Michael Schack's birthday party

 

Michael Schack's birthday party

Composed by Frank Duggan 2020

On the verandah of Mickey Bourke's Hotel the

Wednesday Whistlers did play

In the town of Koroit for Michael Schack's birthday

The barroom of the pub was full to the brim

His family and friends were all there for him

The great Michael Schack a man among men

he made it to his birthday of three score and ten

Of his life he has some great stories to tell

To survive a liver transplant he's one who has done well

Of all the musicians of Victoria's south west

The humble Michael Schack remains one of the best

A quietly spoken fellow of few words to say

But truly a leader in his own down to Earth way

His lovely wife Helen for her man full of pride

As beautiful as the day she became his bride

Devoted to each other for so many years

They have shared their moments of laughter and tears

He is one not in a hurry to his grave

To undergo and survive a liver transplant one has to be brave

A down to earth fellow yet one to inspire

For his great love of life he is one to admire

A man of his word on whom you can depend

For his kindness and humility he has won many a friend

So many his birthday -- party did attend

The sort of day one hopes would never end

Good memories of Michael Schack's birthday will remain

In the future us all who attended to visit again

A major health scare he has had to survive

And so good to see him looking happy and well and alive

In the lounge of the pub Michael played with the Dead Livers his musician friends of the past

At Michael Schack's party a few hours went so fast

In the Koroit Hotel on a warm February evening out of the sun

Only smiling faces, everyone having fun

A huge milestone birthday for the great Michael Schack

One of late who has many a major health setback

One of life's quiet achievers in truth one can say

He did have a huge turnout for his birthday

One not in a hurry to join the ranks of the dead

In 2020 a great year for him may be ahead

His favourite team Collingwood may well win the AFL premiership flag

For one like him this would be worthy of a quiet brag

Staging it

 On a day when the temperature was tipped to exceed 40 degrees the most welcome text message I received was the one advising the cancellation of Folk Festival gigs on the Fiddlers Green between 1.30 and 5.30 pm. By some act of the gods this coincided with my scheduled shift as stage manager, and left me free to endure the heat in a manner of my choice. It left me, however, with one shift to complete on Sunday night.

I arrived at my designated venue (the Shebeen Bar) at the regulation 15 minutes early, to be greeted by the preceding stage manager. She said she would introduce me to the venue supervisor (assuredly “very officious”) who would take me through some sort of induction process and make me sign a piece of paper to indicate I had understood what he told me. 

The induction involved pointing out the whereabouts of exits, fire extinguishers etc., and more importantly, the need for me to be wearing closed footwear rather than the open “slide sandals” I was sporting. I assured him I had some shoes in the car (which it turns out I didn’t) and would change. Eventually I donned a pair of dark socks to make it look less obvious than bare feet.

Towards the conclusion of the supervisor’s address a group of half a dozen teenage girls burst into the backstage area, purportedly seeking autographs from members of the very popular band “19 Twenty”,  who were preparing for their upcoming performance. I commented to the supervisor that these looked like groupies, and queried the legitimacy of their presence in the area. He immediately swung into action, telling the girls they could leave their items to be autographed with him and he would give them to the band, whilst they would have to wait outside (thus avoiding any activities other than autograph collecting).

“19 Twenty” whipped the audience into a frenzy and the screams of “more” at the end of its 60 minute set could only be quelled by an announcement regarding the need for changeover time. During a lull in proceedings I noticed a young man sipping wine in the shadows and queried his need to be there. He assured me he was the manager of the next act - an African funk band called Cool out Sun.  I took him at his word, and he did seem to be legitimate. His later requests for the location of, firstly, a rubbish bin and, secondly, a toilet, were more than testimony to his managerial status. If the induction program included identification of toilets for performers I missed that section, and could only suggest the facilities available to the public.

The final act was a funk dance band called the 7 Ups, who seemed to mellow the alcohol fueled crowd into a rhythmic sway. During onstage introductions of individual Seven Up members I thought I heard “Michael Schack on percussion”. Surely not the famous Belgian drummer sitting in? I queried the band excitedly at the conclusion of their show only to discover the percussionist was “Michael Sacks”!

Midway through the SevenUps performance a couple of young men bounded into the backstage area wanting to know what to do. Somewhat mystified, I eventually established that they did not have festival armbands and had somehow talked their way past the gate attendants by telling them they had a personal invitation from the singer of the band (whom they had met in the pub). They had been directed  backstage, so I escorted them to the main audience area of the Shebeen and told them they should be alright there if they remained quiet. It was only later I realized there was no singer in the SevenUps - a totally instrumental act.

My two final duties were (1) to take a photo of the 7 Ups from the stage (with the audience in the background) and (2) to give authoritative consent to an encore as it was the last act of the day. The encore over, chants of “one more song” rang out for a while before the dismantling of the drum kit sent a message the audience couldn’t ignore.