50TH BIRTHDAY BASH

In January, 2003 I celebrated 50 years on this planet. The celebrations were held at Rosie's Tavern in Kent Street, Sydney where the Muddle boys, Greg and Ian provide a wonderful venue. Despite the lateness of the organisation and the invitations, the role-up was fantastic. My family, including my 88 year old mum, turned up in droves. The usual Lugarno Soccer Club and Cricket team members were there (they'd turn up for free grog even if the invitation wasn't received for a week after the event), as were my Chambers' colleagues, former soccer team-mates, neighbours and other Lugarno friends.

Rather than hire a band for the night I decided to do something that I've wanted to do for a while, and to jam with old friends. Graham and Geoff from Sirrah, and John Zog from Mid Life Crisis were there and we had a bit of a session together.  Geoff and John took a bit of coaxing but Graham was there from the start to the finish.

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This is a shot of Graham and myself at a relatively early stage of the night. The angle shows some distinct greying in Graham's beard which is good because I hadn't noticed it before. Not sure what it was we were playing, but it obviously didn't need me to use my left hand on the keyboard. Note how Slide McBride cunningly gets his ad into my photo. Actually, I've seen Slide on many occasions when he used to perform at the Hilton Marble Bar and really like what he and his band do.

The Birthday Band. By this stage  of the night, not only had we eventually got Geoff Barlow (second from right) up on stage, but were joined by my nephew Chris Norris (far left) and Steve (second from right). Steve was, at the time, the boyfriend of my niece Amanda and also a musician. Graham Doust is far right.

We finally got John Zog (far left) up and he and Geoff took over the vocals on this one - Eagle Rock, from memory (although my memory of this stage of the night is a little vague).