hardtack

Haha, yes it's very possible our paths did cross in that case. I was there in 1972 and did spend an inordinate amount of time in the caf. I used to hang around with the likes of Steve Cummings, a guy named John Smith (yes, real name) who was an excellent harmonica player, Brendan Ryan who was from Bendigo (may have been a general studies student) and another guy named Brad (can't recall any other name) who may have been an engineering student who was a bit of a space cadet. I also worked a lot on SCRAG (Swinburne College Rag) doing illustrations... it was edited by a person named Kelvin Gedyes who the last time I ran into him, was sound mixing for Circus Oz. At that time half of Madder Lake were studying there as well as people like Greg McAinsch (sp?) of Skyhooks fame (they were Film & TV students who were the next rung up the "ladder of importance". That was when I joined my first band (the bass player was in my class) called Poltergeist who were based in Altona/Yarraville... we did a whole bunch of originals as well as covers of songs by bands like Atomic Rooster, Edgar Broughton Band and so on. They were good times... in fact, for the first semester of 1972, my Psychology of Perception teacher was David Williamson... he left after that time because his play The Removalists had just won some big award in New York and so he decided to go full time with his writing.

In the Daintree... is it mushroom season up there?

Oh, I see... you meant "furer"! Now I get it.

Yep, I'm hanging out for karmagedon.

Hey, I'm into my 60's and still occasionally sport the old man-bun.

There's a recording of an interview with him here: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-02-06/from-rock-start-to-busker-daddy-cool-guitarist-new-music/6073132 I'm pretty sure he mentioned the fact that he needed the money... obviously he enjoys what he's doing and may have other options, but I suppose this is one way he is guaranteed a regular income.

Now here's someone who should be heritage listed as a recognised national treasure... Mr Ross Hannaford; ex of Daddy Cool and Billy-T and now busking the streets of Melbourne to make ends meet.

You can purchase the DVD from that website... I'm not 100% certain, but I believe a percentage of the proceeds go to SANE Australia. I saw it on TV when it first aired and it is a very worthwhile watch.

Don't they tend to thrash them out in the suburbs?

Yeah, I used to frequent the Londern Tavern in Hawthorn Rd Sth Caulfield, the Kingston Hotel in West Richmond, The Crystal Ballroom in Fitzroy St, Tiger Room in Richmond, the Station Hotel in Prahran, Bananas Night Club in the Esplanade and on the list goes.

I think you could almost be guaranteed that the flack directed at Watts would be a fraction of what it is on this site if his leads had been honored more regularly.

Yes KK, I remember the stickers in my son's junior member pack, but just don't recall the bumper stickers in mine... I will have to go back through my pile of half read mail I suppose ;-)

Yes, have seen Vika and Linda a few times with the Black Sorrows and even (again at Bluesfest) on Rockwiz live. Don't know anything about Ash Naylor. My only contact with Paul Kelly was playing cricket with him a couple of decades back here in Sydney... there was a team I played a handful of games with that comprised local musicians in a cobbled together weekend competition. Was a lot of fun and PK was actually a very handy spin bowler.

I don't recall getting the bummer, err I mean bumper stickers for a while... are they no longer an item for out of state members? The only bumper sticker I have is for the Newtown Swans (who my son plays for) and that can be a little embarrassing as from a distance it looks just like a Sydney Swans bumper sticker.

Ah yes, our conversation is coming back to me now

I have to admit that I never used to be... but after seeing him doing his solo show with Shane O'Mara at Bluesfest last year, I'm happy to admit I'm a convert. He's a very witty guy with a great "eye" for detail in his observations. He reminds me of a letter day Dave Warner or Paul Madigan... or even Slim Whittle (the Whittle Family were one of my all time favourite Melbourne acts in the 70's).

Was Billy Miller originally with The Ferrets? I only ever got to see them once, at the Tiger Room in Richmond (owned by Francis Bourke if my memory serves me well). They were very good. Rebecca Barnard I remember seeing a few times providing backing vocals for Steve Cummings in his early days as a solo artist (with Shane O'Mara on guitar). The music scene is one of the things I miss most about Melbourne. That Kilbey produced album was the one with The Blue Hour and When Love Comes Back to Haunt You? Great album. I also loved the Rebecca's Empire track "There's Always Something There to Remind Me" on the "To Hal and Bacharach" covers album.

Thanks NB. It's funny actually, after reading the earlier comment that mentioned teh Angels, I had another listen and could understand that some or the "extra" guitar fills in there did have a similar ring to them. I do like the Church comparison, although the actual song predates the Church by a few years..and no, I certainly don't have Kilbey's ego; if I had, then maybe we could have been successful ;-) As for the slide, I'm not sure that Steve (the guitarist) would have borrowed that bottle from Chris Cheney, but I am sure that teh old beer bottle slide goes way way back... hence the term "bottleneck guitar". Steve is an interesting piece of fruit by the way... check out what he does for a (kind of) real living... http://www.steveralphs.com/

Yes NB, I think he may have been off on a bit of a bender for those DoTG shows. I saw Steve with Shane O'Mara not so long ago here in Sydney and that was a great show. Prior to that I had seen Shane O'Mara accompanying Tim Rogers at Bluesfest last Easter... a brilliant performance. You can find a few Steve Cummings pics amongst these in one of my Facebook albums: https://www.facebook.com/tim.fleming.75/media_set?set=a.583242671711020.1073741830.100000758763064&type=3

Yes, if that was the Elvis Costello concert (I went to that Day on the Green show at Bimbadgen in the Hunter Valley), he was very off the mark with his performance. I have however seen him a couple of times since up here in Sydney at a place called Deus Cafe and on both occasions he was excellent, so I wouldn't write him off on the strength of that Day on the Green show. I also have his most recent solo album which is also well worth a listen (gifted by him - we were friends in the early 70's at Swinburne where I was studying Graphic Art). I was also a regular at their pub shows mostly at the Kingston Hotel in West(?) Richmond and the London Tavern in South Caulfield. For the reunion shows the only originals are Steve, Martin Armiger and Andrew Pendlebury... sadly Jim Niven (the keyboard player passed away a couple of years ago here in Sydney) and I'm not sure what has happened to the bass player and drummer (names escape me) and Ed Bates the other original guitarist pre Armiger who came over from the band The Bleeding Hearts. I am pretty sure Mark Ferry (formerly of the Models and regularly in the Rockwiz band) is playing bass. I think the line-up can be found at that link I posted.

A saucer of milk to Flannery O'Connor's table please!! I have to say as an interstater, all training write-ups INCLUDING TDI's (who let's not forget, set the benchmark) and not forgetting the most recent contribution of Demon Jack, have been invaluable... not only are we unable to attend any sessions, I suspect that most, like myself, also miss the water cooler talk and the general discussion that tends to happen around the traps. Thanks ALL.

One for the diary... I'm tossing up whether I can afford it (money and time), but if I was still living in Melbourne I would be there without any hesitation at all... The Sports reforming for just two shows. http://www.memomusichall.com.au/

With the latest polls (heard on radio this morning prior to the spill vote) apparently showing a two party preferred of 57% Labor and 43% Liberal, even allowing for the supposed maximum 3% margin for error, things are looking dire indeed... and the longer the mad monk stays in charge, it's hard to imagine things getting better for them.

I think you'll find he's growing a mo graft.

Thanks GV, glad you liked it. The guitarist and I wrote that song when we were in a band together in Sydney back in 1979. He moved back to the UK that same year and the band disbanded. So maybe the fact that we had worked together helped with what you call the "organic" sound? We met up again via Facebook and decided to give it another go and so he and his son did all of the music tracks in the UK and sent me a guide track against which I created a vocal track, which I isolated and sent back for them to mix for the final product. My friend played bass and guitars and his son did the mixing and the drums (despite not normally being a drummer - he's a guitarist/vocalist in his own band). We were pretty happy with it.