Serong on song for Terang

Award-winning Port Fairy novelist Jock Serong will be part of Stereo Stories at The Commercial Hotel in Terang, on Saturday evening 5 March.

Stereo Stories is a concert like no other, combining the charm of tightly-scripted story-telling about the songs that have shaped our lives with the excitement of a band playing those songs.

“It’s a very finely-tuned show based around music and memoir,” says writer and director Vin Maskell, who created the show in 2014. “It’s almost theatre, in the way the band weaves the song throughout the narration of each quite personal story. It creates a certain degree of anticipation, which audiences seem to appreciate.”

Jock Serong’s story is both humorous and poignant, as he recalls the day he met New Zealand singer Marlon Williams in an old bluestone church in Modewarre, just outside Geelong.

Jock will be joined by half-a-dozen writers and musicians from the Melbourne-based Stereo Stories ensemble, including Darren ‘Smokie’ Dawson, Stephen Andrew, Laura Sheridan, Chris Phillips and Zoë Krupka.

The Terang performance will be Stereo Stories’ first in south-west Victoria, having played at festivals in Geelong, Melbourne, Bendigo, Wangaratta and Albury.

“The Commercial Hotel is really attuned to creativity and taking chances,” said Maskell. “The performance space there is intimate. Expect some lovely stories and iconic songs.”