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Lobby's
Benefit goes off!
1)
Colin Burgess and Jim Keays in stereo 2) Brenden Mason, Bill,
Paul Wheeler's partner Kerrry Ritson and Paul
3)
Spectrum's Daryl Roberts and Chain's Dirk Dubious 4) Matt
Taylor leans to the right
5)
Jimmy Barnes beams 6) Lobby's daughter Frances and guitarist
Duncan 7) Someday I'll have..*
8)
Wild Bill Thorpe interrogates Lobby* 9) Russell Morris seconds
before hitting
the stage
10)
They're groaning - Mike, Thorpie, Phil and Bill 11) Wendy
Saddington gives an impassioned performance
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gig
report
Big, big Lobster night out
30.8.06 - It was always going to be a
long night. They asked us all to be at The Palace at 5.00
for a meet 'n' greet photo (some people paid $200.00 for the
privilege of having their photos taken with the cast and the
possibility of chatting with somebody famous) and the shoot
did eventually happen - after 6.00. Food arrived, but I wasn't
hungry then and wound up not eating till after 11.00, (I bought
a lamentable hot dog from the stand out front), but I'd had
a late and rather large lunch so I wasn't going to faint -
well, not from hunger anyway. Sparrow (formerly Avenue, who
feature on the Gonz CD) opened the show at about 7.30, and
the tone was set, with medically dangerous levels of bass
and kick pulverising anyone immediately in front of (or behind
for that matter) the bass bins flanking the stage. Some bands
went out of their way to be loud too, which I thought was
quite unnecessary, and combined with the cigarette smoke and
the total absence of seating, I was glad not to be trapped
with the audience in the auditorium for the whole night .
And so it went, on and on and on. I thought the poppier (i.e.
more melodic) acts acquitted themselves best, with Brian Cadd,
Russell Morris and even the Masters standing out. Brod Smith
and Phil Para made a special effort with a version of the
Purple Hearts' Early In The Morning (a Graham Bond
Organisation song that my band Chants R&B used to do when
we arrived in Melbourne in '66), Wendy Saddington gave an
impassioned reading of Looking Through A Window,
and of course Lobby pulled the requisite energy from out of
a hat (and even defiantly rolled himself a fag to stick on
his bottom lip) and put in consecutive stony-faced sets that
would seem to have put the seal on a noteworthy career.
Billy Thorpe stalked the ramparts back stage and bossed everybody
about, but without his energy and focus I suspect there wouldn't
have been a show, and it was all worth it to see the expression
on Lobby's face throughout the evening. Anyway, Billy gave
Spectrum a generous intro and even kissed my hand at the end
of the evening, which was a bit startling.
The crew found my Raybans and misplaced my effects board extension,
but were the stars of the evening as far as the smooth-running
of a pretty complicated night went. Lobby's family benefitted
to the tune of $90,000 - Warren Morgan says all they've got
to do now is make sure Lobby doesn't get his hands on it and
blow it on some wacky project or other.
(Check
out the crowd
pic to see if you're there) + readers'
feedback
* photos
by Harley Parker + Age
story |
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King
Lobster
1)
Tony Naylor nails it 2) Brian Cadd plays a few bars of Purple
Haze 3) The girls chat ornamentally |
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Lobby
Benefit sound check rocks
28.8.06 - I'm dumbfounded - the sound check
was actually on time! In fact, I was nearly late, it was so
on time! Funnily enough, I don't remember ever having played
in The Palace - in fact I don't think I've even been in the
room before tonight. It's not a bad sort of space either - better
than the Mercury Room I'd guess. I'm stuck with a Marshall plus
quad box, courtesy of he-who-must-be-obeyed, but even that sounded
appropriate. Lobby, looking in good spirits (pic left),
commented favourably on the 'architecture' of our sound, so
it mustn't have been too bad. The usual rule is that a good
sound check is followed by disastrous sound on the night. May
that rule be broken.. |
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Jazz-man
(Jasmine) and Maria with Kerry to the rear |
A
huge, tiny night at the Wild Thyme Café
28.8.06 - Warby! Nestled in the hills nearly
an hour's drive from Camberwell, it was known as the place to
take refuge from Melbourne's stifling summer heat and had a
famous sanitorium located there, but it's famous from our perspective
for having the Wild Thyme Café, the
world's most intimate gig. I was looking forward to just playing
again after a very quiet August, and Saturday night was no disappointment.
Barry McCullough (Willy Winter Band) lives there now and rolled
up with a video camera in hand and filmed most of the night.
He's promised to send it to me so that will be a most interesting
record. (Maybe). Our host Alan has created an area for the band
outside at the back and I can't wait till summer to try it out.
But I will.. |
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1) Nicky
incites Joe into a guitar frenzy (see large
pic) 2) Joe blows his mean pink sax |
Limestone
passages
25.8.06 - I was astonished to receive an
invitation from Mark Sydow's office to the launch of Joe Camilleri
and Nicky Bomba's Limestone CD at The Cornish Arms
this afternoon (Friday). Given the way things have been at home
lately I was glad of the opportunity to pop over to Brunswick
and check it all out, and arrived in time to have a few words |
| with Joe and Nicky before they took
to the stage (which has moved since I was last at the Arms).
What followed was a very relaxed and entertaining set featuring
five numbers from the Limestone CD, which I'm listening
to as I write this (we all got a Bomba shopping bag with three
Bomba CDs inside). The reggae thing is very much Nicky's stock
in trade of course, and the combination of the two Maltese Dub
Masters is uninhibited and irresistible, and so I headed home
with my spirits replenished and not a little grateful for the
surprise invitation. |
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The
return of Esmeralda
15.8.06 - Our friend Peter Barber
asked if we could do a revised version of Esmeralda for him
with a different set of lyrics - which I did, but I thought
you might like to hear the old lyrics one more time in a new
recording. I stayed with the original feel and Bill put down
a really nice loping guitar part, but there's a group of gospel
singers in the break that I'm not too sure about - see what
you think. I've stuck it on the Demos
page.
There's a painting in the Louvre (right) of Francois
d'Aguesseau who lived in 18th century France. Bobby Valentine
thinks it looks like me.. |
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Spectrum
NOTat the Prince this Friday
15.8.06
- It's just as well Rob Rowe rang today to invite me to the
Ian McCausland exhibition he's holding at the Willy RSL on Sunday
arvo October the 15th, (stick that in your diary!),
because he said in passing that he and the gang were looking
forward to seeing us at the Prince Albert in Williamstown this
Friday night. There was nothing about it in the Outlook Calendar
I was looking at, but Rob insisted that there it was, large
as life on the Gigs page. It was too, but it's not there now,
which is a pity 'cause we could've done with a gig about now,
but I thought I'd better reinforce the message just in case
you were mapping out your weekend with smoke-inhalation at the
Prince with Spectrum number one on your list.. |
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The
hills are alive..
1)
Cres Crisp, Mike, and Riley Jordan 2) Brian Baker and Ella play
from their In Our Backyard EP (see large
pic) |
Double
CD launch at the Burrinja Café
13.8.06 - It was just as well we weren't
working last night - I did something horrible to my neck on
Friday (I'm still in quite some discomfort), but allowed myself
some time off from painfully doing last year's tax to pop up
to the Burrinja Café last night (Saturday) to attend
a double CD launch for Riley Jordan and Brian Baker. Riley's
partner Cres Crisp used to play with Bill and me in the Mike
Rudd Quintet, (it used to amuse me when agents would ask how
many were in the band), and Riley and Cres were presenting songs
from Riley's new CD The Secret Daughter's Rhyme as
well as joining Brian Baker and company for a few numbers and
vice versa. I bought Brian's new In Our Backyard
EP some weeks ago from his
site (I think Robbo's got it at the moment) and found it
another imaginative and melodic offering, albeit with a home
neighbourhood focus lyrically (I bet Rowville's not been the
subject of too many songs) and stripped back instrumentally,
the band being for the most part discarded in favour of just
acoustic guitar and voice .
The band wasn't in evidence for this live show either, with
guitarist Mark Smith being the only survivor from The Spoils
Of The Empire outfit I saw some months back, but almost by way
of compensation Brian's daughter Ella has blossomed in confidence
and is contributing much more by way of her presence.
I had a couple of chats with Brian - I find his positive attitude
in adapting to changed circumstances inspirational - and I commented
on his output, contrasting it ruefully with my own stalling,
and he said he was inspired in turn by David Briggs' advice
to keep on producing a catalogue of recorded material irrespective
of the interest or otherwise from the industry or public. Good
advice too - I should take it to heart.. |
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1) Ron
Tabuteau and Kerri Simpson 2) Eris O'Brien makes the best of
a flash in the pan |
gig
report
Reality
check at the Clifton Hill
10.8.06 - It was a quiet night last night at the
Clifton Hill pub. Well, in one sense that's how it's s'posed
to be as it is an acoustic session afterall, but sadly there
were all too few punters in attendance. Bill and I had a bit
of a run through at my place earlier because of my stated
intention to play a |
| few songs we hadn't looked at for
a while, and anyway my throat needed to be warmed up, so I arrived
after Eris' set and just as Kerri Simpson and Ron Tabuteau started
their's. I had a bit of a chat with Eris and we agreed that
we should get back together soon to work on a couple more songs.
I'm not much of a collaborator, but I enjoyed working with Eris
and it seems to be quite productive - well, Eris is quite productive.
Our set was well received and went pretty well musically speaking
- that is until we got to the encore, Sox, which we
hadn't rehearsed, and in which I abandoned my guitar and attempted
cover all the bases with just voice and harp. At some point
in the ensuing chaos I picked up the guitar again, but it was
all too late - we went into a shuddering tail-spin and crashed
in flames on the unforgiving pub floor. Nobody seemed to mind
though and we got a rousing send off - importantly Rod Claringbould
still managed a wry grin as he paid up at the end of the night. |
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Mike
& Bill at the Clifton Hill tonight
9.8.06 - I'm determined to play a couple
of things tonight you mightn't have heard for a while, so it
could be an edgy show, although I doubt it. Eris O'Brien, the
world's most subtly nuanced songwriter, and Kerri Simpson, accompanied
by Ron Tabuteau, flesh out the acoustic-as-anything evening.
This is the very show, still sponsored by Rod Claringbould,
that eased Bill and I back into live performance again, so it's
a kind of musical pilgrimage. |
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Runaway,
John Darcy and archivist Milton Hammon |
Lobster
misses party
6.8.06 - It was always on the cards, but
Lobby didn't quite make it to a little 'do' held in his honour
at Ruby's in Belgrave this afternoon, and everyone understood.
Bill and I popped in on the off chance Lobby might show, but
ended up chatting to Ed and Jan Nimmervoll, Darcy and Milton
Hammon (who'd put together a comprehensive DVD of Lobby's appearances
with the Wild Cherries, Purple Hearts, Aztecs et al),
Bobby Bright and so on. (Don't miss the Lobby Benefit on Tuesday
the 29th - check details). Darcy's drummer
son Matt got got up with his Live @ Subs mates and played a
perfectly nuanced set of bass, drums and guitar way beyond their
years before I finally hit the road - the kids are alright! |
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Bill
and Mike manage to obscure Daryl completely |
Some
neato shots of Spectrum
4.8.06 - When we were up at St Andrews
on the weekend (see the July gig report) Tony Powell, one of
our regular audients, was brandishing an impressive looking
camera, which it turned out he'd just bought and was happily
experimenting with. We're getting a few more gigs as the quartet
(yay!) and we need a new publicity shot, so I suggested to Tony
he have a bash at capturing us during the break - which he did
to great effect, and you should see the results in upcoming
flyers etc.
In the meantime Tony pulled out a couple of great shots of us
in full flight - which I can tell you is no mean feat, given
the barely romantic time of day and cramped conditions. For
a gander at some bigger shots, check
'em out! |
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What
Bill and I did on Wednesday..
1)
What's this then? 2) This is hard - I wanna see you do this
man! 3) A McCausland poster - yay!
4) Kaya
(L-R) Sally, Alexandra, Juleiaah and Emma 5) Bill in his cupboard
6) Click track machine John Salerno
7) Rodrigo
Bustos busts a groove 8) Paul Cecchinelli 9) Sound and groove
architect Steve Scanlon |
10) 'Not
the chin!' - X-Factor's Mark Holden and Mike |
The
endless groove session
3.8.06 - I turned on the TV the other night
just as Mark Holden's version of Bill's Short Term Memory
Loss Blues graunched to a halt on the Aurora channel. I
should've known that this might presage another encounter with
Mr Holden, but I was oblivious to the signs. In the meantime
Bill and I had been enlisted by engineer/producer Steve Scanlon,
whom we'd met on the recording of Mark's George Ballroom DVD,
to put our imprimatur on a Kaya track he was recording, (Kaya
was a girl group that appeared on 7's X-Factor show). So we
duly turned up at noon yesterday with our preferred instruments
in hand - Bill had borrowed a beautiful dobro from Ken Stephenson,
(pic 5) and I had been compelled to add a Db harp to
my |
collection to accommodate the unusual
G# key the track was in - and we figured we'd probably be out
of there in and hour or two at the most. And that might have
been the case had not there been some creative processes in
train to do with the rhythm track, and if the bassist (Rod -
pic 7) and drummer (John - pic 6) hadn't been
such awesomely accomplished players it's conceivable that we
might be there still, but up to thirty takes later the groove
had been nailed and they had a bitchin' track in the making.
By then it was 5.15, and the Kaya girls and their boyfriends
had arrived, Bill had left and I was still to put my parts down.
Thankfully I was able to satisfy Steve (the groove perfectionist)
with my three passes and even had a moment on the way out to
briefly fraternise with Mark, (pic 10) who it seems
was Kaya's 'mentor' on the X-Factor show and who had arrived
as I was putting my parts down, before finally hitting the road
for the safety of Camberwell at 5.30.
Phew! That was some session! Oh, I almost forgot. A few days
ago I took delivery of four parcels from Michael Gudinski. You
may remember we went to the Ian McCausland poster exhibition
at South Gate some months ago - well, it might even be close
to a year ago now. Anyway, two of the parcels were marked for
Bill's attention, so I took them to the session. Pics 1,
2 and 3 show Bill making a meal of opening one
of the parcels and eventually holding one of the framed Spectrum
posters that Michael thoughtfully purchased on our behalf all
those months ago. I haven't gotten back to Michael to thank
him yet, but it was a lovely gesture, don't you think? Incidentally,
I saw Ian recently and he proudly told me you can now purchase
all his collection of posters from his site - check
it out! |
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This
is the big one..
1.8.06 - It's a bit like John Howard
and the Iraq invasion - we volunteered before we were even
asked to do this one. I don't know what it is, but I feel
a particular empathy with Lobby's situation. When I first
arrived in Melbourne back in '66, Lobby was quoted as the
definitive rock/blues guitarist on the Melbourne scene, a
man we smartarse Kiwis had to respect. And it was true - despite
being almost laughably undemonstrative to the point of being
retiring, Lobby had a commanding presence that mesmerised
his predominantly young male fans. Ironically his only observable
pretence at a stage act was his persistent chain smoking,
which often resulted in not only the inevitable fag drooping
from his bottom lip, but one lit on the head of his guitar
as well.
One of the funnier encounters Spectrum had with Lobby also
involved cigarettes. Ray Arnott was playing with us, so I'm
guessing circa 1971. Spectrum was on the same bill
with Lobby at the Frankston Mechanics Hall and Lobby was blasting
away, eyes closed as usual, when Ray begged Bill for a couple
of fags. He ducked down behind Lobby's amp and puffed away
with gusto while Bill and I got Lob's attention and pointed
to his amp with an ominous cloud of smoke coming from it.
Lobby went white and rushed back to his |
his amp and hurriedly switched it
off, at which point Ray arose laughing with the two cigarettes
in his mouth. I don't know what happened then 'cause we ran
away!
Anyway, that was then, and this is now, and Lobby needs us.
Spectrum will be there with Daryl Roberts' keyboards helping
recreate the original Spectrum ambience, along with a host of
stars that rivals the LWTTT tour. Just be there! |
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