Coffee Day 18th June 2012

This had to be one of the best Coffee Days ever even if the weather was the worst ever outside! 26 members made the trek to Algies Bay near Warkworth to be entertained most royally by our hosts Jan and Kevin Johnston at their lovely holiday home. There were lots of instruments to play and some wonderful, convivial discourse. The  luncheon was absolutely scrumptious and Kevin had been out fishing the day before to catch fresh snapper for us to enjoy both crumbed and smoked (Kevin has his own smoker!). It was great to have Gavin and Phyllis Prentice (Break Thru) join us for the day and adding a touch of pizzazz to the proceedings. We were able to plug our instruments into their terrific PA/mixer setup.

Once again, a big thank you to Kevin and Jan Johnston for making us all so welcome at their lovely seaside home.

 

      

  

 

   

 

 

A Sunday Afternoon Musical Spectacular at The PumpHouse Theatre 17th June 2012

What a great Concert! The North Shore Organ and Keyboard Club were proud to promote a concert at The PumpHouse Theatre, Takapuna, on a lovely crisp winter's Sunday afternoon. The first half of the Programme had our Club members entertaining the good-sized audience with a mixture of solo performances and full band. A lot of effort had gone into the Concert with the members donating their time freely and involving at least four practise sessions to aim for a thoroughly professional performance. Judging from the audience applause they achieved their mission!

In the second half of the Programme, our star guest artists from the South Island, Break Thru, entertained us with their superb and highly polished performance that got the feet tapping and hands clapping in the audience. They play a range of genres but with the main focus on Country Rock. Our member, Brian Gunson, was invited to play with the band with his  superb and brand new G & L electric guitar. A great performance - thanks Phyllis & Gavin Prentice (Break Thru) and Brian Gunson in support.

We hope to promote more concerts at The PumpHouse Theatre and in fact the next one is already scheduled for Sunday, 18th November 2012 when we are thrilled to present the Internationally acclaimed fiddle player from NZ, Marion Burns. Keep an eye on the PumpHouse web site (

http://www.pumphouse.co.nz/ ) to secure your booking nice and early as this is expected to be a sell-out concert! We will keep you informed on our web site also: http://nsaokc.blogspot.com/ .

A big thank you to our playing members and to the Committee members working in support in the foyer. A special thanks goes to Len Hancy for acting as our MC and Producer of the Concert – always a difficult task requiring meticulous planning and execution for the show to go off without (too many!) a hitch. Also, The PumpHouse Theatre staff did a great job as well assisting with the promotion and sound/lighting/video production.

And now for some of the photos from the Concert:

     

               

 

  

   

Club Night 5th June 2012

A great evening of music with lots of variety. Over 50 members and visitors packed our Club Rooms on this cold, wet and wild winters evening - we were cosy warm indoors of course! John Beales started the evening off with some slick arrival music on his Korg Pa500. John was followed by Colin Crann who played the Club's Clavinova to great effect. Next up, Ann Izzillo (a past President of the Club) came all the way from Rotorua to play for us on her superb Technics KN7000 keyboard. Then, Barbara McNab played the Clavinova for us and to finish the first half, Jan and Kevin Johnston played for us. Jan played some solos on her Korg Pa1X keyboard and then was joined by Kevin on his acoustic guitar. Great variety, great music 'guys'.
For the second-half of the evening, we were thrilled to present 'Break Thru', a South Island band who play C &W; Light Rock; and, Easy Listening music. Gavin and Phyllis Prentice (the Band), soon had us tapping our feet and clapping our hands to their great music - Gavin on acoustic guitar and Phyllis on keyboard. Their close vocal harmonies were a delight to the ear as well. All in all, another great evening and definitely worth the trek to the Club on this wild evening.