Courage, conviction, wit and vision

‘It Was Tom’ s First Brush With Modernism’, a crayon and ink drawing on paper by English artist, Glen Baxter, was the quirky image that adorned the front cover of the catalogue for The Biennale of Sydney in 1986, a cowboy looking at a blank canvas (in a gallery?). It was my first brush with Baxter’s work and I loved it, still do. It was also my first brush with Nick Waterlow, the Curator of that Biennale.

The Biennale of Sydney was a very Sydney thing, or so it seemed to me at that time. Melbourne people didn’t care much for it, one way or the other. Indifferent was probably the best way to describe it, but still, I thought I had better check it out.

‘Gotham City Gossip’ was going strong on 3RRR-FM back in those days. An art show on radio, how did I do it, people asked. Easy, just talk about the art. Heard only in Melbourne, Sydney people were entranced, especially people like Ray Hughes. The program had become an arbiter of taste (or, as some said, lack of it).

So when I rang Nick Waterlow for an interview about his Biennale, of course he said yes. We met at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. Nick was nervous. So far the press hadn’t been kind. And even though I was asking the tough questions, Nick liked the way I was asking them.

I won’t say we became friends. But we had mutual friends in common, Rodney Pople, Tony Oliver, Robert Hirschmann, Bob Whitaker, and always had a warm smile for each other whenever our paths occasionally crossed. He always remembered that interview.

I surprised him once in England when I was curating Bob Whitker’s survey show for the Monash Gallery of Art back in 2002. I was staying with Bob in Hayward’s Heath. Nick came to visit, curating his own show ‘Larrikins in London’ for the Dougherty. We just laughed. I think Nick was jealous, maybe 'cos he thought I had better work of Bob's in my show. We ended up sharing it and both shows looked great.

I called in to see Nick at the Ivan Dougherty Gallery when I was in Sydney in September. He was in England again. I saw him on the telly a couple of weeks back, with his old mate, Martin Sharp, talking about Luna Park. His hair and beard were long and white, unkempt almost, but that was Nick. He will be missed, terribly.

Place to be

Little wonder it’s been here at Handsome Steve’s House of Refreshment that legions of long-suffering Geelong supporters have gathered for weekly solace for the past 12 months, awaiting the rolling back of the stone in 2009. Last September Geelong lost and so did Gary Ablett Jnr.

But now the headline has changed. “At Last Ablett Wins Medal” says the newspaper banner outside the local milk bar. Gary Junior has finally won his Brownlow. (''It'll be fantastic to be able to go home and tell Dad I've done something he hasn't done'', is the quotable quote. ) And Geelong are in the AFL Grand Final…. again.

A kiosk with a twist, Handsome Steve’s House of Refreshment perches unobtrusively within the grounds of The Convent in Abbotsford. No signs, just a very unassuming entrance hall and an old, wide, wooden staircase. Hard to find, unless you know what you’re looking for. But, once you’re there, you’ll love it.

Combining the great loves of his life, the Geelong Football Club, pop culture and art into what he call his “retirement”, “Handsome” Steve Miller(a guitar player in his own right, but no relation to his namesake, the more famous American one) has created something very special.

Tucked deep within the bowels of the 100-year-old building, situated near the banks of the famous Yarra, old-fashionedness reigns supreme. “You won't find eggs, 'cooked to your liking', skinny lattes, wraps, low fat muffins or light beer,” boasts mine host, on his website. “It's S for Salt, F for Fat, S for Sugar, C for Caffeine and A for Alcohol.”

Some tables and chairs, high stools and a free-standing, T-shaped bar at which to sit. An autographed photograph of former Prime Minister, Paul Keating, an unsigned one of Sir Les Patterson, Elvis and Muhammad Ali (boxing under water) all hang on the walls inside the small, atmospheric first-floor room with a view. Of course, there’s also the sun-deck outside.

In the 1980s, Steve was a member of cult Melbourne band, the Moodists, along with Dave Graney and Claire Moore. They went to London for a while, hung out in Brixton and Vauxhall and..(well too many to mention), recorded the album “Thirsty’s Calling”, the one with the black and white cover, and returned to Australia about as famous as when they left. A poster image of the cover now sits high above Steve and his reproduction 1961 Faema coffee machine. The Go-Betweens and the Triffids also have their place.

Originally, The Convent belonged to the nuns of the Order of Good Shepherd, providing shelter and spiritual support for vulnerable girls and women. Over the past decade the building and grounds have been turned into a lively arts, cultural and educational precinct.

“I am sure the vulnerable girls and women would have preferred art, culture and education to the grinding routine of the Laundry”, says Steve. And it’s his oddball collection of visual art, sculpture, painting, drawing, all related in subject matter to the football club for which he has barracked since childhood, which makes The House of Refreshment truly special. Wall space is running out.

A copper bust of Gary Ablett (God) by Stuart James sits in pride of place on the bar where 2008 just doesn’t exist. Glen Morgan’s quirky portrait of the 2007 Premiership Team hangs on the feature wall (photograph courtesy the artist and Ray Hughes Gallery, Sydney), a newspaper banner announcing Jimmy Bartel’s 2007 Brownlow is pinned close by. Opposite are Sunday newspaper banners heralding Geelong’s record-breaking Premiership win. “I got a DVD copy of the ’07 win on the Wednesday after the game, and played it all day every day right through til Christmas”, says Steve with pride.

“Footy fever, can’t eat, cant sleep”, he says following Gary Jnr.’s win. Steve already has the Herald-Sun banner of Gary’s win ready for the wall. Last week he added a Geelong Cats mirror to the collection, and a few weeks ago a donated Steve Hocking Memorial Sherrin plus a small painted replica of the MCG Scoreboard from Grand Final Day 1963. The Cats beat Hawthorn that year, remember. On Grand Final Day this year, Steve will be in the House, TV on. Promises to be great. That's Steve and me gettin ready.

Paint It (Red, White &) Black

Molly Meldrum’s Richmond fence is painted again.  It must be September.  And St.Kilda must be in the Finals.  Well, we know that. But hey it’s a ritual, and I look forward to it.  It makes my drive down Highett Street that little bit more colorful, especially if the traffic’s banked up. 

Molly must be excited.   “Minor Premiers 2009”.  But Molly, it is a long way to the top if you want to win a grand final, and it has been a long and winding road for your team.  “Since 1966”, Molly says.  No faces of players this year, no pictures just words.

Mistah seems bemused.  He’s never met Molly, but he’s been past quite a lot, on his way to the park.  He gets on a lot better with Geelong supporters, Gem’s dad Tony (Legge) is one. 

by the time they got to woodstock

“The curly-haired kid is booking every act in Christendom”, lighting specialist Chip Monck’s agent told him in June 1969.  Immediately Chip knew he wanted a piece of the action.  He’d lit Monterey in red two years before, and now wanted in on this.

 Of course, the curly-haired kid was Michael Lang, and the rest is history.   

Michael was booking bands for the Woodstock Music & Art Fair, these days simply known as Woodstock.  The event has just celebrated its 40^th anniversary worldwide. 

And Chip is still famous as the man who, as impromptu MC,  talked about the “brown acid” at the Festival and, not once but twice announced Jimi Hendrix’s “Gypsy Sun and Rainbows” the “Jimi Hendrix Experience.”

Hendrix’s full performance at Woodstock is readily available, has been for some time, and you still hear Chip's well-mannered announcements at the commencement and finale of Hendrix's performance, “Ladies and Gentlemen, the Jimi Hendrix Experience”.  Imagine that, introducing Jimi Hendrix at Woodstock. Chip did it, and lots of other things as well.

He built the light towers, over which Michael Lang always had concerns (that's the curly-haired kid and Chip discussing the building of the towers in the photos, courtesy of Henry Diltz/Morrison Hotel Gallery, Chipmonck Archives) and a revolving stage, which never worked because there were too many people sitting on it.  

Initially hired by Michael Lang as the lighting guy, Chip Monck quickly became THE MAN.

When you see the full rundown of acts who appeared at Woodstock 40 years on, you realise Chip’s agent was not exaggerating.  Notable exceptions of course, the Rolling Stones, whom Michael didn’t want because he felt it would make Woodstock “just a Rolling Stones concert”, John Lennon, who couldn’t get a visa for the US, and the Doors, who just couldn’t make it. 

But history tells us that none of that really matters now.

I did see the Rolling Stones at the Palais in Melbourne in 1965, then 11 years later at Knebworth in the UK (Billy Preston was unbelievable, made Jagger look like a cripple). And Led Zeppelin at Randwick Racecourse in 1973 (my memory still tells me it's the best I've seen).  

Fairly satisfied with that, but Hendrix at Woodstock.  I WISH.

You gunna need somebody on your bond

I mentioned Ornette Coleman in a previous blog, and how Captain Beefheart (Don Van Vliet) used a wind instrument Coleman had given him on an early recording, “You’re Gonna Need Somebody on Your Bond”  from the 1967 Mirror Man Sessions.  I’ve been listening to that a lot lately.  It’s wild, as is most Beefheart stuff.  Ornette’s Town Hall 1962 has also been on my playlist, as has Joe Henry’s Scar. Ornette played on some of the tracks on that album, the best of all is the unlisted track at the end.  It reminds me of the some of the stuff on Soapsuds Soapsuds, an album Ornette did with Charlie Haden in 1977.

 Joe played the Corner Hotel in Richmond quite a few months back, performed a lot of the songs from Scar, just him, his voice and guitar, an an upright-bass player.  No Ornette to be heard, but it was mesmerising.  And Charlie was in Melbourne a little later in the year. We saw him too, in the cold ole Town Hall, Bill Frissell on guitar.

Here’s a portrait of Beefheart (Van Vliet) by Anton Corbijn.  We used it for my article, “Sounds of Shadows”, in World Art.  Van Vliet is a painter too, a good one at that.  If you can, listen to his “Carson City (Owned T’ Alex) from The Original Bat Chain Puller.  It will blow your mind.

a buzz in the machine

Getting to the heart of the matter, the last time I saw Stelarc was in the World Heritage Listed Royal Exhibition Building in Melbourne last July.

He had an ear growing on his arm.  That's not in my article, but for real, it was an ear, implanted and about to explode.

I'll keep you up to date.

This Shape of Jazz: "Town Hall, 1962" - Ornette Coleman

I've been listening to Captain Beefheart, "Spitball Scalped Uh Baby", he's playing a wild instrument, legend has it given to him by the legendary Ornette.

In 1962 Don van Vliet was still in Lancaster, CA.  Ornette was in NY.

This Shape of Jazz: "Town Hall, 1962" - Ornette Coleman