WASO and the Lord of the Rings

May 30, 2013
by Rodney Olsen
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Peter Jackson’s epic movie version of Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring is supported by some of the greatest film music of all time. Howard Shore’s Academy Award-winning score helps to capture the film’s sweeping emotion and thrilling scenery.

Next month, the West Australian Symphony Orchestra will be turning down the movie soundtrack and providing the music live through the power of a full symphony orchestra and the massed voices of the WASO Chorus and St George’s Cathedral Choristers at their Lord of the Rings performances.

Following the success of the West Australian Symphony Orchestra’s concert version of The Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, WASO presents film director Peter Jackson’s vision of JRR Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. This epic event features the entire film on screen accompanied live by WASO, the WASO Chorus and St George’s Cathedral Choristers.

The Academy Award-winning score by Howard Shore is instantly recognisable to film aficionados and music lovers alike; and magically captures the film’s sweeping emotion, spell-binding visuals and the danger-filled adventures of Frodo Baggins and his cohorts in their quest to end the reign of the Dark Lord and save Middle Earth.

The venue for this event, the Riverside Theatre, has been chosen, in part, to accommodate the 6 metre by 14.5 metre screen required for the projection of the film above the full orchestra on stage. This has required some adaptation by the orchestra as well – because stage lighting would interfere with the projection of the film, individual lights are attached to each music stand so the players can read the music in the otherwise dark auditorium.

Swiss-born conductor, Ludwig Wicki, is ideally suited to lead with WASO through this towering soundtrack. He and Howard Shore are long-term collaborators; and Wicki conducted the world premiere of The Fellowship of the Ring in 2008.

David Cotgreave is the Production and Technical Manager with WASO and he dropped in for a chat on my radio program today to talk about just how such a major project comes together. You can hear our chat by clicking the play button on the audio player below.



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Blue Like Jazz – Talking with Steve Taylor

February 22, 2013
by Rodney Olsen
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The movie, Blue Like Jazz, is based on the book of the same name by Donald Miller. It’s been described as a semi-autobiographical work. Its subtitle is “Non-Religious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality”.

Blue Like Jazz is a collection of essays and personal reflections focusing on the need for an authentic, personal response to matters of faith. The book was released around a decade ago but I’ve only started reading it recently. I’ll write some more once I’ve finished the book.

Now director, Steve Taylor, has created the movie which has been screened in a number of cinemas and can now be bought on Blu-Ray and DVD. I recently had the pleasure of chatting with Steve. You can hear our full conversation by clicking the play button on the audio player below.

Before directing movies, Steve Taylor was very involved in the music industry. His music tended to look at faith from a different angle than most of what was described as Christian music at the time and that spin on spirituality seems to be what attracted him to Blue Like Jazz.

By the way, if you live in the Perth area, you can grab tickets to a free screening of the movie at Hoyts Carousel this Wednesday thanks to 98five and Faith on Film. Just follow this link and fill in your details.



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Benny Prasad brings his ‘Bentar’ to Perth

January 31, 2013
by Rodney Olsen
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I had the privilege of chatting with Benny Prasad a couple of days ago. He’s a man who went from being a sick, depressed 16 year old, shunned by his family and considering suicide, to a musician who has performed at events like the Olympic Games and FIFA World Cup. He also holds the world record by becoming the fastest person to travel to every nation on the globe. That includes 245 nations, including Antarctica, visited in 6 years, 6 months and 22 days.

Benny Prasad is an instrumental guitarist from India. He is well known for designing the Bentar which is the World’s First Bongo Guitar. Today, through his music, Benny brings the Hope in God to thousands of people, traveling to 40-50 countries every year. – Wiki

Benny’s guitar, or bentar, is quite an amazing instrument.

Benny designed this 20 String Harp/Bongo Guitar in October 2006. The building of the guitar was completed on May 14, 2007. It was built by Tulsi Guitars – (Chennai, India). It has 6 strings, 2 Bongos and a 14 String Harp.

If you want to hear my chat with Benny about his incredible life, and hear him play, click the play button on the audio player below.



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Australia Day 2013

January 23, 2013
by Rodney Olsen
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Are you ready for Australia Day this Saturday?

We celebrate Australia Day on the 26th of January each year because it was that day in 1788 that Captain Arthur Phillip took formal possession of the colony of New South Wales and became its first Governor. The first official celebrations were held in 1818 to mark the 30th anniversary of white settlement.

If you want to find out more about Australia Day you can go to the official website here.

Watching fireworks on Australia Day has become a solid tradition in Perth but over the past several years many people have started looking for ways to avoid the parking hassles and find a family friendly event. Answering the call is the 98.5 Sonshine FM Town of Bassendean Australia Day Celebrations and Fireworks event which has built a reputation as a safe place to spend Australia Day with friends and family as well as providing a spectacular show.

If you’re in the Perth area it’d be great to catch up with you at Ashfield Reserve, Guildford Road, Ashfield, for the evening. It’s a great event that culminates in a massive fireworks display away from the big and sometimes rowdy crowds of the city fireworks. 98five Sonshine FM is proud to be providing the soundtrack and we’ll be broadcasting live from the venue.

I’ll be on stage to MC the live entertainment which starts from 5:00 p.m. There’ll also be an awards ceremony. The fireworks will begin lighting up the skies later in the evening with the whole event finishing at 9:00 p.m.

If you want to enjoy some great entertainment in a more relaxed family atmosphere, without having to wait hours in traffic on the way home, come on down.

Either way, make sure that you’ve got some plans in place to celebrate.



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Remembering Radiothon 2012

November 3, 2012
by Rodney Olsen
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We finished 98five Sonshine FM’s Radiothon yesterday with a total of $169 519. Even though Radiothon is officially over for 2012, we believe the total will rise a little in the coming days.

While we didn’t reach our target of $175 000, our supporters gave everything they could to achieve over 95% of our goal. We were humbled by the continued generosity of our supporters towards securing our financial future.

If you’d still like to give you can give online, or call the 98five Sonshine FM office during the week on 9313 0800.

In the mean time, check out a selection of photos of a handful of the people I spoke to during the past week and click on any photos you’d like to see a little bigger.



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