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Public Announcement From The Head Foreman
Head Tar Pit Mine Foreman, Pete Reid, is currently taking time out from performing and public appearances to focus on the extraction of new rare earth minerals at Refinery Two to provide raw materials for new project Songs From the Edge of the World (Helmsman Pete). Songs… is closely related to other Helmsman Pete project Postcards From the Edge of the World, which is also scheduled for an extensive overhaul over the upcoming financial year. Songs… differ from Postcards… in that it will focus primarily on the concert presentation of a collection of songs collected by Pete during his expedition to the ‘edge of the world’. We look forward to bringing you further announcements relating to these exciting developments throughout 2012.
HELMSMAN PETE PLAYS 'SECRETLY' at MELBOURNES HARVEST FESTIVAL IN WERRIBEE, ON SATURDAY NOV' 13 IN the SNUFF BOX at 2 and 3PM... Postcards From The Edge At Melbourne Fringe Festival
After a fresh tour and development in the UK and US, HELMSMAN PETE: POSTCARDS FROM THE EDGE OF THE WORLD - where it will play a season of late night shows at The North Melbourne Town Halls Meeting Room Space from September 23 to 30.
TO BOOK OR READ MORE INFORMATION CLICK HERETO RSVP ON FACEBOOK CLICK HERE
TO SEE MORE INFORMATION ON THIS SITE CLICK HERE
Official Tar Pit UK Debut! - This epic Storytelling expedition has just wound up a one month season in the UK: doing a special performance at Frederick Terrace Warehouse in London on July 26 and soon after playing in Edinburgh at Underbelly from August 6 to 28. The Scotsman said of it "Reid invests his whole show with an air of resonant quality. Whether speaking, singing or acting in character, he's a classy performer who's deep, rich voice and world-weary expressions you'll carry for a long time afterwards" and the Edinburgh Spotlight called it a "wee gem of a show". See links below for more...
Click Here to Hear a Recent Podcast Interview with Helmsman Pete/Pete Reid... Click Here to Read a Recent Online Interview Regarding the Show...
Pete and the Tar Gang Album Now Available Online
Thats right folks, Pete and the Tar Gangs debut Compact Disk Release, Songs Of The Hollow Bone Moon is now available through the Peak Plazma Concentration records Website either as a postal order or an online download. individual track download optional for the spendthrift. Click on the album image below to go straight to their website and check it out!
AlbumWeb-Artwork Click Here to Read an Album Review...
Pete and the Tar Gang at the ACMI Tim Burton Club...
In a currently rare public performance, on Thursday July 8 Helmsman Pete and the always rogueish Tar Gang present there own nightmares before Christmas, and tales of sharp fingered... well, nightmares before Christmas anyway... at The Australian Centre For The Moving Image, as Part of The Tim Burton exhibition. So, if your looking for a hip joint to shake down your proverbial story bones, and perhaps also take in an array of visual material from a seminal director - look no further than The Burton Club on July 8. The hallowed stage sits just before the exhibition entrance. Pete and the Tar Gang shall be regaling over two thirty minute. One at 7pm and one at 8pm... at The Australian Centre For The Moving Image - Federation Square, Melbourne
BEAST OF HOOF AND TRUNK (SECOND PLATFORM - at Next Wave)
‘No one could ever make a show about the day many years ago - when an elephant rampaged through Melbournes Flinders Street Station!!’ Well, four chaps have now come forward - claiming not only that they’ve done just that - but that they were there when it happened and are in fact recreating this amazing event. ‘In 2009, the group spent a week in the stations fabled ballroom and clock-tower areas, with purpose to making this performance. Station Master Bluster, the groups apparent leader recently stated... 'We presented an initial performance in the ballroom as the first in a trilogy of shows about this tale. Now we are ready to give this town our second: “Beast of Hoof and Trunk!”
Those in the know will be familiar with the circumstances surrounding this event: how the stations blueprints were switched round with the train station blueprints for Mumbai. Thus it was that the beast was to visit from the north, to play in the elevator designed for it’s impressive proportions! TWO SHOWS ONLY!!! May 19 & 20 at 10pm, $11 0n the Door. 1000Pound Bend, 361 Little Lonsdale st, Melbourne. www.nextwave.org.au</a></p>
Pete Reid - Writer, Director & Performer Lachlan Plain - Performer & Maker Paul Bourke - Performer & Co-Director Nicholas Bendall – Performer Jon Drews – Musician L'hibou Hornung – Musician Katie Sfetkidis - Lighting Design Carmen Reid - Set Production and Design Keith McDougall - Sound Design
ELEPHANT NOT IN STATION!!
Lovers of dynamic, site specific performances in barely seen public spaces were in shock and mourning today, as an official public announcement from Tar Pit rep's was delivered: stating that their highly anticipated work, An Elephant At The Station, would not be seen in it's final outcome for this years Next Wave Festival. The piece, which has been in development over the past year and a half or more, was planned to be performed in Melbourne’s Flinders Street Stations much mythologised 'Old Ballroom', closed off to the public and in an increasing state of disrepair since the early 1980's. The team behind the piece had a week in the ballroom last September, in which they were able to test ideas for a performance in the space, which involved a bull elephant in musth rampaging through the stations upper confines, in search of a fabled 'elephant lift', reported to be present due to the stations original designs being mysteriously swapped around with those of Mumbai Train Stations. Those lucky enough to be invited to a developmental showing in the space reported that the piece "showed great potential and was very exciting to witness". All attempts to contact The Tar Pit today for comment proved fruitless. An inside source however, stated that the team were "a'greived but accepting. They have obviously been dealt a heavy blow, but have not let it knock the steam out of them." Our source then elaborated by detailing some of Writer / Director / Performer, Peter James Reids immediate plans for the project. "Him, some of the team, and key Next Wave people held an emergency meeting... it was decided at the end that they would do a 'prelude performance' of An Elephant At The Station for Next Wave in May - something akin to a forty minute snippett and swathe of the whole performance, pointing toward the eventual full outcome, likely to be in 2011, with or without the ballroom. I was excited by the prospect". Scenes on Flinders Street were not so positive or accepting however, as lamenting supportors of the project vented their frustration in what at times threatened to spill out in to a small riot. "It just makes you lose heart in what this cities doing with its old spaces and its stories..." lamented one lady in a grey jumper. "Why don't we just bring a real elephant to the station! Or better yet bring it to 'southern cross' (station) and see how long that engineering joke holds up!!!" yelled an obviously irate, bearded middle aged man to no one in particular. At station door 223 on Flinders Street, a mysterious old lady was seen to leave an object at the door. Closer inspection proved it to be a plastic elephant, underneath which was a note, with a simple drawing of a sad face.
Watch this space for more news on An Elephant At The Station as it comes to hand...
Pete and the Tar Gang Take Time Out to 'Whittle and Travail'
Helmsman Pete Reid of Pete and the Tar Gang recently stated in a rare, two minute phone inteview (the signal cut out due to his remote locale) tha they "are currently at rest, perusing possibilities for future endeavors, and whiling away some time to daydream and casually whittle..." He extended a hearty, collective thankyou to the folk who recently joined them at The Old Bar for some late night tales. Many thanks also given to Ewah Lady and Leon Thomas for their "hearty bouts of well crafted sonic intrigue". The latest report from Helmsman Pete is that he longs for a new batch of stories and moods to deliver with the gang. "I'll put pen to paper as time allows, but some journeying to foreign lands and harvesting of new stories may have to take place in the interim" he cooly stated. Shortly before the line gave out, he was heard to remark " the gang and myself may appear here and there in our home port throughout 2010, but no full scale shindig is planned there". Who knows where Pete and the Tar Gangs next travels will take them. With any good fortune, it will reach our ears and eyes some time next year. Watch this space for more updates in the interim...
