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The bits
of stuff that fall in the cracks between Life, Music and outrageous
fortune. |
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| December |
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Close
this window to return to Mike Rudd & Bill Putt's Stop Press |
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1) Bill
shows off his Tigers' tankard 2) Dick says 'No photos!' |
Post
Chrissie, cross-country jog blog..
28.12.06 - While I'm playing host to my
son Chris, it's impossible to maintain my regular self-indulgent
routine, and I feel compelled to go for drives during the day
to keep him entertained. Yesterday was a case in point; we first
went to Black Rock to get some fish 'n' chips for lunch, then
travelled the length of Springvale Road plus to visit Bill and
Rose in Strathewen, on the way home calling in on Bro' Dick
in Warrandyte. Bill is well and already planning more fire breaks
for next summer, but Dick was a bit worse for wear, having strained
his right ankle in an impromptu cricket match on Christmas Day.
Leave it to the experts Dick!
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1)Kath,
our Chrissie hostess, 2) The Chrissie table chatter |
Deck
the halls etc.
27.12.06 - A few days ago, we Melburnians
were quaking in our flip-flops, a fiery holocaust threatening
historic Victorian mountain towns and a pall of smoke stifling
the suburbs - but we needn't have worried. This is Melbourne
afterall, and the weather suddenly changed, and the same towns
that had been under siege from bushfires were now looking very
picturesque and Christmassy under inches of snow! The traditional
northern hemisphere fare of roast pork, turkey and ham at the
McClatchys' home in Heathmont now seemed absolutely appopriate,
and Steve's parents, all the way from Ayr in Scotland, felt
quite at home as |
showers blew in from the Antarctic.
I played Santa (a quirky family tradition) and we ate and we
ate until it was time to play cards with the boys or a new DVD
version of trivial pursuit with the girls, which I chose and
which seemed to go on interminably, interrupted as it was with
various comings and goings and secret women's business, until
Steve's dad Derek, still jet lagged poor dear, nodded off with
a hot cup of tea on his knee.
We made arrangements to meet at the Sullivans on Boxing Day
to mop up the uneaten Chrissie food, where I played the oldies
a DVD of a 1980 episode of Countdown that Milton Hammon had
sent me with The Heaters performing Australian Girl - I
still can't remember it. I have a feeling it's far too late
for that tell-all biography.. |
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Frantic,
hazy days before Christmas..
1)
The city from the Bolte bridge on Wednesday on the way to Tullamarine
2) Haphazard Hugh Wayland gets earnest |
3) Ron
Brown in Camberwell |
Smokin'
23.12.06 - Wednesday in Melbourne was
as smokey as you'd ever want, and yesterday was quite unpleasant
enough until the promised change produced some rain that was
grudgingly squirted on my crunchy brown garden last night -
too little, too late. The plum tree hasn't cropped this year
for the first time in twenty years, which will disappoint the
lone fruit bat that's had dibs on it for the past couple of
seasons.
As well as going to Tullamarine on Wednesday, I had lunch with
French Island's resident artist Stephen May, who's recovered
well from his (second) hip operation, and we discussed a show
at Phillip Island for March with Bill and me amongst others,
then to the Lomond to meet with Hugh Wayland (pic 2 )
who was responsible for putting together the Lomond Hotel
Collection. It was here I discovered Hugh's secret - he's
from NSW! I knew there was something odd about him. From the
Lomond I went to 3CR and picked up a couple of copies of |
| Iain McIntyre's Tomorrow Is Today
for Robbo and Daz and did some Chrissie shopping - and arrived
home to find I was nearly half-an-hour late for a harp lesson
with Susie Seale. I plead Chrissie madness!
As part of my Christmas penance I've got Chris staying with
me as of last night, and apart from a chatty two-hour window
courtesy of the cappucino he had at Gusto this morning,
he's been damn-near catatonic. I think his drug cocktail needs
adjusting. We'll see what an injection of alcohol does when
we go over to Kath and Geoff's for drinks tonight.
Last minute shopping in Camberwell at lunchtime today threw
up a couple of old mates - Martyn Sullivan, formerly bassist
with the Mike Rudd Quartet/Quintet, and Ron Brown, film-maker
for the Daddy Cool DVD. I was telling Martyn I wasn't too
fussed about not working on New Year's Eve, as there is a
fair element of the 'Play something we know' brigade always
ready to annoy you, and he recounted an occasion when a mother
and daughter combination hassled the Loose Trousers band.
'Play some Creedence Clearwater', insisted the mother. Not
to be outdone the daughter opined, 'Have a fucking jam session',
to which the mother added, 'Yeah, everybody knows that one!'
Ron happened on Chris and I as we tackled a bit of Japanese
nosh in the Portobello Arcade. He's working hard to produce
the second two-thirds of his Chefs of the Great Hotels
of the World project, which has found a hungry market
over and above just SBS, where he first sought the commission.
It was originally going to be a series on Chefs on the
Great Train Rides of the World, till he discovered on
the first train journey from East Berlin to Moscow (ticket
price $17,000.00AUD) that great food wasn't a priority. Of
course, I would write a foodie book, but the stuff I know
about cooking would fit on a bus ticket. Autistics For
Fun And Profit is the go.. |
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1)
Try and look enthusiastic, lads 2) Ross Ryan in my kitchen |
Two
Chrissie guests
14.12.06 - Regular readers of this site will be aware
of my position re' carollers - and Christmas in general for
that matter - so you might be surprised that I actually popped
a dollar coin the way of the two pictured lads (left)
outside my bank yesterday. Although they sang rather
well, reminding me of me in my own chorister days, I actually
gave them the dollar for the unrestrained use of their image
in perpetuity in any and all media.
I haven't seen much of Ross Ryan this year, but with the incorrigible
Spider remodelling his kitchen and making even a simple cuppa
an impossible dream, Ross responded to my birthday e-mail
cum
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by popping on over to my place this arvo, arriving just after
Ken Stephenson had left. (Is this what Christmas is all about
- socialising like it's 1999?) Ken played me his daughter Jo's
album, as part of his checking the mix/mastering on different
systems. I have some harp on about three tracks, and Bill's
playing on a couple, and Robbo's on all but two, so you might
think I'm biased, but I have to say I was blown away! The songs
are all very good, with a couple of them being exceptional,
but the arrangements and the production were what took my attention.
Without going into detail, I'll be amazed if it doesn't make
an impact internationally - Ken and Jo - in fact, the whole
Stephenson clan, can be very proud of the work they've done. |
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 1)
Natalie's mum helps out with the forms 2) Garry Clarke pays
Mike a surprise visit |
Monday
funday..
14.12.06 - I can say that now, but things
did get a bit tense at times. Early on Monday morning, Bill,
Robbo and I helped out Natalie Carolan with a couple of tunes,
as she auditioned for a music course at Monash. Our part of
it went pretty well I thought, but Nat wasn't so sure after
the grilling she got when we left the room. |
All's well that ends well though,
and I got a call from Nat's dad Peter today saying she had been
provisionally accepted for the course. Hooray! Well
done Natalie!
Later on the same day I got a phone call from Garry Clarke,
who now lives in NZ but who played bass with Bill and me for
a while back in the nineties, and as he had a spare hour he
thought he might come over for a cuppa and a chat. As Garry
was telling me the story of his life since he went back to NZ,
I mulled over the stark contrast between his life and mine.
I'm still in the same place and doing the same things as I was
when he left maybe ten years ago, while he has built a new marriage,
has a job that he likes and pays the bills, has become a proficient
carpenter and builder, is NZ masters' champion in Kyokushin,
(a full-contact style of Karate), and dabbles in a bit of music
when he has the time. Phew! 'But is he happy?' I hear
you cry. Well, that's the thing. He is. |
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Christmas,
bloody Christmas..
1)
A quiet lane leading to.. 2) Salvos serenading the Christmas
bedlam on Bourke St |
3)
A new generation of schoolkids at Myer 4) Composed Dick |
Decisions
are made at top level meeting
9.12.06 - As arranged earlier in the week,
I took a tram into town yesterday and Dick and I headed to Bento
for a Japanese-style variation on our standard lunch. After
a few sakes I suggested that we should get Mary to
film us at our next pinot shootout and I would stick the result
up on YouTube with a link to this site. The movie we had planned
never got off the ground, but since then R&M have acquired
a camera and we've even had Mary film us with it critiquing
a NSW pinot, which might even be considered a pilot. I was hoping
this brainwave might make our presence on MySpace redundant,
but perhaps not.. Sigh! |
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1)
Dick confirms that he's enjoying himself 2) Chris arcs up |
A
birthday and a noteworthy pinot
5.12.06 - With nary a gig to be seen
on the weekend, I was looking to my visit to the Rudds of
Warrandyte on Sunday evening to give my spirits a lift - and
I wasn't disappointed. Richard provided proof that Central
Otago could produce a fine pinot that actually tasted like
a pinot (Rockburn) and a discussion then ensued about the
views of the evolutionary biologist, Richard Dawkins, which
was ended emphatically when Mary quoted a passage from Keats
by memory to prove something or other.
It was Chris' 39th birthday yesterday, and so I went out to
the Burwood edition of the Sofia pizza |
| restaurant with the Vermont St crew
and we all ate a little too much of everything and had a jolly
good time. Chris is eating so well these days on his new drug
regime that I can see he'll have to get a whole new wardrobe
of trousers for Christmas! |
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1)
Gusto people CW - Connal, Sophie, Louise & Soula (inset
Nicola) 2) Shane MacFarlane |
The
year that wasn't, part one
3.12.06 - As the year draws to a close
- with unseemly haste I might add - it seems as good a time
as any to introduce you to some of the people that have kept
the Ruddster's wheels turning on a daily basis. (pic 1)
The Gusto Bakery often gets a mention, but apart from Sophie,
I didn't even know the girls' names till last week. That is
typical reticence on my behalf, but the girls in particular
(how did Connal get into the picture?) have been very caring
and considerate to me ever since Gusto took over the premises
from Star Park back in the murky early part of the year. If
you're ever in Camberwell, pop in and mention my name as you
order your coffee and see how far it gets you.
Taxation is one of those burdensome facts of life that I can
(and do) use as another excuse for not writing, recording etc.
Last year I missed out on meeting with my present accountant
Shane (pic 2) and we conducted our business by phone
and e-mail, so I was surprised when he told me at our meeting
on Thursday that I'd actually given him a harmonica lesson some
years ago. I still can't remember it.. |
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