The Aspinauts adored him instantly and we made ourselves at home at his cosy studio, PV Sounds in Ferntree Gully.  There we rehearsed and took his kind offer to sideline as our drummer (he is actually drummer for Soul Surfers) past our March deadline and into April with gigs lined up into July.  But Paul may feel designed for 4 lives but he’s only 1 person so something had to give and we decided we should do the giving and give him back his time.

We will miss him biggly, mostly his sunny, unassuming, nature, his realism, integrity, oh, shit, I’m sounding schmaltzy.  Paul, you are a mensch.  Hope you really enjoy the space we’ve created by our departure and that you don’t immediately fill it with more things to do unless it’s smelling the roses.

Warmly,

Donna and the dags and ratbags of The Aspinauts.

Two new members join The Aspinauts

ANTHONY JULIAN is an Aspie known for his surrealist youtube clips. Our most flamboyant member, he’s a theatre buff with a background in musical theatre who first became our most loyal fan, then our official door clerk, then worked his way up to being our keyboard player! He has been playing piano since childhood and considered himself more a singer-songwriter, more recently collaborating with Donna on new songs, and then proved he was actually also a reasonable keyboard player too. Welcome aboard Anthony.

SARAH WARD has been a singer since she could talk. She’s improvisational, out there, and is a warm, bubbly multi-instrumentalist/percussionist/backing vocalist who also composes and enjoys quirky in all its forms.  She enjoys musical improvisation and gets excited over new instruments. She’s at home with blues but can step into any musical genre.  Welcome to The Aspinauts Sarah!

SUNDAY 3rd May is the Annual Chestnut Festival at Kalorama Reserve on Mount Dandenong Tourist Rd (near Grange Rd) which has been going for over 30 years.  Over the years it has grown into a major event in the picturesque tourist spot of Dandenong Ranges.

Aside from the rainforest at Grant’s Picnic Ground and the gum forests of Monbulk, Kalista and Kalorama just minutes from the festival, there will be fairground rides, buskers, market stalls, roast chestnuts (of course), Devonshire teas, cakes, sausage sizzle, raffles, face painting, plants & showbags at the festival itself and the warm hospitality of the hills folk (of which I am one!).

Proceeds to the Mt Dandenong Pre-school up here in the hills. And you can hang out with me and the band, Donna Williams and The Aspinauts.

The lineup of performers will be:

• Actress and Children’s entertainer, Bethany Fisher will perform 12-1pm,
• Fresh back from her UK tour, hills singer-songwriter, Janette Geri 1-2pm,
• Off the wall, avant garde, inter-arts, musical surrealism with Donna and The Aspinauts 2-3pm

Hope to see some of you there.

Donna Williams

http://www.donnawilliams.net

http://www.myspace.com/donnaandtheaspinauts