The Mullum(bimby) Music Festival 2014 (Part 1)

Come along on a Mystery Tour of Mullumbimby with me

The Mullumbimby Bowlo, one of the
 music venues for the festival

I headed down to my first ever Mullum Music Festival on Sunday the 23rd of November, 2014, mainly to see one of my favorite bands 'The Church' play Iggy Azalea's old high school hall that night, but what a day it turned out to be.

The Church @The Mullumbimby

Music Festival 2014

It was a bit like going back to the future in many ways. 
Fancy Iggy Azalea Being From Mullumbimby

1955?!
Great Scott!

The high school hall that 'The Church'
played in Sunday night

This is the street Iggy grew up on
and took as part of her stage name

I loved it and I'll be down there again next year if I can make it.

Map of the venues in Mullum.
Click on map to make bigger

I loved the two old double-decker buses that ran continuously all day for free if you were a paying festival ticket holder.
I had never been on a double-decker bus before in my life.

Sunday started off with a street parade through the streets of Mullumbimby.

There were some interesting side streets
I saw following the parade along.

That CD rack above is where I found one copy left of Iggy Azalea's latest CD.

I'm not into Iggy's kind of music, but I thought it would make a good souvenir of my visit and a good prop to use when I took a picture of the street sign of the street Iggy grew up on, and where she gets one half of her stage name.
The other half of her name comes from her dog's name (Iggy) that she had as a pet growing up on Azalea Street, so I was informed by the people who sold me the CD.

The photo of an old graffiti-ed shed across the road from the Azalea Street sign was the closest thing I could find in the town that reminded me of Hip-Hop culture:-)

And a caged coke machine right next to the shed gave the feel of the rougher side of town, but Mullumbimby is more like a Hippie town than a Hip-Hop town, I felt, when I spent the day there.

I guess a water machine is better for you than a Coke machine.

In a rather strange moment when I was walking to the Courthouse Hotel to see my first act of the day, I saw this pregnant lady pictured above standing outside a drum shop, and as I walked past I saw a wall full of ukeleles, so I decided to take a picture for my blogging buddy King Uke.

And what should I see?
A painting of a pregnant lady hanging above the ukes. :-)

I found a few neat art shops along the way, as well.

Here's one for the zebra loving
Sync-heads that read this blog;-)

Not to mention artworks in many of the music venues for the day.

And here's one for you owl freaks
 out there reading along, too;-)

Banjo in the Mullumbimby School hall by day

Banjo in the Mullumbimby School hall by night

The street parade ended just outside the Mullumbimby RSL and the Civic Hall.

The Mullumbimby RSL.
One of the music venues on the day

The Civic Hall.
One of the music venues on the day

I knew it was going to be a transformative day for me when this butterfly (first one I had seen in ages) wouldn't leave me alone when I was trying to snap pictures of the street parade.

I've ringed the butterfly in a red ring,
so you can see it better.

After the parade I was off to see the first act that I felt I should see,
'Declan Kelly & The Rising Sun'.

Declan Kelly & The Rising Sun at
the 2014 Mullum Music Festival.

'Declan Kelly & The Rising Sun' at
  The Courthouse Hotel 23rd, Nov 2014

There were eight other musical shows I could have seen at the time, and no offense to those other acts, but I felt I picked a winner by going to this one.
Great band.
Declan also said he was involved in a project called "Diesel & Dub", which was putting Midnight Oil's covers into Reggae form with various other artists.

St. Martin's Hall, Mullumbimby.

St. Martin's Hall is on the left side of the church.

Check out the number of the church's house
you Sync-heads. 42!?

After seeing Declan Kelly & the Rising Sun, I was going to see Suzannah Espie play in St. Martin's Hall, but after spending an hour in an air-conditioned pub sipping on beer, the memory of walking past that hot looking hall made me decide to hop on the bus and head down the other end of town to the high school to see what kind of venue 'The Church' would be playing in that night.

Looking across to the Courthouse Hotel
from the top deck of the bus

The Mullumbimby Post Office

On the road to Mullumbimby High.
 Can I get any higher, legally, that is?-)

Mullumbimby High

Inside the hall 'The Church' 
will play in that night

Bustamento on stage ... I think.

Enchantment Under the Sea Dance?

Artwork in the Mullumbimby High School
grounds (just for the day)

That piece of work above looked very familiar to me for some reason.
Artworks at the 2014 Byron Bay Writers Festival 
But there were some spooky pieces in the school grounds, as well.

I bought a drink and sat down in some much-needed shade next to a lady who had driven up the night before from Coff's Harbour (and I thought my drive down from Brisbane was long) and we had a long conversation about different bands and acts playing at the festival.
Then I decided to take a quick look at the rest of the artwork around the school and then catch the bus back to the other side of town and see 'The Bashevis Singers' at the RSL club.
Not that I understand too much Yiddish, even though I am of part Jewish descent.

The Cosmic Egg?

Mental piece of art I think;-)

Oh yeah, baby!
The Red Disco Bus. 
All righty then, off we go.

I think I like The Magic Bus better,
but it's still a fun ride.

By the time I mucked about I only made it for the last song of 'The Bashevis Singers' little bash at the RSL.
Oh well, maybe I'll catch their act next year?

Would you pay $10 for three"Tacos"
a little bigger than the head of a fork?

I thought I would catch some of the 'Sister Mary Duets' back at the Courthouse Hotel, grab a beer and some lunch.
And what a disappointment the lunch was.
The main food area of the pub was closed for the day, but they had caterers in the courtyard selling "Tacos" - three for ten bucks.

But while I was crying over my miserable lunch, I got to catch the singers in the clip above (Marlon Williams and Clelia Adams) singing "Crying", which soon stopped me crying over being ripped off by the courtyard crooks ... I mean cooks:-)

Well, this post is getting too long, so it's time to change buses, maybe have a quick break, or even get off the bus if you don't like where we are heading:-(

But if you want to read more, then you will have to catch the # 2 bus which takes us to the next post, which follows this one.

CONTINUED IN  
The Mullum(bimby) Music Festival
2014 (Part 2)