Three Manly teenagers are keeping the community connection alive and the tunes coming, with a makeshift DJ request form pinned to a fence post near Manly Beach allowing passers-by to make their selection.
Jack Anderson, Hugo Cairns and Mostyn Emery, all 19, live together on Carlton Street, Manly. They started their Manly Porch Sessions, a spotify playlist, by hanging up a small piece of cardboard on their front fence and inviting anybody who walked past to add their favourite song.
They were blown away by the response.
The young kids from across the road raced over to add ‘I like to move it move it’. The couple up the road added ‘Lovely Day’. A young guy working at The Herring Room raced down the road in his lunch break to add ‘You don’t know’ by Leon Bridges.
An older couple pinned up some great quotes to remind those passing by that “Every sunset brings the promise of a new dawn” (Ralph Waldo Emerson) and “Be kind whenever possible. It’s always possible. And be kinder than necessary” (Dalai Lama).
The guys created their own QR code, so while you are there, you can add a song and scan the QR code and access the playlist on Spotify (you can find it here). For those who don’t know, Spotify is a music streaming service and app.
A bit over two weeks in and they have 141 songs added by people around the neighbourhood, and it continues to grow each day. It’s a very eclectic mix from Bliss N Eso to Beiber, Post Malone, Phil Collins, Beatles, Eminem…
When it rains, they pull the lists in and as soon as the sun is back, the list re-appears ready for more.
Most warm afternoons and early evenings these three uni students can be found on their Carlton St porch, listening to the community created playlist ‘Manly Porch Sessions. By the people. For the people.’
They love chatting to all those who stop by to add songs, take photos, and connect, in a socially distant way of course.
“There is nothing better than watching people come together in difficult times,” the boys told Manly Observer reader Jo Wagstaff last weekend.
Jo is one of many residents who have really got a kick out of the initiative. “Living in a pandemic is hard for all of us. For those with young kids we are asked to become teachers, keep our kids engaged and motivated, while often still juggling work and life and leaving little time for ourselves or for our important relationships. For all of us there is the challenge of a lack of connection with our friends and family.
“And for those in their late teens and 20’s when your life often revolves around socialising, going out to pubs and clubs, connecting at uni or work, saving up and back-packing around the world, enjoying the era of freedom before life gets ‘serious’, it must be pretty bloody tough to not be able to go anywhere or do anything with your friends.”
“It’s a time when we need to find ways to still come together and support each other. And we have seen much of this on the Northern Beaches. Individuals and groups coming together to support people in need. Small and large acts of kindness.”
And this yet another great example of just that.
(Oh, and Manly Observer’s vote is Marryuna by Baker Boy and Joy to the World byThree Dog Night)
