Flight Delays

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Saturday, June 1. Our flight from Perth to Brisbane is delayed, it's chaos at the airport. See WAToday Article

The day starts with some confusion. My calendar says we're flying out in the morning but we have mail confirmation for a different time? What the heck is going on, is it just time zone confusions (EST vs Australia time)? We are flying business class on Virgin Australia so we are not expecting delays. If there are delays, they ought to be handled quickly.

Apparently there was some problem with the fueling system at the airport. Planes couldn't get fueled which meant those on the ground couldn't leave and likewise for those arriving. Perth is an international airport, the largest within the state, and an important hub. This has a ripple effect throughout the system. We hear about an international flight landing in smaller regional airports like Geraldton (population 40K, over 4 hours to the north) and Kalgoorlie (population 40K, over 6 hours to the east) with passengers being bussed into Perth. Further, that these international flight have refueled at the these regional airports and headed back leaving little fuel for others. It's a real muck up and surely heads will roll. How can this happen?

We understand that techs are brought in to solve the problem (I recall it being an airlock in the undergound pipes that caused pressure to drop) and we are at the airport by 1pm and camped out in the Virgin Lounge where there's lots of food, snacks, beer and wine to while away the afternoon. The flight we've been moved to does leave on time but we won't get into Brisbane until around midnight.

We were able to get out of Perth on the same day. Many of our friends from the conference will have had an unplanned extra day because of the interruption at the airport.

When we had thing figured out I called the car rental to find out if they would be open that late. Unfortunately not, but fortunately we have not prepaid so they just move our reservation to the next day. We arrive around midnight and take an Uber to our apartment in the New Farm suburb of Brisbane a short half hour away. We'll come back tomorrow and pick up our car.

Flight delays? That's just part of travel.

Fremantle, WA

 

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After a brief stay in Brisbane, Queensland where we try to get into the time zone we flew Virgin Australia to Perth in Western Australia. Kate has her annual KBS conference in Fremantle (the ocean port to the city of Perth). Perth is on the very far west side of the country and quite a long plane ride (I recall it being about 5 hours or so). The Pullman, where we were staying in Brizzie, is located at the domestic terminal and convenient. We flew business class but the seating wasn't that special and the service not that exciting. We determined on our return that inflight entertainment is implemented on a local internet; you're supposed to connect your tablet or phone — there is no built in screen.

The picture at left shows the WA Marine Museum and the Leeuwin II sailboat on the Victoria Wharf. Click on the image for more photos of Fremantle.

We picked up our car at the airport, a Kia Picanto, and used it a lot to get around. With Kate's bum ankle I would chauffer her to her meetings at Notre Dame University or we'd take an Uber if it was dinner and drinking. We did get to explore a bit of the coastline — a trip down memory lane to Cottesloe, City Beach and Hillary's — but we never got far afield. We had talked about going back to Margaret River but that's far enough to be an overnight adventure. There is a lot to see in the Perth area but distances can be quite far. And, as this was our 3rd or 4th trip to the area we didn't feel compelled.

In another blog I'll write about Chester Villa, our AirBnB, suffice to say here it was pretty nice and convenient. It's in an older suburban neighborhood just off South Terrace and near South Beach. There are some pictures of the neighborhood and some of the shops along South Terrace. I was most impressed by the "coffee culture" in Fremantle. People who enjoy their cappuccino would have no end of opportunities. "Ootong and Lincoln" is one of those on South Terrace that is colorfully decorated.

The weather when we arrived was quite warm, hot even. We were told it had not rained for 8 months but while we were there a gale arrived that dumped a ton of rain and shook our villa! After the gale it cooled down considerably. People continued to go swimming every day (like our landlord) but we never got in the water. We did catch some glorious sunsets from South Beach. There's another blog entry and photo album on the beaches.

Our first fancy dinner was at Tonic + Ginger, a Southeast Asian Fusion restaurant located in an old Synagogue across from the Fremantle Markets. We sat up in the balcony area and ordered far too much food. We brought a doggy bag back to Chester Villa but it's not quite the same as having a meal there. Kate had a meeting with some of her colleagues later and that ended up being at the same restaurant and again they order way to much food.

On the Sunday I walked along South Terrace and then up Marine Terrace towards the Fishing Boat Harbor. That's very near Tannoch Hall, Notre Dame University where Kate's meetings were held. On the way wandering back I bumped into our friend Anne Marie (from Melbourne) as I walked by Tonic + Ginger. She was busy getting prepped for the meeting that Kate was going to later that day and recognized me. I did a walk through the Fremantle Market, I had been there many years before, but it seemed to have become a kitschy souvenir market rather than a proper farmers market.

Fremantle was a bustling sea port from the mid 1800's and there is ample evidence of the old Victorian era buildings around Notre Dame and on the High Street. I suspect that one reason the university is there is to encourage the preservation of these old buildings. The old town hall has an interesting story (from Wikipedia). On opening day back in 1887 things got out of hand with those "wild colonial boys":

"On 23 June 1887 a children's fancy dress ball was held in the Hall. The Town Supervisor, W. J. Snook, and two other men had some trouble in keeping a group of rowdy men out of the Hall. Amongst the group was the landlord of the National Hotel in High Street, William Conroy, who gatecrashed the supper just after midnight, as the Mayor was congratulating the stewards and officials on the "happy conclusion of the Jubilee". At 12.45 am Conroy was seen in the entrance hall and soon after a shot was heard.[6] Allegedly, Conroy had shot Snook because Snook would not let him in.[7] Despite his injuries, Snook lived for three more months before dying in September. Conroy was convicted of the crime, becoming the last person to be hanged at Perth Gaol."

I spent quite a bit of time wandering the Victoria Wharf. Across from the wharf is the container port. The warehouses and such on this side are repurposed as shops and a big brewery.  At the end of the dock is the Western Australia Marine Museum (not to be confused with the Shipwreck Museum), where the KBS welcome event was held on Monday night, and at the very tip is the "South Mole" (a break wall) with a lighthouse at the end. The Rottnest Ferry departs from the wharf, we have been before and passed on it this time. Some friends did go out to bicycle around on a very rainy Monday. There's also a ferry that runs back and forth to Perth up river and I investigated that. Unfortunately by the time I went looking I discovered that in this off season it only runs on the weekend — so we missed out on that adventure. But again, it's something we've done before and you wouldn't want to do it on a cold and rainy day.

A short walk from the conference is the historic Round House, a small stone fort, which overlooks Bather's Beach. This building dates from the settlement of the area and was once used as a prison. It's now a museum and viewpoint. The Ship Wreck Museum is very near the conference center but I had been before. At Esplanade Park there are several monuments and a large ferris wheel (there's Brisbane "Eye" as well). I found the monument to the Maitland Brown Explorers very interesting for the addendum added later:

"This plaque was erected by people who found the monument before you offensive.

The monument described the events at La Grange from one perspective only; The viewpoint of the white `settlers`.  No mention is made of the right of Aboriginal People to defend their land or of the history of provocation which led to the explorers` deaths.

The `Punitive Party` mentioned here ended in the deaths of somewhere around twenty Aboriginal people. The Whites were well-armed and equipped and none of their party was killed or wounded.

This plaque is in memory of the Aboriginal people killed at La Grange. It also commemorates all other Aboriginal people who died during the invasion of their country.

Lest We Forget.  Mapa Jarriya-Nyalaku."

There are some nice restaurants around the Boat Harbour. It would have been nice to have lunch on a sunny day sitting on the harbor. I had my eye on Cicerello's as it claimed to have the "best fish & chips in WA" but it was not to be. The weather didn't cooperate for us. There's this very odd statue out front of Cicerello's for the Coast Guard. It's an odd yellow metal man, perhaps 20' tall, with a prominent wiener! I guess the WA Coast Guard are famous for their "equipment". 

We did have pizza one night at the Little Creatures Brewery on the harbour. That was an odd travel suggestion from one of our Facebook friends. There does seem to be a lot of breweries around Fremantle. We, of course, are more interested in the wine. We ended up getting a Dan Murphy's membership (that's a large retailer of beer, wine and spirits found all across the country) to take advantage of discounts offered but never got to us it. We did buy some "Clean Skin Wines" — that's a uniquely Australian offering. They are surplus wines the retailers buy and bottled up with no name labels that tell you the wine and region but not much else. It's a great deal for pissants like me.

Wednesday afternoon Kate took a break from the conference for an Asian lunch at the "Joy Kitchen" on Marine Terrace. Kate had noted the place on our drives back and forth to the meetings. It was a wild and windy day — so much so that they had us enter through the service entrance as the front doors were catching the wind and rain. The gale that came in on Monday night persisted for several days with wet windy weather more typical of the season. That evening the KBS banquet was held at the Bathers Beachouse on Bathers Beach — only a very short walk from the meetings at Tannock Hall.

On Thursday Kate and I took a drive down memory lane. We explored the beaches north of Fremantle stopping at Cottesloe, driving as far as north as Scarborough and Hillary's (we had stayed at both on previous visits). On the return we stopped at City Beach and had a lunch at Clancy's Fish Bar. We had been before but that was many years ago!

Friday at lunch I drove Kate and some friends north again. This time just across the river to Bib & Tucker at Port Beach. I left them to their meeting time, wandered the beach for a while and then drove north again to havea fish & chips lunch at Cottesloe Beach.

Friday night we caught a final dramatic sunset at South Beach and packed up to leave the next day for Brisbane.

Fremantle Beaches

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There are lots of lovely beaches around Perth and Fremantle. Our long stay at "Chester Villa" is a short walk from South Beach (there's a part of that designated as a "Dog Beach") and our land lord went there every day for a swim. We found the weather a little too cool for that and never did get in the water. With Kate's mobility problems we would drive over to park close to the beach.

There are continuous beaches to the north and south from Fremantle. Just north, on the other side of the Swan River, is Port Beach. On our last Friday I took Kate and some colleagues there for lunch at "Bib & Tucker". I wandered the beach a bit taking some pictures of the Container Port which is just a little south of that. I then drove up to Cottesloe Beach where I had fish and chips for lunch.

Cottesloe is a favorite beach. Back in 2004 we stayed nearby with Tim at his home before he moved to Canada. There's a dramatic old building there, the "Indiana Teahouse", that seemed to be closed for the off season. I recall there being a very nice restaurant there with great views of the sea. There were some surfers trying to catch a wave on at least one of our visits.

Another day Kate and I took a drive along the beachfront as far north as Scarborough Beach and Sorrento/Hillarys where we had stayed on previous visits. On our return we found a nice restaurant at City Beach where we had lunch. The server asked if we had been before, "Yes, but it was 20 years ago". The weather there was turning with a dramatic dark sky.

For our final sunset we went to the other end of South Beach for a cool evening and another dramatic sunset. You can see Kate with her hood pulled up trying to stay warm. There were, nevertheless, a few brave souls in the water or sail boarding as in the picture above.

Chester Villa

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We rented an AirBnB in the South Beach area of Fremantle for our long stay and Kate's KBS conference. The area is an older suburb of the city with mostly one story homes. There's some infill and renovations to the older traditional homes. We chose this place for the lovely courtyard, the nearby beaches, and the short drive to the conference site. I drove Kate back and forth every day.

The rental is an historic 2 story granny flat located behind the owners home. We were told it was renovated for a parent who has passed away; further that the city has strict controls over what can be done with this "historic" building. The home at front is quite modern — in the picture at left you can see some of the hosts' home from the Juliet balcony of our 2nd story bedroom.

On one of our very first nights we were told that we needed to close the doors to that balcony in the evening. There are possums in the area and they would/might come in. That would be a fright. We've seen them before on other visits to Australia. IMHO possums look like big fat rats!

Parking is on the verge at the front of the house (we had a rental car for the duration of our stay) and you enter through the garage, past their home to a patio area with lots of plants and a swimming pool (it's off season, the pool was closed). It's a quiet street and being located behind the house made for a quiet stay. We were able to enjoy the patio, had lunch there one day, got to pet their lovely dog (he seems to have some dingo), and admired the flowers and plants growing around the patio. 

South Beach is a short walk away, about 2 city blocks, and our host goes swimming there every day. For the first part of our stay it was quite warm so swimming made sense. But in this part of the world there are those who swim year round.

Our hosts are friendly folk. It turns out that he's a Canadian from Guelph, Ontario but has been here for a very long time. Australians think he has a Canadian accent, we think he sounds native. They are friendly, but not too friendly. We have our friend Ingrid over for dinner and a visit during the conference; the hosts wanted to know about guests we might have coming but were fine with them.

The apartment was well appointed with everything one might need. We enjoyed having a kitchen of our own and made several meals. There's a pull out couch on the main floor that can be used as a bed but we used the main bedroom upstairs. Navigating the stairs was a bit of an issue, especially for Kate. The bathroom/shower room at one time would have been outside. It has a tin roof covering but is still cool and windy. In the summer this might have been fun, at this time of year, and Kate's mobility problems not so much.

The weather turned while we were visiting when a gale blew in from the Southwest. The winds were extreme, it was a prolonged loud night of intense rain, we thought the roof might blow off! The locals were pleased that the drought had finally ended.

This was a nice place to stay. We'd much rather be here, in an self contained unit, than in a hotel downtown. We both just wish the weather had been better. In this part of the world they think of June 1 as the beginning of winter. At home, it's the beginning of our summer.

Brisbane Briefly

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Kate has her annual KBS conference and this year it's in Fremantle, WA (that's the port city suburb of Perth Australia). We've been to Australia many times, I think the first was in 2003 for a conference that was also in Fremantle. That time we went for a month, likewise this time.

It's an awfully long way to Western Australia, they are 12 hours ahead of us (8:30am Sunday there is 8:30pm Monday here) so flying is a pretty long and tortuous adventure. We took the Stratford Airporter to Toronto on Monday for an afternoon flight. We flew non stop to Vancouver, where we had a brief stop over (9:30pm dinner in Maple Leaf  Lounge) and then flew overnight over the Pacific to Brisbane in QLD arriving in the early morning of Wednesday — over the International Date Line we lost Tuesday!

We stayed a couple of nights at the Brisbane Domestic Airport (the International is a short cab ride away) at the Pullman Hotel to try to adjust to the time change and recover from the travel. The plan is to recover for a few days and then fly out Friday morning for Perth.

Kate is recovering from nerve damage in her ankle so navigating long flights and walking any distance is a bit of a struggle. We took advantage of ground staff at the various airports to get us around. We were flying business class so we would have "pods" to sleep in on the overnight leg over the Pacific. There was a really nice fellow from Air Canada helping us in Brisbane. He had lived in Toronto for a while but much preferred the semi-tropical climate of QLD (but there's a photo I cribbed from the local news of a frosted car window in the higher elevations of QLD that day — after all, it is their winter). Having help with a wheel chair made getting through security and passport control a snap. We bumped into the same fellow on our return home a month later when Kate was even more in need of assistance. She had torn ligaments in her ankle and was on crutches for our return!

We arrived at the Pullman well before check-in time but they were able to get us a room fairly quickly. We had a coffee by the pool while waiting. We never got in the pool, it wasn't heated and would have been quite cool. There is a very fancy restaurant at the hotel. Reg had breakfast there and we did have a nice dinner there one evening — oddly you need to make a reservation for dinner!

The Pullman and Ibis hotels are at the airport conference center which is only a short walk from the Domestic Airport and Parking Garage. There's a more easy going restaurant at the Ibis, where we grabbed a pizza on our last night (before we flew home).

One of the first things we did after check-in was to take a cab to a nearby shopping mall (the Skygate/DFO Brisbane) for a lunch. Here we found a supermarket that also sold telephone SIM cards, that was one of the main reasons for outing. One of the wisest decisions we made was to leave a message on all of our phones "We are out of the country and unavailable, if you need us send email" and buy local phone numbers. This worked very well and was considerably cheaper than paying roaming fees which cost us a fortune on our last Austin trip. We got a SIM for Kate's phone when we arrived in Fremantle. Dealing with Telstra on line to activate phones is another story. Suffice to say it's not trivial for visitors from out of the country.

Our friends Ross and Bev were gracious hosts and wanted to show us around a bit. On the Thursday, Ross came out in his new Tesla and drove us to the South Bank for dinner with Bev at a favorite Turkish restaurant. The drive from the airport to the South Bank was not at all what I had expected. There's an incredible system of roadways under the city! The last time we were here they had just completed the north/south tunnel under Kangaroo Point. Now there's seems to be tunnels everywhere. Of course they're toll highways, we avoided them when we rented a car later in the trip.

This is not our ideal time to travel. They think of winter beginning the first of June, we think of our summer beginning. Those who live here like the cooler weather, it can be unbearably hot in the summer, I miss working in our gardens and the spring flowers of our more moderate summers.

Total Eclipse

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There was a total eclipse of the sun today, Monday April 8, and Kate and I tried to take advantage of it.

There was a partial eclipse a few years ago (2017) that we remember and we both have vague memories of similar partial eclipse's from our early childhod years. Kate had read quite a bit about this event and the importance of seeing the totality — it goes completely dark like night-time and you can actually see the stars (if it is clear of course). The position of the moon for this eclipse was such that it would cover the sun exactly right — not too big, not too small. Here in St. Marys they were to see 99% coverage where it would be more like a twilight — not completely dark. So we made plans to go to Niagara Region with friends, Erich and Lisa, who live in Burlington. We stayed overnight with them on Sunday and drove together for the day.

In Burlington they would be closer to the totality but still at the edge. Niagara Region (Niagara on the Lake, Niagara Falls, Buffalo, etc.) would be right in the totality and we wanted that experience. It turns out that Burlington is about an hour from the Niagara Region (an hour going there and much, much longer returning). We might have instead drove directly from here; if we had that would be about a two and a half hour drive. But, we were worried that there might be a big traffic snarl getting there. There was a "state of emergency" declared for the region in anticipation of a large turnout — I recall forecasts that a million people would be there! Staying overnight with friends nearby seemed like a better plan.

Our friends, Lisa and Erich, have a lovely home with a view of the Hamilton Harbor and the steel plants on the other side. Overnight the view is sometimes a bit like Dante's Inferno with flames and steam lighting the sky. Monday morning arrived with a heavy cloud cover. Many of our friends in SW Ontario had a similar morning experience. It did not bode well for any of us.

Erich is an old friend of mine — we were both computer science students at Western and lived together for several years in what Mike called "The Horbinger Home". We had lost touch but we re-connected just before the pandemic. There's a gang of us from those many years ago who share stories over a video conference call every couple of weeks. Erich is a jolly likeable guy, always joking — it would be hard not to like him. Erich and Lisa are quite social and kind to have us to their home for this and other events. We do enjoy our time together.

We had made reservations to see the eclipse at "Between the Lines Winery" starting at 2:00 and had lunch at a nearby restaurant "Bricks and Barley" in Virgil recommended by the winery. Both are a very short distance from Niagara on the Lake (a quaint Victorian contrast to the hub-bub, casinos, and carnival atmosphere of Niagara Falls). We had looked at staying in Niagara Falls, we had been there last year for my birthday, but the prices had sky rocketed knowing that there were many who wanted to be part of the event.

Getting to Niagara was no problem at all but the skies remained overcast. We arrived well before the restaurant opened, spent some time exploring an antique shop in Virgil and had a drive through Niagara on the Lake before returning for our lunch. You could see in Niagara on the Lake that there were a lot of visitors there for the eclipse. The parks were busy, people were getting set up to catch the eclipse, and there wasn't a parking space to be found. Clearly, not everyone was in Niagara Falls. The restaurant was busy for a Monday. It's a nice sports bar with too many TV's to distract you. But the service was good, the food was ample and we enjoyed our lunch together. If nothing else, we could visit with each other.

At the winery the set-up wasn’t as nice as we had been expecting but we got chairs and a table (the last ones – the other option was picnic table which would have been icing on the icing or camping out on the ground as many others were). But it was cloudy, overcast, a bit windy and quite cool. Fortunately it wasn't raining; although it looked like it might! We didn’t have enough clothes (at least Kate was cold the whole time). And then there was nothing to see. The only saving grace was that it did get very dark and that was really interesting. If you are near a total eclipse, I would highly recommend seeking totality. However, although dark as night, the clouds prevented us seeing any stars or the eclipse itself. It was a bit odd to be in the middle of this darkness (at around 3:20 for a few minutes) with what looked like a sunrise peeking out all around in every direction at the far distance.

The winery provided some tastings that we shared. Lisa doesn't drink, she was our designate driver. But we didn't drink that much anyways. Any of us could have driven home. We joked a lot about "The Rapture" and on the way home I noted a sign some zealot had posted: "Rapture - Almost Home. Jesus is coming back soon". Who ever posted that I bet they were disappointed God didn't take them home; I know I am. A friend Carol, in response to a Facebook posting on the subject, tells me:

"[At] breakfast the morning after the eclipse one of the servers commented that they had Jehovah Witness relatives who were planning for the rapture that was sure to happen during the eclipse. Jim asked her if she spoken to them yet that morning."

Thankfully we poor sinners were not taken by the rapture. As the darkness started to lift, the clouds parted a little and we saw a sliver of the sun and that was it. Kate was so disappointed. It didn’t help that friends in St. Marys, Burlington and elsewhere were writing to tell us how great it had been (“amazing” – Kate doesn't want to ever want to hear that word again). Apparently, the clouds had parted and it had cleared everywhere but in Niagara. Damn! Many friends we had convinced to take the event seriously and all who got to see it were impressed. Peter and Colleen have some great pictures of the totality that they caught near Cornwall a little later that day.

At that point, Kate is pretty disappointed but still okay. At this point we should have pulled into a bar, commiserated and maybe got drunk – something to make ourselves feel better but instead we headed back to Burlington in hopes of avoiding the traffice. Traffic wasn’t bad when we left but it got worse and worse until it was going very slow. When we left the winery, the mapping program told us it was 52 minutes to home. An hour later we were still 52 minutes from home and approaching the Burlington Skyway (a very long bridge) and Kate had to go to the bathroom. We did not want to chance being stuck on the bridge so we took one of the last possible exits and found a washroom at the local Walmart. We all went in to pee (except Lisa). The boys really had to go too but they weren’t as worried because they knew they could always go by the side of the road – we had already seen one car stopped for a kid to pee.

Well, it took about 45 minutes to get back on the road and then quite some time to get home. We had a pasta dinner together and Kate went to bed early. There are some end of the day photos of Dante's Inferno across the bay. I stayed up with Erich and Lisa to watch "The Bee Keeper" (2024) — a Bruce Willis styled action adventure starring Jason Statham. IMDB describes it as "One man's brutal campaign for vengeance takes on national stakes after he is revealed to be a former operative of a powerful and clandestine organization known as "Beekeepers."" I collect cameras, Erich collects movies.

Anyways, Kate is determined to see a total eclipse and disappointed that we missed out on this one. As they don't happen very often she suggests we might go to Spain  where there's one coming up in August of 2027. Others comment that "The rain in Spain falls mainly on eclipse days".

63 Monroe/NFG

 

We have a bit of history with the band 63 Monroe (also known first as "NFG" and briefly as "First Date") starting back in the 1979/1980. Their 1980 EP, "63 Monroe/NFG", has been re-released on vinyl (also digital on Bandcamp) on Tony Lima's "Yeah Right!" label and we are peripherally involved. Band credits for the EP are:

• Steven R. Stunning (lead throat)
• Markii Burnaway (guitar)
• Bob Gliddon & Mark Deroux (bass)
• Peter Lambert (drums)

Back in the day I was into shooting band photos and NFG were an outrageous bunch who played 3 chord hard, hard, rock and roll (i.e., Punk) at the infamous Blue Boot/Cedar Lounge and around town. Their shows were crazy, fun and wild! Kate and I really liked them, still do, and even went to see them on our wedding night after the reception. And, icing on that, we had them play at our 25th Wedding Anniversary. We had them a number of times to our home in London back in the 1980's where we'd drink home made beer and play Trivial Pursuits. We still have contact with some of the guys, Facebook is great for that.

Anyways, back to the EP. We had met some of the guys in the band, they knew I was taking photos, and they asked if they could use some of our work. We said sure and some of those photos appeared as contact strips on the back of the original EP. I wasn't involved in the artwork — the cover was great, the back was very amateurish. Most of my photos of various local bands from back then have been shared with various people, here in my blog, and in many Facebook postings. But, with this re-release, my 15 minutes of fame continues.

Tony Lima, formerly of Call the Office (a noted venue in London), got hold of me in January of 2022. He and Scott Bentley (the voice of NFG/63 Monroe, aka Steven R. Stunning) told me they were looking to re-release the EP on Tony's "Yeah Right!" record label and asked if I still had the photos that were used back in 1980 and if I had any others. The plan was to redo the back cover with better sized photos. Conversations went back and forth with us waving any rights to the photos and rescanning a bunch at higher resolution in late 2022. I hadn't heard much on this project in 2023 and was totally surprised when the project was finished and product was announced this month. I wasn't involved with the artwork but I'm pleased with the results. Doubly pleased as I got a photo credit this time!

We digitized the 1980 EP many years ago and have it framed and on the wall. I really don't like playing or listening to vinyl but Tony was kind enough to give me two copies which I picked up at "Speed City Records". With vinyl, you have the artwork. One copy I've passed on to our friends Sam & Albie, the other I'll save for another day. Micheal Todd, who owns the record store, and I had a bit of a chat when I picked up the EP. The original EP from 1980 is pretty rare, if you can find one, it runs about $150. I asked if the reissue made the original no longer collectable. When I pruned my LP collection back in 2022 he was keen to get hold of the original which I still have, but I said no. Some things you hold onto.

Here's a link to the EP artwork -- the original from 1980 and the reissue of 2024.

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There was a bit of back and forth on Facebook over writing credits when the release was announced. Some of it went like this:

Rob Gliddon: So the NFG EP called 63 Monroe, comes out again without crediting any of the songwriters. It was a problem back then and it's still an issue. Simon Lewis wrote 'At The Boot', 'Cyanide' and 'Hijack Victim', I wrote two songs and Mark wrote one. I'm sure the writers of 'Teenage Kicks' might want their credit. More than enough time was available to do things properly, it was just ignored.

Reg Quinton: Rob Gliddon so I am to understand that you wrote "Give 'em up" and "Goodbye Guyana" while Markii Burnaway wrote "After"? "Teenage Kicks" is, of course, The Undertones. They're all great tunes, iconic even. Ps. I was pleased to get a photo credit.

Markii Burnaway: I wrote Give em up.. I am pretty sure Bob wrote Goodbye Guyana .100% convinced the Undertones were behind the creation of Teenage Kicks

Rob Gliddon: Reg Quinton I wrote 'After' and 'Goodbye Guyana' as a response to Simon Lewis's 'Cyanide' Simon wrote the bulk of NFG's original setlist. Later this year I will be releasing a full set of live tracks from the original NFG line-up with Simon. It comes from a Monday night gig at The Boot. It will disprove the idea that the original line-up couldn't play. It rocks like granite.

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Bob Gliddon (Facebook, June 11, in the 1980's Punk Rockers in London, Ontario group) writes about the back story:

Sit back and get a cuppa, this may go on....

 

It's nice to see that the NFG EP, called '63 Monroe' has been re-released. It would have been nice to be asked to contribute to the story. I was asked, but it was only a month ago when the record was already in the stores and online. That is when Tony Lima asked for my memories for the "liner notes". After the release. I offered some input and stipulations at least 8 months ago, but never heard back from anybody. I guess Scott or Tony don't check their emails.

So, here's what was left out of the process.

Before Simon Lewis left to pursue a career, we were doing fairly good, as the receipts given to Simon, (who was our business manager) illustrate. The other thing Simon gave us was several songs he wrote that could make up a whole set. So when he left we were able to immediately go forward with Mark Scott as our new guitarist. Next we got a real manager in Gary Kelly, to handle our affairs.

About that time we were approached by a woman who only wanted to be known as 'Juicy Lucy', with $1000 to record a single. And so into EMAC Studios we went to record the EP, as NFG. We used three of Simon's songs, two of mine, and one of Mark's. The process did not go well, I had issues about the sound, I thought it had no bottom end, as they were listening to the playbacks on massive studio monitors and were giving little thought to what kind of systems it would be heard on. My ideas and wishes were not being addressed and I began to make plans elsewhere.

The recordings were only the latest issue in the band for me. I got us to do 'Virginia Plain', from Roxy Music, and Scott and Mark suggested we do 'Henry the 8th'. I could see we were miles apart on which way to go forward. That, combined with the constant drinking all night at gigs and drinking during the day just sealed the deal, and I left to go and get healthy by bicycling across Canada with my best friend.

So, the EP comes out and I am not happy with the release. Simon Lewis is given no songwriting credits for his three tunes, Juicy Lucy is give no thanks for providing the money to release it. I get no credit for my two songs, and must forever be known as 'Bobo', which I was never called, at least to my face. The one thing that pi**ed me off was they sped up the recording of my 'After' to chipmunks speed. But what was done cannot be undone.

So the credits should be as follows:

• The EP was recorded by NFG and is called '63 Monroe'
• Simon Lewis: songwriter of 'At The Boot', 'Cyanide' and 'Hijack Victim'
• Bob 'Stix' Gliddon: songwriter of 'After' and 'Goodbye Guyana'
• Mark Scott: songwriter of 'Give 'Em Up'

Special Thanks go out to Juicy Lucy, wherever you are, for giving us the money to record that disc. Thank you for giving me the chance to set the story straight. The two photographs [of the posting] show Simon Lewis, guitarist and songwriter, and the other is original guitarist Larry Gifford, myself and Scott, All were taken by Reg Quinton at the Polish Hall.

There's been a muddled history to the bands. It all reminds me of an Austin Lounge Lizards song, "Would You Like To Start A Band". The history is similar. But putting aside some of the bad memories, it was a lot of fun!

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See also the Dave O'Halloran excellent two part history of NFG...The Band From London Ontario Canada (2018). There's first hand accounts by the players involved; well worth reading.