I ♥ Stephen Cummings

Reliving my groupie days I went and saw Stephen Cummings playing locally recently.  If you're not an Aussie you've probably never heard of him. If you are an Aussie, from Melbourne, 20 years ago you might have heard of him. He never made it huge commercially but he still releases albums.

Some of his hits were with The Sports- 'Strangers on a Train', or 'Don't throw stones' and their biggie, 'Who listens to the radio'. (Geez he looks young here, and no grey hair. Every album I actually have he has grey hair. Then Stephen went solo.  Aw,  'When love comes back to haunt you', this is one of those sweet sentimental ones. He sounds excellent here - exactly like he did live.  And finally (I know, I know I'll stop now.) here's one of my fav oldies Backstabbers, below.

Anyway, back to what I was saying: My how times change. In my younger youth there’d be a huge crowd there; especially up the front right in front of the band having a big dance. There’d be a cover charge, and there’d be a back up band. Or if not a back up band at least another band playing.

It was always Stephen Cummings, and then Joe Joe Zep and the Falcons. Or maybe Joe Joe Zep were the headliners and Stephen was supporting them. I don’t know. Joe Joe Zep slowly became Joe Camilleri with Vicka and Linda Bull.

Either way it was always an awesome night.

So it was very nostalgic when I went and saw him recently. There was no cover charge, no one danced- though I was tempted- and the crowd was sparse.

But as soon as he started singing he sounded exactly like he did 20 years ago. Such a fabulous voice. I started to feel a little sad that we’re not all 20 years old again but then soon settled in to enjoy the really old songs and feel mellow about the new ones.

Unlike my forays of late with on-line social groups where I think I fit in but wonder if I really should be hanging out with people 10 years older, I was clearly the youngest person in the room! Makes a nice change.

Sorry, please indulge me. This is the last one: this is what he looks like now. (He sounded better than this the other day. . . ) But this is another favourite: She set fire to the house.