New Photos 2016

So many photos and emails ..here are three that came to light recently. 

In my haste, I omitted to take note of the photographer

Dom and Mort

Ian Willis

Jim and Wally

WALLY & THE DOGS by Ralph Graham

Ralph Graham's memories of Taylor Square  

Ralph Graham (2006) ... "Perhaps I was not a “core” member of the Taylor Square mob as there are a few faces on the Taylor Square site that I don’t remember but I certainly was around and I’d like share some of what I remember.

Jim Crowley

Played drums for a time with the Starving Wild Dogs, a blues band with Wally Mudd (Warwick Wyld) who played harp and sang, others will know who the other members were. I also played guitar for a short time with a band at Whitty’s etc. but I don’t think it was the Dogs. Jim is a Kiwi and also played in bands with fellow Kiwi guitarist, Red McKelvie. [Jim was from Timaru which is where Red McKelvie now lives.] This was 1969. In 1970, I was the resident guitarist (Peter Knox was the bass player) at the Ball Pants coffee shop in Brougham Lane at Kings Cross and cooling my heels after a failed relationship when Jim Crowley tracked me down at my flat at the Cross. He asked if I wanted to join a band that was going to Vietnam. I thought it sounded like an adventure and the band flew out in February 1970. From that time on Jim and I shared many an adventure over the years, living together and playing in bands in Australia, Hong Kong Thailand etc.

In 2002, Jim lived only a few minutes away from where I live here in Epping, but we had not seen each other for quite a long time. I rang out of the blue to borrow a mike stand only to find to my horror that Jim had passed on two months prior on 17 March. His liver failed him. It was a big blow as I was not able to be with him through his sickness before he died, and missed his funeral. He left a wife and two fine boys. Jim’s father died at 57 when Jim was 13 and Jim died at 57 when one of his sons was 13. His heritage was Irish and he had revived his Catholicism some years before. He left us on St Patrick's Day.

Wally Mudd 

In July 1979, Jim Crowley and I were sharing a house in Paddington and we moved to a house in Naremburn, north of North Sydney where we lived for several years. After much persuasion on Jim’s part, we managed to extract Wally from the scene at - the Cross, Darlinghurst etc – and he came to live with us. I cherish the times I sat with him in his room when we played guitar and he shared a couple of songs he had written.“Since I came to the city how my life has changed, All of the people and all of the names'.

I remember the chords and a few more words of this and he only played it once! I would love to have a copy of the whole song. I was profoundly affected by the way he disappeared to another world when he sang, seeming not to be aware of himself or the room, opening his eyes at the end as if to suddenly become aware of his surroundings again.

It must have been his destiny as not long after (I think Jim and I might have been on tour with John Williamson), Wally suddenly packed up and headed back to the never never where it seems many a good person had been lost. Within a couple of months, sadly, Wally was gone, I’m afraid. 

Paul Johnson “Pig” 

One night I was on the way to Ball Pants coffee shop where I was the regular guitarist, I heard a voice singing that I thought sounded like a cross between John Lee Hooker and Nat King Cole. He was actually young, white, tall, brash, already life worn and possessed of a wonderful blues voice. He played guitar and blues harp and I spent many a night playing my electric guitar for him and delighting in his vocals. A lady who often performed at the “Pants” known as Leonie (later performing around the traps as Leonora Jackson) had a “party” at her flat. Pig’s party trick was to ask for the lights to be turned off whereupon he de-trousered and set fire to a huge fart. Perhaps he should have been nick named 'Blue flame' or 'Methane'. One night at the Ball Pants he was standing there playing on his own and his song finished with rapturous applause. He obviously felt that he was below par that night and that we should have recognised it as he ripped off his guitar, threw it on the floor and said “You are all f**d! You know damn well that was terrible!” and strode out into the night. In the 80’s, some 16 years later while on tour with Digger Revell I ran into him in Melbourne where he, having now embraced country music, was performing ‘round Melbourne in a duo with his girl friend. In 2008 I was trying to track him down and discovered that he had died in the late nineties. So sad and disappointing, a CD of his is available from Dave Dawson’s website. 

Paul Wyld “Dog” 

You would think the nickname dog would describe a wild man but Paul, as I found him, was quiet and a gentleman. In 1977 my country rock band Rainshine was signed to a deal by our manager Colin Petersen, (former child star of the movie 'Smiley' and ex Bee Gees). Paul came to Alberts Studio and played piano on some tracks. The tracks, never released, were "Miles Away" (written by our Drummer, Shane Flew), "Flashing Lights" (written by me, Ralph Graham) and "Old Cowhand". His playing was a delight. 

Mort Fist 

I didn't meet Mort in the Taylor Square days, but much later in Tamworth in the 90's where he wrote for the local paper and was everywhere during the Country Music Festival in January each year, soaking in and writing up the music scene as he saw it. I liked Mort and he would often turn up to see our band. Eureka!, playing Celtic rock (Folk Rock) and some rocky bush songs, was not your regular Tamworth fare but we went over well and Mort, who told us he loved the band was almost embarrassing in his gushing praise in print. I was so saddened to hear of yet another premature passing of a lovely man."

The link for Dave Dawson's site who has copies of Paul "Pig" Johnson's ( later known as A. P. Johnson) CD with the Dead Livers is 
http://www.nucountry.com.au email on the site. Thanks, Ralph

MORT FIST Photos - Dom O'Donnell

Dominic O'Donnell and Judy Hill

Mort and friend

Clarendon (Surry Hills)

Mort with Judy Miller Mort and Judy were regulars at Berry Street, North Sydney 1967

Mort

Tony (Sydney Harbour)

Mort and John 'Doc' Dease - Tamworth

Photos: courtesy Leonie Reid

Here are the photos promised to me by Terry Wilkins, via Leonie Reid. I never had the pleasure of meeting Leonie as she had embarked on a journey to the UK just.

Dave Miller "Hi Lynne, Dave Miller here, thank you so much for letting me share Leonie's photos, it was a very emotional experience for me looking at photos of my friends that I hung around with from the age of seventeen. It sure brings back a lot of fond memories whilst at the same time its very sad that some of those friends are no longer with us. How incredibly young they all looked.  Mort's brother Ham Fist (Michael) and seriously is that the same Phil Wood I went skiing with two weeks ago, he'd be pretty safe in a police line up (lol). Lyn Carrick and Carolyn Smith (the Beverly Hills girls) whom I first met at the Folk Attic (their names are on that letter from Howlin Wolf) and of course Veronica Wellman and Leonie who were like sisters to me (as if I didn't have enough already - 4) and rescued me from over indulgence at the many parties at 294 South Dowling Street. These were the formative years for me as a teenage boy and I felt privileged to have shared it with such wonderful people.

I'm inspired to dig through my photo collection and send you anything of interest that I can find and happy Birthday for tomorrow.   love Dave "

Leonie, Mort, Unknown, Michael 'Ham Fist' Fitzgerald,
Is that Anna?

Derek (harp) and Marilyn Robinson

Leonie, Bob McG, Derek, Marilyn

John, Vronx, Terry Wilkins, Leonie Reid and Little Gulliver

Les Proctor, Swannee, Bob McGowan, Wally Mudd

Mort Fist and Phil Wood

Terry, Phil and Anna

Unknown, Leonie, Mort

Frank Cayley

Mort

Wally

Leonie, Vronx and Mort

Lyn Carrick, Veronica 'Vronx' Wellman, Carol and Leonie Reid

Lyn, Carol, Leonie and Vronx

Lyn Corrick

Veronica 'Vronx' Wellman

Ross J Waters

Mort Fist and Terry Wilkins

Mort and Terry

Dave Shultz

Veronica Wellman and Bon Scott

• Red called last night Nov 24, 2010 and said he thinks this photo was taken in a pad in Cathedral Street, Woolloomooloo .. Lynne

Dave 'Sons of Agamemnon' Miller

Dave Miller ... "Hi Lynne, my name is Dave Miller.  I came across your site on the net by accident and it blew me away as I instantly recognised nearly everyone in the photos including one of me playing in the Sons of Agamemnon at Whittys (partially obscured by Mort's Jug). I downloaded the Wally Mudd songs and it was great to hear his soulful voice again ..

 
My younger sister Judy and my wife Jacquie were also part of that scene. I remember your places at Berry Street, North Sydney and Alison Road, Randwick and spent a lot of time at 294 South Dowling Street with Swannee and the crowd. I went to UNSW with Mort, Errol, Phil, Merv etc. I was a foundation member of the 'Sons', a band we formed up at Ted Noffs Wayside Chapel, Kings Cross in late 1965.

We moved to the Windsor Castle Hotel Paddington for a while, then to Whittys Wine Bar. I couldn't play full-time with the band due to commitments, but the band welcomed me to sit in whenever I could make it and there was no shortage of good harp players frequenting Whittys including Derek Robertson, Wally Mudd, Terry Darmody etc. I have photos of that scene and have attached some of these and a letter written by the legendary Howlin Wolf thanking some of the gang from Whittys for wishing him happy birthday. Mort Fist was my best mate who I knew from the age of 5 till his death in 1998 and also the person who introduced me to his friend Jacquie at Whittys, the girl that I have now been married to for thirty nine years. Although he's been dead for over ten years now, I still think of him and other mates from the Whitty's scene that have sadly passed away including Ross Darmody, Warwick Wyld (Wheezing Walter T. Mudd ) and his brother Paul Wyld (Starving Wild Dog).

This reminds me of another story. I noticed a photo of Jimmy Page at a local night spot on your blog. The Story: I was arranging a night out with Mort who used to write up interviews for 'Drift' magazine and he said he had to interview someone first but would meet me at a club later. When he finished this interview he invited this 'someone' to the night spot where they were seated. When I arrived and I wandered over to them and plonked myself down. " Dave meet Jimmy" Mort said. I instantly recognised him as Jimmy Page the legendary guitarist from the 'Yardbirds' who later founded the iconic 'Led Zepplin'.  After some chit chat Jimmy said he had been invited to a party up at Kings Cross and would we like to go with him. (well, does the Pope shit in the woods). Before he finished the sentence I was outside hailing a taxi. We piled in a cab and went to a unit at the Cross which was owned by a singer Dinah Lee who used to sing on a show my older sister Fran sang on 'Brian Henderson's Band Stand'. All the celebs were there and I couldn't believe how well behaved they were. To be honest it was boring, none of the hell raising pop stars are known for. We should have taken him up to Taylor Square!

The 1968 'Christine' photo you mentioned is Christine Froebel who used to ride a big motorbike and was a school mate of Judy's at Our Lady of Doloures at Chatswood.

Jacquie had all the Drift Magazines until her mother had a clean up and threw them out. She could not believe it! I don't remember Ralph Graham but I have lost a few brain cells over the years.

A survivor meeting sounds great. The last time I saw a group of these survivors was at my sisters 50th in 2001, a great Country and Western theme party at Balmain where I met up with Terry Darmody, Steve James, Peter Nehill, Gavick Nicholson to mention a few.'

It's fine to use the photo of Jacquie, its one of my favourites. It was taken at Paradise Beach, Pittwater circa 1967.  My cousin made the mistake of loaning us her beach house in her absence. It became very crowded with our friends (some of the crew from Whittys included) and the partying raged over the weekend. You've not seen panic like it when my parents arrived unexpectedly to check up on us."

Dave Miller ... "The harp player in the shot is me. I think I had just turned 18 at the time so was legally allowed to be in the pub, unlike Mort who was only 17 and looked like 15. Those glasses I wore at the time were similar to the ones Terry Darmody wore and I later wore metal frame ones as seen in the photo of us at the Maccabeen Hall. Mort grew rapidly and embraced the psychedelic era as is apparent in the transformation of his appearance in the latter shot.

The Windsor Castle was chosen only as a rehearsal venue because it was always empty mid week and we wouldn't disturb anyone. After only a few weeks the word got around about this fun band and the place was packed to the rafters. The publican only paid us in all the alcohol we could drink in the breaks. It became apparent to Swannee that this guy was raking in lots of money after several months but he still refused to pay us any cash. There was this wine bar in Oxford Street around the corner from Swannee's place where no one drank any day of the week. (People who drank wine were called winos and lived on park benches, it was not as fashionable as it is today.) Swannee invited Cec Whitty down to take a look at what had happened at the Castle and he didn't hesitate offering him a more lucrative deal to move to his Wine bar. The crowd followed and the rest is history. Regards Dave"

"Howling Wolf's 'Thank You' note to the crew"

" a shot of the 'Sons' at the Windsor Castle '66
.. love the smile on Paul's face"

"at Whittys with Bob McGowan (complete with Kazoo in harness)"

" A nice shot with Swannee at the Castle '66"

"Windsor Castle '66 The original lineup of the 'Sons'
 Les Procter-bass, Paul-piano, John-guitar, Swannee-12 string guitar
 Dave Miller-harmonica, Mort Fist-jug"

"Whittys Christmas get together at the Maccabeen Hall Darlinghurst
left to right Dave, Terry, Paul, Wally and Mort. '67 "

Dave and Jacquie Miller with their daughter

It was taken at our daughters graduation at Parliament house. Mandy has chosen to become a teacher like her mom which she was advised against doing, however it will provide a more reliable income than her initial choice for a career as a dancer / actress ( like my mum who was a 'Tivoli Girl' ) which she enjoyed doing in spite of it not being financially rewarding. I haven't got the skill to extract the shots of Jacquie and me from this photo so I'll leave it to your expertise. Thanks for taking the other photo from your site, I think you will agree this is a much better shot of Jacquie.  Hope everything is fine at your end."

EMAILS

"Great reading Dave Miller's story, his sister's partner Phil Colson is an old mate mate from bands from that era. Could you please pass to Dave, my email and burning mountain studio blog info so I maybe able to contact Phil to say hi. Dave Allen xx"

 "Received Dave Allen's details and passed them on to Phil Colson. Phil is keen to check out Burning Mountain Studio and catch up with Dave Allen who he remembers well. Phil was a session muso on the 'Men at Work' albums and a guitarist in the 'Colin Hay Band' in his younger days, he remembers Clive Coulson and said he was a roadie with 'Led Zepplin'. Dave Miller"

"Hi Lynne, Wow, thanks for the email from Dave Miller - fantastic - your site has been a portal to the past for all of us. Thanks for sharing. I only saw the Sons a few times. Does anyone have any photos of French's Wine Bar? Remember downstairs there when it opened? Love the letter from Howlin Wolf (Chester Burnett) - what a gem. Allannah"

"That's fabuloso! So Swannee was responsible for Whitty's!! Wow! My introduction to the wonderful world of Sydney in July '68! Deidree McMasters."

"Thanks Lynne!, eventually I will write some stuff about Jim Crowley Wally, Dog, Peter Knox etc. Can't believe they are all gone ('cept you, me, Peter and Red of course :o)), I played at Whittys and Frenches and the Ball Pants. Ralph Graham"

"Fantastic Lynnie, I've thought of Dave a number of times thinking about them times. I seem to remember he was living out round Dural - Glenorie at one time (as was G'avec (Neil Nicholson) and I think that may have been in the late 70's. Anyhoo, could I have his email address? Phil Wood"

ROYAL NATIONAL PARK - PHOTOS Keltic Ken Adams

Sadly, I regret to say Ken Adams passed away ..

'when I was in Taylor Square (67-68) Cecil Whitty was the proprietor of Whitty's Wine Bar. (I think he used to be a boxer ... and Joan was somewhat younger than him. After I returned Stateside, Joan sent me a t-shirt commemorating their new venture Adam's Apple ... Ken Adams'


These photos were taken by my good friend Keltic Ken Adams, a Taylor Squarian in the 60s. Photos include: Wally Mudd, Charlie Watts, Bill Lockrey, Mort Fist, Terry Wilkins, Swannee, John A Bird, Bob McGowan, Keith, Marilyn and Derek Robinson .. and more .. any comments on 'who is who' would be most welcome

'Hi Lynne ...you don't know me, but I was just looking at your blog with my jaw almost dropping to the floor --- I was THERE: Taylor Square, Whitty's, The Oxford Hotel -- 1967-68!!! I was a goofy 15/16 year-old Yank who was big for his age, so I got to booze it up with the older folks. As I saw the pictures of Wally and the rest, I almost thought I was looking at a world that, 40 plus years later, only existed in my faded memories. I remember Wally and others playing the joints in the square (remember the names 'German John' and 'Swanee'?)...my brother was/is a fellow they called 'Dirty Big Dingo'. Who knows, we probably crossed paths some Friday and Saturday nights from Whitty's to the 'chew & spew' then across the street to The Oxford . , Thank you, Lynne ... what a blast to see and read about a community I got to be a part of...WOW! My family returned to the States in August of '68, but I still dream of the day when my feet will again walk on the streets of Sydney (my late mother was born in Paddington, so I'm bona-fide 1/2 Aussie).Thank you again, Lynne...I'd love to stay in touch with you from here in Central California. Blessings .. Ken Adams"



'Sometime in 67-68 I compiled a list of bands I knew about ... Ken Adams'

REDO

1967 Whitty's Wine Bar


Wally Mudd-harp/Tony 'Mort Fist' Fitzgerald-jug/Terry Wilkins-bass (foreground)


This was Terry's first 'gig', what an historical photo!


Starving Wild Dogs Piano Band @ Whitty's June 3, 1967


Wally Mudd, Mort Fist and Terry Wilkins

June 3, 1967 The Sons of Agamemnon

The Oxford Hotel with Swannee-12 string/Rod Jamieson-bass

or Waldo Hayes

June 3, 1967 Swannee and Jill at Whitty's Wine Bar

L to R Sue Lockrey, Bill Lockrey and Keith

Outside the Chew and Spew




June 3, 1967 Bill Lockrey at Whitty's Wine Bar

June 3, 1967 Bill Lockrey at Whittys Wine Bar

Sat. June 3, '67 Derek and Marilyn Robinson's Wedding Reception at Whitty's

NATIONAL PARK

In 1968 Cec and Joan Whitty chartered a bus to the Royal National Park

1968  Charlie Watts (far left)

1968 'Nasho; Michelle, Mick Scotland, Hamburger Joe's brother
Joan Whitty's Southern Exposure

1968 Swannee and John A Bird

1968 Swannee  at National Park

Terry Wilkins 'Hi Lynne, Great job on bringing this whole scene to life. The photos from Whitty's of Mort and Wally have me as the guitarist in the foreground. It was my first 'gig' of my career. I have not stopped playing since that day. T......'

Allannah 'Hi Lynne, Fantastic to see those 'Nasho' photos - as I recall that event was a 'psychedelic' picnic, I'm surprised anyone was left standing. There were bands playing under the Sun etc. Thanks for posting the photos - I don't recognise anyone else though Red might. Bye for now from Allannah Wooloughan'

Ross J Waters wrote: 'I didn't quite recognise Terry from the early photos, but was thinking the face looked familiar.Your blog & sites have been a fantastic trip down memory lane. And Red's song about Wally & Paul almost brings tears to my eyes. It so sums up what the Taylor Square days were all about. I've played a lot of gigs in many different bands on both sides of the world, but those days & venues were the best.I well remember the bus trip down to the National Park in 1968. I think I was still on crutches after my bike prang, & I took along a girl I'd met in the hospital. She was pretty "straight" & came from the upper North Shore. The next day the Sunday Mirror did a front page story on the drug-addicted crazies & their psychedelic love-in in the Nat. Park!! My breakfast was interrupted by an irate phone call from the girl's distraught mother...I had a lot of explaining to do! Hope all is well with you, Regards, Ross [J Waters]' 

David McDermott 'Hi, My name is David McDermott and I came across your blog whilst doing a search for Terry Wilkins, I went to the same school as Terry in western Sydney and also knew him when he played with Quill in Darlinghurst, cannot for the life of me think of the name of the joint! Is Phil Jones of the Unknown Blues fame on your page? I have "If I had a Ticket" MP3 as well as the Python Lee Jackson song that Rod Stewart sang the lead. Oh what memories .. David McDermott."