Still Rockin' It - Cheryl Lee
Still Rockin' It - Cheryl Lee
What has Bluesfest's Joe Turtur been up to lately? OR What do you feed twenty surprise guests when Prime Minister Albanese rocks up on your doorstep?
Join Cheryl Lee - That Radio Chick on STILL ROCKIN' IT for news, reviews, music and interviews with some of our favourite Australian musicians.
Today we share a recent zoom room chat with King of All Things Food at Bluesfest, Joe Turtur.
A musician in his own right, drummer with Adelaide's, The YouBlues Band, Joe shares the disbelief and disappointment of the twelfth hour cancellation of Bluesfest in 2021 to the excitement of Bluesfest 2022 after the threat of being washed away as floods devastated the region.
He talks about the surprise visit by soon to be elected prime minister Albanese, the difficulties of working under constant threat of Covid and who he’s been cooking for since then.
Includes Songs:
Jimmy Barnes - Stagger Lee
Ian Moss - Saturday Night
George Benson - Give Me The Night
Guy Sebastian - Angels Brought Me Here
The Kid Laroi & Justin Bieber - Stay
What has Bluesfest's Joe Turtur up to at the moment?
Let's find out .....
Get out when you can, support local music and I'll see you down the front!!
Visit: ThatRadioChick.com.au
That Radio Chick, cheryl Lee, here with you. Welcome to the Still Rocking it podcast, where we'll have news, reviews and interviews with some of our favourite Australian musicians and artists. Today I share a Zoom room chat I had recently with King of Food from Blues Fest, joe Turter. We talk about the disbelief and disappointment of the 12th hour cancellation of Blues Fest in 2021 to the excitement of Blues Fest 2022 after the threat of being washed away as floods devastated the region. He talks about the surprise visit by soon-to-be elected Prime Minister Albanese, the difficulties of working under constant threat of COVID and who he's been cooking for since then. What's Joe Turter been up to lately? Let's find out. You're with Cheryl Lee that Radio Chick, and I'd like to welcome into the Zoom room today Mr Joe Turter. Food king of Blues Fest. Some of you might know that hubby and I rode the Harley 5,000 kilometers to Blues Fest last year to find it's cancelled when we were half an hour out.
Speaker 1:That's crazy we did it again this year just to see Joe actually. But Joe, you working there, you can tell us a little bit about your role there. But how difficult was it when it was cancelled, literally you, literally in the midnight hour last year and then having to do it all again and so successfully this year.
Speaker 2:It was like a full dress rehearsal, to a degree of literally setting up, doing food, being ready to go Right at the very last minute went nah, it's not happening. It was literally four o'clock on wednesday afternoon. There was talk about a half an hour before that there was a meeting going down that could possibly not happen. Yeah, four o'clock the word came out and they said nah, it's not happening. So we all got told to meet in the catering area, because it was a pretty big area that I had. Oh, we lost all our volunteers, we lost all that free labour, we lost the festival. Basically, that was Wednesday. We had started food on Monday, so we were up and running. I suppose the only good thing about it was the council didn't come out and expect my area.
Speaker 2:You just wouldn't believe that it could possibly be happening less than 24 hours before I was about to start, you would have had fridges full. Oh, it was. We were ready to go, so ready to go. It wasn't funny. We have stopped coming in constantly right through the entire festival because I've got deals with my suppliers. I, I suppose Good Friday is really the only one that we don't. We continued to do food until the Friday because we had to load out everything, everything. All the trucks had arrived, all the video, lights, pa was set up, video was set up, everything was set up. All we were waiting for were the bands to arrive, and some of them actually even did arrive to the town around and, you know, checked into accommodation and it was a government decision based on COVID. In the end, it was like the COVID outbreak was a hoax anyway.
Speaker 1:A storm in a teacup.
Speaker 2:It was such a knee-jerk reaction, wasn't it For me personally? I wasn't at the best of my health and I suppose I'd a lot of stress for me had gone because I didn't have to worry about artists and stuff like that. So it was quite stress relieving for me. It was a new module that we were doing in catering. We were actually using a barcode that we had on laminates that we were checking people off who were able to eat and the guy that had put the program together was in the Bermuda and we were talking to him on the phone to get the system up and happening and it did happen, but it was very time consuming. Yeah, so that was the end of 21.
Speaker 1:Still rocking the podcast with that radio chick, cheryl Lee. We're going to hear more from Joe Turter after this song about some of the fabulous bands that he missed because he was so busy this year. One of the headliners for 2022 was one of my favourites, jimmy Barnes. For you, joe, a live version of Stagger Lee Jimmy's also at the moment touring celebrating his 30th anniversary of the Soul Deep album. This one didn't make it onto the original, but was a bonus live track on the 2004 reissue. For you, jo.
Speaker 2:Here's a song that didn't make it to Soul Deep. It's actually our favorite from the set.
Speaker 1:Except this bit, the night was clear and the moon was yellow and at least came tumbling down.
Speaker 2:I was set on a corner when my head was all blocked. 22 looked pretty sort of sad as well, with the floods. The first flood I missed, which was the big flood at lismore, that sort of dampened a few things you could say. And then we got to to buyer and I think it was like the end of march or I can't remember the date exactly. And then we had another flood, the second flood. The second flood hit the site pretty hard. I was staying on site. There's three houses on site and I was staying in one of them and I was literally there for two days, unless I wanted to paddle through water. I was looking for a jet ski and I couldn't find one.
Speaker 1:I remember you sent me through some photos and I thought oh no, please, please, don't let this be deja vu and happen all over again. And that's how it was.
Speaker 2:You know, we were really sort of, oh, what's going to happen? And we just soldiered on, we just went nah, hopefully it'll clear up. And it did clear up. It was touch and go, but we all had great faith, especially from above. Peter Noble was being really confident about it all and he was around. There was quite a few outbreaks of COVID in amongst the managerial team in the setup which, you know, put things back, but it actually happened. We, we did it, we did record crowds, we did record food. I think overall it was like six or six, close to seven thousand meals, you know, all in packaging and all in compostable sort of packets and ordering via email from the artist Green Room. And it was certainly an event.
Speaker 1:I think you pulled off the festival of the century, I reckon.
Speaker 2:Overall, the vibe was actually really, really good, Like it was great to see so many bands so enthusiastic, and really sort of gung-ho like wow, we're back and it had been three years. So you know, the last festival was 2019 and so for us as a team, okay, we went through the dress rehearsal in 21, but we you know it's not like actually doing a festival.
Speaker 2:You can lead up to it and do it and set it all up and there was nothing worse than pulling it down it. It was like quite miserable. 22 was a bit of a showstopper really. It was like lots of things happened. We had a visit from the now Prime Minister, mr Albanese came and visited us. I was a bit sort of like what's going on here?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I was in the front row.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, I got a phone call to say that we were having some special guests for dinner. It went from 10 people to 16 people to 22 people to a change of venue, all in the space of a half an hour and we ended up pulling off another cart sort of situation. And it was quite funny because I got the old accountant to be the waitress, karen. I didn't have any staff, so Karen was hanging around and I said to her, do you mind? And she was sort of quite shocked. And then peter noble was quite shocked to see his old accountant over there taking orders from this um political bunch. But it was good. Well, he didn't go down too well on stage. Apparently I didn't.
Speaker 1:I heard that he got a bit of backlash, but you know a little bit still rocking that podcast with that radio chick, cheryl lee, gonna chat more to joe turter, food king of blues fest for the last hundred years. We're gonna play another song that he unfortunately missed this artist being so busy during the festival ian moth, who played before barnsey. Here's his song saturday night night. I actually spoke to Peter Noble ahead of the Blues Fest. He described 2022 as the perfect storm and that he probably couldn't put on such an amazing event again. You know, from the cancellation the year before, everybody then wanted to be involved and you know the oils came on and credit house and it sort of got a life of its own. You've been the food king of blues fest for is it 16 years?
Speaker 2:16. Yeah, I'm pushing 17 years would you agree with this?
Speaker 2:I think it was a camaraderie of a lot of Australian bands really wanting to take it one step further. Of course, oils were added, which was a big inclusion. Crowded House were always there. We lost a few acts. We lost, I think, tash Sultana and Di Sebastian. A few acts weren't available due to other reasons, other commitments, but overall we had an amazing lineup and it was huge. It was actually really really good in a lot of areas. Everybody really worked together as a team. The department heads really pulled together. We communicate really well. We all get on really well. The management side of things were under the pump. I think the pressures there were intense because it's pretty much a new team in management. When I say management administration, as far as the people that live in byron and you know, work monday to friday there. There's a very new team and a lot of them hadn't done a festival. So it's a bit different when you've done 16 or 17 festivals.
Speaker 2:I think you've got a few virgins there, yeah you got some virgins there that are really sort of like not starstruck but really put under the pump. It's a lack of sleep that a lot of people get. I was aware of covid, so I was steering clear of all sort of kind of situations where I could contract COVID. Look, I had a great team behind me my head, chef Nigel Melina, my partner and now personal assistant. She was a real trooper this year. She didn't stay on the couch as much as what I thought she was going to do. Yeah, it was really good.
Speaker 2:We worked together as a great team and I've got some really good people that have done the festival with me quite a few times to pull together the site, to pull together the equipment, all the produce. You know there was a couple of things we needed to tweak, but 2023s will be around there before you know it. I think it's just given us a really good energy to put on a great show. I think Peter's very enthusiastic about 2023. Everyone's really sort of now enthusiastic that we can pull off a massive festival. You know we had close to 30,000 people there on a Sunday but the lineup was amazing with Jimmy Barnes and George Benson and Crowded House and, you know cast of others.
Speaker 1:It's a big, big day for us on Sunday still rocking that podcast with that radio chick, cheryl Lee. We're going to hear about the visit from prime ministerial candidate Mr Albanese, now prime minister from Joe after this. But here's one of the artists that Joe did get a chance to see George Benson. Give Me the Night. Music, music, music.
Speaker 2:Music, and then, of course, our visit from our now Prime Minister. That was a very special event. Very what's the word security bound? Lots of black cars coming in. Don't stand there, don't look there, don't do this. I didn't know what was going on. I had no idea he was coming, and it would have been nice to have been told that he was giving me a bit of a heads up.
Speaker 1:On an as-need basis. I suppose there was over a hundred thousand, I think, people through the five days.
Speaker 2:We couldn't believe it that first day when we arrived I'd been holding on to the back of the bike, for I keep thinking of you guys.
Speaker 1:It's just such an incredible feat to hug someone for five days yeah, five days, including a tire blowout on the six-lane highway, we survived. So, walking through those gates with that big sign, you know, blues Fest 2022 behind us, we just couldn't believe that we were actually there. It was a little bit different, I think, than in past years for media, because not a lot of the artists were doing any media. I think everybody was conscious that they their COVID bubbles, I think.
Speaker 2:It was really challenging for a lot of people. A lot of the artists were aware of COVID. You did have to be vaccinated to be backstage but of course, being in Byron Bay, there's a lot of anti-vaxxers and so you know there was a lot of rules, I think, not being broken, but just being slightly bent. We did have to rat test every day. In the end it did become like I had a team of 20 in the loadout. Ten of us actually got COVID, so, me included, wiped me out four days. Melina got wiped. Everyone got COVID right at the very end, even Mr Albanese contracted.
Speaker 1:COVID, yeah, that's right Afterwards. I was speaking to dave faulkner from the hoodoo gurus afterwards and they had to postpone the first few dates of their tour. I think their drummer got covered and the oils too didn't. They had to postpone a couple of days oh yeah, I don't know what happened there.
Speaker 2:Peter garrett got covered before and they cancelled the darwin show, but they were okay for blues first, but then neil finn contracted covered and they cancelled the Darwin show, but they were okay for Blues Fest, but then Neil Finn contracted COVID and they cancelled Tasmanian shows.
Speaker 1:I'm amazed we didn't get COVID again.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm really amazed you guys didn't get COVID, because you guys were right in the thick of it.
Speaker 1:We were in the mosh pit every concert and I'm just like who's going to give me COVID today? Totally amazed. Still rocking that podcast with that radio chick, cheryl Lee. So Guy Sebastian was one of the original artists booked for 2022. That didn't make it in the end, but we'll hear how Joe has caught up with Guy since then and what else he's been doing Right now. A song from Guy Angels Brought Me here. It's been a long and winding journey.
Speaker 2:I saw two bands I think in the whole five days. I ran into Gleeso and John Brewster in the green room and I was having a chat with those guys and I was really keen to see the Angels and I did, and that was a great show.
Speaker 1:They were so good, weren't they? They took it to the next level.
Speaker 2:They did, they did, and Gleeso was just, you know, just Gleeso on stage.
Speaker 1:Like a frog in a sock.
Speaker 2:I know he was just brilliant. He was just jumping around like there's no tomorrow On Sunday because we had Anthony Albanese there. It kind of messed up my night of going to see bands. I missed Barnsey completely, I missed Mossy completely. I did see a tiny little bit of George Benson, I saw a tiny little bit of Crowded House and I ended up at the Whalers gig just really relaxing and getting into some reggae. I mean it was difficult for me to get out. I was really busy like constantly I had a bit of a party room going on in my world as you guys didn't even turn up until loadout day.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I am so looking forward to 2023. You'll be back king of food next year.
Speaker 2:Yeah yeah, I'll be there. I'll be there. Um, it's good to be home, though I must admit I'm glad it happened. I was away for 52 days on a whole. We we had a bit of a break afterwards. We went up to Noosa and visited a friend. I've come back and it's just been really quite busy being back in Adelaide. Gigs are happening, like COVID is around, but we're sort of soldiering on to a point where I've had a really busy week this week and doing Guy Sebastian early in the week and the Kid Leroy, which was an interesting little journey, and I've actually ended up now doing catering for Kid Leroy in Brisbane on Monday via email and telephone. Yeah, my team are doing it at River Stage in Brisbane. It's going to be quite interesting because I'm going into hospital on Monday and I'm going to be out. But no, I've got a lot of faith in my team.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Well, you put a good team together. Yeah, barry, and I will catch up with you, I'm sure before next Blues Fest. But send our love to Melina, yes absolutely, we can't wait to catch up when you're out again after Monday.
Speaker 2:Since we've been back, it's been really full on. I can't believe how full on. I'm still tidying up Blues Fest whenever I can like, I'm squeezing in and I'm getting messages from suppliers oh, what about this? What about that? We haven't been paid yet and I'm like no, no, maybe that's because I haven't put your invoice through yet.
Speaker 1:You better pay them, so they'll be back for next year.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they're just little ones, you know, but they're good ones, and so, yeah, look, it's going to be an interesting year. Who knows, monkeypox might take over. Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 1:Stay safe and stay away from the monkeypox.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I was just saying home, it's too cold. I can't believe it. You're in a singlet and I'm in a jumper. You must have real good heating at your house, because our house is freezing.
Speaker 1:Well, thank you for spending a few minutes in the Zoom chat room with me today, joe. It's always a pleasure to catch up and I look forward to seeing you in the flesh very soon, still rocking the podcast with that radio chick, cheryl Lee. I don't know about you, but I can't wait to hear what Blues Fest 2023 is going to bring for us. In the meantime, a song from the Kid LAROI that Joe did some work with recently. Australian rapper done good, now living in the US.
Speaker 2:Here's his hit single Stay with Justin Bieber.
Speaker 1:You're with Cheryl Lee that radio chick. Thank you so much for joining me on the Still Rocking it podcast. Hope to catch you again next time. Get out when you can support Aussie music and I'll see you down the front.