Flogging My Back Pages in Adelaide
So many of my back pages were written in, or about Adelaide, that it seemed obvious to kick off any promotional activity about my book of the same name in the Festival City.
I called my old mate John Schumann. Would you be willing to do a ‘conversations with …’ thing? No worries, he said. The last week of October would suit, as he’d be in town rehearsing with The Vagabond Crew for an upcoming gig in Fremantle.
Schumann suggested Adelaide’s premier rock pub, the Governor Hindmarsh, as a venue. ‘Just mention my name to Nat,’ he said. So I did, and with the minimum of fuss, the event was locked in for Wednesday 28 October in The Gov’s Balcony Bar, and I sent out the invitations on Eventbrite.
Donald and John Schumann at The Gov (Peter Tee)
Schumann also suggested I contact a couple of likely radio interviewers, and rang ahead to make sure they took the calls. Graham Cornes is a renowned former Australian Rules footballer and coach in Adelaide and has a long running program on talk station 5AA called ‘Conversations with Cornsey’. Schumann had been a guest, and said he had been pleasantly surprised. I scrolled back through some earlier episodes and found a very entertaining conversation with my old Roadrunner partner Stuart Coupe, as well as chats with GANGgajang’s Buzz Bidstrup and Dave Faulkner from the Hoodoo Gurus. Cornes was obviously a bit of a music fan.
I sent him a PDF of the book and we spoke over Zoom in the week before I went to Adelaide. I didn’t know he had been an apprentice at BHP in Whyalla when my family arrived there in 1966, so we spoke at some length about those days in the steel city. The rest of the interview ranged over music, football, Roadrunner, Scottish and Australian identity, Scottish socialist John Maclean, favourite bands, and more.
I thought it went pretty well. It went to air on Monday 26 October, and a recording is on the 5AA website here:
The other radio host Schumann recommended (who was also suggested by ABC producer and former 5MMM buddy Suzy Ramone) was Spence Denny, who does the evening program (6.60 – 9.30 pm) on 891 ABC Adelaide.
I called, and Denny was interested. He said he preferred to do the interview live in the studio, so we locked in Tuesday 27 October and I sent him a copy of my book. On a whim, I included a 5AD Top 40 chart from October 1966, the month I arrived in Australia. I had written about that experience in the book – including the impression the music from Adelaide blasting loud and clear out of the radio had on my 13-year-old sensibilities.
5AD Top 40 on 28 October 1966
On the Tuesday of the interview, Di and I flew into Adelaide and Ubered out to Collinswood where Denny and I had a most amiable chat. The program can be streamed from the ABC website here:
https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/adelaide-evenings/evenings/107300958
Our interview starts about 1 hour 30 minutes in, after the 8 pm news, although Denny was spruiking it right from the start. Initially scheduled for 30 minutes, once it got going Denny was enjoying it so much it ran for almost three quarters of an hour.
Furthermore, was so smitted with the 1966 chart I’d sent that he did a countdown of the top 20 songs from it to close out his program two days later.
At Clarity Records, Pulteney Street.
Streetlight window, Vaughan Place.
On Wednesday, I supplied some books to Dymocks in Rundle Mall, and popped into Clarity Records in Pulteney Street to say g’day to Matt, then Streetlight in Vaughan Place to say g’day to Col. Both gentlemen have been great supporters of my self-publishing efforts over the years, and had already purchased copies of ‘My Back Pages’.
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When we arrived at The Gov at 5.30 for the book launch, Collette and Peter were already there in the downstairs bar with the box of books I’d shipped to them. Upstairs, friendly venue manager Matt had the Balcony Bar set up with a small PA and a couple of mics. It was a simple matter to plug my laptop in and let it shuffle through a playlist of 1966 classics as the guests drifted in. Familiar faces included June from my high school years; Nick from uni days; Geoffrey and Adrian from the Roadrunner crew; Suzy from 5MMM; Andy from The Accountants; and Charissa and Helen who’d put together the Festival Centre exhibition that launched my 2023 biography of the Aboriginal band No Fixed Address.
Di unpacked the box of books and set up the merch table at the western end of the balcony, and Schumann and I took to a couple of chairs at the city end. John had done his homework, and as the setting sun poured into the balcony, he took me through my paces at a brisk clip. The audience seemed attentive and engaged and when it was all over, Di sold books, I signed them, conversations pinged around, and eventually, to the strains of Hot Chocolate pumping out ‘So You Win Again’ elsewhere in the venue, we trooped downstairs for a bite of dinner and a glass of wine. Scott Hicks (‘Shine’) said it was the best author talk he’d ever been to. Gosh.
Donald and John Schumann having a chat on the balcony (Peter Tee)
Peter Tee took a suite of photos, which I’ve loaded into a separate post here.
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On Thursday, Di and I caught up with my old friend Ann at North Adelaide’s Flying Fig café. We were joined by Nick, who inspired by the previous evening’s talk and an overnight dip into my book, turned up with photos of uni days; a fresh-faced pre-Melbourne Paul Kelly; and a striking 1970 photo of himself and John Dowler in London. As is often the case with gatherings of old friends, accounts of present and recent circumstances were frequently interrupted by extensive detours down memory lane. A lovely catch up.
Ann, Nick and Donald at the Flying Fig
There were some books left over from The Gov and Peter Tee said Vic Flieri at Mr V Music in Semaphore might take some. I sent him an email and he said he would, so on Friday morning Di and I motored up the new South Road/M2 and along the Port River Expressway to meet him and drop them off. Mr V looks like a terrific little record shop, with a good selection of music books.
The weather turned while we were out, and although we were scheduled to leave on Saturday, it having been a hectic few days, and having ticked every box, we decided to catch an evening plane back to Sydney.
All in all, I would call it a pretty successful promotional tour of Adelaide.
I would like to acknowledge the terrific support from Di, Collette, Peter and John, and Nat and Matt from The Gov, which helped to make it happen.
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If you haven’t got a copy yet, here’s a list of outlets that are stocking ‘My Back Pages’.
