Forty years ago today I made a bold move into show business by answering an ad in the Age amusements section. It said wanted guitarist to play Elvis, Chuck Berry and Lou Reed. Work waiting, ph Frits..... There was no mention of time wasting or own transport which was good because I didnt even have a drivers license or car to carry my Marshall amp and quad box. The audition was held and I passed. The band was a trio with Dave Osborne on drums and a guy named Paul Leeder on precision bass with the classic bassman 100 rig. Frits sang through his very own Eminar column P.A. with the slider controls and 100 watts of valve power. A couple of rehearsals saw us ready for our first gig at Hard Rock Cafe, where Frits worked as a general dogs body and sometime compere. While we were waiting around playing pool, none other than a Mr Barry Lyde and some of his coloured ball showed up. Thats Lobby to you. Lobby was really nice and quite friendly to a junior guitarist like myself and my thought at the time was, gee hes really old. He was probably 30. His ploy to pose as sharpies worked and the coloured balls were Melbournes premier sharpie act. Our first gig was held on a Tuesday night towards the end of winter and it was a special gay night run by noted dyke, Jan Hillier. We had some very effeminate go go dancers either side of the stage and I lost count of how many David Bowies there were in the crowd with the Aladdin sane lightning on the face. We passed the audition and became a Jan Hillier night regular act. We always had a spot and they would add variety by booking various prominent rock and funk acts. Hot city bump band and Skylight come to mind and I remember Hush doing one of their early gigs there. The best night was with the coloured balls who were billed that night as special drag act. Lobby was hilarious in make up and panty hose as were the rest of the CB. Trouser flappingly loud barely describes the volume from three Strauss warrior amplifiers. These babies were 400 watts RMS and Thorpie also had one. Our run came to a grinding end when we were ditched in favour of some poofter Sydney band called AC/DC.
Posted on: Sat, 02 Aug 2014 23:31:08 +0000
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