Alice Springs news
Alice Springs news; NewspaperNT
2010-09-23
This publication contains may contain links to external sites. These external sites may no longer be active.
This publication contains many links to external sites. These external sites may no longer be active.
English
Community newspspers; Australia, Central; Alice Springs (N.T.); Newspapers
Erwin Chlanda
Alice Springs
v. 17 issue 34
application/pdf
Copyright. Made available by the publisher under licence.
Erwin Chlanda
https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2019C00042
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/232924
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/659688
The newly-formed Iron Maidens embraced the scattering audience with a rusty but rife operatic sword of vocal talent. The set cut through a collection of metal songs with parody of stylings and fashion in full swing. This will be an act to watch if it is developed over the coming months. Then the jewel of the evenings bill, the Woohoo Revue! This band of accomplished musicians seemed to perform out of place, even though timing, tempo and musicianship was at a level of near flawlessness, and the duel between trumpet and violin was a cool note-for-note boxing match. But they lacked presence and energy, with their stage predecessors having claimed far more of ownership of the night. I began to think that this ever evolving gypsy music movement has started churning out polished products, bands that possess a line up of classically trained, technically brilliant, private school educated musicians, that become a performing compact disc rather than a dweller of the grit-filled trenches that gave birth to the genre. The music kept the dance floor full and people seemed to like it. And when it comes to the festival in many cases this can be all that really matters. Post midnight rolled around and masks and face paint started turning up in odd places. Veteran biker tough vintage. By CHRIS WALSH. Derek Poolier currently owns four vintage bikes and three dirt bikes he says hes had a bit of a clean out. The more bikes you have, the more time you need to fix them. He is a member of the local Royal Enfield Club, the Secretary of MECCA, a member of the Australian Motorcycle Trail Riders Association and a member of the Adelaide Velocette Club. Derek grew up in Enfield, in Adelaides north-eastern suburbs, and at the age of 13 took a part-time job at the Cross Keys Service Station. It was 1957 and the service station was one of the first to sell Honda motorbikes. The owner would have lunch at the pub every day, leaving young Derek in charge a golden opportunity for him to teach himself to ride, using the stock Hondas up and down the forecourt. At age 16, hed saved enough money to buy his first motorbike an Ariel 500 Red Hunter with a sidecar. At the time he weighed about 25 kilos wringing wet and couldnt kick start it, so the owner got it started. Derek took it down the road and promptly side-swiped a car. The owner suggested that he would ride it home for him. Dereks parents were not very impressed when it turned up. His father told him, Whatever you do, dont take the sidecar off. Naturally, the very next day he removed the sidecar and never looked back! He rode this bike to school for the next three years. After leaving school, he bought a Matchless G80, followed by a Norton 500 and then aged 20, joined the Army and served in Vietnam. While he was away, to his horror, his mother sold the Norton to a neighbour for five quid just to get it out of the way! Derek built his first dirt bike in 1970 and took it up to Derby. Later, he moved to Mount Gambier and bought a silver tanked XL250 Honda. He stayed for four years and was president of the Mount Gambier Motorbike Club, running lots of enduros. When he moved to Alice over 20 years ago, he became heavily involved with the local motorcycle club for about 10 years, organising and finding lots of venues for about 20 or 30 enduros. They used to just have a shot gun start. Ill never forget going up to Aileron and being astounded at the mayhem. A shot gun was fired and they all took off. Within half a kilometre there was a gigantic crash and broken legs. So Derek started a system where the riders start in twos, minute by minute, and then their times are corrected accordingly. This system is still being used today and is a lot safer. The young lads riding Finke are used to going in top gear flat out, so I laid out a lot of courses that needed to use first and second gear. I incorporated rocky climbs as well as declines through creek beds. The riders didnt like the courses much at the time but have adapted these days. If you can ride that sort of course, you can ride fast but if you can ride fast, you cant necessarily ride that sort of