Imagine a Christmas in Melbourne where there were virtually no street decorations, where shopkeepers didn’t make Christmas windows, where the houses largely had no Christmas lights, no wreaths or garlands, often not even an indoor Christmas tree. Well, in 2011, it happened. Person after person began spreading news not of Christmas cheer, but of Christmas sneer. Read the rest of this entry »
I just watched on Australian TV how horrendous the unemployment and homelessness is in America right now. Sure, maybe you’re afraid of needy people. They may seem like drowning people and you don’t want to be pulled under just because you reached out a hand. But many people who’ve fallen on hard times are not necessarily opportunists and give them an inch and that is in fact all they’ll take and look forward to being able to give something back. How do I know? I was homeless in my teens and intermittently through my 20s. So I pondered what each of us can do to get to know or constructively help those in these positions. Here’s some ideas : Read the rest of this entry »
On May 21st, for one night only Donna Williams and The Aspinauts will perform the rock musical Footsteps of a Nobody 7-8pm, followed by an interactive question-answer forum with the audience, Walking In Autistic Shoes, from 8-8.30pm at the Wendouree Centre For Performing Arts. Proudly sponsored by Ballarat Autism Network as part of World Autism Awareness Month. With question time to follow the show this is an opportunity for an amazing, informative and inspiring night out. Read the rest of this entry »
Donna and The Aspinauts have an adult version of the Barbie song, but I’ve reworked the lyrics for a kids version. Enjoy Read the rest of this entry »
In 1985 I wrote a song called Not Just Anything. In 2009, I rewrote the lyrics to form the song A Room With A View. Unlike the award winning Merchant Ivory film of the same name (adapted from the 1908 novel by E.M Forster) my song is not a about an Edwardian romance. In 2007, I had written a filmscript, Mc Reedy’s Christmas (represented by Bicoastal Talent) about a post apocalyptic society and related to climate change in a world where we did nothing to stop it. The lyrics to A Room With A View were based on Mc Reedy’s world. Here’s its lyrics: Read the rest of this entry »
As governments worldwide put economy before climate let me quote from , New Scientist cover story, from 28th Feb 09 issue from article “Surviving in a Warmer World” by Gaia Vince, who on page 33 quotes Crutzen in conclusion:
“I would like to be optimistic that we’ll survive, but I’ve got no good reason to be. I order to be safe we would have to reduce our carbon emissions by 70 per cent by 2015. We are currently putting in 3 percent more each year”.
Want to help change that? Lets stop over glorifying the replication process we call populating, get over ourselves, give the planet a rest and speak out to make the changes needed for us to be a planet that can still feed ourselves in 2015.
Donna Williams, Dip Ed, BA Hons
author, artist, singer-songwriter, screenwriter
SUNDAY 3rd May is the Annual Chestnut Festival at Kalorama Reserve on Mount Dandenong Tourist Rd (near Grange Rd) which has been going for over 30 years. Over the years it has grown into a major event in the picturesque tourist spot of Dandenong Ranges.
Aside from the rainforest at Grant’s Picnic Ground and the gum forests of Monbulk, Kalista and Kalorama just minutes from the festival, there will be fairground rides, buskers, market stalls, roast chestnuts (of course), Devonshire teas, cakes, sausage sizzle, raffles, face painting, plants & showbags at the festival itself and the warm hospitality of the hills folk (of which I am one!).
Proceeds to the Mt Dandenong Pre-school up here in the hills. And you can hang out with me and the band, Donna Williams and The Aspinauts.
The lineup of performers will be:
Hope to see some of you there.
At 4.31pm I was sitting at my desk just like I was 2 weeks ago. Then the whole house rumbled, the foundations, the walls, the very earth. By the time I realised Melbourne had yet another earthquake, a 4.6 this time (last time was a 4.7), it had stopped. I strode outside and called to my neighbour. Did we just have another earthquake? She wanted to know. Yep, I said, shocked. Wild stuff. Melbourne and earthquakes were always such unlikely dance partners.
So you wondered what Donna Williams and The Aspinauts look like playing live? Now you can see for yourself in our new Donna and The Aspinauts slideshow. What’s more we’re even able to do a video concert for your event, even look into doing one live via teleconferencing facilities here in Melbourne. With Donna and The Aspinauts you get an abundance of atmosphere and the sky’s the limit 
Warmly,
author, artist, singer-songwriter, screenwriter
Heidi Everett is an awesome performer so it was a great honor to get this review from her. Enjoy. Here it is:
“The gig – ‘Rock and Rebuild’ benefit concert for Victoria’s bushfire crisis, was organised and promoted by Kaine Marsh, head of Finbar Production. The bands – A very eclectic yet thoroughly charismatic line up of artists who have some sort of connection with the towns affected by the fires. The location – Hurstbridge Oval, an iconic picture of pure Aussieness.
Tigger-dog and I had a visual introduction to Rock and Rebuild as the officially on-time Connex rolled into Hurstbridge station. A sun dried brick of a country oval transformed wonderfully into a fruitful orchard of stalls and country folk milling around a flat bed truck pumping out music with a whole lotta heart. As we lounged around in front of the stage, Donna and the Aspinauts sauntered into their first number and had the audience looking up from their snags to see what the hell had hit them front and centre between the eyes and ears.
A-ha! These were no ordinary folk songs to be kum-by-ya’d around the campfire, no way! As the guys in the Aspinauts band changed gear quicker than a red Ferrari, front-woman Donna kept apace brilliantly with her phonetically charged lyrics and mesmerizing hands shaping the melody like an artist at the easel. I watched, captivated like the crowd around me. Each song blurred deliciously into the next with Donna’s spoken word etching out the poetry of human condition, always so very eloquent and astutely connected to the song the band was about to launch into, such a poignant moment when Donna painted the scene of a blackened landscape, burnt by the very fires this benefit concert set to quell.
The set itself was just the right amount of time for Donna and the Aspinauts own musical genre to be smacked firmly into the hearts and minds of the audience. As a muso myself, I intuitively looked around to see the reaction of people who might not have had the chance to experience such a richly flavoured ensemble before, and as a muso, I can confidently say that The Aspinauts had the crowd in the rather elusive ‘palm of the hand’.
I’ve seen this band a few times now and I thoroughly recommend an audience with a Donna and the Aspinauts event if you are ever given the chance. I say event because they are so much more than just a band playing music, each of your five senses will be buzzing before the end of the first song, and by the end of the show, you’ll be definitely Aspi-fied.”
Heidi Everett
Donna Williams is an Australian born adult with autism who was assessed as psychotic at the age of 2 in 1965, labelled disturbed in the 1970s and diagnosed as autistic in her 20s in 1991.
She acquired functional speech in late childhood and went on to become a qualified teacher with an honors degree in Sociology and a degree in Linguistics. She is the author of two international bestselling autobiographies and has 10 published books including 4 text books widely used in autism education and two books of poetry and prose.
As a screenwriter, she wrote the screenplay to “Nobody Nowhere“, the first book in her 4 book autobiographical series. That screenplay is currently under option to become a Hollywood film. She is an professional artist, singer-songwriter and published poet as well as a world renowned public speaker on autism now living with her husband in Australia. In her presentations she draws not only on her own experiences but on international experience as a professional autism consultant since 1996.
Donna’s is a speaker in demand around the world due to her unique perspective and ability to share her feelings and experiences on a very personal level. More information about her and her life’s work can be found on her website at http://www.donnawilliams.net .