He virtually single handedly changed the Australian music landscape forever, both locally and internationally... a sad loss, taken way too soon.

Edited March 2, 20214 yr by hardtack

6 hours ago, hardtack said:

He virtually single handedly changed the Australian music landscape forever, both locally and internationally... a sad loss, taken way too soon.

Hi Tim hardtack.     Yes it is a shock.   Back then I knew him well and was the first muso he signed to Mushroom records and Mushroom publishing.

Mushroom also had easily the biggest booking agency (run by Adrian Anderson and Adrian Barker).  
He was very intelligent and with much energy. 
Even in the past decade he'd remind me to call if I wanted to bring anything out.  I'm feeling a loss here. 
Yes he left us too soon  

Must crash, it's midnight here in LA. 
Cheers Tim and fellow Demonlanders ?

32 minutes ago, Rob Mac...... said:

Hi Tim hardtack.     Yes it is a shock.   Back then I knew him well and was the first muso he signed to Mushroom records and Mushroom publishing.

Mushroom also had easily the biggest booking agency (run by Adrian Anderson and Adrian Barker).  
He was very intelligent and with much energy. 
Even in the past decade he'd remind me to call if I wanted to bring anything out.  I'm feeling a loss here. 
Yes he left us too soon  

Must crash, it's midnight here in LA. 
Cheers Tim and fellow Demonlanders ?

Really sorry for your loss Rob! Having had such a close connection for so long and being so far away, must make this very hard for you. Take care and hope to catch up again soonish (one way of another).
 

I only met him a couple of times in the 70’s at parties (one at his home), so I don’t really remember too much about him. 

Was in my class in Year 12 at Melbourne High, way back when.

I remember telling him not to leave school to go into Music admin, in the September holidays, which he did anyway, as his parents were away on holiday and it would be too late for them to do anything about it when they returned.

At a school reunion several years ago, I was the compere and heaped sh-t on him about being a roadie or something to do with music and I said as well as the all the successes in the room, we also have failures like Mike. I tore him to shreds and he loved it. I made him stand up and gave him even more. At the end of the night he came over and said he loved it and he couldn't stop laughing.

Agree, taken much too soon, the Grandfather of the Aussie Music Industry. RIP MG. 

Some great stories above...was talking to my brother about Michael last night.

He's had much more to do with him than me but one thing that sticks with both of us is that he's been loyal to a lot of people over the years.

....I think he had a genuine interest in music and it's people '@Rob Mac......' unlike others who were in it purely for all they could get.

 

 

On 3/2/2021 at 12:28 AM, hardtack said:

Really sorry for your loss Rob! Having had such a close connection for so long and being so far away, must make this very hard for you. Take care and hope to catch up again soonish (one way of another).
 

I only met him a couple of times in the 70’s at parties (one at his home), so I don’t really remember too much about him. 

Thanks mate. I'll return your text or phone soon! 

On 3/2/2021 at 8:46 PM, Redleg said:

Was in my class in Year 12 at Melbourne High, way back when.

I remember telling him not to leave school to go into Music admin, in the September holidays, which he did anyway, as his parents were away on holiday and it would be too late for them to do anything about it when they returned.

At a school reunion several years ago, I was the compere and heaped sh-t on him about being a roadie or something to do with music and I said as well as the all the successes in the room, we also have failures like Mike. I tore him to shreds and he loved it. I made him stand up and gave him even more. At the end of the night he came over and said he loved it and he couldn't stop laughing.

Agree, taken much too soon, the Grandfather of the Aussie Music Industry. RIP MG. 

Haha. Good story Redleg. And exactly as I'd expect him to respond. 

Would he have been in 11th or 12th grade in 1968? 

I first met a 15-16 year old Michael Gudinski in 1968 at Bill Joseph's booking agency while seeking work for my new jazz/blues trio with pianist John Capek and my brother. 

We spoke awhile before he introduced Bill.  So friendly, exuberant and positive throughout. 

Michaels last words to me that day were, "And I LOVE your Band!"    Now he couldn't possibly have ever heard this latest band!  We'd never done a gig, recording, TV show, nothing.  So immediately I knew he was ABSOLUTELY FULL of it, but in the nicest possible  way!   Hahaha

cheers

Edited March 6, 20214 yr by Rob Mac......

18 hours ago, rjay said:

Some great stories above...was talking to my brother about Michael last night.

He's had much more to do with him than me but one thing that sticks with both of us is that he's been loyal to a lot of people over the years.

....I think he had a genuine interest in music and it's people '@Rob Mac......' unlike others who were in it purely for all they could get.

 

 

Yes rjay, I loved his enthusiasm with people, very social, loved the music scene, though understood little about actual music (I have stories about that too if you're interested). 

Yes I loved his sense of loyalty too.  One day we were chatting in his office after numerous years apart overseas. He said, "We've fallen straight into talking together how we did when we spoke every day!"  His memory was fantastic. We both remembered the same details from back in the day. 

41 minutes ago, Rob Mac...... said:

Yes rjay, I loved his enthusiasm with people, very social, loved the music scene, though understood little about actual music (I have stories about that too if you're interested). 

Yes I loved his sense of loyalty too.  One day we were chatting in his office after numerous years apart overseas. He said, "We've fallen straight into talking together how we did when we spoke every day!"  His memory was fantastic. We both remembered the same details from back in the day. 

Yes 'Rob', I'm very interested to hear about that...

On 3/6/2021 at 3:48 PM, rjay said:

Yes 'Rob', I'm very interested to hear about that...

Hi rjay, Hardtack and anyone else interested. 
I'm sitting in LA waiting for the memorial to start any minute now. 
Will have to wait a bit to tell more about Michael. 
Oh BTW, think it was1969 we first met at Bill Josephs agency, not '68 as I mentioned above, along with being the first act he ever signed, though they rushed Madder Lakes album out before ours (more stories later). 
Cheers all, it's starting

See ya Later Crusty...