2020 (What a) YEAR IN REVIEW!
JANUARY
Back in November at our 2019 McHappy Day - as the horrendous Australian Bushfire crisis took hold -WRS Winner Jaylee Daniels and her mum Cathy asked us to help coordinate a music-themed fundraiser,
and so the Whyalla Bushfire Appeal (WBA) was born.
A committee was formed and WBA launched over a huge Australia Day week with support from Westland Shopping Centre.
Our high hopes were immediately met as we raised & donated over $10,000 for worthy bushfire-related causes:
THANK YOU to Mel at WSC, Centre retailers, and especially Magic FM & Carve 'n Cut Meats
for an astonishing level of support for our concert day, the Pre-Loved Bookstore, a "Bonus Day"
and everything else that amounted to an enormous success!
WBA also saw a Whyalla News front page, and a feature interview on ABC Regional Radio -
Stormfront is so proud to have fully sponsored this project!
*****
While we waited for our tuition year to begin, we conducted dozens of "holiday" lessons
with students travelling from as far away as Port Augusta and Quorn -
we also sponsored a number of co-writing sessions with young Original songwriters.
*****
Jaylee kept us busy as her February Grand Finalist performance in Sydney at the Woolworths Songwriters Festival approached.
In quick succession we coordinated media calls with Sophia at Southern Cross TV and Louis at Whyalla News -
then hosted Tasmanian PR company Red Jelly (as seen on Gruen) arriving in Whyalla to
"spend a day in the life" filming Jaylee at home, at work, and in-studio whilst discussing her new song "Tonight".
JD was also sponsored by Woolies to be outfitted for Sydney at Big W in Port Augusta!
*****
Studio-wise January saw us tuning in to hear inaugural Whyalla Recording Scholarship winner
Breeze Millard, and Joshua Paton on radio promoting their new Single "Holding On" -
proudly sponsored and produced by Stormfront Productions.
We were also in-studio sponsoring production of songwriter Deb Bradley's Original song "Australia's Burning" -
written to highlight the on-going horror of the bushfires raging everywhere, now on a global scale of recognition:
Listen to "Australia's Burning" here!
*****
"As always" our LIONS "Carols In The Park" committee held its first meeting to debrief on December's amazing concert,
to commence proceedings for 2021, and to choose recipients of the annual Carols Community Collection ($3490 given out this time).
*****
By the end of the month our tutoring year had begun with Private & school lessons, with the
Samaritan College Band Programme underway with record enrolments.
Mark also completed a refurbishment of the Samaritan Saint John’s Campus PA system.
FEBRUARY
With our tuition services underway everything was looking good for a bumper year -
students began preparing for September exams and we had at least 12 performances locked in.
*****
Adelaide Channel 44's "SA MADE MUSIC” featured all 3 WRS Music Videos -
between them this dynamic trio have seen over 15,000 YouTube Views!
You can view the fully sponsored WRS music videos here:
*****
We then hit the road with Jaylee and her mum - flying Whyalla-Adelaide-Sydney to being graciously hosted by
Red Jelly, Listen Up Music and Woolworths at a pre-festival dinner where
Jaylee networked with organisers and her 7 fellow Finalists.
So excitingly we were treated to a "sneak peek" of each Finalist's fantastic promo videos filmed back in January....
You can view them here:
Next day we were hosted at Woolworths Australasia's amazing Head Office in western Sydney for
the official launch of the "I AM HERE" Campaign. Founder Jim Breen from Ireland led the
guest speakers as we all discussed how "it's OK not to feel OK, and it's absolutely OK to ask for help".
The afternoon brought soundcheck at the legendary MAX WATTS House Of Music in
Sydney's Entertainment Quarter, and then the show.
All 8 Finalists were delighted to find larger than life murals of themselves adorning the building,
and coasters featuring their song lyrics on the tables throughout the venue.
The night was a sellout, and Jaylee delivered in an impressive performance centre-stage.
At just 16 years of age Jaylee handled this experience with a maturity that belies her years -
and the feedback offered by the panel of industry judges made it clear that she has a very bright future ahead!
Day Three saw us heading back to Whyalla as JD completed her Sydney media commitments with Voice Box
alongside Winner and fellow South Australian, 21 year old Taylor Pfeiffer.
We are so proud to have fully sponsored our support of Jaylee in this amazing experience!
*****
Upon our arrival home we met with Edward John Eyre High School to plan for our fully sponsored mainstage Workshops at their
annual Career Expo - and to round up a huge February we fully sponsored the supply & operation of
an all-day PA for the Whyalla Stingers Regional Swimming Carnival at the Whyalla Leisure Centre.
MARCH
Stormfront provided PA and operator at the Foreshore Motor Inn as Whyalla hosted its
"Port Adelaide Football Club Breakfast" with David Koch prior to the big
AFL Pre-Season game at Bennett Oval.
We assisted WBA's Karen Taylor as she ran a second BBQ fundraiser at Harvey Norman,
though the topic of conversation had now turned toward an invisible enemy.
Covid 19 launched upon all of us a total reset - in particular for us a total and immediate
"equip & resource" in an attempt to stay in business.
As schools prepared for online delivery so did we - and in the blink of an eye our school and private work stopped,
leaving us like so many others weathering the cold & rain at Centrelink with a tenuous future.
We shuffled gear from the shed and from The Centre and renovated our online cameras, lighting & mics so
we could move all our Private students online via Facebook Messenger.
From start-to-ready took 10 days and so began the true adventure of "Online Delivery"!
*****
Breeze & Josh launched their "HOLDING ON" Music Video - fully produced by them in Adelaide.
We're so proud to see Breeze taking her WRS skills to the next level -
#ExpandingHorizons and growing as an Independent Recording Artist.
APRIL
To catch-up Covid-lost lessons we operated through the Easter holidays as our Online lessons became a hit -
many young students really enjoying our in-house "Music Quiz" series!
We fully sponsored Ali's music video of "Lean On Me" as part of the Younison "Worldwide Day Of Gratitude" Campaign,
joining musicians across the globe to thank healthcare & essential workers putting their lives on the line during Covid 19.
*****
As school holidays drew to a close we'd been assured by government that at both Private and school levels Term 2 would stay online.
Then - with 2 days notice - we were all astounded by the SA Premier telling us we'd be "back at work on Monday".
WHAT a shock, and what a total rearrange ensued in those 2 days!
MAY
With Covid raging, our gig fully sponsoring WBA at the Whyalla Road Safety Centre's Mother's Day Market
was cancelled, just one of many to come!
The surprise of being back on-deck at Samaritan College and at The Centre plus
many students continuing Online for the time being kept our schedule very busy.
*****
We took receipt of new keyboards at Samaritan Primary campuses which were enjoyed by our
Band Programme students who'd been able to restart 2020 albeit with Rehearsals impossible yet.
For their Religious Education Patron's Day video presentation we fully sponsored Jaylee & Natasha a
duet gospel recording - passing them through the studio separately to ensure social distancing, both girls did a great job.
The school was delighted and both girls also received a full solo, and duet version of "Oceans" for themselves.
May also saw our prodigious young songwriter Maddie fully sponsored in the studio again demo'ing her latest Original song.
JUNE
As most of the world continued online, so too by now did all our 2020 Music Exams.
As opposed to our normal "everyone attends Exam Day at our fully sponsored Whyalla venue to play their piece for the examiner" -
we had to commence filming our Video Exam Submissions for both AMEB and Con Brio Examination Boards.
This process multiplied the time needed to examine each student by tenfold - and took us over 3 months to complete.
Stormfront is so proud to fully sponsor this to happen!
*****
As Covid restrictions ebbed and flowed some student families took the chance to get away to NSW and NT -
our now well established Online Delivery allowing us to stay on course with them alongside our face-to-face lessons,
and new students from Adelaide who'd come onboard to access Stormfront this new way.
Sadly while Covid cancelled our upcoming annual "JAMM FOR GENES" -
we still opened an online donation page accessible here:
Donate to WHYALLA'S JAMM FOR GENES!
JULY
The national and Online "Country Music Out Now" website launched,
with Mark, Alison, Jaylee & Shakira are featured.
Our Samaritan College Band Programme was finally able to commence Rehearsals which was really exciting after such a long delay!
*****
In our studio Mark & Alison were working on 5 of their own new songs -
networking with session players in the USA with amazing results.
Stay Tuned for release dates (whenever we find enough time to dedicate to this project!)
AUGUST
With our Video Exam productions on-going - WRS Winner Jaylee visited the studio to complete vocal tracking
on her fantastic new Single "Tonight" - due out with a music video early in 2021!
Stormfront is so proud to fully sponsor this project, and this Artist!
*****
We worked intensely with Samaritan College to facilitate, promote and be able to deliver a 2021 "Certificate 2 in Music Production" -
including providing a presentation at St John's "Futures Night" and interviewing with Whyalla News and Spencer Gulf Seven Television News.
SEPTEMBER
We enjoyed doing some "Flashback" Posts on our social media, including past workshops, newspaper features and
celebrating the 21st anniversary of Mark's 1999 European, and North American Tour.
Our Casual students from Quorn and Port Augusta, plus online in Adelaide continued through the holiday break.
*****
Our "Carols In the Park" Event Committee met to discuss the ever changing Covid 19 restrictions and
we unanimously made the sad decision to cancel the live show in 2020.
LIONS asked us to sponsor & produce a 30-minute video presentation in-lieu to keep the spirit of the event alive.
GFG and Whyalla City Council were notified late in September, but we began hinting that everyone needed to
wait for a December 13 "surprise" they could enjoy from home!
Our "Secret Project" began filming on 17th September heading for a 13th December public launch -
at 7.30pm when we and our Cast would have taken to the Civic Park stage!
OCTOBER
On World Mental Health Day we accompanied Jaylee Daniels to Adelaide to play for her Top 8 performance in
the SA & WA Semi-Final of the National "The Songwriting Prize" at The Rhino Room.
We are so proud to fully sponsor this support of Jaylee!
*****
For the first time Mark's "Sweet Memories" and Alison's "Second Fiddle" Singles
became available on digital distributors including iTunes:
*****
For the second consecutive year we fully sponsored Sound & Operation at the
Samaritan College Year 12 Mass, where musical interludes were impressively delivered by Jaylee.
Fellow WRS Winner Shakira Lea also began pre-production of her fully sponsored new Single "Drowning" in the Studio.
NOVEMBER
As our "Carols" Secret Project filming continued - consuming our every spare moments across
24 locations with a Cast approaching 50 - our 2020 Exam Results started arriving:
See our 2020 Exam results here!
ISABELLA G - Preliminary Piano - HIGH DISTINCTION
IMKE - Preliminary Piano - DISTINCTION
GEORGIA - Preliminary Singing - DISTINCTION
AMAYA - Preliminary Piano - CREDIT
ISABELLA - Preliminary Piano - CREDIT
CHARLOTTE - Preliminary Piano - CREDIT
IMOGEN - Piano Grade One - CREDIT
JAMIE-LEE - Piano Grade Three - CREDIT
CIARA - Musical Theatre Grade Three - HONOURS
ALISON - Musical Theatre Grade Eight - HONOURS
P PLATE PIANO Candidates:
Book 1:
ANNIE, HARIESH, HANNAH,
ISABELLA L, MAYLA, MIA
Book 2:
JANICE
Book 3:
JANKE, JANICE
*****
Having now been running efficiently for months to a "New Normal" as the rest of the world bore the brunt of Covid 19 -
with less than 12 hours warning South Australia was thrown into a shock total Lockdown.
For all of us in the Education sector it came as a total shock and forced a major instant reset -
luckily in all ways it was all over virtually before it started.
The few days of Lockdown did however cancel our annual fully sponsored performance for the
AVA (Asbestos Victims Association) Memorial service & postpone our remaining and most major
"Secret Project" shoots which suddenly meant the project deadlines were nearly impossible to meet.
As had become normal this year we rapidly upended, reworked and somehow swung a solution as hundreds
of hours of "Secret Project" editing and finalisation began.
*****
Amongst all these projects we became extremely concerned about our beloved cat Gypsy as she became unwell,
and pathology uncovered some potentially serious liver results.
DECEMBER
As "Carols Secret Project" raced towards the finish line we began advance promotions of what was finally looking like an amazing result.
Our Samaritan Primary Bands provided wonderful "pop-up" concerts at St Teresa's, and OLHC campuses -
it was a BIG day with 2 full set-ups/perform/pull-downs conducted.
Students received certificates as we nearly finished up a remarkably successful (if interrupted) year
where we'd enabled the inclusion of Year 4 students for the first time.
Have a look at our "Samaritan Band" year here!
*****
Having had our Senior Band members preparing for a performance (conducted by Ali & accompanied by Mark and Woodwind tutor Kym) at
Samaritan's annual Prize Night at Middleback Arts Centre - Covid again intervened with
amplified social distancing requirements forcing a change of venue.
With only 1 weeks notice we now needed to provide a Primary Band ensemble as well as our already planned Senior Band ensemble -
now to stage across 2 separate Prize Night gigs, one in the afternoon, one in the evening to
allow a maximum number of student families to attend within social distancing requirements.
Much more significantly - Prize Night was now to be held at the St John’s campus hall -
meaning Stormfront was now fully sponsoring, building & operating the hall
as a venue, inclusive of all Sound and Lights.
We began the 12 hour set-up on Sunday, finished at lunchtime on Monday, ran rehearsals,
saw both ensembles perform brilliantly, then pulled down the venue by 11.00pm that night.
Prize Night saw students Jaylee and Isabella pick up......
* Jaylee our newly sponsored "Outstanding Contribution To Music" award for her on-going
professional music industry progress seeing her recognised across the globe, with her Single "Tonight" coming soon!
* Isabella the "Middleback Arts Centre Award For Performing Arts" in testimony to
her many years of dedication to singing, playing and performing.
Our 2020 Samaritan Band Programme Excellence Awards were also announced and presented as follows:
Flute: Erin
Clarinet: Chantelle
Sax: Demi
Guitar: Jayden
Bass: Summa
Keyboard: Lyla
Percussion: Cooper
Drums: Layla
*****
With lessons winding up and all systems now "GO" for a 13th December launch -
major publicity began for LIONS "Carols In The Park" 2020 SPECIAL EDITION.
Mark was interviewed on ABC North & West Radio, "Cash Classifieds" ads began on TV,
and members of our "Carols" team met with Sophia from 7 Spencer Gulf TV News as
Whyalla News provided editorial & advertising support leading into the big day!
At 7.30pm - "Stage time" - on Sunday 13th December 2020 SPECIAL EDITION launched on YouTube -
we think it's an astonishing, unique and magical presentation that captures this moment in time forever.
With already thousands of Views and heartwarming feedback from the world over -
THANK YOU to everyone who participated and all who Shared their reactions and first viewing with us!
What a wonderful way to Celebrate Christmas in a year that has been so difficult for us all -
we are SO proud to sponsor this legacy now left forever!
View LIONS "Carols In The Park" 2020 SPECIAL EDITION here!
*****
On a personal note, Gypsy's condition improved and we currently are hopeful about her progress -
so the 3 of us shared a very quiet Christmas.
Ali's Dad and Mum travelled to Adelaide for his Heart surgery on 22nd December -
all seems to have gone well and we're hoping they'll be home for a quiet but Happy New Years!
*****
Stormfront Productions is immensely proud of the time, effort, sponsorship & dedication
we've given publicly and privately to community, charities & so many individuals.
We thank all of our students, clients, friends and followers for their support during this at times very testing year!
Let's all hope for a much brighter and smoother 2021!
We hope you all had a very MERRY CHRISTMAS -
and look forward to seeing EVERYONE in the New Year!
