Danielle Caruana is an award winning singer songwriter - better known to many by her on-stage moniker of Mama Kin.

This spellbinding singer and percussionist taps into the DNA of generations of creatives before her as half of the duo Mama Kin Spender - mesmerising audiences with her firebrand performances and songwriting.

Mama Kin Spender’s latest album Promises was nominated for an Aria this year, and on this episode of Streets of Your Town Danielle tells us how she lays her heart bare in the lyrics and emotion of this album, going into the layers of the demise and saving of her relationship with fellow musician John Butler.

She also wholeheartedly explores how to stay fierce as a woman and is unapologetic about desiring success and recognition for her work.

It was such a joy to speak to Danielle from her base at the eclectic creative hub of Fremantle in Perth about her songwriting, her upcoming performance at Woodford Folk Festival on the other side of the country, and her philanthropic work.

This episode of Streets of Your Town is a tribute to 30 years of friendship, and the power of the creative process in whatever form it takes.

Wren Valentino is an author, playwright, actor, film producer, entrepreneur and teacher based in Sacremento California. He’s the CEO and owner of Blue Dasher Productions, helping to bring more than 100 independent movies to the screen and championing the transformative power of the arts. Eight of his original screenplays and seven of his stage plays have been adapted for the screen.

And by an incredible stroke of kismet, this little Aussie Wandering journo met Wren almost exactly 30 years ago in a youth hostel in New York, where we bonded our friendship by sharing our artistic dreams over a hair dryer, while listening to a banging 80’s soundtrack during one of the city’s most savage snowstorms.

And we celebrate all of that on this episode of Streets of Your Town.

For more shownotes and links go to my Streets of Your Town substack magazine for this episode at soyt.substack.com

You can find more information on Wren on Instagram, Facebook, and Tik Tok. You can find more of his works at wrenvalentino.com

Sometimes our lives deviate from what we expected in ways we could never have imagined.

For Cairns based journalist, media trainer and author Kirsty Nancarrow, her bestselling and now award winning book Himalayan Dreams is proof that you never know what could be around the corner.

As a journalist for 15 years with ABC Radio in Queensland’s far north, Kirsty had covered literally thousands of stories for broadcast. However one of them stuck with her more than any other.

She met Som Tamang after the 2015 earthquake in Nepal. Som was living in Cairns but still had strong links to his homeland of Nepal through his ongoing work with the organisation he founded - Friends of Himalayan Children. He went straight back to Nepal with volunteers from Cairns to help in the aftermath of of the earthquake where thousands of people lost their lives.

Kirsty soon discovered the backstory - that Som had made it his mission since escaping child slavery himself, to give all Nepalese children access to education and a better life.

She would eventually go to Batase Village as a volunteer teacher 18 months later, and decided then to write the story of this remarkable man in her first book.

As Kirsty tells us on Streets of Your Town, she is constantly inspired by Som’s story and how much of a difference he has made particularly for girls, saving many from a life of early marriage and back breaking labour. She says he shows the difference that anyone can make when they don’t allow the obstacles in their life to overcome them.

For more shownotes and links - please go to my Streets of Your Town magazine for this episode at soyt.substack.com

You can find more information on Kirsty at https://www.kirstynancarrow.com/

For proud Darumbal and Wulli-Wulli man Garret Lyon, singing and connecting with his audience has been integral to his existence since he was a small child when he would sing show tunes to his family.

But just when he thought his talents were all coming to fruition, it was cruelly turned around in a way he didn’t expect.

However on reflection, he’s realised now that experience was a gift, and that what we sometimes see as failure, can be turned into success.

Garret has taken his singing from the bush where he grew up in Rockhampton in central Queensland, to all over Australia, performing and teaching the next generation of First Nations talent wherever he goes.

And as he tells us on Streets of Your Town from the dressing rooms of the Queensland Performing Arts Centre before another performance, he’s now come full circle, returning to performing the musicals that he first fell in love with.

For more shownotes and links - please go to my Streets of Your Town magazine for this episode at soyt.substack.com

You can find Garret on Instagram @garretrueben and his single Circles on Spotify

In a culture swamped by AI and technological change, it can become easy to dismiss our creative urges and tell ourselves that we missed our opportunity to shine.

However multi-instrumentalist, choir leader, singer and performer Kate Barzdo shows that creativity can burst forth at any time in our life, but only if we heed it and listen to it.

Kate has emerged from the recording studio again and released her third album of uplifting and inspirational melodic sounds that come straight from her heart.

Called Be the Love - this album defies genres with a mix of folk, country, gospel and reggae, and as Kate tells us on this episode of Streets of Your Town, it’s filled with messages of hope peace and joy. Kate is a strong advocate for the benefits of music in everyone’s lives.

For more shownotes and links - go to my Streets of Your Town magazine for this episode at soyt.substack.com

This week on Streets of Your Town, we’re going to Adelaide to celebrate one of the great founders of Australian rock music.

Bunna Lawrie is the frontman and founding member of the band Coloured Stone, whose song Black Boy released in 1984 is still an anthem for First Nations people.

He most recently performed at the Sydney Opera House in Generations and Dynasties, alongside his children, sharing stories of resilience, creativity, discrimination and empowerment through their music.

The proud Mirning Elder from the Nullarbor is also a passionate environmentalist and whale dreamer as well as his prolific music career, where he continues the songlines of his people to protect these ancient creatures.

He is a leader in the Fight for the Bight campaign, working against big oil and gas exploration companies in efforts to have the Great Australian Bight preserved as a World Heritage Site.

His connection to country and fight to protect it make him a perfect fit for Streets of Your Town podcast, and we are so lucky to have him share his story with us.

For more shownotes and links - go to my Streets of Your Town magazine for this episode at soyt.substack.com

nancehaxton.com.au

Danielle Aquilina has forged a path from slam poetry to devising her own award winning play, taking on the taboo topic of women’s bodies with fearless abandon.

Fat Girl may sound like a confronting title for a one woman show, but as Danielle tells us on Streets of Your Town - it’s an apt moniker for her unapologetic take on body dysmorphia, societal norms, and inner demons.

She’s fresh from winning the 2025 Darwin Fringe Festival “Risky Award”, and is now taking her defiant show on the road with a quick season in her home town of Brisbane, and invitations to take it further afield.

Drawing on her background in improvisational comedy and blending that with live performance, Danielle brings disarming honesty to the stage to make us all take a sharp breath before questioning our own assumptions, with a deeply personal yet universal story of reclaiming space, voice and worth.

https://anywhere.is/event/fat-girl/

For more shownotes and links - please go to my Streets of Your Town magazine for this episode at soyt.substack.com

nancehaxton.com.au

There are not many foods that have almost universal appeal, but bacon would have to be one of them.

So much so that the Queensland country region famed for producing bacon in many different varieties celebrates this feat with an annual Baconfest Festival.

Kingaroy in the South Burnett will become the hub for all things bacon related over the weekend of August 15 to 16, bringing with it a variety of country music performers and incredible food.

Local girl and country singer Amber Goldsmith is supporting headline act Troy Cassar-Daly for the main Saturday night concert. She tells us how excited she is to bring the region she loves to a bigger stage for more people to appreciate.

While Chief Baconeer Rob Fitz-Herbert tells us how the lure of the South Burnett converted this once city boy into an unabashed country man.

Yarning over the coals of a backyard fire in this chilly part of the world, he tells us why Baconfest is much more than eating fabulous food that’s produced in the region.

https://www.kingaroybaconfest.com.au/

https://www.ambergoldsmithmusic.com

For more shownotes and links - please go to my Streets of Your Town magazine for this episode at soyt.substack.com

nancehaxton.com.au