12th of August 2007
Another wonderful afternoon, this time at the refurbished Bald Faced Stag Hotel, Leichhardt.
Approximately 270 people turned out to our show yesterday afternoon, and what a fantastic time we had.
The afternoon kicked off with an inspiring performance from the Queen of Boogie and Blues, Bridie King. She also had a guest artist, Nick Sergent, one of her young students, who sang with her. He was enthusiastically received.
Next Michael blitzed (he has German ancestry, and can't forget the war...) the crowd with a stunnung solo spot, ably assisted by Rob, and in one tune, "Passionfruit" by Mary.
The rest of the afternoon saw various guest performers joining us on stage; Paul Burjan with sax, flute and haunting Irish whistle, Tim Shaw with gut wrenching vocals, and two of Justin and Bernadette's children, Minnie and Joey, for a wonderful rendition of Hotel California, which resulted in a standing ovation, the first one they have ever received, but then it was their first gig...........
Finally the encore was the Hat Trick All Star Big Band version of Mustang Sally, where we were joined on stage by Bridie, Paul, Tim, Minnie and Joey, thereby doubling the size of the band.
This was only possible because of the comfortably big stage we had available. Mary particularly appreciated having the extra headroom, which meant she was not poking holes in the ceiling with her bow.
Thanks to the Stag for providing such a great new music venue in the Inner West, our old stamping ground. The new room is beautiful, the sound system impressive, the staff helpful, the food delicious and excellent value, and the extra space very welcome. Thanks also to John Gallagher, our hard-working promoter.
We have very much enjoyed our gigs at The Harp over the last couple of years, but at the moment we seem to have outgrown it a bit. However we may well be putting on some smaller shows there in the future.
Thanks so much to everyone who came to the gig, especially those who travelled from as far away as Canberra and Arcadia. Forster and Newcastle, and the Blue Mountains.
Look out for our Christmas show at The Stag, 2.12.07, and we'll see you there.
June 2007
The gigs are getting better all the time.............had a huge show at The Harp on Sunday 17.6.07. Full house, and our apologies to anyone who got turned away. Some wise people were there from about 12.30 on, to reserve seats. Great to see that the "reserved" signs were respected too.
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A bit of a double booking, with a Christening party taking place in the bar while our concert was on. Somewhat inconvenient for the Christening guests, although we did hear that a few of them gave up on the party and came in to our show......
A feature of this gig was the appearence of Rob up the front of the stage, doing a blues harp spectacular, to great critical acclaim.
Thanks to those dedicated fans who came from as far away as Wollongong, Arcadia and even Marrickville. It's wonderful to see the old faces, and to meet a bunch of new ones as well.
We have decided to increase the frequency of gigs a bit, starting with a show at the newly refurbished Bald Faced Stag hotel in Leichhardt, on Sunday the 12th of August, at 2.30 pm. Usual conditions of free entry to school age kids apply. Our support will be the fabulous Bridie King.
Looking forward to seeing all of you plus a few of your friends there.
March 2007
What a weekend!
We have just returned from a most uplifting series of gigs at the Port Fairy Folk Festival.
Our first show on Saturday morning was at Stage 5, a marquee. There were a few people already gathered as we set up, but by the time we started the marquee was half full. Shortly into our set we had to ask the people down the front to move forward as there were heaps of others trying to get in. The place was at capacity shortly after. An inspiring start to our weekend.
After this show Michael had to dash off to perform at a theme concert, "Guitocracy'" with a bunch of other guitar luminaries. For two hours they impressed and inspired an audience no doubt comprising mostly guitar players. Great fun.
That night we were at St Pat’s hall, a school hall in the town. This venue was a bit out of the way, so was not so well attended, however the people there took advantage of no waiting to get in, an excellent choice of seat, and no inconvenient queues for signing our CDs at the end of the gig………..
Sunday morning back at the Arena we were at Stage 4, another, larger marquee. Being first on that day, the place was pretty quiet when we arrived, except for some very savvy punters who had arrived early to stake their claims. Probably they had camped there the night before so as to avoid disappointment……
We fired up, and what a gig! The place was pretty packed from early on, and the crowd was bopping and dancing from the word go at 10.30am!!! It was a fabulous show for us, and the highlight was an encore, which due to time constraints, we couldn’t fulfill.
The crew and MCs at each of the venues were absolutely spot-on. They have obviously refined their technique over the last 30 years, and everybody seemed to know exactly what to do, with no fuss. The best part was their attitude. Everyone working there, from the people who checked us in at midnight on Friday, the security manning the gates and checkpoints, the golf buggy shuttle bus drivers, to the sound and lighting crews and the MCs, all of whom were under considerable pressure to set bands up within tight time constraints, were helpful and cheerful. The overall vibe was of professionalism and co-operation.
A huge thankyou also to our crew for the weekend; Michael O, Sue, Emily, and Sally, for all their help and logistical support. We couldn't have done it without you.
Footnote from Bernadette……..
This was our first encounter with ‘Festivals’ and we are hooked. The vibe of the whole event is so contagious that you cannot fail to be uplifted by the gift that music brings of Joy and Harmony. We are in our element in this sort of environment as there is nothing Hat Trick loves better than to GIVE their gift of music! Bring on more festivals and bring on the spreading of Joy and Harmony !!!!!!
A quick update of the last 15 or so years
The band stopped performing about 15 years ago, but an invitation from Michael Fix to re-form for a gig with him at The Harp Hotel, Tempe, in June 2005 got us temporarily back together. The response at the gig from punters (and us) was such that we scheduled another gig at the same venue in December 2005.
Building on that, we performed there again in June 2006. We examined a whole bunch of material from 3 previous recordings made in the 80s. All the masters were OK, so we edited and re-mastered a total of 19 tracks onto a CD we have called
Hat Trick, a retrospective.
This was launched at The Harp on Sunday 18.6.06. It was a wonderful gig......the place was overflowing!
To those of you who came, thanks for making it such an event. It takes us straight back to the J.C. on a Sunday arvo.
Who knows where this will take us...... in the meantime we are thoroughly enjoying re-discovering the magic in the arrangements of the classical, traditional and contemporary music we played when we were a 6 night a week band in the eighties, as well as the great musical friendships we still share.
All a bit like riding a bike really.......
Bye for now, from the boys and girls of Hat Trick.
BTW, this site has been designed by Terry Phillpot, a well known Sydney photographer, web designer and drummer, who in fact played with us briefly between Doug and Rob.
Terry is doing a great job for us, and is also responsible for most of the fabulous shots on the photo page. Check out his site at www.eyeball.com.au