What, surely the crims had something to trade or offer, smokes perhaps or maybe something harder?Originally Posted by dave.king1
What, surely the crims had something to trade or offer, smokes perhaps or maybe something harder?
We didn't go anywhere near the crims at Long Bay, however
My band played at Parramatta Jail a couple of times where we did mix with the crims for coffee and scones after the show, they were a mixed bunch of murderers and armed robbers all doing serious time.
Those shows were a lot of fun and the audience were obviously appreciative of anything that broke their normal daily boredom, and we gave the crims ciggies
We also played Parramatta Girls Home, there were serious barricades between the audience and the stage and there was no way the inmates were going to be allowed anywhere near the performers at any time. ( the word rape was mentioned by the guards )
Sounds like a good experience there Dave.
Never played in a jail to the crims but would playing at a few bikers gigs almost count? Only difference was that they were not behind any bars at the time haha.
Seriously, had a scary moment at the 3rd and last one we played as they refused to pay us at the end of the night and said 'you keep playing until we tell you to stop'......had the flu at the time and I was really struggling and that is when all the free offers of other than Doc Nomis' flu remedies consisting of mainly white powder spread in thin lines across the space invaders machine came out, none of which I touched. We went back on and dialled it down a bit to put them to sleep and when they all did doze off we quietly packed up and took off. The agent copped plenty on the Monday morning and to his credit came up with the funds. We actually did do one more as a support act for another bunch of bikers and sensibly took off right after we had finished our 2nd set. Other band members hung around and the shenanigans got right proper out of hand not long after I left with my girlfriend.
None of the crims were behind bars, at the men's jail we were on a stage about a foot high and could literally touch the front row of the audience.
At the girl's home the stage was about shoulder high and they had cafeteria chairs thrown in a jumbled heap about 10 feet wide right across the room, sort of like a tank trap for humans, they were deadly serious about keeping the girls away from the male performers.
Both jail experiences were brilliant.
We also played at a bikers pub in Oxford Square before that part of Sydney became LGBT and had a pub full of Gypsy Jokers at the Tropicana one night. Oxford Square show was very friendly but the other one got very violent at the end of the night but only amongst themselves. ( we were paid by the pub not the bikers )
The Tropicana pub at Wilberforce is/was a water skiers drinking hole and we did every second Sunday there for a couple of years, the skiers were a great crowd always full of adrenaline after a day on the water so it really went off
Biker shows are always interesting! Lol
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Hearing stuff like this is one of the reasons I love this forum! All of the guitar luthiery skills and tips stuff is brilliant, don't get me wrong, but the stories and experiences shared of lives lived around music is truly amazing. Thanks for sharing guys!
Maybe I should share the story of the night the band played at the Kiata Country Club (google is your friend) or the cruise in 1974 with 250 or so female hairdressers on a 10 day floating conference.
Looking back I guess I had a lot of interesting times and great experiences, amazing at what in life being a very average musician can bring you
Last edited by dave.king1; 01-04-2016 at 07:46 PM.
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