Parties, Tassie & Money raised for charity

unnamedWe’ve had a wonderful few weeks and we’re pretty thrilled about the weeks to come. We write a lot asking for support, but we were thrilled to be able to support LGBTQI charity, The Aurora Group, by performing at their Annual Ball at Sydney Town Hall and offering private performances as auction prizes. Two attendees were sufficiently wooed by our Disney/Sondheim medley (the theme was Once Upon a Time) that they purchased the private gigs, raising more than $5000 for Aurora, an organisation that supports LGBTQI community groups including Twenty10 and the Gay & Lesbian Counselling Service. The whole evening raised more than $70,000!

Libby, Hayden and MaeveFor photos of the Aurora Ball make sure you check out the Star Observer and SX albums. Luckily they didn’t capture Maeve’s drunk Snow White arguing with a bouncer at an unnamed Newtown Hotel, but they DID get some snaps of Hayden’s army of handsome fans who trailed him throughout the night.

We realise we’ve launched our Patreon crowdfunding site and promised all sorts of new projects but haven’t told you what they are so a few are outlined below. We are up to $609 per month but we need to hit $1000 per month in order to finish our EP. If enough people pledge $1 (or more if you can), we’ll get there and send some of our favourite tunes to your earholes! Other projects include:

Mother’s Ruin
Maeve & Libby are working hard with Musical Director, Jeremy Brennan to write a history about the cabaret of gin. That doesn’t sound right…but you get the picture! It’ll be a departure from Lady Sings it Better, equal parts historical and hysterical, complete with a gin tasting experience with The Ginstress, Elly Clough.
Costs we need to cover: We need to pay a dramaturg and director, we need to get costumes made and photos taken.
What you get if you donate: Downloads of some of our songs, discount tickets to shows once they’re announced, warm glow of giving! Donate here.
Pushy Women
We’re bringing Catherine Deveny’s wonderful Melbourne comedy+women+cycling event to Sydney! One afternoon only for the Sydney Fringe, you can catch Tracey Spicer, Wendy Harmer, Dee Madigan, Mariam Veiszadeh, Nakkiah Lui and Zoe Norton-Lodge telling tales of their life on two wheels.
Costs we need to cover: Regular event costs like marketing, tech equipment and artist fees.
What you get if you donate: Discount codes for the show! Anyone who pledges over $8US (ie $10AUS) per month gets discount codes to our shows, including this one! We’ll offer reserved seating to all Patreon donors.
Supported by The Squeaky Wheel in Melbourne!
Late Night Library
We’re curating a season of Late Night Library in Kings Cross for the City of Sydney. We’re got 6 amazing shows including Queerstories (a killer line up of local LGBTQI leaders), Library Love Songs with Maxine Kauter, Archer: In Conversation, a Mother’s Ruin work-in-progress showing and more. Feat. Matthew Mitcham, Zoe Coombs Marr, Georgia Rose Cranko, Annaliese Constable, Jeeves Verma, Penny Greenhalgh, Jekyll X James, Dorothy McRae-McMahon, Liz Duck-Chong, the list goes on…
Costs we need the cover: City of Sydney have actually contracted us to do this! Amazing! But Patreon support helps with our company’s ongoing costs.
What you get if you donate: The shows are already free for the audience, but City of Sydney have agreed to let us reserve premium seating for our Patreon supporters.Please consider pledging to support our growing work. If everyone who subscribed to this enews pledged $1 per month, we would reach our next target! Click here

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE!

unnamed (3)We got the old gang back together to sing a few tunes for Maeve’s mum, Teresa’s 60th birthday party, themed Mods vs. Rockers! The night was a crazy queer celebration with far too many amusing tales to fit here, so read Maeve’s Happy Birthday blog!

Lord knows if any of you are still reading! This Saturday we’re road tripping to Canberra to play a sold out show at Bungendore Woodworks Gallery, then next week we’re off to freezing, wonderful TASMANIA for our Festival of Voices debut. We can’t wait! Follow us on Instagram and Twitter for silly photos and tales from the road.

What a week! Part 1: The Aurora Group Annual Dinner

Well last week was hectic! And it all kicked off on June 23 at The Aurora Group’s Annual Dinner, An Evening of Titanic Proportions. It was Titanic-themed. No one sang Celine Dion. I nearly stormed the stage in protest.

For those who don’t know, I (aka Maeve) volunteer as a Board Director for The Aurora Group. We run large scale events for fundraise for GLBTQI causes, such as Twenty10 and the Gay & Lesbian Counselling Service.

The Annual Dinner, held at the Sydney Town Hall is always a blast, with great food and live entertainment. A highlight this year was the live auction. It’s thrilling to watch so much money going to good causes and I really enjoyed leaping around the room finding bidders. I was pretty drunk at this stage and actually started to bid on dinner with the DIVINE Tanya Plibersek and Annabel Crabb, but I pulled my head in when I remembered that little Edinburgh tour I am meant to be saving for.

Music-wise, I’m always a fan of Brendan Maclean, so enjoyed his performance with Nathan whats-his-name from Faker and Paul Mac. Man, that Maclean boy has come far. Who knew tweeting could make you so successful. Which reminds me, follow us at @lady_sings_it.

Tom Ballard’s keynote address (which you can read in full here) was great; I am glad we brought a gen y perspective to the crowd. Rebecca Reynolds from Twenty10 also spoke wonderfully.

All in all, it was a good night and a wonderful reminder about how important volunteering is for our community. Oh, and we totally raised over $51,000! (Read all about it here, on the Aurora website)

I made this fun list of things NOT to do at next year’s event:

  • do not accost Sarah Hanson-Young
  • do not wear high heels as you will lose your shoes on the dance floor
  • your cleavage is not a place to store stolen sequins
  • your nice bra is not for showing to all the gay men
  • do not give or receive piggy backs with the aurora chair person; likewise, do not perform acrobatics with your uni pals
  • do not steal gin from behind the bar
  • the headline performer’s dressing room is not your own
  • do not convince your mother to bid on a hunter valley weekender for all your friends.

And, because it was a queer event, here is a picture of me, two of my ex-girlfriends, a current girlfriend of one of them, two ex-girlfriends of one of them (not counting me) and one of one of their ex-girlfriends. Confused? Never mind, look how pretty we all are!

blackcat recommends… amazing music and more in june

So, somehow before we jet off to Edinburgh at the end of July, we have to catch ALL these amazing gigs and events in Sydney:

Clairy Browne & the Bangin’ Rackettes: The Love Letter Tour
Clairy Browne is damn good, and her star is totally on the rise. Get to this gig.
Friday, 25 May
GOODGOD SMALL CLUB Sydney, NSW
8.00-10.30pm plus special guests
Tix: www.oztix.com.au

LadyNerd at Slide Lounge
Kiera Daley, aka LadyNerd is also Edinburgh-bound this year, with her cabaret packed with grammar jokes, wonderful stories about the cleverest women in history and nerdy, nerdy goodness.
Catch her in Sydney at Slide Lounge on June 7. (Check out her facebook page for shows in Brisbane, Melbourne and Adelaide)
Tickets here.

The Aurora Annual Dinner: A Night of Titanic Proportions
Aurora fundraises for the GLBTQI community by throwing amazing, grand events, such as the Annual Dinner at the Sydney Town Hall. At $225 a ticket, it ain’t cheap, but it is worth every penny and the proceeds support excellent organisations like Twenty10 and the Gay & Lesbian Counselling Service. And you can be sure of a wonderful night of food, wine and top notch entertainment. Read more on the Aurora website.
Saturday June 23 | 6pm | Bookings ESSENTIAL – bookings@auroragroup.com.au or 02 8323 4041

Give a little, get a little: Maxine Kauter Band and Gen Chadwick at The Vanguard
Maxine and Gen are two of blackcat’s favourite singer/songwriters. This gig is a total bargain with not one, but two skillful, sexy, bluesy ladies who write awesome songs and rock out with their amazing bands. Maxine is launching a crowdfunding campaign for her new album (give a little) and Gen will be giving away her new EP (get a little!). Phoebe and Maeve have already booked a table of 13 so book now and don’t miss out!
June 27 at The Vanguard. General admission is only $18.80, with dinner-and-show $53.80.
Tix here.

Women Say Something: Iron Ladies
Another in Sydney’s excellent series of panel discussions. This event is pretty much sold out except for 20 or so panel-only tickets which will go on sale in the coming weeks. With the divine Clementine Ford and the equally awesome Annaliese Constable and Bev Lange already announced for the panel, the tickets are sure to fly out the door. Follow Women Say Something on facebook for the on-sale of the remaining tickets.
June 28 at Slide Lounge.

Do you have any gig recommendations?

xxx the blackcat team