Saying hello to everyone from sunny Tamar Valley. It's been a beautiful start to the year. Tasmania is a very special place, is it not? 

Today will see us take the festival choir for a rehearsal (just an excuse to have a sing together really) and then some relaxing time spent watching beautiful friends like Fred Smith and Lucie Thorne make music tonight. How spoilt are we? 

Penny & Carl have resolved to put "Penny & Carl" much higher up the priority list this year. We had a funny old year mostly driven by "money stress created fear" (you know the one?) and realised that happiness is worth a whole lot more.  So Carl has begun work on a solo recording and Penny is starting up some class-work in drama and voice and aside from that we will be letting musical possibilities lead us where it feels right to go. 

Penny will be at Newstead Live! in a couple of weeks with Salvation Jane (Reunited)! How crazy is that? We're cobbling together some old and new recording so check out www.salvationjanereunited.com to have a listen to the sounds we've been making. 

Here's to NEW! 

Spring is in the air!!

Well...2011, I gotta say, you arrived with a barrage of storms and upheaval. We suffered losses and worked out how to "make do" with changing lots landing our laps. With 2 months of this tumultuous year left to go, we seem to be looking up and out for the first time. :) 

Hooray for that! 

So we look to plans for Festivals in Tasmania over lovely January and a return to our favourite home base Newstead Live! This time though, Penny appears with the reunited form of the yummy group, Salvation Jane who have recording plans afoot... 

Carl and Penny plan to make 2012 the most creative year yet, looking at further European travels over July/September and a possible white christmas tour in the US leading into 2013. 

Carl has plans to record his first solo work since 'Hayfever' and Penny  is wanting to stretch her writing limbs. With a new house and new hopes in our sights, we'd love to see you sometime along the journey. 

 

TRAVELS

Yup we're hittin' the air, taking in the UK, and smatterings of Europe. July will see us at the City of London festival as well a handful of lovely gigs and house concerts, meanwhile Europe hosts us as concert makers and workshop facilitators in Vienna,  both for singing and theatre making. Here are the details:

LONDON:

City of London Festival, 3 FREE Event appearances
http://www.colf.org//events/Jazz-World-Music/1191-Pacific-Sounds--Carl-Pannuzzo--Penny-Larkins.cfm:
July 15 @ 17:30 Commuter Music: Liverpool Street Station, West Exit EC2  

July 16 @ 14:45 Pacific Sounds: Canada Square Park, Canary Wharf, London E14

July 20 @ 12.30 Devonshire Square (nearest tube Liverpool St)

PLUS:
July 19 @ The Halfmoon Inn, Putney (with Rebecca Moore and Totally Gourdgeous)
http://www.ticketweb.co.uk/user/?region=gb_london&query=detail&event=454996&interface=halfmoon

---

VIENNA, AUSTRIA:

WORKSHOPS:

As part of Jugendinwien, Penny and I will be doing some exciting work with music and theater:

Singing (Carl): July 25 to 27, 2011
9:00 to 12:00  (age 13 to 18)
16:00 to 19:00 (age 19 to 25)

Theatre Penny): July 25 to 29, 2011
12:30 to 15:30 (age 13 to 25)

Both FREE! Info: www.jugendinwien.at

CONCERTS:

July 29th: at Cafe Korb, Art Lounge (www.cafekorb.at)
1010 Wien, Brandstätte 9
T: + 43 -1-5337215

July 30: Heuriger am Sandhofer, Purbach am Neusiedler See  - Kellergasse / Kellerplatz
www.sandhofer.net  (best wine and food in Burgenland!)
bookings: Hubert or Birgit: heuriger@sandhofer.net

 

Meanwhile, let your friends know, wherever they may be. You see we're realising the ILLUSION is that we are often easiest and most beneficially experienced than simply talked about. Feels a little like a special thing for those to whom we are held close and special in the way our music can seem to touch personally. But therefore could we be like a secret that's a bit daggy and embarrassing to share? As in the case that someone may never know that your favourite thing to do is snug up on a couch in your tracky dacks with a book, when all that the rest of the world sees is the efficient business woman in a suit??

Pehaps consider the many daggy fashions that have gone before or even returned and realise that we my be a kink in the hair-do, but it's the feeling the flick gives that makes the difference :)

So tell your friends to get comfy with us

Your tracky dacks!

 

More soon and seriously...

 

Penny Larkins and Carl Pannuzzo did call themselves PotnKettle for a little while... Lots of people told them to stop so they did BUT they still liked the concept of Potnkettle for their little grab bag of things that they do.

So..it's simple. The names are the band. The 'umbrella' title of Potnkettle encompasses workshops, individual teaching, choir faciliation...all the other bits. One day we'll even get to the stage that we structure our web-site that way, just you wait.

We've got big things happening. Quiet Places (intimate concerts held every month @Theatre Royal, Castlemaine) are going crrrazzyy.. June 9th: Kavisha + Allana & Alicia Egan; August 18th: Fred Smith & Liz Frencham...the next you'll have to just get excited about. WE know who they are and it's exciting we promise.

We're also going overseas to promote beautiful new album 'the cradle'. As we are a reliant on people power type of affair if you do particularly love it, it would be great to get some words. If you don't know of it yet, let us know! We'll send you a copy! Or you can buy it from Burke's Music Store, Trad & Now, CD Baby or iTunes... no excuses... We'll be in London around July 13th, Vienna around July 25th. Other places are still slotting in. It's a short trip but hopefully an experienced filled one.

There are other lovely and smaller bits...house concert in Barker's Creek June 11th, Denmark Festival of Voice (that's not small, just a long way away...), Western Australia June 3-5.

Recommend us to friends, get them to sign up via email... 'LIKE' us on facebook.

 

 

Keep in touch :)

Penny & Carl

 

We are very very VERY proud to announce that the new cd is ready with a capital 'R'. Launched on Sunday at the beautiful Burke & Wills Winery, we are currently selling it through us (us@potnkettle.com.au) or Burke's Music in Castlemaine or it will be available digitally very soon but you know that's not as nice as a real true lovely CD quality copy.... :) CDbaby will also be stocking it soon. 

 

"The Cradle" is the result of much negotiation and compromise, of musical offering and collaboration and we feature two very special guests in 'Mal Webb' and 'Pete Fidler'. If we haven't already we'll pop a track up here soon for you to sample... :) 

It's been an amazingly challenging time for a lot of people in the world. Music sometimes feels like such a piddling offer to make in times of severe hardship but then... sometimes it can enable some pretty miraculous processes to result... 

love and hope and thoughts,

Penny & Carl

Carl and Penny have had a rollercoaster of a start to 2011. 2011 is going to be a mighty one. Lots of airing, challenging change on the wind. 

Already so far, Woodford Folk Festival, Newstead Live and 2 different lots of recording. This Friday we play in Maryborough then get to work on really planning the year. Both of us have day jobs too! :) Just a couple of days and just to make it possible to tell more stories really whether by inspiration or renumeration.

Coming UP, our new CD, an appearance at Braidwood Folk Club, Candelo Village Festival, National Folk Festival and Denmark Festival of Voice just to name the signposts! 

This year also a new series of Quiet Places at the Theatre Royal featuring (only so far) Michael Kennedy, the Blue House Kev Show, Helen Begley, Lucie Thorne, Tristram Larkins and more.... 

The time of year for gatherings and remembrances. Here's hoping yours are all peaceful if not joyous. We have the lucky and wonderful opportunity to spend Dec 26th - Jan 1st working for Woodford Folk Festival. It's the 25th Anniversary and for us special for lots of reasons. Our main project and challenge is to have folks be familiar with a piece of music by the time the Fire Event comes around we can all sing a song together as part of the ceremony. Phew! :) Every morning in the Children's Festival we will be taking a choir rehearsal for a special kid's song to feature in the Fire Event also. Totally Gourdgeous are also back AND Andrew Pattison and the Troubadour tent will be there for one special concert on Boxing Day that we will perform in. The Joni Mitchell Tribute Album has a concert on Tuesday night also. And THAT'S only what we're doing... SO much going on and the weather is forecast to be pretty mild so are you coming??! 

Keep yourselves safe everybody! :) 

Penny 

And Penny has been in lots of those...After a 3 week trip around the USA, mostly via the Amtrak system, spending a lot of time listening to her own thoughts she is pretty excited to be finally joining Carl again this Thursday night for Quiet Place.  This month we feature Alanna & Alicia Egan and the soul-filled Geoffrey Williams. Come in at 7 for dinner. 8pm the music starts... :) 

See you there and more updates soon..... 

Just for a few days.  We are a featured guest at Nanga (www.nangamusic.org.au) and then have a lovely house concert on Tuesday evening.  

It's been a funny busy time.  Working with the lovely Jamie Dawson and his crew up at Carriageworks for the Sydney Children's Festival and then arriving home to the sad news of the accidental death of a very old and dear friend of Carl's. 

Spring now is showing it's pretty face and I guess that gives us a very present way of realising that cycles will be what they will be. 

Speaking of pretty faces, GORGEOUS VOICES is just a quick day event this year so if you owe yourself a treat in the singing department come on up and share your voice with other like minds. http://www.gorgeousvoices.org.au/index.html 

Then I'm off on an adventure but Carl will be at Kangaroo Valley with Totally Gourdgeous and then he will be at Wangaratta festival of Jazz and Blues with the Zoe Frater Quintet. 

Mullumbimby Music Festival happens November 26-28th and we are pretty excited about being part of that! :) www.mullummusicfestival.com

Well, jeepers.  What a busy year it has been. The Boite Millenium Chorus and School's Chorus were quite enormous experiences.  It can be quite disconcerting to have the same songs in your head for 9 months. :) What an honour, though, so thank you to the team at the Boite and all those wonderful voices that let themselves be facilitated by the slightly eccentric and passionate team of Penny & Carl. 

I (Penny) having had a very 'good choir girl' musical education and Carl has been life-changing with his allowance to trust the music.  Our approach felt a bit shaky for some I'm sure but hopefully most will have taken a new sense of their individual musical journey with them. 

NOW we are hard at work with the Sydney Children's Festival 'family' choir. :) Such a nice framework and place for discovery.  Jamie Dawson and his team at Carriageworks are just a splendiferous bunch of tight-rope walkers... And we love that they go without a net! :) 

As to gigs...City Library this Thursday, Spenserslive on Sunday night and Builders Arms on Oct 3rd! Hooray! 

Jeepers... what a couple of months. So much and the 9 minutes I have now to be writing this may not see much mentioned but let's see...

 

Quiet Place  this Thursday July 29th; featuring Sally Dastey and Al MacInnes meals from 7, music from 8 pm.

Melbourne Millenium Chorus (August 7, 8 www.boite.com.au)

Boite School's Chorus

Andrew Pattison's Troubadour Weekend at Campaspe Downs 20-22 August www.wineandmusic.net

Quiet Place # 5 with Helen Begley & Tristram Larkins August 26th

Acoustica City Library Concert Series Sept 16th 6pm

Spenser's Live support for Black Heart September 19th

Hola a todos!

Yes, rehearsals have started for the Melbourne Millennium Chorus and soon for the Boite Schools Chorus too! Penny and Carl have been madly arranging and arranging their madness to create a beautiful program of songs that will feature the 350 piece choir and some brilliant special guests. More details as the concerts draw closer. For anyone curious or yet wanting to be involved, go directly to www.boite.com.au or call them on (03)9417 3550

In other news, we have uploaded a new song, 'Everything of mine is just a little bit broken!' (which appears 2nd in the music page playlist - and comes complete with lyrics and a story behind it.) It's debut performance at the recent National Folk Festival in Canberra was given the best icing treatment by guest trumpeter Vincent Bradley, who really illustrated the piece in a most surprising and hysterical way. It's in sketch form here but we hope you like it :)

We are also steadily gearing up to a wonderful series of song-building workshops for adults, kids and people with special needs for the City of Casey's Winter Arts Festival 'Casey Sings'. (And with this in mind, we thought it sweet to keep the Starfish song up first). But if you want a little look into what that's about, visit: http://www.casey.vic.gov.au ..and have a look around! It's about one of the best fun things to do. Late last year a program at the Victorian Arts Centre saw our 'Build-a-song' workshop glean a couple of veritable HITS from the kids involved there. (Indeed IF you or your children were there, drop us a line, we'd love to get you a copy of the song/s!)

Meantime, we look forward to seeing you soon. Our next bit of fun will be on Sunday evening June 6 in Newstead, Central Victoria as guest facilitators at the wonderful Vocal Nosh, devised by the brilliant Fay White to bring any and all keen singers together for a joyous and accessible big group sing (and some warming of the winters with a host of hearty soups!) You will eat more than the paltry price of attendance's worth. So come sing up a storm with us...

Gracias,

Penny and Carl

Ah...autumn... it's a lovely season, isn't it?  It's more about a feeling of tending to loose endings as starting new things but as such...

Carl and I are going to re-label ourselves as simply that; OURSELVES.  PotnKettle will remain our over-arching name and the thing we use as workshop facilitators but from now on we have decided to call ourselves Penny Larkins & Carl Pannuzzo.  Ingenius isn't it?? 

Anyway, we have had some mighty big fun recently but also had a bit of healing going on and there's nothing like a teeny weeny life scare to get you re-invigorated about priorities.  

This year is all about facilitating others' discovery of their own music for us.  We are sharing the direction of the Melbourne Millenium Chorus and working with Sydney Children's Festival again.  All this plus the goal of us each releasing a solo cd by the end of the year... :) 

Check in soon for more news! :) 

Penny & Carl xx

 

The Theatre Royal (Castlemaine) 

 

Have you got one of these where you live?? :) It's an old Music Hall stage.  Lola Montez performed on it in Gold Rush days.  You get the picture.  

 

So it already is what it is but David & Sarah in their 5 years of ownership (built on the initial very brave re-construction of Donna & John) now provide to the town of Castlemaine but still from a heritage viewpoint is absolutely priceless.

We have a venue where as a local artist you might go to David and suggest a gig, he says sure, let's give it a go... 

OR (in my other life) I might go to visit with a whole year 12 theatre studies class and David treats us so professionally.  We now get to put on a show there! :) 

Please visit www.theatreroyal.info and answer the call.  You can even do it from interstate and overseas and speak of my intense requirement to get people listening. 

I understand natural disaster and poverty and sadness on that scale and we really in this lovely (yes, drought-stricken) community are lucky to be able to count community as an asset.  BUT the Theatre Royal is a hub to us and a hub that all owners have kept in heritage style.  For the class, for the culture, for the training, for the caring, for the allowance, for the compensation.... we NEED the Theatre Royal.  xx

Thank you to all the beautiful audiences and artists that shared our lovely times in Daylesford, Tamworth and Newstead this month gone. Too many great experiences and people enjoyed to mention, save the blessing, Yiihaa and presence of these three very different adventures, each inclusive of as rare adventures as having the opportunity to sew up a mass vocal gathering, sing backup harmonies in Japanese and discover great singing storytellers in a local community atmosphere where people are the force, but a gentle one. Perhaps Penny will detail to her liking in the next installment. Til then, keep an eye on our calender for a great next month of events...

Lots folks, let's tell you LOTS of exciting stuff coming up for us in the new year, from local dreamings to interstate shenanigans - that's right, SHENANIGANS!!

Have a look at our updated calender of events for some special stuff coming near you.

New adventures include the Tamworth Festival (yiiihah!) and the beautiful Nannup Festival in WA.

Very soon is the great Boite Singer's Festival in Daylesford coming up Jan 7-10, where both of us will be teaching our respective specialties in all things vocal as well as performing at the Friday night showcase concert.

It will be great to be doing the Newstead Festival again toward the end of Jan. We've enjoyed doing local Central Victorian events, often full of heart and soul. We recently started what will be a beautiful series of bi-monthly concerts at the great Theatre Royal in Castlemaine, transforming its majesty into an intimate space that was christened by the glorious Michael Kennedy, harmony trio The Lloyd Weir and ourselves as a solace from the silly season type of gig. Our next show there will feature the mezmerising Lucie Thorne, but more news about that closer to the time.

We will soon have some new music to put up on the site but  we may stick with our li'l ol' country classic style No Requests until the Tamworth Festival...or until we get some more requests, whichever comes first! :)

Fun on, crazy yawl and happy new ears indeed!

C+P (VERY un-PC!)

..while honestly, a part of me would have it no other way, it's such a pleasurable passtime, especially with someone as lovely and truthful as Penny to adorn and honour my little fantasies. But she reckons she's being a sook at the moment for not fulfilling all of the too many possibilities there are for one duo to possibly do; i think the travel and admin are well enough, fact if i were us, i'd fire us from those jobs and banish us to a nice little padded loungeroom to bounce ideas off the walls and just make more songs out of them!

BUT i believe that's where YOU come into it dear reader/listener. Perhaps so far you'll be listening to and being subconsciously guilt-tripped by the fact that i had to fantasise my own request for this month's song comp. and i'll tell you, the prizes of the couple of cds and passes to our next show near me, aren't that stimulating when it don't get any nearer to me than the fact that i'm IN it!

So please did deep into your creative plumbs and chuck me a challenge or three :)

fun on,
carl

so Carl got to wondering what would happen if we didn't get any more entries and as we hadn't reconstructed what the competition in fact was it was hardly surprising that we didn't...

So he wrote this pretty song to act as an interlude. Check the music page for lyrics.

We have recently had a lovely time at the Burke and Wills Winery. We are going to have another lovely time in Majors Creek next week and we are going to have an absolute stunner of a time playing with Michael Kennedy at the Theatre Royal on Dec 10th! So much to look forward to. We'll keep you posted.

Oh, and all the comp entries are now down-loadable so you can take them with you wherever you go... :)

Hi all,
We have had a very busy time developing our BUSINESS PLAN (!yep...we are attempting to find method in our madness or actually just make paperwork out of our already functioning existence) and still doing millions of things else.

The Sydney Children's Festival choir were a bunch of brave and wonderful people and we had an absolute ball watching people realise what they could do. You guys are brilliantly fantabulous.
The Gorgeous Voices Festival was also a winner. Congrats to Sue Gillett and looking forward to more.

We get to play and sing soon at Andrew Pattison's winery, for a Castlemaine State Festival fundraiser, a potential house concert in Heathcote and share music making with Michael Kennedy and the lovely Lloyd Weir in the lead up to Christmas so keep checking back on the calendar as we confirm details of those gigs...
I (Penny) have struggled lately with some sadness related to personal conflict that has kept me away from these pages that usually keep me so buoyant. Nothing that a little letting it go won't fix but just to explain why there hasn't been another momentous and huge next chapter in our oh so fun competition...:) Have you listened to Blossom's Blue?? It's so pretty...

from us to you, adieu...:)

Penny & Carl (who is off in Cairns with Totally Gourdgeous!! sheesh...lucky boy!)

We have got a SECOND competition winner! :)

No sheepishness there at all..it's pretty nice actually and big thanks to Kate O'Donnell for her entry...

genre: protest song (I'm not sure we nailed the 19th century protest feel...)

theme: marriage equality

character: Blossom (um...ok so maybe Carl forgot she was an animal vet but keeping his muppet tendencies in mind it's probably been for the best in terms of honouring the theme....) who wants to marry her girlfriend, Blue.

We have been very busy lately. :) A lot of seed throwing. We'll wait to see if any of them grow or whether they are bird food I guess...

with love and best wishes,

penny & carl

Well, here you have it... (lyrics on the music page)

Brett Ludeman was our winning entry.  Congratulations, Brett!! 

genre: folk

subject: that moment when you feel like you're six years old again and you give a little squeal of excitement

character: mid-life Lucy

Basically, the thing was that Carl had all the themes in his mind and what came, came!  Bit of an exercise in watching song-writing at work for me really.  Quite inspiring stuff and we had much fun recording it.  

So...what next...well...thing is that there sooooo many cool entries that we need a couple of days to just think about what the next BEST thing is to do... but for now....zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

a P.S. from Carl: ..well yes that was fun and a nice start to this sort of shenanigans, thanks Brett. And ok while this was the song that surfaced in the dreaming of me with a melody and concept development possibility, thanks goes to all other entrants where there were some good and fun ideas - do keep them coming yawl.. It's worth noting officially that unlike many songs that i write for pleasure that dont become realised, I have to thank Penny too for arrangement and form-shaping, appropriate key and harmony work etc, to make it the whole song it appears to be here! Hooray..!

Because sadly we can't do it...:( But our beautiful and lovely friend, Helen Begley can and she'll be accompanied by Tristram Larkins too!  (don't I know him??) Check out why her myspace says "if Johnny Cash had a sister..." www.myspace.com/helenbegley 

 

 

Allrrrrrighty!!!

DID SOMEBODY SAY COMPETITION!!!??!! 

Your mission if you choose to accept it is to choose 3 things:

• Genre (bluegrass, folk, screamo) 
• Theme (lost pen lids, solar energy, cyclones)
• Central Character (sid the salada, creepy cat, juice)

We then write/record and upload the song and it features as the only full song on the web-site for a month.  :) Fun, huh? You win a cd plus 2 tix to the next gig that we're near you (or another cd, like one of carl or a soon-to-happen live one...or somebody else's that we want you to hear!) 

If you haven't been privy to Carl's writings for reasons (such as Jon Von Goes theme shows or on a more serious note, "Jabiluka" or "The Only Hope") then you are in for a treat so be involved!!!  

CURRENT DEADLINE: AUGUST 31st 

word.... no ok that would just look like pointless graffiti on this site if i just left it at that...but i guess i AM supposed to be the kinda cheeky naughty one in the band...band?! (well if you count the multiple personalities i guess..). Anyway i'm just delighted to be here on our lovely new websitery. i'm also V...e...r...y slowly getting accustomed to facebook shenanigans but i may stay slow and infrequent, as this site has also seen, due to my proud luddite status and greater love of music to be rathering more time on that leaving the communications and info sharing to my glorious wifey who is, let's face it, just much better at all that than I. SO anyway, thanks for dropping in, and do read on to more useful news posts! All good things.. Carl

The amount of wonderful people that facilitate and make it possible for people like us to do what we do and make music is just wondrous.  Lenny Marks & Richard Delaney are doing their wonderful thing at the Savoy in Katoomba, Bill Arnett (aka Billy Folkus on facebook) is bravely and excitingly providing a stunning sound space for artists and punters alike, Andrew Pattison is doing what he has done for ever so long ever so well, Kate Raffin hosts juiciest house concerts ever and ARTsound FM 92.7 (Canberra, special grats to Bill Quinn) just does good supporting it all!!!!  

On another note... :) In a week (well roughly.. let's say August 31st) we will be making our song samples snippets BUT you will be able to find links on where to buy them AND we will be starting a monthly song-writing subject contest.  :) Basically you guys send a theme and WE (mainly carl but I'll help) write a song and pop it on the site as the only full song played for the next month.  You get a cd and 2 tix to the next gig we play in your town or an extra cd (of either carl's or our soon live) if you live too far away.  Details to follow soon..... intrigued??