Raving about “Rocks”
Ben Matthews, John Hawkesby and Johnny Cash
Groovy Guitarists at CoolJam

“The only way to improve them is by having more than one class a week or making them longer.”
Nathan Child, Groovy Guitarist

Raving about “Rocks”

The clock is ticking for StarJam Rocks on 26th August. The Jammers are getting ready to knock your socks off…..spare seats are now in short supply. Our interviewers had a great time on Saturday with practice runs on unsuspecting adults who were pretending to be their chosen interviewees. Rongo Katene from Rotorua practiced on his teacher Tony Renshaw (pretending to be Temuera Morrison ) and twins Etta and Sally Bollinger asked embarrassing questions of their parents who were pretending to be Simon Dallow and Wendy Petrie . Baz was behind the camera filming the mock up interviews so the Jammers could see the play backs. Nathan Child has got some great questions lined up for Petra Bagast however secrecy surrounds the fourth live interview planned for the big night.

Baz Caitcheon (behind camera), Tony Renshaw (aka Tem) and Rongo Katene…. And Sally and Etta Bollinger

Further preparation is happening on other fronts – hip hop dance, the special songs and in the set design workshops. Masterpieces are being created as we speak.

Anish Rama, Thomas Castle, Jaime Waugh and Sian Thomas
concentrating on designing artwork for “Rocks”

Ben Matthews, John Hawkesby and Johnny Cash at the Annual Trustees’ Meeting

StarJam held its Annual Trustee’s meeting on 17th July. Of course there was a stage and there were Jammers and so yes, there were wonderfully jammed people. Several of our Jammers made their debut on stage. Ben Matthews wowed everyone with his impromptu and very Johnny Cash - like rendition of “Ring of Fire”. Guest speaker, StarJam Jambassador, John Hawkesby, followed it with a fascinating story about his personal encounters with Johnny Cash here in Auckland , when John was starting his career as a journalist back in the 60s/70s/80s? …. well. it was a couple of years ago anyway.

Ben Matthews playing Johnny Cash and John Hawkesby talking Johnny Cash

The evening ended with a performance from the Jammers from the Hip Hop CoolJam workshop. It’s amazing what they have achieved in a few short weeks.

Hip Hop tutor Carlene Newall chats with Richard Haddow and Emma Ferrens before the dancers stun the audience with their hip-hop routine

Thanks to Patrick Bellett for coming to the meeting to capture these and lots more images.

Groovy Guitarists at CoolJam

CoolJam workshops are going from strength to strength. We’re not sure who’s surprising who the most…. the Cool Jammers surprising the tutors or the Cool Jammers surprising themselves. Narelle wants to cut her own CD. We are indeed seeing unbelievable progress.

Nathan Child is progressing to bass guitar, Narelle Pemberton proudly showing the guitar her parents bought for her birthday last week and Eric Schwacke brought along an electric guitar!!

“StarJam Rocks” clearly is not to be missed so if you have forgotten to book your seat please phone quickly (09) 624 4555 or (09) 585 1195. But it won’t stop there - the Jammers will not let us rest. If previous shows are anything to go by, the Monday morning after “Rocks”, the phone will be ringing and the Jammers will want to know when the next show is!

Thanks for reading the StarJam news. Keep smiling.