Ross & Doug return from NSW covered in glory

You might say it went well. The Doug Ashdown - Ross Ryan lightning tour of NSW (July 28 - August 3) was a resounding success with packed houses and impressive media exposure.

Except for a one off appearance several years ago, the guys had never worked together before so Doug flew from Adelaide to Glen Iris a few days prior to the tour for intensive rehearsals with Ross. Apparently most of the time was spent drinking, listening to Bob Dylan bootlegs and discussing the art of internal rhyming - but nevertheless, they still managed to come up with a brace of duets and then hit the road.

From their opening night at The Brass Monkey in Cronulla it was obvious they were onto something.The combination of Doug's thoughtful songs and musicianship perfectly complimented Ross's freeform style of trying to remember the chords and rabbiting on about lost loves.

The next night saw them at The Clarendon in Katoomba - where Ross helped Doug celebrate his birthday by introducing him to the old show business trick of downing several double scotches before going onstage. A relaxed evening was had by all.

Terrigal Country Club gave Ross the opportunity to catch up with old friends and - much to Doug's sleep deprived horror - to lose his room key at 2:00am. Again, the power of alcohol.

Later that morning, a leisurely drive to Hall (just outside Canberra) took place and the guys played to a packed Poacher's Pantry - a terrific new venue best found with a dreaded Land Cruiser and compass.

Back in Sydney and prior to their Basement appearance, the guys appeared on Kerri-Anne's morning TV show. After several months of wishful thinking by the show's producers - Doug and Ross continued to decline to do a medley of "Winter In America" and "I Am Pegasus" (the mind boggles) and instead performed "24 Hours" - a song written by Doug that has been part of Ross's repertoire for many years.

As a fitting climax to a successful tour, Doug and Ross strutted their stuff to a standing room only crowd at Sydney's legendary Basement.

In attendance were most of the town's singer-songwriter Mafia - Kevin Johnson, Alan Caswell and the Red Rooster guy - Mike McClellan. Stage introductions were performed by the also legendary Glenn A. Baker who guaranteed that D&R hit the stage like pumped presidential candidates. Truly a fine evening.

Finally, a special word of thanks to Doug's manager, Rob Hall, who meticulously put the tour together and - from Coathanger's point of view - allowed Ross and his new album to reach a whole new audience. Yo Rob!!

Already there are plans underway for the Doug & Ross Show to tour other parts of the country in the new year. Stay tuned!

Then there's THIS duo.

Already Mark Holden and Ross have joined forces for a handful of occasional gigs including a Geelong date they did at the Deakin Waterfront Cafe in early August.

Mark of course, is presently best known for his role as an Australian Idol judge. What anyone under 35 probably doesn't realise is that he's also an award winning singer/writer who had a reasonable degree of carnation inspired chart success and adulation during the 70s.

Thus at the risk of undoing all the good-will generated by the Doug Ashdown tour, Mark and Ross bring their freeform show, 'Idol & Idle', to Sydney and to the unsuspecting folks of Mt Pritchard and Umina Beach.

Come along and check out Ross's shirt collection and, as Dicko puts it, Mark's premature tan!

Friday September 24 - Mt Pritchard Community Club
Saturday September 25 - Umina Beach Bowling Club

See Gig Guide for further detailsBack to News menu

For the first time since he began work in the late 70s on his now completed album 'One Person Queue', Ross recently took the opportunity to indulge his passion for beach life, fishing, sailing, hand gliding, bush walking and off-road 4-wheel driving.

This photo, taken by a fan who spotted him enjoying a glass of Chardonay and some light astrophysics reading, reveals a side of Ross that - not unlike his love of gardening - is virtually unknown to his followers, not to mention his friends and family.
(See also Connie's Sept 2004 Newsletter)

Due to the pressures of fiscal insecurity and escalating budget cuts, Coathanger's web development team (CWD) have been fighting off redundancy by accepting outside work.

Recent clients have included AVS-elli - manufacturers of vehicle barrier systems (apparently a growth industry), new Beatbox Boy-wonder - Joel Turner and of course Coathanger pal Mark Holden.

Coathanger urges you to visit these sites and to email their owners with effusive praise for the high level of design integrity shown by the CWD team.

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