Sponsorship of rock concert

Press, Volume CXIII, Issue 33249, 12 June 1973, Page 12

Sponsorship of rock concert

The Wellington-based rock group Mammal and the acoustic American band, the Windy City Strugglers, are to have support from the Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council for a rock concert in Invercargill tomorrow. The two groups, with another Wellington group, Tamburlaine, and Sam Hunt, will give a concert in the University Cafe at Ham on Friday. Under the collective title, “Pork Chops,” the four groups are touring the country for the Students’ Arts Council, and will also give concerts at the universities at Dunedin, Wellington, Palmerston North, and Auckland,

and the Hamilton Teachers’ College. Mammal will also perform at Invercargill, Nelson (June 17), and New Plymouth. The road manager of Mammal, Mr Graeme Nesbitt, said in Wellington that the arts council’s support of the Invercargill concert was the council’s first such sponsorship. It meant the group could perform without compromising its style to fit commercial trends, he said. Mammal’s repertoire includes poems by Sam Hunt. The group also features electronic music produced by a synthesizer, which allows the inclusion of selected music from the Temptations, the Rolling Stones, and Three Dog Night. The Windy City Strugglers perform traditional blues and country songs on instruments such as the fiddle, mandolin, steel guitar, washboard, and jug.

The equipment for the concert, which will feature a light show and sound effects, weighs more than threequarters of a ton, and will be carried in a converted bus which also serves as the group’s quarters.