The White Suit

In the summer of eighty nine, I found myself on the road with two bands, Gyan and GANGgajang. At a venue in Brisbane called The Underground there was a double bill featuring both bands with GANGgajang as the headliner. I had decided I should wear something different for each act and since I was more featured in GANGgajang  I took a punt and donned..." The White Suit". I'd been carting it around for sometime but had never had the guts to wear it.  Why I choose to wear it on this night in particular, I'll never know. Maybe it was the scent of frangipani in the air, maybe it was the third scotch and dry or maybe I just wanted to impress my friends in the other band. Maybe all of these things. Who knows, but wear it I did. From the moment I walked on stage I knew I was the center of attention. How could I not be? I was almost blindingly white to the eye. A luminous, phosphorescent Bobby Dazzler. It spurred me on. I felt I had to live up to the sort of expectations that a suit like that brings with it. A whirling white dervish seemingly in all places at once, trying to be everything to everyone. It was like the suit was wearing me, controlling my body and mind and I'd become too confident, too proud. And that's right, pride wenteth before the fall. A third of the way into the set I was right up the front of center stage. One second I'm urging the capacity crowd to clap along, with big wide hand claps, the next second I'm stepping off the edge of the stage and falling two meters to the hard, dusty, dirty floor below. The audience parted as I fell toward them so it was a rough landing. My public humiliation kept me from feeling any pain in the short term, though I knew nothing was broken. My dignity was further shaken, rattled and rolled as the crowd attempted to hoist me back onto the stage. It took about three attempts but finally I clambered up in my now filthy White Suit. I turned to my comrades for support and spotted Chris. I half danced /half staggered my way over to him as he nailed a big fat groove on the bass. I yelled in his ear, "That was the most embarrassing moment of my life. Deadpan and with out missing a beat he replied, "It was the most embarrassing moment of my life too."

*Footnote . G A N G w o r l d boss Lisa Luppi, emailed me when I first posted this story This is what she had to say... "... as they're True Stories (to the best of your recollection), I'm wondering if you would want to hear my recollection of the White Suit? As I have a younger (ha), fresher (yeah sure), somewhat less chemically/organically damaged mind....  But hey, you recollected brilliantly all the same. Mate, love it... Here's my few variations on the White Suit memory for what it's worth. The venue was Transformers, not the Underground. A definite.  And the tour was not the one with Gyan, but the one with Hunters & Collectors, another definite. You played the same venue on both of those tours.  And as for the"big wide claps" - absolutely!!!"... Thanks Lisa, I'm sure you're right