The bits of stuff that fall in the cracks between Life, Music and outrageous fortune.		  
 
 
 
June
   Close this window to return to Mike Rudd & Bill Putt's Stop Press
 

1) Gus McNeil is unimpressed with Melbourne's cold 2) Chris tries to look relaxed as his teeth are inspected

3) Trevor has a surprise		 Another senior moment scuttles networking opportunity
27.6.09 - I was so certain I'd RSVP'd for the APRA Awards that I didn't even check - until I got a call from my publisher Gus McNeil (pic 1) on Monday night asking if I was going. Damnit! Now I'll have to wait another couple of years until they come back to Melbourne. Trying to make me feel better, Gus described it as a 'Melbourne grunge night' and was unimpressed with the sound mix in particular.
After coffee with Gus, I accompanied Chris having his teeth checked and cleaned at Dr Punshon's surgery - he even allowed a minor filling sans anaesthetic!
I heard that Trevor Leedon (pic 3) was looking for me when I rolled up to Choclatté on Friday, so I rang him at home and he was at my table within minutes proferring a DVD he'd picked up at the Camberwell Rotary Market. It's a collection of clips from an Adelaide show called MOVE, which flourished briefly in the early '70s. It has Spectrum rendering I'll Be Gone, but I have a feeling there may be a twist, so I'll put it up on YouTube. (Check the Videos page )
 

1) Marg calls Syl at the NGV 2) Marg and Syl recover from lunch with their children		 Hello Dali
15.6.09 - I was pleased to hear from Margaret this morning, but then surprised to learn that she and Syl were in Melbourne (for Liz's 70th). Marg wanted to see the Dali Exhibition at the NGV, which was good, 'cause so did I. We spent a fascinating couple of hours poring over this quite enormous collection, and I certainly didn't get to see
everything in detail, so I could easily go back again. Because he is so familiar, I think it's easy to underestimate the quality and scope of Dali's work, so I urge those who might otherwise be dismissive to go along to the NGV and see if you still have the same view when you re-emerge.
After that exhaustiing exercise we were famished and so I took Margaret to the Victoria Gardens S/C to meet up with Matt, Rick and Syl for lunch. Family dynamics are fascinating too, but by the time I got home I felt quite drained, befitting a man of my seniority I suppose..(It was my 64th birthday today).
 

1) Block Place glistens 2) Suzanne and Rod do their thing		 Birthday Blues
12.6.09 - It's not my birthday today, but my Aunt Beverly thinks that it is and Dick shouted me a very nice lunch at Intimo by way of a de facto birthday celebration, so I'm compelled to declare it my phony birthday at least. (It was fitting the oysters came from Denial Bay). As I reeled uncertainly into the traffic after bidding my generous bro' a fond farewell, I decided that walking downhill was a good start, and soon found that I was in the immediate vicinity of The Basement Discs, (noting that Block Place runs off Little Collins, not Little Bourke, as I sometimes fancy), so I tottered down to see Suzanne and blurry Rod (pic 2) to find I'd
just missed a stellar performance by one Jordie Lane, whom you might reasonably expect to be unknown to me, except I'd heard quite an impressive track of his just before I popped into Triple R for The Party Show. After she'd coped with Jordie's CD sales, I informed Suzanne that we were on track for the launch next month - and she responded by politely asking me for some sort of press release. I'm on it!
On the tram on the way home, a brazen beggar-woman was walking up and down the aisle putting the bot on the hapless passengers. She was possibly in her late twenties, wearing black trackies with white stripes and looked in pretty good nick for a beggar, certainly not abject and scruffy in any way, and, as I suggested, of a sassy disposition. I was thinking of rewarding her sass anyway, when she caught my eye, as the expert botter will do. 'You were in that show, A Long Way To The Top,' she ventured. The two VCA students I was sitting next to looked interested as I mumbled that I had been. 'Yes,' she went on, 'weren't you in the final bit with Stevie Wright singing Evie?' I had to demur on this specific point, which confused her a bit, (and lost the VCA girls), but she took my $3.00 contribution gleefully and got off the tram with an overly-elocuted 'Thank you, sir', which she repeated in mime as she skipped across the road in front of the tram.
As far as financial transactions go, I thought to myself, that was actually one of the more interesting and rewarding. And it was.
 

1) Trevor and Aimée at Choclatté 2) Sick Chris manages a brave smile for the camera		 A Choclatté long weekend
9.6.09 - I went to Choclatté on Sunday and was reading The Sunday Age when I noticed Trevor Leedon and daughter Aimée waiting for their takeaway coffees. (pic 1) Trevor managed a smile, but generally his mood is subdued these days as he has only four more weeks in the Swine Flu State before he and his family leave to

3) A prick by any other name

reside in Sydney. I'm missing his red corduroys already..
Chris and I visited Choclatté again yesterday as part of our Queen's Birthday celebrations, but Chris wasn't really in the mood to eat - even chocolate - so I knew something was up. Sure enough, when we got back to the van, Chris threw up a chocolate milkshake, (only crunchy). He must've picked something up at the Centre - I hope he gets well soon.
Chris is unable to tell you if he's not feeling well, unless he's pissed off about something, then he'll tell you that he's not feeling well over and over, even if he is OK. Who was it said Life wasn't meant to be easy?
It was just as well we didn't have any gigs over the weekend - I somehow managed to pick up an infection in my right picking thumb, (pic 3) which was/is extremely painful and didn't allow me to use my thumb for anything at all, let alone picking. I must've pricked it on a rose thorn on one of my rare forays into the garden. Not exactly encouraging me to foster an interest in things horticultural.
 

1) Sue Nicol packs up 2) The handsome Radio Ga Ga mugs		 A busy day in Camberwell
4.6.09 - Sue Nicol (pic 1) arrived a few minutes early and had to wait while I washed some dishes before we settled down for a chat and a cup of tea. She's putting together a folio of photographs of 'old rockers' and it was my turn to submit to the probing eye of her (new) lens.
She asked if I would put on a guitar and so I noodled on some chords while she took some more shots. I'd put the guitar down before I realised I had a melody floating around in my head and so I quickly recorded the tune on my Zoom Handy Recorder. Could be a new song on the way..
Then I was visited by Radio Ga Ga's Neil Butler, who delivered some Radio Ga Ga mugs (pic 2) to be shared amongst the band members. No new tunes came to mind, but it's a lovely gesture anyway.
 

1) It's mostly boys that do this kind of thing, but the occasional ornery girl will try it on too..		  

2) What is this bullshit of which you speak grasshopper?		 At Chadstone, palely loitering..
2.6.09 - I spent a good deal of last Friday trying to sort out my pesky problems with the van, and while I waited I wandered over to the Chadstone Shopping Centre. There I amused myself by trying to find somewhere that served loose-leaf tea, and ended up at the Oriental Tea House in the new wing. I watched the world go by for an hour accompanied by two pots of English Breakfast tea, which interlude was fairly unremarkable apart from the little boy who said 'no!' (pic 1)
On Monday I had a chat at Babble with my old mate Ed Nimmervoll (pic 2) and tried out some potential topics for the P&W, which is now due. It's always good to catch up with Ed and the Prodigal Son rave was a goer - hooray!		  
 
 
back to the top