Past Events 2021

Memories… from 2021

2024 here

2023 here

2022 here

2021 here

DJANGO LINGO with uplifting music for interesting times

Friday 17 December at 7.30m

Nic Lyon on Bass, Terry Murray on Guitar, Howard Malkin on Guitar will transport you with Gypsy Jazz played to another level altogether.

GOOD VIBRATIONS with Cate and Frendz

Saturday 11 December 7pm

Cate Mercer returns to the Coolroom with Howard Malkin on lead guitar and Nic Lyon on bass.

Cate will be playing for us again in her 1st gig back since covid, and will be joined by well-known and respected musicians Howard Malkin on lead guitar and Nic Lyon on bass. The repertoire Cate has created will take you on a musical journey through the 70s and 80s as she shares her love for songs that have stood the test of time.

Blue Tango present the History of Pop in Twenty Songs

Friday 10 December at 7:30pm

Lynne and Dave aka Blue Tango return to the Coolroom with a new show. The history of popular music in twenty wonderful songs.

Greensleeves was top of the pops for 400 years. Starting from there we trace the ‘fascinating rhythm’ of popular music illustrating major milestones with our unique arrangements of time-honoured songs. Folk, blues, ragtime, country, jazz, latin, rock…this concert has variety!

Creatively Embodying the Balance

Monday 6 December | 7pm | Presented by Castlemaine Free University

WHAT? — Entitlement and trauma are sabotaging the planet. This talk looks at the import of the body and arts in healing trauma. Many new psycho-sensory trauma therapies have developed through dance and theatre arts. So, what is the role of creativity in healing? And what impact could this have on our future? Karen Corbett sings and performs excerpts from her plays to enhance our understanding of the role of embodiment and creativity in healing.
WHO? — Karen Corbett is a highly awarded writer, performer and theatre director, winning the German Medal of Ulm for one-woman show Orphanage of the Animals — in this image performing a dog, ‘World’s fucked, you’re an idiot if you reckon it’s not’ and the Murray Sutherland Prize for Outstanding Achievement and Contribution to Theatre for one-woman show To The Outside World, co-authoring the play on Sylvia Plath’s life, The Girl Who Wanted to Be God, nominated for two Premiere’s Awards. On a brief break as a trauma therapist, she is performing in unHOWsed, a theatre project she co-devised on older women’s homelessness.
Castlemaine Free University
Castlemaine Free University (CFU) is a forum for discussing contemporary issues of special interest for those living in Mount Alexander Shire and Central Victoria more generally.  CFU are supported by Northern Arts Hotel, our regular venue located at 359 Barker Street, Castlemaine.

NOVEMBER 2021

THE CANDIDATE a story of electoral politics

Presented by CDoc and the Coolroom

Saturday 27 November | 2pm

An up-close and personal story of electoral politics …where truth is stranger than fiction.

THE CANDIDATE is a feature-length observational documentary that follows Greens candidate Alex Bhathal over the final three weeks of her campaign to win a seat in the Australian federal parliament in 2018. In this, her sixth attempt in fifteen years, and with a 1% margin between her and victory, she and her team have good reason to believe that history is finally on their side. But this is no ordinary campaign…

Following the screening of the film be prepared for a no-holds-barred dialogue as we welcome the director, Helen Gaynor & editor Ian White for a discussion about the director and editor relationship on an observational feature documentary.

Watch a Flick with John Flaus | Sunday 21 November

Now nearly 100 years since its first release an important film but for its content, but also its influence on so many films since. Also fascinating that an extra 60 minutes has been added back into the film in 2010 so it is quite different from the version you may have seen in the past.

Awake from your Slumber | Maggie Jackson NY Jazz Quartet

Saturday 20 November | 7.30pm

Maggie Jackson returns to the Coolroom with Awake from your Slumber.
A wonderful night of Gershwin, Brubeck, Celtic, and more…
RENE RAULIN | Duble Bass, Guitar
PETER GILBERT | Percussion
LEE BENNEWITH | Muted Trumpet
MAGGIE JACKSON | Piano, Vibes, Vocals

Windows of Longing: The Heffernan Project

Friday 19 November | 7.30pm

Central Victoria Wildlife Hospital Benefit Concert
Saturday 13 November | 7.30pm

JULY 2021

JOHN FLAUS POETRY BOOK LAUNCH
Saturday 3 July | 2pm

A new book by local resident and national treasure, John Flaus, is the latest offering by indie publisher Birdfish Books. Its title, Verba Sequentur, is a Latin phrase meaning “Know your stuff and the words will follow”. And Flaus surely does, now in his ninth decade of life with a rich and varied career in film and on stage under his belt. This is his second book of verse, revealing an impressive mastery of form and a real depth of observation of his wide world of experience.

‘Verba Sequentur’ was launched by Dr. Tom McWilliam at the Northern Arts in Castlemaine on Saturday 3rd July.

KAVISHA MAZELLA and TRIO RITURNELLA
Friday 9 April 2021 | 7pm

60 seats only
SONGS of Transformation
The endless blue sky of Southern Italy is marked by the swift and darting flight of the swallows returning from Africa.
Thus does the songbird Kavisha return to her roots and in her journey has rediscovered old gems from the 1400 to the 1900’s.
She is also a poetic songwriter .Her contemporary songs together with these ancient songs of love, humour, laments, protest songs and death paint a strong portrait of the gutsy people who worked the land and show the rich tradition of authentic Italian Folk. Kavisha is artfully joined by veteran world musicians Nicolas Lyon on violin and double bass and Jack Norton on Bazouki and guitarra battente ,
The Aria award winning songbird Kavisha Mazzella will take you on an unforgettable transformational musical journey celebrating Life love and beauty.

ROSE TURTLE ERTLER and CARL PANNUZZO
Sunday 11 April 2021 | 2pm

Tickets $20.00 / $15.00 concession

A delightful afternoon of meaningful music and song from Rose and Carl.

Rose Turtle Ertler is a musician, composer and community arts facilitator. She plays a range of instruments including ukulele, banjo, piano, electric guitar and is inspired by everything from string quartets to nude distorted noise artists. She has performed extensively over the last 30 years, often touring solo, other times in numerous collaborations.Rose is a member of the Black Orchid Stringband a group of people from the Australian West Papuan community who use music to share stories of their culture and struggle for independence.

After 31 years of gallivanting on the mainland, Rose relocated back to Tasmania a couple of years ago. Her most recent project is an all women/girls onslaught of 22 electric guitar/bass players called ‘Mapatazi’ who play only their own original material. The band’s world premiere gigs were in March 2021 as part of Ten Days on the Island. Rose is currently planning a series of solo piano/vocal gigs in Tassie and on the mainland. www.roseturtleertler.com

Carl Pannuzzo, vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, autodidact, songwriter and educator, 30+ years in demand nationally and internationally, performing/recording with many artists and projects as varied as Bob Sedergreen, Opera Australia, Shane Howard, Mia Dyson, Stephen Magnusson, Punctum Live Arts, Sydney Children’s Festival, Kavisha Mazzella, Cirque du Soleil, Tripod and Music Outback.

As a creator, interpreter and improviser, Carl is recognized as a sensitive, dynamic and fearless singer, a quickfire musical mind and affable and engaging stage presence. Carl enjoys being a messenger for the articulate truth of music and delivers it with a balance of respect and abandon.

Carl writes songs on the sharps of arrows. And when he sings them, they are delivered directly into the heart of people… (Naomi Edwards)

Art exhibition  JENNIFER BARNETT –
Happy Snaps: Moments captured in a painting
20-21, 26-28 March, and 2-4 April 2021

Before selfies we had happy snaps. Moments frozen in time.
Happy Snaps is a group of oil portraits inspired by vintage 20th century photographs. All complete strangers, and all completely happy.

Live music with DJANGO FRETTS
Saturday 13 March 2021 | 3.00pm

The Django Fretts are Castlemaine’s very own gypsy jazz quartet. Formed in 2015, the Fretts have an extensive repertoire of tunes taken from theDjango Reinhardt songbook as well as a few American jazz favourites.They have played extensively around the goldfields region, honing their up-tempo sound at markets, gigs,and festivals. A set from the Django Fretts will evoke the mood of 30s Paris with authentic gypsy jazz melodies and acoustic improvisations.

International Women’s Day Concert
7pm | Monday March 10 | 2021

Mining Cole
Saturday 6 March 2021 | 2.45pm

MAGGIE JACKSON TRIO
Saturday 27 February 2021 | 8.00pm

Maggie’s desire in this performance is to showcase beautiful melodies from different rooms of music, Jazz, Classical, Celtic and weave them into a story that gathers the threads of improvisation, creating an intimate moment with the audience, a bliss of connection. It is what Maggie most loves about performance, that oneness, that sacred moment together. All tickets $15.

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