Paula from Tasmania
BY PAULA XIBERRAS
FINALLY, A TASSIE DATE AFTER ‘THE LONGEST TIME’ It may be a case of the ‘Longest Time’ for entertainer Anthony Mara. Anthony was all set to bring his Billy Joel ‘Greatest hits’ tribute show to Hobart’s Granada Tavern just before COVID arrived last year, that plan was postponed. However, the wait is over and Anthony will finally make his first trip to perform in Tassie on April 30. I talked to Anthony during April and he assured me, and all Billy Joel fans, that he will be performing as many as the fan favourites as possible, such as “Piano Man”, “New York State Of Mind”, “Honesty”, “It’s Still Rock’n’roll To Me”, “We Didn’t Start The Fire”, “Uptown Girl” and “River Of Dreams”. If your favourite isn’t in the list Anthony says the show is fairly flexible in approach and a shout out of your preferred song during the show should see it be played. One song that will most likely get an airing is a lesser known fan favourite and also Anthony’s personal favourite “Stories from an Italian Restaurant”, its appeal being its attributes of both ballad and rock song. Anthony says it’s been a pretty tough time through COVID although he has been able to do a few shows this year and is looking forward to his first visit to Tasmania. While Anthony admits he looks a bit like Billy Joel and sings a bit like him too, he is not an impersonator. More than anything else, his show is about enthusiasm for Joel and his music. Anthony and his band are all fans of Billy Joel’s music and that shows in the enthusiasm they demonstrate on stage. Even though the performance is not an impersonation, there are a few nuances there that Anthony has picked up when seeing Billy perform live, such as Billy’s spring-back technique with his microphone, that are included in the show. The show adapts to its venue, so when Anthony 74 | THE IRISH SCENE
performs in a theatre he has an audio visual display of Billy that is included in the show. While at the Granada there will be inclusion of some biography of Billy to explain the story behind the songs and put the music in context.
TWO WEEKS TO REMEMBER A REAL CORKER Esther Campion’s new novel ‘A Week to Remember’ continues the story of her first two novels, characters Ellen O’Shea and her love Gerry as they lovingly restore the cottage holiday home in beautiful Ireland. It seems that some of their love and romance lives in the walls of the cottage as it welcomes couples and individuals seeking to restore love in whatever form into their lives. It also becomes a place for confession and reconciliation as the residents explore a range of social issues from infidelity, domestic abuse, caring for ageing parents to the opposite scale of caring for emerging teenagers. Esther Campion is originally from Cork, Ireland and arrived in north-west Tasmania via time spend in Scotland, Norway (where she did a writing course) and South Australia (where once her kid’s settled into kindy she had time to indulge in creativity). Esther who has science degrees has shown herself equally adept at mastering the humanities as well. I spoke to Esther recently about her new novel and about living and loving the tree cray landscape of Port Sorell. This novel, as all of Esther’s do, gives a nod to her new Tasmanian home with two of the protagonists Aisling and Mick Fitzgerald returning to Ireland from their Tasmanian home to celebrate their wedding
