DOCSLIB.ORG

Wendy Saddington: Underground Icon Musician at His Base in Staten Island

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Wendy Saddington: Underground Icon Musician at His Base in Staten Island Wendy Saddington: underground icon musician at his base in Staten Island. Crozier had Wendy became a devotee of the International maintained an underground celebrity of his own Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) Wendy Saddington: in Australia. Often billed as a ‘voodoo psychedelic during her stay in New York with Jeff Crozier. From magician’, Crozier initiated a new production in this time, Wendy adopted the name, Gandharvika the United States, titled, The Indian Medicine Devi Dasi, while retaining her Anglo-Australian underground icon Magik Show, combining his well-developed name for the continuity of her performing career. prowess with illusionism with the new production Peter Maloney finally met Wendy Saddington on the Wendy Saddington, (Gandharvika Devi Dasi) who died aged 63 in 2013, was values of rock performance – lighting effects, streets of Darlinghurst, Sydney in the late 1980s pyrotechnics, and high energy, high volume music. one of the most influential, if misunderstood and under-appreciated figures when he was resident there. The two maintained in the history of Australian popular music. By her return to Australia in 1972, Wendy had contact and eventually became close friends. cropped her hair and was applying theatrical Around this same time, Wendy was regularly Canberra artist, Peter Maloney first saw Wendy Later that year, Wendy became linked with a Pierrot style make-up, together with a costume performing with pianist, Peter Head and in time, Saddington perform when he was around 17 years group of musicians who eventually became known consisting of a leotard and leggings split into both Peters came to know each other through of age. He became a lifelong admirer and much as Chain, sometimes billed as, Chain Featuring black and white halves, inferring the heightened their individual relationships with Wendy. later, a friend of the singer and amassed an Wendy Saddington. Leaving the band the following drama of Expressionist dissonance. Maloney saw Through the 1990s, Wendy often performed as extensive personal archive of memorabilia relating year, Wendy initiated her career as an essentially her performing in this Pierrot persona in Adelaide to this iconic Australian performer. Using material solo performer. During this period, ABC TV that year, on his travels across the country. part of the Peter Head Band and at other times from Maloney’s archive, the exhibition explores commissioned a series of six half-hour programs she would engage Peter to act as her pianist the development of Saddington’s career as an featuring the band, Tully, entitled Fusions. The Settling in Sydney, Wendy presented her new in solo gigs. Wendy instinctively trusted Peter influential figure in the evolution of Australian programs were filmed as live concerts of Tully persona in a series of concerts, often joined by Head’s musicianship and professionalism and he popular music. performing with guests and brought the band into mime artist, Morris Spinetti, who worked under remained close to her to the end. Her last major the forefront of Australian rock music. One of the the pseudonym of Teardrop. In this guise, Wendy concert was A Soul Seance, with fellow singer, Lending credence to her cult celebrity is a lack of band’s guests was Wendy Saddington and footage and Teardrop perform in Peter Weir’s short film, Henry Manetta in December 2012, Melbourne. detailed knowledge of her family background and of this program is screened in the exhibition. 3 Directions in Australian Pop-Music, produced the circumstances of her upbringing. Saddington in 1972. Footage of this program is screened Gandharvika Devi Dasi lived in harmony for many emerged, apparently fully-formed in her rock and In January 1970, Wendy performed at Australia’s in the exhibition. years with her good friend, Gangamayi Devi Dasi roll persona, in her adolescence performing live first rock music festival, Pilgrimage for Pop, in Albert Park, Melbourne and died after a life Through the mid to late 1970s Wendy became with Melbourne band, The Revolution c.1967. now simply recalled as Ourimbah, in reference full of creative combustion on the shortest day a well-recognized figure in the city’s cultural Wendy would have then been approximately to the location of the event in rural NSW. Shortly of the year – the winter solstice, 22 June 2013. after this event, Jeff St John invited Wendy to demi-monde underground. By nature she sixteen years of age. She then joined the Adelaide Wendy’s iconic persona and her remarkable join his band The Copperwine. The festival was empathized with the marginalized and dissolute, band, James Taylor Move the following year. vocal technique have left an enduring legacy documented in the film, Once around the Sun, as she remained at heart a true bohemian Wendy Saddington’s singular appearance, with produced by David Huggett, after an original – an artist with vigorously anti-authoritarian on Australian popular music. Christina Amphlett eyes heavily framed with kohl and her hair concept by Gordon Mutch. and anti-materialist characteristics. of The Divinyls cited her as an influence, as did back-combed into an uninhibited ‘Afro’ style, Robert Forster of The Go-Betweens. Considerably Wendy collaborated with at During this period, Wendy became friendly with combined with a preference for tight denim jeans, The Copperwine The younger performers like Karise Eden, winner of Odyssey music festival at Wallacia, NSW in 1971. the anarchistic drag performance group, Sylvia boots and hoop earrings lent the singer significant the Nine Network’s reality program, The Voice Peter Maloney, aged eighteen, was in attendance and The Synthetics and also performed on the street credibility in Australia’s parochial popular 2012, a new generation enthusiast, suggested on and in rapture. This performance was released same bill with them. Peter Maloney saw Wendy music world of the time. Facebook, after recently discovering Saddington, by Aztec Records as the sole album to define and performing with The Synthetics at The All-Senses that, “I question everything musically I’ve ever The singer’s highly identifiable appearance, recall her career. As if the strange omission of Ball, Albert Hall, Canberra in 1973 and was known…this woman is amazing.” together with her reputation as an electrifying live other recorded albums wasn’t sufficiently puzzling electrified by this experience. That evening, Wendy performer, provided an almost irresistable allure for an artist of her calibre, it should be pointed collaborated with The Captain Matchbox Whoopee Peter Head’s daughter, Loene Carmen, also a for the Australian popular music press. At the out that Saddington also recorded only one single, Band, performing Stevie Wonder’s Superstition. gifted singer, is co-administrator of the Wendy age of eighteen, Wendy Saddington was heralded Looking Thru A Window, in July the same year. Saddington Facebook site with Peter Maloney. Despite her conviviality with ‘outsider’ figures, as, ‘The Face of ‘68’ in the headline of an article Later that year Wendy left Australia, bound for Wendy chose celibacy as the well-spring of her Mark Bayly about her in the July issue of Melbourne-based New York City, where she joined Jeff Crozier, own emotional well-being through her devotion Assistant Director, Exhibitions and Collections Go-Set magazine. an Australian magician, illusionist, actor and to Krishna consciousness. It is understood that Canberra Museum and Gallery Philip Morris, Jeff & Wendy GTK, 1973 An extract from Jeff St John’s eulogy spiritual human beings I’ve ever been blessed to know, let alone call one, if not the closest of friends. “It was my privilege to last speak with Wendy on Tuesday, 28 May at 10:00am. Sadly, it was only for ...I take humble pride in being regarded as a close a brief two minutes as her condition wouldn’t allow friend by this remarkable woman and I take heart her to continue. from knowing that, through the love I’ve seen expressed by the unknown – you out there whom Although I prayed earnestly for it not to be so, in I’ve never met – that Wendy’s legacy will live on, my heart I think I knew that this would be the last far beyond her passing from this mortal coil.” time I would ever hear my beautiful Wendy’s voice ever again except in memory. So I’m writing this to Would that I could have seen her but one celebrate the life of one of the most extraordinary, more time. In Memoriam, Jeffrey St. John. Acknowledgements With thanks to: Dr Samantha Bennett, Philip Morris Harry Ree, Peter Maloney Senior Lecturer, School of Music, Greg Weight Sales and Distribution Manager, ANU College of Arts & Social Sciences, National Film and Sound Archive Gangamayi Devi Dasi (‘Ganga’) John Newhill The Australian National University Jeff Harrison, Umbrella Entertainment Jeff St John National Library of Australia Dr Julie Rickwood, Shane Breynard, Director, Peter Head Juliet Stuart-Smith, Library Sales Visiting Fellow, School of Music, Canberra Museum and Gallery Loene Carmen The Australian National University Coordinator – Programs, ABC TV Canberra Museum and Gallery is part of the Cultural Facilities Corporation, an ACT Government enterprise. Front cover image: Peter Maloney, c.1976.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Lobby Loyde: the G.O.D.Father of Australian Rock
    Lobby Loyde: the G.O.D.father of Australian rock Paul Oldham Supervisor: Dr Vicki Crowley A thesis submitted to The University of South Australia Bachelor of Arts (Honours) School of Communication, International Studies and Languages Division of Education, Arts, and Social Science Contents Lobby Loyde: the G.O.D.father of Australian rock ................................................. i Contents ................................................................................................................................... ii Table of Figures ................................................................................................................... iv Abstract .................................................................................................................................. ivi Statement of Authorship ............................................................................................... viiiii Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................. ix Chapter One: Overture ....................................................................................................... 1 Introduction: Lobby Loyde 1941 - 2007 ....................................................................... 2 It is written: The dominant narrative of Australian rock formation...................... 4 Oz Rock, Billy Thorpe and AC/DC ............................................................................... 7 Private eye: Looking for Lobby Loyde .........................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Popular Music, Stars and Stardom
    POPULAR MUSIC, STARS AND STARDOM POPULAR MUSIC, STARS AND STARDOM EDITED BY STEPHEN LOY, JULIE RICKWOOD AND SAMANTHA BENNETT Published by ANU Press The Australian National University Acton ACT 2601, Australia Email: [email protected] Available to download for free at press.anu.edu.au A catalogue record for this book is available from the National Library of Australia ISBN (print): 9781760462123 ISBN (online): 9781760462130 WorldCat (print): 1039732304 WorldCat (online): 1039731982 DOI: 10.22459/PMSS.06.2018 This title is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial- NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). The full licence terms are available at creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode Cover design by Fiona Edge and layout by ANU Press This edition © 2018 ANU Press All chapters in this collection have been subjected to a double-blind peer-review process, as well as further reviewing at manuscript stage. Contents Acknowledgements . vii Contributors . ix 1 . Popular Music, Stars and Stardom: Definitions, Discourses, Interpretations . 1 Stephen Loy, Julie Rickwood and Samantha Bennett 2 . Interstellar Songwriting: What Propels a Song Beyond Escape Velocity? . 21 Clive Harrison 3 . A Good Black Music Story? Black American Stars in Australian Musical Entertainment Before ‘Jazz’ . 37 John Whiteoak 4 . ‘You’re Messin’ Up My Mind’: Why Judy Jacques Avoided the Path of the Pop Diva . 55 Robin Ryan 5 . Wendy Saddington: Beyond an ‘Underground Icon’ . 73 Julie Rickwood 6 . Unsung Heroes: Recreating the Ensemble Dynamic of Motown’s Funk Brothers . 95 Vincent Perry 7 . When Divas and Rock Stars Collide: Interpreting Freddie Mercury and Montserrat Caballé’s Barcelona .
    [Show full text]
  • [Warning - This Film Contains Nudity and References to Drugs]
    [Warning - This film contains nudity and references to drugs] [What A Life! Rock Photography by Tony Mott - a free exhibition until 7 February 2016. Solid Gold - Jeff Apter & Philip Morris, Metcalfe Theatre, State Library of NSW, 5th December 2015] [Dressed in a black shirt and dark jeans, grey-haired Philip Morris sits beside his interviewer Jess Apter, a bald man dressed casually] [JEFF APTER] Thank you. Before starting, I want to say I was really fortunate to be able to work with Philip on this book. [Jeff Apter holds up a coffee table book] [JEFF APTER] And it was one of the more interesting exercises, wasn't it? Because we were given a directive to come up with... Was it 200 photos? ..for this book. [PHILIP MORRIS] That's right. [JEFF APTER] And Philip's archive is so fantastic and so rich, that I think we got it down to, what, 600? [PHILIP MORRIS] Yeah. [Audience laughs] [JEFF APTER] Was it 600 to start with? It was something like that. And it's staggering, really. It's a really great document of Australian rock history at a really interesting turning point. So to get it down to this... It's begging for a second edition, by the way. There's so many great photos. So it was a real honour to be able to... to do that. It was a lot of fun. [PHILIP MORRIS] Yeah, it was. [JEFF APTER] We actually had built into our contract... Our agreement was an understanding that we would never work in a boring situation.
    [Show full text]
  • “Covering” the Bluesman from a Distance
    Introduction In many ways, my journey towards this thesis topic began with my brother’s music collection. Throughout my teens he would introduce me to a wide range of local and international acts, many of which were influenced by African-American blues artists. This influence is evident in both their construction of sound and the old songs that they rerecorded. From there I began tracing musical influences from song credits and interview excerpts—a path often travelled by musicians and fans alike—that would eventually lead me to an appreciation of blues music. The penultimate step towards this topic came in the form of my honours thesis—a creative project that involved rerecording several tracks from the catalogue of an early Australian country music artist, one of which was titled “Blue Mountain Blues”.1 From there I turned to blues music in Australia. Initially conceived as a history of “Australian blues”, it became apparent that this proposed sub-genre struggled to unify and explain the disparate musical styles contained therein. Although each artist was clearly addressing the musical characteristics and influences I had come to recognise as “blues music”, it all sounded different. In the meantime, I developed a keen interest in a fellow colleague’s thesis topic that addressed the role of “covers” within the Australian music industry (Giuffre, 2005). My epiphany—and catalyst for the current thesis topic—eventually presented itself while viewing a live performance from Peter Green Splinter Group. The concert was split into two courses: an acoustic entrée featuring several Robert Johnson “covers”; and, an electric main with side dishes of early Fleetwood Mac material—the band Green had help found many years ago.
    [Show full text]
  • Popular Music, Stars and Stardom
    POPULAR MUSIC, STARS AND STARDOM POPULAR MUSIC, STARS AND STARDOM EDITED BY STEPHEN LOY, JULIE RICKWOOD AND SAMANTHA BENNETT Published by ANU Press The Australian National University Acton ACT 2601, Australia Email: [email protected] Available to download for free at press.anu.edu.au A catalogue record for this book is available from the National Library of Australia ISBN (print): 9781760462123 ISBN (online): 9781760462130 WorldCat (print): 1039732304 WorldCat (online): 1039731982 DOI: 10.22459/PMSS.06.2018 This title is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial- NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). The full licence terms are available at creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode Cover design by Fiona Edge and layout by ANU Press This edition © 2018 ANU Press All chapters in this collection have been subjected to a double-blind peer-review process, as well as further reviewing at manuscript stage. Contents Acknowledgements . vii Contributors . ix 1 . Popular Music, Stars and Stardom: Definitions, Discourses, Interpretations . 1 Stephen Loy, Julie Rickwood and Samantha Bennett 2 . Interstellar Songwriting: What Propels a Song Beyond Escape Velocity? . 21 Clive Harrison 3 . A Good Black Music Story? Black American Stars in Australian Musical Entertainment Before ‘Jazz’ . 37 John Whiteoak 4 . ‘You’re Messin’ Up My Mind’: Why Judy Jacques Avoided the Path of the Pop Diva . 55 Robin Ryan 5 . Wendy Saddington: Beyond an ‘Underground Icon’ . 73 Julie Rickwood 6 . Unsung Heroes: Recreating the Ensemble Dynamic of Motown’s Funk Brothers . 95 Vincent Perry 7 . When Divas and Rock Stars Collide: Interpreting Freddie Mercury and Montserrat Caballé’s Barcelona .
    [Show full text]
  • 2015 Umbrella Catalogue
    20152017 UMBRELLAUMBRELLA CATALOGUECATALOGUE MUSIC NEWMUSIC STRANDED DVD The 1970s Punk Rock movement: New DCP York had The Ramones, London had Sex Pistols, Australia had The Saints... Stranded takes a look at the role four musicians from suburban Brisbane played in the explosion of one of the all time greatest musical movements. Featuring interviews with the members of the band, including its leaders Ed Kuepper and Chris Bailey, as well as the likes of Sir Bob Geldof, former Dead Kennedys frontman Jello Biafra and Buzzcocks guitarist Steve Diggle, Stranded examines how the oppressive and conservative government of Joh Bjelke-Petersen in the 1970s helped act as a catalyst for the rise of punk rock in Australia, and how as a result The Saints went on to be one of the most influential bands in the country. FOR ALL ENQUIRIES REGARDING UMBRELLA’S THEATRICAL CATALOGUE umbrellaent.films @Umbrella_Films PLEASE CONTACT ACHALA DATAR – [email protected] | 03 9020 5134 NEWMUSIC STRANDED DVD KYLIE DVD The 1970s Punk Rock movement: New DCP York had The Ramones, MINOGUE: London had Sex Pistols, Australia had The Saints... SHOWTIME Stranded takes a look at the role four With over 70 million albums sold musicians from suburban Brisbane played in worldwide, Kylie Minogue has earned the explosion of one of the all time greatest her crown as the Princess of Pop. musical movements. Featuring interviews with the members Kylie Minogue Showtime captures the of the band, including its leaders essence of her grand ascension to fame Ed Kuepper and Chris Bailey, as well from her early acting days on Australian as the likes of Sir Bob Geldof, former Soap sensation Neighbours through to Dead Kennedys frontman Jello Biafra her hit recordings ‘Hand On Your Heart’, and Buzzcocks guitarist Steve Diggle, ‘Tears On My Pillow’ and the 6 million Stranded examines how the oppressive and plus selling dance anthem ‘Can’t Get you conservative government of Out of My Head’.
    [Show full text]
  • History of the Beat 'N Tracks Perth 1965-1967 by Dave Cross I Was Raised on a Farm with No Family Music Background and Came Fr
    History of the Beat ‘n Tracks Perth 1965-1967 By Dave Cross I was raised on a farm with no family music background and came from Busselton High School aged 18 years to study at the University of WA (UWA) in 1964. I hung around the folk music scene being an inaugural member of the University Folk Club along with some friends and fellow students John de Hoog, Bill Greble, John Baxter, Roger Clifton, Libby Lloyd, Ron Fewster, Vivette Hughes, Jane Chetwynd, Gillian McLean and others. We needed a focal point. Libby’s dad was director in a company that owned the derelict Redcastle Brewery in Rivervale and we got permission to use any space there we liked for a peppercorn rent. We selected a big room and spent a lot of time decorating it with folky themes and christened it “The Long Room” – it was a fantastic headquarters and we hosted many shows there including entertaining international artists after their concerts such as Peter, Paul and Mary who were really big at that time. I spent a lot of time learning to play guitar by ear and these activities contributed greatly to me dropping out of university by the end of 1965 much to the disgust of my parents who had a farm at Quindalup near Busselton. While in the folk scene, I met Murray Wilkins (double bass player) – he was a member of the West Coast Trio, who were very big on the folk and jazz scene in Perth those days. Coincidentally, he would later become a member of the Beat ‘n Tracks in early 1968.
    [Show full text]
  • Chapter 4 Clubland 1962-1972
    Chapter 4 Clubland 1962-1972 From 1957 into the early 1960s, Johnny O'Keefe, Col Joye, Johnny Devlin, Johnny Rebb, Alan Dale and Lonnie Lee had provided proudly masculine templates of local success. O'Keefe and Joye also revealed considerable entrepreneurial skills in establishing managerial empires based upon their live circuit, radio and television popularity. Upon establishing responsive local environments, both managed many of the second wave of performers. This chapter examines the growth in Sydney's licensed clubs, and their concurrent interest in rock and roll as a lucrative form of entertainment. As identified in the development of the hotel and club circuits, this required a refinement of the 'unruly' rock and roll aesthetic evident in the previous chapter. The belief in more 'melodic' recording arrangements, and performers' incorporation into older notions of club entertainment signified a break with the more hysterical constructions of the music in the 50s. However, an examination of the Sydney surf club circuit in the mid-60s reveals a brief resurrection of earlier rock and roll beliefs. The surf club battles between 'surfies' and 'rockers' present an interesting precedent to the mods-rockers clashes in Britain. Moreover, echoes of earlier town hall/ballroom battles are evidenced in concerns founded upon generational differences regarding civic duty, and teens' contributions in constructions of community. While rock and roll displayed an increasing professionalism by promoters and performers, portrayals of 'wild' youth persisted as powerful discursive devices of social control. An important context of 1960s leisure is provided in the transfer of State government from Labor to the Liberal Party in 1965.
    [Show full text]
  • His Majesty's Theatre
    His Majesty's Theatre Gina Williams & Guy Ghouse | Lior | Meow Meow Michael Griffiths | Carlotta | Rick Steele Perth Cabaret Collective | Steven Oliver | John O'Hara Fiona Choi | Selina Jenkins | Jamie Mykaela Amelia Ryan & Libby O'Donovan | Michaela Burger & Greg Wain Lucy Williamson & Joe Louis Robinson Dean Misdale | Louise Anton Panel Discussions | Workshops | Masterclasses | Exhibition 19 - 27 June 2021 w: perthcabaret.com.au | e: [email protected] 2021 Programme Highlights KOORLANGKA (children/legacy): REIMAGINED Gina Williams & Guy Ghouse Opening Night – Saturday 19 June - Tickets on sale now: ptt.wa.gov.au Gina and Guy welcome you to “sit at our campfire” and share our songs and stories, matching rare, ancient Noongar language to the glorious strings of the Dolce Ensemble and the piano genius of Russell Holmes. As the Opening performance to the inaugural Perth International Cabaret Festival, this event will also include a Smoking Ceremony on stage and Welcome to Country. LIOR: ANIMAL IN HIDING Friday 25 June - Tickets on sale soon This performance sees one of Australia’s most successful and respected singer/songwriters, backed by a string quartet and joined by emerging singer/songwriter Domini Forster, pre-viewing songs from ‘Animal in Hiding’ a new collaborative project. These songs, rooted in personal storytelling, involve intricate guitar tapestries and textural arrangements. Lior will also draw from his vast back catalogue of recordings, including his very successful 'Autumn Flow' album. MEOW MEOW Saturday 26 June - Tickets on sale soon Get ready for post-post-modern diva Meow Meow to hypnotise, inspire, and terrify as she has done to audiences globally with her unique creations and sell-out seasons from New York’s Lincoln Center and Berlin’s Bar Jeder Vernunft to London’s West End and the Sydney Opera House.
    [Show full text]
  • WENDY SADDINGTON and BERNIE Mcgann by John Clare
    A GIRLIE’S GLISSANDO: WENDY SADDINGTON AND BERNIE McGANN by John Clare _____________________________________________________ [This piece appeared in 5-9 March, 1977 edition of Nation Review] Wendy Saddington: in the not so halcyon 60s, she was being encouraged to suffer and give us Janis Joplin style catharsis… ack in the not so halcyon 60s, when Wendy Saddington was being encouraged to suffer and give us Janis Joplin style catharsis, I happened to meet her and B told her what was on my mind. It seemed to me that few of the rock groups of the time gave her what she really needed. There was more to her than one level screaming. She eyed me blankly. I said I would like to hear her with a band that could respond to dynamic contrast, that did not perform the ritual of catharsis interminably in grey desperation. She said: “I just come and get paid and I don’t give a shit.” Long silence. “I don’t care anymore. I’m thinking of giving it up.” End of conversation. And she has given it up, or at least disappeared, several times since then, returning in different masks. Many artists are avid to yield up their inner selves, or a selective projection, to the cameras and magazine pages. I believe Wendy is very frightened of the several factions who would like to claim more than her talent, her very life, for their own sacrificial altars. She is often quite stony towards people she has not come to trust. 1 Someone else may get the interview of the year with Wendy Saddington.
    [Show full text]
  • 'Suck More Piss'
    [PB 14.2 (2013) 120-139] Perfect Beat (print) ISSN 1038-2909 doi:10.1558/prbt.v14i2.120 Perfect Beat (online) ISSN 1836-0343 Paul Oldham ‘Suck more piss’: how the confluence of key Melbourne-based audiences, musicians, and iconic scene spaces informed the Oz rock identity Paul Oldham is a researcher at the University of University of South Australia South Australia. He is currently working on a PhD GPO Box 2471 thesis about the fashion-oriented Australian sub- Adelaide, South Australia 5001 culture known as sharpies (1964–1980). He has Australia been a practising professional popular music and [email protected] culture journalist since 1993. Abstract Australian pub rock began in Melbourne in late 1969/early 1970 and became the nation’s most successful penetration into the international rock market and audiences. While commendable work has been written about Australia’s scene spaces (particularly Homan 2003; Stratton 2007), most remain Sydney-centric and typically overlook the equally (if not more) important Mel- bourne rock scene. In all cases the fermentative period of pub rock—and especially the com- bined roles played by its early audiences, musicians and venues—remains under-examined. This article will explore Australian pub rock’s beginnings through the lens of the career trajec- tory of Billy Thorpe & The Aztecs, and how that influenced, and was influenced by, the specific demands of Melbourne’s fluid audiences and venues leading up to the Oz rock era, using the key case studies of Mulgrave’s Village Green Hotel and Nunawadings’s Whitehorse Hotel. Keywords: Billy Thorpe & The Aztecs; Melbourne; Oz rock; pub rock; sharpies In the beginning… Oz rock was Australia’s hegemonic style of pub rock from the early 1970s to the mid-1980s and arguably the first distinctly Australian form of popular music.
    [Show full text]
  • So Sharp You Could Bleed : Sharpies and Artistic Representation , a Moment in the Seventies History of Melbourne
    So Sharp You Could Bleed : Sharpies and Artistic Representation , A Moment in the Seventies History of Melbourne Peter Beilharz and Sian Supski Abstract How does popular culture change? And, how can it also be understood as creative, in the sense traditi onally associated with art as the avant - garde? This chapter uses the experience of the dominant youth gang in Melbourne in the seventies, the Sharpies, to open up such questions. Experience and expression are primary here: for the Sharpies were a tribe of ‘well - dressed thu gs’, but they also created a culture and its own aesthetic forms, in fashion, dance, music, and the techniques of the body that animate everyday life. More, the innovative patterns of their performative working class culture attracted and even seduced or captured some leading middle - class artists, in particular, rock guitarist Lobby Loyde and feminist photographer Carol Jerrems. Sharpie aesthetics came to be a cultural dominan t in Melbourne in the seventies. Sharpies played a significant pa rt in the everyday life of the city and in the dynamics of its uses of public space and then evaporated, the intensity of the experience remaining in this music, these photographs, in memory, testimonial and in these performative shadows and echoes of the city. Introduction Who were the Sharpies, the dominant youth gang in Melbourne in the seventies? How were they represented, and how do they represent themselves? The primary purposes of this chapter are given to the recovery of memory and experience, to the centrality 1 of the oral and visual in everyday life, of innovation, reaction and violence in the fibre of a city and a culture like Melbourne’s in the seventies.
    [Show full text]