The Billy Weston Slideshow

ava and friends

On Saturday night we returned to Billy Weston’s Pool Hall, to put on a slideshow for the fans.

Bec and I first went there a month or so ago to photograph Ava and her buddies: Rocket, Dope, Grubb, George, Mick the Noise, Thommo, Cabby and Melanie. The above is one of the super shots Bec took that day.

Thommo (aka Danny, the fella on the left of the above shot) who helps to run the Pool Hall, invited us to “come back any time”. So we decided to gather together a bunch of shots we’ve taken of Bon Scott Fans and beam ’em up on the big screen.

It being a special occasion, I decided to go “black tie”. Here’s a rather awkward shot of me at the bar, with Grubb about to serve me yet another JD and cola:

lucas with bon scott tie and grubb

The Hamilton Hill Clan were out in force, milking the jukebox for every Bon-Scott Era track they could find. When they ran out it was Cold Chisel. I sat and chatted with Teresa, Tania and the girls. It seems like ages since we last met. Bec and I had hung out in their “AC/DC den” – every surface plastered with the famous logo, every cranny crammed with a piece of acca dacca memorabilia. “But you even took a photo of my flaming toilet brush!” squealed Teresa (embarrassed, but secretly proud of her attention to detail).

Here’s the gals from the HH Clan a-posin’ in front of the fantastic big screen at Billy Weston’s (I tell ya, if I lived in Perth, I’d be organising film nights here! It’s such a great venue – actually used to be a cinema in a past life…):

hamilton hill girls
[Hamilton Hill Girls. I don’t know where the boys had got to by this time…In the background on the big screen is young Connor “Bon” Stewart…]

Who else was there?

Paula was someone I hadn’t met before. She’d posed for Bec in an “AC/DShe” shirt:

paula in her ac/dshe shirt

AC/DShe are “The Original All-Girl Tribute to AC/DC”. According to their website, they do “Bon Era” songs. Of course.

(Damn, they sound good too, watch the youTube video on their homepage if you have time!)

I hadn’t heard of AC/DShe before, but I was aware of Hell’s Belles, another female tribute band. I’d stumbled across them while trawling the internet for all things accadacca. I asked Paula if she’d come across Hell’s Belles before? “Oh yes, I slept with their lead singer!” she exclaimed. Of course.

It turns out that a few years back, Paula attended an AC/DC conference in Bristol, with over a dozen tribute bands, conferences, lectures, and discussion panels. “Actually, the crowd was a lot more middle class than you’d expect,” she said.

Jim and Megan came along, and Jasmin was there too. She’s the curator of the whole Bon Scott Project. As well as nursing a Bon-Scott-Learning-Curve as big as my own, on Saturday night Jasmin learned how to play pool for the first time. (For the first time??!!) Here’s Paula giving Jasmin a few tips on where to aim. But if you look closely, you can see Jasmin’s eyes are not really on the ball…

paula showing jasmin a thing or two

Also in attendance was Justin. He used to play guitar with Rawkus (they once briefly and triumphantly held the record for “world’s loudest band”). I think Bec’s photos of him turned out really well. Here’s one of Justin in his own garage, surrounded by music gear in various stages of decay:

Justin in his garage
[Justin from Rawkus in his garage. Click on the image to see it bigger…]

He poses holding a photo of himself taken when he was only 18 years old, on top of the Stirling Ranges. Apparently when it’s stormy up there, a lot of electricity zaps through the atmosphere, which is what is making Justin’s hair stand on end. Note his 18 year old self was wearing an AC/DC singlet. “They were a huge influence on my music,” he said. (Rawkus were featured on Hometown Tribute, playing a heavier-than-the-original version of “It’s A Long Way to the Top” a few years ago too…)

Absent, sadly, due to prior commitments, was young Charlie. This little fella contacted Bec to have his photo taken on top of this High Voltage power box in the northern suburbs of Perth. I think he’s only about twelve…

charlie
[Charlie by Bec Dagnall. Note the bagpipes resting on the powerbox!]

(There were dozens more photos beamed up on the screen. Bec will only print up a few of them as high resolution shots for the exhibition, but I’ll post more up here soon for you to check out.)

Finally, Danny and Ava, true Billy Weston’s locals, and our lovebird hosts for the evening, asked me to take this romantic photo of them together. “Do ya like the Aussie Flag?” asked Danny. “We put it up at 4am on Anzac Day!”

danny and ava

PS: if you want a sense of the kind of
“old-skool-Scarborough-carpark-pizza-next-door”
environment in which Billy Weston’s plies its trade, have a look at this panorama (beware slow internet connections – it’s a biggish picture!):

billy weston's carpark
[Click the image to see the monster size! Note – Billy Weston’s is located at the far left of the panorama, you’ll see the billiard balls on the side of the building!]

One thought on “The Billy Weston Slideshow”

  1. Cheers dude and dudettes .. was great to see the photo’s from Billy’s .. the day was most enjoyable and the pics look very cool .. Looking forward to seeing all Bon fans at Billy Westons soon, don’t be shy come on down for a cold drink and game of pool and listen to some arse kicking Bon Scott AC/DC. We open every day so don’t be a stranger; come on down.
    Splinter
    (Cabby)

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