Hot drivin' to The Pines

Well, Granite Town is over for another year. We were joined yesterday by our friends Neil and Lesley and saw a fine set of artists. Neil is a rock aficionado and has forgotten more stuff about the history of rock than I know. So well-informed is he that he hosts his own personal radio show at 2earfm. He will, I think, be Australia’s answer to John Peel (I have just started reading Goodnight and Good Riddance by David Kavanagh which is a new biography of Peel). I have been introducing Neil to a few well-chosen and handpicked artists including Kirsty MacColl (daughter of Ewan and tragically killed by a boat in Mexico in 2000) and my all-time favourite and rock ‘n‘ roll hero Warren Zevon. It is hard to credit that man like Neil, with a knowledge of rock as encyclopaedic as his is, was not across Warren Zevon’s extensive and brilliant oeuvre. But then you can never tell.

But back to Granite Town … we saw some spectacular acts. My first favourite was Alice Terry and The Skinny White Boys. Do not confuse this Alice Terry with the American film actress of the same name who died in 1987. This one is a local girl from Moruya and you can glimpse her at www.youtube.com/watch?v=8awtSIPtI6k. She has a spectacular voice and her guitarist was a brilliant proponent of the “less is more” school. Interestingly, their start was a little delayed because the (upright) bass player had a broken string. Broken bass strings are rare indeed. Oddly enough, this bass player was a female which hardly qualifies her as a skinny white boy. But we’ll let that pass for now.

Alice Terry: brilliant voice and a great performer

She managed to borrow a bass from the other of my favourites who were The Waifs. I had seen the Waifs about 12 years ago in Margaret River at a winery (but I cannot recall which one). They played a very engaging show to an audience that was halfway to heaven because one of their number, Josh Cunningham, is a local boy (or perhaps was a local boy as he now lives in the US).

We left before the end because at our advanced age we cannot take the late nights so we were back by 22:30!

Whether Granite Town has done enough to ensure that it can survive into next year remains to be seen. I think that they did not quite sell enough tickets. I had been involved with them at the beginning of the year but unfortunately my other commitments (that sounds impressive) meant I needed to withdraw. We shall see.

Ted the TVR: a fine machine

Today we blasted off to see Dr Hook. We travelled in Ted the TVR. Ted has no air conditioning and the day was a little humid and so we were hot. Ted also runs slightly hotter in warmer weather (not surprisingly) so we were gently cooked. But nonetheless driving Ted is a joy and we made it in fine, if noisy, style to Nowra.

We are staying at The Pines. The G finds all these places and this one is pretty good. We have a room. We have a bathroom. There is a bed. All is good. We were welcomed by a young woman (the daughter of The Pines: there is a Mother as well) who made us a cup of tea. Gosh this is more exciting than I can tell you. What I can tell is that The Pines is old, nearly as old as I am and in Australian terms that is pretty ancient.

The Pines: an old Australian house

Dr Hook put on a good show, very different from the funk, reggae and ska fare of last night. Dennis Locorriere (for it is he who is Dr Hook) is a slick soft rocker with a very definite West Coast edge. The audience were all incredibly ancient. Some were even older than I am. I am sure a good time was had by all.

Tomorrow we go to Berry. There is a bottle shop in Berry which has a fine selection of all sorts of good stuff.