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 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

anniversary. While Mick’s mum minds the children in their Tasmanian home.

‘A Week to Remember’ is out now, published by Hachette.

A PLACE FOR PALS

Fiona Lowe’s new book ‘A Home Like Ours’ is the story of women of different ages and backgrounds that find their common purpose in coming together to build a community garden. The garden’s flourishing is also a symbol of the flourishing and growth in their lives from their community. Tara Hooper is struggling with keeping the ‘flourishing’ in her marriage. Helen Demetriou is another in need of flourish as she finds herself homeless and living in her car. Jade Innes is a teenage mum with a partner who is more absent than present and not as supportive as he could be. Fiza Atallah is a refugee Hazara women from Sudan who faces racism in the community but still brings her own love of food to the garden. As usual Fiona’s novel has many themes; one of the big ones is that of displacement from refugees on a world level, to homelessness and poverty, to women displaced in relationships. Another theme is racism where crimes are often placed on the newcomer into the community. It is the ability, that Fiona demonstrates, of women to find their place and flourish in social environments like the community garden that finds resolution. The food grown in the garden is a reminder that coming together to dine is a way of bonding over food and friendship. Fiona again has Victoria as her backdrop to the novel although she tells me that her next novel with move from a setting in Victoria to the northwest coast of Tasmania where her son works as a doctor and where she spends some of her time.

‘A Home Like Ours’ is out now, published by Harper Collins.

CÉILÍ AND SET DANCING IN PERTH!

TUESDAYS AT THE IRISH CLUB, SUBIACO

Sean Nós - 5.30pm Set Dancing & Céilí - 6.00-7.00pm $15 pay as you go

Teacher: Caroline McCarthy www.facebook.com/TorcCeiliClub torcceiliclub@gmail.com