Jazz

Bring your friends and celebrate another year with Rebecca Barnard & Billy Miller for a Special Christmas Singalong! Sing some Christmas carols as well as all the old favourites. May even be a special guest or two!
Rebecca and Billy are regulars and have been a staple at MEMO for years. Grab a drink, sit down and sing your heart out along to Rebecca & Billy’s stunning vocals and accompaniment. Always open to requests as long as they know the tune, Rebecca & Billy make for a lovely warm & welcoming afternoon. Don’t worry if you dont know the lyrics, they’ll be on the big screen so you don’t miss a beat! Definitely not a show to be missed this holiday season!

More about Rebecca & Billy’s Singalong
A decade ago, Rebecca Barnard created the Caravan Sing-a-long Society. A handful of warblers turned into a throng, when Billy Miller joined in, adding his ‘human jukebox’ talents to Rebecca’s warmth, that handful of warblers turned into a throng.

With spontaneity the key ingredient, Rebecca and Billy used their legendary singing and performing ability to create a monthly singalong night that has been sold out for several years.

The Caravan Choir (with Rebecca and Billy out the front) has been a regular highlight at the Sacred Heart of St Kilda Concert for many years, performing with household names like Colleen Hewitt, Tim Rogers and Red Symons, to name but a few.

Multi award winner Patou swings with kings and untouchables alike.

With a career that spans over four decades and right across the globe, Pat Powell (Patou) is one of Australia’s most accomplished vocal talents. He is the artist that everyone wants to work with.

Having shared a stage with a number of musical giants over the past four decades, Patou has had time to hone the art for commanding attention. His genius as a vocalist is a unique combination of soulful understatement and compelling passion. In charismatic exchanges with his audience he appeals to young and old with his message of joy and social justice.

The empowering lyrics that fuel Patou’s songs were seeded in him as a young Jamaican man making his way in a troubled 1960s-70s Bristol. Persecuted by the cops on the streets throughout his teens, Patou would find solace in the Jamaican dance tunes played by his folks, and in the RnB clubs that he snuck out of home to DJ in.

From ska to blues. Hip-hop to soul. RnB to reggae. The extraordinary depth of Patou’s musical versatility was crafted over years of touring Europe with a variety of acts during the 70’s. His talent descended on Sydney with great force in the 80s, filling bars and clubs across Australia with his pioneering acts including Caribbe and Club Ska. Always staying true to his Caribbean roots but moving with the new wave of hip hop and electronica, Sydney - and indeed Australia’s touring circuit - didn’t know what had hit it.

By the time the 90’s rolled in, Patou was one of Australia’s most demanded studio artists, recording with the likes of James Freud, Jenny Morris, Lisa Maxwell, Max Q and Margaret Ulrich, to name a few. He continued to record and perform with his own groups Lovetown, Ten Wedge and Neptune St, laying down several singles and continuing to fill music venues across the country.

Before long, Patou was being picked up to support acts in the league of James Brown, Queen, Eurhythmics, Double O & Velour, Adeva, Sydney Youngblood, Redhead Kingpin, The Beloved, Beats International, Boy George, Crowded House, Horace Andy and Luciano, Tina Arena and George Benson. It was at this time that he joined the touring party of one of Australia’s most successful exports, Kylie Minogue. Pat toured extensively throughout Australia, Asia & Europe as Kylie Minogue’s backing vocalist, including feature solos and acapella duets.

In his own right Patou has recorded over 20 singles, one album and recorded vocals for more than 14 artists. He has been seen performing in a myriad of films from Mad Max 3 to Whipping Boy and stage productions such as Dealers Choice at the Adelaide Festival Arts Centre. He also continues his commercial voice-over recording work and mentors a vast diversity of artists at various stages in their careers, from high school students to accomplished artists.

Finally it's here, his debut album "About Time" released in June of 2018.

Patou says “It feels like everything I’ve ever performed, everyone I’ve ever worked with, mentored, looked up to, challenged and been blown away by has played a part… It’s all important. It all feeds in. It’s all culminated to this time and presentation, I’m ready to give all of it........in the studio, on stage and with a bit of luck on air.”

"Dark, sensual, sonic theatre...compelling stuff."- Rolling Stone Australia
"Blessed by a voice that purrs and soars" -The Age Good Weekend, Melbourne
“If twilight has a voice, that voice is Wendy Rule”New Witch Magazine, USA
“Ever the high priestess, Rule plays a role she is both beloved in, and born into.” The Music, Australia.

Persephone, the new double- album from Australian visionary songstress Wendy Rule is the culmination of over twelve years work, and although drawing on Wendy’s musical journey over the past 2 decades, is unlike anything that she has done before. This beautifully evocative retelling of the Ancient Greek myth of the Goddess Persephone’s descent into the Underworld is almost like an opera, designed to guide the listener through this ancient tale of the cycles of Nature. With subtle textures that reference her early life as a jazz singer in her home town of Melbourne, and the trademark dark, gothic soundscapes and souring vocals of her previous 7 major albums, Persephone is an ambitious and unique 24 track journey through the realms of Life, Death, and human emotion.

But then again, Wendy has always carved a unique and individual path. Since the release of her first album Zero in 1996, she has defied categorisation, always walking to the beat of her own drum. Combining elements of gothic, folk, world, ambient and cabaret music, and crossing over into Pagan and New Age catagories with her many mythological, esoteric, and ritual references, Wendy is as individual as she is prolific.

A dedicated live performer, Wendy has toured extensively since her first album’s release - starting in Australia, then branching out with her first international tour in 2001. Renowned for her extraordinary voice and live shows that blur the line between music, ritual and theatre, Wendy has gained a loyal following in Australia, the USA, Europe and the UK. From the most intimate solo house concerts, to festival gigs with her band (featuring long term musical collaborator Rachel Samuel on cello), Wendy takes her audience on an otherworldly journey of depth and passion.

With the help of her loyal fanbase Wendy continues to maintain her musical independence, unbound by the confines of the mainstream. Two hugely successful crowdfunding campaigns have helped bring both Persephone, and her previous album Black Snake(2014) to life. In the past few years she has continued to grow her audience, not only with her dedicated touring schedule, but also with her performance as ‘La Llorano’ in the 2016 feature film Boys in the Trees by director Nicholas Verso (now screening on Netflix), and with her popular monthly Full Moon Magic Iive-streamed concerts.

In 2014 Wendy relocated from Australia to the USA, and is now living in the beautiful High Desert city of Santa Fe, New Mexico - allowing her an even stronger connection to her ever growing US fanbase, and providing daily access to the wild Nature that inspires her unique and transformational work.

Double J (formerly Dig Music) is an Australian digital radio station owned by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. It is positioned as a spin-off of the youth-oriented Triple J catered towards an older adult audience, emphasizing genres such as pop, rock, blues, country, soul, jazz and world music, as well as archive content from Triple J's library. Currently it is mostly automated, but has a few regular live programs.

It is available terrestrially via DAB+, as well as other online and digital television platforms.