WINTER ROUS UNPLUGGED!

What a night we had!
Friday, July 26th was our Winter Rous Unplugged and we filled the hall with an audience 120 strong. We had a great variety of acts and about 120 + smiling faces!

We began the night with the Von Trapp kids taking us down memory lane with four excellent songs from the recent Ballina Players' Sound of Music production.

Next up we had Anais Cross performing on guitar and voice, followed by Rennick and Simon performing on two guitars an adaptation of Pink Floyd's "Is there Anybody Out There". Guitar and vocal duo, Jack and Kate McCabe then took to the stage with a flawless performance as did Jessica Chate with her poem, "Where the Wind Blows". After Jessica, her dad Simon (me!) leapt up with the mandolin and played the Can Can while a bunch of kids danced wildly - and with abandon! The first set was excellently finished off with Georgina Pollard's new Evans Head group, The Sea Singers and a quick audience rendition of the round, "Time for my Tea".

The interval was catered for by the staff and parents of the Alstonville Preschool who, as always, baked up a storm!

We began the second half of the show with a scary song performed by local singer, Col Wright, detailing the horrid exploits of a very hungry Green-Eyed Dragon. Next we had James and CJ performing a mix of original songs and covers with two guitars and voice. Then Rous Unplugged co-host, Mim O'Grady, took the stage and performed her first ever three song solo set and did a beautiful job of it too. Our second last act was the guitar and vocal duo, husband and wife, Karl and Shaz Mullan, as they played three magnificent pieces sung soulfully by Shaz with her wonderful Irish brogue and beautifully harmonised by Karl. Our final act for the night was singer guitarist Tobias Moldenhauer who had booked to perform while his dad was over from Germany. He did a magnificent job with four original pieces, 3 songs and an instrumental, and his virtuosic guitar playing took many a breath away.

As an encore, we got the Von Trapp family kids up once again to sing Edelweiss and So Long, Farewell! It was a great finish to an otherwise awesome night!

Well done everyone! Ou

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