I couldn't wait to put up these photos of 290 South Dowling and Nithsdale Streets, I hope you will drop me a line with your recollections of 290 or your first encounter with Wal ..
290 South Dowling Street
Wheezin' Walter 'T' Mudd was the core of Taylor Square in the latter 60s .. remembered for his contributions to music; playing with such bands as the Sons of Agamemnon and the Starving Wild Dogs
" .. Wally, he held Taylor Square to ransom for 5 years .. " says Terry Wilkins
Wally's arrival on the scene with his brother Paul is best summed up on Red McKelvie's tribute song to Wally and Paul ..
RED McKELVIE "Wally's Song"
I've done some hard times in the rain, and I saw a friend go down the drain
Whenever I think to way back to then, I wish I could play his songs again
Nithsdale's the only song I know, read it on a lamp post long ago
Sometimes I think it was a dream, those days the best I've ever seen
Howdy Wally, Howdy Paul, I'm glad I knew ya, (but) I miss you all
They came down from Auburn years ago, Paul and Wally, Wyld you know
They played the bars on Taylor Square, held the place to ransom for 5 years
But, nothing lasts forever that is true, we all left for glory and better things to do
Cecil B Fardouly where are you now, cos I'd like to talk to you somehow
Howdy Wally, Howdy Paul, I'm glad I knew ya, (but) I miss you all
In your life you'll have a lot of friends, I never thought that his would ever end
I knew a hundred guys like me back then, that's why I wrote this song for them
Howdy Wally, Howdy Paul, I'm glad I knew ya, but I miss you all
Howdy Wally, Howdy Paul, I'm glad I knew ya, but I miss you all .. my life I'll miss you all
Red tells me Terry Wilkins can enlighten us on 'Cecil B Fardouly'!
this photo of Nithsdale Street is for Red
Wally, his harp attached as if a body part, first came to my attention at Rhubarbs a 'happening' disco located off Liverpool Street, in Douglass Lane. He was fronting a group of wild looking guys and brought to us a collection of jug and blues numbers.
Was it his little hat perched on top of his mop of curly hair? Was it his querky movements and his equally querky, staccato singing style that attracted me to him? Yes! Wally was charismatic, an entourage of admirers tagged along behind him. One could be sure of a party, meeting interesting people and all night entertainment whilst in his company, wherever Wal went I did go and visa versa. Wally's enthusiasm and love of music, particularly the blues, endeared him to those who were privileged to make his acquaintance.
I recall visiting a house in Bondi Junction and it was there I met Allannah and Wally. Wal relocated to 290 South Dowling Street; Steve James, Terry Wilkins, Stuart West, Paul Wyld, Jim Crowley, Larry Knight, Sonya Kereopas, Sue Challis and Allannah also managed to squeeze into this insignificant looking Terrace House.
Wal and I formed a friendship which endured the journey throughout the Taylor Square era and beyond, we shared our love of music and our ups and downs .. we spent many a night playing our guitars and singing our hearts out. Wally gave me a song I always suspected was written for Maree "One Dollar, Two Dollar".
I was enamoured with the personae that was, 'Wally Mudd'. All said and done Wally was a very shy person, not one to talk at any length about himself, his personal feelings or views. I don't know if anyone ever really knew Warwick Wyld, but, one could always catch him blowing his harp with any band around the traps.
In 1973 my husband and I welcomed him into our home in Batman Lane, Surrey Hills, (a narrow laneway not far from Nithsdale Street as a matter of fact), he would come and go toting his guitar. Then he disappeared, or maybe we did! He turned up like the proverbial penny at my daughter's naming party in 1975 .. I recall Steve O'Connor and me meeting up with him at a pub jam in Surry Hills in the late '70s, and that was it. Until, of course, I began writing about my journey growing up in King's Cross .. as I approached my 'jug band' years my anticipation heightened .. Wally Mudd, where was Wally?
I found an old negative, had it processed and the rest is history .. I was blessed with emails, photos, comments and recollections of this period and was able to reunite with old friends and acquaintances: Errol and Phil Wood, Danny Groves, Sue Toohey, Terry Darmody, Neil Smith, Alan Johnson, Peter Nehil, Larry Knight, Red McKelvie, Peter Gatehouse, Allannah, Dave Miller, Judy Miller, Jacquie McGarry, Peter 'Izzy Foreal' Knox ..... who next?
Red sent me these photos:
1. & 2. Sun. arvo in an old run-down studio right behind Oxford Hotel cnr Foley's Lane and Bourke St. We had been listening to Dylan's John Wesley Hardin LP and went there to learn "Wicked Messenger", "I'll be your Baby 2 ngt" and "You better Watch You'sel" Little Walter Jacobs.
3. me and Wally standing on a bed in the top room street side had a balcony at 290 about 1968
4. Feb 1968 Jim and Sandy at the Oxford
Jim's Obituary I think of him lot's when I walk the streets of Timaru I know the house he grew up in I've met some of his school friends I had a great chat with him in 2000
5. haha me and Wally Gosbell St we had a Sat night off and!!!
6. My last gig with the band you probably recognise some people there 2 days later I went to the UK hm 28 Nov 1968
Red McKelvie: " hi Lynne um I went to Australia 13 Aug 1967 haha I 'm pretty sure I didn't actually MEET Wally until the I showed up at the Oxford Hotel on a Thursday night to play with the SWD's maybe 2 weeks before that Shane Duckham let me and Bob? and a NZ drummer Warwick Lee play a set in one of their breaks at the Oxford Bob ? ( lived with his mum in Jersey Rd Woollahra) great guy must have arranged it. Terry Wilkins was playing gtr with Shane Duckham abt a week later Terry showed up to a party at our flat in Liverpool St and we jammed a bit on acoustic gtrs then the following week he came by and asked me would I play with the SWD's at the Oxford that week 'cos their gtr player had gone to Melbourne and couldn't get back to do the gig so yeah I went there and met Wally and Darryl McKenzie haha and away we went they asked me to stay on and I guess that wuz the break I'd been waiting for ! so I guess the short answer is I met Wally at the Oxford abt late Jan 1968
I only saw Waldo that one time and from the audience he did have straight fair hair and played geetar as I remember I had a chat with Lan last ngt in the course of the conversation I remembered that I had seen SWD's play at the Oxford before I joined them Paul was playing an upright piano at the windows end and his girl friend was sitting on the piano watching him play Rod was the bass- player the drummer was a guy called ' Hutch' in the photo you have of Rod I can see by the shape of the windows 'curved' at the top that is upstairs at the 'Oxford Hotel' this would've been late 1967 but I didn't know anyone yet
.. the geetar player I filled in for haha 4 abt 8 months wuz 'Chinese Chris' and when i went to the UK he got his gig back and that's him in photo of 'Matchbox' EX S W Dogs taken at the Kings X Bar BQ and you're in the photo all good stuff I met Waldo only one time I went to the ' Ball Pants' in the Cross and he wuz playing that ngt the name Rob Jamieson doesn't ring any bells I'm sorry Peter Knox told me once that he gigged with Waldo at the "Ball Pants' great to hear from ya cheers Red"
Allannah: " I think I first met Wally through Terry Wilkins - we were at the Oxford I think one Sat afternoon with the Sons playing - my memory is pretty shot. Terry would do his usual 'table hopping' chatting to everyone including musos. We really loved the music scene in the 60s at Taylor Square. Wally and I were always good friends. I wonder whatever happened to Wally's girlfriend 'Trisha' who went to Hong Kong c1966/7?"
Dear friends and lovers of QUINTESSENCE
The Beauchamp
The Mandala
2. and at The Alamein Fountain
