J.A.M.

Posts Tagged ‘Port Elizabeth’

Lately I’ve been thinking back a lot to the mid 1980’s and reliving the memories through the music of the era – particularly the club music of the day which I’ve been collecting now for some time from a website which has preserved a lot of it. Let me share the memories …..

I was in the Army at Eastern Province Command in Port Elizabeth. A chef in the Non-Commissioned Officers Kitchen. I had wanted to be in the Navy Band and had applied for it in my Matric year but for some reason had ended up in the Army as a chef. This was me on the day I left for the Army back in January 1984……

The Day I Left For The Army - January 1984

I did my Basic Training at Elandsfontein Catering School, north of Pretoria. It lasted for 6 months and was no less lenient than at other bases just because it was a Catering School. It was tough. As a matter of fact it was horrible – but those days taught me a lot about life, myself and helped to bring me out of the cocoon I had lived in as a young person. I was terribly insecure back in those days.

Basic training ended and I found myself on a train on the way to Port Elizabeth to serve as a ‘qualified’ Chef for the next 18 months at EP Command. Those 18 months redefined my life in a big way and helped to mold me into the person I am today. I made some wise choices and good friendships. I made some rotten choices and really bad friendships. Memories to last a lifetime were created though. Whether you liked a person or not in the Army was irrelevant. You learned to get on with people you would not normally have chosen to get on with. You functioned as a team or else you suffered the consequences which were not good.

On Duty In The Kitchen At EP Command

EP Command NCO Mess

In my first few months there I kept very much to myself. Working in the kitchen was a different lifestyle. The hours were ‘strange’. I needed to be up and frying eggs etc long before anyone else was awake and many times got to bed long after everyone else was in bed. Weddings and special functions for the top brass in the Army were regularly catered for until all hours of the night. It was while I was in the kitchen that I met Thane and Raymond who were to change my life in a significant way. Raymond was a Permanent Force member who had been transferred in from another base and was also a Chef. Over the months that followed I was to form a very close bond with him and he became like a real brother to me. He was very much into the Reggae lifestyle and was a white Rastafarian. A very gentle, ‘real’ person though. He taught me to believe in myself. He taught me to ride a Motor Bike (well sort of …). He also taught me a remedy for a headache I complained of one day …… a little green plant known well by Rastafarian’s – but that’s a story for another Blog post. Thane was a young man with very deep psychological issues. He was a Transexual – meaning he was convinced that he was a “woman inside a man’s body”. He wasn’t gay – he truly was like a woman in looks, speech and build. Thane, Raymond and I became inseperable. Our friendship was pure and good despite our ‘issues’ and together we created some very special memories ‘back in the day’. We wrote a lot of ‘inspired’ poetry 🙂 and listened to a lot of music – Bob Marley, Jimmy Cliff, Grace Jones, Shawn Phillips, Depeche Mode, OMD etc. Good days and good memories. Thane wanted to have a sex change. We stayed in touch for a while after the Army came to an end in 1985 – and even lived together in a flat in Port Elizabeth and Cape Town for a while – and then after making a big decision to sort out my drug problem (which had developed to an unacceptable level) and move back to my parents in Cape Town we lost touch. I have tried many times over the years to re establish contact with him to find out what happened in his life – but he has all but disappeared off the face of the earth. Maybe he did have that op and became “Deana Varella” …. Hope I find out one day. The last time I spoke to Raymond (which was a good few years back now) he was happily married with 2 children and a member of the Christian Motorcycle Association. I have since lost contact with him too which is sad. If anyone reading this knows the whereabouts of Thane Riddin or Raymond Channer – please let me know.

(09 July 2012) In the past few months I have re-established contact with Thane and we have been keeping in touch.

Raymond Channer

Thane Riddin

Anyway – going back to EP Command and my ‘Cheffing’ days. It was late one night and I was in my bed in the dormitory – rather tired as I had catered that night for a Wedding Reception. A few guys who I knew from sight but not personally came down to my bed and asked if I would like to go with them to a “Disco” – as they termed it. Now to say I had had a sheltered upbringing would be a huge understatement. There I was, an 18 year old guy who had never been to a “Disco” in his life. The idea was exciting and I said I would go. I got up, got dressed and headed off what was to become known to me as “The Club” over the next few years. We arrived and I stepped into a whole new world. I felt I belonged there. The music was loud, the fashion was very “New Wave” (being the 80’s) and the people were really friendly. I was almost immediately introduced to the DJ at “The Club” – David (or Dawie as he preferred). Micky was his nickname at the club but I always called him Dawie. I sat in the DJ booth with him that night and over time we became really good friends. He was good friends with the owner (Mervyn – who owned Video World in PE at that time) and as time went by I would arrive before opening time with them at the club on Wednesdays, Fridays & Saturdays – and leave them with them at closing time – normally as the sun was rising to head off for a Coffee Shop that stayed open all night.The Clubs name was ‘Partners’. It later evolved into ‘Plum Crazy’ in another part of North End, Port Elizabeth. Today’s equivalent would be ‘Aqua’. I also used to go to ‘Andrews’ – a very ‘literally’ underground club, ‘Jacqueline’s’ & ‘Strawberry Fields’. ‘Partners’ and ‘Plum Crazy’ were my Club of choice though.

When I met Dawie he was in Matric and also lived on the Army Base as his Dad was a Permanent Force Sargent. I spent many nights at his little ‘flat’ in the back yard listening to music from the club and talking the night away before creeping back to the Dormitory just before sunrise. He left School and was drafted off into the Army. I then became the DJ at “The Club” and this is where my love for music really took off. It was the era of High Energy music (the Rave music of the day – the precursor to Techno). Artists like Divine, Earlene Bentley, Miguel Brown, Eartha Kitt, Hazell Dean, Lime etc ensured the dance floor was packed every night. CD’s had not been invented yet so everything was still Vinyl and the 12″ Maxi Single was King – or Queen – depending on which way you looked at it! Controlling the lights (helicopters and strobes) were great fun and I immersed myself in the whole High Energy craze. I still collect it today and have a very extensive collection of music from back then (1984/ 1985). There is a blog on the Internet which provides links to a lot of this ‘rare’ music if you are keen on getting your hands on some of it. David would often come up on a Weekend Pass from the Army and we’d DJ together. As the sun was beginning to rise the Club would close to the strains of Barbara Streisand’s “Woman In Love”. The introduction to the song would announce to those left on the dance floor that it was now “time to go home”. Some 10 years later Dawie traced me to my home in East London (we’d lost contact after a breakup in our friendship due to my drug habit back then). We chatted for quite a while on the phone one night – said goodnight and about two weeks later a mutual friend of ours from back then – Abrie – tracked me down to let me know he had committed suicide. I’ve often wondered why and think back with many fond memories to the times we spent together back when life was simple and the ‘crazyness of Youth’. Abrie, Sheldon, Dawie and I were good friends back then. Sadly I have no photo’s of Dawie to show here. Am glad to say though that Abrie and I are still friends and it was good to see him again recently.

(09 July 2012) I learnt in the past few weeks that Abrie sadly passed away of a heart attack recently at the age of 45.

Abrie, Sheldon and I - and Blommie (Abrie's Car)

I have provided a link to a sound file I made recently. It’s a re-creation of 2 and and half hours of “Partners” in the mid 80’s complete with “Barbara’s” closing song. It’s around 130 MB so is a large file but well worth the download. It’s a collection of songs taken from the original Maxi Singles we all used to enjoy dancing to so much – mixed as I would have mixed them back then. Download it if you are interested in re-living an era that was truly special and PLEASE if you are reading this and have memories of ‘Partners’ or “Plum Crazy’ – please get in touch with me. I’d love to hear from you.

The songs in the sound file are:

Relax – Frankie Goes To Hollywood
False Alarm – Marsha Raven
Face To Face – The Twins
Do You Wanna Funk – Sylvester
Danger – The Flirts
Catch Me – Marsha Raven
So Many Men So Little Time – Miguel Brown
Coming Out Of Hiding – Earlene Bentley
Masquerade – Earlene Bentley
Lover Come Back To Me – Dead Or Alive
Colour My Love – Fun Fun
I Love Men – Eartha Kitt
Male Stripper – Man 2 Man
Menergy – Paul Parker
You Think You’re A Man – Divine
Emergency – Laura Pallas
Slice Me Nice – Fancy
Earthquake – Marsha Raven
Searchin’ – Hazell Dean
Skiing In The Snow – Laura Pallas
Walk Like A Man – Divine
You’re My Heart You’re My Soul – Modern Talking
Woman In Love – Barbara Streisand

(‘Partners’ Mix In Memory Of Dawie Jooste)

Download the 2 and a half hour mix ‘Partners Style’ – here

Two weekends back I took the plunge and auditioned in Port Elizabeth for “Top Billing”. They have a Presenter Search Competition on the go at the moment and I thought I’d go along. Now, being somewhere in my 40’s and having one of those 6-packs most of the male presenters do (although I’ve never seen the damn thing!) I didn’t hold out much hope but thought “Why not?”. If nothing else – it would be a fun experience and you never know – I may pick up a Voice Over job or two – which is kinda what I specialize in on a day to day basis for local Radio etc. Anyway, Port Elizabeth is 3 hours away from where I live in East London, so on this particular Thursday morning I duly boarded the SA Connection bus along with 6 other passengers and off we set for Port Elizabeth. PE holds many fond memories for me having spent my 2 years National Service there back in the 80’s. We did the usual “Beaver Pie” thing in Port Alfred en route and duly arrived in PE, on schedule where we were dropped off at Greenacres Shopping Centre. Now what? I needed to be at Langerry Holiday Flats on the Beachfront in Humewood where I had booked in until  Sunday (I decided to make a weekend of it largely due to the fact that SA Connection only traveled back again on Sunday). I found a bus stop after enquiring at a nearby Garage and lo and behold the first bus that arrived some 10 minutes later was headed for Summerstrand. Off we went and in no time I was standing at the reception desk at Langerry, plastic in hand, ready to pay for the 3 nights that lay ahead. I was given the room right next to the office (at a reduced price I was led to believe) and asked to please return in an hour as the cleaning lady was still busy. It was a pleasure really as there is so much to do on PE’s beachfront. I set off for McDonalds a few hundred metres away – got me some lunch and walked to a look out spot along the beach front to enjoy it while fondly thinking back to the many nights I walked up and down the beach front back when life was ‘simpler’ in the 80’s 🙂

Friday morning duly arrived and I rose early to make my way to The Boardwalk where the Auditions were to be held at 9am. I wanted to be there at about 7am in order to book my place in the queue. I opened my balcony door …… it was raining! The kind of rain that comes with wind that gusts in all directions  – as it can only do in PE. What to do? Besides – I needed to take along a full body picture of myself to the audition. Now – I had taken the photo a few nights earlier, a number of them really utilizing my camera’s timer setting, but had not yet had it developed so once dressed off I set, in the rain, to find the nearest bus stop where I duly boarded a bus headed for the Pick n Pay Centre in Summerstrand where I was sure there would be a Photo Shop where I could have the thing developed. I arrived at the Centre more than moderately wet and as expected found the Photo developing shop. While there I decided to pop into a little restaurant called “Friends” for a very reasonably priced breakfast before blowing down to the nearest bus stop under a broken umbrella which had inverted itself in the wind. I had just bought it at a hardware store in the Centre! I arrived at the bus stop and waited … and waited … and got splashed a few times by passing cars as they sped through a puddle parked right at the edge of the bus stop. I decided I was by now so wet I couldn’t really get any wetter so set off for the Boardwalk (an approximate 15 minute walk) as there were no buses in sight.

Now for those who know ‘Top Billing’ – the program is about  style, fashion and the ‘good life’ as they put it. Well – I arrived looking and feeling like a drowned rat, registered myself and took my place on the floor of the Conference Centre at the Boardwalk, like everyone else, waiting for my number to be called. It was called …. 5 hours later! It was a fun day though and while waiting I met many interesting people. It’s amazing how entertaining simply sitting and watching people can be. There were your normal “Joe Soaps”, the look-a-like wannabe’s, the Diva’s and then those who you could see were ‘the Genuine Thing’.

Top Billing Presenter Search PE

The actual audition went off a lot better than I thought it would despite the fact that the camera for some unknown reason scared the life out of me! Jeannie D (who was one of the judges) said I looked like a “Rock Star” lol and said she “loved my voice”. After the audition one of the Producers came up to me outside to congratulate me on a good audition which was rather nice to hear. However – I genuinely do not think I stand any chance of coming anywhere near the top of the Competition but the experience was a really good one and I had a lot of fun.

While in PE I managed to see an old Army friend who I had not seen in some years and won a ‘moderately substantial amount’ of money on the slot machines at The Boardwalk (Despite NOT being a gambling man) but that’s a story for another time.