| |
| |
|
|
| |
Scroll
down to the start of the month |
|
 |
|
Close
this window to
return to Mike Rudd &
Bill Putt's home page |
|
| |
1) Mick
Newman's pic catches the band hard at work in the first set |
gig
report St Andrews Hotel Sun. 28.6.09
The St Andrews pub rocks on..
29.6.09 - Any concerns about numbers being
down at the St Andrews pub due to talk of a recession were emphatically
dispelled yesterday arvo when the full-sized version of Spectrum
lurched into their first set at just after 3.00. (pic 1)
It was actually reassuring to feel slightly jaded from
the exertions of the previous night, (see gig report below),
although by the end of the afternoon I was cursing the
fact that Bill (pic 4) was unable to help with the
load-out (scroll
down for more) |
|
2) Mike
goes for his own jugular in the blues set (Newman)
3) Tony brought along the grand-kiddies to be initiated
4) Bill
being snapped with LWTTT fan Bridgette 5) Mike welcomes new
chums Warren and Marg Sellers to Oz |
| because of his sore foot. (Bill managed to skewer his foot
on a four-inch nail on Friday evening at Rosewood). There was
the usual nucleus of Spectrumites in attendance, plus some actual
mites being baptised in the faith, (pic 3), but the
prize for the couple who travelled the farthest to attend goes
to ditch-crossers, Warren and Marg Sellers, (pic 5), who
only arrived in the country on Friday night. They're settling
in Melbourne after countless decades of clinging on for dear
life just out of Windy Wellington, so it's quite possible they'll
be showing up on these pages again. |
|
| |
Party,
party..
1)
Malcolm Ebb looks forward the the night with daughter Rebecca
2) Party guest John chats with Robbo
gig
report
Malcom Ebb's 50th
29.6.09 - Regular readers might suspect
that Malcolm Ebb (pic 1) has graced these pages before.
A former harp student of mine, at crucial moments in his life
he's been moved to hire Bill, Robbo and me to help mark the
occasion with our musical accompaniment. We were reminded that
Malcolm's origins are in Sydney as there were a few Sydney people
in the guest list (pic 2) and a few more who didn't
show due to swine flu nervousness, but overall there was a good
turn out to mark the occasion of Malcom's 50th. It
required restraint and a bit of strategy on our part not to
dominate proceedings early on, but once the formal part of the
evening had been dipensed with, everybody relaxed, let down
their hair and rocked out till past midnight. We're looking
forward to Malcolm's 60th..
|
|
| |
Breathing
Space Too launch delayed
24.6.09 - The Breathing Space Too EP's release
has been delayed by a week. The launch will now be on Thursday
July 16th at The Basement Discs 24 Block Place (off Little Collins
St in the city) at 12.45pm. The fabulous Jimmy Sloggett will
be still be Spectrum's special guest. |
|
| |
1) Bill
Melanitis is a Tiger supporter 2) The kids go ape on perc. |
gig
report Frankston RSL Sun. 21.6.09
The Franger lives up to expectations
23.6.09 - I made sure that we weren't playing
outside when the agency rang, because over the summer months
we've been playing in the beer garden at the Franger, but I
had no idea where we'd be setting up this time around. I discovered
we were to be in the new section they've been building ever
since we've been playing there, which is quite a large, rectangular
space with a parquetry dance floor. (pic 2) It seemed
pretty live acoustically when we were tuning up, and I was a
little concerned we might be asked to quieten down, but as it
turned out the acoustics were very |
| complementary and it was a most satisfying
afternoon musically-speaking. There was a table of people there
from the night before at the Wrokdown taping, and Bill's sister
Pat turned up with a couple of her friends, and all in all it
was a very friendly crowd. Bill Melanitis (pic 1) brought
his muscles along as requested and helped with the load out,
which was most appreciated, because outside or in, the load
out at the Franger is a bitch. |
|
| |
| Spectrum
kicks off the new series of Wrokdown
1)
The brains trust works out a chord for Judith Durham's version
of Summertime
 
2)
Mike struggles to co-ordinate his brain with Daz's harp harness
3) Spectrum poses with tiny Judith Durham 
4)
Wrokdown producer Anita Monk has a word to Wendy Stapleton
5) Bongo Starkie tells Wendy the
axe story
 
6)
Alana Galea tells Daryl he'll never be chopped liver to her
7) Bill on foyer with Stephen and Sarah Ramsay
gig
report
Lilydale Secondary College Arts Cntre Sat. 20.6.09
Wrokdown taping
23.6.09 - It was always going to be a
big day and we arrived at Lilydale Secondary College at a
tear-inducing 2.30 on Saturday arvo. I'd asserted we could
back up the principal guest Judith Durham singing Summertime,
and apart from some excrutiating minutes working out a couple
of chords, (pic 1) the actual performance was quite
lovely and Judith seemed delighted with our part in it.
Spectrum was going to perform Xavier Rudd at the
end of the night, but with Wrokdown producer Anita Monk's
collaboration, we managed to get a couple of runs miming to
the recorded track - which may feature on a self-produced
film clip at some stage. (Bill brought his camera too). I
tried Daz's harp harness (pic 2) for one take and
tied my brain up in knots - I don't think I'll ever master
that particular skill.
I went out into the audience and heard most of Judith Durham
and Bob Starkie's segments with Wrokdown host, Wendy Stapleton,
(pics 4 & 5) and both were very illuminating,
with Bob's recounting of the famous axe incident utterly rivetting.
Judith is such a gentle soul and so tiny and frail, but she
radiates generosity and is totally dedicated to her various
causes and it was an honour just to meet her, let alone back
her up.
Then it was my turn to be interviewed and I prattled on aimlessly
for a while before thankfully being joined by Bill for the
second part of the interview. We finally got round to playing
Xavier Rudd live at about 10.00 - and then naturally
had to finish off with I'll Be Gone, for which the
audience all joined in, including my 'niece ' Alana, (pic
6) and the Ramsays, (pic 7) who'd come all the
way from the other side Geelong.
Such dedication is truly appreciated. I'll let you know when
the shows are due to go to air on Channel 31, (the channel
I can't get here in Camberwell, darn it!)
|
|
| |
Ted is
thrilled to get the master |
Breathing
Space Too
Master
delivered
16.6.09 - The processes involved
in releasing a CD are destined never to run smoothly, but at
the moment it looks as if we're on track. I dropped into Aztec
Music today to hand over the Breathing Space Too master
to an overjoyed Ted Lethborg. (pic) He stated that
they hadn't missed a deadline yet, so the odds are either that
1) they won't miss this one, or 2) they're
overdue and they will miss this one. (Read
all about the Breathing Space Too tracks).
In other news, just in case you haven't checked out the Videos
page lately, there's a couple of new and exclusive clips of
WHY performing Woman Of Steel live on the Daryl Somers
Show, and a song you'll not be familiar with called Percy
Grainger on Hey, Hey It's Saturday back in 1984.
WHY keyboardist Tony Fossey sent me this and a number of other
rare bits of archival footage he assembled whilst he was with
WHY, Spectrum and The Heaters, and I'll |
| progressively stick 'em up on YouTube
over the next few weeks.. Bless 'im, I say, and all the other
anally retentive archivists, otherwise you'd never believe a
word I said, and I would've forgotten it all anyway.. |
|
| |
Robbo
McTubby and Allan survey the cake cabinet |
gig
report The Wild Thyme Café
Warburton Sat. 13.6.09
The Wild Thyme Café rides again
14.6.09 - It's been a while between sticky dates, but
last night Bill, Robbo and I made it back down the Warby highway
to rediscover the delights of the Wild Thyme Café,
the world's most intimate gig. I was apprehensive on a couple
of counts: 1) my thumb had still not recovered from
its encounter with a rose thorn and 2) I was taping
the All Blacks and the Wallabies games and I wasn't
sure I'd put in the four-hour tape.
It's been a lean couple of months, so I might have equally
been concerned as to whether we'd remember our repertoire,
but happily everything came back more or less reliably. Our
host, Allan Seppings, (pic) was as welcoming |
| as ever, and it was good to catch
up with some old friends, including Baz and Pam, Broc O'Connor
and Narbethong's Wayne Bisset, who took the opportunity to re-stock
his entire Spectrum/Ariel CD library, which had been lost in
the fires. He says that all he needs now is a CD player.. |
|
| |
 |
Breathing
Space Too
It's coming!
12.6.09 - I popped into The Basement Discs
today, after having a pre-emptive birthday lunch with bro' Dick,
(see A Separate Reality)
just to let them know that things are on track for the Breathing
Space Too EP launch on Friday July 10th. Ian McCausland
has sent through a pic of the cover art, (pic) which
looks damn fine to me, and I told him so. |
|
|
| |
 |
An
exclusive offer to our readers
It probably isn't technically an exclusive offer, but it got
your attention, didn't it? We're taping an episode of Wrokdown
at the Lilydale Secondary College Performing Arts Centre,
17-19 Nelson Rd, Lilydale, from 5.00 - 10.00 on the
evening of Sat. June 20th. If you'd like tickets to this, please
e-mail Anita Monk
and let her know how many tickets you'd like. (Bongo Starkie
and Judith Durham are on the same show - I wonder if Judy will
sing her version of Advance Australia Fair?) You might
like to bring along some memorabilia, like old Spectrum LPs
or posters, for us to sign. You never know, you might get your
head on the telly!
|
|
|
| |
1) Greg
Macainsh 2) Alex Legg prepares to launch into his song wihile
Headley looks on |
Late
night radio*
7.6.09 - You may have read that I was
invited by Triple R's Headley Gritter to appear on The
Party Show at midnight last night/early this morning. I'd
invited bro' Dick over earlier to watch the Wallabies v Barbarians
match and we's shared a couple of very lovely, but very garlicky
pizzas, and so I was very conscious that I |
reeked of garlic - and not only that,
I felt might have to evacuate at any given moment. In other
words, in perfect condition for The Party Show. The other two
guests were Greg Macainsh, (pic 1) whose beard confused
me momentarily, and Alex Legg, (pic 2) whom I hadn't
had the pleasure of meeting before, but who told us that he
was a native of Aberdeen who had moved to Melbourne from the
UK six or so years ago.
I had asked Robbo to have a listen to the show because I was
planning to get them to play Xavier Rudd, (which, thanks
to Wrokdown's Anita Monk, they did), but, of course, Robbo fell
asleep at the critical moment and woke in time to hear Headley
back-announcing it.
The show was a riot, just as I predicted, and as we steamily
exited into the cold, East Brunswick air at a few minutes after
2.00am, Headley insisted I get him a copy of the EP when it's
released to play on the show, so I had fun and got
a guaranteed play for the new release. Hooray!
* Some
of you might remember this as the title of a Daniel single |
|
| |
| |
| back to the top
|
| |
| |
|
