PART THREE

BEYOND THE ROCK

(The Diary of a Rock Band 1967 – 1980)

BEYOND THE ROCK - The continuing saga of Behind the Rock (PART 3.)

(The Diary of a Rock Band - 1967 to 1980)

First Published on the web 2005. ©Leon Isackson

Dedicated to Jon, Wendy and Lizzie

PROLOGUE

LEON: In 1990 Jon Hayton and I wrote a book about our adventures at the beginning of rock’n’roll in Australia. Taken from my diaries, the book BEHIND THE ROCK (The Diary of a Rock Band 1956-66) was a candid look behind our involvement with Dig Richards, Johnny O’Keefe and almost every other Australian artist and band throughout those early years. The story ended when our band the Rajahs returned from Vietnam in 1966.

When BEHIND THE ROCK was published by Time-Life in 1991, we decided that anything after 1966 would be BEYOND THE ROCK and my co-author, Jon Hayton had always wanted to start the continuation of the story from 1967 with:

JON: ‘There I was screaming down the top of a huge snow covered mountain after an inadequate one hour lesson on how to snow plough. Leon was screaming at me like a maniac, “Turn left! Turn left!” My skis seemed to have a mind of their own. “I am turning left!” I screamed back in frustration just seconds before I went into a giant cartwheel and crashed into a clump of gum trees. When I finally gathered my composure and pulled my head out of the snow, I was furious. “You can stick your skiing up your arse!” and with my last ounce of dignity I limped down the hill to the Smiggin Holes Hotel where the Rajahs had been booked for the 1967 winter season.’

Of course, Jon Hayton never did get to write this chapter. When we finished writing Behind the Rock in 1990 Jon’s arthritis had become so bad that he could not even type on the computer unless he held a pencil in his closed fist. Although we had already decided that the GP (Jon’s term for the general public) might not be interested in a sequel anyway, Jon just wanted to write the rest of the story for the history and the fun of it. July 22, 1995: Jon Hayton died last week, and even though I don’t know how the story ends, if I get time I will jot down a few memories from my diaries starting in 1967 and see what happens. I owe it to Jon to continue the story because he thought it was important - so here it goes…

To Chapter 21 Snow Place for the Rajahs