tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5722735165669239585.post9051680103824999523..comments2023-05-24T23:33:57.516+10:00Comments on My Unwelcome Stranger: The Saturday Night Dance [Final Part]Denis Wrighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12786035137418348609noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5722735165669239585.post-86916619945145576962011-05-12T00:58:45.933+10:002011-05-12T00:58:45.933+10:00Sandra - I found your comment fascinating. Oh yes,...Sandra - I found your comment fascinating. Oh yes, the matches were real enough, as I knew the locals who were fighting Sharman boxers and from a metre or two away from the boxers there was no doubt about the power of the slugging out that went on. I had nothing but admiration for the fighters on both sides. Have you still got that poem? I don't know why but Col Newsome rings a bell but the name does. He lived to a great age, which proves he must have been a good boxer!<br />Sad that Lionel Rose passed away a few days ago, but I was pleased that so many people remembered him. I was afraid that he may have been almost forgotten, but it's obvious that is far from the case.Denis Wrighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12786035137418348609noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5722735165669239585.post-75680335410839534482011-05-09T11:42:25.209+10:002011-05-09T11:42:25.209+10:00Good reading Dennis. Interstingly, my grandfather ...Good reading Dennis. Interstingly, my grandfather Colin Newsome was a boxer in Jimmy Sharman's tent, and my mother tells stories of the drums as well (she was maybe 6 years old and found it very exciting, only realising later how much of the music and tension was staged to thrill the country crowds, although the matches were mostly real enough). Col boxed and wrestled ('wrastled')his way round Aus when he wasn't shearing in the sheds, rough riding, fencing or mustering and later in life wrote bush poetry about his travels, including Jimmy's tent (including one poem about a boxer he'd known who went blind after a match)...<br /><br />You would not find however, a greater or more generous gentleman or a better dancer (won trophies with grandma at many of the country dances). Col passed away 2 years ago at almost 92 years of age - with Parkinsons, which had also afflicted his brother. SandraAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5722735165669239585.post-54013014846989403292010-11-02T18:13:21.995+11:002010-11-02T18:13:21.995+11:00Hmmppphh! Them's fightin' words, girlie! :...Hmmppphh! Them's fightin' words, girlie! :) <br /><br />By the way, I find it hard to believe anyone could name a place Moose Jaw, even a Canadian. If so, it must be the same person who came up with 'Townsville'. Given the 'ville' means 'town', we have the meaningful title for our fair north Queensland town of 'Towntown'.Denis Wrighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12786035137418348609noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5722735165669239585.post-14512105040782239832010-11-02T11:26:20.366+11:002010-11-02T11:26:20.366+11:00You take me back to Moose Jaw, Canada, mid l960s. ...You take me back to Moose Jaw, Canada, mid l960s. Somehow youth culture seems to have been the same all over the western world. Saturday night dances, girls all dressed up, local band playing badly, and the guys all ready for a fight. <br /><br />Sometimes the band would play gigs in small towns much like Calliope, and we would tag along and put on a good display for the small town hicks. We girls would get drunk on vodka and grapefruit juice (yuk!) and the boys who weren't in the band would fight the locals and we'd all "show them a thing or two", i.e. how sopisticated us city folk were :).Joanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04715081266571704126noreply@blogger.com