The bits of stuff that fall in the cracks between Life, Music and outrageous fortune.		  
 
 
 
November
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1) Trevor 'Legs' Leeden reflects on his retirement 2) Mt Waverley voters clasping their Liberal how-to-vote cards
 From the Court House to the school yard
30.11.10 - I met Bill, who was on his way to see Stormin' Norman for an adjustment, at Choclatté this morning, and we were just winding up our 'business' when Tevor Leeden (pic 1) walked in. It wasn't a total surprise - I knew Trevor was in town because he'd booked me to appear as a surprise guest at his farewell function last Friday at the Court House Hotel in North Melbourne. (Trevor reminded me that the Court House was the very spot where Christine Nixon elected to fiddle while Kinglake burned). I was to wait (a bit longer than I was expecting as it turned out) in the adjoining room for my cue, and then I was going to march in and say something like, 'You're not murdering my song again are you Trevor?' and whip out my trusty G harp and play the intro to I'll Be Gone and sing as much as I felt like to general shock and awe from the assembled throng. Which is pretty much the way it happened, except 80% of the room would've had no idea who the hell I was had not Trevor's wife Kath helpfully provided a running commentary as she filmed the event.
Anyway, it was a bit of fun and Trevor assures me I'm the talk of Mobil at the moment. And I have to say the Court House food's fantastic - I had the duck. I can almost forgive Christine choosing the dinner..
 

1) Uncle Terry lights the profiterole birthday cake 2) Birthday boy Luke (right) with his friend Rory Moloney

3) Rockbottom James Moloney and son Rory again		 Luke prematurely celebrates his 18th
22.11.10 - I didn't know it was Luke's birthday on Friday, and as it turns out it wasn't, but it was Luke's birthday party nevertheless and I was invited, so I picked up a cold bottle of bubbly from Dan Murphy's and choogled on over to Croydon. I was met at the door by Danielle, and after an initial confusion over states, I was treated to the story of her couple of weeks at a detention centre in WA helping some of the Afghani asylum seekers with their English. She was so obviously moved by the experience I prevailed on her to write about her time there, which she assured me she'd do.
The host of hoodies and Goths that comprise Luke's circle of friends was almost matched numerically by the olds and
I'm not sure if that was a factor, but the children behaved themselves impeccably and were generally to be seen but barely heard. I had a nice chat with Rockbottom James (pic 3) and we agreed that times are pretty tough for yer live bands of any persuasion. I'm not sure if it's temporary or whether, like a previous generation's vaudevillians, we'll eventually be squeezed out of the entertainment loop altogether. Depends on my mood at the time
 


1) Why would a dyslexic choose to become a signwriter? 2) Gus McNeil blinks at the camera over a Thai snack
Summer's back and my publisher's in town..
9.11.10 - (The real 9/11). Gus (pic 2) rang yesterday and said he was coming to Melbourne and might have some free time today, so I picked him up from town at about 12.30 and we popped down to Aztec Music to say hi to Ted and pick up some more Spectrum CDs. There was some discussion about the Arias and then the focus shifted to the on-going stand-off between Aztec and EMI re' the back catalogue, still the most popular subject amongst our correspondents. There's nothing good/new to report really, and in any case, even if there was going to be any action it now won't happen until the New Year.
Gus and I had time left for a bite so we stopped off at the Glenferrie Arcade and had lunch at the Bangkok Café. The Arcade's been refurbished since I was last there, but I could still approximately locate the spot where Phil Jacobsen's accountancy partnership used to be three or more decades ago. When Bill and I used to walk through the Arcade in 1969 we became aware that we were being pointed at excitedly from Phil's window, so one day we pretended to walk past - and then walked right in and scared the bejesus out of them. Phil graduated from being our accountant to being our manager within a matter of months, and a decade later he was an indispensable part of the booking, touring and record conglomerate that's still to be found in Albert Park and had acquired the rather endearing nomenclature 'the Old Man.' But, as usual, that's another story..
 

Al and John Staehely are back - another tour with Spectrum?		 Al Staehely gets in touch
7.11.10 - It was back in February of 2007 that I last heard from Al Staehely (pron. 'stuh-hayley') . (See Stop Press 42)
Apparently the son he mentioned then is in Melbourne playing baseball with the Sandringham Royals. (I've just started to really appreciate baseball during the last World Series, as if I needed to be sucked in by another sport). I'm not sure if Al was a baseball player when he was younger, but I was pleased to hear that he and his brother John have got together another band under the Staehely banner and are out there doing it again. (check large pic).
 

For me? Diana Wolfe soaks up the plaudits of the crowd		 What Mike did on his Saturday night off
7.11.10 - Diana Wolfe's CD launch was at the Kensington Bowls Club last night, and when I arrived the band had just started playing. I cruised up to the stage to take a pic (left) and announce to Diana that I was in the room, and it wasn't long before I was invited up to play my bits on harmonica. Given I was doing nothing last night I was more than happy to roll up and have a bit of a tootle, but I'd mostly forgotten about the sessions and was quite surprised to discover I was on all of three tracks. Despite playing on all of the album, Robbo wasn't with the band on the night, so we had a bit of bad boy fun at the back of the room. Ken Stephenson deserves a lot of credit for pulling the album together for Diana over its four year gestation.
 
 
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