Trixie Pixie funks it up fine and Branko lays it down solid.

Groove Temple had a few interesting guests on Wednesday night at their Groove Temple Karaoke extravaganza at the Harp Hotel in Wollongong.

The usual suspects arrived at around 9:00pm and took over the venue, the stage and the culture of the evening. The regulars put on the usual display of youthful exuberance and a few punters stood out from the crowd with remarkable ability. The patrons themselves are the real entertainment at the Harp

Later on Trixie Pixie began meekly and soon became queen of the stage, paving the way for what may be many fine performances for the Harp.

By 11:30 Branko was ready to make a guest appearance with some solid vocals and a great sounding Gibson guitar. He was also paving the way for future appearances, "scoping out" the venue. Branko is doing the band a solid favour filling in for Ang on guitar and vocals whilst he is away in Europe for 5 weeks catching up with friends and families who have become strangers over distance and time.

It was a nice change for the guys. They're looking forward to more guest appearances in the coming weeks and venue management sounds keen to allow anyone with the goods a chance to give it a go.

Says vocalist Ang: "I always thought that residencies are boring, but there's never a dull moment at the Harp. It's a pretty dynamic environment at the moment. Every week is different. Seriously. Right now they're installing a monster sound system with EV speakers poking out every where possible and QSC and Mackie power amps pushing the whole show along. I get to use it once it's installed. New toys are always fun. Of course, I'm not complaining..."

"I guess the next step is to see what happens next week."

Yes the guys will be back next week, come and have a yodle if you want....bring your tonsils with you!!!

Working like dogs

Groove Temple have been working like dogs in the past few weeks, having barely time to scratch their collective unmentionables. It gets busier, then it just gets busier again for the guys.

Over the past few weeks they have played:

• Wednesday 8th August doing their karaoke residency at the Harp Hotel and experiencing the Joe Cockeresque vocal style of Bob on the guest microphone.
• Friday 10th August at the Ocean Beach Hotel, witnessing civil unrest, twelve police cars and separate exits for nice people and naughty people.
• Saturday 11th August on short notice at Dicey Rileys, walking in to the luxury of a quality in house P.A. and doing a damned fine job.
• Tuesday 14th August Vocalist Ang lined up for some personal torture playing solo at Shellharbour Workers Club to the boot-scooting geriatrics. It's not the pain he's after, rather the extra cash for his upcoming trip to Europe.
• Wednesday 8th August saw the guys basting in the glory of a great karaoke band night, with possibly the best night they've had there. Not bad for a new event with absolutely no promotion effort.
• Saturday 18th August saw the guys back at Shellharbour Workers Club, packing the dance floor and keeping the punters well primed, despite a chronic viral infection for one band member and a severe hangover for the other.

Wednesday 22nd August will hopefully be a turning point for the band, as patronage levels will determine whether or not further marketing is required for their residency.

The guys just keep working and the work keeps coming in.

The bible was wrong

The bible was wrong. The animals did not make it onto The Ark. Somehow they found their way to Husky RSL on Saturday 4th August 2007 for the Noah's Ark Centre * Winter Ball and left a profound impression on some poor, sweet, young, innocent musicians…OK maybe not sweet and certainly not young anymore and innocence lost it’s flavour many years ago. In our client's defence your honour, we submit that they are like God’s children and are poor in spirit, thus satisfying the former criteria only, but with great conviction.

When we say animals, we mean Cats, and a menagerie of creatures and characters from Musicals. Priscilla Queen of the desert was difficult to ignore, especially on stage……..where the band was accosted and interfered with in a most unchristian manner. Ang ended up wearing a Priscilla headdress and like later, some sweaty hippy wig. Peace man.

Dr K suddenly had volumes of hair and Red was receiving a massage during a large part of his performance. This took the notion of audience participation to another level.

The boys were well and truly recovered by Sunday, but this would not have been the case for many of the good patrons of Noah's Ark, who gallantly sacrificed their own health for a good cause.

Groove Temple will be fit and ready for their next gig on Wednesday 8th August at The Harp Hotel in Wollongong, followed by Friday 10th August at the Ocean Beach Hotel, Shellharbour. Be prepared to boogie hard!!!

* The Noah's Ark Centre is an Early Intervention Service and Toy Library for Children with Special Needs. The centre is partially government funded and relies heavily on fundraising. The Winter Ball is an opportunity for supporters to let their hair down and raise more funds.