In 2008 The Aspinauts and I were gathered in a living room improvising with me doing beat poetry as the guys jammed on guitars, drums, keyboards.  It became an anti war protest song, Ladies and Gentlemen.  Luckily, someone hit the record button so when Paul joined us as drummer in 2009 we began to rehearse the song.  It became a powerful, almost Floydian stand out piece of sound art and made it onto the debut album, Broken Biscuit in 2010.

Here’s the video clip made by Oz Thomas, a colorful human and a wonderful poet in his own right.

We’ve always considered Donna and The Aspinauts to be diversity friendly but what does it mean to be a disability friendly band?  Is it about having people with disabilities in the band?  Is it about making it easy for those with disabilities to attend your gigs and shows?  Is it about having a natural sense of equality with and respect for those with disabilities?  Is it about having a strong presence in the wider disability community?  Read the rest of this entry »

AIME is a mentoring program for Indigenous Australian high school kids.  It links them up with Indigenous University Students to inspire and encourage them to take their hopes, dreams and skills further.  AIME has launched a TV campaign to raise awareness of their program.  They need (tax deductible) donations to keep this important program going.  They need to spread awareness of the program and the inequality indigenous Australian’s, particularly youth, are still experiencing in Australian cities and towns today.  Check out their work.  Blog about it.  Volunteer.  Donate.  Read the rest of this entry »

This week Australia was again wrangling over asylum seekers headed for Australian shores.  Whilst the Rudd government has not been as overtly racist as that of John Howard, it still fails to lead the Australian people in how to combine both warmth and sense in tackling ‘the asylum seeker issue’ and the media as still to self interested to address their use of loaded terms which fan the flames of racism and sell their papers. Read the rest of this entry »

Footsteps of a Nobody is getting a 2nd showing!

Footsteps of a Nobody is a powerful one woman rock-musical from Donna Williams, author of the international bestseller, Nobody Nowhere; Autobiography of an Autistic Girl. Through characterisations, gestural signing, evocative spoken word and song it traces Donna’s pivotal experiences from a meaning deaf, meaning blind feral child to homelessness and life as a domestic prostitute and on to her ultimate fight to claim a place of equality among others.

REVIEWS OF DONNA WILLIAMS’ BOOKS:
THE NEW YORK TIMES: She allows us to understand our own perceptions as never before.
PEOPLE MAGAZINE: By turns fascinating and harrowing…
WEEKEND REVIEW: …evocative, poetic…compelling, shocking, gut-wrenchingly moving…
DAILY TELEGRAPH: Powerful and unique.
THE GLOBE AND MAIL: deserves every superlative a reviewer can muster.

BOOKINGS: 9329 8821

www.spenserslive.com.au
www.aspinauts.com

  Following the recent incendiary theatrics surrounding international autism expert and author, Tony Attwood, I invited him to a Skype interview.  I recorded the hour long interview in which I asked Tony about his involvement with FAAS, his take on CAAD, his view on autistic culture and the autistic pride movement, about the concept of hate groups and whether he does farcical characterisations of non-spectrum people too.  The result was an amusing interview over on my podcast site, Odd Pod. Read the rest of this entry »

Footsteps of a Nobody is our very first rock-musical.  Footsteps of a Nobody is a powerful one woman rock-musical from Donna Williams, author of the international bestseller,  Nobody Nowhere; Autobiography of an Autistic Girl Nobody Nowhere; Autobiography of an Autistic Girl. Through characterisations, gestural signing, evocative spoken word and song it traces Donna’s pivotal experiences from a meaning deaf, meaning blind feral child to homelessness and life as a domestic prostitute and on to her ultimate fight to claim a place of equality among others.  It will be performed Its on 8pm-9pm on Monday 20th July 09 at The Carlton Courthouse 349 Drummond St, Carlton and (run by La Mama Theatre) for one night only.  Tickets are only $8 concession or $12 waged.  (Note, this show now has a second showing coming up, this time at Spenser’s Live, Friday Aug 14th 09). Read the rest of this entry »

THAT’S SO GAY a song by Donna Williams 2009

Read the rest of this entry »

  Once upon a time Romans forced gladiators to fight wild animals for the audience’s blood lust.  Then we had Nazi Germany where regular Germans turned a blind eye to persecution or considered their own part in it minimal for they were only doing what ‘others had already done’.  And we had football but it became so corporate people lost ownership of it.  Today we have celebrity bashing as the new football and those who get the boots in will often say “I wasn’t the first”, “I’m only doing what others had already done” and that he or she ‘deserved it’ by ‘making themselves a public person’.   When haters call for new recruits, I find this lust for shared hatred sociologically fascinating but also calls to my spirituality as a Taoist.  Why do people crave such imbalance? Read the rest of this entry »

  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,

Donna Williams

author, artist, singer-songwriter, screenwriter

http://www.myspace.com/donnaandtheaspinauts

http://www.donnawilliams.net