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down to the start of the month |
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Terry
Chapman and Grant Beech in the B&W '70s
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And
this is what makes it all worth while..
28.11.12 - I can put
up any old pic on FaceBook and I get an instantaneous
response, but the monthly Pith & Wind
often goes unacknowledged, so it's nice to
get a empathetic nod from a P&W correspondent
every now and then. You can read Terry Chapman's
comments and reminiscences on the Correspondence
page.
When I asked Terry if I could reprint his
e-mail he sent back the accompanying pic.
Terry says about the pic: 'That was me in
1971 - on the left (below), trying to look
cool with hands in pockets. Those were my
Sebastian’s ‘salad days’.
The guy with me is Grant Beech, a drummer
friend at the time, don’t know what
became of him?'
Well, maybe someone out there knows and can
let us know. |
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Roadies
Collective..
1)
We meet Hugh McSpedden on the way to St Kilda
Bowling Club 2) Bill and Nick Chugg get reacquainted
post LWTTT
3)
Mal Logan joined Spectrum on keys later on
4) Mike Gudinski looks fightting fit after
a difficult year health-wise
5)
Greg Noakes tries to organise a rabble of
roadies to take their picture 6) Ian Rumboldt
stumbles with his award
gig
report
Sun.
25.11.12 Roadies Revenge St Kilda Bowling
Club
The
inaugural ARCC reunion - check one, two..
26.11.12 - I
gathered from the tenor of the often quite
passionate speeches during the afternoon that
the prime motivation for this overdue roadies'
get-together was a general disquiet about
the number of suicides in the ranks of ex-roadies.
Musicians have got a couple of benevolent
societies in Support Act and Entertainment
Assist, but the roadies, who served us so
well for so long all those years ago and often
in the most difficult of cicumstances, have
had nothing to assist them in the post-glory
days. So, now they have the Australian Road
Crew Collective and it was good to catch up
with some of the survivors yesterday at the
St Kilda Bowling Club, although recognition
was often slow (on both sides) as quite a
few of us have changed dramatically in the
intervening years.
Ian 'Piggy' Peel had suggested we might like
a bit of a play after the formalities, so
I volunteered the trio. Robbo arrived just
in time from his arvo gig at the Yarra Glen
and Mal Logan (pic 3) jumped onto
the keys to help us out with a brief set of
mostly blues tunes. My voice all but disappeared
after a couple of songs, which'll happen when
you're struggling to hear yourself, and Bill
was confined to being DI'ed after the bass
amp carked it in an earlier misadventure with
Roger McLaughlin. Hmmm...
Anyway, it was all in good fun and I think
we were all happy just to be there. I hope
the ARCC gets into stride quickly and achieves
their aim of saving a few of their ailing
constituents from bowing out prematurely. |
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The
Mann (left) and friend conspire behind the
scenes |
gig
report
Sat. 17 11 12 The Mann's 50th The Mannsion
Seaford
The
Mann's 50th spins out
18.11.12 - 'What are
you guys doin' here?' enquired the perpetually
exuberant Jim Mann as Bill and I wandered
into The Mannsion, actually a factory space
on an industrial estate in Seaford. Well,
we were kinda early, so we shufflled
off to Franger-town and had a bite before
returning to set up next to Jim's veritable
Luddys deep in the chaos of his workshop-cum-living
space.
The first set was fairly restrained, with
a few Spectrum devotees knowledgeably identifying
the occasional relic, but things livened up
in the second set, with Michelle Johns joining
us on keys and Jim chiming in on the Luddys.
Let's say it was as close to Gary Glitter
as I'd ever own up to.. |
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The
Drs Sellers' put on a happy face in Elwood's
very own Inferno |
gig
report
Sat. 10.11.12 Elsternwick Hotel
Life's
too short..
11.11.12 - Today
used to be known as Armistice Day, a day to
reflect on the war to end all wars specifically,
but you'll excuse me if I subvert the theme
ever so slightly. Yesterday began ordinarily
enough but started turning to shit shortly
after lunch when I discovered I'd misplaced
the keys for the shed, thwarting any ambitions
I had for tackling the garden. I turned this
reverse into an excuse for vacuuming my bedroom
more thoroughly than I've done since I moved
in a couple of years ago and |
thought that might
be the end of it.
Bill arrived and we packed the van. Bill asked
where the red bag was, the one with all the
critical leads for the PA. We couldn't find
it. I rang Nik in Ivanhoe where we played
on Melbourne Cup Day and he confirmed it was
there - where I'd left it. Bill volunteered
to pick it up and meet me at the Elsternwick,
which he duly did, and by which time I'd met
the Sellers' (pic) and we'd had a
pleasant enough meal in the bistro.
Robbo remarked as we were setting up that
it felt like we were in some country pub,
by which I understood that it felt like we
were trapped in some diabolical time warp.
For instance, the door to the outside smoking
area remained open all night and the smoke
drifted into the room unimpeded - I could
feel it catching at the back of my throat
and . I can still smell smoke on my clothes
and in my hair.
The worst feature however was the wretched
sound insulation. At the end of the night
I likened the experience to the National Press
Club, where the sound is similarly suppressed,
but without the climax. This also meant the
recorded music before and in between our sets
was cranked up to the level of distortion
in an attempt to create some residual atmosphere
and when we started to play it we sounded
like some group of mediaeval minstrels plucking
on their lutes and banging on tambourines
by comparison.
It was a time warp all right - and I suppose
I might've managed a wry smile had I been
able to enjoy the playing side of things,
but the discomfort was unrelenting and I felt
sorry for the good people I'd lured into checking
us out on the night. It won't happen again.
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Once
in a Green Moon..
Play
like there's nobody there. There's somebody.
Waddawe gonna do now?
gig
report
Tues.
6.11.12 Nik Matovinovic's place in Ivanhoe
Melbourne
Cup Day doesn't go quite according to script..
6.11.12
- It
quite often rains on Melbourne Cup Day, so
we set up in Nik's garage rather
than in front of it as we have in the past.
The forecast was equivocal, so we were rather
hoping that it wasn't going to rain this time,
but at least we weren't going to get electrocuted
if it did. We started playing just after 2.00
and about forty minutes later the rain started,
so we adjourned to watch the running of the
Cup. Robbo had picked the winner, so at least
he won a few bob. The next set went about
the same distance when the thunder clouds
rolled in and we had to call a halt to proceedings
again. This time it was for good, which was
a shame 'cause we were really enjoying ourselves.
Nik was philosophical even after the van got
stuck near the top of his drive and I had
to roll it all the way back down to get a
little bit of a run at it. Maybe we'll have
better luck next year.. |
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Fiddler
Nic Lyons gives Strathie Bill the glad eye |
In
North Melbourne tonight
5.11.12 - I've
forgotten how many years I've been doing this
now, but I'm grateful that Bill takes the
time to come down from the hills and help
me out these days. This year the well-known
Welsh gypsy, Nic Lyons, (pic) was
in the room and immediately volunteered to
help out with some fiddle on our one contribution
to the evening's festivities, the inevitable
party trick, The Song etc. Everybody joined
in of course, which I imagine ensures we'll
be back again next year.
It's all in a good cause. It's sub-titled
'An evening with Tony Cavanagh and friends'
and the proceeds go to Support Act. The venue
had been shifted back to the Czech House,
but thankfully it was relocated at the last
minute to Candelles. Anybody who was anybody
in the '60s was in attendance. |
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