Old Scratchings

Holiday snaps

This is some stuff from a web page in a former life.

Lolita and The Lollipops

Apart from writing software, and fan mail to dead composers, I played in a lollipop band for quite some time. We were it. We were the '70s revival in Sydney. We were drunk.

Shand has a few pictures but I saw things through different eyes.

We played some strange gig at the Katoomba Masonic Hall, west of Sydney. Quite a trek. We had lots of girlies and guitarists. I'm the goof in the white suit, stage right, playing a keyboard. Don't worry that you can't see the keyboard; neither could I.

A special thanks to the nurse who came to my attention when I had a slight balance problem towards the end of the bottle, I mean set, and had an altercation with the foldback. Come on! It wasn't as bad as when Anne walked into the mirror at the Alley Cat gig. Or when we fell through the stage at the Hip Hop.

You Gotta Eat

I was also a founding member of the Strodell Drug Testing Team. We all know that a difficult part of the life of a research scientist living on the edge is nourishment. Our working solution in the late '80s and early '90s was the mythical friday Strodell lunch. Table 8 at the Bluewater Grill, North Bondi. A great view from Ben Buckler Point of Bondi Beach with the City of Sydney behind it, and right near TK's. We would feast on the spoils of the land and the sea and do our scientist stuff.

Pictured is one of the last bottles of the '83 Yarra Yerring #1 from their ever surprising cellar. Shand took the photo and the other dude in the snap is a disgruntled postal worker with spare time and a telescopic sight. The fourth was Clagger who doesn't like his photo being taken (some religious thing) so I will devote another page to shots of him.

Note that this was not a Triple-Bollinger day. Alas the Bluewater is no more. The Beach Road Restaurant at Palm Beach (NSW) is the new agenda. Check it out. Just do it.

Hector Berlioz

Hector had it pretty much together. He liked nothing better than escaping into the hills with his guitar and pistol, musing and shooting things. Sort of the early 19th century equivalent of smashing up the hotel room. This is a portrait of him on an opium binge, circa 1828. He was also really into stalking. It was legal then, even encouraged. Hector got the girl but never did know her name, poor Miss Smithson. Extraordinary.

I have an original first edition piano transcription of La Damnation De Faust (Scheins & Cie, Paris) and if I OCR it backwards I get heavy metal songs. This is very disturbing and I have written to Hector about this.

Bondi Winter '96

Winter is upon us, but life goes on at Bondi.

Spotted some Tag Busters and Bone Crushers.