It wasn't until 1972 and Led Zeppelin. Or it may have been The Arts Factory in Goulburn street Sydney. The seeds were sown from the trippy days of psychedelic lightshows, and then Sunbury showed us scale. Rock music had arrived, and people suddenly realised tinny transistor radio sound was rubbish compared to the visceral physical wall of noise tha...
It was 2004 and I was flush with cash, having sold ENTECH and just completed a Government funded training tour of the top end with Crocfest. My registered training organisation had just moved into our Rydalmere campus, freshly accredited and were running Certificate III courses in technical training, theatre and events. With my usual bluster and ov...
What do you say to someone who has been crushed by reality? Partner split? Death of someone close? Loss? Chances are you'll say nothing because I've had stunning lows and I did notice at the time the sight of many 'friends' rushing out the door. Let's look at my (our) 2022 low – the loss of our second roadshow business (not ENTECH, it is our primar...
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This was one of my best expose's..... published in May 2012. Summer holiday season the USA has more than 70 large State Fairs, most offering concerts. For country rock act Sugarland it was peak touring time, and rolling into Indiana on August 13 last year was just another routine outdoor gig. Mid America Sound Corporation were ready, for over 20 ye...
At the end of 1976 I sold my lightshow business Zapco to Roger Barratt who was soon to be acclaimed as Australia's greatest lighting designer. We met in late 1975 after Roger told Rob Nicholls at Strand Electric that he needed someone to look after his lights. Roger was a handsome and fit man, ten years older than me. He was a charmer, loved his mu...
The strengths of a good business partnership outweigh the challenges, but the weight of differences that arise can fast drag everyone down. I've had some great, some passable, and a couple of deadly toxic disasters – most recently with a couple who I invited into a new venture wholly based on my own successful experiences. From day one I found thei...
It's the morning after an Oz Icon's gig with feature artist retired cricketer Mike Whitney. Arriving at suburban Sydney pub mid arvo in the biblical downpour of July, the manager is very pleasant. This aspect of my Gig Life (V4.0) is deeply appreciated after the days of yore where Roadies Were The Enemy. 'You wonder why roadies get bashed', the man...
With 250 million YouTube views and rapidly approaching one million subscribers, Adelaide band Hindley Street Country Club should have been a very happy collective. Instead an ugly court battle has laid bare an audacious and acrimonious split that emerged in May 2021 when co-founder and producer Darren Mullan suddenly disappeared from the weekly vid...
It was late 1981. NSW faced petrol shortages due to 'industrial knuckle' as Kurnel refinery workers went on strike. So like some people who really needed it, I hoarded petrol. This photo is in the photo gallery of my book, illustrating the chapter 'Starting Again' about my foray into live production that started in 1980. I'd left Barratt Lighting a...
My brothers and I had zero interactions with relatives - there were none that our parents chose to know. They were all back in the United Kingdom in any case. The notion of grand parents, aunties and uncles was simply never discussed. It was just us and them, and they split up when I was 6 in any case. It meant that my upbringing conveniently avoid...
At the inflection point Australian government planners were scouting every cold store and ice rink, to plan for a possible 150,000 pandemic deaths in 2020. Police chiefs were meeting with defence planners to strategise the breakdown of society. It looked like an apocalypse. I planned for the worst, bulk purchased 3 months supplies across ...
My daughter would follow me around like a puppy. We are very close, and I'm always having little heart leaps thinking of her, now mid 30's, down in Wollongong running that little church with Nathan. Her kids are my grand kids. I'm super fortunate! Had we not had the ectopic pregnancy, I'd have a 37 year old too, probably a son, I fantasise. I'...
n 1985 we wanted a child. Then one horrible afternoon up at the Chatswood shops, Caroline went down. Sarah stood there crying. As the ambulance raced them to Royal North Shore I got the call. She had an ectopic pregnancy – a fertilised egg implanted itself in one of the fallopian tubes. Emergency surgery done and she was left to recover ina materni...
After you have your book ready to roll, you enter the tedious phase. For me this was firstly about whether to self publish, or to find a publisher. The discussions I had revealed a publisher would 'legal' the manuscript and I know that would demolish a couple of chapters. I know those chapters won't produce a writ of defamation because I'd previous...
It's November 2020, the year that is seared on us. I'm fortunate with work, health, love and a welded-on optimism that keeps me happy. Best of all, I am now packing and mailing my book every day to people who have often contributed more than the cover price, helping the beneficiary which is CrewCare. 'I'm writing a book!' a guy tells me, before int...
I completely skipped talking about our CX TV studio in my book! Between 2011 and 2017 we had some amazing fun in there, shooting a weekly show 'The Hump' every Wednesday, and doing heaps of video reviews of (usually boring) inanimate lumps of equipment. This is one of my fav videos, featuring the very brilliant Jason Allan who was at the time our M...
With Caroline and I lurching towards marriage, we doted on her daughter Sarah and started planning our own production business. This picture shows my mate Glenn Bolton with his then gf Jane. Glenn's band Top Kat was where I learned to mix sound, usually at their Friday residency at the Chatswood Charles Hotel. It was the start of new-wave, punk was...
Back in 1993 I had to confront the truth and grit of journalism. Rick Doolan called and asked me to come out to his house. To talk before he died. Over the past 30 years, the obituaries, the funerals and the grind of our trips around the sun wore me down a little. Four years ago I stopped going to every funeral I reported on, sometimes having ...
Did a few years as the personal lighting director to Leslie Walford, a flamboyant, gay interior designer. He had a society column in the Sydney Morning Herald, and a large shopfront in Double Bay. Lovely guy, he ran the Art Gallery Christmas Party. The committee included Bronwyn Bishop, we would have agonisingly detailed planning meetings.
Recent Posts
This Blog is everything that is NOT in my new book. It's a collection of very random, un-edited pieces. Gives me the chance to let you hear my voice, and see some pictures.
Recent Blog Posts
Chapter One - I Was A Roadie
