Urban Gent - ORIGINS

Being an urban gent and quite critical, the discovery of a 27 year old diary gives me the chance to review myself and see if I can figure out how I got here...

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Fabulous photo found in an old family album. Len Cleary on a golfing / camping holiday in 1952. Len's my father-in-law who passed way in 1996 and still lives strong in the family's collective heart.

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10-23 November 1985 Lan' sakes and lordy be, looks like we got ourselves a Conway!

You can really tell the gloss has worn off this daily blog idea I had... I will now attempt to bundle two weeks in the life of me in 1985. Starting with the 10th of November, a Sunday, and the day Conway Christ: Redneck Superstar bumped into La Boîte Theatre. The PA system was rigged in the morning and there was a full rehearsal with the band.

I started lugging gear at 8:15am and then drove to Carina to purloin some extra bits for the PA. The first full cast rehearsal with the band put everyone in high spirits - we thought we were fantastic and I'm inclined to agree. Spent a quiet evening in apres rehearsals with Pip and John.

Monday November 11th saw me at the Registry Office obtaining a birth certificate as part of obtaining a passport and then heading to the Theatre after work for the first full dress rehearsal. The first full dress rehearsal went badly. Thinking was that we really needed an audience and my diary even noted that Tony Biggs was getting bad tempered all the time - now that really meant nothing because Tony Biggs spent the entire 80's bad tempered. Anyway, I ended the evening with Allison Davies driving me home via the Riviera's Pizza palace.

Tuesday was Preview night, straight after a La Boîte Council meeting, which put me an hour behind the rest of the cast in preparation for the show. Fazed I was - according to me journal. Show was running at 85% was my best guesstimate and on target for a blinder of an opening night. I also noted that, in a rare crossover of work and play life, two members of the staff from the United Service Club had come to see the preview.

Conway Christ Redneck Superstar opened at La Boîte Theatre in Hale St at Milton on Wednesday 13th November.

My diary says, "Opening Night - 6:30pm Call" and adds, "Bring C&W tapes for foyer", "Bring Shirt and Boots for Pip". I forgot the tapes and had to retrieve them from home at lunchtime. Despite that tiny peccadillo, the show went like a dream. My first real go at proper acting had the pleasant effect of showering me with enough adulation and bon viveur to overlook the flu-like illness which enveloped me the next morning. My Dad loved the show.

Collected my Birth Certificate and had passport photos done on Thursday. Another show in the evening (even better than the opening night version), but earlier home. 

Friday the 15th was a double-header. An early show at 7:30pm, a quick turn-around and re-set and then a raucous 10:30pm show, delightfully filled with drunks and other loud young folk. Both shows went superbly well and i ended up hitting the sack at 3:30am. I met Saturday at about 10:30am and ate a burger for lunch at 1pm. Got a lift to La Boîte for a Special General Meeting which decided to set up a committee to discover the true direction of La Boîte. I somehow managed to end up as co-convenor with Jennifer Blocksidge - which may have been the cause of a less spectacular performance in the closing show later that evening. All reports confirmed the show was not as good as the others, but still was great.

The last show, bump-out and de-rig continued till about 1:30pm when the party started at the Brisbane Community Arts Centre at 109 Edward St in the City. A good ol' time was had by all, though Pip and I bailed at 6am and went for coffee - I'd probably bet that in 1985 at 6am on Sunday morning in the City, that meant we went to the Pancake Manor.

Monday the 18th of November and I had a case of the post-show blues - if I'd had a bottle neck and a steel guitar and I knew how to work them, I'd a sung about it. Tuesday was the first meeting of that committee to discover the true direction of La Boîte Theatre I spoke of earlier. A morning meeting at 7:30am at the BCAC in the City - bring croissants sayeth my diary, which made the meeting not only fruitful, but rather croissant-ful as well. Dinner party at Maria Cleary's in the evening - me still sick wif a sore throat.

I was still poorly on Wednesday and still going to Council meetings on Thursday. The Council meeting was cancelled and since I was at the theatre, I attended theopening night of Did You Say Love, which I remember nothing of (although it sounds a bit like it should have starred Hugh Grant). I told la diary that it was a very short piece of shit (apologies to the cast - I'm sure it wasn't your fault!).

I had been looking forward to the resumption of normal life with a Joint Effort at Easts on the Friday night. (GanggaJang, The Rockmelons and Peso Kim), but I ended up at Lucky's with Pip.

Pip and her sister Gerry went to the Gold Coast early on Saturday and I went to the City and had egg and bacon at the Colony House. I spent the afternoon with Alan Anderson's truck, shuffling collections of Pip and Gerry's stuff around the City, but I don't know why. I think Pip was getting her act together to go overseas and Gerry was moving into our house in New Farm. Pip, Maria Cleary and I had dinner at Violette, then ventured out into the suburban badlands to see Flotsam Jetson and I'm Talking at (turns on echo) Rock Arena at the Mansfield Tavern (turns echo off) and had a great night.

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1-9 November We are the threeeeeeeee wise wetbacks

November 1985 began as November 1985 should have begun - with a cocktail party at Soudan St in Bardon, where lived Lil Kelman and Dave Pyle.

Before this fine affair though, the unthinkable happened on Friday November 1st and something worth reporting happened at work.

Totally out of the blue my boss, the fatuous, pompous Wing Cdr Whytecross (Retired) informed me that my hours had been amended and I was now to work from 11am till 8pm to which I seem to have responded in a negative way, with implications that I might very well have to reconsider my employment there. My veiled threats did the trick apparently and my hours were changed to 9am - 6pm with no trading prior to 11am. They seem to have suddenly discovered they had been trading illegally all these years. I celebrated with a pre-cocktails haircut.

Saturday the 2nd rolled around and I'm happy to report that with the change of hours at work came a promotion to Cellar Manager and the removal of the requirement that I work on saturday mornings. Happy I would have said. Instead of working I went shopping with Pip and missed another gardening engagement with Anne Jones, before wending my way to Dorchester St for dinner and a movie with Pip and Michael Whelan - Time Bandits

Time Bandits | Movie Trailer | Review

Sundays were as much about slow breakfasts in 1985 as they are now. This slow breakfast was followed by coffee from Jimmy's on the Mall and a 5 hour Conway Christ rehearsal, before heading Teneriffe-wards to visit Maria Cleary. Maria had taken up residence in a house in Little Chester St with Michael Long and Allison Davies and after visiting them for peek at the place, we headed home to an evening of conversation with Anne Jones and Damien Ledwich. Oh so genteel we were!

Back to work on Monday - no more La Bamba meetings anymore. News that my annual salary had risen to $17,500 paid monthly (and that was a good damn pay packet thank-you very much) was celebrated by tidying my room and watching Blade Runner with Ron Layne.

More rehearsals on Tuesday night and a not in my diary suggesting that the wetbacks were't going as well as they should have been - my role was that of one of the 3 Wise Wetbacks who kind of cable-tied the story together and provided a semi-narration. I spent Wednesday night November 6th at Pip's, but I note that it was the evening for the first full Conway Christ band rehearsal at the Rialto Theatre in West End.

More rehearsals on Thursday night in Studio 2 at La Boîte and spent Friday night shopping with Anne Jones then sorting out the booking sheets for Conway with Pip at La Boîte.

Tony Biggs was a fellow wise wetback and we were to meet and go shopping for costume bits and pieces at Paddy's Markets on Saturday morning, naturally he didn't turn up, so I went alone and purchased three sombrero style hats, some we back style leather sandals and a pyjama shirt (which I oddly noted was for work?).

I spent the evening with Pip, Michael Whelan and John Caskey at the Fiesta in Musgrave Park, where we payed particular attention to Rick Caskey and his part in the Fiesta Band. Early to bed for there is a big day ahead - Conway Christ Redneck Superstar was a'bumpin' in.

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16-31 October Jellytips at Sensoria

This has certainly become the on-again-off-again blog. 1985 is just losing it's gloss, even with Conway Christ Red Neck Superstar looming in to view...

The 16th of October was a Wednesday and notable for three things - 1. I had lunch with Pip at Lagani in Rowes Arcade. 2. I wrote an article about wine for the Cane Toad Times. And 3. Tim Gruchy came over for a while before going out to dinner with Anne Jones.

The Thursday brought me news that Pip had confirmed a place to stay in London and brought me Conway rehearsals at La Boîte. Friday followed and featured, again, a lunch with Pip at Lagani and later dinner with Pip, Michael Whelan and Buffy Lavery at a lebanes restaurant called Cafe Violette in the West End Markets. Dinner was followed by a postprandial visit to  one of the less attractive venues birthed during the heady 80's - Sensoria. In fact, I described Sensoria and Mac's 409 Club as two of the ugliest places in the world in my diary. Ninja Skil played at Sensoria and they were good I took care to note.

Sadly, Saturday morning had me back at work in the USC cellar. My ol' faithful tells me it was the 4ZZZ Octobanana Market today, but I seemed to have missed that in favour of watching telly and washing clothes for the afternoon. Dinner was at some place called Gino's East of Chicago, delicately described as awful in the book of days. I have no recollection of ever having darkened the doorstep of a place called Gino's East of Chicago, but apparently I did so in the company of Michael Whelan, John Caskey and Wendy Bradford, before heading to the Forum Cinema in Albert St to see Chevy Chase's, Fletch, which I found to be entertaining but not brilliant. (That may well appear on Chevy Chase's tombstone.)

October 20th - Sunday. All Sundays of this era are committed to rehearsals of Conway. Monday now had La Bamba meetings as well as Conway production meetings, but Monday also had lunch in the City with Pip - this time at the Cafe Bar in the Embassy Hotel. All these lunches in the City, not sure how they were achieved 'cause I recall only having an hour for lunch. Take out the time it takes to walk from Wickham Tce (down to the Wickham Tce carpark and into the lift; down the lift and into the tunnel that runs down to ANZAC Square; then to  where ever lunch was being held and back again, though this time all uphill) and we must have had very little actual eating time.

The rest of the week flowed along. More rehearsals; more coffee with Pip (Cubana this time) and a dinner for Gerry Cleary's birthday at The Church Hall in Red Hill. I wrote a press release for Conway and on Friday did the lights and sound for La Bamba, which took the form of a Fiesta for the Migrant Resource Centre. My diary carries the ominous note that I decided this would be the last La Bamba I worked on - sick of it I say. Rick Caskey drove me home at 2am.

Saturday 26th October. I made two radio spots for Conway with Tony Biggs and our house was sprayed for cockroaches. In those days we had to empty the entire contents of the kitchen into the lounge room so all the cupboards were bare and sprayable - doesn't happen like that these days. Watched an Elvis movie while re-assembling the kitchen.

Sunday's rehearsals were followed by a cast BBQ and the cast BBQ was followed by Mad Max II back at Pip's place.

I finished October off ill. Missed the last La Bamba meeting, but had a lovely evening with John Carey and Anne Jones and the red wine we consumed did not contribute to the sore throat and heavy head that prevented me from working and missing rehearsals. Also missed a La Boite Council meeting and several days of work.

Je

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6-15 October 1985 Looks we got ourselves a Conway.

The gloss is wearing off this 1985 caper, but momma always said, "life is like a wagon wheel - don't start one if you can't finish all that chocolatey, jammy marshmallowy goodness." I shall therefore return us to Sunday, October 6th 1985 - a Sunday without a radio shift and a Sunday with rehearsals for Conway Christ - Red Neck Superstar.

I had won, or possibly endowed myself (not sure how we sorted that out) the coveted role of Wetback #1, one of the three wise wetbacks, with #2 and #3 played by Annie Henderson and Tony Biggs. We wore crossed bandoleers loaded with very large joints (carefully rolled peppermint tea which, when smoked was quite smooth on the throat and burnt with the aroma of high quality dope - so they tell me). So authentic did they smell that patrons nicked several of them during the show's run. We also wore fake moustaches and very large sombreros.

After rehearsals. I went with Maria Cleary and Pip to Allison Davies' house at Toowong for some fish'n'chips, then home to Pip's for a sing along with the musicians in residence.

Monday was a three meeting Monday. After work there was a La Bamba meeting with a mysterious diary note that we were to discuss the 'God' blowout. A blowout I can understand, but 'God' was then (as it still is in certain of my circles) shorthand for either Elvis Costello or Stephen Cummings and I don't recall either ever being lined up to play at La Bamba. There must have been another God. Anyway, I ditched the La Bamba meeting  and a Conway production meeting and went to ZZZ to make a Ninja Skil spot - why? I can't remember. Ninja Skil was a band I managed which featured the Brothers Caskey, Rick and John, Larry Ponting, Harry Dodd and Scott Austin and they had the dubious claim to fame of being the last band to ever play at Cloudland (though I think they were using a different name)

Tuesday bought more Conway rehearsals at La Boîte and Wednesday 9th October bought us to another La Boîte Council meeting cancelled due to lack of quorum. The non-meeting allowed me to undertake a job that some of you may recall - I used the opportunity to type stencils with the lyrics for the Conway songs. I remember those stencils and the pink stuff you had to layer on if you made a mistake and the Roneo machine that produced those damp purple copies that stunk of spirits. Photocopiers - hah! After my time well spent with the IBM golf ball it was home to watch "Enter the Ninja" and "I Love you Alice B Toklas".

         More rehearsals on Thursday night and a La Bamba on Friday - half the show was an act called, The Suburban Housewives and half, KG People - Mask Mime etc. I can't recall either act but I suspect KG People of having been KGBCAE ADAT students. Pip and I played hooky from La Bamba and took advantage of another free show in Albert Park, this time a Channel 9 extravaganza featuring such luminaries as Jimmy Hannon and Joey Perrone.

The show also featured The Brass Band, who were, according to my eloquent review, "great".

Pip and I retired to the Tortilla Restaurant in Elizabeth Arcade for dinner before heading home.

Now remember, it was still Warana and Saturday the 12th was parade day. Brisbane's major festival of kitsch and klarse. Pip and I watched (in awe I'm sure) before making for coffee at Aroma's in the Regent Cinema foyer. We also returned to La Boite for the main house show, No Worries, which I can remember absolutely nothing of. Dinner was at the Pizza Hut (don't judge us!) and then we hit Le Scoops for three hours of coffee and ice cream.

Sunday was the big rehearsal day for Conway, so after a rather large bacony breakfast, Pip and I headed to Paddy's Market at Teneriffe, but were deterred by the masses of bargain hunters and withdrew to the theatre, where we danced, sang and acted our arses off till late in the day. 

The new week bought a new La Bamba meeting and more frickin' stencils to type. Actually it was the Monday that bought both those things - it seemed the stencils were to be collected by Buffy Lavery (I assume to be illicitly printed on some form of government property as there were not too many backyard or home Roneo-ing machines I knew of). The stencils were typed under trying circumstances as The Music Junction, a Paddington purveyor of fine electronic musical equipment was conducting a Roland promo at the theatre which involved showing off the volume ability of Roland amps, amongst other things.

Tuesday October 15th 1985 is where I'll call a halt to this episode. My presence was required at a La Boite Council meeting to make a quorum and I missed rehearsals as the meeting dragged on and on. I ended up at home with my old friend, Rock Arena on my old companion, the telly.

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1-5/10/1985 The Last Modern Lover

October 1985 started with a wimper and an evening spent at Pip's watching The Style Council on Rock Arena followed by The Young Ones.

Wednesday brought me another La Boîte Council meeting - which considering the grim financial tones of the previous meeting, I must have been wildly looking forward to. I note a tiny bit of sarcasm in my diary notes referring to the absence of the 'sometimes' treasurer from the proceedings which prevented any kind of censure, not that we nice theatre folk would have been any part of that. Anyway, there wasn't a quorum, so the meeting was abandoned, but not before somehow approving the Conway Christ budget. Perhaps that approval didn't require a quorum because the Conway Christ budget consisted of the right to collect lost change down the back of the theatre seats. Laura McKew, a new resident of New Farm drove me home just in time to watch Charlie Heston in The Naked Jungle - all ants and South America.

Thursday 3rd October and Pip met me on the bus - I note that I was quite the public transport user in 1985 - and we went shopping at beautiful Lutwyche where we purchased t-bones for dinner and hunkered down to watch one of my all-time favourite movies, The Last Starfighter.

(I think this is the film that John Caskey used to watch with a tennis racquet between his knees, starfighter joystick-style.)

There was no La Bamba on Friday 4th - I recorded that I met Pip at lunchtime in the City; ate Japanese, and, it being Warana and all, took in a bunch of street entertainment. Saw Street Arts doing their Busted Axles show, a West Indian style Steel band, a puppeteer called, Wayne Roland-Brown - The Entertainer, and a bunch of buskers. After work, Pip and I hit the Albert Park Amphitheatre for an event entitled, BHP Night of Dance, which we stuck at for two hours for little cultural return.

Which brings me to Saturday the 6th of October, 1985. A full day by the size of my entry in the book of me. Usual workin' in a wine mine morning, then a bike ride to West End to visit me old grandma. Another bike ride to New Farm Park to see whether a lunchy-picnicy type thing was still on - it wasn't. A bus ride back to Dorchester St and a trip to Easts Leagues Club at Coorparoo with Pip, John Caskey and Michael Whelan, where we arrived in the nick of time to see Jonathon Richman and the Modern Lovers,

who were by my report six encores good. Gerry Cleary drove us all back to the City and we hit The Blue Moon Cafe who had a Sydney-based a-capella group, Wild Wild Women.

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24-30/9/1985 No money; No Warana

Now where was I? Tuesday 24th September 1985 seems so long ago. I attended a rather desperate La Boîte Council meeting that revealed near financial disaster for the theatre - apparently it kept revealing the wreckage till 11:30pm whereupon I returned in a messy state. (Council = Responsibility). Interesting that La Boite's show at that moment was No Worries.

Stepping through the financial schemozzle and off to work onWednesday, I recorded a sadly disappointing day at work, followed by the bright spark of meeting Pip on the bus on the way home. Our intention was a quiet dinner at home, but I seem to have forgotten that Anne Jones was dining with her Inala Project team, so Pip and I, never needing much of an excuse to dine out, chose Merlo's in New Farm for a "lovely" meal and a good time.

Thursday was lack-lustre - just a spot of shopping at Lutwyche with Anne and take-aways from Famish at New Farm. Friday the 27th September was much better received I have written in el diario. Lunch at Jo-Jo's with Pip; John Haag providing the entertainment at La Bamba (I did lights and Pip stage-managed), and (and I don't necessarily believe I have the order right),

Michael Whelan moved in with John and Pip at Dorchester St. The big deal however, apologies to Michael, was the fireworks display that marked the start of the Warana festival. Warana was a bit like the Ekka, in terms of cultural icon. A street parade featuring marching girls and the Sunshine Association, any number of community brass bands, a couple of army and police bands, and floats. The floats were all designed by local groups and themed to match Warana's, 'Fun in the Sun' motto.

Saturday the 28th and work again till midday. Jones and I hot-tailed it to Dave Pyle's house in Bardon for general Conway Christ discussions, which resulted in my spending the evening typing a synopsis and character list for the first large-scale meeting that was scheduled for Sunday.

Sunday came and with it an excellently executed ZZZ shift from Anne Jones and I. We headed from there to La Boite at Milton to a well attended Conway meeting, then battled our way through closed streets, traffic and crowds of happy Ozzies returning from the Great Aussie Picnic in New Farm Park.

Battles with bogans aside, Monday had me at another La Bamba meeting, this time I've noted that there was to be a group from Triple Zed attending and I also had the meeting followed by a Conway production meeting. In breaking news, Anne and I arrived home to discover that Dell, our cleaner, hadn't been. 

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21-23/10/1985 Cross trivia ferries

1985 pushes on and meets September 21 - a Saturday. Another morning's work in the cellars, then off home on my bike and out again, this time via bike AND the New Farm Park ferry. Remember dear readers, that this was a very pre-CityCat Brisbane and a ferry simply meant a slow chug to the other side. New Farm Park's ferry only went straight over to Wynnum Rd at Norman Park, then I rode to Highgate Hill.

Spent the afternoon at Pip and John Caskey's place with Maria Cleary and Gerry Cleary till their brother, Mark Cleary, joined us for dinner and dinner, as so many mid-80's dinners did, turned into Trivial Pursuit till the wee smalls. I have a diary note that lays claim to stopping the game while Mark was ahead to avoid any scene caused by the Cleary competitive streak.

Sunday reared up and began with croissants and fresh coffee - reportedly a beautiful day that soured into a Dorchester St backyard cleanup which could only end in a tangle of toads and potato vines. Weekend over.

Monday 23rd September was not an unusual Monday - La Bamba meeting went as well as could be expected (with an exclamation mark after 'expected') and after the meeting, Pip, Anne Jones and I retired to the tastefully appointed Johnny's Pizzeria at New Farm, which used to be roughly across the road from it's current location and next to a launderette.

Other sinister happenings in September 1985: Howard rolls Peacock.

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15-20/09/1985 Oh the shark has pretty teeth...

...and away we go with the 15th September 1985. A damn fine Sunday as I recall. Well, I don't really recall - 27 years is a lot of cab sav under the bridge. My dilapidated diary tells me I did a ZZZ shift from 10 till 2 and that the shift was plagued by transmission breaks bound to have been caused by solar flares rather than the decaying transmission hardware that powered Planet Zed.

There was a Conway Christ write-a-thon planned for the afternoon which blew out when Dave Pyle was called away to more urgent matters, which left me washing up and watching telly till I sped across to Pip's house for a repast with her, John Caskey and Ruth Propsting. I do note however that we watched one of my favouritest movies of all time, Local Hero in the evening.

Monday brought it's usual worky stuff and it's usual La Bamba meeting, but brought nothing of interest to report. Tuesday September 17th featured Pip and I lunching at Lagani in Rowes Arcade again. For something different, we cruised a few Duty Free Shops (given our stated intention of travelling to England in the not too distant future) an then, later that evening, hit the production studio at Triple Zed for another La Bamba spot - this time for Friday's performance of TN!'s Sharkbite Cabaret. Good old Rock Arena helped me end the day.

Wednesday's most notable activity involved dinner with Pip at the Cantina - a cheap cousin of Tortilla - both at the end of Elizabeth Arcade and coffee at Le Scoops. John Caskey collected my bike from work and serviced it and returned it on Thursday and I watched The Return of the Pink Panther on TV to cap off an exciting day.

Friday was the 20th September and I had Anne Jones' car for the evening. Ron Layne arrived home from Sydney and Canberra and I went to the theatre for an extremely well attended and well received La Bamba. As I mentioned, it was TN!'s Sharkbite Cabaret, which had been showing at their Brookes St church-come-theatre a few weeks ago.

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10-14/9/1985 Big Jake'll tell ya...

These updates are starting to get onerous now... Still I will persist.

Persistance starts with the 10 September 1985, a Tuesday and quite a busy day. Apart from that old work shite and lunch with Pip, the real action started on the phones, so generously supplied by my employer. My diary commanded me to pay the rent; phone Cathy Newell re:publicity; phone Triple Zed re: getting info on air for next Friday's show; phone Jim Courtney (whoever he was?), and; find Jivin' Gene Vincent. Jivin' has a tick next to him, so I guess he was found.

After work, Anne Jones drove me to Buffy Lavery and Damien Ledwich's abode in the gritty depths of Main St, Woolloongabba - I took her car to get Pip and motored to collect a paper from Megan Redfern en route to Triple Zed, where I made a spot for next Friday night's La Bamba - a black Friday spectacular called, Cookin' Up A Mess O' La Bamba-Billy, loosely conceived as a rock-a-billy extravaganza. The spot I made is one of my all time favourite little production gems, which I fortunately have rescued a murky copy of...

Voiced by my alter-ego of the time, Big Jake McGeever, who apart from doing several Triple Zed live to airs, including the Red Carpet at the Rialto Theatre for Triple Zed's 10th Birthday Gala with Christopher Plimsoll, another alter-ego, was most famously lauded as the MC of the Phantom Club's ball at the well-appointed Colossus Reception Lounge in West End.(Known to us at the time as the Mario Colossus Hall - in honour of the wrestlers, Mario Milano and Spiros Arion - you know!)

After the spot it was back to Main St where I found myself smack-bang in the middle of a Cane Toad Times editorial meeting which ended around midnight.

The Wednesday was a nothing day - washing and and an early night following the heady heights of artistic productivity achieved the day before.

Thursday the 12th September 1985 has me searching for pieces for a guitar I had purchased sometime earlier. I remember it now as a beautiful small acoustic guitar with a country and western motif screen printed on the body and a rope style strap, but it was sadly missing a string and a tuning head, which wasn't a huge problem as I was sadly missing the ability to play guitar, but it was beautiful and perfect Big Jake McGeever accoutrement. I purchased a guitar-shaped belt buckle from RM Williams and still managed to deposit $300 into my 'going overseas' account.

Friday 13th September brought to 1985 one of the more memorable La Bamba shows. Cookin' Up A Mess O' La Bamba-Billy featured several country-billy bands, most notably a scratch band of John and Rick Caskey with Michael Whelan, and The Rockadiles - a real deal rock-a-billy band. Jivin' Gene Vincent's Travelling 60's Dance Classes were a hit and the evening was hosted by myself disguised as Big Jake McGeever and Deb Brown who may, or may not have worn her hair in plaits and had a costume heavily featuring gingham. The show went particularly well according to 1985 me.

Saturday was a day to skive off work apparently. Did some shopping in the afternoon with Pip at Lutwyche and we threw an impromptu dinner party for Maria Cleary and John Caskey in the evening. Took Pip home later in the evening and spent some quality chat-time with Pip's landlord, Ruth Propsting who was in town.

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5-9/9/1985 Looks like we got ourselfs a Conway...

Thursday September 5th 1985 - jest another workin' day, though one in which I managed to lodge a tax return.

I also had a Stephen Cumming's record to collect from Rocking Horse which had apparently fallen victim to a senseless mix-up which had prevented the record from being delivered. Still a huge Stephen Cummings fan and saw him just last Friday night in the nefarious company of John Willsteed.

John Willsteed

Needless to say the pairing of these two in 1985 would have been impossible, I suspect. Now, with grey hair and finessed skills they go together beautifully.

Cruising into Friday and another cancelled La Bamba - this time we'd cancelled an evening of women's films and a women's choir for a reason not recorded by my diary. La Bamba was more than adequately replaced in my life by an unexpected invitation to dine with Deb Brown, Buffy Lavery, Damien Ledwich, Pip Cleary and Deb's friend, John.

Deb Brown

Another late Friday night leading into another Saturday morning at work in the United Service Club cellar - fortunately there was Coke and and a kitchen supplying egg & bacon every Saturday morning.

After work it was home to an afternoon on script writing. Conway Christ - Redneck Superstar was well under way. Anne Jones and David Pyle had returned from depositing Danielle Bond at the airport as she set sail for her English service, and we were joined at the writing table by Sean Mee and Andrew (who's surname I can't remember!). The shite was flowing freely and we wrote for about 5 hours. I retired to Pip's place where we watched Steve Martin's, Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid, which I rated as "clever but not good". I also noted in the battered brown book that Pip sold her car today.

That Saturday turned into a Sunday as they so often do. Sunday September 8 1985, a day during which David Pyle, Anne Jones and I wrote for 11 hours straight and completed the first scene. We also managed to discuss and plan next Friday's La Bamba which was to be a celebration of all things Rock-a-billy and was called La Bamba-billy. Still not content with having spent enough time together, Dave and I stayed up a-chattin' till after midnight.

Monday bought us to another La Bamba meeting where discussion seemed to centre on whether to put on TN!'s, Sharkbite Cabaret. The La Bamba meeting ended and morphed into a Conway Production meeting at Dave's place in Soudan St at Bardon, but not before detouring to Jeffrey's Gourmet Takeaway (at Milton I think) to obtain that important ingredient in creativity, the Beef Wellington. On this night, according to my reports, the Beef Wellingtons had failed to do their job and no progress with the script was made.

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30/8/1985 - 4/9/1985 Caskey Ponting & the Christ

August 30 1985 brought with it difficult times for La Bamba. This Friday night had been a trial to find an act for. This I know by a number of maybes crossed out in my diary.

Michael Whelan said no. The Orrellana Sisters said no. It finally fell to the Centre Cinema to come up with the goods and they came up with a benefit - for them. The Centre Cinema was a small cinema on the ground floor of the Metro Arts Centre in Edward St in the City that showed (what an odd word!), shall we say, less than mainstream cinema. Worthy? I think it was. I didn't attend La Bamba on this night as I report to my 2012 self that I was feeling unwell. Plumped for the Famish roast dinner with Anne Jones and the early night with Pip.

Saturday's diary entry holds a rare reference to my day job, since a stocktake was interfering with my life. Worked 8:30am till 6:30pm counting bottles of plonk. Unsurprisingly I report that I still felt 'yucky', but rallied for collection by Anne Jones who drove me home to prepare dinner for my father and brother and Pip. Without the aid of a celebrity chef program or any caramelising, I prepared fish cooked in tahini and an extremely retro, strawberries in DOM Benedictine liqueur for dessert. This meal, I assume, was the meal you have when you haven't got time to see your Dad on Father's Day.

Father's Day, of course being the first Sunday in September, was celebrated in 1985 by a radio show with Anne Jones sharing the mic. We did fine work and had a hoot according to my never-tell-a-fib diary. There had been an entry, boldly crossed out, for a La Bamba: Future Projects meeting at Pip's place - but it was boldly crossed out. Jones and I made for home after the radio show to prepare for another evening's entertainment, this time a 'Going Away' for Danielle Bond, whose time had come to venture to England and make her fortune. I had by preparation time succumbed to the flu and required constant short naps to make it through till the evening. Pip made canapés and the evening progressed in the company of Danielle, Dave Pyle, John Carey and Deb Brown.

Still ill on Monday September 2nd. John Caskey's birthday was notable on this day, but exciting on this day was the fact that the wonderful Dr Scruton (whoever that may be) had granted me a Med Cert excusing me from work until Wednesday. I celebrated with an unplanned washing load and small preparations for the event at our house in as many nights, The RJ Layne Affair, which I can only assume was some kind of Ronny's moving out fest. There was a La Bamba meeting in the mix early evening, followed by a Conway Christ production meeting, but the RJ Layne Affair apparently went off without a hitch.

Still utilising the benefits of the Med Cert on Tuesday September 3. Still celebrating birthdays - this time Larry Ponting's.You know those days when you're at home during the normal working day - you kick around and listen to the radio, read the paper, wash-up, watch a bit of daytime telly and get a restless and bored. This day ended at Pip and Caskey's house for a celebration of the birth of baby Caskey. Dinner with John, Pip, Michael Whelan, Toni Mott and Rick Caskey. I'm sure we toasted Larry.

[simondoworld]

25-29 August 1985 JFK in Virginia

The 25th August 1985 was a Sunday. Sleepings in; long breakfasts; visits from Gerry Cleary and a surprise phone call from Larry Ponting with comps to see Do-Re-Mi and John Kennedy's Love Gone Wrong at the far-flung Homestead Hotel.

The far-flung Homestead Hotel was at Virginia and featured a very large Southern Cross windmill, pumping Bundaberg Rum I suspect, and a far-flung suburban clientele that made our party of fey, inner urbanites a tiny bit afraid. Pip, John Caskey and I braved the wilds of Virginia having been firm admirers of Do-Re-Mi and Pip and I having been big in the John Francis Kennedy scene.

I have always remembered an incident that occurred between the bands - a local lad, GF in tow, approached John Caskey and asked him to keep an eye on his girlfriend while he had a piss. Caskey as I recall stood wide-eyed and disbelieving with the girlfriend standing meekly beside him until old mate returned and they disappeared into the crowd. I wonder if Virginia has changed? Deb Conway copped a fair amount of flack for the unforgivable outer suburban sin of unshaven armpits, but the gig was fine and the bands were good and due to impeccable hotel management, we were home by 10:30pm (Sunday night, remember.) As a side note Mental as Anything played a free gig in Albert Park that afternoon.

Monday brought it's usual La Bamba meeting, this time blessedly short and fuelled by Gambaro's fish and chips. There was a Conway Christ production meeting, but most importantly I purchased a pair of leather boots for $30.

Tuesday brought no new boots and a La Boîte Council meeting to discuss the 'whys' of going youth. Laura McKew collected me, then Magerite Bonin from Rosalie and took us to Eagle Junction and the home of Helen Routh for the discussion which apparently took until 11pm before I wrangled a lift back to the City with Lenny Johnson.

Wednesday brought the beginnings of greatness. After an early start to the day having a muffler fitted to Pip's car at Stones Corner and the work-a-day world of the USC, it was home to put pen to paper for the first time on the script of Conway Christ Redneck Superstar. Of course it was a late night.

Thursday brought Anne Jones and I to Buranda to do the shopping. It also bought us a video of Spielberg's, 1941 and a yummy home cooked meal.

[simondoworld]

21-24 August 1985 Pizza overboard at the Blue Moon

Commencing Wednesday 21 August 1985 - shitful day at work with antidote described as bottle of red with Anne Jones and Ron Layne. Evening spent typing La Bamba meeting minutes and breaking only long enough to devour a Silvio's Pizza. I met Silvio once - Silvio  Bevacqua - his little pizza business in Red Hill (just across the road from where I now live) morphed into Domino's Pizza, but I met him when Pip and I owned a small deli cafe in Mt Gravatt and there was a chance he might have bought us out to insert a pizza shop. Asides - love 'em.

On the Thursday, I met Pip for lunch at Sportsgirl in Queen Street and purchased a vastly reduced cowboy shirt ($12 reduced from $60 - my kind of shirt). After work, Pip and I headed for Buranda and to a shop that sold a stylus for my turntable - that's the bit that puts the needle on the record - needle on the rec-rec-rec-rec-record - and then home to clean out Pip's mighty Suzuki Swift, which was advertised in the paper on Friday. Thursday was seen off with an evening of bawdy, middle european TV on SBS.

It seems to have been all happening on Friday August 23rd 1985. La Bamba fizzed out again - this time Genevieve Thackwell-James and the Dalmations cancelled and killed off a 'musical' La Bamba, but over in St Lucia, Do-Re-Mi were playing a Joint Effort.

  Genevieve Thackwell-James

I cannot understand my preference for a Randall & Thomas haircut over a Joint Effort with  Do-Re-Mi. Yes, it's true that haircuts were important to me, but Do-Re-Mi was a band I enjoyed immensely. Tom Harvey gave me free re-colour and Pip and I pissed around playing the synthesisers in Palings for a while and had coffee at Aroma's, but we didn't go to the Joint Effort = poor showing I say.

A poor showing also this having to work on a Saturday morning caper. Saturday's usual round of domestic chores ended with a bike ride to Pip's and then to our free dinner at Pasta Joke - we had received a complimentary dinner for two a couple of weeks ago as the result of a less than adequate meal.

This one made up for it - 'beautiful' and 'extra good' are the terms I threw around in my diary, though I'm not entirely convincedthat 'free' didn't set the mood right for an enjoyable meal.

In a display a little more 'Urban Gent' like, we hit the Blue Moon Cafe after dinner to see Rick Caskey and Mark Simmonds and others play. Had a great night sitting with Michael 

Mark Simmonds

Whelan and John Caskey.The Blue Moon was just around the corner from the National Hotel on the corner of Queen and Adelaide Sts - I think there's a rather drab block of apartments there now.

[simondoworld]

17-20 August 1985 - Stop making STD calls

Saturday 17th August 1985 found me in the cellar of the United Service Club, serving out my Saturday morning shift. I recorded a pleasant cycle home along the river; a visit to my Nana and Pop in Hill End, and; a ride home over the Storey Bridge. How civilised and twee.

At home there was the usual washing to be done and, it was a share house, so there was washing up to be done before the early evening malaise was interrupted, apparently, by an enormous storm. It was Saturday night, my work was done, I was ,

going into town (I'll stop that before I infect anyone reading this with the Sprayfresh ad... Whoops!). I met Pip in town and, even 27 years ago, went to Jo Jo's for dinnerbefore hitting the movies for the Talking Heads, Stop Making Sense film.Now there was a movie to lift the spirits and make anyone feel alive with the creative juices.

Sunday hit out with the 10 to 2 shift on Triple Zed. It was APRA week, which added an admin impost to the shift. Each announcer had to fill in a sheet listing every track played and a number of details about each track - I always found it easier to do it in one go at the end of the shift. Still and all, after the sheets were completed, I caught a ferry to Hill End and a bus to Pip's house in Dorchester St for the very first, Conway Christ brainstorming meeting - all pencils, pads and typewriters.

The weekend ended and Monday brought it's usual La Bamba meeting, which for some reason 'put me on edge' - I know that sounds intriguing, but obviously not enough for me to have written down the reason. The outcome was another show cancelled due to lack of available talent. As an aside, there's a phone number in el diario - seven digits rather than eight - these were the days when calling the Gold Coast was an STD call (Standard Trunk Dialling - not that other acronym) and anywhere outside Brisbane required an 07-something code)

Pushing on till Tuesday and the La Boîte meeting that always followed La Bamba meetings on Mondays, was being held at Narelle Arcidiacono's house in Brae St, at Coorparoo and taking food was a requirement of this day. Also a requirement of this day, work-wise, was a massive liquor and transport industry strike, which moved my employer to close the cellar and re-deploy me to foodish duties for the morning.

Laura McKew collected me after work and transported me and Margerite Bonin to this mighty important, re-structuring kind of La Council meeting. Helen Routh drove me home.

[simondoworld]

14-16 August 1985 I did what to a car?

Exhibition Wednesday was brought to 1985 courtesy of the 14 August. My diary notes that following the creative activities of the prior evening, a sleep-in and long breakfast were the order of the day.

Now, as I read down the page of my diary for that day, I find some words so foreign to me now I can openly question the source of this guff. It says, and quite clearly and plainly, that I worked on Pip's car. It claims I replaced a bumper and changed a flat. Was there no RACQ back then? Was I crazy? Was I trying to impress my girlfriend? WTF? Working on a car - me! Fortunately, all that mechanical activity moved me to sleep the afternoon away, until, or so I took the time and utilised parenthesis to emphasise, Skippy came on. Is that right, Skip?

Public holiday be damned - there was a show at La Boite to do the Box Office for and after that, an Anne Jones curry creation waiting at my house for hungry theatre box office staff.

There seemed to be a post-show holiday letdown in play on the 15th August. Work, washing, bit of telly, pie and mash for tea then early nights for all the Merthyr Rd householders. That lethargy stretched into Friday the 16th, which was billed as the last weekly La Bamba and, as if to confirm that the thrill was leaving, the show was cancelled after Richard Scholes forgot to tell us that he and Brenda Waite were unable to perform their Checkmate show. That disappointment was soon forgotten as Pip and I settled down to watch a mighty SevenRock.

[simondoworld]

12-13 August 1985 What's the buzz

Monday August 12th 1985 should go down as a great day in Brisbane theatre history, for 'twas on this day that a great thing was thunk of. More on that in a mome.

It was a Monday so there must have been work to dealt with, and it was a Monday so there must have been a La Bamba meeting to be dealt with, and there was. But it was after the La Bamba meeting that greatness began it's journey to the outside world. A group of acty types and funny buggers descended upon our house to do a play reading. We were intent on choosing a work to be undertaken by the Royal Bardon Community Theatre for Youth (or some such combination of those words) to be produced by La Bamba as a show in the style of The Paisley Pirates of Penzance, which had gone so swimmingly successfully earlier in the year.

At the start of the evening, a 1949 play called The Crimson Coconut was front-runner and was the subject of our 'read'. I guess it was one of those moments where the reading was over and everyone just stopped and  pretended to ponder like Matt Preston over a chop, before a unanimous, "Yuk." Fortunately an idea that had a brief airing earlier was re-floated, re-worked and re-brainstormed to emerge, all shiny and new as, Conway Christ - Redneck Superstar - it was perfect, a spaghetti western version of Jesus Christ Superstar. It was truly the birth of a good thing that got a lot of folk in Brisbane attached to a theatre movement that lasted for nearly a decade. The ideas flowed freely into the wee smalls and it was declared, "a goer!"

As surely as night followed day in 1985; La Boite Council followed every third La Bamba meeting on the Tuesday at 6pm. This was the meeting that the report Helen Routh, Edwin Relph and I had penned was tabled. I didn't record anything about that though - only that Pip was at the Theatre doing Box Office for some show or other (I can't believe Logan was still running?) and we went to her house to watch some telly with John Caskey.