Streets of Your Town

This week’s Streets of Your Town takes you into the world of fast and slow fashion, and what we can all do to lessen the burden of clothes waste on the world.

Have you ever looked down at what you’re wearing, or into your wardrobe, and wondered where those materials came from? 

Who made your outfit, and at what cost to them compared to the cost you paid for it? 

Or pondered what the true cost of that bargain t-shirt is when fast fashion wastage is taken into account? 

These questions are what drive sustainability consultant Jane Milburn on her quest to get as many people as possible thinking about the way they dress, and how to make better choices to become independent of fast fashion. 

She tells us on Streets of Your Town how low cost unethical clothes are creating pollution and contributing to modern day slavery, and how her recent travels for her Churchill Fellowship meeting 55 slow fashion practitioners from around the world has given her tips on how we can all play our part to reduce the burden of clothing waste on the world.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You never know who I am going to meet on my travels in Mildred the cantankerous kombi. In this episode of Streets of Your Town, we enter the creative wonderland of artist, teacher and jack of all trades Angus MacDiarmid. 

He lives in a converted church in the little town of Boonah in Queensland’s Scenic Rim. 

Despite its close proximity to the bustling cities of Brisbane and the Gold Coast, much of the Scenic Rim remains untouched. 

So if you are lucky enough to go for a road trip through this magical area, make sure you keep an eye out for Angus, and if you’re lucky, he may even paint your portrait. 

On this day in Boonah, I was lucky enough to cross paths with Angus at his home - a beautiful old restored church in the middle of town, that he shares with his partner Jenny. 

He happily tells us how he and Jenny came to settle in this quiet corner of The Scenic Rim, and create their perfect colourful creative home to pursue their lifelong love of art.

Get the full story, and join The Wandering Journo tribe at substack.soyt.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Performing in the national spotlight is far from a passing phase for Julian Kuo - whose dedication to his craft since a young age has been rewarded with a prized place in the Australian cast of Hamilton. 

The multi-award winning musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda is winding up it’s Australian run with the Brisbane season ending on April 23. 

Before the show continues on its worldwide run, Julian reflects with us on Streets of Your Town, what it’s like to be part of a musical held in such esteem, that many of these Hamil-fans know more about the show’s intricacies than the cast.  

Such is the dedication of fans to the show that they have become something of a tribe - known universally as the Hamil-fam or Hamilfans.

One of the many great quirks of the show is that it relies heavily on rap as well as sung lyrics to tell the story of Alexander Hamilton - one of America’s founding fathers. It also features a diverse cast from a range of cultural backgrounds.

Such is the dedication of fans to the show that they have become something of a tribe - known universally as the Hamil-fam or Hamilfans.

Julian has arguably one of the most difficult roles in the cast, as swing.

As well as learning half a dozen parts in his role as a swing, he is also the cast representative for the worldwide Hamilton social justice initiatives Ham4Progress and the Racial Justice Taskforce - which he tells us is one of his most passionate projects as it fits so well with his sense of social justice.

And as Julian explains, being such a pivotal part of giving back to the communities that both inspired Hamilton and supported its success, has been one of his greatest rewards.

Get the full story, and join The Wandering Journo tribe at substack.soyt.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It’s rare that a musician makes such a mark with her first EP that Rolling Stone US magazine raves and international world music festivals beckon for you to play.

But that’s exactly what has happened for Brisbane born and Melbourne based artist Tiana Khasi, whose eloquent and distinctive music will grace the WOMADelaide stage this weekend.

Her debut EP, Meghalaya – titled for Meghalaya, India, the land of the Khasi tribe whose name she proudly bears – is a testament to the power of her storytelling and ability to weave themes of family, self-empowerment and identity into the contemporary vernacular of Australian music. 

And as she tells us on Streets of Your Town, Tiana credits finding her voice at such a young age to her life’s journey honouring her Samoan and Indian heritage.

This combination of influences makes for a unique sound that was further honed from expert teaching at Brisbane’s Conservatorium. By exploring and integrating her past, Tiana creates a new take on soulful r and b that sets her apart. 

Get the full story, and join The Wandering Journo tribe at substack.soyt.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There’s not many awards he hasn’t won for his groundbreaking musical theatre work, and now Lin-Manuel Miranda has shown he keeps his promises too.

The Tony, Grammy, Emmy, Olivier and Pulitzer Prize winning creator came to Brisbane this weekend, to watch the Australian company perform Hamilton - his worldwide musical juggernaut that combines jazz, hip hop, R&B and Broadway musical styles to tell the story of American founding father Alexander Hamilton.

He also made a visit to the Brisbane Ludo studios where they make Bluey for a guest appearance on the Australian children’s show phenomena, and gave a press conference for selected media while in town.

For the first time on Streets of Your Town, I will play the entire 20 minute press conference with Lin-Manuel Miranda, because it’s so unusual to have this sort of access to someone who is essentially musical theatre royalty with a worldwide following. 

To say I was excited when I got the press conference invitation with a day’s notice is an understatement. I was not throwing away my shot on this one.

Lin-Manuel Miranda was delightfully frank giving insights into why he came to Australia now, and breaking down his song-writing process.

While COVID threw his initial plans to visit the Australian cast into chaos, even forcing their auditions for Hamilton onto zoom, he said he could not walk away from his commitment to meet the cast and see the show as soon as he could.

Get the full story, and join The Wandering Journo tribe at substack.soyt.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The long awaited bio-pic paying tribute to the incredible feats of Jessica Watson has finally been realised, highlighting the struggles she overcame to become the youngest person to sail solo and unassisted around the world.

The movie True Spirit was mostly filmed in south-east Queensland, with Jessica Watson’s courageous feats navigating some of the world’s most challenging stretches of ocean now tapping into a worldwide audience through Netflix.

Speaking to me by Zoom, Jessica Watson tells us on Streets of Your Town how the movie has taken many years of development with director Sarah Spillane and working closely with the star Teagan Croft, but she’s thrilled with the final results.

Watson says she hopes now more than a decade after her amazing feat, that if another young woman wanted to do something like this, she wouldn’t have to face the same obstacles she did.

Get the full story, and join The Wandering Journo tribe at substack.soyt.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This episode of Streets of Your Town comes to you (again!) from the streets of the Woodford Folk Festival, where the sublime singing of Punjabi Australian singer and dancer Parvyn Kaur Singh drew me into her orbit.

As it turns out Parvyn had just completed a cross country adventure from her South Australian home, bringing all her family up in her Subaru wagon so she could perform at the Festival. She brought her new solo expression to Woodford audiences for the first time, synthesising a lifetime of dance and song into into her debut record ‘Sa’.

Her eclectic influences range from electronica and jazz to her background in Sikh devotional music and her training in Indian classical music and dance. 

But while Parvyn was one of the farthest flung artists performing at this year’s festival, she’s actually also one of the longest participating - having come to the Woodford Folk Festival since she was a child. As Parvyn says - she’s been coming to Woodford before it was known as Woodford.

And as she tells us on Streets of Your Town, Parvyn feels grateful to be giving back to the Woodford Folk Festival post pandemic, just as her solo career is taking off, having been featured in Rolling Stone India.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Callan Purcell is taking on one of the most renowned roles in musical theatre - Aaron Burr - in the Brisbane season of the Australian production of the worldwide phenomenon that is Hamilton.

Aaron Burr is Hamilton’s nemesis in the show, and this young Indigenous performer tells me on Streets of Your Town how he is rising to the challenge of fleshing out this pivotal character.

He has shown his performing chops in the show for the past two years in a range of understudy and swing roles in Hamilton, overcoming covid disruptions to show his ability and now be given the responsibility of lead.

It’s a story that’s come full circle for Callan, showing his determination to succeed right from when he first got standing room only tickets to see Hamilton on Broadway, and came out buzzing with the belief that he would one day perform in the musical.

He even has the ticket from the show, with the promise he made to himself written on the back to prove it. Let’s sit down for a chat with this incredible performer.

Get the full story, and join The Wandering Journo tribe at substack.soyt.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This episode of Streets of Your Town comes to you from the streets of the renowned Woodford Folk Festival, an annual gathering in the week leading up to New Years Day that transforms this peaceful rural idyll into a thriving community of more than 130 thousand people, larger than the nearest Sunshine Coast town of Nambour. As I wandered through the many stages on this land now known as Woodfordia, which was purchased almost 30 years ago to give the festival a secure and ongoing home, there was one band that stood out and beckoned me into the Pineapple Lounge. They are The Moving Stills. 

And as The Moving Stills vocalist and guitarist Tom Mahler tells us on Streets of Your Town, their dedication to getting to their next gig from their Central Coast base knows no bounds - hitting the road through 2023 as part of their Volcano tour as well as promoting their new album coming out in August.

Get the full story, and join The Wandering Journo tribe at substack.soyt.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Performing in Six the Musical’s Australian tour is the culmination of a lifelong journey for Queensland Conservatorium graduate Vidya Makan, and the realisation of a dream that she could be accepted for her true self on stage.

The critically acclaimed Brisbane actor, singer and composer/lyricist has forged her way quickly into the ultra competitive world of musical theatre not only as a performer, but also as a writer, winning awards for two musicals of her own creation now in development, one of which is slated to debut in Sydney’s Hayes Theatre in May next year. She stars as Catherine Parr in Six the Musical, and as she tells us on Streets of Your Town, it’s a show close to her heart.

Get the full story, and join The Wandering Journo tribe at substack.soyt.com

Watch and listen to Vidya Makan's song I Need You To See Me which she mentions in this interview, on Youtube at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99WPIneNxG0

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.