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MILESAGO: Australasian Music and Popular Culture 1964-1975 |
"If
Beethoven had been killed in a plane crash at the age of 22, it would
have changed the history of music ... and of aviation."
- Tom Stoppard
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The Boss celebrates 5 Decades of Cool
This year marks the 45th year in music for living legend Ross Wilson, and he'll celebrate this momentous event with a gala concert at Melbourne's historic Palais Theatre in St Kilda on August 14. It's going to be an all-the-hits, all-star event with special guests from every stages of Ross's career and there are bound to be a few surprises in store, and you even receive a special commemorative CD Hell of a Time as part of the ticket cost. This is sure to be an incredible night, an historic occasion and is not to be missed by any serious OzRock fan. More information is available from the official Ross Wilson website and tickets are available from ticketmaster.com.au |
Goodbye Tiger Revisited  Goodbye Tiger Revisited Another very special
event will take place on 5 September 2009 at The State Theatre in
Sydney. Richard is re-forming the original Goodbye Tiger band for a
once in a life time event. Richard and the band will be performing the
classic Goodbye Tiger album
in it's entirety, plus a selected collection of songs from the
same era. The tour coincides with the release of a remastered and
expanded edition of the album from the Warner Music Group, who now own
the Festival-Mushroom recording archive.
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Greg Quill Returns!
In late 2003 roots-rock music rock pioneer Greg Quill
returned to Australia to visit family, and while he was here
he performed a handful of concerts with his old friend and
former
Country Radio bandmate Kerryn Tolhurst, including a special show at the
Bridge Hotel in Sydney which also featured a cameo
appearance another former CR member, harmonica hero Chris
Blanchflower.
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OzRock YouTube bonanza Anyone not living in a cave or on a commune should by now be familiar with YouTube, the ubiquitous internet video sharing site. The influence of YouTube was notably demonstrated by the runaway success of the marvellously original 'treadmill' video greated by US band OK GO! for their song "Here it goes again", which was shot in one take with one camera at a local gymasium and became such a hit with viewers that it led directly to the band getting a major label contract. There are many other weird and wonderful things to be found there and, lurking amongst the endless videos of Mentos Rockets and Cats That Look Like Hitler, there is a growing collection of historic Australian video making its way out onto the web. Credit for a significant part of this wonderful cache of goodies must go to the people at the ABC, who have seen fit to liberate many terrific 60s, 70s and 80s clips, originally made for pop-rock shows of yesteryear including HitScene, GTK, Flashez and Rock Arena. Much of the content of these programs had long been thought lost or erased, but happily, when the ABC vacated its old Sydney studios at Gore Hill a few years back, a huge amout of uncatalogued material was rediscovered, including many hours of unique GTK live performance footage featuring Australian bands of the late 60s and early 1970s. There are also many other delightful pieces of ephemera posted by individuals, including a mid-70s Jaffa ad with Captain Matchbox, and film clips by acts like Mother Goose. Another fascinating phenomenon is the growth of home-made music videos created by fans to illustrate music they like, either for their own amusement or because there are no existing videos for that music. A good example of this trend is the YouTube channel created by an Aussie lady calling herself Sunshine Valentine. She's forged a relationship with noted Australian guitarist and composer John Robinson (ex Dave Miller Set, Blackfeather, Duck) and has created smany slide-show style videos to accompany John's original music as well as earlier pieces by Blackfeather, Somebody's Image and others. This is an ingenious new way of getting Australian music out on the web and we hope that more people will start having a look at it and listening to the fine music it helps to promote. |
In memoriam: Russell Dunlop Russell Dunlop started out in the late 1960s as the drummer with Aesop's Fables, the Sydney vocal pop band that also featured organist Gary Moberly (ex The Ramrods), who went on to play with The Bee Gees in later years. From there Russell went on to play with Levi Smith's Clefs, SCRA, Renee Geyer's Mother Earth, Cool Bananas/Aunty Jack & The Gong, The Johnny Rocco Band and Ayers Rock. In the late 1970s he formed BAD Productions in partnership with famed producer-engineer Bruce Brown and in 1980, they co-wrote and recorded the novelty hit "Space Invaders", released under the studio pseudonym Player One. Tying in with the burgeoning success of the eponymous video game, the song became a Top 5 smash and the duo followed up with an album. They scored another Australian hit with the song "Singin IN The Eighties", released under the punning pseudonym The Monitors. Russell's studio work kept him active throughout the 70's and 80's but like many other session cats the work dried up as computerisation took over the industry and replaced real players. Either solo or in conjunction with Brown, Russell produced albums and singles for artists as diverse as Jon English, Kevin Borich, Mental As Anything (Cats & Dogs), The Hitmen, Dave Warner, The Delltones, Kevin Johnson, Leon Berger, Machinations, The Reels' classic LP Quasimodo's Dream and a Mental As Anything track used on the soundtrack of the hit film Starstruck. Alongside his production work, Russell was one of the most in-demand session players on the Australian music scene, and his credits include recordings by a huge array of artists inlcuding Digby Richards, Tully, Brenda Glover (aka Brenda Kristen), Doug Parkinson, Glenn Cardier, Graham Lowndes, Albatross, Mike McLellan, Doug Ashdown, Debbie Byrne, Ross Ryan, Darryl Braithwaite, Benjamin Hugg, Margret Roadknight, Trevor White, Judy Stone, Maureen Elkner, The Daltons, John Paul Young, Lindsay Bjerre, Barry Leef, Phil Judd, Graham Connors and the soapie-star band Farmhouse. In recent years Russell was also a member of jazz vocal quartet Tango Mama, with Lorraine Silk, Michael Bartolomei and Lloyd Swanton. As sound engineer Paul Close observed, Russell was perhaps not well known to the public at large, but one look at that list of names shows that his contribution to Oz rock is incalculable and again, it's another sad day in our music annals. We extend out deepest sympathy to all Russell's family, friends and colleagues. |
Vale Norm Sweeney We're sad to report that veteran road warrior Norm Sweeney has passed away afer a long battle with cancer. Norm was a legend in the Australian rock scene and, until he was sidelined by illness a couple of years ago, he was the last of the original generation of roadies still working in the industry. Norm started out with Max Merritt & The Meteors in the mid-1960s and was best known for his long association with Billy Thorpe. Norm's friends and colleagues held a star-studded benefit concert in July last year at Sydney's Bridge Hotel, and it proved to be a memorable night, as well as raising a considerable sum towards Norm's ongoing care and treatment. Our sincere condolences go out to all Norm's family and many friends. |
