More Than A Whelan

I am stoked to be talking to two amazing Melbourne based singer songwriters in the shapes of Katie Bates and Rose Zita Falko.

Oceans of gratitude to my producer Derek Myers of Castaway Studios and the generous support of Luxe Country.

Mikki Michelle refers to herself as a Stripping Songstress. You may be more familiar with the term Burlesque Artist. Either way she's our first dancer as a guest on the show and we had a most excellent chat!As well as being a singer/cabaret performer she's also the director and founder of Cabaret Abnormal, which has been running in Canada and Australia since 2016.

Cabaret Abnormal present Riot Circus at 24 Moons in Northcote on the 29th November. Featuring Mikki Miichelle herself as well as Miss Burlesque Australia 2019 Bettie Bombshell! Also starring O Nyx, Izzy Bellissima, Aleksandra the Great, Cat Scurvy and Stage kitten: Penny DropsTickets available here!

What a blast to chat with Abdulrahman Hammoud.Poet, teacher and founder of The Dirty Thirty Writing Challenge and editor/compiler of The Dirty Thirty Anthology.

You can purchase the Dirty Thirty Volume 2 Anthology right here!

Thank you so much to my producer Derek Myers and Castaway Studios. And to my generous supporter Luxe Country.

Whelan... out.

Please note because I'm a dickhead I accidentally introduced Gabriela by the wrong name surname on stage. Apologies Gabriela!

Peter Bakowski was one the first poets I ever met. So it was an absolute joy to talk to him about all things poetry in the Castaway Studios.

To keep up on Peter's work please visit here.

Peter Drew is one the most iconic artists in Australia, he has a new book out through Black Inc called Poster Boy, he's the first street artist we've had as a guest on the show and it was an absolute joy to talk to him.You may not immediately know his name but chances are high that if you live in a major Australian city then you've probably seen his work.

The first Sad is Rad event took place at the Merri Creek Tavern in May this year. Have a listen to Episode 28 if you want to experience the birth of Sad is Rad. It was a hell of show featuring Jaymee Leyana, Amarina Waters, Ben Mastwyk, Patrick Wilson, Poppy Sloan, Caitlin Saunders and Ben Pobjie. I loved the experience so much I pitched the concept of the show as a possible event at the 2019 Melbourne Writers Festival and I was stoked they thought it would be a perfect fit.

So on Sunday 8th September More Than A Whelan made its debut at the Melbourne Writers Festival only a year after the podcast was started!

Sad is Rad was the theme of this show, an exploration of the theme of melancholy through music, poetry/storytelling and comedy. 

Our first performer for the show was Hannah Blackburn. I came across Hannah's single Did You Always Know earlier this year and it absolutely floored me. I still think it's one of the best singles of 2019. So I was so happy that she performed both that song and another song called I Want To Love You. And make sure you check out her new single Tiny Car which is being launched on November 2nd in Melbourne at Nighthawks.

Next up we had wonderful writer Natalie Jeffreys, winner of the 2018 Melbourne Spoken Word Prize. It was after seeing her perform the poem The Purity of Sadness that I decided she would be perfect for this bill. And make sure you check out her side hustle Puddledog Productions where you can specially commission her to write a song!

Following Natalie I welcomed incredible comedian and meme queen the wonderful Aurelia St Clair. Aurelia is currently presenting her new show Woke at the Sydney Fringe Comedy Festival. Subsequent states and the rest of the world to come! Keep an eye out for this brilliant show. 

I closed the show by presenting the debut live performance of Crystal Veins. Crystal Veins is a collaboration between myself and musician Justin Bernasconi. The collaboration was born from the very first More Than Whelan live show when I spontaneously asked Justin if he would mind improvising with me on stage as I read a poem. It went so spectacularly well that we decided to continue working together and thus Crystal Veins was born. 

We performed three pieces. Don't Drink The Heavy Fog, Stay Gold and I Am. 

For the last two pieces again the incredible Justin Bernasconi completely improvised on the spot. Crystal Veins are working on recording their debut album to be released later this year. Follow us on Facebook or Instagram to keep informed of its release. 

I have to make special thanks to Allegra Hartford Davis, who supplied the prompt Spring: new beginnings . I rudely forgot to give her a shout out on stage, what a jerk! Allegra is our muse of the week! 

I am filled with gratitude for the Melbourne Writers Festival for granting this opportunity to More Than A Whelan.

As always eternal thanks to Castaway Studios, without whom this podcast would not exist.

And a big smooch to our generous supporter Luxe Country and to Brendan Bonsack for taking such glorious pics of the event. Check out our More Than a Whelan Facebook or Instagram to see further documentation of the event. 

Please consider leaving us a review on Itunes if you enjoyed this show as it helps immensely to grow our audience. 

Whelan, out.

 

So good to have a chin wag with two time Austin Poetry Slam Champion Bill Moran on his sixth visit to Australia.Bill starts of the show with a powerful poem called Fortis Collum Hymnus from his brand new chapbook titled Dragged Into Heaven By The Hair.Bill also reads another work from his chapbook, a poem called Saint Nikolas Challenges Senator Marco Rubio To A Fist Fight. One of the themes of the poem is around gun control. This was eerie timing as it was only a couple of days later when two mass shootings occured in Dayton, Ohio and El Paso, Texas. Nine people were killed in the Dayton shooting and twenty-two in the El Paso shooting.I read a poem inspired by the prompt boxes, boxes, boxes by Stephanie Robinson. Thank you Steph!My poem is called There Are No Words Anymore.Bill reads a poem untitled written especially for the show inspired by a visual prompt by Mileta Rien. Thanks Mileta!Bill performs another poem called Dream Funeral

So damn pleased to have our very first international guest in the Castaway Studios, Arielle Cottingham, the Texas born 2016 Australian Poetry Slam Champion. Arielle is an Afro-Latina poet, performance artist, and dancer. She began performing spoken word in 2014 while studying at the University of Melbourne. In September 2015, she began a career as a full-time working performance poet, as well as creative producer of Slamalamadingdong. She published a chapbook in 2016, The Tarantist's Soapbox. Her first full book of poetry Black and Ropy was published in July 2017 with Pitt St. Poetry.

Thrilled to have a chat with poet/performer and Bondi royalty Adam Gibson (The Ark-Ark Birds, Modern Giant, The Aerial Maps) at the Coogee Bay Hotel. I want to start by apologising to all the residents of Coogee Bay for pronouncing Coogee incorrectly. Thank you Adam for bringing that to my attention. And thank you Adam for reminding me of the incredible history of Selina's, the band venue at the very hotel we recorded this episode at. Selina's has hosted Nirvana, Midnight Oil, INXS and many other legends of music by Australian and international. I found the link to the D Generation skit of Melbourne themed songs that Adam spoke of! You can listen to Adam's 'Angie Hart' track right here. Years later Going Down Swinging would commision Angie Hart to write and perform a response to Adam's piece. You can read the story of that here.Adam performs a poem on the show called The Shark. You can hear the recorded version of this with this band The Aerial Maps right here.Oceans of gratitude as always to my producer Derek Myers of Castaway Studios. And to my very generous supporter Luxe Country. Visit our online store at Luxe Country to purchase yourself some sweet More Than A Whelan merch.Also in breaking news our amazing More Than A Whelan logo is now available on a tshirt! Please visit this link to grab yourself the hottest look for summer.And lastly I just want to remind you that More Than A Whelan is coming to the Melbourne Writers Festival! I am so thrilled about this, tickets are available from here right now!