It was a cracker

Around six months ago I saw a post in my Facebook feed for a gig by Jack Howard’s Epic Brass.

Jack played trumpet with Hunters and Collectors – one of my all-time fave bands. He also wrote and arranged most of the band’s iconic horn lines. I miss that wonderful period in Oz rock when horns were integral to the sound.

Over the years, Jack has also played with The Violent Femmes, Rodriguez, You Am I, The Living End, Midnight Oil and a heap of others.

Jack Howard’s Epic Brass was scheduled to appear at St Kilda Memorial Hall in Melbourne on 28 February with Dave Graney and Clare Moore, Kim Salmon (Beasts Of Bourbon), Dave Larkin (Dallas Crane) and Paulie Stewart (Painter and Dockers). Cool!

I sent the link to DD and he said let’s do it! Then I got my Melbourne-based ex brother and sister-in-law in on the action and booked a four-person table for us.

As the gig approach and my dad’s health declined I felt increasingly stressed about going away. And equally stressed about letting people down.

I told our Melbourne friends we couldn’t make it, then had a complete panic attack about two weeks before the gig about not going and rang DD at the crack of dawn one day in a complete tizz.

Anyways, long story not so short, on Friday night I took the dogs to DD’s to be minded by a local teenager … followed by a quick stop at Bert’s for the special of the day – ceviche, pate and minute steak & frites (and complimentary cocktail, DD got sent a deal) – before we headed off.

We flew to Melbourne at an ungodly hour on Saturday morning because flights were so freaking expensive otherwise, due to how late we had booked.

We caught the airport bus into the city, dropped our bags at our hotel room and as I glanced out the window I was startled to see a stark naked man in the apartment opposite. He reached up to push open his window, padded off with his butt cheeks bared, then return still starkers to tip a dust pan load of crap out of his window onto the street below (that was the part that affronted me most).

What a way to start the day!

Then we caught a tram to the eldest’s place to meet his rescue cat Wolf, who is gorgeous and very friendly.

Afterwards, the eldest took us to the most wonderful cafe called Old Man Drew, which I loved. It was like a gritty The Grounds of Alexandria, a rabbit warren of plants and antiques and bric a brac, including a rusted old vintage pick-up truck that you can dine on the back of.

I ordered delicious fried polenta fingers with mixed mushrooms, poached eggs and hollandaise. Yum, but I couldn’t finish the huge serve.

Next stop was Starward Distillery for a cocktail with our Northern Beaches friends who happened to be in town for Ed Sheeran. Delicious whisky slushies and cocktails were sipped while listening to live jazz, then we jumped in an Uber to St Kilda for dinner at Radio Mexico.

Located just around the corner from St Kilda Memorial Hall, it’s a fun casual place that serves killer cocktails. The eldest loved his Hibiscus Mezcalita. I was cocktailed out by that point and ordered a Chardy.

The gig was lots of fun. My emotional high point was the band’s version of The Laughing Clowns “Eternally Yours”, which was so good it made me teary.

I also rocked out to Hunters & Collectors classics The Slab and Do You See What I See.

Then we wearily caught a tram back to our hotel, where I crashed out until an unprecedented 7.30am on Sunday morning.

But the fun wasn’t over yet. We headed to Chinatown with the eldest for yum cha, wandered through the vibrant Antipodes Greek festival, took a twirl around the amazing Queen Victoria Markets and ate gelato (DD took a sneaky photo of our matching mullet-y red hair, pictured main) before hugging the eldest goodbye and heading to the airport.

Big weekend. Huge. Bulk fun.

Until the flight home, which was … turbulent … and not for the reason you might be thinking.

A story for tomorrow.

And I can’t sign off before expressing my grave fears for the situation that is unfolding in the Middle East. My heart goes out to everyone affected, including my friend Jodie who is unable to be repatriated from Jordan due to ongoing issues with obtaining a passport for her son. She is begging the Australian Government – so far unsuccessfully – to help get them home.

Two songs of the day …

First song: The Laughing Clowns “Eternally Yours”