THE NAKED CITY: PROBYFEVER AT PADDO
It’s hard to think of a music gig in Sydney during the past thirty odd years that has become so legendized, so notorious and, for some, almost revered for the insanity that prevailed on the night. PJ Proby’s show at the Paddington RSL on Saturday 28 February in 1990 is now part of Sydney rock’n’roll folklore, almost demanding to be immortalised in a film or a book. Luckily, author Mark Cornwall, who was there on that fateful night in the support band, 50 Million Beers, has done just that in his brand new volume, Proby And Me – A Howling Tale Of A Falling Star.
Written in the highly entertaining conversational style that Mark adopted in his previous bio of Frank Thring, the book interweaves glimpses of ‘Jim’ Proby’s own tumultuous history with an enlightening account of that fateful 1990 tour. Mark notes:
“What inspired me to write the book was seeing the Granville- strength train smash that was Jim Proby’s gig at the Paddo RSL and wondering how it had come to this given his dazzling bravura vocal talent that I recalled from seeing him on TV and hearing him on the wireless as a kid.”
Musicians and music fans don’t normally take on the role of tour promoters but that was not the case when Clyde Bramley of the Hoodoo Gurus and Brett Stevenson, decided to take the plunge and import the fading US star for an Australian tour. Gloriously naïve at the time and possessed by what Mark calls ‘Probyfever’, they now recall the whole sorry mess with dismay, frustration and a reassuring dose of humour. Mark employs Brett as the narrator to get as close to the madness and absurdity of the time and it is indeed an alcohol fuelled ride.
I was somewhat surprised to learn that Proby himself has never seen a draft of the book. Mark thinks that he would probably have little interest in it today, doubting whether he could even recall being in Sydney in 1990. He goes on to explain:
“When I started writing the book some twenty odd years later, I contacted PJ via his manager – yeah, he’s 85 and still claims to play gigs and has a manager to book them, the mind boggles as to who would book him now and why – and invited him to participate in the project, to be interviewed just as I was interviewing various people who’d had dealings with PJP at different times. His response was pure Proby- that he would only take part if I organised an Australian tour for him. He’s over 30 years sober now, since 1992, but he hasn’t changed any.”
There have been lots of books written about the rise and fall of various rock and pop stars and their demise through alcohol and drugs. Many immediately subscribe to the gratuitous and judgemental but Mark simply lets the narrators, Proby and Brett, tell the story in very much their own brutally honest words.
It’s an insight to speak to people who were actually at that remarkable night at Paddington RSL back in 1990, many who can recall Proby’s performance with great clarity and obviously a range of very mixed feelings. Sydney DJ and serial emcee, Jay Katz remembers:
“PJ was totally mesmerizing from the perspective of an endless train wreck that just kept crashing but managed to get back on the rails and keep doing it over and over again. This of course polarized the audience into two endlessly warring camps and filled the electrified air with constant heckling. He was intoxicated to a level of beyond most individuals’ ability to survive but survive he did indeed, to the absolute bitter end of his set. The gig I still remember more clearly than most!”
Mark’s book was inspired by a single night but the journey to the finale is almost as perversely exhilarating as the actual meltdown on stage. Writer Peter Doyle has described it as “A blistering, funny, funky, hardboiled yarn of the never-ending Sydney hustle” and it’s indeed a must read piece of inner city cultural history.
In what promises to be one of the book launches of the year, Mark will speak about his book at the Courthouse Hotel in Darlinghurst, this Friday April 28 from 7.000pm. There will be rare clips of PJ Proby, a live performance of Proby classics from Charlie Maclean of 50 Million Beers and a Q&A with Scott Saunders who was the musical director of Proby’s Australian touring band. The inimitable Jay Katz will emcee the night. If that’s not enough there will be an ultra rare screening of footage from the incredible Paddington RSL show – and it’s all for free!
In the meantime if you would like to obtain a copy of Proby And Me, it’s available at Better Read Than Dead and Repressed Records in Newtown, Hill Of Content in Balmain, Gleebooks in Glebe and Redeye in the CBD. You’ll also find it on BookPod, Booktopia and Book Depository, or as an ebook or Kindle from Kobo, Apple iTunes or Amazon Kindle.
