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The bits
of stuff that fall in the cracks between Life, Music and outrageous
fortune. |
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| February |
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Close
this window to return to Mike Rudd & Bill Putt's Stop Press |
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Dick
does his famous William Shatner impression |
Lunch
nearly leads to disaster
26.2.09 - Dick and I have been fretting
over the quality of restaurants within walking distance of his
beloved Rialto building. What is apparent is that there is a
plethora of snackeries with a sprinkling of stratospherically
priced snotteries, neither of which appeal to men of our cloth.
'Just an adequate Italian will do', I wailed as we waded against
the noon-day tide at the non-Parisian end of Collins St.
'Why don't we try this one we tried last year?', suggested bro'
Dick, hip-and-shouldering a diminuitive female office worker
of Indian persuasion into the gutter.
And that's how we ended up at Intimo's again, with owner and
smooth operator, Frank, not only talking us into an ante
pasta (which I never have) but also the second
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so nearly scuttled my performance at The Corner that night.
We'll do that again.. |
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1)
The Super 14s comp is back - yay! 2) My saviour and genial boss,
Martyn Sullivan |
The
things we do..
20.2.09 - Yeah well, things have been frenetic
(comparatively) for Spectrum these last couple of weeks, so
I've lost the thread of events in my alternative world - which,
like say the difference between Spectrum and Murtceps, can be
difficult to distinguish from my glamorous, high-profile, jet-setting
rock star world to the untrained eye. I did take up
an offer of a couple of Leonard Cohen tickets from Phil Jacobsen
wearing his Frontier Touring cap, which was a genuine concert
highlight. You know my feelings about the Rod Laver Arena, so
you will be astonished to hear that the sound was impeccable,
largely due to the restraint of the six-piece band, (well, nine
if you include the backing vocalists), but the engineer can
share some of the credit I s'pose.
Just about the only flaw was that Leonard felt compelled to
introduce the band members twice - I presume it was
intentional, although it might've been an senior episode. The
show was long too - I would've been quite satisfied with either
half of the three-hour show - but it never got boring, despite
the fairly predictable songwriting.formula. And then I hear
Leonard contributed $200,000.00 to the bushfire appeal! The
man's a (Jewish) saint.
25.2.09 - Quickly then:
my old mate Martyn Sullivan (pic 2) aka The Rackman,
offered me an honest day's work last week, helping pack up and
load out his mannequins and racks that he hires to various clothing-type
shows - in this case a bridal show - at the blah Hotel in the
city. Also on the job was Wayne Jones, bass player extraordinaire,
who told me of his enterprising recording exploits, as
well as his parlous hearing, which I can relate to, except he's
managed to score an invalid pension as some sort of compensation.
Hmmm.. At the end of the day I was quite tired - I'm not a big
fan of loading out at the best of times - but I was certainly
grateful for the cash in hand. |
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1)
Adam popped down from Qld just to say hullo to Chris 2) Wayne
Reid's photo exhibition is well worth a look |
The
mercury goes ballistic as Mike and Chris take in some culture
7.2.09 - It was 46+ degrees last time I
heard. Bill rang early this morning sounding ominous - the Strathies
were considering what to do if the inevitable fires, propelled
by the predicted high winds, headed their way - one of the many
the perils of living in the bush. Just so long as he makes it
to the gig tonight..
Chris and I dropped into Choclatté as is our wont and
met up with Adam (pic 1) who's down from sunny Qld
for the weekend. Chris was unusually chatty - except when Kirby
wanted him to speak, of course. After tarrying in the Choclatté
air-conditioning for as long as possible, we strode into the
furnace that was Camberwell and headed off to Wayne Reid's (pic
2) exhibition opening - and discovered it was the very
same hall in which my late wife Helen's remembrance service
was held back in '97. With people quoting this day as being
reminiscent of the Ash Wednesday fires in '83, when WHY was
in West Germany and Helen was trying to cope on her own, I felt
her presence quite strongly.
Anyway, I'm happy to report that Wayne Reid's exhibition was
every bit as good as I was hoping and it was great to catch
up with him and his Helen again. Thankfully too, the cool change
has rolled in. |
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1)
Wee Michael stokes the barbie 2) Miss Molly and new boy Austin
try to wear each other out |
Waitangi
Day at the Sullivans
7.2.09 -
I didn't think there was such a thing as NZ Day, although Sue
reckons she heard it somewhere. Waitangi Day celebrates the
signing of the Waitangi Treaty between Maori and Pakeha in 1840,
and Michael Sullivan thought it would be a nice idea to invite
a gaggle of Kiwis and first generation Aussies to celebrate
at the Sullivans' place in Croydon. It was good to catch up
with nearly everybody again, and it's quite surprising how much
family stuff has gone on since Christmas. The Black Caps pulled
off a solid ODI victory at the G just to cap things off and
I wouldn't be surprised to find this get together becomes an
annual tradition. |
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1)
Dick unwisely suggests my new phone won't work 2) Tamiti turns
on the charm |
Dick
& Mick hit Southbank
6.2.09 - Dick and I had a loose arrangement
to meet today for lunch, and, loose or not, I rolled up at a
few minutes past midday to find Dick on the phone in the foyer.
I suggested we adjourn over the Yarra and try for something
adequate in a strip full of it, but we opted for a place that
Dick had been before and he had |
| no memory of it being adequate or
otherwise. It advertised good looking staff, which didn't imnfluence
our decision at all, but we were met by spruiker/maitre d' Tamiti
James (pic 2) who made up for being merely passable
in the looks dept. by being affably charming and helpful. On
interrogation he revealed he was an artist from Hawkes Bay and
he had an exhibition (of course!) at the Hogan Gallery 310 Smith
St Collingwood. It's called Dare To Dream so I'm telling
you about it. Curiously enough, I'm off to celebrate NZ Day
(is there such a thing?) at Wee Michael's place - gotta rush.. |
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