gig report
The Someday I'll Have Money mini-tour
13.7.08 - I'd left the address at home, but we drove into Albury and found ourselves right outside the S, S & A Club anyway, and while I still don't know exactly what that is, we quickly discovered that it was a Leagues Club by any other name - and a bloody big one too. The so-called Main Lounge we were playing in wasn't a separate room at all, and so we were competing with the usual array of football games, trots etc. plus the omnipresent silent order of zombies working the pokies, but Brod had made sure we had an enormous PA, so we weren't going to die unnoticed. We set up and sound checked and then managed to persuade the staff to put our meals on the band tab before checking into our (separate) rooms at the Comfort Inn on the other side of the club's car park.
When we got back, all seemed to be confusion and disco balls, but the disc jockey insisted it was a good crowd, so we took his word for it and Phil stepped up to open the first set with his solo instrumental, Migrants Dance, (pic 6) which I was hearing for the first time. Utterly breathtaking it was too, referencing moods and influences way outside his prescribed brief.
Then we were all on. Brod was suffering from a chill he'd got at rehearsal on Monday, so warned us not to expect Mickey Rooney, but I'm certain nobody in the audience would've twigged he was ill, or that he wasn't Mickey Rooney for that matter. He's a very funny man, and, apart from being a wonderful singer and exemplary blues harp player, he's very tolerant when the backing band is taking liberties with the arrangements for his songs. And, while I'm at it, Phil's very reassuring to play with too - he's a no-nonsense this-is-the-way-it goes player when he's fronting the band, which allows anarchists like me to cruise in the background while he soars.
The set list had been worked out, but absolutely nothing else had even been discussed regarding direction, and so I guess it comes down to the combined years of experience present that ensured the show seemed to run fairly seamlessly on an improvised consensus basis. That the audience who had come specifically to see us were fairly muted I put down to the competitive nature of the venue, and I actually got the impression that most of them had enjoyed the show. It's hard to know anything much at all when Abba is blasting out at a million decibels before you've even vacated the stage.
Despite the comparative luxury of the accommodation, I managed not to sleep at all, as is my wont first night on the road, so getting up early to be on the road by 8.00 wasn't an issue - but surprisingly enough, everybody else was equally prompt. Which was just as well, 'cause we had to be at the Deakin Waterfront Café in Geelong by 1.00 according to the work sheet, so there was going to be no time to take in the sights as the sun rose over the sleepy border town of Albury.
As it turned out, we got there to Geelong in plenty of time, and were duly impressed with the venue.(pic 4) By the time we started there was a very good crowd in attendance, both in size and disposition, and this afternoon there were no distractions, so each musical contribution was greeted with rapturous applause. This, and the fact we already had our virgin performance under our belts, added to our confidence, and I have to say it all sounded rather fine, to me anyway. (See the Rock'n'Roll Scars site for an independent review).
As we took Phil to the train station we discussed how well it had gone and how we should do it again as soon as possible - before we all completely forget the arrangements at least..

Morning Of The Earth Live in Concert
9.7.08 - The announcement has been officially made, so now I can reveal that I've been asked to appear as a guest artist on the live concert version of the classic Aussie surf movie, Morning Of The Earth. The following is reprinted from Undercover News.
The classic Australian surfing movie 'Morning Of The Earth' will have a rerun in Sydney and Melbourne later this year with original film being accompanied by a live concert featuring original acts from the soundtrack.
Special guests Lior, Mike Rudd and Old Man River for the screening will join Brian Cadd, G. Wayne Thomas and Tim Gaze of Taman Shud.
'Morning Of The Earth' is an icon of the Australian music and movie industry. The 1972 film had a platinum-selling soundtrack especially
for the movie.

Promoter Michael Chugg said, "Who can forget the summer of '72 – it was Sunbury and it was Morning of the Earth – what a time!" Producer for Morning of the Earth – The Original Film & Music Live in Concert, Amanda Pelman from Chugg Entertainment said, "Some films stay with you all your life, and crystallise a certain philosophy of living - Morning of the Earth was that defining moment for me. I am lucky enough to have Brian Cadd as my life partner and I will share all the musical memories of this project with him when he plays it live. This show is a culmination of these amazing images and sounds with great contemporary artists like Lior performing because he totally 'gets it' in the now. I hope you as the audience will too."
Original Morning of the Earth film director Albert Falzon said, "I've lived and breathed the lifestyle portrayed in this film for many years now, and it is truly wonderful to think it is now experiencing a renaissance. The essence of surfing never changes, regardless of how big the associated corporations get. New audiences and generations seem to constantly draw inspiration from its visuals, idyllic lifestyle and the music which is such an important part of the whole – and for me, that is a very humbling evolution to witness."
The Morning of the Earth film and music Live In Concert is on: September 27, Sydney, The State Theatre
October 3, The Palais, Melbourne Tickets go on sale through Ticketmaster on July 11.
by Paul Cashmere - July 5 2008

gig report
Spectrum trio successfully negotiates Canberra and Tathra gigs - amazing scenes!
7.7.08 - On Tuesday night Robbo finally decided to skip the tedium of the drive up to Canberra and elected to fly the followiing day, which left Bill and me to stretch a ten minute conversation over six or seven hours in the van on the Wednesday. I rang Cookie (Geof Cook) as we blundered into the outskirts of Canberra, and he said that our timing was perfect 'cause Gaye was cooking a roast chicken and he was warming the telly for the State of Origin decider! We stopped at the local bottle shop to buy a nice red - and ran into Geof buying some last minute vego stuff for Bill. We had a lovely meal and a fun night unwinding after the long trip.
At midday the next day Bill and I popped over to see Phil Birch-Marston (pic 1) at ArtSound 92.7 and got a guided tour through the in-house studio where Gaye recorded her album before heading to the airport to pick up our very special drummer. We set up early at the National Press Club, which makes a difference because it has to be one of the more tiresome load-ins, but I'd forgotten how unresponsive the room is acoustically, not unlike treading water in quicksand in fact, and if it wasn't for the appearance of some of our favourite Canberra (and beyond) people (pic 2) and the gratifying response from some new Spectrum chums, my verdict on the night would have been wholly dire.
After breakfast the next morning at Gus' Café, I dropped Bill and Robbo back at Curtin and headed off to do brunch with the Greaggs. I got a call from Cookie not long after getting there saying that he'd procured an interview for Bill & me with Mike Welsh on 2CC at 2.10, and what started off being a leisurely day socialising suddenly looked a fairly strategic proposition, especially as I'd been approached per e-mail a few days earlier by Maka McMahon to conduct a lesson for a group of harmonica enthusiasts at 3.00 in some place called Chapman.
I'd done a 'phoney' with Mike Welsh on one of our previous visits, but I'd not met him in person. It turns out he's from Launceston originally, and saw Spectrum (with Daddy Cool) at the local hall back in 1971. I remember that particular gig because there was a fracas involving our roadie, Jim Murrie, as he was loading in, and I ended up with painfully bruised ribs as a result. Let's just say that bruised ribs are not good for singing or breathing in general, and it was was one of the more excruciating gigs I've endured.
Anyway, the interview was fun, and I dropped off Bill at Curtin and headed to Maka's aided by a Google map and directions. A Google map is only as good as the idiot who's reading it and I managed to arrive about fifteen minutes late, but Maka, Fiona, Rob and Arthur weren't at all disconcerted and we spent the next ninety or so minutes musing the pros and cons of various blues harp techniques.
Fiona, Rob and Maka even showed up at the Old Canberra Inn gig that night, along with stalwarts Pam Cleary and Lynn Timmis from the Press Club, and happily for the band it was a very different story acoustically to the previous night, and as a result we and the audience had a lovely time. Brian, one of the owners of the room and a former rugby union player, insisted that I give him and his young five-eighth protegé a verbal account of the old Christ's College haka. Now that doesn't happen very often!
One last breakfast at Gus' and we left Cookie and Gaye (and Jedda and Columbus) and headed off to our last gig at the Tathra Hotel on the Sapphire Coast. Although we were consigned to the back of the gaming room and therefore hidden pretty effectively from public gaze, I was still pleased we didn't play in the function room cum bistro - I don't think we'd have got anybody in there at all. As it was there were only a few there specifically to see us, including Lynn Timmis and Dallas Tapsall (pic 3) whom we'd met on a previous Canberra visit. Perhaps perversely I enjoyed the night well enough, but the accommodation provided by the pub was something else again. Bill and I were able to draw a couple of historical comparisons, but it was the most unpleasantly cold and uncomfortable night I can remember, especially for us old codgers with weak bladders who thought this kind of contemptible treatment was a thing of the distant past.
So, we're safely back home now. Not so many amazing scenes as it happens, but many thanks to Geof and Gaye at Let's Create and the audiences in general over the border(s) for making us feel welcome and (sort of) relevant - I'm (almost) certain we'll be back one day soon!