What a treat!  Don’t you love it when a run-of-the-mill day suddenly turns into something special? That’s what happened yesterday.

It started with a call from The Renovator, who was busy losing money hand-over-fist on the horses. He had happened upon some tickets to a concert we had been hankering to attend since it had been announced: The Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra. These guys are awesome (my cousin in Sydney sent us one of their CD’s and a couple of Tee Shirts in the wake of the earthquakes, just to cheer us up) and even better, they were performing not one kilometre from the Homestead at our very own hot venue: the Roy Stokes Hall.  Unfortunately, with one thing and another, we had ended up ticketless and had resigned ourselves to the missing out.

STRUMMING AWAY: Fresh from their tour of China and Japan, the ukulele orchestra is heading to the seaside http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/music/63151112/uke-orchestra-tugging-heartstrings

So it was, with a hasty wash and brush up, the three Homestead girls arrived at the salubrious venue primed and ready for fun.  Farm Girl in particular was excited; this was the exact same stage that she, only seven days earlier, had performed as part of the Kingdom of Nova’s Kapa Haka concert and there it was, rigged up with lights and microphones and banks of speakers! Despite the classic, old school seats (some forward thinkers brought their own cushions while we made do with natural padding and The Milk Maid’s duffle-coat) and the dated surroundings, the night was a total triumph. 

We laughed and yahooed and sung along to the most eclectic mix of songs in our very own beloved hall, led by a bunch of people who really know how to deliver the goods.  Post concert discussion decided it was impossible to choose the best song, and even more so to locate one on the net to share with you all as the recording quality of them is universally horrid.  The only answer to this is for us to extend an invitation to you all, far and wide, to pop into the Homestead and listen to our very own copy of their EP, The Dreaming.  Let us know you’re on your way and we’ll pop on the perc. 

The Goat Herd is now right into this concert going groove.  Today tickets were booked for her to see the Foo Fighters  in February. Sadly, they have chosen the more predictable venue of the AMI Stadium in town.  Had they only spoken to us prior to letting loose their professional promotion machine, we could have got them a good deal on a prime venue.

Next year, Central New Brighton School of which this hall is part, merges with two others in our area and by the end of 2015 the school will be demolished (damn those quakes).  Currently the community is battling to save the hall from the same fate and so we send huge thanks to The Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra for bringing their act to our humble hall.  

And to Dave and the rest of the Foos, if you’re reading: you know you’d also be more than welcome to grace our stage. Go on, take a moment to think it over. We’d shout you a Crema Breakfast…