… Previously

26 January 2012

 

Australia Day

To be honest you struggle to get past 8 don’t you. It’s a great place, but being so far away from everything else makes it a cultural backwater and so it is with music. What I always want to ask Aussies (some of my best friends have been) is, if the place is so great to live in why do all they all head straight for London as soon as they get famous. Never liked INXS much. Mind you, I really should thank the Aussies for inventing the notion of the modern tribute act. Where would I be without them?

Waltzing Matilda
Slim Dusty – From the closing ceremony, Sydney Olympics

Mind you, they put on a good show for this, but this one sticks in the mind – ‘cos they really all think it sound be their national anthem, even the trendy ones who won’t admit is.

Love at First Sight
Kylie Minogue

My fave bit of Kylie and a classic dance track. To be honest I would settle for eight from Kylie.

I Get a Kick Out Of You
Gary Shearston

A really nice cover of a lovely Cole Porter song from sometime in the 70s.

Sunrise
Rolf Harris

I’m glad they rehabilitated Rolf. Watching him paint with a big brush on TV wasn’t naff at all. It was inspiring. I loved it – it made me want to paint.

More News from Nowhere
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds

Consistently producing stuff to shake it up despite the terrible hair.

All Night Long
AC/DC

Gus Young can really play. Don’t love all the material, but All Night Long is of its type a half-decent song from a landmark album.

Beds are Burning
Midnight Oil

A real one hit wonder like so many Aussie bands, in this case representing a rather different strand of thinking to Men At Work’s ‘Down Under’. You had to love them for their ‘sorry’ moment at the Sydney games. I wonder if we can have anything as interesting in London this year?

Fifth Moon
Amimistix From Transmutation

Fusion of the native Aussie tradition and house music. Actually works rather well.

G’day now. We love you really.

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We met up in Australia once. I was visiting the University of Sydney for six weeks to talk research talk and give some lectures. It was a very pleasant change from Oxford with no commitments and very little pressure. My Australian hosts were polite and hospitable. The students, mostly of South East Asian origin were attentive and optimistic. The University authorities arranged a house for the duration off Glebe Point Road just across Victoria Park. You can get just about anything to eat from across the globe on Glebe Point Road. It was only a short walk from the campus each day, and at night fruit bats swooped around the park while you walked. I got into swimming in Victoria Park Pool, a 50 metre outdoor job where you had to make sure you didn’t get in the way of a serious Aussie swimmer – which roughly translated as anyone else in the pool. After three weeks or so I was feeling pretty good.

It was about halfway through my stay that Pete called me up.

“How you doin’ Bro.”

“Pretty good, I’m in Sydney, where are you?”

“Bangkok, but I’ll down your way the day after tomorrow, so I’ll see you for a pint – unless you’ve gone off beer, that is.”

“No, you’re OK on that front. Where?

“Blu Bar, Shangri La Hotel. great view. About 7.”

Pete was working on a tour for some band or other – must have been fairly big, but I didn’t pay a lot of attention to who. I wasn’t sure what he was doing on it either. I took a bus from Paramatta Road into the City Centre straight down to Circular Quay, walked over to the Shangri La and took a lift to the 36th floor. Pete was right, the view was stunning. I ordered a beer, settled down and watched the ferries cris-cross the harbour and the traffic on the Harbour Bridge below. I was a little early, Pete was quite late, so I had been there an hour when he finally appeared tanned and relaxed in a black tee shirt and jeans. We embraced,

“Good to see they are letting you out of your cage these days bro.”

“And you are looking well, though your time keeping hasn’t improved.”

“Yes, sorry about that, we had some delays with the build and I had to hang around, but hey – some view yes?”

“Oh yes. It made the waiting easier. So what is it you’re doing.”

“On this one I’m guitar tech.”

“Which is.”

“I look after the guitarist, lead in this case, so I see that his kit is set up right, make sure everything is configured properly, tune and restring all the instruments and during the show make sure he had the right guitar for each song.”

“Why do the need more than one?”

“Well they all sound different, but the main reason is they are tuned differently for different songs. Look it’s always great to see you, but I’ve not got too much time, have you seen Mum lately? I mean before you left, obviously.”

“I saw her a week before I left.”

“Right, I wasn’t sure when you came out here.”

“It would be four weeks plus since I dropped in.”

“We were in London just over a week ago for a TV slot and some few stripped down gigs working in the new material. I went down to see her and I noticed a big change. She wasn’t herself at all. She said she had been to see the doctor and there wasn’t anything for me to worry about but I’m not so sure.”

“In what way?”

“It was what she said – not that there was nothing to worry about, but that there was nothing for me to worry about – different, not the way you would unsually say it.”

“Did you press her?”

“As much as you can with her. You know what she’s like.”

“I’ll speak to Sue. She was going to take the kids up sometime. We’ll see what she says. I’m sure she’s right – it’s nothing.”

It wasn’t nothing. Three weeks later I got off the plane and went straight to the hospital. Pete was there. He had flown over from Los Angeles the previous day. There had been nothing to worry about because there was nothing he or anyone else could have done.  She slipped away two days later.

To be continued …

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