, Naomi Edwards, Mic Smith, Terry “Tappa� Teece, Andrew Scott, Gina Martin

Editorial: news@blankgc.com.au Advertising: advertising@blankgc.com.au Blank Gold Coast PO Box 878 Broadbeach QLD 4218 www.blankgc.com.au Blank GC is independently owned and published.

Opinons expressed in Blank GC are not necessarily those of the editor, publisher or contributors.

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Ella Fence

Julia Rose

No fence sitter: she’s off to the UK Ella Fence – she’s just returned from a headline tour of Tasmania and now she tells us she’s shortly to be off again.

Ella has just confirmed she’s off to the UK to record her debut EP at Brighton Electric in August with Dan Swift.

Nice one lady. Follow Ella’s journey at ellafencemusic.com.

Proud rose Gold Coast’s very own Julia Rose has been nominated for Performer of the year by Brisbane Pride Festival. The nomination comes after some epic touring around Australia and Japan for her new EP Stairway to the Moon. Voting is currently open. You can check out Julia’s music at juliarosemusic.com and you can vote for her at brisbanepridefestival.com.au. $50,000 scholarship on offer for musicians A career boosting package is up for grabs in a new scholarship initiative which will see an independent Australian artist or band grab a $50,000 package of goods and services. The opportunity is being offered by several Australian music businesses who are seeking one talented and independent artist or band to lavish an array of services on. The scholarship includes production of an album, a professional photo shoot and video clip, 500 copies of a CD, a website, set up and management for three months of social media accounts, professional written materials, electronic press kit, business plan, marketing consults and media coaching. Applications close 31 July 2014 and more information is available at pacificinternationalmusic.com.

Touching tribute to rock goddess Chrissy Amphlett Some of Australia leading artists have come together to reincarnate rock goddess Chrissy Amphlett’s anthem I Touch Myself. The song and associated clip have become not just a tribute to the star, who died of breast cancer in May 2013, but also a breast health awareness campaign targeted at Australian women. The project is the branchild of JWT Sydney and features Olivia Newton John, Deborah Conway, Suze DeMarchi, Little Pattie, Megan Washinton, Katie Noonan, Sarah McLeod, Sarah Blasko, Kate Ceberano and Connie Mitchell. By the age of 85 one in eight Australian women will be diagnosed with breast cancer. And detecting cancer early is the most important factor in beating this disease. Watch the clip and learn more at itouchmyself.org.

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Gold Coast Writers Festival A three day program of events has been launched for the GC Writers Festival which takes place 13 – 15 June. Read. Write.

Create. is for readers, writers and fans – young, old, aspiring and novice writers as well as those who are published. The Literary Luncheon is the social highlight of the festival and features Kay Danes OAM (read her story later in this edition), and the festival’s adult writing competition offers a $3,650 publishing package as first prize.

There is also an Authors in Schools program. Get all the details at goldcoastwritersfestival.com.au.

Boy + Bear @ Gold Coast Arts Centre

Arts Centre hosts Boy + Bear We usually associate the Arts Centre Gold Coast with comedy and classical music, the odd film, a stage production perhaps, but what if we told you that in September this year, the Centre will play host to Aussie darlings Boy + Bear? You’d probably want to sort your tickets ASAP. They’ve recently toured the world to sold out venues and this Get Up and Dance theatre tour will be their final tour of the year in support of their number 1 ARIA album Harlequin Dream. Tickets are on sale now for the Friday 12 September show which is all ages. Book ‘em quickly: theartscentregc.com.au. Boy + Bear also play The Tivoli in Brisbane on Saturday 13 September.

This is why we can’t have nice things Drinking, procrastinating, voicemail messages, love, sex, dreams, humiliation, grammar, hangovers, band-aids. No, it’s not a Blank GC team meeting, it’s what Gillian Cosgriff is up to now that she’s doing less waitressing. Her new show, which won best cabaret award at Melbourne Fringe Festival last year is about trying to improve, become a better person, but constantly struggling against your true nature. Head to Arts Centre Gold Coast for Gillian’s funny and original songs on Saturday 7 June as part of the Queensland Cabaret Festival. Details at theartscentregc.com.au.

February drops in June Josh Rennie-Hynes is a folk / Americana artist hailing from Brisbane. But he’s about to hit the road as he releases his first full-length album February. Since catching the attention of Shane Nicholson – a renowned ARIA award winning producer, they’ve worked to give Josh’s songs the sound, life and professionalism a full-length album needs. Josh plays Blak Bear Lodge (Brisbane) with Phil Smith and Bree De Rome on 11 June and an African benefit gig at Tallebudgera Hall on 12 July.

Ramona on film I remember the first time I saw Velociraptor live (kind of).

I was trying to count the band members on stage and it was one of those situations where you get half way through and think ‘shit, did I count that guy already’. Let’s just say there’s a lot of them. Sometimes 10, sometimes 12, sometimes more.

But now, this ever-changing Brisbane outfit have released a video for their new single Ramona: directed by Jeff Andersen Jnr. Can’t help but give you fair warning though, this song is very catchy, if you listen / watch too many times you’ll be walking down the street going ‘ooh oooh’. Damn earworm. Watch the new vid on YouTube.

Does GC have talent?

Buskers by the Creek, slated to take over the southern bank of Currumbin Creek 18 – 19 October, continues to firm up its program. Along with Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary confirming Star Sponsorship for the event, organisers have also locked in Austra-Venezuelan fusion with Free Like Me and improvised originals from veteran performer Jason Lockhorst (AKA Amura). Young Brittany Moetara and contemporary pop/folk duo, Violet Seas are also booked, with Fuglissimo adding a rockabilly element to the line-up. Do you have talent? Organisers want you. talent@buskersbythecreek.com.au.

African fundraiser A benefit gig to help a local lady get to Africa for a wildlife expedition is being held in July. A stellar lineup is throwing its weight behind the cause with Karl S Williams, Amy Shark, Josh Rennie-Hynes, Marcus Blacke and Phil Smith all on the bill. It takes place Saturday 12 July at Tallebudgera Valley Hall and we’ll keep you posted on other details via social media.

New York cabaret star hits GC Award-winning New York based cabaret performer Kim Smith conjures the glitter and doom of Weimar-era Germany. It’s electro-pop meets Weimar cabaret where Smith gives his own songs a decadent 1920s treatment and performs them alongside his inventive mash-ups of everyone from Kurt Weill to Madonna, The Supremes, Kylie Minogue and myriad others. Tickets are only $30.00 and his show hits The Basement, Arts Centre Gold Coast for only one night as part of the Queensland Cabaret Festival – Saturday 14 June.

Get tickets and all the details at theartscentregc.com.au.

Rhonda Burchmore @ Noosa Long Weekend

Noosa Long Weekend for music, theatre, food, more Rhonda Burchmore, caberet performer Cathering Alcorn, sprano opera singer Ali McGregor and comedian Fiona O’Loughlin have all been added to the program for Noosa’s Long Weekend, which takes place 18 – 27 July. Forums, workshops, supper clubs and a bunch of theatrical productions are also in the mix. Tickets are on sale now at noosalongweekend.com.

Laugh your pants off at Jupiters This June long weekend, Jupiters Theatre plays host to an impressive lineup of comedic talent with its fourth installment of Laugh Your Pants Off. Comedy masters Tom Gleeson, Denise Scott, Rusty and Another Guy, and Sammy J and Randy hit the stage for just one night, with Canada’s Marty Putz, Triple J’s Matt O’Kine, Aussie jokers Paul Brasch, Fiona McGary and Bev Killick warming the stage. Dinner and show packages are available from $59. Tickets for the 6 June show are on sale now through ticketek.com.au.

Styled: Art, Food, Fashion Featuring the latest trends of the GC art and fashion scene, Southport Sharks next Styled event takes place 22 May at their Cabana Bar and Lounge. This time ‘round the event features winter fashion by Miss Darcy, art by John Kaye and tunes by musician Ruby Montey. Entry is free but RSVP is required. More at southportsharks.com.au.

GC Show: music to your ears The Gold Coast show has launched a competition for its very own song, for the first time ever. “We’re after a 1-2 minute composition that encapsulates what the show is about,” Show General Manager Lavinia Rampino said. She’s hoping to get entries about the show experience and what it means to the Gold Coast and people who’ve been part of it for the past 108 years. It’s the ultimate blank canvas for GC musicians and the prize package includes performing the song before thousands of people at this year’s event. As well as the show song competition, applications are also open for musicians and entertainers volunteering to perform. Songwriters and music artists are set to be an integral part of the success of this year’s event – the first ever at the Gold Coast Turf Club Showgrounds. The show runs 29 – 31 August. Get all the details at goldcoastshow.com.au. Entries for the competition to marketing@goldcoastshow.com.au.

live acoustic artists, Kids Caring for Country Dance Troup and Indigenous hip hop and RnB artists Native Ryme.

Walloping rock at Wallapalooza HELM, Hailmary, Wolfpack, Azreal, The Black Swamp. The Molotov, Smoking Martha, Gimpus, Dollarosa and Lilly Rouge are amongst a whopping lineup of 29 acts that make up the Wallapalooza bill this year. It all goes down 8 June at Mudgeeraba’s oldest pub, The Wallaby Hotel, and we’re not going to tell you where you can get tickets from, because you don’t need them. Wallapalooza is absolutely free.

Blues on Broadbeach

Funding for international music showcase The Australia Council has funding to support travel for Australian music makers (and their manager) who’ve been invited to showcase at international music trade fairs or industry facing events. A maximum of $10,000 is available per application. Showcase opportunities include SxSW, CMJ, The Great Escape and more. Applications close 16 June and more information is at australiacouncil.gov.au.

Winter blues about to set in There’s no doubt Blues on Broadbeach grows every year and it’s no wonder with the diversity of artists making up the bill in 2014. As well as a heap of nationally acclaimed musicians, there’s a tonne of local acts across the four day event too. Hussy Hicks, Marshall Okell, The Rectifiers, Tuesday’s Good, Monster Guitars, Juzzie Smith, Mojo Webb, Mason Rack Band, Bluesville Station and more. The festival kicks off through Broadbeach on Thursday 22 May and continues through Sunday 25. Get the full program at

Gold coast’s biggest tree planting Be part of the biggest ever tree planting on the Gold Coast and help Nerang Riverkeepers get 10,000 plants in the ground. The event takes place on Saturday 24 May as part of Healthy Waterways Connect to Your Creek Week. The plants will help create a new wetland in Nerang that will attract wildlife and improve waterway health. There’ll be free sausages and other attractions. As well as working hard to dig all the holes, the Nerang Riverkeepers have installed park benches and lookouts in recent months. Things kick off at 8.00am and continue until all the plants are in. Get your hands dirty at 231 Beaudesert-Nerang Road, Nerang. All equipment provided.

Deadly Families Festival A free community festival celebrating Indigenous culture and showcasing services to Indigenous communities will take place 21 June at Broadwater Parklands, Southport.

The event runs from 10.00am – 2.00pm and will include boomerang throwing workshops, didgeridoo performances, jumping castle, loads of kids activities, Indigenous dancers,

Pan Pacs set to break all kinds of records A record-breaking number of participants are expected to register in over 40 sports for the 9th biennial Pan Pacific Masters Games. More than 12,500 athletes, aged 30 and above from all over Queensland, Australia and the world will converge on the Gold Coast in this 9th biennial event – the worlds biggest biennial masters games. It is expected to break participation figures for the fourth consecutive time since 2006. It takes place 1 – 9 November. More information at mastersgames.com.au.

Blank has a new home Thanks to the generosity of Phillippa Wright from Essential Analytics, we’re stoked to now be calling Rabbit + Cocoon – home of Miami Marketta – our new home. If you’re in the ‘hood, drop by and say hello. You can find us (most of the time) in shed 3.

Send your news to news@blankgc.com.au.

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VERY GC: ORDINARY WOMEN, EXTRAORDINARY LIVES Blonde, sun-tanned, implants, bimbos… these are just a few of the words that were thrown around on a Facebook thread where we asked locals and tourists alike to describe their view of the women of the Gold Coast.

You don’t have to look much further than a central Gold Coast beach to find this aforementioned beach-bum style of lady, but many of us have tans and blonde hair and strive for amazing things. Our city is so much more than appearance.

The GC is drenched in talented, intelligent, innovative and eager ladies, many of them doing amazing things.

Scratch beneath our sandy surface and you’ll uncover our real natural assets – our people. In this edition of Blank, we focus on the ladies of the Gold Coast. The ordinary women: daughters, mothers, sisters and lovers, doing extraordinary things for themselves, for their communities and for eachother. We profile them in the next pages.

But here are just a few women of the Gold Coast who have left this humble nest and are doing their bit to reinvent the image of a GC lady in the eyes of Australia and the rest of the world.

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Anna Bligh She may not be everyone’s favourite person but Anna Bligh has proved herself to be a strong politician and passionate women’s . Following from her teenage years at Miami State High School, Anna went on to become the first ever woman Premier of Queensland, and was widely commended for her leadership during the 2010-2011 Queensland floods. She is now CEO of the NSW YWCA, with a staff of 200 and a turnover of $17 million a year. The charity – one of Australia’s oldest – helps 30,000 vulnerable Australians every year.

Margot Robbie One of Hollywood’s biggest stars grew up right here on the Gold Coast. After graduating from Somerset College in 2007, Margot moved to Melbourne where she was quickly cast in Aussie soapie Neighbours. Since then, she has been snapped up by Hollywood, most recently co-starring alongside Leonardo DiCaprio in the Martin Scorsese directed hit feature film The Wolf of Wall Street.

Paula Stafford Believe it or not, the article of clothing most iconic to the Gold Coast was invented right here. While the bikini is generally credited to another designer, the truth is that Gold

Coast local Paula Stafford brought the revealing two piece bikini to Gold Coast beaches back in the 1940’s. Still residing on the Gold Coast, Paula has won numerous awards for her iconic invention.

Ricki-Lee Coulter Since shooting to fame in the second season of Australian Idol, she’s become one of Australia’s most iconic female popstars and television personalities. A student of Southport State High School, Ricki-Lee has released 3 albums, with her hit Can’t Touch It featuring in the Hollywood blockbuster Sex and the City 2. It doesn’t get more girl power than that for a modest GC gal.

And there are hundreds more. Athletes, academics, activists, artists and acrobats. Too many to list here. Rather, we’ve picked nine women doing amazing things and shared their stories on the following pages.

Contributors Emily Hosking, Marj Osborne, Pip Andreas, Keiren Bond, Andrew Scott, Jessie Ryan-Allen, Leisen Standen, Samantha Morris.

MICHELLE MERRIFIELD

HAYLEY BATEUP

THE HUSSY HICKS

Educator, trainer and author

Ironwoman and lifestyle coach

Musicians

Founder of Essence of Living yoga studio in Mermaid Beach, Michelle Merrifield was introduced to yoga by her mum, practicing at Miami Beach Surf Club. She’s a trainer, educator, author, entrepreneur and a queen of multitasking. And she’s humble to boot.

Widely recognized as one of the fittest women in Australia, Hayley Bateup is an Australian Ironwoman, winner of 3 Coolangatta Gold and 20 national surf titles. You may recognize her as Nitro from the TV program Gladiators.

Now retired from competitive sport, we asked Hayley a few probing questions.

Leesa Gentz and Julz Parker are the Hussy Hicks. They’re GC ladies with a passion for the environment, social justice and making sweet, sweet music and they’ve made serious inroads in the short 8 years since they formed.

At the ripe age of 22 and in the early days of her business degree at Griffith, Michelle was approached by her yoga instructor to open a studio with her.

“I felt like my fairy godmother had come. I was so ready for this.”

After travelling through USA, India, Indonesia and Thailand acquiring knowledge from her gurus, Michelle has since built her studio to be an internationally recognised yoga and pilates academy. Returning to New York for an intensive program on barre – a fusion of ballet, pilates, and yoga - saw Michelle open the GC up to what would be the trendiest workout going.

“It’s getting a lot of love here. It’s great for people who want to get fit, lose weight and become more flexible”.

If she’s not already busy enough recording Essence of Living TV programs for corporate clients, this power woman is releasing her third book which will be on the shelves in eight weeks.

“It’s not a starve yourself detox, but one where people actually eat.” (Hallelujah!)

“My book is designed for people who train and work hard and who are looking to feel more balanced in life. Between strength and flexibility and eating naturally and organically, we can create equality and harmony in human form that sends a ripple effect into your heart and your mind. How you do one thing is how you do everything.”

In true yogi form, she finished with “As Mahatma Ghandi would say, be the change you want to see in the world.”

Preach it girl. Essence of Living celebrates its 10th anniversary this August.

There’s a saying ‘Tell me what you eat and I’ll tell you who you are’. What is ‘good food’ to you?

Good food to me is anything fresh and healthy. I don’t eat processed food and I don’t fry my food. At every meal I try to eat a balanced meal of protein, carbs and fat.

Your passion for health and fitness is obvious. How do you spend your down time?

I enjoy going out with friends to the surf club, or riding a bike out to lunch or a movie. I’ve been building a house, and I’ve really enjoyed the design aspect of that.

You retired late last year due to injury. What goals have you yet to achieve?

In Ironwoman I achieved most of my goals. Because you’re not competing against a time, there’s a lot of luck involved and lots of disappointment, but that only makes the ups sweeter. I can’t train like I used to, especially in swimming, but I’d like to work on my riding and running to compete in a triathlon and half marathon; not just to compete, but to do a good time. Apart from that, I’m concentrating on my business goals as the owner of Body Blitz.

What message do you have for young sportswomen of today?

Don’t overtrain! Look after your body. Use Pilates and the right personal trainer to make sure that you’re in the right alignment so your body can function correctly. Take time to rest, and don’t train when you’re sick; it can lead to heart problems.

Tell us something we don’t know about you.

Everyone sees me as outspoken and strong. When you get to know me, I’m really a softie at heart!

They’ve toured the globe and played scores of festivals, have three studio albums under their belt, and in 2013 took out the prestigious North Coast (NSW) Dolphin Awards for best album. That award recognised their 2013 album London Sessions, released to acclaim from a range of reviewers.

Despite that acclaim and the jetsetting tour schedule it’s obvious the girls are proud of their GC heritage. Leesa raves about the music scene here. “I think it’s amazing. There seems to be a real push towards the original side of things.

People are really creative, doing interesting things. It’s really exciting.”

“The fact is,” she continues, “all our friends in Melbourne bands work really hard in day jobs so they can go touring.

We go touring so that we can come back and live on the Gold Coast.”

That feeling is no surprise given their long association with the Gold Coast. Leesa grew up in Lennox and Julz in Tallebudgera, playing at her beloved Playroom to more than 1100 screaming 14 year olds as part of the venue’s popular under-age rage events way back when.

If you’ve been to one of their shows you’ll know that Julz is a whiz on guitar – she was gifted a custom-made Maton from the Custom Shop while on tour in Europe. She’s considered one of Australia’s finest guitarists and has traded licks with an impressive list of virtuosos.

It’s obvious when you meet Julz and Leesa that their family roots run strong. Julz is one of six siblings and grew up in a house full of music and Leesa and her sister have played music all of their lives.

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MARINA ORPEN

BREE DE ROME

KATRINA ELLIS

Organics advocate

Musician

Naturopath

Marina Orpen always has an aura of calm about her, a radiant smile and a never-ending supply of positivity. With a passion for developing wellness solutions and training for spa and beauty therapists, she calls the Gold Coast home.

And along with her husband Alf Orpen has created a world-first model for organic farming, formed right here.

Bree de Rome has an effortless style, letting her music hang in open air. It’s positive, atmospheric and unbothered by onlookers. After having graced the stage at the One Way Street Party, it seems the 2014 adventures have only just begun for this Gold Coast local.

Katrina Ellis is a GC naturopath who had a miraculous recovery from an aggressive ovarian cancer diagnosed 15 years ago. She’s since had 2 children and now lives in Cabarita with her family.

Organic Farm Share is a unique enterprise, listed on the stock exchange and offering people shares in a working organic farm. In return for their investment, members, who are owners earn the right to buy the farm’s organic produce which includes eggs, fruits and vegetables, honey and milk.

What’s your philosophy on organic products skincare/ food alike?

I highly value my own personal health and wellbeing. Foods or using skincare products that have been produced with toxic synthetic chemicals is clearly damaging to one’s health and life-diminishing.

Can you describe Organic Farm Share in as few words as possible?

Organic Farm Share is a community owned organic farming enterprise.

What inspired you to launch Organic Farm Share?

I really loved the thought of every single person on the planet being given the opportunity to share in the ownership of their own food resource: a food security and prosperity solution.

What’s the thing you like the most about living and working here?

As a native of New Zealand, it was always my dream to live in a warmer environment near the beach. The Gold Coast offers that while still having many other lifestyle benefits.

One piece of advice you’d give to your 30-year-old self?

As I’m fully happy with the choices that I have made, I would still make the same decisions. I don’t think there is anything to regret from the past and everything has contributed to my learning. If there was anything to tell my 30-year-old self, I doubt she would have understood, as wisdom can only come from experience.

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Bree’s EP Bag of Bones released in 2013 marks a beginning for the singer/songwriter. Bree now has a much clearer idea of what she wants to do in the future musically, and cites the process being a big part of her finding out who she is as a musician and a person. Her musical roots are firmly planted in country music naming the likes of Johnny Cash, Hank Williams and more contemporary artists such as Gillian Welch, as her biggest musical influences at the moment. Her love for country music is more than an alter ego, bringing all her musical influences to life in her music and summing up Johnny Cash as “humble and gracious but also a bad ass”.

It’s this youth and fun that comes across so strongly in Bree’s music that it makes it worthy to be the 21st century’s version of the broken hearted cowboy (or in this case cowgirl!). I Expected More is the narration of lyrics which resembles the contents of a note left on a kitchen table after a disagreement. Her lyrics strike a balance between being intimate and universal, straightforward and quirky.

The year ahead for Bree de Rome includes recording, a few shows in Europe and playing at the Gympie Muster in August. Pledging this year to be one of self-discovery, Bree de Rome is looking forward to a life of music, taking you along with her.

What is it about music that she loves so much? “Everything.

Listening to a song written by a person I’ve never met and having that song completely sum up a feeling or situation you’re experiencing. It makes you realise that we’re all connected and we’re all similar,” she said. facebook.com/Breederome

Do you think the we have good resources for people dealing with a life threatening illness?

The Gold Coast is definitely improving in regards to resources for life threatening illness. I feel we have some of the best alternative medicine practitioners that I have ever encountered. For many years I sent clients to Germany and China to undergo treatments not available in Australia.

Fortunately, these treatments like hyperthermia, hyperbaric oxygen and intravenous infusions are now available here.

Were there good resources and places to seek help here when you were diagnosed?

There were no advanced medical facilities on the Gold Coast. I had to travel to Brisbane to get the right treatment as the specialists were more advanced and better equipped.

Today it has completely changed and with the right guidance you can find yourself in very caring hands.

How do you help people with serious health issues achieve a positive outlook?

By empowering people with the correct knowledge, choices and tools it becomes easy for individuals to take the right steps towards positivity. If a person is equipped with no answers, direction or support – it strips them of their self worth and confidence. If a client still needs extra tools to improve their mindset, I often refer them to some incredible neurolink, NLP and EFT practitioners.

3 pieces of advice you’d give someone diagnosed with an aggressive cancer?

1. You have time so don’t be forced to make a hasty or rash decision.

2. Find out all of the information regarding your particular type of cancer to ensure you are empowered with the right knowledge to make an informed choice.

3. If you are planning to undergo orthodox treatment, do not forget the power of natural remedies and healing foods to enhance your ability to heal.

SARAH FRANK

SUE PORRETT

ANA MARCELA REGALADO

Musician

Founder, Aerial Angels

Visual artist and fashion designer

When the name Sarah Frank is spoken, enthusiastic guffaws are offered for her performances. A collective awe leads the conversation. A remarkable talent and a uniquely balanced human. Not by fluke, but through work and constant self-evaluation.

As the Founder and principle of 3 winged company Aerial Angels, Sue Porrett is an important catalyst to the entertainment scene on the Gold Coast. Growing up in a circus family, she has performed every trick in the book and is now using her talents to train local performers and bring entertaining works to GC audiences. With Aerial Angels including an Entertainment Agency, Circus and Aerial Training Academy and the Angelis Creations Production Company, Sue has most recently made a name for herself as the Producer of Jupiters Hotel and Casino hit stage shows LumiAir and Zircus. Oh yeah, we should also mention, she’s the mother of 6-year-old triplets!

When Ana entered her last year of highschool she set herself the goal of topping her art class. Which she did. She’s now only 18, but she is already an accomplished artist, with a piece commissioned by Pacific Fair and her own studio at Rabbit + Cocoon.

Sarah can’t help but exude a humble depth of character. Her greatest personal achievement? “Independently releasing my debut solo album and subsequently committing myself to music”. Basically doing EVERYTHING and then taking a risk to do even more.

Sarah is breath of fresh air in an industry which suffers with often cosmetically enhanced, industry formulated popprincesses. Where are all the healthy role models and what can be learned from them? “Nothing is more inspiring to me,” Sarah says, “than a talented woman who is living a life that she’s created from a dream that she had” Is it time to rest then? The dream conquered? Of course not.

Characters like this are always firing and moving toward something bigger and badder.

The next set of goals, personally and professionally?

“Personally? Choosing happiness every day and maintaining my yoga and meditation practices,” Sarah said.

“Professionally, I’m committed to an 18 month plan for my next solo album Liquid Soul with a label distribution goal.

Also, I’m aiming to complete the current EP tour with my band Tuesday’s Good with new fans, friends, and happy memories.”

A hard act to follow and an impressive confidence in lifestyle choice to just do what feels right.

Her message to other young women of the GC? “If you want a break, take it. If you want to turn your priorities upside down, do it. I’m a blues musician, so I’m all about going with feelings”.

A mother of 6-year-old triplets! It must ring true to you that good things come in lots of three. How do you handle running a successful triple-legged business and being a mother to triplets?

I must give credit to my incredible team who constantly make me look amazing! I’m also lucky to have 3 little understanding people that simply go with the flow.

What do you see for the future of aerial and circus arts practice on the Gold Coast?

It has certainly changed over the past couple of years and has definitely increased in popularity with more businesses offering to teach these types of skills. Aerial Angels are the founders of this type of teaching here in Queensland and I take pride in offering nothing short of elite coaching.

What is your next project?

I am currently in pre-production for my new show opening at Jupiters Hotel and Casino on 20 June called SolAria. It’s a high energy dance and acrobatic spectacular with a Latino edge. It will feature amazing performers from all over the world and will be a guaranteed great night of entertainment for all to see.

Her studio is a mess, but she assures me that’s because it’s under renovation. The wall which features Ana’s art is covered in unique pieces – there’s no real underlying theme – there’s a surfboard, paintings, sculptures and works in paint and graphite, amongst others.

She finishes her Diploma in Fashion next month and says that’s when her work will transform to an intertwining of fashion design and art. It’s obvious that Ana is at that point in her career where she’s experimenting, exploring and enjoying the freedom that comes with both youth and creative independence.

She was first creatively inspired by her grandfather, still living in El Salvador and an accomplished artist himself.

He was the first person who introduced Ana to the world of creativity – he now follows her work on Facebook with regular catch ups on Skype.

Ana is not really worried about the future, more about getting her name out there as she finds her artistic feet. And she’s humble about her roots with her parents settling here from El Salvador with no friends, no jobs and not very much English. Ana was only five at the time.

It’s obvious that family is incredibly important to her and when I chatted with Ana, her mother (also Ana) joined us.

They work together (Double T Tacos) at Marketta every week and they play together, frequently being stopped by their grateful diners at Gold Coast clubs and venues. They’re often mistaken for sisters. Ana Jr is youthful but looks wise beyond her years. Ana Sr could easily pass for someone in their mid-twenties. What a pair!

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THE LADIES OF BLANK SAMANTHA MORRIS

CHLOE POPA

MELANIE BRENNAN

Founder and Editor

Co-founder, designer and advertising

Advertising and Distribution

Sam is a passionate culture lover, conservation worker and activist who founded Blank GC to bust the stereotypes around the Gold Coast and what makes it tick.

Whether it be a music festival or a Landcare conference Chloe loves nothing more than a good social gathering.

Mel looks after advertising and distribution for Blank and is also our web mistress. She lives and works on the Gold Coast having made the escapee dash from Pine Rivers, north of Brisbane, seeking the cooler coastal climate and clean ocean waves.

As well as being Blank’s editor, she runs Wombat Creative – a consultancy that helps communities achieve sustainability goals.

2013 was a special year for her. As well as launching Blank and being named a Queensland Champion of Conservation, she also had a ‘surprise’ baby who turned her life upside down and inside out.

Apart from the environment, Sam’s biggest passions are music and travel and life becomes particularly awesome when she finds ways to combine the two. She also loves yoga, hiking, open water swimming and growing food.

Connecting with people and exploring society and culture has led to extensive travel and living in many locations.

Prior to the launch of Blank, Chloe worked in the conservation sector. Initially undertaking a graphic design course for personal interest she never imagined that just months after completion she’d be designing an entire magazine.

With 8 issues now under her belt, Chloe has started freelancing through her new graphic design business Blunt Pencil.

She’s worked in the environment industry for 20 years and now runs a small consultancy called BlueBee Consulting.

She’s passionate about using her skills in project and event management, fundraising, communications and marketing, website solutions and grant writing to help community groups and small businesses achieve more art, culture and environmental outcomes.

The one thing that does trump all of this is spending time with her festival buddy husband and extremely active toddler.

Mel loves singing, gardening, muscle cars, her cat Bronson, attempting to surf and the awesome laid back, outdoor, vibrant lifestyle of the Gold Coast.

MELLA BUNKER

PHILLIPPA WRIGHT

EMILY HOSKING

Music Coordinator

Investor, supporter and motivator

Music writer & Guest Editor / Intern

Back in 2012, Mella offered to do some volunteer work at a new internet radio station around the corner from her house. Two years on and she’s the Station Manager at Rabbit Radio, as well as Music Coordinator at Blank GC.

Phillippa Wright is one of those women who’s constantly distracted. Rapidly approaching 40 and still trying to work out if she can successfully perform two tasks simultaneously.

She’s dedicated to the cause, but the cause is always growing. She finds time to run a corporate finance consultancy, lecture at Bond, raise two energetic boys, maintain friendships and make the odd call to her parents to make sure she’s OK. Throw support for this magazine as well as the odd moshpit adventure into the mix and it becomes evident that the multitasking seems to be working.

Since before she can remember, Emily’s life has been consumed by music and performance. Gold Coast born and bred, she spent most of her childhood dancing, which ultimately introduced her to a love of singing.

She coordinates the music team, arranging media passes, music for review and handling the logistics of complicated interview schedules and dealing with industry contacts.

It’s obvious music is her passion. The other is her kids. She also surfs when she can and tries to live a balanced life without going crazy.

Her ultimate dream? A world tour of music festivals close to the beach.

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A musical theatre girl at heart, Emily has an extensive background in theatre, however the last few years have seen her veer onto a slightly different path. Currently studying a Bachelor of Popular Music at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music, Emily is now writing and recording her own original music on keys and voice.

Emily also works as a singing teacher, performs live with her duo Avenue 6, manages bands and artists through Emily Hosking Management, and discovers new musical talent through her writing endeavors at Blank GC.

PIP ANDREAS Lifestyle writer Pip has explored just about every avenue of alternative health, spiritual practice, and personal development known to woman (that might be a slight exaggeration). And as a result has decided that the Dalai Lama has got it right - the middle way is the way to go.

She loves writing stories about people who have found the right balance that works for them.

MARJ OSBORNE

LEISEN STANDEN

Food writer

Photographer

Food is Marj’s passion.

Tell her what you eat and she’ll tell you who you are.

Leisen is a creative soul who is never far from the ocean. She is passionate about living on the coast and the relaxed lifestyle it brings.

Food is entwined with our culture, our daily living, and the way we communicate. It shows what’s important to us. Marj has been a culture watcher for many years, through literature, film, and food reviewing for several publications, including her own site Good Food Gold Coast.

Although she works part time in finance, she finds a balance by exploring creativity through music, writing and photography: a passionate photographer who loves being part of the Blank GC team photographing live music, festivals, features and front covers!

Pip also shares her desire to help people find their own personal balance in life and individual strengths at her wellness and counseling practice The Mind Centre based in Varsity Lakes.

Marj admires those who feed our culinary imaginations.

Besides having generosity of spirit, they put in loads of hard work in hot sweaty kitchens for little reward. But they’re part of a revolution of food taking place right here, right now. Let her tell you about it…

KEIREN BOND

CHRISTIE OTS

GINA MARTIN

Writer

Music writer

Whether it’s through talkback on Rabbit Radio, interviewing a local farmer or extracting as espresso shot, Keiren finds happiness in exchanging words with people.

Christie is a music fiend who lives behind the lens.

She believes the pen is definitely mightier than the sword and this is evident in her well-crafted stories and endless supply of smiles.

Music writer and photographer

Armed with a pen, a journal and a passion for politics that spans from grassroots to international relations, she wants nothing more than to hear the stories, voices, music and ideas of all kinds of humans.

Being an enthusiastic music supporter and photographer, it’s no surprise that she is fascinated by people.

For her journalism is a way to learn about the world, help heal it and make a humble wage by spreading the important and often neglected word back to you eager news consumers out there.

Having graduated from Griffith University with a Bachelor of Literature and Communications she thinks supporting the arts community on the Gold Coast is necessary to make an impact on our culture.

As well as photographing for Blank, she runs her own business specialising in portraiture and event photography.

And while capturing bright eyed children brings her joy... the scenic coastline (of course) is her favourite muse.

Gina is a self-proclaimed professional music appreciator, priding herself on sharing the music she loves with as many people as possible.

In her second year of a journalism degree at Griffith University, majoring in photojournalism and popular music and living above her family’s recording studio Lovestreet Studios, she’s developed a love of the music industry and now lives and breathes it.

To quote Bob Marley: “one good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain.”

When all attempts at playing musical instruments failed because of her clumsy hand-eye coordination Gina turned to her records: she was given her first turntable at age 15 and has been building her vinyl collection since.

KEMII MAGUIRE

JESSIE RYAN-ALLEN

AMANDA GORMAN

Illustrator

Music writer

Kemii Maguire first thought of becoming a cartoonist whilst tossing up whether to start comedy or journalism.

Jessie is a songwriter, musician, writer and performer currently completing an Honours in Popular Music at Griffith University on the Gold Coast. Her music has been likened to that of New York musician Sufan Stevens and she’s been described as Nirvana meets Missy Higgins.

Advertising Sales Manager

After watching ABC’s Talking Pictures, “Porque no los dos” sprung to mind. That same day Kemii emailed cartoonist John Kudelka of The Australian for some advice on getting into the industry; and after receiving a reply with some fantastic advice and mentoring, her career line began.

Whilst studying Journalism at university, Kemii has become increasingly intrigued in the world of illustration and she feels Blank GC has been a fantastic medium to produce work and create illustrations for.

Amanda is the quintessential people person: a happy and positive soul who brings happiness to those around her. It’s all sunshine and rainbows for her and she always sees the best in people and situations.

She recently released a self-titled debut album with 10 songs, recorded over two years with friends. She says she learnt so much over the creative process and hopes the album reflects this moment in time.

Her personal style? Little Miss Sunshine x Old Skool Goth x Classic Audrey Hepburn Vibe. An avid lover of all things music, art, theatre, wine, travel animals, she’s artistic, creative and has spent many years behind the scenes as a make up artist. She also has an online jewelry label.

Since writing for Blank she’s covered artists such as Skrillex, The Common Kings, Brodie Graham and local filmmaker Gerald Valilio.

She is a mother to two luscious little people with her long term beau, two furry felines and one darling dog. After many years overseas , the gold coast is now her much loved home. www.blankgc.com.au

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CATHERINE COBURN

NAOMI EDWARDS

Coffee writer

Environment writer

Catherine’s love for the Gold Coast is undeniable. She probably bores people with her endless GC pride, but there’s just something about our beaches, shops and cafes that makes her heart swell.

Passion is an interesting personal quality that shapes people and communities. Some people are passionate about cars, others about bilbies. Naomi is passionate about the beach.

Coffee became a necessity for Catherine during her time at university. Now it has become the friend that she cannot bear to be apart from, and the fact she gets to write about it for Blank GC is just an excuse to drink more.

She is an energetic coastal scientist and having been a Gold Coaster since a young gal, is stoked that she’s found a career more like a lifestyle.

When she’s am not feeding her caffeine addiction she can be found at the beach, behind a camera, travelling, cooking, or walking her exceedingly spoilt Frenchie Coco Napoleon.

She was initially inspired to swap her acrylic nails for gardening gloves when she visited outback Queensland to see the endangered bilbies on a high school biology trip. She’s since been spreading the word about caring for our environment, especially our

AMY MITCHELL-WHITTINGON Environment writer Amy is a Brisbane based writer in her final year of journalism at Griffith University.

She completed a film and screen media degree at Griffith in 2007 majoring in cinematography, which led her to work for a multimedia company on the Gold Coast shooting real estate, property and lifestyle videos.

After taking some time to travel overseas, Amy decided to head back to university to study journalism, hoping to utilise her skills in the ever changing and dynamic news and media environment.

ANNA ITKONEN Arts writer With a background in visual arts and a degree in modern art theories, Anna runs her own event and project management company, as well as being a mum to two little boys.

Her interests are broad and she works on a range of visual art, culture and environment projects, being an active volunteer and board member at Gecko – Gold Coast & Hinterland Environment Council.

Anna believes there’s so much hidden talent, passion and enthusiasm on the GC and her plan is to find it and write about it through Blank.

Her interests lie in conservation, environmental issues, economics and the world at large.

STONEFIELD: THESE GIRLS KNOW HOW TO ROCK & ROLL After releasing their debut self titled album Stonefield late last year, 2014 has continued to be busy for this four-piece. Christie Ots caught up with Amy and Hannah to discuss what we can expect from Stonefield in the future.

Stonefield have had a meteoric rise to fame. Having already played at Glastonbury and supported the Foo Fighters, the girls have toured internationally and throughout Australia.

The girls have fought hard against the ‘four sisters in a band’ mould that a lot of people seemed keen to shove them into and perceptions have definitely changed.

With exposure in the overseas market they have seen first hand how different the international stage can be.

“Now we’re just a band,” Amy explains, “rather than a band of four sisters which is good.”

This was most apparent when playing Glastonbury.

“You see how hard bands have to work and we were lucky to have that hype at the time.”

“Our tent filled up really quickly and everybody was really responsive. You can definitely tell that it’s a different vibe, but it will be good to go back and see what it’s (the overseas stage) like now,” Amy said.

Since winning Triple J’s Unearthed High competition in 2010, the band has released two EPs and an album which has gone a long way to proving they are more than just a passing fad.

The band is currently over in the UK having played at The Great Escape Festival, but I guess it comes as no surprise when Hannah says her standout moment was supporting the Foo Fighters.

“We didn’t want to be a novelty that faded away quickly, we wanted to be seen as a legit band,” Hannah says. “I think now that we’ve been around for a couple of year’s people see that we’re here to stay.”

“Supporting the Foo Fighters was amazing,” she says, ”especially because Dave Grohl was standing side stage watching us. He seemed to be enjoying it. Winning Unearthed High in 2010 was where it all kicked off so that was great.”

One thing that hasn’t changed is that the girls still love jamming together; it’s how they write most of their songs.

With a burgeoning love for modern bands like Tame Impala and Goat, their sound is maturing along with them. Their hit

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Love You Deserve showcases that, with Amy stepping out from behind the drums to take centre stage.

“Lyrically it was drawn from the book The Perks Of Being A Wallflower and then just seeing friends and family go through these situations where they’re just accepting the love they think they deserve. You can see it happening and they know that they deserve better,” Amy said, explaining the song’s roots.

With a busy year of touring ahead, we can expect a new single from Stonefield before they head back to the studio and go home for some R&R. One thing that is indisputable is that this band really knows how to engage an audience. Whether on stage or through their recordings, Stonefield isn’t going away and thank God for that!

THE LADIES OF SPLENDOUR: A MAGNIFICENT ELEVEN With a plethora of both fresh and favourite artist about to splendourise our airwaves and headspaces, let’s focus on what the ladies have to bring to the musical table this upcoming Splendour in the Grass.

Friday 27 July Kelis: her milkshakes will be bringing all the boys (and gals for that matter) to the yard this Splendour, so be sure to make a date with this Grammy nominated, sassy r&b and hip hop operator, who’s just dropped her sixth album.

Tkay Maidza: you may know this rapidly rising Adelaide rapper for her track Brontosaurus, which stomped all before it on the local hip hop landscape late last year.

Saturday 28 July

Sunday 29 July Lilly Allen: having turned heads on her debut Splendour appearance back in 2007, sassy mega-star Lilly Allen returns to the fold this year to headline the coveted Sunday slot of this year’s festival. She’ll no doubt have a bag of killer tracks from her new record Sheebus to wow the masses who will no want see out the festival with her...

Sky Ferreira: one of the hottest ‘bright young things’ of the music world, Venice Beach synth-pop starlet Sky Ferreira is set to take things up a notch on the back of the rapturous response she received earlier this year when she impressed all and sundry at a sold out and much talked-about Sydney show.

Gossling: having recently delivered her debut record Harvest Of Gold and currently on tour with Vance Joy, Melbourne enchantress Gossling will no doubt bring the wow-factor to Splendour with her gorgeous song craft, which channels artists of the ilk of Goldfrapp and Metronomy.

Tuneyards: the brain child of one Merril Garbus, tUnE-yArDs, (as she likes to spell it) is a one woman wonder of loop pedals, ukelele and snare drum, bashing out some of the most astonishingly unique sounds to be heard in a long time. Her third album Nikki Nak has just hit, so be sure to check out just why The Arcade Fire chose her to support them on their recent Reflektor tour.

First Aid Kit: be sure to make a festival date with the Soderberg sisters Johanna and Klara, outta Sweden, when they let their charming, retro-folk influenced sounds waft across Splendour.

Little May: sassy Sydney three piece Little May look like breaking out big in 2014! The Triple J endorsed act, who list The National and Local Natives as influences, have been winning over converts at a rapid rate on the back of an appearance at the Sydney leg of the Laneway Festival, as well as delivering the goods on their own successful East Coast tour.

Courtney Barnett: make no bones about it, Melbourne singer-songwriter Courtney Barnett is a uniquely talented gal who is rapidly going places. Fresh from supporting Bill Bragg on his recent Australian tour, she’s already appeared on a swathe of big festival bills and has recently sold out shows in New York and the UK. The idiosyncratic slacker-songstress crafts uniquely enlightening portrayals of urban mundanity, delivered in her distinctive Aussie tones.

Wildcard for festival highlight...

Nina Las Vegas: Having played on the bill of Pharrell William’s most recent Australian tour, Sydney DJ and producer Nina Las Vegas is probably best known for her long time gig as regular host of Triple J’s House Party. Be sure to get into the groove as she pumps out her renowned dance mash-ups!

KLP: KLP, aka Sydney singer and producer Kristy Lee Peters, was recently anointed by Aussie dance music bible inthemix as one of the 10 Local Producers You Need To Hear.

The new host of Triple J’s House Party is going places fast, so get along and say you were there from the start...

With honourable mentions to the following acts, all of which feature at least one female within their ranks: Buraka Som Sistema, Spiderbait, Angus and Julia Stone, Ball Park Music, The Preatures, Saskwatch, The Head and the Heart, The Jezabels, Chvrches, Grouplove, Phantogram and Broods.

If you haven’t already got a Splendour ticket bad luck. This popular event was sold out within hours of going on sale.

You can get details on side-shows and fawn over the program anyway though: splendourinthegrass.com.

Anthony Gebhardt www.blankgc.com.au

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P.H.FAT CHANCE Keiren Bond spoke to P.H.Fat.’s beat machine Mike about the Cape Town music scene, using synths from 1972 and the oddities of AFL. Their manager greeted me with “G’day” and called me mate.

Aussie mode ON. I grinned and racked my brain for South African idioms.

All I could come up with was “next level”, which I dropped several times during the interview.

My predisposition to South Africans held strong after making the acquaintance of P.H.Fat. Challenging the status-quo of hip-hop and integrating elements of dance, folk and indie-rock, this duo are producing shoulder-shrugging music and bringing it to Aus. Mike, welcome to the Land of Oz! How’s Melbourne?

Melbourne is fucking cool – it’s like a first world Cape Town.

Everyone we’ve spent more than two minutes with we’ve generally made friends with, it’s been great. I’ m not going to lie, I feel very comfortable here, it’s like home.

Stoked you chose us Aussies to smother a little SA flavour on! Why Australia?

I just noticed there’s a big, genuine independent music scene here and quite a grassroots one, especially with the hip-hop scene. I’m excited to see the reactions on people’s faces when they hear our music.

Your music is less about the hip-hip genre and more about

FELICITY LAWLESS HANGS 5

your individual style. How did that transpire?

I think because we’re from South Africa, we don’t get those mainstream influences. There are a lot of copycats. People copy the American influence and English artists, but in South Africa there’s quite a healthy local music scene which adds a unique flavour and emphasises individualism. Every now and then we’ll go off the grid and stop influencing ourselves and forget what everything sounds like.

Right - you get some of your best instrumentals from the depths of people’s garages and dodgy op-shops?

Yeah, it was kind of a hobby of mine to go hunting for outdated gear, something to give us a unique element to our music. Everyone downloads the same software so by using analogue synths from the 70’s we get a different sound.

How do you write your songs? Do you have a process that helps your song writing?

Some songs wake me up in the middle of the night demanding to be written, in which case I usually have a pen and book on hand to grab them from the ether and capture them on paper, and the music arrives later. Other times, I just tinker on my guitar until it writes a song for me. Silence leaves room for music. Living and silence is the best process.

What advice would you give aspiring musicians?

Keep listening and playing and collaborate with as many musicians as possible. Be free, live life to the fullest and draw inspiration from all of the elements, people and Bohemia you can find and create… To play music is to bring joy, awareness and love to the community, let that always be the intention. Practice, persist and be yourself.

Who is your main influence and why?

Bjork, because of her completely original style and the way she manipulates so many musical, natural and technological elements to create her music. I love that she goes to the edge of the cliff every morning “and throws little things off, like car parts, bottles and cutlery”.

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Your first EP was titled You Are Going To Die, and your first LP album Happiness Machine. A change of perspective?

(Laughs) I don’t know! Me and Narch set out to make music that we want to. Every time we have gone off what we’ve wanted to do we’ve been unhappy. We’re probably a lot happier in Happiness Machine because we set out to make music that makes us feel good, rather than what the mainstream wants.

If the mainstream doesn’t want it, I do. P.H.fat brings a fresh element to electronic rap and with a South African charm you’ll be completely defenceless. Come see their only Queensland gig at the Bowler Bar in Fortitude Valley, Friday 23 May. I love her amazing voice, lyrics, song arrangements and outfits. Her film clips are ridiculously amazing as are her live performances, which utilize many varied, unusual ensembles, musicians and instruments. Goddess.

What is your favourite thing about living on the Gold Coast?

So many awesome things... where to begin? The forests, the ocean, the rivers and the close proximity of it all; the emerging, amazing live music scene and related Bohemia; the people, the community festivals, the variety of yummy food places and awesome cafes, the fresh air and all my friends scattered through all of these places constantly popping up everywhere...

Where is your favourite local haunt?

Bambu Bar in Palmy is where I play most and love most, such incredible people, atmosphere, food and amazing music every time. My friend and I have a plan to build a loft on top of it and live there. My other favourites are Miami Marketta where I always have the warmest, most appreciative audiences, and Pablo Pablo in Palmy where the food is divine and the staff are more entertaining than me!!

Kyle Butcher

ANTIMATTER’S UNDERGROUND SOUNDS ANGEL OLSEN

Burn Your Fire For No Witness There’s a fabulous clip on YouTube of Missouri born singer-songwriter Angel Olsen playing in a park in her current home town of Chicago a few years back. There’s no one present to observe her other than a few random locals slumped on park benches in the background and her performance is unadorned, saved for her delicate, finger picked guitar accompaniment.

And then there’s her voice; naked, quavering, flawed purity delivering more emotion and resonance than 1001 airbrushed Maria Carey addled warblers and their soul-less ilk.

Fast-forward to 2014 which sees our fragile chanteuse gracing us with her second album, Burn Your Fire For No Witness.

Olsen originally earned her stripes as a backing singer to acclaimed alt-folk weirdo Will Oldham (aka Bonny ‘Prince’ Billy) before breaking away to channel her inner Karen Dalton and delivering her own rapidly developing body of work. Her first record, 2012’s largely acoustic Half Way Home was a strictly solo affair, but this time around she fleshes out her sound with a full band backing for largely impressive results.

Opening track, the wonderfully named Unfucktheworld, is a placeholder of sorts; a slow moving, voice-centric burner which sounds like it’s been phoned in from afar, prior to the doors

opening into Olsen’s brave new world of up-tempo sound.

Second track and lead off single Forgiven/Forgotten brings her new oeuvre perfectly to the fore, delivering a succinctly chugging indie rock accompaniment to Olsen’s bittersweet ruminations – kind of like Liz Phair when she was good! Here, Olsen’s vocal delivery is more measured than yore, largely devoid of the thrilling jolts and trills that characterise her more solemn numbers.

And the song that follows, Hi-Five, is a woozy psych-pop nugget not 100 miles removed from kaleidoscopic troubadours such as Wooden Wand or Kelley Stoltz, with Olsen’s thrilling vocal range this time coming more to the fore.

High and Wild and Lights Out may possibly be the full band highlight of the record. Olsen’s voice meshes seamlessly with the steadily rising, intuitive embellishments of drummer Joshua Jaegar. Guitarist/bassist Stewart Bronough delivers a convincing case that ‘more is ok’ in the previously isolationist world of Angel Olsen.

For the most part, Olsen’s subject matter straddles an introspective divide between bruised and defiant and on her signature slower numbers there’s a touch of early Chan Marshall (Cat Power) or even Kristen Hersh in the vulnerable

nakedness of her delivery. This is particularly evident on the ethereal, back-road sparseness of White Fire where her voice is an eerily haunting instrument of beauty. And those pining for further demonstrations of former stripped back glories are rewarded with the spell binding final two tracks.

Enemy returns her bewitching vocals back to front and centre.

Moments like this remind one that Olsen simply ‘singing the phonebook’ would indeed be enough. And Windows is a steadily building, ethereal torch song, with Olsen proclaiming, “We live and throw our shadows down, it’s how we get around.”

With Burn Fire For No Witness, Angel Olsen has delivered an album that moves her artistic template forward while still retaining the essence of her quietly fractured edge. Both longer term fans and newer converts will find plenty to latch onto here.

To hear the album for yourself, tune into Rabbit Radio (the Gold Coast’s very own digital streaming online radio station) on Tuesday nights from 9pm where the record will be played in full right after The Avalon Hour - which happens to be the radio mouthpiece for Antimatter’s Underground Sounds!

METAL BYTES The project formed by The Dillinger Escape Plan vocalist Greg Puciato and Soulfly/ex-Sepultura frontman Max Cavalera in early 2011 also features Mastodon bassist and co-vocalist Troy Sanders and former The Mars Volta drummer Dave Elitch. Do yourself a favor and get this album now!

Another album to keep an eye out for is War Eternal from Arch Enemy. This is the first album to feature Alissa White-Gluz (ex-The Agonist) as the new vocalist since Angela Gossow stepped aside to focus on behind the scenes management of the band. I have been listening to this album almost non stop and personally think it will be one of the highlights of 2014.

Humality have just released their long awaited EP Nowhere and features the single Amaurosis which features a very cool video clip with some mind blowing make up effects. Go get your copy now from iTunes and most online stores and check out the video on YouTube!

Mastodon are about to release their sixth studio album Once More Round The Sun on June 20th and features the new single High Road and one of the craziest album covers you will ever see!

indefinite hiatus after nine years and three awesome albums that recently saw them tour the USA with Ill Nino, They will be missed that’s for sure.

Gold Coast metal titans Azreal will release their new album Premonition on 8 June at Wallapalooza. The boys will also be playing two shows in support of King Parrot on their Blaze In The Northern Suburbs Tour on Friday 23 May Coolangatta Hotel and Saturday 24 May at THE BRIGHTSIDE in Brisbane.

Perth hard rock masters Hailmary will be heading to Queensland in support of their new EP Navigate the Sunrise.

Make sure you catch them live Friday 6 June at The New Globe Theatre in Brisbane with Tusk, Cause in Affect, Flannelette and The Thrill or at the massive Wallapalooza on Sunday 8 June at the Wallaby Hotel, Mudgeeraba.

WIN: Carcass play the HiFi Bar Brisbane on 13 and Blank has a double pass to give away thanks to Soundworks Touring.

To be in the running for one double pass, send an email to news@blankgc.com.au with the subject CARCASS and your mobile number and name in the body of the message.

Winner drawn around midday Wednesday 28 May.

Got some metal news we should know about? Email rabidnoiseradio@hotmail.com. For all the latest metal tracks and interviews tune into Rabid Noise every Wednesday night from 9pm on www.rabbitradio.com.au.

Sad news as Aussie tech metal band In-Cyde are going on www.blankgc.com.au

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You’ve been working on so many musical ventures at the moment, lets start off with one of your longest ongoing projects, your all girl band Sneeky Picnic! How are you girls going?

Sneeky is going really well, we’re taking a break from playing shows to write new material. We’ve had a hectic past 2 years and we wanna come back with something fresh.

You guys have played BDO twice now, what was it like playing at such a big festival?

BDO is always a good time, the atmosphere and energy that festival brings is crazy and to be able to play two years in a row is insane! We’re forever grateful for those two gigs, it’s the best feeling in the world being on a stage where your music is widely appreciated and Big Day Out gave us that experience and exposure to a larger audience.”

Besides BDO, what would you say has been the best gig you’ve ever played?

“The best gig would have to be Red Deer Music Festival.

That festival is Australia’s best kept secret, everybody’s so chill and the promoters treated us like royalty with all the backstage goods as well as the free booze but every gig is always an excuse to be on stage.”

JESS A LITTLE HIP-HOP Swimming in a sea of male hip hop artists, Jesswar AKA Jess Koroi is certainly making waves. And despite an overhanging discrimination against females in the genre, the 18 year old Gold Coaster is shooting far ahead of her peers.

With her many projects and collaborations including all girl band Sneeky Picnic, she’s already had a top 20 top selling EP on iTunes and played Big Day Out twice in her short career. Tari Petersen sat down with Jess to talk about all she’s achieved so far and what we can be expecting to hear from her in the future.

FILLING IN THE BLANK: KATE LEOPOLD Christie Ots asked Kate Leopold about the ins and outs of being a musician on the Gold Coast.

There is definitely a community on the Gold Coast for artists. I’ve found it really supportive, you just have to be able to network and find connections. You have to be determined, but also follow your intuition, and see where that leads you.

A lot of things our band have done have come to us, so we’ve been really lucky. This year we’ve been in the recording studio with Scotty French at Love Street Studios, we’ve had Mik Easterman from The Lamplights playing drums – which has been amazing. We’ll be releasing an album at the end of this year, we’ve got ten tracks down so far, so it’s been really exciting.

Just jamming and playing with people who you aspire to really makes you feel part of one big musical community.

You’ve also recently released the Jesswar and Lane Harry EP which you collaborated on with Lane Harry and Ike Campbell. The EP managed to reach the top 20 hip-hop charts on iTunes, how was that?

The EP I did with Lane went really well on the iTunes Charts, I think we peaked at 16. It was wild seeing us up there next to Kendrick and Eminem we didn’t expect it at all and Ike killed it with the production side of things. Plus it was a rad experience creating music and playing shows with those dudes.

You and Lane make some awesome tracks together, can we be expecting anything new from the latest up-and-coming Hip Hop duo?

We’re pretty keen to get back into the studio to do an album, art work for the cover and a few instrumentals are in the works but y’all can definitely expect another collaboration from us soon.

Have you been working on any solo work lately?

I am currently in the process of launching all my solo music online I’ve been working on a few tracks that I am going to release for free download this week and in the coming weeks. The songs will have a strong rap influence and topics will change from track to track. I’ll be releasing free tracks until my solo EP is finished which all beats will be supplied

by Ike Campbell.

Where do find inspiration for your lyrics?

“Right now I am inspired by the city I live in, my friends and the things I get up to as well as mainstream pop culture. I love writing about my life experiences and the people I’ve met along the way but that’s just right now, who knows what I’ll be writing about in a year or two years time.

And finally, what can we be expecting from you in the near future?

I am working on a lot of different projects at the moment so just a lot of different music, videos and tours. I love living life so I am going to travel for a couple months then come back and release more tracks.

You can check out the Jesswar and Lane-Harry EP on iTunes now!

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SHE’S NO FENCE SITTER A Gold Coast girl through and through – studying at Robina SS, Varsity College, Griffith and Bond University, she’s a soulful and spirited acoustic-folk musician. She’s also just confirmed that she’ll be heading to the UK this August to record her debut EP at Brighton Electric with Dan Swift. Samantha Morris hung 5 with Ella Fence.

What’s the biggest challenge you’ve overcome on your path to being a musician?

Staying true to myself and not conforming to expectations or limitations.

It’s tough to get up on stage and entertain when you’ve had a tough day. How do you stay motivated and energised as an artist?

Music to me is about a sense of community and building a connection with people, presenting an environment and energy that is relatable. My motivational trick is to think about the people in the room and the way they are feeling and the unique experience they deserve.

Is songwriting a conscious process for you, or is it more situational?

Being a songwriter is like being a lightening rod - you are channeling the energies around you - sometimes it’s

storming and you have a lot to work with, and sometimes it’s not - but there is always energy, you just need to keep your heart open and let the creativity pour into you.

What do you miss most about the GC when you’re on the road?

The Gold Coast has a unique, vibrant energy that is unlike anywhere else I’ve travelled. It has warmth, it has colour, it resonates with my truest sense of self. I am also so lucky to have such a supportive and selfless mum and friendship circle who I miss dearly when I’m away.

What’s one piece of advice you’d give your future 60 year old self?

I would like to thank my future self for following her passion, staying true to herself and always choosing love.

Advice? Wear that red lipstick you used to love.

Your sisters Julia Rose and Louise Cottone are also musicians – what role did music play in the family home?

I grew up in a really musical family where we all played music and sang together from a young age. Family car trips were musical adventures in 5-part harmony. My mum is an amazing musician and gave us all the gift of music. My dad is also a poet, playwright and novelist so we were basically bred to be artists.

What’s the best thing about living and working on the GC? The incredible beauty of the environment, the ocean, Burleigh Headland and Tallebudgera Creek, Currumbin Alley and the entire hinterland. It’s is a nature-lover’s wonderland, and for me has been such a nurturing environment to recharge in and live a super healthy l ifestyle. I also love the unpretentious down-to-earth vibe of Gold Coast peeps.

What’s the best thing about being a woman in the world of performing and live music?

It’s gotta be having breasts and wearing sparkly make-up. I also love being part of the sisterhood, whilst also sharing the love with and feeling amazing support from my musical brothers. Sometimes I think it’s harder being a woman in a male-dominated industry. But I try to run things in a feminine way and that seems to work best. I have an amazing band of men and women behind me which makes my job heaps more awesome! I heart my band!

What’s one piece of advice you’d give your future 60 year old self?

Sit back, relax, and enjoy the millions.

HANGIN’ 5 WITH CLAIRE COTTONE AKA CC THE CAT

What’s the songwriting process like for you?

It’s pretty organic, I write mostly when I’m inspired. It takes a lot of free mental space to allow a song to come through in its pure form. The best songs come out more effortlessly, although its still important to trust during the process that they are worthy, and that’s where the work is, applying myself to the task of listening to what’s being given to me and committing to working it through to the end. Then sometimes it takes a few months of workshopping with the band and test-running at shows for a song to show its true depth and colour.

Samantha Morris

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gig reviews

RÜFÜS + MOVEMENT + KILTER Coolangatta Hotel, Gold Coast | 9 May

DZ DEATHRAYS + PALMS + FOAM Elsewhere, Gold Coast | 8 May An orderly line formed outside the alternative club Elsewhere in the middle of a bustling Surfers Paradise.

Tonight was a big night. Rockers DZ Deathrays were kicking off their tour supporting their second album, Black Rat. The club filled quickly with punters of varying ages excited not only to see the two piece jam out new tracks, but also for Sydney band Palms and grunge outfit FOAM from Western Australia.

FOAM took the stage in a blaze of 90’s influenced garage rock. The lead singer broke two guitar strings but that didn’t slow them down. With strong Nirvana influences and two EPs behind them, they powered through distorted riffs and powerful compositions that moved the crowd of people.

As FOAM left the stage in a storm of praise, Palms soon followed. Indie rock filled Elsewhere with its melodic tone coming from an energetic Palms set. Palms boast the same management company as Aussie legends Something for Kate, and there’s little wonder why when you see them live.

DZ Deathrays came on to a storm of yelling and applause and broke out into No Sleep from their debut album Bloodstreams. The crowd went wild and moshed violently to every track DZ played, and as the set went on the crowd got more energetic, a testament to the brilliant songwriting.

Crowdsurfers dodged low hanging bars in the cramped top level of elsewhere and ducked under other objects as they revelled in the presence DZ Deathrays exuded. DZ Black Rat tracks got positive crowd feedback and they closed the set with their latest single, Gina Works at Hearts. DZ Deathrays have progressed through the music industry thanks to great compositional skills and stage presence. They are the kind of band you can’t help but talk about for weeks afterwards.

Kyle Butcher

DZ Deathrays @ Elsewhere

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breakout performance on May 10 was no exception. Gold Coast’s blues funksters Tuesday’s Good held their Deluxe Album release show with Jackson James Smith and Tuesday’s Good lead singer Sarah Frank as the supporting acts.

Coolangatta Hotel nets the biggest acts on their Australian tours. RÜFÜS hail from Sydney and are currently touring their Almost World Tour. Tonight was the first night in a string of 21 dates RÜFÜS was booked to play in Australia after touring America and the UK, and it was spectacular.

MOVEMENT and Kilter warmed up the crowd spectacularly while everyone danced around and got into the groove. As I stepped out onto the smoking balcony for a moment’s reprieve, I noticed that the balcony was almost empty, a rare sight for Coolangatta Hotel, especially when the opening acts are on. This was not because the night wasn’t sold out, which it was. It was because MOVEMENT and Kilter were that damn good. MOVEMENT’s vocals soared over the electronic notes creating brilliant harmonies, and Kilter did what he does best, remixing and creating new versions of tracks live in front of an awe-inspired audience.

RÜFÜS came out to the screaming of the whole crowd and jumped into crowd favourite after crowd favourite. The smiles never disappeared from RÜFÜS’ faces as they pushed the boundaries of electronic music live through playing each sound on a real instrument. The crowd was wild the entire time, no song would stop them, no break would slow them down. The crowd sung out every lyric with lead singer Tyrone Lindqvist and no line was forgotten. The lightshow threw colour after colour at the band and the crowd, only adding to the frenzy of sound and dance. This night set the mood for the rest of the tour for the band.

Kyle Butcher

Sarah Frank boasts a unique voice and one massive vocal range. Frank interacted with the crowd, getting them laughing and truly engaged with her music. Sarah Frank powered through a half hour set with unfaltering vocals, jumping from jazz infused songs to soulful tracks effortlessly before taking a short break, only to return later with her band Tuesday’s Good. Before Tuesday’s Good however, Jackson James Smith came in as a powerful acoustic act.

Smith hauntingly covered Gnarls Barkley’s Crazy with a voice filled with emotion and guitar work. This rendition showed a new depth to a song that many would never have thought possible. Smith weaved covers with original tracks seamlessly, even though he admitted he was sick and expected his vocals to suffer.

Tuesday’s Good came out and played as the first full band act of the night. They played a throwback 60’s/surf styled track off their Deluxe Album, and the live presence of each member was impressive. The band played a solid set of tracks reaching from many different genres and had Sarah Frank fronting the band, swirling and dancing at the same time as her crooning vocals filled the room. The rhythm section was tight with the guitar notes swimming alongside in perfect unison. Sarah Frank had a small table in front of her, covered in lit incense, candles, tea and a small statue, adding to the spirited vibe. The full venue bopped and danced along to the mix of tracks Tuesday’s Good delivered, and the smiles on the performers’ faces reflected the crowd’s.

A solid live performance was on display from Sarah Frank who played two full sets without a hitch and Tuesday’s Good’s new Deluxe Album was expertly showcased.

TUESDAY’S GOOD + JACKSON JAMES SMITH + SARAH FRANK

Kyle Butcher

The Loft, Gold Coast | 10 May The Loft is the gem of the Gold Coast music scene, nurturing local artists from a wide range of genres, and this

RÜFÜS @ Cooly Hotel

RÜFÜS @ Cooly Hotel

ONE WAY STREET PARTY: STONEFIELD + LYON APPRENTICE + THE VERNONS + JAKE WHITTAKER + THE HIGH GRADE + ELLA FENCE + JACKSON JAMES SMITH Surfers Paradise | 26 April For the fifth year, the One Way Street Party flowed through the laneways of Surfers Paradise. With food and novelty stalls, mingling with a suitcase rummage and live art, this was the perfect place to wander around. A free event that is sponsored by the Gold Coast City Council, the highlight is the fantastic live music available.

With two stages, the Acoustic Stage and the Park Stage, there were a total of twelve acts to treat the ears. The day opened with Jackson James Smith (Park Stage) and Ella Fence (Acoustic Stage). As people wound their way through the sights and sounds available, the sun shone on the two stages.

Next were The High Grade (Park Stage) and Jake Whittaker (Acoustic Stage) who got the crowd grooving – The High Grade with their reggae-funk fusion and Jake Whittaker with his soulful crooning. A band I have seen before, but still continue to enjoy, were Gold Coast lads The Vernons. Their cover of James Browns It’s A Man’s Man’s Man’s World was absolutely stunning, and their song Lilac Wine ensured that all dwellers had their attention firmly focused on the stage.

Wandering down to the Acoustic Stage I found myself once again entranced by the performance of Lyon Apprentice. In a small nook surrounded by art displays and gorgeous graffiti works, this duo’s performance was of the highest standard.

Fairly soon most people were drawn away to the Park Stage for headliners Stonefield. While one artist who was dressed as a blue ninja momentarily distracted me, I followed the crowd and found myself at the front next to a motley group of fans. The girls opened with high energy that they carried through their entire set. Amy, the lead vocalist, headed back to the drums for a few songs showing that her skills have not diminished for taking to singing rather than playing.

Overall the day was fantastic, showcasing just what the Gold Coast has to offer in relation to arts and culture. This was truly an event for all ages and is one I am looking forward to next year!

Christie Ots

GOLD COAST TO LA: A WELCOME ADDICTION After 22 years on the Gold Coast, LA is a far cry from home. Leah MartinBrown (AKA Lilly Rouge) is taking it in her stride though, with her new EP Welcome Addiction due any day now and a new, more raw project keeping her busy as she finds her feet after being discovered by a US based A&R company. Leah touched base with our editor, Samantha Morris.

For the past three years she’s spent countless hours in the studio with Brisbane based producer Stuart Stuart, but Leah says this particular record titled Welcome Addicition is the one she’s wanted to do for a long time, and as we speak, Leah had just received artwork and was expecting the EP to be available on iTunes imminently.

“It’s not really something I intentionally set out to record,” she said.

“All of the tracks on this EP are in some way linked to addiction -whether my own or a loved one’s. It’s a subject I have spent a lot of time writing about so I guess you can say that this EP took me three years all up to finally piece together a collection of tracks that suited the mood I was after and were also cohesive as a whole piece.”

“The main lessons I learned when recording these particular songs were all hard ones. I learned that burying your pain in the bottom of a whiskey bottle never ends well, falling in love with a drug addict is also never fun.”

Much to the dismay of her parents, Leah makes her music based on real life experiences. But fans are in for a treat – with Leah promising catchy, heavy riffs and some deeper lyrical content than usual.

“They will definitely be able to bounce along and have a mosh here and there - which is what Lilly Rouge is all about,” Leah said.

If you follow the band on Facebook, you’d know that they let slip with the second single Wicked Ways off their EP a little while ago. Leah says people who’ve listened love the ‘new’ish direction.

she said. “You can expect a ridiculous amount of energy, our bassist will probably take his shirt off and (if I think I won’t die) I’ll probably end up crowd surfing.”

She’s been doing Lilly Rouge since she was 15 and believes the music has matured as she has. This trip to USA has been the first time she’s deviated.

“Evol Walks is my new project that I launched at the Musexpo Rock Summit over here in April,” Leah said.

“It is more stripped back and raw than Lilly Rouge and really focuses on the roots of rock ‘n’ roll - which has always been my thing. We’ve released three songs and a music video and planning some shows for later in the year.”

I’m curious as to whether Leah has settled well into LA lifestyle with so many similarities between Gold Coast and the starstudded city.

“Wicked Ways is a favourite of mine,” she said. “Firstly because of who I wrote it for and, secondly because I feel it’s the best vocal performance I’ve given in a studio environment.”

“Some of the attitudes about health, fitness and image over here are the same and the weather is pretty similar but otherwise I find them to be two completely different places,” she said.

Lilly Rouge will perform a rare show with Leah flying back into the country next month for Wallapalooza.

“The Gold Coast is much more relaxed and much more beautiful. I love LA but there’s no beach, trees or nature going on here.”

“Part of me wants to come running home and tell Lilly Rouge that I’m sorry I’ve betrayed it, but I know that this is where I need to be right now,” she said from LA. “We have a strong, loyal following here on the GC. Our fans here have always gone over and above to show us they care and some have actually become very close friends of mine because of this.”

And if things go to plan, Leah will be in the USA for a while to come, with her A&R company thinking they can help her break in to that market.

“At the moment I’m just going through the trials and tribulations of Visa acquisition but if all goes to plan it is looking to be a permanent move.”

“I am so unbelievably excited to be playing on Australian soil,”

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album reviews

BRIANNA CARPENTER

HITS

HOWLING BELLS

It’s been a long, dull five year wait in between releases, but Brisbane red-haired lass Brianna Carpenter is finally back with her sophomore album release On So It Goes.

After seeing Hits support The Scientists, creating a heap of buzz, I was excited to see what their new LP Hikikomori would sound like. The best description, besides kick arse, is to take some bands, say New Christs, Cosmic Psychos, Died Pretty, Stooges, Sonic Youth and some of your other favourites, put them in a blender, sprinkle some magic spice from producer and Radio Birdman front man Rob Younger over the top, and call it a rock ‘n’ roll smoothie for your ears.

The fourth album released by Howling Bells is a standout.

Titled Heartstrings, it brings a turbulent mix of guitar and drums, swirling to make beautiful indie rock. Opening track Paris is powerful with an entrancing vocal melody pulling the song along. Backing melodies coo and round out the first track. The tracks buzz in and out, and Heartstrings feels like an album that you have to sit down and listen to in full.

Your Love fills your head with waves of sweet guitar, thick with reverb and perfectly matched vocals. Tornado feels slightly ominous while coming across as a warning lyrically.

The drums crack and underpin the pivotal points of the track perfectly. Euphoria by contrast is smooth and sombre; it captures you in its melancholic sound and manipulates your emotions effortlessly from start to finish. Original Sin is definitely my favourite track from Heartstrings. The song shows off fuzzed guitar work and an intro with an impressive melody driving the song.

On So it Goes

Hikikomori

Still as fun and quirky as ever, Brianna has matured her performance and sound since her days on the Australian Idol stage. This 11 track release sees the songstress fusing an array of styles; from pop, to jazz, to folk; with elegance and eccentricity.

On So It Goes is like a good old-fashioned storybook; a captivating and welcoming beginning, a climatic middle and a heart-clutching conclusion. She opens with ‘Enchante’, a romantic and welcoming ballad before unleashing In Our Hearts which was the first single to be released off the album. It’s pop, up-beat and carefree nature is sure to see you cracking a smile from the get go. We are fed anxiety with the staccato piano in Anxious and then left brokenhearted in Aches- the story of a woman who has lost all hope.

From the opening track, to the romantic themes, a xylophone appearance and the soft natured tone of her voice, I couldn’t help but notice an exquisite French theme throughout. Perhaps this has stemmed from her self-confessed people-watching pastime?

As a songwriter myself, the best albums for me are the ones that captivate my ears and inspire me to try something new.

After listening to On So It Goes, I wrote a song… Good one, Brianna Carpenter.

Emily Hosking

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The twin guitar attack of rocking gals Tamara Dawn Bell and Stacey Coleman is a great combination. Bell can not only slice out some searing riffs, like in their cover of Joy Divisions’ Shadow Play (the best cover version of this song ever), but can also produce subtle touches that flow and intertwine in The Church Song. Coleman is the perfect foil; great rhythm and eloquent riffs that make a sound that fits like a rock ‘n’ roll glove.

But that’s not all. They also have a great drum/bass combo that, like a V8 engine, drives the whole sound; pumping, driving and making you move. Bass player Andy Buchanan drives that sound and drummer Gregor “Samoa” Mulvey pumps the beat and has some amazing fills. Check out Jesus F Christ and Bullet Train.

Last but not least are the laconic and wild vocals from “Evil” Dick Richards, he makes you believe his words in the style of Iggy Pop and Ron Peno of Died Pretty. He gives his all with the girls backing vocals giving the perfect combo. A real front man who can make you laugh as well like in Drink Too Much and G-Banger.

A great album that will stand the test of time. Hits support Hard-ons at Cooly Hotel 20 June.

Terry “Tappa” Teece

Heartstrings

Howling Bells originally formed in Sydney and now reside in London and Berlin, with new English bassist Gary Daines.

Heartstrings was recorded at Assault & Battery Studios in London, and the album was written in the basement of lead singer Juanita Stein’s home. Alan Moulder produced Heartstrings, and is well known for his work with The Killers, My Bloody Valentine and Depeche Mode.

Heartstrings is to be released on 30 May by Birthday Records.

Kyle Butcher

MATTHEW & THE ATLAS

THE PHONCURVES

TUESDAY’S GOOD

Other Rivers is the debut release from British band Matthew & The Atlas and it has been well worth waiting for. Matthew Hegarty, otherwise known as Matthew & The Atlas, has a resounding vibrato that is full of soul and he has mastered the power of his voice for this LP.

Pull out your garden skirts, lens-less Ray Bans, chinos and moustaches; The Phoncurves have unleashed a little ray of indie sunshine in the form of their latest EP, Heartstrings.

Sarah Frank is a Gold Coast treasure complete with impressive vocals and compositional abilities and Jim Pagotto has a remarkable level of talent on guitar and writes excellent riffs. When these two are mixed with the rhythm section, comprised of Jamie Eddy and Nathan Ortado, you know you are going to hear something special. Together they created Tuesday’s Good’s new self titled deluxe album.

Heartstrings

Other Rivers

With tracks like A Memory Of You that allow his voice to speak with simple sincerity over an acoustic guitar, to songs firmly rooted in Folk music like To The North. This album may not change lives but it is definitely a great staple to have in your collection.

With songs that encompass driving with the wind in your hair and nights spent sipping red wine, Other Rivers is a stunning collection of honest and beautiful songs. Another Way features our own Matt Corby on the vocals and has a heavenly composition. Lamenting a life wasted, Another Way sparkles with the same tone of hope that threads throughout the entire album.

Do yourself a favour: lie down in fresh sheets and let this album sink into your soul. It may not change your life but it will alter your day.

Christie Ots

Self-Titled Deluxe Album

This four-track collection is packed to the jam jar brim with cute, quirky tracks that will surely make your heart sing.

I was hooked from the first tambourine shake to the final harmonic vocal progression.

The EP opens with the title track Heartstrings where the girls give us a taste of everything that is to come. Their a cappella tricks are exercised from the get go proving that with their voices alone, they can do anything. Seriously, who needs instruments anyway?

Don’t get me wrong, there are also some incredible instrumental performances on this EP as well.

Each and every song featured feels sincere and honest, and the intricate lyricism is woven together as tightly as the woolen scarves draped around their fans necks. Their vocal performance and harmonies are equally naïve and effortless, proving that these voices were born to sing together.

The thing I adore most about Heartstrings is that it is the absolute epitome of today’s indie music scene. Written, performed, engineered, and produced by the ladies themselves, this EP is a practically perfect almost-DIY piece in every way.

The track Baby Green possesses a guitar riff reminiscent of 70’s rock like Led Zeppelin. Eddy creates the perfect beats to drive each track along and harmonises with each instrument perfectly. The album is an impressive fusion of blues and good old rock n’ roll from the era of long hair and psychedelic music. Natural Love has a catchy brass section and this track is the perfect song to get a crowd moving and dancing along to. The bass riff supporting this track is well composed from start to finish until the song falls apart in a haze of bass, brass, guitar and cymbals. Snakeskin Hat is the heaviest track on the EP with raw, distorted guitars and an amazing vocal melody in the chorus. This track is expertly written and contains a guitar solo that would make many guitarists jealous.

This is an impressive re-release deluxe album by a hard-working Gold Coast band.

Kyle Butcher

Aptly named, The Phoncurve’s EP is sure to tug on your heartstrings.

Emily Hosking

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off the record

The album opens with Hot Air, which sets the tone for the record. It feels like you’re just floating along while you listen, moving slowly and not going anywhere in particular.

Standout tracks for me are Hot Air, The Repairer and closing track Night Orchid.

Adalita @ Bluesfest

JANIS JOPLIN Pearl, 1971

Janis Joplin is widely recognised for her extraordinary talent and the lifestyle she led. She has a massive voice and is still one of the most celebrated blues women in history.

When I was 16, I was obsessed with the late 60s and early 70s and I picked up a copy of Pearl at the first record fair my dad ever took me to. The album begins with Move Over and moves into full gear with the powerful vocals of Cry Baby.

Pearl is full of that infectious blues music of the time that I love so dearly.

Sadly passing away in October 1970, only days after the vocals were all but completed for the then untitled album, Joplin joined the ‘27 Club’ alongside other greats Jimi Hendrix, Alan Wilson and Brian Jones who also died at age 27. The album was released posthumously in 1971 and affectionately titled Pearl, after Joplin herself.

In celebration of all the amazing women in music today and in the past, this edition of Off The Record is all about them!

The album features hits like Mercedes Benz and Kris Kristofferson’s Me and Bobby McGee. Pearl is a classic album that shows one of the greatest female blues voices. Several repressing’s are available and keep a look out at your local second hand record store for a copy.

Kaki King ADALITA

Adalita, 2011 Growing up, my mum used to play Magic Dirt, Superjesus, Carol King and plenty of other amazing female artists on repeat. Dirty Jeans was one of the first songs I knew all of the words to and it still gets stuck in my head from time to time.

Adalita has been a kind of like a childhood idol for me. I saw her as this cool rock chick that hangs out with the boys and doesn’t give a damn. Mum dressed me up as Adalita for a fancy dress party when I was in grade 3. I remember mum driving me to the park and reminding me who I was dressed up as. My 8-year old brain could not remember that name!

As a special Record Store Day Australia release this year Adalita Srsen, leading lady of Magic Dirt, released her solo debut self-titled album on vinyl. Released as a double LP, 180gram vinyl in red and gold with only 500 copies pressed.

Magic Dirt took an indefinite hiatus following the tragic death of bass player and Adalita’s muse, Dean Turner. This solo work was the first page of the next chapter for Adalita and her solo career.

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Everybody Loves You, 2003 Kaki King holds a special place for me. She is so freaking talented! I had never seen anyone play guitar like her before and it fascinates me. King thumbs out bass lines while tapping the melody and uses her guitar body as a percussion instrument.

Everybody Loves You displays King’s versatility and skill as a guitarist while continuing emotion and contemplation. The album is a mix of delicately strung songs and epic guitar tracks that build tension like nothing else. Standout tracks for me include Night After Sidewalk, The Exhibition and Carmine St. The first time I saw Kaki King live was at the Byron Bay Bluesfest in 2007 and later that year at the Brisbane Powerhouse. The show at the Powerhouse remains today as one of the most intimate gigs I have ever been to. King has this presence about her when she performs. She is gentle and graceful and I really recommend checking her out.

Gina Martin

HANGIN’ 5 WITH THE HOUR OF LOVE’S, GINA MARTIN Who’s your favourite GC artist/band?

There are so many amazing Gold Coast musicians, it’s really tough to choose just one! I’d have to say it’s tied between three amazing bands: Street 66, White Lodge and Salvadarlings.

What do you think is the best thing about living on the GC? For a long time I really didn’t appreciate the Gold Coast, but now I couldn’t imagine living anywhere else. The culture that bubbles here just below the surface is mind-blowing and the creative people I have met and love are really what makes this place home.

The most under-rated musician right now?

Hmm… This is tough because it’s easy to confuse little known with under-rated. Astro Travellers out of Brisbane are definitely under-rated. They are so damn talented!

What brought you to Rabbit Radio?

Lovestreet Studios brought me to Rabbit Radio. I was studying at the time, trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life when the idea of radio started calling.

Rabbit Radio were just starting up and Lovestreet were lucky enough to secure a weekly show. I stepped in and haven’t looked back since. The team behind Rabbit Radio and the amazing presenters do such an incredible job. We all bring something unique to the table and I’m very lucky to be apart of that team.

If you could give one piece of advice to a large group of people, what would it be?

Life is too short to drink bad wine. Also, pay for your music.

For musicians to create the music that you love, it costs money, and I think some people don’t realise just how much.

It’s really important to support independent artists and bands by paying a cover charge at a venue and, more importantly, for venues to pay bands. Buy a CD or a T-shirt because that money is going to pay for that bands next album.

You can listen to Hour of Love with Gina Martin and Christie Ots every Tuesday night from 7.00 – 8.00pm on rabbitradio.com.au.

gig guide MAY Wednesday 21 May Hell and Whiskey, The Northern Byron Bay Thursday 22 May Barefoot Friday, Neptune’s Garden, Saint Baraé, Hello Tari, Alex Crook, The Loft Chevron Island Blues on Broadbeach: Bondi Cigars, Owen Campbell, Mamas New Bag, The Rectifiers, Mojo Webb Band, Hussy Hicks, Claude Hay, Mason Rack Band Friday 23 May Blues on Broadbeach Josh Lee Hamilton Duo, Burleigh Brewery Ben Amor, Genki Café Palm Beach Isaac De Heer, Treehouse Byron Bay White Lodge, Gazar Strips, The Hideaway Brisbane Dano (Eureka Funk), Southern Cross Tavern Coolangatta TSUN, The Ottomans, San Mei, Elsewhere Surfers Paradise The Phoncurves (EP Release Tour), Karl S. Williams, Calan Mai, The Loft Chevron Island Saturday 24 May Blues on Broadbeach: DIESEL, Melbourne Ska Orchestra, Kevin Borich, Trinity Roots, 8 Ball Aitken, Col Finley, Marshall Okell, Juzzie Smith, Phil Manning, Bluesville Station May Alvin and Jahbutu, Miami Marketta Street Food Celtic Thunder, Jupiters Casino Theatre Sarah Frank, Secret Supper Night (Burleigh Underground Drummers) Cass Eager Duo, Howl at the Moon Mañana, The High Grade, Hans-Solo, The Loft Chevron Island Sunday 25 May Blues on Broadbeach: Time of my Life Band featuring Daryl Braithwait, Joe Camilleri, James Reyne and Ross Wilson, Claude Hay, Backsliders, Bustamento, Swamphouse, Tuesday’s Good Casey Barnes, Harrigan’s Drift Inn, Calypso Bay from midday) Monky Pharm, Genki Café Palm Beach 8 Ball Aitken, Mason Rack and friends, EAST Broadbeach (Blues on Broadbeach after party) Thursay 29 May Tim McMillan Band, Frankie, Timmy Rickard, The Loft Chevron Island Friday 30 May Kevin Bennett and The Flood, Soundlounge Currumbin Mar Haze, The Loft Chevron Island White Lodge, Heads of Charm, The Waiting Room West End, Brisbane Nix, Burleigh Brewery Mar Haze, Kip Casper, Alone Alaska, Louise Gilroy, The Loft Chevron Island Warren Musgrove, Genki Café Palm Beach Ella Fence, Ipswich Civic Centre Hell and Whiskey, Mister Jonson’s Blues Bar The Swiss, Luke Million, Adapt Or Die, Elsewhere Surfers Paradise Smokehouse Brothers, DJ Think, DJ Flyfingaz, Bread n Butter Kirra 30 May – 9 June: Cooly Rocks On featuring Slim Jim Phantom

Saturday 31 May The Rectifiers, Miami Marketta Street Food Angela Fabian Band, Burleigh Underground Drummers Tony Childs, Twin Towns Kingswood, The Medics, The Belligerents, Hi Fi Brisbane Hell and Whiskey, Middle Pub Mullumbimby Ashleigh Mannix & Justin Carter, Marcus Blacke, The Loft Chevron Island

JUNE Sunday 1 June Sarah Frank, The Bluff Café Burleigh Circle of Friends with Hussy Hicks, Miami Marketta (Rabbit+Cocoon) Clint White, Genki Café Palm Beach Felicity Lawless, Bread n Butter Kirra Wednesday 4 June Hell and Whiskey, The Northern Hotel Byron Bay Thursday 5 June Winter Acoustics: Joel French, Myles Larsen, Emma Ballard, Whitney Veitch, Robin Kimberly, The Loft Chevron Island Friday 6 June Fat Daddy, Genki Café Palm Beach Saturday 7 June White Lodge, Drunk Moms, Surfing Bird, The Good Bird, Transpotters Grand Central Hotel Brisbane Tuesday’s Good, Miami Marketta (Rabbit+Cocoon) Dano (Eureka Funk), Southern Cross Tavern Coolangatta Drawn from Bees, Soundlounge Currumbin cRUE (Mixtape Launch), The Loft Chevron Island Saturday 7 June Hell and Whiskey, Southern Cross Tavern Coolangatta Hailmary, Skinwalkers, The Outcome, Lighters are Fluid, Tatts Hotel Lismore Tuesday’s Good, Miami Marketta Kevin Mark Trail (The Streets), Shukura Chapman, Julie Hayes, The Loft Chevron Island Sunday 8 June Warren Musgrove, Genki Café Palm Beach Waz, Bread n Butter Kirra Thursday 12 June Twin Beasts (Badlove Tour), Rattlehand, Bree De Rome, The Loft Chevron Island

Sarah Frank, Genki Café Palm Beach Broadbeach Country Music Festival The Audreys, Soundlounge Currumbin Saturday 21 June The Angels, Cooly Hotel Broadbeach Country Music Festival Kiara Jack & The Jills, Pacific Hotel Yamba Hell and Whiskey, Shark Bar Miami Eureka Funk, Southern Cross Tavern Coolangatta Tuesday’s Good, Nimbin Hotel Sunday 22 June Broadbeach Country Music Festival Katchafire, The High Grade, Miami Marketta Gabin Doninger and Mescalito Blues, Bread n Butter Kirra Wednesday 25 June Hell and Whiskey, The Northern Byron Bay Friday 27 June Ben Amor, Genki Café Palm Beach Dubmarine, Miami Marketta Tijuana Cartel, Soundlounge Currumbin Tuesday’s Good, Jack and the Giant Killers, Scott Dalton, The Loft Chevron Island Saturday 28 June Mosspit #5: Boned, Friends with the Enemy, Steel City All, Shandy, Dividers, Cactus Dil-dos, Southern Cross Tavern Coolangatta Sunday 29 June Warren Musgrove, Genki Café Palm Beach GAS, Bread n Butter Kirra

JULY Thursday 3 July The Beards, Soundlounge Currumbin Kiara Jack & The Jills, Railway Hotel Byron Bay Tuesday’s Good, Currumbin Creek Tavern Friday 4 July Dan Sultan, Sounlounge Currumbin Saturday 5 July Kiara Jack & The Jills, Yamba YHA Sunday 6 July Nine Sons of Dan, Swingin’ Safari

Friday 13 June The Paper Kites, The Northern Byron Bay Sarah Frank, Mandala Organic Arts Café Mermaid Beach Elly Hart, Southern Cross Tavern Coolangatta Lancelot, Elsewhere Surfers Paradise Songwriters Circle: Kate Leopold, David Taylor, Felicity Lawless, Mattie Barker, The Loft Chevron Island Saskwatch, Soundlounge Currumbin

Tuesday 8 July Dan Sultan, The Northern Byron Bay

Saturday 14 June Dano (Eureka Funk), Southern Cross Tavern Coolangatta The Ninjas, White Summer, Underwood Mayne, Liam Ward, The Loft Chevron Island

Sunday 13 July Music in the Park at Labrador, Tuesday’s Good (from midday)

Sunday 15 June Benny D Williams, Genki Café Palm Beach Kiara Jack & the Jills, Felicity Lawless, Julia Rose, The Joynt West End Milan Martin, Bread n Butter Kirra Thursday 19 June Hard-ons, The Northern Byron Bay Friday 20 June Hard-ons, Coolangatta Hotel

Wednesday 9 July Hell and Whiskey, The Northern Byron Bay Friday 11 July Lloyd Cole (UK), Soundlounge Currumbin

Friday 18 July Geoff Achison, Soundlounge Currumbin Sarah Frank, Genki Café Palm Beach Saturday 26 July Andrew Strong (The Commitments), Twin Towns Tweed Heads Wednesday 30 July Hell and Whiskey, The Northern Byron Bay Send your gigs to news@blankgc.com.au www.blankgc.com.au

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ECO-BYTES Corporate Social Responsibility not enough to save the planet An international team of experts backed by the United States National Science Foundation has devised an eight point plan designed to halt unsustainable levels of environmental degradation wrought by the private sector. The plan is contained in a report titled New Nature of Business, which has been endorsed by a wide range of environmental agencies, academic institutions, government utilities and firms including the oil giant BP and Dow Chemicals. The report along with a bunch of resources, is available at newnatureofbusiness.org/.

What are you wearing?

If you don’t know where it was made, what it’s made from or where it will end up, take it off. Gecko – Gold Coast & Hinterland Environment Council is hosting Edda Hamar, founder of Australia’s largest sustainable fashion runway show. She’ll shed light on murky facts the fashion industry would prefer to keep in the closet: from the massive carbon, water and waste footprints of clothing, to the sweatshop labour conditions endured by most garment factory workers. Are you brave enough to take a hard look at what you’re wearing? As well as learning how to dress sustainably, ethically and with style? Join Gecko, 28 May from 6.30pm at The Cove @ Alleys, Currumbin RSL. Hawksbill turtle, image courtesy of Mic Smith

Barnacle Bill This juvenile hawksbill turtle was dehydrated and weak when he was found by kids at Flat Rock NSW on the weekend. With its shell covered in barnacles the tiny turtle was probably born in nesting areas in the North Barrier Reef. Lucky for this little guy someone called Australian Seabird Rescue (ASR) and a volunteer rescuer turned up in a 4WD in about 20 minutes. ASR Volunteer Corey said the baby hawksbill would be rehabilitated at the ASR centre in Ballina and then returned to Flat Rock. Baby hawksbills look different to the black and white baby green sea turtles and are listed as vulnerable in Queensland and critically endangered Internationally. They grow to 80cm. For more information about ASR visit seabirdrescue.org If you find a marine mammal or bird call 0428 862 852.

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Queensland spares Marine Parks from fishing The Queensland Government won’t proceed with a proposal to allow recreational fishing in one of Moreton Bay’s marine national parks (Scotts Point ‘green zones’) and Minister for National Parks Steve Dickson announced there are no plans to change other marine national parks. Australian Marine Conservation Society said there is real community sentiment towards our marine parks and that the decision sends a message to the Federal Government that the debate over marine parks has turned a corner. Follow other marine campaigns and news at marineconservation.org.au.

Greenweek for everyone Gecko – Gold Coast & Hinterland Environment Council has celebrated World Environment Day in many forms over the years, but this year, they’re putting on one of their biggest and best with a massive week of events which run from Saturday 31 May through Sunday 8 June. One of the week’s highlights is a Wildlife Expo, at Australia Fair Sunday 8 June from 10.00am. The event will allow adults and kids to get up close and personal with a wide range of our special Australian animals: bats, snakes, insects and heaps more.

You can download information about this, and other events at goldcoastgreenweek.com.

Boomerang Bags set to launch this month Boomerang Bags is a unique initiative of two Gold Coast women who have managed to bring on board hundreds and hundreds of volunteers. Made from reclaimed fabrics by eager sewing circles, 2000 bags are about to be installed in Boomerang Bins throughout Burleigh Heads in an effort to both raise awareness and stem the tide of deadly plastic bags making their way to landfill and waterways. Once launched, you can pick up a reusable, sustainable bag from Burleigh retailers and return it next time you shop. The launch takes place Saturday 31 May from 11.00am along James Street, Burleigh Heads and afterwards in Memorial Park (next to Bowls Club) for live music and food.

Gold Coasters named among enviro award finalists Wal Mayr, Mark Tierney, City of Gold Coast, Canungra State School Green Team, Ngarang-Wal Gold Coast Aboriginal Association, Natural Education and Arthur Gorrie Correctional Centre and Boomerang Bags have all been named finalists for the 2014 Healthy Waterways Awards. You can vote for your favourite in the People’s Choice Award at healthywaterwaysawards.org/award/peoples-choice-award/. $9 million from budget for Gold Coast climate change adaptation centre Australia’s leading climate change adaptation research centre is slated to receive $9million in the latest Federal Budget.

Based at Griffith University’s GC campus, the National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility will deliver a framework for understanding and managing coastal climate risks, including sea level rise in the coastal zone. The University’s Senior Deputy Vice Chancellor Professor Ned Pankhurst said the investment would help the facility guide decision makers, particularly coastal local governments, to manage climate risks.

Metgasco’s license to drill suspended Activists and farmers across northern NSW and the Gold Coast celebrated a win last week when NSW Minister for Resources and Energy Anthony Roberts announced suspension of Metgasco’s right to drill an exploration well at Bentley. Thousands of people camped on the site in question for months, disrupting Metgasco access as well as attracting both media and public interest. A major police operation was rumoured to be underway to move the thousands of peaceful protestors on, with activists planning major training events for the 5000+ people expected on site before police arrived. Metgasco’s license was suspended because the company neglected to undertake effective consultation with the community. The Minister also referred information concerning shareholdings and interests in Metgasco to the Commissioner of the Independent Commission Against Corruption.

Send your eco-news to news@blankgc.com.au.

HANGIN’ 5 WITH Jordyn de Boer Tell us about your environmental work?

I’m President of Surfrider Foundation Gold Coast and heavily involved in their Rise Above Plastics campaign. I am also one of the founders of Boomerang Bags – a collaborative community initiative which will reduce the use of plastic bags.

What drew you to environmental activism?

I grew up spending a lot of time outdoors, and after finishing school studied environmental science and conservation, which really brought to light all of the issues we are currently facing. Nature gives us so much, not only by catering to our physical needs but in bringing us joy, awareness, secluded moments, energy and experience. It keeps us alive! We are all part of the same system and it’s our responsibility to respect and look after it.

What do you think the Gold Coast’s greatest environmental asset is?

I think what makes the Gold Coast so special is the diversity of natural environments – pristine coastline, great surf, creeks and

estuaries, bush and hinterland, all right at the doorstep of its’ urban landscapes.

While you’re fighting hard for environmental protection there are so many eco horror stories in the media. How do you keep positive when the road ahead seems sorocky?

It can definitely get overwhelming at times – the planet is facing many environmental and social challenges, which can sometimes make you want to throw in the towel. I think it helps to be realistic about what you can achieve – stay focused on trying to make a difference in your own life and local community, that’s where it starts, and take comfort in knowing that big change starts from the bottom up.

What do you think is the best thing about being a young woman on the GC? The GC offers a unique blend of affordability and lifestyle when compared to many other Australian cities, resulting in a large demographic of young people and families who bring a sense of adventure, energy, creativity and openmindedness. Being a relatively new city I think it presents a real opportunity for young people to carve their own path and shape its future.

www.blankgc.com.au

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WOMAN POWER BUFFERS THE DUNES This headline is an understatement for what one inspiring woman on the Gold Coast has achieved. Founder and President of Friends of Federation Walk, Lyn Wright, has ensured the preservation of Gold Coast beaches so future generations can experience what Lyn calls paradise. To delve into Lyn’s passion for coastal community advocacy, Naomi Edwards asked what motivates her and what we need to do to secure Gold Coast’s coastal future.

What is most special about Gold Coast’s environment?

Although the Gold Coast is what it is today because of a lack of historical environmental regulation and understanding of the environmental barriers we had and will have to adapt to, the environment carries a lot of weight for the future of the Gold Coast. In saying that, every part of Gold Coast’s environment is special because if we destroy it, it will become de-valued, along with the progressive environmental planning outcomes that helped shape it.

What motivates you to keep going with environmental campaigning?

Support from the community and those willing to organise tree planting days and the volunteers who collaborate with Friends of Federation Walk to keep Federation Walk Coastal Reserve special. Especially the nice gestures from people who have volunteered over the years, who come back to say thanks and acknowledge how tree planting has been a turning point for them to further contribute to our community: for instance, The Southport School and the Marriott who have been supporting annual volunteer days with Friends of Federation Walk for over 10 years. We still have a long way to go to inspire more people, as everyone has something to give, “It’s the city boys we must not forget to educate”, a teacher at The Southport School said once.

One woman who has inspired your environmental work the most?

Hazel Engdahl, who is a long-term volunteer at Friends of Federation Walk, has volunteered at almost every tree planting activity since the very beginning in 2001. As a volunteer she has become a special person that always has a smile and volunteers for the love it. If she can’t make it, she always sends an apology and when away a post card with an update about the highways and towns she cleans up with her husband Stan, who cooks our working bee BBQ. In my opinion, Hazel is an unsung hero that inspires me, as well as others’ environmental work.

What advice could you give to other women on the Gold Coast?

If you have passion for a cause, find the right people to help you prepare a plan to be proactive.

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Formed in 2001, Friends of Federation Walk have planted hundreds of thousands of native coastal plants along Federation Walk Coastal Reserve, a 93ha coastal dune reserve that extends from Philip Park opposite SeaWorld to the Gold Coast Seaway. They host monthly community tree plantings on the last Sunday of every month. The dune is Gold Coast’s ‘Central Park’ just a stone’s throw away from Surfers Paradise. Visit federationwalk.org for more information.

MEDITATION RETREAT

THE 4 SPIRITUAL EMOTIONS With John Barter

20 - 23 June

at Beautiful GUNNEBAH Retreat Centre, Northern NSW (30 mins from Gold Coast airport) 3 NIGHTS ALL MEALS, ACCOMMODATION AND TEACHINGS ONLY $490 John Barter is a Buddhist Psychologist and was a Buddhist Monk for over 10 years

PH: 07 5608 4181 E: info@themindcentre.com.au www.themindcentre.com.au

ONE TOP SHEILA STANDING UP FOR OUR SPECIAL PLACES She’s a relief teacher of Special Education and an honorary life member of Gecko – Gold Coast & Hinterland Environment Council, where she’s previously held the positions of Campaign Coordinator, President and Environmental Educator. She’s been on the board of Conservation Queensland and the Australian Conservation Foundation’s Gold Coast Branch and has been recognised as one of Queensland’s Champions of Conservation. Samantha Morris had the chance to put a few questions to Sheila Davis, to find out just what makes her tick.

Sheila Davis’ hometown of Toms River, New Jersey (USA) was contaminated by a chemical dye factory when she was a child. The industry led to the soil, drinking water wells and the river itself being poisoned and clusters of devastating childhood cancers. It also led to her lifelong passion for environmental protection and campaigning for strong legislation, which started with one letter to the editor on World Environment Day, 1991.

Soon after she moved with her young family to the Redlands where housing development was occurring at a rapid rate – there she became a member of the Koala Action Group and planted koala trees, yet these grassroots activities weren’t enough to stem the development tide and Sheila and her husband Steve, devastated at the constant loss of koala habitat vowed to buy land and protect it.

Fast-forward more than 20 years and they own a piece of the Gold Coast hinterland they had to borrow and scrimp to buy and build on sustainably.

“We have carpet snakes, lace monitors, kookaburras, sulfur-crested cockatoos, noisy pittas, regent bowerbirds, brush turkeys, antechinus and bushrats, spiders, bats and possums, and, of course, the rainforest pademelons and even koalas,” Sheila said, proud of their native biodiversity conservation and noting that the property is now protected under Council’s Voluntary Conservation Agreement program.

She’s spent the last 20 odd years working with Gecko - Gold Coast & Hinterland Environment Council on many campaigns, but especially to protect Springbrook and its World Heritage values in the face of constant challenges from those who wish to exploit them.

“You wouldn’t think that you’d have to work to protect a World Heritage Area,” she said. “But then again look at what they’re doing to the Great Barrier Reef!”

Sheila is proud to share her biggest environmental win: stopping a proposal to build a 30km cableway from Mudgeeraba to Springbrook, through the World Heritage listed Springbrook National Park to the top of Purlingbrook Falls.

“About 10 of us met every week and campaigned and lobbied for about three years – our submissions to the environmental impact study were hundreds of pages long,” Sheila said.

“The decision by the Beattie Labor Government to reject the proposal, announced a few months before the state election in 2001, was celebrated by us on the front page of the Gold Coast Bulletin and contributed to the Gold Coast winning six new Labor seats at the time,” she said.

It doesn’t take a long conversation with Sheila to know that population growth is a major driver for her activist work.

“With the lowest and most erratic rainfall and thin, nutrient-deficient soils, Australia is a very low carryingcapacity country,” Sheila explains.

“We currently have about 23 million residents and twenty years ago that’s what the Australian Academy of Science suggested might be the limit. Yet with increasing conflict throughout the world due to overpopulation and subsequent ecological collapse, together with the need to move out of low-lying areas due to climate change, we are faced with unprecedented pressure on our life support systems.”

“Though Australian food exports currently provide for about 50 million, the world’s population increases by about 75 million each year, and Australia may soon be unable to feed its own citizens due to the effects of climate change,” Sheila said.

“Of course, we have to handle our consumption, but we also have to handle the number of consumers. I do believe, as did 179 nations back in 1994 at the UN Cairo Conference, that we need to slow population growth,” Sheila said.

Hang 5 with Sheila How long have you been an environmental worker for?

Since 1991 As a mother, campaigner and global citizen, what’s one piece of advice you’d give your 30 year old self?

That’s pertinent as I have a 29 yo daughter. I would tell her to ‘go for it’. To quote Goethe, “Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.”

What do you think is the Gold Coast’s most under-rated environmental asset?

Its biodiversity of plants and animals in the hinterland foothills – they are full of wildlife, creeks and forests of national significance and lots of lifestyle and tourism options. You don’t have to go to the Great Barrier Reef or the top of the mountains to get biodiversity. It’s all here.

And what’s the hardest thing about being an environmental campaigner and activist?

Being branded an extremist when you know that you’re being the rational one and that ‘business as usual’ is extremely insane.

What motivates you to keep going?

I look to the bush for inspiration to continue. Whenever I feel downhearted, a critter will show itself. Critters always come with a message of gratitude and pleading for us to go on with the task of providing protection. www.blankgc.com.au

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CAN’T SEE THE FOREST FOR THE MEs The Liberal voting housewives of Moncrieff are a challenging if not interesting target for an environmental campaign.

BMWs and Range Rovers each parked exactly 50 cm from the kerb.

Considering the man they voted in last year, Steve Ciobo has not a single record of any environmental credentials on his website, they could also turn out to be the most futile target for an environmental campaign.

I hope none of the prestige car drivers watching me blow my cover as I flip flop up to a suitable establishment.

However, every campaign is only as strong as the research that goes into it, so today being Mother’s Day I’ve decided to spy on the proposed demographic at a popular alfresco restaurant at Tedder Avenue in Main Beach.

Tedder Avenue has the reputation for being the Gold Coast’s old-money equivalent of Sydney’s Double Bay and judging by the cars here it’s easy to see why.

I park behind a blue Audi convertible that is about to leave.

The middle aged woman behind the wheel puts down the roof with a push of a diamond encrusted finger on a button.

“Go girl. A perfect specimen of the Liberal Voting Housewives of Moncrieff,” I think while her male partner, perhaps a little over the limit in polo shirt, shorts and deck shoes, drags with golf-club-like sophistication on a cigarette outside the car.

The alpha-male fan of nicotine in times of stress, networking and other frivolity embarks into the sports car and the door closes with the sound of money.

I watch them leave and I cross the road. Looking back I notice how my crookedly reversed-in green Ford Festiva with ibis shit looks like a cockroach that’s crawled into the Tedder cliché of wealth, the evenly spaced Audis, Mercedes,

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The young waitress slash maitre d’ looks at my Brasilian thongs, salty eyelashes and pepperoni encrusted jeans, hesitates and directs me to a table in the corner.

Sitting with latte and a view of three Liberal Voting Housewives enjoying Mother’s Day with their families, I open up my laptop to note down the main points about the habitat and behaviour of this demographic in their natural environment.

I don’t note anything particularly distinctive, except maybe for, and it’s hardly worth mentioning, the silicon lipped member of the local crossfit congregation beside me asking her daughter, who is so young she barely reaches the table, if she wants barramundi or eye fillet.

The girl avoids the question as skilfully as Joe Hockey, but I can almost see the MacDonalds burgers floating before her eyes.

This is definitely helping my research, but the next question I need to ask is: Where are these women at, in terms of their own self-perception, awareness and interest in environmental concerns?

Good question mmm. There could be some clues in the three year old eating a $35 piece of barramundi and the $100,000 cars that surround my Festiva.

But conspicuous consumption and the preoccupation with luxury and prestige is an aspect of the Liberal Voting Housewives of Moncrieff that’s too clichéd, too obvious and too often parodied to be useful.

To improve the environmental credentials of this demographic and Steve Ciobo, do I really want to take the piss and tell them they are wrong to spend so much on themselves?

Well yes.

But it won’t help the environment much, so I need to mine (open cut style, with lots of FiFOs, leeching megalitres daily from the artesian water basin, dredging and dumping mud on my spiritual coral reef that’s already half bleached) my soul for the humility that still has a pulse in this inverted snob.

I need to find out about them, how they feel, how they see themselves, their family and their futures in Moncrieff.

Moncrieff is a safe Liberal seat, so campaigners for the environment would rather club seals than spend their energy here. It’s much more efficient to focus on swing voters and marginal electorates.

But Moncrieff shouldn’t be neglected, after all Steve Ciobo might not have heard of the Gold Coast environment, so the campaign could start by just trying to make him aware.

After that, you just have to make him interested and then make him feel like there’s something he can do. It can’t be impossible, but is there something he can do?

You have to start the environmental message somewhere. I mean I’m no climate change doomsday fanatic but I’ve seen

distant brown muffins of pollution hang over most cities in Australia…

I’ve heard enough concerns about the Great Barrier Reef to make it a priority to visit it as soon as I can in case it dies…

I’ve seen half of my mates make a packet by going to the mines…

And I’ve never heard of koalas doing well anywhere there is land development.

So… According to a 2008 Griffith University survey, the beach a few blocks east of Tedder Avenue, Main Beach, is one of the Gold Coast’s three most popular beaches along with The Spit (another beach in Moncrieff that was packed with families on Mother’s Day which is currently under the looking glass of developers) and Burleigh.

The majority of the 8000 Gold Coast residents surveyed said beach cleanliness was the most important thing to them and most of them just use the beach for passive activities like relaxing rather than active activities like surfing, fishing or snorkelling.

In other words it’s all about lifestyle. It’s all about me and not the environment, which is fair enough. Ok with me.

Over 50 percent said the beach was very important to them.

Also very importantly and coincidentally over 50 percent of Moncrieff-ians gave the LNP their first preference in the 2013 election. More than double the number who voted Labor and over nine times the people who voted Green, which is the party with the strongest environmental credentials.

But environment credentials and credibility don’t go deliciously together like eye fillet and mushroom sauce in Australian politics and media.

In fact the media and the authoritative sources that journalists use make it almost impossible for groups with environmental credentials to sound credible.

Eminent environmental journalism scholar Libby Lester says it’s the definitions of the powerful that get reproduced in the media.

She says, “Non dominant groups cannot easily penetrate this primary definition” because they are regularly and systematically stigmatised as extreme and irrational.

Does that sound familiar Prime Minister? Um… Climate change? Don’t underestimate the power of the message.

So what’s the message to the Liberal Voting Housewives of Moncrieff? What’s the environmental campaign going to be about?

Well I don’t know yet, but I quite like the coffee on Tedder Avenue so I’m starting to get the message if I stop fighting the Liberal Voting Housewives of Moncrieff and join them I’ll be a lot better off.

Mic Smith

BIKINS. BOARDSHORTS. BOOMERANG BAGS? Boomerang Bags are set to sew waves of awareness across the Gold Coast. First stop Burleigh Heads.

Tania Potts and Jordyn de Boer, two creative environmentalists have founded Boomerang Bags with the goal of reducing the use of plastic bags around the much-adored village.

Hand-stamped with ‘borrow and bring back’, 2000 hand-sewn, reusable bags will be distributed through retail stores in Burleigh for people to use when they’ve forgotten to bring their own. They’re free, they’re sustainable and they’re expected to have a big impact on environmental awareness.

Tania says there’s been an overwhelming level of community support.

“A dynamic group of volunteers, young and old, have been attending weekly sweing bees and have collectively sewn 2000 bag ready to distribute,” she said.

Nearly 200 volunteers have contributed to sewing the bags.

But as well as the volunteers, the program has had support from local businesses, Council, schools and the Burleigh community.

Burleigh Brewing Company is one local company throwing their weight behind the program. As well as nominating Boomerang Bags as the beneficiary for one of their Brewery Bashes, they also donate their used malt bags which volunteers then turn into reusable bags which are in turn sold at the brewery, with funds going back into the program.

“The program offers the opportunity for a wide and diverse range of Gold Coasters to volunteer their time, energy and respective skills to fostering a better, cleaner and greener Gold Coast for all of us to enjoy,” Burleigh Brewery CEO Peta Fielding said.

Although the program is yet to be launched (see below for launch event details), there’s already quite a bit of anticipation for the program’s roll-out through Burleigh and possibly further afield. And last week the project was announced as a finalist for a Healthy Waterways Award.

Simon Warner, CEO SEQ Catchments recently acknowledged the initiative as an important step for the community to lead sustainable choices for the environment.

“These bags allow the community to take the lead on reducing waste and pollution. It’s a great idea and hopefully will spread across the country,” Simon said.

Boomerang Bags will launch in James Street, Burleigh on Saturday 31 May from 11.00am. Live music and food is then on offer in Memorial Park (next to the Bowls Club) from 2.00pm. Get more information at boomerangbags.org or on Facebook (@boomerangbags).

Vote for Boomerang Bags in the People’s Choice Awards at healthywaterwaysawards.org/award/peoples-choice-award/.

Samantha Morris

www.blankgc.com.au

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WETLANDS, AUSTRALIA’S FIRST WILDLIFE AND WALKS WORLD CHAMPION: ON OFFER THROUGH GREEN WEEK Phyllis O’Donnell

SURFING Image courtesy Ron Perrott

From the beaches of Coolangatta to the hinterland of Mount Tamborine, Gold Coast is set to celebrate its environment with a nine day long schedule of activities.

From 31 May through 8 June, Gold Coasters can get closer to their favourite Aussie animal or take a magical undergound tour with thousands of glow worms. You can take your environmental knowledge to new heights at stargazing workshops or join marine biologists at on-shore whale watching information sessions.

From organic markets to sports and art activities, on our beaches, beside our creeks, through historical presentations and Indigenous tours, this year’s Green Week truly offers something for everyone, no matter what their shade of green.

The highlight of the week is Gecko’s Wildlife Expo, taking place Sunday 8 June at Australia Fair Southport. Lynda Hull, Gecko President said the organisations was proud of the family and child-friendly nature of the program of events.

“It is important to engage our children as early as possible through fun and educational activities. The foundation of caring for our environment, its flora and fauna is one of the most precious gifts and legacies we can give them and this is exactly what we aim to do at the Gold Coast Green Week,” she said.

Check the full program of events in Blank GC or at http:// goldcoastgreenweek.com.

OUR VERY OWN BIGGEST TREE PLANTING Gold Coast’s biggest tree planting takes place this Saturday 24 May as part of a special Connect to Your Creek week.

Hosted by Nerang Riverkeepers at Country Paradise Parklands, a whopping 10,000 plants will be established to create a new wetland that will attract wildlife and improve waterway health.

Mark Tierney, coordinater at Riverkeepers said an army of green would descend on the site.

“We have been working extremely hard all year round to get the site ready for the tree planting day and ensure people will be able to connect to the creek,” he said.

The group has also installed park benches and lookouts.

Saturday 24 May, 8.00am Country Paradise Parklands, Beaudesert-Nerang Road. Phone 0423 846 494 or goldcoastcatchments.org.

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1964: a different world than today, particularly the surfing world.

It was a man’s world, and most men did not take kindly to women in the line up.

The first ever World Surfing Titles were held at Manly Beach.

Australians won both the men’s and women’s world surfing titles.

In an interview for Surfworld at Currumbin Phyllis tells how guys used to aim their boards at her head as she was paddling back out when she first started surfing - before she met the famous Snowy McAllister.

If you check the International Surfing Association website, it lists Midget Farrelly as 1964 Men’s World Champion, and Phyllis O’Donnell as 1964 Women’s World Champion. It mentions Midget Farrelly’s upset win of the first ever World surfing title.

But if you look at the events themselves, the Women’s final was surfed first, so in fact Phyllis O’Donnell, a lady 27 years of age had won the World Title, before Midget even surfed the final.

A different world back then. Phyllis won $250, a surfboard, and numerous packets of cigarettes!

Phyllis said no one expected her to win. There was even a band playing and the “groovy” music relaxed her, put her in the right frame of mind and the rest is history!

Gidget the movie was out in 1959, starring Sandra Dee, and the TV series with Sally Field, did not start until 1966. If you check out the movie and TV series, you can see the idea of a girl surfing was still pretty taboo, somewhat of a novelty.

This is the way it was looked upon by most male surfers.

She said after that, after a couple of years, she became an “aggressive surfer”, and like the men fought for and demanded her waves.

This is where my first experience of Phyllis was, about 14 years after her win in the World Titles, I was a little grommet (Yes, cheeky grommet) surfing Rainbow Bay, about 12 years old. I went to drop in, and this older lady said f*ck off kid!

Rather mystified, and never hearing a women speak like that I told my old man that an “old lady” was out there surfing and swore at me. “Don’t worry son, that’s Phyllis. Don’t drop in,” my dad said. Dad tells me that around 1965 when he first started surfing, Phyllis was one of the standouts on the southern points.

From my memory in 1977, she was still no slouch, even at 40 years of age. Salute to you Phyllis O’Donnell. Australia - and the Gold Coast’s first ever world surfing champion.

Terry ‘Tappa’ Teece

THE LITTLE PLATE

3 Deodar Drive, Burleigh Heads Sometimes dreams don’t work out exactly how you plan them…they’re even better!

At least that’s how it turned out with the little plate…

Workmates Gaynor, Olivia and Nicole dreamed of owning a tapas restaurant where people could share food and enjoy good service and top flavours. They shared a common vision and complementary skills, but when one venue option dried up, their ‘share plate’ philosophy adapted to a new formula: fine casual dining in a boutique setting where the flavours of the world could be shared by those around the table.

NO BLACK SHEEP: Sian Bressolles

From master chef to local treasure, Sian Bressolles is Owner / Chef at Black Sheep Bistro in Oxenford, and has been blessed with fame in her career. Fronting kitchens such as The Jephson Hotel, the Saville (Mantra), Mao Mao and Stone, her impressive resumé includes groundbreaking positions, her career highlights covered in The Courier Mail, The Australian and Gourmet Traveller.

“I trained and qualified as both a chef and pastry chef in New Zealand before coming to Australia 16 years ago. I’ve had a diverse career with many milestones: first female Executive Chef in Brisbane; part of the start up crew at Versace, first Chef de Cuisine at Vie...It was time for me to go out on my own.”

How did you come to be an advocate of ‘nose-to-tail’ dining, and what does the term mean?

“Dad was a commercial fisherman. Growing up on a farm, you realise how much effort, how much tending it takes to grow even one lettuce; you’re a lot less inclined to waste food.

‘Nose to tail’ is about sustainability and less waste. When you buy a half beast, there are secondary cuts. Nose to tail dining uses those cuts in homage to the beast that gave up its life to feed you. It’s respect for the farmers, growers, fishermen, and horticulturalists whose food I’m using in my restaurant.”

Why come back to the Coast?

“I never really left! Even when I worked in Brisbane, I lived here! You come up to a certain level and then you think, ‘I’m putting all this love and effort into my food, and what is it for?’ You never see the results.

Oxenford is all about locals. There’s a real rapport between myself as chef and restaurant diners. You’re giving people their meal personally, and you get their appreciation back.

They even clear their table and bring their dishes up! It’s so cute! There’s a real sense of community in Oxenford. I love it here!”

Marj Osborne Read more of Marj’s reviews on Good Food Gold Coast foodgoldcoast.com.au.

So began the little plate…

Gaynor’s experience as a classically trained, world-travelled chef is evident in the innovative menu. While at first glance, some menu items sound familiar, the little plate presents ‘old’ dishes in a new way. The typewriter font logo is your first hint: there’s a retro old-come-new take here on world food.

As you journey through food from Morocco to Singapore, from Canada to Spain, expect the unexpected!

Dishes familiar to you by name are translated into the little plate version, cooked from scratch using quality meat and produce. This means sourcing the best ingredients (such as Hāpuku, a highly-rated deep sea fish from New Zealand), taking time to painstakingly prepare and slow cook dishes, with no amount of preparation being too much to get an authentic meal onto the plate. Even the sauces, such as the BBQ chilli sauce, are made from scratch. It’s definitely ‘the road less travelled’ route to the table.

So tortillas ain’t just tortillas, ma’am! They’re Blue tortillas, a staple of the Hopi people of New Mexico, made using a hot water blue corn meal dough. They make sweeter, nuttier tortillas than yellow corn, with a lower GI and higher protein content. Filled with jalapeno-spiced fall-apart pulled pork, guacamole and coriander, they’re a tasty treat. Ah, the memories of a Sedona sunset come flooding back!

mashed potato, it’s the sort of meal needed to bite through a cold winter day. Oh so scrumptious, if only Mum had cooked like this! (Sorry, Mum!) “There’s a lot going on in Burleigh right now, so it’s important to get both the pricing and point of difference right. Sharing’s the key. We want to bring the ‘social’ back into dining, so people can share, chat, and be flexible in their dining. It’s also about putting the hug back into the plate.”

And you can really feel the love – in the décor, in the food, and in the service! Don’t be fooled by the restaurant’s name; there’s no ‘meanness’ about this food, in size or quality! For ‘little’ plates, read ‘medium sized’ or even ‘large’, generously made, packed with flavour. The menu changes with the seasons, with specials to lure the locals out again and again.

The food delivers! And so does the cheerful service!

There’s a small, well-chosen and well-priced beer, wine and cider list. It includes two local boutique Aardvark & Arrow beers on tap ($4 per tall glass), preservative-free, and even a celiac-friendly beer! The restaurant’s also BYO wine only at $2 per head corkage.

The only ‘little plate’, in our books, is the bill at the end. With meals ranging from $9 to $25, and most well under $20, this is one of the best value authentic dining experiences around.

“Dad always said, ‘Don’t go in for the big kill. Take little steps. Little bits add up,’” quotes Gaynor…and all the ‘little bits’ of the little plate add up to a pretty impressive package!

The little plate’s tucked away in a side street off the Lower Burleigh Highway, a quiet suburban location which relies on word-of-mouth patronage. Fancy a cocktail instead? Then head for the little bar, the ladies’ fully licensed venue nearby.

With Gourmet Traveller recently on their scent the word’s getting out. Explore the back streets, travel on your tastebuds, and be delightfully surprised! But only if you book! The little plate has become a local favourite!

Marj Osborne Read more of Marj’s reviews on Good Food Gold Coast foodgoldcoast.com.au.

The Cypriot lamb-loaded pide, packed with the authentic flavours of the Middle East and topped with tsatziki and salad, is served on a rustic wooden board. It could be a meal for one, but it’s also great to share. Many of the dishes on the two menus, we notice, are available in two sizes.

Diners at a nearby table ask, “How many dishes do we need to order?” It’s a fair call, and our waitress Alanah gives us the pointer to start slowly, ordering more as needed.

Looking through the menu, there’s not just world street food, but also evidence of ‘dude food’, a feminised version, in some cases: Not Croque Monsieur but Croque Madam, with a fried egg on top; Sliders (or dare we say ‘burgettes’) made with beef brisket, caramelised onion and grilled cheese; Nachos topped with five-hour cooked melt-in-your-mouth beef and chilli black bean – a ‘dudette’ home-cooked version of classic street food.

The Main Squeeze indulges in a ‘pie’ for lunch; not your typical pie, but a Red wine marinated eye fillet, portabello and lamb kidney pie, the rich meat mixture topped by a pastry lid. Served with baby carrots, peas and buttery www.blankgc.com.au

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COFFEE SISTERS

110 Monaco Street, Broadbeach Waters In a sunny and cosy corner of Broadbeach Waters, tucked away from the frenetic energy of the tourist strip lies Coffee Sisters, a place to enjoy a coffee and a bite to eat off the beaten track; a perfect nook to bask in the autumn sun.

A bright pink Wega coffee machine is the centrepiece in this modern and warm café located in a tiny clutch of shops on Monaco Street. The coffee station and a chilled cabinet displaying sweets and muffins fronts the kitchen, with diners mostly seated outdoors under a vergola roof and umbrellas to provide shade. There is plenty of parking nearby, a play area for the kids, bike racks and dog tie up area to encourage a range of patrons.

The eponymous sisters are baristas Penny and Susan Strophair, who opened Coffee Sisters seven years ago. A contributing factor to their popularity is undoubtedly their award winning bespoke coffee blend Sorella, which translates as sister in Italian. Suz and Pen worked exclusively with Di Bella to design their unique blend of 100% Arabica beans from India, New Guinea, South America and Central America, which are roasted to perfection in Brisbane. The Sorella coffee blend is only served at Coffee Sisters, but lucky for you bags of the beans, roasted or ground, are available for purchase at the café.

Suz estimates that 90% of Coffee Sisters’ business is from locals whose names and coffee preference are well known by the friendly staff.

Brekkie of Avocado on Wildbreads’ pumpkin sourdough is a simple dish: rounds of smoked salmon, two nicely poached

MAKING A MEAL OF NUTRITION: Amanda Clark

eggs and a tangy house made tomato relish accompany half an avocado and toast. Simple but delicious! For the bacon lovers the Bacon Bruschetta is a must. Lashings of bacon on generous sized slices of the pumpkin sourdough smothered with pesto, the dish is enhanced further with avocado, mushrooms and grilled tomato. This breakfast will undoubtedly satisfy the hungriest of patrons, especially if you decide to treat yourself to two poached eggs on the side.

Other favourites on the menu include Eggs bene, Muesli with poached pear and vanilla-infused berries and Pancakes.

With all meals under $20, it’s easy to eat for around the $13 mark.

The food falls neatly into the healthy eating category; simple nutritious meals which don’t push any boundaries. Freerange eggs and sourdough bread are both organic; meals are generous, and made to order from fresh ingredients.

Of course to complement your meal you simply must try the coffee. The short black was the favourite of the day with its creamy golden syrup aroma that was reflected in the taste, along with notes of smoky chocolate and a pleasant sharpness. The short black truly was a taste sensation that was a great representation of the Sorella blend. If the thought of all that flavour is overwhelming, then you may wish to try a long black as it is a milder, easily drinkable version that lasts just that bit longer.

The smoky golden syrup flavour of the short black translated well into a short macchiato, which was deliciously mellow and creamy with a hint of chocolate. A dark and rich flat white displayed the colours of the Sorella blend well, leaving with a smooth chocolatey finish. The Coffee Sisters piccolo had a gorgeous dark caramel colour, scent and taste, making for a scrumptious creamy, warm and mellow drink, perfect for a cool autumn day.

Amanda Clark is one of our top nutritionists. She has received several Australia-wide awards for her clear, practical and realistic advice to consumers. We asked Amanda for her opinion on some of our readers’ dietary questions: You are well known for the idea of ‘Portion Perfection’. How did you arrive at this concept?

I’ve watched portion sizes increase steadily over the past 30 years, led largely by the food industry. The evidence is that the larger the serve, the more we eat. I knew that people were mindlessly overeating and aimed to change awareness around this. I’m currently working on a 4-week menu plan and recipe book.

How would you explain ‘Portion Perfection’ in simple terms?

Portion Perfection includes a physical dinner plate and breakfast bowl along with photographs of correct portion sizes of most foods for all meals and snacks. It’s about serving the appropriate amount of food, buying the right sized packages and eating with awareness.

What are ‘superfoods’? Which are the best ones to eat?

Superfood is a loose term used to describe a food that has a special property - usually high levels of antioxidants which protect against cancer and ageing. While many foods are hailed as superfoods, they usually aren’t something that is eaten in large quantities, so their contribution to our overall nutritional intake is small. Look at the humble broccoli - a

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If perhaps you enjoy something stiffer than a coffee, the café is fully licenced from 10.00am.

This little café encourages us to take a stop on the road, enjoy a slower pace, sip great coffee and eat healthy food. So it’s little wonder that the café draws a fitness-oriented clientele. On several mornings cycling groups meet here, joining people travelling to or from the gym to sip a latté and catch up with friends. Local business people use this as a quiet spot to do uninterrupted work, or to read the paper; others pop in for a coffee while walking the dog! You may even glimpse a TV or sports star dining in a quiet corner!

Open 7 days from 6.30am closing at 2.30pm Monday to Friday and 1.00pm on the weekends come experience the food and the coffee and I am sure you will greet these sisters like they were your own.

Marj Osbourne and Catherine Coburn

long known superfood that contains a substance called sulforaphane, which boosts production of a vital liver detox enzyme and has long lasting effects. It’s easy to eat every day raw in a salad or cooked with your evening meal - add dressings or sauces for variety. You can get even more sulforaphane by growing broccoli sprouts or buying them.

I feel like cheating on my healthy eating plan. What’s the best ‘bad’ food I can eat?

The best bad food is exactly what you feel like eating - nothing else is likely to hit the spot. The key is to set yourself up for a guilt free experience by buying just the right portion size, eating it slowly, enjoying every morsel and when it’s gone it’s gone. Never buy a whole cake. Go to a coffee shop, order a single slice and enjoy the whole experience - you’re unlikely to request a second slice.

When my body feels sluggish, what would you suggest as a detox?

It’s amazing just how good you can feel when you improve your diet. I’d suggest detoxing from one or more of the following substances: additives, sugar, salt, caffeine or alcohol.

Pick whichever ones you currently consume the most of.

You don’t need to swallow any potions or cut out whole food groups, so it’s not antisocial and you will feel a difference.

I’d recommend two weeks of detox and a clear plan for how much you will allow back in.

Marj Osborne

BLANKMAN VS BABIES I am terrified of any child under the age of three. I am not sure why. Anything human that just eats, sleeps and shits whenever it wants, demanding that you are there to make sure it all happens safely just un-nerves me. Having survived an encounter with not one but two such miniature humans recently I can admit proudly, though still petrified, I feel more confident, more accomplished and more confused than ever. How can this possibly be a celebration of women on the Gold Coast? You may just have to read on.

This tale begins with a text message. A request to entertain some youngsters for a few hours. I accept without much thought to the job requirements. I am being offered a unique opportunity to help some Blank Ladies. Without a sitter on hand and with vital tasks to complete for deadline, there are some toddlers who need distracting.

I know having an infant around is a demand which often leaves no time even to brush one’s teeth in peace. I know because I have been told. I have heard the tales many times over. Sleep deprivation, never getting anything done and not being able to look after oneself. But not this time, it’s Blankman to the rescue.

The twisted brand of self-satisfaction which comes in doing a deed for others is short-lived. Anxiety spikes as I arrive at my day’s destination. Two toddlers, just passing two year’s life experience between them are waiting. I figure, like sharks, they will sense fear so I must suck it up and stake my claim as the ruler for the next two hours.

The Blank Ladies begin work immediately. I’ve no instruction, no experience and no idea. Great. I scan my internal database for clues. How the f*ck do you entertain a baby? I can’t pull faces and make fart sounds for two hours.

As I drive myself insane, the young’uns just go about their business in the backyard. Kick a ball, kinduv, go after it, pick it up and smile. Leave the ball, check out the shrub, look at me inquisitively and then back to the ball. A bit of time is spent at the chalkboard, eating food off the ground and mostly… time is spent indulging in absolutely nothing whatsoever. And they f*cking love it.

Over an hour has passed, nobody has gotten injured or felt the need to complain, myself included. I have switched from anxious sweaty man to documentarian. These are the most

ORGANIC SKINCARE UP FOR GRABS fascinating creatures ever. They are definitely communicating, definitely aware that I can’t and are most forgiving for my disconnection to their wonderful wee world.

The time we spend together ends with an earth shattering turd. Well, at least nappy shattering. The mess has impacted the lounge rug through to the spare room. It is a most appropriate end to a most splendid morning. I am showered with praise and shouted lunch. But I’m not sure if I actually ‘did’ anything. I’ll leave that for mums of the world to decide.

Chloe and Sam, it was an honour to provide a window of opportunity for you to rush through some Blank tasks. I urge all readers to put their hand up and offer any mum within reach, just a few hours to sit. If Blankman can, you can too. You go gurlz!

Andrew Scott

People for Plants is a certified organic skincare range that consists of 22 products including cleansers, scrubs, toner, moisturiser, oil, hand and body products. The range is available from David Jones, Priceline, Terry White and selected pharmacy and health food stores.

We have three gift packs up for grabs. Each pack includes white tea, aloe and witch hazel cleanser and makeup remover, a rose otto, burdock and Kakadu plum mist toner and a rosehip, ginkgo and shea day cream. Each pack is valued at $79.95.

To enter, send an email to news@blankgc.com.au with ‘organic skincare rules’ in the subject heading and your name and postal address in the body. Entries close Friday 4 July and winners will be drawn at random.

Gold Coast

SHOW

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THORNS AND BARBED WIRE IN MUDDRUSH MADNESS Muddrush is an eight kilometre obstacle course. Think you can handle eight kilometres? What about if there’s 24 obstacles thrown in? Some over, some under, some through, some around and some just crazy!

Muddrush is run by a GC event company who revel in putting together triathlons and other physically challenging events. And this event is just around the corner.

The Blank crew will be there in force. But only one of us is competing. Andrew Scott AKA Blankman has been avoiding our questions of training and his tactical approach to the course. In fact, his most recent reply, just two weeks from the starter’s gun? “I hate running, but I love cake.” Hmmm, we’re keeping our expectations low.

Fast facts • Saturday 31 May with registration from 7.30am with the first wave at 9.00am.

• Eight kilometres, 24 obstacles • Located at Xtreme Go Karting, Pimpama • Entry is open to participants over 16 years of age • Estimated completion time is two hours (based on an average entrant) • Dress in your best … the best worst clothes you have.

The Muddrush website warns “you may have close calls with thorns and barbed wire!”

Join the rush Saturday 31 May from 7.30am, Xtreme Go Karting, Pimpama. Details at muddrush.com.au/qld.

BEYOND SUFFERING The Buddha once declared “Life is Suffering”. How you interpret this can potentially make you a believer, a fan or a skeptic of the Buddha and his ancient teachings. What is suffering? Am I suffering? These are great reflective questions and fortunately for residents of Gold Coast and Byron an experienced guide and coach, Blake D. Bauer is about to hit town.

calling it home and now touring to celebrate a solution to suffering.

I have perused the aisles of many a book store. What you find is that the self-help and success literature sections are bursting at the seams. I spoke with Blake this morning and asked what specifically, was unique about his book and his recipe for wellness.

“There seems to be a high awareness of addiction in the community but not so much the solutions,” he said.

“A lot of books say that you SHOULD love yourself. I give a straight forward instruction on just how this can be accomplished,” he said.

“Learn how you can support, there are fellowships which offer a safe space for those who are being affected by a friend or someone in the family”.

Blake is not shy about sharing his own path through darkness and suffering. It was after this period in his life that a tour down under was beckoning.

Addiction is and I imagine, shall remain, a controversial mental health issue. With stigma attached to both the sufferer and the support networks available. Characters like Blake ought to be cheered loudly and proudly for being brave enough to offer their story and support to audiences.

“I came to Australia for a conference, met some beautiful people, including my now partner of five years.”

This was during the weeks just after the Black Saturday fires had swept through rural Victoria.

“I was in Adelaide and got invited to King Lake to help the residents. For two weeks, from when I woke to when I collapsed, I spent time offering some guidance for those who had suffered”.

This of course, is a tremendously brief rendition of what is a remarkable personal story. From his own stuggles with substance, through a life changing visit to Australia before

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I certainly have had family members and friends both struggle with substance addiction. Luckily for me, they have mostly had happy endings. I asked Blake how he had gauged the Australian’s public awareness of addiction and recovery.

“Nobody can be rescued,” he said, when I asked how we can support a loved one.

The final question, who are the community members who would most benefit from attending these events?

“Anyone who is at a point of struggle personally or professionally. Of course, all residents seeking to fulfil their purpose or achieve their potential will also gain a lot,” Blake said.

Andrew Scott Blake visits Byron Bay on 14 June and Gold Coast on 15 June. More information at unconditional-selflove.com.

WOMEN AHEAD IN THE NUMBERS RACE An increasing number of women enter Gold Coast’s premier distance running events and they have been doing so in greater number than their male counterparts since 2006.

Numbers provided last year by Events Management Queensland revealed that more women than men have lined up for Gold Coast Airport Marathon events for the past eight years.

5-6 July 2014

Entries for the 2014 Gold Coast Airport Marathon opened in March and women are currently leading men with more than 300 registrations the overall difference.

For last year’s event, a record 14,695 females lined up across all the distances as opposed to the 12,970 males who faced the starter’s gun.

The ASICS Half Marathon saw 722 more women (5,532) than men the Southern Cross University 10km Run field comprised 61.9% the fairer sex, while more than twice the amount of females (2,684) than men entered the Suncorp Bank 5.7km Challenge.

According to Events Management Queensland CEO Cameron Hart, it’s a trend reflected around the country and across the globe.

“According to Runners World magazine, at most distance races, 55 per cent of all finishers are women,” Mr Hart said.

“There are a number of theories as to why we’re seeing more women than men, but as ours is Australia’s favourite holiday marathon, we think a lot of women might look at our event as an opportunity to travel and have a sporting holiday with their families.

“Women are very much attuned to fitness and the healthy lifestyle benefits that being healthy and active offers.

“There’s also the fundraising component.

“Last year over $500,000 was raised by participants through the Everyday Hero website and, with our official charity being Cancer Council Queensland, we think that might be having an effect with some estimates putting participation to raise money for charity at about two-thirds women.”

But male pride is not totally lost on the streets of the Gold Coast.

Men still dominated entries in the 42.195km Gold Coast Airport Marathon with over 400 more men than women setting themselves the full-distance challenge in 2013.

This year’s events are set to attract more than 30,000 participants of all ages and abilities.

Gold Coast Airport Marathon Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 July goldcoastmarathon.com.au

Enter Now! MARATHON • HALF MARATHON • 10KM RUN • 5.7KM CHALLENGE • JUNIOR DASH

goldcoastmarathon.com.au

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DRAWING INSPIRATION ON-STAGE As we drove out to local artist Rebecca Cunningham’s Currumbin Valley abode I couldn’t help but feel humbled.

Passing the rock pools and community farm, the primary school and paddock after paddock; it’s no question where her inspiration comes from. Over the past few years Rebecca has been painting live, exploring Australia and living in Melbourne. Now she has returned to the Gold Coast with inspiration and excitement.

I take a look around the one bedroom nook while her and her dad fiddle with the washing machine. She asks me if I would like to make some tea, telling me there’s gotu kola, spearmint and rosemary growing in the pots at the door.

We sit down with a view of the valley and I’m lost in the way Rebecca speaks about her art. She began drawing animals at a young age, a theme that is still evident in her work today, and reminisces about her first piece of artwork. It wasn’t until high school however that she picked up a paintbrush.

“I started painting when I was 15, I did my first proper painting then. I think the thing that hadn’t allowed me to paint was that all I needed was someone to teach me how to blend colours.”

After a substitute teacher in her high school art class helped her to paint the sky, it was all systems go. The sky and clouds play major roles in much of Rebecca’s artwork and her ability to portray emotion in the movement and colour of clouds is incredible.

“It’s a really healing, meditative form of painting for me. I always start a painting with the sky and that’s the basis of the mood of the painting. It’s the platform for me to just express whatever emotions are coming out in the painting.”

Rebecca draws inspiration from landscapes and the environment and has spent a lot of time painting desert landscapes and exploring the idea of time.

“I’d never been to the desert before and for me, the desert represents that complete clarity in space and time… and that aloneness. The ability to be still in a timeless place.”

Rebecca has held several exhibitions on the Gold Coast combining her love of art, animals and nature with music and before packing up her life here in 2012 to move to Melbourne, she held an exhibition of purely Bob Dylan portraits with local musician Evan Manttari (and a few guests) playing Bob Dylan songs.

During this period Rebecca experimented, using ink as her major medium for the exhibition. She explains how there is no control over using ink so every creation is unique and unexpected.

“It was the first exhibition where I actually created artwork for the event so that was a really different experience.

“It was amazing to be able to dive into someone’s world and for 6 weeks I only listened to Bob Dylan, I read Bob Dylan books, I watched documentaries and his face was what I was painting all the time. It was really amazing to get to know someone and fall in love with different aspects of their life.”

Visiting home over Christmas 6 months after moving to Melbourne, Rebecca held another exhibition at Honey & Brioche café in Miami. This one focused on animal dreaming, drawing inspiration from Scott Alexander King’s Animal Dreaming cards.

She began drawing portraits of different animals and as she would show people she noticed that each person would be drawn to a different animal. The exhibition featured small portraits of different animals combined with spiritual words of guidance.

Returning to Melbourne, Rebecca started to perform live art when Julia Rose invited her up on stage to paint her guitar case.

“For me music is such an inspiration and I’ve always loved music and being around musicians and sharing music and art and this is the perfect way to create in front of people and combine my two favourite things.”

to tiny shows and pubs. For an audience to see a painting progress and evolve, to give them that experience is one of the things Rebecca loves most about live art.

She has just performed alongside other Gold Coast artists at Oneway Street Party as part of The Surfers Paradise Festival.

“That was really fun. It was the first time doing it with many other artists and we had all these panels lined up and just painted side by side for four hours straight. That was quite an experience.”

Rebecca has also done album art for local musician Felicity Lawless and is working on another one now however cannot give too much away. She is also working on an upcoming exhibition later in the year with an ocean theme and focusing on the illusion of time that we, as humans, have created for ourselves.

Find out more about Rebecca Cunningham and her work at lardart.com

Rebecca began performing anywhere she could, from festivals

Gina Martin

Proudly Suppor ted by

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A SNEAK PEAK AT SWELL Swell Sculpture Festival has taken over the Currumbin beachfront for 11 years already and will do so again this September. The renowned sculpture event is the largest outdoor art exhibition in Queensland and has secured its place in the cultural and event calendar of the Gold Coast, nationally and Internationally.

So a little sneak peak at how the festival gets to be the exhibition it is and what to expect in 2014. The call for entries went out in January and after receiving over a hundred applications, the curatorial panel had the task of considering the artwork, speaking to the artists and narrowing the sculptures down to 68.

Who are these people in the curatorial panel and how do they get there you may ask? The panel consists of qualified industry professionals who have years of experience behind them. The panel members change every year and this year the panel included Professor Philip Follent, Mathew Tobin, Director Urban Art Projects UAP and Swell Directors Natasha Edwards and Ruth Della.

Now this is where you as a Blank GC reader get a unique advantage; the artists have only just been informed of their acceptance and you are already getting a sneak peak of things to come. So, arouse your curiosity, awaken your appetite, tell your friends and then, like the rest of us, eagerly await September!

But for now, can you pick which description matches which pictured piece?

One depicts a part of a functional piece that owes itself to an ancient craft. It is skillfully made by an art blacksmith from Mullumbimby and made out of wrought iron. This artist has 25 years experience producing high quality work, combining traditional and modern techniques to create exciting and innovative ironwork. This is a piece that could be a permanent structure fixed around a tree or a piece that can be moved as desired from tree to tree. I guess you could say that this is a piece for all us treehuggers.

Then there’s this: a digital 3D sculpture printed on a plinth.

Hidden Reflections: Tursiops is by a Brisbane based 3D artist who also works as a digital character artist, creature designer and animator. In this piece he is blurring the lines between the physical and the digital. “This is an interplay between the real and the virtual.”

In another piece, a local urban street artist has culminated his concerns for social, financial and environmental issues with Container. “This artwork encapsulated the multitude of issues Australia is currently grappling with as it attempts to redefine its identity. Popular sentiments such as ‘to have a fair go’ are contested as the nation asks a fair go for whom?” Through this piece the artists wonders how Australia will respond to the competing demands of nature and profit.

at school and now spends his days welding, grinding, panel beating and spray painting. He has used recycled steel and car bonnet undercarriages to create this 6 metre long and 3 metre high sculpture.

Then there’s a piece with an environmental message and concern for the impact of our lifestyle and actions: Plastic Stings. The individual pieces are built around a wire frame with plastic bags weaved through the wire to create a beautiful, textured skin or surface. The beautiful creatures are made out of the exact material that affects their lives in nature in such a life-threatening way.

An impressive sounding piece, recreating the MIAMI ICE type in ice, will be one you’ll want to see at the beginning of the festival: before it melts. “Built environmental elements, such as signage, have helped shape the image of the Gold Coast, to both residents and visitors alike.” Says the Gold Coast based Art Director and the sculptor of this piece.

But this is just a sneak peak. With some 68 sculptures on offer, you’ll be spoilt for choice at this year’s event.

Anna Itkonen Swell Scultpure Festival takes place at Currumbin Beach from 12 to 21 September. And it’s free. For more information, or to volunteer visit swellsculpture.com.au.

Another sculpture pictured is a playful approach to a more serious global issue. Keeping up with the Kalashnikovs is a piece by an astronaut wanna-be, Queensland artist and sculptor who grew up in a panel beater workshop, failed art

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JAILED, LAUDED, STRIVING FOR CHANGE: Kay Danes

In 2001, Kay Danes and her husband, Kerry were jailed in Laos for 10 months falsely accused of gemstone smuggling and only released following Australian Government intervention. Despite her ordeal and suffering post traumatic stress disorder after her release, Kay Danes has since worked as a human rights advocate, and this year received an OAM for her work. She is a Patron of the Gold Coast Writers’ Association, and will be a keynote speaker at their Literary Luncheon in June.

Congratulations on your Medal of the Order of Australia.

Can you tell us about your humanitarian work that led to this honour?

I was awarded the Medal for the many years I have worked in Australia and overseas, raising awareness of human rights and social justice. I have always held a strong interest in assisting vulnerable communities, particularly where the rights of women and children are at risk. I have participated in numerous development projects based on the UN Millennium Development goals (promoting gender equality, improving global health standards and education, eradicating poverty and infectious diseases.)

I was recognised for my contributions to social justice, particularly in relation to raising awareness about issues concerning political prisoners, victims of extra-judicial abduction, forced disappearance and torture. I also campaign to improve literacy among Indigenous Australians, and I contribute to Defence and Defence related charities to support soldiers affected by Post Traumatic Stress.

How did you come to be patron of the Gold Coast Writer’s Association?

I first came into contact with the Association as a guest speaker at one of their monthly meetings. At the time, I was speaking at quite a few GC events promoting various humanitarians causes. The GCWA gave me tremendous support as a writer and from there our relationship grew. I haven’t lived on the GC for a number of years but I have a property at Tallebudgerra which I hope one day to return to.

Being named a Patron of such a premier association is a real honour: they have a wealth of talented writers and the committee are fabulous. They have created a professional environment for writers to harness their creativity, exchange ideas, broaden their horizons and explore a range of opportunities that exist in the ever-changing world of publishing.

You are currently living in Saudi Arabia while your husband Kerry is on deployment there with the Australian Defence Force. What projects are you involved in whilst there?

When I first arrived in Saudi three years ago, I was contracted as a Human Resources Manager for a British agency until their staff member arrived. When that contract concluded I was offered a contract as a Special Projects Officer with an Australian agency. I made a decision to leave the workforce in favour of focussing on completing my Masters degree in Human Rights (International Affairs) online through Curtin University (WA), and to take advantage of the travel opportunities of the middle-east region. This allows me to broaden my understanding of middle-eastern cultures,

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language and human rights in the region. There have been some significant developments in human rights here and its very exciting to be in a position to witness it first hand. I also contribute to local aid initiatives, mostly in support women and children.

While Kerry was on a tour of Afghanistan, you travelled through the war torn countryside and the result was the book Beneath the Pale Blue Burqa. Tell us about the plight of Afghan women and girls then, and what the future holds for these women.

It was an amazing experience travelling throughout Afghanistan with our team of Rotarians delivering humanitarian aid, food supplies and learning materials to people who were completely devastated by war. We helped build learning centres, drinking wells, conducted health and education seminars and developed small projects designed to build sustainable income for Afghan families.

Despite all its shortcomings, Afghanistan is a promising country with an abundance of good people. Education is the key and there has been significant change there when you consider that in the early 1990s less than 1 million children had access to education - mostly boys. Since then around 6 million are now in school, 36% of students are girls. Gender inequality remains a concern for many but Afghan women are courageous and resilient. Much of their hope lies on getting a government that will be more willing to embrace change. For the first time, a woman, Habiba Sarobi, is running for VicePresident. This has given many Afghan women a great deal of hope for a better future.

How does this compare to the future for women in Saudi Arabia?

I find it quite exciting to observe the ongoing discourse between the Saudi Human Rights Council and the Saudi Government. There is a real willingness to exchange ideas and there have been modest reforms that have impacted on women’s rights. For years the west has been saying women in the middle east need liberating because of the way they dress but many Saudi women have told me that the focus should be on creating opportunities to advance their social status, which relates to everything other than dress.

Many are active participants in areas of government and private enterprise. Women here are involved in development issues relating to gender equality, furthering the discourse on family, safety and education.

When one focuses on the issue of how a woman dresses then other vital conversations are diminished. As for other life achievements, there have been many Saudi women breaking the glass ceiling. In 2013, a Saudi woman became the first

woman in her country to climb Mt Everest. Earlier this year, the Government granted permission for the very first Saudi women’s law firm, to represent women on issues relating to labour cases and business disputes. Saudi women work as cashiers in shopping malls now which is a significant step and 39% of women are government employees. The Princess Noura University is one of the biggest all female universities in the world covering 800ha of land, offering free education to all who attend. It has state of the art facilities, a solar farm, and even its own 4.5km campus monorail system with free wifi.

You work with post traumatic stress disorder support groups for defense members and families through organisations such as Soldier On. How can Australia improve its support for returned servicemen and women?

A complex question which requires an in-depth response but the short answer lies in the way in which soldiers are treated following diagnosis.

Those subjected to forced medical discharge often struggle with this transition. Many feel completely isolated from mates and a familiar environment. A forced medical discharge may also prevent later service in the Defence Force Reserves, once a return to health has been established.

Creating a transition that maintains a soldier’s dignity and allows them to remain useful, even after service, is critical.

Soldier On aims to help wounded soldiers find meaning in their lives, to help reconnect them during this often difficult transition period but they need funding to establish recovery centres nation-wide. Recognition for service is important too which is why I continue campaigning to seek official recognition to honour fallen soldiers and have raised over 32,000 signatures to support a proposal to support that initiative.

You must have suffered immense trauma whilst in Phonthong Prison in Laos in 2001. How did you and Kerry deal with that trauma upon your return to Australia?

It took me quite a few years to recover from our ordeal having been diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder and chronic depression. I found myself on a slippery slide of prescribed medications.

Eventually I turned towards alternative treatments: meditation, fitness training, counselling. I found these worked better for me and eventually recovered.

It helps to have a good network of supporters, family and friends in place because the effects of post traumatic stress can be exhausting. Sometimes life throws us challenges that we think are unbearable. There is no magic formula to surviving adversity and it may sound cliché I know, but you

really just have to keep fighting to get up whenever life knocks you down.

How did you come to support Gold Coast woman Shapelle Corby in Kerobokan Prison, Bali?

I do a great deal of social justice advocacy with the Foreign Prisoner Support Service and it was through this that I first came into contact with the Corbys.

I tried to offer advice to Schapelle’s legal team in the hope of impressing upon them some of the challenges they would encounter dealing with a foreign jurisdiction. Many other academics and legal human rights experts also with experience and runs on the board, tried to give their best advice but none of it made any impression on the Corbys.

They wanted to do things their way which is their right but my advice for anyone who intends to travel overseas is that they need to know that they leave behind their country’s legal support systems.

If arrested overseas, regardless of innocence or guilt, you should engage experienced legal representatives who can offer sound legal and media strategies combined with diplomatic solutions to secure best outcomes. Amateur online campaigns, fist waving and sensational media exclusives do nothing to improve a prisoner’s situation.

Does the Foreign Prisoner Support Service work with Queenslander and Al Jazeera English journalist Peter Greste, while he is in prison in Egypt?

Our advocates continue to support this campaign in the hope that concerted efforts will achieve a good outcome for Peter and his family but such issues are complex and in this case, highly political. It is important to allow the judicial process to play out and for everyone to make sure their comments are not inflammatory.

Are we likely to see the film The Bodhi Tree about you and your husband’s imprisonment in Laos anytime soon? What is your involvement?

The treatment for the film has recently been completed and sent off to some A-list film producers. There’s still a great deal of work to be done and funding to be raised. I am a consultant and my contribution is limited to describing events that took place both leading up to our unlawful detainment, during and post release. I am really excited that our former Foreign Minister Alexander Downer has agreed to also consult on the project. I’m also very pleased to nominate Soldier On Helping Wounded Soldiers, as a benefactor to the film. The support from the Defence community during our captivity really did help us endure until our freedom could be secured.

What does the future hold for Kay Danes?

This is my final year of living in the middle-east and I’m not sure what I will be doing when I return to Australia but I aim to continue advancing the human rights conversation, particularly in the hope that it can become a normative element of our school curriculum. Human rights are the foundation of civil societies and set the guidelines on how we ought to act towards one another. I hope that my experiences abroad will value add to those conversations and benefit our community in some way!

Pip Andreas Read about Princess Naura University at pnuproject.com/.

Read about Soldier On at soldieron.org.au.

Get informed about Peter Greste’s case at tinyurl.com/blankGRESTE or at the Free Peter Greste FB page.

See Kay Danes at the Literary Luncheon on 15 June.

Visit goldcoastwritersfestival.com.au for all the details.

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EVERYDAY Get up close to some of Australia’s wildlife with O’Reilly’s Wildlife Encounters Show.  Receive $1 off a medium or large takeaway meal at Govindas.  Enjoy $3 entrees at Tian Ran’s - vegetarian and Asian infused restaurant.  Enjoy a guided tour through the Glow Worm Caves with adults at kids prices.  Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary entry for only $20 per person. 

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SATURDAY 31ST MAY Learn how to recognise the different stars with the Stargazing and Astronomy workshop  Farmers Market at Burleigh Heads State School  Lifestyles of health and sustainability markets as a part of the Burleigh farmers markets.  4km Aboriginal guided Kayak tour down Currumbin Creek.  SUNDAY 1ST JUNE To celebrate National Whale day there will be live entertainment, guest speakers, paddle  out for the whales and great activities for the kids.

Sea Shepherd Gold Coast benefit concert for our oceans.  Race your mates or get a sweat up and have a kick in the inflatable sports arena.  Rock Climbing, attempt to climb the rock climbing tower, all levels catered for.  Photography at Burleigh Beach with a professional guide.  Nerang Farmers Markets.  Go walking and talking with people who have completed PNG Kokoda trail.  Collect tokens on a Coastal Scavenger Hunt.  MONDAY 2ND JUNE Create your own sandy hand/foot print of your child to take home.  Open day at the bat clinic meet some of the furry flying patients.  TUESDAY 3RD JUNE Walk around Burleigh Heads and a movie presentation on historical sites.  Talk on the benefits of eating organic and what to look for nutritionally when shopping.  Beach Bingo: find the objects on your bingo card.  Come and join a guided tour of the Visy materials recovery facility.  Run, walk, hop, skip or jump for a fit and fun 30 minute beach clean up.  Tour the Currumbin RSL’s vegetable and herb gardens, worm farms, and water tanks.  Enjoy the peaceful surrounds with the bush restoration team at Elanora Wetlands.  WEDNESDAY 4TH JUNE Summit “Save the Environment” at Griffith University.  Boomerang Bags Sewing Bee at Gecko House. 

4km Aboriginal guided Kayak tour down Currumbin Creek.

Open day at the bat clinic meet some of the furry flying patients.

Walk around Burleigh Heads and a movie presentation on historical sites.

Run, walk, hop, skip or jump for a fit and fun 30 minute beach clean up.

See different types of marine debris as a resource for creating stunning art.

THURSDAY 5TH JUNE Tour of the Ecovillage at Currumbin Valley.  Walk around Burleigh Heads and a movie presentation on historical sites.  Run, walk, hop, skip or jump for a fit and fun 30 minute beach clean up.  Explore the shore, and have your family discover the coastal environment.  Receive complimentary advice from highly experienced Naturopaths and Nutritionists.  FRIDAY 6TH JUNE Join our Marine Biologists at the rocky shores to explore this unique environment.  Open day at the bat clinic meet some of the furry flying patients.  Walk around Burleigh Heads and a movie presentation on historical sites.  Tour RockCote to see how they create products from easily-renewable resources.  SATURDAY 7TH JUNE Walk along Federation Walk Coastal Reserve to learn about coastal dunes and spot some  of the hidden treasure at The Spit.

Help clean up Rainbow Bay and Snapper Rocks..  Farmers Market at Burleigh Heads State School.  Get out with your kids and cameras and have fun with photography.  Open day at Southern Beaches Community Garden.  Join our Marine Biologist and learn all about the Humpback Whale.  Enjoy a guided walk of Pine Ridge Reserve.  See the flying foxes fly out at Upper Coomera.  See the flying foxes fly out at Cascade Gardens.  Join in activities such as planting trees, recognising weeds and more.  Hinterland Regional Park Bushcare group.  Lifestyles of health and sustainability markets as a part of the Burleigh farmers markets.  SUNDAY 8TH JUNE Get creative with the Rainbow Tie-Dye spiral Workshop.  A guided walk along Currumbin Estuary paying attention to the flora, fauna, and history.  Nerang Farmers Markets.  Gecko’s Wildlife Expo: Meet the local wildlife and those that care for them, including  speakers, stalls, shows, and activities.

OUR SPONSORS

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