Interests

Music, Mayhem, and Festivals.

I have a major interest in all forms of music from classical thru' to rock and roll.
I think music affects all of us in some form or another and in the 60's it was a major influence in
defining a whole generation of teenagers.
I grew up in Adelaide, and most of my teen years were during the 60's. I had always had an interest in
popular music, but when the Beatles burst onto the scene in the early 60's that interest gained momentum
at a fairly quick pace. There was new music and new sounds appearing almost daily and i couldn't get enough of it.
I was drawn more to the sounds of The Rolling Stones, The Yardbirds, The Who, Them, Procol Harum, The Kinks, etc,rather than the music of The Beatles (although following the break up I took a particular interest in John Lennon, his music and his life). My early interests centred mainly around the so called "British Ivasion."
In many ways, these people influenced the way we dressed, wore our hair and acted.

The Loved Ones

There was also a healthy rock music industry evolving in Australia , with bands like The Easybeats, The Loved Ones, The Masters Apprentices, Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs, The Groop and I could go on and on.
I was fortunate enough to see many of these bands in their early days via the Disco scene in Adelaide at the time.
My first visit to a disco was to a new spot called Big Daddy's. This was something new to Adelaide and was designed to emulate the burgeoning disco scene of Melbourne and Sydney. I remember first seeing the Easybeats at Big Daddy's. I was, of course, forbidden to go to these places by my Father, but, the music and Artists of the time were telling us to be non conformist, so I went anyway.
The first Live performance of an overseas act that I went to was P.J. Proby at the Palais Royal, and that was quickly followed by The Rolling Stones first tour.
I can vividly remember first hearing a song many have referred to as the greatest rock song ever written-
"Like a Rolling Stone", written and sung by the now legendary Bob Dylan. I sat, mesmerised as I listened and at the end I thought "I have to have that record". I bought it and played it until it simply wore out.
It would not be until April 1992 that I first saw Bob Dylan in concert and since then I rarely miss a concert.

In 1969 there was Woodstock, and in 1971 "The Australian Festival of Progressive Music" was held at Myponga in the Adelaide Hills over Three days from Saturday January 30 to Monday February 1.

The front page of the promotional flyer for the festival said:

"Music Power presents at Myponga, South Australia on January 30th, 31st, February 1st, the first Australian Festival of Progressive Music. The promoters believe that in keeping with world trends of freedom of expression and thought in all fields of art, literature and music, Myponga 71 will be an exciting, aesthetic and elevating experience through progressive music."

Myponga Festival site and camping area

This was my first foray into festivals, where the headline act was Black Sabbath. I remember a band called Fraternity headed by none other than Bonn Scott, I remember a relatively new act known as Daddy Cool, Thorpie was there, There was talk of Cat Stevens appearing, (which never came to fruition), who could forget Spectrum and the harmonica riffs in "I'll be Gone", and of course Chain, fronted by Matt Taylor.

The crowd at Myponga, probably taken from a lighting tower to the left of the stage

 Images courtesy of the Fleurieu Peninsula Family History Group Inc.

By then, I had just turned 20 years, was working for the SA Government and money was tight.
My girlfriend and I along with my best mate and his girlfriend made the journey to Myponga on Saturday afternoon and made our way to the top of a hill at the back of the Festival site and waited for night to fall.

As night fell a spotlight skimmed aceoss the hill, reminiscent of a POW camp during WW 2.
As the light passed we ran about halfway down and took refuge behind a small rise. When the light passed again we literally belted down the hill and scurried under the fence. Surprisingly, if you got that far unnoticed
it was pretty easy to get in. Once inside we found some people we knew, moistened the entry stamp on their
wrists, pressed it onto our own wrists until an image appeared, then got a passout, came back in and had the stamp refreshed. Viola, we were in, but what to do, we had the clothes on our back and a blanket and limited funds. It didn't take long to find a place to sleep as someone knew someone who in turn knew someone who had a large tent and you were just invited in. There was food and drink for sale and of course there was the music. Woodstock had shown us the way and this was Australian music's answer, albeit on a much smaller scale.
I went to the Festival for the music and the overall experience and to this day have no regrets. Apparently there was a seedy side to the Festival, however this would have applied to an absolute minority, however I and everyone I was involved with or met during that weekend were blisfully unaware, caught up in the euphoria of the event, after all we had witnessed a stunning performance by Black Sabbath (Their first ever performance in Australia), a performance by Daddy Cool which reinforced the fact that they had become the No 1 band in Australia at the time and a weekend of music which will be forever etched in Australian rock history.