Today the Super Radio Network added I Come In Peace across the board on their 21 AM stations in NSW & Qld - including Sydney's 2SM & others in big regional areas, Newcastle, Dubbo & more...time for you to start ringing in & requesting it..we're breaking out.
I Come In Peace has been added to the playlist on Queensland's Zinc Radio Network - this is big, thanks Zinc
And on YouTube the ICIP video was Friday's
#4 Most Viewed (today) - Musicians - Australia
#26 Most Viewed (this week) - Musicians - Australia
Feel free to add the video to your Facebook & circulate it to your friends - we want EVERYONE to see it. The track is due on iTunes next Fri 25th June.
For years I've been told by all the powers that be that older artists like me just won't, can't, and will never get commercial radio airplay for their new material. And I gotta say that is the way it has been...until now. I'm not on their official playlist but Melbourne Triple-FM 105.9 are gonna play my new single 'I Come In Peace' tomorrow sometime between 1pm & 1:30pm on their 'Rock Of Ages' segment when I'm interviewed by Lee Simon. One small spin for RW, a giant leap forward for the music biz. Triple-MMM are connecting the dots between the old & the new; they recently had a track from The Hoodoos Gurus latest album on their playlist as well as their oldies. Let's hope its gonna be like that for me too all over the land. On the net the 'I Come In Peace' video is clocking in at #17 on YouTube's 'most played musicians videos' today. Peace!
Won't be long now...I've been saying that for quite a while but the new RW album I Come In Peace is just about ready to go. Except we've gotta wait til the end of the financial year cos stores don't order anything much during June. So no album til July BUT the title track will be going out mid-June with a great video to back it up. Keep an eye on this site as we'll have it here on the day of release. It's a killer track & just might make me the very first 62 year old Oz Rock dude to score some commercial airplay; when the time comes you can do your bit by nagging your local DJs & VJs - we'll make history together!!!
Full version of the video used under the closing credits of the most creditable AFL footy TV show - The Marngrook Footy Show. Made on a shoestring, & highlighting the importance of our indigenous players, The Marngrook Footy Show screens most Thursdays on community television Channel 31 & cable Foxtel NITV to an amazing 400,000 viewers. The show's host Grant Hansen wrote the theme song asked me to sing it - quite an honour.
A Q&A with her in 'The Age' newspaper today revealed to me that one of the greatest chart-topping voices (often uncredited) of the 60s & beyond DARLENE LOVE is in Melbourne for an extended stay in the cast of 'Fame The Musical'. Incredible...Google & learn about the lead voice on many of Phil Spector's greatest hits &, for me, the vivacious, soulful, tuneful, joyous belter on 60s TV's weekly Hollywood rock show Shindig that was somehow beamed into my room way downunder (thank the lord or someone like him/her) at an impressionable age. For instance dig this web quote (edited) "Darlene Love, a superb vocalist, was a founding member of the Blossoms in 1957. They did sessions and were resident singers on the television show Shindig. Love sang lead vocals on "He's a Rebel" which was credited to The Crystals, and "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah" which was issued as Bob B. Soxx and the Bluejeans..." Now Listen!: those 2 songs alone make her a worshipable true LEGEND & we are truely blessed to have her living for a time in our city. Subtext: How can I get to meet her?
Ten Of The Best by Darlene Love
1 HE'S A REBEL
2 ZIP-A-DEE-DOO-DAH
3 HE'S SURE THE BOY I LOVE
4 JOHNNY
5 WHY DO LOVERS BREAK EACH OTHER'S HEARTS
6 TODAY I MET THE BOY I'M GONNA MARRY
7 CHAPEL OF LOVE
8 NOT TOO YOUNG TO GET MARRIED
9 WAIT TILL MY BOBBY GETS HOME
10 RUN RUN RUN RUNAWAY
Are you with me...?
Interview that appeared this week in 'The Northern Star', the Byron Bay district's newspaper, after the Byron Bay Bluesfest
Ross Wilson
By Brady Fuhrmann, age 9, 2P Byron Bay Public School
"I was only 4 the first time I met Ross Wilson. He was singing at the Beach Hotel and I went up and asked him to play Wiggle Rock from the Wiggles cartoon movie, Space Dancing. He was King Mondo. He asked if I wanted to go up on stage with him, so I did and he let me sing with him. I know now of course that the famous song is actually Eagle Rock, not Wiggle Rock, but I was only 4!
Ross autographed a CD called Go Bongo Go Wild for me because he said he really liked that one. He called into my Mum’s work when he was back in Byron Bay once to say hello and when he was coming to play at the Blues Festival, he said we could catch up.
We sat down at a table at the festival with Ross and I asked him if I could do an interview. He said that would be fine, so here’s what I asked him and what he told me.
BRADY: What is your favourite song you wrote or sing?
ROSS: As Daddy Cool, it would be Come Back Again and then in my Mondo days, I like Cool World.
BRADY: Who are your idols?
ROSS: Ahh, there are many. John Lee Hooker, (legendary American blues singer-songwriter from Mississippi 1917-2001) I would liked to have met him before he died, and Howlin’ Wolf, (Chester Arthur Burnett, also American singer-songwriter, 1910-1976) he was amazing.
BRADY: What do you like about Byron Bay.
ROSS: The family comes here and we really unwind. We love Bali and this place has a similar vibe. The beaches are great and it’s friendly.
BRADY: What do you like about Bluesfest?
ROSS: (laughs) They let me play here! No, it’s a great festival and they have some amazing line ups. I see artists I might not usually get to.
BRADY: Why do you think Eagle Rock is still so popular.
ROSS: (his hands launch into tapping the intro and he hums it) It’s just one of those songs that make you want to dance and have a good time. You can’t help it.
BRADY: How many more decades of cool will there be?
ROSS: (laughs again) A few! At least two I hope!
I gave Ross a postcard with an old surfing picture of Byron Bay on it that I wrote on the back of. He thanked me and let my mum take our picture. He had to leave then as it was nearly five o’clock and he was going on stage at seven.
We watched the concert from the front row and he pointed to me and sang a bit of one song. Meeting Ross should be a once in a lifetime opportunity, but I got to do it twice! Because of him I started guitar lessons when I was 5 and I hope my teacher Jason can teach me Eagle Rock one day. Ross told me I have to make sure I practice lots. He said he still does. He really is Mr Cool and a very nice person."
Rhythms Magazine's Brian Wise kept a daily blog about the Bluesfest & had this to say about our evening slot in the Crossroads marquee on Monday, the final day of the festival
"Ross Wilson’s 5 Decades of Cool on the Crossroads was all class. Wilson is cool incarnate, with a fabulous catalogue of songs. Ross Hannaford confirmed that he is still one of our greatest guitarists."
I'm just about to sing my bit in the second verse when Russell Crowe barges in & drowns me out! Duzzen madda cos this report tells you a lot about Generation One initiated by Andrew Forrest to get real employment opportunities under way for indigenous Australians. And I'm told there'll be a vid of the song down track too. Meanwhile how about 3 cheers for the new video capability on my website!!!!!
This week & on Friday & beyond you'll probably become aware of the launch of Generation One, an initiative by Australia's richest man, Andrew Forrest, digger up of bulk iron ore in the Pilbara, WA. He grew up in outback Australia with aboriginal kids as his playmates and says ' the more I get to know our indigenous people, the more I love them' , a sentiment I totally agree with. Generation One is his plan to help provide real work for indigenous Australians & he has used his business clout to move fellow Oz billionaires such as Jamie Packer & bankers and all to get on board this movement in a practical way. They are launching it in Sydney this Friday the 19th with politicians of the highest order, movie stars etc etc. Where I come in is on the theme song that will provide the soundtrack to the launch (can't make the launch, got a gig at Alfred's in Warrandyte, Vic) . 'Generation One', the song, was written by Melinda Schneider & Les Gock and today I inserted my vocal bits along with Eric McCusker's guitar licks via the internet to add to the main tracks recorded in Sydney. Ya gotta love the internet & I know you do or you wouldn't be reading this now. The song is a rousing 'We R The World' / 'I Am Australian' type thing & I dunno how much of my bits or Eric's will end up in the final mix but I'm really glad I was asked to contribute.
Moving right along now. The strenuous roadwork (see below) has been good for my vocal chords and so, on the odd day off, I've been finishing the vocals on my long promised album & cybering the tracks to prod-user Mark Moffatt in Nashville for mixing. Only one more track to go.
Back on the road we slayed em in Perth & Busselton & played a couple of new rooms along the way. For our WA leg we had John Watson on drums while Haydn took a detour. John plays regularly with James Reyne & Kasey Chambers & is on stax of Aussie albums; best of all he slotted seamlessly into the Urban Legends backline. At the Railway Hotel in North Fremantle it was jump city &, wait a minute, isn't that Ben Elton grooving away stage right? Coming up this Friday we're in Tassie headlining the Launceston Festivale's opening night. My DC guitarist mate Ross Hannaford's band is going to be there too so he's guesting with us on the Daddy Cool songs; bewdy! But next week I'm ditching electric guitar persons altogether for a reprise of the 'No Smoke, Just Mirrors' AdCabFest piano/ac gtr/bass/drums/ lineup for 4 shows exclusively for the Lizotte's venues; 2 nights at Lizotte's Central Coast (Thur 18, Fri 19) & 2 nights at the recently opened Lizotte's Newcastle (Sat 20, Sun 21). Friday & Saturday are pretty much sold out already so you'd better call em soon if you want to get along on Thursday or Sunday. Check our 'Dates' page for website booking links & venue details.
Hey fellas don't forget its Valentines Day this Sunday.
Not much news but its all good. We're near the end of the first leg of the Hell Of A Time tour having done 11 shows in 13 days spread thru Sth East Queensland & New South Wales starting on the Sushine Coast & Surfers Paradise detouring to the Tamworth Country Music Festival onto Sydney & Australia Day in Blacktown. Man, that's intense but all worth it. The band is sounding great & the punters are loving it. Check out their feedback in the Guestbook. 3 more shows to go then a couple of days off at home in Melbourne before taking it to Western Australia & Tassie in February and Victoria in March. We finish the HOAT tour on Easter Monday at the Byron Bay Bluesfest with a compressed (90 min) version of the 5 Decades Of Cool show. This the longest sustained tour run I've done this century! If you haven't seen us for a while now's the time to put on your dancing shoes, get out of the house, & have yourself a Hell Of A Time.
Rhythms Magazine's Jeff Jenkins went fact finding to help celebrate RW's five decades of cool.
This year the one and only Ross Wilson celebrated 45 years of making music with 2 special 5 Decades Of Cool concerts & a DVD . So we pay tribute to Ross the Boss.
Ross Andrew Wilson was born in Melbourne on November 18, 1947. He grew up in Hampton, Victoria, Australia
His initials formed the name of his early ’90s funk outfit, RAW.
Ross’ first rock ‘n’ roll experience was seeing Johnny O’Keefe, Jerry Lee Lewis and Buddy Holly at Festival Hall when he was 11. “After that show, I used to have fantasies about being on stage.”
Ross was still at Haileybury College when he formed his first band in 1964, featuring a chubby 13-year-old named Ross Hannaford on guitar. Their manager planned to call them ‘Pink Thinks,’ but they were later advertised as ‘The Pink Finks’ and the name stuck. Their first gig was at the Anglican Church Hall in Marriage Road, East Brighton.
The Pink Finks’ first single, a cover of ‘Louie Louie,’ became a Top 20 hit in Melbourne in 1965. The band’s drummer was Richard Franklin, who later became a movie director (Patrick, Psycho II).
When he was 16, Ross was hit by a car, injuring his leg. This kept him out of the Vietnam draft. “I’m forever grateful for that.”
After The Pink Finks, Ross formed The Party Machine, a band that later featured Spectrum’s Mike Rudd on bass.
The Party Machine’s songbook was seized by the Victorian vice squad, who deemed it ‘obscene and seditious.’ It featured Ross’ song, ‘I Don’t Believe All Your Kids Should Be Virgins.’
Ross went to the UK in 1969 to sing with Procession.
Ross started writing ‘Eagle Rock’ in Surrey in England. He was inspired by a photo in The Sunday Times, showing people dancing at a juke joint in America. The caption said: ‘Some Negroes doing the Eagle Rock and Cutting the Pigeon Wing.’
Ross debuted ‘Eagle Rock’ with his experimental outfit Sons Of The Vegetal Mother at Brunswick Street’s T.F. Much Ballroom (which stood for ‘Too Fucking Much’). But it became a hit for Daddy Cool.
Eagle Rock was 1971’s biggest-selling Australian single.
The ‘Eagle Rock’ clip – which cost $300 to make – was directed by Chris Lofven (Cam-Pact’s bass player), who later made the movie Oz, featuring Ross’ first solo single, ‘Living In The Land Of Oz.’
Ross also started a record label called Oz, with Glenn Wheatley.
Aussie Burgers, which pops up at the end of the ‘Eagle Rock’ clip, is now the McDonald’s opposite Luna Park. The clip’s main location was the Dolphin Café in Clarendon Street, South Melbourne. It’s now a shoe shop.
‘Eagle Rock’ inspired Elton John’s ‘Crocodile Rock.’ Elton’s lyricist, Bernie Taupin, is wearing a ‘Daddy Cool’ badge on the cover of Elton’s 1973 album, Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only The Piano Player.
Jimmy Barnes says: “Eagle Rock is one of my favourite songs and the great Australian rock ‘n’ roll song. It’s timeless.”
The song also inspired ‘the Eagle Drop.’ When it comes on, people drink beer, dance like eagles and drop their pants. The ritual is particularly big in Queensland and Canberra. There’s even a Facebook group, ‘I Drop My Pants When Eagle Rock Is Playing.’
Cashing in on DC’s success, Adelaide band Drummond (featuring Graeham Goble, who would later form LRB) also covered the Daddy Cool song (originally recorded by US doo-wop group The Rays in 1957). It went to number one in 1971.
During the DC days, Ross’ then wife, Pat, had a column in Go-Set called ‘Mummy Cool.’
DC were the first Aussie band that Split Enz's Tim Finn saw in NZ. “They showed us what Australian rock ‘n’ roll was all about,” Tim later said. “Soulful and funky, with a lead singer who moved like he was riding a wave. It was a friendly wave, everyone was welcome.”
DC went to the US in August 1971. “We loved America,” Ross says, even though he suffered a rare dose of stage fright at the band’s first big US gig, at LA’s Whisky a Go Go. DC got a record deal with Reprise and returned to the US, where they toured with Deep Purple and Fleetwood Mac.
Until Skyhooks’ Living In The 70’s, DC’s debut album Daddy Who? Daddy Cool – recorded in two-and-a-half days – was Australia’s biggest-seller. A gold album back then was 10,000 copies. The DC album sold 60,000 copies. Platinum awards didn't exist back then.
After DC broke up, Ross formed Mighty Kong. In July 1973, they were doing a gig at Melbourne Uni’s cafeteria, supported by a new band called Skyhooks. “I thought they were great,” Ross recalls.
Ross produced Skyhooks’ first three albums.
Ross also signed Skyhooks bass player and songwriter Greg Macainsh to his publishing company, Doo Dah Music.
Ross produced Jo Jo Zep and The Falcons’ first two albums. He also produced The Johnnys’ two albums.
Mondo Rock played their first gig in 1976 at the Astor Theatre, to promote the movie Oz.
The Farnham hit ‘A Touch Of Paradise’ was the first song Ross wrote for Mondo Rock (it ended up on the Nuovo Mondo album). Ross wrote the song with Gulliver Smith (ex-Company Caine).
Rick Springfield covered Mondo Rock’s ‘State Of The Heart,’ taking it to number 22 in the US.
Ross wrote ‘Bop Girl,’ a National #2 hit for Pat Wilson in 1983. Nicole Kidman, 16, appeared in the ‘Bop Girl’ clip, directed by Gillian Armstrong.
The rooArt label planned a Ross Wilson tribute album at the start of the ’90s. Skyhooks planned to cover ‘Bop Girl.’ Greg Macainsh recalls: “It just seemed to be right, especially for Shirl’s voice. And we could see the TV Week headline: ‘Bop Shirl.’
Ross wrote Mondo Rock’s ‘Cool World’ the same night he wrote ‘We’re No Angels,’ which was on John Farnham’s Age Of Reason album.
Ross’ 2003 album, Country & Wilson, featured the song ‘(I Was On) MTV In The 80s.’ “I was on MTV in the ’80s,” Ross says, “the real one in the US.”
Daddy Cool planned to do a joint tour and album with Skyhooks in 1994. But the plans were shelved when the first single, Skyhooks’ ‘Happy Hippy Hut’ and DC’s ‘Ballad Of Oz,’ peaked at number 35.
DC later reformed for the Tsunami Benefit Concert at the Myer Music Bowl in Feb 2005. It was their first live appearance in 30 years.
DC released just two studio albums – 1971’s Daddy Who? Daddy Cool! and 1972’s Sex, Dope, Rock ‘n’ Roll: Teenage Heaven (re-titled simply Teenage Heaven in the US) – until their comeback album, 2006’s The New Cool, which included the seven tracks intended for the joint album with Skyhooks.
Ross was ‘King Mondo’ when he did Eagle Rock with The Wiggles.
Cricketer Brett Lee also covered ‘Eagle Rock’ with his band, Six & Out.
If Mondo Rock is inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame, Ross will become our first triple Hall of Famer (he was inducted solo in 1989 and with DC in 2006).
When DC toured with the Beach Boys in 2007, Ross joked: “There are more Wilsons in Daddy Cool than there are in the Beach Boys.”
Ross is kind of the step step-dad of Holly Valance. Ross’ wife, Tania, was married to Holly’s dad.
Ross is a judge on the celebrity singing series It Takes Two. He says All Saints star Jolene Anderson has been the standout contestant.
Everyone at the 5 Decades Of Cool concerts received a special compilation called Hell Of A Time. Ross originally did the title-track as an acoustic duet on Jimmy Barnes’ 1993 album, Flesh and Wood. The new version will also be on Ross’ next album, to be released early 2010.
Ross turned 62 this year, but has no plans to retire. “The role model in Australia is Slim Dusty – you die with your boots on.”
1 Was handed a note a the Norwood in Adelaide that asked "Does Ross know that this year 11,000 primary school kids sang Eagle Rock in the Festival Theatre at the South Australia Primary School Festival Of Music?" Well, um no, but I'm delighted.
2 Its a long story but the punchline is that last weekend at The Palais in Hepburn Springs I was given a pic of St Kilda FC superstar Carl Ditterich, signed by the man himself ("Best Wishes Ross, Carl Ditterich") & delivered personally by his wife Alanna. In turn I autographed the 1st album Alanna ever bought, Daddy Who? Daddy Cool. We now have a standing invitation to play at Carl & Alanna's pub in Brisbane - I hope they call my agent.
3 I'm playing two gigs in a row that are alcohol free. That's gotta be a record. Carols By Candlelight on Christmas Eve and the City of Melbourne's Family Festival at Yarra Park on New Year's Eve.
4 My next single is I Come In Peace co-written with Rick Brewster of The Angels. Got a video in the works for it too. Should be out Feb/March.
5 In the Nov 16 edition of streetpress mag Inpress I had a cameo in Fred Negro's unique & legendary Pub comic strip. He had a flashback cos I VJ'd his Beer Sandwich clip on Rage the week before.
My movable musical feast '5 Decades Of Cool' plays in the heart of Sydney tonight at The State Theatre (Sat 28 Nov). I'm just about to head there for a soundcheck. Its pretty much sold out but you may be able to score a balcony seat from Ticketmaster or a standing room ticket at the box office. If you can't make it tonight don't worry as the whole thing is right there on the 'Ross Wilson Live At The Palais' DVD we shot at the first concert on August. If you saw my footy news entries below you'll know I'm open to examining omens (that what show biz does to you) & so I take this short rave by Benmont Tench, kbds Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, as a positive sign to encourage me to let it rip tonight. Its from a site AllThatJazz as part of a quite lengthy insight into the group's new live performances anthology. Here's what he has to say about Daddy Cool...
“So, that's where we all came from. I was lucky enough to walk into a room and meet Tom and Mike and have them show me songs by so & so and me show them songs by so & so," continues Tench. “For instance, we all loved this band named Daddy Cool, an Australian group that was just fantastic and obscure as you can get. One of the first times I went to Tom's house he said, 'Check this out,' and put on this Daddy Cool record. It was something I'd heard a couple weeks before on the college radio station and was blown away but didn't know who it was. And I'm sitting there with Tom and thinking 'Okay, this is good. This will work.' "
Tom Petty has also played 'Eagle Rock' & 'Come Back Again' on his radio show this year. I know this because a bunch of people from the US joined my MySpace after they heard em. Keep up the good work fellas.
Saturday night I was guest host on ABC-TV's 'Rage'. The overnight video marathon has decreed November to be Australian Music Month & I was guest programmer for Week 1 'The 70s'. I would have liked to have included some 70s soul music but 'Rage's' 25000+ catalogue of music videos is sadly bereft of that genre. So I stuck to my brief, told a few anecdotes &, hopefully, was entertaining for the 11pm to 2am shift. My bits were pre recorded a few weeks ago & when it aired I was in Perth gigging but returned to my hotel room in time to see me introducing the big surprise of the night, a 1 song excerpt from the 1973 GTK special 'Mighty Kong, live at the Sydney Town Hall'. I thought this had been lost forever until it loomed out of ABC video library catalogue. There was no track list so I asked Rage to select something & surprise me which they did spectacularly. 'Beelzebub Boogie'? Gulp, I'd forgotten all about that one! Probably because it was written by Kong guitarist Russell Smith & his Company Caine buddy Gulliver 'A Touch Of Paradise' Smith. Fantastic. It takes a lot to excite me but this discovery has & the ABC is kindly running off a copy of the entire Kong concert for me. Mighty Kong's only album 'All I Wanna Do Is Rock' (1973) was recently released on CD for the 1st time & to have close to an hour of live footage surface is bloody great timing. Fingers crossed that its all as good as 'Beelzebub Boogie'.
Tania loves a punt & she's pretty good at it. Me, I save it for the one time each year & my track record is not bad at all - I bet rarely but I bet well. Tues 3 Nov we had some space in the diary & so were only too happy to RSVP our acceptance to attend this year's Emirates Melbourne Cup as guests of Emirates in their Birdcage marquee. This year's theme was Bollywood with appropriate music & food but, thankfully, the bubbly was not chai flavoured but an inexhaustible supply of Moet. Man that is my favourite drink. You can feel that French vitamin M doing you good. We were in the same place a year ago ago when Viewed romped home at 30 to 1 & made my day. I had a couple of bucks on Viewed again this year but it was not to be. Didn't matter though cos I also had some on the winner Shocking as well as runner-up Crime Scene. However my best Cup Day bet ever was in 2006 when Delta Blues & Pop Rock came 1st & 2nd. I had them each-way plus in a quinella. It was my only bet for the day but I had to make it - Pop Rock? Delta Blues? That's my life baby!
Tania also did okay on Cup Day. She's got the knack & pulled the trifecta in Race 6 & a reasonable result in the Cup. As a background to our betting plunges the Emirates marquee was perfect. Along with the already mentioned Vitamin M it was awash with celebs, pollies, models & other interesting types. On entry I was touched to find I was guest listed as 'Ross Wilson, celebrity'; wonders will never cease. Inside I introduced myself to BrisConnections stockmarket tyro Nick Bolton & told him i loved his work. Bumped into Ricki-Lee & we discussed her FMH dominatrix photo spread - she really enjoyed it. Finding out that we are both Scorpios gave us plenty more to talk about. There was Dicko & Dermy, Eddie, larrikin actor Simon 'Gatto' Westaway, Ronan, Lady Zara (or is that princess?), Rachael Finch mm-mmm gorgeous, gossip columnists, shutterbugs, captains of industry - merde everyone was there! Before the last race we thought it time to go for a stroll & ended up at the Hilton Hotel marquee run by my first bro-in-law John H where another great time was being had by all. Good lord is that the time...? We'd done the responsible sensible thing & hired a car & driver to take us to & fro, the best investment of the day.
Sadly the 'sign' (below) came to pass & St Kilda was mauled by the Cats in one of the best matched AFL grand finals of all time. Their loss was enough to put me off blogging all month even though there's been plenty to blog about. For instance my guest bout as mentor & judge on Australian Idol 27 Sept proved more interesting than I imagined & I really got into it dishing out performance tips as mentor & sharing more wisdom as judge de jour. The contestants actually listened to what I told em & I could see it in their performances. They've had other guest judges before & since but I'm the only Aussie one this season! Between mentoring & judging we spent the week rushing to meet the deadline for delivering the sound mix to match the final editing of footage for the '5 Decades Of Cool' DVD. We're trying to get it out before the Sydney 5DOC on 28 Nov.
From Idol it was up in the morning & off to Bali returning 10 days later with batteries charged, a tan, & a few kilos lighter. Sometimes you don't realise how hard you've been working til you take a break. Now we're back into it on the 'Hell Of A Time' tour which is living up to its name if ping ponging around Oz is a tour naming criteria. In the last 12 days I flew from Canberra to Melbourne to Coffs to Byron (off) to Brisbane to Melbourne to Sydney (to collect an award) to Cairns to Swan Hill. The tour continues around Victoria & Melbourne this week then heads for WA (check the dates page).
One of the greatest Hollywood Roman epics 'Quo Vadis' (latin for "whither goest thou?") screened on Foxtel tonight & I caught the last 30mins when the Christians meet the lions in the Collisseum courtesy of the treacherous maniacal reigning caesar Nero who falsely has them blamed for burning down Rome. I'd seen this movie when I was a kid & loved it, especially Peter Ustinov as Nero. But tonight, around the time when St Peter gets called back to Rome by the Lord to meet his doom after receiving a 'sign', I started to get a little uneasy. Was this entire movie a 'sign' for me? The Christians (soon to become Saints through their martyrdom) were put in the Colliseum (which looked a hellava lot like the MCG packed to the gills) to get mauled by the lions (Cats!) - gulp... But wait a minute; most of the Christians die but the main ones triumph & Nero (who owned the lions) dies by his own hand with a sly nod to Edward G Robinson's gangster in 'Little Caesar' ("is this the end of Rico?") when he says "is this the end of Nero?" who after all was a caesar too. So, after analysing this pre-match sign I conclude that, although the mighty Saints may be in for a mauling, we shall triumph when the Cats (the Pretorian Guard) fall on their own collective sword & their coach gets the blame...or something like that...or maybe my team will move in mysterious ways...anyway I'll be glued to the plasma 2morra arvo to see...and pray.
38 years after it was first unleashed good old Eagle Rock keeps on keeping on. For instance ER will close the 5 Decades of Cool - Live at The Palais DVD we're working on. While you are waiting for that you can also find ER on 2 albums on the latest ARIA Top 20 Compilation CDs chart. Million Dollar Riff sits at #3, while Beer, Blokes & BBQs Vol 2 is partying on at #14. But the ER news-of-the-week came in the form of Kevin Bloody Wilson's unique ER adaptation Me Beer's Been Cut from his next ultra-blue laff fest Excess All Areas. As Kev himself says it has been 'decomposed'. KBW is killing em in the UK until mid-Nov.
The songwriter in me is also very happy that The Essential John Farnham 3.0 is sitting at #3 on the ARIA national Top 50 Albums chart; I've got A Touch Of Paradise, We're No Angels, & Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time on that one. While The Voice is on tour for the next few months & I'll be submitting a couple of tunes for his next album.
I can't prove it but I may have had something to do with St Kilda blitzing the competition to reach the AFL finals this year with only 2 losses and a permanent spot on top of the ladder. A couple of year's back, when my music publisher Michael Gudinski was the VP of the club and Rod Butterss was the President, we were all together at a social gathering &, of course, came to discuss the club's struggle to achieve AFL championship stature. At that time The Saints jumper was dominated by a big black cross which seemed to me to be quite a heavy symbolic load to carry; literally a cross to bear. Footy is not an exclusively Christian sporting pursuit I told them, its heathen, paganistic, & you ought to get rid of that chest-covering cross that is failing to deter those other teams & is making our fellas look like saintly goody-goodys. Next season the cross was reduced in size & now its where it ought to be, as part of the tiny St K shield lodged over the players' hearts on this season's winning team's jersey. After beating Collingwood yesterday the premiership flag is in sight again. Carn the mighty red white & black, non-denominational, Saints!
The owners of The RAW Gallery, 250 Park St, Sth Melbourne, describe themselves as 'specialists in fine art rock & pop culture photography'. As well sharing my initials RAW is just around the corner from Armstrong's recording studio where I'm mixing the recordings from the '5 Decades Of Cool' concert. Someone had mentioned that they had a 1968 pic of The Party Machine there but I thought they must be mistaken & that it was probably the more famous & more recent group The Birthday Party. Anyway I wandered into RAW today & wow there IS a beautifully developed & framed large pic of The Party Machine in 1968 from the archives of Go-Set pop mag shutterbug Colin Beard plus another ripper of Ross Hannaford writhing on stage at Sunbury 74 with Daddy Cool. The Party Machine were me, Ross Hannaford, Mike Rudd (later Spectrum) & drummer Peter Curtin (now a pilot in the US) & there is hardly any pictorial evidence existing about them except for a few clippings & posters. Colin's pic is from a limited run of 50 prints & I just might have to get me one for my studio wall - its that good. Even though its pretty pricey its art baby. But enough about me there are also early pics of The Easybeats, Crowded House, Nick Cave, INXS, Peter Garrett, The Church, Billy Thorpe, Goanna and many others. This is a very well curated collection & I recommend you stroll in for a squiz. Other notable photographers represented are Greg Noakes, Philip Morris & Wendy McDougall.
The RAW Gallery, 250 Park St, South Melbourne Vic 3205 info@therawgallery.com Ph: 03 9690 5182 http://therawgallery.com/exhibitions/
Well we did it. 14 Aug 09 was my big night at The Palais & I'd like to again thank every single one of you who came along. It was recorded & there will be a DVD & CD sometime in November. Right now I'm still recovering from one of the most demanding nights of my life. A lot of planning went into the show but it was the band & guest artists helping me scour the still burning embers of the last 45 years that deserve so much of the credit - they made it a very special night; at this stage a once-in-a liftime thing although there is now talk of doing a similar thing in Sydney. We'll see. I've received a lot of feedback from you, some reviews are trickling in, & I hope you are enjoying the CD I put together for you to take home after the show. The after party at Riva was a groove too; great to meet those of you who got in early to score a VIP ticket & party laminate. That's why we have an email list - if you're on it you get first pick. At the concert merch stand you could find for the first time ever a CD version of Mondo Rock's 1979 debut album 'Primal Park', a sumptuously prepared package thru Aztec International that they rushed out for the 5DOC night, hey they did a great PP T-shirt as well.
In Perth we did our updated semi-acoustic thing at Friends then saw the Sold Out sign go up at the Charles Hotel. After rocking & sweating with the crowd there, & catching up with sandgroping friends backstage, we banked some late night relaxation at a Very Cool New Jazz Club - Ellington's in North Perth - where our drummer Haydn Meggitt, who hails from the West, was welcomed like the prodigal son & was soon jamming with some incredibly funky local players, the standout for me being tenor sax man Troy Roberts. Speaking of players the crowd was tres chic as well.
On Saturday we flew to The Pilbara mining centre town of Karratha, having first been there last November. If I neglected to tell you then about how impressive this area is it was probably because the GFC had just hit in a big way & everyone was holding their collective breath & wondering how it would effect the iron ore miners in Nthn WA. Everything up there is big, mines, trucks, ships, revenue, rents, fish etc; you can read about it but, like Uluru for example, its not until you get there that you understand. Last Nov I came away with the opinion that the resources industry up there was so big & had so much momentum that it would be unstoppable. They are definitely still up & running & looking to the next wave of mega-mining, setting up to extract & ship Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) by the tankerload a few years from now.