Woodford Folk Festival: A Debrief!

What a week. I don’t believe I’m out of line speaking on behalf of the entire clan when I say that we’re sore, tired, high, low, socialised up, gigged out, rocked in the spaces between and now facing a house that looks like a shaken snow-globe. Such is the roller coaster marathon of wonder that is a season spent at Woodford Folk Festival!

My Top 5 Personal Highlights in No Particular Order:

1. Debuting WONDERLAND!

With the first EVER performance of this new show (yep, the one that’s coming to Adelaide Fringe and Brisbane Comedy Festival shortly!) I was understandably nauseous about this one. BUT…I’ve gotta tell you, the moment the curtains opened, the band kicked in (they ROCKED IT SO BAD I NEARLY SWEATED PRIDE BEADS!), I looked over and saw the Betties being all Betty-ish, I took in the ridiculously awesome set (designed by extraordinardo incarnate Dan Endicott, who took my instructions of “Well, I know it’s crazy but I’d love a giant gum ball machine that actually WORKS!” and turned them into even more amazeballsness than I could have ever hoped for)…I honestly had goosebumps.

It was way too much fun. I’ve got plenty of tweaking (and more writing!) to do between now and it’s resurrection in Adelaide (opening night is Friday February 15th) but I am just so relieved and elated that WE HAVE GOT A SHOW, PEOPLE!

2. Hanging with Betty and the Betties!

Backstage at the Pineapple Lounge on NYE

Hamming it up in the Nightingale Lounge.

3. Having Utterly Fabulous Hair All Week Long!

After 13 years of coming to Woodford (as a performer for nearly half of that), this one marked a turning point in that for the first time ever, I had a wondrous man of Edward Scissorhands-like-hair genius stroking my tender locks each and every morn. Even to be able to type that sentence is a dream come true. Derek from the fabulous Pink Salon (if you’re in Brissie you really MUST check these guys out) was on Betty and Jenny hair patrol and my oh my. I don’t know how I will ever go back.

Derek told me I have a sensitive scalp. I didn’t know what he was talking about til I saw this picture.

That the top of my crown looked so well spruced came in particularly handy during a surprise photo op with Australia’s very own PM. Whoda thunk?

Me and Julia are like, totally BFFs now.

My son took this. We now have what looks like a “JG selfie” as my hubby’s iPhone wallpaper.

PLUS…Derek’s daughter and my own (who became little partners in crime around the festival all week) succumbed to the allure of the Betty hairstyle and by the end of the week, became our very own honorary Betty Juniors!

The Great Debate!

Doing the debate is always one of my favourite gigs of the entire festival, however it is also the one that causes the most turmoil to my digestive tract. Fortunately, being able to meet Rod Quantock (a long-time hero who, it turns out, is not just hilarious but the sweetest man) AND Kate Miller-Heidke (whose Mum I met at a gig last year, after which she came to see “An Unexpected Variety Show” in Melbourne, love her and Kate is as gorgeous in person as she is onstage) within 10 minutes of going onstage to debate my buttocks off, was soothing balm for the affirmative team’s soul.

I should also point out that I have such strong memories of being a punter in the crowd and watching these debates – they were my only “I cannot miss that!” events each year, and thinking how much ridiculous fun it would be to be up there doing it. Dreams can come true. They really can.

Affirmative!

Camping With Friends!

Between the half a gazillion gigs, my favourite thing to do in between was as little as possible back at our campsite. Hanging with friends and family that we otherwise don’t have nearly as much of a chance to catch up with properly throughout everybody’s highly busy years, this was just the bomb. And that almost all our fellow campers had kids as well was organic icing on the gluten-free cake.

Spotted in our camp area. LOVE.

My mate Robyn on reading duty at the campsite.

Ukeing it up back at the campsite.

Over-run with pint-sized Woodfordians at the Duck.

Our view on New Year’s Eve, sitting on the lake ready for the 3 minute silence.

PLUS…Just Soaking Up General Woodfordia Goodness!

The kids’ craft activities always make me feel inspired and insecure at my horrific fine motor skills.

Me and the Cay-man on a “date” to the Mutant Museum.

The ONE act I actually saw from start to finish this festival, Rory McLeod.

 

Last year we got home from Woodford and my littlest was all fired up about doing somersaults. This year? We can hardly pry the ukelele away from him. This morning he woke me up by singing “I love you Mummy, I love Ella, I love Caleb, I love Daddy, I love myself!”

Thank you Woodford. Til next time. xx

Wonderland is Taking on a Life of Its Own!

Did you actually read that?

WE HAVE A BAND FOR WONDERLAND AT WOODFORD FOLK FESTIVAL!

Aaghghghghghghghghghgh!

I cannot believe it is happening – especially in light of the fact that the show itself is indeed about wonderful things happening – but in the past week, I have somehow managed to join forces with a drummer/guitarist, bass guitarist, saxophonist and keyboardist to do some musical comedy numbers AND improvised songs as part of the Wonderland show!

Excuse me while I geek out for a moment.

SQUEEEEEEEE!!!!

That these people are blisteringly talented individuals is a godsend. That they are all hilarious and awesome and nice and bloody great to work with PLUS I get to share the show with them AND Betty and the Betties, some of my favourite ladies on earth, well seriously…whatever happens, for me selfishly, THIS SHOW IS A DREAM COME TRUE.

I’ve honestly always wanted a band to do improv and comedy and jamming stuff with onstage but it seemed so “pie in the sky” ish that I never took it seriously enough to make it happen. But now it’s just fallen into place and I’m completely losing my mind about it with excitement.

After brainstorming last night with a couple of the gang after our Betties rehearsal, I was so inspired I stayed up way into the wee hours and wrote and wrote and wrote. It was honestly like I was possessed by some force telling me to not dare stop in case I woke up in the morning and the well was dry. This has NEVER happened to me before. I lost all track of time. I think it must have been three that I finally caved in and slept. I sure feel it now. BUT…I have a show!

Now to tweak, polish, rehearse AND finish writing that one pesky closing number.

I cannot wait to perform it though, and whenever I’ve felt like that about a new song/bit or whatever, like I am literally ITCHING to get up onstage and share it with the world, it’s been a good thing.

Not many sleeps now!

P.S. We have only 6 days left on our pozible campaign and I have the stomach ulcer to show for it. A few folks have told me they’re a bit confused by what this pozible business actually is! Honestly, the easiest way to wrap your head around it is to go to our page on the site, but the Reader’s Digest version is this:

- it’s not a donation site, you don’t “donate” anything (because we aren’t a charity!), rather it’s about pre-buying goods and services (like tickets to our early 2013 shows both in Brissie and Adelaide, DVDs, merch, etc.) so that we can afford to do the project (which in this case, involves us touring Wonderland to Adelaide Fringe!)

- if you go onto the site, you’ll see the different prices of everything you can get. For instance, pledging $30 will get you a DVD, $50 a DVD plus show ticket, right up to a $2000 business package!

- we don’t get ONE CENT of the money pledged unless our campaign is successful. Your pledge is not processed (i.e. your card isn’t charged) until we are successful, which, touch wood, will be in six days time!) We are currently at $3320 of our $5000 goal. If we don’t make it, we get nothing.

Hope that makes sense!
x

Score Cool Christmas Pressies AND Support Artists!

At last night’s rehearsal, “Bouncy Betty” Kate drew this up with my kids, who were making Christmas drawings while we sang.

How’s that Christmas shopping going?

Yeah. Me too.

I’m pretty excited to tell you that the Betties and I have put our good old noggins together and decided that seeing as our pozible campaign finishes literally DAYS before Christmas, we should put together something a little special for our supporters!

So…once our campaign is successful (we are currently at 53% of our total goal) you will receive a gorgeous Betty-fied Christmas e-card sent straight to your inbox, complete with a  printable voucher (which will look lovely) to gift to your loved one with deets of the reward. Such a cool – and different – idea for a pressie, with the warm fuzzy bonus of knowing you are supporting artists make a dream a reality. Goodies up for grabs include:

- show tickets (for either Adelaide Fringe or Brisbane Comedy Festival in 2013);

- DVDs (of An Unexpected Variety Show and Wonderland);

- a NEWLY ADDED vintage hair-styling session with our resident hair expert, Bombshell Betty (this would be super fun to do with a friend or two for a big night out!);

- and of course, our cupcake serenades and/or a cabaret/comedy lounge room gig;

- and more.

Check it all out!

Lost Kazoos, Too Much Hairspray and Writing New Songs the Night Before a Major Gig.

Rehearsals for the Betties portion of tomorrow’s show are in full SWING! Boom boom ching.

One more sleep! Tickets are selling, rehearsals are all but dunzo, the camera guys are getting the set-up sorted for the DVD filming, plus I have set myself a rather insane task of writing a NEW SONG for “An Unexpected Variety Show” today. Yes, I know. Ridiculous. I am. Absolutely ridiculous. I kinda disgust myself. Ugh. But as some of you know, there is one cover song in the show and I have been meaning for ages to replace it with an original, so of course, it is only once the finish line is in sight that I am prompted to get off my butt and write it. I’m not the only one like this am I? Am I? Hmmm….

We had our last Betties rehearsal last night and by golly gosh, what a bunch of fine ladies I have the privilege of working with. Seriously. Love these girls. I can completely screw up the choreography, lose my kazoo, lose myself in my kazoo choreography and they love me still. And I them.

Bottom line, tomorrow night, whatever happens, it is gonna be so much fun. And we will smell like hairspray for weeks.

BRING IT!

Tomorrow, one night only:
An Unexpected Variety Show supported by Betty and the Betties
Judith Wright Centre as part of Brisbane Cabaret Festival
7.30pm
Some tickets still available here.

The Big Announcement! Or “How to get a cupcake soiree in your kitchen and/or a cabaret/comedy party in your lounge!”

Wonderland featuring Betty and the Betties pozible vid from Jenny Wynter on Vimeo.

This is it! The project I was banging on about yesterday! It’s all about taking my newest show, called ‘Jenny Wynter’s Wonderland! Featuring Betty and the Betties!’ to the Adelaide Fringe in 2013 and it has officially launched today right here!

I won’t harp on about the details here, as if you click over to the page itself, all will be revealed! It tells you what the show is all about (clue: JAWESOMENESS), how you can be involved (including IN THE SHOW ITSELF), ridiculously cool stuff you can get for supporting it and the rest.

Note: if you do want to help in some way, please, pretty please, the HUGEST thing you can do with this is to share this link: www.pozible.com/wonderland with your peeps. The sooner we get this ball rolling, the better. That is gold, I tells ya!

I think it’s worth even just checking out the video (posted above for your convenience: I stayed up insanely late making it, PUHLEASE watch it so my crankiness towards my family is at least justifiable in some context: “but look guys, at least 3 people watched Mummy devolving into a banshee!”) even if you can’t be bothered reading on.

I will say that jumping onboard this project as a supporter may be of interest if:

- you have ever commented that you’d love to see me perform if I ever come to your town/country/loungeroom. There are DVDs to be had – and yes, we can ship em internationally! I’ll even seal each package with a kiss if you so desire.

- you have ever harboured a desire to host a musical cupcake soiree in your kitchen;

- you would like to see me looking STONED. Not that I was, only that as I said, I began shooting this video (BEGAN!) at 1.30 in the morning – the only way I seem to be getting work done these days – and well, you can see it in my eyes. These are not the eyes of a well-rested lady. On the bright side, the house is uncharacteristically quiet on-screen.

I also want to tell you guys that this campaign to get the new show up and running has been planned for a LONG TIME. As in, long before the charity fundraiser fell into my lap. And as such, I felt so terribly awkward with the timing of that, knowing that this meant months in a row of putting stuff out there of the “support me! support me!” variety.

So, my choice was whether or not to just turn down the charity fundraiser idea – and indeed, that was my kneejerk reaction. It seemed like just bad timing, what with so much other stuff coming up (like this very project about which I speak now!) but…it really was such an incredible once-in-a-lifetime thing to be a part of, I just couldn’t say no.

And I’m glad I didn’t. Despite it being a damn hard slog to raise that $10k (and continuing to be!), I know that if I died tomorrow, I’d be really proud that I sucked up my doubts and worries and just went for it anyway.

Point is, I was worried it would be too much, to do a massive fundraising campaign for charity, followed almost immediately by a campaign for the new show.

But, as somebody very wise pointed out to me, this (i.e. the show campaign) is a totally different project and the people who support it may be totally different from those (no doubt with some overlap) who got on board the charity fundraiser. Namely cos they are two separate motivations for supporting. One is about donating to a charitable cause, the other is about jumping onboard a creative mission and getting cool stuff for your cash: be they show tickets, DVDs, cupcake serenades, or cabaret/comedy parties in your loungeroom.

Again, I want to stress that:

a) I still love ya cottonsocks whether you support or not; and

b) I will do my best not to annoy the living daylights out of you by pushing it on you over and over. I really appreciate the love and support I’ve gotten this far on the journey and I want to respect that without banging you over the head, but of course will be sharing my excitement and updates as we go. Please bear with me!

I still have doubts. I still have worries. But trumping all that is THE EPIC EXCITEMENT ABOUT THIS NEW SHOW. The kind of excitement that again, makes me know that if I died tomorrow, I’d be really proud that I sucked up my doubts and worries and just went for it anyway.

Let’s bring on The Wonderland!

xxx

Again, this is the link to share: www.pozible.com/wonderland

Thank you!

Launching tomorrow: what will it be?!

This pic of my boy makes me smile every time I see it.

So….not to go all soapie cliffhanger on you, but I have to let you know: I have an incredibly exciting launch coming tomorrow.

Particularly if you have any interest in any of the following:

- “An Unexpected Variety Show”;
- cupcakes;
- Adelaide Fringe;
- DVDs;
- the new show I’m working on at the moment;
- Betty and the Betties;
- parties; and/or
- lipstick.

…if you’re into ALL of the above?

You’re about to hit the jackpot baby.

Tomorrow!

Announcing: Woodford Folk Festival!

Last Woodford, fellow comedian Liz Skitch challenged me to a Woodford day in a mumu. I think I may just do it again!

Woodford is coming up faster than my anxiety at getting through the next few months/my life.

But seriously, SOOOOOO thrilled to announce that not only am I coming back to perform all over every corner of this year’s Woodford Folk Festival – truly, it’s a highlight of my year, both in terms of doing gigs and the family being able to come along for the ride (they LURRRRRRVE it!) but…I’m coming with Betty and the Betties! Wooohooooooooo!

This will also mark the debut of my new show, “Jenny Wynter’s Wonderland! Featuring Betty and the Betties.” (Friday 28th Dec, 10.20pm at The Parlour.)

Stoked. Stoked. Stoked.

Now I just have to finish writing it! Up, up and away!

Betty and the Betties: Our Very First Video!

I love these goils! I hope you do too. There’s even a bleeping blooper for ya. xxxx

Betty and the Betties: a Photo Gallery

We had our very first gig on the weekend and oh my word. So. Much. Fun.

We sang, we strutted, we posed for umpteen photos, jumped in army jeeps where we burst into even more song, we toasted ourselves with a celebratory cheap red wine in plastic glasses backstage afterwards…short of having garters hurled at our faces from the audience, it was pretty damn epic.

On a selfish note, I LOVED actually having some wondrous girlies to share the oohing and the aahing of post-gig excitement with. I totally get what the Spice Girls were on about.

Girl Power!

Betty and the Betties at Teneriffe Festival Tomorrow!

Saving the world, one Song at a time!

So do you remember a little while ago I introduced an all-new exciting project called Betty and the Betties? (Because that’s exactly what I’m needing, more commitments in this lifetime. I simply cannot help myself, when I get inspired by something new and shiny I am as helpless as a One Direction fan in the arms of a…member of One Direction. Note to self: research those kids’ names so you can write better OD jokes.)

Anyhoo, two exciting announcements:

1) We’ve got a Facebook page! Granted this is perhaps not THAT exciting, given the zillion or so pages already up on that dear little website, however seeing as we are technically from the 1940′s this really is like a world freaking first. Anyhoo, please like us if you think this is something that would be your cup of Lady Grey.

2) We’ve managed to cram like crazy for the exam that is our very first gig this weekend and I am pretty damn happy with how it’s looking. Most importantly, we are having SO MUCH FUN in rehearsals, last night I ate a bit of a choc chip cookie, drank way too much Diet Coke and laughed til I had wet bits rolling down my cheeks. I know, magic, yes?!

We’re on the main stage at the Teneriffe Festival, tomorrow (Saturday) at 10.30am so come on down!

Mwoia!

xxx