Chapter Ten – The Late Eighties

 

The reason we played only 6 nights a week, was because Sundays at seaside venues were traditionally reserved for visiting celebrity performers. Frank’s wonderful manager, Ron Rowbottom came up with the idea that we might get bored staying in the one spot and also that there was an opportunity for Frank to be a ‘Sunday Star’ in another town. The first trip was easy enough, just a short hop to Whalley in Lancashire. The next weekend was something else! We were booked for a Sunday afternoon concert in Chichester, in South-East England…473 km (294 miles) away! The logistics of playing Saturday night in Blackpool, Sunday afternoon in Chichester and then Monday night back in Blackpool did not bode well, but somehow we managed it.

 

On the other side of the coin, a regular Sunday visitor to The Sandcastle was Lyn Paul, formerly of The New Seekers. I was fortunate enough to be hired to play guitar for her on at least one of those shows. On another Sunday, October 11^th 1987, a day off, I travelled to the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham to watch Bob Dylan with Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers and Roger McGuinn, and a mighty concert it was at that! The following Sunday we were in Bognor Regis (slightly further than Chichester!) for a Butlin’s Festival of the Sixties. We were on the bill with Herman’s Hermits, The Platters, the Swinging Blue Jeans, Mary Wilde etc.

During Frank’s show, he would introduce me as his Australian guitarist and he would make a big joke of how homesick I was, missing the kangaroos and koalas. This led to some of his regular fans throwing toy koalas onstage (pictured left) and I had amassed quite a collection by the end of the season (which all went to good homes).

The UK’s theatrical newspaper, The Stage and Television Today (see right), threw a reception party for all the Blackpool shows and we also received favourable press write-ups in the local publications. 

On another Sunday, I popped down to Manchester for a Beatles convention. There I met John Lennon’s Uncle Charlie and also Pete Best who signed a copy of his book, Beatle! The Pete Best Story for me.

Once the Blackpool season was over, I also managed to catch a performance of a new musical – Out With A Bang at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield. It was was written and directed by Bob Eaton, who was also responsible for the original production of LENNON – The Musical. The songs he had written for this new musical were arranged by Chris Monks who also appeared in the show, along with other luminaries from the original LENNON production.

 

Pictured here: Robert Anthony, Roly Wolstenholme, John Death, Ray Brett, Mike’s roadie, and Ann Brett, backstage at The Sandcastle with one of the props.

It was a most enjoyable summer! After a handful more shows with the Bretts, Frank and I packed our suitcases and headed back to Australia within a couple of days of each other, both of us having a short Malaysia Airlines stopover in Kuala Lumpur.

 

Arriving in Sydney I found that my clever Mum had booked me a ticket to see Stevie Wonder at the Sydney Entertainment Centre on Thursday November 26, and it was a magical concert. Local legend John Farnham made a surprise appearance to sing a duet with Stevie. On the Saturday, Frank’s tour began in Merimbula on the southern coast of New South Wales and then we flew to the Gold Coast for five nights at Twin Towns Services Club. Gene Pitney and then Al Martino had been there the two previous weeks, and the week after we were followed by John Farnham (no shortage of big names back in those days). We played a double-bill with Bobby & Laurie (Bobby Bright & Laurie Allen) as the opening act, and during Frank’s spot I was joined by the wonderful Maureen Mitchell on backing vocals.

The next two weeks we would tour Victoria and one of the bands who backed us, Koco, contained guitarist Michael Cristiano who would later be a powerhouse duet partner for Donna Fisk. Back to Sydney for more shows and eventually again to Victoria for the Snowy River Country Music Festival in Orbost. It was something of a reunion with five artists on the bill from my Melbourne years, including pedal-steeler Ray ‘The Hat’ Hasler’, Melinda Johnstone (the Girl from Snowy River), ex-Hawks steeler George Xanthos and singer Warwick Dean. In the middle of the afternoon, I did a short spot of my own at the Festival, before Frank came on and Donna Fisk afterwards.

Next we would fly to Tasmania to play at the Launceston Casino and then finish the tour with more trips backwards and forwards across the east coast, playing around 33 shows before the end of January. It was a gruelling tour and at the end we were in need of a rest. It was about then that The First Fleet Re-enactment Voyage, which we had seen off at Portsmouth back in May, was arriving in Australia to commemorate the historic arrival of the original First Fleet in 1788. We didn’t get to see them sail into Sydney Harbour on Australia Day though. Frank was appearing that day (26 January 1988) for an audience of expats at The Tanglin Club (one of the most prominent, prestigious social clubs in Singapore) so we had to be there the day before the show and then to London the day after.

Flag of England

I spent most of February in England visiting family and friends and finishing off the recordings I had started at Moonraker Studios. Along the way I also caught up with Jerry Arhelger who was touring the UK again. I accepted Jerry’s invitation to visit him and his family in America so, on the evening of 1st March 1988, I arrived in Mobile, Alabama. The next morning we drove to Nashville where Jerry had a meeting, staying overnight before heading back to Mobile the next day. The following two nights I gigged with Jerry across the bay at Gambino’s Italian Grill in Fairhope, Alabama. Thanks to Jerry and wife Linde’s generosity, I spent the rest of the month hanging out, making future plans, and enjoying Mobile and Pensacola.

Flag of Alabama

 

It was back to Sydney in April for what would be an intense year of gigs. While waiting for the word get around that I was back in town, I accepted a few more jobs as an ‘extra’. First role was as a journalist in the mini-series A Long Way Home, a dramatisation of the Barlow & Chambers saga starring Julie Christie. The next day was the movie Kokoda Crescent and I was a policeman – again. Warren Mitchell (otherwise well-known for his character Alf Garnett) and Ruth Cracknell played the grandparents, while Penne Hackforth-Jones portrayed the mother of a character who had just died (played by Patrick Thompson). The scene was shot at night in the old Eveleigh railway yards in Redfern under a rain machine. There was a walk-through first and then the master shot, which was planned to be made in one take. My only direction was to hold the ‘family’ back from the crime scene. On ‘action’, and completely unexpected by me, Ms Jones went into full-on emotional method acting, screaming distraughtly and beating on my chest whilst I blocked her way! Caught by surprise, I would have backed away but my policeman’s wet-weather gear got entangled with the umbrella that Warren Mitchell was now brandishing as a weapon. The ‘take’ was successful, but I retired bruised and battered.”

At the end of the week I spent three days on a shoot for Occidental Insurance and after the Saturday wrap, I headed to the Tollgate Hotel in Parramatta. Melinda Johnstone was in town doing a gig with the all-girl band Doris Dazed. They nicely let me sit in for Melinda’s spot.

 

By now I had begun a regular Sunday afternoon at the North Annandale Hotel with the band Four on the Floor (with Mick Hamilton, Trevor Ford & Willie Fennell). I was also hired to play guitar with Rockabilly Express for the Johnny O’Keefe Memorial Show. They were just two of many gigs that would soon lead to significant future engagements for me.

 

 

At the end of June I had two days filming for the TV Mini-Series  Tanamera – Lion of Singapore. One of the scenes was set at Christmas time with soldiers enjoying a drink at a party. On the spur of the moment, the director decided to call for anyone who could carry a tune, to sing ‘We Three Kings of Orient Are’ to use in the background of a battle sequence. This earned us our names in the credit roll and a well-buried entry in the IMDb. In contrast at the start of another day, I somehow failed to be ‘seen’ by the camera in a ‘master shot’. Therefore I spent the rest of that day ‘not being seen’ by the camera in any of the various close-ups either. Soon after, I appeared at the Manly Courthouse, playing the part of a court reporter in an ABC TV educational show titled Living With The Law, narrated by James Valentine.

In July of 1988, my long-time friend Mick Hamilton invited me to check out his other band, The Mighty Guys with a view to joining them The original line-up of the band (Leon Isackson – vocals, drums, Mick Hamilton- vocals, guitar, Phil Eizenberg – bass, vocals) had recorded for Glenn A. Baker’s label and had a hit with ‘Be Cool, Be Smart’. By this stage, Phil had been replaced by Brian Dean on bass and now, Brian was moving on as well.

I sat in for a few songs after which, Mick and Leon officially asked if I would become their regular bass player. I was thrilled to join this line-up of top notch musicians. They had a regular Thursday night gig at Mosman RSL Club (every other week was a rowdy one as the local sailors got paid fortnightly) and every Sunday night at the City of Sydney RSL Club. Mick (ex Moods, The Vibrants) and Leon (ex-Dig Richards, Rajahs and Johnny O’Keefe) had a huge repertoire of 50s rock and 60s pop songs – practically anything that was a hit between 1954 and 1966. If they strayed past that cut-off date, the dancers who followed them from gig to gig would shout, “Stop playing that hippie music!”

As a trio, the sound was lean and punchy. Being authentic to the record was another of the band’s creeds. When any one of us sang the lead, they could count on the other two providing credible back-up vocals.  Sometimes Mick or Leon would launch into the next song without telling me the title or the key! They would grin if I picked it up quickly and once I figured out the song, I’d know it would be in the same key as the record. It was a steep learning curve, but barrels of fun. One night at Mosman we played for jazz singer Su Cruickshank’s birthday and the legendary Kerrie Biddell sang doo-wops and shoobie-doo-wah’s with us, declaring it was something she’d always wanted to do.

After a while we switched Sunday nights to the Western Suburbs Soccer Club which meant that Mick and I only had 45 minutes to pack-up at the North Annandale Hotel and whizz around to join Leon at the Soccer Club. Mick also introduced me to another band he played with, Cop It Sweet featuring The Ladybirds (Niki Dene & Margaret Young) and soon I would be playing many Saturday nights with them at West’s Leagues Club in Ashfield.

The next few months were a blur of gigs with so many bands – some now half-remembered names in the margins of my diaries. Other gigs were more notable; a run at Twin Towns with Lucky Starr (a double-bill with Herman’s Hermits), Tuesday nights with 3 Wheel Drive for a ‘Parents Without Partners’ dance (stop after every song for a change of partners!), and a support spot for Charley Pride at the Sydney Entertainment Centre (some sort of Union obligation which saw us playing in the first floor lobby). At that venue I also saw Mick Jagger on his solo tour (Joe Satriani on guitar!), David Lee Roth and, at the State Theatre, The Monkees (minus Mike Nesmith).

By now I had already been friends with Mick Hamilton for a decade; sharing similar tastes in music. With Leon, as well as the music, we also had a common interest in computers; each of us having a Commodore 64 that we pushed to the limit, until we both switched to the Atari ST. We used our computers mostly for writing – Leon had begun his memoirs way back then. We were also both keen on music arranging and chart-writing. Leon really helped me hone my arranging skills, particularly when it came to drum parts. In January 1989, Mick left The Mighty Guys and returned to his home town of Melbourne, where he would soon form the country band Glass Hamilton Young. In his absence we carried on with the band’s gigs – I switched to guitar and over time we brought back previous ‘Mighty’ bass players Phil, Brian and Owen Booth.

Bob, Leon, Phil

Phil, Leon. Bob

 

The Johnny O’Keefe Memorial Show now had The Bar-Studs band (Laurie Rebecchi, Tommy Callaghan, Warwick Reading) to back their concerts. Guest artists included Roland Storm, Alan Dale, Adam & the Rockin’ Chevys, Vicki Forrest, Barry Stanton, Ray Lance (Roy Orbison tribute) and Scott Crawford (Elvis tribute). Roland approached me with his idea that I should do a tribute to Buddy Holly. I was quite sceptical at first but he talked me into it. We debuted the Buddy Holly spot at Cabra-Vale Diggers Club on 4th March 1989 and repeated it soon afterwards at Harbord Diggers and Canterbury-Hurlstone Park RSL Club. The reaction from the audience was remarkable and it would be something to work on in the future.

 

 

Back to Alabama, where Jerry & I played at the Southern Host Inn at Bay Minette. The next week it was grassroots Gospel as Jerry was preaching for five days at the North Walton Crusade, being held in the Darlington Community Center in Florida. Good folks came from all around for fellowship and music. One day the Methodist ladies would invite us to their church for lunch with all the trimmings; fried chicken, catfish, black-eyed peas, fried okra, cornbread etc. The next day it would be the ladies from the Baptist Church, and so on. Jerry helped to nourish their souls and they reciprocated with fine Southern hospitality. Pictured here, the Darlington Baptist Church with our hosts Pastor C.W. Stevenson and Miss Myrtle next to him.

 

Saturday night it was back to Mobile Civic Center for something altogether different – watching the great Hank Williams Jr in concert, supported by Miss Tanya Tucker. Redneck bliss! The following week, I played Gospel tunes with Jerry when he preached at the United Methodist Church in Pondtown, Alabama and then we prepared for a series of trips to Maryland. Our friend Ricky accompanied us, to work the sound system, and the original plan was for him and me to travel together in his pick-up truck. As we pulled out of Jerry’s drive, I asked Ricky why he had the heating on. It turned out there was a hole in the floor near the engine. As we drove away I leaned out and shouted to Jerry in my best Southern drawl, “Tell my momma I love her!” which broke him up. As it turned out we only got a few miles before the engine stopped for good. Jerry rescued us and we all travelled together for the rest of the journey.

 

 

 

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