Season’s Greetings!

Marry Christmas and happy new year to everyone out there who I know and work with. I hope everyone has had some kind of a good end to the year as the start of it was really great for me and everyone else around me that I know but then in March onwards it got bad because of the Corona Virus and all the lock downs and restrictions. 2020 was most likely one of the worst years I have ever experienced. I thought 2019 was a bad year being diagnosed with type one diabetes but it was nothing compared to 2020.

In 2020 I lost most of my business/events/gigs in March, my health got worse as I was also diagnosed in July with Haemo Chromatosis, my Mum was diagnosed in August with dementia, my parents decided in September to sell their family home in Nambour that we lived in for 22 years and move and I bought my first house/unit in October in Nambour. It has been a big year for everyone that I know including myself and my family. A lot of things have gone wrong for so many people that I know in 2020. I can’t wait to see the end of it and hope that 2021 will be a lot better year for everyone including myself. I know that better things are ahead and all my business/gigs/events will come back very soon.

My parents decided to put their house at 117 Nambour Mapleton Road, Nambour on the market in the middle of September and it was sold in late October 2020. I grew up in this home since I was 15 years old and run all my businesses from this place over the years. Many people, business contacts, musos and friends have come to see me for meetings or stayed with me and my parents at it over the years. My parents built this house in 1998 and we have lived at it since then. They have bought and downsized to an unit and have moved to a retirement village in Caloundra. I have moved to a unit that I have bought in Nambour. This will be different for me as this will be the first time I have lived by myself. I will get more support from the NDIS for support workers to come in and help me with daily tasks. It has been very stressful for both myself and my family going through this whole process of cleaning up, packing everything, throwing out some things, selling some items, selling the house, working out where we were all going to live, buying both of our new units, moving and setting everything up at our new places. This move and settlement only happened in the past week. 2021 is going to be a very different year for myself living alone and the start to a new life/world for me which I am looking forward to.

I started 2020 off to one of the best years for my businesses, Hostile Entertainment, David Dean Events and TURN UP and had had some really great shows with good turn outs in January and February with Russell Morris, The Amity Affliction, Ocean Grove, Antagonist A.D, Kevin Borich, Bobby Alu and Matt Turner. I was also involved in helping to organise and promote The Sunshine Coast Bush Fire Appeal at The Banana Bender Pub / Aussie World on Sunday 9 February 2020. I attended the Alice Cooper MC50 and @Air Born show at The Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Brisbane on Tuesday 18 February 2020. This was a great show and I was a guest of MC 50 and got to hang out with this band back stage and then watch Alice Cooper from side of stage which was an amazing loud experience. I also went to see Tool which is one of my favourite bands at The Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Brisbane on Thursday 20 February 2020. They were so great live like always playing for 2.15 hours. In the first week of March 2020 I was lucky and given guest tickets to attend the two Elton John shows at The Sunshine Coast Stadium with friends. They are some of the biggest shows crowd wise and the biggest artist to ever play on the Sunshine Coast to date. This really was a great experience even know I am not a really big fan but I like to see artists as good as him with so many hits live to excite me. I am glad that I attended these shows for this act as the production, set up and band/sound was so great and big. This was the last big international touring act that I saw before the lockdowns happened only a week or so after attending these shows.

I got my new website built for David Dean Events by Marc Austin-Zande and up online earlier this year with all my photos from gigs/events which he had taken along with blog and news items/tours up on it. I also have got Marc to up-date both of my Hostile Entertainment websites over this year and taken acts of there and added some new ones that I am working with.

I started working with both @Krave and Zubrishen who are both two heavier bands in the last three months of 2020 and we have plans to tour both bands in 2021 with new releases coming out for both bands. Check them out online if you haven’t heard their music before. With Turn Up Event we decided to not do a conference in 2020 because of the virus and the restrictions on numbers inside venues. We received a grant from Arts Queensland and QMusic to film four showcase acts/bands at the Solbar, Maroochydore on the Sunshine Coast in September. These bands/acts were The Fins, ZUBRISHEN, Irukandji and Ashley Pel. We also filmed some different panels for the online Turn Up Summits at Peace Run Records And Agency in Nambour in November that we are going to edit together with the showcase acts clips and some other things and put them up online in different months in 2021 to be announced very soon. We aren’t sure if we will put on a conference like we have in past years in 2021 but we will see what happens with all of this and the restrictions in the coming months/year.

Below is a list of acts/bands/shows/dates that I worked with or have gone to see play live in 2020:
Russell Morris with support from Dan Horne at The Malt Shovel Taphouse, Sunshine Coast on Thursday 2 January 2020.
Russell Morris with support from Matt Turner at The Sound Lounge, Gold Coast on Friday 3 January 2020.
Jon Toogood with support from Matt Turner at The Kings Cliff Beach Hotel, NSW on Friday 10 January 2020. Jon Toogood with Support from Matt Turner and Humblet at The Foundary, Brisbane on Saturday 11 January 2020. The Amity Affliction with support from Ocean Grove, Antagonist AD and She Cries Wolf at Venue 114, Sunshine Coast on Friday 31 January 2020. The Sunshine Coast Bush Fire Appeal at The Banana Bender Pub / Aussie World on Sunday 9 February 2020 with The Bonnie Doons, Doesd, Mason Hope, The Spirits, Aspy Jones Band, David Flower, Bohemian Rogue, Ayla, Mayah, Harri Bandhu, Anna And Jordan, Sarah Woods and North And Elsewhere plus many more roving entertainment. Alice Cooper, MC 50 and Air Born at The Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Brisbane on Tuesday 18 February 2020. Kevin Borich Express with support from Craig Madden At The Malt Shovel Taphouse, Sunshine Coast on Thursday 20 February 2020. Tool at The Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Brisbane on Thursday 20 February 2020. The Sunny Boys supported by The Rocket Scientists at The Shed at Aussie World, Sunshine Coast on Friday 21 February 2020. Bobby Alu and band with support from Black Salt duo at The Malt Shovel Taphouse, Sunshine Coast on Sunday 23 February 2020. Elton John at The Sunshine Coast Stadium on Tuesday 3 March 2020. Elton John at The Sunshine Coast Stadium on Wednesday 4 March 2020. Salt And Steel, Chilli Gomez, Acacia and Matt Turner at Howl And Moan Records shop, Byron Bay on Sunday 8 March 2020. The Airwaves Drive In Event at The Nambour Showgrounds, on Saturday 11 July 2020 with The Chats, Buggs and Being Jane Lane. Winter Blues drive in gig at The Maleny Showgrounds on Saturday 18 July 2020 with Kevin Borich Express, Vic And The Slick Chicks, The Spirits and local school band. Mayah playing as part of the Mayors Lunch at The Noosa Boat Club, Noosa on Friday 14 August 2020. Turn Up Conference showcase acts filming at the Solbar, Maroochydore on the Sunshine Coast on Saturday 5 September 2020. The Turn Up Summits filming at Piece Run Records And Agency, Nambour on Sunday 22 November 2020. Hostile Entertainment and David Dean Events has the following shows announced for 2021 with hopefully a lot more to be booked and announced in the coming months for the next year. Keep a look out for them online. Mayah at The Alex Summer Carnival, Sunshine Coast on Thursday 31 December 2020 from 5:30 pm until 6:30 pm and 7:30 pm until 8:30 pm. Mayah at The Alex Summer Carnival, Sunshine Coast on Friday 8 January from 7:00 pm until 9:00 pm. Krave, supporting show at Vinnies Dive, Gold Coast on Friday 15 January 2021 (with Ocean Shores, War Bears and Neverfold). Doors open at 8:00 pm and this gig/date/venue is free entry. The Spirits at The Silky Oak Tea Gardens which is on the Tin Can Bay road on Saturday 23 January 2021. Doors open at 6:00 pm and tickets are $10 at the door. Mayah at The Alex Heads Surf Club, Sunshine Coast in The Bluff Bar on Saturday 6 February 2021 from 4:30 pm until 7:30 pm, free entry. Barry Bull Unbreakabull book launch at The Mooloolaba Surf Club on Sunday 7 February 2021 from 1:30 pm. Tickets will be $20 pre-sold online and includes afternoon tea. Krave playing as support at the Ungrained Event at Tomcat, Brisbane on Saturday 13 February 2021 from 7:30 pm and free entry.

I have trained at the gym most of the year and have made some good improvements to my health, fitness and strength which is great. I also worked with my Exercise Physiologist Levi from Sunshine Coast Wellness and the rest of the personal trainers at Anytime Fitness, Nambour who are Sophie, Kristy and John to help me with my training all year with PT sessions and classes. Throughout the Corona Virus from March 24 until the middle of July I trained with Levi who came to my house and train me three days a week in my garage and the other days of the week I trained myself with some gear he loaned me. I would have been really unmotivated if I didn’t train throughout the lockdown but this kept me focussed and my head and body healthy and well throughout this virus and lockdown that we have all faced this year. I competed at the Queensland Indoor Rowing Championships in October on the Sunshine Coast and got two Australian records for my age group which was great. My training and fitness is very important to me and something I do every day which I have to do to help my health. I look forward to training in 2021 and setting some new golds for me to achieve in the gym.

I hope everyone out there has a very marry Christmas this year after everything we have all been through in 2020 with the lockdowns and restrictions because of the Corona Virus. I hope you and your families are safe and get some rest over the break and happy new year to you all. I will be catching up with family and friends over the holidays and I can’t wait for what is ahead in 2021 for myself and everyone else. Keep it live, local, loud and see you out at a gig/event very soon in 2021.