It was a sad day for me hearing Red Symons on the ABC referring to Billy Thorpe and suddenly realizing that the context of the reference was that Billy had died. Growing up in Brisbane in the 60's, Billy was a local hero - Brisbane boy who had achieved the dream of many - rock and roll fame - Billy attended Salisbury High school in Brisbane - a "tough"school by reputation - it was common knowledge that the first week at Salisbury High involved all new students in being ïnitiated"- which meant, among other events of assault and humiliation, it also meant having your head "flushed"in a toilet bowl while the otehr older students held you down. I was always grateful that my parents had bought a house in Forest St Moorooka and that my brothers and I attended the far more "genteel" Yeronga High. For a detailed bio on Billy, see the Mushroom Records webpage
I always had a soft spot for Billy - although by the time of the Sunbury Festival, he did appear to be a little öut of place"if you thought about him as the clean-cut, blonde haired blue-eyed rock and roller from the early 60's - but he made the transformation and led another generation of 70's youth into musical magic.
Billy's rendition of Judy Garland's signature tune - Over the Rainbow - how good is that? Have you read Billy's books? I don't know if I believe everything that he has written but the time he spent during his early years living in Sydney was just every young guy's dream.
I last saw Billy perform in 1998 at the Crown - I loved his performance - it was very very loud - but brought back lots of memories.
The day after he died, I took one of his CD's to work and gave my colleagues a listen to a couple of his songs and explained hwo Billy was and what he had done for Australian music.
It's crazy - Billy was too young and always looked so fit - we will miss you Billy!

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