Joanna Funk

music, gardening and my dog


Roaring Lion makes a special lady happy at Beenleigh Tavern

Before our gig at the Beenleigh Tavern on November 5 2022, our lead singer Glen posted a message in our group chat.

“Hey family, we have a request from a local woman Cathy who would like to make it to our BT show.”

Cathy’s message was: “Hi, my mum is a big Bob Marley fan, but as a pensioner, $35 is a lot of money. She has been through cancer and has had operation after operation for the last 16 years. I know she would love to go to this 😢.

Right away, our vocalist Vince said, “She can have my plus 1.”

So, it was on! The lady’s name was Rose, and she lives in Eagleby, so we were playing close to her home. She was excited to meet us and was looking forward to a great night of reggae music! We had one picture and made a point of looking out for her!

Rose arrived before our set started. She is very petite and looked fabulous in a red silk jacket and colourful jewellery! She was so excited and talked about how she was introduced to reggae as a young woman when she was in London in the 1990s. A friend shared his cassette tapes of different reggae artists, and he included a lot of Bob Marley music. Rose said she has always loved reggae since then.

Reggae has been with me all my life. It is such beautiful music — it lifts your spirit.

Rose, from Eagleby

Rose was radiant and she beamed from ear to ear, and it wasn’t long before she asked:

“Where’s Vince? My daughter told me to look out for Vince!”

So we went looking for Vince and soon she found him, along with most of the crew!

Rose is such a courageous woman and an inspiration to us all. We felt very humbled to have been able to do something nice for her.


Being in this band is such a privilege. It is such an incredible feeling to be on the receiving end of all that happiness coming from the crowd!

Our vocalist Vince has uploaded several videos from our Beenleigh gig — which sold out —onto our YouTube channel. All those smiling faces, it’s amazing! Be sure to listen to more music on our YouTube channel!


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About Joanna

Joanna is British Australian. She worked mainly in financial news in London. In her forties she moved to her parents’ birthplace, Sabah, a Malaysian state on the island of Borneo, where she became a pianist in a hotel and wrote a blog about musicians. The blog became a book before Joanna came to Australia in 2012. In this blog she writes mostly about music, gardening, and trips to Sabah. Oh, and Wookie the Havanese.

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