Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
Many Triffids fans will be aware of the significance of The Cliffe, David’s childhood home , the Jarrah Mansion in Peppermint Grove owned by the McComb family until 1995.The mansion recently lost its heritage listing and now has a demolition order upon it. There is , apparently, a possibility one major area of the house may be move and used as tearooms or something similar, but the property itself in its current state – the grounds, the stables, the gardens and more, looks to be very limited in lifespan indeed. This is a travesty. Not only was The Cliffe a place of great inspiration for David McComb, who wrote several of the great songs in his canon of work there, but its a beautiful piece of historical architecture, possessing enormous character, and it exemplifies many aspects of a now long past era. If you want to add your name to this online petition to help save The Cllffe, I encourage you to click here http://www.savethecliffe.info
This week, Mr Lenny Kaye was kind enough to grant us an hour of his time to speak about his role consulting on the Calenture album. Those who have read Sally Collins’ liner notes in the reissue will know the story. Lenny shared some rather wry observations on the whole industry landscape of the time, was full of praise for the work Gil Norton did on the album, and offered some finely considered observations on Dave (for our documentary project). A man of some considerable integrity, wit and generousity.
I thought SA residents and anyone in Adelaide Oct 25 might be interested in the following show. The good folk behind it are going to have a wee whip around for our doco, so all you SA people who want to support us here’s a great chance to do so! I can’t help noticing my old mate Nazz (yeah, he with ‘God given ass’….) has named his band The Red Ponies….! The cheek of the lad:)
THANKS NAZZ! Y’all have a great evening now. Can’t wait to hear how it all goes!
Triffids Tribute Night
Grace Emily Hotel , 9pm
Oct 25 : FREE ENTRY
Nazz and The Red Ponies ………..((cheeky bastard))
The Holy Sea
nerf
sleepless
Goldenstone
Matt Reiner
The Good China
Matt Reiner is the organiser and his band The Pleasure of Books have a myspace here with more info on the gig/nighthttp://www.myspace.com/thepleasureofbooks
Hello all. Been a wee while. Thank you again for all those who came to The Corner Hotel show in Melbourne. For those unable to be there in evening by dint of geography or simply VBLS (Very Busy Life Syndrome…) ; the audio will soon be available to stream at www.newfoundfrequency.com; we’ll update when it’s confirmed and up.
The period since the show has been spent engaging with various funding bodies to assist in the production of the film. Won’t bore you with finer points. But, fingers and legs crossed now. I also (finally, finally) submitted my chapter to Chris Coughran and Niall Lucy’s upcoming book on David.
Of late, we’ve been in quite regular touch with members of the family about the film and planning how we’re going to use some of funds we’ve raised.
I was saying to Graham the other day that when you’re constantly drilling down into the detail of a film can work, what it needs, why it needs it, how you can achieve your goals, etc etc… it’s so easy to forget your ’subject’ is not a subject, but was a person. A few recent emails and indeed recent musical moments have served to remind me just a little of this; and of course, this in turn provokes new thoughts on why David McComb was such a remarkable individual.
It was great to get down to the Marquis de Lorne in Fitzroy to see The Blackeyed Susans the other night as well. It’s a lovely pub, even if the evening was a tad crowded. There’s little doubt The Blackeyed Susans’ audience has started to come back and see them live again; they remain a sublime live music experience; always fantastic to hear them play anything at all – I’d listen to Rob Snarski sing the form guide – but The Good Life Never Ends (from the unreleased costar ep) appears to have become quite a staple of their live set.
I am yet to go through the recently shot footage in Sydney with James Paterson, Fergus Linehan (Sydney Festival) and Richard Kingsmill from Triple J, and of course the several hours we shot with The Triffids’ former manager Sally Collins at her property in country NSW in June. I will report back sooner this time!
David McComb is not a subject. He was a person. Melbourne being the town it is, a lot of people – punters, bands, artists – knew him personally or had contact with him in some way. And others, simply, were inspired by his work. So: who to ask to play? And, how to make a truly memorable evening? When the great folk at The Corner Hotel said yes to hosting our fundraiser, and other grand folk like our sound engineer Bek Varcoe, stage manager Narelle Sullivan, and RRR leisure-master MC Jonnie Von Goes all put their hands up to help, we knew had a show. What would ice the cake? My co-producer Danielle Karalus had a brainwave and we decided to mount an auction to raise extra funds between bands. Who to perform such deeds? Enter Triple R Station Manager Kath Letch: a woman with a seemingly endless reservoir of goodwill, good ideas, good contacts and good taste. She gently suggested we secure the services of a gentleman named Andrew Gaynor, who had auctioned off all the framed posters from Marios and The Continental in 2005 to help raise funds for Triple R, post- move.
After many years in Perth, Andrew knew The Triffids, and immediately consented to do the honours, saying he would be “would be delighted - nay, HONOURED - to be the auctioneer on behalf of the memory of one hell of a great poet and musician.”
Lance Rock Publicity leant their skills, talent, brains, good company, gin, and pure sass to come aboard as co-presenters. A work colleague named Guy Shield designed our poster, giving us – oh, about 7 different design options in 24 hours, Madman Printing sponsored our print job and Plakkit (who ‘stick em up’) did just that with our posters. Armies of auction and crew volunteers pitched in: people just came out of the woodwork everywhere to help.
And so it was that Jonnie Von Goes (resplendent in a blue satin suit) and Kat ‘Mousetrap’ Perdriau out of retirement for the evening behind The Corner’s decks, the crowd came to be entertained and to support our film. They walked away moved by the towering songs of a sorely missed talent. Playing a mixture of their own material and songs penned by the late McComb, the evening’s entertainers engaged an audience who passion for the songs matched their own. It became ‘one of those nights’.
The Mimeset, warming up before their departure for Europe, contributed a powerful Setting You Free before being joined by spoken word performer Sean Whelan, who read McComb’s poem Behind the Garages of this Country during I Want to Conquer You, and then an superb original piece on the late songwriter.
Charles Jenkins gave the crowd a superb Raining Pleasure before delving into some of McComb’s favourite Dylan compositions, including a beautiful You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go, before Diving Bell (featuring, among many others, Matt Habben who played in McComb’s last band costar) offered up Red Pony with a horn arrangement, then a superb Tender is the Night.
The first of the evening’s auctions then took the floor with art auctioneer Mr Gaynor taking bids on all manner of generously donated prizes from Rubber Records, Crumpler, Croxton Records, Eureka Coffee, Madman Music, Queenscliff Music Festival and more, before Shackleton took McComb fans back ‘to the pines’ with 25 to 5, them back to very beginning with Spanish Blue.
After Gaynor’s return to the floor where he whipped the gathered crowd into a frenzy as they outbid one another for signed pictures of Lobby Loyde, the big guns came out and Gaynor landed a cavalcade of bids for a Gretsch hollow body guitar (that had to kept safe from lustful musicians) passes to this year’s Meredith Music Festival, 2008 team signed St Kilda Football guernsey and an adventure holiday to Milne Bay, Papua New Guinea from Ecocamp. As I discovered, there is just nothing like an auction to get people excited!
As The Blackeyed Susans took the stage and rolled through a triumphant, sublime set of songs either penned or co-penned by McComb, they were joined by ex Triffids Graham Lee on pedal steel and (Dave’s brother) Rob McComb on guitar.
As they ran through A Curse on You, Ocean of You, Leaning (from Love of Will) and The Good Life Never Ends (from his last recordings with costar) and more, the crowd were truly caught up in the inevitable emotion of the evening. Again, it all came back to the songs and the place from whence they came. And, it was real honour to have two Triffids in the house playing with The Susans; who put on towering performance on the night they got around to playing The Triffids’ song Blackeyed Susan for the very first time, co-written by bassist Phil Kakulas and McComb in the late ‘80s for The Black Swan.
David McComb’s been gone a while now: nothing can change that. But, when I compare the treatment, respect and care his body of work is being afforded by Graham Lee who’s overseen the re-issues programme, and others involved, it’s easy to see the songs are in safe hands; safer – dare I say – than the legacies of some fairly major international talents no longer with us.
If you were on our guests at The Corner, thank you so much for joining us. When you walk out of a cinema or buy the DVD, you will know you played a part in the film being made. The Love in Bright Landscapes Benefit Show raised $15,000 towards funding the production of the Love In Bright Landscapes documentary, which will continue to take the David McComb legacy nationally and internationally.
Thanks to everyone who attended the Love in Bright Landscapes gig. Many people have told us it’s fast becoming one of those gigs that will go down in history. Check out the Gallery photos to relive some of the special moments. A live recording of the gig will be available soon next week. We’ll make a post when it’s up and running. And, it looks like we will also be releasing a CD of the incredible interpretations of David McComb songs by the bands on the night. Stay tuned for more info over the next few months.
Now for the amazing figures… with your help, and the help of our very generous sponsors, we raised $15,000. That’s right… $15K that will go straight into making the film on David McComb. If you attended the gig, let us know what you thought.
And, a huge congratulations to The Triffids for being inducted into the 2008 ARIA Hall of Fame in early July.
Mick Thomas Added to Love in Bright Landscapes Benefit Bill
Fresh the triumphant reunion tour of the legendary Weddings, Parties Anything, MICK THOMAS confirms his appearance at The Corner Hotel June 22!
And…. the ‘voice’ of Triple R”s Sunday afternoons, the man for whom thematic wrangling and tangling is second nature:
Mr Jonnie Von Goes.
LOVE IN BRIGHT LANDSCAPES
A BENEFIT FOR A FILM ABOUT DAVE MCCOMB
CORNER HOTEL, 57 SWAN ST RICHMOND
SUNDAY JUNE 22 DOORS OPEN 6PM
MC: JON VON GOF TRIPLE R’S JVG RADIO RADIO METHOD
COME AND HEAR….
Mr. Charles Jenkins!
Diving Bell
The Mime Set, featuring Mr Sean Whelan who will read a Dave poem to music!
Mr. Mick Thomas
and…. The Blackeyed Susans Trio
We will be auctioning off LOTS OF GREAT STUFF YOU WILL LOVE….. on the day, to raise money to make the film.
SO: come and drink, see the bands, catch up with you fellow friends/fans, enjoy a superb afternoon evening and help us
MAKE OUR FILM.