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.
Photo's by Bob King. Click to see Gallery.
He's on one of my ACT Concert W's, 5' x 3' x 3' and 110kg. 2 x 15" drivers. MASSIVE low end! (Click to see more). Pix by Bob King
Security guy at right is now quite deaf...... (Pic by Bob King)
An outdoor gig we did with The Saints. He has a nice carton of goon....... (Click to see more). Pix by Bob King
In 1997 we took ENTECH to Melbourne, and had an excellent event despite much organisational chaos. We were full of ourselves, Caroline and I. Having the big guy from PLASA visit the show, wanting to buy it. Swimming in money. Upgrading the BMW. Buying the second house up the road to use as our global HQ. It was too much, too soon, and we started be...
My current gig is Community Transport, driving older clients around. We help other community organisations like Addison Road Food Pantry. They distribute and sell food, often things near expiration date but also fresh fruit and vegetables. This day I took five boxes out to deliver. One went to an indigenous family, grandma, daughter, five kids and ...
Back in 2011, long after I'd sold ENTECH to a big-box tradeshow conglo, they co-located it with SMPTE. That is the film and TV tradeshow. Both were in decline, so they reasoned running them together would save money. They could have shared the savings with their clients by dropping a little of the exorbitant rent but no - they trousered it. And bot...
My book doesn't dwell on a crappy upbringing, but sure does tell it like it was. I just saw this - a report that Balquhain at Blackheath has been sold. It was re-purchased by a Fairfax, as that family first built it as their weekender. We had a lovely weekend there a few years ago with our very good friend Cat Strom and her husband Rick. At th...
An email landed the other day from a guy I haven't seen since 1988. David Glover had read my book, and reached out to share some strangely common threads. We had some beers last night to compare life notes, from when we both started as young lightshow lads in the early 1970's. We traded and hired lights, and then later he formed an advertising...
New York is my favourite American city, and features in my book when I took Australian Monitor amplifiers there in 1987. But it was dangerous back then - I met a colleague at a coffee place. After I left, (with Kev the koala - read my book for why!) a dark dude swooped into my seat and poked a knife at my mate under the table. It was robbery ...
My editor Graeme Hague gave me some feedback at the end, after I'd paid him. Frankly I expected more of a critique but he was accurate with a few observations. "Some people will skip over the aviation chapters", he said, "and you didn't really explain how Kate came onto the scene". Woah. So here goes. We met for a coffee in Beecroft mid morning Sat...
I spent 20 years with Caroline, with whom we share a daughter Jess and my step-daughter Sarah. Clearly she features in my book, 'this Could be Serious' as she was part of the start of a lot of my enterprises and a very powerful business partner. This crazy year 2020 marks 20 years since we split up, thus the 20 + 20 in the title of this b...
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.
Julius Grafton's much anticipated memoire; 'This Could be Serious' covers a life well lived, from the slums of Darlinghurst to a career across the music industry as a roadie, production owner, and publisher of industry journal 'CX Magazine' for 30 years. He has experienced exhilarating highs and crashed brutally low since, rising an...
It was just after lunch on Saturday, I picked up Chloe in Lillyfield for a trip to Potts Point. She was waiting, dressed in a shimmering blue shift, high above the knees with a deep spray on tan. Straight up it was chats-ville, 'I'm on my way to a hens lunch. It's my fifth one in a year.' 'Isn't there a movie about that?' I ask. 'Yes 27 dresses. I'...
Yolanda was there too, and the ring was a strip of black PVC tape from the roll my stepson left in the car. He uses it to hold up his soccer socks. We were all debating the possibility of a drive-by wedding, but this was not really practical as we were in gridlock on the way to Randwick Races. I'd only known these guys for twenty minutes, but we we...
It's almost peak hour in Sydney, the city the designers gave up on because of its harbour. If they'd filled in it in and put roads on the top, a driver could navigate without a mapping mind meld. But I found the building in Broadmeadow and it had a cluster of empty taxis outside. Buzzed up to the second floor, a hub-drub of voices led me down the ...
I was just cleaning up the archive and I found these false starts. This first one is downright melancholy. Not sure who I am lamenting here. Try as I may the detachment is longer than I wanted. To lose her love was a wound that while stitched and scared still is tender. Sometimes when least expected a little touch and the reminding is a bell tollin...
The repartee stays imprinted. 'My sister and I are orphans' said the guitarist with a tone of melancholy as the much younger vocalist strutted around in an awesome leather jumpsuit, holding a riding crop. 'We were raised by gypsies in Romania. I have only now come to terms with the vile and disgusting things I did to her as a teenager….' Some bands...
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
