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The Last Dance

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25.01.2022 I'm still working through the Last Dance data base and Ive come across a few venues/dances with not a lot of information. Does anyone out there no anything about these places...where they were, when they operated, and whether they were jazz, or folk or rock or mod? I'd love to hear from you if you anything about these... 9 DARLING STREET BAMBALINA... BASIN STREET CAPERS CASTAWAYS DENNIS HOUSE MARIOS NEW ALEXANDRA ST LOUIS See more

25.01.2022 I'm finishing off the data base and have 689 venues. Some operated under different names and others moved to differing locations. Some were small short lived dances while others were long lived and well known. But as Ive gone through the listings, Ive found a handful that you might be able to help me with. I have their names and their possible years of operation....! BUT- No addresses. If you know these venues and were they were, and how long they were in operation. I'd love ...to know more about them, especially if you have posters or photos..... CARNERVOLE 1970 CLUB 'A' 60 May-05 ELANOR RIGBY 1967 ESMERALDA EXIT 1966 GROOVESVILLE 1968 I'VE GOT RHYTHM 1966 KOMBINE 1966 LIL RED RIDING HOOD 24/07/1968 LOCK-UP 1967 PEANUT BUTTER CONSPIRACY 1967 PLAYBOY 66 REST INN 66 SHAZAM 1967 SNOOP 1967 SOUND LOUNGE 67 SPANGLES 71 TEENRAGE 1966 TUMBLEWEED 11/01/1969 I'm guessing that Club A-60 is a typo and should be Club A-Go-Go and that date is incorrect too. Let me know! Cheers Murray. See more

24.01.2022 When I started out with the Last Dance, I thought of it a social history of Melbourne's night life, but over the years and after a few false starts that shifted to the more autobiographical book that was published recently. I'd spent hour after hour in the State Library looking through Go-Set magazines, Albert Sebastian, Everybody's etc, making a data base of all the venues in Melbourne and provincial Victoria, from around 1958 through to around 1972. I initially figured tha...Continue reading

22.01.2022 Here's another original draft of one of the early chapters of The Last Dance.... Our House Part One...Continue reading

20.01.2022 It takes a lot of careful thought to put together a book...choosing which chapters and photos make the final cut, and also, just which cover design will attract a potential buyers attention. If you've got this far into the The Last dance facebook page, you'll be familiar with the final choice, but here's a few rough concepts for cover designs that didn't make the final cut. And over the next few days, I'll post some other images that didn't get to the final stages...there's hundreds!

20.01.2022 Here's the second part of that tale about Melbourne night life as it appeared in the Sunday Herald Sun...now read on. Take six hundred kids dancing in the vast halls of 54321 in the Dandenong Town Hall or Tempest at the Box Hill Town Hall, spread them around the room go-going to The Vibrants or Daisy Clover and you can fill the floorboards but put them in the same room, nodding to five minutes of licks from a stoned out lead guitarist and well, it aint the real thing. Ripples...Continue reading

19.01.2022 Meg Hill at CBD News- a city broadsheet, has done a feature that sprang from the Last Dance. https://cbdnews.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/CBD69.pdf

19.01.2022 I’ve just been involved in an ABC Radio program reading a kind of extract from my book The Last Dance for the Friday Revue with Brian Nankervis and Jacinta Parsons..but mid week because of Easter. Its generated quite a bit of interest already. It will be on the ABC Radio site as a pod-cast soon but I’ve pasted a link to the whole program. The passage for the segment 'Gigs of our Lives' starts at around the 48 minute mark! This segment looks at Lorne's Wild Colonial Club... https://www.abc.net.au//pro/afternoons/afternoons/12112664 Try my website www.wildonthebeach.com.au and look under the 'books' tab

19.01.2022 Here's another extract that didn't make it past the final edit...and it looks briefly with my flirtation with models! It was originally in a chapter titled 'in My Room.' In My Room. Perhaps the renovations helped to quieten our old house. Perhaps the echo of music from the kitchen finally drowned out its creaks and groans, or perhaps it was the noise of Ian and Janis as they battled it out after dinner. Their après-dinner stoushes were an almost nightly occurrence, with the ...Continue reading

18.01.2022 Meg Hill, at the CBD News, a city broadsheet has done a nice feature based on bits of the Last Dance! https://cbdnews.com.au/the-last-dance/

16.01.2022 Who wore these...anyone out there who still has some?

14.01.2022 The Gigs of Our Lives podcast is now on the ABC Radio website. Thanks to Judi and Ian for their help! https://www.abc.net.au//pr/afternoons/gool-murray/12135320

14.01.2022 How many of you wore these protest badges? Initially they were for political comment, but they quickly changed to feature more social comment and puns, like Make Love Not War, Ringo for President save Water, Shower with a Friend, etc.The blue badge in the pic below with...'Jesus wore Long Hair', was one that I wore to school, and it got me into a shipload of trouble with the senior master at Mordialloc High School. Here's the intro to that chapter from The Last Dance... The... Point Leo sun had turned my skin a golden brown. Board bumps were growing on my feet and knees from paddling away the hours on my new surfboard. When I spoke, my sentences were punctuated with surf-vernacular terms like 'stoked', 'taking gas', and 'down the mine'. I was a surfer in almost every way - apart from the color of my hair which was dark brown and I knew I could never be a genuine surfer unless my hair was blonde. That was a real 'wipe-out' Even countless hours in the sun had no effect on the color of my hair and I was getting desperate so I picked a few lemons from our tree in the back yard and gave my dark brown scruff a liberal squirt of juice, but apart from making my hair all sticky it had no effect. But there was a rumour going around the kids on the wall in front of the life-saving club about a mysterious chemical with magical properties. Unfortunately it could only be found in science labs but according to the rumour and whispers, Silverwood’s chemist shop on the highway across from Two-Ten had a secret stash. If the rumour was true you could do un-natural and illegal things to your hair with this chemical, and turn your dark hair into sun-drenched blonde tresses overnight. Criminals and undesirables traded in the stuff on the black market. It was called peroxide. But like all illicit substances, getting hold of it wasn't easy. In a sleepy suburb like Edithvale where everyone knew everyone else, it never took long for a secret to get out. There was also the practical consideration of fronting up to the chemist. Like doctors and teachers, chemists were pillars of the community so trying to pull a swiftie on Mr Silverwood wouldn’t be the done thing. It was like doing something really shocking- like farting in church, and to make matters worse, his daughter and I were in the same form at school. Buying peroxide was a little like buying a box of frangers- you never knew what quantity you needed to get the desired effect but it wouldn't matter if it was frangers or if it was peroxide if my parents found out. If they did, I would have some serious questions to answer. See more

12.01.2022 As well as a substantial number of chapters and extracts not making the final cut for The Last Dance, there was also quite a few posters, and pics that I just couldnt fit in either. Here's a few...I'll post some of the pics that missed out tomorrow night!

10.01.2022 Solved one of them thanks to Margaret...Basin Street Jazz Club in an old cinema/hall in Church Street Brighton ran from late 1960 until late 61 and was operated by some young guys including Robert Ward who went on to run the Dendy cinema!

09.01.2022 Preparing any book takes a lot of time and a lot of careful considerations..what pics to use, what chapters to edit and just cover design to use. Here's a sample of some of the covers that we looked at...none got to the final stage and were just rough concepts. This is just a few...what do you think? Later, I'll post some great images that didnt make the cut either- and there were hundreds...oh, well- you cant pick them all

08.01.2022 The original manuscript for the Last Dance was quite long and in the end, a few chapters didn't make the cut. Most had entirely different chapter headings too- mostly plucked from lyrics or titles of songs that dovetailed into the narrative chronologically. This Chapter was titled...'And I'll Meet you at the Station'. This is the narration at the beginning of this chapter, which would have been number 10 had it not been cut. Chapter Ten. ...Continue reading

07.01.2022 Here's an update on one of the venues..thanks to my good friends Margaret and Bruce in faraway Greece....Basin Street in Church Street Brighton! Hi Bruce...I was forwarded an article last night from my good friend Margaret from the Womens Weekly of of 1961 that ran a feature on the place which linked to a history of Brighton page where the story of the venue was explained. It had been a hall dating back to the 1800's then converted to a cinema which ran under various names an...d was, yes, operated by that Robert Ward, who then changed it into a jazz club. It folded around late 61 and he then went on to set up the Dendy. thanks for the feedback mate. Its on Trove but for some reason I cant copy the pdf to this comment. But here's its address in Trove...has colour pics too. Australian Women's Weekly (1933 - 1982), Wednesday 11 January 1961, page 3 See more

06.01.2022 Here's another extract from the pages of The Last Dance. An early draft of a chapter that was initially titled Strawberries Cherries and an Angel's Kiss in Spring. When Edithvale railway station opened for business in 1919, my house was already 11 years old and had started uts life as a beachside holiday home when Edithvale was a sedate holiday destination- a good days travel from the centre of Melbourne. The house was on Station Street, although Edithvale station was yet to ...Continue reading

05.01.2022 The original idea for the Last Dance was as social history of Melbourne night life...a brief out line of the idea ended up in the Sunday Herald Sun...maybe 15 years back. This is an extract from that article....its more or less a potted history of Melbourne night life... Introduction The Last Dance....Continue reading