adventures
Published on April 25, 2025
Comments 13

Does Chaka Khan know I polished Gertie the Giraffe for her at Australia’s recent Blues Festival?

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Of course she doesn’t. But I do.

Hello lovely folks, thanks for dropping by.

I am recovering from four days of a Blues music festival (as punter, not musician- not yet anyway). And three days full time work helping to set it up before that.

“Artist Decor Assistant” is the official title; what it really means is lots of climbing up and down step ladders, staple gunning vintage fabric to the temporary walls of incoming artists’ dressing rooms. It’s the second time I’ve done it, and I loved it even more this year.

Transforming a big, blank, box of a room filled with even smaller blank boxes into a vibrant, welcoming, eclectic and interesting creative space is thrilling to me… especially when one of the performers is Chaka Khan!

This year’s line-up included one of my favourite disco singers; who here over 40 hasn’t danced to ‘I’m Every Woman’?

Exactly no one.

So when I was told to polish Gertie the Giraffe ‘… because she may go in Chaka’s room…’, I leapt to it. Never was a giraffe so lovingly dusted, oiled, and buffed.

I also hung the fairy lights, and sprayed the couch cushions with Thieves Oil to keep away bugs and mould.

Actually, this was one of SIX rooms available for Chaka, her band, and entourage. Fabrics used were rich reds, golds, tapestries and silks. The couches were brown leather, with brocade cushions, and a stunning illuminated native floral centrepiece, like an altar.

We decorated many other rooms too: for Tom Morello (from Rage Against the Machine), Toto, Crowded House, John Butler, George Thorogood, and The California Honeydrops, as well as the incomparable Allison Russell, among many more.

We made cosy shared foyers and outdoor terraces, lush private dressing rooms, and an evocative entrance. I certainly got my daily steps up too.

And the whole time I ironed, hung, straightened, smoothed, stapled, steamed, and measured, I thanked my lucky stars I can volunteer for a job like this, in a relatively free country such as ours, with a belly full of good food for breakfast, and no shelling.

Four long days and nights of music awaited me, thrumming in my veins so that my legs can’t keep still, even when I’m tired.

No running from rockets for me. No standing in line for a bag of flour or drink of dirty water. Even while I sweat and swear, with an aching lower back from walking on a concrete floor all day, I am acutely aware of my privilege.

So Gertie the Giraffe is humbly polished; the dressing rooms are prepared with love and attention to detail; the musicians are danced to later with waves of gratitude crashing over me; and during the rainstorms and searing sun, as I walk kilometres between venues and the carpark, I remember the blessing of being here, of contributing, and of appreciating.

Thank you Chaka Khan, for your decades of music which have brought me such joy, and please please PLEASE, can we all help create peace in Gaza? If we could dance Peace into being, this would be my song:

Like Sugar- Chaka Khan

How good is that? You don’t win 10 Grammys for nothing.

In gratitude for a disco beat and slapping bass, G xO

13 Comments

    • bone&silver's avatar
      bone&silver says

      Thank you. I struggle to hold the spectrum of human experiences, and the Gaza situation feels like a living hell, while I’m here, dancing in delight… ❤️‍🩹

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    • bone&silver's avatar
      bone&silver says

      I’ve performed at all the festivals on stilts etc (including Womad a few times), but Blues is the only one that does the décor for artists. My boss Mandy has done it for 15 years, & is loved & appreciated by so many of the stars

      Liked by 1 person

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  4. Shane Nagle's avatar
    Shane Nagle says

    That’s a lot of stepping! thanks for Like Sugar… what an intoxicating clip and track. If only it could be played into everyone’s mind and seen by all the soldiers and people engaged in war, maybe it really would give them pause.

    Liked by 1 person

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